My last post was a bit harsh. I take it back. It is not necessary for a writer to have to go through all that.
In my own defense, my purpose here is to support writers achieve their dreams of completing a worthy project. So what about all those half-written stories that end up in the trash bin or at the bottom of a cabinet drawer? Not reaching it, our dreams hound us relentlessly. We never truly forget that which we long for.
People who have faced death say they do not think about the work they missed at the end but of family and friends. Really? Don't you think for even a moment your story might flash before your face and ask, what if?
How does a resistant writer make it all the way to the end?
I wish I could say with grace and splendor but my way is messier. Commit to your own hero's journey as your protagonist embarks on hers.
Learn as much about yourself through the process as you learn about your character.
Recognize the similarities.
Invite in the antagonists.
Ask for answers.
Push yourself.
See what happens.
Last Saturday I taught the 1st in a series of 3 Plot Intensives in Capitola, CA. I covered plot at the overall story level. This Saturday I teach the 2nd plot workshop to cover plot at the scene level. Next Saturday I teach the 3rd and final workshop; Plot for Meaning at the overall plot level.
Saturday for the first time I asked writers to fill out the
Character Emotional Plot Profile for more than just their protagonist and antagonist. This time, they also filled out one for themselves as a writer and another for themselves personally.
I felt a bit weird about asking for their own personal profile and after glancing at a few, I knew for certain I won't do that again. I don't need to know a person's secrets to help her with plot. However, the writers' profiles were fascinating in their universality.
Everyone wants to write a story and everyone suffers from the same doubt, insecurity, fears which begs the question: if a writer stands back and analyzes where she is on her writing journey, will it help her as much as standing back and looking at the overall plot of her writing story on a
Plot Planner?
You tell me.
Where are you on your writing journey?
- Still in the introductory mode (Beginning - 1/4) and mostly talking about writing, how you're not writing, what you want to write about, thinking about writing, wanting to write but don't very often?
- Stepped over into the land of the exotic and solitary world of writing filled with antagonists of every kind (Middle - 1/2)?
- Clawing your way to the Climax (End - 1/4)
Does your answer surprise you?
Does the understanding of where you are on the Universal Story form or your life's journey give you a deeper understanding of you are in relationship with your writing?
Does it give you a deeper understanding of the journey your protagonist is on, too?
(Oops! Here's the correct plot tips article. My apologies.)
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.
My last post was a bit harsh. I take it back. It is not necessary for a writer to have to go through all that.
Congrats! JUST LOVE YOUR BOOK!
Any timeframe for a truley updated 2nd edition anytime soon?
Would love to see your plot planner be applied to other plot structures, other than the "upside-down checkmark" plot line. (i.e. you should check out LOREN NIEMI's "THE BOOK OF PLOTS" for additional plot structures).
In addition (just my wish list), what would be great for a future edition is to add additional tips / checklists on other writing topics inside the side margins, like dialogue, POV, transitions, revision process, style & grammar tips, first drafts pre-writing methods...instead of recapping on blog postings as you have on recent updates of your book.
Would also be great if you can give additional ideas to further expand on your tools (i.e a list of additional items to track in scene tracker), and a recommeneded reading list of books u find helpful.
Sorry for the rambling, just excited about the idea of a 2nd edition of your book.
By the way, was wondering, in a historical novel, wouldnt it make sense to track summaries so we can track chronology & passive action? Or do u think its best suited to track it in the plot planner instead?
Thanks Martha for all of your help!
--Thankful Newbie Writer :)
Great post. No what ifs!
This is an interesting post because you NOW have 4 stories you're working on now and have yet to complete one. So you must be one of the ones "Who Never Make it to the End"?
I'm a bit dumbfounded because you seem to help so many with your plot tools, but not able to help yourself?
Why not shed some of your personal experiences with your writers block or whatever it is that is stopping you from finishing at least one of your stories. I would love to know how you are coping these last few years?
Teach us from your mistakes. Enlighten us. Humble yourself. I like your book. But all of this "cheerleader" advice without action just seems wrong. Instead of repeating yourself over, and over and over about your plotplanner, offer your dedicated readers a breath of freshness.
Take the plotplanner/scenetracker to a higher level and stop the dead air. No offense.