I have always had a good imagination but I have personally found that sitting down and trying to write down my plot NEVER works for me. I personally find it really difficult to accurately think of things my characters would do - how they would act in a specific situation, etc. etc. Instead, i'll isolate myself in a room and walk around, talking aloud and acting my characters out (it can get quite embrassing). However, it makes it so much easier for me to thing of situations for my characters and I feel like on a strange level I understand them more. I can do this literally for hours on end and afterwards are lightly script down all the things i've been imagining. I've always loved using this method to get into the emotions of my characters so for anyone having trouble try that out!

There's a few more elephants

I’m a 23 year old artist and always worked labor jobs because it’s a “real job” but I realized last night that I’ll never be fully happy if I don’t do something with what I love. This explanation got me more excited than I’ve been in years. Thank you for the inspiration!

Me: **sitting here, trying to learn** Duolingo notifacations: "time to practice kilngon" Someone help.

Okay literally I just wrote my plot while listening to this video (I obviously paused while I wrote) but seriously this has been the easiest video to follow and it made me realise so many different things about my characters. Thank you so much for the help!!

Legitimately the only GOOD advice on plotting online. Thank you so SO much for this. Whenever I look for this advice, all I find is advice on styles of plotting - such as writing it all on notecards, or write a short blurb and build on it - but never actual advice on how you build up a plot line. So truly, thank you from the bottom of my heart. I finally have some advice that will help me get past the barriers and blocks I've had with plotting for so long

I looked up this topic and this video was at the top and my name is Gary McKay. And this channel is called Mckay and Gray. This was meant for me to watch.

And suddenly I have written a roughly 3k plot draft for an adventure in necromancy Honestly thank you!!!

*My protagonist:* Vincent, the son of a detective, wants to find the serial killer haunting his town in order to protect his younger sister, because she exactly fits the serial killer's victim type, and he wants to kill said killer. (The police force is stumped on this case.) *My relationship character:* Wilson wants to help Vincent find the serial killer using his skills as a mercenary (because he's in love with Vincent), but he's advocating that the killer needs professional help rather than death, which Vincent does not want to hear because he's too angry and scared. *My antagonist:* Thea is the serial killer...and the sister. Thoughts on these character ideas? (Also this video is super helpful and I love you for it -- just putting that out there. :) )

I've had this idea for a comic about a journalist, who can use photos to go back in time, and a photographer/cameraman who can, well, take pictures. I want then to solve some sort of crime/killer/whodunnnit thing, but had no plot. Thanks for this!

This does help a whole lot! I always have trouble figuring out overall plot / strong character motives. It’s something I need to work on.. Also I think the review idea would be really cool to do!!

Bro I never realized and learned so much in 20 minutes Midway through the video I had a whole epiphany of how people structure plot in the first place and how creators build their storys + how to start. Lmao I've been wondering for a while how to create stories and I this really helped me think about it, so thank you

jagbdkfhakdhfadkjsghk the videos tags are: "Hello" "I see you have a tag reader" "that's cool" im shooketh

That was the most straight forward and clear explanation I’ve seen on the internet that did, in fact, explain it and I’m looking forward to rising action. Thank you and a big high five.

This was actually amazingly helpful!! I've been thinking about "what if i made a webcomic?" for a little while now, but the whole writing part has been a little intimidating and is the roadblock that has kept me from really starting anything. But this explanation really simplified things in such a helpful way! OOH I'm so inspired!!! THANK YOU!!!

I'm currently trying to write my story for making a webtoon and this really helped!! Thank you, your tips helped me figure out where i was doing wrong and which steps i should take!

Elephant rights!! Elephants deserve clarification too!!! (Though seriously, this video helped me a lot!! Thank you!!

I'm going to be trying to make a webcomic next year.... I've been inspired by your videos and I think it might be a good challenge for me I'm probably going to start writing and planning it soon.... I started a small comic in art class that is two pages and it's ok..... there isn't much plot but I think it's good for a first try XD

I always like to get the beginning of the story made first, what the rest will be about and what we’re getting into. I tend to skip the middle because I like to think of the end next and ask myself “how do we get here?” to fill in the middle. This helps me make scenarios I wouldn’t have even thought of and good jokes had I not though of such a wild ending

One way that’s helped me is observing people. Examples: Yourself, a celebrity, a classmate, someone working at a cafe or store, a friend, etc. Once you got a main character think of the other characters. Once you have all the characters think of a plot, then the storyline and go from there.

