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Writing a Novel - Plotting

© Joanne Reid

Last week, I wrote about theme. This week, I'm going to write about plotting. Most of what I am posting here comes from a novel writing course I've been teaching in classrooms and online so if you are familiar with my work, you may have seen this before.

This essay offers you information on plotting which is nothing more than a list of high points for your novel so that you will have a general idea of where your scenes should fit and what could happen next.

Plot or story line?

All novels have either a plot or a story line.

A plot is event-driven. With a plot, the emphasis is on events -- things that happen and the protagonist comes through relatively unchanged. A plot has its point of recognition delayed to near the end.

A story line is character-driven. With a story line, the emphasis is on character and the protagonist emerges changed, either for the better or the worse. In a story line, the reader may see the point of recognition but the protagonist doesn't.

Note: I have relied strongly on Structuring Your Novel: From basic idea to finished manuscript by Robert C. Meredith and John D. Fitzgerald for ideas on plotting. I love this book!

According to them, in a plot driven novel, you can plot the external event that kicks off the chain of events that forms the backbone of the novel. You can also plot the point of recognition, the major complication and the ante-climax complication.

In the story line based novel, you also plot the external event that kicks off the chain of event and the major complication. However, you don't plot the point of recognition or the ante-climax complication because these come out of the character which drives the story. In the story line, the character changes and the point of recognition and the ante-climax come out of those changes.

In other words, you still need to have a framework for your novel...you know what the theme is, what the story idea is and what the major complication is. You still need to have a beginning, middle and end for the novel. In the story line, you need to get right into the heart of the character's personality in the first chapter. You have the character jogging along in the same old rut, day after day and bingo, in the first chapter, something happens that jars her out of her rut.

I like to think in terms of something that would cause me to stop and think, well, now, what do I do now, in this situation that I never expected

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