Writing Tips:
Plot

Randa Abdel-Fattah offers tips on: Plot

Each author will offer different advice. I’m not overly concerned when I don’t know the precise beginning, middle and end to my stories. The most important advice I can offer is that you need to work out what suits you. Do you need to know every twist and turn, where the book will end, exactly who the protagonist will meet, the climaxes? If so, then spend your time first working out a detailed plan and map out your story. Pay attention to the number and timing of your climaxes. Too many can clutter a story. Too few is a sure sign the reader won’t make it to the last page.
If you find that you can write without a detailed plan, you will still need a skeleton of a plot for your story. I have found that it helps to write a synopsis before you start your book, setting out who the main characters are, the basic plot outline of the story, my intended audience. This helps focus my mind and points me in the right direction even though I may not know exactly what twists and turns I will take along the way.
One you have done this, start writing. You will be surprised how quickly the plot takes on a life of its own.

Sherry Ashworth offers tips on: Plot

Have an idea of where you’re going, but be flexible – you can always change your plot if you need to – you’re the one in control. Always have a destination in mind – no one ever sets out on a journey without knowing where they’re going. Good stories have beginnings, middles and ends – only not necessarily in that order.

Paul Bajoria offers tips on: Plot

You probably have a good idea of what happens in the end - but I try not to make too rigid a 'plan' for my books before I start. Unexpected things always happen while you're writing, and you have to be able to adapt your story all the time to let new ideas in.

Malorie Blackman offers tips on: Plot

Different writers have different ways of working but I find it useful to work out the beginning, middle and end of my plots using very broad brush strokes. That way, I don't run out of steam in the middle. Basically, things always have to get worse in the middle before they get better. It's like painting yourself into a corner in the middle of the book and the last third of the book is how you do or don't get out of that.

Tim Bowler offers tips on: Plot

I don't believe in too much plotting beforehand. If you're a planner by nature, then by all means devise a plot first. But if you're like me and don't like to be nailed down to a pre-planned structure, then it's fine just to dive into the story and see where your imagination takes you.

Cathy Cassidy offers tips on: Plot

I never plan my plots on paper, they just unfold slowly in my head, evolving from the characters. I know a plot has to hold the readers attention – they have to care what happens! In my books, something dramatic usually happens near the end, that brings everything to a head… but even that is not a deliberate tactic, it’s just the way the ‘daydream’ unfolds!!!

Anne Cassidy offers tips on: Plot

This depends on the kind of book you're writing. At the centre of most stories is a character who wants something and who is thwarted.
Cindy wants to be the best at school. Something happens to stop her. She fights it. She becomes best (or not).
You must decide what the situation is before you start. You don't always have to know exactly what's going to happen.

Narinder Dhami offers tips on: Plot

When you hear readers say that a book is 'boring', what that usually means is that there's not much action, not much going on. People don't HAVE to read books (unless they're at school!), so why would they bother to sit and read something that doesn't have a gripping plot? ……You might find it easiest to work out what's going to happen in your story from start to finish before you begin, although some authors prefer to just write and see what happens. You need a strong beginning, plenty happening in the middle and a satisfying ending.

Berlie Doherty offers tips on: Plot

Again, it depends. But the plot should be fascinating and unusual, so the reader really wants to know what happens next. It should have unexpected twists and turns, so the reader thinks they know what's going to happen and then is surprised by what does. It should have dramatic bits and it should have quiet bits too, and it should lead to an ending that is completely satisfying.

Anne Fine offers tips on: Plot

Some people have these all worked out before they start. I tend to pick my way through, and am often quite surprised by what happens, and how I get my characters in – and out - of quite complicated scenarios I never saw coming. (The last chapters of the book ‘Madame Doubtfire’ are a good example.

Alan Gibbons offers tips on: Plot

I think this is overrated. It isn’t the sequence of events that makes a story; it is the way in which they are related, the way in which they reveal something about the human character. There is no need to be an ultra-tricky or clever, just true. That means emotionally true. It feels right.

Mary Hooper offers tips on: Plot

What happens in your book – the plot – is decided by your main character. Your character moves your plot along.

Anthony Horowitz offers tips on: Plot

Your plot is the locomotive pulling the book. It has to be strong.

Rose Impey offers tips on: Plot

Because my writing is character-led, plot has always come second and hasn't really been my strongest point. I'm trying to work on that which is why I'm spending more time preparing my stories nowadays, working out the plots before I start to write. I think a strong plot is important. However, as a reader myself, I'm always disappointed by stories where the action is exciting but you don't believe in - or care about - the characters. On the other hand it doesn't matter how fascinating the characters are if nothing actually happens. You really need both to make a great story.

Chris Lynch offers tips on: Plot

Yikes, plot! I hate plot—as many reviewers of my books would tell you. It’s not that I think a book shouldn’t go someplace, it’s that I don’t like thinking about it too much in advance. As a matter of fact, if I accumulate too many notes before I start my book, I get a bit depressed. That kills some of the excitement of doing it. Writing is a journey of discovery for the writer as well as the reader, so if I am not discovering things about my own story as I write it, then the whole thing goes flat. Readers see that immediately, and have no tolerance for it.

