Three Creative Novel Plotting Techniques

Using a Story Wheel, File Note Cards or Storyboard to Develop Plot

Aug 17, 2009

Plotting a novel doesn't have to be boring. Take cues from movie script writers and graphic novel authors to make your plot outline more visual.

There are many different ways to think up a plot for a novel. These three hands-on methods of plotting will help put all of the elements into perspective.

Make a Story Wheel

Story wheels are often used to create new work or to analyze an existing story. To make a story wheel for your novel, make a circle and put your title in the middle. Then section the circle off into six wedges. Label the sections characters, theme, action, motive, conflict , resolution. Or you can make up your own labels. Then write into the different sections all you know about each aspect of the novel. A story wheel can help you look at the plot from all angles, analyze story components and put them into balance.

Be creative—a story wheel can be made for each individual character by placing the character’s name in the middle of the wheel and giving the sections such labels as description, personality, major problems, conflict, action, resolution. You can create your own section labels depending on what part of the novel needs work.

Use File Cards for Plotting

Some authors like to use an index box and file cards to begin plotting their novel. The writer can first write down the plot components on individual cards just as when creating a story wheel. Then different scenes and character descriptions can be jotted down on separate file cards and placed in a stack below the different components. Unlike a sheet of paper, file cards can be moved and shuffled around until the events are lined up in the right order. The file cards can be organized any way you want. Different colors of cards can be used for each character or scene or plot component.

Put Together a Storyboard

Filmmakers and cartoonists often make use of a storyboard to plan their work and a writer can also benefit by this technique. You don’t have to be a great artist to use this technique—stick figures will do. Some writers create elaborate storyboards and others keep to simple ones.

To create a storyboard the major scenes of the novel are labeled and drawn or sketched out in frames in the order they occur so that they can be visualized, just as if you were making a comic book. Many authors use a chalkboard or something erasable for their sketches so they can change the order of the events. Many good books on storyboarding can be found in the library or purchased at Amazon or other online or local bookstores.

Whatever method of plotting you choose, conclude by taking all the information and typing it up into a file to create a plot outline.

The copyright of the article Three Creative Novel Plotting Techniques in Fiction Plots & Pacing is owned by Vickie Britton. Permission to republish Three Creative Novel Plotting Techniques in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.