How I create my Plot Mountain.

Okay, so I've been asked "What is my Plot Mountain and how the hell do you do it?"

Yeah, I sat there and stared at my IM for a good five minutes after a friend asked me that. It was highly amusing really since she herself is a beginner writer.

Now let me state this here and now: What works for one does not always work for another. Or some parts may work for one writer but not for another. It's all about the writer and what training they have had. It's also about experimenting what works best for you.

I do agree that a writer should do something in regards to their writing at least once a day. Even if it is just to jot down a name. Or a quick thought. Never know when one of those little thoughts will help in a future writing project as I've learned over the years.

Now mind you, I've been writing since I was about 12 and was writing horrible poems. I really got into it around 17, and then it became my escape when my mother got seriously sick when I was around 20.

I'm now up in my 30's okay? I'm still a baby in the writing world really. I know people who have a list of written works three miles long.

My list is about half a mile long and most of it right now is fanfiction. I found that it was a really good way for me to learn how to write. And what worked to grab an audiences attention and what didn't. I had to learn how to title a story and how to summarize it. I had to learn how to create a first chapter that captured the attention, and then build from there to make sure that it continued to keep the attention.

I'm actually glad that I started in fanfiction. It gave me a lot of contacts that still write fanfiction themselves but are published authors. A lot of their readers? Are now readers of their published stuff.

But I'm not really here to talk about that. I'm here to help break down what I do to create my Plot Mountain.

So what is a Plot Mountain?

Well, it's not really like what you're told to do when it comes to writing.

Who here was told that a good story has a Beginning, Middle/Climax, Ending? And told that it's the proper way of writing?

Pretty much anyone who has taken an English class has right? Yeah, I remember sitting in my class the first time that I had heard that and wondering just how much BS it was.

As it turned out, a lot of BS. At least for me.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, this picture will help you understand this.

Let me break down my thoughts on this graph. The Exposition is a flat plain. Boring. Nothing going on. Nothing to set you on the Rising Action path. Which looks pretty much like a straight shot the Climax. After the Climax is a slide into Falling Action with another boring plain of Resolution.

That doesn't fit right with me. Not in any way.

Let me break down how I do things.

We have The Base, The Peek, The Scenic Stops, The Scenic Hike, and The Stroll (With a Stop or Two for a Quick Snack). Let's get started.

Plot/Summary 

(The Base)

I first figure out the plot that I want to do. Usually, this includes writing out a detailed summary.

For Example: They had been pulled apart by circumstances, frozen for thousands of years while the world around them changed. Aliens that were thought of as Myths and Imagination were real. Because of one man, Humans were in the minority and seen as nothing more as slaves. 

But the three brothers were woken up to stop this. They were there to help the worlds and systems out there peace, a balance. They didn't know their own Truths though. (1)

So I have a summary or idea for my story. Good. I'll also start work on characters right about now, but we're building a Plot Mountain first.

Main Plot Point and Mini Plot Points 

(The Peek and The Scenic Stops)

What is the main Plot Point and Mini Plot Points? Well, let's do Main Plot Point first yes? It's actually your climax, the place that you want to get to in your story. 

I now have to figure out what the Main Plot Point is. 

Ex: MPP: Brother 1 starting the unraveling of the corrupt's hold on the worlds. Going against slave traders and helping to restructure/rebuild a government. Fights (physical, mental, or cyber?) against book villain. (1)

So I have my main plot point figured out now.

But what are Mini Plot Points? We'll they're the supporting actions that would get us to the Main Plot Point.

EX: 1) Finding allies (rebel/original rulers/ect).

2) Finding out a link to his own past.

3) Hunting for the man who started it all via use of his "master" and other contacts.

4) Learning about the world around him.

Now that I have some mini plot points, I can start to build up the smaller details.

The Outline

(The Scenic Hike)

What I mean by The Scenic Hike is all the little details and information that help to build up to the Scenic Stops, or mini plot points. 

Think of it like this: As you hike up a mountain, you see the trees, the flowers and shrubs. The animals and the path before you. When you stop though and over look that, you see the bigger picture of what all that builds up to. 

That's what the outline is for. It's to plot out those little details to get you to each stop and the climax. 

I know what order, by this time at least, that I need to hit the Mini Plot Points for the story to work correctly, so now I fill in the details. I build up to the Scenic Stop. 

My outline tends to go something like this:

1. Character 1
1. detail
2. detail
1. supporting detail
2. supporting detail
3. detail
2. Character 1, 2
1. detail
2. detail
3. supporting detail
4. supporting detail
3. Character 3
1. detail
2. mini plot point
3. supporting detail

See how that works. I've discovered that programs like The Outliner of Giants(2) works well for me so that I can build my outlines and shift things around. It works well for me and I like it that way. :D Mind you, there are other programs out there that can be used. Even just doing it by hand can work. I sometimes use index cards on a ring to create some of my outlines.

It depends on the story.

The Wrap Up 

(The Stroll Down the Mountain/The Stroll Down with an Occasional Stop)

Now depending on if the story is going to be continued in another book or not will depend on how things wrap up. I usually only take three to six chapters after the climax in the book to finish things up, but sometimes I can go up to 10 chapters. Depends on the book once more.

To go back to my metaphors: this is the leisurely stroll downwards. You've seen the sights so there's really no major need to stop and really look. But sometimes you'll take a smaller side path that leads to a new mountain.

That new mountain is the next book and the sights you see on the stroll down the first mountain is what leads you to the second one. 

Pretty much, the little bits of information in those last chapters that you see are what leads you to the next book.

But if the book is a stand alone, it tends to wrap up. Not always neatly because life is rarely has a neat little bow on things, but the main plot is usually wrapped up. 

Now that I've gone over this, remember, experiment, learn what works for you, and write what draws you. 

And that is how I create a Plot Mountain. :D

Information on the numbers:

1: This is the original plot idea for Honey Drops books 1, 3, and 4 before I expanded into a 6 part series. 

2) The Outliner of Giants is free, but only up to 5 outlines at a time.