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This week: How to Assemble Instructions--Structure Edited by: esprit  
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| You need to know only four things in order to write a solid story: how to group words into motivation-reaction units; how to group motivation-reaction units into scenes and sequels; how to group scenes and sequels into story pattern; how to create the kind of characters that give a story life. Dwight V. Swain |
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How to Assemble Instructions--For Best Results Use the Pattern--Part One
 Structure
Writers who are beginning their journey to the 'best-selling Novel' podium are excited and full of spice and creative imagination. They're ready to get the show on the road--now! Do you read the How to Assemble instructions, or throw them away and figure it out the hard way? We'd just as soon skip all the boring 'before you begin' instruction stuff; that's just the way human nature works. We want to plunge into the creating part as soon as we can.
The end product will be more satisfying to both artists and consumers though, if logical steps are followed. These steps can be called a 'pattern'. Hold on for a minute--all artists use patterns. The sculptor must first learn the pattern of the human body, so they study anatomy. If they didn't, they'd end up with a Gumpy--remember him? They study the way muscles work and the way the body is connected. Rolling a glob of clay in their hands to make it pliable, they eventually feel their way along each muscle, ligament and bone-layering on decorative fat and skin last. They are following a pattern.
All of this really does lead somewhere, so hang in here, please.
A painter doesn't just dab a blob of red paint onto the canvas. It may be red and have a semi-circular shape, but it isn't an apple. They begin drafting the outline shape with a pencil, then fill it in layer by layer with different colors. They add shadow by learning how light moves. They don't attempt to put the shine on the fruit until the last step. If they skip any step of the pattern, the painting won't be realistic.
If a woodworker wants to make a rocking horse, they don't just power up the jigsaw and start cutting with hope and guesses. They take time to choose the correct wood, lay the pattern onto the wood, draw the outline, and consider where to begin the first cut. They save the decorating fun for the last step--sort of like dessert.
For those who write by the seat of their pants, skipping the pattern-- how's it working for you? How often do you have to rewrite? Structure will help you get to the final draft sooner--it really will.
Everything created has a basic structure. Even cooking. If the creation is successful, the structure pattern is invisible. Anyone admiring the final product will only know they are looking at the creation of an artist.
As a quilter, I know how important patterns are in keeping each block consistent. Fabric is chosen mainly by its content and color. The fabric is cut to size and shape according to a pattern so that four, six, or eight pieces can be sewn together to make a measured block. Each block is sewn one to another to complete a quilt top. If the seams aren't consistent with the one it is attached to, it will stick out like a sore thumb and have to be redone. Each block is either complex or simple in the construction design. Its rhythm comes from bright and monochromatic colors in shapes that appear to move and change. Each block is interesting by itself and important to the finished product, but the full artistic effect is not seen until they're sewn together to make a whole.
Quilting blocks make the perfect analogy for scenes.
Scenes can be planned just like the blocks of a quilt to fit together smoothly, one after the other. Just as each block in a quilt is complete and structured to concisely fit the next block--so should scenes. If a block is structured badly it ruins the whole quilt top.
I'm using the word 'Block' and color to show the similarity of a quilt pattern, and to remind you that there is a pattern. The pattern below uses two separate blocks, one after the other, the fabric colors and content is up to you.
The following are quotes from Dwight Swain's book, Techniques of the Selling Writer.
BLOCK 1 = SCENE 1: Each scene has the following three-part pattern:
Goal: A Goal is what your POV character wants at the beginning of the Scene. The Goal must be specific and it must be clearly definable. The reason your POV character must have a Goal is that it makes your character proactive. Your character is not passively waiting for the universe to deal him Great Good. Your character is going after what he wants, just as your reader wishes he could do. It's a simple fact that any character who wants something desperately is an interesting character. Even if he's not nice, he's interesting. And your reader will identify with him. That's what you want as a writer.
Conflict: Conflict is the series of obstacles your POV character faces on the way to reaching his Goal. You must have Conflict in your Scene! If your POV character reaches his Goal with no Conflict, then the reader is bored. Your reader wants to struggle! No victory has any value if it comes too easy. So make your POV character struggle and your reader will live out that struggle too.
Disaster: A Disaster is a failure to let your POV character reach his Goal. Don't give him the Goal! Winning is boring! When a Scene ends in victory, your reader feels no reason to turn the page. If things are going well, your reader might as well go to bed. No! Make something awful happen. Hang your POV character off a cliff and your reader will turn the page to see what happens next.