I've never finished a comic before and I have to admit that most of the time, it was largely because I never knew how to plot out my comic. I have never finished writing a story either but this video has been immensely helpful in helping me figure out how I should go about plotting my story. Your channel has always been a huge help to me and a great inspiration, thank you so much!

*high five* Heck yeah to writing exercises!

my protagonist: Dan is a miner who just wants to mine. my relationship character: Joe is Dan's best friend, also likes mining. my antagonist: THE OTHER SIDE Dan is Dan from another dimension who tries to be the leader of all dimensions. wow that was fast thinking

I would love that! I'm working on stories too, so doing sth like an 'excersice' would be great also feedback is always nice to improve on!^^

Funnily enough, I actually started my story from writing the climax, that later became a midpoint, and then became the connecting point between act 1 and act 2. In the end, I planned out a completely different plot that still includes my first idea and right now I need advice: my story ends up being divided into 4 acts. After my climax, it seems like the resolution is on it's way, but 2 characters do something stupid and bring everything back to what it was beforehand. After that, the second antagonist comes into play and only then there is a second climax and a resolution. So is the first climax a connector between act 2 or act 3 or is the entire screw-up an act on it's own?

It’s definitely a short one, but it’s based off a reoccurring dream I have every now and then: A mother and her two daughters, young, are stranded on a tiny tropical island. They live in a wooden lighthouse, and they seem to be the only ones left. The water is too dangerous to go into, as these so called spirits will lead you in and drown you. I still have to work on character designs, might edit the comment later for this. After the mother dies of an ailment, the two sisters are left on their own, the oldest being struck the hardest. She tries to provide for her sister, which encounters death multiple times. Eventually.( huge time skip as this is only based off of the dream.) They become sick, and the lighthouse catches fire after a broken lantern. The oldest sister becomes burned as she saves her sister, and they escape of a small piece of plywood as a raft, and drift across the water, and reach a green island, where their mother is waiting, and they step onto the island, which is the, entering the afterlife. The comic ends with two sets of bones next to each other, the bigger set clutching the smaller set in comfort. Kind of gruesome, but I like the idea

this really helped a lot! ive been struggling with plotting recently, especially keeping the plot moving, and its been making me lose interest in the stories in writing. also, the excersise thing sounds super fun - i’d like to do it :0!

I've written one comic before, finished just yesterday. I had zero plot, other than 'they get together in the end' and 'bad stuff happens' but I was determined for my next volume to have a plot. This video is SOO helpful! I feel as though I have an actual plan and my goal is so much more achievable!

loved this!! Thank you for doing this. I will be trying out this method this evening.

Dude this was super helpful! I've been studying this story stuff a lot trying to wrap my head around it send bumbling through trying to put it to use. I've learned a ton but the way you just broke it down was really helpful and it is cool to see from somebody who has experience with a lot of stories and understands it much better than me but is also learning and figuring it out themselves. I would love to send you like a one-page outline sometime when I figure out one of my stories better and see if you have any helpful tips. Also it would be really cool if you came up with one more for example for something more along the lines of a romantic comedy or something less Epic. a lot of times people use these really epic examples and it's actually a little bit overwhelming. After hearing that it's hard to imagine what a less Epic story structure would look like. But yeah I got so much from this video thank you for taking the time to break this down I know it's not easy to break down a huge topic like story like this. Thanks man!

time to take notes! thanks for the content!!

Such a good source thank you so much!

I love that idea about the writing exercises it sounds like it would be so helpful to a lot of people!! Nice vid!!

An awesome video as always!! This really helped me A LOT!! Thank you so much! You are both amazing! Keep doing what you’re doing!!☺️✨

This is the most helpful video I've ever seen regarding storyboarding thanks so much for explaining so well!!!

Thanks, your simplification on plot uas helped quite a bit. It was easy to follow and learn from. Lookforward to more thanks!

The best video on plots creating so far!! Huge thanks!!

