Better Fiction: The Blog

I've got five minutes before I should be asleep. Not just in bed. Asleep. There's no time for this.

Yet, here I am.

Movies. Almost every time I want to cite a literary example, I think of a movie, instead. It's a crying shame.

I remember something I overheard a fellow student say when I was in high school. Why would anyone read a book when there a movie version available? (Paraphrased, I'm sure.)

I've done it. At least once, a movie drove me to a book. When the film version of "Accidental Tourist" came out I wanted to see it because of my admiration of the actors involved. I was probably in college at the time, and it ended up easier for me to grab the novel, which I did. I did eventually see the movie, but I am a fan of the novel.

A how-to book I own, "The Weekend Novelist" (or something like that (I would look it up, but I'm supposed to be asleep, remember?)) uses that book as its case-in-point. It really helped me not only see some key points about structure but to really appreciate that novel.

What else? I'm not sure. In the early eighties I read an novelization of "Raiders of the Lost Ark". Does that count?

Film noir. I fell in love with the movies before falling in love with the books. That also might explain why I'm a bigger fan of Ross MacDonald than Raymond Chandler or Dashiel Hammett. MacDonald was totally fresh to me.

"Bonfire of the Vanities"? Nope. Bought the book. Never read it. Never saw the movie, either.

"MirrorMask" got me interested in Neil Gaimon.

The biggest plugs at the bookstore seem to be for books that have been made famous by their film counterpart. People continue to throng to "Rocket Boys" by Homer Hickam, the book that became the very good movie "October Sky". Hickam was very kind to spend several days chatting with us at Better Fiction about his work. He considers "October Sky" to be the "comic book" version of his story.

"Dracula." I was definitely drawn to the book by its movie versions.

"An American Werewolf in London", which I talked my grandfather into buying me when I was in elementary school. My mother tried to redirect me with a Hardy Boys mystery. I think it worked.

I should have been in bed ten minutes ago. Finish this for me...

What movies have led you to read the book?

Wade Ogletree

March sees the beginning of a third blog here at Better Fiction. There is this one, the serialized novel by Melinda Reynolds, and now something I simply call my "Christian Blog". Simply put, it will be devoted to my thoughts and studies on the Christian faith and life.

Check it out when you have the time.

Christian Blog

Wade Ogletree

I don't often plan out what I'm going to write, especially when I'm dealing with a short story. When I do, I'm just as likely to lose interest in the story as I am to actually complete it. Also, I find that I'm more creative once I'm exploring a concept or a scene, when I'm in the thick of a fictional situation and I see the setting, the characters, and the style emerge on the page. Then, I can begin to imagine some new direction the story might take.

I've learned to look back over what I've written and look for the characters, themes, and situations I've already set up to help me move forward. Until that obvious little insight hit me, moving on to the end often meant imagining something totally new--a new character, new location, new problem--which created an overly long story that was getting off track. Look back at where your story has been to see where it is going.

Of course, sometimes I do run into problems this way.

When I started rewriting the several pages of what had been intended as a novel set in China, now with the intent of turning it into a short story, my process worked well. I reordered some events, considered thematically what very different scenes had to do with each other, came to a unifying theme that suggested a direction and a climactic scene. The writing went well and I am happy with the result, expect for one thing. The "climactic scene" is a "come to realize" moment, and the main problems of the story are left unresolved.

I'm convinced now that the story needs a stronger ending--not instead of my "climactic scene" but in addition to it. For me, the story means nothing without that scene. It has to be there. But I also have to finish the story.

I've written two different endings, so far. Neither one works.

At the present, I'm starting a new job and will have to put this off for a few days. In the meantime, I'm hoping I'll unconsciously see the direction the story needs to go. It's already 7,500 words long. I don't have much more room before I write myself out of most markets.

Most of the time those who insist that we ALL need to plot out before we write don't know how the rest of us work. There critiques are misplaced. Not now.

This is that moment you may be right.

Wade

We, of the Artistic and Literary Antimanifestoist Movement, declare:

We hereby unite against the use of manifestos.

Therefore, we stand against all declarations that use bullet points.

We stand against all artistic and literary uses of manifestos to define a movement, especially those who are solely defined by what they are against. We rise against that by the very definition of who we are.

We are against such movements in general, and have formed the Antimanifestoist Movement in protest.

We stand against all movements formed as a means of protest.

