Plotting Plot

Plot is one of the few things that drives me insane! Why? Because I can never be happy with. Its got to make the story interesting, it has got to be dynamic, its got to move the reader and it has to be consistent! Looking at what I've written there's so much complexity in what I want to achieve it's hard to think of the plot on a single line, there is diversity in the sub plot. Mapping out plot diagrams can be a good way to think about what's going on and mine are layered. You've got the plot on its surface, what physically happens, 'X does Y and moves onto Z', then you've got the purpose of different characters, for example the 'skeletal man' in The Delusion Wing and plotting him out on a diagram has allowed me to get a much better picture on what he should be doing - if he wants to convince Asaros to change her behaviour, as frightening as he's suppose to be, I don't think his first stage would be fear. Now I can look on a piece of paper and see how he reacts to each plot change and how much he plays with reality. I can look specifically at Asaros' emotions and look precisely how she develops as a character and say line it up with the death god and see how they correlate and make changes based on that.

For example 
Plot: Asaros commits her crime
Asaros: Fueled by anger, but scared on the inside, she fear's what's ahead
Skeletal Man: Up to him to use her fear to convince her that she was wrong

A separate sheet I've got is called 'questions', this is to consider what questions I would like the reader to be asking, for example:
Why does Asaros think her crime will achieve anything? Why is this demon-like thing patronising her? Then I can see where these questions might be answered, I'm not even sure the 'Why is this demon-like thing patronising her?' question will be answered in book one now that I've split up the plot. After the major plot turn (which is now the end of book 1) there is a lot for Asaros to learn and she is on a journey of discovery, Asaros understanding her condition, it could perhaps be one of the major themes in book 2 as the major theme in book 1 is 'corruption', which has a nice spider gram...written using different coloured pens (not to make them pretty, it's just I prefer variance in colour for visual cues). I think book 1 would be able to stand on its own without the rest of the story, which is good in the sense that it doesn't feel incomplete, but I have been debating with myself whether the ending would stand as an ending on its own leaving the readers to use their imagination or to carry on. Perhaps it is too early to be thinking about those things.