tânisi nitôtêmitik, hello my friends, how are you? I’ve been involved as mentor for the Audible Indigenous Writers’ Circle since about May of this year, and as a result I’ve been thinking about writing a lot, and sort of everything associated with publishing. I thought I’d go ahead and share some of that here on my blog. Here’s a piece I put together recently.

I want to preface this information with a quick word. My whole life I have been very resistant to taking writing classes, or following advice on how to structure stories, mostly at first because I didn’t have access, and later because I felt that these methods were inherently colonial and hierarchical. In some ways that is true, especially when people tell you to change your voice and stories to appeal to a non-Indigenous audience.

However, having struggled for years to finish projects and get my writing done, (and having my MA supervisor, Marilyn Dumont very kindly but firmly passing along resources on how to write during my thesis) I have finally come to see the value of creating solid outlines BEFORE beginning the full writing process. This method I am sharing, I learned from Steve Alcorn, via a course I took recently through the Edmonton Public Library. It has literally changed how I write (for the better!). This structure works really well, in my opinion, for most any story you want to tell. It is a container to put your words into, it does not need to define how you or what you write. Some of you will already know all of this, but for those that don’t, I hope you find it useful!

Character Flaw

No one wants to read a story about a perfect protagonist. A good protagonist will have a character flaw that will cause them to struggle throughout your story, until they overcome it and win (unless it’s a tragedy, in which case their character flaw pulls them down). Take some time to really figure this out, because it will help drive your story.

Here is a link to some character flaws you can consider: https://www.writerswrite.co.za/123-ideas-for-character-flaws/

Plot vs. Story

Plot = the physical stuff that happens in a narrative

Story = the emotional journey your character makes, often in reaction to the physical things happening

Example: The protagonist sees a car careen around the corner, and hits a mail box (plot). The protagonist’s heart leaps into her throat, and she is frozen to the spot, having a flashback to a crash she witnessed as a child (story).

So what?

Every narrative needs these two elements: plot, and story. Sometimes we want pure plot (stuff happening), and sometimes we want pure story (the emotional journey of your character(s)).

Paradigm of a Story Structure (aka the bones of your outline)

• 3 acts
• 9 checkpoints

ACT 1

• HOOK
  • An event that hooks the reader and kicks off the action. You want people to read your story, so get them interested immediately. Often this means starting in the middle of the action. Don’t worry, you will have time to go back and flesh things out, but right now consider that people often judge whether they want to read a story within the first few sentences!
  • PLOT: The hook should be almost pure plot, something exciting happening, not deep emotional introspection.

• BACKSTORY
  • Here you can give the reader background information about the protagonist and the situation you are exploring. You’ll want to introduce most of the other characters in this section (unless you’re writing a mystery in which case you may hold off introducing the antagonist in person until much later).
  • PLOT & STORY: this section may be fairly long, and should be a blend of plot (stuff happening) and story (your character’s emotional journey).

• TRIGGER
  • This is an event, usually a surprise, that attacks the protagonist’s character flaw and causes a crisis. This is what kicks off the main events of the narrative.
  • PLOT: This even doesn’t have to be long, but it should be almost pure action. Don’t worry, your protagonist will have time to react in the next checkpoint.

ACT 2

• CRISIS
  • This is an emotional moment where we clearly see the effect of the trigger on the protagonist’s flaw.
  • STORY: This part can happen right after the trigger, and it is the protagonist’s emotional reaction to the trigger.

• STRUGGLE
  • This tends to be the bulk of your narrative. It is the protagonist’s struggle against adversity. Often this is a series of setbacks, each progressively worse. It forms the rising action. Your antagonist can be a person, it can be nature, it can be society, but you need something for your protagonist to be struggling against in order for them to evolve and learn something from the experience. However, for this section, the antagonist should be winning, or there is no struggle and the story ends.
  • PLOT & STORY: This section will have many plot points, and then story points, where the protagonist reacts to what is happening.

• EPIPHANY
  • The emotional moment in which the protagonist realizes his/her/their character flaw. This is the emotional high point of the story. In fact, it is the end of the STORY (the emotional journey of the protagonist). The narrative continues after this but tends to be more plot-focused (stuff happens).
  • STORY: This point is almost pure story (emotional reaction) because it is happening internally to the protagonist.

ACT 3

• PLAN
  • The protagonist devises a solution to his/her/their problem. The plan is only possible because of the epiphany. With their character flaw realized and overcome, the plan can be successful. In a tragedy, the plan will fail because the character has not actually overcome the flaw.
  • PLOT: As noted above, from now on the narrative is mostly plot, things happening. The protagonist will still have emotional reactions, but there is not going to be a huge change in their personality because the epiphany marked that.

• CLIMAX
  • This is the most exciting part of the plot (the stuff that happens). It can be quite short. It is the final conflict in which the protagonist confronts the antagonist. But the antagonist, ultimately, is not defeated by the protagonist alone, but rather by the antagonist’s own character flaw (if the antagonist is a person). The protagonist can be the vehicle of defeat, but the antagonist is able to be defeated because they never overcame their own character flaw!
  • PLOT: Make it big, make it exciting! This is where the audience expects to feel catharsis, release from all the tension you’ve built up.

• ENDING
  • This is where you tie up loose ends. In traditional kung-fu films, the story ends when the big boss is defeated in the climax, which can feel too abrupt. It’s up to you how detailed you want to be here, but often readers want to know a little more, to be assured the character they’ve come to love makes out okay.
  • PLOT: Stuff happens to wrap up your narrative.

SCENE & SEQUEL

One last tip about something I have found very useful, and it’s how to write individual scenes. In a novel-length work you may have between 100 – 200 scenes. For shorter works, you’ll need less. Remember that everything you write should have a purpose; why are you sharing this with the reader? This structure always helps me when I’m stuck on a scene that isn’t quite working.

SCENE

• Scene moves the story forward, it’s where conflict and action occur (plot).
  • GOAL: your character’s goal. It can be simple, like needing to get to work, or complex like needing to devise a plan to rob a bank.
  • CONFLICT: every scene needs conflict! It can be simple, a wrong number, or bumping into a crush.
  • DISASTER: can be large or small, like falling into a puddle, the crush being with her girlfriend, or a bus being late so the character can’t get to work on time.

SEQUEL

• Sequel comes after the scene, and is where your character reacts to what happened in the scene (story).
  • EMOTION: the character’s immediate response to the disaster that ended the scene. (Her heart sinks as the bus drives away.)
  • THOUGHT: the character trying to reason out what happened and why. (The bus was a minute early, and now she is going to be late for work! She has no money for a cab.)
  • DECISION: thinking leads to decision-making, small or large, including deciding to do nothing. (She has to run to get to work on time.)
  • ACTION: this follows the decision, and leads to the next scene. (She begins running.)

Sometimes you’ll have a section of your narrative written and it feels choppy or incomplete. Check to see you’ve got all of these elements in there, and yes, in this order. I promise, it will help!

If you have a chance, read more about this kind of structure, or take a course like I did, gratis through the local library, it’s really worth it!

nitawi-masinahikêk, now go write!