PLOT LIKE YOU MEAN IT – CON’T. BY RITA KARNOPP

Keep in mind your plot can be event or character driven.

Event Driven ~ Plots that are event driven development and progress due to the setting, action, mood, tone, and your character's response and outcome. It’s interesting to realize that your protagonist doesn't need to change or grow.

Character Driven ~ This one is easy - all actions, incidents, and even complications evolve from relentless or steady changes within your character. If your character is determined, obsessed, and focused to make things happen, they will probably happen.

What plot essentials will ensure a good plot?  We’ve heard this before - they are problems, complications, and resolutions.

Problems ~  

Man against society ~ Your protagonist sees the world differently from those around him.

Man against man ~ Simply two rivals who are totally different from each other.

Man against himself ~ These are the psychological stories. The inner struggles of a protagonist must choose a specific path.

Man against nature ~ The protagonist must save the town from torrential floods, slay the dragon, or find the lost child in a blizzard.  Your disaster stories.

Complications ~  Nothing is more effective than complications to make a plot interesting.  Problems are the beginning, and complications make it worse.

Remember:
1. Things must appear as bad as possibly, and then exacerbate.
2. Complications create change.

Resolution ~  Simply – it’s the way you wrap-up your plot. Consider these three main resolutions to your story.

Protagonist wins ~ Most used and preferred by reader and writer alike, because we’ve been invested in what happens to him/her from page one.

Protagonist loses ~ This is slightly difficult to pull-off, since you don’t want to disappoint your reader.  A great example of this resolution is Pompeii. (Which I loved and hated at the same time – I knew it wasn’t going to end well . . . but I had to keep reading!)

Even though the protagonist loses, make sure he/she becomes a better person even in defeat.

Antagonist wins ~ A reader will rarely accept the antagonist winning.  An example of one that is accepted is Dexter.  He’s a ‘bad-guy’ who has learned to apply his evil urges to do good, giving the audience a sense of satisfaction.

When plotting always keep in mind a clear beginning, middle, and end.   Have fun and be creative, sensitive, evil, kind, loving, hateful, etc.  Make your readers expect the unexpected and they’ll buy every next book you write.