I've fallen into the habit of asking writers to fill out the Character Emotional Development Plot Profile for themselves as well as for their protagonist. One question more than all others reveals depth of passion.
QUESTION: What do you stand to lose if you do not accomplish your writing goal?
WRITERS' ANSWERS:
I've lost my way and haven't been able to find it again
The evil voices will be proven correct
Sanity
My story will not make it into the world
Self-respect
Me
My self-esteem
A sense of accomplishment before the real deadline
Self-fulfillment
Peace of mind
In the work I do with writers, I offer guidance about plot and structure and meaning in relationship to the protagonist's ultimate transformation. I also strive to provide insight into the writer's journey.
Writing is a solitary activity and can make you feel cut-off and separate and alone. Until, that is, you attend your first writers conference, join a critique group, form a writing group, read blogs like this one.
Everyone who creates something out of nothing questions themselves. Who am I to write?
All writers revise endlessly.
No one knows what they truly are writing about.
Every writer is shy about the choices they make.
My greatest hope for you is to remember we all start a story the same--one word on the page at a time and to encourage you to feel your way to how this next author answers when asked the same question:
What do you stand to lose if you are unsuccessful at achieving your writing goal?
Not a thing. Everything is as it should be...
Received the following from a writer I'm working with:
"Through our time together, I've come to realize that writing is all about stamina!! I had NO idea how much THINKING and CONNECTING goes into a story. I've done technical writing/reports/research for years but none compares with the effort necessary to craft a story. Novel writing is also much more intriguing and fulfilling."
The writer is crafting a complicated murder mystery with many suspects, thus all the "thinking" and "connecting" he has to do.
I am pleased he finds novel writing intriguing and fulfilling because as soon as he moves from plotting and planning, his true writer's journey begins.
Every protagonist embarks on a journey that sends her both externally and internally into, as yet, undiscovered places. A writer does, too.
The uncertainty of creating something out of nothing often sends a writer spiraling into depression, confusion, blocks, and frustration. The more sensitive the writer, the deeper the abyss.
"If you can do something else," an early writing instructor advised the class. "Do it."
If you can't silence the whispering, still the pen to paper, proceed with a willing heart. Trust the process. Magic happens....
Used Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak with a group of 15 8 - 10 year old kids. 7 kids opted for private secretaries made up of teen volunteers and other Friends of the Library board members. One of the seven needed brainstorming support only. The other six benefitted from someone else performing the fine motor skills necessary to actually write the story down on paper. Whether they wrote the story themselves or used the help of another, all the kids finished stories in 2 1/2 hours which will now be made into a book by a local publisher for the kids and local library.
Where the Wild Things Are is a simplistic example of the Universal Story form (the paradox of life = that which is simple/small is actually huge. That which is big is actually not much at all.)
The Beginning (1/4) introduces Max, establishes his goal = to be a wild thing, shows his flaw = stubborn and belligerent, and strength = enormous imagination.
The End of the Beginning (page twelve of 37 pages) occurs when his bedroom is no longer a bedroom but a forest.
The Middle (1/2) begins at the precise moment Max undertakes his journey. In the Middle, Max encounters antagonists = dragon of the sea, rough water, Wild Things. The entire middle (6 pages), has no text and shows the unusual, exotic world in which Max now resides = Wild Things making wild rumpus.
Crisis ensues ((3/4 mark = page 29) when Max turns lonely and longs to be where someone loves him best of all.
The End (1/4) begins when he smells good things to eat from far across the world. Though his new friends beg him not to leave, off Max sails.
The Climax comes one page before the end of the book when he is able to shed his wolf suit (metaphor for his wildness) and settle down enough to eat his dinner (something he was completely unable to do at the beginning of the story. He needed to go through everything he does in order to gain the skills necessary to appreciate his ordinary world.)
Simple? Yes. Timeless? The book has lasted for 46 years and the movie is soon to be released.
Sometimes we as writers make things too hard. This simple story is about character transformation which is the basis for every great story. Analyze the plot and structure of your story with this in mind. Hope it helps simplify the underpinnings so you can work your magic in the details.
A writer requests help for her character-driven, literary masterpiece and then spends our time together moaning all her fears of corrupting her literary pursuit with the use of plot. She worries what the professors in her graduate program will say. My impatience grows in step with her distain for that which I have devoted the last twenty years of my life.
Having just finished reading two award-winning literary novels: The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery and Run by Ann Patchett in quick succession, I wonder how many literary novels the writer in question has read. Or, I consider, perhaps she is confused about what plot really is and how useful to any writing endeavor.
In the Elegance of the Hedgehog, not only do the two main characters move from living in their head to their hearts at the arrival of a mysterious stranger, the book finally develops a plot and becomes an actual page-turning story.
The publisher of Run, Jonathan Burnham of HaprerCollins, says of the New York Times bestseller, "The story, although it's intricately plotted, is really driven by the characters." (NOTE: isn't all great fiction???)
When did plot get such a bad name in literary circles? Why the intense fear that creative writing withers and dies within plot and structure?
In the End -- the final 1/4 of the entire page or scene count, the protagonist still has foes to confront and overcome. Only now, she is armed with a new understanding of herself. For the first time, her goal is within reach.
The Climax at the end serves as the light at the end of the tunnel. The protagonist moves toward the light -- one step forward toward the ultimate transformation, three steps back, a fight for a couple of steps, being beat backwards.
The Climax is the crowning glory of the entire project. The Climax is where protagonist "shows" in scene her acting in a transformed way -- in a way she could not have acted in any other part of the story because she first needed to experience everything she does in the book to get to the final stage.
The Climax spotlights the character in full transformation demonstrating the necessary new skill or personality, gift or action.
Ask yourself what scene will most dramatically show her demonstrating her transformed self?
I've fallen into the habit of asking writers to fill out the Character Emotional Development Plot Profile for themselves as well as for their protagonist. One question more than all others reveals depth of passion.
It's so true- we impose our own deadlines and pressure most of the time. The answers you shared from writers are revealing in that they take their craft very seriously, which is good. But some answers really are sad in that it's clear we are very hard on ourselves. Thanks for reminding us that "everything is as it should be," even if we don't make a certain goal.
Marissa
Oh yes, I love this.