A Simplified Plot Example

Let’s engage in an exercise to illustrate how a plot can come together.

Chris, the protagonist, has a treasure map and he’s determined to find the treasure. Getting it is the plot problem.

Jack, the antagonist, knows about the treasure and the map and he’s determined to get it before Chris does. This is the plot’s beginning or the inciting incident.

After some thought, you decide on the ending: Chris will find and take the treasure. The graphical representation of the plot at this point looks like this.

Image 1

The problem you face is filling in all the blank space between the beginning and the end. In short, you need a plot path. To put it a different way, you are now dealing with the plot cloud issue.

To complicate matters, you add another character, Ann, an FBI agent, who believes the treasure is loot from a bank robbery. Ann’s story can be a subplot or part of the main storyline. Now the diagram looks like this.

Image 2

The problem you now have is to figure out how to get the characters to the location of the treasure. After some thought, you decide Chris and Jack will move toward the treasure and bump into each other on the way.

image 3

After more thought, you come up with another plot event: Jack and Ann will collide as they both move toward the treasure.

image 4

The events at Points 1 and 2 have to be action scenes. The characters have to do more then hide from each other or wave a hand in greeting. There has to be action: a fistfight, a gun battle, a car chase (or a horse chase if it’s a Western). Something dramatic has to happen. Something to show conflict tension and emotions. This is your chance to show the reader your writing chops.

After the conflict at Points 1 and 2, the plot gets tricky. Your next job is to get Chris, Jack and Ann to the location of the treasure. But they all have to arrive at the same time. This requires a bit of planning to ensure that the timing of the characters’ journey is in sync so one of them doesn’t arrive too early or too late.

Once they all arrive, you’ve reached the climax of your story.

image 5

t won’t be much of a climax if Chris arrives, gets the treasure and leaves before Jack gets there, finds out the treasure is gone and leaves before Ann shows up. Sequential arrivals won’t cut it. That could happen in real life, but this is fiction, not real life.

Once the characters get to the treasure/loot location you have the setup for a great amount of conflict. You can have Chris versus Jack; Chris versus Ann; Jack versus Ann; Ann versus both of the guys. You can have Chris and Ann team up against Jack. You can have Chris and Jack join forces against Ann or even Jack and Ann against Chris. However you arrange the conflicts and the ending, remember you also need tension and emotions.

Once the conflicts are resolved, you need one more scene. You have to tell the reader what the winner gets for all the trouble he or she went through. Does Chris get the treasure and go off to live the good life? Or does he do something different with it? Whatever you decide, you have to tell the readers about it.

Although your ending has Chris coming out the winner, other endings are possible. Does Jack get the treasure and use it to fund a decadent life style? Does Ann recover the loot and get a promotion? Do all three die in a blaze of gunfire? Does the building then burn down making the bodies unidentifiable and leaving nothing but a mystery behind?

This example is simplified. There has to be more confrontations between the three characters prior to them reaching the treasure, but the diagrams illustrate the important principles.

This plot example can be used in a number of variations. If the treasure is replaced by Chris’ kidnapped daughter, you have a completely different story. If you write mystery stories, the treasure may be the point where all the clues come together to resolve the mystery.

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Did you know you can access a free video on plot building? You can find it here: https://hanque.gumroad.com/l/xmygaa