BLOCK 2 = SCENE 2 (Sequel to scene 1) has a three-part pattern:
Mr. Swain named scene 2 'Sequels' to define it is a different pattern from Scene 1. They are still 'scenes' to us common writers and I will call them Scene 2.
The Sequel has three parts. Reaction, Dilemma, and Decision. Again, each of these is critical to a successful Sequel. Remove any of them and the Sequel fails to work. Let me add one important point here. The purpose of the Reaction Sequel is to follow after the Action Scene. A Scene 1 ends on a Disaster, and you can't immediately follow that up with a new Scene, which begins with a Goal. Why? Because when you've just been slugged with a serious setback, you can't just rush out and try something new. You've got to recover. That's basic psychology.
Reaction: A Reaction is the emotional follow-through to a Disaster. When something awful happens, you're staggering for awhile, off-balance, out of kilter. You can't help it. So show your POV character reacting viscerally to his Disaster. Show him hurting. Give your reader a chance to hurt with your characters. You may need to show some passage of time. This is not a time for action, it's a time for re-action. A time to weep. But you can't stagger around in pain forever. In real life, if people do that they lose their friends. In fiction, if you do it, you lose your readers. Eventually, your POV character needs to get a grip. To take stock. To look for options. And the problem is that there aren't any .
Dilemma: A Dilemma is a situation with no good options. If your Disaster was a real Disaster, there aren't any good choices. Your POV character must have a real dilemma. This gives your reader a chance to worry, which is good. Your reader must be wondering what can possibly happen next. Let your POV character work through the choices. Let him sort things out. Eventually, let him come to the least-bad option.
Decision: A Decision is the act of making a choice among several options. This is important, because it lets your POV character become proactive again. People who never make decisions are boring people. They wait around for somebody else to decide. And nobody wants to read about somebody like that. So make your character decide, and make it a good decision. Make it one your reader can respect. Make it risky, but make it have a chance of working. Do that, and your reader will have to turn the page, because now your POV character has a new Goal.
And now you've come full circle. You've gone from Scene to Sequel and back to the Goal for a new Scene. This is why the Reaction Scene-Sequel pattern is so powerful. A Scene leads naturally to a Sequel, which leads naturally to a new Scene. And so on forever. At some point, you'll end the cycle. You'll give your POV character either Ultimate Victory or Ultimate Defeat and that will be the end of the book. But until you get there, the alternating pattern of Scene and Sequel will carry you through.
Doesn't that sound like a good plan? You've gone from the scene of action to the scene of reaction. One block unit has been completed. Using this pattern will help to keep the story on track with the added benefit of correct pacing.
Reaction - Scene 2 will give readers a chance to catch their breath and let their heartbeat quiet down. The fast and medium pace of action, strong conflict, and tension of the (Action Scene 1) needs the slower pace of the Reaction Scene 2 to maintain a good pace. Use these slower scenes to get to know the characters and setting, show milder conflict between actors and to enjoy a bit of scenery. Don't take time to smell the roses in the middle of a life and death battle--it won't be realistic.
There are many patterns out there, try as many as you want until you find the one that works best for you--then use it. You'll find that writing your novel just got easier. There is more to structure than this one covers, but it's a beginning.
This simple structure pattern reminds me of the basic four-block pattern of beginning quilters. They practice to learn how to match the seams while creating with color. It's easy to work and it won't interfere with the Pantser's reluctance to plot and outline. Because: The words still come from the writer as they create from their imaginations. In other words--they choose the color and content.
Choosing not to use a structure pattern results in a crooked story where the scenes (seams) don't match up. When the seams or colors don't fit well, they must be ripped out and redone. Believe me, when you have to do that very often, you learn to do it right. You plan beforehand--this can be your freely written story. Then you know what it will look like when finished and during revision you can match one block at a time.
If you have a pattern that works for you, please pass it along. It could be exactly what another writer is looking for.
Part Two -- March 17th. How to choose color and content.
Thanks for reading!
Source:
Scene and Sequel format content by:
"Techniques of the Selling Writer" By Dwight V. Swain"
The "analogy of patterns" by:
esprit
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Comments on "Invalid Entry"
Xxblazing_phoenixX
Comment: What you say here explicates precisely what I've been experiencing (as of late) when trying to develop characters and storylines. Your words have reassured my belief that people can find ANYTHING to be offended by. Great newsletter!
