A Story Needs A Plot

That seems so straightforward, right? Of course you need a plot. How could you write a story without one? But do you actually have one.

That was the problem my daughter posed for me the other day. She had a great idea for a character, she had a detailed backstory for her character and an event that the character was instrumental in.

But she realized that when it came down to being able to say what her story was about, she couldn't sum it up simply.

The problem was that she had a great idea, but she didn't have a plot.

I've been there plenty of times myself. Great premise, great characters, but no real 'story' happening.

So we tried answering these questions: What does your main character really want? What is stopping him/her from getting it. And what will happen if he/she doesn't get it?

Not every story will have good answers to these questions, but good answers will mean you are on your way to a well-plotted story.

We managed to brainstorm answers for her story, while she practiced driving in an empty parking lot.

In the end she felt more comfortable both behind the wheel and in the direction her story was going.

Now, what's your plot?

Lest We Forget: Alfred Hitchcock Director Extraordinaire

Scriptwriting for a movie is similar to novel writing. Both need fully-fleshed characters, a logical plot and setting. When the script is good and the movie is well-directed, it works.

One of my favorite movie directors of all time was Alfred Hitchcock. I grew up watching his fabulous films. In fact my most vivid movie memory is of being twelve-years-old, babysitting my seven-year-old sister while we watched The Birds (1963). Neither of us went to the bathroom alone at night for several weeks! But oh my, what a film. I showed it to my own children when they were preteens and the hilarious part was—they loved it! It had become campy over time, but the emotional value was still there. Classic Hitchcock.

For those of you too young to know about this director or haven't seen any of his classic films, watch some with a pad and pen. Take notes as you discover the plot points and character arcs. What is the inciting incident and where does it fall? When does the main character decide to take action (plot point two)? Where does the climax fall and how is it built up to? Because his movies are relatively short and simple, it is easy to formulate the plot and learn how to apply it to your own writing.

Here’s a bit about Alfred Hitchcock for those who don’t know him or have forgotten:

Alfred Joseph Hitchcock was born August 13, 1899. His father was a green grocer in London, England, named William Hitchcock; his mother was Emma Jane Whelan and he had two older siblings. Raised as a strict Catholic, he attended Saint Ignatius College for engineering and navigation. In 1914, when Hitchcock was 15 years old, his father died. His first job outside of the family business was in 1915 as an estimator for the Henley Telegraph and Cable Company. His interest in movies began at around this time, frequently visiting the cinema and reading US trade journals.

In 1920, Hitch, as his friends called him, learned about a studio opening in London and managed to secure a job as a title designer. He designed the titles for all the movies made at the studio for the next two years. In 1923, his first opportunity to direct occurred when the director of Always Tell Your Wife (1923) couldn’t continue due to illness and Hitch finished the movie. Impressed by his work, studio chiefs gave him his first real directing assignment on Number 13 (1922); however, before it could be finished, the studio closed its British operation. Hitch was then hired as an assistant director for the company later known as Gainsborough Pictures. Hitch, however managed to do much more than assist. He wrote, designed titles and art directed.

Hitch was soon given his chance to direct a British/German co-production called The Pleasure Garden (1925) which became very popular. It was the break he’d been hoping for. In 1926, Hitchcock made his first trademark film, "The Lodger". In the same year on the 2nd of December, Hitchcock married Alma Reville. They had one child, Patricia Hitchcock (born 7th July 1928). His success followed when he made a number of films in Britain such as "The Lady Vanishes" (1938) and Jamaica Inn (1939), some of them which also made him famous in the USA. David O. Selznick, an American producer at the time, got in touch with Hitchcock and the Hitchcock family moved to the USA to direct an adaptation of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca (1940). It was when Saboteur (1942) was made that his name became part of the ‘title’; such as Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, Alfred Hitchcock's Family Plot, Alfred Hitchcock's Frenzy. A trademark of his became the quick cameo of himself in profile somewhere in the film. On set he was always formally dressed in a suit.

