Plot #17: Discovery: 20 Master Plots

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original posting: Fri, 16 Jan 1998 08:40:42 -0500

Based on the book "20 Master Plots (And How to Build Them)" by Ronald B. Tobias. ISBN 0-89879-595-8.

Master Plot #17: Discovery

(p. 201) "The possibilities of this plot are endless, but all the stories share a certain focus. It is a plot of character, and to this effect perhaps it's among the most character-oriented plots in this collection. Discovery is about people and their quest to understand who they are."

Who am I? Why am I here? What is the meaning of life?

Discovery shows us some answers to these questions, using characters and situations that seem real and concrete instead of philosophical abstractions and arguments.

(p. 202) "Discovery isn't just about characters. It's about characters in search of understanding something fundamental about themselves...."

(p. 203) "...Readers won't tolerate a writer on a crusade to tell the world the _real_ meaning of life. What we will tolerate, however, is your sincere attempt to present a character struggling through the difficulties of life."

Three movements:
(p. 204) "To understand what a character is to become, we should understand what she was before the unique circumstances propel her on her journey." Don't delay the catalyst, but do give a strong sense of what life is like before...

Don't forget--start the story as late as possible! We don't need tons of detail setting the stage, just a quick glimpse as the action begins...

"...who he is, what's important to him, what he wants to accomplish."

(p. 204) "This first movement gives way to the second movement, which initiates change. Very often the main character is satisfied with his life and isn't looking to change it. But then life happens. Events force change. The character may be forced to look at his life closely for the first time and learn that everything wasn't as good as it was cracked up to be."

The third movement begins when the protagonist "starts to understand the nature of his revelation."

(p. 205) The main focus is on the middle. This is where you examine your character in depth. They may resist change, because it is hard. Having been shoved out of balance, they may struggle to regain the old equilibrium, but "events force her to confront aspects about herself that she may have always avoided."

Make sure you let them _struggle_ with their discovery.

And work to match the struggle with the 'revelation'. I.e., a serious, hard struggle shouldn't result in a trivial change, nor should trivial struggle cause major change. The degree of upheaval in their life mirrors the depth of revelation they experience.

(p. 207) "These stories tend to be dramatic, even melodramatic. That may be because they deal with such extremes of emotion: love, hate, death. ... It would be easy for a writer to fall in the trap of melodrama."
"When does a story become melodramatic? When the emotion being expressed is exaggerated beyond the subject matter's ability to sustain the level of emotion."

"Once the plot (action) takes over character, you lose proportion. If you want to be sincere and deal with complicated emotions, you must spend the time it takes to develop a character who is strong enough to carry those emotions. Otherwise, all you're trying to do is glue feelings onto a cardboard cutout of a character."

Checklist:

1. Does your story focus on the character making the discovery, not the discovery itself? Does it show understanding of human nature?
2. Does your plot give us an understanding of who the main character(s) are _before_ circumstances change and force the character into new situations?
3. Does your story start as late as possible, with the character on the very cusp of change?
4. Is the catalyst that forces the change significant and interesting enough to hold the reader's attention?
5. Does your story move the character into crisis (the clash between the new and the old) as quickly as possible?
6. Does your story maintain a sense of proportion? Are action and emotion balanced and believable? Are the "revelations" of the character in proportion with the events?
7. Do you exaggerate emotions or actions to "force" emotions from the character? Avoid this melodramatic lure...
8. Do you preach or force the character to carry messages for you, the author? Or do you let the characters and their circumstances show the reader whatever they will, with the readers drawing their own conclusions about the story? (My gloss: could you imagine several readers having a long discussion about the "moral" of your story, each asserting what they got--and none quite sure that the others weren't just as accurate?)

Thus wrote Tobias...and now, let's consider how we're going to write a discovery!

How about starting with a number from one to six?

1. "One doesn't discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time." Andre Gide, The Counterfeiters (1925), 3.15, tr. Dorothy Bussy
2. "The new always carries with it the sense of violation, of sacrilege. What is dead is sacred; what is new, that is, _different_, is evil, dangerous, or subversive." Henry Miller "With Edgar Varese in the Gobi Desert," The Air-Conditioned Nightmare (1945)
3. "Let no one say that I have said nothing new; the arrangement of the subject is new." Pascal, Pensees (1670), 22, tr. W.F. Trotter
4. "The vitality of a new movement in art or letters can be pretty accurately gauged by the fury it arouses." Logan Pearsall Smith, Afterthoughts (1931), 5.
5. "Each new season grows from the left-overs from the past. That is the essence of change, and change is the basic law." Hal Borland, "Autumn's Clutter-November 3," Sundial of the Seasons (1964)
6. "There is a time for departure, even when there's no certain place to go." Tennessee Williams, Camino Real (1953), 8.

[Quotations courtesy of The International Thesaurus of Quotations by Rhoda Thomas Tripp ISBN 0-06-091382-7]

That gives us an observation about change, innovation, discovery. Take a few moments to think about that quote, perhaps noting a few points about what it means to you, or why you might consider it to be true (or false).

