Plot Monkeys

Last week, I talked a little bit about the difference between being a plotter or flying into the mist, ie, a panster. I admonished writers, particularly newbie ones, not to be so quick to label themselves and also, to realize that one way is not better than the other. I also told you that myself, I’m a switch-hitter. I do whichever one I need in order to finish a book.

That said, here are a few more opinions of mine on the matter.

Plot is a book’s structure. A genre book cannot be successful without structure. How you build that structure is entirely up to you, but I’d say it’s a pretty good bet that your book has a beginning, a middle, a black moment (or moment of high drama) and an ending. Or at least, it should.

Beyond those basics, is there more?

I think there is.

Let me say a little something about rules and structure. I believe that if you intend to break rules or defy structure, you first have to understand what the rules are and why they are there–and the same for structure. Walt Whitman, who invented free verse poetry, first knew the dictates of iambic pentameter. He knew what he was doing in throwing away the structure. He didn’t do it willy-nilly or because he was too lazy to count the syllables and accents of the words he used.

I believe the same attitude should be taken toward plotting–if you don’t want to do it, fine…but learn what it is first so you can toss off the mantle and be a pantster without having a book that has no structure because you didn’t know where to put it. There are different ways of structuring a plotline. One way is Discovering the Story Magic developed by Robin Perini and Laura Baker. For now, there is no book outlining this method, but if you ever get a chance to hear Perini and Baker speak, do it. They’re fab.

For me, while I’ve used elements of Story Magic before, particularly when I revised DIRTY LITTLE LIES, I rely mostly on the screenwriting method developed by screenwriting guru, Syd Field. (By the way, I ran across this item from the Orange County Chapter of RWA (Janelle’s chapter). Seems Mary Castillo, a wonderful writer and amazing woman all around, is teaching an online course on this structure in just a few weeks. I highly recommend that any aspiring writer who is unfamiliar with this device take the course. It’s only $30 and knowing Mary, it will be money well spent. [end commercial here, LOL]). So that’s what I’m going to talk about here today.

The method I’m talking about is Syd Field’s screenplay paradigm

Here’s a screen shot of Mr. Field’s worksheet:

Basically, according to Field, a screenplay has three acts, each definable in terms of minutes, which translate to pages of a screenplay. Pages 1-30 are Act One, 30-90 is Act Two and 90-120 is Act Three, resulting in a two hour film. When adapted to a novel, the pages are broken up into the same three acts…the set-up, the confrontation and the resolution. The confrontation (Act Two) is actually halved so that it has a midpoint down the middle.

The example in the screenshot above shows how at each interval, a major event in the plot turns the storyline in a new direction. He has the Shawshank Redemption as his example…a very character-driven film, so it makes perfect sense that the “plot points” relate to the character of Andy and secondary character, Red. I think it’s important to point out here that plot points can be entirely character driven, as you’ll see when I give you a sneak peek at the plotting board for my upcoming paranormal.

The first plot point is where Andy asks Red for the hammer. If you haven’t seen the film, prior to this point, Andy, the protagonist, is aloof and separated from the other inmates at Shawshank. He’s not connected to anyone, being wrongly convicted in the murder of his cheating wife. When he asks Red, the go-to guy at the prison, for the hammer, these two men connect for the first time, forming a friendship that is key to the rest of the story. While Andy is the protagonist, Red is the narrator and therefore, key to the tale.

At the midpoint, Andy plays an opera aria over the prison intercom system. If you’ve seen the film many times, as I have, you might be surprised by this as a turning point because it’s so low key. I had to think about why it was so important, but then I realized, it’s an act of rebellion that is surprising from Andy, who seems very intent on keeping his head down and staying out of trouble and out of the infirmary for getting the crap kicked out of him by either the guards or the other inmates. This also shows us that Andy is a renaissance man, educated and cultured. It’s all about character here, but it does turn the plot.

The final turning point is when Andy escapes. This is action, not character, except that the lengths Andy went to in order to ensure his early release from Shawshank are amazing. The rest of the film is about Red and his coming to terms with his parole and eventually, the action of him reuniting with Andy at the end.

There are a lot of exciting, riveting moments that are not highlighted here…particularly the scene where the only man with information that could free Andy from prison is brutally murdered. This is action and it’s a gut-wrenching moment that turns the plot on a dime…but ultimately, it doesn’t matter. Andy would have escaped anyway…he asked for that hammer early on, and it is the hammer that he uses to escape. This moment simply makes him act. I wonder if he didn’t have that tunnel dug years before he actually uses it.

Okay…now that you’re all going to rent Shawshank to see how this works, I’ll go on and tell you how I’ve adapted this to work for novels.

This is my plotting board (you can click on the picture to make it larger, then use your BACK key to return to the blog post

I use a full size science project board and divide it into four rows. The first row is the SET UP. The second and third rows are the CONFRONTATION and the fourth row is the RESOLUTION.

Now hold your breath…this is where math becomes involved.

I had to decide how many pages I needed for this book, as that determines how many chapters I need. First, I wrote the proposal, which was about 50 pages. From this, I determined the average number of words per page that I was putting out. I had 47 pages precisely and 9542 words. This averages to 203 words per page. Since I’m contracted for 90,000 words, I figured I needed 440 pages, approximately, to meet word count for the book. I like this number, because it is divisible by 4! Each act is 110 pages! Yeah!

I also realized that my chapters are running a little short lately…around 14 pages. If you divide 110 by 8, you get 13.5, which is darned close. So, I decided on 8 chapters per row. That’s how I figured out how to make the lines and separations.

This also tells me that my plot points are going to come in chapter 8 (first plot point), chapter 16 (midpoint) and chapter 24 (third plot point leading to the resolution). Those are the hot pink post-its you see on the board.

A little more about the post-its, which is adapted from a workshop by Roxanne St. Claire, who has guest blogged here and I believe she borrowed this idea from Baker/Perini…my mind’s a little fuzzy. I just know I went to both workshops, LOL! Anyway, my method is to buy lots of post-its in lots of colors. I’ve used them different ways for different books, but on this book, the pale pink is for scenes from my heroine’s point of view. The light blue, my hero. The light purple, the secondary male character and the secondary female character got green. The yellow is for my villains. I have three, two who are working together so they both get light yellow and the bright yellow is for my third villain.

Colorful, eh?

There are other post its, you’ll notice. The orange, smaller ones in the corner are for pages. I like to keep track of how long my chapters are. I don’t want them to be too long as it affects the pacing I want for this story. If the post it is in pencil, it’s projected page count. If in red pen, it’s actual. That’s how I keep track of what chapters are done because for this book, I’ve written out of order, something I’ve not done before. (Must adapt for each story!)

The bright pink small squares are for major points–either information that is revealed or plot points or, timeline. I suck at timelines and since this book has two separate storylines that will diverge at the third plot point, I had to keep it all straight. Wasn’t easy, either.

Point is, every author can adapt this method to the way it works best for them.

I think that’s enough information for one Saturday, don’t you? I’m in Chicago, so please ask questions, though I may not get to answer them until Monday. BUT I WILL ANSWER, so please come back!

Next week, I’ll show you how I’ve adapted this method to the PANTSTER in me (you’ll notice there are no post it notes in the resolution section ,) so that if you are not a “plotter” per se, you can still use this method to see where you are going…or even better, where you’ve been.