I started writing my stories simply because I was inspired by a thought, or a scene, or even a single line. That works very well for short stories.  Long form stories, novellas and novels, require more. I need a plot.  I use Plottr to plot my stories, and I use the 7-step plot device.

How I Plot in Plotter

The best tool within Plottr is the various templates that are available. I start with my revised version of the Seven Point Plot Structure.  Remember, my main focus is erotica, and family drama, and the plot has to drive your desire to turn the pages.  The characters must be deep, interesting, and flawed in ways that the journey improves. 

A perfect character, with a gorgeous body – be it male or female – and a great personality that has all their shit together, in a word, is boring. 

I use Plottr to plot my stories and most importantly the main characters.  There are amazing tools within it for character development.  In a ten-thousand word or less story, I have no problem remembering all my characters.  There usually aren’t that many.  The short story has one focus, the main character, perhaps a second important character, and at most one or two supporting characters.

In long-form stores, mine tend to be no less than seventy-thousand words, there are literally dozens of characters in addition to the two main characters.  I have to remember them for up to sixty-days.  Some day I’d like to get that down to no more than thirty-five days, but that’s not where I am right now.

Plottr’s character sheets transfer nicely to Scrivener, and I get to look at the characters quickly to remind myself what the bartender at The Landing is like (His name is Roberto).  I also get to remind myself what the name of the throuple is at The Diary, (Charley, Mary – his wife – and Samantha, their live-in lover).

First Step in Plotting:

Since I use the Seven Point Plot Structure I start with the resolution, that’s the end of the book.  It helps me understand roughly where the book has to start.  For instance, if I’m going for a happily ever after (HEA) ending, then I have to start at the opposite end, or what I call the sadly here and now (SHAN).  The key is to understand what happily ever after looks like, and lay out what is sadly missing from the MC’s life at the start of the story.

Second Step – Set the Hook:

Oh, God how I struggle with this part.  I want to jump into the story. I want the characters to get you going, to turn you on, to make you sad, to make happy, and to question everything.

Are you interested yet? No? Hm!

That’s the point.  Think of the opening scene to Star Wars.  Did it get you interested: Hook you?  Oh yes.

What about in books? It was the best of times… I don’t even have to finish that line, do I? You may not know it was from Dickens A Tale of Two Cities, but you remember the line. It made you wonder, and you read the book.

The second step, once you know how the HEA ending is going to be, and you have an idea of the SHAN, you have to figure out – in one page – how to ask the reader to read the entire book.  Don’t worry, many authors struggle with this.  The beauty of Plottr is that you can move scenes around easily, export them again to Word or Scrivener and your outline is updated.

Awesome!

Third Step – define the midpoint.

It may not make sense to you at first, but understanding when the main character’s actions change from reacting, to understanding and finally to acting is critical.

The story has to start with a glimpse of everyday life, then something happens (we’ll get to that) and the hero of the story is forced to react.  You keep the hero reacting till the midpoint of the story.  Then the MC figures out what’s going on, they still don’t know how to affect it, but they have a clue.

Fourth Step – First Plot Point

Now we’re starting to have fun.  We understand the everyday life of the main character, we get a glimpse at their flaws, now we need something to propel them into the story.  This is called the Inciting Incident by many – I like to think of it as the first moment of truth.  Something happens that makes the MC uncomfortable with their current life.

I see a terrible rainy day, a car that won’t start, and the way the two main characters act afterwards.

Fifth Step – Second Plot Point.

This is the final push, all the pieces have to come together for the MC at this point.  At this moment, the MC goes from bring battered by life and his dislike of how things are, to understanding what they must do.  Oh, if it were that simple.  There has to be a penalty, a risk, the possibility they main character is going to lose it all – if they fail.

In an erotica story, this can be the point where the main character has figured out the cost of their sexual freedom, they’ve been listening to everyone else, they’ve tried it from everyone’s perspective, but now they must do it their own way.  They open the door, pull back the bedcovers, and welcome that one forbidden moment: But, what if they are wrong?

Sixth Step – First Pinch Point.

Have you ever heard of Newton’s Law of conservation of momentum?  Let me shorten them up a bit, to how they apply to this.  A body in motion, tends to remain at rest, till acted upon by an external force.  Don’t forget that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Our MC has been going through life – they are the body in motion – and while unhappy, it takes less effort to keep going, than it does to change.  We need to give them a reason to change.  A nudge, if you will.  This comes after the First Plot Point.  They sort of, kind of, maybe want to chase the new hottie they want to sleep with, but it’s so much effort.  I mean, in a short story, her panties would have come off, his pants (maybe hers, or maybe both) come off, and everyone would be in bed by the next paragraph.

Not in long-form.  Foreplay is just as important in the novel as it is in the bedroom.

In Star Wars, the First Plot Point is Luke meeting Obi Wan and finding out his father was a jedi knight.  Did it get Luke off his ass and moving?  Hell no.  He had other plans.  He was going to the academy, he had big plans.  What gets Luke to commit to the story’s journey?  He goes home, and finds his aunt and uncle dead and the empire did it.  That’s the First Pinch Point.

In an erotica novel, the first pinch point might be the spouse, with the knowledge of the other – not necessarily the approval – heads off on a date.  That gets the spouses’ anger and motivation going.

Seventh Step – Second Pinch Point

Let’s call this the final nudge to get the MC to get in front of this situation, not in a nice way.  We’re going to hit them with one last major obstacle before they get to the Second Plot Point.  We have to have a bit of fun, a lot of tension.

I think of this as, the couple or throuple are in bed, clothes are coming off, the scent of candles permeate the air, and the first soft moan announces what’s to come. Then the phone rings, and Aunt Harriette has brought her three church ladies to plan the weekend’s events.  Buzzkill.  Ugh. 

Yeah, that’s the Second Pinch Point from hell, but you get the idea.

Conclusion

I use Plottr to Plot My Stories, because I can pull it all together before I start to write.  I know that I’m going to end up editing the story two, three, maybe four times before I’m done.  Part of it is that I’m longwinded (like this post), and part of it is that cutting down is much easier than adding to a story.

The pacing is critical, and the character’s arcs have to be compelling, or you’ll skim through to read the sex and miss the story.  Unlike a friend of mine, who told me, I loved your story, but frankly I skimmed through the sex. 

Think that last part hurt my feelings?  Heck Yeah!  But I took the important message behind it. I told a compelling story that followed people into their private moments, but you can read it for the story itself.

Yeah, but as a smut author, that hurt.

I find a lot of freedom in using Plottr to plot my stories, because it helps me get and keep the focus on my story.