Plot Twists: What Are They and How to Plot Them

The straight and well-defined line of the Plot Planner is an attempt to control the twistier and often blurry reality of the Universal Story. Plot twists engage readers. Each time the dramatic action twists in an unexpected (and carefully foreshadowed) direction the protagonist is forced to define new goals and perform difficult tasks, pointing the reader in the direction of her true goal.

At each of the 4 Energetic Markers, imagine and list five horrible antagonists that create five most horrible events. Look for people and action that feel the most thematically true to the protagonist's ultimate transformation AND that twists the story in a new (and carefully foreshadowed) direction. The Plot Planner guides the direction and degree of story intensity and provides a place for expansion. Each horrible thing broadens the readers appreciation of the protagonist's sense of self beyond the limitations of what was currently visible in the story.

The New England Horror Writers (NEHW) just today followed me on Twitter, @NEhorrorwriters and RTed one of my tweets to their followers. I followed back with the comment how horror writers penetrate our deepest fears and bring darkness to light.

In real life most of us run from the dark. We're afraid of the unknown and always looking for the light or dulled to an ashy grey. We deny our feelings and our protagonist's their shadows. We attempt to navigate the straight and narrow line of the Plot Planner, afraid of losing control of the story and falling into an abyss.

The braver you are, the bigger your story. Rather than confuse the reader, each plot twist spins the story deeper into the darkness of what haunts the protagonist, urges her to take heart and gather her courage for her next defined test of initiation and, in the end, brings the light and her true personal power.

At each step deeper, name the emotion. Search for the truth in the emotion. Convey that step, that emotion in an active, energetic and meaningful way, fulfilling the three major plot lines:

Character Emotional Development Plot -- emotion
Dramatic Action Plot -- steps taken / resistance met
Thematic Significance Plot -- defines that action / the meaning of her emotion

At each twist and turn and dark thing that happens as she pursues lofty ideals define her next specific short-term goal. Imagine the next horrible thing, obstacle, challenge, demon she meets. Foreshadow and twist the forward action in yet a different direction that affords a new view of her. Show emotions thematically true to her.

Each time an antagonist twists the story in a new direction, the protagonist defines a new goal like an arrow flying in the direction that brings forward her true purpose, releases power and provides her the freedom to conquer her fears and align with the final confrontation in her willingness to transform.

Definition of Plot for Writers

Plot integrates dramatic action, a character’s emotional development, and thematic significance in a story.  

 

To further break down plot: 

PLOT is a series of

scenes

deliberately arranged by

cause and effect

to create

dramatic action

 filled with

conflict, tension, suspense, and/or curiosity

 to further the

character’s emotional development

and provide

thematic significance

 

What does that mean?

A.     Scenes

Plot is a series of scenes that show outward action.  Scenes are in the now, the physical, moment-by-moment.  Action is a scene marker, as is dialogue.  Think of each scene as a little story plot of its own.

 

B.    Cause and Effect

Plot is a series of scenes deliberately arranged by cause and effect.  Cause and effect means that each scene comes directly from the preceding scene.  One scene causes the next, creating a satisfying story for audiences because each scene is organic. From the seeds you plant in the first scene, the next scene emerges.

 

C.    Dramatic Action

Plot is a series of scenes deliberately arranged by cause and effect to create dramatic action.  Dramatic action means that the scenes played out moment-by-moment through action and dialogue include tension.

 

D.   Conflict, Tension, Suspense, and/or Curiosity

 

Plot is a series of scenes deliberately arranged by cause and effect to create dramatic action filled with conflict, tension, and suspense. Story is conflict shown in scene. Conflict, tension, and suspense force the audience members to the edge of their seats. Conflict, tension, and suspense are built through setbacks, not through good news.

 

E.    Character’s Emotional Development

Plot is a series of scenes deliberately arranged by cause and effect to create dramatic action filled with conflict, tension, and suspense to further the character’s emotional development.  Authors’ and screenwriters’ develop story plots around the characters. More than anything else, an audience and readers identify most with the character.  Characters in a story show the story through their reactions and emotions to the dramatic action. 

We connect to one another through emotion. A character able to “show” an emotional response to the conflict and action engages the reader, while a character who merely “tells” how she feels about what happened is boring and often unbelievable. A character’s action or behavioral response to conflict, during the event itself and later, in relating the conflict, is most compelling to an audience.  Your audience needs to understand and care about your characters who represent the heart of your story.  Emotional meaning always comes from your characters.

 

F.    Thematic Significance

Plot is a series of scenes deliberately arranged by cause and effect to create dramatic action filled with conflict, tension, and suspense to further the character’s emotional development and create thematic significance.  Thematic significance ties your entire story together. It is the main thrust of your story and what you hope to prove through your presentation.  The theme is the why: what you want your audience to take away after having read your story. The deeper meaning of the story becomes the thematic significance. 

