Plotting with Plugh - 1. Plotting with Plugh

Oh my goodness! What do I do? I got some prose to write and I ain’t got no clue! Welcome to the crash course that will save your life –

Plotting with Plugh

Now this is really a simple thing you must do, truly simple if you follow the rules. The first thing you need to do is to recognize is that a plot is a creature of its own and it will morph as you work with it. This is a good thing. The second thing to be recognized is that the outline is a guide, a security blanket if you will… not something set in stone that must be followed to the letter or something very bad will happen. Thirdly, to begin developing a plot or an outline, you do not need details — ALL things are subject to change until the final word is written. Once you have these three thoughts in your mind, open your word processor, notebook, or writing implement of your choice.

Now I know what you are thinking… but Plugh! I don’t know anything about my story. I’ve not done any world building nor any character sketching. I don’t know who they are or where this is going to take place. How am I going to plot it now? Don’t I have to do some of that stuff first? The simple answer is — nope. You don’t. You might not have written any of that stuff down, but I will bet you that you’ve been thinking about it. Our job right now is to get it out of your head and onto your writing implement of choice.

First things first — let’s name your characters. You have the main character; his or her name will be MC. You have the antagonist and their goons, let’s call them BG1, BG2, etc. And of course, you have supporting characters, we will call them SC1, SC2 and so forth. There the hard part is done; the characters all have designations. Now, let’s get on to the plotting.

Tell me in one sentence what you think MC is doing at the beginning of the story. Label this sentence A. Now, tell me in one sentence what you think MC is doing at the end of the story. Label this sentence 0. Wasn’t that easy? Congratulations, you have a beginning and an ending!

Now for the hard parts, under those two sentences list at least three things that must happen for MC to get from sentence A to sentence 0. This will require some brainstorming on your part. (Please refer to the Plugh Brainstorming Method if you don’t know how to do this.) Once you have your things that must happen, put them in some kind of logical order as to what must happen first to last, letter them beginning with B then change sentence 0 to the next letter of the alphabet. This is your basic plot. Everything else you do will fit within the foundation you have started here.

The next portion that you will work on is goal setting. MC must have goals; brainstorm a little and come up with three. Number them. Under each one, list at least three things MC must do to achieve that goal. BG has goals too. His goal is simple though — screw up MC’s plans. For each of MC’s goals list a way for BG to screw it up. Also, for each of the ABC’s that make up the main plot, write down a way for BG to screw that up for MC, too. Ok by this time you should have used SC#s in your plotting, at least one of them. Someone has to have a best friend. Anyway, the SC#’s are not sitting by idly. They have lives too. For at least one and possibly two of the SC#s set a goal or two with the three ways to achieve the goals. Great, you have all that done. Guess what. You now have subplots and plot layers. This is where the real work begins.

At this point, you should have a whole list of goals followed by steps to obtain those goals for at least three, and possibly four, characters (MC, BG1, SC1, and maybe SC2). For each item on that list, you need to write a cause for it in front of it and an effect of it behind it. Still with me? Lots of work, isn’t it? Don’t worry; we’re almost done. Take every thing on that long list you now have and put it in logical order as to what happens first, to what happens last, including the original ABC’s.

If necessary, combine like items. Don’t worry if a cause is far from an effect, some things take time and others can be handled in writing in such a way that no time seems to have passed at all. When it’s all done, there should be a fairly equal number of items between A and B and C etc and nothing AFTER the last ABC except maybe one or two effects. When you have finished adjusting it, give yourself a great big pat on the back, you have just created your outline.

Still worried about getting through it without doing any world building or character sketches? Well, look at the outline. What places do your characters go to? Those are the places you need to concentrate on in your world building. What kinds of things do your characters do? Those are the traits they will need when you sketch them. Often writer’s forget the big picture because they get hung up on the details — the story is already written, it’s in their heads, all they have to do is get it out on the writing implement of their choice.

I’d like to thank you for Plotting with Plugh… I hope you have enjoyed your experience.