Post History
Try plotting backwards. The writers of House, MD often worked this way. They figured out some esoteric disease or ailment (or perhaps something not so esoteric but easy to confuse with other probl...
Answer
#4: Attribution notice removed
by
System
·
2019-12-13T12:00:28Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/16190 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added
by
System
·
2019-12-08T04:02:24Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/16190 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision
Try plotting backwards. The writers of _House, MD_ often worked this way. They figured out some esoteric disease or ailment (or perhaps something not so esoteric but easy to confuse with other problems) and then worked backwards to lay red herrings and misdirection. So you have the ending you want (heroine gets macguffin). Work backwards from there. Each branch point offers you some places to put twists and complications. - How does she get into the building with the macguffin? - How does she reach the building? - How does she find which building it's in to begin with? - How does she know it's in a building? (As opposed to a ship, a temple, a bank, a house, on the road, etc.) - Who told her about the macguffin? - How did the macguffin get lost? - Why is the macguffin important? You get the idea. You may have to rough out your (non-complicated) plot _forwards_ first to figure out where the branch parts are _backwards,_ but it's a lot easier to put in a misdirection when you've already gotten to the ending.
#1: Imported from external source
by
System
·
2015-02-11T11:33:03Z (almost 10 years ago)
Original score: 12