Blockbuster Plots by
Threes
By Martha Alderson, M.A.
Make explicit what you already know intuitively about the structure of movies
and stories and you'll have yourself a conscious plotting tool.
The rhythm of story is in all of us right now, especially
for those who were read to as youngsters and continue to read today.
Storytellers often intuitively tap into this rhythm and are able to weave all
three plot lines without much conscious thought to structure. When they get
stuck, it is always because one or more of the three elements has been ignored
by:
· Concentrating on action only, forgetting that character provides interest
and is the primary reason that people go to the movies and read books.
· Organizing solely around the character and overlooking the fact that
dramatic action provides the excitement every story needs.
· Forgetting to develop the overall meaning or the thematic significance of
their stories. When the dramatic action changes the character at depth over
time, the story becomes thematically significant.
Plot the Overall Story
Plot is made up of three intertwining threads:
· Character emotional development
· Dramatic action
· Thematic significance
In other words, the protagonist acts or reacts. In so doing, he or she is
changed and something significant is learned.
Whether you are a writer who likes to outline first or face
a blank page, begin your story with a character who wants something so fiercely
that she will fight for it. Thus begins both the character emotional development
plot line and the action plot line. Tie the character's private passion to a
bigger, more universal public subject, and the thematic plot line is launched.
The story builds as the character confronts one antagonist
after another.*
A story ends when the final cliffhanger is resolved and the character has been
changed at depth.
Here is an example:
In the first quarter of National Book Award-winner Ernest J. Gaines' A Lesson
before Dying, Grant, the protagonist**, desperately wishes he could "get away
from here." Grant's private fear of responsibility and his proclivity for
running and hiding conversely introduces the bigger and more universal idea of
how resistance and defiance of what is expected is actually heroic. So begins
the thematic plotline.
Throughout the middle of the story, Grant is confronted by the gatekeepers to
his freedom: his aunt, a family friend, his girlfriend, the white establishment,
a man condemned to die by electrocution, his community at large, and ultimately
himself. Through dramatic action that is linked by cause and effect, each
antagonist teaches Grant about himself, what it means to be a man, and the
nature of heroism.
In the final quarter of the story, Grant, through witnessing another man's
struggle for dignity and his ultimate heroism, is changed to his core. By
staying where he is needed, Grant defies the expected and becomes the hero of
his own life.
In this example, working together seamlessly, are the three
plot lines:
· Character emotional development
· Dramatic action and
· Thematic significance
The dramatic action reveals more and more of Grant's emotional development. The
dialogue and narrative and mood and character and even the details of the
dramatic action, both in the tangible objects of each scene and in the metaphors
they represent, all reinforce the thematic significance. For example, the school
children Grant teaches drag a small oak tree through the mud to school. Though
an unexpected choice, in the end, this small detail turns out to "be a beautiful
Christmas tree" and reinforces the theme.
(Plot Tip: Pick up your favorite book or movie and consider
its theme. See if you can articulate in one sentence what the author is trying
to say with her work. What techniques does the author use to prove this
underlying meaning?)
Plot the Parts of the Story
Every story is divided into three parts: the beginning, the middle, and the end.
In a movie, these parts are generally known as: act one, act two, and act three.
Each of the parts or acts has specific structural parameters that are almost
universal:
· The first quarter of the scenes or pages of a movie or book constitutes
the beginning.
· The middle or act two makes up one half of the entire project.
· The end is one quarter.
Within each part and interacting together in uniquely different ways are the:
· Character emotional development plot line
· Dramatic action plot line
· Thematic significance plot line
The Beginning
The beginning or the first quarter of the book or movie usually:
· Introduces of the core conflict of the story which becomes the basis of
the dramatic action.
· Introduces all the major characters.
· Establishes most of the protagonist's pertinent emotional and
psychological plot information.***
· Introduces the theme by showing details.
· Ends on a cliffhanger that propels the protagonist into the unique world
of the story.
The Middle
Once your characters leave the beginning, they have crossed into the heart of
the story world. The middle is where the main action of your story takes place.
This long, empty expanse and its many demands often appear daunting, like a huge
wasteland waiting to devour the writer.
The middle constitutes a whopping one half of the entire project and is no place
for the action to meander. Understand that when you hit the brick wall that
often lies in wait for you in the middle of the middle, it is not you. It is the
nature of the beast.
In the middle:
· The stakes of the character emotional development
plot line and the dramatic action plot line steadily rise. The writer must come
up with one tension, conflict or suspense scene after another, each with more
significance than the last. This can be especially hard for writers who fall in
love with their characters and don't want to see anything bad happen to them.
· The highest point of the story so far-- the crisis-- comes toward the end
of the middle of the story. Each scene in the middle portion of your story
serves to march the protagonist one step closer to the crisis. The protagonist
believes she is marching closer and closer to her long-term personal goal. When
the crisis hits, she is shocked. The reader, however, has experienced the steady
incline and feels the inevitability of this shocker from the linkage between
each scene and from each thematic detail.
