plot tips for all writers

Happy New Year, and welcome to 2016: your year to get things write!

No, that's not a typo.

Let's start January with a rehash of some great writing tips. We'll begin with PLOTS.

1. Know where you are headed. There are four tasks to accomplish in the first five pages of your story. If you do this, you will set yourself and your reader up for a journey sure to stay its course. 

2. Create tension. You can learn how to build drama by reading the greats. Shakespeare knew how to develop high drama; it begins with not giving the reader what she wants. Make the reader want it.

3. Get your characters into predicaments. Plots are rarely single-minded. Besides the central conflict, your main character needs to encounter other dilemmas that intensify the search to solve her main issue.

4. End it all in style. You might solve your MC's problem twenty pages before the story actually ends. There are many loose ends to wrap up. Don't leave your readers wondering what happened to--

Now that you have a structure to creating a fabulous story, what are you waiting for? Get writing!

Please share your thoughts on plot with us in the comments below.
Write on!

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