Plot Question & Answer (Halfway Point)

Question:
I've read three of your works: The Plot Whisperer and Workbook and Blockbuster Plots: Pure and Simple and have enjoyed your approach.

In a recent post, you write about the difference between Crisis and Climax and give ample illustrations in your books.

However, many writers on the craft refer to "the mid-point reversal", an event that sends the hero toward the crisis. Something has to happen at the mid point that changes the plot or the character and a new goal comes out of that.

In your opinion, how important is the MPR and what, if any thing, matches the MPR in the Universal story you promote?

Answer:
What you call the mid-point reversal or MPR sounds like the same thing as the Recommitment scene or the Halfway Point in the Universal Story. 

The scene that functions as the halfway point and recommitment scene is so important that it qualifies as one of 4 Energetic Markers, a scene with enough energy to turn the story in an entirely new direction.

Coming Soon!
The Plot Whisperer Book of Writing Prompts: Easy Exercises to Get You Writing is available for pre-order now. Ships 12/12.

More Plot Tips: 

1) Plot your story step-by-step with the help of The Plot Whisperer Workbook: Step-by-step Exercises to Help You Create Compelling Stories 

2) Read The Plot Whisperer: Secrets of Story Structure Any Writer Can Master

3) Watch the Plot Series: How Do I Plot a Novel, Memoir, Screenplay? on YouTube. Scroll down on the left of this post for a directory of all the steps to the series. 27-step tutorial on Youtube

4) Watch the Monday Morning Plot Book Group Series on YouTube. Scroll down on the right of this post for a directory the book examples and plot elements discussed.

For additional tips and information about the Universal Story and plotting a novel, memoir or screenplay, visit:
Blockbuster Plots for Writers
Plot Whisperer on Facebook
Plot Whisperer on Twitter

What's Stopping You?

I am always fascinated when one writer curls up in a ball and gives up and, when faced with the exact same problem, another writer is empowered to persevere. 

Discovery that everything you've written sounds trite and infantile, frustration over how to get across what you are truly trying to say, a negative critique, a rejection from a query, poor reviews... we all experience a crisis, a dark night of the soul . Yet for some writers, these beliefs, limitations, judgments strip her of all her power whereas another writer listens and learns and moves on. 

You can spend all your time wallowing in your backstory -- that moment when you first lost your way and relinquished a bit or all of your own personal power to an antagonist(s), be it internal or external, or you can stay in your front story of putting one foot in front of the other or one word after another on the page toward completion of your goal and hold tight to your own power -- not in resentment and revenge but in the loving embrace that all antagonists are simply in your life to challenge you to grow and stretch.

Shrivel and die

Seize your power and move forward

You decide...

Click on green highlighted plot concepts for further explanations via vlog. Each time a concept is referenced you are directed to new information.

To watch the entire Plot Series: How Do I Plot a Novel, Memoir, Screenplay? go to my YouTube channel. A directory of all the steps to the series is to the right of this post. Enjoy!

27 Steps to Plotting Your Novel, Memoir, Screenplay Complete

We did it. The Plot Series is complete! 

We're not finished with our YouTube channels. A cool idea for a new plot tips series is floating in my head that pushes off from these first 27 steps and dives deeper -- a new plot series that shows what the first 27 steps tells.

The new segment is still in that fragile place between inspiration and application. Following my own advice of not showing anyone the first draft and another pearl -- don't talk away the energy, I'll leave the new series for now and move on to the real celebration.

The last quarter of the Plot Series deals with the elements needed to create the final quarter of your novel, memoir, screenplay. The end of a story is reflective of everything that comes before in the beginning and the end, which makes holding an understanding of the elements at play in this most critical phase of your story important.

Writers often write the beginning quarter of the story one hundred times while the final quarter of the story is lucky to get a complete rough draft let alone any rewriting or refinement.

Beginnings hook readers. Endings create fans.

Whether you are in the honeymoon stage of writing the beginning of your story, muddled in the middle, or powering your way through to the end, the better your grasp the significance of the end of the universal story both metaphorically and pragmatically the better your ending and overall story.