· The energy of the story drops off for a bit after the
intensity of the crisis to allow the reader or the viewer to catch his or her
breath. The protagonist, confronted with a potentially life-threatening or
ego-threatening situation, finally sees him or herself for who he or she truly
is. Now he has to
make a decision. Is he going to rationalize his way out of change? Or does he
accept the challenge to move out of his comfort zone and risk the unknown to
live his life differently for evermore?
The End
In the end:
· Once the reader or viewer and the character have had a moment of reprieve
after the crisis, it is time to start cranking up the tension and the conflicts
again. The end is near. The stakes are high.
· All scenes are required to put the protagonist in situations that force
him to make choices, thereby "showing" the reader which direction he chooses.
· Each scene in the end section builds in significance and relevance
through rising tension and conflict until your protagonist reaches the climax of
the entire story.
· It is best if the dramatic action and the character emotional development
and the thematic significance all collide at the same moment. But even if they
occur in different scenes, the three plot lines must show the final
confrontation of the biggest hurdle, greatest challenge, and toughest test.
· The climax does not have to be an all-out war, full of explosions and
death. What this biggest and most important scene does have to have is meaning
to the overall story.
· The story is resolved.
An Example
In the first three chapters, which represent the first quarter of the book
almost exactly to the page, Nobel Laureate William Golding's Lord of the
Flies introduces:
· All the boys.
· The major characters' emotional/psychological information.
· The dilemma the boys face, bereft of adults on a deserted island.
· The theme as being the defect of society can be traced back to the defect
of human nature. Golding shows this theme on many different levels throughout
the piece. A few examples in the beginning are:
a) The choirboys marching in military fashion in such severe heat that one
of the boys, Simon, faints.
b) The boys immediately establish rules.
c) The littlest boys fear a beast looking to devour them.
(Plot Tip: Pick up your favorite book or movie and divide the total page count
or total time of the movie by four. Now go to the section of the book or movie
that represents the end of the first quarter. Look for a shift in the story that
indicates the protagonist is leaving behind their ordinary world for the story
world. Analyze this major transition point to find out how your favorite writer
signified the passage.)
The middle of Lord of the Flies begins in summary, showing that time has
passed and establishing that the characters have indeed entered the heart of the
story.
· Almost immediately, Jack, the boy who represents evil, dons his colored
clay mask and refers to it as the camouflage used in warfare.
· Because he takes his group on a hunt rather than watch the fire, Jack and
the appointed leader, Ralph, have a rift.
· As the middle portion of the story develops, more and more of civilized
life disintegrates. The more the domestic order breaks down, the more the group
loses control of itself.
· Within these pages, the stakes of the dramatic
action and the character emotional development grow higher and higher, each with
greater and greater significance.
· Near the end of the middle, the tension and conflict steadily rises to
the breaking point when all the boys in a ritual frenzy turn into a mob and beat
Simon to death.
· This crisis is filled with dramatic tension and represents significant
emotional development for both major characters in uniquely different ways. The
scene demonstrates an aspect of the theme and carries enormous energy in the
story, and sets all the characters on a path from which they are not able to
turn away.
· Ralph clearly sees what they did as murder and becomes frightened,
fighting to maintain his civilized self. Jack becomes paranoid and even more of
a cruel dictator.
(Plot tip: pick up your favorite book or movie again and go to the section that
represents three quarters of the entire project. Work your way backwards until
you find the crisis or the highest point in the story so far. Analyze what your
favorite writer did at this next major transition point.)
The end is filled with scenes that show:
· Ralph's struggle for sanity.
· Jack's further descent into savagery.
· Another character death.
· Cruelty, torture, and destruction prevail.
· Evil triumphs.
· The story culminates as the entire island burns and Ralph runs for his
life.
(Plot tip: pick up your favorite book or movie again and go to the section that
represents the final one-quarter of the entire project. Work your way backwards
until you find the climax or the highest point in the entire story. Analyze what
your favorite writer did in this climatic scene.)
Conclusion
Plot comes in threes: character emotional development, dramatic action, and
thematic significance. Story structure comes in threes: the beginning, the
middle and the end. Each of the three plot lines deepens each part of the story
structure. Each of the story parts grows into the whole. The rhythm is there. As
a reader, you've always known this. Now, as a writer, find it and make it your
own.
* The six basic antagonists are: another person, society at large, nature,
machine, God, and/or the character herself.
** The protagonist is the character who changes the most in the course of the
story
*** Character Emotional/Psychological Plot Information-- Answer the following
questions:
· What is the protagonist's personal goal?
· Dream?
· What stands in her way?
· What does she stand to lose if not successful?
· What is her flaw?
· Strength?
· What does she hate?
· Love?
· Fear?
· What is her secret?
Martha Alderson, M.A., is the author of Blockbuster Plots Pure & Simple
and an award-winning writer of historical fiction. She teaches plot workshops
privately and through University of California Santa Cruz, Learning Annex, and
at writers' conferences. She offers plot consultations to writers anywhere in
the world. Writers receive a personalized Plot Planner for their individual
project.
For more tips on scene and plot, please visit the Tips page on
www.blockbusterplots.com
To sign up for the free monthly e-zine, Blockbuster Plots, full of plot tips,
contests, resources and inspiration, e-mail Martha@blockbusterplots.com.
