The One True Beginning

On our way out from the Desert Rose RWA conference, a writer asks for help with her story. Using the plot planner she created in the workshop, she points to the key scenes in her story, her face filled with joy and confidence in the layout of the dramatic action scenes. She turns serious as she expresses concern about her character's likability in the beginning first quarter of the novel. Then she slices the edge of her hand, cutting off the first quarter and looks up beaming as she declares she likes her story from that point on to the end.

I wait for a moment, hoping she'll feel what I just witnessed. When she doesn't, I utter the impossible: "Why not start there?" The pain in her eyes make me long to pull back my words. I've just asked her to cut 100 pages from a story that is overly long. Still, 100 pages...

"But I introduce important elements in the beginning."

"They can be integrated into the new beginning," I suggest.

"But I love my first scene."

I cringe, wondering how many hours she spent making it perfect.

"It's only one of lots of scenes you love," I suggest.

Exhaustion overtakes her face. Three intense days. I don't want it to end this way. Still, I know when she's rested, the 300 pages that work and bring her energy and joy will reach out to her. She has a successful debut already out. She knows what she is doing...

Advice to self: Rather than labor over something that causes pain and frustration and feelings of failure, why not start with what brings you joy...

Dialog -- When is Enough Too Much?

Writing a story often comes in drafts. Each draft / layer is determined by your own personal writing preference.

Some writers write their entire first draft in dramatic action. Character emotional development comes later. Meaning comes later still. Others begin with character. Still others start with dialog. First draft has little action. Little character emotional development. Terrific dialog.

Well, some of the first draft dialog is terrific. In other places, the dialog serves as a place to dump information. With dialog, especially in the first quarter of the story, less is more. Only tell as much as needed to inform that particular scene. Leave the info dumping for later (or better yet, forgo it all together).

By less dialog, I mean less in terms of how much each character says at a time. Lots of short and specific dialog back and forth in rapid succession, keeps the pages turning and draws the reader deeper into the heart of the story world itself.

Dialog is a gift. At its best, dialog communicates to the reader the character's interior world, their thoughts and dreams, how they lie to themselves, to others, their beliefs, patience level, expertise, intelligence. At the same, great dialog advances the dramatic action plot.

The Dramatic Action plot is the external movement that allows the character to show who they truly are, first to the reader, then to themselves and then on a trajectory for character emotional transformation. Rather than random movements, the Dramatic Action plot works best if wrapped around the protagonist's well-defined goal. Dramatic action plays out in scene. Dialog comes from the dramatic action and unfolds moment-by-moment.

Think of dialog between two characters like two ships passing in the night. Each speaker has their own agenda, their own reason to converse. The characters' words lap up against each other. Often their words have little effect. Sometimes their words throw the other completely off route.

To create conflict on a secondary level, use the character's individual goals to help define their point of view in dialog. When each character comes to the conversation with something to prove or accomplish, the story moves forward. (And, sprinkle the dialog with authentic details and word use that reflects the time and setting.

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!

Character Consistency

Not much into developing character?
Confused about what exactly is your character's flaw?

Plot Tip:
Explore your list of scenes in the beginning quarter of your story.

In Scene #2, your protagonist gives up easily and runs away. Where else in the beginning scenes does she give up? In Scene #5 she run away from her problems again. This time, when she stops running, she refuses to give up and determinedly devises up a plan.

At this point, ask yourself what depletes your protagonist of her power and what fills her with energy? You determine that her actions in these two scenes, though they advance the dramatic action plot, show inconsistent character emotional development in seesawing back and forth between giving up and taking charge.

In Scene #8, her actions show her to be emotionally immature. We understand she does not have the emotional steadiness because she refuses to buy into the prevailing belief system around her. A character willing to defy convention based purely on passion and conviction has the makings of a hero and further demands consistency in how her character emotional development is introduced in the first quarter of the story of plot.

With careful plotting, a few scenes later, her first true act of rebellion leads to the End of the Beginning scene.

SPECIAL EVENTS:
1) Plot Whisperer and Literary Agent Virtual Workshop
10-Hour Workshop to hone your plot, shape your concept and perfect your voice and write with goal of readying your work for today's market.

2) How to Get Moving on Your Work in Progress: A Review of The Plot Whisperer Book of Writing Prompts by Sue Bradford Edwards on WOW! Women on Writing. Enter to win in the 5-Book-Giveaway for The Plot Whisperer Book of Writing Prompts: Easy Exercises to Get You Writing

Knowing what to write where in a story with a plot allows for a more loving relationship with your writing. Whether writing a first draft or revising, if you falter wondering what comes next in a story with a plot, follow the prompts in The Plot Whisperer Book of Writing Prompts: Easy Exercises to Get You Writing

3) Feature Article:
Emotional Elements of Plot
Showing how a character feels fuses the relationship between characters and the audience or reader. Showing how the character transforms delivers on the promise of your story. Learn the difference. Plot tips how and where to develop transformational emotional maturity. Read the entire article:
http://www.scriptmag.com/features/emotional-elements-of-plot.

