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A lot of people write by the seat of their pants—that is, they rush headlong into writing a book without any sort of physical outline. That’s okay. Everyone’s writing process is different and if throwing yourself into a story without an outline works for you, there’s nothing wrong with that.
But if you’re ready to consider writing your next novel, or if you’re partway through a book and you’ve suddenly realized it’s full of plot holes and twists without resolutions, or you’ve had someone read your book and they’ve come back to say, “I have no idea what this character’s motivation is,” then perhaps it’s time to get serious about plotting.
What is a plot?
A plot is, in the simplest terms, the sequences of events making up a narrative. Plots are generally built around acts. In Western culture, one-act and three-act stories are the most common, though you might also be familiar with five-acts, especially if you've studied any Shakespeare. In Asia, four-act structures, while other regions and cultures have their own preferred formats.
A three-act plot structure will vary depending on your genre and the type of story you want to tell, but basically it looks like this:
If you want to break things down even more, something like this also works:
If you aren’t sure how to get started with plotting, consider asking yourself a few questions.
Some people think plotting stifles creativity, but I like to think of plotting as being the bones of your novel. Everything else from the characters to the setting to the dialogue is yours—that’s the flesh and blood of your novel. The plot structure simply serves to hold up your novel, so it doesn’t collapse into a gelatinous heap before you even finish writing it.
Why not give it a try today?
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