Today’s Writers’ Tip: Fiction Plots

January 27, 2014

Today’s Writers’ Tip

DIFFERENT FICTION PLOTS

Plot Number 13: MATURATION

Flight (J. Steinbeck)

Nick Adams’ Stories (E. Hemingway)

Huckleberry Finn

Hansel and Gretel

The thirteenth plot, maturation, is specific in its characteristics because it deals with main characters “arriving” or reaching adulthood, which is a little different from our last plot description, transformation. So let’s look at the points of interest to make your Maturation Plot a page turner:

1. You need to create a main character on the brink of adulthood, having goals that are either confused or not yet clarified.

2. The reader must understand who the main character is and how the main character feels and thinks before an event occurs that begins the process of change.

3. Cleverly work your plot so that the protagonist’s naive life (childhood) is pitted against the reality of an unprotected life (adulthood).

4. The focus of the story should be on your protagonist’s moral and psychological growth.

5. Once you’ve established your protagonist as he/she was before the change, develop an incident challenging his/her beliefs and his/her understanding of how the world works.

6. Decide if your main character will reject or accept change or perhaps do both. Decide if he/she will resist the lesson in life and decide how he/she will react to the change.

7. Show your main character undergoing a gradual, not sudden, process of change.

8. Be careful to portray your young protagonist in a convincing manner. He/she shouldn’t have adult values and perceptions until he/ she is ready to portray them. In other words, don’t have your hero/heroine grow up too fast.

9. Decide at what psychological price the main character learns his/her lesson and develop a deepening plot revealing how the protagonist copes with the life-changing lesson.

 

So, there you have nine pointers to help you develop a Maturation Plot. While you’re writing the next best seller in this subgenre, don’t forget that writers are readers. Get some classics out of the library or online and study how the masters developed this clever way of presenting an excellent story.

Next time we’ll look at the fiction plot that has probably been developed more than any other one in the fiction plot collection, number 14: LOVE

All information compliments of:

Tobias, Ronald B (2011-12-15). 20 Master Plots (p. 189). F+W Media, Inc. Kindle Edition.

http://www.amazon.com/20-Master-Plots-Build-Them-ebook/dp/B006RAIXXI/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1390841564&sr=1-1&keywords=20+Master+Plots

(I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in writing good fiction in any subgenre!”)

Happy writing!

Marsha

 

Read Full Post »

Today’s Writers’ Tip

January 13, 2014

Today’s Writers’ Tip

Plot Number 12: TRANSFORMATION

The Red Badge of Courage

Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde

Pygmalion (My Fair Lady)

My guess is that you’ve read all these books or you’ve seen all these movies (representing this subgenre) and thought they were mesmerizing. Of the three, the chick flick, My Fair Lady, is one of my all-time favorite movies.

But why are these books (movies) so appealing to the human heart? Let’s analyze the Transformation Plot and see what an author has to incorporate into the story to keep the readers on the edge of their seats:

1. The plot of transformation should deal with the process of change as the main character journeys through one of the many stages of life.

2. The plot isolates a portion of the main character’s life that represents the period of change and moves from one significant character state to another.

3. The story concentrates on the nature of change and how it affects the main character from the first page to end of the experience.

4. The first dramatic phase relates the transforming incident that propels the antagonist into a crisis, which starts the process of change.

5. The second dramatic phase often depicts the effects of the transformation. The plot is about character; thus, the story concentrates on the main character’s self-examination.

6. The third dramatic phase contains a clarifying incident, which represents the final stage of the transformation. The character understands the true nature of his/her experience and how it has affected him/her. This is usually the point of the story when true growth and understanding occur.

7. Often the price of obtaining that wisdom is a certain sadness.

So, are you ready to tackle a Transformation Plot? You now have the tools to start your novel or revise one that maybe you thought was only good for File 13. Perhaps you can transform your own writing style as you work on a Transformation Plot and come up with something really worth publishing. (Yes, you can!)

Next time we’ll look at fiction plot number 13: Maturation

All information compliments of:

Tobias, Ronald B (2011-12-15). 20 Master Plots (p. 189). F+W Media, Inc. Kindle Edition.

http://www.amazon.com/20-Master-Plots-Build-Them-ebook/dp/B006RAIXXI/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1389624344&sr=1-1&keywords=20Master+Plots

(I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in writing good fiction in any subgenre!”)

Happy writing!

Marsha

Read Full Post »