A to B to C

Ahhh, the satisfaction of progress.  No, I am still not writing the story but I have made progress in the planning stage.  I dabbled some in character biographies and deciding on themes and symbolism, but today we will discuss plotting the…plot.

I said in the previous post that I plan to follow a basic three act structure.  This is not some special revelation created by me.  The three act structure for story telling has been around for a very long time and most of the writing research websites I referenced recommends it.

 I will also have a short prologue and epilogue.  Does every story need a prologue and epilogue? I do not think so.  I do think my story needs them however.  There are a few introductory elements that I think do not fit on my act 1 and there are a few closing events that do not fit in act 3.  They are very short so they will not require their own acts.  I guess they will take about a chapter each.

After deciding on my basic structure, I needed to fill out each act and decide which plot events will go where.  It sounds easy, but it was actually a pain in the nether region.  I knew the basic premise pretty well, I had a firm grasp on the characters, I knew the important events, and I knew where I wanted the characters to end up.  It should have been easy to put that all together.  It was not easy.  I started to notice blank space.  I wanted the character to start here with this event then end up at this place with that event.  Between the two events…well…blank space.  Part of the issue involved gaps in the main plot.  Not plot holes per se, but rather a lack of natural plot progression.  The other part of the problem involved dead time for characters even when the main plot was progressing.  Also, none of it fit cleanly into a 3 act structure.  This was going to be a problem.

It was a little frustrating but it was also kind of fun.  It was just a problem that had to be evaluated and worked through.  It is this kind of problem solving that attracted me to the practice of law.  I tabled the problem for most of yesterday and did not picked it all back up around 8:00 last night.  I re-reviewed my research on plot structure and exactly what each act should generally consist of:

Act 1 introduces the main characters, introduces the world, and introduces whatever problems the main character faces.

Act 2 increases the pressure on the character. It solves some problems but the characters are faced with new problems – bigger problems.  The main plot devise, or question, or conflict builds.

Act 3 is the climax.  Everything should point to the final peak of the main plot.  If this were an action movie, this is where you would see the biggest explosions.  If this were a romance movie, this is where the guy tries that last-ditch crazy thing in the hopes of winning the girl.

A little simplistic? Sure, but it nails the big ideas. You also need mini events, smaller peaks and valleys through each act to keep the reader going and you need strong transitions between the acts.  Please note that I am not taking credit for the above breakdown.  It came from my research (see my research post).

After re-reviewing my research I was still having trouble visualizing everything and what should go where.  I look large poster size sticky sheets (I cannot for the life of me remember what they are called) and placed 5 on the wall. I labeled them Prologue, Act 1, Act 2, Act 3, and Epilogue.  I then started writing down each major plot point and each major scene I could think of.  I placed them in the sheet where I thought they fit best.  I made a note for each event that impacted the theme and symbolism of the story and I wrote down questions that I wanted to reader to ask throughout each act.  It was a bit of a mess and very much out of order.  Everything was color-coded so that helped.

That is when I noticed there was a huge balance issue between act 1 and 2.  The way I organized the events, there was a lot to cover in act 2 and act 1 was a little bare.  It left me trying to fill voids in act 1.  I moved some things over and created a much better transition between the acts.  I then re-wrote everything in a word document in an outline format and in order.  It looked good.  It flowed naturally (for the most part), and felt balanced.

I is still not perfect and I am sure things will change as I work through them but I feel like I have a map to follow now, and when you are traveling through new territory having a map feels really good.