Questions tagged [plot]
Plot typically refers to the events and their ordering in a work of narrative fiction. Use this tag for questions regarding plotting, outlining, and narrative arcs. Be aware that questions asking users to come up with plot details for you are off-topic.
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How do I make a situation that looks like a planet will be destroyed, but without actually destroying it? [closed]
Here are some details for context:
There are two civilisations, A and B. B is significantly smaller, around a few hundred people.
B is visiting A's home world via a magic item that can teleport a ...
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Using the stages of grief to fall in love
I would love to utilize the stages of grief in a way to show the progression of a character's resistance to fall in love. I have some ideas for each. What are some other ideas?
I have a vigilante ...
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How do you know if your story is too complicated or just complicated enough?
I've been working on my current story for almost a year. It's a great story but at times it seems really complicated. How complicated is too complicated in a story?
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Can you get poisoned too by kissing a poisoned person/having sex with them?
The MC (a dragon in human form) gets poisoned by drinking poisoned tea. Then hours later the MC kisses a human, who also gives him a blowjob and doesn't spit it out. Can that other person get poisoned ...
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When should I use the setting to express the motif, and when should I use characters, plot events to do it?
I'm currently still at the early stage of writing, and I may be facing too much freedom than what is helpful.
One of the results of that is: I'm very uncertain of when should I use the story setting ...
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How to include multiple rare events in a story without it feeling contrived?
I'm working on a detailed plot outline for a fantasy story that revolves around three main characters, Liana, Celia, and Ander. Here's a brief overview:
Celia suffers from a condition called "...
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Is it morally right to base a novel on a tragic historical event?
I'm writing a historical fiction based on a historical tragedy where many people died. It's a very specific setting and situation, but I'm not using the names of any of the real people involved in the ...
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How to slow down plot in slowburn romance?
My current work in progress is a slow burn romance between two characters who do not believe in love in their own way. MC simply does not believe in it due to bad experiences being proven, and LI (...
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I’m feeling overwhelmed about writing a novel, can anyone help?
I’ve always wanted to write a book. I’ve finally gained enough courage to attempt to write a small novel, 100-150 pages. I’m 13, which I’ve learned is a small problem. I hate to say it, but I’m just ...
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How to add the “thriller” in a supernatural thriller?
I’ve had this idea for awhile now and would love to start planning and writing it but I don’t know how to make it a supernatural thriller. I know how to write the supernatural part.
Basically, the ...
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What stories include a story within the story that is brought to life, creating the main source of conflict? For example: Jumanji [closed]
I'm outlining a new story idea and curious if there are other premises like it out there. I know there are, but am looking for more examples to make sure what I'm trying to do has not been done before....
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What examples are there of a major character being written out *without* dying?
Mainly talking about stories that span multiple instalments, like TV shows with multiple seasons or a novel series with multiple books.
In my experience, when a main character exits a series ...
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How can I make my book longer without it feeling like padding, while also not significantly changing the plot?
I'm writing the first draft of my first book. Lately, I have been working hard on it and reached about the 40k mark. At this point, I believe the main character arcs and main story events are done, ...
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What do I do when I have a novel already in the planning stage and get a new plot idea?
I have been planning a murder mystery novel for a couple months and just need to get a few more specific details planned and then I’m ready to write.
But I was laying in bed one night just scrolling ...
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When writing a trilogy, should you plan the entire series before starting the first book draft?
My book plan is to cover at least 2 possibly 3 books. I've skeletoned out the first book into a very brief plot. Should I do the same for book 2 and 3 before developing the plot of book 1 or should I ...
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How do you write a succesful character development without changing your character?
In dystopias, you can't avoid the fact that your protagonist is going to be changed from their experience. Not only this, but it's important for them to change for good character development to happen....
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How to fill Major Gaps in a Plot
As stated in previous questions, I am still in the Skeleton Stage of planning. I have a fairly developed first few chapter as well as a few key scenes much further along in the book (not that I'm ...
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What is the difference between the 5-Act structure and the 6-Act structure of storytelling?
There is a YouTube channel called 6-Act Structure, which I will be citing as a reference, run by an Marshall Dotson who wrote The Story Structure Secret: Actions and Goals. The author argues in favor ...
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How do you turn a protagonist's desire to get revenge on an antagonist without killing the antagonist into a quantifiable and tangible goal?
I'm writing a story inspired by the 2010 South Korean movie called I Saw the Devil. The movie is about a secret service agent called Kim Soo-Hyun who enacts his revenge on a serial killer called Jang ...
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Top Tips on a Good First Chapter
I'm struggling with my first chapter (fc). I have a plan but it doesn't contain any action, something that I know from experience should be in the fc to capture the reader's excitement.
I was going ...
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How can I make a good prologue that fits with the story?
I'm new to this website, so I'm sorry for anything I accidentally do wrong, or if my question is hard to understand.
I just started writing my story and used certain structures to keep each event in ...
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What are examples of overused tropes in dystopian fiction?
I'm writing a Dystopian Novel and am in the initial plot-planning stage. I'm trying to ensure that I avoid the major tropes and have researched examples of this, however the examples I have found were ...
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How can I make my character motivations drive the story forward and not the other way around?
I'm having trouble writing my first real novel. The first three chapters in my story are dedicated to set up, introducing the main characters, and providing character motivations.
However, I have ...
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Writing a particular plot in my story
In my story, a group of courageous teenagers named Maverick, Kristy, Stuart, Alice, and Gaurav find themselves engaged in an intense battle against formidable extraterrestrial foes. These teenagers ...
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Is the “my parent died in a car accident” backstory overused?
