Plot Development

A plot is a series of linked events concerning a character who wants to acquire or achieve a goal that will be challenging to obtain. Each event should make a difference, or significantly relate to a subsequent event. If a particular significant event has no effect on the story line the event should probably not be part of the story.  For example: Jane and John are in love, but John cheats on Jane. Jane finds out and dumps John. John stalks Jane. Jane gets restraining order on John… and so on. Optimally, the events should reach a satisfactory conclusion (John is arrested for violating the restraining order).Also, events should escalate in ‘interest factor’ from one to the next, up to climactic point or resolution.

The story revolves around a protagonist. Other characters are antagonists at best, or collateral players. If the story is told from multiple viewpoints (switching viewpoint between Jane and John) then there are two plots.  Plot one is represented from Jane’s viewpoint – wanting a monogamous love relationship. Plot two is represented from John’s viewpoint - wanting Jane as his main squeeze, but free to play the field as well. If the story were told from the single viewpoint of Jane, the story would have only one plot.

So essentially a plot is about a character who wants something (to win the heart of his/her affection, to be an astronaut, earn back a lost reputation, or evade the law). The goal should not be an abstract concept. If the protagonist wants to “get rich fast”, the goal should be building the next great dot-com website or robbing a bank. The goal shouldn't be something simple or without opposition. Opposition can be an antagonist who wants to stop the protagonist for whatever reason, or some physical obstacle, or some internal – emotional strife, or  mental/behavioral disorder to overcome.

The plot should have a beginning, a middle, and an ending. The beginning presents the protagonist’s goal, the middle describes the effort toward achieving the goal, and the end reveals whether the goal is achieved or not and reveals how the goal has changed the protagonist or his/her circumstance. If nothing has changed about the protagonist’s life or circumstance, the story may have been a theme that demonstrates the futility of whatever the goal may have been, but such an ending be very difficult to portray to the reader. A novel may have a series of such plots or subplots.  If it does, each new protagonist goal should be more engaging than the previous goal, or at least as interesting, and generally the most engaging and interesting goal should be the last one.