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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/25245
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Possibly one of the mistakes you're making that is leading to repetitive plots is the idea that any given character in a story will have only a single goal that defines and directs their life.

This may lead to highly plottable stories, but it won't lead to complex, multi-layered characters who readers will enjoy, identify with, and care about, because nobody is really like that in real life. We've all got multiple goals which often times are completely incompatible with each other... Like I want to be a writer, and a farmer, and a race car driver, and an artist, and also a good father and husband... and I want to write good code.

It's the conflict between our goals and dreams that make us interesting people, and it's what informs us when we're faced with choices and have to pick one and we can't tell if one choice is good and one choice is bad.

As a really tight plotter, the place you're going to need to bring out your inner chaos is in the beginning - the brainstorming stage. I'd say give your characters a bunch of goals, some of them conflicting, with one of them being the main one you'll use to drive your plot. Do the same thing with your supporting characters.

* * *

Here's an analogy for you, brought to you by my kids:

I have two kids that really like to play chess. They're young, they know the basic moves, and they don't really think very many steps ahead, so their games all kind of look the same, with both of them pounding away until they each only have a couple pieces left and are chasing each other around the board.

Enter the toddler and a new game called Combat Chess.

The toddler can't talk much, can't be reasoned with much, but she knows her brothers are playing a fun game and she wants to play too.

So Combat Chess goes like this - two players play a normal game of chess while the third, the toddler, can move any pieces she wants around the board, take any pieces she wants off the board, add any pieces she wants back to the board - including any of her toys, and the other two players have to play the game no matter what changes she made.

The older kids quickly decided that it makes the game much more interesting and fun to play. Plus they stopped getting into trouble for yelling at the baby.

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So that's my way of saying - sure, go ahead and plot everything out, but start off from a place where you're not using the same old ideas to generate the plot in the first place.

Original score: 2