More on Emotion and Plot

Following the in-depth article Emotion Makes the Character with tips for creating emotion in your characters, I offer the following:

Use of the following behaviors, which impede effective communication, create conflict and tension and reveal character:

Walking away
Sarcasm
Blame
Short Temper
Withdrawal
Not listening
Talking over
Looking away
Shouting
Anger
Criticism
Intellectualizing
Debating the complaint
Threatening to leave
Counter-complaints

(List is thanks to my dear friend, Teresa LeYung Ryan, and Emillo Escudero. Thanks!)

Gotta run. More later....

Connecting to the Character

People read stories and go to the movies 70% for the character. We love to peek into other people's lives, even if the other people are mere characters in a book or movie.

This last writer's story is filled with dramatic action, which makes for an exciting story. I find myself anxious to hear what happens next, and what happens after that. The writer masterfully provides more and more compelling action, and does so seamlessly through consistent cause and effect. The Dramatic Action plot line rises quickly and effectively.

Still, the more intriguing the mystery, the scarier the suspense, the more cardboard action figure-like the characters become as they passively allow the dramatic action to happen. The more exciting the action, the more the characters are ignored and the less I find out about how the characters. especially the protagonist, are affected by the dramatic action. Without the help of the character to draw me closer, I find myself separating further and further from the story.

At this point in the consultation, I go over the importance of goal setting for the protagonist ~~ both at the scene level and the overall story level. The better a writer is at establishing concrete goals for her characters, the easier it is for her to keep track of the affects on the character as the character succeeds and fails in achieving her goals.

[Note: At a recent Plot Planner Writers Workshop, one of the writers expressed confusion between a goal and a dream. A goal is quanifiable and under the protagonist's control. In other words, the character is capable of succeeding. Whether they actually do or not is up to them. A dream, on the other hand, requires a bit of magic or help from outside sources. The protagonist cannot fulfill his or her own dreams, but must rely on the help of others.]

In the consultation, I never find out why the protagonist is missing when her husband is nearly killed. Why? Because the writer doesn't know either. A critical door into the character on a deep, personal level is never opened by the author and thus, would have robbed the future readers or movie-goers from the intimate bond of knowing.

The writer uses the protagonist to advance the Dramatic Action plot line, but ignores the Character Emotional Development plot line almost completely.

Still, she has done the hard part. The story is written. The dramatic action propels the story in quick and exciting ways. Once pointed out, the doors are easily opened. By attending to what is behind each door, the writer's chances improve for bringing satisfaction to future fans through knowing the character even better than the character knows herself.

Character Makes the Plot

Last night, I furiously jotted down notes during my book group's discussion of Stieg Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Although I avoid reading and watching violence of any kind, I read this book like one possessed. For a couple of days I was addicted to Lisbeth and have thought of her often since then. 

Yes, there is an interesting mystery plot, historical plot, political plot, dramatic action plot, and possibly other ones as well, but what drew me in was Lisbeth's plot and ultimate transformation.

In the group, I asked why? What about this character drew us in so deeply and emotionally, especially since the protagonist has such a flat affect and shares so little of herself emotionally -- her internal landscape is essential bare.

The following are comments made by the other writers and one non-writer in the group (my personal thanks to each of you for contributing):

• Rarely in literature is there such an unusual female protagonist survivor with special needs (autistic / aspergers) and one who is so violent 
  
• She doesn't belly up and lay down and take the abuse inflicted upon her by a flawed system and pathological men. She fights back and wins
  
• She is young and strange and smarter and wiser than the men in the story
  
• When she is off the page, the story lags. As soon as she appears, the story picks up momentum
  
• She has been abandoned by everyone in her life, as a reader I couldn't abandon her, too.
  
• She starts out a victim but does not remain a victim
  
• Another reason the plot and this character work well together is that it shows good reversal of conflict: a "misfit" wins and the "powerful" loses
• Her visits to her mother show her humanity
  

Writers often encourage me to write a book on character to compliment the book I wrote on plot. I always explain that in my mind character is such a key element to plot that it is impossible to separate the two. Blockbuster Plots Pure & Simple is based on the belief that plot is made up of dramatic action that overtime transforms the character (Character Emotional Development) to provide meaning (Thematic Significance). 

The End of the Beginning (1/4) of Lisbeth's inner plot line happens when her new guardian of the state changes the terms (1/4 mark in this book is page 161, merely twenty pages off the actual page count of 181).

At the Crisis (halfway point) for her inner plot, Lisbeth understands no one is going to save her. Only she can save herself and other women like her. In this scene, Larsson both foreshadows what is to come and also gives the character the insight for what is needed for her ultimate transformation. 

In the end, she is able to outwit the villain by standing in her true power. She is able to show her transformed self at the Climax because of the dramatic action that happens to her earlier in the story. 

