Earlier today, I taught a webinar for Writers' Digest University about plotting. As promised, I'm posting the questions I asked the writers to ask of their books here. Readers of Second Sight may note that these questions both substantially reflect and in a couple of instances substantially change the material in the book.
- What is your Emotional Point?
- What is your Thematic Point?
- What is your Experiential Point?
- Does a change of some kind happen in the course of your book?
- Who changes in your WIP?
- What is your protagonist’s change in circumstances from the beginning to the end of the novel? (Action Plot)
- And how does he himself change? (Emotional Plot)
- What is your character’s drive that keeps getting him into trouble in the plot? What is your character’s compulsion?
- What is your character’s thing to be gained or lost? What is her desire?
- Conflict, Mystery, Lack: Which type best describes your central action plot?
- Stakes: At the beginning of your book, what is at stake for your character in this book in the Action Plot? The Emotional Plot? What will happen to him if the change we see in the action doesn’t come about?
- What are the stakes by the end?
- Structure: What is the Inciting Incident of your Action Plot?
- List as many Escalating or Complicating Events in that plot as you can.
- List the Obstacles in that plot.
- What is the Climax of your Action Plot?
- What is the Resolution of your Action Plot?
- What is the Inciting Incident of your Emotional Plot?
- List as many Escalating or Complicating Events in that plot as you can.
- List the Obstacles in that plot.
- What is the Climax of your Emotional Plot?
- What is the Resolution of your Emotional Plot?
- Where are your Turning Points?