Hi! I was just wondering, what's the best way to make/write out a plot?

Guide: How to Outline a Plot

The best way to write out a plot isn’t the same for everyone, and sometimes it’s even different from story to story. There are lots of different methods, and most writers use a combination of them, so you just have to try different things to see what works best for you. Here are some of the most common methods:

1. Just Write

Some writers are what’s known as “pansters” meaning that once they have a story idea in mind, they prefer to “fly by the seat of their pants” and start writing without any planning in place. The key to making this method work is to remember that you’re only writing the first draft. Nothing you’re doing is set in stone, so don’t feel the story has to be perfect in one shot. Follow your gut and write the story to the best of your ability. Worry about tightening and polishing in subsequent drafts.

2. Synopsis

Some writers prefer to start by writing beginning to end summary of the story, describing all the important details and events in the order that they unfold. Summaries can be a great way to flesh out an idea for a plot, and they can also serve as a nice guideline if you want to “just write” your story but need a bit more structure first.

3. Old-Fashioned Outline

Do they still teach outlining in school? I don’t even know… when I was a kid, we learned how to do outlines with Roman numerals for the main points, capital letters for the minor points, and numbers for sub-points. If you’re good at outlining, this can be a great way to outline your plot.

4. Timeline

Creating a timeline for your story can be a great way to map it out. All you need is a beginning event, climax event, and end event. From there you can start filling in the events that follow and precede those events. Even if you don’t know the exact date for when a scene takes place, you can still mark it down in the right general place.

5. Scene List

If you have a pretty good idea of the scenes that need to take place, or at least a good number of them, you can start by writing out a scene list. It’s nice to do them in a table if you can so you can organize important details, like chapter, scene number, date and location, who’s in it, and then a short summary. Though, how you organize it is up to you. If you prefer, you can just write the scene number and then a brief summary.

6. Story Structure Map

Some writers like to map out their story according to whatever story structure they want to follow. They’ll pull up a graphic or chart of the structure, transcribe it onto paper or into a document, and then note each relevant event for each structure “mile marker.”

7. Subway/Tube Map

This is a new one I recently heard about. I haven’t had a chance to try it yet, but I think it’s fascinating. And there are even subway map creators you can use if you don’t want to draw it out. Ultimately, the goal is to map out the events of your story in the style of a subway/tube map. This method makes it easy to illustrate subplots and see how they relate to the rest of your story.

8. The Mind Map

Mind maps can be a fantastic way to get the most important parts of your story out on paper, and to start figuring out where other parts fit in and how they relate to everything else.

9. Index Cards

Some writers have luck writing out key scenes, moments, bits of dialogue (or anything else they have in mind) on individual index cards, which can then be laid out in order on a table, allowing for cards to be easily moved around, added, subtracted, etc. until a more complete story starts to emerge. Some writers even invest in giant cork boards for this purpose. Others use a dry erase board and draw out the “cards” instead. A lot of story writing software, such as Scrivener, even includes digital bulletin boards and index cards that you can use to visualize your story.

10. Method/Theory/Template

There are numerous methods/theories/templates dedicated to building/fleshing out plots. Some to look into:

- The Snowflake Method- Dramatica Theory- Save the Cat! for Novels- The Hero’s Journey

If one of the above doesn’t work for you, you’re sure to find even more ideas online. Try doing a search for “how to outline a plot” or “outlining a novel” to see what comes up. You might even try searching for your favorite author’s name plus “outlining” to see if they’ve done any posts sharing their own methods. You may also want to look into books, software, and apps/web sites that offer ways to help you plot your story.

Good luck!

Hi, I have a question, how do I stop being so attached to my characters? It's gotten to the point of me trying to write an emotional scene and it taking an hour for me to get one paragraph out. I stop a lot and think how it would look and also really get into it and it's even harder for me to write since I barely do any of it and mostly just worldbuild. I want to be able to write the stuff in my head, but my body just can't and it drains me a lot. How do I get over that?

The thing is, that exhaustion is completely normal, especially when you’re writing a particularly emotional scene or overall story. I completely understand the pain and frustration of only being able to get out one good paragraph a day, but if you’re struggling with getting a zero or first draft done, it’s because you’re simply trying too hard to make it presentable. If you’re still doing a lot of writing, it’s not in a phase where you need to be worried about how good it’s coming out on the first try. Just get the words out and worry about the quality later.

For you, it sounds like you’re also the kind of person who instead of moving forward, re-reads over and over and fixes tiny things that aren’t worth the trouble at that point. I challenge you to write 500 words without looking back at what you’ve got. Just keep typing. Don’t stop, turn off the correction suggestions, and just keep writing. You’ll never get a draft out if you don’t just keep writing. 

I know that a lot of writers, including yourself perhaps, get so wrapped up in writing things exactly how they’re appearing in their head, but that’s not what the draft process is for. You already have the images in your head, so zoom in on them later. Just get the basic idea out and add the details once the bones of the stories are there for you to stick the flesh on. 

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Sooooooo? What do you think the todobaku love child would look like? Or a fusion? I'm curious ovo

Well, jumping into the bandwagon where @minibuddy drew TodoBaku love child on Twitter 😭😭 Their love child looks so cute!!! I wanna draw him too! /SCREAMS