For tips on keeping the dream of your story lingering in the minds of your readers long after they put down your book, watch Step 27: The Resolution.

Click on green highlighted plot concepts for further explanations via video. Each time a concept is referenced you are directed to new information.

To watch the entire Plot Series: How Do I Plot a Novel, Memoir, Screenplay? go to my YouTube channel. A directory of all the steps to the series is to the right of this post. Enjoy!

A Personal Glimpse into Character Emotional Development

Steeped in nature and beauty, surrounded by writers willing to take a risk, for five days, I went through the process of creating and analyzing plot at both the scene and the overall story level.

Several writers at last week's plot retreat were local. The rest flew in from Nevada, Colorado, Mississippi and handful from southern California. Some of the writers knew me from plot consultations and previous workshops and retreats. Others were familiar only through my book and/or other plot tools and YouTube Plot Series.

The focus on Character Emotional Development plot brings up opportunities to use the writing life as examples writers can relate to along with classic novels, memoirs, and screenplays. 

It was an incredible five days. Thanks to each of you for taking time out of your busy lives and attending. You touched my heart in deep and wondrous ways.

Fill in the Character Profile below for your protagonist (the character who is most changed by the dramatic action), any other major viewpoint characters and, if there is one, the character who represents the major antagonist for the protagonist. If you decide to do it for yourself as a writer, too, I'd love to learn your answers. You do not have to include your name.

1. What is this character's goal?

2. What stands in the way of the character achieving his/her goal?

3. What does the character stand to lose if he/she does not achieve his/her goal?

4. What is the character's flaw or greatest fault?

5. What is the character's greatest strength?

6. What does the character hate?

7. What does the character love?

8. What is the character's greatest fear?

9. What is the character's dream?

10. What is the character's secret?

BEYOND CHARACTER, ACTION, AND THEME

When the Dramatic Action changes the Character Emotional Development at depth over time, a story becomes Thematically Significant. These three threads: Dramatic Action, Character Emotional Development and Thematic Significance, hold the core dynamic of plot.

But if one broadens the definition of plot to include it as a verb -- what a writer does in deliberately arranging scenes by cause and effect, then there are a multitude of story elements a writer is able to plot. An excellent source to plot out in your stories is the vast array of antagonists* (see below for a list of the Six Standard Antagonists).

Antagonists work well because Dramatic Action caused by an antagonist always creates conflict, tension, suspense and/or curiosity, thus placing those scenes above the line of your Plot Planner. (For more information on the development of a Plot Planner for your individual project, watch one of the Plot DVDs or read the second part of Blockbuster Plots Pure and Simple.)

Think of a story as the shifting of power back and forth between the protagonist and the antagonist. Or, in other words, the protagonist pushes toward something, while forces internal and external (the antagonists) attempt to thwart her progress. A story is the struggle between a protagonist who wants something enough to take action against all the antagonists or forces within and without who work against her. The Plot Planner is merely a line that separates the scenes into those where the energy or power is with the antagonist(s) (above the Plot Planner line) and those where the protagonist is in control or holds the power over the antagonist (below the Plot Planner line).

Scenes with conflict, tension, suspense and/or curiosity test the protagonist and show the reader or moviegoer what the character is made of. Since most people read and go to the movies 70% for the Character Emotional Development, it makes sense to employ as many antagonists as you need to in order to create heightened conflict, tension, suspense and curiosity.

Remember, not all antagonists are people.

A prime example is when the protagonist goes up against nature. Nature as an antagonist can be as monumental as a flood, a hurricane, or an earthquake. Nature can also work on a more subtle level by helping to create mood and add depth to the conflict, tension and suspense. Plot out these nature elements and you will be better able to control the effect intended in each and every scene, and in the overall story itself.

Nature unfolds according to the four seasons. The first of the 7 Essential Elements of Scene is to establish (explicit or implied) right up front in each scene the date and setting. This includes the time of the year, the day of the week, and the time of day. Each of these time factors of nature has the potential to create mood and/or conflict, tension and suspense.

For instance, dawn and dusk are often considered the "between times" when there is a thinning of the veils between the physical and the spiritual, the past and the future. These times often create a sense of poignancy, melancholy, or imbalance in people. Throw in the haunting cry of a mourning dove and the feeling intensifies.