Today, I write.

To familiarize yourself with the basic plot terms used here and in the PW Book of Prompts:
1) Watch the plot playlists on the Plot Whisperer Youtube channel.
2) Read The Plot Whisperer: Secrets of Story Structure Any Writer Can Master
3) Fill out the exercises in The Plot Whisperer Workbook: Step-by-Step Exercises to Help You Create Compelling Stories
4) Visit:
Blockbuster Plots for Writers
Plot Whisperer on Facebook
Plot Whisperer on Twitter

How Much Backstory in the Beginning is Too Much and How Little is Too Little?

Question from a writer on Facebook:
You and most writing gurus suggest not weighing down the beginning with Backstory. I agree. I usually start in action/dialogue in the present, but lately I have a friend who thinks I don't explain enough about my characters to get the reader interested.

She said to look up successful romance writers and how they present characters. I went on Amazon and read several previews. For example, Bella Andre From This Moment On is entirely backstory in Chapter 1. She even has a flashback for the second scene. I'm confused because she's definitely successful and I wonder if readers or at least her readers like the backstory in Chapter 1.

What are your thoughts? I have all your books and am using the Writing Prompts one. Obviously I want to write a scene to show my character's motivation and current state, but I wonder if readers really mind.

Answer from me:
Yours is a universal question. How much backstory is too much and is little-to-none not enough?

First, I have to admit that my rather firm suggestion to not weigh down the beginning of a story with Backstory comes from two sources.

1) I developed a deep empathy for the dyslexic children I worked with back in the day I owned and operated a speech, language, learning clinic for children.

Struggling readers demonstrate the complexity of the entire reading experience. Understanding that words are made up of consonants and vowels that translate into letter symbols and decoding the words and understanding the meaning of those words and memorizing sight words and then grasping that a group of words followed by punctuation make sentences that make paragraphs and chapters and reading quickly enough to remember the meaning behind the words leads finally, when lucky, to comprehension.

Throw in all sorts of time jumps with prologues and flashbacks, flash forwards and memories and an already challenging task becomes a source of frustration rather than pleasure.

2) Working with writers, I've heard every different way you can think of to insert backstory information and most of them slow down the story. That is not to say that successful writers don't insert backstory up front. They do. All the time. You can, too.

That said... I continue to suggest not weighing down the beginning with backstory.

Supporting the beginning by offering just enough backstory with clear and engaging writing is fine. Giving more emphasis to the backstory than the front story gives me pause and I wonder, why not tell that story instead?

What I resist is inserting an actual flashback too early. A flashback is told in moment-by-moment action in real time in the past which is different from the front story time. It is the flipping back and forth in time early-on in a story that can cause confusion. Your goal in the first quarter of the book is to hook and ground the reader. A flashback often interferes with the successful completion of that goal.

P.S. I love knowing the little brown PW book is by your side! Thank you.

*****SPECIALS*******

1) Track Your Plot at the Scene Level Webinar
Learn to Maximize the 7 essential plot elements in every scene (one of 7 essential plot elements in every scene is CONFLICT) from the comfort of your own home.

*****

Knowing what to write where in a story with a plot reinforces daily writing practice and allows for more productivity in your writing. Whether writing a first draft or revising, if you falter wondering what comes next in a story with a plot, follow the prompts inThe Plot Whisperer Book of Writing Prompts: Easy Exercises to Get You Writing.

Today, I write.

To familiarize yourself with the basic plot terms used here and in the PW Book of Prompts:
1) Watch the plot playlists on the Plot Whisperer Youtube channel.
2) Read The Plot Whisperer: Secrets of Story Structure Any Writer Can Master
3) Fill out the exercises in The Plot Whisperer Workbook: Step-by-Step Exercises to Help You Create Compelling Stories
4) Visit:
Blockbuster Plots for Writers
Plot Whisperer on Facebook
Plot Whisperer on Twitter
Plot Whisperer on Pinterest

Thematic Significance for Writers

As corny as it sounds, I'm wild about thematic significance. I mean if the Universal Story longs to manifest, what better way than through a story's deeper themes?

There are writers who excel at writing character-driven stories and those who prefer action-driven stories. Also, though I've found rarer, are writers who lean toward theme-driven stories. 

Jodi Picoult in Change of Heart, shows the affects the dramatic action has on the characters' emotional development in order to bring to the fore themes about the life sentence, abuse, loss, redemption and love.

When the Killing's Done by T. S. Boyle is another thematic significance plot driven novel. 