Thematic significance statement: One person no matter how young or wounded is able with cunning and patience to conquer evil. 

How Much Plot is Too Much Plot?

Question: 

I know the entire story. I'm just not sure how much to tell.

Answer:

Tell only the parts that show more about: 

1) the character emotional development -- this info should come in stages, revealing deeper and deeper layers, the deeper and deeper the reader reads

2) the theme -- as the plot advances, the thematic significance of the story deepens

3) the dramatic action -- action becomes dramatic when filled with conflict, tension, suspense, and / or curiosity -- the sense of threat is both internally and externally driven

4) the details that make up with world the characters live in -- use only authentic and specific details and go for as much symbolism as possible

Tell nothing more. Show nothing less.

Character Transformation

The moment the protagonist is hit with the decision whether to change or remain the same either comes at the:

• 1/2 way point (based on the page or scene count) or
• 3/4 mark or the Crisis 

In some stories, the character emotional development plot line (CED) "wake-up call" occurs at the 1/2 way point. 

In other stories, the CED plot hits simultaneously with the dramatic action (DA) plot line at the 3/4 mark or the Crisis, the moment of greatest energetic impact in the story so far .

Either way, after the Crisis, the character is left to decide whether to take the hit to heart or not.

If the character understands the part she plays in her inability to achieve her long term goals and is willing to change, thus begins her conscious move toward transformation.

Keep in mind this forward movement is not smooth.

The best way I can explain how this path unfolds is to use an example from my life before I started writing and helping other writers develop the plot and structure of their stories. 

Years ago I had a clinic for kids with speech, language, and learning disabilities. When working with kids to master a new skill, I found they generally pass through three distinct stages:

1) Emergence -- in other words, the "new" behavior reveals itself only intermittently and when the child is consciously aware and trying. However, in play and when the child is not concentrating, the predominate behavior continues to be the "old" way.

This is also true of the protagonist after they decide to banish their inappropriate behavior or try to change a deeply entrenched negative habit. 

2) Regression -- in most cases, when the "new" behavior becomes more and more habituated, the time come when the child slides back to the "old" behavior. This set-back can be caused by stress or change. However, often, it is merely a time when the "old" behavior gives one last great gasp in its attempt to hold the child back. 

If the CED plot line Crisis hits at the 1/2 way point, then the regression or set-back takes place at the 3/4 mark and usually has a direct influence on the DA Crisis. If the CED plot line crisis hits at the Crisis at the 3/4 mark then the regression will come closer to the Climax at the end.

3) Mastery -- most of us do not come to mastery over an old habit without some struggle. Eventually, if effort is put forth and the "new" behavior is consciously worked on, mastery will come. Parents do not always understand this. They expect that with consciousness of how to perform the "new" behavior mastery is automatic. In the classroom, I often found that teachers shared the same expectations. Kids are tested on the information at a mastery level rather than as an emerging behavior 1st and mastery over time.

Lots of writers I work with operate under the same assumption. The Crisis hits. The protagonist's eyes are open as to how their flaw interferes with them attaining their life goal. Automatic mastery. Wrong!

This is almost never the case in real life or in stories. Try it yourself. Decide to change a behavior that has been habituated over time. See how many mistakes you make and revert back to the "old" behavior before you find yourself at a mastery level.

Mastery for the protagonist is shown in all its glory at the Climax at the end of the book where the character shows their true and ultimate transformation.

One Plot Strand Stronger than Another

As an addendum to Plot or No Plot, I'd like to clarify the Plotless...

When I say literary novels are plotless, what I mean is that the Character Emotional Development plot-line is at the fore and drives the story. Dramatic Action is present, though generally as a prop more than a plot. Thematic Significance makes the entire story worth reading. And... the Universal Story Form is always flawlessly present.

The Deeper the Meaning, the More Lasting the Project

Every story that becomes a classic has at least three universal plot threads:

(1) Character Emotional Development
(2) Dramatic Action
(3) Thematic Significance

Many writers develop one plot line at a time. The plot line you first choose to carry through the entire first draft is usually directly tied to your strength; strength determines preference (Take the Test).

Whether you begin with the Character Emotional Development plot line or the Dramatic Action plot line, most writers put off the Thematic Significance plot line to the end.

By your final draft, you have at least a vague idea of the deeper meaning of your story, what you are trying to say and the ways you have attempted to communicate that meaning through your story to your audience.

Crystallize the meaning you are attempting to convey into two specific universal themes and improve your chances of creating a classic blockbuster project.

Two Kinds of Thematic Significance

When a character is changed at depth over time, a story becomes thematically significant.

1) Character Emotional Development Thematic Significance

In Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Nick serves as the narrator. Of all the characters in the story, Nick is the only one who is changed by the Dramatic Action, thus making Nick also the protagonist. (The definition of a protagonist is the character most changed by the dramatic action in the story. Unlike The Great Gatsby, if other characters are changed by the dramatic action in your story, then the protagonist is determined as a matter of degree and significance of change.

