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Start with a character facing a problem. The Open University's Start writing fiction course suggests developing a character, then adding a dilemma, challenge or conflict to generate plot. The brief below applies that idea to one chapter.
1. Give the chapter one job
Write your premise in one sentence, then choose the next change the story needs.
Original example premise: A harbor archivist discovers that her late mother helped erase a ferry voyage from the town's records.
Chapter two's job: Give Lena her first living witness to the voyage, while exposing evidence she wanted to keep private.
This is the writer's intended outcome. Lena's immediate goal is simpler: persuade a retired harbor clerk to identify someone aboard. She doesn't yet know that the clerk was a passenger himself.
2. Diagnose a weak brief
Weak version: “Lena visits the clerk, learns secrets about the ferry, and leaves determined to investigate.”
Three details are missing. Visiting the clerk describes an activity, but gives Lena no specific result to pursue. “Learns secrets” leaves the revelation undefined, so a draft could reveal the whole mystery too early. Leaving determined describes her mood without showing what has changed or what she'll do next.
Stronger version: “Lena asks the clerk to identify a passenger. When he denies the voyage happened, she risks showing her mother's route sketch. He recognizes an annotation, admits he was aboard, and offers to talk at low tide.”
Now Lena's action leads to a discovery and a concrete next step. The result satisfies her goal in an unexpected way: the person she hoped could name a witness turns out to be that witness.
3. Fill in the chapter brief
- Chapter:
- The Missing Passenger
- Viewpoint and voice:
- Close third person through Lena, past tense; a quiet coastal mystery.
- Starting knowledge:
- Lena has her mother's route sketch, but no passenger list or confirmed witness.
- Immediate goal:
- Persuade the retired harbor clerk to identify one person aboard the voyage.
- Obstacle:
- He insists the voyage never happened and ends the conversation whenever she mentions her mother.
- Choice:
- Lena shows him the sketch, revealing evidence she intended to keep private.
- Turning point and result:
- He recognizes an annotation and admits he was aboard. Lena has identified a passenger.
- Ending:
- He offers to talk at low tide, away from the harbor office.
- Continuity limits:
- Keep the destination and reason for the cover-up unknown. Lena cannot narrate the clerk's private thoughts.
Lena gains a witness, but someone else now knows she holds her mother's evidence. That trade-off gives the conversation consequences beyond the information exchanged.
4. Copy this blank template
Use short phrases. If a field is uncertain, mark it as a question rather than quietly treating a guess as an established fact.
Chapter number and working title: [ ] Chapter's job in the story: [What should change?] Viewpoint and voice: [Whose experience, which tense and tone?] Starting knowledge: [What does this character know on arrival?] Immediate goal: [What specific result are they trying to achieve?] Obstacle: [Who or what makes that difficult?] Choice: [What does the character decide to do?] Turning point and result: [What changes, and is the goal met?] Ending: [What action, question or consequence carries forward?] Continuity limits: [What must remain true or unresolved?]
A chapter can contain several scenes. Use this brief for its main change, then add a smaller brief for any scene that needs its own goal and outcome.
5. Check the cause and effect
Before drafting, ask:
- Can I tell whether the character achieves the immediate goal?
- Does the discovery follow from something the character does?
- What becomes harder, riskier or newly possible?
- Does the ending give the next chapter something specific to address?
- Have I separated known facts from unanswered questions?
Failure can be a useful outcome too. If the clerk refuses to name anyone, specify what that refusal costs Lena or forces her to try next. The important thing is that the chapter leaves the situation changed.
6. Use the brief to diagnose a draft
Find the passage where Lena shows the sketch and the clerk admits he was aboard. Check what the draft actually puts on the page:
- Missing cause: Would he make the same admission if she kept the sketch hidden? Show what he recognizes and how his response changes.
- Viewpoint slip: Does the narration state what the clerk secretly thinks? Use something Lena can hear or observe, or clearly mark her interpretation as uncertain.
- Premature answer: Does he explain the destination or cover-up? Save that answer for its planned chapter; here, confirm only that he was aboard.
Original flawed passage: “Lena unfolded the sketch. The clerk remembered the secret crossing and knew she deserved the truth. He told her everything.”
It names an action but skips the exchange that makes it matter, enters the clerk's mind, and releases more information than the brief allows.
One possible repair: “Lena kept the sketch under her palm. Then she pushed it toward him. His finger stopped at her mother's penciled cross. ‘That mark,’ he said. ‘I watched her draw it.’ Lena leaned forward. ‘You were aboard?’ He nodded. ‘Low tide. I'll talk then.’”
The repair makes recognition observable and gives Lena a narrow answer. It leaves the larger mystery open.
For an AI-assisted revision, supply the brief and the passage, then ask: “Revise this exchange in Lena's viewpoint. Let recognition of the sketch prompt the clerk's admission. Keep the destination and reason for the cover-up unknown. End with his offer to talk at low tide.” Check the result against those limits yourself.
A draft may uncover a better direction. If you deliberately keep it, update the brief and check any later chapters that rely on the changed fact before polishing sentences.
Makebook offers editable book plans, chapter drafts and AI revisions. Start with your premise, then use this brief to review the purpose of your next chapter.
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