Hi everyone!  I'm Bruce Elgin, a long time Wattpad Ambassador and the person who is in charge of the @improveyourwriting profile, where you can get a lot of information about the art and craft of writing.  And, after I introduce myself, this post is all about your writing!

If we haven't met before, here's a bit about me...I got my Masters of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing in 2007 and have continued to study writing since then.  I've written a lot of different things, and I won a Watty for my book Voodootown.  That' s the award I'm the most proud of.  I also teach a lot and the last class I helped with was an online class for the University of Iowa that had over 11,000 students.  I didn't sleep a lot during that class, to say the least.

And, even though I sometimes teach for the U of I (the most famous literary fiction writing school in the world), I am not a lit fic kind of writer.  I love science fiction, fantasy, horror, paranormal, romance...just about everything.  I get ticked off when genre fiction isn't given the respect it deserves, because it can be just as well written as any literary book.

One of the things I love to do most is to help people feel more comfortable with writing and to become better writers.  I think that, as writers, we have to constantly try to improve, because our readers deserve our best efforts.  Plus, it just feels amazing when you get a story down just the way you know it should be.

In this post I am going to share with you a bit about plot, a few varieties of structure, including the Hero's Journey, character arc and one of my favorite tools, the backwards pass.

My goal is to give you tools that can get you out of a jam and help you write stories and novels that readers will love.  You don't have to use any of these methods, I just want you to have options.

Okay, we've got a ton of stuff to cover, so buckle in!

First off, let's talk about Plot vs. structure.

Every story has a plot.  If anything at all happens in a story, then there is a plot.

The question about plot is...is it a plot that will interest just a few readers or a whole lot of readers.

Structure, on the other hand, is how you organize your plot, how you put it together.  It's a picture of your story, without being the story itself...if your story is a house, then structure is your blueprint.  It shows you how to put your story together.

Some people worry that structure is a formula, that it stifles creativity.  Well, formulas are for math and chemistry, not for writing.  Remember, all houses (at least the ones that most people want to live in) have a floor, roof and walls.  Does that mean they all look alike?  Of course not!  You are the architect and you aren't designing houses for some scary suburb where all the houses are identical.  Instead, you can use the basic concepts of story structure to design your own house, one people will love to step in and that also reflects who you are as a writer.

Now, as we get into structure, we are going to be talking about what Robert McKee calls classically structured or Archplot stories.  Basically, classical structure has a protagonist pursuing a clear goal with a clear beginning, middle and end point.  These are stories that generally very approachable and that resonate with the largest group of readers.  We see them everywhere, from bestsellers to scripts to young adult novels.

And, McKee also talks about two other types of stories, minimalist and anti-structure.

In a minimalist story, the protagonist still tends to have a goal and there is usually an end.  The difference is in how the events are presented.  A three act type structure is probably there, but the order of the plot events may be moved around or the focus may be more internal than external.  The stakes of the story might also be more personal than in a classically structured story.

And, with an Anti-structure story, there might be a protagonist and goal, or maybe not.  There probably is not a clear ending.  Minimalism and antistructure are pretty common in short stories, and are often more about evoking a feeling or a theme than telling a story.

Now, since we are talking about classic structure in this lecture, one thing that I'm hinting at blatantly, and I guess I'm not even hinting if I come out and say it, is...try using this structure to outline and plot out your story before you write it.  Once again, this is a tool that you can choose to use or not, but it is a really, really useful tool.  It can save you months of hard work and heartache and it does absolutely nothing to diminish your creativity.  In fact, I think it increases it because it gives you more opportunities to be creative, and with less pressure.

So, as we dig into the details of structure, I'll use a couple of examples, so we don't have to just talk about all of this in abstract.  I'll talk about two movies, Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark and the animated film Toy Story.  I'll use film examples because so many people across the world have seen these movies and they have great structures that make great examples.  If you haven't seen them, don't worry, it isn't a requirement.  I'll be giving you spoilers, but you won't miss anything if you haven't seen these films.

