The Plot - the framework of the Story

The Plot refers to the flow of events in a story.

So, if the ideas are the building blocks, then the plot determines where the blocks go...

You got that right? Good. It is time to write your story.

Do you know what your story is going to be about? I am sure your mind is bursting with ideas.

If not, read this article first - The Idea - The Building Block of the story - to help you come up with an idea. After you are done, come back right here…

Here are a few tips to help turn those ideas of yours into a great story i.e. plot them in the right places! Let us also follow along as LJ uses these tips to write “Bill Happy” ( i.e. italicized).

Step 1:

Visualise. Choose the setting or the environment in which the characters are going to act. Select the time and the place. See the sights, hear the sounds, smell the smells, taste the food, touch and feel—in short, use your senses!

Hmmm…a happy little town…The air is full of the cries of happy children. Greetings are flying all around and all the faces are nothing but amiable. Gee…since it is so happy, I shall call it Glad Town—cool!”

Step 2:

Choose your characters. Do not fret about names. Focus on the characteristics of your characters. These should come out early enough so that your readers can visualise and actually see them in their mind’s eye. Decide who the main character will be.

My main character will be a little happy boy. I think this story will be fun if all the names of the characters have happy in them, or at least a variation of it. So this little boy’s name will be ‘Bill Happy’. Eh, how cute. Then there will be…, Mr. and Mrs. Happy of course; Mrs. Joy, his teacher; Mr. Glad, the head teacher…

Bill is a naughty boy…likes playing pranks –awful pranks on other people that tend to make them sad…and he is well-known for doing thus…

Mrs. Joy—very nice teacher, very friendly with the kids. Reads 'em plenty of stories too, she does.

Mr. Glad—good disposition, but does not hesitate punishing unruly pupils—like Bill Happy…

Old Mr. Glee who doesn’t see saw well—Bill plays meano prank on him.

Merry the blind begger—doesn’t see…

Giddy the snake man.

Aunt Sadly—quite the opposite of the normal disposition of people in Glad town. Hmmm, I think she should stay in Sadly Town, eh!

Step 3:

Focus. Get your goal clear in mind. Know where you are going. It is easy to be destructed along the way (but this is actually okay—your story may take a different and unexpected turn, one that you never anticipated). Writing down briefly what your story is about may help you know exactly where you are going.

This story should teach children not to play tricks on people. Bill plays several mean pranks on several people but he finally learns a hefty lesson in the end…

Step 4:

List all the major events that will take place in your story. Write down anything that comes to your mind. This is necessary because you may forget. Nothing hurts more than forgetting a great idea. You don’t need to worry about arranging them in any order at this point.

• Bill Happy—happy kid. But very naughty—pulls meano pranks on people.

• Plays a prunk on his teacher, put’s sleeping pills in her cocoa. Gets a punished for it…

• get’s a harmless grass snake from Giddy, the snake man…and puts it in her father’s car.

• pulls a prank on Old Mr. Glee…wrecks his cane, so that he falls…

• parents get involved in car crash—goes to live with aunt Sadly in Sadly Town.

• Pulls a meano prank on Merry—gives him a stone instead of bread. Parents punish him but he doesn’t repent.

• while his teacher is asleep, he and his friend go to play outside. Seen by head teacher. Punished—no recess, but still doesn’t repent.

• Mr. Glee breaks leg, Bill sad, but still does not change.

• when parent’s killed, he regrets it for the rest of his life—thinks he killed them.

Step 5:

Time to plot your events! Remember, the plot is the flow of events—the story line.

A very basic plot has got three parts:

i) The beginning: the characters are introduced. The setting is given. The problem or conflict is also introduced.

ii) The Middle (body): The problem or conflict develops and the action reaches its peak.

iii) The End: the conflict is resolved. This is that proverbial time when everyone turns off the light and goes to sleep.

Each of the events that you listed in step 4 should find an appropriate place in the plot. They have to flow in a logical sequence that will be easy to follow. remember, a plot determines where the building blocks - the ideas- go.

Intro
• Bill Happy—happy kid. But very naughty—pulls meano pranks on people.

  Body

• Plays a prunk on his teacher, put’s sleeping pills in her cocoa. Gets a punished for it…

• while his teacher is asleep, he and his friend go to play outside. Seen by headteacher. Punished—no recess, but still doesn’t repent.

• pulls a prank on Old Mr. Glee…wrecks his cane, so that he falls…

• Mr. Glee breaks leg, Bill sad, but still does not change.

• Pulls a meano prank on Merry—gives him a stone instead of bread. Parents punish him but he doesn’t repent.

• get’s a harmless grass snake from Giddy, the snake man…and puts it in her father’s car.

• parents get involved in car crash—goes to live with aunt Sadly in Sadly Town.

  Conclusion

• when parent’s killed, he regrets it for the rest of his life—thinks he killed them.

Step 6

Select the point of view. Are you going to let one of the characters narrate the story? Are you going to do it yourself? Choose the one that achieves your objective and obviously the one that is more fun!

I think third person point of view works well for this…especially omniscient. Only then will people really understand the gravity of Bill’s bad activities…

Step 7

Write!!! Since you can now visualise things clearly and have a thorough draft, isn’t it so much easier to write your story? I hope so…

Sometimes you maybe pressed for time. For instance, at school, you maybe required to write a story in one single day, or even a just a few hours. But these steps I have outlined above will surely help you.

Bill Happy was a happy kid—a very happy kid indeed. He had everything a kid his age would want—a wonderful, loving family; good friends; and he went to a happy little school called Happy Days Primary School. He lived in a happy town full of happy people. The neighbourhood he lived in was happy and peaceful. But above all, his home was happy and cosy.

But Bill Happy was not so good a little boy. He liked poking fun at people and pulling mean pranks that made them very unhappy. He did not care how they felt—all he wanted was to feel happy….

 

A Confession!!!

 

Don’t know how you will take this but I am notorious for not making a written draft, or plot. I find the method of jotting down beforehand all the major events to be rather rigid. Instead of making a written draft, I prefer having a mental outline of the plot and characters.

In short, I would rather not know how each event turns out. It removes the excitement from the whole thing. I would rather let my imagination flow, taking me places I never thought I would go.

If you want to go about making a detailed draft, that is entirely up to you. But I certainly believe that you will have more fun if you do not predetermine each and every event. Just have your objective clearly in your mind. Take it as though you are embarking on a journey. Your objective is your destination. Though you may know where you are going, you do not have to know all that you will meet along the way. If you did, your journey would be quite boring. So in a few words, know where you are going, have fun and you will get there.

If you are stuck on how to begin, here is a secret: Just begin. Often, the first word or phrase you put down stimulates the brain and the thoughts soon start flowing.

Have fun!!!

Return from The Plot - The framework of the story to Writing Short Stories