When you’re writing for TV, the idea of writing using the ABC plotting can be scary. In this blog, I’m going to break down what it is and how to use it effectively in your own work.
What is ABC Story Plotting?
ABC story plotting is splitting your story into strands. The A story is the main protagonist’s storyline which takes up the majority of the screentime. The B story is usually a secondary character going off and doing something else. This takes up less time than the A story. Then there’s the C story. This strand is usually assigned to a secondary character and it could feed back into what’s going on in the A story.
You can have more than the three strands, but take this caution that the more strands you create, the more confusing your work will be. Simplify where you can. It’ll make it a lot easier for your viewers and readers to follow that way.
The A Story
The A story is usually where the main story sits. If you’re following, for example, a detective solving a crime, then this strand is where you would focus in on it. Put in when they find certain clues. Where they interview someone and they slip up.
If you pace your story using act structure this kind of thought will be really helpful. You’ll need to think of acts for each episode. It also is useful to think of it across your series too. This is referred to as the overarching story. It’s the one that carries on throughout your series. Plotting these little nuggets across the series will give you the chance to have twists to keep your audience hooked.
The B Story
The B story is usually plotted to follow a secondary character as they go and find something out. In something like Midsomer Murders, it may be that this is when we follow DCI Barnaby’s right hand officer (Troy, Scott, Jones, Nelson or Winter) as they go off to investigate a lead. This helps us to find out more information from a different point of view than our main protagonist.
The C Story
This story strand can be plotted to follow a certain character or a group of characters. In the same example, if we were in Midsomer Murders, then this strand would likely be the one following what our suspects are up to. Maybe we see some shifty conversations. Maybe someone disposes of something that looks like a murder weapon. It could also be where we have a lighter tone or a comedic addition to the story to lighten the overall tone.
The ABC Story Plotting
Being able to balance all the story plotting strands takes practice. I’m not perfect on getting it right either. When I’ve tried this myself, I try and plot the events and clues I need to uncover for each strand. When I’ve got them all listed out, I then interweave the points to pace the story properly. Maybe there’s a gap where the A story leaps onto the next bit where I could interweave what goes on in the B story or C story. It’s finding those gaps to keep the pace up and plan in where there could be ad breaks too.
This way of plotting isn’t just a TV method either. If you’ve ever read a novel where the chapters change point of view, this kind of planning might work for you. It’s giving you the opportunity to play around with the structure. It’s not set in stone either.
A lot of writing this way is about trying to plan out when story points happen. When writing and it doesn’t feel right in the current position, move it. Maybe it needs to be in Act 1 instead of Act 3 or needs to be in Act 2 just after the midpoint. Feel free to play around and find what flows best for you in plotting your story. It can take some practice in finding your flow of how you write.
I hope this blog has been useful in understand how to plot your stories using the A, B and C story plots. For more inspiration on introducing characters, writing opening images, or writing strong ideas, you can check out my previous blogs, including a list of writing books I found useful.
Happy writing!