Okay, as we dig into the details of structure, let's get the big picture of your story first.  Think about your story and see just how much you can condense it.  You know the idea of the elevator pitch, where you have ten seconds to describe your story?  This is also called the logline and it's more than just a cliché, it can be a useful tool to see if you know what the heart of your story is about.  Plus, it will really help you write the jacket copy for your book and describe it to the media (and, just so you know, you will be the one doing all of that, not any publisher).

To dig into the logline you are only going to need three things...the protagonist (or hero), the antagonist (which does not necessarily mean a villain, remember that) and what is at stake.  The stakes are important because this element can include both the goal and what will happen if the hero doesn't reach the goal.

One thing to note about the logline...it generally deals with the external side of things.  It talks about the outward goal, but not the inside of the main character.  We will talk more about the inner side of things in a bit and feel free to adapt your loglines to reflect this as well.

Let's dig into our examples.  A sample logline for Indiana Jones would be...A treasure hunter must find the lost Ark of the Covenant before the Nazis use it to destroy the world.

And for Toy Story...An old toy has to compete with a brand new, exciting toy for the love and attention of a young boy.

I could spend some time polishing those loglines, but from them we get an idea of the stories.  We know who the main characters are, what they are up against and what their goal is, along with what might happen if they fail.

Let me say one more time that the antagonist does not have to be a bad guy.  Yes, Indiana Jones has Nazis, but in Toy Story, Woody's antagonist is Buzz Lightyear, a slightly dense, but still good natured toy.  This story is actually a romance, and the two toys become close friends in the end.

What this tells us is that the key to an antagonist in a classical story is that he or she helps create conflict with the protagonist.  The antagonist is the character that forces the protagonist to change.  This can be a friend or an enemy.  Think of all the ways you can use that.

So, with the big picture filled in by the logline, let's get a little more detail.  What I'm going to do is first go through the external, plot oriented structure by analyzing Indiana Jones, then we'll talk about character arc and how it can grow with plot structure.

As we've talked about in the discussions, classical three act structure is crazy simple.  Beginning, middle and end.  But, to make this actually useful, we need to divide it up some more.

Act one usually starts with a quiet moment where we meet the protagonist in the normal world.  This can be a useful section of a story, as it gives the reader a chance to begin to identify with and get interested in the hero.  Then, some kind of a trigger happens...an event that gives us a quick peek into what the big struggle of the story will be about.  This is generally called the inciting incident.

In Indiana Jones, We meet Indy in the middle of an adventure.  Remember, what we are learning here is that he already lives an exciting life.  This is his normal world.  We don't really identify with him, but get interested because as he jumps over pits and dodges arrows we see he's a very capable action hero.  This is our introduction to him, done with action.  And, the inciting incident doesn't actually come until the two government agents come and tell him about the Ark of the Covenant.

The rest of the first act can is flexible.  If the protagonist is an action hero, or a detective, or someone who basically does crazy things for a living, then it's a short section and it might focus on another character or do a little bit of set up to get ready for the second act.

But, if the protagonist is a bit more like the rest of us, then the usual response to the inciting incident is reluctance, as the hero tries to get out of the situation.  Either way, act one ends with an event or decision that locks the hero in for the rest of the story.  This is called plot point one.

In Indiana Jones, Indy flies to Nepal where his old girlfriend Marion has a special medallion that will help him find the Ark.  As soon as he gets there, the Nazi's attack.  After Indy and Marion drive off the bad guys, she holds up the medallion and says, "I'm your goddamned partner."  Bam.  The story is on.

Act two is where a lot of structure theories get pretty lame.  They might say there is a midpoint where there is a big change, or maybe mention a couple of pinch points, which are supposed to show what the protagonist is up against.  But those could just be a scene or two inserted anywhere.  That doesn't help us build connections or understand how the middle of the story works.

We will talk about how to fix that in a second, but for now, let's keep going.

Act two ends with the second plot point, a major event that launches the final push or climax and the resolution of the third act and the end of the story.  And in Indiana Jones, that point is...well...