Some might point to Gatsby as the protagonist, alive in the beginning and dead in the end. What counts with thematic significance is not the change from alive to dead, but how the dramatic action creates a long-term emotional change in the protagonist.

Nick sets his own thematic significance in Chapter 3 when he states that he is one of the few honest people he has known. Since he is the narrator, the reader is curious to know if he is reliable, or not. Does Nick have a clear sense of himself from his time in the war as he thinks? Or, does he have more to learn about himself before he can accurately judge himself? In the end, Nick understands he has only begun to live up to his initial assessment of himself as stated in the beginning.

A thematic significance statement for Nick’s character emotional plotline could be:

Only with maturity and assuming personal and moral responsibility are we able to accurately judge ourselves and others.

Hands on
1) Who is the protagonist of your story?
2) Write down a Thematic Significance statement that encompasses the emotional transformation your protagonist undergoes from the beginning and throughout to the end of the story.
3) Infuse your story with the theme through details and comparisons, metaphor and simile.


2) Dramatic Action Thematic Significance

The Great Gatsby, as with all classic stories, deals with universal themes. Along with Nick’s personal thematic significance, there is also an overall meaning or Thematic Significance for the entire story.

A thematic significance statement for The Great Gatsby as a whole could be:

Ambition for money and another man’s wife leads to destruction.

Hands on:
1) Write down a Thematic Significance statement that encompasses the meaning of the overall story. In other words, what do all of the scenes and dramatic action together add up to mean in the end.
2) Infuse your story with this theme through details and comparisons, metaphor and simile.

When a story embodies universal themes for the characters themselves and through all of the elements and details of the story itself, a story becomes lasting.

Refer to Blockbuster Plots Pure & Simple for more tips about each of the three universal plot lines and how to incorporate each one in your writing project and have fun doing it.

Resistance

Comment from yesterday's post Great Doubt. Great Faith. Great Effort:

"This is one of my biggest struggles. I have faith in myself and my story, but I have a hard time finding the energy to actually write. Any tips on dealing with this?"

The comment came anonymously, so my answer won't appear personal.

Your lack energy for your writing is like a character who resists the call to adventure. Resistance generally comes from one or more of the following character profile traits (each of which has the potential to create dramatic action):

• fear
  
• flaw
  
• prejudice
  

At least that's what happens in stories -- it's the character herself who gets in her own way -- the Character Emotional Development plot line.

Based on that assumption, following is a tip for finding the energy to write:

1) Make a reminder sign -- a post-it note on the mirror, a ribbon hanging from the lamp shade, something to remind you of this tip.

2) As you brush your teeth or otherwise prepare for bed, meditate on your resistance.

3) With your head on the pillow, make a goal for yourself for the next day. Imagine yourself taking action, step-by-step toward your goal. Anticipate possible antagonists -- your own resistance included. See yourself in your mind's eye replacing the story you have been telling yourself that is causing your resistance with something different.

This is your life. You are in charge. You may not want to be. That's fine. Feel the resistance.

Now, tell yourself a different story, one that draws you to the successful completion of your goal.

There's no hurry. Either way, the day will come and the night will go. The only thing that changes is your attitude and your action. Think of it less a journey and more a process -- the process of being a writer...

Any other tips???

Character Emotion

In order to continue to reading or watching, readers and audiences need to understand and care about the characters. Even bloggers have to create a compelling character in order to hold a reader's attention. Yes, the action has to be exciting and there has to be some meaning attached to the writing. But, what people most identify with is the character.

One terrific way to help a reader connect is to "show" the character's response to the conflict and action. Not the character's internal monologue about how she feels about what just happened to her through the conflict and the action, what is best is an actual action or behavioral response.

Early in the story, the character's emotional responses as shown through their actions help identify and develop the character. Later in the story, the character's transformation is revealed through the transformation of their choices and behavioral responses.

We connect to one another through emotion.

A character's emotional reactions that come as a response to other dramatic action incidents deepen the readers and audience's understanding of who the character really is. When we know how the conflict emotionally affects the character, we care about the character.

Each time the character succeeds or fails as they go after their specific goals, follow up by "showing" their emotional reaction to their success or failure. By this, I do NOT mean, to "tell" us in internal monologue about how they are feeling, but to "show" us as an actual dramatic action response.

Writers are usually great at showing the character in dramatic action. Often, however, writers fail to "show":

** the character in preparations for conflict

AND / OR

** the character in reaction after the conflict

Of the three -- (1) a character in preparation for conflict, (2) a character in conflict, (3) a character in reaction to conflict -- what scenes flow the most freely from you?

No-plot, Really No Problem??

