The whole point of the plotting process is to help you write your first draft.
For some people, pantsing the first draft is the plotting process - that’s how they brainstorm. Others prefer to figure out as much as possible beforehand - that’s how they avoid the blank-page paralysis.
Most writers, however, are somewhere in between.
Let’s say you’re a bit like me, and you dread the blank page. Luckily, the choice paralysis can be avoided with just a bit of planning. But of course, you also want the freedom to explore your fictional world and allow your characters to evolve organically.
You don’t need a detailed outline before you start writing, nor do you need to know every detail about your characters.
All you need to establish a sense of direction and foundation for your story are the answers to these five questions:
Focusing on these questions will give you clarity about your story and enough basis to start writing while also allowing you to figure out more along the way.
Let’s dive into each of them.
Who is your protagonist?
Put away those character worksheets and detailed questionnaires. Those are a sure way to get overwhelmed and confused, especially if you are just starting with an idea.
Give yourself time to get to know your characters before dissecting them with measurable data.
Sure, when it comes to your protagonist, it’s good to know a few basics. Like their age, job (if applicable), and a few things about their everyday life. Anything you already know from your initial inspiration is probably enough.
You do not need to know their shoe size or their exact daily coffee order. Those details can help you later, yes, but these are the exact things you can easily figure out while drafting.
Instead of listing all the externally observable information about your character, focus on their Character.
What is this person like? Most importantly: How do they respond in different situations?
The main thing here is to think in terms of actions.
Is this character extroverted, introverted, generous, cheap, selfish, arrogant, kind, timid, outgoing, courageous, confident, self-pitying, depressed, narcissistic, …? For each trait, think of a specific situation and actions that could showcase it.
What are some beliefs and values this character holds? Again, for each of them, think of specific situations that would reveal them through the character’s (re)actions.
If you’re not sure who this person is, try throwing them in different situations and see how they react. Some prompts to help you play around with that:
A random person starts talking to them at the bus station.
They drive by a car that has clearly broken down.
They get fired.
They receive some good news.
They encounter a person from their past.
This is how you get to know a character and the more you play around with it, the more this character will start to feel like an autonomous person. Once characters start acting on their own, the writing becomes much easier.
To make sure they don’t just wander around aimlessly, let’s give them a bit of direction by exploring the following questions.
What do they want to achieve?
Whether you like it or not, there’s no escaping this question in the plotting stage. The reason is simple:
Giving your character something, anything, to want generates life, momentum, and context around them. It creates tension and curiosity by presenting the question: Will they get it or not?
Once you know your character a little better, giving them something to want should be fairly easy. It can be as minor as getting a cup of coffee, or something grander like finding true love, reconnecting with their family, solving a murder, starting a revolution, or saving the world.
All characters want something and if this seems too forceful or limiting to you, you’re probably overthinking it.
What the character wants is one of the best things to know when you are just starting to write because this will give you a sense of direction and motivate the character to act instead of being too static.
If you give them something to work towards, they will want to do it themselves and your writing process will be more about observing and recording what the character is doing rather than trying to come up with it.
But of course, we don’t want things to be too easy for them.
What is the biggest obstacle standing in their way?
Obstacles are the essence of the story.
The reason your character wants something is because they do not have it. And they do not have it because there is something, anything, in their way of getting it.
If you are at a loss here, start simple. Someone who wants coffee might need to deal with an empty coffee pot or a chatty coworker standing between them and the coffee grains. Someone looking for love might not have a lot of time to meet and date people or they might have completely unrealistic standards. A detective solving a murder might be dealing with a particularly elusive killer or well-meaning but unhelpful coworkers.
Any problem you give your character on their path to their goal increases the tension and invites curiosity with questions: What will the character do about this? How will they deal with this (to get what they want)?
A note on obstacles: There are always a million different problems a character might face. When making decisions, follow what intrigues and excites you the most. Actually, that’s also pretty good advice for writing in general.
While exploring the problems your protagonist will have to deal with, you will probably start to get a sense for the antagonist character. That’s awesome. Ideally, try to spend some time getting to know this character as well. The stronger the antagonist, the stronger the plot.
What is the lie they tell themselves?
This is a big one. This, my friend, is The Question.
So if you have no clue about the answer, don’t worry. There are writers who cannot answer this even after publishing their story. There are writers who don’t care. And then there are writers who know, whether consciously or subconsciously.
The point of this question is not to overwhelm you and put pressure on you but to remind you that your characters have layers and, hopefully, flaws.
This question invites you to think about your character’s beliefs and values. The “lie they tell themselves” will be connected to how they see themselves, the world, and their place in it.
Again, this really doesn’t have to be a big thing. You can start by figuring out where your character’s perception of themselves and the world is just a tiny bit skewed.
Some examples of such beliefs:
The world is black and white and there are only purely good and only purely bad people.
I don’t need people, I don’t need friends. I don’t need anyone.
People will always disappoint you.
Once I am in a relationship, I will be happy.
I am weak and powerless.
I am indestructible.
I know what is best for people.
I am unlovable.
I don’t really care about anyone or anything.
I can change the world.
I am powerless and have no impact.
A good way to explore this is to start writing a list of beliefs from the point of view of your protagonist. Remember that characters don’t have to be perfect (in fact, it’s better if they aren’t) and they can also hold opposing beliefs.
Additional exercise: For each statement, think of a specific situation where this belief would be evident from your character’s actions. Then you can also think about what might need to happen for them to realise they might be wrong about it.
Which kind of brings us to the last question.
How will they change by the end?
Exploring your protagonist’s “lie they tell themselves” or “false beliefs” will naturally lead you to think of situations in which the opposite might become obvious.
Pushing this to the extreme may even reveal your story’s greatest crisis.
And it probably brings up the question of your story’s ending.
But don’t worry. You don’t need to know the details of the ending yet. You don’t even need to decide whether you want your character to “learn their lesson” or succumb to their own damnation.
But at this point, it’s useful to know the nature of the potential change. Think about the questions the audience might be asking themselves about the outcome of the story and its effect on the character.
In other words, you might not know exactly what will happen at the end, but you do know that the character’s relationship to their work/life/love/family/coffee will change forever.
It’s a good way to remember their goal and what it leads to. (It’s really just my way of saying “Remember the main theme of the story” but hush, let’s not scare any writers away by mentioning the word Theme!)
Every story is a journey. Your protagonist will undergo some kind of transformation, be it for better or worse. Knowing the nature of this transformation will help you navigate even the messiest first draft.
Follow your intuition
As I’ve mentioned, these are just a few general suggestions to help you create a rough outline and find direction for your writing.
Take what resonates with you and leave the rest.
The plotting process is supposed to serve you and help you tell your story. You don’t need a rigid structural template for that. But the above questions should give you a solid base to explore the rest of the story through your first draft.
Let me know how it goes!
Stay creative ✨
Katja