How to Plot Your Novel FAST | Writing Advice 

Me at the beginning of the video: "Well that's the dumbest writing prompt I've ever heard in my life" Me by the end: "Where can I pre-order this novel? and when will it be made into a movie?"

this prompt thing should be a series :D

This is brilliant, it showcases one of the most important things about outlining that I struggled with before I figured it out. Build your story on a message, don't wait for your story to produce a message - it won't happen.

Wow. When she began I was so disappointed in the example story idea. It was basic and boring. It was garbage. And when she started breaking it down it became plausible. Then somewhere around the 3/4 mark I had to keep rewinding to get the points she was making because the characters were talking and distracting me. It went from juvenile garbage to something that I’d like to read, or write, in less than 15 minutes. Ellen has some serious skills.

It's really hard to link up the nonsense in those prompt generators, yet I can see a really charming, Great British Bake-Off -esk book series coming out of this. Respect.

I feel like the love interest should have been a sailor as well, who wants the protagonist to come back, but supports her anyway. So, when she loses to her rival, she knows he'd try to get her to go back to being a sailor, and she might agree. As a result, she ignores all his calls and messages. Anyway, this video was quite interesting. I didn't think asking and answering some questions would help that much. I think I want to try it now.

You can’t leave us hanging!! This outline needs a sequel!

So that’s how a Hallmark film is written! Thank you for this video, it’s really helped me get my head around basic outlines.

I wasn’t sold on the premise at first, but then little by little, you made the idea more and more compelling. A simple, yet lovely story. On a side note, I’m glad you’re using more visual aids in your videos. That’s always been something I found lacking in your earlier videos. For a visual medium like RU-vid, showing what you’re saying can highlight the points you want to emphasize.

this looks like a plot of a Sandra Bullock's movie.

Her construction of the plot is simple but fantastic. When you add all meaningful details, you would have a heart-warming story.

The problem with plotting too fast is that you still haven’t finished your novel and yet you’ve already got plans laid out for another handful

Wow! While I haven't gotten around to writing any baking novels yet, this is perhaps the most cogent summary of the outlining process ever. I guess I already knew a lot of this intuitively, but I've never seen it presented so clearly! Yet another reason why this is my favorite writing channel!!

What about at the end. There's a judge who really liked her entry. And he helps her get a job as a chef. So she lost but now she has a career

I am speechless. I've never seen a video nor read an article that so thoroughly placed me within the mind of a story builder. I’m encouraged by your willingness to resolve some plot questions later, but to push forward with the questions you can answer now. Personally, I tend to get frustrated when I don't know everything at the beginning, and I am therefore blocked and stop writing. Thanks for the reminder about how exciting and resourceful the imagination can be.

So I already had my story plotted, but this inspired me to go back and see if there's anything I should add or take away. Thanks for the great reminder.

Your videos persuaded me that writing is so much more about logic and system than people think. I'm discovering some perks of writing myself now, but your advices already helped me three or four times, so thanks:)

This is really good, thank you Ellen. I've had an idea for ages, which over time has evolved into a detailed setting with ideas for subplots, and some characters I'm happy with, but I've struggled to simplify it enough to tease out a compelling plot. I think this approach will really help.

This was very helpful to me because I'm at the plotting stage of my story and I didn't really know how to move on. I enjoyed how you broke down each event in the story and the idea of asking questions is helpful too!

Honestly, I wanted the rival to be the romantic partner by the end! Thanks for the super helpful video!

Ellen Brock: "How does being a sailor affect her? Does she have to give up sailing for the baking competition? Me: "How is she a sailor from Reno? That's in Nevada! Did she move away from Reno to be a sailor? Why? Was sailing her first dream, and now she wants to bake? What did she have to give up to sail? Can we have a parallel between that and what she has to give up to bake?"

I actually want to read that novel.

I've been trying to find information on how stories are constructed and what makes them compelling and after finding almost nothing but vague and often contradicting information this channel is a godsend holy shit

Thankyou so much for this. After watching a few 'how to develop your story' videos I was getting sick of them all being fluff and no content. Yours is a super practical, pragmatic and hands-on explanation - it's helped me a lot.

I really appreciate this video. I've been trying to get back into writing, and this was incredibly helpful and encouraging. Thanks, Ellen!

Also I'd love to see more Outlining a Writing Prompt videos from you! You really know how to work out those summaries! Another suggestion would be a video series about different genres, and how to focus on the relevant tropes ie. Crime/Mystery, Fantasy, Comedy/Romance, etc

What did you do to become an editor? I’m curious what that process looks like.

best explanation of plotting i've come across yet. Most people just show a chart and break down the steps, and say "see? this is how you do it" with no information on turning these bullet points into actual plot. Good stuff.

