Plot #15: Forbidden Love: 20 Master Plots

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

original posting: Fri, 12 Dec 1997 09:56:02 EST

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

Master Plot #15: Forbidden Love

Society lays out boundaries--social class, economic, religious, race, age, and various other groups that are "off-limits" for love.

(p. 183) "...But the power of love--or just the idea of being in love--is enough to make some cross 'the line' and enter forbidden territory. And since fiction often acts as our social conscience, there are plenty of stories to warn us about the penalties of crossing that line. Occasionally a story comes along that flies in the face of social taboos and shows that love can sometimes be more powerful than the disapproval of an entire society. Love sometimes thrives in the cracks."

two lovers with feuding families...

teacher and student...

the ugly or grotesque and the beauty...

Adultery is the most common form of "forbidden love."

(p. 185) "The character triangle in stories about adultery is always the same: the wife, the husband and the lover. The strict moral codes of the nineteenth century could never allow an adulterous affair to be a _happy_ one, and since the wage of sin is death, ... all die. ..." "Writing about adultery wasn't always such stern stuff. Before we became so serious-minded, it was often treated casually. The French _fabliaux_ (short, humorous tales written between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries) and English Tudor drama often played on the theme of the cuckolded husband. ..."

(p. 186) "The person committing the adultery is often the protagonist. The betrayed spouse is often the antagonist and frequently seeks revenge. The plot easily reverses itself and has the adulterers turn into murderers by killing or trying to kill the spouse..."

Incest...a bit darker, and always considered aberrant.

Homosexual love - often treated as forbidden. (p. 186) "Our literature reflects this intolerance by making stories about homosexual lovers tragedies."

May-December romance - sometimes considered in this light, it also often escapes from the conventions of morality.

Structure:

Phase the first: show the beginning of the relationship. Who are the lovers? (p. 188) "Usually society, if it knows about the forbidden love, expresses its disapproval or takes direct action to stop it. The lovers either pursue their affair in secret or in open defiance of what everyone else things. The secret affair is almost always found out. Society is always ready to punish those who don't abide by its rules."

Phase the second: The heart of the relationship. Show us the pressures, the love, the conflict between what society ordains and what these two lovers desire. Make us feel reality and love collide.

Phase the third: "...the lovers must pay their overdue bill to society." Death, mutilation, disillusionment, despair... "Society, it seems, never loses."

Checklist:

1. Does the love go against conventions of society? Which ones? What are the explicit or implicit forces that will be exerted on the lovers?
2. Do your lovers ignore or flout social convention and follow the dictates of their hearts? Are the results disastrous?
3. Are you writing about adultery? Is the adulterer the protagonist or antagonist? What about the offended spouse?
4. Does your first dramatic phase define the relationship between the lovers and frame it in its social context? Do you clearly show the taboos that they have broken? Do they have trouble accepting that they have broken the taboos? How do people around them react to the broken taboos? Are the lovers trying to ignore the problems or are they dealing with the reality of their situation?
5. Does the second phase clearly show the development of the relationship? Do you show the love, and the social/psychological pressures? Is there dissolution, denial, or what?
6. Does your third phase bring the lovers to the end of their relationship and play out the moral imperatives? Do you separate (and punish) your lovers through death, force, desertion, etc.?

Thus spake Tobias...

and now, for plotting our own little diversion, please take a number (one to six? pick up sticks!)

1. Anniversary
2. Engagement
3. Valentine's Day
4. Moonlight beach
5. Island cruise
6. An airport

This is going to be a time or place which plays a part in your tale of forbidden love. You can use it as the catalyst for one character to reveal the secret, the hidden truth, or whatever. Or it can just be the backdrop for the two (or three or so?) to play out their affections and the disaffection of society for them...

Take your choice. Consider some of the elements that are usually associated with that time/place. And then...

Another number, from one to six, if you please?

1. Social separation -- family? position? class?
2. Religious differences
3. Racial differences
4. Adultery
5. Homosexual
6. Take Your Pick! Physical differences, Ex-con, Psychological divisions, phase of the moon difficulties...or whatever you like as reasons that these two should not be allowed to follow their hearts.

Okay? Two (or more, especially in the case of adultery) characters. Make a list for each one of the five (or more) characteristics they have that draw them together. Make a special note of the one (or more) that isn't normally considered acceptable. And make a list of the kind of problems that are associated with that kind of difference. Include the stereotyped ones and push for a few that aren't quite so stereotyped--what about the children of the homosexual father wanting to visit?

And for the splashy craft of it, step through these story questions. At
least sketch the answers to each one:

Background

1. Where are we? (setting)
2. Who is involved? (characters, strengths, flaws)
3. Where are they headed? (goals, motives)
4. What stops or blocks them? (obstacle(s))
5. What are they going to do about it? (plans to overcome problems)
   
   Story
   
   
6. What hook(s) or bait for the reader will I use? (where start)
   What story question do I pose for the reader?
7. What backfill is needed? (background that needs to be filled in)
8. What buildup do I want? (scenes)
9. What is the climax?
   - how does the character change? (overcome weakness, etc.)
   - how is the plot resolved? (overcome problems and achieve goals)
   - What answer does the reader get to the story question?
   
   Higher Level
   
   
10. What purpose, moral, or theme am I writing about?

Got your answers? Then you should be ready to write that story! Make us feel the tension between love most tender (and most illicit!) and the bigotry, hatred, and sheer prejudice that would (and most likely will) destroy these two, even if it cannot destroy their love. Show us how much they love each other, how far above the ground the tightrope they walk, how strong the storm that threatens them...and let us sigh with relief as they step onto solid ground and kiss OR make us cry for them as they plunge to their deaths, arms around each other, love that overcomes all...

Wow! What a story! I never thought about...oh, my, what tenderness...what romance...what horror!

write soon!