The antagonist of nature often collides with the antagonist of society. For instance, if a character is facing the holidays at the end of the year alone, that scene has the potential to evoke loneliness in the reader or moviegoer in a way no other time of the year is able to without having to say or show anything more. This bleak feeling intensifies if the weather that year is exceptionally violent with torrential winds blowing and rain or snow falling, covering the land in ice.

Date night is customarily considered as Saturday night. What is worse for a character who is alone than to be thrust out on a Saturday night in a lonely city watching couples walk hand-in-hand?

By plotting out nature elements such as the time of the year, the weather, and/or seasons, a writer is better able to create more depth than if these elements play out as random occurrences. If you have not already done so, indicate on your Plot Planner scene-by-scene the time of the year or days of the week, and see what you find hidden there.

*The Six Standard Antagonists:
1) Protagonist against another person
2) Protagonist against nature
3) Protagonist against society
4) Protagonist against machine
5) Protagonist against God
6) Protagonist against him or herself

Definition of Plot for Writers

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

In other words, when the dramatic action changes the protagonist at depth over time, the story becomes thematically significant.

Here is a writer’s definition of 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.

 

So, 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 its own little story.

 

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 conflict.

 

D.   Conflict, Tension, and Suspense

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. More than anything else, readers identify most with the characters.  Characters in a story allow you to tell the story through their eyes and hearts, help advance your story's s plot and theme.

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 presentation and what you hope to prove through your story.  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 of the story itself. 

WRITERS TRAVEL TWO JOURNEYS

The act of writing is not a linear movement from the Beginning, through the Middle and to the End. The act of writing is circuitous and indirect as a reflection of the writer’s own personal strengths and flaws, loves and fears. The writer’s life spirals up and plummets down as characters break through the surface of the imagined world and dive into the murky depths.

The journey the protagonist undertakes mirrors that of the writer’s. A Plot Planner is a visual picture of the plot as a reflection of Dramatic Action, Character Emotional Development and Thematic Significance. The Planner reflects the writer’s journey, too.

The universal story form helps writers hold up their scenes and characters against a backdrop of the whole story. A Plot Planner and a Scene Tracker allows writers to stand back from the words and gain access to a larger context. An entire world emerges along with a better understanding of the significance of each of its parts.


IN THE BEGINNING

Plot Tips
Introduce the familiar: characters, habits, setting, thought patterns. Do not confuse introduction with passivity. The opening of the project either draws in the reader or the moviegoer or it doesn’t. Dramatic Action calls for conflict, tension, suspense and/or curiosity.

The scenes in the opening 1/4 of the project cause a Separation, a Shift, a Fracture. The effect? The protagonist leaves everything behind. At the end of the Beginning, there is no turning back. The protagonist crosses into the Middle.

Tips for Writers
When you step away from talking about writing a book or a screenplay, your memoir or a children’s book into actually doing it, you join your destiny. Once you begin, there is no turning back. You can stop writing, but the act of writing changes you. The transformation has already begun.

Endure the fear of appearing foolish. The fear is justified. In the Beginning, a writer is awkward, gets lost, and makes mistakes. A Plot Planner helps keep you on track.


THE MIDDLE

Plot Tips
The protagonist leaves behind the life he or she knows for the unknown. New and challenging situations arise. Self-doubts and uncertainty confront the character. She discovers strengths and struggles with shortcomings. The character becomes more and more conscious of her thoughts, feelings, actions and life as she has always known it.

A band of antagonists control the Middle: other people, nature, society, machines, and the character herself. Scenes pop above the line on the Plot Planner. The antagonists’ rhythmic waves of assault spur the protagonist’s vertical ascent. An unordinary world unfolds. A transformation begins on an inner level of the character long before anything observable appears.

Physical, psychological and spiritual crisis ensue. Greater awareness and sensitivity open up. The protagonist perceives and experiences self and the world in a new way.


Tips for Writers
You find yourself unable to drop your characters in the crucible, allow them to appear foolish, lonely, tedious, or ordinary. Until a character experiences failure, brokenness, fear, emptiness and alienation, rigorous change cannot occur.

