Pick a Number – Find a Plot: PICK a NUMBER, #2

By sue viders

FIND A PLOT

 

This workbook explores the nine components that need to be considered when creating and developing a truly memorable plot.

• Idea
• Plot
• Characters
• Setting
• Event and Motivation
• Goal and Action
• Conflict
• Changes
• Conclusion

 

With 16 different categories in each of the nine components and 500 movie examples, all writers will easily be able to develop a great framework for a truly clever and unique plot.

• Language: English
• Publisher: sue viders
• Release date: Mar 22, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201953744

sue viders

Sue is the author of numerous nonfiction books. She has also written extensively for a variety of magazines and newspapers. A national columnist for many years on art marketing in The Artist’s Magazine, Sue has spoken to various groups and organizations both nationally and internationally on marketing and writing for over thirty-five years. She continues to lecture and teach writing onsite at colleges and universities as well as at national conferences. She regularly teaches online through numerous writing groups and organizations throughout the world. When she isn’t busy churning out a writing book for aspiring writers, she explores the complexities of everyday life with her “light bulb” thoughts in her essay book, Out-of-the-Box, now up on Amazon. On the drawing board is the next PICK-A-NUMBER book Finding a PLOT in this series and should be finished soon.

Book preview

GETTING STARTED

Which came first … the chicken or the egg?

Just as no one knows how a story starts as to which comes first, the plot or the character?

Do you first think up and create the main character? Or do you start with the plot and what is going to happen in the story?

Writing a story is like constantly flipping a shiny coin. One side is the character and the other side is the plot. You can’t have one without the other.

In the beginning of formulating a novel, many ideas will occur to you. And even after you think you have the plot all settled, the characters may up and do something unexpected and suddenly you have a whole new plot line developing, one you hadn’t planned on.

One of the main elements in developing a great plot is how the main character is going to change. Because if he/she stays the same, usually the problem, whatever it is, will never get solved, taken care of or emotionally coped with.

Some writers love to set up their story using plot points … which actually are the events that dramatically move the story forward. For without these sudden happenings there is no story.

A story is a problem of some kind, waiting to be solved. It could be an action problem, where someone is kidnapped or killed, or something is stolen or lose. Or it could be an emotional situation where beliefs and/or social problems seem unsolvable.

But no matter what the problem is, physical or emotional, it must change the main character’s life, and it must somehow be dealt with in a creative and believable way.

Personally, I love plotting. It can be done any way that works with your style of writing. But it helps if ahead of starting the actual writing, you have some ideas on how the story is going to end, how the main character will have to mature and change, and some thoughts on the conflict, and who is causing the problem. Utilizing these components, you have the beginnings of a great plot.

So, let’s get started on developing your plot.

Sue

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IDEA

What kind of a story will you write?

Will it be a story about betrayal or a tale about how the underdog finally wins?

Before you go any further, you should commit your idea to paper. Start a file, use an old notebook, but write your idea or ideas down so that you can actually see them in print.

This idea of yours doesn’t have to be long. It could be just a paragraph or even one sentence. But what will happen as you put the words on paper, is that other ideas will pop up in your mind, possibly action scenes or maybe another character will be needed. And the idea will grow.

It is also important to write down possible endings or conclusions to your idea.

Because once you have an ending written down, you will start to add ideas and scenes on what will have to happen in the story for that ending to happen. New ideas will develop in your mind as the idea matures.

It’s also a good idea to see which genre your idea fits into, as each genre has specific guidelines that will help you not only determine the main characters but also give you many thoughts about which ideas will work best in each genre.

1 - ADVENTURE

Where action and more action takes place, with the main character facing one deadly problem after another

Avatar

IDEA - how to save a group of natives from having their home planet destroyed

King Solomon’s Mines

IDEA - searching for a treasure in a largely unknown part of Africa at the turn of the century

Chain Reaction

IDEA - corruption and greed in the elite who think they are above everyone else and untouchable

The Mummy

IDEA - have an evil Egyptian mummy come to life and cause havoc

In 25 words or less, write your adventure story idea.

2 - BETRAYAL

Where trusts and promises are broken, smashed, or destroyed.

Unfaithful

IDEA - married gal has a fling

Clear and Present Danger

IDEA - corruption in our own government

Gone Girl

IDEA - what happens when your wife disappears

Fatal Attraction

IDEA - an affair gone terribly wrong

In 25 words or less, write your betrayal story idea.

3 - COMING OF AGE

When outside events and/or an emotional situation force maturity on the character.

The Lion King

IDEA - maturity gives one a different perspective on life

Sandlot

IDEA - to show how a young boy learns to fit in through the fame of baseball

Stand By Me

IDEA - how young boys handle a dead body

Breakfast Club

IDEA - teenagers forced to learn who they really are

In 25 words or less, write your coming-of-age story idea.

4 - CONVERSION

When the character is either physically altered or emotionally changed.

The Incredible Hulk

IDEA - how to control unwanted and incredible strength and anger

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

IDEA - two personalities, good and evil, in one person

Mystique from X-Man

IDEA - how a shape shifter can either help or hinder lives

The Fly

IDEA - an experiment gone wrong and the consequences

In 25 words or less, write your conversion story idea.

5 - DISASTER

When man-made or natural problems occur.

Dante’s Peak

IDEA - how a town reacts to a volcano eruption

Outbreak

IDEA - how far the military will go to contain a deadly disease

Twister

IDEA - how to create an instrument that will forecast tornadoes

Volcano

IDEA - how to show what people do during an emergency

In 25 words or less, write your disaster story idea.

6 - DISCOVERY

When the character searches for something or to understand him/herself.

Rain Man

IDEA - how a self-centered individual handles an unknown brother who is an autistic savant

Taxi Driver

IDEA - a war veteran who wants to help a young prostitute

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

IDEA - a shy, quiet man starts to live a life dull of adventures

Wild

IDEA - to