After the First Draft: Revising Your Plot

By Becca Puglisi, @beccapuglisi

Part of The How They Do It Series

JH: A solid story structure makes revising a novel a lot easier. Becca Puglisi discusses the three-act structure and offers a handy plot checklist to work with. 

Becca Puglisi is an international speaker, writing coach, and bestselling author of The Emotion Thesaurus and other resources for writers. Her books have sold over 650,000 copies and are available in multiple languages, are sourced by US universities, and are used by novelists, screenwriters, editors, and psychologists around the world. She is passionate about learning and sharing her knowledge with others through her Writers Helping Writers blog and via One Stop For Writers—a powerhouse online library created to help writers elevate their storytelling.

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Take it away Becca...

Story Structure: How The Wrap Up Works in a Novel

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

The wrap up is the final goodbye for the novel, and your last chance to leave readers with a good impression.

There’s a series* I’ve read several times, because the wrap up has such an emotional punch that it pops into my head at least once a year and won’t leave. This is not a mega-bestselling series, and it’s not perfect. And while it’s fun, it also has issues and does plenty of things I could use as examples of what not to do in a novel.

Yet I keep reading it. And not just one book, but five. All to get to that ending.

It’s not the climax that gets me, though that’s exciting. In fact, the ramp up to the climax is also emotion-ladened and always makes me cry. It’s what the characters do in that final scene and why they do it that makes me come back to this series every year or two.

It’s heroic. And uplifting. And sad. And offers a sense that the world is a better, safer place now.

Story Structure: How The Climax Works in a Novel

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

The climax resolves the plot problem and makes readers glad they picked up the novel.

There’s a popular series* with a climax that made me so furious I stopped reading that author. Until that moment, I’d devoured all eight books, loved them, and in that last 10% of the final book, the author had the protagonist make a decision that invalidated the entire series and made me go from “Yes, I want you to win!” to “You don’t deserve the victory what the heck were you thinking???”

I was livid. I had to stop reading and call my niece (we were reading the series together) and we hashed out how awful this ridiculous decision was. I gritted my teeth and dived back in to finish it, and then watched in horror as the story I’d loved dissolved into a pointless, deus ex machina ending.

This is not the climax you want for your novel.

Story Structure: How The Act Three Plan Works in a Novel

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

The act three plan kicks off the end of the novel and promises readers an ending to remember.

The act three plan is one of those moments that make it easy to tell if your ending is going to work or not. If this plan is strong (even if it won’t work), and clear about what has to be done, odds are the ending and climax will be equally strong and clear. If this is fuzzy, odds are you’re going to struggle with your ending.

This isn’t an absolute, of course, just something I’ve noticed over the years. This is the moment where the protagonist decides what to do to resolve the conflict of the novel and puts a plan into action. If you aren’t sure what that plan is or what has to be done to resolve the conflict, that’s a big red flag that you aren’t clear about what your ending is. It could also suggest you aren’t sure what the core conflict of the novel is.

“I don’t know how to end it” is a common issue with novels that don’t have a clear problem to solve, and the author doesn’t know what it’s truly about. Once they figure this out, they figure out how to end the novel.

Story Structure: How the Act Two Disaster Works in a Novel

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

The act two disaster shows readers what your protagonist is truly made of.

Since I enjoy putting my characters in terrible situations, the act two disaster is always a lot of fun to write. Writers who want to protect their characters probably won’t find it so entertaining, but remember—this is the moment that allows your poor protagonist to become the person they want to be. So it’s good for them.

All through the middle the protagonist has been trying and failing, feeling the pressure, ignoring their flaw and the lessons the plot has been trying to teach them all book. Just when things are the most dire, something happens that causes catastrophic failure—often something they did, or didn’t do but should have. (Adjust this to fit the scale or scope of your story. What’s catastrophic in a science fiction epic is different from what’s catastrophic in a romance).

In cliché speak, it’s the darkness before the dawn. It all becomes too much and the protagonist feels like giving up, but finds the strength to carry on. They realize the only way to succeed is to face the problem head on and do what they’ve been scared to do all along.

Story Structure: How the Midpoint Reversal Works in a Novel

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

The midpoint reversal is the glue that holds the first and second halves of the novel together.

Like many writers, I used to hate middles. My novels always bogged down halfway through, the plot hit a wall, or I realized it had gone so far off track I was writing a different novel. I can’t tell you how many times I just chucked the whole draft and started over.

Until I discovered the midpoint reversal, and it changed my writing life.

After that, middles weren’t a problem anymore, and plotting became a whole lot easier. I didn’t bog down or fizzle out, and I always knew where my plot was headed.

A strong midpoint reversal just flat out makes a novel easier to write.

Story Structure: How the Act Two Choice Works in a Novel

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

The act two choice is a pivotal moment in your novel, and the wrong choice could send your middle in the wrong direction.

It’s far too easy to know what happens at the end of act one and just plow on forward into act two without really thinking about how the protagonist got there. Did they choose it, or were they dragged along?

Most writing advice and structures combine the act one problem (whatever name it’s called, as it has several) and the act two choice, but I find it more helpful to think of them as two separate moments. This is the first major plot point where the protagonist needs to choose to move forward. So it seems only logical to pay attention to what that choice is.