I recently received the following:

"I've a topic for you. What about the no-plot novel? I've always argued that a novel doesn't need a plot as long as it has a point, also there's the whole "character is plot" argument. The plots in my books are neither here nor there, just things to get my characters to do while I write about them."

I'm not certain what he's getting at here. "...as long as it has a point." I assume this refers to the deeper meaning of the piece or the Thematic Significance. "....character is the plot." I assume this refers to the Character Emotional Development. "...just things to get my characters to do while I write about them." This, I assume, is the crux of his query -- no dramatic action? Perhaps. If the "things" involve conflict that the character then has the opportunity to respond or react to emotionally, I'd say he is writing a novel with plot.

Again, I define plot as a series of scenes deliberately arranged by cause and effect to create dramatic action filled with conflict in order to further the character's emotional development and provide thematic significance. In other words, when the dramatic action causes the character to be changed at depth over time the story means something.

What do you think??? Is he writing with plot or no-plot? Perhaps I'm reading too much into what he's written because I dread thinking he's writing with no conflict involved. Don't get me wrong, I believe character carries the story. Still, even with beautiful language, internal conflict without any external conflict, could end up a slow, boring, flat read indeed.....

What do you think when you think plot?

Kids and teens learn in school that plot is a series of events linked by cause and effect.

That definition of makes me think a jewel thief wrote it. Someone dressed in black in a room full of shadows. A lightbulb hangs from the center of the room. She's wearing all black, and chalking out for the others her plot to steal a diamond ring.

Step One:
Get past the guard at the front door

Right off the bat and she is in trouble. HOW does she get by the guard at the door? The character element.

If you're a more intuitive writer, you come at this story from the character first -- A woman dressed in black breezes past the bank guard, her lips pursed in a kiss reserved for friends only.

Either way, a writer asks: because that happened, what happens next? (scenes linked by cause and effect).

Character messes with a straight-forward plot based on the series of events.

I prefer thinking about plot as all three threads intertwined:
Character Emotional Development
Dramatic Action
Thematic Significance

What do you think when you think plot?

JUGGLING PLOT LINES

When writers get stuck, it is usually because one or more of the three plot elements has been ignored by:
• Concentrating on action only, forgetting that character provides interest and is the primary reason that people go to the movies and read books.
• Organizing solely around the character and overlooking the fact that dramatic action provides the excitement every story needs.
• Forgetting to develop the overall meaning or the thematic significance of their stories. When the dramatic action changes the character at depth over time, the story becomes thematically significance.

It's tough to juggle all of these elements at once. We end up trying too hard. Our writing suffers. We become stiff and self-conscious. The joy of writing diminishes.

This isn't such a bad thing, if you're committed to being a writer. Learning the craft of writing is constant. The more you know, the more you appreciate how much you don't know.

In a plot consultation, the omissions slowly become clear to the writer. The more she understands both her strengths and her weaknesses, the faster she is able to identify what isn't working, why, and how to proceed.

The only way to know our strengths and weaknesses is to get feedback -- from a critique group, an editor, a plot consultant, or by individual plot analyzation.

Plot is made up of three intertwining threads:
• Character emotional development
• Dramatic action
• Thematic significance
In other words, the protagonist acts or reacts. In so doing, he or she is changed and something significant is learned.

When you write, do you juggle all three plot lines at once? Or, do you write one plot line a draft? Always curious about other writers' process......

Drowning in Meaning

One of the most fascinating aspects of being a plot coach for writers is learning about other writers' writing process.

Usually, I find that writers have a preference for communicating their projects through one plotline initially over the other three plotlines --- character emotional development, dramatic action, and thematic significance.

Most writers divide into one of two groups -- developing characters versus developing action. However, every so often I find a writer who approaches a story through the thematic significance or deeper meaning of the piece. Recently, I worked with a writer who not only excelled in thematic significance, she was drowning in it.

Sara, I'll call her, is a memoirist. Throughout the plot phone consultation, Sara’s fears of not being able to do what she had set out to do constantly interrupted the flow. Her self-doubts about her abilities and worthiness were doing to her what they do to all of us -- stall, cripple, and damage the writing process more than any lack in actual writing abilities.

To protect herself from her fears, Sara stayed in her head. She seemed incapable of bringing the story down into her body. As difficult as it was to get her to consider the dramatic action needed in her story, she was oblivious to developing the characters. Sara had spent years intellectualizing her memoir. She had never written a word.

Sara had strong beliefs she was determined to bring forward, points to prove, judgments to render. When given the chance to stay in the intellectual, Sara's voice grew strident. I sensed she had to force herself to bite back true anger. Yet, her bitterness was the very emotion preventing her from actually ever writing her story. To get around her anger about the unfairness of the establishment, I kept asking her to consider the protagonist's (her) transformation and what actions got her there.

