by Alexandra Sokoloff
Who's doing Junowrimo?
I'm gearing up for teaching a workshop at the Romance Writers of America National Conference next month (details here), and I thought I could prep my workshop students for that by breaking down a very useful movie to look at for story structure: The Hunger Games. And throw in some Junowrimo prompts as well.
Now, I know some of you have jumped into Jumowrimo with only the vaguest idea of your story, which is totally fine - as long as it works! But I'm reposting this discussion of PLAN in the hope that it will quickly focus what might be a very amorphous idea and save you endless rewriting (or giving up completely).
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The PLAN.
I've come to believe is the key to any second
act, and really the whole key to story structure:
You always hear that “Drama is conflict,” but when you think about it – what the hell does that mean, practically?
It’s
actually much more true, and specific, to say that drama is the
constant clashing of a hero/ine’s PLAN and an antagonist’s, or several
antagonists’, PLANS.
In
the first act of a story, the hero/ine is introduced, and that hero/ine
either has or quickly develops a DESIRE (usually triggered by the INCITING INCIDENT). She might have a PROBLEM that
needs to be solved, or someone or something she WANTS, or a bad
situation that she needs to get out of, pronto.
Her
reaction to that problem or situation is to formulate a PLAN, even if
that plan is vague or even completely subconscious. But somewhere in
there, there is a plan, and storytelling is usually easier if you have
the hero/ine or someone else (maybe you, the author) state that plan
clearly, so the audience or reader knows exactly what the expectation
is.
And
the protagonist’s plan (and the corresponding plan of the antagonist’s)
actually drives the entire action of the second act. Stating the plan
tells us what the CENTRAL ACTION of the story will be. So it’s critical
to set up the plan by the end of Act One, or at the very beginning of
Act Two, at the latest.
Let’s look at some examples of how plans work.
I’m going to start, improbably, with the actioner 2012, even though I thought it was a pretty terrible movie overall.
Now,
I’m sure in a theater this movie delivered on its primary objective,
which was a rollercoaster ride as only Hollywood special effects can
provide. Whether we like it or not, there is obviously a massive
worldwide audience for movies that are primarily about delivering pure
sensation. Story isn’t important, nor, apparently, is basic logic. As
long as people keep buying enough tickets to these movies to make them
profitable, it’s the business of Hollywood to keep churning them out.
But in 2012,
even in that rollercoaster ride of special effects and sensations,
there was a clear central PLAN for an audience to hook into, a plan that
drove the story. Without that plan, 2012 really would have been nothing but a chaos of special effects.
If
you’ve seen this movie (and I know some of you have … ), there is a
point in the first act where a truly over-the-top Woody Harrelson as an
Art Bell-like conspiracy pirate radio commentator rants to protagonist
John Cusack about having a map that shows the location of “spaceships”
that the government is stocking to abandon planet when the prophesied
end of the world commences.
Although Cusack doesn’t
believe it at the time, this is the PLANT (sort of camouflaged by the
fact that Woody is a nutjob), that gives the audience the idea of what
the PLAN OF ACTION will be: Cusack will have to go back for the map in
the midst of all the cataclysm, then somehow get his family to these
“spaceships” in order for all of them to survive the end of the world.
The
PLAN is reiterated, in dialogue, when Cusack gets back to his family
and tells his ex-wife basically exactly what I just said above: “We’re
going to go back to the nutjob with the map so that we can get to those
spaceships and get off the planet before it collapses.”
And
lo and behold, that’s exactly what happens; it’s not only Cusack’s
PLAN, but the central action of the story, that can be summed up as a
CENTRAL QUESTION: Will Cusack be able to get his family to the spaceships before the world ends?
Or put another way, the CENTRAL STORY ACTION is John Cusack getting his family to the spaceships before the world ends.
(Note
the ticking clock, there, as well. And as if the end of the world
weren’t enough, the movie also starts a literal “Twenty-nine minutes to
the end of the world!” ticking computer clock at, yes, 29 minutes before
the end of the movie. I must point out here that ticking clocks are
dangerous because of the huge cliché factor. We all need to study
structure to know what not to do, as well.)
And
all this happens about the end of Act I. Remember that I said that
it’s essential to have laid out the CENTRAL QUESTION and CENTRAL STORY
ACTION by the end of Act I? But also at this point – or possibly just
after the climax of Act I, in the very beginning of Act II – we need to
know what the PLAN is. PLAN and CENTRAL QUESTION are integrally related,
and I keep looking for ways to talk about it because this is such an
important concept to master.
