|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Hello all!
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Welcome to our Friday After
Hours Forum. The snow is melting, I have power...what more could I ask for?
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
I wanted to talk about
dramatic arc tonight because that's one of those terms that shows up all
the time...
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
but it's easy for writing
teachers and authors of books on writing to assume the student or reader
understands what it means.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
And they don't always.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
It's something that applies to
nonfiction, too, for that matter. Not ALL nonfiction but enough that it's
worth thinking about.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Dramatic arc is an arc.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
It begins at the start of your
piece, reaches a peak somewhere in the story or narrative
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
and drops down to about the
same level as it began.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
The shape of that arc is the
shape of your story or narrative.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Does the 'high point' come too
early? Does it come at the very end of the piece?
|
|
geezer
|
I'm doing a synopsis where I hit
high points. Should I be attempting to have an arc? It seems like a laundry
list.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
You should geeze, but you can
take things one step at a time here. :-)
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
A novel length plot -- that's
what this is, right? -- has many dramatic high points.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
It is essentially a very large
arc composed of smaller arcs.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Too bad I can't do graphics in
here. Where's my overhead projector when I need it?
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
So you have a big arc that's
kind of jagged.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Once you have figured out your
laundry list of high points start thinking about which one is your main
climax.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
That is the high point of your
dramatic arc for that novel.
|
|
xana
|
You could create a web page with
the graphics and give us the url
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Well, I could, but just think
of an arc made of a jagged line. :-)
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Your story needs to build to
that peak...your climax.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Then it drops off to the end...usually
pretty quickly. Some stories end right after the climax, others include a
chapter or scene to tie up loose ends.
|
|
charie'
|
I envision a ski slope with
moguls (little bumps) only we get to ski uphill to the climax.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
That's a good one Charie. And
at the top, you generally have a ski jump. :-)
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
But what you don't want, geeze,
is a series of those small peaks on flat ground...
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
so that your readers sort of
bump along but never reach a climax point.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
But of course, your story or
novel has a central conflict, no matter how many secondary conflicts you've
introduced in your subplots.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
The climax generally occurs
when your characters reach the point at which they must either solve the
central conflict or fail to solve it. That either/or point is the climax of
the story.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Before that point they can
face smaller conflicts that must be resolved...
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
they might be journeying
across country to face the evil wizard in his castle and have to defeat
enemies and traverse dangerous terrain.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
All these are small dramatic
peaks.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
But they are getting closer to
the wizard and that tension is mounting.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
The climax comes when our hero
or heroine faces the wizard and one will live and one will die.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
There's a classic fantasy
dramatic arc for you. :-)
|
|
dub cooper
|
Like a skyrocket - Ignition,
ascent, decline , and surprise.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Almost...but more like the
forth of july sort where the peak of the ascent is where the skyrocket
explodes into a shower of stars.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
The descent is pretty unexciting...which
is true for most stories.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
When you're working on a short
story, the high point is usually pretty clear.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
This character has a problem
and when he has to solve it or fail, there's your climax.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
It can be a bit tougher in a
novel with its greater space and complexity.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
But I tend to make sure I know
the high point of my dramatic arc before I begin writing a novel.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
I may find an entirely different
way to get there than I expected when I first roughed out the plot, but I
generally know what I'm aiming at...then I find the most interesting route
to get there.
|
|
writermom
|
How about in a series, do you
want to start a new arc at the end of the first book to tie you to the
second book?
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
It's not a good idea to be too
overt about that. It'll be a year or more before Book Two is out and
readers get surly when they want to read it NOW...but you can plant
situations in One
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
that will turn out to start
the plot going in Two.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
And if you're planning a
series from the start, you can create an overall dramatic arc for the
entire series.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Each book will have its own
dramatic arc, but the series as a whole will have one, too.
|
|
janecj333
|
What about for those of us who
have no idea where the story's going until about midway, and then the
climax grows organically from that point?
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
That's fine. I always figure I
know what my book is about when I type 'the end' on the last page of the
first draft.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
It's all fluid until then. :-)
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
But the reason to know the
shape of that arc at some point is that you can refine the shape to make
the novel stronger.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
If your dramatic peak comes
halfway through the novel, it's going to be tough to keep readers engaged
for the second half of the book.
|
|
charie'
|
Aren't there mini-arcs in each
chapter that reflect the try-fail, try-fail pattern until the try-succeed
climax?
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Each chapter should have a
dramatic arc, charie, but I wouldn't make it that formulaic.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
The story takes on a very
predictable pattern if you do.
|
|
charie'
|
Then are the smaller dramatic
arcs more like points of interest building toward the climax?
