How To Plot A Complex Novel In One Day

How to Plot A Complex Novel in One Day

Now first, I have to say, that the plot you’re able to come up with in one day is not going to be without its flaws, but coming up with it all at once, the entire story unfolds right in front of you and makes you want to keep going with it. So, where to begin? 

What is your premise and basic plot? Pick your plot. I recommend just pulling one from this list. No plots are “original” so making yours interesting and complicated will easily distract from that fact, that and interesting characters. Characters will be something for you to work on another day, because this is plotting day. You’ll want the main plot to be fairly straight forward, because a confusing main plot will doom you if you want subplots. 

Decide who the characters will be. They don’t have to have names at this point. You don’t even need to know who they are other than why they have to be in the story. The more characters there are the more complicated the plot will be. If you intend to have more than one subplot, then you’ll want more characters. Multiple interconnected subplots will give the illusion that the story is very complicated and will give the reader a lot of different things to look at at all times. It also gives you the chance to develop many side characters. The plot I worked out yesterday had 13 characters, all were necessary. Decide their “roles” don’t bother with much else. This seems shallow, but this is plot. Plot is shallow. 

Now, decide what drives each character. Why specifically are they in this story? You can make this up. You don’t even know these characters yet. Just so long as everyone has their own motivations, you’re in the clear. 

What aren’t these characters giving away right off the bat? Give them a secret! It doesn’t have to be something that they are actively lying about or trying to hide, just find something that perhaps ties them into the plot or subplot. This is a moment to dig into subplot. This does not need to be at all connected to their drive to be present in the story.  Decide who is in love with who, what did this person do in the 70’s that’s coming back to bite them today, and what continues to haunt what-his-face to this very day. This is where you start to see the characters take shape. Don’t worry much about who they are or what they look like, just focus on what they’re doing to the story. 

What is going to change these characters? Now this will take some thinking. Everyone wants at least a few of the characters to come out changed by the end of the story, so think, how will they be different as a result of the plot/subplot? It might not be plot that changes them, but if you have a lot of characters, a few changes that are worked into the bones of the plot might help you.

Now list out the major events of the novel with subplot in chronological order. This will be your timeline. Especially list the historical things that you want to exist in backstory. List everything you can think of. Think about where the story is going. At this point, you likely haven’t focused too much on the main plot, yeah, it’s there, but now really focus on the rising actions, how this main plot builds its conflict, then the climactic moment. Make sure you get all of that in there. This might take a few hours. 

Decide where to start writing. This part will take a LOT of thinking. It’s hard! But now that you’ve got the timeline, pick an interesting point to begin at. Something with action. Something relevant. Preferably not at the beginning of your timeline - you want to have huge reveals later on where these important things that happened prior are exposed. This is the point where you think about what information should come out when. This will be a revision of your last list, except instead of being chronological, it exists to build tension. 

Once you’ve gotten the second list done, you’ve got a plot. Does it need work? Probably. But with that said, at this point you probably have no idea who half your characters are. Save that for tomorrow, that too will be a lot of work. 

After you’ve plotted the loose structure of your novel from this, see my next post to work on character! 

More Posts from Silverflvme and Others

1 year ago
Had To Do It To Em

Had to do it to em

1 year ago

*   ›   FREE CONTENT! RYAN MANICK & KADEN HAMMOND GIF PACK

*   ›   FREE CONTENT! RYAN MANICK & KADEN HAMMOND GIF PACK
*   ›   FREE CONTENT! RYAN MANICK & KADEN HAMMOND GIF PACK

ryan manick and kaden hammond gif packs available on my discord server. they're both white, so make sure to have that in mind when building your muse. the gifs are all sized 268x150 and made from scratch by me. DO NOT redistribute, resize, repost or include any of the following gifs in another gif hunt. also PLEASE don’t use my gifs in any tab*o things, in smut threads, if you are blocked (either on this blog or yaziciyasemin) or if you use turkish fcs with non turkish names. please LIKE / REBLOG if you find these helpful!

2 years ago

Wanna be a writer? Find a different way to say “I’m going to the store” every single time you say it. Come up with nicknames for all of your friends. Ask people questions, welcome conversation from an outside perspective, do not drop a topic until you are satisfied. For every different room in which you find yourself on every single day, point out at least one thing that is there, but shouldn’t be there, and why it shouldn’t be there. Then take maybe ten minutes a week to get it down on the page. Writing only takes a long time when the only time you think about writing is when you are writing.

Toni Morrison (via ethiopienne)


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3 years ago
All For The Game (Original Series Soundtrack) Songs From Season Two Of Netflix’s All For The Game (Season
All For The Game (Original Series Soundtrack) Songs From Season Two Of Netflix’s All For The Game (Season
All For The Game (Original Series Soundtrack) Songs From Season Two Of Netflix’s All For The Game (Season
All For The Game (Original Series Soundtrack) Songs From Season Two Of Netflix’s All For The Game (Season
All For The Game (Original Series Soundtrack) Songs From Season Two Of Netflix’s All For The Game (Season
All For The Game (Original Series Soundtrack) Songs From Season Two Of Netflix’s All For The Game (Season

