The Best Advice on Plotting I've Ever Heard: Two Tips That Make Plotting Your Novel Way Easier

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

A good story is more than a series of things that happen. It's all about the cause and effect.

Way back in 2012, I read a few pieces of plotting advice that are just as good today as they were then. They're nothing new, nothing ground-breaking, and things countless writers have said before (including me), but the way they're said is sheer genius. They're probably the most applicable and easiest plotting tips I've ever heard.

The advice refers to full scenes, but I quickly realized it was just as effective on diagnosing the action in an individual scene as well as the big picture of the novel's plot. It's an incredibly useful tool for pinpointing problems in a scene you know has issues, but can't figure out what they are.

Don't Make Your Novel a Series of "And Then..."

This first tip came from an article editor Cheryl Kline wrote, who linked a video from a NY writing class where South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone were discussing plot. The gist of the video is this:

Every scene in your story is connected, and how you connect them will determine whether or not they're advancing the plot or just showing "stuff happening." If you can say "and then" between the scenes, they're not advancing the plot. If you can say "but" or "therefore" then something happens that forces a conflict or a decision and the plot advances.

Scenes create situations that force characters to make choices concerning the conflict in their path. Action leads to reaction leads to next action. That's plot.

While the advice refers to full scenes, it's also useful on an action-by-action basis. It allows you to see exactly how every action your character takes affects the narrative drive.

Let's look at how "but, therefore" works in practice:

The first scene of The Shifter has my protagonist, Nya, stealing eggs for breakfast. Using this model, the opening action is:

Nya is stealing eggs for breakfast.

What happens next is, she gets caught.

Nya is stealing eggs for breakfast, but she gets caught.

Notice the but there? She has a goal, but that goal is thwarted by someone taking action against her. She wants eggs for breakfast, someone wants to keep her from stealing those eggs. If she wins, she gets to eat. If they win, she goes hungry, or worse.

If this conflict hadn't occurred, the summary of the action might look like this:

Nya is stealing eggs for breakfast. And then she leaves the chicken ranch and goes to eat her eggs.

Two scenes, both with goals (Nya wants to steal eggs, Nya wants to eat stolen eggs), but there's no conflict. That but is what signals and pinpoints the conflict of this scene. Without it, the lack of conflict is clear and we see how the plot doesn't advance in a way that will hold a reader's interest.

The therefore is the choice the character makes that sets up the next goal and scene. 

Something creates or triggers a problem, therefore, something else has to happen to continue forward. X happens, but Y happens and now she chooses to do Z.

(Here's more on Getting the Best Response From Your Characters)

Let's see this scene play out a little longer:

Nya is stealing eggs for breakfast, but she gets caught. Therefore, she..
Throws a chicken and runs, but the guard chases her. Therefore, she...
Tries to evade the guard, and then he trips and breaks his ankle.

Wait, what? The action stops?

Yes it does, because instead of a but, we have an and then. This is a moment where the plot could start to unravel if I'm not careful, so I want to get a but and therefore into the scene again fast. Luckily, I do.

Tries to evade the guard, and then he trips and breaks his ankle.
He tells her to run, but she stays behind to heal him. Therefore...
The rancher catches up to them and threatens them with a weapon, but...
Nya shifts pain into the rancher and escapes. But...
She's seen by two boys who will report her to the Healers' League and get her into trouble.

See how the events feed off each other and Nya has to make choices and deal with unexpected things happening? Those choices and problems create a series of plot events that advance the story and pull readers through the tale.

(Here's more on Goals-Motivations-Conflicts: The Engine That Keeps a Story Running)

This Isn't as Easy as it Looks

This seems like a terribly easy thing to do, and that every scene will unfold with the proper but, therefore sequence, but it really won't. You do have to think about the goals and conflicts to make this work and test your scenes correctly.

Look how easy it would have been to say:

Nya tries to evade the guard, but he trips and breaks his ankle.

Nya tries to act one way, but something else happens. On first glance it works because you have that but in there. Yet the guard tripping in no way impedes Nya's goal of evading him. It actually helps her, so it's not a conflict to her goal. It's not a but. It's her decision to stay and help him that keeps her from evading. It's the therefore that moves the story along after this occurs.

Don't assume that just because two things happen right after each other that there's conflict or anything driving the plot forward. Writers struggle with plot, because they string scenes together that aren't building off each other in this way. There is no cause and effect.

Some Key Things to Remember With the But, Therefore Technique:

• When you're identifying your but, make sure what happens is in conflict with the character's goal or action.
• When you're identifying your therefore, make sure it's a choice made in response to what has just happened.
• If the therefore doesn't work for you, try so. I found this clicked better for me and made it easier to see the "he does this so she does that" connections.

He tells her to run, but she stays behind to heal him, so...
The rancher catches up to them and threatens them with a weapon

This slides nicely into Jami Gold's thoughts on if every scene needed a goal. It's a great breakdown of the scene and structure format, and she says something near the end that really clicked with me:

"When you’re writing, don’t worry about if a section is a scene or sequel. Think cause and effect, sentence-by-sentence, action to reaction, scene to scene, and you’ll never go wrong."

Cause and effect. This is but, therefore in another form. Every action has a cause and an effect, and as long as things are building off each other, you keep the story moving.

I think this is why that and then in the middle of my chicken scene works. The guard tripping doesn't impede Nya's goal, but it causes her to stop and his act of letting her goal affects her. She feels compassion for him, so she helps him, which causes conflict for her goal of getting away and ultimately gets her in more trouble. His action causes an effect on her and she acts because of it.

(Here's more on Taking the Scenic Route: Scenes and Sequels)

What These Tips Can Do For You 

Your individual plot events typically dictate how good your plot is, but even if you follow all the "rules" perfectly, that plot can still stink. Someone else can break all the rules yet their plot is gripping. This is why giving plotting advice is hard because it's so subjective--and why these tips strip away so much of the guesswork.

Because it comes down to cause and effect, but and therefore.

Something happens and the character has to react to how that something affects them. If it doesn't affect them it's pointless to the plot. If it doesn't force a decision, it's probably not moving the story or making the reader care what happens next.

Look at your plot and outline a scene using these techniques. 

Focus on what your protagonist actually does, not how they feel. Those feelings might be the motivators for the therefore or so connections, but they won't do much for the plot, because plot is what the character does, not how they feel.

List what they do, what happens, and what they do in response to that. 

If you find yourself writing a lot of and then, you know you don't have enough conflict and your character's goals aren't being thwarted. You don't actually have a plot, just a series of scenes.

But if you find a lot of but, therefore or so, then you can rest easy that you have a plot and it's driving the story.

How do your scenes hold up against this? Is there cause and effect in your scenes or are you missing goals or conflicts? 

Originally published May 2012. Last updated October 2019.


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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