I'm going to interrupt again with a question.  Are you still worried about structure leading to formulaic writing?  Let me point out one thing.  If this was about formula, then we'd all be able to pick out each step of the formula and shout it at the screen or book when we see it.  But, even in Raiders of the Lost Ark, a movie that is as archplot as it gets, we can't pinpoint the structure.  There is a lot of disagreement about where the second act ends in this film.  Some say it's when the Nazis steal the ark and send it to Cairo.  Others say it's when the bad guys steal the ark off the boat and Indy has to swim after it.

We don't have an obvious formula.  Instead, we have a story that keeps moving forward.  And that is what these tools are about; helping you figure out the best ways to keep your story moving.

So, let's go back to our question about that mushy act two.  If you are writing an average novel, then you are looking at a second act that's about 200 pages long.  That is a lot of story to fill up with just a midpoint and maybe two amorphous pinch points as your only help.

So, what we are going to do is bring in a really cool, really old school writing tool.  Sequence writing.  Let's look at some history.

Back when Hollywood first started making feature films, they shipped them out on reels that held ten to fifteen minutes of the film.  The problem was, the theaters only had one projector.  So, when one reel was done, the projectionist would have to stop everything and switch the reels by hand, which meant a delay of several minutes for the audience.  Not a huge deal, but some people started to leave during these breaks.

What they found was that if they were going to keep people in their seats, they had to make each reel end with something suspenseful, some problem or question for which the audience had to wait to know the answer.  The screenwriters would tailor the script to fit the reels of film and each reel's worth became a sequence where the end would leave a main character in deep trouble, like dangling over a cliff, so the audience would eagerly await the rest of the film through eight to ten reels or sequences.

This technique was not only one of the origins of the use of cliffhangers at the end of a chapter of a book, but it also gives us a very helpful structural hint.  You see, when a sequence ends with a big question, it launches the next sequence with a new situation that must be developed and then brought to a new mini-climax.  Does this sound familiar?  It's three act structure done in miniature.

What this means is that act two doesn't have to be a 200 page monster.  Instead it is a group of four (or maybe more) sequences that each has a beginning, a middle and an end...an ending that then launches the beginning of the next sequence.

There can be structure within the structure to help you at every step.

Now, we can talk about the specific function of each sequence.  The first two make up act one, with the inciting incident ending the first sequence and launching the next one.  In act three, the two sequences are generally separated by the ending of the climax, with the last sequence focusing on the resolution. 

Note that the sequences don't all have to be the same length.  They just need to have a beginning, a middle and an end that launches the next stage of the story.

There can also be specific functions for the sequences in act two, but what they all really come down to is this...each of the sequences in act 2 is an attempt to solve the problem or reach the goal.  The problem for the protagonist is...each attempt fails and in the end makes a bigger or more drastic attempt necessary.  This escalation gives us another important element...rising action.  Things keep getting bigger because they have to.

With all that in mind, let's go through Indiana Jones one more time.  As a note, a lot of sequence writers will letter their sequences, but I'm using numbers for sake of clarity.

Sequence 1...the story starts with Indy doing his treasure hunting thing.  It ends with the bad guy Belloq stealing the gold idol and Indy escaping.  The first sequence is all about showing us how awesome Indy is.  He's brave, but is also smart enough to run like hell when he needs to.

Normally, sequence 1 ends with the inciting incident, but here sequence 2 starts with it, where the two government guys tell Indy about the Ark.  He then has to go to Nepal for help, fights some Nazis and ends up with Marion as his partner.  That is the end of Act one and it leads right into the next sequence.

Sequence 3 is the beginning of act two where Indy and Marion make their first attempts to find out about the ark in Cairo.  They run into trouble and he thinks she is killed, but at the end of this sequence he learns the Nazis are looking for the ark in the wrong place.

That launches sequence 4, where Indy goes to the map room at the site and finds the real location of the ark.  He also finds Marion alive, but leaves her and promises to get her later so they won't alert the bad guys before he can save the ark.

Now, a lot of people would say that this is the midpoint, but I actually disagree for one big reason...there isn't any major shift of circumstances here.  Yes, time-wise, this is the middle of the movie, but there's nothing here that is making the audience sit on the edge of their seats.

