mbarker: (Smile)
[personal profile] mbarker
Original posting 2021/10/1
So, over at https://writingexcuses.com/2021/09/26/16-39-deep-dive-into-event/ this week, they took a look at the fourth element in the M.I.C.E. Quotient, E for event. Event stories focus on disruptions of the status quo, externally driven conflicts. Start with something that upsets the status quo, and finish with either a restoration of the old or establishing a new status quo. Obstacles are when every action seems to push the status quo further out of whack, while complications are opening up different problems. Remember that while big events may be attractive, small events and sequences of events and consequences are interesting too.

So, milieu, inquiry, character, and event. Going into and getting out of a place, asking and answering questions, the journey of self-discovery around "who am I?", and last, but not least, external changes a.k.a. events. Most stories involve more than one of these, although the emphasis is often on one of them. There also is a nesting to them, so the hero goes into a strange place, where he encounters various events and has to deal with them, or perhaps struggles with their identity or even looks for the answers to various questions, and eventually gets out of that strange place again. Or perhaps your detective is trying to find out who done it, and has to deal with various and sundry events along the way? There are certainly various ways to mix the four elements together in your stories.
Does anyone use this framework for your stories? Perhaps in outlining, or in revision? Maybe as a guideline while happily cranking out the words? 
mbarker: (MantisYes)
[personal profile] mbarker
Original posting 2021/9/23
Let's see. Over on Writing Excuses, they are walking through the elements of the M. I. C. E. Quotient. Next week, they'll hit the E (Event!) but... right now, they have milieu, inquiry, and character pieces. So, a quick roundup so far?

Milieu is place, or setting. Typically, it starts with the character crossing a threshold of some kind, entering the milieu, and ends when the character exits the milieu. Conflicts in the middle (or should that be muddle?) are mostly things blocking the character from leaving. Heist stories and survival stories. https://writingexcuses.com/2021/09/05/16-36-deep-dive-into-milieu/

Inquiry stories start with a question, and end when the character finds the answer. The conflicts in the middle are things blocking finding the answer. Mysteries, and many science fiction stories. https://writingexcuses.com/2021/09/12/16-37-deep-dive-into-inquiry/

Character stories start with the question "Who am I?" and end with the declaration "This is who I am!" Heavy on internal conflicts, an exploration of self-discovery. Wanting to change, to be somebody different. Coming of age stories. https://writingexcuses.com/2021/09/19/16-38-deep-dive-into-character/

There's a running attempt to talk about obstacles versus complications in these different types of stories. I think if you start with the old try-fail cycle, and the paired no-and, yes-but endings which often go with that, you might be able to figure it out. Basically, obstacles result in failure, the standard no, we didn't succeed, AND now we've got some new problems. Complications arise when yes, we succeed, BUT now we've got new problems. 

So in a milieu story, the obstacles keep the character from exiting, and add new issues. The complications look as if we're succeeding in getting closer to exiting, but... now we've got different issues.

In an inquiry story, the obstacles keep the character from finding the answer, and add new questions. The complications... well, we've gotten a little farther, but there's these other issues now...

And, of course, in character stories, the obstacles make the character want to turn back, to hold onto that old self-identity, and add more burdens, too. The complications mean the character may have moved a bit forward, but... now there are these other little problems, too!

Y'a know, I don't think I helped that discussion of obstacles and complications at all. Well, maybe the original podcasts will clear it up for you...

Anyway, probably the key to get from all this is these three (soon to be four!) elements of stories. They tend to be nested, so the character may very well step through a door, start looking for the way out, find a dead body on the floor, start trying to figure out who did it, find the killer, and now... get out of the house! Okay? 

How can you use this? Well, two possibilities. First, as you are writing, especially for those who prefer discovery writing, thinking about these elements provides at least a little guidance. Second, when you are editing, looking for the elements can help uncover problems, especially when threads are either not finished, or simply out of order.

Okay? So... there's three of the MICE elements. I'll try to remember to fill in the last one, event, next week. Events are mostly about changes in the status quo, something happens, and we gotta react to it. But we'll talk about that next week!

In the meantime, keep writing!
mbarker: (Me typing?)
[personal profile] mbarker
Original Posting July 31, 2017

[As the summer doldrums warm up… It must be time for doing something?]

Writer's Digest, January 1999, pages 29-32, had an article by Monica Wood with the title "The Plot Thickens." All about complications! It starts out with the assertion that "every good story needs a complication." Or, as Monica explains, "A story needs a point of departure, place from which the character can discover something, transform himself, realize a truth, reject a truth, right a wrong, make a mistake, come to terms. This point of departure is the story's complication." Cool, right?

