Lost in Translation - Plotting

Have you ever tried to explain something to someone and the harder you try to get your point across, the harder it is to make sense?  You start to confuse yourself and YOU know what you were trying to say to begin with!!!  Somewhere amid the twists and turns your translation from idea to explanation got lost.  That can happen pretty easily with writing, too.  Doesn’t matter if it’s a book, an essay, a research paper or a letter you are writing to someone (seriously...go back and read some of the letters you’ve written...it's not hard to get off track).  The point is, to keep your writing on track you need some guidelines.  A map of sorts. Or a roller coaster. Both apply.

Now, now....all of you who are directionally challenged...take a deep breath and calm down.  This isn’t one of those OnStar maps that take you into the darkest alleys of downtown on the wrong side of the tracks when you were aiming for grassy meadows in the country somewhere.  This one you have control of.  And I do realize we are all different and our minds will need different types of maps to process things our own way.  Keep reading...there’s something for everyone (or at least something you can modify for yourself).

Regardless of its appearance....I’m going to call this map a Plot Map.  J  Plots can be a difficult thing when you're trying to write a story.  You start out with this great idea in your head but can’t seem to manage to give it a shape so that it is not only emotionally compelling but also holds itself together to the finish.  I’m going to try to make this as simple as possible...you can complicate it all you want to suit your taste when you start using it. 

Let’s think about your book the way Shakespeare would have.  Those who know me well know I adore Shakespeare. He was a genius, so he had to be on to something with this idea.  

ACTS.  No, I’m not referring to the book in the Bible (though I do recommend reading it), I’m talking about how to break your story into sections so it’s easier to fill in what’s going on.  If you break it into three Acts you’ve simplified right there.

Act I – 25% of your story

Act II – 50%

Act III – 25%

(Side note:  I did get the idea for the three Act format from reading somewhere, but I seriously suck at citing and it was something someone said to copy and use. I honestly would love to give credit where it’s due, but this is widely available and used on the internet, so cut me some slack.)

Ok, I’m going to add in a little to make it move along.  Feel free to copy and use the outline below.  Here goes:

Act I (25%)

Setup (Happens immediately. We meet the protagonist(s) and we get a glimpse of who they are and what they’re about.)

Plot Point 1  (Where the fun begins...the events that set the protagonist on his/her path.)

New situation  (Self explanatory...protagonist is presented with something new to deal with.)

Plot point 2  (Everything changes...first major event that sends the status quo spiraling into oblivion.)

Climax for Act I  (This climactic event makes it impossible for the protagonist to turn away from this new situation and go back to the life they led a mere 25% ago.)

ACT II (50%)

Seeming progress (the protagonist is at a point of making a plan to get out of the mess they’ve found themselves in.  The Antagonist is planning their own ways to achieve their goals.  More allies likely are introduced for both sides.)

Plot Point 3  (Point of no return.  The protagonist learns the full extent of what he/she is facing.)

Midpoint Climax  (An unexpected twist of events that should really be close to the midpoint of the book...and just when the protagonist seemed to be making some progress.  It’s about to get complicated.  Think Murphy’s Law....what CAN go wrong SHOULD go wrong.)

Complications and higher stakes  (The protagonist is tested.  Faces harder obstacles, harsher consequences if he/she fails.)

Plot Point 4  (Major setback for the protagonist.)

Act II Climax  (Increase the stakes and decrease the hero’s abilities...even set a deadline that has to be met.)

ACT III (25%)

Final Push (Crisis. Things can’t continue as they are.)

Plot Point 5 Climax (The final showdown between the protagonist and the antagonist.)

Aftermath/Wrap Up: (Ties up loose ends and foreshadows the future...because you KNOW you want to write another book)

Keep in mind...this could easily be changed to a FOUR Act scenario.  Just split Act II in half and use four 25% Acts if you feel you have more Plot Points and more climactic events to add.  It’s whatever works for you.

You can use any method you want to map this out: notecards, a story board, napkins from McDonald’s, that little triangle-mountain looking chart thingy they taught us in 8^th grade English...whatever works for you.  

