How to Plot Without Plotting

Photo credit: jepoirrier on Flickr
Whether you’re a plotter or a pantser, most of us can probably agree that it’s generally a good idea to have some idea of where you’re going before you start a novel. Even if the idea is as vague as cyborg falls in love with anti-technological hippie girl or when marshmallows attack, it’s necessary to have some form of direction before you launch into the enormous project of writing a book.

So I’ve talked in the past about plotting with flashcards, and this is even quicker and easier than that.

For those of you who follow the amazing Nathan Bransford’s blog, you might have seen this post two years ago on how to write a one sentence pitch. Combined with some fantastic advice from various plot posts and writing books, I’ve found the one sentence pitch to be a great tool not only for summarizing your book to friends, family and potential agents and publishers, but to give you a focus right from the beginning of the novel-writing stage.

For those of you who haven’t heard of the one sentence pitch before, it’s basically what it sounds like—your book summarized into a single sentence that, according to the wise Nathan Bransford, contains the inciting incident, obstacle, and the quest (for more detailed information, definitely check out his post).

The entire plot summed up into a single sentence.

You can find these pitches at the very beginning of many novels on the same page as the copyright information. Here are some examples:

  • The Hunger Games (Suzanne Collins): “In a future North America, where the rulers of Panem maintain control through an annual televised survival competition pitting young people from each of the twelve districts against one another, sixteen-year-old Katniss’s skills are put to the test when she voluntarily takes her younger sister’s place.”

  • Shatter Me (Tahereh Mafi): “Ostracized or incarcerated her whole life, seventeen-year-old Juliette is freed on the condition that she use her horrific abilities in support of The Reestablishment, a postapocalyptic dictatorship, but Adam, the only person ever to show her affection, offers hope of a better future.”

  • Dark Inside (Jeyn Roberts): “After tremendous earthquakes destroy the Earth’s major cities, an ancient evil emerges, turning ordinary people into hunters, killers, and insane monsters but a small group of teens comes together in a fight for survival and safety.”

Now although these single sentence summaries are often developed long after the book was written, it can be a very powerful plotting tool if they’re created before you begin writing. The one sentence pitch gives you the full scope of the story before you start writing, while still allowing for a great amount of creativity between the lines. For pantsers, it means laying down basic groundwork to build off of without restraining any spontaneous creativity and for plotters it means establishing the nuts and bolts of the story in a single fluid sentence.

It’s an effective tool for any type of plotter.  

So what do you think? Have you ever tried using the pitch as a plotting tool? 

20 comments:

  1. This is a breath of fresh air for me! This is often how I start my pantser-writing. I look at the big picture and just let all the details fall into place as I'm in the process of writing. This sums up in words what I was already doing. A relief when so many advocate starting with plot cards and major scenes mapped out.

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  2. This is more up my street as I don't like going into too much detail.I like freedom but I need guidance.... and cookies. And jam. Not together though.

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  3. Everyone has a different process and there isn't a right or wrong way to go about it--it's whatever works best for you. :)

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  4. I feel like certain cookies might not be too awful with jam...

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  5. I use it after the book is written, but I often start knowing just one scene. It calls for lots of cuts but I have more fun if i don't know what's going to happen

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  6. One sentence?  Just one?  Really?  Arg!!  Does seven-hundred-forty-two words separated by spaces and commas count as one?  j/k.  Not only is a single sentence summary needed, it's good practice for us wordy types.

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  7. Thanks for posting this, Ava. I had yet to hear this idea. I'll give it a shot.

    -Jimmy
    http://jamesgarciajr.blogspot.com/

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  8. This sounds like an excellent idea! I'll be trying it tomorrow...

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  9. I've pantsed a novel pretty near entirely before and it was definitely an interesting experience. :)

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  10. Just one sentence! It's definitely great practice for learning to cut down to the essence of not only your story, but the summarizing sentence. 

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  11. No problem, Jimmy! Let me know how it works for you. :)

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  12. Great! Let me know hat you think of it! 

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  13. I never heard of the one sentence pitch, I'll have to read that post! I think that sort of thing would help me a good deal; I have a hard time giving a focused summary of something, and typically end up rambling and giving away too much.

    I also never heard of the novel "Shatter Me" and would like very much to read it now.

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  14. The one-sentence pitch is a great tool for helping you focus, so it sounds like it should be a good match. Also, Shatter Me is an incredible book. I absolutely loved it. 

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  15. Hi, Ava! Yes, I like to do this when I'm plotting. It usually changes by the end of the story, but I like to have a one-sentence pitch to help keep my story's focus as I outline and write.

    Hope you're having a great week! :)

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  16.  Yes, it's definitely something I'm going to be working on. Thanks so much for posting about it and opening my eyes!

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  17. Sure thing! Always happy to help. :)

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  18. Hi Laura! That's the great thing about the one-sentence pitch--it can change as many times as you need it to throughout the course of the story. 

    Thanks for the well wishes! Hope yours is wonderful as well! ^_^

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  19. Ava, this is great. In my "day job" I see this a lot with the logline for movies scripts. That's the same idea, use one line (maybe two) that captures the plot (and some other things)... maybe I should blog about that :)

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  20. Thank you, Ara! Very interesting to see how the one sentence pitch applies to other fields. I'd definitely be interested to hear more about loglines in the movie industry. :)

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