Need help mapping a story? Here are some plotlines to help

When writing a story, the author needs to do some building of a plan or a blueprint. They need to have an idea of what is going to happen in terms of plot, and whilst it may not be helpful to plan the whole story down to the very last detail, it’s good to have something that resembles a brief plan.

But making the plan can be daunting and rather stressful – trust me, I know.

I’m currently studying for my degree in Creative Writing and one of the things I've learnt were ways to help build and develop my story. Depending on how you work best will decide which method suits you.

I have a rather scattered brain with too many ideas for me to process at once; I have to get them all down in words for me to actually process them, but my brain works faster than my hand can write (bit problematic) so using one of the techniques below really aids my planning process.

There are numerous versions of software that writers can use, for example Scrivener is a popular choice, but these techniques are all cheap, easy ways to brainstorm your story.

Lists:

As your ideas begin to take shape, you can develop lists. These can be lists of characters, settings, conflict ideas or even lists that include phrases of dialogue. It can be anything to do with your story, but they’re formatted in an organised, structured way.

I use this technique when making a list of things I need to do, for example:

Index Cards:

This technique involves using little cards for each idea; you could have one for the protagonists’ appearance, one for the main setting and one for symbols you’re going to use. Using index cards allows you to shuffle your ideas around and see which structure or chronology you prefer. Just remember that if you use this technique, you don’t want to cram loads of information on the cards.

Story-boarding:

Just like in the world of screenwriting, authors can make storyboards for their stories. You can either assemble some photos or create your own, and use these however you like; you could arrange them in different orders, add relationships between them, reject some etc. This is a great technique if you’re a visual learner/worker.

Fragmentary Notes:

This technique involves you writing down ideas as they come to you. I have multiple notebooks for this and even use my phone as I tend to have that to hand the most. Fragmentary notes can be anything and everything; they can be character sketches, phrases of dialogue, lines of imagery, descriptive passages of settings, or even character names. They can also include thoughts on the story as a whole and how it’ll work, for example the structure, chapter titles, etc.

A pegboard or whiteboard:

This last idea is the one that I swear by. I use it so much in my writing that my four whiteboards aren’t enough. This technique allows you to write everything down, move it around and then if you decide you don’t want it, you can easily erase it. You can colour-code with different pens, have a board for different aspects of your story, and you can even use it for techniques like story-boarding.

If you're writing a story, or developing an idea I hope these techniques can help you.

Until next time…