Like a lot of people, I have a pattern of winning by reaching 50k works....but not having a finished book. This year I will change that.
How? I am going to follow a plan based on the book "Save the Cat!" by Blake Snyder. The book is actually aimed at scriptwriters, but what it covers wonderfully is how to come up with a satisfying plot. That is, one with twists and turns, one that raises the reader's interest and anticipation and pulls them along, one that puts the characters through major crises and minor triumphs until you read a ending that will satisfy the reader by being logical AND unexpected AND emotionally fulfilling, (I highly recommend the book, and no, I don't know the author or anything like that.)
A movie script is, of course, much shorter than a book, but that is because a script doesn't have all the inner dialog and description of settings and written out action and so forth.
The core of his method is what he calls a 'Beat Sheet', which is basic structure of your story, the highs and lows that happen from start to finish. Snyder claims the vast majority of movies, and virtually all commercially successful ones, follow this one pattern. Here it is:
THE BLAKE SNYDER BEAT SHEET
1. Opening Image: Gives the starting point of the hero, the 'before' snapshot of what his life is like.
2. Theme Stated: Someone, generally not the hero, will ask a question or make a statement (usually to the hero) that is the theme of the movie. (Be careful what you wish for", "Family is more important than money") This won't be obviously important, just conversation, an offhand remark that the hero doesn't fully get at that moment.
3. Set-up: Introduce or at least hint at every character in the A story. Also plant every character tic or behavior that will be addressed later on. Show how and why the hero needs to change to win. SHOW the audience what is missing in the heroe's life. These things will be fixed/cured in the course of the story.
4. Catalyst: Now that you've shown the existing world, blow it up. Wreck the marriage, the job, whatever. A telephone call, a letter, a confrontation. Almost always it looks like bad news, but hte end, it's what led the hero to happiness. The Catalyst is the first moment that "something happens" -- don't delay too long or you risk boring your audience.
5. Debate: This is the stretch that allows the hero to say, this is crazy. There is danger. Show the hero knows this. But what's the choice? Staying put is no longer an option.
6. Break into Act Two: This should be a BIG thing. The hero leaves the old world, burning his bridges, and moves into a world that should be an upside version of it. The hero should not be lured or tricked or drift into the second act. He must make a decision -- and ACT on it.
7. Start of B Story: Most often the B story is a love story. It also carries the theme of the movie. It's start acts as a booster rocket that carries the audience on into the second world. Often there are a whole new bunch of characters.
8. Fun and Games: Here is where all the fun scenes promised by the premise happen. What about your premise/poster/idea is so cool? This is where you put those 'set pieces.' Action stories have action scenes, romances havethe couple flirt and fight, mysteries have the detective discovering clues, quests have the hero on the road encountering adventures...
9. Midpoint: This should be halfway through your book -- check your word count AND the calendar! It can be an 'up' when the hero seemingly wins (but it's a false win and things go wrong) or a 'Down' where the world collapses around him (but he will recover.)
10. Bad Guys Close In: If Midpoint was an up, the hero thinks things are fine, but the bad guys are only temporarily defeated. They are regrouping and deciding to use the heavy artillery. If the good guys are a team, internal dissent, doubt, jealousy etc. being to disintegrate it.
The forces aligned against the hero, internal and external, tighten their grip. Evil is not giving up and there is nowhere for the hero to go for help. He is on his own and must endure. He is headed for a big fall, which brings you to...
11. All Is Lost: Most often it's a false defeat, for even though all looks black, it's just temporary. But it seems like a total defeat. All aspects of the heros life are in shambles. Kill some character(s). Especially kill the mentor if there is one, to force the hero to stand alone from then on.
12. Dark Night of the Soul: We see how the hero feels about the 'All is Lost' moment. Could take 5 seconds or 5 minutes, but it must be there. Darkness before the dawn. The hero must reach down inside and pull out that last, best idea that will save himself and those around him.
13. Break into Act Three: Hurrah! The solution is found. Thanks to the characters from the B story, thanks to the conversations discussing the theme in the B story, and thanks to the hero's last ditch efforts to find a solution to defeat the badguys -- the answer is found!
Now the A and B stories combine and intertwine, the hero has prevailed, passed the test. Now he just has to apply it. The classic fusion is the hero getting a clue from 'the girl' which makes him realize how to solve both beating the bad guy AND winning the heart of his beloved.
14. Finale: Act Three. The wrap up. Lessons learned are applied, character tics are mastered. A and B stories end in triumph for our hero. Keep it short and sharp.
Whew! Seems like a tall order, right? Well, Snyder wants you to plot the entire thing out using just *40* scenes.
Since this is long, I'll put that part in the next message.
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50,382 / 50,000
Oct 3, 2007 - 11 36
Okay, laying out your plot in forty scenes.
Snyder recommends using index cards for easy rearrangement. Put each scene you have in mind (something like: John meets Maria at the coffee shop) onto it's own card. Also note on the card what the conflict is -- according to him, every scene must involve conflict of some kind, large or small -- and how it turns out. For example: John wants Helen to go out with him, she turns him down because she thinks he's married.
