The 7 Essential Questions of Plot — Do You Ask Them?

Welcome to Techie Tuesday here at More Cowbell!

This is the day each week when I unleash my inner geek and we talk about some groovy piece of technology or a technical point of writing. Today I’m going to share a few writing resources I think you’ll like.

I adore Inky Girl, Debbie Ridpath Ohi. She does gems like this in her Will Write for Chocolate series:

InkyGirl.com ~ (c) All Rights Reserved

She also introduces me to amazing writing teachers like Martha Alderson. Martha wrote a book called the Plot Whisperer and here is how Inky Girl reviewed it:

I should EVER be this talented! InkyGirl.com (c) – All Rights Reserved

As a bonus for you, Linda Joy Myers at Memories and Memoirs, interviewed Martha Alderson and here is a quick excerpt from her amazing article:

For each scene, ask yourself the seven essential questions of plot:

1. Does the scene establish the date and setting?

2. How does it develop the character’s emotional makeup?

3. Is the scene driven by a specific character goal?

4. What dramatic action is shown?

5. How much conflict, tension, suspense, or curiosity is shown?

6. Does the character show emotional changes and reactions within the scene?

7. Does the scene reveal thematic significance to the overall story?

I originally came across this article because I write memoir, and it was fascinating to look at the story from Martha’s more objective point of view:

Memoir writers think they know the plot because they already know “what happened.” Can you talk about this issue a bit—is that way of thinking useful or should they revise their attitude toward plot.

Plot embodies quite a bit more than more than just what happens in the memoir or a sum of the events. Plot is how the events in the story of your life directly impact the main character or the protagonist, in other words, you.

Always, in the best-written memoirs, the protagonist is emotionally affected by the events of the story. In great memoirs, the dramatic action transforms the protagonist. This transformation makes a story meaningful.

Keep in mind that, yes, you lived the story and the story comes through you. However, when you decide to write that story down, you turn from the one who experienced the events to that of a writer. Your job, then, is to present what you have lived in a pleasing and meaningful form to the reader.

This takes setting yourself aside and means opening your mind to receive the greatest good of the story.

I don’t know about you, but that last sentence lights me on fire.

Note: If you’d like to read the rest of the article (and I recommend you do), click here. You can also find The Plot Whisperer on Amazon.

Last, but not least, I’m also a huge fan of Lisa Cron who wrote Wired For Story. (Here’s a kickass article of hers titled Why Good Writers Sometimes Give Bad Advice.)

What books, bit of knowledge or writing instructor has lit you on fire lately? Is there some other question you ask, besides the seven above? What are you working on right now? Enquiring minds LOVE to know these things here at More Cowbell!

Jenny