plot structure – Almost An Author

Plot Structures: Predictable or Helpful?

Girl meets boy. Even though it’s obvious to the reader that they would make a perfect couple, they don’t like each other. Somehow they’re forced to spend time together. They gradually fall in love but then they have a big argument and break up. Eventually they come to the conclusion they can’t live apart. They reunite and live happily ever after.

This is a basic romance plot structure. I want to address your immediate instinct which is to roll your eyes and complain, ‘It’s so predictable.’

When it comes to stories, predictability is generally considered a bad thing. Would you read a book if you knew the ending? You said no, right?

Chances are, you’ve read a romance novel. You’re probably thinking about ‘Twilight’ or ‘Cinderella’ right now. What do these two stories have in common?

‘Nothing. One is about vampires and one is about fairy godmothers.’

Wrong. They both end with a romantic happily ever after. You knew (consciously or subconsciously) when you started reading that the girl and boy would end up together. It was predictable. Did it take away from the story?

‘Twilight’ and ‘Cinderella’ follow the same basic plot structure but originality is still achieved through characters and context. Even though they fall into the same genre, these stories attract different audiences. ‘Cinderella’ is for little girls who like dressing up as fairies and princesses. ‘Twilight’ is for edgy teenage girls with weird types. (No judgement.)

One of the benefits of using a basic plot structure to craft your story is ease of writing. Girl meets boy is a good place to start if you’re stuck. And that predictability we were talking about makes it easier to read as well. There’s a clear beginning, middle and end. That makes a story.

You can edit it into a good one later.

Many writers don’t decide to use plot structures but they emerge naturally as the story evolves. The truth is, plot structures are a good place to start if you’re suffering from a bad case of writers’ block.

In the words of Jodi Picoult,

‘You might not write well every day, but you can always edit a bad page. You can’t edit a blank page.’

Deborah Rose Green is the author of ‘Dragon Pearls’ (2019) and ‘Crown My Heart’ (2020). She’s the Contributing Editor for the ‘Hey Young Writer’ blog and starting her Creative Writing degree in September.

New Heights (The Climax)

At this point in 2020, we are over halfway through the year and it seems like a new setback or disturbance occurs every day. It’s been an interesting year, to say the least, and we’re still three months away from the end!

It reminds me of the classic writers’ adage, “Conflict is king.” It seems conflict has driven every aspect of life this year, and I dare to say it makes us yearn for a new year already. To continue with the theme of writers’ terms, we wish to get beyond the climax to the resolution, where there will be a change in the narrative—at least we hope so!

As creative writers, we can almost plot out 2020 with the plot points of a movie.

Exposition/set up
Rising action
Climax
Falling action
Resolution

As these plot points indicate, the climax isn’t what our story is all about and it definitely isn’t the end of the story, just the highest point of tension, this is why we call it the climax.

Climax!

When I think of my script’s climax, I think of a mountain, everything I’ve been writing before this point has been leading to it and nothing will be the same after it.

Eventually, the narrative will have to come down from the mountaintop, but things are always different after you experience a peak. This is why a climax is different from the resolution of a narrative.

Whether it’s simply a scene’s climax or the climax of an entire story, we must be able to see the changes that occur after the climax. The climax brings change.

Robert McKee explains, “A story is a series of acts that build to a last act climax or story climax which brings about absolute and irreversible change.”¹ A satisfying climax always brings a change in the direction of our story.

The best climaxes happen before the end of our story because it gives the audience a chance to see the aftereffects of the climax. Many stories use the climax as a resolution to the conflict in a story, but they fail to include the falling action or change in the story’s charge.

Falling action and the resolution don’t have to be far from the climax, but are more effective as separate structure points, as I mentioned in the beginning of this post. Below are a few suggestions for making sure your climax is the peak of your story,

1. The run-up to the climactic moment (last-minute maneuvering to put the pieces in their final positions).

2. The main character’s moment of truth (the inner journey point toward which the whole story has been moving).

3. The climactic moment itself (in which the hero directly affects the outcome).

4. The immediate results of the climactic moment (the villain might be vanquished, but the roof is still collapsing).²

Keep in mind we are taking our audience on an adventure. There will be highs and lows along the way, but the climax is the highest point and there is only one way to go from there.

Get There!

Stories are all about getting from point A to point B and it’s a writer’s job to make the journey interesting and worthwhile. Not necessarily easy, though. What makes a story great are the detours and obstacles the characters must face in route to their goal.

Keep in mind, no one’s goal is to face maximum opposition which is the goal of a climax, not the resolution. The climax is the biggest hurdle in route to our narrative’s resolution. Following are a few examples of movies where the climax led to a satisfying resolution:

The great thing about these examples is that there is still a story left to tell after the climax because then the story has been taken to new heights!

Martin Johnson survived a severe car accident with a (T.B.I.) Traumatic brain injury which left him legally blind and partially paralyzed on the left side. He is an award-winning Christian screenwriter who has recently finished his first Christian nonfiction book. Martin has spent the last nine years volunteering as an ambassador and promoter for Promise Keepers ministries. While speaking to local men’s ministries he shares his testimony. He explains The Jesus Paradigm and how following Jesus changes what matters most in our lives. Martin lives in a Georgia and connects with readers at Spiritual Perspectives of Da Single Guy and on Twitter at mtjohnson51.

¹ ¹ McKee R. (1997). Story: Substance, Structure, Style, And The Principle of Screenwriting (Kindle edition) pg 42.

² https://www.writersdigest.com/whats-new/4-ways-to-improve-plotclimax-in-your-writing