Interestingly, both of the two theme-driven writers, use multiple viewpoint characters, each with their own chapters, with a clear first line for each switch in point-of-view and creates a minimum of confusion. When readers are immediately pulled into the next character’s mind and body, readers they have little reason to feel they will miss the character they just were connected to. And, each character has a very definite point of view about the issues at hand though the protagonist's change overtime to fulfill the role of the protagonist -- the character who changes the most in the story by the dramatic action

In the first quarter of When the Killing’s Done by T.C. Boyle, two characters alternate chapters told from their own points of view. The beginning chapters of the story are Alma’s introduction told through her grandmother’s story. The third chapter focuses on Alma herself and begins by firmly grounding the reader.

"Though Alma is trying her hardest to suppress it, the noise of the freeway is getting to her. She can’t think to slice the cherry tomatoes and dice the baby carrots, can’t clear her head, can barely hear Micah Stroud riding the tide of his emotions through the big speakers in the front room."

These two sentences immediately thrust the reader into the scene. They, showing who is doing what, how the action is emotionally affecting her, and a general idea where she is. and They also offering specific details that define herAlma: living near a noisy freeway, knowing how to cook, listening to music that rides the tide of the singer’s emotions, and a love ofloving music that is strong enough that she owns big speakers.

The next chapter switches to the male character’s point of view. 

"If there is one thing he hates, it’s a runny yolk."

That’s about all the reader needs to read in order to know the main character in this chapter. He’s opinionated and narrow-minded.

By including a reference to the stereo speakers in the female point of view ties these two major viewpoint characters together long before the reader is given any other clues of other connections, one of which Alma prefers stay a secret.

The speakers also foreshadow both character's propensity to want to broadcast, get on a soap box to proclaim their point of view about the right of eradicating invasive species to bring an island back to the balance of the past versus the right of animals to life.

Though the themes that drive you to write play out more subtly in your stories, still the search for the meaning beneath our actions and into a universal truth serves the Universal Story well.

For tips about the Universal Story and writing a novel, memoir or screenplay, visit Plot Series: How Do I Plot a Novel, Memoir, Screenplay? on YouTube. A directory of all the steps to the series is to the right of this post. Enjoy!

Searching for the Strongest Climax

I am often asked what the #1 problem writers have with plot. My answer varies, depending on the most recent plot consultation or plot workshop I've just done.

Writers often struggle with finding the exact right climax and resolution to their novels, memoirs an screenplays.

So much time and thought and writing goes into developing a compelling protagonist with a mysterious back story, deciding where is the exact right beginning of the story, how to make the action exciting and the book concept big, the details just right, the dialogue snappy, the setting exotic, the crisis disastrous.

I rarely (and I mean rarely) find a writer who has thoroughly thought out the climax and written the end quarter of the story as many times or more than the beginning.

Sure, writers bog down in the middle and thus the climax seems incredibly far away -- nearly out of reach. By the time a writer limps her way to the climax, the story is lucky to have an ending at all, much less an ending that is meaningful and different and leaves the reader satisfied and wanting more.

The end of a romance novel, even if it is for a teen, especially if it is for a teen, is so much more than... they lived happily ever after. You have been so careful not to use cliched phrases, metaphors, settings and have worked to make every element uniquely your own. Why settle for a cliched ending?

When a character rises in triumph at the climax, what does she look like, act like? In the resolution, what does the world look like now that she is new and different and transformed and has shared the gift she came to share?

Take an ending you're sure has no value and turn it on its ear. See the ending from a different angle or perspective. Write that.

Strive to give the reader something new and fresh and miraculous...

The Story End 
That fabulous beginning of your story and that wild twist in the middle do not count nearly as much as to a reader as the end of the story. Sure, you hope she looks back and sees how everything is seamlessly tied together. In fact, what she’s going to think about first is how the story ends.

Readers and audiences are affected first and foremost emotionally by the story they read, whether the story evokes fear or anger, joy and celebration, or sadness and resignation. Connecting with readers emotionally to the point they become instinctively involved in the story is the dream of every writer. The best place to search for this emotional effect is at the climax.

Think Different
Look beyond the words and sentences and scenes to the deeper pattern of your story. Every protagonist begins a story wanting something. The real reason that she goes after what she wants never (or rarely) is her stated reason. In fact, at the end of the story the protagonist can, and often does, fail at her stated goal. The reader cares because she knows the protagonist has actually won what she wanted and all that really matters is herself. She has gained self-knowledge and because of that she has been changed and transformed.

After having all of her layers stripped away one by one as false or unreliable, the protagonist reaches the point where she either must break down and live an unlived life or stand straight and rely on herself. To do that, first she must find the self on which she can rely. This is why often in a story, the protagonist’s stated goal fades and is replaced by the real goal.

*****

Knowing what to write where in a story with a plot allows for a more loving relationship with your writing. Whether writing a first draft or revising, if you falter wondering what comes next in a story with a plot, follow the prompts inThe Plot Whisperer Book of Writing Prompts: Easy Exercises to Get You Writing

Today, I write.

