Welcome all you dedicated writers committed to your craft! If you're just now joining the 3rd Annual International Plot Writing Month, scroll down to Day One and work your way back.
THE END: PART TWO
People who know me are not surprised I start at the End. I've always done things a bit backwards. But, I have three reasons for beginning this way:
1)
The End never gets the attention the Beginning does. Writers often never even get to the End. They begin to stall out in the Middle of the story and end up running back at the Beginning, over and over again. Or, if they do get to the End, they've lost so much energy for the story, the End is vague and underdeveloped.
By: Martha Alderson, M.A.,
on 12/9/2009
Blog: Plot Whisperer for Writers and Readers (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Crisis versus Climax, telling a story, plot a story at the End, 2nd Annual International Plot Writing Month, character transformation, Add a tag
This paradigm echoes in other aspects of real life. Most of us live basically the same story over and over again. If we are brave enough to literally or figuratively leave everything we know (End of the Beginning), by the time things start to get messy -- which they have to in the exotic world of the middle-- we usually give up, turn a blind eye, stick our head's in the sand. We end up back "home," licking our wounds.
In stories, once the protagonist advances into the Middle of the story toward her goal, she does not have the option of turning back. (Note: there are no rules to writing.)
The protagonist is tough enough to go all the way into hell and face her biggest fear or her worst ordeal (the Crisis in the Middle). After that Crisis, she then makes the journey back to share the gift -- not running home crying, -- returning a victor. Where, in the End she faces the ultimate antagonist at the Climax, which often turns out to be herself.
(Please note: I'm using two different words to mark two different moments of highest intensity respectively:
Crisis, which occurs in the Middle at about the 3/4 mark in the story
AND
Climax, which occurs in the End (1/4) one scene or chapter before the last page of the entire story)
2)
The Climax is the crowning glory of the entire story and, thus, deserves focused attention.
In real life, a person who
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By: Martha Alderson, M.A.,
on 12/9/2009
Blog: Plot Whisperer for Writers and Readers (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Crisis versus Climax, telling a story, plot a story at the End, 2nd Annual International Plot Writing Month, character transformation, Add a tag
Welcome all you dedicated writers committed to your craft! If you're just joining us, scroll down to Day One and work your way back.
THE END
People who know me are not likely to be surprised I start at the End. I've always done things a bit backwards. But, I have three valid reasons for beginning this way:
1)
The End never gets the attention the Beginning does. Writers often never even get to the End. They begin to stall out in the Middle of the story and end up running back at the Beginning, over and over again. Or, if they do get to the End, they've lost so much energy for the story, the End is vague and underdeveloped.
By: Martha Alderson, M.A.,
on 12/9/2008
Blog: Plot Whisperer for Writers and Readers (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: character transformation, Crisis versus Climax, telling a story, plot a story at the End, Add a tag
This paradigm echoes in other aspects of real life. Most of us live basically the same story over and over again. If we are brave enough to literally or figuratively leave everything we know (End of the Beginning), by the time things start to get messy -- which they have to in the Middle -- we usually give up, turn a blind eye, stick our head's in the sand. We end up back "home," licking our wounds.
In stories, once the protagonist advances into the Middle of the story, she does not have the option of turning back. (Note: there are no rules to writing.)
The protagonist is tough enough to go all the way into hell and face her biggest fear or her worst ordeal (the Crisis in the Middle). After that Crisis, she then makes the journey back to share the gift -- not running home crying, -- returning a victor. Where, in the End she faces the ultimate antagonist at the Climax, which often turns out to be herself.
(Please note: I'm using two different words to mark two different moments of highest intensity respectively:
Crisis, which occurs in the Middle at about the 3/4 mark in the story
AND
Climax, which occurs in the End (1/4) one scene or chapter before the last page of the entire story)
2)
The Climax is the crowning glory of the entire story and, thus, deserves focused attention.
In real life, a person who suffers a Crisis either goes back to the "tribe" to share her triumph and help others learn from her life, mistakes, awakening -- her Climax. Or, in real life, she can turn away from the challenge and remain unchanged, thus, never reach the Climax. Just because we survive an ordeal does not always mean we are transformed by it.
In stories, however, the character undergoes a transformation. Therefore, the protagonist must face her greatest antagonist at the Climax in the End, be it an external person or an internal fear.
3)
The Climax determines every scene that comes before or leads up to the Climax. Once you know the Climax, you know exactly which scenes to keep and which scenes you've written that need to be cut or revised so that they point thematically to the Climax.
- Does the Climax of your story rise to the greatest intensity of the entire story?
