How to create a plot?

Acezhere

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I would love to make a story but I can’t think up a decent plot for the life of me. I like stories such as Solarium, Lost Souls: Road to Godhood, and Faraway Survivor, but never seem to come close to a plot that’s decent or fits the genres I like.
 
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Jemini

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I would love to make a story but I can’t think up a decent plot for the life of me. I like stories such as Solarium, Lost Souls: Road to Godhood, and Faraway Survivor, but never seem to come close to a plot that’s decent or fits the genres I like.

First, I think you need some help in defining what plot is. For instance, this is the "Hero's Journey" plot.


(I will just give a link because I have food on the stove and can't spend the time writing out each step.)

The plot is just taking the appropriate pre-set outline, and fitting specific story beats in the story you're telling to each step in one of those plot items.

As such, to create a plot, you simply decide what kind of plot structure you're looking for, and figure out how to match your story beats to it.
 

Acezhere

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First, I think you need some help in defining what plot is. For instance, this is the "Hero's Journey" plot.


(I will just give a link because I have food on the stove and can't spend the time writing out each step.)

The plot is just taking the appropriate pre-set outline, and fitting specific story beats in the story you're telling to each step in one of those plot items.

As such, to create a plot, you simply decide what kind of plot structure you're looking for, and figure out how to match your story beats to it.
Thanks for the assistance!
 

Representing_Tromba

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I recently had a plot idea for a story if you want it? It's basically about a group of terrorists who terrorize terrorists by being the worst terrorists ever. It would follow a person who was recently brought into the group after being used as a hostage after being mistaken for one of the real terrorist group's higher-ups. This is just the introduction as this group is really bad at their jobs but always seems to make the other large terrorist groups mess up their own plans. Kind of like if Robin Hood was a terrorist but because of how bad they are at being a terrorist, they end up being a hero in the eyes of the people for thwarting dangerous terrorists. That and they are dead broke so they have to make ends meet by doing odd jobs. The leader of the organizations go to for odd jobs is being strippers, which none of the other members of the group except for one want to do. The plot involves said leader and his eventual sacrificial death where the MC becomes the leader, not only destroying the terrorist group but also overthrowing the corrupt government in the process.
 

RepresentingSilence

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I recently had a plot idea for a story if you want it? It's basically about a group of terrorists who terrorize terrorists by being the worst terrorists ever. It would follow a person who was recently brought into the group after being used as a hostage after being mistaken for one of the real terrorist group's higher-ups. This is just the introduction as this group is really bad at their jobs but always seems to make the other large terrorist groups mess up their own plans. Kind of like if Robin Hood was a terrorist but because of how bad they are at being a terrorist, they end up being a hero in the eyes of the people for thwarting dangerous terrorists. That and they are dead broke so they have to make ends meet by doing odd jobs. The leader of the organizations go to for odd jobs is being strippers, which none of the other members of the group except for one want to do. The plot involves said leader and his eventual sacrificial death where the MC becomes the leader, not only destroying the terrorist group but also overthrowing the corrupt government in the process.
Sooo basically like the FBI/CIA?
 

Acezhere

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I recently had a plot idea for a story if you want it? It's basically about a group of terrorists who terrorize terrorists by being the worst terrorists ever. It would follow a person who was recently brought into the group after being used as a hostage after being mistaken for one of the real terrorist group's higher-ups. This is just the introduction as this group is really bad at their jobs but always seems to make the other large terrorist groups mess up their own plans. Kind of like if Robin Hood was a terrorist but because of how bad they are at being a terrorist, they end up being a hero in the eyes of the people for thwarting dangerous terrorists. That and they are dead broke so they have to make ends meet by doing odd jobs. The leader of the organizations go to for odd jobs is being strippers, which none of the other members of the group except for one want to do. The plot involves said leader and his eventual sacrificial death where the MC becomes the leader, not only destroying the terrorist group but also overthrowing the corrupt government in the process.
Wow! Thank you
 

ModernGold7ne

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I recently had a plot idea for a story if you want it? It's basically about a group of terrorists who terrorize terrorists by being the worst terrorists ever. It would follow a person who was recently brought into the group after being used as a hostage after being mistaken for one of the real terrorist group's higher-ups. This is just the introduction as this group is really bad at their jobs but always seems to make the other large terrorist groups mess up their own plans. Kind of like if Robin Hood was a terrorist but because of how bad they are at being a terrorist, they end up being a hero in the eyes of the people for thwarting dangerous terrorists. That and they are dead broke so they have to make ends meet by doing odd jobs. The leader of the organizations go to for odd jobs is being strippers, which none of the other members of the group except for one want to do. The plot involves said leader and his eventual sacrificial death where the MC becomes the leader, not only destroying the terrorist group but also overthrowing the corrupt government in the process.
Contemporary huh, needs a splice of fantasy, surrealism will forever be king.
 

Representing_Tromba

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Sooo basically like the FBI/CIA?
Yeah, pretty much but neither are federally funded.
Contemporary huh, needs a splice of fantasy, surrealism will forever be king.
It could be made as a fantasy style setting or really any setting for that matter. I never really thought of a setting for it since it started from the thought "terrorists, but they're really bad at being terrorists."
 