Just as you kill your story if you are over-protective of your characters, so do you prevent yourself from growing and changing, too. Traveling the path of the writer is meant to feel like being lost, abandoned, alone and stretched beyond one’s limits.

For writers brave enough to dare the underbrush, be aware of antagonists lurking behind every tree in your own life. As you find yourself with no way out of the seemingly endless wanderings, dead-end detours, and a frustrating sense of being lost, stop and jot it on a Plot Planner. When you bargain with yourself to go back and start over again, force yourself to go deeper into the unknown. Use the Plot Planner as a guide.

Trust yourself. The quality of straightforwardness exposes themes and patterns underlying surface attitudes and actions. The better you come to know yourself, the better you will come to know your story.


THE END

Plot Tips
The character struggles to take full ownership of her newly discovered consciousness. What started as a twinge at first, in the quick build-up to the Climax, the protagonist more and more recognizes quite painfully each time her actions or speech do not align with her new understanding of herself and the world around her.

The healing of this schism shows itself in the Climax.

The Beginning sets up the scene of highest intensity in the story so far ~ the end of the Beginning. This scene shows the shift or reversal outside the character that sends her into the heart of the story world.

The middle sets up the scene of the highest intensity in the story so far ~ the Crisis. This scene shows the character’s consciousness of the shift or reversal inside her.

The End sets up the crowning glory of the entire story ~ the Climax. This scene shows the character fully united with her new self-knowledge, new understanding of the world, new sense of responsibility through her actions and her words.


Tips for Writers
Writers benefit from fostering perseverance to offset the uncertainty. Success is not always immediate or even obvious at first. Just as the characters in the story are on a journey, so are you.

Creating Curiosity

Writers, especially beginning writers, often find themselves wanting to blurt out everything up front. This often shows up as a flashback early on in the story to show the back story or event that first sent the protagonist off kilter. 

Don't.....

Keep in mind throughout to pace the info you share with the reader. In each scene, only put in as much as is needed to inform that particular scene (this can include foreshadowing clues of what is to come, but don't overload the scenes.) Invite the reader in slowly, but with a bang. Keep curiosity high = creates a page-turner book!

Don't tease the reader, but don't give them everything. Allude to problems, tension, conflict, who the character truly is, but hold back from revealing the details. Curiosity is one of the most powerful ways to pull the reader deeper into the story. 

Hold off with flashback and even memories, if you can get away with doing so, until the Middle (1/2). 

Also, be careful how many characters you introduce at a time. Introduce slowly and keep names to a minimum -- make sure we meet the protagonist first and get a clear idea who she is and that this is her story before moving on to the secondary characters. 

Lead the Reader to the Plot

White pebbles help Hansel and Gretel find their way home. Breadcrumbs simply vanish.

Stories are shown in scene. Each scene leaves little pebbles to advance the plot on at least three levels:

Dramatic Action plot
Character Emotional Development plot
Thematic Significance plot (and more...)

A Few White Pebbles to lead the reader to the important parts of the story:

• Cause and Effect = because of what happens in one scene, the next scene arises. Cause and effect leads the reader from one scene to another. Cause and effect lessens confusion about motivation, which leads the reader deeper into the real time moment of the story.

• Authentic Details = generic details lull the reader to daydream rather than follow along with the story. Authentic details ground the reader in the world of the story unfolding moment by moment.

• Foreshadowing = Provide a few beats of foreshadowing so the reader does not just read right past an important scene. Example: A powerful secondary character triggers the Crisis. In the Beginning (1/4), she's introduced in conflict with her father. She wants to sing in Nashville. He wants her to get a swimming scholarship for college. Both of her strengths and the core conflict are alluded to in the first scene in which she appears. The second time the secondary character appears is practicing vocals with her band. The audience does not yet know the importance of this character in the overall story. The reader is still scrambling to get oriented in the story; determine who is who, what's going on. To help ensure that the reader does not just read right past the practice scene, toss out a few white pebbles to lead the audience. Scene of introduction contains dialog about what is coming: "we're practicing at the house after school today." The reader anticipates the later scene. When the scene comes, the reader pays attention.

