The Place For My Writers Notes

original posting 4 January 2009

Just in case you were wondering, today's the first day of the 2009 Writers 6x6!

Yeah!

So what does that mean? Well, some of us are going to write one story each week for the next six weeks and put them up here. Somewhere between 300 and 5,000 words. And we will be posting on Saturdays -- so keep your eyes open.

That doesn't mean that we have to stop all the other fun and fantasy. If you want to talk about an interesting insight, go ahead. But I have to admit I'm probably thinking about this week's story. Nothing up this sleeve, and, well, yeah, there's a little pile of scribbly notes in that pocket, but ignore them, here, just pull the curtain across them.

Hey! If you'd like some hints about putting together a story, let's take a look at some of the bits and pieces from Plot And Structure.

The intro talks about the need to get motivated, try stuff, play, get those first drafts out there, and keep going. Good thoughts for the 6x6 scribbling, eh? See http://community.livejournal.com/writercises/157549.html for a little summary, or read the book -- James Scott Bell.

Then there's the notion of LOCK. Lead character, Objective, Confrontation, and Knockout ending. Someone that we want to empathize with, who wants to go somewhere or do something, and runs into conflicts, complications, and problems on the way. And then there's the climax, the knockout ending that makes the reader say, "WOW! I didn't expect that, but it's really satisfying." Over here http://community.livejournal.com/writercises/158673.html is a summary. And this one http://community.livejournal.com/writercises/158902.html talks a little bit more about it, including this handy template:

• My lead is a [fill in the blank]
• Her objective is to [fill in the blank]
• She is confronted by [fill in the blank] who oppose her because [fill in more blanks]
• The ending will be a knockout when [fill in the final blank]

Fill in the blanks, and you're partway to a story!

But what about the plot? Well, we can use the old standby three act structure. Over here's there's more details http://community.livejournal.com/writercises/159814.html but for now, let's consider it as a disturbance and two doorways. The disturbance is at the beginning, when something takes the hero out of their normal routine. It could be small, or it could be catastrophic -- your choice. But the hero starts moving. The doorways are one-way doorways. The first one commits the hero to the action. This is where the hero decides they are going to do it. And then the complications really start! The second doorway ushers in the climax -- and usually has the hero at their worst, beaten, bleeding, and close to surrender. But then, they turn around, and . . . beat the odds, win the impossible gamble, do it! Simple, right? But it's amazing how many stories and novels use this structure.

What, no ideas yet? Okay, okay, take a look at these. http://community.livejournal.com/writercises/160687.html and http://community.livejournal.com/writercises/160805.html and http://community.livejournal.com/writercises/161770.html all provide some approaches to the fun of ideas. The first one talks about digging into your own beliefs and attitudes. The second one has a number of suggestions about ways to spark ideas. What if, borrow a plot, flip a genre, randomize, and have fun! And the third one helps you decide which ideas are really good -- hook, line, sinker!

And you probably thought this was going to be a quiet session of introspection? Huh. Pick a number from one to six? Got it? Good, here's your quote:

1. "Determine never to be idle... It is wonderful how much may be done if we are always doing." Thomas Jefferson
2. "We have too many high sounding words, and too few actions that correspond with them." Abigail Adams
3. "I have witnessed the softening of the hardest of hearts by a simple smile." Goldie Hawn
4. "My philosophy is that not only are you responsible for your life, but doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment." Oprah Winfrey
5. "For me, it's that I contributed,... That I'm on this planet doing some good and making people happy. That's to me the most important thing, that my hour of television is positive and upbeat and antidote for all the negative stuff going on in life." Ellen DeGeneres
6. "Nothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely." Rodin

Okay? Now, take your quote. What does it mean to you? Can you imagine a character trying to live by it, and having trouble? What kinds of trouble? Go ahead, build on that. Mix well with the LOCK and the disturbance with two doorways. Scramble well, season as needed, and . . . we'll be posting on Saturday.

Do it. Talking about it isn't enough.

Come on, six weeks, you can do it. One little story this week. See you at the storyboards.

Okay, so I forgot to write you about the book last time. It's Plot & Structure by James Scott Bell, part of the write great fiction series by Writer's Digest books. And so far we've managed to get through the introduction where Bell suggested that at least the craft of writing really can be learned and Chapter 1 where Bell laid out LOCK (lead, objectives, confrontations, and the knockout ending) along with the spices of characters, settings, and dialogue.

And now we' re coming up on Chapter 2! The chapter title gives us a hint, "Structure: What Holds Your Plot Together." Structure puts the parts of a story together in a way that readers follow. Bell suggests that plot is about elements, the things that need to be mixed in to make the story, while structure is about orderly arrangement and timing, so we put the pieces in the right places.

If you haven't heard about it already, Aristotle told us to use a three act structure. And we're still using it. Act one, the setup. Act two, the body or complications. And act three, tada, the payoff, the resolution, the end of the rainbow. Or to be more formal about it . . .

Beginnings. Introduce the who of the story. They also present the story world, getting us into the setting, the time, and the context. They set the tone, suggesting what kind of a story this is and what kind of a narrator. Compel the reader to move on to the middle,  often through a story question or puzzle. And they usually introduce the opposition, the person or situation that opposes the lead.

Next comes the middle. This is the battlefield for the confrontations. It's also where subplots mix in and complicate the picture. This is also where you need to deepen the character relationships, keep the reader interested and caring about what's happening, and set up a final battle or confrontation.

Oddly enough, the third act is the end. This is where you resolve the story. Usually, they tie up loose ends but also give a feeling of resonance, leave us thinking about the story even after we close the book.

I'll skip lightly past the discussion comparing the hero's journey or mythic structure with the three act structure. Especially since Bell gives a nice version for you to remember as a disturbance and two doorways. The disturbance is what is often called the inciting incident in writing texts. Don't get stuck on the jargon, but the idea that the lead needs something to disturb the ordinary world, the status quo, and get them moving is a very common one. So we need a disturbance to kick off our stories.

The disturbance is not the first gateway though. Usually, the hero can return to normal life, can ignore the call, until something forces him through a doorway of no return. Something happens that forces the character out of the ordinary world and into confrontation in such a way that he or she cannot go back or ignore it until the situation has been resolved. The first doorway is when they are forced out of the ordinary world and into the confrontations, which fill the middle. The second doorway, oddly, intensifies this, forcing them out of the confrontations into the final battle, the final showdown, the finish.

So the disturbance gets the action moving. And when the Lead gets forced into a confrontation where they cannot simply walk away, where they can't turn it over to the police or Grandma or whoever is handy and just sit back and wait, that's where they go through the first doorway and start slugging. Then when something happens to set up the final confrontation, that's the second doorway.

So the beginning has a disturbance that introduces the lead, his world, and the tone of the story.  We learn about his objectives here, too. The middle begins with an incident that forces the Lead into conflict with the opposition through a doorway of no return. Finally, some setback, crisis, discovery, or clue pushes the Lead through the second doorway of no return into the knockout ending.

Believe it or not, that's chapter two. Take LOCK and add in the notion of the disturbance and two doorways, or the three-act structure. Okay?

Exercises? Sure. Let's see what Bell suggests.

First, try analyzing some novels or movies in terms of the three act structure or a disturbance and two doorways. When you get bored in reading some novel or watching some movie, try to figure out why. Is there something in the LOCK or the three-act structure that's missing?

Second, take a look at a plot you're working on. Are you using structure? If you're deliberately breaking it, why and how do you think the readers will react?

Third, go ahead and design a plot. Lay out a disturbance scene and events for two doorways of no return. Write them down in summary form, and then play with them to make it original and interesting. Does it look like a story to you?