To familiarize yourself with the basic plot terms used here and in the PW Book of Prompts:

1) Watch the plot playlists on the Plot Whisperer Youtube channel.
2) Read The Plot Whisperer: Secrets of Story Structure Any Writer Can Master
3) Fill out the exercises inThe Plot Whisperer Workbook: Step-by-Step Exercises to Help You Create Compelling Stories
4) Visit:
Blockbuster Plots for Writers
Plot Whisperer on Facebook
Plot Whisperer on Twitter

Last 3 Months of the Year is Like the Last 1/4 of a Story

In the final quarter of the year, like your protagonist in the final quarter of your story, you have assessed your past plans and goals for the purpose of creating a right and appropriate future. To succeed, like your protagonist, you must face your greatest fear in order never to fear again. Fear of failing, fear that what you write will be no good, fear that no one will read your story, fear that all the time it takes to write a story with a plot from beginning to end won't be worth it, fear of _________. Fill in the missing blank for yourself.

As the protagonist moves toward the climax, she is focused and filled with purpose. She knows what she needs to do and she knows she is the only one who can do it. In doing what is needed at the climax, she fulfills her unique destiny. This clarity and single-minded focus does not belie the truth of the travail and turbulence she meets along the way. Great risk is required as is great suffering before she reaches the climax.

What started at the beginning of the story when you first set out seems so simple and clear now. In the middle of the story, you often turned ambivalent as the new world’s complexity and challenges unfolded. Still, she never stopped moving nearer and nearer to her crowning glory. In changing the choices she made and sacrificing the familiar, she transformed her life. You know what you're doing. Now your passion is clear and creative.

The climax is what all the other scenes in the story add up to in the end.
(excerpt from The Plot Whisperer Workbook: Step-by-step Exercises to Help You Create Compelling Stories

Need help pre-plotting and writing a fast first draft from beginning to end before the end of 2013?

Join me from the comfort of your own home for my live PLOT WORKSHOP Webinar hosted by Writers Digest on Thursday, October 17, 2013 at 1p.m. ET.

Learn more and sign up: How to Pre-Plot and Complete a Novel or Memoir in a Month: The Benefits of Writing a Fast Draft from Beginning to End.

~~~~~

Take the PLOTWRIMO Pre-Challenge:

You have 1 Month, 2 weeks and 1 day to get a draft written in time for PlotWriMo. Beginning December 1st, follow the exercises on the Plot Whisperer blog to re"vision" and redefine the plot arc of your story. PlotWriMo is custom designed to ensure your success even during the busiest time of the year.
Begin 2014 ready for a powerful rewrite.

~~~~~
The following resources support you in your pre-challenge:
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
named BEST BOOKS FOR WRITERS by Poets&Writers. The author provides insight on how to create works of fiction with powerful stories and focuses on how to devise a Universal Plot, plot lines and subplots, compelling scenes, and character transformation.
 
3) Refer to The Plot Whisperer Book of Writing Prompts: Easy Exercises to Get You Writing

for writing prompts for scene #1 to the very The End, one prompt at a time.

4) 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

5) 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 more tips about how to use plot and the Universal Story in your novel, memoir or screenplay, visit:

Blockbuster Plots for Writers
Plot Whisperer on Facebook (we hope you "like" it)

Plot Whisperer on Twitter

Plot Whisperer on Pinterest 

***** Knowing what to write where in a story with a plot reinforces daily writing practice and allows for more productivity in your writing. Whether writing a first draft or revising, if you falter wondering what comes next in a story with a plot, follow the prompts in The Plot Whisperer Book of Writing Prompts: Easy Exercises to Get You Writing.

Today, I write.

Backstory / Flashbacks

Watch your delivery of backstory ~ the story of what (in the past) made the characters who they are today (in story time). 

Writers want to cram everything right up front. 

"I know all their history, why would I want to withhold it from the reader?" 
"I wrote it that way." 
"It's the good part." 

Writers spend lots of time imagining and writing every little detail about a character's past, be it for a child or an adult. So, of course, writers would want to tell everything right away. Perhaps, in the process, even show off a bit how clever they are. Until, one understands how curiosity works. 

Not telling everything makes the reader curious. Curiosity draws the reader deeper into the story world. The reader wants to fill in the "who," "what," "how" (the "where" and "when" have already been clearly established right up front to ground the reader). They keep reading. This is good.

Tell the reader only what they need to know to inform that particular scene. This is especially true in the Beginning (1/4 mark). During the first quarter of the project, the character can have a memory. But, for a full-blown flashback, where you take the reader back in time in scene, wait until the Middle. 

(PLOT TIP: If you're absolutely sure you absolutely have to include the flashback, try using one when you're bogged down in the middle of the middle.)

Heart and Soul of a Story

Yesterday's post was in desperation. The work I was reading was good. 

By about the End of the Beginning (1/4), I found the plot working, the character believable though not completely likable, the issues of value. 

I wanted it to be great. 

Continued reading to the end today. Things picked up shortly before the Halfway mark. The heart and soul of the work emerged. I shed tears. I really cared. 

Made me a believer again. 

Cautiously though....