This was great! Took pages of notes and im gonna continue to add upon them. Keep it up!

My story is kind of strange. Like, complicated with a lot of fantasy stuff, the power of love, friendship and family, where the good can become the evil and the evil may be good.

This is so well explained and thorough, I've read hundreds of comics and never had this kind of divine insight before, this is gonna be like my comic bible from now on what the heck

I've been binging your videos to help me start my story! It's been so helpful, and I'm so proud of how it's coming! Your videos are so easy to follow and I honestly love watching your speedpaint too! These are awesome!

Those excersices sound like a good idea, and I would be happy if you actually did them! Also, I love yours videos. They're really helpful!

This was great thank you, and those writing/art exercises sound like fun

This was an extremely helpful video and I wish I had seen this before I wrote my book a bunch of different times! You give very good points and very understandable examples which help even more. Thank you!! :)

Your channel is the only one I actually take notes from because the advice is so helpful. How do you guys not have more subscribers?

Dude I appreciate you! I been struggling to get my Concentration under control to sit down and write out all the story ideas I got. Your work helps me motivates me!

Bless you for this. This really helped me get my ideas in order and think of new ones. Stay awesome~

Thank you so much for explaining each part of making a plot! I had no idea what they were or how to fully understand them. Sitting down and writing out a plot sounds so boring, yet a bit exciting at the same time. Thank you again for making this video! 💖💖

20:31 YES. That sounds so interesting not to mention helpful! I'm still new to the webcomic world and my comic is all over the place, this video kinda gave me tips on how to structure it a bit better, but because I have so many villains it's a bit difficult to structure it in a way that foreshadows the ending.

THIS IS SO HELPFUL THANK YOU !! I just posted the first chapter of my own comic last week and have been trying to utilize all of the information you two put into your videos. I had been struggling with how to function plot devices and now I feel like I know where I need to go. And I do like your idea of writing exercises! That would be fun! :-)

I wish I found this sooner!! This helped me SO FLIPPING MUCH for my comic's plot and my character's development. Thank you so much!!!!!!!!!

This helped me a LOT with plotting my comic, thank you!

Thank you for this! It really helped! Before this I knew the very basics of plot building, but I didn't have the best grasp on it.

Thank you so much! This has helped me a lot in what I’m doing!!!

These are very helpful tips. Thank you so much!

Thanks for making this video! I'm always coming up with comic and story ideas, but I'm a horrible writer. Your explanation of the plotting process is great! Also these videos are always a good reminder to work on my projects

This helped me so much with creating my comic. Before watching this video I had no idea what the plot should be. Thanks McKay & Gray! 😄

This was super helpful!

This helped me toooo much, I knew I was missing something for my story, but I didn't know what and now I have everything I need thanks to this!

This is like... the best advice ever. Thank you. Definitely sending these to my co-author

Omg cant wait to start working and practicing on what I've learned

this is probably one of the best breakdowns of this kind of plot structure i've seen, that actually makes it make sense for me! the idea of breaking down the climax and the inciting incident into multiple subpoints is super helpful and has me really thinking about my plot now.

This is such good advice The start with the ending and the beginning is the opposite. Thank you so much

It was credibly helpful, especially identifying the characters' goals and structuring the plot. I was taking notes throughout the video.

This was very good, thanks so much. I'm gonna try out a few of my ideas using this structure.

*gives water* this was very helpful. I have trouble with my plots and usually just make one or two characters that have some sort of relationship and try to go from there. This structure will help me build my stories before I make the characters which will help with back story and their traits and such. Thanks for this!!

Awesome video, very helpful! I think reviews would be a great idea

Awesome video, very helpful! Thank you

this has been extremely helpful, thank you so much.

Still very helpful. Haven't thought about the mid point and raising questions/ answering them afterwards until now

Thanks. I really appreciated this vid. This explains plot so well. As you gave your example I had one of my own that I was plotting that till now has been a random hodgepodge in my head for about three years now. This is really helpful. 👍

Very informative, and clear. Demystifying plot building is a hard thing. Great job and great video!

I'm learning so much, just from watching this video I was able to define a plot I had in mind a little bit more, come up with a concept and even a character, this was 21 minutes long! Thanks! I'll definitely check you guys out more often but right now I need to write my ideas down hahah!

