How to Plot a Novel

It is no small task, learning how to plot a novel. Not only do you have a lot of events to dream up and flesh out into scenes and narrative passages, you also have to present them in such a way that the readers keep turning the pages.

And that is what plot is all about at the end of the day - entertainment.

There are probably countless reasons why you decided to write a novel in the first place. But high on many people's lists is a need to release all the thoughts and feelings churning around inside them.

Plot is the thing that allows you to pour your soul out on paper without sending the rest of the world to sleep.

Plot will play a big part in your novel, then, which is why it's kind of on the complicated side.

Don't worry, though - so long as you go about plotting a novel logically and build it one small piece at a time, you'll be fine.

(If you aren't ready for all the detailed information on plot in the articles below, you can start with my Quick Guide to Plot and Structure.)

How to Plot a Novel - An Introduction

"I believe in plot. I must know where I'm going before I start. When I start writing a book, the actual writing, I don't want to be distracted from the sentences themselves. I want to know the story ahead of me, know all about the characters."
- John Irving

Before getting down to the details of how to plot fiction, here are three articles to break you in gently to the subject...

What Is a Plot?

Yes, I know that sounds like a stupid question, but I've always been a great believer in beginning right at the grassroots - and the answer to this one might not be as simple as you think.

Three Act Plot Structure

This article looks at plot in its broadest possible form and lays the groundwork for the detailed articles on how to plot a novel ahead. In particular, it looks at how important the number "3" is in writing fiction. Just as a play in a theater has three acts, so too does a novel.

How to Write a Gripping Plot Line

Or to put it another way: How to hook the reader.

Hooking readers, when you think about it, has to be the number one goal of any plot line. No matter how great your novel might be, if the reader doesn't make it beyond the first chapter then your efforts would have been for nothing. Here, you will learn how to keep them turning the pages.

Writing a Plot Your Own Way

Last but not least in this introduction to how to plot a novel, an article which encourages you to take all of the "rules" outlined in this section and bend them (or even break them) to suit your own purposes. Don't get me wrong, rules are important. But if you truly want to succeed in novel writing, you should never become their slave.

How to Plot a Novel in 10 Steps

"As regards plot I find real life no help at all. Real life seems to have no plots. And as I think a plot desirable and almost necessary, I have this extra grudge against life."
- Ivy Compton-Burnett

Now for the main event: a comprehensive guide to plotting fiction to a professional standard...

Introduction to Plotting the Novel's Beginning

Broadly speaking, the beginning of a plot concerns dumping a problem on the leading character's shoulders and making them decide to take action to solve it. Although it is a little more complicated than that, of course.

Step 1 - Start With the Status Quo
Step 2 - And Then Something Happens
Step 3 - The Character Makes a Decision to Act

I look at how to tackle these three steps in detail in this article: Rising Action - Disrupting the Status Quo.

And in Beginning a Novel "In Media Res", I show you a neat trick for taking these opening steps and juggling them around a bit.

Introduction to Plotting the Novel's Middle

If the start of a plot is all about making a character take action to solve a problem, the middle deals with the action itself - or, more precisely, a whole series of mini actions.

Step 4 - The First Mini Plot
Step 5 - More Mini Plots
Step 6 - Rock Bottom

I show you precisely how to use these steps to prevent a "sagging middle" in Plot Development - The Tricky Middle.

Introduction to Plotting the Novel's Ending

And the end of a plot? That deals with the consequences of all those actions. And on the basis that fiction is so much neater than real life, it is also about tidying up the loose ends and leaving the audience satisfied.

Step 7 - Reaction
Step 8 - Rebirth
Step 9 - Seizing the Prize (Or Not)
Step 10 - The New Status Quo

Reaction and Rebirth are dealt with in depth in the article on Character Transformation. And steps 9 and 10 are covered in detail in these articles...

Summary of the 10 Plotting Steps

So there it is: how to plot a novel in 10 simple steps. Follow them one by one and you, too, will have a gripping plot on your hands.

Now, there is an awful lot of information in the articles above - they add up to many thousands of words, in fact - and so you will probably want condensed versions of all the points raised for handy reference. I have actually written two summaries:

Plotting a Novel in 10 Steps - A Recap

The first is a verbal summary of the steps.

A Plot Diagram

And if you prefer to work in a more visual way, here is a diagrammatic representation of how to plot fiction.

One final thing: If after reading everything above you still find it too complicated, you can always turn to story development software to help you out. It won't write your plot for you (and it wouldn't be any fun if it did), but it can nevertheless hold you by the end and keep you from slipping off track.

You can read more about it in my Novel Writing Software Guide.

"I guarantee you that no modern story scheme, even plotlessness, will give a reader genuine satisfaction unless one of those old-fashioned plots is smuggled in somewhere. I don't praise plots as accurate representations of life, but as ways to keep readers reading."
- Kurt Vonnegut

And that is that - your not-so-brief guide to how to plot a novel in 10 steps. If it all seems like a lot to take in right now, don't be daunted because it will very soon become second nature to you.

Once you have mastered everything in this section on how to plot a novel, there will be two more things to do...

The first will be to Add Subplots to the central plot. Don't worry, this is a lot simpler than you might think.
Second, you will need to spice everything up by adding some Advanced Elements of Plot - such as foreshadowing and dramatized flashbacks. Again, there is really nothing to it. And it is this sort of attention to detail that will raise your plot above the ordinary and make it a lot more publishable.