Now, let us consider our character. Pick a character. Give them a name, sex, age, all those basics. And if you will pick a number from one to six?

1. Trying to get somewhere in time
2. Trying to avoid going somewhere (disliked? feared?)
3. Trying to fulfill a promise
4. Trying to win a better place for oneself
5. Trying to make up for what a relative did
6. Trying to overcome a handicap

Got that? Try working out the details of how this character is trying to accomplish that goal. What's at stake? What's the background that drives them to attempt this?

Now, since romance is in the air, and love is everywhere...suppose that there is a complication, and his/er name is--you tell me. Further, s/he has this emotional edge, this ability to make our main character go wild with (oh, oh, here comes another one. How about a number from one to eight...see which emotional base we're suffering from or with:

1. Anger: fury, outrage, resentment, wrath, exasperation, indignation, vexation, acrimony, animosity, annoyance, irritability, hostility, and, perhaps the extreme, pathological hatred and violence.
2. Sadness: grief, sorrow, cheerlessness, gloom, melancholy, self-pity, loneliness, dejection, despair, and, when pathological, severe depression.
3. Fear: anxiety, apprehension, nervousness, concern, consternation, misgiving, wariness, qualm, edginess, dread, fright, terror; as a psychopathology, phobia and panic.
4. Enjoyment: happiness, joy, relief, contentment, bliss, delight, amusement, pride, sensual pleasure, thrill, rapture, gratification, satisfaction, euphoria, whimsy, ectasy, and at the far edge, mania
5. Love: acceptance, friendliness, trust, kindness, affinity, devotion, adoration, infatuation, _agape_
6. Surprise: shock, astonishment, amazement, wonder
7. Disgust: contempt, disdain, scorn, abhorrence, aversion, distaste, revulsion
8. Shame: guilt, embarrassment, chagrin, remorse, humiliation, regret, mortification, and contrition

[list taken from p. 289 in Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman ISBN 0-553-09503-X]

So, our character knows where they want to go, they have a romantic involvement with this other character who keeps tripping emotional landmines in their shared life, and they are about to discover...themselves.

Take some time and consider what they are going to discover--what will change? For example, maybe they will learn that achieving their goal isn't as important as they thought it was--or that only by accepting their own emotional turmoil can they achieve their dreams? A very romantic kind of thing is to sacrifice the long-dreamed-of goal for the wonders of love, but it's up to you as to just how the tension is built and plays out.

Don't forget that (with pink romance contact lenses firmly obscuring the details beneath a billow of cotton candy) love oft is thought to overcome all barriers, so perhaps the romantic coupling which first appears to be an obstacle to achievement in the end provides a royal boost along the way (not a kick in the pants, just a JATO unit to help us on our way)?

Give it some thought, then write...

Plot #18: Wretched Excess: 20 Master Plots

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

original posting: Fri, 6 Feb 1998 00:00:31 EST

[posting slightly early since I am scheduled to change offices tomorrow, which often has the undesirable side-effect of making the day a total and complete loss...]

Based on the book "20 Master Plots (And How to Build Them)" by Ronald B. Tobias. ISBN 0-89879-595-8.

Plot #18: Wretched Excess

(p. 209) "We are fascinated with people who push the limits of acceptable behavior, either by choice or by accident."
"This fascination for people who inhabit the margins of society is what makes this plot so interesting...." You and I probably fall into the middle...
"But life sometimes throws us a curve that we can't handle. ...Now you're on the margins of society and probably on the margin of acceptable behavior."
"The scary thing about wretched excess is that it can happen to anyone under any circumstances. It doesn't just happen to people who are on the edge; it can happen suddenly to people who seem to be the rock of respectability. It doesn't really take much to unravel someone."
(p. 210) "The real tension inherent in this plot comes from convincing the readers that whatever the excess, it could happen to them, too. Which of us knows what evil lurks in the hearts of those around us? Which of us can see the fatal flaws in our behavior or the behavior of others that lets us become unglued in an instant? True horror...lies in the commonplace. ... to make horror from everyday people and everyday events strikes to the core. ... a good writer could convince me that there are terrors just as great [as a vampire] lurking in all our lives. All it takes is the right turn of events."

"...The wretched excess plot is about people who have lost the veneer of civilization either because they are mentally unbalanced or because they have been trapped by circumstances that made them behave differently than they would under 'normal' circumstances...."

(p. 215) Basic Structure

Part one: an understanding of what life is like before the change...before the character starts being driven to extremes. But be careful--just enough of a hint that we understand the character, not so much that we are bored.

And bring in the catalyst "an event that forces change in the life of the main character. Ultimately, the change will result in a total loss of control. The change may be gradual--maybe hardly noticeable at first--but we watch in horror and fascination as the character begins the decline toward whatever his obsession is."

Part two...develop the gradual loss of control. "How does it affect the character? How does it affect those who are near him? Each successive complication takes him deeper into a well that seems to have no escape."

Part three. Here the character loses control. "It is the turning point of the plot. Clearly things cannot get worse."

You don't have to write a tragedy! "Your character may find a more constructive way out and start back on the road to healing. But something important must happen to resolve the excess."

