LOST writing class #12: First plot point
Your first act is brilliant, but what do you do to get your characters from that point to the beginning of Act 2 where things really start cooking?
Plot points. Inciting incidents. These are both terms for what is basically a doorway that you force your character to choose and walk through at the end of Act 1 and Act 2. One of my screenwriting professors said it this way: put your character in a situation that forces him to recommit to his goal. You want to put your hero into a situation where he has to choose whether to walk away (and that would end your story, so don’t choose that) or he can choose to refocus his time and energy on the goal.
Let’s look at “Gone with the Wind” and Scarlett O’Hara. Her goal? Ashley Wilkes. Her first doorway is when she discovers he’s engaged to Melanie and then the war begins. Act 1 ends when she helps Melanie give birth to Ashley’s son, Beau. Why would she help her rival to give birth to the son of the man she loves and then do everything in her power to save Melanie? Because she knows that’s what Ashley would want her to do. And she’s still trying to earn his love.
What about our favorite show LOST? If we look at the series as a whole, the first act ends when the bags are placed over Jack, Kate and Sawyer’s heads and taken away by the others. They’re forced through the door into a new situation where their goals, motivations and even their alliances will be challenged.
Every episode also has a doorway that reinforces the hero’s goal or makes him rethink. In “All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues” (season 1, episode 11), Jack’s goal is to find Charlie and Claire. Act 1 ends when he goes off on his own to find them, even though Kate, Locke and Boone are trying to locate the trail. Jack’s determination to find them is challenged when Locke says they don’t need to lose the island’s only doctor. But nothing stops Jack. And he impatiently moves ahead when Locke and Kate don’t find the trail fast enough.
The end of the second act will also have a doorway. But the choice to continue or abandon towards the goal will be even bigger. And have larger consequences.
Next week, we’ll start on the second act which is the largest section of your story. We’ll also discuss how to avoid the sagging middles that plague most writers.
Plot points. Inciting incidents. These are both terms for what is basically a doorway that you force your character to choose and walk through at the end of Act 1 and Act 2. One of my screenwriting professors said it this way: put your character in a situation that forces him to recommit to his goal. You want to put your hero into a situation where he has to choose whether to walk away (and that would end your story, so don’t choose that) or he can choose to refocus his time and energy on the goal.
Let’s look at “Gone with the Wind” and Scarlett O’Hara. Her goal? Ashley Wilkes. Her first doorway is when she discovers he’s engaged to Melanie and then the war begins. Act 1 ends when she helps Melanie give birth to Ashley’s son, Beau. Why would she help her rival to give birth to the son of the man she loves and then do everything in her power to save Melanie? Because she knows that’s what Ashley would want her to do. And she’s still trying to earn his love.
What about our favorite show LOST? If we look at the series as a whole, the first act ends when the bags are placed over Jack, Kate and Sawyer’s heads and taken away by the others. They’re forced through the door into a new situation where their goals, motivations and even their alliances will be challenged.
Every episode also has a doorway that reinforces the hero’s goal or makes him rethink. In “All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues” (season 1, episode 11), Jack’s goal is to find Charlie and Claire. Act 1 ends when he goes off on his own to find them, even though Kate, Locke and Boone are trying to locate the trail. Jack’s determination to find them is challenged when Locke says they don’t need to lose the island’s only doctor. But nothing stops Jack. And he impatiently moves ahead when Locke and Kate don’t find the trail fast enough.
The end of the second act will also have a doorway. But the choice to continue or abandon towards the goal will be even bigger. And have larger consequences.
Next week, we’ll start on the second act which is the largest section of your story. We’ll also discuss how to avoid the sagging middles that plague most writers.
Labels: Lost, writing class
posted by Syndi Powell @ 9:00 PM
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