Plot is everything that happens in your story. You may have great characters and a beautifully detailed setting, but if the characters aren’t doing anything, there is no story.
Some people claim that characters are the most important thing, and that is true to an extent. If you have superstar characters you might hook readers for a bit, but then your character arcs will fall flat because the characters don’t need to do anything or make hard choices that get the reader to root for them.
Some people claim that setting is the most important aspect of your story. This is also true. Some people love to read about fantastical worlds that are different from our own. They want to learn about the nature, social interactions, cultures, languages, and even economics of this foreign place. Perhaps it has magic or a futuristic technology or maybe we are living in the past.
All of these things are fascinating, but if your character is just exploring this world with no point and wandering aimlessly, your reader is going to get bored too.
I am here to claim that all three super groups—character, setting, and plot—are equally important for a modern audience.
That isn’t to say that some genres are more setting focused or character focused, but your reader definitely expects a plot. And the tighter and more interesting your plot, the more rapt your reader is bound to become.
And don’t forget that you—the author—are making all of this up. Anything can happen that you want. But you must make the reader believe it is not only possible, but have it unfold before their eyes.
What Is Plot Development?
Plot Development Definition
Plot development is the creation of a sequence of events that is the spine of your story. Some people might call this outlining, but outlining can be too formal for some authors.
Plot development is more generally, just asking yourself, “What happens next?” or “How did this happen? Why did this happen?” if you are working backwards.
Plot Development Meaning
The plot of a story isn’t going to make itself. The author has many tools at their disposal to discover or create the plot of a story. Perhaps you are influenced by another story, but you were unhappy with the way things went and you ask yourself, “What if…?”
Or maybe you talk to your characters and discover what they need to do? Or you hear and see them interacting and playing out moments of the story like a movie. Sometimes the characters lead the plot—at least in the first draft.
Plot is the way in which your characters explore the theme or heart of your story. You can explore themes of justice, love, advancement of technology, war, obsession, empathy, or morals.
There are so many themes that are possible. You need to decide what the heart of this particular story will be in order to develop an appropriate plot.
The Importance of Plot Development in a Story
Character Arc
Plot development creates choices for your character to make, pushing them to change or repeat the same mistakes and deal with the consequences.
Since you don’t want the character to fully change until the end of the story, they will choose to do things wrong or make decisions that lead to more problems earlier in the story. This will show the reader how they slowly come to understand their underlying character flaw and change their misbelief.
Genre
In certain genres, the plot is part of the reader’s expectations. In a romance it is expected that the characters will end up together after overcoming internal and external threats to their relationship. In horror, the readers will be frightened by a monster—human or otherwise threatening the lives of the characters and how they get away…or don’t.
In an action story the good guys defeat the bad guys and save the world. In a mystery the reader follows the sleuth as they discover clues and solve the puzzle. The reader expects certain things to happen and those are your genre expected scenes that build the plot.
Reader Trust
Filling in plot holes by working through and developing your plot builds trust with your reader. By the time they finish your book, the reader should feel like they understood your story from start to finish. Readers should also be left with a sense of satisfaction at the end.
Even if they are upset or depressed because there was a negative or bittersweet ending, readers aren’t left scratching their heads in confusion or throwing the book across the room because you never fulfilled your story promise.
Plot Development Steps
Genre
Decide what kind of story you want to tell. Earlier I mentioned that there are specific expected scenes in certain genres, and some have expected climaxes as well. For example, romance should end on a “happily ever after,” or at least a “happy for now.”
Mystery should end with the mystery being solved, the killer being named, or the stolen object returned. The story of a quest should finish when the quest is accomplished, or at least partially completed.
There are also smaller scenes that make a story be part of a genre. Things like “lessons from the mentor,” “the meet cute,” “the villain monologue,” or “interviewing suspects.”
Structure
Once you have decided what genre/s of story you are telling, then you can consider structure. There are many different types to choose from.
The most common in the west is the three-act structure. You can think of it as loosely as a beginning, middle, and end. There are also two-act and four-act structures.
There are more in depth structures with several beats laid out such as Save the Cat, Freyteg’s Pyramid, Hero’s Journey, James Scott Bell’s fourteen-point structure, and many more.
Fictionary also offers a universal outline and specific genre outlines within the StoryTeller software. A little research can help you decide what works best for your writing style and the genre of story you are telling.
*A note on structure: Some people are pantsers and deciding on a structure ahead of time doesn’t work for them. That’s fine. However, structure must be considered either before writing, during writing, or in the editing phase after writing.
Sticky Notes
Start by using sticky notes or note cards, something where you can write down the events that you know are going to happen in the story and it allows you to move them around.
You can also write in the Fictionary StoryTeller software as it has a feature that allows you to drag and drop scenes.