Checklist:

1. Does your story show us the psychological decline of a character?
2. Is the decline of the character firmly based on a character flaw? What is it?
3. Does the story show the three phases of the decline: before events force a change; during successive deterioration; and at/after the crisis, with the flaw overcoming (in tragedy) or with heroic recovery?
4. Do you develop the character fully enough so that the decline evokes sympathy? Do you let the reader know what the character really feels, giving us enough information early enough?
5. Have you spent extra effort on developing the character, making sure that he will be real to the reader and worthy of their feelings for him?
6. Do you avoid melodrama? Make sure the emotion(s) you are trying to evoke are matched to the scene.
7. Are you straightforward with information that allows the reader to understand your main character? Did you hide something that would help your reader empathize with the character?
8. Have you scaled the crimes to match the reader's understanding of who and what the main character is?
9. Does your crisis get resolved? Does the character move toward complete destruction or redemption?
10. Does the action in the plot relate directly to character? Do "things happen _because_ your main character does (or does not) do certain things"?
11. Do you understand (through personal experience or research) the excess you are writing about? Make sure that what you show the character doing is realistic for someone suffering from this excess or madness.

And that's Tobias's guidance to the ways of excess...

Let's see how you might turn this into your very own story, poem, or other toil of representation, illustration, and personification (otherwise known as a work of art!).

I think the right place to start is with the character. So, let's pick a number from one to six, if you would be so kind?

1. Williams
2. Miller
3. Anderson
4. Thompson
5. Taylor
6. Moore

Okay, that was interesting...now another number, if you please, maestro?

1. Blair
2. Dakota
3. Daryl
4. Shannon
5. Marlin
6. Jaime

So, now you have a name. Daryl Taylor? (Note that the second list is taken from Top-listed Cross-gender Names in Baby Names for the 90's by Barbara Kay Turner, so you will need to pick a gender for your character...)

Work a little with your new character. Think about their hair color, where they grew up, what kind of TV shows they watch, have they read the latest novel or do they prefer ancient philosophy for bedtime reading? Do they wear jeans (part of the leisure class, perhaps?) or are they solidly upwardly mobile, encrusted in a suit and tie whenever they are in public? Do they turn the radio on when they are sitting waiting in a car? What kind of music?

And, lest we forget, delve into the mind and soul of your character. Plant a "fatal flaw" if you will...oh, can't think of any? Roll your die!

1. Carelessness
2. Gossip
3. Hypocritical
4. Fear of (pick one, phobias are for everyone!)
5. Hypochondriac
6. Loyalty

(what, loyalty doesn't look like a flaw to you? Okay, consider loyalty taken to extremes...to the point where it endangers life and limb...well, perhaps there is a flaw there?)

So you have a character, with their little personality problem...now think about what might happen to force them face to face with their problem at the extreme. Perhaps the careless person "falls into" a situation where someone's life depends on them being a nitpicking, obsessive person. For example, suppose they are the only person who can rendezvous with the orbitting spacer before they run out of air...and there isn't room for a mistake! Or the gossip spends 24 hours with a live microphone and news crew following them around... The hypocritical person finds out they have been telling their fiancee's father all about the way they have been lying. Or maybe the person who is afraid of...

You get the point. Make a list of two or three situations that would push this personality problem into collapse, then think about how to get your character into that position.

Then add in that the flood has just destroyed their house, the business has burnt to the ground, something has pulled all the support that they might normally lean on out from under them. Pretend you really want poor old Jaime Thompson to feel as if no one is on their side, and methodically remove all the social underpinning that holds the character up...

At this point, you might want to go ahead and write the story. Some people will want to sketch out the scenes first, then write them up using that outline. Either way, take us from the ordinary life of our character through the transformation into extraordinary ways and means...and show us how the character reacts, whether they are broken on the rack of life or learn to go beyond what anyone would expect.

Another number?

1. "The road to excess leads to the palace of wisdom." William Blake, "Proverbs of Hell," The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790)
2. "Excess on occasion if exhilarating. It prevents moderation from acquiring the deadening effect of a habit." W. Somerset Maugham, The Summing Up (1938), 15
3. "They are as sick that surfeit with too much as they that starve with nothing." Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice (1596-97), 1.2.6
4. "We deny that it is fun to be saving. It is fun to be prodigal. Go to the butterfly, thou parsimonious sluggard; consider her ways and get wise." Franklin P. Adams, Nods and Becks (1944)
5. "Dry happiness is like dry bread. We eat, but we do not dine. I wish for the superfluous, for the useless, for the extravagant, for the too much, for that which is not good for anything." Victor Hugo, "Jean Valjean," Les Miserables (1862) 5.6, tr. Charles E. Wilbour
6. "What is objectionable, what is dangerous about extremists is not that they are extreme, but that they are intolerant. The evil is not what they say about their cause, but what they say about their opponents." Robert F. Kennedy, "Extremism, Left and Right," The Pursuit of Justice (1964)

So now you have a quote to mix in (or ignore, if it distracts you too much from your fine beginning). But no matter how much you use or dismiss, please...

WRITE!