My Journey Plotting a Short Story
What is a Plot when it comes to writing?
According to Harvey Chapman, © Novel Writing Help “Plot is “what happens” in your novel. It’s a sequence of events. You start with Event A and finish a few hundred pages later with Event Z.”
And that is a plot in a nutshell. Every story from movies, video games, novels, short stories, epic poems runs on a plot. Some of them are good and some of them not so much. In a later post, I will talk about subplots. But today we are just going to talk about main plots.
How I normally plot my novels
I am currently writing a contemporary romance suspense series. That is a genre. I highly recommend that you learn what genre you want to write in. Because that is going to help you with your plotting.
I looked up the things that a romance story needs and found a great article on the beats of a romance novel. Writing the Romance Novel: The Seven Story Beats by Kaye Dacus
I take those beats and inserted my story. But because I also write suspenseful romance I needed a little extra. Joslyn Chase has a great article How to Write a Suspense Novel
This method is the easiest for me and it lets me find out what I need to make sure that my story fits my genre and subgenre. I would recommend that when you find your genre to look up what is expected of that genre.
Knowing what is needed in a story lets me break up my story into events or what we call scenes.
The difference beast that is plotting a short story
What I’ve learned so far
I normally write novels so stories are over 50k words long. But this year I decided to write some short stories for my Wings (ARC/Fans) and Newsletter members. I knew right away that I needed to do some research. Did I know that short stories were a different beast entirely when I started? NO! But boy do I know that now.
What kind of beast are they? They are short and stocky, fast and punchy, bold and brash, and single-minded in their determination.
A short story is according to my research 5k to 10k words long. In that short amount of words, you have to:
get in 3 plot points, introduce your character, create a mood, establish your theme, and reach a satisfying conclusion. All without being too wordy.
How in the world am I going to do that? In other words, what’s my plan?
Well, let’s start with what I have already in my arsenal.
I know my character and so does my ideal audience. Because they are already fans of the books. Raven was one of the main characters in my first novel Into the Fire Book 1 of The Fire Series. Which takes care of my POV (point of view) character’s introduction.
I already know that I plan to write the story in First-person narrative.
I know my main setting and so does my audience. Which takes care of one of the two settings for the story.
Relationships are already established. Which makes it easier to insert a conflict between them.
I already have my ending because it ends where book 3 picks up.
That is all to my advantage. So now what?
I need to pick the mood I want to establish in the story.
Pick a theme for the story.
Pick a theme for my character (Raven).
Sketch out my A scene Opening scene.
Sketch out my X scene Climactic moment near the end of the story.
Pick the emotional tone of the story.
How do all these things matter to a plot? Like we said at the beginning a plot is what happens in the story. Each event is a scene. So knowing how the story starts the A scene, and the climax of the story the X scene will help you fill in the blanks in the middle.
The theme of the story and the character matter because stories have a reason. What do you want your character to say? What struggles do you want your character to overcome in the story?
What do you want your story to say? What do you want your reader to walk away thinking about? I would be happy to do a blog post on themes. Just leave a comment if you would like me to explore that topic.
Mood impacts the character’s emotions and thoughts. How the reader sees the settings and characters.
What are my current steps along this journey?
Answer some questions on the mood I want to set.
Answer some questions on the theme of the story and character.
Answer some questions on the character’s thoughts and emotional state.
Sketch out my A scene
Sketch out my X scene
Research active voice in writing
Start to sketch out my outline
How do you plot your stories?
What methods do you use to plot your stories please share in the comments for my readers.
What is your favorite plot?
What are your favorite stories? One of my favorites is Kushiel’s Justice (Imriel's Trilogy 2) by Jacqueline Carey take a look.
What am I plotting this month?
I’m working on a short story for the Fire Series. A moment that happens between books 2 and 3. If you would like to get a chance to read this short story when it’s ready. Become either/or a Wing’s member or sign up for my newsletter here.
What else am I working on this month?
I am slogging my way through the Line edits on book 2 The Fire Within. I had a lovely meeting with my Line Editor yesterday.
Merch of the week
Into the Fire pillow 20% off on everything on the store with the code WEDNESDAYFUN today only
What am I reading this week?
On Audiobook Dead Until Dark (Sookie Stackhouse, #1)
Freebie of the month:
This month's Newsletter and Wing’s members got Travis and Raven Wedding stickers. If you would like to get monthly freebies sign up for either my newsletter here or become a Wing’s member here
We have a new recipe for your enjoyment from our fans take a look.
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