CREATIVE WRITING BUILDING BLOCKS
THE FIRST BUILDING BLOCK: PLOT AND STORY (PART TWO)
PLOT POINTS
Author and creative writing tutor Ian Ayris explores how you can embed drama and build tension as you plot your story
In the previous article in this series, we encountered the First Building Block of Creative Writing – the one upon which all others arguably sit – the Building Block of Structure. We spoke of Story and we spoke of Plot – the Story being the overall arc of a narrative – the Beginning / Inciting Incident / Middle / Climactic Incident / End / Resolution – and the Plot being the things that happen in the Story.
The Story, we stated, was the why, the Plot the how. Another thing we briefly touched upon was how most stories involve a Main Character who has something to do or achieve.
We called this the Goal. We stated this Goal must not be easy. It must be challenging. This is what makes a Story interesting.
And all stories must be interesting. The Main Character, their Goal, and how they overcome – or not – the challenges or obstacles they face in order to achieve their Goal are all a part of the Plot. The stuff that happens. We will speak more of Characters when we get to that particular Building Block, but for now we are going to take a closer look at the obstacles a character faces in achieving their Goal.
In most writing books or manuals or magazine or website articles, these obstacles or challenges are termed Plot Points.