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Alfie Thompson

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Five-Star Plotting

ASSIGNMENT: BRIDGET JONES'S DIARY

Writers often say they're talking about the plot of their book when what they are really talking about is their story: the characters and their goals, obstacles, and conflicts.

Most people (including writers) use the words plot and story interchangeably, but if you look up the word plot in the dictionary, you'll find that nothing in the definition resembles characters, goals, obstacles, or conflict. Every definition of the word "plot" has to do with planning, marking off or mapping. Even the part of the definition that refers specifically to novels and books specifies that plot is a plan of action. In other words, plot is a blueprint for your story.

Plotting was a struggle for me. It suddenly made sense when I realized that story and plot were not the same thing.

Premise, characterization, goals, character growth, conflict-all the things we've discussed up until now-are about the story. Plotting is about structure. Plotting answers the question: How are you going to put all of those elements together? It's how the story unfolds. It's the answer to "What happens next?"

Plot is your plan of action - the action being how you are going to tell the story.

Writing a story without structuring the elements according to a plan would be like hoping to end up with a house if you decided to just throw all the pieces you needed - the lumber, cement, shingles, doors, windows, etc. - together without a blueprint. You might end up with something that resembles a house. It might have everything most people would consider necessary for a house to have. But it certainly wouldn't be your dream home. And it definitely would not be the best house it could be.

Plotting isn't about what elements go into a scene in general - although that is part of it. It's about what goes into an early scene in your story versus what belongs in the later ones. It is about which scene belongs where to make the story the best it can be. It's fitting the pieces together. What goes into the scene is only applicable in the plotting process if you're missing an essential part of something you need to make your story strong. (Back to the analogy of the house: Your foundation could look like a foundation, but it would be pretty weak if you forgot to put rebar in the cement in all the necessary places.)

WHAT'S DRIVING THE STORY?

But before we get too far into a discussion of structure, we need to talk about the difference between a character-driven plot and an action-driven plot.

A character-driven plot is more about the growth of the characters than about the action that causes the growth. In a character-driven story the character is more interesting than the action. The reader focuses on how character reacts to the action taking place. Though Thelma and Louise has plenty of action, the characters, their motivation, and the decisions and choices those characters make are what keeps the audience fascinated. The way the characters act or react, and the choices they make regarding whatever action is taking place are what we remember. The character-driven story begins with the character recognizing some problem he faces or something that he needs to change. Then he acts. The character's actions advance the story.

In an action-driven plot, the character usually reacts to a happening - a situation or event - that has taken place. An action-driven plot keeps an audience enthralled with the excitement of the events that are unfolding. You turn the pages - or wait to go get popcorn - because you don't want to miss whatever exciting event is going to happen next. The characters are still extremely important because they keep us caring about the action, but we aren't glued to our seats because we're waiting to see what emotion the hero feels about the situation. We're glued to our seats to see if the character can measure up to the challenge and respond adequately to the next physical explosion or rolling boulder or whatever event they face. Raiders of the Lost Ark is a prime example of a story propelled by action. Though Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) is a fascinating and well-built character, what we remember first is the nonstop action and various physical obstacles he faces. (And yes, we remember the humor he faces them with, but even then it is part of his reaction to the situation.)

Genre may help decide whether your story is action - or character-driven.

a rnovie or book billed as an action-adventure obviously leans toward a story driven by action. Many classic mysteries are also driven by action. A body is discovered, and then for whatever motive, the hero or heroine leaps into action to figure out what happened and who did it.

Horror and romance tend to be character-driven. (Horror, you ask? Think Alien.) The good horror stories often pivot around the humans who respond to the challenge of defeating the monster, not the actual monstrous events. Science fiction and suspense seem to be a mix of stories that are action-oriented and those that are character-driven. You can often tell whether a story is action-driven or character-driven based on what happens first. Are you introduced to the characters first (Alien), or does the story start with action (True Lies)?

Genre doesn't dictate which kind of plot you have. You'll find action-driven plots in romance and character-driven plots in mystery or action-adventure. If you're not sure whether to classify a story as action-driven or character-driven, consider what comes to mind first when you begin to play with an idea for a particular story. Do you think about the action or the character? It's a good clue. When you are considering ideas for your story, which most often spring to mind? Specific events or how the character is going to react if those events happen?

