Plotting With Layers: 4 Steps to a Stronger Plot

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy 


Plots are like houses. When built on a strong foundation, with good flow and an well-thought out floor plan, readers want to move in and stay awhile. Just as we build in layers, we can also plot in layers. This helps us make sure all the right pieces are in place to hold up our story and allow our characters to live within them.

Layering your plot can create more interesting stories, but it's easy to go overboard and end up with a convoluted mess. How many layers are good? How many are too many? And mostly, how do you craft a well-constructed story that builds on itself and keeps readers interested?

I've talked about writing in layers before, and plotting in layers is similar. It helps to look at each layer individually and try not to build the whole thing at once.

Lay the Foundation for Your Plot

Your core conflict is the foundation of your plot. This is what will hold your plot together and give it the strength to carry the story. A good core conflict will have enough inherent conflict that it won't be an easy thing to solve. There will be steps to resolving this conflict, and complications to work around. If your core conflict has only one or two tasks to complete to resolve it, then it might not be strong enough to carry your entire novel.

(Here's more on crafting a strong core conflict)

Build a Frame to Contain Your Plot

The frame is the is smaller arcs and subplots of the story that give it a unique shape. Subplots might branch off in different directions, but are ultimately all connected to that foundation in some fashion. Subplots flesh out the core conflict and allow you to highlight aspects of the story and give it the proper scope.

Too many subplots and you have a misshapen house; too few, and you have an empty structure. The trick is to build just enough rooms for a reader to wander though without getting lost. A good subplot will add complications to your core conflict, work as a step toward achieving that core conflict, or cause trouble in your character's internal or personal story arc.

Subplots aren't there just to cause random trouble, or tell the story of another character. They're there to help illustrate some important point of your core story.

(Here's more on crafting subplots)

How many subplots you build is up to you, but I've found that a few subplots explored deeply works well. That gives you more page time to focus on key areas and really play one conflict off the other. Each conflict will have multiple steps to resolving it, so there's always lots of things for your protagonist to do.  
 

Put Up the Walls that Define Your Plot

Your theme defines how the plot unfolds. You want readers to go from room to room and explore, but never forget they're in the same house. A good theme will tie the entire story together and guide you in knowing which subplots help your core conflict and which one hurt it. 

For example, if your theme is about forbidden love, then your subplots will very likely explore this, perhaps by showing other things the protagonist (or others) can't have, but really want, or the consequences of indulging in the forbidden. If you find yourself with a scene that has nothing to do with your core conflict or your theme, odds are it doesn't belong there.

(Here's more on how theme ties a novel together)

Every scene is an opportunity to show your theme. It might be a small connection, but all those little moments provide richness and depth to the story. In The Shifter, one of my themes was being trapped. How I illustrated "trapped" varied greatly throughout the novel, whether it was emotionally trapped, financially trapped, or literally trapped, but when I planned a scene, I looked for ways to show someone being trapped in some type of way, even if that was small.

Decorate the Plot with Characters Arcs

Characters are colorful, and each character will solve their problems in their own way. The choices they make determine how the plot and subplots will unfold. A good character arc provides personal challenges along the way to resolving the core conflict. The amount of growth varies from story to story, but who that character is and how they solve their problems creates a tone and voice that's unique to that tale.

(Here's more on creating character arcs)

Now Put it All Together

As you plot your novel, look for all the possibles ways one layer could enhance or affect another. Things such as:

• Could it introduce a character or problem that would cause a complication later?
• Could it foreshadow something that might be trouble layer?
• Might it contain a key piece of the puzzle that isn't figured out until the protagonist has gathered a lot more pieces?
• Can you cause an internal conflict associated with this goal?
• Can this goal force the protagonist to face something emotionally they need to overcome by the end of the story? 
• Can this goal cause your protagonist to rebel, sending them in the opposite direction of where they should be going?

Next, look at what happens because of that scene. Does it connect to your core conflict? Should it? Is there's any way you can also make it affect your protagonist's character arc?

As your protagonist continues to solve and complicate the story problems, keep looking for ways to connect those problems to either your core conflict or your character's story arc.

Every time a protagonist has to make a choice, it has the potential to affect more than just the goal of that one scene. Every choice could have larger ramifications, which raises the stakes, deepens the conflict, and creates unpredictability. Layers can add depth to your story and even make it easier to plot, since ideas that don't fit with the core conflicts are easy to toss aside.

Plots are like houses. When built on a strong foundation, with good flow and an well-thought out floor plan, readers want to move in and stay away.

Do you plot with layers? How do you weave your story arcs together? 

For more help on plotting or writing a novel check out my Plotting Your Novel: Ideas and Structure.

Go step-by-step through plotting and writing a novel. Learn how to find and develop ideas, brainstorm stories from that first spark of inspiration, develop the right characters, setting, plots and subplots, as well as teach you how to identify where your novel fits in the market, and if your idea has what it takes to be a series.

With clear and easy-to-understand examples, Plotting Your Novel: Ideas and Structure offers ten self-guided workshops with more than 100 different exercises to help you craft a solid novel. Learn how to:

• Create compelling characters readers will love
• Choose the right point of view for your story
• Determine the conflicts that will drive your plot (and hook readers!)
• Find the best writing process for your writing style
• Create a solid plot from the spark of your idea

Plotting Your Novel: Ideas and Structure also helps you develop the critical elements for submitting and selling your novel once it’s finished. You’ll find exercises on how to:

• Craft your one-sentence pitch
• Create your summary hook blurb
• Develop a solid working synopsis And so much more!

Plotting Your Novel: Ideas and Structure is an easy-to-follow guide to writing your novel or fixing a novel that isn’t quite working. 

Available in paperback and ebook formats.

Janice Hardy is the award-winning author of the teen fantasy trilogy The Healing Wars, including The Shifter, Blue Fire, and Darkfall from Balzer+Bray/Harper Collins. The Shifter, was chosen for the 2014 list of "Ten Books All Young Georgians Should Read" from the Georgia Center for the Book.

She also writes the Grace Harper urban fantasy series for adults under the name, J.T. Hardy.

When she's not writing novels, she's teaching other writers how to improve their craft. She's the founder of Fiction University and has written multiple books on writing.

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