You need to create four horizontal rows, each with 9 cards in them. (You can do this on the floor, or on a wall(Post it notes?) or a bulletin board, wherever you have space to spread out 40 cards.))
The first row is "Act One", from the start up to the "Beak into Act Two" beat, that is, where the Hero decides to take action.
The second row is the first half of Act Two, and it ends at the MidPoint. (Where the hero has either a 'false win' or a 'false loss'.)
The third row is the second half of Act Two and ends at the Break into Act Three beat -- where the hero has finally figured out a solution to the Big Challenge.
The fourth row is Act Three -- it shows the hero using his plan to solve the problem, ending with "The End."
Put each of your scene cards into the rows, where you think they belong, then look at your layout: which areas need more scenes? Does one row have TOO MANY scenes? Can you move some of them, or maybe combine the points of some into a single scene?
Play around until you have a 'balanced' plot, with a good number of scenes in each stretch.
Oh, the final four scenes? Bonuses. You can add them wherever you want to. So you might have your rows end up: 9 - 12 - 10 - 9 cards long.
Anyway, that's the plotting method in brief. (Again, read the book. It's full of good advice.)
As for my getting to 'The End' by December 1, that's relatively simple. I aim to write two scenes a day, with the idea that the BIG scenes, the ones at the end of each row, will probably be longer and harder to write and take a full day. So:
4 BIG scenes @ 1 day each = 4 days
+
36 other scenes @ 1/2 day each = 18 days
Which gives me an eight day 'cushion' for emergencies, holiday timeouts, scenes that turn out to take more time, etc. :)
Wish me luck on carrying out my plan. I wish ALL of you success, whatever method you choose to use.
50,122 / 50,000
Oct 3, 2007 - 14 56
This is a great thread; thanks for putting it up!
----------What doesn't kill me makes me stronger. After november, I expect I'll be able to lift cars with ease.
50,764 / 50,000
Oct 13, 2007 - 18 18
Thanks for the clear plan. Somehow, this sort of thing breaks it all down so that it seems tackle-able. Okay, not "somehow." That's what these plans are doing.
I think I had a 40 scene outline last year, but I did it on the computer. I'm low tech, but all the file cards seem to get me confused. I just make a graph on word. I know other people would use some fancy program, but like I said, I'm low tech. It really helped me get to the end of the novel-- although I finished the book itself half way through December (I ended November with 100k or so words, but the book was about 140k. Yipes.)
I like the way you've broken down the plot. I might try this. Or maybe I'll adapt it and see what works for me.
Thanks again.
----------Think of black water.
Think up a white sky.
Think up a boat.
Think of BLOOGS blowing by.
-T. Geisel
50,348 / 50,000
Oct 13, 2007 - 20 02
http://www.amazon.com/Save-Last-Book-Screenwriting-Youll/dp/1932907009/r...
There's the amazon link, if anyone wants it. It does look like a good book. Read the reviews, they're quite good too.
57,161 / 50,000
Oct 13, 2007 - 20 25
This is great. Thank you for sharing it!
For anyone who's interested, another screenwriting book that can be really helpful in plotting novels is The Inner Movie Method: How to Write a Screenplay in 21 Days by Viki King.
50,423 / 50,000
Oct 13, 2007 - 22 35
That sounds like a fantastic plan. I've been brainstorming and trying to outline, but it's still not terribly clear. I think the index cards might really help me out. I think I will try this whole method, because I never end up with a finished story by 50k, and I'd really like to get the whole first draft out in November. Thanks for the great info! :)
50,085 / 50,000
Oct 14, 2007 - 01 05
This is wonderful. I was having trouble with my story, things just weren't lining up right. I put the story into the format of the 14 point sheet and now most of my problems are cleared up.
...I sound like an advertisement. 0.o
My main problem is trying to keep my hero from being a hero. I keep trying to prevent her from being the centre of attention of my overlaying plot, but I think it might be impossibe.
----------Better to follow perfection day and year; better to learn from it quietly than to spring the trap or the fire a shot that frightens it away.
Nano2006: The flying ship (fantasy). Won.
Nano2007: A cure for magic (fantasy). Won.
74,557 / 50,000
Oct 14, 2007 - 04 54
I have just the opposite problem--I like my characters too much to let anything bad happen to them, and they get everything right/discover every solution/save the day with little or no fuss. Booorrrring, I know, but I suck, what can I say.
Thanks for posting this thread, it's certainly got me thinking about my pacing.
34,229 / 50,000
Oct 14, 2007 - 06 24
This thread is full of win and awesome. Certainly a useful tool, and a good way to think things through. Thanks!
0 / 50,000
Oct 14, 2007 - 06 48
I might try using this to make sure I actually have a full-plot.
Thanks for the advice!
121,007 / 50,000
Oct 14, 2007 - 09 22
Thank you! This will help so much. I really, really appreciate you posting this!
-------------
NaNo 2005: Lark's War (51k)
2006: The Passion of Resentment (50k)
2007: Cenotaph (finished! 121k)
3,593 / 50,000
Oct 14, 2007 - 10 54
Sounds like something that you could do on your computer with text block writer. The rows would have to be down instead of across for printing but that would mean 12 rows of 3 boxes each for the 36 boxes.
