Post by Aaricia on Sept 1, 2014 10:35:26 GMT -5
Whether you're a role player or a novelist, all writers want to have gripping plots and characters that are not only fun to work with but that other people love too. This thread is going to talk about how to develop plots and how to make the characters in those plots dynamic, relatable, real, and exciting.
Let's first talk about how one would make a plot. Some start with an idea, others start with an object, some others start with a character and still others start with a setting. If you're having trouble deciding on a plot, check out the list below:
Type "A": Happy ending.
Type "B": Unhappy ending
Type "C": The literary plot. This plot requires more explanation. It doesn't hinge on a decision or many decisions but on fate. The critical event takes place in the beginning, rather than at the end. What follows this event is inevitable, often tragedy.
Okay so that's a pretty big list of stuff to help you kick start an idea. The ideas above are merely ideas to help you come up with a plot that interests you and fits your character. As a role player myself, I know it's tempting to just make a character and figure plots and development out as you go. I urge you to think about plots within your character and with other characters before the creation of said character. Believe it or not, it will help you in creating them in a way that will suit all of your needs for them. In addition, even if you have some ideas for where you'd like a character to go and how you want them to develop, you don't have to stick with your original ideas! If they don't work, change them! But having ideas to start with will help you keep your muse for said character.
Let's now look at plot structure. We all know that stories have to have a beginning, a middle and an end. However, it's a bit more complicated than that.
Exposition: This is the introduction to the story, where we get to meet your character. We don't know them as well as you do so this is a good point in your story to tell us about their background a little (we all haven't read your bio!). Show us a little taste of who they are. What does a regular day/week look like for your character? This may not be the most exciting part for you but, it will help your readers understand your character better. The inciting incident also happens here. Usually, role play boards will give you your inciting incident if you choose to follow the site's plot. If you choose to create your own "mini plot" (which I highly recommend), try to create your inciting incident within the first 5 to 7 threads that your character has. Your job as a role player is to create your own world inside the world that your admin has created for you. (Note: the inciting incident is the initial event that sets the rest of the story in motion). So, if I decided that I wanted to have my character's story be about remorse, within the first 5 to 7 threads I had with that character, I may have my character do a wrong doing (such as murder).
Rising Action: This is the part of the story that leads up to the climax. These actions can be anything that leads up to your intended climax. This is the "meat" of the story. Most of your role play threads will be in the rising action category. An example of this would be, in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Harry has to go through many tasks to actually get the stone. In the main role play, there may not be many rising action opportunities. However, it is always a good idea to involve your characters in site events or site wide plots. This will usually require slight modification of your plans but, your benefits will be great. Not only will they help you in the "rising action" phase of your story but you will also be furthering the development of the depth of your character.
Climax: This is considered the high point of your plot, the most exciting point in the story thus far. This is where all of the rising action and the conflict finally meet at it's peek. It's the moment of greatest danger, usually, or biggest decision making of the protagonist. This is considered the turning point in most stories. As a role player developing your own mini plots, this is where all of your work and all of your threading is leading to.
Falling Action: These are events that follow shortly after the climax. These are essential in any story to help those reading your story to feel a sense of completeness. A soprano in an opera doesn't just sing her high note and then the whole show is done. There has got to be a time where your characters come down from the high intensity of the peak of the story.
Resolution: In a novel, this is the end of the story. In a role play, this is the final resolution of the conflict. Some role players choose to conclude their stories with their character's death. Other's choose to simply write a paragraph or two about what happened to their character after the story is over. Others choose to end one conflict and begin another. That's the beauty of role playing, if your don't want your character to be done, just keep writing!
Outlining A Plot:
Im sure everyone remembers writing papers in school where the teachers ask you to outline your essay. It wasn't very fun. However, in creative writing, it's much more exciting. This is where you get to get all of your ideas down on paper to help you develop an idea. The first way to outline a plot is to list all of your ideas. Just open a word document and start writing down every idea that comes to you and when you're all done, try to link all of them together. The second way to outline a plot is by "webbing." I'm sure we all learned it in school so I'm not going to spend a lot of time going over it but basically it's where you take one main idea and start branching other ideas off of it.
Here are some questions to answer to make sure you have a full plot:
Who is my main character? This is the center of the story. Think of each of your characters as a main character in their own story.
What is the main character's motive? All character want something. What does your character want? Answering this will help you drive the plot forward.
What is the main conflict? Your character has a motive but the conflict is preventing that motive from being achieved.
Who is the antagonist? This is a character or group of characters that oppose the main character. This character doesn't have to be a "villain."
What is the climax?
Does the main character succeed or fail?
How does the main character change?
