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.

Are Negative Reviews a Form of Bullying?

I was asked the question by a writer on Facebook long enough ago that I can't find her message and can't remember her exact wording. What I do remember really got me thinking... for months as layers of shame peeled back until I saw myself before the reviews to me now.

She wanted to know if I felt the negative reviews on Amazon for The Plot Whisperer: Secrets of Story Structure Any Writer Can Master , especially the ones that are so personal, are bullying. Yes, I can now say, yes, I felt bullied. Her question led me to understand how much criticism and bullying and judgment and punishment I've received in my life for being different -- as likely you also have to one degree or another.

Problem: The negative reviews worked. Rather than believe the vast majority of reviews which are positive in warm and incredible ways, I surrendered my own beliefs and pulled back from writing about so much that brings me joy -- like the Universal Story, the Writer's Way, the journey all of us share. I allowed the antagonists to fell me.

All of us have fears. When our fear(s) keep us from our dreams and if we're lucky, we're eventually forced to face that which haunts us and be stripped of everything until we learn we're bigger than our fears and ultimately that there is nothing to fear.

I spotted a quote  on Pinterest that moved me:

The writer's FB message sent me on a journey of remembering. I now appreciate the gift in the negative reviews that came so fast and the damage so swift and early. For me to do what I love, I've got to hold my own power or be silenced by and lose to those who don't agree with me and ridicule my ideas.

I also appreciate I can't be seduced by praise though I'm grateful to receive positive emails and messages about how my books and vlog have made you write more and understand yourself better. Thank you! Without a spiritual or inner plot, without a shared language and belief that there is more to life than simply the outer plot, rather than transcend, we're pulled back to wallow there in the muck of the past. I'm grateful to travel this path with you...

