Friday, April 23, 2010

The complications worksheet

If you struggle with plot, here's a technique that might help you bring things into focus, from the Adventures in Children's Publishing blog:

Want to create a plot you'll itch to write? A protagonist you'll love? An antagonist that will give you shivers? And (simultaneously) the first draft of a synopsis ready to be pared down to two pages and polished up?

Like many writers, I've spun my mental wheels researching and experimenting with different methods of plotting: outlining versus free writing versus turning points versus notecards versus snowflake method etc. Since I've finally found something that works for me, I thought I'd share my Complications Worksheet here to help you simultaneously develop action, motivation and character depth by piling trouble on your poor protagonist.
Read the rest.

1 comment:

i, chihuahua said...

what an exhaustive study on developing story, and what an excellent resource. i'm printing it now — a hard copy is a must. thank you for the post, marths!