Plot Your Course
Welcome back to Part 2 of the Story 101 course!
Last month, we talked about Characters and how they need to have a goal to drive them forward. If you missed Part 1, you can read it here.
Today, we’ll cover the other half of good storytelling: Plot.
There are six key elements when crafting a storyline. A useful mapping illustration I use for these points is called the Plot Pyramid. Normally, I would pass out a worksheet for my students to fill in. However, due to limitations on this site’s blog format, I’ll have to use the old school internet technique of creating the chart in the text below:
4
/ \
/ \
3 5
/ \
/ 6 — — —>
1— — — 2
1: The Introduction.
This is where our story starts. We’ve heard many phrases for this point. “In the beginning…” “Once upon a time…” “A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…” This is where we set the scene. Our protagonist is introduced and we’re given a glimpse into the world they live in. Is this a fantasy realm of knights and dragons? A sci-fi dystopia of machinery? Or, is this a quaint little town nestled in the Alps?
Here, there are some rules you need to establish. Specifically, the rules of your world. Are there flying cars or horse-drawn carriages? Can people use magic or are they just like us? Once these are set, you show us how your character fits into this world. They could be a cog in the proverbial machine or someone who can’t explain why they don’t belong.
Interestingly enough, the art of story has progressed to the point where starting with “Once upon a time” is now considered amateurish. Stronger openings are in demand. To do so, you start the scene in the middle of the action.
Now, this doesn’t mean your Appalachian Rom-Com needs to begin with a high-speed chase. All you need to do is open with your character (protagonist or otherwise) doing something. Let their actions and interactions introduce themselves and their world to the audience.
Instead of saying, “There once was a hobbit who lived in a hole,” consider instead, “Bilbo blinked several times, wondering if what he saw before him was real or a result of waking prematurely.” We see that he is doing something and want to keep reading to see what’s happening.
And no, I’m not bashing on Tolkien. It was only an example. (please don’t hurt me…)
2: The Turning Point
Remember how I said in the Introduction that you need to establish the rules of your world?
Good. Now, shatter them.
This is the Turning Point, the Inciting Incident, the Call of Destiny.
Here, everything takes a drastic turn and the story truly begins. Your happy office worker discovers that her big client is her ex-boyfriend. The bullied kid discovers he has super powers. Everything you set up in your Introduction is turned on its head.
If you look back at the Plot Pyramid, you’ll notice that the 2 sits right where the line starts moving up. That is what the Turning Point does. The story was taking you in one direction, and now you are forced to “turn-n-point” in a new direction.
Now, you can still have some pushback from your protagonist when the Inciting Incident occurs. While some would gladly welcome a paradigm shift, not everyone is good at embracing change.
Take, for example, the 2011 anime Guilty Crown (scored by Hiroyuki Sawano, who composed one of my favorite orchestral pieces for the show, Krone). This series was about a boy named Shuu, who lived in a futuristic Japan where a pharmaceutical company held as much power as the local government. He obtains the power to draw supernatural tools from people’s hearts and is enlisted by an underground resistance to fight back against that pharmaceutical company.
However, Shuu turns them down. Despite running a full operation with them as a form of invitation, he opts for returning to his quiet school life, and this is all within the first three episodes.
Unfortunately, the Call of Destiny will not go unanswered. Shuu is very quickly arrested by the pharmaceutical company under suspicion that he was affiliated with the resistance group. Now, he has no choice but to get involved with the greater conflict.
Something has greatly changed in your protagonist’s life and they can’t go back to where they once were. An incident has incited them to take action. Destiny has called, and it will not be put on hold. There is no turning back.
3. Rising Action
The upward climb of the pyramid’s slope represents an increase in tension. If the line from Points 1 to 2 is the starting tension, you’ll want to increase it if you want to retain your audience’s attention.
Tension rises as the protagonist pursues their goal and the story progresses. This is what keeps the audience on the edge of their seats. As the tension builds, so does the anticipation. Will they get that contract and gain the upper hand in this business war? Will they escape the assassin their stepmother sent after them?
Personally, I like to employ plot twists to subvert the audience’s expectations. Evil space wizard? Actually the father. Only boys in the maze? Last person to enter is a girl. This is how you go from “the plot thickens” to “the plot thicc-ens.” Do be careful not to overdo them, though. Plot twists spice up the story, but too much spice will ruin the dish.