All For The Game (Original Series Soundtrack) Songs from Season Two of Netflix’s All For The Game (Season One) ▸ ready set let’s go · sam tinnesz ∟ Neil closed his eyes and breathed. He locked away everything he was, burying his father and Nathaniel and the Moriyamas into a mental safe for later. He didn’t need or want any of that right now. All that mattered was this game: the racquet in his hands, the Ravens’ goal, and the clock counting down seconds to serve overhead. He wasn’t Neil right now. He wasn’t anything or anyone but a Fox, and he had a game to play. The buzzer sounded to start the game and Neil raced up the court. ▸ mansions · matt champion ∟ It wasn’t far to Nicky’s old house. The Hemmicks lived in a two-storey home in the suburbs of southern Columbia. ▸ no one’s here to sleep · naughty boy, bastille ∟ Andrew touched Aaron’s temple where he himself was injured as if he expected to find an identical injury there. “Did he touch you?” “What did he-” […] “Answer me. I said, did he touch you?”. ▸ mr. sandman - piano and violin version · SYML ∟ Riko pressed the knife to Neil’s chest and slipped the edge under his skin. “I’m going to make this as terrible as I know how,” Riko promised him. “When it’s too much for you, don’t hesitate to cry.” ▸ can you afford to be an individual? · nothing but thieves ∟ Neil threw the bathroom door open and cut the light on. The face waiting for him on the mirror was horrible enough to take his legs out from under him. […] Neil had dyed his hair brown from time to time, but never this shade, never anywhere near this shade. This was his natural color, and those were his real eyes, and this was his father’s face.


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3 years ago
All For The Game (Original Series Soundtrack) Songs From Season One Of Netflix’s All For The Game ▸
All For The Game (Original Series Soundtrack) Songs From Season One Of Netflix’s All For The Game ▸
All For The Game (Original Series Soundtrack) Songs From Season One Of Netflix’s All For The Game ▸
All For The Game (Original Series Soundtrack) Songs From Season One Of Netflix’s All For The Game ▸
All For The Game (Original Series Soundtrack) Songs From Season One Of Netflix’s All For The Game ▸
All For The Game (Original Series Soundtrack) Songs From Season One Of Netflix’s All For The Game ▸

All For The Game (Original Series Soundtrack) Songs from Season One of Netflix’s All For The Game ▸ run boy run · woodkid ∟ “Don’t worry about me. I’ll go for a run or something.” ▸ monster · colours ∟ Kevin dug Andrew’s medicine out of his pocket and handed the bottle over. He and Wymack watched as Andrew tipped a pill into his hand and swallowed it dry. ▸ everybody gets high · MISSIO ∟ Neil could feel the drugs eating through his system. His heart pounded harder than the bass did, shaking him apart from the inside out. ▸ watch me · jaden ∟ None of the Foxes expected to win that night, as they were opening the season against their longtime rivals Breckenridge. ▸ bury a friend · billie eilish ∟ “If he didn’t have his pills on him, how did he overdose?” “Not by choice,” Andrew said. “My theory says Riko won this round.” Neil stared at him. “You don’t really think Riko did this.” “I think the timing’s too convenient for it to be an accident,” Andrew said.


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2 years ago

REBLOG THIS TO GIVE THE PERSON YOU REBLOGGED THIS FROM A GOLD STAR BECAUSE THEY’VE BEEN STELLAR TODAY AND THEY DESERVE IT ⭐️

11 months ago

I hope the mutuals I never talk to are doing well.

2 years ago
Marienburg Castle, Hanover, Germany.
Marienburg Castle, Hanover, Germany.

Marienburg Castle, Hanover, Germany.

2 years ago

WEBSITES FOR WRITERS {masterpost}

E.A. Deverell - FREE worksheets (characters, world building, narrator, etc.) and paid courses;

Hiveword - Helps to research any topic to write about (has other resources, too);

BetaBooks - Share your draft with your beta reader (can be more than one), and see where they stopped reading, their comments, etc.;

Charlotte Dillon - Research links;

Writing realistic injuries - The title is pretty self-explanatory: while writing about an injury, take a look at this useful website;

One Stop for Writers - You guys... this website has literally everything we need: a) Description thesaurus collection, b) Character builder, c) Story maps, d) Scene maps & timelines, e) World building surveys, f) Worksheets, f) Tutorials, and much more! Although it has a paid plan ($90/year | $50/6 months | $9/month), you can still get a 2-week FREE trial;

One Stop for Writers Roadmap - It has many tips for you, divided into three different topics: a) How to plan a story, b) How to write a story, c) How to revise a story. The best thing about this? It's FREE!

Story Structure Database - The Story Structure Database is an archive of books and movies, recording all their major plot points;

National Centre for Writing - FREE worksheets and writing courses. Has also paid courses;

Penguin Random House - Has some writing contests and great opportunities;

Crime Reads - Get inspired before writing a crime scene;

The Creative Academy for Writers - "Writers helping writers along every step of the path to publication." It's FREE and has ZOOM writing rooms;

Reedsy - "A trusted place to learn how to successfully publish your book" It has many tips, and tools (generators), contests, prompts lists, etc. FREE;

QueryTracker - Find agents for your books (personally, I've never used this before, but I thought I should feature it here);

Pacemaker - Track your goals (example: Write 50K words - then, everytime you write, you track the number of the words, and it will make a graphic for you with your progress). It's FREE but has a paid plan;

Save the Cat! - The blog of the most known storytelling method. You can find posts, sheets, a software (student discount - 70%), and other things;

I hope this is helpful for you!

(Also, check my blog if you want to!)

10 months ago

Actually I wanna be someone’s comfort person. their go to. their favorite. the person they wanna grow with and heal with.

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silverflvme - HAUNTED.
HAUNTED.

writeblr written by silver (+21 | pt-br / eng | they/she ela/elu), focused on dark aesthetic and characters with questionable morals. same user on twitch and discord.

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