This is the simplest aspect of plotting. And one, oddly, I have great difficulty with.

Essentially, the elements are (for romance):
1. Hero
2. Heroine
3. A scenario that puts them together, that also drives them apart.
4. Goals, conflict and motivation -- which is not relevant to what I'm trying to talk about right now.

Let's look at a simple plot. Because I want to expand on this while I talk about the other two plotting aspects, I'm going to go with a paranormal plot.

So. Let's create our characters.

1. Our heroine is a thrill-seeker, but has absolutely no belief in anything paranormal.
2. Our hero is a ghost, killed in the victorian era by his wife.

And our setting: A group of friends have dared our heroine to join them in an attempt to stay in a haunted house overnight.

And the little details necessary to accomplish the storyline:
a. Our heroine has been having dreams about a handsome man who -- let's just say he has a body and knows how to use it.
b. Our hero has major trust issues (obviously) with women. But he wants to escape his damnation and confinement to this house where he died.

So. The simple plot is:
Our heroine must overcome her disbelief in the supernatural. Our hero must overcome his trust issues. When they can do this, and they admit to being in love, he will have his freedom -- to live again. Thus our Happy Ever After, a necessary romance element.

Simple. All one has to do is craft encounters in the haunted house and walah! The simple plot is achieved.

There are authors (like me) who find the simple plot far too boring to go that route. So tomorrow, we'll complicate it a bit.

~Claire
www.claireashgrove.com
www.toristclaire.com