So, onward to sequence 5, where Indy and his friend Sallah get the ark, box it up...only to have it promptly stolen by the Nazis.  Marion is thrown down into the pit and she and Indy are sealed up together, surrounded by snakes.

That sounds like a midpoint to me.  And remember, a method like this is all about helping you keep things focused and moving for your readers.  You can divide things up any way you want!

For me, Sequence 6 starts with Indy and Marion escaping the pit, and then he has a big fist fight with a burly German soldier and a big plane explodes.  But...he learns that the ark wasn't on the plane, that it was loaded on a truck instead.

So then we have sequence 7, a big car chase with Indy on a horse.  He fights a lot of bad guys, gets the truck with the ark and escapes.  Things look good for a moment as he and Marion get on a big boat with the ark and they finally kiss, at which point Indy falls asleep.  But, in a turn for the very worst, the Nazis catch up in a submarine and steal the ark and Marion.  Again.

To me, this is the real low point of the film, and a lot of structure teachers emphasize having a low point at the end of act two, to provide dramatic contrast with a happy ending.  If you are writing a tragedy, you might want to flip the end of act two to be positive for contrast.

In my eyes, the third act of this story is pretty darn short.  For sequence 8, Indy swims to the sub, holds onto the periscope for who knows how long, steals a German uniform and tracks Belloq and the Nazis to the place where they are going to have the ceremony.  He threatens to blow up the ark, but decides that he can't do it.  Then, he and Marion, tied to a stake, close their eyes while the bad guys open the ark and have their faces melted off.

The resolution of the film in sequence 9 sees the ark being boxed up and Marion pulling Indy away to go on with life.

That's how sequence writing can work; each sequence as a mini-story that leads to the next.  And you can take this mini structure as far as you want.  Each scene can even have a beginning, middle and end that launches the next scene.  Use this tool however you want.

So, with that under our belts, let's move to character arcs and the interior side of things.

In earlier class discussions, we've talked about the exterior side of the plot, but one of our aims today is to bring the exterior plot and the interior world of character change together into one cohesive whole...two different elements that grow together and support each other.

To do this, the two elements that we need to pay attention to are the character's desire and need.  The desire is the outward goal, what the protagonist strives toward in the plot.  The need is something in the character that needs to change.  It can be thought of as some kind of inner block that keeps the character from reaching that outer goal.

The character arc is all about the protagonist changing from a person hobbled by this inner problem, to moving beyond it.  The hero either grows or is torn down over the story.

Yes, there are static characters that do not go through a change.  Indiana Jones is a pretty static character, but Woody in Toy Story isn't. We love Indiana Jones for all the adventure, but seeing a character change is really satisfying for the reader, so I'm going to recommend you try it for now.  Get to know it as a tool, then decide if all your main characters need to change or not.

The big question about character arc is how to show it.  Since your protagonist probably isn't going to get taller or show some outward sign of growth, the best way you have to show it to your readers is by the decisions and action the character makes.  In the beginning, she is unable to cross a certain line, but by the end, she crosses that line, makes new decisions that she couldn't make in the beginning and is a new person.

One of the primary structures that focuses on character arc is Joseph Campbell's The Heroes Journey.  It's a great tool for building characters, but it's also really complicated.  We don't have time to go into it in much depth, but I'll give you the basics.

Different versions of the journey have a different number of steps, Campbell had seventeen, but most writers use the twelve that Christopher Vogler describes.  The first few, the ordinary world, the call to adventure, and the refusal of the call all match up great with the first act.  But, after that things don't fit so well with classical structure.  The next steps are meeting the mentor, crossing the first threshold, then tests, allies and enemies.  Then the approach to the inmost cave, the ordeal, Reward, and finally, the road back, the resurrection and return with the elixir.

Even just listing the steps is a mouthful.  But, remember that Campbell said that no story or myth contains every step.  And it's not about the individual steps, but about the ordeal the hero goes through that leads to an inner change that can be brought back to regular life.

