Plot This: Brainstorming

There are a million ways on the web, in writing books, writing professors and the like telling you how to brainstorm. How to plot. How to plan. How to outline. A lot of How to's out there. But I personally don't think there's just *one* way to outline, brainstorm, plot, or write a novel. Writing is a deeply personal thing and like most things in art, each person provides a unique take on it. There is no right or wrong way.

In case you're not familiar, brainstorming is a pre-writing step. A necessary step, in my opinion, for story craft and writing. Some people will say it's a braindump or thought dump. But it's so much more.  Brainstorming is the first steps to a story. It's more than just getting snippets and ideas out on to a page. It's creative thinking meddled with problem-solving to create a completely you story.

I can hear all my pantsers in the crowd shouting their protests, but hear me out. Even if you like to write on the fly, figuring it out as you go you still probably brainstorm beforehand a little beforehand. Do some character things? Sketches? Questionaries? Yeah, that's brainstorming, even if it's just a bit.

But brainstorming, at least how I think of it, comes in two parts. The thought vomit and the actual problem-solving. This is how I've come to think of brainstorming. it's not how someone else might but nonetheless could help

So how can you brainstorm?

Well, I'd like to say there's a tried and true method. But there's not. Somethings will work for you. Others won't. And that's totally okay. it's also okay to experiment with different methods or mash a few together.  

I like to break brainstorming into two parts: thought vomit & problem-solving. But any of these methods can be used s either topic.

1) A stream of Consciousness/Freewrite Method

You just go for it. you type whatever you can think of relating to your story in a notebook or a google doc or word doc. You go to town. typing furiously to get it all out of your head. It can include dialogue, scenes, character descriptions, settings, bits and pieces of anything really. This is messy, it's jumbled it's chaotic.  And that's totally okay. it's supposed to be.

Pros: You get a lot of stuff out there You can get some amazing ideas and snippets to incorporate Easiest for Pantsers Cons Time-consuming. You can get sucked into this pretty fast. Easy fix set a timer. ( 10 fifteen minutes) It's not organized so you have to sort things and organizes it

2. Mind Maps

So those silly little charts you learned in Language Arts as a child come in handy.  So these are where you write one big idea in the center and branch out smaller ideas here. This works best if you're doing it analog and not on a computer but I'm sure somewhere there's a program.  There are a few ways to do. Write on notecards, post-it notes, or just a piece of paper and pen. ( I've even tried doing it where I have an image that inspires the story and a bunch of other details stuck around it so it’s liberating to just have whatever you want). You also need a wall, poster board, back of a clean door anything flat where you won't disrupt it. You write everything you think of on said thing of your choice, pop it on to a surface and then connect the ideas or make clusters. Mapping it out.

here's an example of a mind map 

Pros: Visual so great for people who need to see things physically Modable. If you use post-it notes or painters tape it you can rearrange and remix things You can add and remove as you like; leave and come back to it as ideas hit you

Cons Takes space Time, this takes time a lot of it. ( I set a timer for about 1.5 hours) Motion. This is very, up and down and up and down for me. As I write, stand post and etc. So if that's something you want to avoid, this might not be the best thing for you Things can get disrupted or lost. If you do this on a bed, or wall, where there are lots of traffic things, can fall off, move around, shift. It's not fun.

3. The 5 Points method.

This works best with questions. So how is something suppose to work? What does the character want? What crisis do they need to overcome? What is the conflict for this given scene? Etc. Etc.  This is one of my favorite methods because it doesn't feel overbearing but it's also super quick to get some results. So all you do is: have a question. label 1-5 on a piece of paper or word doc. Answer the question with five different answers. The first few answers might be dumb or not so good. so keep going. I usually hit between 5-8 answers before I get something workable and good. That's it. Simple enough.

Don’t be scared to get silly answers.

