User blog:Zathronas/Author's Advice: The Main Plot

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Hello and welcome to a new installment of  author's advice.

Sorry I didn't post any blog in the past few days but the internet connection in my hotel room wasn't very good. I'm back from vacation so I should be able to post on most days now.

The main plot or the heart of your story. As I said before, everything you add in your story should revolve around your main plot. Every main protagonist should have a story that brings him/her into the main plot, every secondary character should be there to support the main plot. Every sub-plot should be there to advance to the main plot. Every complication should exist only to bring everyone in their intented place for the main plot.

But the main plot itself has to be robust enough to support everything you'll attach to it. Be it characters, sub-plots and complications. So how do you created a main plot tough enough to support many pages written about it?

First off, you only have one main plot at a time. Having two main plots at once is a recipe for disaster. It simply does not work. You can have an important sub plot but they are still sub plots. Here's an example:

Harry Potter and the philosopher's stone. Despite the name of the book, the main plot throughout all the books is Harry being the chosen one to stop Voldemort. Every books gets Harry closer and closer to the inevitable final confrontation. The philosopher's stone is only a sub plot that supports the main plot. This is one of the things that makes these books great. It's clear what is the main plot and everything that Ms Rowling writes brings it to the climax. EVERY sub-plot, characters and complication has a link to the main plot. That makes it easy to read for readers because they know where it is going from the start. By page 55 of the first book, you already know the climax and you already know he'll win. It's not WHAT that's important but HOW.

Ironically, the main plot is nothing without the rest. Your main plot is the climax but without your sub plots attached to it and the characters progressing towards it, you only have a main plot and no story. So basically you main plot is important as the backbone of your story, everything else you write in your story has to be with a link to it. At the same time everything else you write is how readers will define your story.

So... to concluded. When you write your plots in your outline, start with the main plot then the sub-plots with a small line that explain how it relates to the main plot. Next, the characters with their relation to the main plot. Finally, write how you will progress the story from start to climax.

Don't worry if some things are missing as it is impossible to foresee everything in advance and you will add and remove from your outline. As long as your main plot stays the same. You'll be fine.

Now let's make a fun contest for my next blog. I was not satisfied with the outline example I gave you already so what I want from you is simple. I want an Idea for a story from you. It has to be RWBY related. I will do an actual outline on it. This outline will belong to the person who got the idea. You can change it as you want, keep what you like and do a story from it. It will be yours. write your ideas in the comment section or on my wall.