A good storyline relies on organizing ideas in a way that is appealing to the reader. It is also the guidelines that help the author to ensure that he does not get lost on all the ideas and characters that begin to take shape as he writes the book. Below is a simple guide on how to create a somewhat original storyline.
Steps
Step 1. Brainstorm
At this point, a good notepad might be the best way to get ideas flowing. It's helpful to write long sentences, loose words, or entire paragraphs, because everything can come in handy when you prepare the real storyline. Reading is also very important, being the main source of inspiration, although movies, television, paintings and even people can be inspiring.
-
Identify the items you want to write about. Determine if it should be a comedy, action, mystery, love, adventure, or biographical book.
Write a Book Plot Step 1
Step 2. Start linking concepts and ideas
Once you feel you have enough ideas to start building the plot, merge them together. Diagrams are very useful for this process. For example, if you have pineapples and elephants, you might have an elephant that eats pineapple.
Step 3. Ask yourself questions
What would be unexpected if it happened? What are the things that will inspire people to read this book? Would I be interested in this book myself? What's missing? What are the elements that make a book a good book?
Step 4. Outline your characters
The characters at this stage are very simple and very similar. You shouldn't worry too much about their creation now, as much as about their function in history. Who is the main character? Who is the bad guy? Does the story have a villain? If so, is it hideous or is it just a nuisance? These are the questions to ask at this point.
Step 5. Choose the type of texture
While not very presented, some plots are not linear, they can go back and forth in time without the need for means such as the time machine. If you decide to write such a plot, make sure that each piece is chronologically consistent with the rest. You don't want to write that the protagonist was in the cave (in the future) and then go back to that spot and find him in his garden. In non-linear plots it is best to leave out the time references until the end of the book, to avoid confusion.
Step 6. Imagine the setting
The plot will have to take place somewhere, so the location is just as important as its features. If you intend to set the story in a real place, it will be easier because you will only have to imagine small pieces, you will not have to focus on the big picture, as it is already in reality and you can go to the next step. If, on the other hand, your story takes place in a fictional place, read on.
Step 7. Create the environment from scratch
To create a new setting you will have to imagine every single detail. Don't leave out small things like where the characters work or how they walk down the street, because they can be very important for the future. You'll likely have a lot more detail than you usually use, but as always, it's better to have more than less. In science fiction and fictional issues such as the physics that controls the world, the stratification of society and the average person are to be considered as important issues.
Step 8. Finalize the characters
This is how you really create your characters, not leaving things unspoken. As in setting up the setting, you'll get a lot more than what you need, but it can be useful if you use the same characters again in the future. Again, a notepad will be useful for developing the characters as much as possible. Ask yourself questions like "Why is he dressed like that?" and write the answer. Consider that a good character is one that develops over time, so try to make it as flexible as possible (without overdoing it, otherwise he will seem unsure of his choices). Try to imagine possible interactions between characters and connections such as friendship or kinship. Make the most of each character.
Step 9. Understand causation
Every action has a reaction, consequently there are no random events (unless the aim is to demonstrate the randomness of all things, of course).
Step 10. Choose a conflict
By now you've probably started writing already, even if it's not mandatory, so you should get to the main conflict or other ideas, what makes the characters behave like this. Such an orientation is not required at first, but is required later for logical progression.
Step 11. Understand the growing action
Rising action is a sequence of events that ultimately leads to climax. It is usually longer than its counterpart, the decreasing action, and shows a development in the personality of the characters. This should be the part of the storyline that you need to worry about the most, because that's what leads to a weak climax if not written correctly. Then make your characters face different challenges, in which they can show their potential to the fullest or expand it.
Step 12. Create the climax
This is when the characters face their final challenge. All fictional stories have a climax, at some point, except for some funny story, which is resolved with an anti-climax (normally too simple and therefore unsatisfactory solution: "I faced the dragon with my sword, but he died. of cancer "- avoid resorting to this type of solution). It usually involves all the characters, it happens towards the end of the story (except when the plot is not linear, in which case it can happen at any time, even at the beginning) and it is a moment in which the protagonist seems defeated and then manages to recover miraculously.
-
Avoid endings where all the answers are clear. Leave some mystery or, perhaps, leave some unsolved answers. It will allow you to get readers to search for your other books, perhaps asking you to write more. They want to find out the answers and of course you will get more views that way.
Write a Book Plot Step 5
Step 13. Create the descending action
Before the end of the story, if you feel like it, you should loosen up the action a bit and tell the readers what has happened to the characters since the climax. At this moment things start to come together and life becomes peaceful again. Don't underestimate its importance, because stories without an appropriate ending can be horrendous.
Step 14. So you've come this far
By now you should have outlined the entire texture. If so, it's time to get back to organizing the thought process (I hope you have kept the notepad, because it comes in handy sometimes). If you are that kind of person, you draw sketches, maps, timelines or even poems about your story, while you are in love with what you have created. But don't think the job is done. You only have a draft, something simple to do. The part where the basic storyline becomes the good one is in the next phase.
Step 15. Add some color:
writing techniques ranging from plot changes to well-known artifices such as Chekov's gun (when a seemingly insignificant object resolves a conflict) or the not-so-appreciated Deux Ex Machina (a solution that pops out of nowhere: "We were going to die when a blue goat saved us and hit the villain's balloon with his laser-beamed eyes "). With a combination of these gimmicks and lots of metaphors, similes and personifications you will get the best out of your storyline.
Step 16. Rest for a while as you reread the final draft
Step 17. Get back to work
Now is the time to review what you have written. Make sure there are no anachronisms, inconsistencies with the rules and that the characters are consistent (they can evolve in terms of personality, but they must remain consistent with themselves, such as having the same hair color or the same height). If you find a major problem and think it ruins the whole storyline, don't be afraid to change everything. One mistake can make the difference between a good storyline and a draft storyline.
Step 18. If you haven't started writing, now is probably the time
Advice
- Warning: don't do everything at once. The first time you write a plot is the most difficult; from then on it's the easiest thing in the world.
- The storyline is never quite complete until the very end.
- Plots are guidelines only and you should feel free not to stick to them strictly. Most writers don't even have a plot. They only write what they want!