We finished the consultation after more than three hours with a good plot planner in place. However, I worry about whether or not she’ll ever get beyond her self-doubts and anger to actually get out of her head and write the story. I hope so. The story has merit. We’ll see….


*FYI: For a technique to determine what parts of your life to include and which to cut in your memoir, go to http://www.blockbusterplots.com and click on Memoir Writers.)

**FYI: Sure, lots of natural-born storytellers excel at all three approaches to writing at once. But, for the rest of us, a firm understanding of our strengths and weaknesses can help us achieve balance in creating our stories.

I have a test for writers to determine whether they are a character-driven writer versus a dramatic action-driven writer on http://www.blockbusterplots.com/test.html


OR

Ask yourself if you prefer to develop the character and break down at coming up with conflict, tension, and suspenseful dramatic action? Or, are you great at creating breakneck excitement on the page, but come up short when it comes to character?

OR

Do you live through your mind and like to intellectualize about life? You could be best at developing thematic significance.
Are you active and live through movement and your body? You could be best at developing dramatic action.
Are you spiritually driven -- this does not mean religious, but spiritual? You could be best at character emotional development.

Subject: Help!!

I have purchased and read your book "Blockbuster plots pure and simple" and I still don't understand. I'm starting with a basic logline for a plot and don't know how you come up with scenes if you don't even know what the story is about. It would seem to me that in order to create scenes or follow the plot planner portion of the book you need to know more about how the story is going to unfold than you know when you just get the idea. It feels like there is a step missing between the initial idea and being able to come up with scenes.

What am I missing?? Please help!
Thanks,
Muriel


Dear Muriel,
Often, with a firm understanding of the Universal Story form and the natural trajectory of a story, writers can better come up with scenes needed to create a story.

If character most intriques you, start with the character emotional development profile (info can be found in BBP, on the website, and in entries below).

If dramatic action ideas bubble forth, start with the action.

Study the three biggest scenes in a story: The End of the Beginning, The Crisis, and the Climax (in the second half of BBP -- Plot Planner portion of the book -- also, the blog has info on these three critical scenes below).

See if you can visualize any of those scenes in your story.

How do you get your character from the beginning to the End of the Beginning?
What events are you interested in exploring, writing?
Do you plan to use any true historical events?
How can those events work into creating one of the three major plot lines (examples are in the book and below)

or....

Start with whatever you've got. Write that in scene. Then ask yourself: because that happens, what happens next.... Write that scene. Then ask yourself again -- if that happens, what happens next?

Hope this helps.

I'll put the word out for other writers to give their ideas as well.

Great good luck.

Sincerely,
Martha

Plot Question and Answer

Loads of plot consultations this month. Writers scramble to achieve this year's goals, before it's too late....

Haven't had time to debrief here, what with the holidays. But I was just feeling on top of Christmas, had a quiet moment, and decided to tackle emails. The first new email unanswered by me -- 12/5 -- is the following... I haven't blogged lately, so I thought I'd post and answer her email here at the same time, to save time.

I hope her question and comments might help other writers interested in character growth or character emotional development.

Writer's Question and Comments:
I can't begin to tell you how helpful your two DVD workshops and book have been to me! They are so clear and well-done that I do believe I've got it! (The Great Gatsby and Tom Sawyer).

I have my story in mind and have outlined all 60 chapters, about three scenes each, and examined each scene and plot. However, I am weak in developing the other characters in my story and how to show their growth or lack of growth. I feel I'm contriving a scene to show how main characters deal with one delay after another to build tension. Could you recommend a method or specific one of your DVDs to help with this? For example, I'm reading Pillars of the Earth by Ken Fowlett right now ... there is one escape scene where the main character is attempting to saddle a horse and get away from the antagonists and she keeps dropping the reins and is unable to quickly get on the horse to make her escape. This seems like such a simple device and yet a couple of pages are dedicated to describing how it's going for her. I can hear your "voice" so clearly that I laughed out loud ... yes, this is exactly what you mean when you say to have it get bad for the protagonist, then make it worse, and then make it worse several more times. The tension that scene built was palpable!

I plan on consulting you when my project is complete for a full analysis. Since I am really just beginning, I don't have enough for you right now.

Thank you again. I do hope you can recommend something for me. I'd really appreciate it.

Writing in North Carolina,
Nancy

Dear Nancy,
Thank you for your kind words! What a wonderful gift. Thank you.

I feel like you're asking two questions here:
1) How to develop "the characters in my story and how to show their growth or lack of growth."
2) How not to contrive "a scene to show how main characters deal with one delay after another to build tension."

#1 is about the character. I hope this isn't redundant since you've seen the DVD, but I recommend using the Character Emotional Development Profile info to help.
The Beginning 1/4 of your project, you introduce the flaw and fear and hate.
The Middle 1/2, you develop the flaw and fear and hate.
The End 1/4, you show the transformation.

