Tag Archives: dramatic structure

Plot vs. Situation & the Dramaticus Arcasaurus

Posted in Writing by

WHAT IS IT?

Whenever you talk to writers, at some point, the conversation inevitably steers itself to: “What’s your manuscript about?”

And then one hears about the misunderstood girl who is in love with a zombie-werewolf hybrid, the guy who can’t wait to get married, the couple who loses their home, etc.

And then I wanna go: “Yeah . . . but what’s the plot?” Because all those things are concepts.  Situations.

 

Not this one, thank God.

 

Let me say that again, now that you’re done looking at the Situation: 

Those are situations—not plots.

WHAT IS A PLOT, THEN?!

By plot, I mean the main thread the MC (main character) has to follow.  The quest.  There must be a conflict.  And if you don’t have these things, you don’t have a plot.

I’ve been thinking a lot about this lately because I’ve been doing a lot of critiquing/editing as well as trying to finish my WIP (work in progress), and it’s come up.

Yes, Harry Potter is about a boy who finds out he’s a wizard and the trials and tribulations that go along with that. Self-discovery, blah blah blah. However, while that factors in to the plot, that alone is not enough to sustain a novel.  There must be some sort of journey the character has to go on.

J.K. Rowling is nice to us in that way, because if you’re looking for the “plot” of each of her books, she gives you a hint in the title.  Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.  Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

Point is, each book has its own plot.  And while Harry’s situation—the fact that he’s a wizard and “the boy who lived” and all that—helps him through the plot, it is but a small factor.

Here’s a blog post wherein I did a complete breakdown of the arc of the first Harry Potter book.

Bottom line: Each book must follow its own dramatic arc.  And if you can’t figure it out, then there’s probably no plot—or it’s not strong enough.

DRAMATICUS ARCASAURUS

Here is what my whiteboard looks like at the moment:

 

You're just looking at the purple line - don't worry!

 

Scared yet?  (You: That’s the most jacked-up dramatic arc I’ve ever seen!)

You may have noticed my ‘roided-up dramatic arc* has a few extra humps.  What I’ve done here is take the regular dramatic arc (exposition, conflict, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution) and mesh it with Blake Snyder’s 15 beats of the three-act structure of every successful story** (opening image, setup, theme, catalyst, debate, break into II, B-story, fun & games, midpoint, bad guys close in, all is lost, dark night of the soul, break into III, finale, and final image).

Snyder’s structure follows the regular dramatic arc, but it does a more thorough job of establishing what author David L. Robbins would call “bases” by breaking things down even further.

 

Aww---little baby Harry!

 

For example, while Snyder’s “opening image” and “setup” fit nicely where “exposition” sits on the dramatic arc everyone learns in fifth grade Language Arts, I wouldn’t necessarily say Snyder’s “catalyst” is the same as the “conflict.”

To me, the “catalyst” or “inciting incident” (or whatever you want to call it) is the thing that sparks some change in the main MC’s life.  [Harry P. gets the owl post/learns he’s a wizard]

But that’s *not* really the same thing as the “conflict” of the story, which is the actual thing that sets the plot in motion. Here is what I wrote for “conflict” in the HP#1 plot breakdown post I linked to above:

CONFLICT

  • They learn of the attempted robbery of the Sorceror’s Stone from Gringotts Bank
  • This incites talk of why someone would want to steal it (because it has the power to give a wizard what he wants most) as well as who might want to steal it (He Who Must Not Be Named—a.k.a. Voldemort)
  • Harry learns from Ron and Hermione that people say Voldemort is planning to return to power

And I would agree (it’s always nice when I agree with myself!) now.  The “plot” of HP1 has to do with finding the Sorcerer’s Stone—and, actually, that also helps the overarching plot of the entire series, which is defeating Voldemort. The “conflict” is, the stone is missing, yo—and it’s up to Harry & his posse to find out who has it and get it back.

NOW . . .

I’m not trying to say that writing a book is as mechanical as following a formula—of course it’s not.  Your characters always surprise you, and you always change things.  But if you take a look at these things—study them a bit and apply the concepts to your own WIPs—you’ll have an easier go of the initial planning and writing of your book if you figure out the bare bones of your story and they follow the arc.

It will help you with pitching and querying too, because agents and editors want to know the situation AND the plot . . .

 

. . . and probably not Snooki at all.

 

—

*Click here for a brushup on dramatic arcs.

**Click here for more about Snyder’s 15 beats.

***I’m not saying plot yourself silly.  I am with David L. Robbins and his “baseball writing” on that one.  But if you’ve got all these ingredients *before* you write, you’re pretty much guaranteed a tight plot and a satisfying story.