Chapters:
In Role play, we don't really have chapters per say. However, I encourage you to think about each thread as it's own "chapter." Make each thread work for you in some way. Make each thread matter. Make them all help you. Each thread should affect your character in some way whether it be large or small. They should all help you reach your goals for said character. Or maybe, a thread sets your character back a couple of steps. It's all up to you! It's helpful to talk about threads with people before they happen, even if it's just briefly to help you plan how it will affect your character.
Characters:
You can't have a story without a character. If you've never created an original character, here's your chance to let those creative juices flow. I personally, start with some sort of basic personality traits and then let everything else fall into place. Others have different methods and no method is better or worse than another as long as it works for you. No matter how you make them, they'll need to be dynamic, realistic and round.
A round character is one that is well developed and is three-dimentional. In role play, it might take you a while to really get to know a character and to make them "round." A Dynamic character is one that changes over the course of the story. Write your character as realistically as you can. Give them flaws, virtues, morals, backstories, copping skills, hobbies, likes, dislikes, mannerisms and more. When you create your bio, write down every piece of information about them so you can keep track of it. Readers will catch inconsistencies and become irritated with you. When creating a history, think about their personality and what events in their life made them who they are. Everything has to have a reason. Things don't just pop up out of nowhere for no reason.
Dynamic characters are flawed. Even your main character needs traits that present struggles and create or exaggerate conflict. Perhaps your character is a fixer and inserts themselves into others' problems too easily. Or maybe they are loyal to a fault. Keep in mind that a good flaw will become apparent in more than one part of a character's life. Think about your own flaws and how they affect your life. Maybe the fixer character is too involved with cases at his job as a social worker and it means he's also having difficulties with his aging mother at home.
Dynamic characters have preferences. The best characters have goals and desires that readers can understand and relate to. Once your audience can better understand what your character wants, they are more likely to empathize with obstacles in the pursuit of those goals. Good characters have favorite people, places, meals, music etc. that tell the reader more about them.
Dynamic characters have histories. Much of your character's history will probably be irrelevant to the story you have planned for them but it will be worth it to spend some time writing it. You'll learn more about the character and there may be places where you can weave pieces of their history into the story later on. You want to avoid the impression that your character was created simply to fulfill a role in your story.
Dynamic characters have enemies. You should be able to give your character at least one enemy whether it be another character, nature, or a mental illness that causes conflict in their life. They need to have adversaries to make them feel more real and make them make difficult decisions.
Dynamic characters are surprising. No one wants to follow a character that's boring. Be careful not to rely on stereotypes when creating a character, if you feel yourself heading in that direction, create something entirely unexpected to add depth.
Now that you've created your dynamic character, it's time to identify what kind of main character or "hero" that your character is. Remember, think of each of your characters as main characters in their own story. There is the Classic Hero, The Tragic Hero, The Epic Hero and the Anti-Hero. There is also the un-hero, the everyman, the prodigy, the grizzled old timer, and the misfit. Google (or bing) these character types and decide which one fits your character the best. Note that your character doesn't have to be the exact book definition of one of the types, merely choose one that most closely resembles them.
After selecting your character's type, decide what kind of plot they'd take part in. Most character types are fluid across all plots but specific characters are not. Choose a plot path that fits your character whether they be looking for revenge or love or to end a rivalry.
After you've chosen your plot path, you'll need some other "main characters" in your story. Most stories have 2 or 3 main characters to it would be wise to talk with other role players and try and weave your plot ideas together in order that you both get another main character in the story. Co-main characters are characters that are around your character frequently and affects their life in major ways, perhaps they even take part in your characters plot with them. Co-main characters can be friends, lovers, family members or enemies. You'll also need several minor characters in your character's life. These are characters that are involved with your character but are more in the background than a co-main character. Minor characters normally say or do something that affects the main character and then fades into the background or they can seem insignificant in the beginning but turn out to be vitally important later on.
The purpose of this thread was the encourage members to PLOT and to try planning out plots before they happen. I'm telling you, it will help you to keep your muse for your characters. Not every plot your character has, has to be some big dramatic thing. Offer your characters up as a minor character for someone else. Get them involved with characters they may not like. I too, am guilty of letting characters drift to the side but my hope is that with this guide, the plots on this site will sky rocket and all the characters on the site will get some love and attention.
Let's first talk about how one would make a plot. Some start with an idea, others start with an object, some others start with a character and still others start with a setting. If you're having trouble deciding on a plot, check out the list below:
- Quest
- Adventure
- Pursuit
- Rescue
- Escape
- Revenge
- The Riddle
- Rivalry
- Underdog
- Temptation
- Metamorphosis
- Transformation
- Maturation
- Love
- Forbidden Love
- Sacrifice
- Discovery
- Wretched Excess
- Assentation
- Dissention[li]
[li]Supplication - Deliverance
- Crime Pursued by Vengeance
- Vengeance take for kindred upon kindred
- Disaster
- Falling prey to cruelty of misfortune
- Revolt
- Daring Enterprise
- Abduction
- Obtaining
- Enmity of Kinsmen
- Rivalry of Kinsmen
- Murderous Adultery
- Madness
- Fatal Imprudence
- Involuntary crimes of love (i.e., one has found out that they have married their sister, mother, etc.)
