Plots: Creating a Solid and Unique Plot

29Mar08

This is the sixth post in the Writing Series. To learn more about the series see this post.

Sometimes things hit me well after they should have. I’ve talked about characters and outlining your story, and I’ve even gone over writer’s block, but I haven’t discussed plots. You have to have a plot to a story before you can decide what your characters are going to be like and way before you start outlining a story, how else will you know what you should be outlining? So my bad, but I’ll correct the mistake now and push this article post up.

First things first a definition of what a plot is, this one is relatively simple, it’s the plan of a story or the main point of said story. Every story has a plot, but not every plot is worth a story. The goal of this article is to help you realize not only what a solid plot is but also what a good and unique plot is. Creating a unique plot is easier said than done, but just like combating cliché characters, it can be done.

Unique Plots

As I’ve said before, everyone has to understand that in this day and age almost every type of idea has been done to some extent. If you don’t believe me, think about all the movies you’ve seen in the last five years. I bet you five bucks that the ones you can think of all have similar plots. And the same can be said about the stories you’ve read. As you know I’m a member of Fictionpress, and on random some of the stories that I can come across in one sitting usually have the same problem. They all have similar plots. Focusing on just romance, since I am a romance writer, I usually find stories that have the teen girl who isn’t popular at school but still manages to hook the popular boy. This is what I like to call the Cinderella Plot Stories, everyone knows that bedtime story, poor abused girl gets a wish from her fairy godmother and poof she’s awesome and gets to go to the ball. She ends up catching the Prince’s eye and he won’t stop until he has her. Usually these stories can be identified by their clichéd characters, the unpopular girls is most often a bookworm and a smart mouth and the popular boy is most likely a jerk in public but he’s really a sweetheart in private. There’s even a mirror plot to these, where the man is unpopular and the girl still falls for him, I call them Malerella Plot Stories. You also have the Knight in Shining Armor Plot Stories, Girl Kicking Ass Plot Stories, Emotastic Plot Stories (these include stories where one of the characters is a moody loner, or the character has had major tragedy in their young lives, and the generally depressing stories of teen angst.). Not to mention the Finding Love with Best friend Plot Stories, and Caterpillar turning into Butterfly/ Rising Phoenix Plot (stories including a main character going through some form of change be it physical or emotional). I know someone is out there saying why she picking on teen based stories. I’m not, honest, because these plots show up the most in college aged and up writings and not just romance novels. The problem is that no matter what type of story you find and can think up, you can usually place it in one of these groups.

So how can you create a unique plot? Simple know that you are going to fall into one of these groups, so from the outset don’t try to over think it. If you do that, then you get to complicated and the story is doomed to fail. If you have an overly complicated story no one is going to be able to follow it, and thus you alienate your readers, the very people who you should be thinking of (in some part) when you write. Focus on one plot, I can’t tell you how many stories I’ve read over the last month, where there were several sub plots happening in one story. Some stories need it, but if they are all half thought out stories then you’ve done nothing more than confused me. If you focus in on one plot, you are more likely to develop that plot fully. Don’t be afraid to mix and match from the groups listed above. If you do that don’t do it in the normal way, have a Malerella and Fall in Love with Best Friend Plot Story or a Caterpillar turning into Butterfly and Girl Kicking Ass Plot story. And to help it even more stay away from clichéd stories, work on your character developments as well.

If you really want to do a story from one of the groups then try basing it on personal experiences, everyone has personal experiences that are different from every in the world. Don’t be afraid to tap into that.

Solid Plots

You’ve brainstormed for days (or maybe hours) and you’ve come up with one unique plot, now what? Before you start outlining and ultimately writing your story, take the time to develop the plot so that it’s solid and you know what it is. I know I’ve said this before but I like to make plot summaries. What this entails is that I summarize the whole story in one to two pages. I always limit myself to no more than two pages. This forces me to really summarize it, not start writing the start. If you were around when I was doing the poll for Which Short Story Should I Start Next, you would have seen edited summaries for the three short stories. I just glance over the main points of the story, leaving out as much details as I can. But it reads like a summary, it’s not a collection of topic sentences that kind of relate. I do it this way so I can come back, look at it, and know what I was thinking. In truth, I use a two step system, but you can skip the first part, which is writing down the topic sentences like a list. For example, Girl(1) goes to party, Girl(1) meets Guy(1) at said party, Guy(1) hits on Girl(1), Girl(1) goes home with Guy(1), Guy(1) meets Girl(2), Girl(2) falls for Guy(1), etc. Then once I’ve gotten that part done I go into the full summary part. I keep both parts for future reference. Like I said you don’t have to do the first part, but skipping both parts is hazardous to your writing. Doing the summaries help me find holes in my plots. If I can’t write the summary completely then I know at some point something isn’t going to work when I start writing the story. Since I’ve been doing this two part system I’ve yet to come to a standstill in my writings. I didn’t use this system for any of my Big Three, which is why I think I’ve come to so many blocks on them. And this also explains, in my opinion why there are so many missing scenes in Jade. Now that there is only the Big Two left and I’m not doing updates, I can go back and work on the plots.

How will you know if you have a solid plot? If you can write the summary without stopping because you don’t know what happens next, then you’ve got a solid plot. Another test is to let someone read it and see how he or she reacts. If they come up with questions about the plot, as if something doesn’t makes sense then take another look at it. HOWEVER, you aren’t changing you plot to suit them; you are just filling in holes. Make sure you (and them) understand this. You’re not asking if they like it but if it makes sense and they can follow the story. If you take another look, fix it to the point that you like and they still have questions, make sure it’s not in the details that they are questioning. Because you’re leaving out a lot of details because these can change as you start planning and writing, but the plot should (most likely) stay the same.

In summary, take the time to do your research and brainstorming to come up with a unique plot. If you still want to go with something that’s been done to death, go for it. As I always say, it’s your story, if you think you can give a new life to an old favorite, well then by all means go for it. I myself have many clichéd plots, but my goal is to put some sort of unconventional twist to it. After coming up with your unique plot, hammer out the details (sort of speak) so that you have the most solid plot you can get before delving into the actual story. Whether you use my preferred two-step system or split the system into two separate parts and using only one, you’re bound to be happy come the next steps, Character Development.

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Tags: My Thoughts, Plots