First to find stories liked, then print them out, and read over and over to see if plots are suitable. Then I make what I called a ‘Summary Page’: how long the story is, my first sentence, my last sentence, a summary of the plot, and where I told the story, adding notes about the telling that I need to remember.
If I have enough stories on a theme like the FIRE stories, I make a frame, bridge, or a segue through them. That means I plot out each story; have 'character bios' as on FIRE, humans, gods, hummingbird, beaver, Grandma Spider, monkeys, hunters, Bertha Digby. Then make a 'motivation sheet' on each character about their driving concerns that moves the plot forward to the next story.
The beginning, the gods have FIRE and humans and animals want its warmth and light. So, the middle events: Hummingbird gives to the Pines, Beaver gives to all trees, Grandma Spider throws light to the night sky. Until the climax event, a hunter steals the FIRE from the monkeys to the final event, FIRE burns up the forest. The ending conclusion, Bertha Digby replants the forest for all of us.
If you join my newsletter called the EVENTING. . ., I talk about writing and storytelling. As a new subscriber, you receive the Story Charts used for plotting, character motivation, scenes, framing or the segue, with the bonus of the hero’s journey. There are 12 charts in all. The charts were compiled from storytellers, who shared how they organize their stories. I give this information to whoever wants to craft their best stories to tell or write, please honor this.
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