I’m back to outlining another project and as usual I procrastinate and then get lost in the story. I forget where I’m going. I forget what the main character wants. I forget about subplots. My original plot brainstorm is no longer usable. My outline becomes a tangled mess.
Instead of writing and doing work, I turn to reading like a good procrastinator. And I think about plots of stories I like. I see the elements but I have a hard time connecting them. How do I turn what I read into something useful?
Many many books on writing have story plot points they recommend you hit. The main books have fine plot points. One thing that is hard to grasp is how the plot points are connected to that inner journey of the hero, if they have one. I’m referring to the flaw that they have to overcome to save the day or get whatever it is you want. (Although I just read Altered Carbon and I couldn’t easily detect a flaw of the main character.) One book I recently read did a good job of that. It was called Plot Machine. I also recently listened to the Great Courses on How to Write Best-Selling Fiction which I thought was helpful.
So here is my semi solution. It is a brainstorming worksheet. You split the page in half. The first column are for simple questions and prompts. The second column is for one line description of scenes to show what you need to show to move the story forward.
It’s easier to just paste it here…so here it is:
And if you prefer it as a PDF here you go: