PROBLEM STATEMENT -How to write a good story outline with a nice flow and zero nonsense? PROBLEM SOLVING -Design Your Plot The most important key to writing a good story outline is by creating the draft of your story first instead of diving straight into the writing part. That way, you can avoid inputting loads of gibberish into your story. Now then, when you have a story in mind, try to list it out according to the plot diagram below. This step will help you see the flow of your story more clearly. However, do not feel depressed if you have trouble with filling up all 5 elements of the plot diagram because I personally think that the more important elements are the exposition, climax, and resolution. Therefore, if you are able to fill up those 3 important parts of the plot diagram, then that's already good enough to help you get started. What? Don't believe me? Then allow me to explain to you the reason why I think that these 3 elements are more important compared to the other 2 elements of the plot diagram. ►Exposition / Introduction Exposition is important in a story because this is where the background information about the characters and settings are being established, and where the conflict and/or problem are being introduced to the readers. It is also very crucial for you to write a good introduction that would hook the audience to your story because the exposition is kind of act as the first impression. So if your exposition is great, then the readers would automatically think that the rest of your story would be top-notch too, and vice-versa. ►Climax Climax is the highest point of tension or drama in a story, and without it, your story would be bland and boring. Thus, climax is considered an absolute necessary element of a plot. ►Resolution / Conclusion Resolution is the part of the story's plot where the main problem is resolved or worked out and is typically the end of the story. The resolution is what I would like to consider as the finish line or an aim. So I would advise you to always have an image or idea on how you want your story to end because without a clear vision of it, you would begin to write nonsense since you don't have an aim of where you are heading to and are practically lost. So now you understand why I think these 3 elements are extremely important to a story's plot. Hence, you just have to make sure that you have an idea for these parts, and then the rest of the plot will come to you naturally. Useful TIPS ►Jotting Down All Of The Plot Scenes The moment you have an idea for a new story, I'm pretty sure you have lots of plot scenes playing inside your mind. So do yourself a favor and jot down every one of those scenes on a piece of paper, a notebook, or even a tree bark (anything that you can find to write on its surface). There's no need for you to worry about the order of the plot scenes and just focus on writing everything down on the paper. I would suggest for you to list them down in bullet-point form so that you can execute the next step easily. ►Rearrange The Scenes To Make It Flow Better So once you have all of your ideas written down on a piece of paper(s), take a good look at the list and begin rearranging the plot scenes in such an order that will make your story flows smoothly and of course, make sense. Example: List of plot Scenes:-
Rearrange them in the right order:-
►Questions For The Re-evaluation Process Now that you have your list of plot scenes in the right order, your next step should be re-evaluating your ideas. This step will help you avoid inputting unnecessary plot scenes into your story. In other words, it will prevent you from writing nonsense. The following 3 questions will help you re-evaluate your ideas: (1) What is the significance of the plot scene to the story? You have to ask yourself why do you want to add that particular idea into your story. Will it help your story move forward and maybe develop your characters? Or will it only be a mere needless filler just so you can increase your word count? If it's just a filler, then I advise you to just omit it. (2) How will it make the readers feel? As much as I always tell people to write for themselves, but still, there are times when you have to think about your readers' reactions too, especially if your main intention is to make other people enjoy your story. You have to consider how the readers would feel about the idea. Will they love it, or will they hate it to the point that they would lose interest in your story altogether. Although, keep in mind that it's practically impossible for you to satisfy everyone's preference. So, you should just focus on the majority. If the majority of your readers like the idea, then go for it. If they don't, then it's better for you to not add it in. (3) Can the story go on without it? This question is probably the most important question for you to ask when you are evaluating your ideas. You ought to think very carefully whether it's really worth it or not for you to add the idea into your story. If your story will be perfectly fine without it, then you shouldn't add that segment in. It's better for you to avoid adding unnecessary things and just focus on what the story needs because an unnecessary addition can overwhelm and ruin the entire story. Let's Recap The Steps So there you have it, folks. I hope you find this article to be rather useful in your journey to become a remarkable writer. As you are all well aware, there's no short-cut to success. Thus, keep on practicing and you'll get there eventually.
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