I personally use MS Word and this outline.  It’s easier to add thoughts & details into Word than trying to rewrite the whole thing in my writer’s notebook.  That’s just where I jot down the ideas as they come to me.  But...like I said...everyone’s mind works in various, mysterious ways.

If anyone has any thoughts or tips for plot or character outlining they’d like to share that could help someone...let’s hear them!!!  Contact me or comment and we can get them posted so that other writers can benefit from your ideas as well.

Happy plotting everyone!!!  Try not to get lost. Or throw up. 

What NOT to do

Ok...this blog is a little different than what I typically have been throwing at you. It’s about friendship. It’s about being there for someone when they need you.

I've been writing about friendship. And I have friends. And something sparked this thought this week, so here goes. 

Ask yourself this....

Have you ever had a friend in crisis?  Didn’t really know how to react, what to say or do for them? I’d bet we’ve all been there and could really use some pointers on what to do in those situations. Unfortunately, I don’t have any straight forward answers, but I do have some insight into what NOT to do and how to learn from that. 

These “what not to do” moments of clarity have come from personal experiences and can also be found abundantly in a rather popular NY Times bestselling book a lot of people like to call The Bible.  More specifically the Book of Job. (pronounced "Jobe" , rhyming with globe or robe

Ok, here’s the scenario (which can be found in Chapters 1 and 2 of Job in case you'd like to see if for yourself). There’s this guy named....well...Job. Job lost everything: his children, livestock, even his health. So, Job has these friends. These “friends” decide they are going to give him some advice, try to cheer him up, you know…a little friendly intervention. Now, I’m guessing in their minds these friends had good intentions and all, but boy were they hitting the head of that nail just a bit left of center. Without a doubt, these friends had a questionable view of friendship, and I’m not even going to mention their excruciating lack of tactfulness…ok, maybe I am. They really needed a little sensitivity training.

So, these friends are “cheering” him up, but they made a couple of mistakes in their attempt to do so. Their first mistake was one we all make at times. They assumed they could relate to Job’s losses. AS IF! I mean, this guy just lost EVERYTHING. Not just his home, not just his ten children at once, not just a part of his health... ALL OF THESE THINGS…EVERYTHING! And these friends acted as if they understood. 

I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty certain I wouldn’t know how Job felt. I wouldn’t even be able to begin to imagine how it would feel to lose everything.

On top of that, they made light of his pain. Seriously?!?! These friends tell Job that if he would just repent to God then maybe he would be vindicated. Wow. Really??? So, essentially they were just telling Job that they KNEW he had to have done SOMETHING to bring this upon himself. What kind of friends were these people?  They may as well have just said “Job, stop lying. You know you screwed up, just admit it so God will forgive you already.” 

Is this something you’d want YOUR friends to say to you? Yeah, me neither. If I had been Job, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t consider any of them a friend after all that. 

Which brings me to the phrase: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” 

I would dare say they are words to live by. In my house, they are words to live by (I find myself sounding like a broken record repeating them to my kids sometimes). In my Mom’s house, they were words to live by. And if I were a betting gal, I’d be willing to bet they are words to live by in homes the world over. That many moms can’t possibly be wrong, can they?  (Kids...you aren’t allowed to answer that until you have your own children.)

I guess the point I'm getting to is this…as friends we will never be perfect. After all, we ARE human. However, we CAN treat our friends the way we would want them to treat us in a similar situation. With love, compassion, understanding and a strong dose of sensitivity. Probably a little humor and sarcasm if you're my friends. 

There will be times when we're faced with a friend who is suffering, a friend who is hurting, a friend who has lost something or someone and maybe we can’t truly relate. Maybe we can’t know how they really feel…but we can be there for them. We can pray for them and with them. We can show them the kind of love that God shows us when we need comfort and understanding. Take a lesson from Job’s friends (a what NOT to do lesson, that is) and do for that friend what you would want a friend to do for you. Making the world a better place really only starts with one small act of kindness.

Thought for the day:

True friends develop a private language that outsiders find utterly baffling. You can communicate everything from extreme boredom to a desire to escape a social situation using nothing but a micro-expression, a slight eyebrow twitch, or making weird eye contact from across a room.