Now NovelPlotting a story well ensures cohesion and connection between story events.
Find every article on plotting in Now Novel’s archives here.
Read helpful questions for plot development, and learn how to avoid common plot pitfalls. Learn what makes a good plot, and read plot structure examples that show how to connect story events in practice to tell a gripping story.
Learning how to write cliffhangers and suspenseful scenes is a crucial skill, whether you write mystery thrillers, fantasy fiction or another genre. The suspense examples from books below show how to bring readers to the intolerable state of not knowing that makes us race to turn the page. Here are 5 tips to start:
Sometimes you get half way through a story or novel before you realize that your plot is missing something. Maybe it plods and meanders, or there is a sameness of tension and pace. These 7 strategies will help you make a plot more captivating:
What are essential components of mystery plots besides suspicion and secrets? What can Arthur Conan Doyle and cult classic TV mystery series teach us about writing better mysteries? Read 7 clues for writing your own engrossing puzzler:
How do you write a novel that has satisfying structure? The story arc or narrative arc of a novel is something you can consciously develop in your outline or as you draft to create cohesive structure. Read 5 steps to make your novel’s arcs work:
Plot weaknesses can derail a story and leave readers feeling unfulfilled and frustrated. Plot holes, unexplained departures from the established rules of your fictional world and other quirks can ruin a promising book. Here are 7 don’ts for how to plot a novel:
Choosing whether your novel will be plot driven or character driven is an important part of writing a novel. Plot vs character isn’t a simple choice, as each emphasis has its own benefits (and disadvantages if it is emphasized far more than the other). Read the pros and cons of each story type, followed by 5 tips on finding a balance and making your story appeal to readers on multiple levels:
Want to learn how tow write a triad of books that keeps readers with you to the end? Here are 5 key steps for how to write a book trilogy:
If you want to build a large readership it’s crucial to get plot right. If you look over bestseller lists, you might think that the secret to writing a best-selling novel is to have written one before. Yet here are some books from the past dozen years or so that broke out for their writers and some lessons we can take away from their plotting:
Writing a story from beginning to end is a complex task that people approach in varying ways. Some are guided by their characters or by instinct. However, it is possible for you to take charge of your plot and steer it in your intended direction from the opening sentence to the final paragraph. Here’s how:
