The Not-Really-An Outline for Plots
Feb82010
There’s been some question about how people who write by the seat of their pants (aka pantsers) can structure a mystery. I talked about this briefly, but I figure it could use a little more in depth explanation, keeping in mind that there are many roads to Oz and this is just one. A suggestion, not a prescription. A guideline, not a rule. Don’t freak if this wouldn’t work for you. It just doesn’t matter. (The last one was for Meatballs fans.)
All my outlines are based on turning points theory which is this:
Inciting Incident: The protagonist makes a move that puts her in harm’s way of the antagonist.
The antagonist doesn’t have to be in the scene, but the act has to affect the antagonist; in other words, everything would have been just fine for the antagonist if the protagonist just hadn’t [stuff that the protagonist does in the first scene]. The inciting incident is the first scene in the book.
First Turning Point: The trouble the protagonist is in gets worse; the stakes get higher.
The antagonist pushes back, forcing the protagonist into an event/action/whatever that pushes him/her into much higher stakes, from which she can’t resign.
Point of No Return: The trouble the protagonist is in gets so much worse that he/she is irrevocably changed by it.
The struggles the protagonist has made for the first half of the book have been so intense that she/he’s changed too much to go back to who she/he was in the beginning. At this point, the antagonist pushes back, forcing the protagonist into an event/action/whatever that pushes him/her into much higher stakes, from which she can’t resign.
Dark Moment: Everything is lost.
The antagonist pushes back, defeating the protagonist, sending her/him to the symbolic hell (see Greek epics), and the only reason she/he doesn’t roll over and die is because she/he’s Our Hero, and she/he never quits, damn it.
Climax: The protagonist faces the antagonist in the final battle.
This is also called the Obligatory Scene because if you don’t have it, the reader gets annoyed. The fight must be between the protagonist and the antagonist and the outcome must be clear.
Those five scenes (or more if you have more turning points) divide the story into acts. That is, Act One begins with the Inciting Incident and pivots into Act Two on the First Turning Point scene, followed by Act Two which ends with the Point of No Return which pivots the story into Act Three, which ends on the Dark Moment Turning Point which pivots the story into Act Four which ends in the Climax. Or not. Your structure may vary. Many roads to Oz. Each of those acts has its own story, a shorter unit of conflict that can be titled on its own to help you keep your focus while writing it. It’s easier to title your acts after the first full rough draft is done because then you can see what you had to say.
But if you were going to make an outline based on the turning points structure, it might look like this:
The boxes get smaller because the acts get shorter (pacing) and the boxes get darker because the trouble gets deeper (intensity). Each scene is X vs Y; that is, each scene has a protagonist and an antagonist, not necessarily the protagonist and the antagonist for the entire book. Try to think of each scene as a very short story; you still need that Spy Vs. Spy struggle (and thank you, Antonio Prohias):
So right now the outline for Lavender’s Blue or whatever the hell we’re going to call it looks like this:
But it’ll change. A lot. If I’m lucky, though, those turning points won’t shift and I’ll keep my grip on the plot.
What are the chances?
Filed in Writing
Loading ...
63 Comments to 'The Not-Really-An Outline for Plots'
On February 8, 2010 at 9:22 pm Marta said...
Spy vs. Spy! I love Spy vs. Spy!
On February 8, 2010 at 9:43 pm toni said...
Oh, weren’t they the BEST? I loved that cartoon.
Wait… *now* I know where I got half the plots for my books. Yikes.
Excellent breakdown. It’s a modified version of the screenwriter’s structure, which is what I use, too. Except my inciting incidents are sometimes not in the first scene. I know. I know. This causes me no end of pain as I try to stop myself from doing it that way. Old habits, hard to break.
In the screenwriter structure, the inciting incident typically hits about page 17. (Why, I don’t know, but lots and lots of films later, I quit arguing. Though I may have simply drunk the Kookaid to make the teacher shut up, I’m not sure.) The set up for the inciting incident, though, has to be in scene one, and has to mirror (be the opposite of, not simply reflect) the finale. If everything is fixed in scene one, it’s all broken and rearranged by the finale.
The preview button still does not like me.
On February 8, 2010 at 11:46 pm Jenny said...
