The Plot Machine Page 4

Instead of diving in to the endeavor, these heroes explore logical alternatives. For example, a hero in need of money may attempt to get a bank loan before they rob a bank. They might seek a raise at work or beg relatives for a loan. Of course, none of this works, but all common alternatives should be explored and checked off. Logic demands it.

  Added Pressure

  FOR HEROES WHO INITIALLY reject the endeavor, additional pressure may be needed to force them to action. The poor man’s bills pile up and he’s being evicted. The lonely woman suffers through another New Years party, the only one not kissed at midnight. The dragon attacks the village again.

  Pressure can come from any or all facets of a character’s life: family, career, or personal identity. Often such pressure is conveyed through B- and C-stories that weave in and out of the main A story. Avoid tired, shopworn motivators like the clichéd sick relative who needs an operation.

  In addition to sparking action, added pressure can establish a ticking clock. This puts pressure on the hero and conveys the time-scale of the story. People like knowing where a story is going and how long it will take to get there.

  With these subdivisions in hand, you should be able to fill in the blanks of the following generic framework:

  A hero who currently (normal world), goes about his life using his (strengths) but is hampered by his (flaws). He requires (goal) and might undertake (endeavor), but rejects it as too risky. One day (added pressure) happens, forcing his hand. He embarks on the (endeavor) and marvels at the (fun and games). While his (strengths) serve him well, his (flaws) lead him to (death moment). He realizes the error of his ways when (catharsis), but believes he can still reach his goal by (new plan). Using his (new skills) he engages in (climax). With victory in hand, the hero is rewarded with a (denouement).

  Framework Variations

  THE EXACT FRAMEWORK of your story depends largely on your genre and your hero’s particular endeavor. Just as the steel frame of a hospital is different from that of an office building, the frame of your story varies according to its content. Several standard variations are possible for the endeavor and climax. There are fewer set variations for Act I, perhaps one reason they are so easy to write.

  Endeavor Frameworks

  Obstacles

  THE SIMPLEST TYPE OF endeavor has one hero battling various obstacles to reach his or her goal. Think of obstacles as stuff in the hero’s way. The number of obstacles depends on the length of your story. A short story may require only a few where a full-length story may need a dozen or more.

  Some vengeance stories involve a wronged hero battling through layers of obstacles to reach the person that hurt them. A sports story may fill Act II with qualifying competitions before the climactic national championship. Thieves robbing a bank may have to pass through layers of defenses.

  POPULAR OBSTACLES

  The early rounds of a tournament

  Various henchmen guarding Mr. Big

  Layers of defenses

  Bad weather

  Unreliable transportation

  Shifting Goals

  OBSTACLES ARE EVIDENT in many stories, but may not be enough to sustain a narrative. The addition of shifting goals can enrich the plot, further explore the setting, and test your hero in different ways.

  Here’s an example of shifting goals: To win the hand of a maiden, a hero must prove his worthiness by slaying a dragon. To do that, the hero needs a special weapon. This weapon is held in guarded castle. A team of allies is needed to steal it. A ship is needed for their journey.

  As you can see, the goal shifts from winning the maiden to securing a ship to take a team to steal a weapon and kill a dragon. The primary goal is the maiden, but that is quickly submerged by subordinate goals.

  Even here, nothing is easy for the hero. Each subordinate goal should be saddled with frustrating complications. The dragon is invincible. The weapon is locked up. The allies are drunken scoundrels. The ship is a leaky rust-bucket.

  In stories where the hero’s goal is to stop the villain, the writer must design the villain’s primary and subordinate goals. For instance, a super-villain may need various parts to assemble a devastating weapon. Each of the villain’s sub-goals then presents a related sub-goal for the hero.

  POPULAR SHIFTING GOALS

  To reach their goal, the hero must:

  Secure a weapon

  Locate a map

  Obtain a key or pass code

  Enlist allies

  Pinpoint a location

  Win an endorsement

  Travel a great distance

  Find a witness

  Convey a message

  Escape from a trap

  POPULAR COMPLICATIONS

  A traitor in their midst

  A rival for the goal

  False leads and red herrings

  Attacks by henchmen or rivals

  A wounded ally

  Arrested by authorities

  Subplots

  ANOTHER ALTERNATIVE for Act II is to include two or three significant subplots. In this type of story, the primary goal is not so vital that it requires the hero’s complete attention. There is time to explore his or her broader life and include other goals. Sub-plots can offer rest and counterpoint to the primary endeavor.

  Sub-plots typically stem from the hero’s work life, home life, or internal life. The woman seeking love may be dealing with sick parents, trouble at work, or a crisis of religious faith. The detective hunting a killer may have a crumbling marriage due to his workaholic nature.