It might look something like

“HOW CAN CONFLICT ALPHA MEAN MORE TO MR.X?”       1. The conflict unleashes dinsaurse and X has a spot for them and must now find a reason to solve problem + keep them safe       2.  He loses control for the first time in his life       3  the consequences of the conflict have him re-evaluate his life choices       4. he’s forced to pick between  need (internal) and want (external)       5. His hopes and dreams ride on this turning out okay

Pros: Can be done in a short amount of time Allows you to be less constricted by  perfectionism Gives you wiggle room fires off the creative part of your brain as well as singles to the logical part organized

Cons Can be easy to lose track of time ( timer is helpful here as well) Can be hard to think of good questions or question phrases Can get a little disorganized if you don't keep it neat

4. Starburst Method/Cubing Method

This method is another visual one. This method has you look at a certain thing and ask the 6 basic questions ( who, what, when where, why, and how) Frist find a topic. Example: Fae Culture. Then begin to generate questions about this topic. Who in charge? Who knows about it? What is the class system like? What does this topic make you think of? Where can you find more information? Where does it originate? Why does x event happen? How does x work? etc, etc.  Most people put this into a 6-pointed star ( but I find those super hard to draw so I often just make a modified mind map). Once you've got these down, go ahead and answer them

Pros: Good for world building Gets the basics done Visual Aid

Cons Might get stuck on questions/coming up with questions might not solve all plot holes

5. Snowflake Method

This method is really popular with some people, I am not one of them.  Crafted by Randy Ingermanson [ you can read more on this method and a step by step how to here ], the Snowflake method works small and builds large.  Starts with a sentence then moves into a paragraph, a page. Until you have a larger picture at hand.  This method is great if you don't want to spend like 900 hours on brainstorming or outlining at all.

Pros Can be relatively fast Gets macro and micro Great for Pansters Helps if you're struggling/typing aimlessly Timeline/Deadline compatible.

Cons A bit involved Uses a lot of paper ( or pages) 10 steps is a lot but can be worth it for people

Now, these are just a handful of methods but there’s plenty of other ways to go around brainstorm. Some of these work for me ( 5 points, mind mapping, scream of consciousness) Others not so much. Experiment, play around. Mesh two together. Dissect parts of them and create franken-brainstorm method uniquely you. If you don't brainstorm, then I challenge you to try some of these methods out. Who knows maybe you'll find that even as a pantser, your writing goes a bit more smoothly.

As always if there's something in this post you want more information about, more details about let me know!! I'm happy to help. I hope this inspires you to try something new or maybe it'll help you unstick that story.

Happy writing & creating! XO Morgan

Plot This: Story Shapes

So in my last post, I talked about a few plot structures to diagram a novel. To give it that bone structure all us girls would kill to have. Now I want to address story shape. No, I don't mean genre, not really, I mean story. I mean the basic "x many stories" that scholars like my Creative Writing Profs like to quote a bunch of times but never explain past a pretty visual.

In general, there’s a lot of argument on how many story “types” there are. Some say seven ( all my workshop profs did), some say 10, 20 even 36.  So what's the right number? Yeah, no one knows a good solid answer, some research points to six ( Universtiy of Vermont Labs, you can read their findings here ) other disagree and say more. I've always been a simple kind of gal, so I tend to stick with the seven/six but I can understand and appreciate the need for more diversity and complexity for different things.

Now there are countless diagrams, picograms, snazzy graphics about these basic story shapes, and I'll link some [ here and here,] that I often use but I want more overarching things at my disposal when I write. 

Like the plot structures, I like to dabble and experiment with story shapes. So this one is for anyone who wants to know about their story shape, and it should have one. Anyone who wants to know about the emotional trajectory of their piece. Anyone who wants to understand their story to challenge it a bit more. Or anyone like me who finds this kinda of stuff really fascinating.

1 ) The Six Core Story Shapes ( based on Kurt Vonnegut's rejected thesis)

1. Rags to Riches  ( aka Boy Meets Girl) follows a rise of happiness.  

2.  Man-in-A-hole  follows fall - rise

3. Icarus ( aka Old Testament) follow rise- fall 

4. Tragedy (aka Riches-to-rags ) follows a fall in happiness. 

5. Cinderella ( aka New Testament) follows a rise, fall, rise.  

6. Oedipus follows fall, rise, fall.  

7. Creation Story ( this was not included in the study because it only covered Western Narrative. Creation Story Shape is not common in Western Lit but can be found in cultures across the board.) follow a rise to happiness

8. Which Way is up? ( this was also not included in the study. this narrative shape is a story that includes a lot of ambiguity that keeps readers from deciphering if developments are good or bad. Think Hamlet)

There are a lot of parallels between certain shapes ( Cinderella mirrors Oedipus etc). This is a great starting point and the link to analysis is kinda fun to play with.   These also sort of help you define the genre by the emotional slope and valleys then by setting. That alone can give you a bit more insight into certain story aspects.  These six and the two from Vonnegut's shape theory could offer more insight into your story which a plot structure ( like the Plot Embryo) won't.  You can watch Vonnegut's discussing these here in a less than five-minute video which is great.

