Planning the plot for doujinshi

1. Pre-sketching

First, determine the story that will be made, such as adventures, romances, friendships, or others. Then analyse the plot theme and the messages that want to be delivered. Next, determine the location/setting plot and the characters that will be involved. Make the sketching for location images and the characters. Finally, begin to plan the plot structure in details. This step is so important to distribute the share of pages and to determine the overall balancing of doujinshi that will be made.

2. Set up the plot plan

Plot is usually being made of four level:

a) Introduction

This level is to introduce the characters, especially the hero and heroin characters. The details for each characters like name, age, short description of their background and characteristic must be included so that reader will recognized them.

b) Conflict

Conflict is divided into two parts, the beginning conflict and the middle conflict.
The beginning conflict is usually the introduction of antagonis character. If there is no antagonis, then it will be the starting problem for the hero/heroin. This part is very important because if it was not arrange properly, it will disturb the overall plot. The details must be reveal carefully, don’t reveal all the important details in the beginning conflict. The middle conflict is the chapter where hero/heroin tries to solve the conflict. In this part, the hero/heroin will discover more details of the problems arise.

c) Climax

Climax is a critical moment where the hero will fight the antagonis leader and facing the most difficult problem. All questions wil be answered in this part.

d) Ending

Ending part will shows the scenario after the conflict had been solved, either it will be peace or sad. It will also be the clue for the next episode (for continue series).

Tips: The share of pages for one-shot (8-12 pages) usually use the 1:3:2:1 ratio (intro:conflict:climax:ending).