The secret to becoming a famed novelist is learning to write 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 editor, you must note the following tips if you wish to hit it big with your book and emphasize your plot structure.
While there is no formula or magic mantra for a guaranteed bestseller, you can follow a few basic plot rules to help ease your progress down that road, leading 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 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 for writing fascinating plots is to begin with curiosity and 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 helpful to let ideas for characters and plot points build and settle. You might have to depart significantly from your draft outline but 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 summarizing the most elementary plot details.
If you intend to plot only part of your novel, construct a timeline all the same. Pen it down as a summary to obtain a condensed visual reference to recall how far you have led your story.
Drafting such a document helps you navigate the detail-oriented process of drawing up scenes and chapters and 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 and personality traits can facilitate development.
Regardless of your story plan, develop your characters in exciting ways. Portray how their wants or fears impact their choices and the aftermath that leads from there.
5. Take The '5 W's' into Account
In novel writing and 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 contains more than convincing answers to these five questions and showcases some development in each scenario.
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 stifling. Suddenly, a local triple homicide has her engrossed in the most daunting elements of a police job.
If you make unique elements of the plot shape convincingly, you will successfully take the reader on a journey that will keep them coming for more.
6: Outline Scenes to Form a Storyboard
Despite using index cards or other small scraps of paper like Post-its, a storyboard is a valuable 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 the purpose of the act.
As you plot your novel and script your story development, you can reorder scenes as your story progresses until you obtain a sequence that best suits what you have in mind.
Sometimes, the order of two or more scenes is reversed. Other times, an early setting must shift towards the story's conclusion 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 is produced by incorporating character-driven and action-driven scenes.
In a thriller novel, for instance, character-driven scenes reveal the stakes to the reader. Such scenes create action-driven sequences like high-speed chases that are more thrilling and intense because the reader is now aware of all the personal, cherished things instigating the survival instinct of the protagonist.
The same vital factors apply even if you create something less dramatic and violent, such as a romantic novel.
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, asking questions about story development is helpful 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 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, consider them while revising. If there is a point in the story where a minor edit can make these elements more apparent.
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Final Words
Creating a decent plot is challenging; however, after following the above points, you can gain insights into the proper approach to develop a plot that inspires your readers.
