9 Tips for a Satisfying Plot | Writing Tips

t a p e s t r i e s

MY SHORT FICTION:

OUTRO MUSIC: "l u v t e a [acoustic]" by Autumn Keys

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[marshmllow]

Summary:
1 Genre awareness
2 Change and growth
3 Set up and payoff
4 Unpredictable
5 Causality
6 Mystery and revelation
7 Suspense and snap
8 Emotional balance and cohesion
9 Unrest and resolution

[popcornbag]

"I'm going to tell you what to do but not how to do it."
School in a nutshell.

[PhoebeWritesFiction]

I love all of these suggestions. One way that I like to introduce unpredictability when plotting is to list out all the possible solutions to a plot question and pick the last option on the list. Usually you think of the most obvious solutions first and more creative ones last. BUT, sometimes the reason things occur first is not because they're predictable but because they fit your novel the best (they work in terms of causality and set up and payoff). So I guess the balancing act is always finding something unpredictable, but not so left of field that it will disrupt the shape of the whole.

[r.i.p.]

on unpredictability. Make a predictable story, then put in a character (preferably your mains) and make them unpredictable. They make choices which are not present in the "multiple choice answers" which a problem gives. A warship is hit, the ship is sinking, the enemy is approaching, the character has two choices presented to them, save himself or attack the enemy in an attempt to save the crew, unpredictable character chooses to save the crew by forcing the enemy to save the crew by broadcasting a message to non existent allies that the enemy spy they uncovered, who has highly sensitive military information, is on the ship. Of course the message is a blind attempt to fool the enemy into believing someone on his ship is one of their spies and he has information that they will want. Now the enemy ship stops firing and attempts to save as many of the crew as they can, who are abandoning ship, since they don't know exactly who the spy is. Of course this is a lie, but it gives the character a chance to sabotage the enemy ship. Now your story has taken an unpredicted turn because of a character using an unpredictable choice.

[BookBFF]

I liked what you said about causality. When writing my first draft I didn’t know what I was doing so I just was like “let me add a scene with the villain now”. But as I’m editing, I’m making sure the scenes influence or cause the next scenes so it isn’t just like “the villain is popping up to make a mess for no reason”. I think it really is important and I haven’t seen many writing advice books/channels that talk about it!

[kaceynm]

Alfred Hitchcock once said that suspense is achieved by giving the adhere information that the characters don't have. Basically, suspense is achieved when you know that something is going to happen, but you don't know when so you're waiting for it.

[Jay-fjeq]

I love the short hair!! (And I like the tapestries too)

[maxgraybooks]

"Suspense is waiting for the jumpscare, snap is the jumpscare" this is really clever !! this entire video is super helpful, I took notes on it for the fic I'm outlining xD I never would have thought of "snap" but it's a really effective way of putting it

[QueenCloveroftheice]

I always have to watch your videos twice because the first time around, I have to keep pausing and breaking up your sentences to go into my files and make a note of changes I have to make to my manuscript lol

[darkdragonblade]

3:06 reminded me of the quote “Change is not always growth, but growth is often rooted in change.” - Drizzt Do’Urden

[blastermaster]

She's officially embraced the meme.

[hmmmok]

I'm writing a short story and I'm about three-quarters done, it was immensely satisfying to see that all of these things are already in my story or are coming up! This is really well done and helpful video.
(Also you're gorgeous 👀)

[stantheroyman]

I'm here from a video posted from 5months ago that just found me and figured I'd go back even further. I appreciate the growth in knowledge

[cwfcwfcwf]

You're brilliant Shaelin. Love the new hair cut. :)

[scottsenecal]

In a college class of mine we learned of two different types of suspense: proairetic and hermeneutic. Proairetic is when you ask yourself “where is this going?” If you have a character going down a dark ally you ask yourself “will they be attacked?” Hermeneutic is when you ask yourself “how did we get here?” And it’s basically when you show the end of a situation before showing the beginning and middle. We see the character get killed in the ally but then ask “how’d they get to this point?”

[theimmaculateloaf]

honestly what i love about stories is the set up and payoffs with things that you wouldn't even realize like "what?? that plant pot in the background that the main character put his/her shoes by is a big part of the story?? i wouldn't of ever even thought of it" or things that start out at the beginning of the story and you almost forget about until they just, boom, pop up as a big part of the story i love it

[tmichica]

I like the “suspense vs. snap”! It also makes sense if you think how suspense is like tension, and the “snap” is like a break in the tension, like a twig snapping.

[ThomasGHouse]

I was getting Danganronpa flashbacks from the amount of times you said hope and despair in 30 seconds.

Great video, though. :)

[overallaverage]

I had a dream last night and realized it would make a really interesting story. Just gotta make it longer and with more unpredictability.

[onlyfrog]

off topic but your voice is sooo satisfying and calm, i can't explain??