- 1). Write down a single paragraph summarizing your plot. It doesn't need to be lengthy, though it should include a beginning, key events in the middle, and an end.
- 2). Write a summary of each character you have planned for the story, including his or her background, personality and motivation. While you don't require character to build a plot, character motivations play a huge role in establishing the logic of a plot.
- 3). Flesh out the basic structure of your plot, expanding each key event to fill an entire paragraph. Arrange the them in chronological order so that you have the complete events of the plot from the beginning to the end.
- 4). Examine your plot for a proper sense of structure. Plots need rising action, in which the protagonist faces a series of obstacles or trials. Such obstacles can be external, such as an attack from a villain or a natural calamity, or internal, such as a conflict with the protagonist's own fears. Each event needs some kind of logical justification, and should be connected to other events in the plot -- some events don't just happen randomly. The events also need to build towards a climactic finale, in which the protagonist either triumphs over his obstacles or succumbs to them.
- 5). Compare the events in the plot to your characters and their motivations. A character will not act in a manner against his nature -- not without considerable justification. Make sure your plot stays true to each character's motivations and allows him to act in accordance with his personality, instead of just obeying the random dictates of circumstance.
- 6). Tighten up areas of the plot that don't feel smooth, or which smack of undue contrivance. Revise your text if you come up with new ideas for the plot, or a better way of getting it to the places you want to go. Creating a plot isn't a static process; a plot is a living thing and may undergo a number of changes and revisions before its final form. Continue until the plot is exactly as you want it to be, then use the text you have completed as the basis for the overall novel.
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