2) The Seven Basic Plot by Christopher Booker

1. Rags to riches 

2. Overcoming the Monster

3. The Quest

4.  Voyage and Return

5.  Comedy

6. Tragedy

7.  Rebirth.

It's important to note that all the "story shapes" will have some overlap whether you say there's three or seven or thirty-six.  And that's plain here.  These bad boys are the ones everyone has seen a million and ten times. And they're a great place to start when understanding the story you have before you. These story shapes are also used in marketing strategies for companies so they can be pretty useful across the board.

3. Overview and Wrap Up

 Even at a glance, you can tell that they all have something in common. One is more simplistic than the other and adheres better to post-modern and modern works.  Even if I were to dissect the other 10, 20 or so story shapes, that would be clear.

I like to boil things into their simplest form, that's why I only went over the seven. I like things where I can see the bones of a project without over complicating it. The Seven is what I use constantly when plotting and structuring. But  I encourage you to take a look at Blake Snyder ( 10 Plots ), Ronald Tobias (20 Plots) and Georges Polti  (36) if you're curious and see if those aren’t more helpful for you.

It's this type of thing that you don't see a lot when talking about story craft and structure. And yet, this is another great tool for you to have at your disposal. It helps with so many things if you’re struggling. It’s also really good knowledge about story craft in general. 

So why do you even care? I'm so glad you asked you smart cookie you.

Uses:

Not so good for

I hope this helps anyone out there, and as always if you want something more detailed or a compare and contrast sorta thing, feel free to ask! I love to talk about this stuff and help any way I can!!

Happy writing/Creating XO Morgan

Plot This: Structure Guide

Alright so if you're a writer then you've probably familiarized yourself with plot...and the structure it provides to a novel. There are countless articles online on "how to plot a novel" or the like. Which is fantastic for you writers because it's at a fingers reach from us. Not so great when there's about...a billion ways one can go about plotting a novel. It can seem daunting and overwhelming and more important confusing! 

I want to break down this massive task bit by bit. Starting with the very bare bones and working into more detailed parts. Making it more manageable.

 Now, I know some of you might roll your eyes and say I know all there is to know about plot. I was you. I went into every workshop and craft class thinking the same thing. And yet, when I started plotting my recent WIP ( The Cost of Defeat ) I realized I didn’t know jack. I thought every story I ever wrote would adhere to my system of structure because of sheer will and blunt force. Yeah wrong.

It wasn't until just recently I started diving into the structure ( because I like pretty diagrams and being organized way more than I should) that I discovered there are a lot of different Plot Structures out there. No one bothered to ever teach me let alone discuss these things. My mind was blown. 

Some worked better for me than others. Some mesh better together than others. It’s all about experimenting and figuring out what works for you. And I’m hoping that this will also help others, or at least give a jumping off point. Now it’s not a whole list ( there’s a lot of elements that I could probably talk about by themselves) but it’s a good overview of the popular ones that reoccur a lot.

1) Freytag's Pyramid

Freytag’s pyramid is the most basic plot structure I know. It’s the one we’ve all seen in school when we start learning about story structure and analysis.

This bad boy is the simplest plot structure used to dissect and understand Greek and Shakespearean Plays. 

Pros     x Simplistic. Makes it easy to understand      x Great for those just starting ( or those who want to understand film and literature analysis.     x Great for AP Literature/Comp papers

Cons     x It creates simple stories     x Not super awesome for modern novels or anything longer than about 25K words

Uses     x Children’s Literature. Picture books mostly. Children are still learning to understand things like conflict effect on characters and having such a long falling action allows for that.     x Short Stories. Since short stories are compact for punch, this structure allows you to get the most done without boring the reader in 25K words or less.   x Analysis. This structure is the easiest and most common to apply to plays, film, tv and even in classic literature. It’s a great way to dissect plot and events in order to better understand the pieces working parts 

Examples: Shakespeare's Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet                    Sophocles's  Antigone                    Henrik Ibsen  A Doll House

2) Three-Act Structure

The Three-Act Structure is probably the most known. We all know this intuitively as storytellers. Everything needs a beginning middle and end, after all.

This structure is very similar to Freytag’s Pyramid but adds elements that beef up and create points of interest. Obstacles, for example, add conflict and build up suspense for the climax. It’s also important to note that the falling action and resolution is much more compact.