A
reader/audience really needs to know what the overall PLAN is, even if
they only get it in a subconscious way. Otherwise they are left
floundering, wondering where the hell all of this is going.
In 2012,
even in the midst of all the buildings crumbling and crevasses opening
and fires booming and planes crashing, we understand on some level what
is going on:
- What does the protagonist want? (OUTER DESIRE) To save his family.
- How is he going to do it? (PLAN) By getting the map from the nutjob and getting his family to the secret spaceships (that aren’t really spaceships).
- What’s standing in his way? (FORCES
OF OPPOSITION) About a million natural disasters as the planet caves
in, an evil politician who has put a billion dollar price tag on tickets
for the spaceship, a Russian Mafioso who keeps being in the same place
at the same time as Cusack, and sometimes ends up helping, and sometimes
ends up hurting. (Was I the only one queased out by the way all the
Russian characters were killed off, leaving only the most obnoxious kids
on the planet?)
Here’s another example, from a much better movie:
At the end of the first sequence of Raiders of the Lost Ark (which
is arguably two sequences in itself, first the action sequence in the
cave in South America, then the university sequence back in the US),
Indy has just finished teaching his archeology class when his mentor,
Marcus, comes to meet him with a couple of government agents who have a
job for him (CALL TO ADVENTURE). The agents explain that Hitler has
become obsessed with collecting occult artifacts from all over the
world, and is currently trying to find the legendary Lost Ark of the
Covenant, which is rumored to make any army in possession of it
invincible in battle.
So there’s the MACGUFFIN, the
object that everyone wants, and the STAKES: if Hitler’s minions (THE
ANTAGONISTS) get this Ark before Indy does, the Nazi army will be
invincible.
And then Indy explains his PLAN to find the
Ark: his old mentor, Abner Ravenwood, was an expert on the Ark and had
an ancient Egyptian medallion on which was inscribed the instructions
for using the medallion to find the hidden location of the Ark.
So
after hearing the plan, we understand the entire OVERALL ACTION of the
story: Indy is going to find Abner (his mentor) to get the medallion,
then use the medallion to find the Ark before Hitler’s minions can get
it.
And even though there are lots of twists along the way, that’s really it: the basic action of the story.
Generally,
PLAN and CENTRAL STORY ACTION are really the same thing – the Central
Action of the story is carrying out the specific Plan. And the CENTRAL
QUESTION of the story can be generally stated as – “Will the Plan
succeed?”
Again, the PLAN, CENTRAL QUESTION and CENTRAL
STORY ACTION are almost always set up – and spelled out – by the end of
the first act, although the specifics of the Plan may be spelled out
right after the Act I Climax at the very beginning of Act II.
Can
it be later? Well, anything’s possible, but the sooner a reader or
audience understands the overall thrust of the story action, the sooner
they can relax and let the story take them where it’s going to go. So
much of storytelling is about you, the author, reassuring your reader or
audience that you know what you’re doing, so they can sit back and let
you drive.
Try
taking a favorite movie or book (or two or three) and identifying the
PLAN, CENTRAL STORY ACTION and CENTRAL QUESTION of them in a few
sentences. Like this:
- In Inception, the
PLAN is for the team of dream burglars to go into a corporate heir’s
dreams to plant the idea of breaking up his father’s corporation. (So
the CENTRAL ACTION is going into the corporate heir’s dream and planting
the idea, and the CENTRAL QUESTION is: Will they succeed?)
- In Sense and Sensibility, the
PLAN is for Marianne and Elinor to secure the family’s fortune and
their own happiness by marrying well. (How are they going to do that? By
the period’s equivalent of dating – which is the CENTRAL ACTION. Yes,
dating is a PLAN! The CENTRAL QUESTION is: Will the sisters succeed in
marrying well?)
- In The Proposal, Margaret’s
PLAN is to learn enough about Andrew over the four-day weekend with his
family to pass the INS marriage test so she won’t be deported. (The
CENTRAL ACTION is going to Alaska to meet Andrew’s family and pretending
to be married while they learn enough about each other to pass the
test. The CENTRAL QUESTION is: Will they be able to successfully fake
the marriage?
Now, try it with your own story!
- What does the protagonist WANT?
