Writerly Advice - Plotting
You know you’re an author when...
Your friends and family no longer enjoy watching movies with you because you solve the crime (and proudly announce it) in the First Act.
I had this problem watching Endeavour on Masterpiece with family recently. I didn’t even mean to do it! Oh, the life of a writer! But we just have to tell someone, don’t we? Perhaps there should be a hotline for writers who need to verbally express the movie's conclusion before the Break Into 2.
My advice is to at least hold some details back for your company's viewing enjoyment.
Maybe only pick one of the following to share:
🔹Whodunit?
🔹Whatdunit?
🔹Wheredunit?
🔹Howdunit?
🔹Whydunit?
Whatever you do, do not explain to them how or why their First Act guesses are wrong. Just let the movie do all the work there.
The more you study story plot the worse the above problems become.
Plotting might be my Superpower or maybe I just love it. After Brainstorming through Character, Theme, Setting, Conflict, and World development, I craft all of the following plot documents:
✅ 3-Act Structure Beat Sheet
✅ A Whydunit Outline
✅ Order of Events/Timeline Outline
✅ Scene List
✅ Scene Cards - A detailed outline for each scene
And then all of the above gets worked into the:
✅ Chapter Outline
That’s a lot of work before actually writing anything! But having the details plotted ahead of time will make the writing go quickly. I like to know everything that needs to be included in every scene before writing begins. Also, I am way more creative when I spend time brainstorming during the plotting phase. The story weaves are much stronger. The whole process of plotting is exciting and fun for me.
I would not start a hike in the woods without checking a map. If I did, I would not go very far so I could backtrack my way home safely. It is either that or cut the forest down in order to see where on Earth I am. Cutting a forest of words might be necessary or freeing at times. But I don’t like it. Not one bit.
Quote to remember and inspire: “What you plant now, you will harvest later.” -Og Mandino
Something to think about:
What is something you didn’t expect would be a problem when you decided to become a writer?
How is planting (Plotting) going lately for you?
I personally am looking forward to harvest time. Until then, I’ll keep at it day and night.
If you have any questions or would like more writerly posts like this one, leave me a comment below. You can find links below to follow me on Instagram (where I post daily), Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest. Until next time, have fun indulging your imagination.