I struggle most of the time on my plot. I know they say the characters drive the plot, and mine do, but I still have trouble with the mechanics of it. For example, I know that how my character will act in a situation, but I still have to figure that situation out. "Oh, she has to go to the school first, so she can persuade him to come to Atlanta with him so that they're both there to attack the aliens. And they'll travel by train so that during the trip they can fall in love." That sort of thing.

Advice, tricks, techniques, magic spells? I'm sure that there's a new perspective that I can take that will make this easier, but I don't know what it is?

Recently, I saw an interview where Stephen J Canell said that he wrote a 50 pages treatment just for himself that quickly went through the details of the story. I think that's a good place to start - not 50 pages worth - but just briefly sketch the story in a couple of pages so yo know how it starts or ends. It's difficult for me though. Hope you have better luck.

Hopefully, that gives you an idea of the story and why it appeals to you. Suddenly you'll have a starting point, problem, climax, resolution, as many times and as complex as you want, until you get to the end that gives that puts the whole story in beautiful perspective. Hopefully, lol.

Incidentally, Cannell says he always uses the the 3 act structure to build his general plot outline (which many many stories can be broken down to):
Act I - problem
Act II: Complication; and at end of act II the hero's plans end are devastated (his words)
Act III: Resolution of both problem and complication

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this is very simplistic but Cannell used it a lot for writing his episodes for tv and for his novels

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How to Write a Story that Rocks by John Brown

First, I take a character and throw a problem at him or her.

Second, with that problem I decide what choices that character has to solve this particular problem. For me, I try to make these mutually exclusive choices where consequences exist no matter which choice is selected (i.e. "lesser of two evils").

Third, the character acts upon his or her choice.

Fourth, I show the character failing in solving this problem, or discovering the problem is worse than originally believed.

So far this has helped me develop a decent start to my outline these past weeks.

Interestingly, I use something similar in my day job as an information architect (kind of the reverse of this - in IA, I have the content and I need to organize it, in writing, I have the structure and need to come up with the content).

Anyhoo - the metaphor I use is that the structure is like a garden maze. Viewing it from above is very different from being down in it. I think I've been making the mistake of viewing from above, and I need to hunker down and look it this from the character's point of view a little more strongly.

For example, in a story I am planning right now, the main character will forgive a friend who betrayed him. So I need to plan on a way to show their main friendship, make him betray the MC, then get back on the right side. Not too complex, but it isn't the main thrust of my novel. Just a side story, really. That wouldn't be so bad by itself, but every major character has something similar. Soon, they start adding up and make the whole thing more complex than a sum of its parts would suggest.

I think the idea of having your characters write the stories in their own direction - that involves making sure there is proper motive for all the action. Knowing what I want to take place requires every scene and action to have appropriate motivation. I've tried to maintain the balance of having it all plotted out vs. having the characters remain believable so they are the ones who cause the action to happen instead of merely being pawns to whom stuff happens...

You can also try the snowflake outlining method:

http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/art/snowflake.php

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I know they say the characters drive the plot, and mine do, but I still have trouble with the mechanics of it For example, I know that how my character will act in a situation, but I still have to figure that situation out.

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Funny.

1) Plotting is a list of events. It's a road map to the the conclusion. This determins the action, shows where the story is lacking tension or conflict, and where you should sketch out twists, reversals, time-bombs, reveals and crucibles.

Snowflake method is pretty helpful, i think. So is a list of events - keep asking yourself what happens next. What else could go wrong? What about the INTERIOR conflict of the main character - how can that be set against the EXTERIOR conflict (e.g., the most obvious plot elements) in a way that makes things tense for the main character.

And when all else fails - go deep. Dig deep in that character's head and see what he/she is thinking, fearing, what else is going on in their minds.

Good luck with this! I've had some good insights from the book WRITING THE BREAKOUT NOVEL, but truthfully the insights come from almost any book on writing - just taking a step back and thinking about writing in a more general way can help.

But I realised that what it did NOT have was a plot, and I sat down to write/think my way through why that was and what I could do about it. I realised, in the analysis, that both my main characters were lacking in motivation, and what otivation they did have was reactive to things outside their control. So I strted looking at what these characters wanted, what they would be trying to do if they did NOT have other events dictating their lives. Tht gave me a much better handle on the characters, introduced three new characters (a fiancee, a duaghter, and a scientist), introduced new events and scenes, and generally firmed up significant portions of the book. There is still a deal more that needs doing, but where before I had only some random bones, I now, at least, have enough to know where they all fit into a skeleton, even if some of the vertebrae are still missing.

