It can happen in a flash. One minute, you’re going about your daily life, and the next, a glimpse of a new story zips through your imagination: characters and their lives and a world you never previously imagined take over your mind. Before you even realize what’s happening, these fragments start to take shape as scenes play out. And then…it all stops, and you’re stuck.
So what do you do? How do you begin to take these snippets and turn them into a story?
Most writers have heard the terms “plotter” and “pantster.” The latter refers to creatives who metaphorically fly by the seat of their pants when they’re writing, not really planning what’s going to happen on the next page until the words are leaving their fingertips. The former describes creatives who plan their whole story—or as much of it as they can—before they really start writing. And if that’s the way your mind works—run with it! There’s no right or wrong way to be creative. However, if that’s not you, or if maybe it’s sometimes not you, you’ve come to the right place.Today, we’re going talk about the plotting side of things and how a writer can develop a story before they start drafting through plotting and outlining.
Plotting
According to the literary philosophy of nineteenth-century German novelist Gustav Freytag, all stories follow a basic five-point structure: Exposition, Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action, and Resolution. This structure is oftentimes referred to as Freytag’s Pyramid. According to some literary pundits, there are two additional points: Exposition, which occurs prior to the Inciting Incident, and the Conclusion, which is any action between the Resolution of the plot and the final scene. These points make up the basic structure of any story—the framework or blueprint, if you will.
To put Freytag’s Pyramid into use, you can take the glimpse of the story you’ve imagined so far and ask which point it most readily fits. Is it the Inciting Incident, where your character meets their love interest or the friend who will later betray them? Is it the Climax, when the friends finally become lovers or a woman flees an abusive relationship as her partner pursues her? Or is it perhaps the Exposition, in which your character has just moved to a new place and is trying to find their way in a strange town? Wherever the pieces you already have may fit, plotting them on Freytag’s Pyramid can help you identify what “dots” still need to be connected to lead you, as the writer, and your character(s), from beginning to end.
Outlining
If you’ve used Freytag’s Pyramid to organize your basic plot points, you can then implement those notes into a more comprehensive outline. Or, if you prefer to jump straight into the outlining stage, that’s okay too. What matters is that your method works for you.
When you’re creating an outline of a story, there are several ways you can do it. Some writers prefer to make a simple bulleted list, noting every scene throughout the story, while others prefer to outline by chapter, describing the action within each chapter under its heading. Still, there are some writers who like to break up their ultimate word count goal (usually dictated by genre and publishing goals, such as if you’re self-publishing or seeking a traditional publisher) by a set number of chapters, and then list the scene they think they can fit into each chapter per the word count limitations. All of these methods fall into the outlining category, and you can use just one or multiple of these strategies to list out the action and scenes of your story.
It’s important to remember, though, that word count should be a secondary, or even tertiary consideration; what matters is that you are using the number of words necessary to tell your story the best way it can be told, and that doesn’t always adhere to established guidelines. You don’t want to write a mystery novel that’s 30,000 words or a light romance that’s 200,000 words, and you likely would struggle to do the worldbuilding justice in a sci-fi or fantasy novel if you’re under that 100,000 word mark, but the word count guidelines you find online should be nothing more. Suggestions are not hard and fast rules.
Writing It Out
Eventually, there’s nothing left to do but start drafting your story. As you begin, you can use your notes to help you follow the primary plot line as you’ve intended it, but it’s important to remember that your notes are just that—notes. If, as you start writing, your creative energy starts to lead you in a different direction than what you first envisioned, that’s okay! You can always follow that direction as long as you’d like, then decide later if you want to tweak what you’ve written to return to your notes, or perhaps if you’d prefer to amend your notes to follow the new direction.
Try not to go back and edit your work as you draft, however. Instead, we recommend getting an entire draft written, then perhaps taking a brief break from your manuscript so that you can return to it and begin the self-editing process with fresh eyes. Your variation of Freytag’s Pyramid and your outline can both be helpful to you as you self-edit, too, because you can use the Pyramid to check your pacing and your outline to make sure you didn’t miss any important scenes you wanted to include, depending on how detailed you were when you created the outline. You can also take notes as you read your draft, creating an outline of what you’ve written, and compare that to your pre-drafting notes to see what might’ve been missed or any new ideas you had along the way.
Of course, whether you identify as a plotter or a pantser, or somewhere in between, we want to remind you that you’re a writer either way. It takes courage and determination to conceptualize an idea, commit it to paper (even digitally!), and see it through, no matter what happens once it’s written. And if you still need some help figuring out how to go through the drafting and self-editing process, check out the rest of our Editing Tips series here.
Josha Publishing, LLC is a woman-founded, woman-owned, and woman-run company that is passionate about books, stories, and the power of words to change lives. Learn more about us here and remember to sign up for our newsletter to find out about new content, new books, and submissions update.
Editing Tips Part 11:
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Plotting, Outlining, &
Writing it Out
Josha Publishing, LLC 
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