Blogs by David A. Schwinghammer
Plot
8/25/2009 9:12:09 AM
Places to look for ideas.
Where-o where-o where-o do you get your ideas for a story? One good source is the daily newspaper. I’m always cutting apart my paper, especially the Sunday paper, where there are more feature stories. A recent one was the Wisconsin father who refused to take his diabetic son to the doctor for religious reasons. The boy died.
Another reliable source is a little book called TWENTY MASTER PLOTS by Ronald B. Tobias. I’ll only mention a couple of them to avoid being sued. It’s probably available on Amazon anyway. There’s the Quest plot where your protagonist searches for a person place or thing, tangible or intangible. Probably the most famous one is the search for the Holy Grail. The Coming of Age story is another familiar one. Tobias calls it Maturation.
WINESBURG, OHIO, and GREAT EXPECTATIONS would be two good examples for that one, but there are thousands. BTW, if you haven’t read WINESBURG, run, don’t walk, to your nearest book store. It’s in my top ten. Wretched excess is one you may not have thought of. We are fascinated by people who push the limits of acceptable behavior. “Lost Weekend,” “Wall Street,” OTHELLO, LESS THAN ZERO are some examples.
Okay, so now you have an idea. Your next step is structure. Robert Ray, in THE WEEKEND NOVELIST recommends a three act approach. The first act hooks your reader, introduces your main characters and your conflict and your main character’s goal, and aims at a jumping off point at plot point one, the end of Act I where your main character begins to pursue his goal. Act II is all about development and it’s divided into two parts. Plot point two is midpoint. You might want to put in a twist here so your novel isn’t so predictable. If you’re thinking about length, Act I would be around 75 pages, Act II 150 and Act III also 75. Plot point three is where you start your resolution, including the climax and your wrap-up. Your wrap-up should only be a few pages long since your climax is the part where you’ve been leading your reader all along. Your main character should either realize his/her goal or not during the climax. There’s also something called a frame. At the beginning of THE ACCIDENTAL TOURIST the two main characters are in a car and it’s raining. At the end the main character is in a taxi but the sun is shining, symbolically telling us everything is going to be hunky dory. The three act approach keeps you moving toward a target, plot point one, midpoint, plot point three etc. Without a target you may find yourself writing in circles. Map out your plot point and list the number of scenes with tag names you think you’ll need in each act. You should be constantly changing it. Also write an outline as you’re writing. You’ll need that when you submit your novel to a publisher. You will constantly change your outline as well.
Point of view is your next choice. You’ve got to learn point of view or nobody will take you seriously as a writer.
Dave Schwinghammer's published novel, SOLDIER'S GAP, is available at Amazon.com at a discount. Used copies available.
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