Category Archives: Writers on writing

MAKE PLOTTING EASIER WITH THE PLOTCLOCK – PART 2

By JOYCE SWENEY

FROM LOW POINT TO DENOUEMENT

Last time we covered the first half of the Plotclock template, up through Act 1; this month, we’re taking it home with the rest of the story structure.

Act 2 is usually a series of failures, losses and attempts to navigate the new world using the old skills. Events will punish the main character for refusing to change until they are at a breaking point and all seems lost. Fun to observe that at this point in stories, main character is often actually shown making a physical descent of some kind, like a symbolic falling to their knees. The story “breaks” them here and opens them to:

THE CHANGE

Right after The Low Point in the beginning of Act 3, the main character makes a major tactical change, the one the reader has been hoping for: the shy person starts to speak up, for instance. In Act 3, the main character is rewarded for the change by gaining strength and power. But at the same time, the forces against her react and also become stronger.

Stakes and hopes for the reader begin to climb in Act 3, but reader is encouraged to think no one can stop our Main Character now until:

THE TURNING POINT

More like a curveball, this is a surprise that comes from left field and changes the game, raising the stakes and making the eventual climax look much more difficult for the main character than we ever could have guessed. This is the most often overlooked plot point and probably the one that separates a good plotter form a great plotter. The classic example would be Luke Skywalker doing very well in his battle with Darth Vadar until….”Luke, I am your father.”

THE CLIMAX

Another moveable plot point, this is the mother-of-all battles in the novel, when the main character gets his final exam, as it were… when all the marbles are at stake and tension is at the highest. The climax will change everything one way or another. In action/adventure, it’s literally a battle, but there should be a high stakes climax even in the quietest, most literary work.

A main character who stands up to a bully might just do it with words, but it should still be big and powerful as a moment. In a very commercial story, the climax comes almost at the end (because who cares about denouement when the monster is dead?) In a literary story you can take almost a quarter of the book to clean up the emotional havoc wreaked at the climax.

THE DENOUNEMENT

Whatever you need to clean up the mess and let the reader know what they need to know about how things turned out after the battle was won. No more, no less.

The joy of The Plot Clock is this: that it guides you when you’re lost, helps you realize which plot points you might be missing, clears up the terror on where to begin, and just in general, is a good friend to hold your hand as you plot your novel. If you’re a plotter, you probably will consult it before you even start to write. If you like to plunge and discover as you go, it’s a great revision tool.

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Joyce Sweeney is the author of 14 novels for young adults and one book of poetry. A writing teacher and mentor to aspiring authors, she runs writer’s workshops, critiques manuscripts, and conducts classes and seminars throughout the state of Florida. This article is just one of the ten lessons included in her Fiction Writing Essentials which starts in July and is taking registrations now at: www.sweeneywritingcoach.com.

[Editor’s note: This entry comes courtesy of Bruce Hale. Bruce has written and illustrated over 25 books for kids. His Underwhere series includes Prince of Underwhere and Pirates of Underwhere. His Chet Gecko Mysteries series includes: The Chameleon Wore Chartreuse, The Big Nap, The Malted Falcon, Hiss Me Deadly, and others. More at http://www.brucehale.com/]