Hi, everyone, and welcome to my blog post series…
Plotting Your Story: How to Craft a Complex, Compelling Story Plot!
For more about this blog series as a whole, please read the Intro Post. Be sure to also check out the previous posts in the series, Plotting Your Story, Step #1: Premise and Plotting Your Story, Step #2: Internal Story (Characters)!
******************
Today’s post is the next in the series:
Plotting Your Story, Step #3: External Story (Plot)!
As we talked about in the last post, every story has conflict. Conflict is the life-blood of story, what gives it intrigue and entertainment value. Every story has conflict, but the great stories — the ones that really stick with readers — have not only conflict, but layers of it. One of the most important aspects of crafting a story is to ensure that your protagonist has two layers of conflict happening in the story — an Internal Story layer and an External Story layer.
Last week’s post was all about the Internal layer, crafting characters who go on a journey of mental and emotional growth through the course of the story. Today we’re going to talk about the External layer — the plot events and outside conflicts which pull that character into the journey… into the thrust of the story.
The external layer, in its simplest sense, is your plot.
But the plots that really click into a strong story have a lot of moving pieces, so let’s look at those together.
Here are the major things I consider when developing an External Story (plot):
1. Make sure the plot builds on your character’s Internal Story
The external plot should not just be a random sequence of events (even if they sound interesting!). Rather, it should be carefully crafted so that your plot adds an external, physical layer of conflict which will push your character to naturally face the internal conflicts you’ve set up for your Internal Story Arc.
Use your Premise to guide you as you work through these steps… unless you’ve decided to completely overhaul your premise as a result of working more on your characters and Internal Story (in which case, go back and redo Step #1!), your External Story (your Plot) should fit in with the life-changing event & journey you set up in your premise. Once you’re sure you’re on track for your premise and what you intended to do with the story, then look at your Internal Arc and make sure your plot is effectively driving your character to face their inner demons.
2. Make sure you have a complete External Story Arc
An incomplete story will leave readers frustrated… and what you want is for your readers to close your book inspired and satisfied. That means you need a complete story, not just a series of events strung together without a purposeful direction. So how do you accomplish this sense of purpose as you plot your story?
First, refer back to your premise and Internal Story. Yes, again. If your plot is going off-course, your premise is the tool to reign you back in and reset your focus. Your Internal Story is your tool to determine whether your plot will actually challenge your character to grow. Use these as guidelines to start your ideas flowing for what could happen in your External Story or plot.
Next, think about your plot not only as a sequence of events, but as a purposeful progression of tension, building toward a climax and resolution.
A strong plot will include at least these pieces:
–a starting point where you show what the character’s “normal” life looks like
–a life-changing event that shakes up their “normal” state
–a reactive phase (where your character is just trying to survive defensively against the new situation)
–a mid-point (a moment where new info is revealed that changes things once again, and ideally your character has a major internal epiphany about themselves as a result, tying your Internal and External stories together)
–an active phase (where your character goes on offense)
–a climax (where external conflicts hit their highest and a battle is waged)
–a resolution (a wrap-up that leaves your readers feeling satisfied about the major conflict of this book, even if you’re planning another book in the series and don’t wrap up everything yet)
There are lots of other things that can fall in-between these points in your plot, but if you have these major plot points planned out, you’ll be on a solid track for success with working out your External Story.
I suggest actually drawing these out on a visual arc, so that you can see how your story’s tension progresses. I’ve put in the major points as place-holders, but you would want to replace those with a short little note about what you actually plan to have happen in that particular scene of the story.
Again, these are just the major scenes… there will be many smaller scenes, in-between, connecting each of the major points to what comes before and after it. We’ll talk about these more later in the series, when we get to Step # 6: Detailed Outlining. But if you have at least these few major plot points in place, you can have confidence that your story’s plot will be building in tension… and — if all goes well — keeping your reader’s interest so intensely that they just can’t put your book down! If you think of specific scenes beyond the major ones that you know you want to put somewhere, go ahead and jot them down on your Arc, too (wherever you think they best fit), so that you won’t forget them.
3. Double-check that all the major points on your External Story Arc align with points on the Internal Story Arc.
When the Internal and External Arcs align, magic happens. Your story will come alive with thematic impact, creating emotional depth and interest that leave readers thinking about your story for a long time to come.
So now is the time to refer back to your Internal and External arcs, and make sure that your events on both arcs at least make sense together. There shouldn’t be anything that contradicts or that would prevent something on the other arc from happening or from making sense. Check and double-check this, like Santa’s list. Trust me, it’s that important.
Don’t stress too much about planning every little moment on your plot, yet… as I said, we’ll be covering this in Step #6: Detailed Outline! For now, just focus on the major ones I’ve listed above.
Look at that, you’ve got a basic plot!
As we move forward, we’ll be addressing some other important elements of story planning that need to be in place before the whole thing comes together… which is why I won’t be taking you straight into Detailed Outlining just yet. (That will be in Step 6.)
The idea is to have the most important plot elements pre-planned to keep you on course… then later, you fill in the in-between with events that make sense to lead from one point to the next. When we get to that point, you can plan these smaller plot points out ahead or free-write (if you’re not so much a planner), using the internal & external story plot arcs as guideposts. But if you think you’re not a planner, stick with me for just a few more weeks… the next few steps may be so helpful you end up changing your mind! And even if you don’t, the rest of the posts in this series will help you think through your story so that you can approach it with a clear vision of what your story is and where you’re going with it, and save yourself a ton of time in revision later… who doesn’t want that?! 🙂
VOLUNTARY ASSIGNMENT:
(because I’m not actually your teacher and I can’t make you, but seriously, do it because it will help!)
Draw out your story’s external story arc, including all the elements mentioned above.
BONUS:
I’ve actually created a section in my Forum where you can post your External Story Arc! If you want feedback, feel free to post your assignment there and I’ll leave you some comments!
Was this post helpful? Let me know what you think! Leave me a comment below. 🙂