What Makes a Good Plot?

What Makes a Good Plot? - [apt] 10

Рет қаралды 111

Күн бұрын

Every writer has something to share about making a good plot. Today we try to sum up the best pieces of advice we have come across so far!
- In this video -
00:00 The Craft of Plot
02:04 Plot structures
05:48 Create questions
07:32 Purposeful scenes
09:30 Desires and fears
11:00 Deus ex Machina
13:13 Three keys to plot
Coursera link: www.coursera.org/specializati...
Freytag's pyramid? Denouement? Deus ex Machina? There are a lot of odd words and phrases surrounding the study of plot. Join us as we dig into the practical side of these concepts as we prepare to write our first book!
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About [apt]
Our channel name "Add Placeholder Text" honors the ‘unknowns' in the early stages of writing a book. While we have many ideas, we are also aware of major gaps in our story and our characters. Names, traits, and even plot points are often placeholders that may look very different in the finished product. We also hope that our skills as writers will follow a similar path. Like our story ideas, our writing skills start out raw and tentative, filled with 'placeholder' ideas that we will fill in as we learn. We invite you to join us on this journey as we turn our placeholders into a skillful story worthy of a New York Times bestseller!
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Media Credits:
Music - Uplifting Life by Grand Project: pixabay.com/music/build-up-sc...
Music - The Adventures of Mr. Hardy by Grand Project: pixabay.com/music/build-up-sc...
Music - Flaing Piano (Loop) by Zakhar Valaha: pixabay.com/music/solo-piano-...
Paper Texture by Marjan Blan: unsplash.com/photos/white-tex...
Typewriter Font - TT2020 by Fredrick R. Brennan: github.com/ctrlcctrlv/TT2020

Пікірлер: 4

@TroyThompson 2 ай бұрын

In college, my short story writing professor had a grandfatherly "vibe" and a dry sense of humor, often delivering serious philosophical statements and punchlines to jokes in the same sonorous baritone. One day he provided the "stickiest" piece of plot guidance I've ever heard! At the peak of a plot optimization diatribe, he seemed to gather his thoughts for what we presumed would be an eloquent summary of writing wisdom. "As authors, you must never lose sight of your reader's single most important question!" He paused a few seconds; we sat in silent anticipation... "So what?" Never forgot it!

@AddPlaceholderText 2 ай бұрын

[SD] Excellent advice, and a great story, Troy. Compared to the French and Latin phrases we talked about in this video, "So what?" is going to be easy to remember. And really, when it comes to serving the readers, answering "So what?" is what really matters. Thanks for sharing this gem with us!

@jonhummel4341 2 ай бұрын

Constructing three dimensional characters takes practice. Writing someone who isn't a Mary Sue, who isn't two dimensional, who can act with agency, and who goes through some really difficult adversity to actually drive the plot takes practice. Most authors go through multiple rough drafts before finally polishing their stories into something they feel is adequate, or sometimes a masterpiece. Some ways to write really good characters is having experiences and then translating that to the page. I would like to suggest you read up on the life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. He truly lived and was able to write the most iconic detective novels of all time with his Sherlock Holmes series, which he ended up not exactly liking in the end, but Doyle lived. How can you breathe life into your characters from your own experiences? Now, obviously some things you won't relate to. None of us have lived in a 1984-esque dystopia. You wouldn't know the physical toll these time travelers deal with. Some things we must simply research. Still, it seems like both of you have been researching quite a bit and I hope you can start writing soon, or I guess, typing, to let your ideas out. Take copious amounts of notes while writing about your characters, the direction the plot is going, general information about your word that is intrinsic to the background of everything, and anything you feel like you might want to reference later. I'm getting excited about the progression you two have made.

@AddPlaceholderText 2 ай бұрын

[ND] I also think of Ian Flemming when you talk about authors writing from their lived experience. He worked in intelligence angencies during WWII, and that played into his writing of James Bond. There are many ways in which we are not like the characters we are writing, but it will be helpful for us to find the similarites we do have and relate to our characters through those. We are definitely taking a lot of notes as we develop our characters and our world, and I too am looking forward to typing out our ideas when the time comes!