Constructing Plot (Act 1 - Beginnings)

"To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the Gift.”  - Steve Prefontaine

The basics of constructing an intriguing and entertaining plot is at the core of good storytelling.  Any discussion of plot must at some point refer back to the master, Aristotle.  For over 2,300 years the format he laid down still serves us.  Every story has a beginning, middle and end.  Duh...  and every section has a specific function.  Setup the situation in act one, escalate the confrontation with the antagonist in act two and provide the reader/viewer with a satisfying resolution in act three.  Okay, but how does one go about constructing a plot?

In this entry I'll discuss stage one: the beginning or setup.

Let's take a look at plot construction's first component (the beginning).  The basic premise of any story is simply: something happens to someone.  In the first thirty pages of your screenplay (give or take) your story must accomplish several things.  Okay, define who your hero is.  This should be easy.  It's usually the character that under goes the most change.  The audience will experience your story through this person's perspective.

Empathy toward your main character will keep your audience engaged.  It's crucial.  No one will sit through a movie for an hour and a half if they don't feel a connection to your main character.  I've found three helpful techniques that help with this process.

• Make your main character either very good at what he or she does (a decorated army officer who leads new recruits through the difficulties of becoming an officer, a compassionate teacher that sacrifices advancements in her own career to help her students, etc.) or
• Make your main character hilariously funny (a hateful, biggot like Archie Bunker in All in the Family or a bumbling, drunken playboy like Arthur the multi-millionaire lush in the film of the same name played by Dudley Moore) we can forgive all types of bad behavior in a main character when he or she is funny.  In fact, we'll cheer them on!   or lastly,
• Make your character the victim of some unfortunate event beyond their control (a victim of a car accident, a person left devastated by a hurricane, an abused child, etc.).  Our hearts go out to people like this.  It's natural.  Exploit it!  

These are three easy ways to build audience empathy with your main character.  Empathy is what will keep them rooting for your hero and caring about your story's final resolution.

The challenge of Act one is that it needs to accomplish a few important things as it thrusts us into the action.  Many beginning writers linger on lengthy explanations and setups that slow a story down.  In contrast, look at the mega successful James Bond franchise.  Those films are famous for beginning with an elaborate action sequence.  It throws the audience into the adventure at the very first moment.

Be sure to start your story at the height of something important that's happening in the lives of the characters you've created - not their Thursday afternoon trip to the market (unless of course that's where something happens - like a robbery, an alien attack, an act of terrorism, etc.)  A good rule of thumb I've heard is to start every scene at the last possible moment.  For instance, you want to write a scene about a husband and wife getting into an argument.  Well -- start in the heat of an argument!  Insults are slung about over a badly cooked dinner, tears are shed - slaps across the face are exchanged - you get the idea.  Don't start at the moment when a tired husband is just arriving home from work.  You've got to get a lot of things done in the first thirty pages.  You just don't have time for this.

Once you've accomplished setting up the environment, tone and main character give your hero a burning desire.  This will be the gasoline that keeps the story moving forward.

Consider these personal character motives:  A woman intent on getting her less than average child into an exclusive school, a boxer trying to make a comeback when he's well past his prime, a detective with twenty hours to find a kidnapped heiress -- these are all examples of a burning desire - a overwhelming need that you can then exploit for dramatic or comedic purpose in stage two - the middle.  One clever writing book I read recently said that beginning is all about rushing to get to the middle!

Setup the "who what and where" of your story in Act one and you're well on your way to having a great first act.  Give your audience the chance to discover who the people of your story are - make them care - and then be sure to get across what the stakes are in your story.

Like many writers, I have a fondness for stories of far off, exotic locales and wondrous new cultures.  Asne Seierstad's The Bookseller of Kabul is penetrating and moving account of one journalist's extended stay in Afghanistan.  It's  rich with detail and emotionally engaging.  I highly recommend it.

This week's suggested website: The Library of Congress - (http://www.loc.gov/library/libarch-digital.html) This U.S. government site offers access to an online library of books, letters, manuscripts, photos and other printed materials.


This week's writing prompt: Give yourself five uninterrupted minutes of quiet time.  Review your main's character biography.  Make sure you've included a burning desire in his/her makeup that will drive him/her through the rest of your story.  Have a great writing week.  

My Own Private Eden

"If you're going to have two faces at least make one of them pretty" - Marilyn Monroe

Driving 1,700 miles from Houston to a small upstate New York hamlet (I’d rather not disclose where for fear I may get visitors) with my two dogs gave me an opportunity to see some of the country’s most beautiful landscapes as I passed through states like Louisiana, Alabama, Tennessee, Maryland and Pennsylvania.  Each had its own character, its own shape, its own voice.  The blue mountains of Tennessee are appropriately named but nothing can prepare you for how breathtaking they are.  I'm astounded at how much beauty there is in the world.