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
They're interactions that
increase tension briefly.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Think of it as waves on a
beach. Each wave comes a bit higher up the beach.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
And finally it crashes against
the rocks as the tide reaches full.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Two characters might have an
emotional encounter.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
A character might find out
something that affects her strongly.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
These points of tension should
move the story closer to the climax and crank the tension a bit more.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
What you don't want is simply
a flat story of event...event...event... without any rise in tension.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
For the most powerful stories,
every scene should include something that moves the plot forward. IT might
be a slight movement, but it should connect.
|
|
april cassandra katko2
|
What do you mean by rise in
tension?
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Let me give you an example,
April.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Here's a breakfast scene.
Joanna and Carl meet for breakfast in a restaurant. He orders waffles, she
orders an omelette, they talk about their day yesterday and their plans for
the weekend.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
No rise in tension here. It's
flat. We're merely observing an everyday activity.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Same scene. As Carl talks
about his day at the gas station he owns, he mentions a man in a blue
antique sports car.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Joanna tenses up. That sounds
like Jan, her ex husband. She's been hiding from him.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Anything wrong? Carl asks her.
Aren't you hungry.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
No, she says. She's dating
Carl and she doesn't want to tell him about Jan.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Now we have a rise in tension.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
A new conflict has been
injected into the scene....a disharmony if you will.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Joanna now is keeping a secret
from Car and might be in danger from Jan.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
At the end of the meal, as
they exit into the bright sunshine, Joanna decides he's probably just
passing through and she'll just stay home and paint in her gallery today.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Her friend owns the motel and
she can call her, make sure Jan isn't staying here. Everything is okay.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
But she still looks carefully
up and down the street before she heads home and checks the alleyway. So
the tension has dropped somewhat...
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
her initial moment of panic
has passed...but it's still higher than it was before.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
She still hasn't told Carl and
she's watching the streets in case Jan is around.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
That's the kind of small
dramatic arc that 'bumps up' the overall tension in a scene or or a chapter
and helps create the main dramatic arc.
|
|
info
|
And it raises the question
whether she will tell Carl or if Carl will somehow find out.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
That's right. And even if Jan
isn't staying in the motel, he might still be around.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
So we've increased the number
of things that could happen, could go wrong.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
That is how you increase
tension.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Now lets' think of the next
little dramatic arc to bump up the tension.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Maybe she goes for a walk on
the beach at twilight and on the way home down a familiar path, she hears
noises in the brush and starts running.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Something...or someone...is
chasing her. Of course it could be Jan.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
She gets home panting and
sobbing, fumbles the key into the lock and slams the door behind her. Then
stands panting int he dark house.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Switches on the
floods...nobody out there.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Tension has just bumped up a
big notch here.
|
|
charie'
|
The gallery owner mentions that
someone wants to buy the painting she has displayed as Not for Sale.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Or has slashed it while she
was in the back room.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Again...a bump up.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Someone is out there. Is it
Jan? Does he mean to harm her? Or just frighten her?
|
|
geezer
|
The floorboards creak overhead
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
I'd say that would probably
happen at your main climax, geeze, where she does confront her stalker. Who
of course is not Jan. (Sorry, I'm a mystery writer...it's never the obvious
perp)
|
|
xana
|
How do you avoid being
melodramatic?
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
You tone it down, xana.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
You let the character be the
one who reacts and you make it look as if that character is over reacting.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
LIke her run home. The
neighbor's German Shepherd emerges from the brush right after she has
locked that door behind her and switched on the floods.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Oh, of course. Gretchen is
always getting loose and running on the beach and she loves company.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
It was just Gretchen.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Only of course, tomorrow,
she'll find boot tracks on her path.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
But of course any tourist
could have hiked through here...
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
So you see saw it...moment of
fear...counter moment of rational explanation.
|
|
janecj333
|
Can you describe the gradual
rise in tension, then, as a function of what each character fears most?
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
That depends, Jane, on whether
that character's greatest fear drives the main plot.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Here, where Joann'a greatest
fear at the moment might be Jan, yes her fears can drive most of the
dramatic rises in tension.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
But if that character's
greatest fear is not directly connected to the main plot, then more often
than not, the rise in tension will occur
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
becuase of some event that
connects to the main plot.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Let's look at a traditional
mystery.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
here the MC is trying to solve
a murder.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
The rises in dramatic tension
will probably result mostly from clues that nudge the story toward the
climax.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
The sleuth finds out that a neighbor
has a hidden business connenction with the dead woman.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
He finds out she might have
had a child thirty years ago.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Here the tension is often not
advanced by a direct threat against the sleuth..
