The Place For My Writers Notes

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.