The preview button doesn’t like anybody. I’ve reported it.
The reason screenplays can start late is that nobody pays for a ticket, buys popcorn, finds a seat and then says two minutes into the movie,”Nothing’s happening, let’s go.” You really have to be boring to drive somebody out of a movie theater.
On February 9, 2010 at 12:27 am Bonnie C said...
Or you have to be half way through “House of 1000 Corpses” before you realize your dignity doesn’t give a whit for the price of admission and you leave your husband and friends in the theater to go browse the Z Gallerie.
Or maybe that’s just me.
On February 9, 2010 at 1:49 am Jenny said...
Yes, but you’re halfway through, not fifteen minutes in.
On February 9, 2010 at 12:55 am toni said...
Very good point. (dammit) Now off to revise…
On February 8, 2010 at 10:20 pm Ericka said...
the best part of the spy museum in washington dc was, for me, all of the spy vs spy stuff in the gift shop. so is this lavendar blue thing done yet?
how ’bout now?
On February 8, 2010 at 10:48 pm CrankyOtter said...
What are the chances?
…of you changing that outline
Extremely high. You’re a reviser.
…of you writing a great story
Extremely high.
I used to think you couldn’t write a wrong word, then I read that scene with Andromeda and North and it was only OK. I liked it fine but didn’t love it. then you tweaked it with just minute touches and it was like you’d sprinkled magic fairy dust over it. My point being that even your misses are close to genius and you have a great gift for revising it to be better.
The Sound of Music “I have Confidence in Me!” song is running through my head, but I’m changing the last word from me to you. Looking forward to all t he lovely books coming out.
On February 9, 2010 at 1:50 am Jenny said...
Well, thank you very much.
Yep, only the Argh people and the Glindas (my critique group) know how lousy my first drafts are. Cheers everybody right up.
On February 9, 2010 at 2:59 pm Marta said...
Glinda? As in making it all better with the wave of a wand, or as in a good witch is still a witch?
On February 9, 2010 at 4:11 pm Jenny said...
As in many roads to Oz.
On February 8, 2010 at 10:52 pm Briana said...
So when are you coming to teach at Thurber House? And will you be sure to let us know? Because I am pretty sure that I will get shut-out otherwise. And then I will be sad. Really sad. So….please tell us?
On February 8, 2010 at 11:49 pm Jenny said...
I’m teaching a master class there June 19. It wasn’t on the website the last time I looked.
On February 8, 2010 at 10:57 pm Dee said...
I cannot even begin to tell you how timely this is. Well, yes I can. I am a writer after all. But I’m a damned wordy writer and so I’ll spare you and everyone else by just saying Thank You. I needed that.
Also, I liked Spy vs. Spy, but I loved Meatballs. And now I have the CIT song in my head. I think I’ll start calling my husband Wudy da Wabbit…
On February 9, 2010 at 4:12 pm Jenny said...
“We are the CITS so pity us,
“The kids are brats, the food is hideous . . .”
That’s a movie that stays with you.
On February 8, 2010 at 11:00 pm robena grant said...
I’m not sure where my prior message went. Could be because I’m drinking Merlot and drowning my sorrows because of a rejection from Carina Press today. Tonight is a pizza and red wine pity party. Ha ha. I’d really hoped for a revision letter, but no such luck. Anyway, if my comment appears later it was different enough, so all is well.
Your comments here are timely, because I’m writing mystery, and I printed it all up for review tomorrow. When I’m sober.
On February 8, 2010 at 11:50 pm Jenny said...
I feel your pain, having been there many times myself. Argh. Keep going.
On February 9, 2010 at 12:30 am marly said...
Thank you. Thank you so much for doing this. Ah, Act 1, 7. Bears?
On February 9, 2010 at 1:49 am Jenny said...
Her mother collects bears. She has over 600. It’s a small house. Trouble ensues.
On February 9, 2010 at 7:53 pm Julie said...
Act 1. 7 – she encounters the bears in the woods.
Act 1, 8 – she heads to the store for bear spray
Act 1, 9 – she gets the heck out of town.
Don’t mind me, I’m delirious from the boredom of work.
On February 9, 2010 at 1:51 am Jill said...
