How to diagram the plot of your crime novel

How to write a crime novel, episode 9

Diagram the plot of your crime novel to make writing the book easier and beat writer’s block. When you’re figuring out the structure of your crime novel, it will help to have a diagram of how the plot is developing. This post explains how to draw the plot of your crime novel, so that you’ll always know what you have to write next by looking at a single sheet of paper.

Here’s what you have to do, briefly:

• Draw two axes. Then a single rising line to represent the movement of the plot
• Two parallel lines for the ends of Act I and Act II
• Mark Act I, II and III, and the midpoint (You’ll see where all these elements go in the diagram by watching the video and seeing me draw an example.)
• Mark Plot Point 1 and Plot Point 2
• Fill in the key events of the plot on this graph.
• Use different colours for action, key characters, subplots, clues, etc.

Watch the video on Instagram or Tiktok. Follow my socials for more writing videos like this one.