You're probably right. Thanks! 
Winnie Kay 
Comment: Your NL hit upon a topic I've been struggling with. Do you offend the public (perhaps a relative or friend) or do you appease the masses and write what everyone wants to hear, but no one wants to buy?
Mr. King says it best:
"No, it's not a very good story - its author was too busy listening to other voices to listen as closely as he should have to the one coming from inside."
Stephen King
Winnie, I think you have to know your goal and disguise the characters very well.
Mara ♣ McBain 
Comment: Awesome topic and one that I have encountered a time or two in my writing. We can't please everyone so we might as well please ourselves with honesty.
I agree, Mara. Thanks.
Adriana Noir
Comment: Well said, Esprit! I couldn't agree more. I can't even imagine what some of the great classics or vastly popular books over the years would sound like were they Politically correct. <<<That is one term that can rankle me in a heartbeat and one of the few things that truly offends me anymore.
There are some pretty funny PC satires written of a few classics. Thanks, Adriana.
Coolhand
Comment: Super newsletter, esprit. The whole issue of offensive writing has always been an issue for me. Your comments are bold, spot on, and will hopefully help me along the way. Thanks.
Thank you, Coolhand!
Seniorproducer 
Comment: Re: Do you Dare to Offend
Its Life and it would be dishonest to your self and your readers, to pretend the world is otherwise...
Thanks for commenting. You're right, but it's hard sometimes, isn't it?
Red Writing Hood <3 
Comment: Excellent newsletter, esprit
Thanks for saying so, Red. It's appreciated.
Cassie Kat
Comment: Thank you very much for choosing such a sensitive topic for this month's newsletter. I strive to make my characters as real as possible, even if it means crossing into darker waters. Your words have inspired me to keep going forward and telling those stories, even in the face of adversity.
I'm glad, Cassie. Thanks.
Grace
Comment: Well said! And I completely agree;if you want your characters to seem real then don't treat them like characters, treat them like PEOPLE! Great NL. This is the first Drama NL that I've read and it definitely makes me want to read the next one.
Thank You! And oh, please read all the newsletters. The variety is amazing!
sarahreed
Comment: I think its absurd to censor ourselves and be politically correct when writing fiction. We're creating new worlds, even if they're based in reality. If the people in our world use the word retarded then they should do so. It goes back to the fundamentals of writing characters - our characters should act and talk the way they do, flaws and all.
Now it's different if a writer is writing a piece that is illuminating the real-world penchant for being politically correct, then I would think the characters would talk politically correct. if they don't, then the society of the book would punish them.
Betraying the characters and the worlds we create so no one gets offended hurts the writer more because they aren't being true to themselves or the story.
I think most authors would agree with you, Sara. Thanks.
lindamv
Comment: Wonderful, esprit. "Politically correct" just means untruthful to me. We all need to tell it as it is, no sugar-coating.
Do you mean in our fiction, Linda--or for real? That's scary. 
scribbler
Comment: Thanks so much for sticking Total Acidosis in your last newsletter. It was such a surprise because even I'd almost forgotten about that story. It's 4 years old!
I want to say I agree wholeheartedly with you. We SHOULD say what we mean and say it LOUD! A huge part of my friend group is gay and one of my best friends in a lesbian. She insists I use the word dyke even though it makes me uncomfortable because that is what she identifies as. Retarded though, on the other hand, I have to disagree with. It is an offensive word because it puts a negative spin on people with mental disabilities. It's like the word fag; though it means homosexual teenagers have turned it into a word that means stupid or dumb which in turn suggests that gays are stupid and dumb. People with mental handicaps may be mentally "inferior" but as people they certainly are not.
You're welcome. I like to choose the 'seasoned' stories sometimes, Scribbler, because they do get forgotten. Teenagers can make any word turn bad, and they do it often. It's a skill. But I know what you mean. Personally, I would find it very hard to use language in a story that I don't use in real life, so I don't choose the theme. But certain themes require them and the story only works if the characters are realistic.
Thanks for the amazing comments on this topic!
We always appreciate the feedback, thanks!
Editors:
Joy 
Adriana Noir
esprit
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Drama: March 03, 2010 Issue [#3585]
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