Date: Fri, 16 Jan 1998 08:40:42 -0500 From: twinkling fingers Subject: [WRITERS] EXERCISE: Plot #17: Discovery: 20 Master Plots Based on the book "20 Master Plots (And How to Build Them)" by Ronald B. Tobias. ISBN 0-89879-595-8. Master Plot #17: Discovery (p. 201) "The possibilities of this plot are endless, but all the stories share a certain focus. It is a plot of character, and to this effect perhaps it's among the most character-oriented plots in this collection. Discovery is about people and their quest to understand who they are." Who am I? Why am I here? What is the meaning of life? Discovery shows us some answers to these questions, using characters and situations that seem real and concrete instead of philosophical abstractions and arguments. (p. 202) "Discovery isn't just about characters. It's about characters in search of understanding something fundamental about themselves...." (p. 203) "...Readers won't tolerate a writer on a crusade to tell the world the _real_ meaning of life. What we will tolerate, however, is your sincere attempt to present a character struggling through the difficulties of life." Three movements: (p. 204) "To understand what a character is to become, we should understand what she was before the unique circumstances propel her on her journey." Don't delay the catalyst, but do give a strong sense of what life is like before... Don't forget--start the story as late as possible! We don't need tons of detail setting the stage, just a quick glimpse as the action begins... "...who he is, what's important to him, what he wants to accomplish." (p. 204) "This first movement gives way to the second movement, which initiates change. Very often the main character is satisfied with his life and isn't looking to change it. But then life happens. Events force change. The character may be forced to look at his life closely for the first time and learn that everything wasn't as good as it was cracked up to be." The third movement begins when the protagonist "starts to understand the nature of his revelation." (p. 205) The main focus is on the middle. This is where you examine your character in depth. They may resist change, because it is hard. Having been shoved out of balance, they may struggle to regain the old equilibrium, but "events force her to confront aspects about herself that she may have always avoided." Make sure you let them _struggle_ with their discovery. And work to match the struggle with the 'revelation'. I.e., a serious, hard struggle shouldn't result in a trivial change, nor should trivial struggle cause major change. The degree of upheaval in their life mirrors the depth of revelation they experience. (p. 207) "These stories tend to be dramatic, even melodramatic. That may be because they deal with such extremes of emotion: love, hate, death. ... It would be easy for a writer to fall in the trap of melodrama." "When does a story become melodramatic? When the emotion being expressed is exaggerated beyond the subject matter's ability to sustain the level of emotion." "Once the plot (action) takes over character, you lose proportion. If you want to be sincere and deal with complicated emotions, you must spend the time it takes to develop a character who is strong enough to carry those emotions. Otherwise, all you're trying to do is glue feelings onto a cardboard cutout of a character." Checklist: 1. Does your story focus on the character making the discovery, not the discovery itself? Does it show understanding of human nature? 2. Does your plot give us an understanding of who the main character(s) are _before_ circumstances change and force the character into new situations? 3. Does your story start as late as possible, with the character on the very cusp of change? 4. Is the catalyst that forces the change significant and interesting enough to hold the reader's attention? 5. Does your story move the character into crisis (the clash between the new and the old) as quickly as possible? 6. Does your story maintain a sense of proportion? Are action and emotion balanced and believable? Are the "revelations" of the character in proportion with the events? 