If there’s no choice being made, that’s a red flag the protagonist might be reactive or have no agency to act. Without that clear goal, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll get stuck within a few chapters, because you don’t know what the protagonist is trying to do. You might know generally, or know where the plot is supposed to go, but without that act-one-to-act-two-goal-handoff, the narrative drive often stalls, because the act two choice is the transitional moment linking the beginning and the middle.

Story Structure: How the Act One Problem Works in a Novel

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

The act one problem is where many first drafts fizzle out. Here’s why.

We tend to think of the beginning of a novel as the first chapter or opening scene, but it’s really the first twenty-five percent of the novel. The “beginning” is everything that happens before the first major plot point the protagonist can’t walk away from.

The inciting event might officially start the novel, but it’s a call to action the protagonist can refuse (and often does). And once they do, things spiral out of control and get worse until getting involved in the plot is no longer an option.

The protagonist must act, because the problem is now too big to ignore. It demands attention, and it’s made it very clear it’s not going away unless somebody does something.

Story Structure: How the Inciting Event Works in a Novel

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

The opening scene isn’t the real start of your story. The inciting event is.

The inciting event is one of my two favorite turning points in a novel (the other is the midpoint). It’s that moment at the top of a roller coaster just before it tips forward and races into a spiral. It’s when all the fun and excitement you’d been anticipating while waiting in line is about happen.

Sure, the first line, the first page, and the first chapter get most the attention, but they’re only the first things readers see, not where the story begins. First pages are the setup for the real story, and the bridge that connects the opening scene to the inciting event.

And that’s when things really take off.

Story Structure: How the Opening Scene Works in a Novel

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

The opening scene is the preview for your entire novel.

I find opening scenes both easy and hard to write. Once I’m ready to write them they’re easy, but it might take me a month or more to figure out the right opening line. And I can’t write the novel until I have the right opening line and scene. I need to start off from the right point or I tend to wander into the weeds.

Other writers don’t have this issue, and write whatever comes to them, knowing they’re going to revise it later. They don’t know what the right opening scene is until they write the final scene.

Both (and everything in between), are perfectly acceptable ways to write opening scenes.

Which is good, because opening scenes need to do a lot. They need to introduce the protagonist, the setting, the hook, the problem, show conflict, create voice, craft intriguing story questions, ground readers, make readers like your characters, and the list goes on and on.

What You Should Know About the Three Act Structure

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Story structure is a useful tool for developing and writing a novel.

The first time I learned about story structure, it felt as if the sky had opened and truth crashed down upon my head. There was a format for writing a novel? Why hadn’t anyone told me about this?

I embraced it wholeheartedly, and have spent my writing life learning as much about it as I could. I love structure, and love seeing how different writers use it and adapt it to their processes. I’ve fiddled with mine over the years and improved it, as well as totally mucked it up (these things happen).

My favorite is the classic Three Act Structure. I find it the easiest to use, and the most flexible to adapt to suit a writer’s needs.

Writing a Page-Turner: Turning Points: Three Act Structure for Novelists

By Kris Bock, @Kris_Bock

Part of the How They Do It Series

JH: Structure is a great tool to help writers develop and write their novels. Kris Bock shares thoughts on the value of turning points in a page turner. 

Chris Eboch is the author of over 60 books for children, including nonfiction and fiction, early reader through teen. Her writing craft books include You Can Write for Children: How to Write Great Stories, Articles, and Books for Kids and Teenagers, and Advanced Plotting.

Her novels for ages nine and up include The Eyes of Pharaoh, a mystery in ancient Egypt; The Well of Sacrifice, a Mayan adventure; The Genie’s Gift, a middle eastern fantasy; and the Haunted series, about kids who travel with a ghost hunter TV show, which starts with The Ghost on the Stairs.

Chris Eboch Website | Blog | Goodreads 

Chris also writes for adults as Kris Bock. Her Furrever Friends Sweet Romance series features the employees and customers at a cat café. Watch as they fall in love with each other and shelter cats. Get a free 10,000-word story set in the world of the Furrever Friends cat café when you sign up for the Kris Bock newsletter. You’ll also get a printable copy of the recipes mentioned in the cat café novels.

Kris also writes romantic suspense set in the Southwestern U.S. If you love Mary Stewart or Barbara Michaels, try Kris Bock’s stories of treasure hunting, archaeology, and intrigue in the Southwest.

Kris Bock Website | Blog | Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Instagram | Sign up for the Kris Bock newsletter 

Take it away Kris...

Plotting Made Easy: Do You Need the Three-Act Structure?

By Alex Limberg, @RidethePen

Part of the How They Do It Series

JH: Not every writer writes the same way, and not every story follows the same path. Please help me welcome Alex Limberg to the lecture hall today to share some thoughts on why and when you might want to ignore the three act structure.

Alex is blogging on ‘Ride the Pen’ to help you boost your fiction writing. His blog dissects famous authors (works, not bodies). Create an intriguing story structure with his checklist “44 Key Questions” to test your story (free download) or check out his fun and detailed creative writing prompts. Shakespeare is jealous. Alex has worked as a copywriter and lived in Vienna, Los Angeles, Madrid and Hamburg.

Website | Facebook | Twitter

Take it away Alex...