Difficulty with plotting and staying consistent.
I don't know if anyone else has this problem, but I've struggled with it since starting to plot out my stories.
It doesn't matter if i have a prompt, or an idea, i always go off track. I have a hard time sticking to that prompt, plot point, or idea, and it drives me absolutely bonkers.
Recently, though. I have found a cool little trick that has helped me stay on track, and meet my word goals;
Whether you're writing a short story, a blurb, or a whole novel. Try to split it up into three parts; Beginning, Middle, and End.
Instead of the convoluted, and sometimes overstimulating plot line;
Splitting your plot into its three most important parts; Exposition, Climax, and Resolution. Is supposed to help you plan out your story easier, or in my case, lazier.
Beginning = Exposition | Middle = Climax | End = Resolution
Point of View
Next, think about what point of view you're going to write your story in. If you've already decided on what your pov, conflict, and genre are going to be, you can skip down to Plot Points, where i pick back up as splitting your plot.
1st person = from a characters perspective.
In first person, you're going to be using a lot of sensory words from the characters perspective; "I feel" - "I see" - "I hear" - "I taste" - "I smell" This point of view also means restricting a lot of information to your character.
For instance, if you're writing from the pov of a child. This child wouldn't know the cookie jar is on top of the fridge, because they're not tall enough to see what's up there. So, they would have to get this information in a different way. You could make them accidentally see the cookie jar, but then you have to consider; Do they know it's a cookie jar? Does it stand out enough for it to grab their attention? If no, you could introduce a secondary character, like a parent, who gets a cookie for the child. Now the child knows it's a cookie jar.
2nd person = Telling a story to the reader, and directly involving them in it.
In the second person, you're writing from the narrator's perspective, but you're also addressing the reader, or talking directly to them. In this pov, you're telling the reader how they should be experiencing the story, by using sensory words like; "You feel" - "You see" - "You hear" - "You taste" - "You smell"
Pov's from the second person perspective goes great with unreliable narrators. You get to choose what information you tell the reader, and what information the reader has to find for themselves.
3rd person = Telling a story about someone or thing.
In the 3rd person, you have a lot more creative control. You get to pick which character's you're observing, and sort of play with them like dolls in a doll house. I think this is the most popular point of view and is incredibly versatile, using sensory language like; "She feels" - "He saw" - "They hear" - "It tasted" - "She's smelling"
Genre and Subgenre
Now. Deciding your pov is as simple as deciding what you're going to be writing, and for this, i like to decide what my conflict and genre are going to be. Sometimes it's as simple as picking horror, then deciding you like the slasher trope, because you want to write about a killer on the loose. Now you already have your conflict; There's a killer on the loose, and so and so need to escape.
I like to do this by drawing inspiration from other creators; From that book i read yesterday, or that movie i saw, or i just really like this genre.
Once you have your genre, look into its subgenre's. In horror, you have; Slasher, Supernatural, Monster, or Zombie. The conflicts in those are pretty easy to discern, Slasher = Killer on the loose - Supernatural = There's a spooky ghost in here - Monster = There's a spooky monster trying to kill me - Zombie = It's an apocalypse and i need to survive.
Draw Inspiration from other Creators
But it's always okay to draw inspiration from other creators; Junji Ito, for example, has a book called Gyo. Its a horror story about fish growing legs and crawling on land. You can take that concept and create your own horror story about fish growing legs.
Once you have your conflict; There's fish growing legs, coming on land, and eating people. Try to ask yourself; What do i want to tell the reader? What do i want to say in my story?
For example, if i wanted to write a short horror story about fish growing legs, and coming on land, and i decided i wanted to make the reader be more conscious about throwing away plastic. I would probably have a better time writing in the 2nd perspective, because my short story is meant to address the reader, and make them uncomfortable about throwing plastic in the ocean.
Plot Points
Finally, after we've figured out our genre, conflict, and pov. It's time to go back to our plot columns.
I know that when it comes time for me to decide plot points, I'm always at my wits end. I HATE figuring out what i want my plot points to be. I'm awful at figuring out the big changes in my plot, and sadly, i don't really have a solution for that yet. But, all this stuff I'm telling you has made it a lot easier for me to work on this.
First, how do you want to start your story? No, not what scene you want to start on, HOW are you going to start your story? Are you going to start with a monologue? Are you going to start with a description? How about some dialogue? Or a flashback? A departure? A character description?
This can be one of the first things you can write in your beginning section.
For example;
Then, think about what you want to happen next. Write as many plot points in each section as you want, use prompts, or random scenes you've discarded in the past. Fill it up with as many prompts as you're happy with;
When you start writing, start from your first plot point, make a word goal for that specific scene, and write it. When you're finished with that scene, move onto the next plot point, until you've written all of them.
Once you're done writing your major scenes, go back and edit everything so they puzzle together. If you want to add more stuff in between scenes, now you have guidelines on where and how your new scenes should start and end, so you're technically just filling in the blanks.