Just give me Lavender the book. Dammit.
On February 9, 2010 at 5:34 am Kate George said...
Oh Heck! Nobody told me pantsers don’t write mysteries! Somehow I didn’t get the memo. Okay, I admit I plotted the heck out of the first one, it wa torture I have to tell you. However two’s done without the slightest hint of an outline and three is well on it’s way.
That said, I haven’t heard back from my beta readers about how they like no.2 compared to the first, so maybe I’m screwed.
Jenny – don’t you ever sleep?
On February 9, 2010 at 10:36 am Jenny said...
Did I say pantsers don’t write mysteries? That was dumb of me. It’s just harder to write a mystery without planning. Well, actually, it’s just hard to write a mystery.
As for sleep, I usually work until three or four and then get up at eleven or so. It’s much more peaceful that way.
On February 9, 2010 at 11:19 am Kate George said...
Peace, now there’s a novel concept. It might be peaceful at my house if I sent my kids all to boarding school and the dogs all to the neighbor. Except that the kids would be calling me from school, and the neighbor would probably shoot me.
On February 9, 2010 at 11:21 am Kate George said...
Oh, and you might not have said that pantsers don’t write mysteries, I might just have read it that way. communication is such a tricky business.
On February 9, 2010 at 11:39 am Jenny said...
And I’m too lazy to go back and see what I said (I’m answering from the Dashboard here). Somewhere in my family tree is a sloth and I got that gene big time.
On February 9, 2010 at 2:51 pm Victoria said...
If you ever get the chance to hear Nancy Pickard speak, take it. (She lives in Kansas City and belongs to Sisters In Crime.) She’s a pantser and an outliner, depending. Plus she can take the mystery out of writing mysteries. The method I learned from her is not that much different from your turning points method.
On February 10, 2010 at 2:40 am toni said...
I am dragging in my entire family and showing them that. I tend to stay up ’til four, sleep ’til 11, and they think I’m crazy.
Of course, this doesn’t actually mean that you’re not crazy, too, so maybe I’ll rethink that plan.
On February 10, 2010 at 10:37 pm Jenny said...
No, no, I’m COMPLETELY sane. I make my living from those voices in my head.
On February 9, 2010 at 8:39 am Rox said...
Jenny, how do you know the Liz v Mom scene is halfway through Act 3? I’m busy plotting my NaNo book (no surprise – very little is making it into the book, although I wouldn’t have a book to plot if I hadn’t written all that) and I notice I’m dividing up each act into 3 parts – a beginning, a middle and an end – each of those with a group of scenes (set pieces, I guess) with smaller transitional scenes between. Someday, I hope plotting will come naturally to me. It’s the hardest thing for me, next to getting past the fear of putting words on the page.
On February 9, 2010 at 11:08 am Jenny said...
The main plot in the book is the mystery, but Liz’s arc is about connection. And one of the connections she has to make is with her mother, moving from the exasperated teenager role she’s stuck in to seeing her mother as another adult, apart from her. So in the first act, her car breaks down and she has to go home because she’s stuck in town for awhile, and then there’s a scene where she comes home late and her mother gets up to talk to her, as if she’s still a teenager. In the second act, she does something new, she takes her mother to lunch and pays for it, reversing their usual roles, she’s the one making the decisions, and she even orders for her mother when her mother tries to get a practical salad instead of something fattening but wonderful. And I know in the third act, she and her cousin end up back in the same restaurant with Liz’s mother and aunt, and that’s another move. And then in the fourth act, the four of them are together again in the restaurant.
So the short answer is, it’s a Liz/Mom motif that I want to hit in each act. There’ll be others, too, things I know I want to build on, like the relationship with Vince which just starts in this book, and making sure those subplots are hit in each act keeps the book balanced and means I don’t forget anything I’ve started.
On February 9, 2010 at 5:18 pm JulieB said...
I feel like there’s paparazzi all around. The lightbulbs are popping here and there. I wish I could go back to Cherry Con and take the classes again, sort of as a review, because I get things more and more hearing them rephrased, and re-exampled. That was a good question Rox.
On February 9, 2010 at 8:53 am Mikaela said...
