“What makes the first sentence interesting? Its exact shape and what it says and the possibility it creates for another sentence.”
— Verlyn Klinkenborg, Several Short Sentences About Writing
End of the begining
By the end of the beginning, the protagonist's emotions have been introduced by showing the readers how he usually responds to the actions around him.
Introductio - introduce the core conflict of the story - the protagonist wants something he thinks he cannot have. Also introduces the reader to every dramatic element. By the end of the first quarter, the readers are grounded in the here-and-now of the story and all the elemts of the climax have been foreshadowed.
The end of the beginning threshold moment:
The protagonist must choose: (1) fade out/die (2) move into the unknown
In the threshold, you're supposed to see between what has always been and what's coming next. Energy rushes up your spine. As the first quarter winds to a close, a scene of event symbolizes the end of what is. The protagonist separates from all that's familiar. His sense of self is shaken. His attachment to learned attitudes and behavior is severed. The energy surges and the story turns into a new direction, launching the protagonist into the actual story world with a goal that takes on greater meaning.
Halfway point
Forces the protagonist to willingly and consciously commit to the journey. After recommiting to his goal, or the reclutant hero commiting for the 1st time, the protagonist feels the energy in his life turn and rise in significance. This energetic surge is a warning to the reader. Wake up. Be alert. A crisis is coming.
The crisis
At about 3/4 of the story, the energy rises to a breaking point. It's the greatest struggle of the story so far. After surviving it, the protagonist transmutes. But, before he can transform, his old personna must effectively die. Each scene in the mid of your story serves to march the protagonist step-by-step into the crisis. The energy builds up until the volcano erupts, or the river overflows.
The climax
If hard to write, out of not having experiencing it yourself, for now write action only. Stop trying to get into your character's head. Reveal the protagonist through his actions as the powerhouse he can and must be.
The climax must be the crowning moment of the entire story, when the thematic significance becomes clear to the reader.
All major conflicts are resolved. The energy of the entire story crescends at the climax and is immedietly defused.
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Does what you see on your story planner exite you about writing the story?
Are you calmy confident and ready to move forward?
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"When writing a novel, a writer should create living people" Hemingway
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Juno: short-term goal: figure if she's pregnant. Long-term: find where she fits in life.
The long-term goal often changes at the first energetic marker (end of the beginning/moment of no return). Usually, the mc enters the middle of the story with a revised goal. (E.g. Juno still needs to figure where she fits into life, but now she needs to integrate in the adult world instead of the teen world. Her goal now triggers in the audience their own judgements of what a teen in her position "should" do.)
Obstacles and antagonists in the mid-story force the mc to re-evaluate and redefine her goals. The scene that marks the 2nd energetic marker at the halfway point shows the protagonist recommitting to his goal or shifting that commitment to a new goal. (Halfway: Juno tells the wife she's 104% sure about the adoption.)
At the 3rd energetic marker, toward the end of the middle, the protagonist's goal changes again. The energy at the crisis is enough to knock the protagonist to his knees. He rises from the ashes of his old self with a shift in his external goals to reflect symbolically and thematically who he's now becoming. (The crisis makes Juno to redefine her idea of a perect family, which takes her one step nearer to forgiveness and accomplishing a hidden goal of healing the wound caused years earlier when her mother left her).
1) What's the mc's goal?
- Beginning: figure if she's pregnant
- Mid: Determine what to do with her pregnancy
- End: Tell Bleeker how she feels about him
2) What obstacles interfere with her success?
- Beginning: refusal to accept she's pregnant
- Mid: confusion over abortion, inability to find perfect family
- End: disbelief in the possibility of two people remaining in love
3) What does she stand to lose if she doesn't succeed?
-Beginning: Her youthful excumbrance
-Mid: All control over her life and future
-End: Her bestie and his unconditional love that lets her shine her confident, nonchalant and effortless attitude
The mc's flaw
Juno often acts tough to hide an emotional void. Juno's prickly exterior also keeps people at arm's length, a feature that ultimately interferes with her attempts to find her place in the world.
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potential loss promises transformation
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A balanced story takes advantage of both internal and external antagonists.
External ones challenge him throughout the story, especcially in the middle. They know how to push him, ignite his flaws, create gaps of imbalance, and become what he must overcome for ultimate success.
