Authors, how do you come up with a plot line? Do you have any tips in general?

[One-EyedKing]

I tried my first attempt at writing a while ago and, if I'm being honest, it was pretty bad. To Improve I asked for some tips on what to avoid on Reddit that actually taught me some things and the main thing I learned was that writing needs a purpose or a plot line. (Or at least I do. I've been re-writing the introduction to my fic over and over again and gaining no progress in the actual story)

I'm trying to not become an author that uploads once every few months and I'm failing at it because I have no idea what to do. It's not that I don't have ideas, I can think of a few things that would be interesting but I don't know how to implement them. How would I work up to that point in the story? Why would the MC suddenly encounter a threat?(Thug, monster, cape, etc) When I decide to write an event do I just say "plot" as the reason why they're meeting a person so early on without any rep? Do I just brush over the details of how the MC found the person or place they wanted to find or how or why they're encountering them?

Stuff like that is what causes me to be stuck on just the intro.

Really, any tip helps. Even if it's something basic or something you think that I would already know, leave a reply telling me what it is. I have no one to help me learn how to write and I don't remember anything from my English classes besides the basics like person, place, thing = Noun.

Note: If this isn't where this is supposed to go please let me know and I'll move it to the right place or delete it.

 

[Andy333]

Things I do if I'm having writers block, or am struggling to start is I would copy a paragraph or page from a story I liked and then I would replace it with my own words and ideas, until it was my own unique idea. I would write down sentences and ideas that sounded cool and then find a way to string them together. I would write a conversation between two characters, just the words they were saying to each other, and then I would start to fill in-between the conversation, the thoughts and feelings of the characters, what their thinking, their body language, or any action their doing while talking.

For example it starts like this

"Stop pulling my hair." Alice said to Joe.

"You should wear it like this more, you look better with your hair down." Joe replied.

And then becomes this

"Stop pulling my hair." Alice said with an annoyed sigh, unable to hide the blush creeping up her neck. Joe was a very, very annoying man, especially since he didn't know the definition of personal space, and yet for some reason she kept coming back.

"You should wear it like this more," Joe said nonchalantly, ignoring her complaints with practiced ease as he ran his hands through her golden locks. "You look better with your hair down."

 

[TheMidnightRook]

Some of the resources in this thread might be useful.

 

[One-EyedKing]

Some of the resources in this thread might be useful.

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Probably should've looked for an existing thread before making a new one. thanks

 

[Karp]

So for me personally, I like to have an A plot, and a B plot in a chapter.

I'll go 'what do I want to do this chapter?' Then, since I'm usually on my phone, I'll type it out on discord. Here is a sample of something I actually did:

Spoiler: My notes

1) MC resolving stuff with Darren/giving out weapons, be told to bring back an awesome monster, like the chimera as a gift to the count. When all.tje nobles and commoners see it, none would be able to deny Mark's lordship over Esk. and 10 guys getting paid to help transport the shit, talk to Jerrick and the 3ish ways to get to Hergig from Esk. Prepare enchanted bolts, and an enchanted bow/ring/paralysis dagger for Lilliana. Only the bow could be a common soul gem. Show Darren how to reinchant his gun. But don't enchanted tether weapons. Say that the enchanted bullets/arrows are for killing only when life absorbed (glowing red) the green glowing paralysis shot can be used on beasts you want to capture alive. Requisition a Hochland Long Rifle for your own use. Guns are a man's romance.
2) Pov of the matriarch talking to Lilliana who is uncomfortable. Say that with Mark's upcoming trip, not to let him run away. Notice she is uncomfortable, and woman's intuition that she isn't giving out as much as she could despite visiting him every day, hinting that if she doesn't fill in, she and a few other girls would try to keep the mc in line.
3) Lilliana POV, Mark was sitting underneath her inside her invisible the entire tike NSFW scene from there.
4) we can begin the ride to Hergig, or we could save this part for next chapter.

And this acts as just a general guideline. You never want your chapter to be too short, or full of bloat. Then, I'll write toward achieving the goals that I set out to write. Sometimes you cut an idea because it doesn't fit, or edit it to work with the narrative.

In that draft, I actually hit a writers block, and scrapped half that info for a new chapter. Notes aren't a supreme authority, only a guideline.

In terms of plot, I like to set up an overarching plot to head towards then fill in the chapters leading up to it with sidequests/filler that serve as character development/power growth. Like in my One Piece story on ff.net, I wrote a Gecko Moria SI. My initial goal was "I want to fight at Marineford." So, I set up what it would take to get there, introduced characters to interact with, and did a training montage. Pretty standard stuff. Then when I finished, I had a writers block. So, I took a break, then set another goal "I want to fight the revolutionary army" and went from there.

How would I work up to that point in the story? Why would the MC suddenly encounter a threat?(Thug, monster, cape, etc) When I decide to write an event do I just say "plot" as the reason why they're meeting a person so early on without any rep?

Click to shrink...

Time skip. It can be a few days, a week or a month. Have the mc say he's a hero. He had been patrolling the streets taking care of petty crime for the last two weeks. In that time he had busted burgers, and car thieves.

He had yet to fight a monster, however, today, that would change.

"Raaah!" A giant goop creature vomited goo onto a car, melting it into nothing.

Men, women, and children fled in horror as the monster destroyed everything around it.

MC took a deep breath. He knew this day would come. It was only a matter of 'if' not 'when!'

[Scene end]

Yeah, just use time skips they're great ways to segues into a new area. Or even if it's the passage of time in a day. The MC could drive his car to get some groceries, then shit got real!

You've probably heard "show, don't tell" quite a few times. I agree with this maxim. However, surprisingly there are quite a few very popular stories that are 90% show, 10% tell. So who knows how valuable that advice is. An example of tell would be: While everyone else was sleeping, Jerry had constructed a machine gun.
Show: Jerry painstakingly gripped his screw driver as he screwed together his new machine gun. This low lighting hampered his efforts, but he was making marked progress. After half an hour of hard work, Jerry was ready to test this baby out!

Typically, a mix of the two styles is important. If you showed everything, the chapter would become bloated, and as an author, you would have to flex your imagination harder. Which is a waste of time, and it could stifle the flow of the chapter. You don't want to get bogged down describing every minute detail of every process and mechanism. Telling something is easier on the brain and can be extremely useful. However, if overused is only something a lazy or uncreative writer would do.

Hope this helps a bit. I'm not super popular like some of the big wigs, but I think I know a thing or two.

 

[Ragura]

Start with characters. Write dialogue between them - just what comes to mind. As they talk, you will find a plotline - or several.
Or approach it methodical - each actor (can be a character, a faction, a force of nature) has something that other wants, but will not give it away without great struggle. The story is about that struggle, or outfoxing that actor, or the friends (and enemies!) we make along the way

 

[Neh-Toth-Amon]

I tried my first attempt at writing a while ago and, if I'm being honest, it was pretty bad. To Improve I ...

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Not an author, but there are actually pretty many professional author advice lists.
People seem to find Steven King 's one helpful. Heinlein 's is also interesting. I liked what it started with quite much:
1. Write.
2. Finish what you are writing.
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