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Plotting a story or a novel can be quite a daunting task, and even more if you are a pantser like me. Most often, when we search online or ask some experienced writers, we are advised to plot the essential scenes and points of a story and then start with the writing part. But the main question is: how do we even come up with a unique plot?

So I have searched up and collected some of the most common tips to start with your story and most importantly, come up with a plot.

That every writer wants their ideas to be unique, isn't something new, but are the storylines of every famous book very unique and the only ones existing? Maybe. But not totally. Every story has some crucial points which make them similar yet unique.

So, let's start with the tips I found quite helpful for starting up with a story idea.

HOW TO PLOT A NOVEL OR A STORY

First, what is a plot? A plot is the sequence of events that makes up a story and pulls it along till the end. The plot is the basic necessity– be it a short story or a novel. And you need to make it compelling enough to keep your reader turning pages after pages (or scrolling up, in the case of e-books).

A decent story should answer 3 major questions:

What happens?

What does it mean?

The first question will have its answer in the plot and the second one will indicate the basic theme of the story.

Tip 1: Generating a story idea

The first and most crucial step to starting a story is to come up with an idea. Some writers prefer to write freehand, whereas some start with a writing prompt. Few also gather inspiration by surfing through Pinterest and making mood boards to brainstorm ideas for the plot.

Whichever way works the best for you, just start with it. But try to choose a strong premise that you think could be fleshed out into an effective plot.

Tip 2: Build through the basic idea

Once you have chosen a strong and compelling premise for your story, start building a world around it, add various characters to it, and improvise through additional elements. This method is often said to be the snowflake method and is effective in most cases. (You can search up about this to know about it in detail or we can write a blog discussing this method)

As you keep adding little details to every other aspect of the narrative and characters, you could begin the development of the bigger picture of your progressing plot.

Tip 3: Have a clear central conflict

Having a clear central conflict will anchor your plot and give your narrative focus.

One of the greatest examples would be *Harry Potter* by J. K. Rowling; through all the seven books of Harry Potter, the story has practically revolved around the same central conflict between Harry Potter, the protagonist, and Voldemort, the villain.

If you're a new writer or a first-time novelist, you can try out the genre of mystery, fantasy, or adventure stories to get a better view of the clear good guy vs bad guy conflict.

Tip 4: Choose a story structure

There are various structures of writing a story or just plotting a novel. Examples, Plot Pyramid, Tragic Pyramid, Seven point plot structure, Three act structure, etc. The most common is the Three Act Structure.

Learning the basic process for a three-act structure can help you ‌piece together your plot and improvise the narrative.

Tip 5: Trace out General story arcs

Lay out the storyline in brief. It's not about building everything at once.

Start with an act-length story arc or some scene description and connect the dots of each scene as you proceed, making it a full-length narrative.

Tip 6: Prepare your subplots

Once your basic storyline or main plot is ready, it's time for layering it out with deeper subplots.

Subplots can be character-specific, focusing on their development. Or it can be a little details about individual characters' relationships and how they change from time to time.

So this would be a great time to emphasize the lives of the characters you have populated your story world with and how each of their backstories plays a role in their present.

Good subplots help weave seamlessly through the main story arc and advance your action rather than distract from it.

Tip 7: Think about the cause and effect

Every good story involves a logical series of events that progress one into the next.

The preceding action motivates the next scene. A good driving narrative should feel dynamic. A plot progresses forwards because of certain tangible elements you have added to it like the character's motivation or actions that will propel your narrative.

If you look at your story arc as a sequence of events, there had to be a logical progression where one scene triggers the next and pushed the action forward.

Tip 8: Writing a detailed outline

Before you start writing the actual story, you need to have a detailed outline for it. It can be a catalog of the main storyline and the individual plot points along with the particularly remarkable scenes which will affect the plot at different times.

Tip 9: tie up loose ends

Once your detailed outline is written, you need to tie up the loose ends and search for any possible plot holes. Fix them while you write.

Do not wait for your story to end before starting with the editing process, instead go back to your already written part- read, reread and edit.

Editing is a crucial part of creative writing.

So, I would like to conclude my blog here. And the only key to improving writing is to read more books and keep writing.

Let's meet again with a different writing topic!

Hope you learned something today as I did!

Thank you!

References and additional links for more information:

https://www.masterclass.com/articles/tips-for-plotting-a-novel#want-to-learn-more-about-writing

https://www.nownovel.com/blog/develop-story-10-ways-write-better-plots/