A common misconception is that Plot is the order of events in a story. In fact, the order in which events are unfolded for the reader or audience can be quite different from the order in which they happen to the characters.
Plot, then, is really that internal progression of events, while the reader/audience order is more precisely referred to as Exposition.
For an author, it is important to separate the two. Otherwise it is too easy to overlook a missing step in the logical progression of the story because the steps were put out of order in Exposition.
On the other hand, trying to separate the internal logic of the story from the Exposition order really inhibits the creative muse. When working out a story, many authors like to envision the finished work including the Exposition. This gives the best impression of how the story will feel to the audience.
So the key is to first create your plot as it will appear in the finished story. Once you have a handle on it, that is the time to put the plot in Character Order to see if there are any missing pieces.
If there are, fill in the logical gaps, then “re-assemble” the plot back into the order in which you wanted to unfold it for the audience, making sure to add the new gap-filling plot pieces into your exposition as well.
Using this system, you will ensure that everything that happens in your story is not only interestingly revealed, but also makes an unbroken chain of sense.
A goal is what the characters chase, but what chases the characters? Answer: the Consequences. Consequences double the dramatic tension in a story by providing a negative result if the goal is not achieved.
Consequences may be emotional or logistic, but the more intense they are, the greater the tension.Often they provide greater depth if there are emotional consequences when there is an external goal, and external consequences if there is an emotional goal.
Your story might be about avoiding the consequences or it might begin with the consequences already in place, and the goal is intended to end them.
If the consequences are intense enough, they can help provide motivation for characters who have no specific personal goals.
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Here’s some text I wrote about the difference between an action-driven story and a decision-driven story, excerpted from Dramatica Story Development Software.
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Some stories are driven by actions. Others are forced along by decisions. All stories have some degree of both. This question determines which one “triggers” the other, but does not determine the ratio between the two.
If actions that occur in your story determine the types of decisions that need to be made, choose Action. If decisions or deliberations that happen in your story precipitate the actions that follow, choose Decision.
THEORY: Action or Decision describes how the story is driven forward. The question is: Do Actions precipitate Decisions or vice versa?
Every story revolves around a central issue, but that central issue only becomes a problem when an action or a decision sets events into motion. If an action gets things going, then many decisions may follow in response. If a decision kicks things off, then many actions may follow until that decision has been accommodated.
The Action/Decision relationship will repeat throughout the story. In an Action story, decisions will seem to resolve the problem until another action gets things going again. Decision stories work the same way. Actions will get everything in line until another decision breaks it all up again.
Similarly, at the end of a story there will be an essential need for an action to be taken or a decision to be made. Both will occur, but one of them will be the roadblock that must be removed in order to enable the other.
Whether Actions or Decisions move your story forward, the Story Driver will be seen in the instigating and concluding events, forming bookends around the dramatics.
USAGE: The choice of Driver does not have to reflect the nature of the Main Character. In fact, some very interesting dramatic potentials can be created when the Story Driver and the Main Character Approach do not match.
For example, a Main Character who is a Do-er forced to handle a decision-type problem would find himself at a loss for the experience and tools he needs to do the job. Similarly, a deliberating Main Character who is a Be-er would find himself whipped into a turmoil if forced to resolve a problem requiring action. These mixed stories appear everywhere from tragedy to comedy and can add an extra dimension to an otherwise one-sided argument.
Do Actions precipitate Decisions, or do Decisions precipitate Actions? Since a story has both, it is really an issue of which comes first: chicken or egg? In the context of a single story, there is a real answer to this question. As an author, you can decide which it will be.
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The achievement of (or failure to achieve) the goal is an important but short moment at the end of a story. So how is interest maintained over the course of the story? By the progress of the quest toward the goal. This progress is measured by how many of the requirements have been met and how many remain.
Requirements can be specific, such as needing to obtain five lost rubies that fit in the idol and unlock the door to the treasure. Or, they can be nebulous, such as needing to reach three progressive states of enlightenment before the dimensional portal will open.
The important thing is that the requirements are clear enough to be easily understood and “marked off the list” as the story progresses.
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Could you please tell me where can I find some material on western genre plot building.
Let me make it much clearer. I have a character Marshal, A saloon girl, Rancher, Preacher, Blacksmith and bartender along with 4 outlaw gang and 1 leader og the outlaw gang.