"A good complication engages the reader, gets the story going, and forms the beginning of a dramatic arc that will lead eventually to the story's conclusion." A critical structural element, but… Often misunderstood. Enter the situation, often mistaken for a true complication.

You start writing your story or just thinking about it, and you have an idea about the character and what he's doing. So you've got a set up. Now something happens. Major accident on the interstate? Some exciting predicament, full of sounds and textures of drama… A textbook complication? Well, no, you probably have just a situation. So what is a bona fide complication? "A complication must either illuminate, thwart or alter what the character wants. A good complication puts emotional pressure on a character, prompting that character not only to act, but to act with purpose." Interesting situations are just that interesting, but they don't motivate the character. A complication means the character is motivated.

Sometimes that's just adding back story! Something at stake, something that turns the terrible accident, the exciting predicament, into a meaningful complication. Something that connects with the character, that brings up desires, memories, all that kind of stuff. The motivation really comes out of the back story, but it transforms that situation into a true complication. Now the actions have meaning.

How can you tell if you got a true complication or just a situation? Well, practice and experience. Monica provides a couple of examples, and adds twists to turn them into complications. Make the character act!

Now is it a good complication? Well, good complications raise the stakes. And then thicken the plot. They open pathways for further complications. More and more choices.

Now, while raising the stakes in thickening the plot, the complication should also create and sustain dramatic tension. Check your complications!

In a story, complications serve a variety of functions. But double check them. Even if they're fulfilling the functions, are the complications strong enough for the story you want to tell. Simple complications might be enough for a short story. Longer stories, more complex complications. And of course, as you get into even longer stories and novels, you need more and better complications.

Now, complications may be just internal, or they may be external. Internal complications often result in reflections, while external complications usually run to action. Sometimes you mix them up, partially internal and partially external.

So, there you go. Start mixing up that story, a dash of character, a bit of setting, maybe a fascinating event… And a healthy set of complications!

Practice? Take a short story, something you're working on, and look closely at the complications. Are they situations? Build up that motivation, that back story, and turn them into real complications. Make your characters act! Now raise the stakes, thicken the plot, build the dramatic tension, check complications versus story weight, and of course, consider the balance of internal and external complications. Make those complications complicated!

Write?
tink


[identity profile] mbarker.livejournal.com
Original posting 5 Nov 20111

Okay. Here we go. Look, your characters are doing things, running around, waking up, whatever, right? And they are going charging off to do good, to win their job back, vanquish the invisible dragon, take care of something? So...

Along the way, just as a complication, try one of these. Pick a number from one to six? Got it? Here's what you have picked...

1. As they are going somewhere, the car breaks down, there's an accident, there's road construction, the horse throws a shoe... something happens out of the ordinary to make that trip more difficult. Commercial travel has its own difficulties. Take your pick, but perhaps the airplane is delayed, the train has decided to derail, or whatever... leaving your protagonist trying to decide what to do! No matter how they are traveling, something makes it harder. How do they react? What do they do?

2. Just getting up, and... the toilet breaks. The bathtub springs a leak. The oven door falls off. The window cracks. Something that was working fine yesterday breaks, and really needs fixing, urgently. What do you mean, the roof sprung a leak? Okay, sure. Again, walk through your character reacting and dealing with this household emergency.

3. And... oh, he really shouldn't have had that vending machine hotdog. Or maybe it was letting that little kid sneeze nearby yesterday? Or... once again, the character encounters some illness, some failure of the physical plant that makes it just a bit more difficult to get anything done!

4. He was going to walk over to the girl next door, and... it's raining? It's SNOWING? Hail, ice, wind, flood, tornado, hurricane, earthquake, tsunami... the weather is against him! Go ahead, whether it's the ordinary foggy morning in Half Moon Bay or something a bit more severe (crossing a lava flow on flaming boots? Sure, why not!), whatever it is... neither rain nor snow nor heat nor gloom of night will stay your protagonist from the speedy completion of his plot action? GREAT. Oh, yeah, don't forget heat waves, forest fires, dust storms, and other things on that side of the weather.

5. The neighborhood association is holding the yearly bazaar? Yard sale at the next house over? The guy with the dachshund is using the front corner as a place to rest, and wants to talk? The minister is collecting for Lent? Girl Scouts on a cookie drive, high schoolers washing cars, something unexpected and somewhat time consuming is happening! Your protagonist runs right into the local social network, and gets all balled up. How do they react to this disruption in plans, and what do they do?

