Writing a Plot Your Own Way

Having written eleven articles explaining the "rules" of writing a plot, the final thing I want to say in this section on how to plot a novel is that you must not be afraid to break the rules.

Writing a plot for a novel is like many things in life...

• First you must understand.
• Then you must take this knowledge and adapt it in a way that makes sense to you.

The trouble with a guide to plotting a novel is that it can only tell you how to write a typical book - and such a thing does not exist.

If you take every work of fiction ever written and distil how they are constructed into a blueprint, you come up with a universal guide to how to plot fiction. It can tell you how to construct stories in general, but it takes no account of the quirks and idiosyncrasies and broken rules found in every story.

And so you must use my guide to how to write a plot as precisely that - a guide, not a set of commandments.

• If one of the 10 steps of the plotting process doesn't make sense for your particular novel, twist it into a shape that fits - or perhaps even leave it out altogether.

• Similarly, feel free to add steps of your own. For example, if it feels right that the central character should experience not one but two moments of rebirth, do it. Or if you want the character's epiphany to be a more gradual process of awakening than a sudden moment of revelation, fine. If it works, it works.

So long as you understand the rules of writing a plot - and are not merely skipping steps because you don't quite "get" them - you will have the confidence to adapt the rules to your own unique requirements.