Though I have many more individuals whom have influenced my writing and current adventure-novel project (trust me on that!), I want to finish this "naming-names" segment with a hat-tip to Dan Wells, a horror writer (not my cup of tea!), who gave a 5-part series of lectures (Dan Wells on Story Structure) that I found on YouTube. Embedded in these five videos was more solid information on the topic than I could ingest in a single sitting. So I created a four-page summary of everything that I learned from the videos and a plot-planning graph that I have used for each of my four books. I have returned often to these notes (I keep them in a three-ring binder with all my other "plot-constructing" resources). With exceeding gratitude to Dan, I have used his insights as a catalyst to help me formulate the strategic flow of each separate plot in my 4-part adventure-novel series.
So what exactly did Dan teach me? I'm glad that you asked! Here's his simple seven-part outline (This is the bare skeleton on which he builds his whole structure):
HOOK: HERO has a sad, boring life.
PLOT TURN 1: HERO becomes a ROLE.
PINCH 1: A BAD GUY attacks.
MIDPOINT: HERO learns the truth about SOMETHING,
and swears to DEFEAT THE VILLAIN.
PINCH 2: COMPANIONS fall to the VILLAIN. And HERO is left alone.
PLOT TURN 2: Facing VILLAIN, HERO discovers
THE POWER IS WITHIN HIM.
RESOLUTION: HERO defeats VILLAIN.
Now take that outline and substitue specific names and details wherever there is an underlined word and you have your story structue in seven lines! Amazing! You HAVE TO watch the videos to see Dan spell out the process more completely. It is a wonder to behold!
In my last post I mentioned Dan's utilization of the movie The Matrix to demonstrate the necessity of carefully and magnificently plotting a story. His videos are worth watching just to see this analysis alone. He breaks the movie into four separate plot lines which included Action, Character Development, Romance, and Betrayal. If I had not seen his story-structure explanation for this movie (which he takes plenty of time to develop), I would have been oblivious of the high level of skill the directors of the movie were displaying as they seemlessly wove these four separate story lines together. (I want to be like them when I grow up!) I have plotted each of my stories using this marvelous device.
In future posts, I will dedicate as many of them as necessary to detailing the process that I am utilizing in order to simultaneously construct four different stories into one continuous adventure series. Please return for more! Adios for now!
So what exactly did Dan teach me? I'm glad that you asked! Here's his simple seven-part outline (This is the bare skeleton on which he builds his whole structure):
HOOK: HERO has a sad, boring life.
PLOT TURN 1: HERO becomes a ROLE.
PINCH 1: A BAD GUY attacks.
MIDPOINT: HERO learns the truth about SOMETHING,
and swears to DEFEAT THE VILLAIN.
PINCH 2: COMPANIONS fall to the VILLAIN. And HERO is left alone.
PLOT TURN 2: Facing VILLAIN, HERO discovers
THE POWER IS WITHIN HIM.
RESOLUTION: HERO defeats VILLAIN.
Now take that outline and substitue specific names and details wherever there is an underlined word and you have your story structue in seven lines! Amazing! You HAVE TO watch the videos to see Dan spell out the process more completely. It is a wonder to behold!
In my last post I mentioned Dan's utilization of the movie The Matrix to demonstrate the necessity of carefully and magnificently plotting a story. His videos are worth watching just to see this analysis alone. He breaks the movie into four separate plot lines which included Action, Character Development, Romance, and Betrayal. If I had not seen his story-structure explanation for this movie (which he takes plenty of time to develop), I would have been oblivious of the high level of skill the directors of the movie were displaying as they seemlessly wove these four separate story lines together. (I want to be like them when I grow up!) I have plotted each of my stories using this marvelous device.
In future posts, I will dedicate as many of them as necessary to detailing the process that I am utilizing in order to simultaneously construct four different stories into one continuous adventure series. Please return for more! Adios for now!
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