Today I write!


~~~~

Need more help with your story? 

• Ready for a massive rewrite? Re-vision first!
• Confused about what you're really trying to convey in your story?
• Lots of action, no character development? Lots of character development and no action?
• 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.

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Difference between Crisis and Every Other Scene in the Middle of Your Story

The middle of your story is the territory of the antagonists, which means that the antagonists control the new and unusual world. In this world, antagonists—internal and external—interfere with the protagonist’s forward progress, creating tension and excitement. This back-and-forth between protagonist and antagonist forms the essential dynamic yin and yang of stories.

All the rules, customs, expectations, and punishments of this new setting reflect the antagonist’s world. To be successful, the protagonist must master them.

The new world performs the primary function of the middle: to induce change. As such, it is a place of struggle and resistance.

As long as the protagonist resists and until she accepts what is, she suffers. He feels unlovable and pursues wealth and power and success no matter the cost. In her fear of failure, she keeps busy, busy, busy. To avoid criticism, he avoids taking risks and always pleases others. To bury anxious or empty feelings, she drinks too much, fights too much, eats too much, hides too much.

In each of these scenes in the middle, she continues using techniques that used to always work and never fail her in her old world and in the exotic world of the middle prove useless. Her backstory wound oozes betrayal. Not unusual for scenes in the middle to deal with betrayal as she copes and complains, resists and controls, hides and suffers.

Finally, a crisis jolts her awake -- a betrayal or a death where everything changes, all her illusions shatter and nothing will ever be the same again. A crisis often is exacerbated because the protagonist trusts the wrong people, others, and not herself. With a backstory wound that deals with betrayal, the crisis may turn around a major betrayal.

The difference between the crisis and every other scene in the middle of your story is the level of intensity in the scene. In every other scene in the middle, as the protagonist continues trying and failing, dread and anxiety and self-doubt grow. She turns even more tense and restless.

The intensity of the crisis, however, changes her forever.

Think of the protagonist’s crisis as the antagonist’s climax where the antagonist(s) prevails and the protagonist fails. The protagonist is only as good as the antagonists. Throughout the entire beginning and middle of a story, antagonists are always more powerful than the protagonist and seem always to find just the right buttons to push to bring out the worst in the protagonist. After the threshold following the crisis, all that changes. For now . . . the antagonist(s) rule. The height of the antagonist’s power comes at the crisis when the protagonist is confronted by a moment of truth; thereafter, nothing is ever the same.
(Excerpt from The Plot Whisperer Workbook: Step-by-Step Exercises to Help You Create Compelling Stories.)

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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

Another Tip to Bolster the Sagging Middle

Premise:

Impossible for writers with an appreciation of all the Middle encompasses to write a sagging Middle. 

I've written extensively in previous blogs about the Middle being:

• Territory of the Antagonists 
  
• The Exotic World

(2 Tips for bolstering the Middle)

To add to that, the scenes in the Middle are made up of opportunities for the protagonist to learn the skills and knowledge she needs in order reign victorious at the Climax and achieve her long-term goal. 

Though she is unconscious or oblivious of her need to learn new skills and knowledge, you as the writer are fully conscious. Put her in scenes that challenge her weaknesses and show her what she needs to learn by allowing the antagonists to interfere with her efforts and movement toward her goal. 

A Sophisticated Form of Writer's Procrastination

Two On-going Plot Phone Consultations in a row, with two separate writers, each of whom suffers from a sophisticated form of procrastination.

Both writers, one fiction, one non-fiction, have had the dream of writing / finishing their books for a long time now. Both writers, after years of thinking and planning and researching their projects have both settled down and committed to the process. (Or, so they think.) By signing up for my services they crossed from the ordinary world of stopping and starting, dreaming and waiting to doing something about it = The End of the Beginning. 

The antagonists they faced in the Beginning (1/4) -- life, jobs, family -- are nothing compared to what they face now that they have crossed over into the Middle. Both writers have outrageously important books to write -- important for a multitude of reasons, the most important being, in my mind, to save their very spirits (I know, I'm a bit dramatic here but you know writers...) = the act of completion. Neither writer is able to move on to other writing projects that call to them (many of which they've started but never quite finished) or really much of any other creative endeavors until this one is done.

Now that they have crossed over into this new and exotic world of the Middle -- the writer's life, they face a most formidable antagonist = the dreaded procrastination. Now their internal doubts and insecurities are no longer hidden behind the worthy causes of caring for children and providing financial security to those they love. Now the doubt and insecurity oozes out all over and when they least expect it. Especially now. Always before they were competent and successful and selflessly giving to others.

Now they flounder and feel unworthy and stripped of control (after all, who really can control the creative source. It's more like sliding aboard the Giant Dipper and holding on for dear life). And, where do they hear their doubts the loudest? In the silence of their writing caves and on the blank page.

So what do they do? They do what they do best. They research more, spend hours pondering and planning, and come up with a million and one excuses -- all of them worthy -- for not sitting down and writing.