Your five story arc scenes are the immovable ones that must happen at certain percentages, but everything else can flow around them.
And focus on choosing scene events that are directly related to your plot. This will create cohesion of the story. Even subplots are there to highlight the main plot by helping or hindering the protagonist from achieving their goal.
If they are friends with someone who betrays them, that will be an obstacle to the story goal. If they have a subplot about becoming a great painter, that skill should play a role in helping them in the climax. It is up to you to choose the best subplots for your story.
Some major subplots are romance, mystery, fantasy, and learning a skill. Consider using a different color of paper or pen to represent the subplots. This will allow you to see visually how the subplot can be woven into the main plot. And if you choose your subplots carefully, you’ll know they are intricately tied to the main plot.
Subplots can also be tracked on the Fictionary StoryTeller software by using the scene name feature. In addition to the actual scene name, add in which story arc scene it is for which plot (I capitalize this part and put it first so my eyes are easily drawn to it in the list).
Then you can visually see how well they are spaced by using the quick update button on the story arc visualization page to change the story arc scenes.
Using sticky notes or note cards also allows you to play around with nonlinear timelines. See how the story goes when you put the scenes in a different order. Chronological isn’t always the best way to tell a story with the highest stakes.
One of my favorite movies is Momento. Because the main character cannot make new memories, he doesn’t know what has happened previously, he only lives in the present. To bring the audience into his world, they are shown a series of events in backwards order. Each scene starts out when his memory resets and he is trying to figure out what just happened and what he is supposed to be doing.
Once you have a good layout, you can try writing an outline. Outlines can be as simple or as detailed as you want. It is just a tool to build a strong story plot.
Page Turner
Each scene in your story is an event. During the event of “what happens” in your scene, your point of view character will have to make a decision. These events can be brainstormed at the note-taking, outlining, writing, or editing stage depending on what works for you.
And whatever decision your character makes is going to lead to consequences. Those consequences are going to lead to an event happening in the next scene, which will cause your character to have to make a decision, which will have consequences…Yes, this is the song that never ends, if you’re wondering.
Can you see how your plot is like an engine that will keep your characters and reader going forward until the end to find out what happens?
It is important to know the “what” that happens in each scene, but you don’t need to know the how or why or get into nitty gritty details. Just a basic, “She finds the dog.” or “They have an argument.” Keep it simple.
Captivate
To keep things interesting you want to avoid cliche plots. Try thinking outside of the box. Maybe make lists of the possible goals that will help your character in the climax and pick the most unique ones. Then do the same thing for what they do to achieve those goals…or fail. Space out turning points or reversals to keep the reader engaged.
Usually you want to make things as difficult for your characters as possible. Starting off with the Inciting Incident. This is something that shakes up your protagonist’s ordinary world.
Some ball of chaos comes flying in and bounces like a pinball off your character, changing their world forever. Whether it be a death, loss of job, meeting someone new, a missing object, a letter, or whatever else you can think of.
After the inciting incident, and every plot point scene, your protagonist should have a scene where they react to the wild thing that just happened. Major changes in our lives require a path realignment. Even small setbacks or successes might take a moment of recovery and planning the next step. The same is true for your character.
Plot point one is where they stop floating around and reluctantly accept the story goal—not that the protagonist cares about it or is thrilled about being on this journey.
Keep your reader on their toes by having your protagonist achieve some goals and fail at others. Whether they achieve or fail the goal it will cause something else to happen to them or they will discover something else they didn’t know that makes things worse.
Some writers refer to this as “Yes…but,” “Yes…and,” “No…but” or “No…and.” Some call it cause and effect and some call it rising action. Whatever happens, the consequences are no good. But your protagonist keeps attempting goal after goal, usually in the most reluctant or reactive manner in the first part of the book.
It isn’t until the middle plot point that they realize they really want the goal and will do anything to get it, but change—the one thing they need to do. The protagonist goes about everything the wrong way and the world seems against them in this second half of the book as external pressures build.
Everything comes to a head when the protagonist causes everything to go bad and they are now the furthest from getting their story goal. This is the “All is lost” moment. But it teaches them something important.
They may discover a final clue here, but they also usually have a revelation. A lightbulb goes off and they realize that they must change in order to achieve their goal.
Now your protagonist is on track, like a snowball headed down hill, there is no stopping them as they build up momentum towards the story goal. Until—BAM!—they come face to face with that story goal.
They may succeed, win with a cost, or lose, but the protagonist is forever changed and so is the reader. Another way to look at the possible endings are wins and all’s right with the world, wins but it has made things worse, loses but it is for the best, loses and now things are worse than before.
Generally if the external plot fails, the internal character arc succeeds or vice versa, this creates that bitter-sweet ending.
The resolution is the tying up of all the loose ends of subplots and the reaction to how the climax changed the protagonist’s world. This section can be referred to as the falling action and is just as important to the plot and reader experience as every other part of the story.