What I am trying to find is a story of events that can occur within this small town. Which direction can I take to find some events to get me to page 75.
Darryl
My reply:
Hi, Darryl
Here’s a link to my article, The Creative Two-Step, that uses that example to begin to develop characters in an old Western Town: http://storymind.com/content/41.htm
This technique can also be used equally well for plot events.
The idea is to switch back and forth between analytical mode and creative mode by asking specific questions about your emerging story, then answering them in as many creative ways as you can. Then, you repeat the process by asking questions about each of the answers and then answering THOSE questions. In short order, you end up with hundreds of plot points.
Example:
Question:
How does the Marshall first find out about the gang’s activities?
Answers:
1. The gang rides into town hootin’ and hollarin’
2. He is told about the situation, right after he accepts the job and pins on the badge.
3. He saw a newspaper account of the town’s gang problem and came there on his own to get the job to clean up the gang.
4. The gang sends a telegram to the marshall’s home to let him know they are in town shaking it down.
Okay, that’s the first step – analytical (the first question), followed by the second creative step (all the potential answers).
Then you repeat, asking as many questions as you can think of about each answer. I’ll just do one as an example.
Answer 3: He saw a newspaper account of the town’s gang problem and came there on his own to get the job to clean up the gang.
Questions:
1. Where was he when he saw the newspaper?
2. Has he done this kind of thing before?
3. Why does he want to interfere?
4. What makes him think he is qualified to do anything about the problem?
5. Does he notify the town’s mayor or governing body before he shows up?
Then, you repeat the second “creative” step and provide answers.
Example:
Question 2. Has he done this kind of thing before?
Answers:
1. Yes, he is independently wealthy and does this all the time as a hobby.
2. Yes, one time. His family was killed when he was a child and in his first adventure, he read a newspaper account of a child who was made an orphan due to a gang’s violence in a town in the East. He brought the gang to justice and found a foster home for the child. It was so fulfilling, his ordinary job has been miserable since, and this new article has made him realize he needs to step forward to give his live meaning.
I could go on and on, but you get the idea.
Now, through this exercise, what events have we created for our story? Perhaps these:
1. A scene showing the Marshall as a young boy when his family was killed (by who and how and where can all be figured out using the Creative Two-Step).
2. A scene showing the Marshall see the first article and decide to get involved.
3. Several scene, perhaps in a montage or in a scrapbook of how that first adventure went.
4. A scene of him encountering this new newspaper article and how it affects him.
5. A scene of him quitting his job (how much he needs the money, what kind of job, and so on can be created using the two-step)
6. A scene of him arriving at the town.
7. How he gets the job (again, use the two-step to come up with ideas for this)
8. His first encounter with the gang (casual, antagonistic, high or low tension, anybody get hurt?, did the gang know he was the Marshall when they first encounter?)
Okay, again, I could go on and on and so could you. Just use the ol’ two-step method and then stand back, see all the ideas you’ve generated and create a plot sequence from all the notions like I just did above.
The details in each scene can be created using the very same method, once you have the main plot line sequence.
Some novice writers become so wrapped up in interesting events and bits of action that they forget to have a central unifying goal that gives purpose to all the other events that take place. This creates a plot without a core.
But determining your story’s goal can be difficult, especially if your story is character oriented, and not really about a Grand Quest.
For example, in the movie “Four Weddings and a Funeral,” all the characters are struggling with their relationships and not working toward an apparent common purpose. There is a goal, however, and it is to find happiness in a relationship.
This type of goal is called a “Collective Goal” since it is not about trying to achieve the same thing, but the same KIND of thing.
So don’t try to force some external, singular purpose on your story if it isn’t appropriate. But do find the common purpose in which all your characters share a critical interest.
Your story’s genre is its overall personality. As with the people that you meet, first impressions are very important. In act one, you introduce your story to your reader/audience. The selection of elements you choose to initially employ will set the mood for all that follows. They can also be misleading, and you can use this to your advantage.
You may be working with a standard genre, or trying something new. But it often helps involve your reader/audience if you start with the familiar. In this way, those experiencing your story are eased out of the real world and into the one you have constructed. So, in the first act, you many want to establish a few touch points the reader/audience can hang its hat on.
As we get to know people a little better, our initial impression of the “type” of person they are begins to slowly alter, making them a little more of an individual and a little less of a stereotype. To this end, as the first act progresses, you may want to hint at a few attributes or elements of your story’s personality that begin to drift from the norm.
