Story Planning: Three Ways to Get Started
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A few years ago I wrote a series of 12 blog posts about story planning. They were quite detailed and seemed to get a lot of views on Pinterest, so I ended up combining them into what I called “The Ultimate Guide to Planning a Novel.” I had written the posts over 12 days with each day focusing on a different step in the story planning process.
These days, I tend to want to plan my novels a little quicker than 12 days, so I thought I’d write a follow-up post and share some of the strategies I use now.
Use the Power of Three for Story Planning
All stories have a beginning, a middle, and an end. This is the power of three in its simplest form. If you know the beginning, middle, and end of your story, you can start drafting your novel. Let’s take this a step further.
You’ve probably heard of the Three Act Structure. This story structure was made popular by play and screenwriters, and it remains popular in novels and movies today. With a three act structure, your story consists of three parts: Acts I, II, and III. Since Act II is the longest, some writers break this in two and plan their stories in four parts.
Act I, the beginning, is about 25% of your story. This is where all the characters are introduced, the story is set up, and the hook is dangled in front of your readers. In Act II, your main character is getting to work solving the main problem of your story and interacting with all the characters that will help them do this. This act encompasses about 50% of your story and it's where all the meaty story events take place, taking you right up to the climax of your story.
Act III is the resolution of your story and it takes up approximately the last 25% of your novel. This is where everything gets wrapped up and your story comes to a satisfying conclusion for your reader (unless you are writing a cliffhanger).
Breaking my story into acts often helps me think about what will happen in each section of my book. If I’m stuck, again I’ll go back to the power of three. I start with just three things that could potentially happen in each act. That usually spurs a few more ideas until I have enough scenes to create a decent length act. Check out this article on the No Film School website that explains the Three Act Structure in much more detail and includes a fun infographic for ideas of what can happen during each act.
When I get stuck during the drafting process, I use the power of three to get unstuck by thinking of three things I want to happen in the chapter I’m working on. Usually by the time I’ve written those three things, I think of more things that work for the part of the story I’m working on.
Try More Detailed Plotting Methods
The key to finding a story planning or plotting strategy that works for you is to experiment and try as many as you can that interest you. There are probably as many plotting methods out there as there are authors. Of course, there are overlapping concepts with each method. The nice thing about more detailed plotting methods is they can help you create more scene ideas before you start drafting your novel.
When I’m writing a romance, I use the Romancing the Beat structure by Gwen Hayes. Gwen discusses four phases, each with five plot points. That’s already 20 plot points not including any connecting scenes you will need. I find this structure works best for a romance told with alternating points of view with two main characters, but I have also adapted it for books with one main character written in first person.
The phases of Gwen’s structure start off with the Set Up where we’re introduced to the main characters and the love interests meet. In Phase 2, the characters fall in love, but in Phase 3 something happens to pull them apart and they retreat from love. The final phase involves the characters realizing they can’t live without each other and fighting for love. If you want to know the plot points in each phase, I highly recommend Gwen’s book. She also has a handy PDF cheat sheet you can download free from her website.
For stories that aren’t romances, I usually use the Save the Cat! story structure because I'm most familiar with it. It works for many different types of stories and includes 15 beats, not including connecting scenes. Here are the 15 beats:
Opening Image
Theme Stated
Setup
Catalyst
Debate
Break Into 2 (as in Act 2)
B Story
Fun and Games
Midpoint
Bad Guys Close In
All Is Lost
Dark Night of the Soul
Break Into 3 (as in Act 3)
Finale
Final Image
I’ve read two Save the Cat! books, and I’ve taken their course Cracking the Beat Sheet which I highly recommend if you are interested in learning more about this structure. Read my review of Save the Cat! Writes for TV here. Although this book is written for screenwriters, I believe it is highly applicable to novelists as well. There are also tons of great beat sheet examples on the Save the Cat! website.
While I don’t use the Save the Cat! Story structure software, I did have the opportunity to use and review it. You can learn more about the software and read my review here.
Understand Your Characters
Sometimes I get a story idea because a character starts having a conversation with another character in my head. In my opinion, for what it’s worth, the best stories are character driven stories. We get so attached to the character it’s as if we are living the story through them. We route for them and we feel for them.
Get to know your characters before you start writing. I’m not talking about the physical details about your characters. That’s important, but what really drives the story is how your characters think, how they react in certain situations, and why they do the things they do.
Exploring your character before you start writing your story can help you determine some of the scenes that will take place in your story. A character is almost always different at the end of the story than the beginning because of what they have gone through, so think about where your character is coming from, what they will go through, and where they will end up. There I go with the power of three again!
Since I am such a fan of the power of three, of course I had to mention you can use all three of these methods together for even better results with your story planning. Doing so will result in a more detailed outline and hopefully speed up your manuscript drafting process.