6. Just the news, or maybe it's a movie? Anyway, the wonderful media gets into the act, and tosses out some bits and pieces of news, dialogue, action, whatever that distract your protagonist from whatever they were planning. I mean, toss in something happening out there in the big wide world that the protagonist is interested in, and tell us a little about how they react to all that.

There you go. Whether it's trouble with travel, household, body, weather, the neighbors, or just the world in the news, add some bits and pieces of grit to make the wheels turn a bit rougher for your protagonist.
[identity profile] mbarker.livejournal.com
Original posting 24 April 2009

Writer's Digest, September 2005, page 52 offers a small exercise to go with a column about series. They simply suggest you go through the list and pick a plot hook to help get started. I think it might work better if you pick a number from 1 to 8. Have you got your number? Good, because here's the plot hook that you picked:
  1. Job-related. Plot arises from your main character's job or hobby. What might inflame someone's passions enough to kill?
  2. Take it on the road. A vacation or job-related trip lets you work in new characters and settings.
  3. Change in romantic status. A breakup gives you the chance to bring new characters into play.
  4. The locked-room mystery. Variations include the mystery set on an island, in a snowstorm or even on a train, as in Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express.
  5. "Stop me before I kill again!" Any "ticking clock" type of plot naturally turns up the heat.
  6. Second chance. The main character must confront his weaknesses or troubles from the past.
  7. "But she didn't do it!" The main character must prove her own innocence, or the innocence of a close friend or relative.
  8. Can't go to the authorities. They're corrupt, they won't understand, the hostage will be killed -- but still our main character must solve the crime.
There you go. Eight little seeds to help start a mystery garden. Add some water, a little fertilizer, let the little grey cells do their magic, and...

Write!
[identity profile] mbarker.livejournal.com
Original posting 11 January 2009

The Play's the Thing

Writer's Digest, September 2005, in the Niches: Playwriting column by Christina Hamlett on pages 58 and 59, talks about using layers of plot and characters to give your work substance. It's written in terms of a play, but I think the lessons apply to stories and novels as well. There are a couple of sidebar exercises, too, and we'll take a look at those as well. Basically, the point is to help make the hero's journey a twisty turning one, complete with bumps, opponents, and plenty of past history. You want the conflict to be plausible and rich. So how do you get there?
  1. Layers of Complication. The main way to build complicated plots is to have two coexisting objectives that may or may not be compatible. Start with the protagonist's  central desire or objective. That's the "A" line. Then cross that with the "B" line -- some other goal, some other motivation, some other drive that's pushing the main characters.
  2. Layers of Collision. How many conflicts helps to decide what length is needed to resolve the collision between A and B. how much emotional background, how deep are the questions, and how much secondary change or self realization is involved?
  3. Layers of Character. The third complication comes from the number of characters involved, and how much information each of them has about the situation, secrets, underlying risks, etc. Like a combination lock, the more tumblers that need to be aligned before the lock opens, the longer the key. "The ease with which the mystery is eventually revealed is dependent on the author's skill at keeping the right combinations from getting together and comparing notes."
So take A and B and cross them. Then decide how many collisions you want to have, and how many people are going to do this dance.
"The defeat or triumph of a character in conflict isn't what ultimately resonates with your audience; it's the believability of the battle itself that forges a common ground."
Sidebar number one: Complication and Collision

Story starter: "The completion of her family's backyard pool has Emily especially excited. By inviting the neighborhood's 'popular' girls over to swim, it's a sure thing that she can join their ranks in the fall. Emily's mom surprises her by inviting a girl from Emily's former school to stay with them for the summer. To Emily's horror, though, her mom issued the invitation to a total geek named Maude."

To learn how to apply complication and collision, consider these questions:
  • what is Emily's primary objective? This is the "A" line.
  • what does she need to learn? This is the "B" line.
  • how do these two lines relate to Emily's mother, Maude, and the popular girls?
  • how many obstacles are there between Emily and her primary objective?
  • can a single scene or conversation solve Emily's problem?
  • can the climax of the story result in both A and B objectives being satisfied, or does one have to be sacrificed?
Sidebar number two: Identifying Characters

Story starter: "Unbeknownst to her married landlord, Claire has been subletting her apartment to a gypsy family. One day, the landlord asks if he can borrow it for a romantic dalliance with a beautiful young woman. The young woman is none other than the gypsy king's oldest daughter."

