Favorite Plotting/Structure Methods

IMO, take your pick. Study them enough and they all basically become the same thing. Plot is like a nebula, it looks different from lots of perspectives, but in the end... it's still the same nebula. That said, I don't full fledge plot (did that in screenwriting) and it becomes just sort of engrained. I watched a real complex explanation for "complex" plots a while back (don't recall his name for it) and I was like, Dude, you're just weaving modern 3-act structure from a different approach/name system.

But! I am also a big believer in coming at the same target from multiple directions, sometimes that's necessary to make the bulb light up. But! Modern 3-act can and will handle anything you've got if you delve into its finer intricasies.

 

I agree with Des that they are basically the same thing. I have made my own plotting/outlining system by using the outline methods from the following authors:

-Chris Fox S.A.L.E.S (he has a youtube channel an also writes non-fiction publishing information for Indies)
-Libbie Hawker's Take Off Your Pants
-Romancing The Beat by Gwen Hayes

...and now adding in a few tidbits from Story Grid by Shawn Coyne. I'm always looking to improve my methods! So there are four to start with.

 

I'm always reading different takes even when I realize it's just a different view of the same thing, because you never know when you'll see something that will make another something click a little differently, LOL.

My pants vary from dangling at the knees to tripping me at the ankles, but they never come off... heh heh.

 

Oscars 2017 Winner and Nominees Basic Deconstructions

KalBashir.com - YouTube

 

I quite like the approach laid out in the book Story Engineering.