By
Lanee’ Blunt
 |
| Writ a plot outline-- Image by Lusi. |
Plotting
your novel doesn’t have to be difficult. Writing from a plot outline will make
your job easier. A lot of writer's don't
want to write from an outline for fear that the novel will sound stale. Having your novel plotted will help you
especially if you have gotten lost and gone off in another direction. Plot is
built on significant events that have important consequences.
Start with an idea
Your
idea must be big enough for a whole novel. You can have a lot of ideas for a
novel but some of them are only fragments of a story and will be difficult to
turn into a novel.
Moving
Your
plot must have a beginning, middle, and an ending. When you are plotting your novel think of the
idea as a vivid opening. Think about a beginning scene and the next scene
after that. What is going to take place in the middle of the novel? What is the
final confrontation or resolution of the novel?
Conflict
Plotting
a novel is putting your protagonist into conflict with another character,
machine, society, or nature. The
conflict will be present throughout the middle of your novel. What is at stake?
Is there something that the character is going to lose? What is the struggle in
the book, and that is the basis of plot? Show and don’t tell, but show in vivid
scenes of what will happen to the characters, and make your readers care about
what happens to them.
Reference:
“Plot”;
Ansen Dibell; 1988
