\~*Plot*~/
By: Poller5
~Overview~
The plot is, quite literally, the bones of your story – without it, your story would not have any support, and would be a useless heap of flesh. It truly is the most important aspect of your story.
Now, of course, you want to know what the plot is. Quite simply, it is the story that your story tells: the central idea. In Lord of the Rings, it’s that Frodo has to destroy the ring. A good plot is what makes a good story, for a story is only as good as the plot.
Creating a plot is not always an easy thing, and making a good one is downright difficult, mainly because for a plot to be good it has to be original; nobody wants to read a story with a plot that’s been recycled so many times they can recite it from memory. You know Eragon? One of the reasons many people dislike is because Paolini used a plot that everybody already knows – Star Wars. This is one thing you should definitely avoid doing.
Now, this may seem complicated, but making an original plot is not as hard as it may seem. Often all it takes for a plot to seem completely original is to simply tweak a simple idea – for my first story, I made it about a war, but with a sufficient tweak that it was different and interesting. Try to find something you can work with, then give it a unique twist and bang, you’ve got your plot.
This point is one I will never be able to stress enough – don’t start a story unless you have a general idea of what the plot will be. Now, I’m by no means saying you should have the whole thing planned out ahead of time, with every miniscule detail planned, but if you don’t know what the cli<c>max will be, or what will happen in the end, don’t write the story. A lot of the problems caused by not having a clear plot are flow-related (see page four, posts seven to ten for more info on flow).
The next post will contain information on twists in the plot, an essential ingredients indeed.
04-Jun-2008 20:45:37
- Last edited on
04-Jun-2008 22:00:18
by
Poller5
