The Place For My Writers Notes

Original posting 7 Nov 2010

This will take a little explaining, but I glanced at this posting http://madgeniusclub.blogspot.com/2010/11/sweet-emotion-entertain-and-move-your.html and got intrigued enough to at least look at the links. Good stuff, and in fact, I'm going to talk about what is called motivation-reaction units (MRUs) in one of them. Specifically, over here http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/art/scene.php Randy Ingermanson talks about these (although he says he got them from Dwight Swain, and kept the name because it is so ridiculous). It's kind of a basic approach to writing narratives with a POV character.

See, the idea is that first you have a short bit of action -- something happens! External, objective, just the facts. A tree falls, the door opens, something happens. So you write that little bit. That's the motivation.

Then, in a new paragraph (or perhaps a sequence of paragraphs), you have the internal, subjective reaction by the POV character. In particular, you may have three parts, and they must be in this order. First, the character may have some instant feelings -- fear, anger, whatever. Then, second, there are some reflex reactions, such as jerking back, jumping, and so on. Finally, third, the POV character gets around to rational action and speech.

And Randy suggests making a discipline of writing your story that way. One bit of objective stuff, followed by a chunk of reaction, and repeat. Step-by-step. Put a series of these together, and build a scene.

Which is the other part of his and Jim Butcher's piece at http://jimbutcher.livejournal.com/2880.html of course. Randy suggests that we build our large-scale scenes using two parts, too. The scene is more external, built out of a goal that the POV character wants to achieve, obstacles that get in the way, and ending in a disaster, a failure for the character.

Which kicks off a sequel, looking at the reaction, the emotional result of the disaster. Followed by trying to figure out what to do now, laying out the dilemma of choices, and ending in a decision, a choice to push ahead -- which takes us to the next scene. Jim Butcher chops up the sequel a bit differently, starting with the same emotional reaction and ending with a choice, but putting two steps in the middle. First is review, logic, reason trying to understand what happened. Then comes anticipation, trying to see what is ahead. But they're both walking us through the internal reactions of the POV character.

And again, as with MRUs, you get this cycle, or layering, with one external chunk, then an internal one, and repeat.

Interesting. I'm not sure about grabbing new writing tools in the middle of the nanowrimo whirl, but it's worth a little thought. Especially that MRU micro-structure. Write an objective paragraph, external action. Then fill in the emotional reaction, the instinctive reaction, and the final rational words and actions. And repeat. Again and again!

Let's see. The aged nanowrimo note over here http://community.livejournal.com/writercises/142259.html was based on an artist who had found that simply turning a picture upside down helped novice artists to draw better, because it forced them to really look at the picture instead of their expectations. And I raised the question of what would convince us to really look and think about the subjects of our writing, so that we could show the reader what is really there instead of simple pre-conceived ideas. In some ways, writing using something like the MRU structure might be that kind of breaker, because filling in the four parts (what's the objective motivation? What's the immediate emotional reaction? What's the instinctive reflex reaction? And what are the rational thoughts, speech, and action at the end?) forces us to think carefully about each step in the story.

I think I see Cape Horn off to the side, or perhaps it's the Cape of Good Hope? Anyway, time to reef some sails and turn this ship. Anyone see a star to steer her by?

Write!

Meandering Our Way through Plot and Structure (13)

Where were we before we fell into the summer doldrums? Ah, yes, muddling through the middles in Plot & Structure by James Scott Bell (nothing to do with Muggles, honestly). That means we're in Chapter 5 and we are about to ARM ourselves for confrontation. Action, reaction, more action. Your lead character needs to be doing something to move the plot along. Plot results from the character taking actions to solve problems trying to gain their goal or desires. So we need a character with an objective and the action towards it, along with opposition, obstacles, problems to overcome.

One of the problems is that often you have characters who are on the same side with similar interests. This can result in lifeless scenes without much interest. To spice them up, you need to add conflict or tension. Maybe the surroundings, or perhaps other characters, can add opposition. However internal tension is probably the strongest driver. All you have to do is think about why the characters would not cooperate. Fear, competition, all those good emotions and motives. Of course, as someone suggested, if things are getting boring, have someone pull a gun. Instant tension.

Write actions and justify them. Remember that the lead character should almost always lose, not attain their desires or their goals, actually end up in a worse situation. Action.

And then reaction. Emotional, but then a commitment to more action.

One of the big problems of act two or the middles is keeping the reader interested. Action, reaction, more action, but what keeps them going? Two big principles: stretch the tension and raise the stakes. Now let's see, Bell has 10 pages about stretching and raising.

Stretching the tension. Step one: set up the tension. What problem has the potential to seriously hurt the character? Step Two: Stretch the physical. Slow down. Put in every detail of action, thoughts, dialogue, and description. What is the worst thing from the outside can happen to your character? What is the worst trouble that your character can get into? Have you provided the setup for the danger for the readers? Step three: stretch the emotional. Show us the roiling emotions and doubts and anxieties. Now what is the worst thing from the inside that can happen to your character? What is the worst information that the character could get? Have we set up the reader to care about the lead character? Make sure that you stretch the big picture and the small details.

Raising the stakes. Always ask yourself "who cares?" What will the lead character lose? Is it important enough? Look at the plot stakes -- the threat to the lead character from the outside. What physical harm can occur, what new forces can come in, and what professional duty or commitments are at stake? Look at the character stakes -- the psychological or personal image damage is involved? How can things get more emotionally wrenching, who does the lead care about that can get caught up in trouble, and are there dark secrets waiting to be revealed? Finally, look at the social stakes. Are the conditions in the society dire? What are the social aspects of the story that could affect the characters, are there large issues that they are dealing with, or are there groups of characters that can line up on sides?

Be mean to your characters. Make lists of things that can go wrong and sort them from least to worst. Most of the time you want trouble to increase as the story moves along. And your readers will want to know what happens.

Okay. There's a couple more pages at least talking about middles, but we'll stop at this point. Arm yourself with action, reaction, and more action. Then stretch the tension. Set it up, and stretch the physical and emotional tension. Finally raise the stakes -- plot stakes, character stakes, or social stakes. Got it?

Write!