By Sarah Sundin
“My
plot is a mess! How can I make sense of it all?”
Do
you ever feel that way about your novel? As an outliner, I always reach this
stage about midway through the pre-writing. If you’re a “seat-of-the-pants”
writer, you may feel that way when analyzing your rough draft.
For me,
a plot chart helps organize the chaos. A chart gives me a visual sense of the
story structure and helps me see areas that are under-developed—or overdone.
I
make a simple table in Microsoft Word or Excel. Each row is for a scene. In the
columns, you can track the point-of-view character, date, location, brief blurbs
of what happens in the scene—and you can break this down by the novel’s main
plot arcs.
This
is a sample of my plot chart for the first chapter of my latest World War II
novel, Anchor in the Storm, including
scenes from both the heroine’s and hero’s points-of-view.
Scene
In
the first column, use a number or name for the scene. I use the chapter number
and a short name for the scene to jog my memory.
POV
character
Use
a separate column to label the point-of-view character, or simply color-code. I
use pink for the heroine and blue for the hero (original). This allows you to
see at a glance if your characters get enough—or too much—time on stage.
Date
and Location
I include
the date since I write historicals and work around actual historical events.
Also, if you find a two-month gap between chapters, you might need to fix it. Tracking
the location is useful too. Is every other chapter set at the coffee shop? Or
have you forgotten to include scenes at your heroine’s workplace?
Plot
Lines
I
like to break down the chart by plot arcs so each aspect is well developed. I
have columns for Arch’s and Lillian’s action plot lines—he’ll be fighting
U-boats on a destroyer, she’ll be working as a pharmacist, and they’re both
solving a mystery about a drug ring. The middle column is for their romance. I
also have columns for their spiritual and emotional journeys, the personal
issues they need to work through. You can include columns for subplots unique
to your story. My notes probably won’t make sense to you, but they remind me of
certain plot or character elements.
When
to Chart?
As
an outliner, I create this chart in the pre-writing process. It serves as a map
as I plan each chapter, making sure I include these elements. This saves me
time when editing because the structure is already sound.
If
you’re a seat-of-the-pants writer who finds outlines stifling, you may find this
process useful during the content edit. Filling in a chart can show you story
lines that have been neglected or abandoned, scenes that are fluffy or
repetitive, or illogical jumps in character growth.
_______________________________________________________________________
SarahSundin is the author of eight historical novels, including Anchor in the Storm. Her novel Through Waters Deep was named to Booklist’s “101 Best Romance Novels of the Last 10
Years,” and her novella “I’ll Be Home for Christmas”
in Where Treetops Glisten was a
finalist for the 2015 Carol Award. For a complete list of Sarah’s books, please
see the books page on Sarah’s website: http://www.sarahsundin.com/books/ Please visit her at http://www.sarahsundin.com,
and on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/SarahSundinAuthor
Pinterest http://pinterest.com/sarahsundin
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