In other words, you don't have to show the growth until The End. Should be smooth after you've written the Climax (last big scene of the entire project.) Once you determine how the character will show her transformation in the Climax, just go back into the scenes that build to the Climax and show the character as she moves closer or further away from her goal.

#2 is about character, too, but is mostly about the dramatic action.
Which one probably depends on whether you are a character driven writer or dramatic action driven writer (there's a test at http://www.blockbusterplots.com, if you're not sure which you are).

In other words, are you building a scene to show character growth first and the dramatic action second?
Or, are you building an action scene first, and have the character react to the action second?

Either way, if you're writing scenes through cause and effect, your scenes can't be contrived. If each scene grows out of the scene that came before --- "because that happens, what happens next?" -- then the scenes are organic and formed out of causality.

Great good luck on your project.

Winter Solstice tonight -- tomorrow the days begin getting longer........

Lots to be grateful for, including your generous words.....

Sincerely,
Martha

Elements of Plot

The following are questions that came up after the last post. Thought the questions and answers might help other writers so I include them below. Happy plotting...

Q: So basically it’s the scene(s) in the climax section that we have to watch out for in terms of the final CED, to see if the character has evolved from the initial fatal flaw in the beginning of the story?

A: Yes, the scene in the Climax is what each and every scene has been driving towards throughout the entire story, which is why it's a good practice NOT to go back and start over again until you have written all the way to the Climax and are pretty sure what that scene is. If you find yourself in that cycle of constantly going back and beginning again, you'll perfect those early scenes that may end up being cut when you finally understand the Climax. Once you know the Climax, you have a much better idea of how best to begin the project.

Q: And what you are saying is that it is suffice by just marking it in a different color to denote the arc or character journey in emotional development? Subplots, therefore don’t need to be marked separately in Plot Planner because it is intertwined within the Dramatic Action?

A: Some subplots deserve their own Plot Planner. In that case I recommend that one line is above the other so you can see how the subplot works with the major Dramatic Action and Character Emotional Development plot.

Q: On the last question, so summaries don’t show thematic details?

A: On a subtle level, thematic significance shows up everywhere ~~ in scene and summary ~~ though word choice, mood, etc. However, you only plot out scenes on the Plot Planner and on the Scene Tracker.

Q: (Anyways, how would we know to mark the summaries for Theme in plot planner if we don’t even track that info in scene tracker). Is my understanding then to just mark those scenes (not summaries) whether above or below the line, that have thematic details, correct?

A: This is true only in later drafts. The Thematic Signficance does not always emerge until after the story becomes more stable ~~ beyond the first couple of drafts. In the early drafts, don't worry about the Thematic Significance. You'll have enough to work with just honing down the Dramatic Action plot and the Character Development plot.

I apologize if I seem to be reiterating my questions, I just want to make sure I am interpreting your response correctly. I know you are extremely busy and I really do appreciate all of your help.

ps. You're right, PP and ST is addicting. And I have resumed back to my writing with more confidence! By the way, I ordered your DVD with the focus on CHildren Writers and eagerly await to be enlightened by your method again. Perhaps by watching you explain your method, I'll get a greater sense on everything you have written in your book.

A: Yes, I believe you will get a greater sense of how the Plot Planner works and how the Character Development profile helps to build the Character Development plot line. Let me know what you think.

Q: Was also wondering, are all of your DVD workshops pretty similiar and touch on everything that is on the book or do you delve into any advance topics on plotting for example with the DVD you have that uses Memoir of a Geisha?

A: The DVDs are different in that they are live workshops that were taped (some better in quality than others).

Thanks in advance Martha for everything and for your continued support!!!

A: Thank you, and great good luck with your project!

Plot and Subplots

The following are questions Livvy had after my responses in the 10/11 post below.

Q: I did have a question on your Folly example (note: Folly is a mystery by Laurie R. King). You said to use one color to write “arrival” to note Dramatic Action above the line? Then you said to use another color to write “fragile” to note the Character Emotional Development below the line? So am I supposed to plot two points for the same scene? I thought it was either or. Or are you saying for the initial CED, to just note it underneath “arrival” above the line in a separate color just to distinguish it from each other as the beginning emotion? So then for future CED tracking, do I keep it below the line?


A: Yes, to your first question. Both the Dramatic Action (DA) notation and the Character Emotional Development (CED) notations go above the line with different colors to distinquish from each other. Why above the line? Because in the arrival scene we know that the Character is not in control due to her emotional state and the reality of what she has undertaken. Therefore, there is conflict, tension and suspense in the scene and so, belongs above the line.

No is my answer for your second question. The only CED notations that go below the line are the ones where the protagonist is in control. For instance, when she throw away all her medication, we know that in that moment she is in control. This dramatic action is a major symbol of how she is trying to become even more in control of her life.


