Fiction Writing Site
	Elsa Neal BellaOnline's Fiction Writing Editor

Creating conflict in your story
Unlike real life where most of us try to avoid conflict, in fiction conflict is one of the elements that drives the story. The protagonist has a goal, and has to overcome the conflict and obstacles that prevent him from reaching his goal. Conflict increases reader sympathy for the protagonist.

Plotting - constructing the perception matrix
If the raw plot is the backbone of your story, the perception matrix, or perception framework, is the muscle that manipulates other elements of the story.

Plotting your story – structure
The plot of a book gives reasons and explanations for some or all of the events in the book, ties up loose ends and coincidences (sometimes), and gives a story a satisfying conclusion.

The 36 Dramatic Situations
The 36 dramatic situations were compiled by Georges Polti in the 1800s based on the earlier work of Carlo Gozzi. A 37th situation has been doing the rounds of the Internet for almost ten years, and is included at the end of this list.

The Snowflake Method for Writing a Novel [offsite link]
Randy Ingermanson explains in detail how to design the plot of your novel using the Snowflake Method - start small and build up the detail.

To plan or not to plan
Some writing advice says forget the planning stage - just write. Others say plan, plan, plan in great detail. And there are successful authors to prove both theories. How do you work out which method is best for you?

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