- How does s/he PLAN to do it?
- What and who is standing in her or his way?
For example, in my spooky thriller,
Book of Shadows,
here's the Act One set up: the protagonist, homicide detective Adam
Garrett, is called on to investigate the murder of a college girl, which
looks like a Satanic killing. Garrett and his partner make a quick
arrest of a classmate of the girl's, a troubled Goth musician. But
Garrett is not convinced of the boy's guilt, and when a practicing witch
from nearby Salem insists the boy is innocent and there have been other
murders, he is compelled to investigate further.
So
Garrett’s PLAN and the CENTRAL ACTION of the story is to use the witch
and her specialized knowledge of magical practices to investigate the
murder on his own, all the while knowing that she is using him for her
own purposes and may well be involved in the killing. The CENTRAL
QUESTION is: will they catch the killer before s/he kills again – and/or
kills Garrett (if the witch turns out to be the killer)?
- What does the protagonist WANT? To catch the killer before s/he kills again.
- How does he PLAN to do it? By using the witch and her specialized knowledge of magical practices to investigate further.
- What’s standing in his way? His own department, the killer, and possibly the witch herself. And if the witch is right … possibly even a demon.
It’s
important to note that the Plan and Central Action of the story are not
always driven by the protagonist. Usually, yes. But in The Matrix,
it’s Neo’s mentor Morpheus who has the overall PLAN, which drives the
central action right up until the end of the second act. The Plan is to
recruit and train Neo, whom Morpheus believes is “The One” prophesied to
destroy the Matrix. So that’s the action we see unfolding: Morpheus
recruiting, deprogramming and training Neo, who is admittedly very cute,
but essentially just following Morpheus’s orders for two thirds of the
movie.
Does this weaken the structure of that film? Not at all.
Morpheus drives the action until that crucial point, the Act Two Climax,
when he is abducted by the agents of the Matrix, at which point Neo
steps into his greatness and becomes “The One” by taking over the action and making a new plan: to rescue Morpheus by sacrificing himself.
It
is a terrific way to show a huge character arc: Neo stepping into his
destiny. And I would add that this is a common structural pattern for
mythic journey stories – in Lord of the Rings, it's Gandalf who
has the PLAN and drives the reluctant Frodo in the central story action
until Frodo finally takes over the action himself.
Here’s another example. In the very funny romantic comedy It’s Complicated,
Meryl Streep’s character Jane is the protagonist, but she doesn’t drive
the action or have any particular plan of her own. It’s her ex-husband
Jake (Alec Baldwin), who seduces her and at the end of the first act,
proposes (in an extremely persuasive speech) that they continue this
affair as a perfect solution to both their love troubles – it will
fulfill their sexual and intimacy needs without disrupting the rest of
their lives.
Jane decides at that point to go along with Jake’s
plan (saying, “I forgot what a good lawyer you are”). In terms of
action, she is essentially passive, letting the two men in her life
court her (which results in bigger and bigger comic entanglements), but
that makes for a more pronounced and satisfying character arc when she
finally takes a stand and breaks off the affair with Jake for good, so
she can finally move on with her life.
I would venture to guess
that most of us know what it’s like to be swept up in a ripping good
love entanglement, and can sympathize with Jane’s desire just to go with
the passion of it without having to make any pesky practical decisions.
It’s a perfectly fine – and natural – structure for a romantic comedy,
as long as at that key juncture, the protagonist has the realization and
balls – or ovaries – to take control of her own life again and make a
stand for what she truly wants.
I give you these last two
examples – hopefully – to show how helpful it can be to study the
specific structure of stories that are similar to your own. As you can
see from the above, the general writing rule that the protagonist drives
the action may not apply to what you’re writing – and you might
want to make a different choice that will better serve your own story.
And that goes for any general writing rule.
QUESTIONS:
1. Have
you identified the CENTRAL ACTION of your story? Do you know what the
protagonist's and antagonist's PLANS are? At what point in your book
does the reader have a clear idea of the protagonist’s PLAN? Is it
stated aloud? Can you make it clearer than it is?
2. What is Katniss's PLAN in The Hunger Games - in one word? (Or two at most).
Think about it, and we'll talk about it next post!
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All the information on this blog and more, including full story structure breakdowns of various movies, is available in my Screenwriting Tricks for Authors workbooks. e format, just $3.99 and $2.99; print 13.99.
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