12.26 that dark twist though Also the character motive stuff really helped me with the book I'm writing. I didn't have a clear solid motive for my main character, so she just didn't feel finished, but now I have a lot of good ideas for stuff to deepen her character.

This is so helpful holy crap!! Thank you!

I come back to this video every time I think I wanna start a comic but for the 80th time don’t know where to begin and this has helped me so many times so thank you

Great advice! Thank you!

YO! You helped me so much with this video, I literally followed along and just wrote the entire plot of my comic. Before I couldn't even think of what I want to happen in my comic or how to even write the plot, but this helped so much, thank you!

this was super helpful!!

Helped a lot!!! Tysm!

That was so clean and so precise, and thanks for it all. I am subbing, I will watch a bunch of your stuff!!!

Sir, this was a very well done description of plot. You explained this so well and tied a few crucial elemnts together. Your video was recommended to me by an aspiring writer and it did not disappoint. Thank you so much! We'll definetly be refering to this video for our writing group.

This helped me a lot! Thank you!

Thanks for posting this. Was beneficial

Thank you so much, this explained everything perfectly I can finally work on my story without getting lost!!

This video helped me soooo much! I'm going to take a break and watch the plot 102 video tomorrow. But i feel like I'm finally onto something with my story!

This was such a great help, thank you. I would be so interested in doing small writing exercises!

this is really helpful thank you!

This has been very helpful, thank you so much. I've had trouble trying to get a middle and an end for my comic story. I have also had troubles with filling in characters that are needed to fill a 'party' that would travel with the protagonist.

I love this, thank you so much!

I needed this so much, thank you

This helped so much, thank you! 😁

This is really helpful! Even if my comic is a comedy and therefore has less drama it helped!

Nicely done

This is very insightful, thank you

Thank you for making this video. Big help.

Thanks for the help!

omg, I've never had this explained to me so concise and clear. a lot of creative teachers just tell you to "have ideas" and "feel it" but that just doesn't work for me, I need analysis!

I took scriptwriting in school so I already understood basic structure but I've been feeling uninspired and it's nice to have a review of things. I also really like that you start at the end of the story so you know how to set things up. I always feel like I'm just throwing things randomly together and I struggle with having a beginning but not knowing where to take things from there. I feel like looking at the story backwards makes a lot more sense because I will start plotting while already knowing the goal