There is a recurrent motif of lost or assumed identity through most of his films. As a child, Hitchcock was sent to the local police station with a letter from his father. The desk sergeant read the letter and immediately locked the boy up for ten minutes. After that, the sergeant let young Alfred go, explaining, "This is what happens to people who do bad things." Hitchcock had a morbid fear of police from that day on. He also cited this phobia as the reason he never learned to drive (as a person who doesn't drive can never be pulled over and given a ticket). It was also cited as the reason for the recurring "wrong man" themes in his films. While mistaken identity applies to a film like North by Northwest (1959), assumed identity applies to films such as The 39 Steps (1935), Vertigo (1958), Psycho (1960), and Marnie (1964) among others. In order to create suspense in his films, he would alternate between different shots to extend cinematic time (e.g., the climax of Saboteur (1942), the cropduster sequence in North By Northwest (1959), the shower scene in Psycho (1960), etc.) Walt Disney refused to allow him to film at Disneyland in the early 1960s because Hitchcock had made "that disgusting movie Psycho (1960)".

Many of Hitchcock's films have one-word titles: Blackmail (1929), Rebecca (1940), Suspicion (1941), Saboteur (1942), Lifeboat (1944), Spellbound (1945), Notorious (1946), Rope (1948), Vertigo (1958), Psycho (1960), Marnie (1964), Topaz (1969), Frenzy (1972). He favored one-word titles because he felt that it was uncluttered, clean and easily remembered by the audience.

His driving sequences were also shot in this particular way. They would typically alternate between the character's point of view while driving and a close-up shot of those inside the car from the opposite direction. This technique kept the viewer 'inside' the car and made any danger encountered more richly felt. In a lot of his films (more noticeably in the early black and white American films), he used to create more shadows on the walls to create suspense and tension (e.g., the "Glowing Milk" scene in Suspicion (1941) or the ominous shadow during the opening credits of Saboteur (1942).

'MacGuffins', one of his devices, were objects or devices which drove the plot and were of great interest to the film's characters, but which to the audience were otherwise inconsequential and could be forgotten once they had served their purpose. The most notable examples include bottled uranium in Notorious (1948), the wedding ring in Rear Window (1959), the microfilm in North By Northwest (1959) and the $40,000 in the envelope in Psycho (1960). He hated to shoot on location. He preferred to shoot at the studio where he could have full control of lighting and other factors. This is why even his later films contain special effects composite and rear screen shots.

He was infamous with cast and crews for his "practical jokes." While some inspired laughs, such as suddenly showing up in a dress, most were said to have been more cruel than funny. Usually he found out about somebody's phobias, such as mice or spiders, and in turn sent them a box full of them. He almost never socialized when not shooting films, with most of his evenings spent quietly at home with his wife.

During the making of Frenzy (1972), Hitchcock's wife Alma suffered a paralyzing stroke which made her unable to walk very well at all.

He directed nine of the American Film Institute's 100 Most Heart-Pounding Movies: Psycho (1960) at #1, North by Northwest (1959) at #4, The Birds (1963) at #7, Rear Window (1954) at #14, Vertigo (1958) at #18, Strangers on a Train (1951) at #32, Notorious (1946) at #38, Dial M for Murder (1954) at #48 and Rebecca (1940) at #80.

On March 7, 1979, Hitchcock was awarded the AFI Life Achievement Award, where he said this famous quote: "I beg permission to mention by name only four people who have given me the most affection, appreciation, and encouragement, and constant collaboration. The first of the four is a film editor, the second is a scriptwriter, the third is the mother of my daughter Pat, and the fourth is as fine a cook as ever performed miracles in a domestic kitchen and their names are Alma Reville." He joked with friends that since this was a lifetime achievement award,  he must be about to die soon. He died a year later.

He started to write a screenplay with Ernest Lehman called "The Short Night" but he fired Lehman and hired young screenwriter David Freeman who re-wrote the script. Due to Hitchcock's failing health, however, the film was never made; although Freeman published the script after Hitchcock's death on April 29, 1980 in Los Angeles, California. In late 1979, Hitchcock was knighted, making him Sir Alfred Hitchcock.

Hitchcock directed eight different actors in Oscar-nominated performances: Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine, Judith Anderson, Albert Bassermann, Michael Chekhov, Claude Rains, Ethel Barrymore and Janet Leigh. Fontaine won an Oscar for Suspicion (1941). He, however, never won a best director Oscar in competition, although he was awarded the Irving Thalberg Memorial Award at the 1967 Oscars. He delivered the shortest acceptance speech in Oscar history simply saying, "Thank you." Classic Hitchcock.

A Few Hitchcock Quotes

The length of a film should be directly related to the endurance of the human bladder.

There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it.

To me Psycho (1960) was a big comedy. Had to be.

