How Five Plot Points Can Help You Create a Story.

When you write a story, it is important to know your plot points, otherwise you'll never know how to write your story.

You always will need Plot Points, which create the basis for your story. They are the skeleton that holds together the story. All you--the writer--needs to do is flesh it out by adding muscle and sinew to the bare bones of the story (ie your descriptions, dialogue, character studies and so on).

In this instance, I am going to use the story of a rogue dolphin--I couldn't find a shark--which attacks the protagonist (our hero--audiences love a hero).

Each photograph represents a plot point. 

Plot Point One: A drunken dolphin leaves a bar after a night out.

 Plot Point Two: He gets in a fight with someone and is intent on killing him.

Plot Point Three: He tears into his victim, and injures him. The victim is the protagonist of our story. Here, we have a 'revenge' story. If someone hits you, do you not hit them back? Can you see how late the protagonist comes into the story?

Plot Point Four: As the dolphin lives in a seaside down, the protagonist turns out to be a fisherman that once tackled a giant squid and lived to tell the tale. He accepts a £500 bounty to hunt down the dolphin. There, in no time at all, he finds the dolphin. He wrestles the dolphin to the ground and finds him remorseful.

Plot Point Five: It is clear the dolphin has a drink problem. He can't free himself from the protagonist's trap. He confesses to the protagonist that he is lonely. 


Now we have problems late in the story. We need to seek solutions. Closure. This is where you wrap up the loose ends of the story. It's very important that you can do that. Audiences like a happy ending. 


Here's how I'd end it: The protagonist comes from an over-successful family. He has a brother who is a tv producer. He takes the dolphin away to be the star of a new TV show. He offers a better life, albeit one with vices of all sorts (useful for a possible sequel about a junkie dolphin that frittered away his money on vices). Meanwhile the town can enjoy their summer and everyone lives happily ever after. The protagonist sails away into the distance. Because he does.


It's probably a bad story. But I'm not Herman Melville. I'm just a writer who can help you flesh out your stories. Give it a go. You never know....