Though my primary job is to act as the archetype of the Mentor and help writers with their plots and support writers in the process of crafting a story, for these two writers and countless others just like them, I long to shape shift into the Trickster and burn, toss out, throw away their binders of research notes, stacks of reference books, and zip drives filled with information. Each of these two writers know their subject matter to a level of such expertise that they could lecture to thousands. They know so much that the act of condensing it into a compelling read paralyzes each of them.

Neither one has hit the Halfway mark yet. They are still organizing, pondering, mapping out.

Until they keep to a writing schedule and the rough ("vomit") draft is finished, they have not truly committed to the process (what symbolizes the Halfway Point of any great story)(yes, to those of you reading this who are familiar with the Universal Story form, they don't even have a clue about the Crisis that awaits them).

Until they do, I wait.

The muse waits.

Their stories wait.

The world waits....

First Draft versus Rewrites

I twittered recently about how at first writers often give their full attention to one plotline alone. Subsequent rewrites, we are able to multitask.

The plot line that first comes to a writer generally reflects the writer's strength and preference.

This particular writer gives great thought to the action plot line -- outer plot -- and to the romantic plot line -- romance plot (not necessary in every book, though this particular writer is a romance writer, so... Also, because romance fiction is selling well despite the economic downturn, seems to make sense to include some romance??)

Same writer struggles with the character plot line -- inner plot. She balks at filling out the character profile as it applies to the character traits and has done little to explore the protagonist's inner life. Thus, the character shows no transformation in the end. The writer especially resists coming up a flaw -- "I've never been any good at that."

Quick assessment of the key scenes:

1) Launch
2) End of the Beginning
3) Halfway point
4) Crisis
5) Climax
6) Resolution

The scenes themselves point to the character flaw.

As soon as we know the flaw, it is possible to determine how to rewrite each of the key scenes (and all the other ones, too), at least in relationship to the inner plot -- the character emotional development plot line.

**Beginning (1/4):
Introduce the flaw

**Middle (1/2):
Deepen the readers' understanding all the different ways the flaw is revealed. Expand upon all the ways her basic flaw sabotages her from achieving her long-term goals. Yes, the Middle (1/2) is the territory of the antagonists and of the exotic or unusual world, but both of those elements serve to underline the flaw in no uncertain terms. Antagonists serve to challenge the protagonist, but generally speaking our inner issues and beliefs directly influence the growth and development of the flaw and that flaw does more to sabotage us than any external source. (Can't help it, the plot work I do gives me valuable insight into not only character's behavior but our behavior as writers, as well.)

**End (1/4): Shows the character becoming conscious of flaw and the steps she take to remake herself = character transformation.

History Provides the Perfect Antagonist

A writer I've been working with on an on-going basis picked a unique time in our country's history to write about. Built into this time frame is an event where nature colluded with industry and for five days led to the deaths of many in the community. 

It's an age-old dilemma -- what brings a livelihood to everyone in an entire community ends up killing them. Unwilling to admit to what is right there in front of them, people trust the "powers-that-be" -- they would never knowingly poison an entire community in the name of profits, or would they?? Issues specific to this time in our shared past have been repeated countless times before this specific event and will be repeated countless times in the future = creating a thematic universality to her story.

The event lasts five days and serves as a perfect antagonist. Every step the engaging cast of characters take toward their own personal goals is thwarted by the event. Page-turnability is built in as the events unfold. 

Years of research and the author's own passion for the time have contributed to the authenticity of the project.

As the days pass, the situation worsens. The built-in "ticking clock" creates tension and conflict and challenges all the characters, though in the end the protagonist is affected the most and is transformed at depth.

I've always been a sucker for a great historical. Hers has got all the elements. I wish her loads of luck in writing the next draft all the way through, taking care to treat the event as a major character and plotting out each and every turn the event itself takes as it destroys everyone around it. 

Plot Tips for NaNoWriMo Writers

30 days hath November.

I fear pulling out my tricky little formula for determining the parameters of your story. Before you groan in disgust, I know, I know. Horrors that I deem it necessary to reduce the creative process to a mathematical equation. Hey, I'm just trying to help. You want to get to the end of the month with some semblence of a story, don't you? I don't expect those natural born story tellers would visit this site anyway. But, for you writers who are looking for tricks and tips to keep you on track during your month-long journey toward completing your novel or memoir or whatever, try this.

According the 1/4, 1/2, 1/4 rule for the Beginning, Middle and End respectively, you left the Beginning (1/4) of your story around the 7th or 8th of the month. By now, you are deep in the Middle of the story world itself.

In about 5 days or so you'll reach the highest point in your story so far -- the Crisis (3/4 give or take). Therefore, you are smack dab in the middle of or quickly approaching the quicksand of the territory of the antagonists.

Identify what the protagonist is after, wants, desires, is fighting for. Use as many antagonists as you want to interfere with her achieving her goals and to build tension. When we are under the most strain and stress and conflict do we reveal who we really are. Same with your characters.

Adversity does not build character.
Adversity reveals character.