4. Climax
After building up all this tension throughout the story, we now come to the peak of the pyramid. We’ve climbed to the maximum point: the “Climb-Max.” For a less punny alternative, you could call it the Final Battle. It doesn’t have to be Battle of Morannon in scale, but it is the last chance for the protagonist to reach their goal.
This is the most tense part of the story. The gauntlet has been thrown. All bets are off. The final conflict between the protagonist and their adversary is here. It’s do or die. Everything has built up to this moment.
And as the dust settles, we hold our breaths to see who won and who lost.
5. Falling Action
As I’m sure you know, tension with no outlet does not turn out well. We’ve been building up the tension in the story, sucking in more and more air until we’re at capacity (aka “the climax”).
Falling Action is that long, satisfying exhale. The protagonist has overcome their ordeal, and now we can all release and relax.
Tension and Release go hand in hand. It’s just like how we need days off from work. We may not be conscious of it, but all the stress of the workweek accumulates and accumulates until it all bursts unless you let off some steam and relax on a regular basis. Anti-American way of thinking? Perhaps, but it wouldn’t be the first time an American stereotype was considered unhealthy.
Now that the protagonist has won, Falling Action shows us what happens as the story wraps up. He gets the girl. She brings peace to the land. All the tension we’ve built up has been lifted. And as things wind down, we finally come to…
6. The End
It’s done. It’s over. The gift has been wrapped, and we’ve just finished tying the bow on top. Nothing else needs to be said, yes?
Take another look at the Plot Pyramid. Point 1 had a definite starting point. However, Point 6 has an arrow leading away from it. What’s going on?
The ending of a good story is the beginning of another.
Just because the protagonist’s story has ended doesn’t mean the world stops turning. It doesn’t mean you have to write the sequel, either. Their actions have lasting repercussions, and their story should inspire hope. Hope for tomorrow, that something good has come out of their tale.
Even the Bible follows that formula. It starts with creation and goes all the way to the end of the world. But even then, after the Earth is destroyed, we’re given a peek at what an eternity in Heaven will look like.
Remember how I said the Plot Pyramid represents the tension level at different points in the story? Point 6 is at a higher level than Point 1. You should aim to end your story at a higher, better place than where you started, even if the protagonist ends up at the same location.
I know what some of you may be thinking. “But, Tim! What about tragic stories? What if the protagonist dies in the end?”
You can still have a story that sparks hope when it ends in tragedy. Look at Logan, the 2017 sendoff film for Hugh Jackman’s portrayal of Wolverine. He dies in the end, but his heroic sacrifice helped buy Laura and the other mutants time to escape. The film ends at his gravesite, but even without being shown, we know that Laura is still out there, and we hope that she and her friends made it out.
Shakespeare did the same with his tragedies. In Hamlet, a ton of people died. Hamlet, his father, his mother, his uncle, his lover, his lover’s father, his lover’s brother. A majority of the key characters were poisoned, stabbed, or both. However, we still have a glimmer of hope at the end. Horatio, Hamlet’s trusted friend and confidant, vows to tell Hamlet’s tale, so that his memory would not be sullied by lies and rumors.
That’s one glaring issue I had when I watched the 1974 film Chinatown for a college class. When all was said and done, the bad guy got away, the lover was murdered, and the hero was left with nothing. It was an utterly hopeless ending. Stories are meant to liberate us, grant us reprieve from our daily stresses, and inspire us to greater things. To reference Tolkien again, this is less like a traitor running from reality and more like a prisoner being freed from what’s holding them down. This may be my personal opinion, but due to how it concluded, I do not consider Chinatown a “good” story.
Now, the Plot Pyramid is not a perfect reflection of the ups and downs of stories. For movies and long novels, there are multiple spikes on the tension meter. Sometimes, when the protagonist enters a very dark moment, the tension will drop lower than it was at the Introduction and we wait for them to climb back out. The more dynamic your story, the more similar it’ll look to the most erratic heartbeat on an electrocardiogram.
I hope this proved helpful to those who wish to write their own stories. Creating a narrative is a daunting task, but using simple tools like the Plot Pyramid will help you sort out your thoughts, fill in what your’e missing, and guide you on the right path.
I look forward to seeing the tales you have to tell.