Work needs to be done. More authentic details. Entire first quarter reworked. Character deepened. More foreshadowing. Smoother flow. Interconnecting thematic significance on all levels.

Can't help but wonder -- how many times will he rewrite his piece to make it truly memorable??? 

How many times do you rewrite a piece from beginning to end in an effort to make it truly memorable?? 

Plot Planner

Plot your story using the universal story form for structure and impact.

A Plot Planner mimics the universal story and is the framework for developing a gripping story. Rather than creating a dry, episodic list of scenes to cover, arrange your story by cause and effect to best engage the reader.

Think of the Plot Planner as the route or map of the journey you envision for your story. When you first plan your plot, your route is likely to be sketchy with lots of gaps and dead ends. These gaps will smooth over and fill in as you come to know your story and characters better. Along your story's route, the plot elements of dramatic action, characters, and thematic significance will rise and fall, like waves cresting. The flow of these elements is like the flow of energy the Chinese call “qi” (pronounced “chi”). The qi is the mainstay of life force, inherently present in all things.

Within your story, the energy undulates. Although every story has its own energy, a universal pattern of energy rising and falling repeats itself. The greater your understanding of this stable format, the better able you are to determine where and when to allow the energy to crest, to make your story most compelling to the reader. Allow the energy of your story to direct the flow of your scenes. The closer you can re-create this pattern in your presentation to the reader, the stronger and more compelling your story. A plot planner helps you map your story's energy and direction.

DESCRIPTION

All great stories have a beginning, middle and end.

1. The Beginning

The beginning usually encompasses one quarter of the entire story. Most of us start out strong in the beginning, but struggle to keep the momentum going.

2. The Middle

The middle is the longest portion of the project – one half of the entire story. It commands the most scenes, and is where many writers fall short. When the allure of the beginning is over, the story starts getting messy. Writers often know the beginning and the end of their story, but bog down in creating the middle. Crisis is the meat of the middle.

Place crisis – the scene of greatest intensity and highest energy in your story thus far – around the three-quarter point in your story, when your audience needs a recharge to combat fatigue, frustration, and irritation. Crisis is where tension and conflict peak – it is a turning point in your story. Crisis is developed through the scenes to provide the greatest impact in the energy flow of your story.

The crisis is the false summit of your case, where the audience can perceive the true summit. Here, your story’s energy drops after the drama of the crisis, giving your audience the opportunity to rebuild energy in anticipation of reaching the climax.

3. The End

The final quarter of your presentation represents the end, which comprises three parts: the build-up to the climax, the climax itself, and the resolution. The build-up to the climax represents the steps you take to lead the reader to envision how the story should end. The climax is the point of highest drama in your story, the crowning moment when the thematic significance of your story becomes clear to the reader. The resolution is your opportunity to fully tie together that significance and make your story complete.

PLOT PLANNER BENEFITS

A Plot Planner helps you visualize your story. Use a Plot Planner to place your ideas and sequence your scenes to greatest effect. A plot planner allows you to experiment with changes in the storyline or presentation to evoke stronger reaction and interest from the reader, and gives you a sense for how the story may be paced. A plot planner also allows you to collaborate with others to generate ideas for better developing your story and to solidify your understanding of the story's core elements, and helps ensure that you understand the story you are presenting. Importantly, the plot planner enables you to keep the larger picture of your story in full view as you concentrate on creating the story’s individual parts, helping you maintain paramount focus on crafting a story that will convey your core message to reader or audience in a compelling way.

CONSTRUCTING A PLOT PLANNER

I recommend building your Plot Planner on big pieces of banner paper, running horizontally. It takes up quite a bit of space, but serves as a continual visual reminder of the entire project.

The Plot Planner is merely a line that separates scenes filled with conflict and excitement (above the plot planner line) from those that are passive, filled with summary and back story, or heavy with information (below the plot planner line). Scenes are where the story plays out, where the action happens moment-by-moment in your presentation.

The external dramatic action of stories told in scene and filled with conflict belongs above the line, like the white caps on the sea’s surface as a wave swells toward the shore. Scenes that show complications, conflicts, tension, dilemmas, and suspense belong above the line. Any scene that slows the story’s energy belongs below the line.

By placing ideas above and below the line, you create a visual map for analyzing critical story information, presentation flow, and weaknesses in your story’s overall sequence.

The Plot Planner line is not flat – it moves steadily higher, building your story slowly and methodically as tension increases. Each scene delivers more tension and conflict than the preceding scene, with intensity building to your story's climax.

Plot Tip How to Decide Which Scenes to Keep and Which Ones to Toss

The experience of teaching online Plot Workshops to small groups of writers using innovative technology that allows ten of us to see and interact live together is without a doubt the best teaching experiences I've ever had. The workshops revolve around weekly homework assignments from Plot Whisperer Workbook: Step-by-Step Exercises to Help You Create Compelling Stories.

A homework question came up about plotting scenes above and below the Plot Planner line.

