At first, my plot process is pretty elementary. I brainstorm about how the story should begin. Once that's achieved, I figure out what would make a meaningful ending. With those two nailed down, the middle becomes the bridge between the beginning and eventual end. So, I write the beginning (with the end in mind) to introduce the middle, then the middle (bulging with conflict) is crafted so that everything leads to a meaningful end. I paraphrase Aristotle. "Beginning. Middle. End. 'Nuff said."

I use Blake Snyder's Master Board divided in to 4 horizontal sections. The 15 beat areas Act 1(Opening, Theme, Setup, Catalyst, Debate, Break to 2) Act 2 (Fun n Games, B Stories, Midpoint) Act 3 (Bad Guys Close In, All Is Lost, Dark Night of the Soul, Break to 4) Act 4 (Gathering the Team, Storm the Castle, Hightower Surprise, Dig Deeper, Execute New Plan, Final Image). To this I add the Sequences, Scenes, Subplots, etc. I can visually move everything around to SEE how it works and what doesn't work. This frees me up. I find that this becomes my bible where I can write out my one page again and again until it feels right. It works for me.

I hadn't really thought about this before, but I suppose I build the story up in layers. I might start with a few scenes from the beginning, the Call To Adventure moment, and maybe the end of Act Two, and the ending. Then I work out end of act one, and two, and the midpoint, then start breaking down what happens in each act - maybe just a few sentences for each. Then I subdivide still further, often into eight or nine sequences, filling in more detail each time. Eventually, I end up with a page for each sequence, laying out the basic chain of events. (Tried index cards, don't like them. Even though writing out each page again when I change my mind is annoying...) So i suppose I'm building up the story on a framework of a few basic turning points.

I think of the coolest scene ideas that make sense for my concept, characters, and story world. I don't decide where they go initially, I just jot them down on little 2"x3" pieces of paper. Things that "just go" with my idea - clear images, moments, set pieces - come quickly, and then I add other things that I find while brainstorming. This is stuff like: "Jetski battle" or "The Heist" and the obligatory scenes around them "Planning the heist" etc. I also write any character changes that stand-out ("The intervention" "Bullied"). Finally, or really, as I go, because any of these can come up at any point in this process, I write key lines of dialog that fit the movements of the story, key moments, or are just cool. "I'm going back." "What do you stand for!?" "I'll roller blade your face!" Once I have a bunch of these, all of which make sense as belonging to the idea (but maybe not the movie), I start to move them around. I create sequences and try to feel out what build best creates momentum, suspense, drama, and action. Often things fall into a natural place. Something is CLEARLY the opening of a movie...but maybe it could work on page 25. Many times I have had scenes that I would have bet money were the open or the climax of the movie, only to come up with something stronger, BUT still use that scene idea in another place and have it still work. I often put the random lines with or around the key scenes so they now have a home, though sometimes I only know that the line needs to come between these two scenes, and I still need to create scene reason for it. I don't follow a formula too closely - I came up on Lew Hunters Screenwriting 434 and stick by it. Page 17 is the decision ending act 1, 75-85 is dark moment end of act 2, and script ends 105-110. That's pretty much the only formula work I do. Instead, I try to spread out the types of moments to create what feels movielike. The murder scenes in a thriller, or the action pieces, or the key developments in the drama, whatever. I make sure they're spread out nicely through the script so that it's never too long between them. Then I just keep filling in my outline, giving scenes a little more detail each time until I'm ready to rock. For TV writing, I've added a color component to my cards that track particular story lines. A is blue, B is red, C is yellow, Green is misc. So that I can make sure my acts include the proper amount of each.

I do most of my plotting in the half hour before I go to sleep, after I put out the light, and in the morning before I get up. It's all in my head. Writing things down at this point is counter-productive. So snatches of dialogue, interesting scenes etc are filed away in my head for a later date. I like the idea of using index cards and I see the benefits, but the plot is usually a little too slippery for me at this stage and it's more of a feeling than a concrete thing. I listen to music, stare out the window and generally get a "feel" for any plot that might suit the idea I'm playing with. That's about as organised I am at this early stage. But it's my favourite stage as for me, it's the most creative.

