A plot outline to your story is what a strong foundation is to a house. A weak foundation means you’re sunk, so as a flawed outline will throw you in the dreaded plothole.
Your outline should bring direction to your story as you develop it. Along the way, your imagination may present you ideas to thicken the plot. The outline is your groundwork for the creative juices to overflow.
Read the rest of the 8 essential plot points on this Xlibris Author Advice sequel:
4. Forewarnings
Forewarnings hint at roadblocks to your protagonist’s goal. These make your story a page-turner as your readers wait with bated breath how your main character can surpass these challenges.
Let’s go back to your protagonist, the aspiring writer. Possible forewarnings could be:
- He discovers his late father was also given the rejection slip, thus further disheartens the protagonist.
- He tries publishing through a “self-publisher” and gets scammed.
- He accidentally deletes his manuscript in his computer.
Your challenge: Think of other forewarnings that will keep your readers on the edge of their seats.
5. Costs
These are risks or sacrifices your protagonist needs to take to reach his goal. The trick is to make them as riskier as you can to get your readers worked up. If you’ve seen the hit TV series Breaking Bad, the clever writers of each episode have always put the infamous duo Walt and Jesse in trouble and get them out of it. Every now and then, the two would manage to get out a sticky situation, but not without another one lurking in the dark and waiting to startle them. Breaking Bad’s talented writers have cooked up clever twists and turns to keep viewers anticipating for the next episode.
Your challenge: Bring out your sadistic side as a writer and create edgy circumstances to rattle your protagonist and readers.
6. Dividends
Dividends are incidental rewards or bonuses earned by your protagonists for trying to achieve a goal.
The aspiring writer may discover that many legendary writers started out as self-published authors before they made it big. This could teach him a significant life lesson.
Your challenge: Reward your protagonist with something that will tug at your readers’ heartstrings.
7. Prerequisites
These are events that should take place before the requirements (see part 1) could happen. In the previous example, one of the requirements is for the aspiring writer to improve his manuscript. He may need to take a writing class or read more to polish his storytelling skills.
Your challenge: Make a list of other requirements for the aspiring writer to be better at his craft.
8. Preconditions
Preconditions are little obstacles to your protagonist’s goals. These are created by other characters in your story.
For instance, the aspiring writer gets embroiled in a libel case when he published a preview of his story on his blog and a friend claims the writer has written something defamatory. This puts the writer’s story at risk of getting altered or not getting published. This is a petty circumstance because if the story is fictional, it cannot be libelous.
Your challenge: Come up with more preconditions that may defer your protagonist’s book publication.
One more challenge: How does your story end? A crucial part of your story is the conclusion. Here’s to ending your story with a bang!
Read the first part of this Xlibris Author Advice.
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