Plotting Starts with the Blurb
I’ve been toying with the idea of writing a book on how I plot. I’ve ghostwritten over forty novels for other people in edition to publishing my own books on Amazon. I think a lot of people could benefit from how I plot, but I listened to a podcast with Jeff Goins who said ‘practice in public’ so I thought I would try out some articles first.
I am developing a science fiction story that spans across time. I am writing the 2016 part on Vocal and the 1965 part in my Alpha Smart to publish at a later date. So for this little plot lesson I’m going to plot a short story about one of the characters from 2100 who is apprehensive about what’s going on in the story.
Without getting into it too much basically the world is overpopulated so the government has randomly chosen billions of people to send back in time to live their lives there. There are rules and then some, but I won’t go into all of that just wanted to give you a little bit of knowledge ahead of time. You can read the story on Vocal if you want, just search for The Cure for a Full Planet.
Okay so let’s say you have a story in mind, but you don’t have a clue where to go with it. You need to start with the blurb/synopsis. This is just one of the many ways I plot. It’s a good one though. It helps you get to the character’s motivation and the overall plot of your book.
What is the point of your story?
When I ask you this I want you to put your story into one sentence. I know, that sounds difficult, but if you can do that you’ll be on your way.
Here’s the point of my short for Cure for a Full Planet
Finn Swelters has sworn an oath to follow the council but he doesn’t think what they are doing is right so he wants to stop them.
So that’s the point of the story. The main character and what drives him. It shows his conflict.
So now I can tweak that a little bit and make it a bit more descriptive.
The representative for America with the world council has misgivings about the government’s cure for overpopulation and his decision to try and stop it could cost him his life.
So if you are looking at that you can see who the character is, what the conflict is, and the stakes.
Now, I want to stress this is not your blurb, but it’s a starting point for the blurb and the plot of your story. Looking at that sentence, now you can start to visualize it can’t you?
So now I can ask questions to flesh that out.
Who is the representative?
What is the point of the council?
What is the cure for overpopulation?
Who is involved?
Why is his life in danger?
What is his plan, does he have one?
Your questions are going to be different. Write this down and start visualizing your characters and where they are. Start seeing them as real people so you can start to bring your story to life. After you answer these questions and get an initial plot paragraph going you can continue to expand on it until you have a full outline for your story.
So this is the paragraph I would get from answering these questions.
Finn Swelters is the representative for America on the World Council. The World Council is a group of men and women from all over the world that make decisions based on the needs of the planet. The Earth has become overpopulated in the year 2100 and a scientist who goes by the name of Ares has given the council an option, send billions back in time spread out over the decades and let them live their lives there with a very specific set of rules. This is better than killing them which the council has been looking for an alternative to. Finn is young and new to the council and very unsure about these plans. He can see a lot of problems with the plan and once the decision is made he has very little time to stop it.
The powers that be (head Councilman, scientists, and investors) stand to make money on this plan so they are willing to kill or ruin anyone who is going against them. This means if Finn decides to stop it, he is going to put himself in danger. He befriends a very popular newscaster by chance and she agrees to help him release it to the public. He hopes letting everyone know will stop the government from going through with it. They face a lot of obstacles and a very determined group that wants to see them fail.
Once again, this is not the blurb it is too long and bumbling, but you can see how a blurb could be formed from it.
I plan to write more of these to help you plot as I plot out this short which I haven’t named yet. If you need help you can email me at authoremilywalker@gmail.com. I’m happy to talk plotting all day long, I love it!