1) The Plot Planner line shows the steady increase in tension as the story rises to the Crisis and and then again to the Climax . The Plot Planner is also a line that divides scenes with lots of conflict, tension, suspense from those scenes that are quieter and where the protagonist is in control.

Often in a rewrite after a major revision, scenes below the line switch from scenes to summary in order to move the character quickly from one dramatic action scene to the next. (For instance, if you find that a scene you wrote to move characters from one location to another does not have much external dramatic action, consider turning the scene into summary. Allows for a faster pace in the first quarter of the story, moving the reader smoothly to the middle.)

2) Also, seeing scenes lined up above the line on the Plot Planner often frees up ideas how to incorporate two pretty good scenes to make one terrific scene.
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PLOT WORKSHOPS and RETREATS
A PATH to PUBLISHING using the Plot Whisperer Workbook: Step-by-Step Exercises to Help You Create Compelling Stories
Choose the NOVEL TRACK or the PICTURE BOOK TRACK for 4, 10 and 16-week workshops to ensure you understand concept, plotting, character development, scene development, action and emotional arc development, as well has how to pitch your work to agents, editors, and readers. Live online video chat technology. I recommend writers of all genres and all ages take at least one picture book plot workshop. Narrows all plot concepts down to 28 pages and 500 words for clarity.

WRITER PATH PLOT and SCENE RETREATS in the heart of the Santa Cruz MountainsYour story deserves to be told. Your writer’s soul needs to be nourished. Over a weekend you’ll learn how to identify and write the key lynch-pin scenes that build a page-turning story, master crucial scene types and go deeper into your plot by applying the three key layers that run through all great fiction: action, emotion and theme. Reserve your spot now for the 1st Annual Writer Path Retreat.

For more: Read my Plot Whisperer and Blockbuster Plots books for writers.

Too Much of a Good Thing

She's crafted a terrific beginning.

The first quarter of her story introduces all the major characters within high-action scenes filled with noise and chaos and humanity, and all thematically linked and masterful.

The exotic world of the middle provides fascination physically by the look and feel and taste of the settings, emotionally by the needs of the characters and spiritually by the disintegration of their tightly held bands of control.

However...

In the beginning of the middle, the undercurrent of the drastic changes needed by the characters to survive remains present and the exotic world is, as I mentioned above, fascinating. Thus, flattening out the external dramatic action for a bit of a romp often works. And, it does here, too, until... the good times go on for too long.

The antagonists and consequences fade to the background and the energy of the story flags.

In those few too-long beats, the reader and audience's attention flicker. The outside world penetrates. The dream fades. She puts down the book and leaves her seat to check her messages.

Coming Soon! 
The Plot Whisperer Book of Writing Prompts. 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

A Coming of Age Story or Rediscovering a Lost Skill?

She's confused about how best to begin her middle-grade historical novel.

After  many drafts, she's perfected the plot and structure of her story and seamlessly incorporated a fascinating historical character and event into a contemporary story. Now, as we consider only the first quarter of her story, it becomes clear that the writer has not yet completely determined the depth of who her protagonist truly is.

She tells me the young male protagonist use to be brave and then lost his courage due to the backstory wound inflicted by the sudden death of his father. Yet, as she conveys her scenes to me, it becomes clear that there is confusion between whether he has always been small and scared versus having once been brave and then lost his courage.

As she decides which traits he embodies at the beginning of the story, she then must decide whether those traits will change and develop over the course of the entire story and lead to his ultimate transformation or whether old strengths that have been lost due to his backstory will be rediscovered along the way. This is a subtle yet pivotal difference that affects the tone and emotion of the entire story.

When to Use a Flashback

Watch your delivery of backstory ~ the story of what, in the past, made the character who they are today (in story time).

Writers want to cram everything right up front.

"I know all their history, why would I want to withhold it from the reader?"
"I wrote it that way."
"It's the good part."

Writers spend lots of time imagining and writing every little detail about a character's past, be it for a child or an adult. So, of course, writers want to tell everything right away. Perhaps, in the process, even show off a bit how clever they are. Until, one understands how curiosity works.

Not telling everything makes the reader curious. Curiosity draws the reader deeper into the story world. The reader wants to fill in the "who," "what," "how" (the "where" and "when" have already been clearly established right up front to ground the reader). They keep reading. This is good.

Tell the reader only what they need to know to inform that particular scene. This is especially true in the Beginning (1/4 mark). During the first quarter of the project, the character can have a memory. But, if you feel you just must inject a full-blown flashback, where you take the reader back in time in scene, wait until the Middle.

(PLOT TIP: If you're absolutely sure you absolutely have to include the flashback, try using one when you're bogged down in the middle of the middle.)

