by C LaRene Hall
How to Grid Your Story
Write a Mission Statement that includes the four most important things to accomplish with writing.
Without conflict there is no drama or no story.
Make a grid for the internal as well as the external.
Make sure your characters are different.
Plot what your story is about. There are three acts in making a plot.
Act One should be a set up, confrontation and resolution.
Know the ending. Everything you write will work toward your ending. Have beginning and ending firmly set. In Act 1 your include the main characters, dramatic promise and situation. You spin the direction of your story around two major plot points before climax. The major plot point is at the end of Act 1 and the end of Act 2.
Act Two has confrontation, bulk of action, overcoming all obstacles to fill dramatic need, and the reaction of having it happen. This is working towards climax. Obstacles are keys. Plot point in Act 2 turns story toward resolution.
Act Three has climax, epiphany (the big reveal), denouement, no loose ends, ups and downs, cliff hangers, and should be kept short.
I can't honestly say that all of the above works, because I've never tried it. Will I try it? Maybe. Tell me your thoughts about such a thing. Is this what you do when you write? Does this really work?
3 comments:
I'm so glad you reported on this. I wanted to go to this class, but there were too many to choose from. Thanks.
Great stuff here. It's funny (or not) how this whole writing thing is so much more complicated than we ever realized when we were just readers.
When I write a novel I hardly know where it will lead me. I just let the story take me away. For me that is the adventure. It always comes together in the end. Sometimes I'm surprised myself. Perhaps my subconscious knows the ending already. I don't have any idea how it works. A writer will understand what I'm talking about.
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