Tip #5: Writing The Main Plot

Sherrie Miranda:

JS Malpas, I am truly grateful for this post! I have been looking at what I’ve already written for my prequel & wondering what is stopping me from continuing with the writing. Now I see that I need that Main Plot. My character at the end will be getting on the plane for El Salvador, which is where my debut novel begins. She runs into all kinds of problems after she gets to New Orleans, but she needs that ONE BIG CONFLICT that will show the reader what’s she’s made of.

So far, I have two ideas, each with it’s own set of problems that I must solve so she can resolve them. And I could even use both of them, but there is still that issue of, not so much, motivation, as why is she even sticking her nose into this stuff?!

Anyway, now I can either start writing. Or I can program my dreams. Or best of all, I can do both!

Thank you for this excellent post at just the right time! ;-)

Peace,

Sherrie

P.S. Can I assume you are a Brit since your protagonist was going out for milk for her tea? I never drank tea til I visited London so I learned to drink it with milk, preferable the cream at the top of the milk bottle. (Is it still like that? Or did they start homogenizing the milk like they do here in the US?)

Originally posted on Useless Book Club:

Let’s take a look at perhaps the largest, most prominent aspect of a novel or short story series: the main plot. I’ve said main plot because I plan to discuss side narratives and sub-plots at a later point. This is the backbone of your story, or maybe it’s the whole story. Whichever it is, it’s incredibly important.

About me and you

As with all of my tips, this post comes with a disclaimer. I don’t consider myself as a writer to be either a success or an expert. I’m just connecting you with snippets of experience that I’ve picked up along the way.

And it’s always worth saying that nobody can advise you on how to write. Writing a story is something that we do alone in a dark room while our pet lizard chatters philosophy at us. I intend for these tips to be applied to your story once its finished, in…

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