How to edit story structure?

Question

I’ve written a plot for a long story. But it’s not easy for anybody to review because my characters’ dialogue and goals are all over the place, it’s often usually mixed up and I struggle to structure it back because I often forget the plot. I know that a good plot carries out suspense and emotion including the consequences and reactions of a character’s choice, my characters for example don’t add up properly. I am confident with my writing, but not my editing. I’ve been paying attention to the story structure of TV shows such as **Breaking Bad** and **Dexter** to try to compare mine to a proper story structure, but at the same time I am trying not copy from a good show.How can I edit my all-over-the-place writing to focus it more?

Answer 1

It might be helpful for you to write a fully developed synopsis of your story; anywhere from 1 to 3 pages; as if you were telling it to a friend. That might give you the clarity you need to see where each character is heading. Losing yourself in your own plot can be confusing and a little frustrating, so I understand why this isn't flowing for you at the moment. Good luck and let me know if I can be of further help!

Answer 2

When writing a long story, it can be beneficial to outline each plot point as you edit it. Also, there is a feature in Word that can allow you to have the story read to you, change the spacing to allow for easier editing, etc. It is mostly beneficial to see grammar mistakes, or if you like writing poetry, but syllables elude you. There are two types of writers:

Outliners and Pantsers

The outliner will create a concept map of characters or an outline to guide them in their writing. So, a character based outliner might take a character:

Jess

Then, create branches from there in a concept map.

A plot-based outliner might create a timeline.

Both of these tools are helpful to keep you organized.

Pantsers generally "become the story". Thus, they do not "outline". They have an idea of where it starts and where it ends, but let the story or characters guide them. These people will tell you that "you just can't outline a story". They believe that if you fully immerse yourself in the story or characters such mistakes won't be made.

I hope this helps you! Please, don't hesitate to contact me for more questions! :)