writing a book: plot, story structure, & drafting an outline 💭
creating the "cherrywood" universe and sharing resources you can implement yourself 🍒☕️🌻
Welcome back to “I’m writing a book! And you’re invited to join along. 💌”
I’m your host and writer, Mariah, and today we’re gonna be diving into what makes a plot, how you can take that plot and format it with story structure, and then get cracking on an outline. I know, I know … ambitious.
What’s new for today’s post? OUR FIRST VLOG.
Did it take me a few tries? Yes. Am I excited to grow from here? Also, yes!
You can find the vlog at the end of this post. I would view the vlog as a companion piece to this article. I’ll be covering the same topics, but providing examples of how I’m applying the following to Cherrywood. Additionally, there will be fun behind-the-scenes moments and lifestyle anecdotes. ☕️
Full disclosure: The video is set to “Unlisted.” This means only people with the link will be able to view it. I want to keep these vlogs in our community circle and it eases the anxiety of being out on the very accessible world of YouTube. All that to say, if you’d like to share it with a fellow writer or creator who would benefit from the information and ✨vibes✨, please go for it!
(As I mentioned in previous posts, there will be paid/private articles that include videos in the near future. By no means am I pressuring you to commit to a paid subscription! I understand wanting to see what’s so special before committing.🤍)
When Dani suddenly loses her job, she calls home and learns her father has rented their house and moved back to Cherrywood, a town she hasn't lived in since she was ten. With her sister away at college and her father running her grandmother’s flower shop, Dani must adapt to the slow pace of small-town life. Reconnecting with childhood friends, she uncovers the truth about the accident that made her family leave years ago. What starts as a temporary stay turns into a journey of hard truths, renewed friendships, and unexpected love. Dani learns that sometimes, the only way to move forward is to go back to where it all began.
You remember Plot! Plot from 4th grade? She looks the same!
All stories follow a simple plan. A series of unfortunate events, if you will… These events line up to flow in a forward order. “That makes them easy to diagram — and if you can’t diagram your plot, it needs some work.”
Plot is the five main pieces of a story:
Exposition (the beginning, introduce: setting, characters, and problem)
Rising Action (the events that build up to the climax of the story, usually character development and trying to solve a problem, tension ramps up)
Climax (the most exciting or intense part of the story, a turning point)
Falling Action (things are different or have changed, the events that lead to the resolution)
Resolution (problem solved, the end)
The last time we chatted about writing a book, I laid out world-building and character profiles. I would say all of the work that goes into that phase of writing (mood boards, music playlists, and character questionnaires) helps strengthen your exposition. It gets us excited, but what parts keep us excited?
Scenes we daydream about. The ones we scribble on a random piece of paper or notes app.* And if you’re not documenting all of these ideas and inspiration somewhere, you have to start! Maybe we have a good memory, but why risk it?
That’s why I use my favorite notebook, my notes app, Google Docs, and/or my novel writing Notion template. (Any cloud sync tool is superior.)
My favorite scenes to ideate and organize are usually the rising action events. This would make sense because rising action takes the longest. It’s where we give the readers a chance to connect with the characters. Whether that’s through love, hate, or indifference … it’s for you to decide!
But imagining the turning point of your story? The big scene? The drama? Ooff. That’s when the niche (but not uncommon at all) fantasy training/battle music playlists are all worth it. And I’m not judging! I am that girl too.
I have to say. Although I know the ending of my stories. I know what I want my main character to have learned. And I know how I want the world to have changed. I still find writing the falling action and resolution to be the hardest. How do you properly and confidently wrap up everything with a bow?
Plot is your ingredients. Story structure is your recipe. And there are hundreds of ways to make chocolate cake.
Once you’ve settled on your plot, you can choose what story structure fits your needs best. There are several popular choices:
Freytag’s Pyramid
The Hero’s Journey
Three-Act Structure
The Dan Harmon Story Circle*
The Fichtean Curve
Save the Cat*
If you want a detailed blog on each of these story structures, this article by Reedsy is incredibly informative. There are diagrams for each structure, which I appreciated because sometimes it’s easier to understand with visuals. Additionally, it was cool to learn that not all story structures are linear.
Seven story structures stand before me … and the Three-Act Structure was the fit for my story. 🙂↔️👑
As all story structures do, it has the elements of a plot. But I like that this one lets me organize them into three parts with smaller milestones between major points. In my vlog, I talk about how Cherrywood uses this structure.
FINAL_FINAL_FINAL_OUTLINE.docx
I did research the several ways you can outline your book. And I firmly stand in my belief that you’re perfectly capable of creating your desired version of an outline. Heck, it might even be several versions that you somehow mesh into one.
It’s safe to say you’ll use your plot and story structure as the base of your outline.
But we all accumulate and document our ideas or scenes differently. If you’re more of a visual person, you might want to lay out all your post-its in order and take a picture. Or, if you’re more of a list person, you might want to take all your notes and plug them into a text document. Or, if you’re both left and right brained, you’re probably using something like Miro to pair images with scenes.
For Cherrywood, I had all my ideas in different places. My notes. My Google Docs. My notes app.
So, it made sense for me to consolidate all of them into one readable document. Then, I began to filter and organize them into my story structure. Now, I have an organized number list, broken down by chapters, for me to start writing!
… oh no, we’ve arrived at the writing train station and we have to board.
Writing a Book | Vlog 01
*I recently watched “The Recipe for Storytelling with Ayo Edebiri” on This is Keke Palmer. I found the portion of Ayo talking about her writing process validating and insightful. Especially when she talks about how she records inspiration and ideas.
*I actually learned about The Dan Harmon Story Circle by attending a talk on How to End a Love Story at BookPeople with Yulin Kuang and Ali Hazelwood. Kuang mentioned that she used that structure for her writing!
*I’ve shared scans of Save the Cat! Writes a Novel: The Last Book On Novel Writing You'll Ever Need in previous posts. I found it helpful, especially if you want detailed examples from books and films.
I hope you found this post insightful. ☕️ As always, thank you so much for taking the time to read and be a part of Sunday Romantics Club.
Please consider leaving a tip in support of my work. It would mean so much! And if you’re curious about being a paid sub, I would consider it soon. 🤍
Coming up, I’m excited to talk (and film) first drafts. 📞
Until then, you can follow me on TikTok, Pinterest, and Spotify. 🫶🏼
Currently writing my first book so this was so helpeful! Thank you for sharing 💗
currently finishing a short story and this article was so inspiring and helpful!! tysm!
p.s. mentioned you in my podcast episode but I think I totally mispronounced your name so sorry about that!!