To Cut a Subplot or Not to Cut a Subplot

The action at the Climax is big and external and life or death and... well, it's great. The scene sounds like the culmination of exciting action in a truly exotic setting. We move from the dramatic action plot to the character emotional development plot -- or, in other words, why the protagonist does what she does at the climax and what her actions mean to the story overall. By the gaps and questions she has, I understand she's written the first draft primarily from the dramatic action and the correct historical point of view.

With probing and support, she establishes the character emotional development arc. In doing so, she knows who the character is throughout the story and how to begin incrementally showing her true transformation as she enters the final quarter of the story.

We establish the other key scenes and begin plotting out scenes from beginning to end. As we do, the writer throws out a subplot, entirely. Later she throws out another. Granted she is a bit nervous about having too many subplots. Still, before she cuts for cutting's sake, I'd like her to consider the subplots for what they contribute to the story thematically. I'd like her to consider all her plotlines for what they contribute to the story thematically.

She's written an entire draft and ended up with the bones of a fantastic story. Her first rewrite is a terrific time to begin searching for themes and how plots and subplots help tie the themes together and bring meaning to the story overall.

For an in-depth resource to all the questions to ask about theme when writing a novel, memoir, screeplay, refer to  The Plot Whisperer Workbook: Step-by-Step Exercises to Help You Create Compelling Stories.

AND

Watch Thematic Significance Playlist at How Do I Plot a Novel, Memoir, Screenplay?

*****

PW BOOK AND WORKBOOK GIVEAWAY!
Sue Bradford Edwards of WOW! Women on Writing Blog has written a wonderful review of the PW book and workbook by showing how she used the resources with her own story. We are giving away 3 The Plot Whisperer: Secrets of Story Structure Any Writer Can Master and 3 The Plot Whisperer Book of Writing Prompts: Easy Exercises to Get You Writing

*****

Knowing what to write where in a story with a plot allows for a more loving relationship with your writing. Whether writing a first draft or revising, if you falter wondering what comes next in a story with a plot, follow the prompts inThe Plot Whisperer Book of Writing Prompts: Easy Exercises to Get You Writing

Today, I write.

To familiarize yourself with the basic plot terms used here and in the PW Book of Prompts:

1) Watch the plot playlists on the Plot Whisperer Youtube channel.
2) Read The Plot Whisperer: Secrets of Story Structure Any Writer Can Master
3) Fill out the exercises in The Plot Whisperer Workbook: Step-by-Step Exercises to Help You Create Compelling Stories
4) Visit:
Blockbuster Plots for Writers
Plot Whisperer on Facebook
Plot Whisperer on Twitter

Backstory versus Front Story

Watch your delivery of backstory ~ the story of what, in the past, made the character who they are today (in story time). 

Writers want to cram everything right up front. 

"I know all their history, why would I want to withhold it from the reader?" 
"I wrote it that way." 
"It's the good part." 

Writers spend lots of time imagining and writing every little detail about a character's past, be it for a child or an adult. So, of course, writers would want to tell everything right away. Perhaps, in the process, even show off a bit how clever they are. Until, one understands how curiosity works. 

Not telling everything makes the reader curious. Curiosity draws the reader deeper into the story world. The reader wants to fill in the "who," "what," "how" (the "where" and "when" have already been clearly established right up front to ground the reader). They keep reading. This is good.

Tell the reader only what they need to know to inform that particular scene. This is especially true in the Beginning (1/4 mark). During the first quarter of the project, the character can have a memory. But, for a full-blown flashback, where you take the reader back in time in scene, wait until the Middle. 

(PLOT TIP: If you're absolutely sure you absolutely have to include the flashback, try using one when you're bogged down in the middle of the middle.)

Click on green highlighted plot concepts for further explanations via video. Each time a concept is referenced you are directed to new information about the Universal Story and writing a novel, memoir or screenplay.

Visit Plot Series: How Do I Plot a Novel, Memoir, Screenplay? on YouTube. A directory of all the steps to the series is to the right of this post. Enjoy!

Order The Plot Whisperer: Secrets of the Universal Story Structure Any Writer Can Master NOW and receive it in time to pre-plot for NaNoWriMo in November!

How to Show Character Mastery and Transformation through both the Internal and External Plots

The final quarter of your story carries the responsibility of getting your characters to the right place at the right time for one final confrontation and support the final opportunity that leads to success and ultimate transformation.

The scenes that comprise the final quarter of your story are filled with the tension of not knowing whether protagonist will win or fail at the climax.

Writing to the end of your story may very well be filling you with tension. Will I ever finish this thing???

Not just with your writing, you may find that with other parts of your life that somehow when your back was turned (though if you retrace scene by scene, you'd note the clear path) your antagonists have grown stronger and more determined and the stakes rise in intensity as you become more and more aware of all the ways you sabotage yourself from finishing and seizing that which you most desire (because, ultimately, no one else can fell us. We--us personally--are the only ones who give up).

Writers make symbolic gestures, like writing down specific daily writing goal and turning off the cable and removing the TV from the premises, promises to their writing lives and living proof of their commitment to themselves to write. Such dedication and willingness to do what's demanded to succeed at your goal!

