A Continuation of the Previous Blog — which was shorter 😉 .
Detailed Look at the 7 Types of Plot
The title of this chapter in Think like a Pro is “One Guiding Decision :: Plot It”, and plot is truly the guiding decision for any writing.
While many plot structures abound (and several are discussed later in the Think/Pro chapter), it is the 7 Plot Types that will give the KEY that every writer needs to use to unlock story.
That KEY is coming, I promise, but first let’s look at the three required elements for each of the 7 Plot Types.
*The Plot Types will take two blogs. (Sorry. Not.) Come back on the 10th for the finish line of this post.
Buying Story
Building under Construction: Foundation is hidden under the concrete blocks that are the base of the walls.
Plot is the foundation of all story.
ALL story.
The key to any construction job is the foundation. People buy houses based on the square footage they need and the look of the life they want. The buyers don’t consider the state of the foundation; that’s the job of the builder. And the foundation is buried in the ground, unseen, doing its job without any acclaim or gratitude or blessing. Without a strong foundation, however, the whole structure will fall apart.
So it goes with story.
People may love the characters and chatter excitedly about events and the genre tropes, but everything—EVERYTHING—in that story will fall apart if the foundation is not solid. Should story-tellers neglect plot, the story suffers, and not even the most wonderful characters and stupendous events and twisty tropes can rescue it.