• Exotic World = Show the scene as an exotic world that identifies the daughter as uniquely separate from her father.

Any white pebbles to share?

Unsatisfying Climax

Viewed two movies recently, both of which left me disappointed and dissatisfied at the end.

The first movie is actually made up of three movies -- the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I watched all three on a marathon movie day while recovering from an awful flu going around. Non-stop action and conflict, tension, suspense and curiosity effectively kept my mind off my coughing. However, my disappointment at the end nearly sent me spiraling back into the abyss of illness. Exaggeration, of course.

I was truly dismayed at the ending. Yes, I understand about the power of the ring and the evil lure of greed it evoked in all who saw it, but still... The Climax of every great story is when the audience and/or reader get to see in moment-by-moment excitement, the protagonist act in a transformed way and doing something they were unable to do anywhere else throughout the story. In other words they needed to go through every other trial and test and scene first in order to be transformed at depth overtime.

Even in the final seconds of the highest point in the entire story -- the Climax, Frodo was the same Hobbit he started out being -- brave with the urge to do his best. The only transformative change came in him being as seduced by the ring as everyone else. He ends up wanting it even as much as Gollum.

The other movie was Vicki Cristina Barcelona. The characters were amazing, the scenery beautiful, the action exciting -- all the elements of a truly wonderful flick until the very end. Every single character remained unchanged by all that transpired -- thus no character transformation which in the end equalled extreme disappointment.

Anyone else seen either movie??? Anyone else disappointed??

NaNoWriMo

National Novel Writing Month is fast approaching. In preparation for the big event, I'm working with several writers who plan to write the first draft of their novel in a month. A couple of the writers are veterans to the event and eager to utilize their time more efficiently than they have in past years. The other writers are undertaking the challenge for the first time.

As the official NaNoWriMo site explains: "National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30."

This approach works best for "pantsers" or those writers who prefer to write by the seat-of-your-pants, in other words, to work things out on the page with little or no pre-plotting. Typically, these writers allow their characters the freedom to determine the direction and flow of the story. These writers are often more right-brained, creative types who abhor structure and plot (well, maybe not abhor and definitely not all of them, but I've been slammed by enough stanch "pantsers" who believe their way is the only way and that the work I do stifles the creative process -- which it might true for them, but not for all writers -- that I'm a bit touchy about the subject!)

Left-brained or more analytical writers find NaNoWriMo only works for them if they put a bit of time and thought into what they hope to write before jumping into the actual writing.

For any of you who wish to take take part in NaNoWriMo and wish to prepare ahead a time in order to make the most of the upcoming month, I recommend that you create a Plot Planner or a Scene Tracker template now for the project you wish to produce then.

Both templates -- Plot Planner for the overall story plot, and the Scene Tracker, for plot at the scene level -- allow writers to stand back from their projects in order to see the entire story as a whole. As writers we spend the majority of our time at the word level. Many writers end up drowning in their words or stuck down a dead-end dark and scary alleyway with no direction out. A Plot Planner is like a road map to help guide you on your journey throughout the story.

Yes, you have to be flexible and toss the pre-plotting if/when the characters bully you into taking a different route. However, many writers find the pre-planning structural support comforting and allows them to persevere all the way to the glorious end.

Are you a "pantser" or a "plotter'? Are you going to participate in this year's NaNoWriMo??

Great good luck to all of you who are......

Character Consistency & Writing in Scene

Two recent consultations. Two common problems.

1. Telling rather than showing.
A scene shows. A summary tells. The difference? A summary puts distance between reader and character (this also applies to bloggers who blog about themselves). A summary is necessary for a variety of reasons, but scenes are where the story plays out.

Invite your readers in by setting the stage and creating a compelling reason to stick around (character dilemma) and read more (dramatic action). Do this in scene and stick to the universal story form for structure and impact.

2. Not keeping the character consistent.
Determine what the character does to sabotage herself from achieving her goal. This becomes the basis for the character transformation. Be consistent. If her flaw is that she doesn't stick up for herself, then don't have her fighting back in the first 3/4 of the project.

Any other ideas???