A Quick Look at Plot (pt. 2)

     I wanted to make this part two as a way of covering some other aspects of plot. They’re not quite as central, but they are hugely important, and equally fascinating. These work toward keeping your plot adaptable and cohesive at the same time.

Escalation

     The first of these is escalation. Escalation builds up toward conflict, and a story must always have conflict of some kind to be interesting (whether that’s internal or external). No structure, no matter how elegant, will save a story without escalating toward that conflict.

     Take Star Wars. What begins as a simple mission to deliver a message builds into a galactic struggle against the Death Start. The key to successfully escalating is using a technique which pairs “yes, but” with “no, and.” It sounds confusing at first, but I’ll explain.

     “Yes, but” means the character solves a problem (yes), but complications arise (but).

     “No, and” means they fail (no), and stakes get higher (and).

     It’s a fancy way of saying that your character will fail more than they succeed. That doesn’t mean they don’t win at the end. What that does mean is that the satisfaction you’ll find in the ending is multiplied by however much the character struggles to get there. If there’s no risk, it’s boring. The stakes won’t feel earned if the character saves the world in the first few chapters.

Try-fail Cycle

     After escalation, and expanding on it, is the try-fail cycle. It’s that concept from before where characters attempt solutions, fail, adapt, and eventually succeed. Each failure reveals limitations, challenges, or worldbuilding details along the way.

     We’ll keep Star Wars as the example. Here’s what Luke Skywalker’s try-fail cycle would look like…

1. First attempt: struggles with the Force.

2. Second attempt: improves, but overestimates abilities.

3. Third attempt: triumphs after facing fears and acknowledging limitations.

Story Circles/The Hero’s Journey

     There are certain traditional structures that writers return to over again. One of those is Joseph Cambell’s Hero’s Journey. Another is Dan Harmon’s Story Circle, which is more flexible. Because there’s plenty out there about the Hero’s Journey method, I’ll talk about story circles here. This is how it goes:

• Departure (leaving comfort zones)

• Trials (facing escalating obstacles)

• Crisis (confronting the darkest moment)

• Transformation (gaining the knowledge/power to succeed)

• Return (coming home changed, with growth integrated)

     As with most story structures, it’s not about rigidly adhering to these steps, but rather about understanding progress and payoff work within the arc of the story (explained more within the first “quick look at plot”).

Plot Holes (and How to Avoid Them)

     No story is perfect. When plot holes or oddities arise, you can do something called “hanging a lantern.”

     Hanging the lantern just means that instead of leaving a blatant plot hole for readers to stare at, you note it subtly. A character notices something about that plot hole rather than conveniently avoiding it. It’s not something you want to overuse, but it does grow trust with readers if you use it correctly.

     This works to help with engagement, especially when you’re trying to enhance mystery.

Major Questions

     Every story has a central question. In Star Wars, it’s “will Luke become a Jedi and defeat the Empire?” This is a pretty simple one, so I’ll leave it there. All you need to know is that the question must be clear to readers, must be important, and must lead to a satisfying resolution.

Three-Act Structure

     The three-act structure is hugely popular, so I figured I should cover it as I go over plot. As the name suggests, it’s made up of three acts, each with a specific role.

• Act One: introduce the status quo and inciting incident.

• Act Two: escalate conflict through failures, complications, and rising stakes.

• Act Three: delive the climactic resolution and tie up loose ends.

In terms of Star Wars, that looks like this:

• Act One: Luke’s life is disrupted by Leia’s message.

• Act Two: training, challenges, and increasing stakes.

• Act Three: the Death Star battle, and the story’s inevitable climax.

     As you work on plot, remember that practice and experimentation matter more than strictly memorizing everything involved. Knowledge is good, but creativity is what makes writing great. Keep working towards both and you’ll be on your way to creating amazing stories.