  These secondary goals should relate thematically to the primary goal. They either add pressure to the hero’s motivation, or illustrate the hero’s strengths and weaknesses. For example, the sub-plot for a hero seeking treasure may relate to employment problems and money issues. In an action story, a romantic sub-plot may arm the hero with the emotional abilities he or she needs to succeed.

  A word of caution: audiences have little patience for stories padded out with irrelevant sub-plots. Make sure your B- and C-stories have some relationship to the A-story.

  POPULAR SUB-PLOTS

  Hero’s Work Life

  Up for Promotion

  Fired or put on probation

  Asking for a raise

  Applying for a new job

  Difficulty with a coworker or boss

  Assigned a difficult task

  Hero’s Home Life

  Getting married or in a romance

  A marriage breaking up

  An ill relative

  A delinquent relative

  Raising children

  A friend asks a favor

  An annoying neighbor

  The death of a friend

  Hero’s Internal Life

  Physical illness or injury

  Mental illness or trauma

  Crisis of faith

  Addiction issues

  Self-esteem issues

  Subordinate Characters

  THIS STRUCTURE EXPANDS the number of protagonists from one to a handful. Stories about historical events, settings, and occupations often use this structure. A famous war battle may be told from the POV of a foot soldier, a sergeant, and a general. A story set in the world of professional sports could involve players, coaches, fans, and the front office. A glimpse inside a business endeavor could involve workers on the factory floor, customers, and the CEO in her paneled office.

  Subordinate characters can also mirror the hero’s thematic arc, often serving a cautionary purpose. The hero may learn from another character’s failure and realize what he must do to succeed.

  Multiple Characters/Goals

  FINALLY, SOME STORIES have multiple characters a goals that are loosely connected, or not connected at all. Stories based around a theme such as War or Parenthood are illustrated with an ensemble of characters involved in different aspects of that experience. A love theme could involve a pair of teenagers on their first date, twenty-somethings getting married, an older couple having marital problems, and a se
nior dealing with the loss of a spouse.

  The writer’s task is to identify different aspects of their chosen setting or theme and embody them in different characters. Each plot can be outlined separately and then woven with the others. Typically the emotional arc of each thread follows the same trajectory, all reaching a death moment at the end of Act II and a climax in Act III.

  ENSEMBLE STORY TYPES

  Location Based

  Residents of a town or city

  Of an apartment building or prison

  Campers at a summer camp

  Organization Based

  The workers at a particular business

  Aristocracy and servants in a mansion

  The crew of an aircraft carrier

  Endeavor Based

  Commanders and soldiers in battle

  Participants in a political movement

  Actors putting on a show

  Experience Based

  Start, middle, and end of marriage

  Birthing, raising, and launching children

  Theme Based

  Love conquers all

  Crime doesn’t pay

  Climax Variations

  JUST AS THE FRAMEWORK of the second act is determined by the type of endeavor, the third act’s framework stems from the climax. Almost all climaxes involve the direct confrontation of hero and villain, but there are a handful of variations.

  The Big Event

  OFTEN A STORY IS LEADING to a specific big event. A boxer prepares for a title match. Soldiers train for a big battle. Lovers prepare for their wedding day. The event is established early in the first or second act and the audience knows exactly where the climax is going to take place. The death moment may suggest the big event is off. This is often followed by a race to the climax where the resurrected hero rushes to confront the dragon or make it to the wedding.

  Extra Innings

  IN THIS STORY TYPE, the hero has reached their initial goal at the end of Act II. The hero, possibly a flawed person with selfish aims, has completed the minimum requirements of the endeavor. They are set to ride off into the sunset when it becomes apparent the villain is still a threat. They must decide to set aside their own interests and risk everything to embark on a new objective.

  The Negative Ending

  SOMETIMES HEROES FAIL. They do not reach their goal, but have grown as a person and found a deeper purpose in life. Despite their failure, they will live on to fight another day with greater self-awareness, or have inspired others to do the same. The resonant moral of such stories is to keep trying, despite the travails of life.

  The inverse is also possible. A protagonist with negative traits and habits may reach their selfish goal, only to realize they have paid a terrible personal price. Such stories serve as negative parables for the audience, warning them not to follow the same path as the protagonist.

  PART FOUR

  Sequences

  Joining Elements

  into Sequences

  By now you have a grasp on the main elements of your story and traditional story structure. It’s time to dig deeper into the process of arranging your elements in sequences.

  This is where many shy away from the outlining process. Who can blame them? Much like a hero on a quest, the task shifts from fun and games to challenges and obstacles. If gathering elements is like taking photographs, designing sequences is like building a puzzle. The edge pieces are easy to assemble, but those blue “sky” pieces are sheer frustration.

  Assembling the pieces of a story presents an even greater challenge. While puzzle pieces have set male-female connectors, story-elements can be tweaked and adjusted, but altering one connection impacts others, much like a Rubik’s Cube.