You've been making good progress and then Bam! Blindsided by a familiar antagonist you'd mistakenly believed was sleeping, the backstory wound you've patiently been been nursing to health activates. This time, rather than touch off your transformed emotional maturity, the blow sends you spiraling all the way back to your old ways of dealing with hurt and betrayal or whatever your backstory wound oozes by beating yourself up and/or raging. Even so, slowly, you find yourself recovering more quickly after each hit and back to writing or whatever your passion as you continue to internally incorporate the you who you are becoming. New strategies and actions you learned during the hard times now serve you well.

Each time you take positive, conscious steps toward your goal, you find yourself acting with more and more emotional maturity than at any other time in your life. You take responsibility for the pain you've suffered and inflicted to get to where you are now and suddenly delight, finding gifts awaiting you and gaining confidence as you prove to yourself and everyone around you that you're passionate about growing and changing. You begin to see how you yourself influence the action around you at your weakest and now how you can change the action around you to benefit your goals through your new strength and determination and maturity.

In this last quarter proving ground on the way to mastery and your prize -- finishing your story, making peace with the past, falling in love again for the first time -- even as you fall back, you pick yourself up, learn, remind yourself of your goals, imagine your character at the end through a clear lens and take the next step needed to move forward.

Today I write!
~~~~~~~~
For more: Read my Plot Whisperer and Blockbuster Plots books for writers.
~~~~

Need more help with your story? 

• Looking for tips to prop up your middle with excitement? 
• Wish you understood how to show don't tell what your character is feeling? 
• Are even you sometimes bored with your own story?
• Long to form your concept into words? 

We can help you with all of that and so much more! View your story in an entirely new light. Recharge your energy and enthusiasm for your writing.

PlotWwiMo: REVISE YOUR NOVEL IN A MONTH
PlotWriMo: Revise Your Novel in a Month includes 8 videos  (5.5 hours)  + 30 exercises

Above the Plot Planner Line: How to Test Pacing and Tension in Stories

When I'm not required to take notes in a Plot Consultation, I often create a mini-Plot Planner for myself to better "see" a writer's story and visually plot and follow along as she recounts scenes.

I cringe when I find the 2nd scene takes place around the dinner table with no conflict, tension, suspense or curiosity and the protagonist in control. Hating to write a scene under the Plot Planner line so early in the story, I celebrate when instead, I'm able to pop that same scene above the line because of what happens toward the end of the action.

The slow dinner scene ends with an object foreshadowed in a prior scene falling and threatening to expose the protagonist's secret, lie, irresponsibility, thus showing the protagonist no longer in control. His fear takes over thus moving this scene from quiet and safe to fraught with tension which earns the scene a place above the Plot Planner line. The short sense of normalcy (how the family interacts provides a glimpse into his backstory) offers us plenty of opportunities to compare who he projects himself when feeling safe and supported versus who he shows himself to be when stressed and uncertain.

Drawing a line by cause and effect, connecting one scene neatly to the next, I find nearly every scene is above the line in the first quarter of her story, proving to me that her promise to her reader is true -- this story is filled with external dramatic action and lots of ensuing chaos and mayhem, a page-turner, on the edge-of-your-seat-with-excitement sort of story, one any middle grade boy would be left clamoring for more.

Test your scenes by placing them one-by-one on a Plot Planner either above or below the line. Stand back and objectively assess the number and placement of slower, quieter scenes in relationship to more tension-filled, exciting scenes.

Today I write.
~~~~~~~~
For plot help:
Read my Plot Whisperer books for writers

Watch Plot Video Workshops Series:

• PlotWriMo: Revise Your Novel in a Month ~~ View your story in an entirely new light. Recharge your energy and enthusiasm for your writing. 8 videos (5.5 hours)+ 30 exercises
• How to Write a Sell a Picture Book with a Plot ~~ Picture books are without subplots allowing the primary plot lines to shine through. 7 videos + 28 exercises

Facebook group ask questions that come up in either series and share your progress.

Cause and Effect/Beginnings

The first quarter of any writing project introduces the story's major characters, their goals, the setting, time period, themes, and issues. In the quest of accomplishing this task, many writers forget the importance of Cause and Effect. When scenes come at a reader one after another with nothing linking them together, the piece feels episodic and thus, off-putting to the reader.

Consider instead finding ways to link the scenes by Cause and Effect. Ask yourself: Because this just happened in this scene what happens next? The operative word here is: because. Because of this, then that. Not, this happens and this happens and this happpens next. But rather, because this happens, then this happens next, and because of that, this happens next. Cause and Effect is a seamless way to draw the reader deeper into the story.

Also, keep in mind the needs of the Beginning. This is not the place where you necessarily deepen the character or the plot; it is the place of introduction.

To read more on Cause and Effect and the specific parameters for each part of a novel, screenplay or memoir, visit, www.blockbusterplots.com and click on Plot Tips.