[B][CENTER]Basic Plotting[/CENTER][/B]
A plot is the pattern a story follows, the most common being:
Beginning
Middle
End
All successful (read: popular) stories have patterns. Sometimes it’s simple, sometimes it’s complex but all of the stories read or told often enough to remain in the popular mind of any culture have a pattern, a plot.
Here are some examples of simple plot patterns…
Traditional:
• He came.
• He saw.
• He conquered.
American Dream Version:
• He came.
• He conquered.
• He became very rich.
The Heroic version:
• He conquered.
• He became the leader of his people.
• He died in the middle of a glorious battle to defend his land, and became a legendary figure that would never be forgotten.
Erotic Version:
• He saw.
• He conquered.
• He came.
Aristotle’s Elements of a Greek Tragedy - simplified:
• Act One: He rose to glory.
• Act Two: His pride drove him to make a foolish but costly mistake.
• Act Three: He crashed and burned.
The American version of Aristotle’s Elements:
• Act One: He rose to glory.
• Act Two: His pride drove him to make a foolish but costly mistake.
• Act Three: He crashed and burned.
• Act Four: He fixed his mistake and rose again.
Your basic Romance plot:
• The lovers are thrown together.
• The lovers are forced apart.
• The lovers go against the odds to get back together.
Your basic M/M Romance plot:
• One lover seduces the other.
• A misunderstanding drives one lover away.
• The lover that misunderstood chases the other lover down to beg for forgiveness.
Your basic Adventure plot:
• Hero meets Villain.
• They fight and the Villain wins.
• The hero rises from his defeat to battle the Villain again, and wins the war.
Your basic Manga Adventure plot:
• A group of friends meet a Villain.
• The villain corners them individually and defeats each one.
• The friends rise from their individual defeats to team up on the Villain and win the war.
I can already hear the whining…
-- “[I]But that’s so…formulaic! Where’s the creativity?[/I]”
[CENTER][B]Creativity is Overrated.[/B][/CENTER]
Ever hear the phrase: “It’s not what you [I]have[/I], it’s what you [I]do[/I] with it,”? This is especially true when writing stories. It’s not the plot, but what you do with the plot that makes it creative.
No matter what those Creative Writing classes teach, for a story to be enjoyed by the widest possible audience, it needs to have some sort of structure, a pattern -- a plot.
Why?
Because a story without some sort of plot pattern reads…wrong. Everyone, in every culture, has been trained from childhood to EXPECT a story to follow some sort of pattern to take it from Here to There, and make some sort of point too. In fact, some of the hottest blockbuster movies including ‘Star Wars’ follow one of the oldest plot patterns in human history -- the Heroic Cycle, as codified by William Campbell.
[CENTER][B]The Heroic Mythic Cycle:[/B]
[I](Paraphrased to avoid copyright issues.)[/I]
Act One - Chosen
Humble Beginnings
Destiny Comes Knocking
Shoved into Adventure
Sagely Advice ~ Paramours & Sidekicks
Act Two - Challenge
Leaving the Known World behind
Challenges, Friends & Foes
Battle at the Crossroads
Act Three – Crisis
Into the Labyrinth
Temptation & Betrayal
Anger ~ Despair ~ Sacrifice
Inheritance / Blessing / Curse
Treasure & Celebration
Act Four – Climax
Escape / Expelled from the Labyrinth
The Hunter becomes the Hunted
Rescue & Loss of Paramour / Side-kick
Battle at the Crossroads to Home
Death / Rebirth
Delivery of Treasure & Just Rewards[/CENTER]
A great many people who write quite successfully ‘by the seat of their pants,’ may tell you that they don’t need to plot, they just…write it from beginning to end. That doesn’t mean their stories don’t follow a pattern. It’s merely that the plotting pattern they use is so ingrained into their subconscious they follow it instinctively -- without even knowing they’re doing it.
Unfortunately, that’s not a talent I possess. I have to work everything out on paper or I get lost in a hurry.
[B][CENTER]How to Use a Plot
“[I]What is plotting good for anyway?[/I]” [/CENTER][/B]
Well, the best use of a plotting pattern is so you don’t get lost in the story. Think of it as a road map marking out the most direct route from Here to There. This doesn’t mean you can’t take side trips to sight-see or visit friends along the way. It’s merely a way of keeping track of where you are, and where you should go next, by knowing where you intend to end up. Knowing your basic route ahead of time also makes it much more difficult to get lost in a back road or trapped in a cul-de-sac.
In short, if you know where you’re going when you start out, sooner or later, you’ll actually get there.
[B][I]In Conclusion…[/I][/B]
Using a plot pattern, the writer can keep track of not only where they are in their story, but where they intend to end up. This makes it very easy to avoid the most common pitfall of fiction writing: “The story’s halfway done and I have no idea how to end it!”
Enjoy!
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[B]DISCLAIMER: [/B][I]As a multi-published author, I have been taught some fairly rigid rules on what is publishable and what is not. If my rather straight-laced (and occasionally snotty,) advice does not suit your creative style, by all means, IGNORE IT.[/I]
First Person Smartass
Morgan Hawke
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Purveyor of fine Smut.
Morgan Hawke's DarkErotica ~ My Website
DarkErotica Blog ~ My Writers' blog
"If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough."
Albert Einstein
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Purveyor of fine Smut.
Morgan Hawke's DarkErotica ~ My Website
DarkErotica Blog ~ My Writers' blog
"If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough."
Albert Einstein