7. Do you exaggerate emotions or actions to "force" emotions from the character? Avoid this melodramatic lure... 8. Do you preach or force the character to carry messages for you, the author? Or do you let the characters and their circumstances show the reader whatever they will, with the readers drawing their own conclusions about the story? (My gloss: could you imagine several readers having a long discussion about the "moral" of your story, each asserting what they got--and none quite sure that the others weren't just as accurate?) Thus wrote Tobias...and now, let's consider how we're going to write a discovery! How about starting with a number from one to six? 1. "One doesn't discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time." Andre Gide, The Counterfeiters (1925), 3.15, tr. Dorothy Bussy 2. "The new always carries with it the sense of violation, of sacrilege. What is dead is sacred; what is new, that is, _different_, is evil, dangerous, or subversive." Henry Miller "With Edgar Varese in the Gobi Desert," The Air-Conditioned Nightmare (1945) 3. "Let no one say that I have said nothing new; the arrangement of the subject is new." Pascal, Pensees (1670), 22, tr. W.F. Trotter 4. "The vitality of a new movement in art or letters can be pretty accurately gauged by the fury it arouses." Logan Pearsall Smith, Afterthoughts (1931), 5. 5. "Each new season grows from the left-overs from the past. That is the essence of change, and change is the basic law." Hal Borland, "Autumn's Clutter-November 3," Sundial of the Seasons (1964) 6. "There is a time for departure, even when there's no certain place to go." Tennessee Williams, Camino Real (1953), 8. [Quotations courtesy of The International Thesaurus of Quotations by Rhoda Thomas Tripp ISBN 0-06-091382-7] That gives us an observation about change, innovation, discovery. Take a few moments to think about that quote, perhaps noting a few points about what it means to you, or why you might consider it to be true (or false). Now, let us consider our character. Pick a character. Give them a name, sex, age, all those basics. And if you will pick a number from one to six? 1. Trying to get somewhere in time 2. Trying to avoid going somewhere (disliked? feared?) 3. Trying to fulfill a promise 4. Trying to win a better place for oneself 5. Trying to make up for what a relative did 6. Trying to overcome a handicap Got that? Try working out the details of how this character is trying to accomplish that goal. What's at stake? What's the background that drives them to attempt this? Now, since romance is in the air, and love is everywhere...suppose that there is a complication, and his/er name is--you tell me. Further, s/he has this emotional edge, this ability to make our main character go wild with (oh, oh, here comes another one. How about a number from one to eight...see which emotional base we're suffering from or with: 1. Anger: fury, outrage, resentment, wrath, exasperation, indignation, vexation, acrimony, animosity, annoyance, irritability, hostility, and, perhaps the extreme, pathological hatred and violence. 2. Sadness: grief, sorrow, cheerlessness, gloom, melancholy, self-pity, loneliness, dejection, despair, and, when pathological, severe depression. 3. Fear: anxiety, apprehension, nervousness, concern, consternation, misgiving, wariness, qualm, edginess, dread, fright, terror; as a psychopathology, phobia and panic. 4. Enjoyment: happiness, joy, relief, contentment, bliss, delight, amusement, pride, sensual pleasure, thrill, rapture, gratification, satisfaction, euphoria, whimsy, ectasy, and at the far edge, mania 5. Love: acceptance, friendliness, trust, kindness, affinity, devotion, adoration, infatuation, _agape_ 6. Surprise: shock, astonishment, amazement, wonder 7. Disgust: contempt, disdain, scorn, abhorrence, aversion, distaste, revulsion 8. Shame: guilt, embarrassment, chagrin, remorse, humiliation, regret, mortification, and contrition [list taken from p. 289 in Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman ISBN 0-553-09503-X] So, our character knows where they want to go, they have a romantic involvement with this other character who keeps tripping emotional landmines in their shared life, and they are about to discover...themselves. Take some time and consider what they are going to discover--what will change? For example, maybe they will learn that achieving their goal isn't as important as they thought it was--or that only by accepting their own emotional turmoil can they achieve their dreams? A very romantic kind of thing is to sacrifice the long-dreamed-of goal for the wonders of love, but it's up to you as to just how the tension is built and plays out. Don't forget that (with pink romance contact lenses firmly obscuring the details beneath a billow of cotton candy) love oft is thought to overcome all barriers, so perhaps the romantic coupling which first appears to be an obstacle to achievement in the end provides a royal boost along the way (not a kick in the pants, just a JATO unit to help us on our way)? Give it some thought, then write... tink