You Have a Question? I Have an Answer: How to Break Up Long Manuscript Using Arcs

Posted in You Have a Question? I Have an Answer by

“You Have a Question?  I Have an Answer” is a feature that answers real questions from real writers.

Q:  Ricki, I’m currently editing my manuscript (it’s YA fantasy), which many people have suggested might be too long.  It’s intended to be a series, so I’m trying to figure out if I can split it—but I’m thinking I might be too close to it.

In your post on editing last week, you mentioned the word “arc.” You said if you had two arcs, you could maybe split your manuscript into two.  Can you explain this a bit?

–A.C.

A: Thanks for the question!

When I said arc, I was referring to the dramatic arc, or plot.  If you already know this is a series, it sounds to me like there must be some over-arching plot and a lot of little sub plots.  This is good!  It means you have a lot of material to work with, and that will help you in your editing of the first book.

This will probably ring a bell from seventh-grade English, but each story arc is made up of these six basic parts:

  • Exposition
  • Conflict
  • Rising Action/Complications
  • Climax
  • Falling Action
  • Resolution

For instance, let’s look back at the Harry Potter series (and I’m assuming, if you’re writing YA fantasy, you’ve read Harry Potter.  If not, you need to drop everything and read it NOW because you should be using these books as your bible!  Also, if you haven’t, *SPOILER ALERT*).

But I digress.

In the HP series, you’ve got the overarching plot of Harry vs. Voldemort; but, in each of the books, J.K. Rowling focuses on something different.  Although you get that it’s Harry vs. Voldemort, it’s a different piece of the puzzle each time.

In the first one, you’ve got Harry learning he is a wizard, learning about the existence of Hogwarts/this whole wizard world, and learning about the overarching theme (Voldemort is a bad guy, who seeks to return to power and destroy him).

And while “Harry vs. Voldemort” is the bigger-picture plot, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone’s arc/plot in the dramatic-arc breakdown looks something like this:

EXPOSITION

  • Harry’s an orphan
  • His aunt & uncle are heinous to him
  • Oh yeah—and he’s a wizard

CONFLICT

  • They learn of the attempted robbery of the Sorceror’s Stone from Gringotts Bank
  • This incites talk of why someone would want to steal it (because it has the power to give a wizard what he wants most) as well as who might want to steal it (He Who Must Not Be Named—a.k.a. Voldemort)
  • Harry learns from Ron and Hermione that people say Voldemort is planning to return to power

RISING ACTION/COMPLICATIONS

  • Harry learns the ropes of coming into his wizardry
  • Malfoy’s a pain in the ass & Snape’s not much better
  • Voldemort lost his power after killing Harry’s parents and trying to kill Harry, and he’s probably not too thrilled that his attempt on Harry’s life failed
  • Harry, Ron, & Hermione suspect Snape is after the Sorceror’s Stone because he hates Harry, and they think he tried to sabotage Harry with a spell during the Quidditch match
  • Harry and his friends venture past the three-headed dog guardian of the Sorcerer’s Stone because they believe Snape is going to steal it (the series of challenges they face on the way to the stone, etc.)

CLIMAX

  • Harry finds Professor Quirrell is about to steal the SS—not Snape—and it’s because he serves Voldemort
  • Voldy is feeding off Quirrell’s energy, and he wants the SS so he can restore his power and come back to life—ya know, without residing in the back of Quirrell’s head
  • Quirrell/Voldemort tries to take the stone from Harry, but Q/V burns up when he touches him

FALLING ACTION

  • Harry’s in the hospital
  • Dumbledore tells Harry that Voldemort is likely to return—and he’s probably pissed at Harry

RESOLUTION

  • Harry goes back to his aunt/uncle’s for the summer
  • Even though they’re awful, he’s happier because he knows he has Hogwarts and a whole wizarding world of his own to look forward to in the fall.

My suggestion would be to read (or reread) Sorcerer’s Stone and Chamber of Secrets.

You said yourself you’re too close to your book right now to know what to cut, and this can be a good break.  But it’s not just a break from your book—it’s research.

Read those two books and study J.K. Rowling’s use of exposition—how she sprinkles it in.  She really does make each book capable of being a stand-alone, but they each fit into the overarching plot—and that’s what you’ll want to do as well.

I would also suggest, for the sake of your own series, plot out Chamber of Secrets (and maybe even more of the HPs—even if you use Wikipedia summaries for the rest of the series) in the same way I just did above.  This will get you accustomed to figuring out how to break down stories this way—and that will be key in breaking apart your own.

Once you get away from your book and immerse yourself in this task, you’ll have a fresh pair of eyes for the trimming and tightening—I promise!

I hope this helps!