Personally, I refer back to the hero's journey often when I'm working on a character for a novel, but I don't worry about doing any of it in order.  Instead, I just see it as a buffet of things that the hero can go through to force the big change.

Let's go ahead and look at it through the lens of Toy Story, where we meet Woody and see that he is the top toy in the little boy's room.  We are introduced to this special ordinary world and we bond with Woody because he treats the other toys well.  The inciting incident or call to adventure happens when Buzz shows up and upsets the balance in Woody's world.  Immediately, Woody refuses the call.  He can see that he might be replaced as top toy and he generally starts to act like a real jerk and his actions lead to Buzz falling out a window.  You might view this as the first threshold because this triggers more adventure.

There's no mentor here, but when Woody and Buzz have to hitch a ride to Pizza Planet to catch up with Andy, they start their Tests and end up captured by the enemy: the next door neighbor and psycho kid, Sid.  At Sid's house, they see a scary bunch of mutilated toys in the inmost cave and go through an ordeal together, with Woody still only looking out for himself.

But, when Buzz is strapped to a rocket, Woody finally stops thinking of himself.  He starts to gain his reward, becomes a leader again and organizes the toys in a revolt against Sid.

They escape Sid and make a break for the car with Andy in it (remember that the family is moving...this is the timelock in this story...a deadline that helps create urgency).  Woody can get there before the car pulls out, but Buzz gets stuck.  This is where Woody's big reversal happens.  He gives up his clear chance to be with Andy to help his new friend Buzz.

They start on the road back together, chasing after the car and moving van and have their last struggle, where they are both resurrected in a way and are returned to Andy, with Woody in possession of the elixir of knowledge and compassion for all the toys.

That is a really brief look at combining mythic structure with character arc.  Now, let's start to tie everything together by looking at a common story problem, lack of causality...too many random events occurring.   We get enough randomness in real life, we don't need it or want it in our stories.  Random events poison the flow of a story, they feel artificial.  And, if they end up helping the protagonist, then you've got the dreaded Deus Ex Machina, the ghost or god out of the machine like in the old greek plays.  And, unfortunately, mythic structure doesn't do much to help with causality, so we have to look elsewhere.

If plot is what happens in the novel. Causality is its twin or shadow.  It stands behind plot and makes it hold up under scrutiny.  Causality is the connective tissue that holds the plot together.

What we generally want when we read a classically structured story is an unbroken line of causality from the beginning through to the end.  These are what I call causal chains and they can even be used to tie subplots into the main plot.

One of the best ways to insure strong causal chains is the backwards pass.  It's frankly kind of miraculous what this tool can do for a story.  It not only insures good causal chains, but it also helps you figure out what needs to happen in the story, especially in that big second act.  Plus, it's really easy to do.

The reason why is because the ending is generally one of the easiest things to figure out in a story.  We are often gifted with an image of our character, triumphant or humbled at the end of a journey.  If you have any kind of ending in mind, all you need to do is ask yourself, what needed to happen just before that ending.  What was necessary in the story right before that moment?  What Y led to Z?  Then, you keep going.  X to Y, W to X and on and on, figuring out the third act, the second act, all the way to the beginning of your story. 

Think of the decisions and actions the protagonist makes as you do this and you can see the arc forming in reverse.  All of the actions and decisions end up causally connected and you can see the interrelation between the interior of the character and the outer journey.

In the end, it's up to you whether and how you want to use these tools.  They can be part of your process.  Trust the writing, but know that writing is about more than freewriting or discovery writing.  Writing is about planning, working, editing, rewriting.  Trust all of it, not just one stage.  You can be creative at every single stage.  These tools can help you get unstuck, can help you plan or analyze what you have already written.  Now you have access to them and can design and build whatever kind of story you want.

It's all about you.  Good luck.

-----------

Don't forget to enter the #WattpadBlockParty - Winter Edition II giveaways!

Giveaway Link (with widgets): http://kellyanneblountauthor.blogspot.com/2016/01/wattpad-block-party-winter-edition-ii.html

Giveaway Link (with widgets): http://kellyanneblountauthor.blogspot.com/2016/01/links-only-wattpad-block-party-winter.html