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When thinking / pre-plotting your story for NaNoWriMo, keep in mind that the middle is more than an exotic world of the antagonists and to create conflicts and challenges for the protagonist. Yes, the dilemmas and setbacks she endures in the middle provide drama and page-turnability.
The struggles to survive and go forward also hold the gifts of new skills and abilities that will serve her well at the climax as she begins to adapt her thinking to the demands of her new reality.
In resisting the changes required of her in the middle to succeed, she struggles. After the crisis / dark night around the 3/4 mark of the story, she becomes conscious of all that has come before. In that new light, she understands the strength and courage she's gained in her suffering and the freedom afforded her.
That way, in the middle of next month, when you're floundering for depth in your writing, you'll find these notes for scene expansion opportunities. And, by the end of the month, when you're exhausted and spent, you'll have scene ideas how best to show the integration of these new skills and beliefs.
For more tips and tricks to pre-plotting and writing a novel in a month, check out my Plot Whisperer books: 1) The Plot Whisperer Workbook: Step-by-step Exercises to Help You Create Compelling Stories2) The Plot Whisperer: Secrets of Story Structure Any Writer Can Master3) The Plot Whisperer Book of Writing Prompts: Easy Exercises to Get You Writing.Today I write! Rather, today I pre-plot for NaNo!
~~~~~~~~To continue writing and revising:
Question: I'm wondering if it's required to have a physical antagonist in a story. My character's main antagonist is herself, and I have more unnamed antagonists and obstacles but I think I'm floundering for lack of a more specific enemy; with a face and a name and a past.
Answer: Emphasis is given to the protagonist's character emotional development because the transformation a character undergoes is critical to writing a great story.
Yet it's important to remember that the protagonist is only as good as her antagonists.
A story does not require that you have a physical antagonist with a face and a name and a past. However, by creating an external antagonist(s), you afford yourself more opportunities to develop excitement in the exotic world of the middle (the antagonist's world).
Antagonists create subplots in the middle and help create the tension and conflict that leads up to the antagonist climax which serves as the protagonist's crisis.
As you pre-plot for NaNoWriMo, be sure to develop the antagonist(s) with the same attention to detail as you do your protagonist.
SPECIAL NOTE: Writer Unboxed offers a free Stop and comment to win a free copy of The Plot Whisperer Workbook: Step-by-step Exercises to Help You Create Compelling Stories giveaway (with all sorts of antagonist's exercises and plot planners) until Saturday.
Pre-Plot for NaNoWriMo Plot Tips:
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Coming Soon!
The Plot Whisperer Book of Writing Prompts: Easy Exercises to Get You Writing. Available for pre-order now. Ships 12/12.
More Plot Tips:
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
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Plot Whisperer on Twitter