I’m currently working on a book in which the main character’s parents died in a somewhat ghastly car accident. I haven’t decided yet if my MC was a part of the accident, which would make the death of ...
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No one left to write for [closed]
What to do if there are no more people left on Earth to write for?
Let's take an extreme case to illustrate this point. Say, there's a small evil group of people who lobotomized everyone's brains on ...
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Is the reasoning for lack of communication with the outside world too contrived?
I am planning to write a story about people working with this organization are shrunken and sent to make 'first' contact with a civilization of cockroaches. Things go sideways at 200 MPH though as it ...
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Is my story too much like Harry Potter?
Is my story too much like Harry Potter?
My story is set in a magical world hidden within our own, and it has many magical version of things we do.
It has wands but I have decided to change it and ...
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Third person narrator turns out to be a character
Background:
I'm writing a fan fiction story to a Harry Poter-like novel about a group of 3 close friends. The novel has the simple third person limited narrator, with POV generally following the ...
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How do I make sure that a hook is not misinterpreted as a writing mistake or plot holes?
In a scene I had in mind, there's a tricky hook or unexplained event that happened, that I fear might be considered as a mistake or a plot hole. It is basically where a girl (one of the characters) is ...
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How to write an insulting experience for my protagonist?
My protagonist finds out that his friends have completely forgotten him. I want to write an insulting scene for my protagonist and want the readers to connect with him fully. Need some tips on how to ...
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When is a good time to have a betrayal?
In my book a character who the main characters have saved before is revealed to be the real main antagonist. I originally wanted this reveal to happen at the end, but after looking at betrayals in ...
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What could I do to write a fictional story with a lot of action without applying too many character perspective changes?
I'm writing a fictional(science fiction) story. Currently, I'm on a chapter that has a lot perspective changes, and I'm writing in third person, so my readers can experience things near the ...
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I want to write a short story without naming the places the characters visit
How can I write a short story without naming the places characters visit?
Example: If the main character visits a restaurant then I want to show it to the the reader without naming the restaurant.
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I'm afraid of being accused that I copied, even when I'm the one writing earlier
My apologies for potential errors, I'm not a native English speaker
Hello. I don't really know, who else I could ask, so I'm putting it here.
First of all, I know, that my writing isn't something ...
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Issues to avoid when writing military sci-fi?
As I plan to write a war story, I'm considering issues I should try to avoid.
Few that come to my mind already:
Glorification of violence, meaning depiction of violence in a positive way, ignoring ...
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Why is it bad to use a side character merely as a plot device?
I was writing a mystery novel about a detective who is investigating a murder case. The detective has a partner, who is a side character in the story. The partner is not given much of a personality or ...
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What are the things you need to consider when portraying a complex web of alliances and betrayals?
When you write a story with a lot of political intrigues, you need to plan out how the complex web of alliances and betrayals will shape out. Sometimes, though, you happen to have a character who ...
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Is there a middle ground to a deus ex machina?
Sometimes, you write yourself into a corner and the only way to come up with a happy ending is to put a deus ex machina in the end, but the question is whether there's a middle ground and how you can ...
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After writing the beat sheet, is there any preparatory document you can write before starting to write your story?
After writing the beat sheet, is there any preparatory document you can write before starting to write your story? I just finished writing the beat sheet for a story I wanted to write, but I would ...
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Why is it bad to exclusively rely on plot twists to create tension?
Why is it bad to exclusively rely on plot twists to create tension? I was told that some novice writers often make that mistake, but I am not sure why it is considered a mistake. Why is that the case? ...
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How do you get out of a corner when plotting yourself into a corner?
When you write a plot that becomes so convoluted that it becomes impossible to resolve without resorting to contrived or unrealistic solutions, how do you write yourself out of a corner?
For example, ...
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How to write someone who wants desperately to have emotional bonds but pushes others away because they feel they don't deserve it?
So, the viewpoint and main character in my novel is a character who had a very bad beginning. Born as a slave, she was torn from her parents and subjected to many horrors, few of which I elaborate on, ...
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Is people making silly mistakes for no other reason than being dumb or ignorant a Chekhov's gun violation?
Is people making silly mistakes for no other reason than being dumb or ignorant a Chekhov's gun violation?
If a guard says "The reinforcement will arrive in 2 days.", but it turns out they ...
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When would it make sense to have several beat sheets for several stories happening in parallel?
When would it make sense to have several beat sheets for several stories happening in parallel? I was thinking of writing a story where there are several stories happening at the same time, and three ...
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What are things you need to understand to weave complex stories with complex political intrigues?
Power struggles: Intrigues related to gaining or maintaining
political power, such as leadership contests, elections, and coups.
Espionage and sabotage: Intrigues involving secret information,
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How do I save my story?
I've written a dystopian story ~3000 words long. The story stemmed from a dream after having a dystopian unit and reading The Giver by Lois Lowry. When I started writing, it just seemed to flow, it ...
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Is it a plot hole if your character has a mysterious, unexplained power?
I was watching this review for the new Harry Potter game, and it got me wondering if it might be considered a terrible plot hole when your character has a mysterious, unexplained power.
If you end up ...
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How do you prevent the readers or viewers from guessing the whole plot when you use foreshadowing?
How do you prevent the readers or viewers from guessing the whole plot when you use foreshadowing? I remember watching Monster.Inc when I was young and I was able to guess the whole plot of the movie ...
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How can we use ChatGPT to write stories? [closed]
If I have an idea for the plot of the story, what is the best way that I can use ChatGPT to make it write stories for me?
Edit. To everyone who has spent time answering with few assumptions (including ...
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