The 8 Essential Questions . . . or How To Plot Your Novel In 5 Minutes

Want to plot a novel in 5 minutes? That’s good. Want to decide whether your story is worth writing before you spend countless hours writing it? That’s real good. Then answer these eight essential questions, which define the most important parts of your overall story’s plot, in one specific sentence each:

1. (Inciting Incident) What is the Inciting Incident that happens to your Protagonist which first disturbs their normal, everyday world, connecting them to the Antagonist while setting off the chain-reaction of your story that all things afterwards happen because of?

2. (Plot Turn 1) Why and how does your Protagonist finally decide to commit to solving your story’s main problem?

3. (Pinch Point) What is the First Obstacle for your Protagonist that represents the Antagonist’s forces in some way while also showing some part of your Protagonist’s character growth?

4. (Midpoint/Reversal) What does your Protagonist learn the truth about that raises the stakes while changing everything from this point forward so that they swear to resolve it because Now, it’s personal?

5. (Punch Point) What happens to your Protagonist that strips them of their Allies and resources to the point that the Antagonist seemingly wins?

6. (Plot Turn 2) What needed inspiration does your Protagonist receive that takes them out from their lowest point and propels them into a new plan of attack against the Antagonist?

7. (Subplot Wrap-ups) How are all remaining subplots outside of your Protagonist resolved while they implement their new plan of attack against the Antagonist and their last remaining forces?

8. (Climax/Resolution) How does your Protagonist defeat the Antagonist one-on-one as only your Protagonist can (or die trying)?

If you plotted well then you now have a logically plotted outline you will build the rest of your story around, because:

#1 happens toward the beginning of Act 1.

#2 at the end of Act 1.

#3 in the middle of Act 2A.

#4 at the end of Act 2A.

#5 in the middle of Act 2B.

#6 at the end of Act 2B.

#7 is the first half of Act 3.

#8 is the last half of Act 3.

If you plotted not so well, guess what? All you did was spend 5 minutes of your time learning your story was not so hot after all. Got another 5 minutes? Then plot another outline, silly!

Love leads to Suicide . . . or Theme, Premise, and Loglines

Many aspiring writers are confused as to what exactly the difference is between a Theme, a Premise, and a Logline . . . especially so the latter two. Here we’ll break them down so you will have a better understanding between the three confusions.

     First we’ll start with Theme, because Theme is the easiest of the three to define. So what exactly is Theme and how do you find it? This one is so easy that prostitutes are jealous of it for charging so little. Theme is the one-word emotion motivating your protagonist. Period.

     There, that was easy.

     Think Love. Or Greed. Or Jealousy. Or any of the plethora of one-word emotions possibly driving your protagonist throughout the events of your story.
     Next we’ll deal with Premise, and here’s where the confusion begins. We’ll start with what a Premise is NOT. A Premise is not a one-sentence description of the main events of your overall story, despite what many movie websites tell you. Pick a movie website, any movie website, and more often than not they’ll state a movie’s “premise” as a short one or two sentence description of what the main plot of the movie is about. That is not Premise. They are confusing Premise with a Logline.
     Take for example the well-known Premise of Romeo & Juliet: Great love defies even death. Does this describe Romeo and Juliet’s love at first sight? Does this describe their repeated attempts at maintaining said love despite their warring families? Does this describe Romeo’s suicide when he finds Juliet sleeping, instead believing her dead? Does this describe Juliet’s suicide after waking to find her Romeo dead?
     Nope.
     What “Great love defies even death” describes is the universal truth proven by the story of Romeo & Juliet. The same Premise can be attached to any number of stories and still be true . . . as long as that particular story proves said Premise. Because whatever truth is being proven in the climax is the story’s thematic Premise.
     The basic “formula” for your Premise is thus: “Something leads to Something.” Great love defies even death is just a fancy way of saying, “Forbidden Love leads to Suicide.” And in the case of Romeo & Juliet, Forbidden Love leads to Suicide, or, Great love defies even death, is the proven Premise. Is theirs a great yet forbidden Love? Yes. Does it lead to Suicide? Double Yes.
     Let’s move on, shall we?
     Now the Logline. Oh how I love loglines. Remember what I said earlier about movie websites ignorantly stating a movie’s “premise”? Well, those in actuality are Loglines. Here’s an example of one of my favorite Loglines: Transported to a surreal landscape, a young girl kills the first person she meets and then teams up with three strangers to kill again.
     That, ladies and gentlemen, is the Logline of The Wizard of Oz. You see, a Logline is the exciting one-sentence “elevator pitch” used to intrigue your audience into watching your movie or reading your novel. It’s a short description of your story that touches on the overall plot to hook your potential audience for more.
     Want another Logline? Okay, how about Rocky? A small-time boxer gets a supremely rare chance to fight heavy-weight champion Apollo Creed in a bout in which he strives to go the distance for his self-respect.
     Now, there is a difference between the two exampled Loglines, and here’s the skinny on that rub. The Logline above for Rocky is the writer’s Logline. The Logline for The Wizard of Oz is the audience Logline.

     What’s the difference?
     A writer’s Logline reveals more details of the overall story arc so that the writer, you, can keep their story on track while they are writing their story. The audience Logline is the brief, interesting gist of your story to hook your potential audience for wanting more. Want the audience Logline for Rocky? Here it is: A small-time boxer gets the rare chance to fight for the world heavy-weight championship.
     See the difference?
     You want your audience Logline to be as short and sweet as possible while leaving your potential audience with the questions, “So what happens? And why?” You want your writer’s Logline to include just a bit more description so that, while writing your story, you don’t meander into writing unnecessary scenes that have almost nothing to do with the plot of your story. It’s not necessary for the audience to know why Rocky is fighting the world heavy-weight champion, only that his is. The why is what the movie will show them when they watch it. For the same reason why you don’t tell someone who has never watched The Sixth Sense that (spoiler alert!) Bruce Willis’ character is dead nearly the entire movie.
     What’s the Logline of The Sixth Sense? A psychologist struggles to cure a troubled boy who is haunted by a bizarre affliction – he sees dead people. The point of that movie is to reveal the shocking revelation to the audience as they watch it, so that key revelation is not included in its audience Logline.
     And that, my friends, is the difference between Theme, Premise, and Loglines.
     Happy writing!