The First Plot Point (FPP) is the most important moment in your story. It’s so important that, if you get it wrong, your whole story is doomed.
Which is why I spend so much time talking about First Plot Points and how to get them right.
When your story has a strong FPP, it sets the stage for a vicarious experience that your reader will want to go on. It’s what keeps them turning pages, unable to put the book down.
There are certain things a FPP must do:
- Introduce the Protagonist’s need or new journey ahead
- Introduce the Antagonist (or shift a character already in play)
- Stop the Protagonist in his tracks, spinning him in a new direction
- Up the stakes for the Protagonist in a big way
- Create a whole new challenge for the Protagonist
- Give the reader a reason to root for the Protagonist
In order to find the best FPP for your story, you have to spend time developing the story, asking questions and thinking about all potential scenarios.
The First Plot Point Worksheet
It always helps me to have a worksheet to use when I’m developing my stories. That’s why I created this First Plot Point worksheet.
It contains a checklist to make sure you’re hitting all the right element, and a section with questions to help you do a deep-dive on your story.
>> Download the First Plot Point Worksheet
This worksheet will help you develop and plan the First Plot Point for your story.
The Story Roadmap Workshop
If you enjoyed the First Plot Point worksheet, you should check out Story Roadmap. This self-paced workshop contains videos, worksheets and checklists to help you develop and plan your story before you write it.
It will walk you through a planning process that you can use over and over again to create your:
- Story Concept and Premise
- Protagonist and Antagonist
- Story structure
- Scene-by-scene roadmap
You can use the story roadmap you create using this workshop to write the first draft of your story–a good first draft, one that’s an edit and tweak away from being publishable.
>> Learn more about Story Roadmap