The character's strength contributes to the forward movement of the story. Because every time he's knocked down he has the strength to get back up and continue towards his goal.
hate - intense emotion that provides the character complexity.
fear - a character's fear reveals what part of him is missing.
dreams / desires - generally rely on the help of others and a bit of magic and, thus, create an added twist at the end of the story.
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Character emotional development profile
- flaw(s)
- strength(s)
- hate(s)
- love(s)
- fear(s)
- dream(s)
- secret(s)
Dramatic action plotline
- overall story goal
- what stands in his way
- what does he have to lose
Character's flaw
Flaw: often created in response to a loss of innocence. In reaction, the characer often surrenders some or all the authorit over his life to someone/something else. It's a coping mechanism that arises from the loss of an original state of perfection that occured in the character's backstory. The flaw is designed to compensate for a perceived vulnerability, sense of insecurity, and feeling threatened. No matter how confident, every major character demonstrates lessons learned from the wound inflicted in his backstory that's now lodged in his core belief system.
Beginning - establish who the character is, flaws and all, for the reader to look back and compare to who he becomes. Also foreshadows who he'll become.
Mid - the character's flaw deepens as the energy of the story expands. More and more, the protagonist trips up. Finally, he can no longer deny his own part in his failure. This newfound awareness brings about his ultimate transformation, in the last quarter of the story.
Flaw - look for a memory that has stayed with you, lodged in your psyche in as much detail as in the moment it first occured. Doesn't have to be something huge. Often, those big issues have been dealt with over the years. Frequently, it's the smaller events that are more profound.
Perhaps, on the surface your backstory moment is seemingly benign, but it has affected in a negative way how you view the world.
Keep in mind that backstory isn't the story.
Backstory -> emotions/beliefs -> actions -> external dramatic action -> ext. dram. act. transforms tbe internal plot
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convey emotion: genuine emotions are universal and recognizable.
If your readers are going to read your story all the way to the end, they need to understand and care about the characters. The most complete way for a reader to identify and relate to a character is through a range of emotions exibited by that character.
emotional development =/= emotion
Beginning -> the protagonist moves out of his familiar surroundings (mental/physical) into a new and complex world. The further in, the more the obstacles. Unable to function at a superficial level any longer, he begins to experience heightened emotions, ones that touch the core of his being. When prevented from reaching a goal, his emotional reaction changes subtly over time, flicking back and forth in the scene like a trapped fly. Character emotion can turn flat, stagnant scenes into vital and complex ones. The emotion needn't be monumental, but it must convey true feeling. The emotion surface can be flat while the actions show feeling.
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Three-part emotion
Scenes ripe for emotional espression of the mc occur just before each energetic marker and right after it. One scene prepares and sets up anticipation in something coming. A follow-up scene shows the full impact of the event on the character, both physically and emotionally:
1. Preparation and anticipation
2. Energetic marker and main event
3. Reaction and follow-through
Show the emotional effect the dramatic action has on the character. We learn a lot about each other and ourselves by seeing what motivates a character's choices in respond to individual events. Build the discomfort scene-by-scene and the reader gets a better ad deeper insight into the protagonist's emotional development.
To depict character emotions beyond the cliches (slamming things, shouting when angry, singing when joyful) think about your own experiences with emotion. Often, emotional upheaval manifests itself in far more subtle signs and actions.
The writer's way
Art's involved in conveying how people reveal their emotions. Write beyond a simple label and identifiable physical changes. Slip behind the veil to the universality of actually sharing feelings. Our range of emotions narrows as we grow into adulthood and are challenged to generate within ourselves an emotional steadiness. What particularly narrows is the range of emotions we permit ourselves to show.
How do your inner feelings manifest in your external behaviour? In real life, we aren't always encouraged to acknowledge our true emotions.
Beginning - a character's emotional reactions help introduce and identify the character.
Mid - emotional defenses break, emotions run bleaker and darker.
End - a character's transformation is revealed through the change in his choices and emotional responses.
When we know how the conflict emotionally affects the character, we care about the story.
Push yourself to detect emotional reactions, no matter how subtle, beyond cliches. The more outside the norm you write your protagonist's emotional makeup, the more unique your story and more deeply readers connect emotionally to the character and the dramatic action of your story.
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A protagonist who wants something bad enough to take action all antagonists, internal and external, creates a story.
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