Let's talk about Plot
What is plot? We all have a general idea of what plot is. It's the literary device that moves events from Point A to Point B, with our characters along for the journey. Some of us may remember some of the plot elements from our English classes: exposition, inciting incident, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution, etc. If you search for a plot diagram, you'll find numerous examples.
Exposition: Introduces our characters and setting. Allows us to identify what is the story's promise to the reader. Be warned: if you are writing your story, be careful not to fall into the trap of a first time writer and info-dump about the setting. It may be a cool setting, but if you lose your reader, you'll never be able to get them back.
Inciting Incident: The event that sets our characters off on their journey. For example, in the hobbit, this is the arrival of the twelve dwarves that forces Bilbo to undergo his quest with the dwarves. You want as a writer to have your incident be something that shakes the "norm" of the character's world and starts to sell the reader what the promise of the story is. Both the exposition and inciting incident should be at the start of your story.
Rising Action: Now you are introducing plot elements that are driving the story forward. This is very often the middle of your story. I recommend weaving your settings throughout this part of your novel, as it will make for a stronger narrative when it feels like we are naturally learning about the world. For example, let's say you are having your protagonist learn magic. You won't have them learn everything about magic off the get-go. Instead, their instructor or mentor figure will instead teach them basic magic and a few simple rules first, before later on introducing more complex magics that require greater knowledge of the setting.
Climax: It's time to confront the Big Bad. Everything in your story has been working toward this moment. Think of this as fighting the final boss. You want the climax to feel rewarding and satisfying from the various clues you've sewn throughout the narrative.
Falling Action: Congratulations, the Big Bad is defeated! But, oh no, the protagonist still needs to escape. We are in the final act and are wrapping up loose ends as the story comes to a close. With the falling action and climax now in place, the reader should feel that the promise you made to them in the beginning is now fulfilled.
Resolution: Here is where you want to tie up any loose ends with your plot. Yes, you can leave nuggets for future endeavors, but you want the reader to feel that the big questions have been answered.
Many of these pieces can be effectively sliced into the famous Three-Act Structure.
The Three-Act Structure
The three act structure is very popular in writing for one reason: it's simple. You have a beginning, a middle, and an end. While the Three-Act Structure isn't the only writing structure, it still remains a very popular choice. This is because it simplifies the plot elements above to basically use the first act to introduce our characters and provide exposition, the second act to drive the characters forward by confronting some problem introduced in the first act, and the third act seeking to resolve the problem.
A Driving Conflict
Ultimately, whatever form you choose, your plot will have some type of driving conflict to push the narrative and your characters forward. What that conflict is depends on your story, but you want to determine a narrative that ultimately goes back to the idea you started with.
Let's compare the two conflicts below:
The hero wants to leave his hometown and sets off an adventure. He acquires a cursed sword that slowly drains your humanity with each battle.
A disgraced knight has lived the past ten years in exile. He is forced to take up the blade once more when his former mentor burns down the village and leaves him alive to walk a path of vengeance.
Now, neither of these are perfect. However, you might look at one and determine it is more interesting than the other simply based on the driving conflict presented. Also note: that the first scenario presents an inner conflict whereas the second is much more outward driven. Both can work, though an inner conflict can help to flesh out your characters and make them more dynamic.
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