When I think of my life, or anybody’s life, the kind of stuff I write about, it doesn’t have a plot, really. That is something we impose on things later, after they’ve happened, to make sense of it all. I like my writing to parallel the evolution of real life in that way. I create my characters, I have a strong feel for them the same way I do for family and close friends, and then…I throw something at them to shake things up. Like a death, or a shock or a challenge of some kind. Then, if I have done my characters thoroughly, they will respond in their own personal, idiosyncratic ways to the stimulus, and things will start popping. Like, say in real life you had a brother who was an obsessive neat freak, a hermit, and a hot-head prone to violence. If you went and kicked open his door one day, strolled in uninvited, read his diary and then vomited on his shoes, this would probably initiate a chain of events you could talk about for quite some time.

That’s an extreme example, but it does illustrate my process. I throw things at my people, then I chronicle what it leads to. And it always leads to something. And it always leads to stuff I did not foresee, and stuff that was meaningful to me. It’ll wind up being a real story. It’ll sneak up on you. Just like life.

Catherine MacPhail offers tips on: Plot

I love plotting, working out what happens next. How you can build your story up, incident by incident to that satisfying, exciting conclusion. That's why I love writing things down - you can keep changing it unitl it's exactly right.

Oisin McGann offers tips on: Plot

Any plot-driven story is a mixture of creativity and logic. If you're driven to write, you'll find that some scenes just come to you out of the blue, and some will have to be worked up. Connecting them can then be an exercise in problem-solving. I'm not as deliberate in my plotting techniques as some other writers. You'll hear about those who write pieces of plot out on cards and lay them to be rearranged on a table or floor, or some people form 'trees' of events, and timelines to help make connections. I just make copious notes, and the good bits stick in my mind. Once I've written something down, I'll tend to remember it without checking back to the note, and as I work the story over in my mind, bits fall into place. For sequencing though, you may need to plot out a timeline to keep track of what event happened on what day, etc.
There are no hard and fast rules for coming up with a good plot. A gripping start is vital, to get the reader involved. The middle of the story, where you are most likely to get bogged down, has to have sufficient pace to keep your hold over the reader, but if you're writing a thriller, you'll need to cool the pace down a bit here and there to take a breather. Action has to be contrasted with contemplative pieces for maximum effect. If it's a drama, or romance, the problem that has hooked the reader has to be maintained throughout, or even replaced with a worse one as you go along. Even in a plot-driven story, believable characters are crucial, and you will have to get away from the direct line of your plot sometimes to let them strut their stuff a little. This will also stop your plot from becoming too linear, which can make it predictable - any run-of-the-mill Hollywood film will demonstrate both the mechanics of writing a plot, and the problems of sticking too close to a formula.
As I said, there are no winning rules for coming up with a plot; but there are plenty of guidelines. Learn them, use them, and then figure out when to ignore them. You can’t be original unless you strike out on your own.

Cliff McNish offers tips on: Plot

Think about the worst thing that could happen to your main character and the best thing. You may decide not to take them to those places but they will stretch your story thinking and make it exciting.

Michaela Morgan offers tips on: Plot

I think it's best to avoid having too many events. Far better to have a small number of well developed incidents rather than an excess of things happening. Some writers plan a plot. Some writers don't. Most start at the beginning, move through the middle and go on to the end. Some start at the end and go back in time.

Bali Rai offers tips on: Plot

Hard to say. Depends on the genre. But remember that each storyline needs a conclusion. Each central character needs to complete the journey they are on. Beginning, middle and end - every story needs these! (I know it sounds a bit obvious but people do forget).

Celia Rees offers tips on: Plot

The most important thing to remember with plots is that everything has to happen for A REASON, no matter what the genre. If your story does not obey this simple rule, then it will cease to be believable and you will lose your reader.

Viv Richardson offers tips on: Plot

It’s always very hard to think of a good plot. I tend to know where I’m going to begin and where I’m going to end and then I work most of the middle part out as I go along. It means there can be a few surprises along the way for me as the writer and it allows my characters to make an impact on the story through their decisions.

Rhian Tracey offers tips on: Plot

I often work the plot out as the story develops, my starting point is always my characters and what I want them to be like, then I find a story unravels around them and their situation, personality and relationships with others. I know some writers work out the plot in great detail. I favour a vague outline, often written on the back of an envelope which I refer to every now and again but quite often ignore totally as the story emerges.

Eleanor Updale offers tips on: Plot

You should know where you are going. Lots of writers say that their books 'write themselves', or 'take on a life of their own'. What they usually mean is that they are so good at developing believable characters that the storyline follows quite naturally from the characters' actions. It's very unlikely that you will produce anything worth reading if you just start off and see where you end up.
Put in some surprises. Remember that in real life people often act unpredictably.
It's a good idea if sometimes your readers know more than your characters, so they can worry about what might happen to them.

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