You have red hair and blue eyes!! the rarest combo!

I’m dyslexic. I have tried, so many times to build a novel - yet this has been the best way of learning for me. Show and tell. It works so well for me. Thank you very much Ellen. I look forward to learning more from you.

Came from your ‘4 writer types’ video. I couldn’t be sure which type I’d place myself in until just now, halfway through this vid. I was watching you list out scenes in chronological order when I felt an unspeakable dread in my guts - the pantser in me was howling in anguish😂 Anyway, I love all your videos and find them super helpful! You have such an amazing, efficient way of getting things across. And I love that you’re never judgemental when you talk about the common writer mistakes, be it technical or otherwise. I hope your channel brings you as much inspiration as it does for us:)

Wow. Seriously thank you. Also its funny how you magically turned a crappy writing plot into a cool story I'd want to read and actually I already. Its funny because as I am listening to this it reminded me of "Seashells Spells and Caramels" by Erin Johnson. Its a cozy mystery about Imogen Banks. Imogen Banks has dreamed her entire life of opening her own bakery in Seattle. But when she accidentally sets fire to her apartment and loses all her possessions, her dreams get toasted. Still coping with her loss, she receives a cryptic invitation she can't possibly refuse: entry into a mysterious baking competition on a beautiful French island. anyway not the same but similar. So I can see how all of this works out. I just started out watching your videos. I have to create a narrative short film and I am struggling to turn my script idea into a cohesive plot that I can write. Thank you this helped me so much! I look forward to your other videos.

This is a fantastic exercise. I feel so empowered right now! Been stuck with a prompt for over a month. I am no longer stuck. You rock!

You have gotten soooo good at being on camera and talking to your audience. It’s been fun watching you get better over the years.

I personally want how you explain and how you create your videos more better and better in time. The story is so good and lovely though. It makes me want to read the whole book!

Wow. My writer's brain is already constructing the dialogue. Thank you for this video, you just earned yourself a sub! 😍

Ellen Brock, I’m incredibly thankful for your videos.

I follow a lot of writing advice channels and, honestly, yours is the best. Thank you so much for all the help.👍

My first thought when I heard arch rival was ‘make it gay. Make it super gay’

i just found your channel. it's almost midnight. i think i may be up until nearly dawn at this rate...

This has to be the most helpful video I've ever seen about writing. I'm so exited to use this method.

This makes writing a book seem easy. That must mean you explained the process of plotting a novel really well!

Absolutely loved this insight to how you edit and guide a client to complete their plot summaries and question answering! Thanks Ellen!

This is the most realistic and helpful explanation creating an outline that I've found yet! Thanks, Ellen!

Honestly Ellen you are the first person I've ever seen explain this call and response method so clearly. Not sure if this is exactly that or just similar but I understand this method so well will have to try soon

great video, as usual! really helpful. not gonna lie, i got really invested in this story as the video went on haha :D keep up the good work!

Thank you for this, I feel like this is one of the few outlining tip videos that isn't full of fluff and actually has relatable examples. So helpful!

This video was BRILLIANT. Comprehensive without being overwhelming and exactly what I needed. THANK YOU.

by far the best structural advice video i’ve ever seen!! thank you!!

This is the most competent and enjoyable writing advice I've found. Great job.

Absolutely love these videos. Not only do they cover our biggest questions and most important points of interest, but are very straight to the point, pithy, concise and don't waste time in the beginning for chit chat the way everyone else seems to do.

I always needed a channel like yours! I'm good at writing, but couldn't come up with a structure every time I tried to write. I'll keep learning about that and more through time, and you, keep up the good work, girl!

This was such a helpful and detailed video. Thank you for adding visuals. I really questioned the writing prompt but as you continued to explain, I became more intrigued. Great video👍

SO OBVIOUS but totally useful advice and so enthusiastically presented. This is 60,000 words already!!!

Amazing as always, you deserve a prize for such good content

I have been toying around with an idea for a while now, and you just helped me turn my idea into the best plot I've ever written. So thank you.

Thanks for this video. I was just about to start plotting the whole story to make my writing easier and this is going to help out a lot.

Thank you so much! You’re the best channel i’ve ever watched that actually explains how to improve one’s writing with pratical steps

This was a fun video, I really liked seeing the story come together! Keep making these videos, Ellen!

This is so great! I'm also super excited for the query letter video.