After an exhaustive process of deciding on concept that could potentially be a movie, I start with the end. How do I end it? I figure that out first before putting any pen to page, so to speak. Now that could change as I actually write but it's good to have one in mind. I usually go through one of two methods to map out the storyline. I either use index cards or I just freewrite several paragraphs. Index cards are a bit more visual as I can lay them out and view the entire story at once. Freewriting saves me time and is the lazy way. And sometimes I do both and my word doc of free writing will have lines of dialogue, random scene ideas, character breakouts. I make sure to hit certain plot points: inciting incident, there has to be a commitment to the goal point, there has to be a low point, a climax and a resolution. I spend a lot of time here trying to break the story. It's easier to change your mind during the early phases than when you're 50 pages in and have committed to certain choices. I have a nice commute to and from work and I do some heavy brainstorming in the car stuck in traffic. I've had entire scenes written in my head when I get home and I just transcribe them into my document. On longer road trips, I usually have screen writing podcasts playing on the radio. I'm usually half way listening and taking the concepts talked about and figuring out how to improve my script. I really like this process.

What Traci said above.

"I make sure to hit certain plot points:" After my "elementary" plot process, this is next on the list. I just started a new spec script (GOYOQ) and for the first time, I am using Scrivener. I love it! So cool to have everything--Character Sketches, Scenes, Research, Settings--in one project binder. For a more detailed plot process I've broken up Snyder's beats into 5 scene pages, using bullets and free writing to identify scenes that have been cropping up during the research, character phase. Within the free form writing I highlight/identify and label the plot points. So one page dedicated to "Opening Image, Theme and Set-up" another for "Inciting Inc., Debate, Break into 2," third page "Fun & Games, Midpoint, Break into 2B," then another for "Bad Guys Close In, All is Lost, Dark Night of Soul," with a final page of "Break into 3, Finale, Final Image." Another thing I do is a Concept Visualization One-sheet, a visual collage that, via Google Images and the Pages app, I have an "At-a-Glance" reminder of my inspiration, my title, log line, "callback" images and 5 main characters (Protag, Attractor, Nemesis, Trickster, Mentor) w/ mini bios that detail their individual purposes for that script. This visual helps me keep the "tone" of the script on track. I use real actors' images, helps keep it real for me.

Wow, so many ways!! I generally start out with what the heck I want to write, then I use a 'Story Engines and Beats' from Story beats by Dan Calvasi as such - THE STORY ENGINES ACT 1: 1-30 ACT 2A: 30-60 ACT 2B: 60-90 ACT 3: 90-120 THE FULL STORY MAP: Major Story Beats (10 minimum) 1) Opening: All of the characters must be introduced in the first ten pages!! 2) Inciting Incident: 10?15 3) Strong Movement Forward: 10?30 4) End of Act One EVENT/TURN: 28?30 DECISION: 5) First Trial/Casualty: 39 ?53 Combat (?): 6) Midpoint 60 – 63 7) Declaration of War/Assumption of Power: 74 – 82 8) End of Act Two TURN (Plot Point): 88 ?90 DECISION: 9) True Point of No Return: 90-100 10) Climax: 100?120 11) Epilogue: ? When I have the general story down, I try to follow Michael Hauge's Six Stage Plot Structure pasted to my story map to remind me of what I need to put in there. I only recently wrote out a whole scene by scene treatment for an Amazon gig, and found that to be tiring, as I thought, what the heck, I should just write the screenplay and be done! But I notice it was said here that Scott and company believe in that exercise, so I guess I can get used to it! As long as I know what I want to do, and outline it with the story map, I can mold it any which way I want during the writing process. I have a BAD habit though of rewriting while writing - hopefully you guys will break me of that!!

Thanks for your comments. I'm always interested to learn a writer's process. Plus you never know when an idea of yours resonates with a fellow writer. I thought I'd post some links for other processes you might enjoy reading: Shane Black: Shoe Box David Lynch: Milk Shakes Paul Schrader: Outlines Again: No right way to write. That said, you will note one thing in common with most screenwriters and all TV writers: Index Cards. More on that tomorrow.

I really like The Script Lab's eight sequences. http://thescriptlab.com/screenwriting/structure/the-sequence/45-the-eight-sequences They are just basically an elaboration of the three acts - with more info on what should happen in each act (two sequences in Act One, four in Act Two, and two in Act Three). I like to use this as a very general outline of what my story will be. I usually find that I already have Acts 1 and 3 pretty well defined - but that my original concept is missing a lot of structure and specific happenings in Act Two (first half and second half - which, together, comprise half or your film!) SO I use this to nut things out. But I don't necessarilu stick with ir as I fill in more and more detail. But it's a very good way to start, to make sure that you have at least some basic structure with some fundamental happenings, that you can then branch out from or modify or grow or whatever...