Of course, everyone has different approaches, but twice recently I have made significant inroads into the outline of flawed novels by analysing what was missing, and why, and then basically talking myself through it (in writing) to come up with appropriate answers.

Plot was always the hard part for me. And for most new writers I meet it's the same. I'm talking from acts down to scenes. I read SCENE AND STRUCTURE by BICKHAM and the next two stories I wrote got me a finalist and then quarterly first prize in the WOTF. Give them a shot, maybe they'll help you.

Beyond that, as mentioned above I explain the story cycle in that recording. Don't know that I do it justice there, but you should get the idea.

It all revolves around problem. The specific, immediate problem. If you don't have a problem, you'll never be able to generate a plot. Never know what to write next. If you have a problem and start thinking in reaction-action-disaster terms then boom, the thing will roll out in front of you as you work your way backwards and forwards around the story cycle (see the handout).

As for acts, I've never been able to use them. They just don't make sense to me. The term, it's like, what?! It's like using doo-dad as a plot term. I say this because all the business about acts seems so focused on form, but not on the objective, the thing you're doing to the reader. Acts are...?

For me it's more straight-forward to say that I want:

1. a hook (get reader in)
2. big plot turn
3. big plot turn
4. big plot turn--worst fears realized for character (looks like failure)
5. resolution

By big plot turn I'm talking something that CHANGES the nature of the problem--either an event that makes it much worse or a piece of information that helps the reader see it's much worse or complicated and different than first thought. This creates more suspense and curiosity in the reader. You can overlay acts on top of that, if you want (hook, pp 1, mid plot point, pp 3, resolution), but why? Can you tell "acts" caused me issues?

So it goes like this. You have 2 types of scenes--action and reaction. And it's all based on the fact that stories are about people solving problems. Problems that threaten happiness or provide an opportunity for it or pose some significant mystery.

This is it. You don't need (I don't, maybe you find it useful) no Hero's Journey mumbo jumbo that's all focused on form. Instead of cause and effect, it's just mystical cause divorced from effect. That's another post. Maybe you like that. I can't stand it because it was never productive for me. Sent me looking in all the wrong places. Anyway...

A. Character runs into a problem or it runs into her (my defintion has 3 types). The problem needs to be immediate, significant, probable, and specific. Otherwise, there's no reason to act now? No real action to take if it's not specific.

B. Character reacts:

-Emotion
-Thought (sort through options, can make it nasty by making it a dilemma, etc. Can add conflicts and surprises in insights or with goals of other people on character's side)
-Decision (very specific action they're going to take to fix it, this is their next scene GOAL)

C. Character takes action:

-State the scene goal so readers know what to worry about
-Take the action with conflicts and surprises thrown in the character's way
-Disaster (setback, revelation--whatever you want to call it--this is the KEY!!!! See the video for more. You don't get this right and your plot dies immediately; get it right and you've got the next step; now, "disaster" might be misleading--watch the video, test the idea, see if it's accurate)

This puts you back at the top of the cycle--character runs into problem. And around and around you go.

Both the action or the reaction can be scene or summary. If it's a significant action, you need to put it in scene. The reaction too. Lay out the logic blow by blow. If it's not you may summarize or just skip it.

I've got the first four chapters of my book on my site. Go out and look at this problem-reaction-action-problem cycle. Notice I end the scene at the farm with a huge "yes, but" for Sugar and Legs. Then notice the next bit right at the end of chapter 4. They're back into taking action, but I've overlayed a new problem for Sugar. Barg has a shorter cycle: but his problems are only beginning. Notice in a reaction portion that I inject a surprise with what the Mother reveals and does. Notice how the Dad goes through the problem (see the mob), his reaction & decision, the conflicts and then the disaster (the contents of the sack)--now the problem's even worse.

Now, if I were to rewrite those chapters, I'm sure I'd change some things. I'm still learning. But I think they demonstrate the action-reaction-disaster well. Of course, the proof is in the reader response. Does it hook and build a reader's interest?

Read those books I link to above. Then test the ideas. Hey, if you find something that works but doesn't follow this, I'd love to see it and learn.

Oh, there's an interesting class by Ken Follett on line where he talks about plot turns. The a link's to it in the writing section on my site. I think on the learning with pros page.