Plotting Along: A Diagram of Key Plot Points

I have always had trouble with plotting, so I’m a big fan of collecting working solutions to planning the plot. Today I’m posting the latest in my personal collection of plot diagrams, something I’ve put together based on the best plot diagrams I’ve found and used. Here it is with some explanation…

The black line at the top is, of course, the classic Aristotelian 3-act structure, where Act 2 is twice as long as Acts 1 and 3, and the form is set-up, confrontation, and resolution.

Below that in green are the stages of the Hero’s Journey as outlined by Christopher Vogler in his now-classic writer’s guide The Writer’s Journey, based upon the research of Joseph Campbell.

In brown are the turning points defined for screenplays by the late Syd Field; they also apply perfectly to novels. You can find out more about these points in his books and DVDs here.

In blue, I’ve placed the plot line defined by Martha Alderson in her Plot Whisperer books and workbooks. What I particularly like about this plot line is that it shows how tension increases to two high points, the Crisis and the Climax.

And in red, I’ve added the 14 “Signpost Scenes” defined by James Scott Bell; check out his Write Great Fiction: Plot & Structure. I like the way that these signpost scene definitions are more colloquial than Vogler’s and add a few nuances, like “care package” and “pet the dog.”

I hope this diagram and these links are useful to you!

When A Workshop Works

A couple of weeks ago I went to a workshop - StoryMasters - that was one of the best I’ve ever attended. It was a four-day affair, run by three of the giants of the writing world: Christopher Vogler, James Scott Bell, and Donald Maass.

Vogler is renowned as the man who brought to the writing world the mythic structure identified by Joseph Campbell in Vogler’s fabulous book The Writer’s Journey. Bell, in addition to being an award-winning fiction author, is also author of a couple of my staples, Plot & Structure, and Conflict & Suspense. Maass, a high-powered agent, has written what I consider to be the best revision guide on the market, Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook, plus a couple of other great craft books, The Fire in Fiction and Writing 21^st Century Fiction.

I felt as if I’d ascended Mount Olympus. (I confess to having a fangirl moment meeting the very friendly and warm Vogler, whose book was the first I read when I began to write. And, by the way, all three of these guys were friendly and warm and totally accessible.)

Each of these masters of the craft took one entire eight-hour day to dissect and explain all aspects of story-telling. They used examples from books and movies – the entire fourth day was devoted to a scene-by-scene analysis of To Kill a Mockingbird. Their approaches were radically different and meshed perfectly (they’ve been friends for a long time, and Maass is Bell’s agent.) And they sprinkled, or in Maass’s case larded, their lectures with exercises.

It would be impossible for me to distill what I heard: I took forty-two pages of notes. I can only encourage you to check the schedule for a future workshop by one or all of these guys. The StoryMasters Workshop was sponsored through Free Expressions, and they host a number of workshops and intensives. 

This workshop resulted, once I returned home, in a frenzied revision of my WIP, and I couldn’t be more pleased.

Some workshops really do rise above. I’d love to hear from anyone who’s had a similar experience – let’s share!