[This entire section is due for revision in the near future. It's cluttered, disorganized, too heavy on theory and not enough step-by-step. Expect changes...]

An Overview

Plotting is a mysterious process for most writers. Even those who write well-plotted stories are often in the dark as to how they do it--yet the process can be very easy. Following are the 9 simple no-sweat steps I've come to use to plot a story.

1. Determine who are the important characters, institutions, etc. that will move the plot forward.

2. Define their goals, motivations, methods, etc. (Elements of Plot: Inner and Outer)

3. Establish their starting relationships. (Who are allies, enemies, frienemies, etc.)

4. Decide how those relationships will be different at the end of the story as a result of their striving for their solutions to the story problem based on their unique goals, motivations, methods, etc.*

5. Create The Sentence

6. List the key events that cause each relationship to change from the beginning state to the end state.

7. Arrange these events in chronological order, correlating and combining them where possible. (This is the beginning of your plot.)

8. Locate the Climax and the three turning Points that separate Acts 1, 2, 3 and 4. (This is the beginning of your story's spine. It holds up the rest of the story.)

9. Fill in additional key scenes as needed. (You can use any number of plot structures. The 7-point structure, Blake Snyder's Beat Sheet, Save the Cat, etc.)

There are, of course, finer levels of detail for which you could plan. Pantsers may only need the basic story spine to keep them on track, filling in the gaps as they go. Planners might plan out each movement down to the scene level, deciding ahead of time how the feelings shift from positive to negative and back again, which scene shows the disastrous change, which show the impact of that change and who the actors and reactors are for each scene.

* If any particular character, institution, etc., does not have a unique goal, motivation, method, or whatever, then they add nothing to the story and are unnecessary. They should most likely be cut or combined with another character unless one character hands off their story function to the next before being removed from the story.