Plot Elements
Fictionary StoryTeller breaks the plot tab into sixteen elements. Each of these should be addressed when it comes to making sure you have a tight, well-developed plot.
The scene name is basically the “what” that is happening in the scene. So if you name your scene, “Murder and cover-up” you know exactly what should be going on in that scene. It is best if you can name it in three words or less to show that the scene is, or will be, focused.
What is the purpose of the scene? Is it one of your story arc scenes? Does it give a clue to the mystery? Does it increase conflict or suspense? Does it introduce or show character development? Scenes should do multiple things, but what is the focus?
Opening and closing types can prepare the reader for what the scene will be like. If you open the scene with action, the reader gears up for an action packed scene. If you start with a description, then the reader will immerse themselves in the tone of the scene and how the point of view (pov) character is feeling.
Anchoring in pov, time, and setting makes it clear to the reader where they are in the story whether they just finished the previous scene or set your book down for months. Confused readers tend to skip to the end or do not finish (DNF) books.
To keep the pacing and momentum of your story strong, make sure each scene has compelling entry and exit hooks. These are questions that bait your reader—like a fish—to keep reading into your scene or flip the page to the next scene or chapter. It could be as simple as how your pov character plans to finish their homework with a broken pencil to having them hanging off a cliff. Get it. Cliffhanger?
Tension is the threat of something bad happening and conflict is something bad happening. Tension could be a possible storm as the wind picks up and clouds gather to the conflict of the actual storm breaking loose with lightning frying your doorbell. These elements should start small and build throughout the story.
Depending on genre, revelation could be a realization about one of the rules of life or an actual clue to a mystery. These revelations are imperative for the climax.
Something you may or may not include when initially plotting your story but which explains your characters motivations for the choices they make in the plot, is backstory. Backstory sets the stage for your character’s internal flaw and leads the reader to believing their poor decisions.
Flashbacks perform the same duties as backstory, but are told in an active form. They are generally a scene within the scene, but may be very short. As long as the reader experiences the past through the pov character’s point of view it is a flashback.
A scene is like a small story within your story. Each scene should also have a beginning, a middle, and an end. The scene middle should occur around 50% through your scene and change the direction of the scene. The pov character will learn something, meet someone, or make a choice that helps or hinders them from achieving their scene goal.
The scene climax occurs between 90% or at the end of your scene and answers the scene pov goal. Do they or don’t they succeed? And how did things get worse for your protagonist?
The pacing of your story is affected by many elements, but one of the most obvious is how many action scenes and sequel scenes you have and how many are in a row compared to one another. A sequel is when the pov character takes time to react to the events of a previous scene by emotionally decompressing, thinking through the consequences, or creating a new plan.
All stories need sequel scenes to give your reader a breather. The more character focused your genre (romance, young adult, literary) the more sequel scenes there will be as the story is more about character growth. The more action packed your genre (thriller, action, mystery) the fewer sequel scenes there will be.
Reader knowledge gained is when things have happened in the story that the reader knows and the pov character or protagonist doesn’t.
It could be because you have a multiple pov book, so the reader can know or interpret things that are happening in the scene differently than the character. Or the reader just understands from other hints that the pov character is misinterpreting the events or behaviors of the other characters.
Utilizing these scene elements as you are plotting your story and scenes will make the first draft stronger. However, if you’ve already written and you are going back during the editing phase to check that you have a strong plot and it is well-developed, these elements will still help you do that.
Plot Development Tips
- The beginning of the story should hook the reader, while introducing your setting and characters and foreshadowing the plot.
- The character’s goals and motivations are key to understanding and driving the plot forward. Their desperate desire is what creates the fire for your story plot.
- Their flaw is the greatest internal conflict to the story, but often there is also a major external conflict. Brainstorm what that could be…perhaps a corporate entity that cares more about making money than people?
- The best stories have internal and external conflict. So, if a character’s internal goal is to help someone, then there should be an external goal that is in direct conflict, like she must get to her interview on time. This creates lots of tension as the reader wonders how she can achieve both goals, or which she will choose, and what the outcome of that choice will be. Some call this a “bad, worse, or worst choice.”
- The middle can be the hardest part to write because it is half of your story. Tips to help the middle be just as interesting are to remember that switch from reactive to proactive. That creates a change in the pacing that already helps spice things up. Introduce a false victory or false defeat. This can add a lot of drama to the middle. Introduce external conflicts in the second half that are really trying to keep the protagonist from the goal they now desperately want. Introduce a new character (be careful about this one and try to do it right around the middle plot point) as characters should generally be introduced in ACT 1. This person must be vital to the story. Or introduce a new setting. Often portal fantasies will have the change into the new world here or perhaps the characters finally get into a place they have been trying to.