Even my failures make money and become classics a year after I make them.

Always make the audience suffer as much as possible.

Drama is life with the dull bits left out.

There is nothing quite so good as a burial at sea. It is simple, tidy, and not very incriminating.

Man does not live by murder alone. He needs affection, approval, encouragement and, occasionally, a hearty meal.

Cartoonists have the best casting system. If they don't like an actor, they just tear him up.

The paperback is very interesting but I find it will never replace the hardcover book -- it makes a very poor doorstop.

Film your murders like love scenes, and film your love scenes like murders.

I am a typed director. If I made Cinderella (1937), the audience would immediately be looking for a body in the coach.

If it's a good movie, the sound could go off and the audience would still have a perfectly clear idea of what was going on.

Reality is something that none of us can stand, at any time.

I like stories with lots of psychology.

Everything's perverted in a different way.

And my favorites:

Puns are the highest form of literature.

To make a great film you need three things - the script, the script and the script.

Classic Hitchcock.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000033/bio

There's a Plot!

Those three weeks flew by, didn't they? Things have calmed down just a teensy bit, so I can actually squeeze in a real post this month!

Last time, when I left a real post, I talked about Character Building. There's a process to it, obviously, but everyone uses a different process. This time I promised a bit about plotting. There are two major schools of thought on this: the planners and and the pantsers. Planners, as the name indications, do some kind of outline that gives them a roadmap to the story before they start writing. Pantsers just sit down and write, and hammer out the story as they go along. Each has its merit, and often there are terrible arguments over which is the better method.

Whatever works for you IS the better method. End of argument.

But, in the interest of science (or whatever), I will tell you how I work out the story. I am a plotter.

I used to be a complete pantser. And it was SO FRUSTRATING. I'd hit a wall, or go off on some story tangent that was pretty well useless. When I ended up cutting 20,000 words (yes, you read that correctly) from the last Library of Athena book I finished, I decided I had enough. There had to be a better way for me to get through without getting off track. The point of those 20,000 words was all the way at the end, and I didn't NEED about 18,000 of them. I had spent hours working them out, and nearly cried when I had to cut them. I did save them, and I may just put them up on my website, as a kind of what ended up on the cutting room floor item.

I found the nine-block plot, and it saved my sanity. I cannot take credit for this, I found it on Verla Kay's blue board, and it made sense. Here's how it works. You divide up a sheet of paper into nine blocks, like a tic-tac-toe board. I use my white board, because it's so easy to erase and change around, and I can just look at it whenever I want. I can also color code it to main plot, sub plot, and connect plot elements.

Starting at the first block, top left, I put one label in each block, in this order:
Inciting Incident           Characterization               1st Major Turning Point
Exposition                   Connect the Dots              Negative Turning Point
Antagonist Wins          Revelation                         Protagonist Wins

Then I fill in the blocks with the elements from my story. This way, you can SEE how the Exposition connects to both the Inciting Incident and the Antagonist Wins elements AND the Connect the Dots. Like a big puzzle, all of the elements fit together and play off of the block above, below, and next to them. This also fits with the often used Three Act format of writing - the end of the First Act is the First Major Turning Point, as it should be.

Obviously block five- Connect the Dots - is the most complicated and complex. It is the heart of the story, taking elements from Characterization, Exposition, and foreshadowing the Negative Turning point and Revelation, indirectly influenced by the four corner blocks.

Don't think these three rows carry equal weight, either. The first row, up to the end of Act I, and the last row, which is Act III, are usually shorter than Act II, the middle row, which is the bulk of the story. This is something I took from screenplay writing, but it goes along with the natural pacing of most stories.

This looks amazingly complicated, but really it's not. It totally keeps me on track, with none of those giant tangents. It looks kind of like this:

The sticky notes are things I want to remember later. I used this system to write SMOKE & MIRRORS, my YA Historical Fantasy that is out on submission now, and it was SO HELPFUL. I finished that book so quickly, and all the pieces just fell into place. I was so relaxed and happy with the way it went together, I don't think I will ever go back to pantsing again.

This is not to say there weren't any surprises, or that if you plot you've destroyed creativity. I still have things happen that I didn't expect, little twists and turns. But the BIG moments are all here, like a road map for me to follow. And I can concentrate on the characters and the setting and all the other things that go into a good story.

Think about the stories you've read and see if you can't find some of these elements and fit them into a chart like this!