Taking a Plot Inventory–A Guest Blog by Jordan E. Rosenfeld

Intro note: Way back in October when I (Shonna) was preparing for NaNoWriMo I posted some of the books I planned to keep by the computer for inspiration on that month-long writing extravaganza. Jordan E. Rosenfeld’s book Make a Scene was there. It was a new book I’d never seen in the writing section before and I was curious. Well, I was convicted…I know I need help with scenes. And now Jordan is here to blog with us for the whole month of January. Time to drag out those NaNo novels or your current favorite WIP. Feel free to ask Jordan any questions or expand on her topics. Now here’s Jordan:

After finishing a NanoWrimo novel comes elation. I know—I’ve done it three times myself. You heave your chair-shaped butt away from your desk, pat yourself on the back, you re-engage with friends and family, and either feel like you could write this way every day for the rest of your life, or experience temporary burnout and consider never writing again.

Hopefully between November and now you put the results away and didn’t look at them. That will help you come to it with fresh eyes now.

Today’s topic, I know, is “big picture development,” which can sound a little bit scary, like you’ve got to have it all figured out before you even begin to reshape the sprawling morass of words you composed. But I’m here to reassure you that all you have to do first is assess where you are.

To me, that means starting with plot. I know, I already hear some protests out there—after all, Chris Baty, NanoWrimo’s founder himself, suggests that you don’t need a plot to write a novel in thirty days. Not at first, at least. But if you intend to turn your work into something not only readable, but maybe even publishable, you will need to begin a plot search (I promise this is nothing like a snipe hunt!).

A plot search, however, is a lot simpler than it sounds. Ever worked in retail? Ever had to do inventory? Then you’ll be good to go, and I promise it’s a lot more fun to do inventory of your own work.

In order to develop the big picture, you need to know what you’re working with. So, step one is to do a plot inventory. Yes, this takes a little bit of time, so you don’t have to do it in one day. It might even take you a week or two, but you will be so glad you did it.

Gather either a blank notebook, or a set of index cards together for this project.

On a blank page, or on a blank note card, go through each chapter or scene of your work and write down the plot points. Plot points are actions—the “what happened” of your story, and not just when your characters brushed their teeth or made cereal for breakfast—but where they yelled at their mother-in-law, stole a car, made love with someone bad for them, learned they were adopted, and many other actions/events that have potential consequences. (Consequences, by the way, are how you know if a plot point is working or not—good ones have consequences. Boring/bad/unnecessary ones don’t go anywhere).

So your card may look like this:

Scene 1: Bridget’s estranged, heroin-addict sister Barbie shows up on her doorstep one night with a suitcase and a black eye. She’s there to stay. Sisters have brief fight, then Bridget acquiesces, and lets Barbie have the couch.

Or, if you have a less organized plot (or none), your card may look like this:

Chapter 1. Frederick wanders the streets of Prague, looking for a woman who comes to him in dreams and tells him where she’ll be. Lots of description of Prague and people and philosophical musings on love and dreams, a la Milan Kundera.

What you will notice immediately, card after card, or page after page, is which scenes/chapters of yours have actual plot-worthy events/actions, and which ones don’t. When you finish the inventory, you’ll know where things happen, and where they fall flat; who engages in these actions; and where there are big gaping holes.

These big gaping holes and notes on action will be your instructions for getting started on your revision. Where there is no action, you want to put some. Where there is action, you want to make sure that it relates from scene to scene and chapter to chapter, that it builds a story with energy and tension. 

Your big picture, i.e. your plot, should ultimately be a linked series of events/actions and their consequences, which happen to a protagonist (or a few protags if you have more than one) and lead to a kind of climax and finale.

What you might find in this inventory is that some of what you wrote (perhaps more than you hope) is merely notes on a plot—narrative summaries without the hallmarks of scenes (action, drama, and a visual setting in which these are enacted). Now you are tasked to turn this inventory into meaty scenes that bring a story alive.

I will discuss how plot and scenes are crucial to each other in the third week of January here. Stay tuned!

Jordan E. Rosenfeld is a fiction writer, freelance journalist and editor. She is the author of the books, Make A Scene: Crafting a Powerful Story One Scene at a Time (Writer’s Digest Books) and Write Free! Attracting the Creative Life with Rebecca Lawton (http://www.writefree.us/). Jordan is also a contributing editor & columnist to Writer’s Digest magazine. Her articles have also appeared in such publications as, The San Francisco Chronicle, The St. Petersburg Times, The Writer and more. Her book reviews are regularly featured on The California Report, a news-magazine produced by NPR-affiliate KQED radio.

Visit her blog: www.jordanrosenfeld.wordpress.com