Fiction Writing: Creating The Plot

The plot is, in essence, the following of the protagonist in attempting to reach his or her main goal. This is the main driving element of the story. The plot follows this pattern: establishment of what the main character’s goal is; the attempts and inability to achieve the goal; and, finally, the achievement or lack of achievement of that goal. A common mistake is to think that action and events occurring to the main character are actually plot.

Every other character in the story must only be there if they contribute to the main character achieving this goal. This doesn’t mean that every character is actively motivated in trying to help or prevent the protagonist in attaining the goal, but their actions and words must contribute to this, or they shouldn’t be in the story. For that matter absolutely everything mentioned in the story must be relevant to the plot from the description of mountain scenery to the witty dialogue.

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