Pros    x  basic building block for all good stories    x  Roadmap-like so you can be systematic about things    x  Good “big-picture” visual

Cons    x  Pacing is super important for this    x  Bit rigid and formulaic

Uses     x  Literally anything. Because it’s versatile it works on  a plethera of stuff, let your imagineation run wild.     x Film analysis. This struccture is like the holy grail in almost any film class ( sometimes they call it the four act structure)

Examples:  Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Sherlock Holmes                    Alfred Hitchcock’s  Vertigo                    Jane Austin’s Pride and Prejudice

3) The Fichtean Curve

The Fichten Curve Is really unique in that it starts right with the rising action. There ain’t no time to build up or nice slow introductions, you're dumping the readers right where it hurts. But you make up that lost time with the small bits of exposition

This is one of the most popular plot structures for modern novels.

Pros     x  A lot of opportunities to ramp up the stakes, bit after bit     x Good for pacing     x  Great for Overcoming Monster & Quest stories     x Translate over almost any genre

Cons     x Not a lot of time to slow down, breathe     x Not suited for Voyage and Return, Comedy or Rebirth stories

Uses    x Thrillers/Mystery novels. You need something to keep readers in the story, chomping at the bit. here’s the plot structure for you.    

Examples: Max Brooks’s World War Z                  

4) Plot Embryo/Hero's Journey

The Hero’s Journey is also super common in the literature (namely western literature) With this plot the protagonist ( the hero of hero’s journey) undergoes a literal or figurative death-like transformation that changes him. 

The protagonist must venture from one state into another. To take it a step further there’s a variation called the Ploy Embyro. Dan Harmon takes the hero’s journey a bit deeper and modernizes. [ here’a great video on it by youtuber Rachel Stephen x] 

As you can see, the Hero’s Journey and Ploy Embyro are both cyclical. This baby comes full circle in both plot and character. They have similar plot points. But if I were to gush about this the post would be waaay longer than it already is. This is one of my preferred methods because it just makes sense for me and allows me to have some freedom and wiggle room while still adhering to the 3 acts.

Pros     x Character development holla, cause this is where it’s at.     x Visually appealing     x  Simple 8 point outline ( for those who might not enjoy long-winded outlines)     x  Works alongside A beat sheet ( if you use that sort of thing)     x  The holy grail for myths.

Cons     x Overdone ( but it doesn’t have to be a bad thing)     x Not suited for those who really detailed outlines

Uses     x Adventure Stories. It is all about the adventure and journey with this     x Myth Retellings. I mean it’s based on the myth structure of the Odyssey and the like so it makes sense

Examples: Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird                    Rick Riordan’s The Lightning Thief                   J. R R. Tolktien’s The Hobbit

5) In Media Res

A literal translation to “In the Middle”. This plot structure dumps you right in the middle of the story.  Think if you were to open a story on the second of third crisis/pinch point. there’s still a lot of upward trajectory to go before the climax.

Don’t confuse this with simply opening a story mid fight/action. Media Res starts well deep into the story itself, close to the climax but with enough room you can still build up to it.

Pros     x High Actions     x Simple and fun to play with     x A good use for flashbacks     x Hell of a hook for readers

Cons     x  Can be confusing for reader’s if not done right     x  No build up     x takes some finessing to get just right

Uses      x Mysteries. This is a great plot if you want to start a story perhaps where the killer has already committed the murder.    x Epic Poems. Maybe you wanna write the next epic poem, this is great for that.       Examples  John Milton’s Paradise Lost                    Homer’s Illiad                    George Lucas’s  Star Wars 

Now I could go on and on but this monster of a post has carried on long enough. If there’s a certain structure you’d like me to go into more detail about feel free to leave a comment on this post and I’ll be sure to add it to my line up!! As always happy writing/creating!

        XO Morgan

A Smallish Update

Im super excited to finally have some original content to publish now! I've been working on this post all week and after my adult butt gets off work itll post so stay tune!!

I do have to say I'm a little nervous about it as well but that's not gonna stop me! So I hope I helps someone and as always happy writing and creating lovebugs!

XO Morgan

Hello Writeblr

Hello, friends of Tumblr!

So while I finish setting up things around here and getting some content drafted, I'd love to find some more writers to follow!! If you give some good advice, just want someone to hype about with you or need some encouragement, go ahead and reblog this for me and I'll be sure to check ya out! Bonus points if you love Greek/Roman mythology and nerdy thing too!

Thanks, XO Morgan