Your problem is figuring out how many characters are needed, and who knows what. One trick that helps with this is to create a simple matrix with the left hand side listing each of the secrets and the top row listing each of the characters. To help you with this story starter, think about these questions:
  • who knows that Claire is subletting her apartment? Don't forget Claire, neighbors, delivery people, friends, etc.
  • who knows that the landlord is married?
  • who knows that the landlord is cheating on his wife?
  • which combinations are likely to keep Claire's secret?
  • which combinations are likely to keep the landlord's secret?
  • which combinations are likely to reveal the secrets?
  • which resolutions create the least damage and the most?
Fun and fancy. Take two objectives, complicate, add characters and watch those secrets. Stir well, and write.
[identity profile] mbarker.livejournal.com
Original Posting 11 November 2007

Since I know the nanowrimowers are running, how about this?

One of your characters needs something, (and maybe has a secret in their past?) so they . . .

Pick one of the following and stretch! (there are six, if you want to use a random choice)

1. Go into a Goodwill (or other recycle shop of your choice) and, while looking, stumble across the used records - which prompts some memories and reflections.

2. Wander through a hardware store, looking at the odds and ends there - which also prompts some memories and reflections.

3. Goes into a sporting goods store, and while searching for what they need, notice the fishing supplies - prompting a moment of memory and reflection.

4. Walks into a toy store, and sees the Barbie dolls there, which (you guessed it!) reminds them of some memories, which they reflect on.

5. Goes into a grocery store, where they find Moxey for sale in the soft drinks, reminding them of that time when . . . (if you don't know what Moxey is, substitute a soft drink or other item of your choice).

6. Visits a five and dime (dollar store, some kind of small goods store of your choice) where they find the children's items, and that reminds them of . . .

Okay? Make us really see that store, with the various goods on display, the odors and sounds and people. And show us the initial response to stumbling over that old memory through the items in the story, and the thoughts that follow.

Simple, right? Have one character take a left turn through a store, in the process finding a missing piece of themselves.

And write!
[identity profile] mbarker.livejournal.com
Original Posting 16 October 2007

Complicating Plot and Structure (19)

Wandering through the book Plot & Structure by James Scott Bell, we find our way to chapter 8 where Bell talks about complex plots. Straightforward fast plots are easy enough, but how do you make it a little bit more complicated. Readers remember little bit more complex plots, but only if they seem simple. That's a contradiction you might want to keep them in mind.

The first suggestion about making memorable complex plots is to think about theme. This is a value or lessen or insight -- a new way of seeing things -- that you want the reader to take away from your story. One way to help clarify it in your own mind is to write it down in one line or sentence. You don't want to force your story to fit the theme, you want your characters and their struggle to create a theme.

The second suggestion is subplots. Add in those extra strands and themes, weave them in so that they feel organic, and make sure that they add to the overall effect. Sometimes these are the personal or interior reflections of the overall theme.

The third suggestion is to think about symbols and motifs. This is tricky because it can be overdone so easily, but done carefully and lightly these can add quite a bit. Symbols represent something else, while motifs are repeated images or phrases. These often come out of the sensory detail that you write into the scenes.

The fourth suggestion has to do with long novels. Especially with the current trend towards thick bricks of books, you may be dealing with a sweep of time and space that is just plain bigger than old-time novelists had to deal with. Bell suggests breaking it into shorter pieces and dealing with each one of them using the LOCK and three act structure.

Parallel plots. Simply two or more plot lines running in parallel. One of the nice things about these is making each plot complete and having a suspense build each time you switch to the other plot.

Structure and style games include nonlinear stories of various kinds. One of the keys to making these work is remembering that the reader wants to know what happened. One way or another, they want a coherent story. Presenting things in a nonlinear way -- the readers will try to fit it into a coherent narrative. Make sure that at the end of your novel they have the pieces they need.

Okay. This chapter is sketchy, since frankly this is the advanced piece. Still, Bell provides several interesting exercises. First, take a piece of paper (or a word table) with three columns. In the first column, list rich or outstanding details from your scenes. In the middle column, list the main characters. And in the last column, list the major settings. Then look across the table for connections between the columns. Pick two or three connections that really stand out, and consider how you might emphasize these in your novel as motifs or symbols.

Second, figure out what you want the reader to learn from your novel. Write it down in one sentence. Then consider ways to bring this out naturally. Avoid the old-fashioned "and the moral of the story is . . ." but make sure there are natural places to see this.

Third, relax and see what images you think of for your novel. You might try playing some music that stirs you, and just let it wash across your mind. Jot down the images and scenes that float up while you're doing this. Repeat this occasionally while writing and revising your novel. You may be surprised at what your subconscious wants to put into the novel.

So that's the chapter on complex plots. Next we'll take a look at character arcs.

Of course, in the meantime, write!

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