[li]Slaying of a Kinsmen Unrecognized - Self-Sacrificing for an Ideal
- Self-Sacrifice for a Kindred
- All Sacrificed for Passion
- Necessity of Sacrificing Loved Ones
- Rivalry of Superior and Inferior
- Discovery of the Dishonor of a Loved One
- Obstacles to Love
- An Enemy Loved
- Ambition
- Conflict with a god
- Mistaken Jealousy
- Erroneous Judgment
- Remorse
- Recovery of a Lost One
- Loss of Loved Ones
- character vs nature
- character vs character
- character vs enviornment
- character vs machines/technology
- character vs supernatural
- character vs self
- character vs God/religion
Type "A": Happy ending.
Type "B": Unhappy ending
Type "C": The literary plot. This plot requires more explanation. It doesn't hinge on a decision or many decisions but on fate. The critical event takes place in the beginning, rather than at the end. What follows this event is inevitable, often tragedy.
Okay so that's a pretty big list of stuff to help you kick start an idea. The ideas above are merely ideas to help you come up with a plot that interests you and fits your character. As a role player myself, I know it's tempting to just make a character and figure plots and development out as you go. I urge you to think about plots within your character and with other characters before the creation of said character. Believe it or not, it will help you in creating them in a way that will suit all of your needs for them. In addition, even if you have some ideas for where you'd like a character to go and how you want them to develop, you don't have to stick with your original ideas! If they don't work, change them! But having ideas to start with will help you keep your muse for said character.
Let's now look at plot structure. We all know that stories have to have a beginning, a middle and an end. However, it's a bit more complicated than that.
Exposition: This is the introduction to the story, where we get to meet your character. We don't know them as well as you do so this is a good point in your story to tell us about their background a little (we all haven't read your bio!). Show us a little taste of who they are. What does a regular day/week look like for your character? This may not be the most exciting part for you but, it will help your readers understand your character better. The inciting incident also happens here. Usually, role play boards will give you your inciting incident if you choose to follow the site's plot. If you choose to create your own "mini plot" (which I highly recommend), try to create your inciting incident within the first 5 to 7 threads that your character has. Your job as a role player is to create your own world inside the world that your admin has created for you. (Note: the inciting incident is the initial event that sets the rest of the story in motion). So, if I decided that I wanted to have my character's story be about remorse, within the first 5 to 7 threads I had with that character, I may have my character do a wrong doing (such as murder).
Rising Action: This is the part of the story that leads up to the climax. These actions can be anything that leads up to your intended climax. This is the "meat" of the story. Most of your role play threads will be in the rising action category. An example of this would be, in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Harry has to go through many tasks to actually get the stone. In the main role play, there may not be many rising action opportunities. However, it is always a good idea to involve your characters in site events or site wide plots. This will usually require slight modification of your plans but, your benefits will be great. Not only will they help you in the "rising action" phase of your story but you will also be furthering the development of the depth of your character.
Climax: This is considered the high point of your plot, the most exciting point in the story thus far. This is where all of the rising action and the conflict finally meet at it's peek. It's the moment of greatest danger, usually, or biggest decision making of the protagonist. This is considered the turning point in most stories. As a role player developing your own mini plots, this is where all of your work and all of your threading is leading to.
Falling Action: These are events that follow shortly after the climax. These are essential in any story to help those reading your story to feel a sense of completeness. A soprano in an opera doesn't just sing her high note and then the whole show is done. There has got to be a time where your characters come down from the high intensity of the peak of the story.
Resolution: In a novel, this is the end of the story. In a role play, this is the final resolution of the conflict. Some role players choose to conclude their stories with their character's death. Other's choose to simply write a paragraph or two about what happened to their character after the story is over. Others choose to end one conflict and begin another. That's the beauty of role playing, if your don't want your character to be done, just keep writing!
Outlining A Plot:
Im sure everyone remembers writing papers in school where the teachers ask you to outline your essay. It wasn't very fun. However, in creative writing, it's much more exciting. This is where you get to get all of your ideas down on paper to help you develop an idea. The first way to outline a plot is to list all of your ideas. Just open a word document and start writing down every idea that comes to you and when you're all done, try to link all of them together. The second way to outline a plot is by "webbing." I'm sure we all learned it in school so I'm not going to spend a lot of time going over it but basically it's where you take one main idea and start branching other ideas off of it.
