Back in English 318 at BYU, Brandon Sanderson used to tell us that there was a big difference between “little-p plot” and “big-p Plot.” The first applies mostly to chapters and scenes, which he said he could teach us. \u00a0The second refers to the overall story structure, which he couldn’t teach in a classroom setting and said we’d have to discover on our own.<\/p>\n
I’ve been thinking a lot about this recently, because it seems that my books are starting to fall into a recognizable pattern–and that pattern has some interesting potential for serials and other alternate forms of publication. \u00a0Each book is divided into 3-4 parts, each part is divided into 3-6 chapters (typically 5), and each chapter is divided into 3-5 scenes. \u00a0Here’s how it works:<\/p>\n
Chapter 1: <\/strong>Setup for the basic story arc. \u00a0Introduction of the characters and setting, the prominent theme or premise, and a little foreshadowing of the coming conflict. Basically, it’s the 3-act format divided into five chapters. \u00a0When I wrote Heart of the Nebula<\/strong>, all four parts fell into this pattern, and now that I’m writing Star Wanderers<\/strong>, I’m finding myself \u00a0falling into the exact same pattern again. \u00a0Stars of Blood and Glory<\/strong>\u00a0is a little bit different; there are three parts instead of four, and each part is divided into six chapters instead of five. \u00a0But still, it’s all very structured.<\/p>\n In short, Brandon was right. \u00a0It took me a few books to really learn “big-p Plot,” but now that I’ve found a story structure that works for me, it’s starting to come quite naturally.<\/p>\n The cool thing about this particular structure is that it’s very conducive to serialization. \u00a0Each chapter is between maybe 3,000 to 5,000 words, so each complete sub-arc is between about 15,000 to 25,000. \u00a0That’s the length of a short novella, and it takes me only a month or two to write (sometimes three, depending on how much revision it needs).<\/p>\n The only reason I haven’t done more with serialization up to this point is because I’ve found that sharing my work while it’s still unfinished tends to throw a wrench in my creative process. \u00a0The idea of publishing a work in progress on a chapter-by-chapter basis scares me, because if one of the story arcs has a flawed beginning, I wouldn’t be able to fix it.<\/p>\n However, by following a five-chapter arc format (with bits and pieces here and there to hint at a larger overarching structure), I can see myself publishing a novel or epic in a serial format. \u00a0It would be something like the Perry Rhodan<\/a>\u00a0series, which follows an arc structure of 25 to 100 issues (each a small novella) per cycle.<\/p>\n So here’s how I’m thinking of doing it:<\/p>\n So what do you think? \u00a0Does it seem like a good way to publish a book? \u00a0It gives the reader a reason to keep coming back, and rewards those who got in early by charging them less for the completed work. \u00a0By selling the novel in shorter chunks, I would be able to put more work out and hopefully gain more visibility, especially by making a portion of it free at any given time.<\/p>\n I’m seriously thinking about publishing Star Wanderers<\/strong>\u00a0this way, once I hear back from Writers of the Future. \u00a0I’ve already finished the rough draft for the second part; it probably needs a good revision or two before it’s ready, but since it’s shorter, it shouldn’t take more than a few weeks to get feedback from some first readers and finish the next draft. \u00a0And if the third part is already finished by then…<\/p>\n So many awesome possibilities! \ud83d\ude42 What do you think?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Back in English 318 at BYU, Brandon Sanderson used to tell us that there was a big difference between “little-p plot” and “big-p Plot.” The first applies mostly to chapters and scenes, which he said he could teach us. \u00a0The second refers to the overall story structure, which he couldn’t teach in a classroom setting… Continue reading plot vs. PLOT and an interesting serial publishing idea<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[460,857,569],"tags":[379,78,89,574,577,222,94,673,135,529,8,74,363,599,77,103],"class_list":["post-6880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hn","category-sw","category-sbg","tag-beginnings","tag-brandon-sanderson","tag-career-decisions","tag-character-arcs","tag-ebook-revolution","tag-endings","tag-english-318","tag-episodic-storytelling","tag-first-chapters","tag-indie-publishing","tag-writing-in-general","tag-plot","tag-story-structure","tag-thoughts-reflections","tag-three-act-structure","tag-writing-chapters","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7iXK-1MY","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6880","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6880"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6880\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6914,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6880\/revisions\/6914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nChapter 2: <\/strong>The inciting incident, a discovery or event that starts the plot rolling and puts the characters in motion and conflict.
\nChapter 3: <\/strong>Complications arise, the problem gets worse, the first attempt at a solution fails, generally leaving the characters at a loss.
\nChapter 4:<\/strong>\u00a0Setup for the resolution. \u00a0The characters discover or build something that will help them to settle the conflict. \u00a0They stop reacting and start to be more assertive.
\nChapter 5:<\/strong>\u00a0The resolution. \u00a0The characters either succeed or fail, but the arc comes to a close either way. \u00a0The story question is answered, the thematic elements come full circle, and the story either closes or moves on to the next part.<\/p>\n\n