- Think of your story as energy. Does the Climax deliver an energetic impact?
CHARACTER EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Some people believe that we incarnate in the world to hea
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By: Martha Alderson, M.A.,
on 12/9/2008
Blog: Plot Whisperer for Writers and Readers (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: character transformation, Crisis versus Climax, telling a story, plot a story at the End, Add a tag
THE END
People who know me aren't surprised I start at the End. I've always done things a bit backwards. But, I have three valid reasons for beginning this way:
One:
The End never gets the attention the Beginning does. Writers often never even get to the End. They begin to stall out in the Middle of the story and end up running back at the Beginning, over and over again. Or, if they do get to the End, they've lost so much energy for the story, the End is vague and underdeveloped.
This paradigm echoes in other aspects of real life. Most of us live basically the same story over and over again. If we are brave enough to literally or figuratively leave everything we know (End of the Beginning), by the time things start to get messy -- which they have to in the Middle -- we usually give up, turn a blind eye, stick our head's in the sand. We end up back "home," licking our wounds.
In stories, once the protagonist advances into the Middle of the story, she does not have the option of turning back. (Note: there are no rules to writing.)
The protagonist is tough enough to go all the way into hell and face her biggest fear or her worst ordeal (the Crisis in the Middle). After that Crisis, she then makes the journey back to share the gift -- not running home crying, -- returning a victor. Where, in the End she faces the ultimate antagonist at the Climax, which often turns out to be herself.
(Please note: I'm using two different words to mark two different moments of highest intensity respectively:
Crisis, which occurs in the Middle at about the 3/4 mark in the story
AND
Climax, which occurs in the End (1/4) one scene or chapter before the last page of the entire story)
Two:
The Climax is the crowning glory of the entire story and, thus, deserves focused attention.
In real life, a person who suffers a Crisis either goes back to the "tribe" to share her triumph and help others learn from her life, mistakes, awakening -- her Climax. Or, in real life, she can turn away from the challenge and remain unchanged, thus, never reach the Climax. Just because we survive an ordeal does not always mean we are transformed by it.
In stories, however, the character undergoes a transformation. Therefore, the protagonist must face her greatest antagonist at the Climax in the End, be it an external person or an internal fear.
Three:
The Climax determines every scene that comes before or leads up to the Climax. Once you know the Climax, you know exactly which scenes to keep and which scenes you've written that need to be cut or revised so that they point thematically to the Climax.
- Does the Climax of your story rise to the greatest intensity of the entire story?
- Think of your story as energy. Does the Climax deliver an energetic impact?
CHARACTER EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Some people believe that we incarnate in the world to heal a specific wound but that, at birth, we then forget our task. Most of us spend all of our lives unconscious of this deeper destiny.
It's the opposite in a story. What happens throughout the story makes it impossible for the protagonist to remain unconscious. The Crisis in the Middle forces the protagonist to consciousness. This gives her the ability to face the greatest challenge of the entire story -- the Climax at the End -- and not only survive, but to triumph.
The Climax at the End usually hits one scene or, at the most one chapter, from the last page of the project. By then, the protagonist has learned everything she needs to know, scene-by-scene throughout the entire story, to do what she came here to do.
The End feels inevidable because every scene that comes before the Climax has led the reader scene-by-scene to that very moment.
- What is your protagonist's true journey? purpose?
- What is it that only your protagonist can do? deliver? conquer? overcome?
- What is the gift only your character has (granted they have to go through all the trial and challenges throughout the story to get there, but...)?
- Why your character?
Keep an open mind. Be loose. Use the information in whatever best serves your writing. My goal here is to help you prepare and make you excited to tackle writing the next draft.
4 Comments on International Plot Writing Month -- Day Nine, last added: 12/15/2008
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Dear Martha,
You've done it again! I'm working on the last third of my new novel, and, I confess... I was about to email my fabulous critique group to say: "I need to rewrite the beginning since the middle has changed so much." NO!!! I can hear your voice. I know what my story ending is, so, I just have to take a step back, another step back, until I get to the post-crisis (which is where my protagonist is).
Very grateful to your coaching!
Teresa LeYung Ryan
author of Love Made of Heart
My ending does need work...hmm. Gotta finish up on day 7 before I can tackle that one. LOL
Thanks for all the great info!
Thanks for giving us so much useful information!
I just wanted to let you know you're now off by a day, because you had two Day 7 posts. :)
Thanks G of H, I'm right there sitting on your shoulder whispering to you....
Thanks for following along with us.
You, too, Jenifer, and thanks for catching the mistake. Fixed it now.
Good luck all...