Hm. I am revising a novella, and pacing is my weakness. I think I’ll try this. Just for fun
.
On February 9, 2010 at 11:00 am Terrio said...
For some reason, the Protag vs. Antag messes with me in a regular romance. I had it in my head that the Antag was one person and remained that person throughout. But I see here, it’s Liz vs different characters depending on the scene. So all the Antag means is who has the opposing purpose in the scene. Who is in direct conflict with Liz. Am I reading that right?
On February 9, 2010 at 1:50 pm Jim said...
In the grand scheme of things (entire book, overall plot), there is usually one Big Bad Antagonist. In each individual scene, if you follow the let’s-not-be-boring-must-have-conflict guideline, you should be able to do a conflict box for the scene’s participants, which may or may not involve the heroine/hero/protagonist/big bad. So your answer is yes, different in scenes, but no, not different overall.
On February 9, 2010 at 3:03 pm Terrio said...
Thanks!
On February 9, 2010 at 3:06 pm Jenny said...
You do have one protagonist vs. one antagonist for the entire book. That’s your overall plot.
But you build that plot with subplots, and they have protagonists and antagonists.
And you build the entire story with scenes, each of which has a protagonist and antagonist.
But the book has one protag and one antag.
On February 9, 2010 at 4:15 pm Jenny said...
And Jim answered it before I did and I missed it. What Jim said.
Except I think there is always only one antagonist, but then I’m bitchy about writing.
On February 9, 2010 at 7:33 pm Terrio said...
Thanks to both of you! I do have one Big Bad guy, and the H/H eventually team up to fight against him. But all of this helps me find the conflict in each individual scene, even when Big Bad isn’t anywhere around. That’s what I was missing. Add me to the lightbulb people.
On February 9, 2010 at 11:06 am Lora said...
Oooh I love this.
It’s time to revise my bloated MS and pacing and plot are my nemeses. Hmm never said “nemeses” before the plural just looks dirty
This is such a cool insight for me. I’m a big pantser. Which is why I write long-ass novels that get pretty little form rejection postcards from some of the most venerable agencies in the biz.
And, @robena grant, pizza is damn fantastic for rejection. May I suggest extra cheese. Or maybe not as I’ve got a few “rejection pounds” to show for my efforts.
On February 9, 2010 at 11:21 am Lori J. said...
Are you doing soundtracks and collaging for these first person pov Liz books? Are you finding any differences between soundtracks/collaging for a first person book than for a third person book?
Yay charts!
On February 9, 2010 at 11:38 am Jenny said...
Yes, I’m doing collages and soundtracks, nope, no difference.
Except that some of the images/songs are just for the individual books and some are for the entire four-book series.
On February 9, 2010 at 11:37 am colognegrrl said...
I hope you realize it would be so much easier if you took all that “He wrote, she wrote” stuff and put it in a book? We’d all run out and buy it, and you wouldn’t have to explain it all over again like a seventh grade teacher.
On the other hand, I suspect you like the distraction. ;o)
On February 9, 2010 at 4:20 pm Jenny said...
Well, that’s my plan. I just have some other stuff to write first.
On February 9, 2010 at 12:39 pm Brenda Bradshaw said...
Terrio: I had the same thought, that the antag was the same throughout until I saw Jenny had written in various other antags — the lightbulb definitely lit up. I’m currently writing a short contemporary so I guess that’s why I had that mentality — 99% of the book is the hero and heroine interacting.
I agree with Colognegrrl: I’d definitely run out and buy the book!
Jenny: Thanks for this! In the 3845983408 articles/books I’ve read, your charts are what gave me the lightbulb moment.
On February 9, 2010 at 7:42 pm Terrio said...
Brenda – I have the classic problem of making things more complicated than they need to be. Seeing the breakdown above opened my eyes to the fact I’m doing it in my story too. Admitting it is half the battle, right?
On February 9, 2010 at 3:18 pm Meggrs said...
It just doesn’t matter! It just doesn’t matter!
Whee–thank you, Jenny. Needed that reminder this week. And I really love and appreciate your plot structure posts. They really help remind me that yes, sometimes I DO know what I’m doing.
They’re wonderful references, and I save them and review them often when I needed reassurance.