I arrived in my dilapidated hunter’s cabin to find the place in pretty decent shape.  The grass had only grown chest high and required a mere three days of weed whacking to tame.  The washer/dryer combo that promised to use next to no energy very little water and certified hunky dory for the environment, stubbornly refused to drain.  It held my clothes hostage in lukewarm water for three days.  As it happened not having the modern convenience of a washer/dryer was a wonderful introduction to the world of "laundry meditation."  A tub, some water, and good old elbow grease and I’m really feeling like Laura Ingalls Wilder.  Lastly, a sturdy line that will hold it all in place until the sun bleaches my clothes with warmth.

A noisy 4^th of July holiday weekend came and went and the mountainside settled down to its own rhythms.  Wild turkey, raccoons, bear, deer, hawks, chipmunks, robins, beavers, and woodpeckers were just a few of the animals I could a identify – there were many more I’d never seen before including a few snakes that angrily slithered around exposed to the sun and predators thanks to the weed whacker.  Now what does this all have to do with writing?  Everything!

Hudson Valley - Copyright David Oliveras 2011

 This was the vista that awaited me when I arrived.  My own private eden.  It's a piece of property that I own in the Hudson Valley.  It's where I'll have my ashes spread.  I'm fortunate that I can spend some time of the year here, writing.  It's where it all comes from.

Traveling exposes you wonderful new environments rich in detail and color.  It hones your powers of observation.  It forces you into the unknown (where adventure breeds).  

What better entertainment than a classic from one of my favorite authors.  John Steinbeck’s, Travels with Charly: In Search of America” was one of those books I always meant to read but never got around to.  I had an old audiobook on cassette (unabridged, of course) and I spent many hours on the road reading about Steinbeck’s perspective on what he saw.  He made his trip in the early 1960s.  Times were certainly different.  What a wonderful piece of social commentary. It was especially wonderful to read Steinbeck's comments on civil rights as an African American sits in the Oval Office.   Highly recommended!

 This week's suggested website: The Purdue Online Writing Lab (http://owl.english.purdue.edu/) (OWL) has over 200 high quality grammar and writing resources.

 

This week's writing prompt:  Give yourself five uninterrupted minutes of quiet time.  Draw an imaginary map.  It can be a vast landscape of mountains or a ultra modern urban layout. Populate this place with landmarks and vivid detail.  When you're ready allow a character you've been working on to wander through this place.  What happens?

Roadmaps and Sign Posts

"If you follow all the rules, you'll miss out on all the fun."  -- Katherine Hepburn

Life throws you curves!  It's great when you can enjoy them, like a child riding a roller coaster.  The faster, and more unexpected they are the better.  Dips and curves are the whole idea of the ride.  So it is with your characters, who by now you know very well.  Your job now as a storyteller is to throw them into the "curves" of life.

I'm reminded, as I prepare to travel cross country, that planning a long piece of writing is a lot like planning a road trip.  When you prepare for a road trip you obviously know your starting point (beginning) and you know your destination (ending).  A lot of writers, myself included, get lost in the middle - and that's where the meat of the story is.

A friend of mine recently asked me what she should do with her characters (who, by now she knows inside and out).  Well, it's really basic and difficult at the same time.  Give your characters a strong desire (like getting across country) and then put as many obstacles in their way as possible (i.e., your hero must take his two large dogs - that don't always get along - with him in a sportscar.)

Your characters must start in one place (whether its a phyical place or emotional state) and end up in another.  The audience needs to see a progression (or degression).  How they get there is what makes your story interesting.

A treatment or outline will serve to indicate the major points along the way.  However, the trip won't be without its fair share of surprises.  You'll stumble along and find treasures that you didn't expect much like you would on a road trip. (i.e., your hero's GPS has lost all sense of direction).

There's no better way to learn writing than to read the writers that resonate with your sensibilities and excite you the most.  I was thrilled once again with Paulo Coehlo's writing.  I've read the majority of his work and recently finished "The Witch of Portobello" was no disappointment.  It's only the second novel I've read this year.  I'm quite a bit behind my goal of one a month.  See.... shit happens!


This week's suggested website: Absolute Write - (www.absolutewrite.com) Absolute Write covers a wide range of topics and is a good resource for any writer. This site's thousands of pages feature articles, classifieds, interviews, message boards and writing contests.


This week's writing prompt: Give yourself five uninterrupted minutes of quiet time.  Write a postcard to yourself from your dream vacation destination.  Describe the wonderful (or horrific) time you're having.http://absolutewrite.com/