Wednesday's Writer's Tip - Writing ABC - Plot #MFRWauthor #plot

I have friends who say they can't plot or they have trouble with plot. Agreed that plot can be difficult sometimes but think of plot as a road trip.

What you need is a map with the starting place - or the opening of the story. Then you need to know the final destination. In between come the stops you make. In writing each of these places has a name and we'll look at each one as the Wednesdays continue.

Once somewhere and from someone I heard these words and I think of them often. "A plot is just a plan." And that's what happens. To the plan you need to add and consider the characters and the settings. You're tumbling them all together and trying to make the story make sense. As you work on your story remember the plan or draw a road map.

On the road map start with the Opening and End with The End. The parts in the middle or the stops along the way will be filled in as you go. This is where the complications occur, where the motivations of the various characters add to the problems or solve one of the problems along the hero or heroine's journey to reach the end. The middle consists of the goals and these will be the stops along the way.

So think of the road map for your story and plan each stop along the way and before you realize what's happened, you have a plot and a story.