9 Steps for Plotting Fiction

I’ll be posting one a day for the next nine days.

Day one. The first step to plotting fiction.

Start with a preparing yourself to sit down and if that means you need coffee or stretching, have at it. Then grab a piece of paper. It should be large enough to write on. Or even use a 11×14 just to give you a little more room, but 8×11 is fine. Draw two parallel lines both vertically and horizontally across the page, creating 9 comparable boxes, as if you were starting a game of tic-tac-toe. These boxes represent chapters, scenes, or sections, depending upon your book’s intended length. you can also create this on Excel form or if you’re savvy with Word it will work just as well. Whatever makes you feel comfortable.

Number the boxes, starting from the upper left: 1, 2, 3.

Next row, starting from the left: 4, 5, 6.

Last row: 7, 8, 9.

Title each box… (we’ll get to that). For now title them one to nine

1. Triggering Eve

First things first. What happens? Why have you bothered to write a book, and more importantly, why should a reader invest time flipping through its pages? Your triggering event is the answer to these questions, so make it a good one. Also, don’t make the reader wait very long for it. First page, first paragraph, first sentence. These are good spots for a triggering event.