Plot, Your Backbone

This is something that keeps coming up. Plot. It’s a simple word.  Yet, when writing a synopsis or query after the several thousand words it may become lost to the author.

Plot has been presented to me in three questions: What does your character want?  What’s in their way to stop them? How do they overcome it?  Those are the three simple little questions agents and publishers want answered in your queries.  But, by the time you’ve reached the end your character will be more well-rounded. There will probably be more than one goal.  There are the inner goals; Matilda wants to find love. And the outer goals; Matilda’s dream is to make the largest hot fudge brownie sundae in the world. (I’m on a diet, give me a break!) In the middle east. Then she’ll win that treasure that will help pay the ransom for her kidnapped chihuahua.

Which goal is a little more driving?  The love or fulfilling her dream in a war-torn area so she can save her beloved pet?  Okay, maybe that’s a smidge overboard… But I do tend to focus more on the love (because those are the scenes I pour over) than the big huge elephant in the room.  Or tiny yapping chihuahua, whatever.

The best way to get around that inner and outer goal conflict? Write a little one page cheat sheet of where you expect your story to go.

What does the character want?  To create her dream dessert and save her pillaged pup.

What’s in her way?  The middle east and lack of money.

What helps her overcome it?  She’s unknowingly fallen in love with her dog’s kidnapper, the prince of the land. She doesn’t win, but she becomes a princess and gets the dog back anyway.  The prince names a day after her mountainous dessert and celebrates it yearly.

Now I can begin writing my tale.  Well, maybe not. But hopefully you get the hint. I think I finally have.