How to plot your novel
BY Anna Davis
7th Aug 2025
How much plotting and planning should you do before you begin to write a novel? The answer is a very individual one: It's a matter of getting to know your own process and deciding what’s right for you and the particular project you’re embarking on. But I’d also say that even the writers who claim not to plot at all will know right from the off what’s at the heart of the novel they’re setting out to write – and they’ll probably know lots of other things about it too.
Starting with the heart and the spine
What is the thing that is driving you to write your novel? We could consider this as the heart of the novel. This is the theme you are compelled to explore; the question that’s central to your narrative and that will be answered through it; the jumping-off point for your story. Write it down and put it somewhere you’ll keep seeing it while you work – perhaps on a post-it note above your desk.
In common with many writers, I don’t construct an intricately detailed plan before I begin writing, with all scenes mapped out. But I do need to have decided on a number of the essential elements. You could say I’ll figure out my novel’s spine before starting to write, but not its vertebrae. Other elements in my initial ‘spine’ planning will vary from project to project.
In order to decide on these key elements, I’ll be making lots of notes, interrogating my initial idea by asking myself every question I can think of about it – and then answering those questions. Often these are ‘What if’ questions and they can take you a very long way.
Here are some of the essential points to decide on that will help you grow the plot of a novel from the tiniest seed of an idea.
What is the genre and tone?
If you’re intending to write in a specific genre, the ‘rules’ and reader-expectations of your genre should be considered carefully as they may dictate many fundamental elements of your story. When it comes to tone, is the story funny? Dark? Mysterious? How will your tone work with your story?
Whose story is it?
Who is your central character and what do they want? Is there more than one protagonist? For me, character really does drive story, so I need to have my lead character, and some of my other characters, fleshed out before I begin.
What’s your setting?
This refers to both the where and the when of your story. For some novels, the setting will not be a major point in the planning – but for others, the setting can be incredibly significant in shaping it. If your novel is set in a dystopian future, you’ll be building a whole world with specific laws, religion, morals, technology etc. – and from these will come much of your plot.
What is the inciting incident for your story?
The inciting incident is an event that disrupts or destroys the status quo for your protagonist and propels them into action, effectively starting your story, and it should happen very early on. What is the event that’s going to set your story in motion?
Quest, flight or siege?
When that inciting incident happens – let’s say, your character receives an important communication – what will it propel your protagonist to do?
In broad terms, will your novel be a quest – in which the protagonist is searching for something or trying to achieve a particular goal; a flight – in which they are running from something; or a siege, in which they are entrenching and fighting for the life that’s being disrupted?
So – to open the email containing our character’s important communication: a lawyer’s letter telling your protagonist they will inherit a large sum if they carry out a particular difficult task is the start of a quest. A message warning your protagonist that their abusive ex has turned up in town might well provoke a flight; and a letter from a debt collector wanting to repossess your protagonist’s house could be the start of a siege.
What does your protagonist want?
Knowing what your character wants, and why, is key to understanding your protagonist and their direction of travel in your story.
What will get in your protagonist’s way?
Your character should come up against an antagonist – i.e. the enemy or major obstacle in the book, preventing them from getting what they want. The force of antagonism in your story could be another character, such as an evil witch or a love rival – but it could also be inanimate, such as a natural disaster – or more than one of those!
What is the conflict?
The conflict between protagonist(s) and antagonist(s) is the essential engine of story. There should be LOADS of it, and things should get much more difficult for your protagonist as the story progresses. As well as external conflict – eg with the office bully – there should be internal conflict – such as a dilemma or your character’s struggles with their own demons. And the external and internal conflict can reverberate off each other, amplifying the tension and putting your character in jeopardy.
What narrative perspective(s) will you deploy?
Will your story be told in first or third person? Second person, even? In what tense will you tell it and what will be the point(s) of view from which we’ll see your story? The perspective you choose can make a huge difference to your story.
How will you use time in your story?
Across what period of time will your story unfold? Perhaps your novel takes place across a single week – or maybe you’re telling the story of a family across several generations, with a different narrative strand for each. Decisions about the handling of time in your novel can sometimes hand you your whole structure.
What’s the backstory?
For some novels, the backstory is critical – while for others, it’s just – well – backstory.
If there are events in your character’s past that will be crucial to your story, you might want to figure them out now, as part of your plotting.
Will there be a twist in the tale?
Twists and the deliberate misdirection of the reader are particularly pertinent for crime novels and thrillers – but they are also relevant for any story involving secrets, mysteries and the overturning of reader expectations.
How will your story resolve?
It’s not vital to know the precise ending of your novel when you start out – but it can be helpful to consider the broad direction you’re going to move in – or in other words, to decide on your destination.
The narrative arc and the character arc
With the important ingredients of your story decided upon, you can start to work out your narrative arc and character arc. Sketching these out as actual arcs on the page may help you firm up your story with clarity.
The narrative arc is the series of events or story beats (a term meaning a narrative development or change) that will propel your novel from its beginning to its end. The ‘plotters’ among you will want to construct the full narrative arc before starting to write. Other less ‘plotty’ writers will continue to form it while writing – and this is perfectly OK, as your plot doesn’t have to be set in stone before you begin. We can think about the arc as a chain of cause and effect that forms the narrative. Action only constitutes a ‘story beat’ if it moves your story forward and forms part of the narrative arc.
Just as important as the narrative arc is the character arc (also known as the character’s journey). This arc shows how the events of the story impact on your protagonist, and how your protagonist is changed by it all. To my mind, there must be real change at character-level in order for your reader to feel they have been on a satisfying journey.
To find out much more about how to develop ideas, plot a novel and get writing with confidence, join our Write to the End of Your Novel course.