When you are composing a story, you need to be aware of the at least the main plot(s) in the story and who they concern. Sub-plots will spring up from the dark corners of your mind, but only if they have a main plot to hang from. So here is a tried and tested way of designing the central themes in your story. It is a little formulaic, but it works, and that is what I find important.

First the plot outline. Ask your self these questions (and answer them of course):

• Who is the main character?
• Who is working with the main character?
• Who is working against the main character?

Next we need to get some more detail about motivation, so answer these questions:

• What are the main character's goals?
• What happens if the main character fails at these goals?
• How will those working with the main character help achieve the goals?
• What will the person working against the main character to to thwart the goals?

And finally, some questions about conflict and conflict resolution:

• How will the main character respond to the person working against him/her?
• How does the main character deal with impending failure?
• How does the main character finally succeed?
• What happens to the person working against the main character?
• What happens to the main character and his/her supporters?
• What is the over-riding theme of this story element?

Filling this in for a plot or potential plot should not take long, you are not writing the story here. Answering the questions will, however, help you bring out elements of the plot and possibly highlight new plots that need to be investigated. Give it a go and let me know what you think. In a later post I'll talk about tips on fleshing out the plots you have designed.

Enjoy

I had never really thought it out in such detail, yet it has such simple guide questions. I really enjoyed this tip and applied it to something I am currently "puttering" with and it opened up a couple areas I had just left open, bare, and lacking. Thank you for the tip, I found it to be extremely useful.

I usually use a more character oriented approach than anything else.  I will have a general idea of the universe and the backdrop, then develop the characters.  From there I let the characters drive the story and eventually get to the end.

For example, in a Sci-Fi story I am working on, I had my main character, and he walked down a corridor where an injured crewman was.  Now he was in a hurry to get to his station and it was critical he get there as soon as possible (survival of the ship depending on it and all).  However, he stopped and tended her wounds to make sure she would survive, and carried her to a medic.  Completely blew me away while I was writing it, but given his character, that is exactly what he would do. 

I go into so much freaking detail it's not funny. I have booklets dedicated to the timeline, to each character, to the plot...I list everything I can and it helps a lot if I forget later .

Fantastic advice, and welcome to CB!!

Oh my goodness, I am so glad I found that, thank you so much. I have never seen such a detailed list of questions for plot before.  That really got my mind turning.  Maybe now I will be able to actually come up with a decent plot that isn't missing key elements since I actually have a reference to make sure I know what all the key elements are.