Get the energy of the story moving higher. If you've fallen in love with your characters and are resistant to place them in danger, think again. You're creating a story, not hanging out with your best friend. No one said this was going to be easy. Amp up the tension. Get out of her head and into scene. Show us emotion.

Show us who the character really is. Get her moving toward the Crisis -- a breakdown, dark night of the soul, or the Climax of the antagonist. Make it exciting.

No matter what, keep going. December is National Plot Writing Month. We'll shape your words into a compelling story then.
Are you still writing? Did you start strong only to find yourself wavering now? Still hanging on? Is the tension rising?

Villains

I respond to the first query about villains with intrigue. I teach writers to use as many antagonists as needed to create conflict and excitement on the page. I seldom concentrate on the archetype of the villain. The antagonists I focus on are the seven internal antagonists that plague our characters (as well as ourselves). There are also seven external antagonists.

I generally address only dictionary definition #3 of villain: a character in a story or play who opposes the hero.

My intrigue turned leery when I noticed the same message appear in the comment's section of the blog -- this time repeated three times.

Before I have a chance to post, I personally get slammed in the face with #4 definition of villain: one blamed for a particular evil or difficulty. Caught completely off-guard by the vehement anger and resentment thrown at me, I could not help but note the timing. My hesitancy to write about the villain paired with the email experience forced me to face my fear of the villain. Bullies scare me. So much easier to see them as antagonists -- a concept. Removed.

Instead of an actual post, I twittered about villains. Cop-out, I know. But still, a step...

Before I have a chance for an actual, the message returns, now with a threat. Don't answer and the writer will take his question elsewhere. My deepest reaction? Relief.

The message comes back.

Here goes:
The protagonist of a story of any kind, even in a blog post, sets out on a journey. Along the way she is tested both internally -- fears, hates, and / or flaw. She is also tested externally -- society, nature, other people, machines. Other people can be family members and friends, anyone out to stop the protagonist from getting what she wants.

A villain is darker and meaner. Family and so-called friends can be or become villains. The villain welds power enough to demand their own plot line. They are not changed and transformed by the dramatic action in the story -- as the protagonist is -- but their story has to hit the same key scenes in universal story form.

Have you ever faced a villain?? Not an antagonist but the archetype of a villain?? How dark and how evil? How do you deal with a villain -- in life and in your writing?? I only have that once. My lasting impression is being overpowered by blackness.

Adversity

Adversity does not build character.
Adversity reveals it.

The Beginning of a memoir or work of fiction (1/4 of the entire project) for any age group serves -- among other things like the setting, the dramatic question, the mystery - if there is one, the love interest- if there is one, and the like -- to introduce the character's emotional development. This is where the character strengths and flaws, loves and hates, dreams and goals are introduced.

The Middle (1/2 of the entire project) serves to reveal the deeper nuances of the character's emotional development. This is the part of the story where the writer thrusts the protagonist into as much adversity as possible in order to reveal to the reader or movie goer who the character really is. (Plot tip: make a list of all possible antagonists-- other people, nature, society, belief system, and/or machines -- that can help to create conflict, tension and suspense or curiosity and thus reveal who the character is under pressure -- the more pressure the better)

The End (1/4 of the project) is that portion of the project that actually shows how the character's emotional development has been affected by the adversity in the Middle and reveals how the character has been transformed.

These steps in the overall character emotional transformation can be plotted out on a Plot Planner for ease in developing your project.

What is the most revealing adversity you have experienced either through your character or in your own life?

Crisis

Think of the CRISIS, which generally occurs around 3/4 into the entire project, as the ANTAGONIST'S CLIMAX, or where the antagonists prevail.

OR

The CRISIS is the PROTAGONIST'S moment of truth, where afterwards nothing is ever the same.

OR

In the CRISIS, the PROTAGONIST has a breakdown that leads to a break through.

Plot and Character

Thanksgiving came quickly. Not much advance planning except in brief contemplation when I plotted out vague ideas of food and events. Tradition dictated lunch and Thanksgiving dinner at home. Old family friends to join us for dessert. Next day, leftovers at the beach. Fingers crossed that once again Northern California would offer up one of the best beach days of the year.

Decisions made for who brings what, where and when.... Pre-plotting gives me a feeling of control over that which I know is uncontrollable. As much as I can plot out the events, the dishes, grocery lists, and sleeping arrangement, I know from experience that with the characters involved, disaster loomed.

The End of the Beginning arrives the Monday before Thanksgiving as the first family members trickle in.

Old friends invited say yes. Wednesday spent pre-cooking with Sister One, Mother, and Niece One. The doorbell rings. Niece Two beams at my look of surprise. Niece Three arrives. More sleeping arrangement plotted out. Grocery lists grow longer.

The big day arrives. Antagonists and allies align. Yes, predictably, the fun and surprises led to a Crisis, but this year there was also a personally satisfying Climax at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk on a glorious ride on the Big Dipper, the oldest wooden roller coaster in America.

One of the benefits of working with writers about plot is knowing the Universal Story form inside and out. As weird as it sounds, I live plot. That means I, as the protagonist of my own life, have the power to create Climax after Climax of my own liking.

Sounds simple, doesn't it? The challenge is to stay conscious of my own Character Emotional Development. If I get too caught up in the Dramatic Action of others in the moment, I lose clarity.