The secret to becoming a famed novelist is learning to pen down a story that takes your readers on an unforgettable adventure.
Every brilliant novel features a captivating plot, packed with suspense and endless trials. As a young adult book editors you must take note of the following tips if you wish to hit it big with your book, and emphasize your plot structure.
While there exists no formula or magic mantra for a guaranteed bestseller, you can follow a few basic plot rules to help you ease your progress down that road, which leads to a good plot.
Tips To Devise an Engaging Plot
Follow the steps mentioned below to ensure that the final draft of your book earns a winning and is always a popular name amongst reader enthusiasts -
1. Review Capturing Examples of Plot Development
Reading is an excellent way to progress at any stage of writing because excellent writers provide encouraging examples of how to get every element of the craft right.
Some writers are particularly renowned for their command of the plot. Even if their work exists outside of your typical genre interests, go through their novels for insights.
While reading, ask yourself -
- How do the figures in the novel evolve?
- What is the primary sequence of events?
- What are the different locations chosen for the story?
- How does each setting impact story structure and development?
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2. Implement a Plotting Process to Build Your story Effectively
One of the significant suggestions to write fascinating plots begins with curiosity as-well-as good ideas.
Your story gets a bright head start if it begins with an intriguing hypothetical situation. A good story idea must get carved out through a focused plotting process to help shape your story in any way.
Formulating a summary is useful to let ideas for characters and plot points build and settle. You might have to depart significantly from your outline while drafting; however, you must return to your original plot.
3. Create a Timeline of the Plot Events of Your Novel
Be sure to build each branch in your timeline as a chapter that contains a summary of the most elementary plot details.
If you do not intend to plot your entire novel beforehand, construct a timeline all the same. Pen it down as a summary so that you obtain a condensed visual reference to recall how far have you led your story.
Drafting such a document helps you navigate across the detail-oriented process of drawing up scenes and chapters, as well as the structural challenge of visualizing the bigger picture.
4. Devise Intriguing Methods to Develop Characters
At the beginning of writing a novel, identify the main goals of each primary character. Start brainstorming how the goals, coupled with personality traits, can facilitate development.
Regardless of your story plan, be sure to develop your characters in exciting ways. Portray how their wants or fears impact their choices, as well as the aftermath that leads from there.
5. Take The ‘5 W’s’ into Account
In novel writing as well as journalism, a ‘story’ comprises the ‘5 w’s’ - ‘who’, ‘what’, ‘why’, ‘where’ and ‘when’.
Ask yourself questions like, Who are the prominent characters in your story? What is their situation, and why? Where and when does the plot take place?
A brilliant story does not just contain convincing answers to these five questions but also showcases some development in each of these scenarios.
For instance, your central character might be a trainee policewoman residing in a rural community who is considering giving up her career as she feels small-town life to be stifling. Suddenly, a local triple homicide has her engrossed in the most daunting elements of a police job.
If you make unique elements of plot shape convincingly, you will successfully be able to take the reader on a journey that will keep them coming for more.
6: Outline Scenes to Form a Storyboard
Despite you using index cards or other small scraps of paper like post-its, a storyboard acts as a useful tool to develop your story.
Try summarizing the vital incidents of each scene in as mere as two lines, which of your figures it will involve, and what will be the purpose of the act.
As you plot your novel and script your story development, you can choose to reorder scenes as your story progresses until you obtain a sequence of scenes that best suits what you have in mind.
Sometimes you might find the order of two or more scenes reversed. Other times you might feel that an early setting must get shifted towards the conclusion of the story because of its content or mood.
7. Encompass Character and Action-Driven Story Elements
‘Change’ is a critical factor in the propulsion of a story. It gets produced by incorporating character-driven and action-driven scenes.
In a thriller novel, for instance, character-driven scenes reveal to the reader the stakes. Such scenes create action-driven sequences like high-speed chases more thrilling and intense because the reader is now aware of all the personal, cherished things instigating the survival instinct of the protagonist.
Even if you are creating something less dramatic and violent, such as a romantic novel, the same vital factors apply.
Portray scenes where your main characters undertake action-based activities, for instance, a carriage or train ride. Use these points to create a transition between scenes that grow your novel figures.
As you reach the end of your first draft, it is useful to inquire questions about story development to help you decide whether your story portrays enough growth and change.
8. Some Important Questions About Story Development
Once you have penned down the bulk of your novel, ask yourself the following questions about story development -
How have the main characters evolved throughout the course of the story?
- Why did they change?
- What have the characters gained about the central situation of the story they did not know at the start?
- What are the core elements of the story?
Once you gain answers to the above, be mindful of them while revising. Think if there is a point in the story where a small edit can make these elements more apparent.
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Final Words
Creating a decent plot is not a straightforward task to execute; however, after following the above points, you can gain insights into the proper approach to undertake if you wish to create a plot that inspires your readers.
