TECH: Waddling Slowly through Plot & Structure (11)

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Originally posted 9 August 2007

[drat, drat, I forgot to post this - sorry for the delay. Is it next week yet?]

Waddling Slowly through Plot & Structure (11)

Let's see. Somewhere in Plot & Structure by James Scott Bell? Oh yes, chapter 4, did getting your reader hooked and establishing a bond between the reader and the lead character. So it must be time for . . .

Presenting the story world! Or as Bell says, "What sort of world does your lead inhabit? Not merely the setting, though that is important. But what is life like for the lead?"

In other words, what is the life and routine that are about to become disturbed? What kind of work does the lead do? What do they want, what are they dreaming about? When they say, "there's no place like home," where do what they want to go?

Along with that, the beginning often sets the tone. This is the narrator's voice, his or her attitude, what kind of a book is this -- melodramatic action or laid-back contemplation? A mystery with a murder on every page or a romance with a kiss on every page? Serious, comic, dramatic, hard-boiled, overdone?

[We interrupt this chapter for a sidebar. Bell borrows from The 38 Most Common Fiction Writing Mistakes by Bickham the recommendation to start the story from the first sentence. Sounds simple, and yet often the story stalls with excessive description with no character or action in view, backward looks attempting to fill in the back story before actually starting the plot, or a lack of threat, with no disturbance or difficulty in sight. Get the story started!]

The next thing that the beginning does is to compel the reader to move on into the middle. An interesting lead character has a problem, a disturbance that pushes them into the middle, and the reader is dragged along. The beginning shows us the first door of no return, and the lead character walking through it. And the reader wants to know what will happen next.

But what about the information that we know the reader needs? Can't we just give him a dump of information? Just a chunk of exposition to move things along? Bell suggests that sometimes, if you keep it short, you can get away with this. The problem is that most of us don't really keep it short. In response, Bell developed three rules to help control his own expository tendencies. Here they are, although you'll need to read the book for details:

1. Act first, explain later. Always start with a character in motion, and then drop in little bits of information as necessary.
2. When you explain, use an iceberg. Give the reader the 10% that is necessary to understand what is happening, and leave 90% hidden for now.
3. Set information inside confrontation. Within intense conflict, the character can drop crucial information in front of the reader.

Skip past some examples . . .

And some exercises! Here we go.

1. Take a look at the opening chapter of your work in progress, or write one now, or even borrow one from a book that you like. What techniques do you use to grab the reader from the very first paragraph? Is there a feeling of motion? If not, try using some of the techniques from this chapter to rewrite.
2. What is the story world? Do you really know it in detail? What in your beginning gives the reader a detailed sense of it, without blocks of descriptive dump?
3. How do you introduce your lead character? What makes this character memorable? Brainstorm five possibilities for your lead character in each of the following categories:

   a.        Identification: how is the lead "like us?"
   b.        Sympathy: Jeopardy, hardship, underdog status, vulnerability
   c.        Likability: wittiness? Cares for other people?
   d.        Inner conflict: what two voices or agendas are battling inside your lead character?
   

4. What disturbs your character' s world? What change has set off ripples or waves?
5. Why is your opposition doing what they're doing? What explains the way they are acting? What aspects of their character are charming, attractive, or seductive? Remember that your villain is a hero in their own eyes.

Okay? So that is Chapter 4, all about beginnings. Frankly, I often think that we should start with the other parts of the story and then finish with the beginning. It's the hardest part of the story to get right, and probably will need the most revision, so don't sweat it too much if the first draft doesn't seem to have everything just perfect. I've seen at least one editor advise that you should spend 90% of your effort on the beginning, since that is the part that pulls the reader in - and if they don't make it past that, having a great middle and end probably won't matter. I think that's an exaggeration, but you definitely need to work on the beginning. I find that often just finding the right place to start takes a few versions and revisions.

So, let's see. We start with a LOCK: a lead character, with an objective, running into confrontations, with a knockout ending. Take the world and disturb it, then force them through the doorway of no return into the middle, and finally into another doorway of no return that leads to the ending. Wheel and deal and expand those ideas, then sort them out by looking for passion, potential, and precision. Once you get into writing the story, make sure that the beginning drags the reader in, gives them a bond with the lead character, shows them the story world, sets the tone, forces the reader on into the middle, and introduces the loyal opposition.

Write!