Alright so, I've been taking a lot of notes from these videos that I've been using as a guide for my writing and I've found it really helpful having a written guide on what to do, so I thought I'd share it with you all. It's basically everything said in the video, hopefully it helps anyone who works better with visual stuff rather than auditory stuff. Act 1 (2) Intro (the state of the protagonist before the change happens. Opposite of how they are in the end (e.g. stupid and never thinks things through to cunning and mature): E.g. Protagonist lives in a run-down town under the oppressive claw of a dragon. Food and wealth are scarce, and the protagonist’s remaining family is ill from the smoke that fills the air. (4) Inciting Incident/call to action (Shorthand for three smaller events): -Call to action (event at the beginning of the story that shakes up the status quo. E.g. a dragon destroying a town. The call to action would occur when a stranger comes to town and talks of a way to defeat the dragon.) E.g. One day, a traveler comes to town and they remark that they have a way to kill the dragon. -Refusal of the call (Quickly follows the call. E.g. the notion of being able to defeat the dragon is too outrageous for the protagonist to believe.) E.g. Protagonist brushes this off as ludicrous and returns to their daily life and activities, but things get worse as their mother eventually passes away from her illness. -Acceptance of the call (conditions get worse and the protagonist is forced to accept the call. E.g. the protagonist’s mother dies due to the poor living conditions and he’s forced to accept the call.) E.g. The death is the last straw for the protagonist and they chase down the traveler, demanding that they help kill the dragon. The traveler agrees reluctantly, worrying that the protagonist might not be thinking things through. Act 2 (6) (Between Act 1 and Midpoint) Rising Action (patches where the protagonist will fail a lot. Stakes will be raised, things get worse, action is added. Look at LACE plotting method. Hard to add to a plot graph) E.g. They begin towards the dragon’s mountain. The protagonist continuously messes up tasks like hunting due to impatience. They nearly get everyone killed because of their brazenness and while they manage to survive through these and not really learn much, their travel is made worse by these continuous mistakes regardless. The protagonist rushes past clues that would help them defeat the dragon, much to the chagrin of the traveler. When they finally make it to the dragon’s lair, the protagonist begins to realize they may be a little unequipped. However, they say screw it and go on to fight the dragon without knowing anything and doing the same thing that they always do. (3) Midpoint (divides second act into two parts. Usually exactly in the middle of the story but can be wiggled a little bit. Represents a shift in storytelling. Before this point, your story raises questions and after that it begins answering them. Goes from a passive form of storytelling to an active one with the protagonist. Where the protagonist shifts into action. They can see the full breath of the problem and now want to fix it. Often a huge revelation, doesn’t have to be. Reveals the answer to the conflict, but the hero doesn’t have the skills or the mindset or all the answers needed to put it all together. Remember that above all else, midpoint stirs plot. It’s okay to make exciting things happen.): E.g. Without a worry, the protagonist jumps into battle with the dragon demanding that they give up their whole dragon-y thing. Any strength that the protagonist thought that they had is immediately squashed by the dragon. As the protagonist struggles to stay alive, they realize that this was a terrible idea. (6) (Between Midpoint and Act 3) Rising Action (patches where the protagonist will fail a lot. Stakes will be raised, things get worse, action is added. Look at LACE plotting method. Hard to add to a plot graph) E.g. They hide away in defeat and the dragon continues, leaving the nest and setting a fire across the land, decimating the village and anything else in its path. The hero returns utterly defeated. As they return to the village, they’re rejected by the village because of what has happened and because it’s all their fault. At a loss for what to do, the protagonist decides to continue and think things out a bit more. They decide to undo what they’ve caused. The protagonist follows the dragon’s path of destruction, learning slowly about its weaknesses. It becomes clear that the dragon’s aim is to strong arm the entire kingdom, unimpressed with its human fights so far. The protagonist then decides to cut the dragon off at the pass with a clever trap. All seems to be going well, but things don’t go well. Act 3 (1) Climax (when everything has clicked into place. The protagonist has finally learnt what they need and is putting it into action. With this, they’re finally able to overcome the antagonist.) (Here's a good place to just write down everything you want to happen at the end, you can shape it more later) (5) Climax: Come back to shape the climax even more. Before it may have been vague. - Low point (lowest point in the story. It’s the absolute defeat of the protagonist. The harshest, saddest thing we can put them through, even worse than the midpoint. In the lowest point, the protagonist reflects and finally realizes (in our example) what the traveler had been telling them all along. They need to slow down and think. Finally using the information from the midpoint onwards the protagonist is finally able to see what they were missing and the climax-y parts we already wrote ensue from here) E.g. The trap fails once again, and the hero is defeated. This time even greater and worse than before. The dragon takes over the entire kingdom, filling everything with deadly smoke. - Revelation E.g. Waking up among the rubble, the protagonist finally begins to put everything together. -Climax E.g. Using some sort of clever method based on all the knowledge that they’ve attained, the dragon is defeated by surprise. The dragon completely overlooked what the hero was doing. (1) Resolution (Completion of the goal and getting their dream. Protagonist obtains what they want and reconcile with the relationship character. All loose ends are tied up.): E.g. Once the dragon is defeated, the protagonist thanks the traveler for helping them realize what should have been obvious. They high five or something, and all the wealth is returned, and they rebuild the kingdom. Tip: Figure out the end first. Think of what cool ending bits you want to happen. Try to think out the final conflicts first because it helps make a story that is inherently based in conflict and conflict is interesting. When you figure out what the protagonist needs to overcome this conflict, it will help to determine what type of story it will be. The resolution helps to determine what the character wants and what they need. Bonus tip for rising action: When you’re writing an action scene ask the following questions. What is the main characters goal? What is in the way of that goal? Do they achieve that goal? And finally, the million-dollar question, if yes at what cost and if no then what is the consequence? (learnt from McKay & Gray’s How to Write the Middle of Your Comic video) Hope this helps you guys as much as it's helped me, because honestly the notes I’ve taken from this video have been a real life saver!