----------Charles R. Brentner
51,038 / 50,000
Oct 14, 2007 - 11 28
What a great thing. Learning and working with some hard and fast rules like this is just what I need. It's my personal history of learning different disciplines (music, theatre...)—first learn and master all the rules you can; then, in full knowlege of the dangers you face, joyously break them.
Jay (a first timer who's never written so much as a thank you note without sweating)
50,280 / 50,000
Oct 18, 2007 - 05 14
Thank you so much for this! I first saw this thread a few days ago and had to search it out when I was ready to start planning. I'm definitely going to use this method, because I had half an outline last year and my story was really interesting and enjoyable when I knew roughly what was going to happen. It almost allowed room for strange character personality mutations and other weird random events, because of the framework that gave the novel strength. So I could wander safely, if you know what I mean. When my outlining ran out, I struggled, things fell apart plot-wise and I made 50k but never completed the story.
I'm really looking forward to my 2007 novel now thanks to your thread, so huge props to you. I hope more people see this and use it. Oh, and I wrote out your first post comic-book style in my planning notebook with blank boxes above each step so I can fill out how my particular plot will follow the stages. :) When I get some index cards, I'll do the scenes as described in your second post.
Thanks again! :D
200,010 / 50,000
Oct 18, 2007 - 05 29
Awesome! This is great. I might have to try this for the other 2 novels I'm writing in November. =)
----------"If everyone is thinking alike, then someone isn't thinking." - General George S. Patton, Jr.
0 / 50,000
Oct 18, 2007 - 06 33
This sounds pretty win. Thread bookmarked. Thanks!
----------"If the music's loud enough, we won't hear the world falling apart."
2006: "Kazuma at Dusk" (73k)
2007: "Skies of Ganzer" (didn't write anything -- planned instead -_-)
0 / 50,000
Oct 18, 2007 - 06 35
A doubleposter was me :(
----------"If the music's loud enough, we won't hear the world falling apart."
2006: "Kazuma at Dusk" (73k)
2007: "Skies of Ganzer" (didn't write anything -- planned instead -_-)
51,075 / 50,000
Oct 18, 2007 - 07 29
Oh, wow. Thank you SO much! This helps tremendously!
----------NaNoWriMo 2006: A Raven's Song — Miserable failure. We don't talk about it.
NaNoWriMo 2007: Karina — WINNER! (51K)
Writing Blog: http://xxdaqu.blogspot.com
52,818 / 50,000
Oct 18, 2007 - 08 44
HUGE help. . .you rock!
55,956 / 50,000
Oct 18, 2007 - 10 48
AMAZING - I had to copy/paste that into my WORD so I'd have a reference to goback to quickly. :) YOU ROCK! Thank you so much!
----------2006 - Immortal Child (22,000) lost
2007 - Que Sera Sera (55,955) WON
2008 - Que Sera Sera (the movie)
2008 - Riddle's Legend (working title)OR The Goddess of War (working title)
865 / 50,000
Oct 18, 2007 - 18 14
Thank you. Beth, with this little tool, I now will have my road map and I won't get lost.
50,238 / 50,000
Oct 21, 2007 - 16 49
Keep coming back to this. Super helpful, thanks!
50,238 / 50,000
Oct 21, 2007 - 17 01
Not always the biggest fan of formulas, but know the rules before you break them, I guess?
50,051 / 50,000
Oct 21, 2007 - 17 28
Wow, this is really helpful. I think I'll start to work on this tomorrow.Thanks!
34,700 / 50,000
Oct 21, 2007 - 18 18
Thanks for putting this up! The index cards for scenes is just what I need. I'm definitely going to try that with a Post-It widget (geek alert...).
50,382 / 50,000
Oct 27, 2007 - 08 18
Wow! I'd lost track of this thread, great to see Snyder's method might be helping a lot of you. :)
BTW, he does have a web page where he offers the Beat Sheet for download:
http://www.blakesnyder.com/tools.htm
128,763 / 50,000
Oct 27, 2007 - 08 50
Thanks for the useful ref.
I've added it to my library.
-r
----------_____________
Richard Scott
-- When was the last time you did something for the first time?
97,317 / 50,000
Oct 27, 2007 - 10 21
Wow, what a wonderful reference tool. I had my plot entirely mapped out, but couldn't quite put my finger on what I didn't like about it... this helped me solve my problem! I'm definitely going to by the book when I get the chance :)
53,894 / 50,000
Oct 27, 2007 - 10 45
I've never seen this list before, but it scares me how exactly my plotline follows it.... I guess that should be a good thing then? xD;
----------54,545 / 50,000
Oct 27, 2007 - 13 17
Thanks for putting this in bethcutter. I also cut and pasted this. I know it will definitely help me. One of my novels is reall involved so this wil help to keep things straight.
----------Every big and little thing matters and it's our words that brings it to light
.
nano 1 : mystoptical, inc (54,544 wc 11/29)
nano 2 : district w (11308 wc 11/12)
nano 3: ninomytus (10744 wc 11/27)
wips 1 : circuit M (427 wc 11/2)
total: 77023