Basic Rules of Fiction - Writing Workshop Notes

Formula Fiction: Note that many successful books and movies follow this format.

1. The first chapter describes or shows an incident when life is interrupted - things change. The character arc can begin after the theme has started, but needs to start in the first five chapters. Notice that in many movies, a big aha occurs about 18 minutes into the movie. 2. Set up six things that need fixing or resolving in your story. These may run through your whole story; they may be Character traits or outside forces, whatever. Find six things to begin with to give yourself plenty to work with. Maybe you'll end up keeping three of the six. As you write, create questions that your readers want to be answered. 3. The Call to Adventure. Have this unfold by the end of the fifth chapter, at least. It can happen earlier than the fifth chapter, but must happen by then. At first, the protagonist refuses to do answer the call. He/she doesnt want to rise up to the challenge of the Call to Adventure. Remember Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit: At first he wanted nothing to do with the dwarfs and Gandolf and their Adventure. Then he changes his mind and joins them. The first five chapters equal ACT I. 4. The Subplot. The subplot starts in the first five chapters. Sometimes the subplot becomes more important than the main plot line. Examine the plot and subplot of The Happening. The plot: Whats killing people, will the protagonists and the human race figure it out so they can stop it? The subplot: Will Elliott and Themas marriage survive its current crisis? Will the wife love her husband as much as he loves her?

5. Chapter Six. This begins ACT II. This act contains the first turning point, when the reluctant protagonist takes a new direction. Chapters 6 through 10 have about twenty scenes among them. 7. In Act II you need five action & reaction sequences for the external plot, and you need five action / reaction sequences for the internal plot. Vary the action and reaction scenes. Scenes six to ten can contain a false victory. This is common. In scenes 11 to 15 the false victory is shown to actually be a defeat. There are bad forces on the rise. 8. Act III contains chapters 16 20. These chapters also include 20 scenes. In Act III, the good guys defeat the bad guys. During this act, the main character experiences a big realization and faces his/her internal questions. Remember to tie up loose ends as you go through Act III. Do not leave all of the loose ends until the very end because that can get messy. However, it can be done. Case in point: the recent movie Deadfall with Eric Bana. In the last scene of Deadfall, in the retired sheriffs house, the following happens: The issue with the retired father and his grown son is finally resolved, in front of the wife who has been affected by this problem relationship; the father and son admit that they do care for each other and the father admits that he has been wrong to judge the son so harshly. The issue of the daughter law officer and her sheriff father climaxes as the sheriff realizes he has shot his daughter, and although he treated her badly throughout the movie, he is horrified to see that he shot her. The son who had been estranged from his father and the girl he found on the way to the house admit they love each other. That girl admits this in front of her brother, who was actually in love with her and wants her to be with him. She finally realizes this.

 The brother / sister problem is resolved as the brother and sister fight and the sister is forced to kill the brother to resolve everything to save the guy she loves and to break the bond the brother has with the sister.

Plot that runs from the beginning to the end of the movie: The movie starts with the criminal brother dragging his sister into a life of crime, evidently to keep her near him. In the end, after all the killings, chases, surprises and subplots, the story ends with a battle between the same brother and sister. She is rejecting his way of life and he has to accept that.