Q: Are the CEDs that are plotted below the line supposed to show just the progression of the protagonist’s internal flaw or is there a way to show a relationship subplot as well?

The way I look at it, I view the Dramatic Action as the “A” story (or Plot) which is the problem in the outer world that needs to be solved. I am thinking that CED would be the “B” story (or subplot) which is the internal conflict or fatal flaw, which reveals what the protagonist needs to achieve internally in order to help resolve the external goal of the plot. So basically, Plot is dependent upon the Fatal Flaw or “B” story for resolution. But then you need a “relationship” subplot or “C” story to validate whether or not that internal change has occurred in relation to something in the outer world.

A: If how you "look at it" best serves your writing, I recommend that you proceed that way. Personally, I find that the different plot threads can't always be separated in this way, in that they are too interdependent on each other. For example: sometime after she has thrown her pills into the water, she becomes paranoid of sounds she hears. Feeling compeltley empty, she wades into the water. We, the reader, find this alarming attempt at squelching her paranoia, putting an end to her suffering, an act of trying to commit suicide. Yes, what triggered the paranoia is external, but also internal, too.

Folly is definitely Character-driven, but is also a mystery ~~ who attacked her at home and is out to get her? A subplot also turns the story into a murder mystery when she attempts to find out who murdered her great uncle.

In the end, when she shows in the Climax behavior that she could never have demostrated at the beginning or even middle of the story due to all that came before, we know that she has been tranformed at depth by the dramatic action throughout the story.


Q: Can some of the scenes / summaries that are plotted Below the line in the plot planner show Thematic significance? Or does Theme details only correlate with scenes above the line?

A: Thematic details, if you're deliberate about including them, happen in scenes both above and below the line. They are not dependent on tension, conflict and suspense.

Character Development and Dramatic Action

PLOT Q & A

Q: How do you specifically track emotional development within the plot planner?

A: Using the Plot Planner template, plot the scenes in the Beginning ¼ of your project either above or below the line, depending on if the character is in control (above the line) or an antagonist of some sort holds the power (below the line). Note the aspects of the Character Emotional Development (CED) introduced as is now ~~ flaws, fears, secrets and all. Use a different color from the notes you write for the Dramatic Action (DA) plot line.

For example, in Folly by Laurie R. King, the protagonist is introduced as fragile, doubtful, exhausted, and fearful upon her arrival at the island. In one color, write “arrival” to note DA. In another color, write “fragile and fearful” to indicate the CED at this point.

Feeling fragile and fearful and on the edge is not a temporary emotional state (the temporary emotions belong under the “Change” column of the Scene Tracker). Feeling fragile and fearful and on the edge is where she is in her overall lifetime emotional development due to what has come before (the backstory).

The Middle section shows scenes above or below the Plot Planner line that show how the character's current emotional development affects her life on a deeper level. In the Middle, the shorthand for her emotional development usually shows how her internal antagonists ~~ her fears, flaws and secrets ~~ sabotage her from reaching her goals.

In Folly, the Crisis ~~ the scene of most intensity in the story so far ~~ the protagonist is on the brink of a full-blown breakdown. This serves as a wake-up call, a moment of no return. She now understands the extent of her fragility, but she is also given a glimpse into who she could be with focused and conscious effort.

The End shows her CED in terms of the degree to which she keeps control as she works her way to mastery. The moment of true mastery is shown in the Climax.

In essence, each set of notes in the color for CED should show a visual pattern of the CED arc.


Q: On page 156 under the PLOT PLANNER section, you mention on finding a scene where the character emotional development is at its peak. Using your scene tracker tool, how would I go about finding one?

A: Divide all the scenes on your Scene Tracker and divide by ¾. Around that mark, look for the scene where the emotional stakes are at their highest.


Q: Within the PLOT PLANNER section of your book, you have a chapter on plotting the Thematic significance. I see how it is being done through scene tracker, but how is it being plotted on the plot line so that a visual representation of the theme is seen on the plot line? I take it that was your purpose for this section and not to revert back to scene tracker? I’m a little confused as I am taking it for granted that Plot Planner and Scene Tracker should be two separate tools.

A: Yes, the Plot Planner allows you to see the different plot threads as they interplay together throughout the project. By plotting the scenes above or below the line and indicating the three plot line elements, each in a different color, a writer is able to see the ebb and flow of their scenes at the overall story level.

The Scene Tracker is meant as a way to see how the different plot threads work together within each scene.

Q:I'm confused about the definition of "scene" in the first and second halves of the book. In the first half, I was instructed not to include summaries as scenes, but in the second half (the plot planner), it says that scenes that go "below the line" include summaries. I'd already weeded out the summaries from my scene list, and now I'm confused.

A: Some of the information you may want to keep track of on your Plot Planner sometimes comes in the form of summary. Scene, however, is where the story unfolds.