Plot is the setup and sequence of events that make up the beginning, the middle, and the ending of a story. Just as there are many ways to design a blueprint for the building of a house, there are many ways to plot a story, novel, or book. From the snowflake method and three-act structure to the eight-point arc and the Save the Cat method, writers who plan before writing use various strategies, but the objective for all of them remains the same--to write a great and complete story. One of the first ways most writers learned how to outline a whole story was the Plot Diagram similar to the one I made below.
WHAT IS A PLOT DIAGRAM?
A plot diagram is an organizational tool often in the shape of a triangle or mountain used to show the different stages of a story and create plot structure. There are five stages that many of us are familiar with from former English or reading classes in school, which are exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. Each of these stages plays a significant part in the development of a plot and how the story transitions from one place to another. Aside from triangles and mountains, another way of thinking about this plot diagram is the concept of a rollercoaster. Now, let's hop aboard and refresh our memory of these stages to see how we can use them to ensure we have a complete plot and distinguish book-length percentiles.
THE 5 STAGES OF THE PLOT DIAGRAM
🎢Stage 1: EXPOSITION
The first stage of the plot diagram is the exposition. This is the beginning where characters and settings are introduced to the reader, and it also allows them to become familiar with the characters and their physical worlds, and why they should be invested in the story. Once all of the main characters and their stasis and goals have been established, it's time to ride upward to the next stage: RISING ACTION.
🎢Stage 2: RISING ACTION
In the second stage, the rising action starts around the end of the beginning of the story and is usually where a trigger or inciting incident is set off to hook the reader and start the uprising of obstacles and complications for the characters. These complications build up more and more as the story progresses until it reaches the high peak of a breaking point; otherwise known as the next stage: the CLIMAX.
🎢Stage 3: CLIMAX
During the third stage, the climax is where the highest point of tension is in the story. This is where characters are forced to come to terms with their reality or make difficult decisions as a result of all the conflict they were faced with during the story. For example, in my current Christian and Historical fiction novel The Pact of Freedom, my lead female character Mildred Crabtree is forced to decide to be a witness in a court trial to avoid going to prison. This stage is also where characters come to form revelations as a result of the story's conflict, enabling them to make meaningful transformations. Once this is done, the story begins descending down slope to the next stage: FALLING ACTION.
🎢Stage 4: FALLING ACTION
In the fourth stage, the falling action is where characters have reached a new stasis and also where the reversal takes place, or the consequence of the climax and all the conflict leading up to this point in the story. One example of a reversal within my novel The Pact of Freedom is my protagonist Mildred Crabtree, who develops and changes from a naïve, self-conscious girl cared for by house servants all her life to a confident, young woman who believes in her writing dream of becoming a published author after bravely standing up against slave traders and surviving a long, perilous journey to Canada. After your characters have transformed and come to new discoveries about themselves and their situations, the story can finally slow down to the final stage: RESOLUTION.
🎢Stage 5: RESOLUTION
During the resolution, the fifth and last stage, this is where loose ends are tied up to ensure there are no plot holes and the story comes to a complete finish. It can also be thought of as the solution to the main problem of the story. One example in my current novel is the closing scene where my protagonist Mildred Crabtree acknowledges she kept her childhood promise to her best friend Pearl, and her realization their friendship wasn't based on the corrupted system of slavery, but rather sisterly love from the heart.
PLOT STRUCTURE: DIVIDING THE 5 STAGES INTO ACTS
Plot structure is defined in many ways. Basically, it's an outlined layout of a series of events. By using the plot diagram, you can then divide the stages (exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution) into acts. Acts are the phases that organize the plot points or story beats of a book. As every story has a beginning, middle, and ending, books, novels, or short stories typically get divided into three acts, also called a three-act structure. Act One is the beginning or setup, Act Two is the middle or confrontation, and Act Three is the ending or resolution as shown in the diagram below.
The three-act structure is mostly used for screenwriters and playwrights who write movies, TV shows, drama series, or plays, but other writers or novelists also use it to plot, organize, and outline their novels and books, as I do to some extent myself, but mostly for organization purposes, which I'll explain later in a future post of how I plot my novels or books. But let's move on and see how the plot diagram can help us distinguish the book-length percentiles for novels and how the three-act structure can help us estimate our word counts.
