How to Write a Story Concept for More than One Point-of-View Character

To give you an idea of the sort of help and support every writer needs, a writer watching the PlotWriMo: Revise Your Novel in a Month videos asks on A Path to Publishing FB group: How do you write a concept for more than one pov?

Concept
Who Wants What?
Antagonist Stopping her?
Motivation?

Concept extraordinaire Jill Corcoran answers with this example:

SHOE STUD is a romantic comedy told from alternating pov of the descendants of rivaling shoe dynasties in which Steve, a kleptomaniac with a fetish for shoes, and Marnie, a shy college senior with only one foot, must be the first to find a pair of diamond-studded Blanka wedges or lose their chance at inheriting a sparkling new shoe manufacturing plant.

That one line says enough to intrigue and includes all three plot lines (with a hint of possibility for the fourth).

Dramatic Action:
Will the wedges be found?
Who will find them first?
Ticking clock: who finds the shoes first and wins?

Character Emotional Development:
Steve: kleptomaniac with a fetish for shoes (gives a clear sense of his strength, flaw, love)
Marnie: shy college senior with only one foot (gives a clear sense of her flaw, backstory wound, strength)

Thematic Significance:
At this point the story hinges more on the quirky characterizations of the point-of-view characters and less on a higher calling. If one of them have a goal of winning the plant that includes a higher purpose the thematic significance heightens.

Romance: Any story about a girl and a boy | a woman and a man always offers the possibility of a heart connection between them.

As the concept is written here, the whimsy of the tale is enough for your family, friends, agents, editors, readers to ask for more and thus satisfy the basic demand of a story concept.
Next Concept 1-day Workshop -- Saturday, September 13th.

(If you haven't already, join us at the A Path to Publishing FB group. Jill and I created the Facebook group as safe, smart, fun alcove for writers and illustrators to share and learn about the craft of writing and the book biz. This is NOT a place to sell your books but a forum for us all to advance our skills, our creativity and our dreams plus learn about what we are up to at A PATH TO PUBLISHING. All genres for all ages Welcome!)

Today I write!
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For more: Read my Plot Whisperer and Blockbuster Plots books for writers.
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Need more help with your story? 

• Looking for tips to prop up your middle with excitement? 
• Wish you understood how to show don't tell what your character is feeling? 
• Are even you sometimes bored with your own story?
• Long to form your concept into words? 

We can help you with all of that and so much more! View your story in an entirely new light. Recharge your energy and enthusiasm for your writing.

PlotWwiMo: REVISE YOUR NOVEL IN A MONTH
PlotWriMo: Revise Your Novel in a Month includes 8 videos  (5.5 hours)  + 30 exercises

Pre-Plot Using a Historical Novel Example

Begin pre-plotting with the 1st exercise in The Plot Whisperer Workbook: Step-by-step Exercises to Help You Create Compelling Stories.

By creating a character transformation and evolving all three major plotlines over the beginning, middle and end of the story, you're left with a bird's eye view of your story. Turns out this exercise is intense to some writers and daunting to others, so much so that a writer friend declared the workbook the Ph.D. program for writers. Not my intent, I assure you.

Rather than become overwhelmed by the complexity of the task, break the exercise down into its parts, beginning with the Character Transformation Statement.

Last night in book group, we discussed the debut historical novel: The Doctor and the Diva by Arienne McDonnell.

Plot, plot, plot, the story is all about plot, everyone exclaimed. I disagreed.

The book is masterful at keeping the suspense and curiosity high with clearly defined goals and ticking clocks. Scenes are tightly linked by cause and effect. Provocative themes explored. The historical details about all the different exotic locales and occupations were breath-taking and the author's prose lovely.

So, what's the problem?

Though the dramatic action plot stays true to the structure of the Universal story and the historical details are spot-on, the character emotional development plot is devoid of its most important element = no character transformation in the end. None. Not one character. All the characters are exactly the same at the end of the story as they started out in the beginning.

Don't let this problem befall your story.

Begin pre-plotting with the ultimate character transformation in mind. Start there. 

More Plot Tips: 

1) Plot your story step-by-step with the help of The Plot Whisperer Workbook: Step-by-step Exercises to Help You Create Compelling Stories 

2) Read The Plot Whisperer: Secrets of Story Structure Any Writer Can Master

3) Watch the Monday Morning Plot Book Group Series on YouTube. Scroll down on the right of this post for a directory the book examples and plot elements discussed.

For additional tips and information about the Universal Story and plotting a novel, memoir or screenplay, visit:
Blockbuster Plots for Writers
Plot Whisperer on Facebook
Plot Whisperer on Twitter