plot - so what's your problem?

This month, we will explore PLOT. Plot includes the problem or central conflict to your story, how it will be resolved, who will resolve it, who will triumph, who will fail and all of that. 

Traditionally, a plot structure consists of:
Exposition (story set-up; intro of main character; setting; time of calm)
Introduction of conflict
Rising action
Attempts to solve conflict
Climax
Falling action
Resolution

Plot is the purpose of your story, the reason your protagonist wakes up in the morning, the force that causes your reader to turn the page. Everyone wants to know - what's going to happen now? Google "story plot" and you will uncover numerous models and structures for writing a story.

There's the Zen way: wake up, go about your day, and it will come to you.

There's the Professor's way: study great writers and uncover their structure.

There's the Lazy way: just write, plot will develop somehow just because you're writing something...err...moving your pen...

Now, I made all those up. Sort of. From talking with other writers, reading about other writers, I've discerned that these are three obvious ways someone might construct plot.

Today, let's talk more about that central problem. Specifically, how do you come up with one?

For me, it's a mixture of strategy and organic nurturing. I collect story ideas in a notebook, in my phone, on a pad of paper by my bedside, in the squares of my desk calendar. When I say that I 'collect' story ideas, I mean that I am constantly thinking about problems I encounter or someone encounters on a daily level, and I say to myself, "Hmm, would that make a good story?" Usually, that question is followed by a "It would if...". And that's how I come up with plot. And a "and, so" and you've got a whole premise.

The end.

Kidding. Sort of.

Think of your story's central problem like a scientist. You see a problem, so you come up with a hypothesis. When you do ------, this happens; so what if you do --------? What might happen now?

Some examples.:

1. A boy and girl love each other [when you do this], but their parents hate each other. When the teens trick their families into renting adjoining cabins at a summer camp [what if you do this?], they wonder if love really is stronger than hate [what might happen now?].

2. Kimberly, a chubby teen, bares the brunt of vicious high school rumors [when you do this]. In order to fight back, she decides to get in shape over summer break [what if you do this?]. She loses weight and gains confidence, returning to school in September a leaner Kimberly, ready to seek revenge on her tormentors [what might happen now?].

Stuck for ideas? Troll your TV cable provider's movie choices. Read each premise. Which ones appeal to you? Write them down, then change one or two things and see what you come up with. This is a great exercise for practicing pitches. The late Blake Snyder ("Save the Cat") tells writers not to start their project until they know what it's about and what's at stake.

Think like a scientist, write like a screenwriter.

Share your thoughts below.
Write on!

---