tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6824896765631412903.post4857514828469298186..comments2023-09-05T12:51:25.656-05:00Comments on edittorrent: Setting up the PlotEdittorrenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14295505709568570553noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6824896765631412903.post-8613653252436686802012-08-24T15:44:24.577-05:002012-08-24T15:44:24.577-05:00Shalanna, yeah, when the machine guns come out, I ...Shalanna, yeah, when the machine guns come out, I want to care. :)<br /><br />Adrian, I wonder if films set up more than a lot of modern books. They have to get all those credit posted,for one thing! You're right-- we forget that longish first act with Luke in his "ordinary world."<br />AliciaEdittorrenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14295505709568570553noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6824896765631412903.post-21345119229851881432012-08-23T12:07:34.709-05:002012-08-23T12:07:34.709-05:00The Star Wars example is interesting, because many...The <i>Star Wars</i> example is interesting, because many people remember it starting with Luke meeting Kenobi and heading out on an adventure. But really, that's at the end of the first act.<br /><br />And the trick, I believe, is that the story accomplishes the setup for Luke's arc in parallel with immediate action and conflict. Specifically, Darth Vader captures Princess Leia while the droids escape with the Death Star plans. All that is related to Luke's arc, but it doesn't directly involve him. It does, however, give us a satisfying into-the-action beginning while taking its time to set up everything we need to understand for Luke's story.<br /><br />But even the opening action has a setup: The movie actually opens with the famous text crawl that sets the stage.<br /><br />We don't even meet Luke for quite a while. By then, we've seen Leia get captured, we've met Darth Vader, and we've followed the droids through a series of adventures from escaping in the pod, getting separated in the desert, and being captured by the Jawas. We meet Luke when the movie finally takes a breath and slows down. We've witnessed trans-galactic intrigue and rogue robotic adventures. There's this breathtaking contrast between the fifteen minutes of non-stop adventure (sprinkled with setup) and meeting Luke as he whines to Uncle Owen about having to help on the farm for another season.<br /><br />The movie does <i>not</i> introduce Luke in the midst of a battle or struggling to learn the ways of the Force, perhaps with a flashback to his boring old life. And I think that makes his arc much more interesting.<br /><br />I think this idea of starting out with one conflict to sate the reader's desire while you set up the larger conflict gives a story an epic feel. I like to follow my characters from their humdrum beginnings all the way to their Earth/galaxy-saving victories.<br /><br />If grandma is already a CIA agent on a mission when the story opens, then she better become something even more impressive by the end of the story, perhaps a Jedi Knight.Adriannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6824896765631412903.post-13254734961513887592012-08-23T00:22:53.748-05:002012-08-23T00:22:53.748-05:00(I already know I love Alicia, but it wells up aga...(I already know I love Alicia, but it wells up again when she does posts like this!)<br /><br />I am constantly being berated by various first readers and crit partners when I try to do a bit of setup, no matter how brief and intriguing. They've all been brainwashed by workshops!! (LOL) But I really don't connect with a LOT of modern books. They just don't get me to care one bit before the car crashes and machine guns begin. They can fascinate a bit just for the sheer power of the action, but I simply DON'T CARE what happens to these thrown-about, throwing-up cardboard cutouts. I would at least like to see the heroine in her ordinary world for a MOMENT contemplating some fascinating question, and then perhaps "saving the cat," and THEN we can have the call to adventure. I often see contest entries where authors go for crazy openings and then in a few pages try to backfill like crazy, and that STILL doesn't work.<br /><br />I tried to sign up for your workshop, BTW, but it was apparently sold out and the page would not let me click on the workshop title (it was grayed out)--this was late in July, before it actually began. Catch you next time.<br /><br />And, for the captcha's information, I *am* a robot. *beeep-click-beep* That does not compute<br />Shalannahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05503978745207805622noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6824896765631412903.post-50275407405322832282012-08-22T09:57:25.791-05:002012-08-22T09:57:25.791-05:00See, that's the problem-- too many manuscripts...See, that's the problem-- too many manuscripts I'm seeing "get to the colorful stuff" without setting up the internal and external conflicts and motivations (which will come into play later in the book too). We can do it well that way, but most writers who start "in media res" aren't doing it well. They're not filling in the gaps as they go on-- they just leap over all that stuff. So the openings feel thin and the reader is confused. "Colorful stuff" can be boring if there's no context.<br /><br />Stephen King does it well-- but what is "done well?" He explains as he goes on. Many writers don't know to do that, or know how to do it, and need someone to point that out to him. Fortunately, there's me. :)<br /><br />As for the cover, etc. I would NOT rely on that as a means of conveying more of the story to the reader. I've known of far, far too many books with inappropriate covers, and with cover copy that doesn't match the actual story, to suggest that any author (or reader) see those as actually part of the story.<br />The author in traditional publishing has no control over the cover or cover copy, so I wouldn't want to rely on some art director to properly set up my plot (not his/her job-- it's MY job).<br /><br />As for "she consulted the psychiatrist because the author wants her to become a spy." Umm. we ARE the author. If we don't for a moment believe that the fictive dream must be coherent, the reader won't ever believe it either. We have to engage in the conspiracy here-- we are building this world, and this story, and it's our job to make it work. The moment the reader says, "Mrs. P went to a shrink because the author made her do it," the story ends. Pffft. It's our job to make sure the reader agrees to believe (only for the moment, but that's an essential moment) that the story exists, the world exists, and that the character exists. The authors we read have done that for us. Our own readers deserve our best efforts in making this "real," don't you think?<br /><br />I would like to do that set up expeditiously, certainly, as you suggest, introducing characters, setting, all that stuff. Of course. But -- using Star Wars as you did as an example, though actually I remember thinking the opening was really slow -- <br />1. We get the external situation set up (Leia, etc.) Check (necessity for plot action).<br />2. We get Luke's setting and background, how alienated he feels, how much he wants excitement. Check (character motivation).<br /><br />In fact, it's doing just what I suggested-- setting up the "need for action" and his motivation in the first few scenes. <br /><br />If it started with him meeting Leia or fighting stormtroopers, would that work better? I don't know, maybe if there was some backfill to explain who he was and what he was doing there and who Leia was and all that. <br /><br />But Lucas went with a much more traditional opening, building the situation and providing the need for change, right?<br /><br />Probably now that would go quicker, but I suspect Lucas would still have an opening that presented the opening situation rather than cutting to the fun stuff right away. :) Hey, it worked for him.<br /><br />AliciaAlicianoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6824896765631412903.post-19606563673992012682012-08-22T04:57:56.640-05:002012-08-22T04:57:56.640-05:00As a reader, even though I was reading in the 1960...As a reader, even though I was reading in the 1960s, I'm afraid my reaction is a little ... teleological. We already know what the story will be about (from the cover, blurb, or title), and I want to get on to the colorful stuff.<br /><br />I know, and I know the author knows I know, that she doesn't become a spy because she consulted a psychiatrist; she consulted the psychiatrist because the author wants her to become a spy.<br /><br />Hm. For some reason, the Reluctant Hero beginning of Star Wars doesn't have that problem. Maybe it's becasue of the very opening with Leia and the drones. But it's also that while Luke is being reluctant, we're meeting Knobe and the drones, who are major characters in the actual story, and Knobe is giving background of the actual story. Unlike Mrs. Polifax's psychiatrist, who is never seen again, and good riddance. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com