I really love your videos! You're clear, competent and have experience and you show all that (and not just tell us XP) I do not have any idea about what to write, but i love to understand how we should write (and to edit my friends' work XD). Your videos are the best i've ever found in regard to that!

Wow! a million times wow! Ellen what you did in this video is just out of this world. You not only saved the day turning something flat into something amazingly great. I'm going nowhere else. Just subscribed and I'm going to go through each and every video in your channel! Regards from Brazil and your brand new fan! :)

Ellen, I stand on my knees for you. Because of you I found strengh to keep writing and finishing my story.

You are a lifesaver! I really needed this video XD

Excellent breakdown of the process. Thanks Ellen!

This is your most helpful video yet!

This is the best, most useful video I've ever encountered on RU-vid. Thank you so much.

THIS IS SO HELPFUL!! by far the most helpful video I've seen, it's so weird, I feel like this process will work perfectly for me because i already do something similar, but this is more fleshed out. Thank you so much! Now on to your other videos lol!

This video was incredibly helpful. I find myself returning to it over and over! I'm using it now to help me outline an idea I came up with last night, and it's coming along great! Thanks for the help!

Wow! By far, I would have to say this is my biggest setback as a writer, so I usually end up with more ideas and less and less outlines or further developments of them, but your process worked unbelievably well! I am now proud to say that my outline is far more concise and secure than I even hoped it would be on my own. Thank you!!

This video was perfect! You know exactly what to say to get people motivated to write. This channel has made my writing and my novel so much stronger, I cannot thank you enough for all you do! 💙

This was great advice, I needed this! Awesome vlog!

I've never seen a walkthrough of going from idea to actual plotting of scenes. This is wonderful. Thank you!

This was very helpful. I've watched four other videos on different RU-vid channels, looking for this answer, and yours so far has the best advice I've found yet. Thank you.

I started with vivid scenes - kind of slideshow style - and worked at coherent story structure outlines, character arcs, and world building.

This was so good. It had my creative wheels just a turning in helping me think about how to elaborate and even make a better layout of my novel concept. With this instruction it feels like the novel will write itself (to a degree).

WOW! This has been super helpful! Thank you so much for sharing and going into detail. It's always been a struggle to flesh out my story ideas, and this explanation helps to set me on the right track.

Thanks, Ellen. I'll use your ideas in my next project. My current project is at the query letter stage. I can hardly wait until Wednesday and Friday. Great work.

The timing to this couldn't be more perfect! I was about to try and plot my novel outline today.

Very interesting video Ellen! I like to plot my stories like this too, starting with the basis of the storyline before growing into something more detailed 😊 Right now I’m trying the snowflake method, I’m liking it so far 😊 I think it might help a lot with editing!

Really good! And you definitely just wrote an outline for a Hallmark movie! lol

Thanks for your advice Ellen! You're the best!

I've been stuck for years (both in life and with my writing, guess it goes hand in hand) and you made me remember the fun of it, what I really loved about writing stories. Thanks ❤️ Now, off to watch all your other videos!

Haven’t even finished this video but I can already see how bloody clever it is. Your vids are awesome Ellen thank you 🙏🏻

Great tutorial. This makes the process so much easier. Big kudos and thanks!

Thanks! This is just what I needed! Now I can finally finish the first stage of writing a story. XD

I just want to say that having seen this video, this gives a clear example of how outlines work. Great job!

I loved this video. Thank you so much for your insight. I am gonna binge your whole channel now.

This is gold, "thank you."

This is one of the most helpful plotting videos I’ve come across!

Very interesting video. I actually finished my outline yesterday. I did many of the steps you outlined without even knowing it. I'm definitely going to check out your other videos. Thanks for sharing.

I love your videos, they are very helpful and you explain everything so well! It's a pleasure listening to you!

Just here to say I've rewatched this video many times! Keep up the good work!

Beautiful development. Well done and thanks for the vid!

I really love how you created an intresting potential story from a concept that initially sounds crazy.

As always, you created a very helpful, well put together video. This one in particular was beneficial for me as I have had trouble putting all of the points throughout my current book series in an order that makes sense. Thank you for all of your great videos Ellen!

Okay but like you actually make it make sense. Like this makes sense. Actually sense. Plus this gives me motivation to write again 🍎

This is great! Going step-by-step through the process with an example story was really helpful. Thanks for the great video!

So VALUABLE!!! I'm watching for the third time now, AND taking notes

You helped me jump from a 50 word outline to 7000 word plot thank You. I will remember to send you a free copy once complete. Top-quality advice