Six Story Questions

Who are your main characters?

What do they want more than anything else in the world?

Why do they want this?

How are they going to go about getting it?

Who or what is going to try to stop them?

What will happen if they don't get it?

If you can answer these six questions, you'll have a skeleton outline for your story. Everything else will branch out of your responses to these key questions. Once the character's desire and their motivations are nailed down, the "how" and "who is going to stop them?" will generate the plot. 

As a storyteller, it's your job to increase the conflict and raise the stakes until the climax is reached (after which you will provide us with a nice resolution), but each new scene will (or should) point back to the desire and make perfect sense based on the character's motivation. 

Photo by Ibolya Toldi from Pexels

So . . . once the desire and motivation are in play, all you have to do is figure out who or what will work against your character and brainstorm all the various problems they can cause. Once a character is on their "quest," the first part of the story largely consists of them going about getting it in all the wrong ways. As they begin to figure it out (whatever "it" is), the opposition's effort will increase, naturally raising the stakes.  

What are these "wrong ways" and what does the opposition look like?

Now your skeleton outline is starting fill out. . . . 

Be Brilliant!

~Katie~ 

Three Things Readers Want to Know

As a reader works her way through a story, there are three things in particular she wants to know:

1. What is happening in this moment? 

2. What is going to happen next? 

3. How is this going to turn out? 

As a writer, if you know the answer to these questions at any given point in your draft, and the answers are something that will intrigue the reader, then you're moving in the right direction.

Be Brilliant!

~Katie~

On Plot Deviations

Whether you're weaving subplots into your fiction, setting up a problem, or incorporating backstory to provide context, the main plot line of your story should never be too far away.

Your main plot line is what drives the story forward, and any deviation from that line has the potential to stall your reader. And while it seems like the opposite would occur--moving away from the story would build tension and entice the reader to keep reading to find out what's going to happen--when the story shifts, moving away from the key tension, you're giving your reader the perfect opportunity to insert the bookmark, fold the page, change screens, set your book aside.

No matter the "extras" you're weaving into your story, make sure the main line is never more than a scene away. 

Be Brilliant!

~Katie~

Plotting Made Easy (or Easier)

If you know nothing else about your story before you begin, these four elements are essential to getting the plot moving:

A need or want (the bigger the stakes, the more interesting your character will be)

A strong point (i.e. a positive character or personality trait)

A fatal flaw (i.e. a negative trait that could lead to the character's downfall)

A story problem (what the character must overcome to get what they want)

***

I can't take credit for this plotting plan--Mary Kittredge wrote about this in an article called "Hot to Plot! A Plotting "System" That Works."

This system isn't the be-all-end-all to writing a book, though. 

"Sure, you still need crisp dialogue, vivid descriptions, true-to-life characters, and more--because good writing, too, is a necessary element of interesting, salable fiction. But plot's the engine that revs your story up to racing speed," she says. "Plot keeps readers reading and editors buying; it's the solid technical element on which all your other skills must hang."

So . . . . need/want, strong point, fatal flaw, and story problem.

Do some brainstorming. 

Dig deep. 

See what you can come up with, then run with it. 

Be Brilliant!

~Katie~ 

On Outlining--Writing Tip

To outline or not to outline. That is the question.

In novel writing, there are pros and cons to plotting, and pros and cons to pantsing (that is, flying by the seat of your pants--letting the plot surprise you as it emerges).

The best advice I can think of is to do what's right for you and your story at that moment in time. 

But what happens if you're a careful plotter--that is, you have your entire roadmap laid out--and your character suddenly takes a wrong turn? He does or says something completely unexpected--something that changes everything.

Do you let him keep going and "re-route" your path to your intended destination?

Do you make a hard U-turn to get him back on the straight and narrow?

I don't know. 

But I have to believe that the universe drops these little gifts in our laps along the way--that it nudges us in a new, more exciting direction when we least expect it--adding something to our narrative that we never could have envisioned when we began. 

So maybe a happy mix of the two? 

Begin with something like an outline--or at the very least a starting point and intended destination--and let those happy accidents color your story as the universe wills them into existence.   

And--as always--Be Brilliant!

~Katie~

P.S. The newsletter is going out today. If you're not already a subscriber, the link is in the sidebar! -->