Acezhere

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Contemporary huh, needs a splice of fantasy, surrealism will forever be king.
It could be made as a fantasy style setting or really any setting for that matter. I never really thought of a setting for it since it started from the thought "terrorists, but they're really bad at being terrorists."
I was thinking about how I could somehow tie angels and demons into it
 

RepresentingCaution

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Carefully

 

RepresentingSilence

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Yeah, pretty much but neither are federally funded.
I'd argue that neither are the FBI/CIA either really considering how much involvement they have in the drug and human trafficking trade and other criminal activity plus taxation is just extortion of the citizens at the end of a gun and with the threat of imprisonment
 

Representing_Tromba

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I'd argue that neither are the FBI/CIA either really considering how much involvement they have in the drug and human trafficking trade and other criminal activity plus taxation is just extortion of the citizens at the end of a gun and with the threat of imprisonment
Very true.
I was thinking about how I could somehow tie angels and demons into it
That sounds like a good idea.
 

Jemini

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I recently had a plot idea for a story if you want it? It's basically about a group of terrorists who terrorize terrorists by being the worst terrorists ever. It would follow a person who was recently brought into the group after being used as a hostage after being mistaken for one of the real terrorist group's higher-ups. This is just the introduction as this group is really bad at their jobs but always seems to make the other large terrorist groups mess up their own plans. Kind of like if Robin Hood was a terrorist but because of how bad they are at being a terrorist, they end up being a hero in the eyes of the people for thwarting dangerous terrorists. That and they are dead broke so they have to make ends meet by doing odd jobs. The leader of the organizations go to for odd jobs is being strippers, which none of the other members of the group except for one want to do. The plot involves said leader and his eventual sacrificial death where the MC becomes the leader, not only destroying the terrorist group but also overthrowing the corrupt government in the process.

Ok, again, point of clarity.

This is not a plot. This is a premise.

There are a lot of terms that people tend to throw around in terms of stories. Plot, premise, narrative, story, characters, excettera.

So, to break this down, the plot is your skeleton of a story. A very rigid underlying structure that everything else attaches to in the form of "story beats." A story beat is a significant point in the story that, going back in a circular fashion here, conform to the points of plot.

There are several plot structures. "Hero's Journey" is one of the more famous plot structures. There are 12 points in the hero's journey plot structure, and so any story that follows this plot structure will have to map out 12 story beats that conform to the plot structure.

A premise is the idea that the story starts from. The basic idea around which it's based. If someone asks what your story is about, you are probably going to tell them your premise as just a natural first instinct because the premise is the part of the story that just jumps to your mind the fastest as "this is what the story is about."

"Story" is like the internal organs of the work of literature. Some of us have taken to calling "story" by an alternate name lately though, which makes things easier since "story" can also be used to refer to the wider work of literature as a whole. This other name we call it by is an "arc."

A story arc is a smaller discrete story within the larger story. Several stories nowdays have several component arcs making up one larger story.

A narrative is the connective tissue of the story. It is the underlying thread that pulls all the different story arcs together, and tells a broader story with all these component parts interconnected with one another.

Story craft has a lot of terms used for it, and it will help you quite a bit if you actually learn how to properly define all of them.
 

Representing_Tromba

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Ok, again, point of clarity.

This is not a plot. This is a premise.

There are a lot of terms that people tend to throw around in terms of stories. Plot, premise, narrative, story, characters, excettera.

So, to break this down, the plot is your skeleton of a story. A very rigid underlying structure that everything else attaches to in the form of "story beats." A story beat is a significant point in the story that, going back in a circular fashion here, conform to the points of plot.

There are several plot structures. "Hero's Journey" is one of the more famous plot structures. There are 12 points in the hero's journey plot structure, and so any story that follows this plot structure will have to map out 12 story beats that conform to the plot structure.

A premise is the idea that the story starts from. The basic idea around which it's based. If someone asks what your story is about, you are probably going to tell them your premise as just a natural first instinct because the premise is the part of the story that just jumps to your mind the fastest as "this is what the story is about."

"Story" is like the internal organs of the work of literature. Some of us have taken to calling "story" by an alternate name lately though, which makes things easier since "story" can also be used to refer to the wider work of literature as a whole. This other name we call it by is an "arc."

A story arc is a smaller discrete story within the larger story. Several stories nowdays have several component arcs making up one larger story.

A narrative is the connective tissue of the story. It is the underlying thread that pulls all the different story arcs together, and tells a broader story with all these component parts interconnected with one another.

Story craft has a lot of terms used for it, and it will help you quite a bit if you actually learn how to properly define all of them.
I won't disagree but the way they were asking sounded more like they wanted a premise rather than a fully structured plot. Sorry for using the word so loosely.
 

Ilikewaterkusa

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I would love to make a story but I can’t think up a decent plot for the life of me. I like stories such as Solarium, Lost Souls: Road to Godhood, and Faraway Survivor, but never seem to come close to a plot that’s decent or fits the genres I like.
Maximize coolness and run time
 

GreenHexagon

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A strategy that works for me and anybody else that has shower thoughts that aren't crazy.

1. Take a random shower thought that you think is cool.
2. If it isn't already Fiction, make it fiction
3. Use new thought as your premise
4. Add more shower thoughts until you have an outline
5. Make your plot out of that.

Works like a charm.
 

Acezhere

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A strategy that works for me and anybody else that has shower thoughts that aren't crazy.

1. Take a random shower thought that you think is cool.
2. If it isn't already Fiction, make it fiction
3. Use new thought as your premise
4. Add more shower thoughts until you have an outline
5. Make your plot out of that.

Works like a charm.
Took a shower because of this. Didn’t have any good shower thoughts
 
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