Novels and Book-Length Percentiles
As we know, there are five stages in the plot diagram. In the above diagram, I've divided the five stages into three acts. Act One is the exposition and part of the rising action, Act Two is the rest of the rising action and the climax or midpoint, and Act Three is the falling action and resolution. In the above diagram, I've estimated the percentiles for all of the five stages and approximately how far an average novel should be into a story based on the percentages listed on the chart. Firstly, I started with the totals for all three acts, and the rest I estimated (or should I say guesstimated) and filled into the diagram. From the start to the end of Act One is typically the first 25% of a novel or book. Act Two makes up the next 50% of a novel or book, and Act Three makes up the last 25% of a novel or book.
From there, I labeled the percentiles as follows based on the plot diagram:
ACT ONE - BEGINNING
The distance from the start of the exposition to the middle of the exposition marks the first 15% of a novel or book.
The distance from the middle of the exposition to the start of the rising action or (trigger) marks the 25% percentile of a novel or book. Here is where Act One ends.
ACT TWO - MIDDLE
The distance from the end of the exposition to the middle of the rising action marks the 40% percentile of a novel or book.
The distance from the middle of the rising action to the climax or midpoint marks the 50% percentile of a novel or book. Here is where Act Two ends.
ACT THREE - ENDING
The distance from the start of the falling action to the middle of the falling action marks the 75% percentile of a novel or book.
The distance from the middle of the falling action to the end of the falling action marks the 80% percentile of a novel or book.
The distance from the start of the resolution to the middle of the resolution marks the 95% percentile of a novel or book.
The distance from the middle of the resolution to the end of the resolution marks the 100% percentile of a novel or book and the completion of a story.
(📌Note: These percentile estimations coincide with the eight-point arc plotting method, which I'll discuss later during my "How I Plot My Short Stories & Novels" post)
ESTIMATING WORD COUNT WITH THREE-ACT STRUCTURE
Whether you're writing a short story, a novel, a novella, a novelette, or even a play, word count lengths differ depending on what kind of project you're writing. However, no matter what kind of story project you intend to work on, using the three-act structure is a simple and easy way to estimate how many words to have per act for the completion of your story, if you want to keep things as concise as possible or estimate based on your overall word count goal. How do you do this? It's easy. All you have to do is use the percentages per act and multiply them by whatever your word count goal is.
For example, let's say you want to write a short story with 10,000 words.
Act One is the first 25% of your story. Therefore, you would multiply the following:
(10,000-word count goal x .25) = 2,500 words for Act One
Act Two is the next 50% of your story. Therefore, you would multiply this by your word count goal. (10,000-word count goal x. .50) = 5,000 words for Act Two
Act Three is the last 25% of your story, which again would equal the same as Act One.
(10,000-word count goal x .25) = 2,500 words for Act Three
Finally, if you add all your totals per act, it should equal your overall word count goal.
2,500 (Act One) + 5,000 (Act Two) + 2,500 (Act Three) = 10,000 words total for your story.
And that's it . . . a simple way to estimate your word count. If you're aiming for a particular word count goal; for example, 50,000 words during NaNoWriMo coming up in November, it gives you an idea of how much you'll need in each act of your story or novel. But in case you're wondering, for NaNoWriMo, you'll need approximately 12,500 words for Act One, 25,000 words for Act Two, and 12,500 words for Act Three.
12,500 (Act One) + 25,000 (Act Two) + 12,500 (Act Three) = 50,000 words total
📣CLOSING REMARKS:
The Plot Diagram is a beginner's guide to organizing a plot and building plot structure, but it can be a helpful resource for you not only knowing the stages of an average story but also creating your plotting method. This is ultimately what I've done myself for my stories and novels. As beginner writers, many may experiment with what other writers tell them to do, but I strongly suggest anyone starting out to not force someone else's process and use your creativity, if need be, even in your plotting and outlining methods.
Writers need to figure out what works best for them because every writer is different. As I mentioned, plotting a story is done in several ways. Some writers are discovery writers, some writers are extreme plotters, and others are somewhere in between. But knowing the basics and utilizing the concept of the three-act structure can empower you to ensure you have both a well-structured and cohesive story that works together.
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Happy Writing! 😊✍🏽💻
🤔Hey, writers, have you ever used the Plot Diagram to outline a story during your writing life?
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