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
although that can happen,
too...but my new paths that seem to lead toward the murderer.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Here its a 'we're getting
closer, we're getting closer' tension.
|
|
charie'
|
So you provide a benign
explanation for the cause of the tension.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Sure.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
If you make it obvious,
where's the fun?
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
For most people, a lot of the
pleasure in reading is that curiosity-tickle that eventually gets
scratched.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
That's true even in
mainstream. We want to find out.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
We want to find out if she
faces her father, we want to find out if he vanquishes the wizard, we want
to find out if Jan is out there.
|
|
janecj333
|
So maybe tension is a function
of what the main character wants the most?
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
I think you're over
simplifying, Jane. It can be created through many avenues, not just one.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
It can be an event that
expands possibilities.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
It can be an event that
suggests danger.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
It can be an event that
suggests a conclusion (that turns out to be wrong. :-))
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
It can be an event that
suggests a risk to someone
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
I would say...searching for a genealization
here...it is something that tweaks our curiosity.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Is Jan out there? What was in
the bushes? Is this the murder weapon? Could she have a son?
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Will he get fired?
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Will she get grounded when she
gets home?
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Is this her long lost
daughter?
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Is she going to get the
scholarship?
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
The tension rise can be
because something good might happen to the character. :-)
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Oh we WANT her to find that
daughter. We WANT him to get that scholarship.
|
|
april cassandra katko2
|
I am still having trouble with
show verus tell.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
It's a hard technique to
master, april. But once you have it...you HAVE it. Have you read the
article on the LR website?
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Invite the Reader to the
Party?
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
That might help you.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
It's in Writing Craft: The
Plot Thickens.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
You'll find a lot of very
helpful articles in Writing Craft.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
So what you are doing as you
create those small dramatic moments that bump up the tension and bring us
closer to that peak of the main dramatic arc, the climax
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
is to keep tugging on reader
curiosity. What's going to happen now? Will this happen? Will that happen?
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
When characters march slowly
and inexorably to the end of the story....we are bored!
|
|
grayalien
|
Is it ok to radically alter the
entire plot in the middle of the novel?
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Sure. :-) I've done it more
than once.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Novels are organic. They grow
and change and that aha moment in the middle can send you off in an
entirely unexpected direction. :-)
|
|
janecj333
|
You're talking about
unpredictability.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Yes?
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Writing is nothing if not
unpredictable. :-) Paint by number it is not.
|
|
charie'
|
Do moments of humor release a
little tension so you can build toward the next arc? (Like in horror
movies)
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Sure.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Gretchen the German Shepherd
bounding out of the woods and then beggin at Joanna's door until she gives
her a treat might provide a nice light
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
moment after that tearful
flight through the brush.
|
|
janecj333
|
I mean using the unpredictable
as the engine to keep your story on an uphill course.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Well, sure, as long as you
control those seemingly unpredictable happenings so that your story stays
on course. :-)
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
The river floods. You can't
get across now. But you have a timetable. What now?
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
There's a little bump up in
tension
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
So essentially, you use these
small events, encounters, conversations to bump us up that dramatic arc to
the peak, the climax.
|
|
janecj333
|
The ticking clock.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Yep, that's a great one, Jane.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Every time you remind readers
that time is running out, the tension bumps up.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
This is what gives you a story
that won't let readers go from start to finish.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
When your characters are just
plodding along it's easy to get distracted and go read something else. :-)
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Those bumps don't need to be
life and death, or include violence.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
They just have to tug on
reader curiosity.
|
|
grayalien
|
A more interesting question...is
it possible to change genre within a novel? For instance, evolving from a
family drama into a crime thriller? Or having a mystery gradually turn into
a fantasy adventure? Has that been done before?
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
YOu have books that cross
genre, gray. Snow Falling on Cedars is both mystery and mainstream at the
same time, for example.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Mystery works with just about
any genre. :-)
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
All my SF novels are
mysteries.
|
|
charie'
|
Princess bride is a family story
and a fantasy-adventure.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
There you go.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Genre just tells the bookstore
where to shelve the book, that's all.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
YOu don't have barbed wire
fences between them.
|
|
geezer
|
Snow Falling on Cedars isn't
literary?
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Literary mainstream, but it's
a mystery geeze. :-)
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
It's a murder mystery as a
matter of fact.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
This has been a fun Forum.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Do join us on Sunday night for
our casual get together.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
I'm not driving up to Seattle for my
signing until Monday, so I"ll be here.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Let us hope that the weather
cooperates, sigh.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
I'll post the transcript in
the usual place. :-)
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Writing Craft: Forum Transcripts.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Have a good weekend and stay
warm!
|