Here are some questions to answer to make sure you have a full plot:
Who is my main character? This is the center of the story. Think of each of your characters as a main character in their own story.
What is the main character's motive? All character want something. What does your character want? Answering this will help you drive the plot forward.
What is the main conflict? Your character has a motive but the conflict is preventing that motive from being achieved.
Who is the antagonist? This is a character or group of characters that oppose the main character. This character doesn't have to be a "villain."
What is the climax?
Does the main character succeed or fail?
How does the main character change?
Chapters:
In Role play, we don't really have chapters per say. However, I encourage you to think about each thread as it's own "chapter." Make each thread work for you in some way. Make each thread matter. Make them all help you. Each thread should affect your character in some way whether it be large or small. They should all help you reach your goals for said character. Or maybe, a thread sets your character back a couple of steps. It's all up to you! It's helpful to talk about threads with people before they happen, even if it's just briefly to help you plan how it will affect your character.
Characters:
You can't have a story without a character. If you've never created an original character, here's your chance to let those creative juices flow. I personally, start with some sort of basic personality traits and then let everything else fall into place. Others have different methods and no method is better or worse than another as long as it works for you. No matter how you make them, they'll need to be dynamic, realistic and round.
A round character is one that is well developed and is three-dimentional. In role play, it might take you a while to really get to know a character and to make them "round." A Dynamic character is one that changes over the course of the story. Write your character as realistically as you can. Give them flaws, virtues, morals, backstories, copping skills, hobbies, likes, dislikes, mannerisms and more. When you create your bio, write down every piece of information about them so you can keep track of it. Readers will catch inconsistencies and become irritated with you. When creating a history, think about their personality and what events in their life made them who they are. Everything has to have a reason. Things don't just pop up out of nowhere for no reason.
Dynamic characters are flawed. Even your main character needs traits that present struggles and create or exaggerate conflict. Perhaps your character is a fixer and inserts themselves into others' problems too easily. Or maybe they are loyal to a fault. Keep in mind that a good flaw will become apparent in more than one part of a character's life. Think about your own flaws and how they affect your life. Maybe the fixer character is too involved with cases at his job as a social worker and it means he's also having difficulties with his aging mother at home.
Dynamic characters have preferences. The best characters have goals and desires that readers can understand and relate to. Once your audience can better understand what your character wants, they are more likely to empathize with obstacles in the pursuit of those goals. Good characters have favorite people, places, meals, music etc. that tell the reader more about them.
Dynamic characters have histories. Much of your character's history will probably be irrelevant to the story you have planned for them but it will be worth it to spend some time writing it. You'll learn more about the character and there may be places where you can weave pieces of their history into the story later on. You want to avoid the impression that your character was created simply to fulfill a role in your story.
Dynamic characters have enemies. You should be able to give your character at least one enemy whether it be another character, nature, or a mental illness that causes conflict in their life. They need to have adversaries to make them feel more real and make them make difficult decisions.
Dynamic characters are surprising. No one wants to follow a character that's boring. Be careful not to rely on stereotypes when creating a character, if you feel yourself heading in that direction, create something entirely unexpected to add depth.
Now that you've created your dynamic character, it's time to identify what kind of main character or "hero" that your character is. Remember, think of each of your characters as main characters in their own story. There is the Classic Hero, The Tragic Hero, The Epic Hero and the Anti-Hero. There is also the un-hero, the everyman, the prodigy, the grizzled old timer, and the misfit. Google (or bing) these character types and decide which one fits your character the best. Note that your character doesn't have to be the exact book definition of one of the types, merely choose one that most closely resembles them.
After selecting your character's type, decide what kind of plot they'd take part in. Most character types are fluid across all plots but specific characters are not. Choose a plot path that fits your character whether they be looking for revenge or love or to end a rivalry.
After you've chosen your plot path, you'll need some other "main characters" in your story. Most stories have 2 or 3 main characters to it would be wise to talk with other role players and try and weave your plot ideas together in order that you both get another main character in the story. Co-main characters are characters that are around your character frequently and affects their life in major ways, perhaps they even take part in your characters plot with them. Co-main characters can be friends, lovers, family members or enemies. You'll also need several minor characters in your character's life. These are characters that are involved with your character but are more in the background than a co-main character. Minor characters normally say or do something that affects the main character and then fades into the background or they can seem insignificant in the beginning but turn out to be vitally important later on.
The purpose of this thread was the encourage members to PLOT and to try planning out plots before they happen. I'm telling you, it will help you to keep your muse for your characters. Not every plot your character has, has to be some big dramatic thing. Offer your characters up as a minor character for someone else. Get them involved with characters they may not like. I too, am guilty of letting characters drift to the side but my hope is that with this guide, the plots on this site will sky rocket and all the characters on the site will get some love and attention.
