Story

How to write a plot for your story

How to write a plot for your story

A great story seizes the attention of the reader, taking them away from reality and into a new world, holding their attention throughout. To  write a good story, you need to have a plot in mind. In a nutshell, plot writing involves laying out your critical moments and key aspects in the right flow. You can make changes to the plot as you move ahead. No plan stays the same throughout the whole writing process. 

You need to keep the following points in mind while writing your story plot:

1. Brainstorm 

   Most people quickly rush to write down 500 things that have no connection or real value to the story to them. You just need one simple concept with a clarity you can develop from. Think a lot, let the ideas come to you and don’t write down the plot in a hurry. You can write down character traits, dialogue, mannerisms and, even start delving into the setting of the story you start getting new ideas.

2. Plot lightly

   Once you have a few ideas, you can start piecing together your plot and decide how you intend the story to entail. At each crucial point in the story, such as characters meeting or even a plot twist.  You can also write notes on the change in the characteristics of the change of both the scene and the individuals in it. Write quite briefly as then it makes it easier to change the order of events in your plan once these ideas have been taken care of.

3. Decide the perspective

   Most short stories use the first-person narrative to allow the reader to have complete omniscience. However, not all stories need to be written in the first person. When you’re just starting, the story should revolve around one main character. This allows consistency and gives the readers time to develop a relationship with the characters and getting immersed in the story. Remember, your reader is the most important person when it comes to writing a short story.

4. Decide a climax for your story

   The key moment to every story is the climax, the moment of peak conflict and/or tension. You can bring in a conflict between characters (e.g. ideological differences in beliefs) or between characters and their environment (e.g. survivor trying to make it safely off a sinking boat). Or you can portray internal conflicts – the wars that rage within your characters – are also useful for building to a high point of tension and uncertainty. You can try and add an element of the mystery until the climax. 

5. Structure

   Your story does not have to be too long, or the reader will lose interest. So check if it’s really too long and you can change the structure and make it shorter! It can be completely chronological and normal, or you can have flashbacks and scene skips, as long as the reader does not become confused by it. 

Now that you know the basics of writing a plot, you can write one and proceed to write your story. You can share your stories with WriteSome’s writer community on the WriteSome app. This will not only help you share it with people genuinely interested in stories but also get readers’ feedback and get better.