On February 9, 2010 at 4:26 pm inkgrrl said...
Thankee dear – you are a goddess and an angel. I’m currently shuffling my murder mystery into a semblance of sense, if not actual order, and this is a refreshing breath of simplitude.
On February 9, 2010 at 4:28 pm inkgrrl said...
Simplicity! Argh. Love Spy vs. Spy three.
On February 9, 2010 at 5:33 pm Barbara said...
The blog that Jenny and Bob did on writing was so good I printed it out each day and often talked about it in my high school writing classes back when I did them (I’ve since decided I have to teach college — high school is too much for me!). Anyway, I don’t think either of them could improve on what they wrote. No, that’s not a dare! I wish they’d just dig out the columns and put it all in a book now, not wait to make it better! But that’s me!
On February 10, 2010 at 9:46 am Savvy2 said...
May I ask what the numbers are for? Like:
7. Liz vs. Mom: Bears (2235)
I often don’t get the simplest things. But I love how you break things down.
On February 10, 2010 at 10:40 pm JulieB said...
Hi Savy, I don’t know the answer, but I suspect the number in parenthesis is the word count at this time.
On February 10, 2010 at 10:45 pm Jenny said...
Sure.
My scenes are numbered 2:7. That means it’s the seventh scene in Act 2.
The number in parentheses at the end in the number of words in the scene.
Now the question is, Why?
The 2:7 is for organization. The number of words is for pacing and development. If you look at the second scene in the Lavender outline, it’s only 900 words which means it’s not developed. So I’ll go back to that and either develop it or cut it and get the info to the reader a different way. Most of the scenes in the first act will be 2500 to 3000 words, so any scene that’s too much of an outlier will stand out, and I can fix it and keep my pacing smooth.
Maybe I should do a post on Scrivener. It’s such a great piece of writing software. Scrivener and Curio are the two programs I can’t write a book without these days. Unfortunately both are Mac Only programs, I think.
On February 11, 2010 at 7:24 am Savvy2 said...
This stuff is so fascinating it makes me wiggle in my chair. Thanks! for sharing.
On February 10, 2010 at 11:08 am Judy Long said...
I’m a relatively new Crusie fan & visitor to this website. Can you tell me about the ‘soundtrack’ and ‘collage’ thing? Or can anybody give me a link to this in a past website. I’m not the most technical computer wiz in the world.
Thanks.
On February 10, 2010 at 12:00 pm Dee said...
Here’s the link to her essay on collages. I didn’t see anything on soundtracking immediately, but I know I’ve read stuff about it here and there. Explore the site, especially the “For Writers” section. Them thar hills, they’re filled with gold.
http://www.jennycrusie.com/for-writers/essays/picture-this-collage-as-prewriting-and-inspiration/
On February 10, 2010 at 10:50 pm Jenny said...
Both the soundtracks and the collages are non-verbal ways of getting into the world of the story. A soundtrack is just what it sounds like, a list of music that fits the story including character themes, love themes, etc. Collages are a bunch of words, objects, and pictures glued together that create the world of the book visually. I’ve put up several here, and I’ll be putting up the finished Wild Ride Collage in March. It’s all just ways to create the world of the book while I write.
On February 10, 2010 at 11:09 am Judy Long said...
Sountrack? Collage?
On February 10, 2010 at 6:14 pm Judy Long said...
okay i’m going crazy – the computer made a note like it wasn’t taking the first comment about soundtracks & collages so i made another one. oh well, at least i didn’t bedazzle my twat!
On February 10, 2010 at 10:45 pm Jenny said...
It’s only a matter of time, Judy.
On February 10, 2010 at 4:35 pm Lori J. said...
I’m amazed at how you’ve been writing back-to-back books ever since Don’t Look Down. Just when you finish one book you immediately have another one waiting for you to get started. That’s a lot of dedication, stamina and tenacity. And did I mention stamina? Go Jenny!
On February 10, 2010 at 10:46 pm Jenny said...
I find the need for food and electricity a galvanizing influence on my work.
On July 12, 2010 at 11:49 pm Donnell said...
Months after the original post, this blog is still being talked about, hence the reason I’m here. Wonderful explanation. Thank you!