By the end of the first act, you should have dropped enough elements to give your story a general personality type and also to indicate that a deeper personality waits to be revealed.
As a side note, this deeper personality may in fact be the true personality of your story, hidden behind the first impressions.
While the structural nature of a story’s goal is crucial to developing a plot that makes sense, the storytelling manner in which the goal is revealed can determine whether a plot seems clever or pedestrian. In this tip, we’ll explore the impact of some of the key methods of revealing your goal.
Sometimes the goal is spelled out right at the beginning, such as a meeting in which a General tells a special strike unit that a senator’s daughter has been kidnapped by terrorists and they must rescue her.
Other times, the goal is hidden behind an apparent goal. So, if your story had used the scene described above, it might turn out that was really just a cover story and in fact, the supposed “daughter” was actually an agent who was assigned to identify and kill a double agent working in the strike team.
Goals may also be revealed slowly, such as in “The Godfather,” where it takes the entire film to realize the goal is to keep the family alive by replacing the aging Don with a younger member of the family.
Further, in “The Godfather,” as in many Alfred Hitchcock films, the goal is not nearly as important as the chase or the inside information or the thematic atmosphere. So don’t feel obligated to elevate every story point to the same level.
As long as each key story point is there in some way, to some degree of importance, there will be no story hole. You may still have a lot of interest in that story point, however. A character’s personal goal, for example, may touch on an issue that you want to explore in greater detail.
When this is the case, let your imagination run wild. Jot down as many instances as come to mind in which the particular plot point comes into play. Such events, moments, or scenarios enrich a story and add passion to a perfunctory telling of the tale.
One of the best ways to do this is to consider how each plot point might affect other plot points, and other story points pertaining to characters, theme, and genre.
For example, each character sees the overall goal as a step in helping them accomplish their personal goals. So, why not create a scenario where a character wistfully describes his personal goal to another character while sitting around a campfire? He can explain how achievement of the overall story goal will help him get what he personally wants.
An example of this is in the John Wayne classic movie, “The Searchers.” John Wayne’s character asks an old, mentally slow friend to help search for the missing girl. Finding the girl is the overall goal. The friend has a personal goal – he tells Wayne that he just wants a roof over his head and a rocking chair by the fire. This character sees his participation in the effort to achieve the goal as the means of obtaining something he has personally longed for.
And how does your story goal exemplify or affect the moral message of your story as part of the theme? When you see the story goal mentioned in your story synopsis, see if you can incorporate aspects of theme, and when you see theme, try to add a reference to the goal.
In Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain has the boy cooking up some food for Tom Sawyer. He puts all the vegetables and meat in the same pan and explain that his pop taught him that food is better when the flavors all “swap around” a bit. The same is true for stories. Don’t just speak about goal, speak about goal in reference to as many other story points as you can.
A story without a clear indication of success or failure is a failure of a story. You need to work out exactly how your readers will know the goal is achieved or not.
This might seem obvious in an action story, but may be much more difficult in a story about character growth.
Success and Failure don’t have to be binary choices; they can be matters of degree. For example, the effort to bring back a treasure may fail, but the adventurers discover one large ruby that fell into their pack. Or, someone seeking true love might find love but with someone who is rather annoying.
Whether either of these examples is a partial success or a partial failure depends largely on how you portray the characters’ attitudes to the imperfect achievement.
In this step, state whether your story ends in success or failure, and how that is measured.
A goal is what the characters chase, but what chases the characters? The consequence doubles the dramatic tension in a story by providing a negative result if the goal is not achieved.
Consequences may be emotional or logistic, but the more intense they are, the greater the tension. Often it provides greater depth if there are emotional consequences when there is an external goal, and external consequences if there is an emotional goal.
Your novel might be about avoiding the consequences or it might begin with the consequences already in place, and the goal is intended to end them.
If the consequences are intense enough, it can help provide motivation for characters that have no specific personal goals.
In this step, describe the consequences that will occur if the characters in your story fail to achieve the story’s goal.
A goal is what the characters chase, but what chases the characters?
The achievement of (or failure to achieve) the goal is an important but short moment at the end of a story. So how is interest maintained over the course of the story? By the progress of the quest toward the goal. This progress is measured by how many of the requirements have been met and how many remain.
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