We find that the use of manifestos seeks to artificially separate communities into two opposing groups, those who agree and those who are maligned and demonized by the manifesto. Those who disagree with us are demon-possessed and hereby much maligned.

We stand against ourselves and hereby refuse to join our organization.

We hereby form the Anti-Antimanifestoist Movement in protest. (See manifesto to come.)

We are without anyone left to finish this manifesto, without which the Anti-Antimanifestoist Movement shall have no means to define itself by what it is against.

We hereby declare the Anti-Antimanifestoist Movement dead. (Ignore previous parenthetical note.)

We protest the hubris we have shown is denying ourselves our right to form the Anti-Antimanifestoist Movement and plan to sue ourselves in court.

Signed,

The Former Members of the Antimanifestoist Movement

I posted this about four years ago. Since then, I've seen that much of my understanding of structure at the time was based on studying screenplay theory in the 90's.

Wade

On Plot

Although some fiction appears to have a plot and some does not, in truth most "non plotted" fiction actually has a plot, although it has been buried, hidden, and disguised. The place of plot may be argued between genre writers and "literary" writers, but it cannot totally be ignored. For those who struggle with story structure, I offer the following breakdown. This is not a strict formula you must follow, nor is it your only option. It is simply a guide and a tool for your considered use.

We'll think of story structure as having three (3) acts. Acts one and three take up 25% of the story, while act two (the biggest) occupies the middle half. If you are writing a novel, a good guideline for length would be 300 double-spaced manuscript pages. Thus, act one would be 75 pages; act two 150 pages; and act three 75 pages.

Each act has its essential elements:

Act One
Set up
Plot Point One

Act Two
Midpoint
Plot Point Two

Act Three
Climax
Denouement

Plot Points
Events change a story's direction. The two key changes in direction are called the "plot points".

As Disney's animated film "Beauty and the Beast" clearly uses the aspects of plot that I will discuss, I will use the film as my example.

Plot Point One in "Beauty and the Beast" is the change in story when Belle offers to take her father's place as the Beast's prisoner. This changes the story from that of a girl looking to escape village life to one who is now truly the prisoner of a monster in an enchanted castle.

Plot Point Two is the change in story when the Beast releases Belle because he loves her. This changes the plot from a girl learning to cope with life as a monster's prisoner, to "freedom" in which she is made a prisoner by the village people who wish to destroy the monster she has grown to understand and care for.

An additional key element of plot points is that PP2 reverses the action of PP1. In PP1, Belle is imprisoned. In PP2, Belle is freed.

Mid Point and Climax

There are two moments that define a story: the mid point and the climax. It is here where you decide what kind of story you are telling.

"Beauty and the Beast" is a Gothic love story. Why? The midpoint is the moment where Belle runs away only to be saved from certain death by the Beast. Because he has saved her, she comes back and tends his wounds. The hostility between them softens and a romance begins. The climax is the moment when Belle arrives in an attempt to stop the villagers from killing the Beast. Too late, she bends over his body and confesses her love, and her love transforms and saves the Beast.

These two moments define the entire plot. The mid point is also a break up at the center of Act II that helps get us through the huge expanse of the act. It is a milder change than a Plot Point, but it is a change. Belle does not escape, but the relationship with her captor changes. The midpoint can be seen, too, as a question which the climax answers. The midpoint asks, "Will Beauty and the Beast fall in love?" The climax answers, "Yes."

The climax is often seen as simply the culmination of a story's action, but because of its relationship with the midpoint, it is much more than that.

Set Up and Denouement

These are the most obvious of the plot's aspects. One quickly gets us into the story's problem. The other wraps up the loose ends as quickly as possible.

Plot as a Circle

When a story's ending reflects and repeats certain aspects of its beginning, it helps give it a sense of closure.

"Beauty and the Beast" opens with Gaston seeking to marry Belle. It ends with Belle and her transformed prince together. This also reflects back to her love of reading fairy tales in which the heroine meets the prince in disguise.

Films use this plot structure very faithfully. To it they add other rules, such as the middle third of the first act should have the main character on every page. With a novel, we have more freedom. If you have problems with story, try seeing how what you've planned fits into the structure I've described here. Fill in the elements you have missing. Then, once you have a structured story, feel free to tell it in a way that breaks free. This is only a framework to help support the story you want to tell.

Wade Ogletree