  Many writers just want to start writing. Inhabiting the world of the story is much more fun than fine-tuning structure. If you don’t flesh out the design details, however, you run the risk of writing yourself into a corner or taking your characters down a blind alley. Then you would be forced to re-jigger your story, invent a solution, and laying track to justify it. Either way, you’ll have to do the ugly work of designing the connections between each element.

  Let’s examine the main sequences of a story. We start with the most important sequence from the end of Act II to the climax.

  Sequence One:

  From Defeat to Victory

  WE KNOW THE TRADITIONAL framework of this sequence:

  Death Moment

  Catharsis

  Resurrection and New Plan

  Climax

  What we need to map out is how the story elements placed in this frame relate to each other. This isn’t easy. There are physical requirements as well as internal thematic considerations. Here are some obvious connections:

  —The death moment relates to the hero’s goal and flaw.

  —The catharsis/resurrection transcends the flaw.

  —The new plan is built on the experiences of Act II.

  —The climax employs the hero’s new skills.

  This can be a complex web of connections. Each element must fit others which in turn must fit others to build a sequence. One reason to keep things very loose in the design process is because each element may need adjusting. No element is set in stone until all elements fit tightly together. This is also why we don’t bother with Act I until Acts II and III are designed. A good place to start this sequence is the hero’s flaw and its relationship to the death moment.

  Flaw/Failure Relationship

  THE death moment is typically the inverse of the hero’s goal. Instead of winning the treasure, they lose what wealth they had. Instead of finding lasting love, the object of their desire dumps them. Instead of safely fleeing the tsunami, they are stuck in its path.

  The fact the hero has failed relates to their internal flaw which guides the specific manner in which they failed. They are either doing something with flawed skills, or avoiding something due to flawed skills.

  Sometimes this is a very obvious connection. In subterfuge stories, the death moment is often when the hero’s deception is revealed. This lends itself to flaws relating to honesty or self-esteem. For example:

  A hero lacking self-esteem (flaw) believes he must assume a false identity (endeavor) to win love (goal). This ruse may work for a while (fun and games), but becomes increasingly difficult to maintain (obstacles). He lacks the confidence, however, to come clean and is ultimately unmasked (Death Moment).

  There are a variety of elements in this sequence, but focus on the last sentence and how the death moment results from the hero’s flaw. While the ruse could simply be revealed, it is more thematic if the hero has an opportunity to “come clean” and fails to do so. His flaw won’t let him. Here’s another example based on a treasure quest:

  A hero filled with hubris (flaw) goes on a quest for treasure (goal). He succeeds in every step of the adventure (fun and games/obstacles) and is certain he can face the last challenge single-handedly. He is defeated (death moment) and only saved by the allies he’s made along the way.

  In this example the hero is taking action, but that action is based on his flaw of hubris or ego. As with the previous example, there should be a decision moment. Perhaps allies volunteer to help him, but he rejects their assistance, believing he can reach the goal on his own.

  Forming a tight bond between flaw and failure will inform a variety of other elements of your story. The next relationship to design is between failure and the new plan.

  FLAW/DEATH CONNECTIONS

  Dishonest—Evades Telling Truth

  Lone Wolf—Rejects aide

  Traumatized—Avoids facing issues

  Naïve—Trusts too much

  Peacemaker—Tries Diplomacy

  Impulsive—Charges into danger

  Bitter—Acts spitefully

  Selfish—Doesn’t share

  Timid—Doesn’t speak up

  Intellectual—Logic fails

  Emotional—Instincts fail

  Failure/New Plan Relationship<
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  THE flaw influences the manner in which the hero fails at the death moment, but the failure itself is reversed in the new plan. The connections here deals with both the physical aspects of the plot and their internal relevance to the hero and the theme they represent.

  Let’s start with the physical. There must be a plausible manner for the hero to regroup and achieve his/her goal. On a structural level, we must have two related goals or two means to achieve the same goal. As nothing—not even your goal—is set in stone, look for a natural way in which it can be cleaved into two related parts.

  The division could be one of circumstances. For example, the hero may find the treasure in Act II only to have it stolen from him by traitors. Now he must use new skills and tactics to steal it back.

  The division could also be one of scale. A hero intent on saving his family from a storm, may have to save an entire village. A soldier tasked with stealing plans for a super weapon, must actually destroy that weapon.

  FAILURE/NEW PLAN DIVISIONS

  Treasure stolen—Must chase after it

  Villain has weapon—Must prevent use

  Delivered warning—Must fight threat

  Obtain Treasure—Ally is kidnapped

  Weapon broken—Devise repairs

  Rescue loved one—Must flee to safety

  Rescue loved one—Must rescue others