My main plotting tool these days is Blake Snyder's Beat Sheet. It pretty much guarantees that something interesting is going to be happening every ten pages and it provides a solid narrative backbone at just about the right level of granularity -- on the one hand it's not too big and vague to be of any real use, and on the other it's not too detailed and finicky to become intrusively micromanaging and annoying. What I'd like to find though -- and what I was hoping to find here -- is a similarly practical set of generative tools or techniques that would help me to construct character arcs and create/control emotional impact.

I would agree that Scrivener is a great program to hold all of the information in one location. I use it as well. I really like your idea of a one sheet Concept Visualization. I think I will be implementing that idea into my future projects!

First step for me is to create a new word document in which I start a daily diary/conversation with myself with regards to the new story. I keep asking myself questions about the main character, their goal and what stands in their way, but I can’t start to plot until I know how the story is going to end (at least in the first draft). Once I have this, I work backwards finding out what happens at: • The end of act 2 • Middle of act 2 • End of Act 1 • Inciting incident I’m still brainstorming whilst I’m coming up with these turning points – additional characters, motivations, environments, themes – but these all comes into sharper focus the moment I’ve figured out my turning points. I carry on with the diary for a few more weeks, building up more and more material as I go, then I'll to create a step outline (which to me is plot, or plot points if you prefer that term). This usually comes together quite quickly, and at the end of it I can see the skeleton of my story – enough to bash out a rough first draft. So, to recap, the way I discover my plot is to keep a daily diary in which I build up story materials, then I decide on the major turning points, then I create a step (actually, it is bullet point) outline.

I have come to the conclusion that when I think up a story idea, the idea itself is centred on the climax of the story, that is, the story idea is usually the 'what happened?' moment, the actual change realised. So My first step is the break down the idea into what led to the 'what happened' moment before moving on to the consequences of it. Before I attend to the structural elements I consider what story I want to write; I like to generate a premise based on the notion that 'A dramatic character goes through a dramatic conflict resulting in dramatic change.' This is something that is personal to me, it is the changed world that I would like to see at a personal level, personified by a character. I then like to 'snapshot' the story idea, completing the statement: 'This story is about ...' in one or two sentences. The snapshot focuses on the character, the series of consequential events and the outcome (change). By the time I get to structural business, I know my characters and my story world quite well, so the first step of plot development is to briefly track the protagonist through the story events until the end. This then gives me an idea of the story shape, which helps determine the type of plot and genre. I make notes about key conventions that I should pay attention to in the genre, and with the basic plot type. Then I look at the large parts of the plot and make decisions about what happens, where ...

What trouble does the character experience in the world of the everyday? How does this open up story questions that lead into the main story? What happens to upset the normal world (the inciting incident)? What is the nature of the character's call to action? How does the character's response to that lead to deeper trouble? How is the crucible formed? What steps does the character take when facing the threshold to the inner story world? What is the key step in crossing the threshold to end the first act? What happens on the other side? How are the character's values put to the test? What plans are made? Who does he team up with? What minor skirmishes might evolve? Where is the opening of the second act brought into focus? How does the character engage with the antagonist? Where and how does the character experience death? How does it affect him? What changes after the experience death? How does the character re-engage with the antagonist? What is the character's self-realisation (this is usually the guts of the story idea)? How does the character demonstrate this change? What is the final confrontation? What dramatic devices does the character use? How do these develop through the story? What is the final outcome? How is the poetry of the ending realised?

The answers to these questions give me the main structural dimensions. Then I schedule them in broad sequences, looking for the consequential connections between each sequence. Then I break each sequence down to scenes and write a detailed stepsheet, describing the business of each scene. I often come up with 'arrivals' of specific actions or dialogue that I think might be used in the script during this process and I include those in the stepsheet. Once the stepsheet is complete, I think I know my story well enough to write it.

Two more links to go with this: 1. William C. Martel on How to Outline 2. Alan Ayckbourn on working out a plot

Excellent Shaula, thank you.