Is knowing which kind of story you have important? Since I had three books published before I really considered whether my stories were more character-oriented than action-oriented, it must not be crucial. But knowing will help you make decisions about structure and assist you in pacing. And it will help you add to or balance the elements you need to create a nice mixture of both. Writers tend to find their ideas and shape their stories based on one way of thinking or the other.

When I begin writing a book, the main character almost always takes shape in my mind first. The character comes complete with a specific problem he will face, but then I develop situations that will challenge him, and fine-tune other characters who will, in some way, be at odds with the main character, ensuring lots of conflict and struggle. More often than not, I shape the events around making the character grow.

But one of my novels didn't work that way. When I began it – the one romantic suspense novel I've written thus far - I woke up one day with several fully-formed events and incidents in mind. I had to build characters that would be challenged by the events and grow to meet them. That was a rare occurrence for me. I imagine it would be uncommon for a more action-oriented writer to find herself suddenly coming up with character-driven story ideas. But I know it happens. I’ve even seen writers start out as more character-driven writers and gradually become more action-oriented, and vice versa. Part of that is growth as a writer. We learn to diversify as we get better.

The ideal finished product is a medley of exciting action with fully developed characters. Most of the movies we've examined here are a balanced combination of the two. The wonderful mix makes them worthy of examination for that very reason. It also explains one of the reasons they were so successful at the box office.

Readers - and moviegoers - love a story with a strong emphasis on both character and action. While some people prefer action and one exhilarating happening after another, others prefer stories in which the characters and their growth are of primary importance. A well-structured story that has a nice mix of both attracts audiences and provides a foundation for a blockbuster. And everyone's happy!

There isn't a standard combination of character or action, no correct formula, because every story is unique. So do not be intimidated thinking you have to reach an ideal. There is no such thing. As with every element we've discussed, it all depends on your story. Plotting-mapping out your story-helps you find the correct blend for your story.

BUILDING A STORY

To qualify as a story, yours must have a beginning, a middle, and an end. The beginning and end are the easy parts. Most writers have those in mind when they get the kernel of the idea. They might not know exactly where to start. And they might not know exactly what will happen at the end. But they do know how it will end. The protagonist will either be defeated by or triumph over the problem. Most authors know which it's going to be when the idea forms in their minds. The struggle to determine the outcome - whether the hero will win or lose - is the middle.

Let's dissect the pieces that, when strung together, make up the plot: the scenes. In comparing plotting with building a house, a scene is like an individual room of the house. Different rooms have different purposes, each distinct and separate from the other. Some of those rooms are public and lend themselves to activity and gathering: the kitchen and dining and living rooms for example. Others, like bedrooms and bathrooms, are meant for privacy and rest and refuge. They all flow together, one after another. The doorway through which you leave one room leads into another.

Scenes compare nicely to that. They flow together, one leading to another. They are distinct and separate. There are also two types of scenes and two purposes: one type of scene is where things happen (action), and the other is where the character reflects on what has happened (reaction), regroups, and decides his next course of action.

SCENES AND SEQUELS

Dwight Swain, in his book Techniques of the Selling Writer (a great addition to any writer's library), calls the two types of scenes Scene and Sequel.

Both types of scenes are "scenes" in the broad sense of the word. They both are segments of the overall story. The differerence between the two is their purpose. A Scene (we'll capitalize the two to distinguish "scene" in general from either the Scene or a Sequel, the two distinct types of scenes we're talking about here) is action, literal or metaphorical, as in something-happening-to-advance-the-story. A Sequel is reflective. The character takes-a-breather-to-see-where-she-stands in this segment of the story.

Both Scenes and Sequels have a beginning, a middle, and an end, just like your big story. And that is exactly what the scenes are: tiny little stories.

The beginning of any Scene is like the beginning of the overall story. The character acts on a decision, establishes a goal, and sets things into motion. The middle of a Scene is where we see the character trying to achieve that goal. The end of the scene is the resolution of that tiny little story.

Let's look at a Sequel from the movie Bridget Jones's Diary where Bridget (Renée Zellweger) looks at her calendar at the end of a very bad day and sees that she is committed to go to dinner with "smug married couples." Her decision to go starts the next Scene.

In the beginning of the Scene your character takes action. Bridget goes to the dinner with the aforementioned couples. Her goal for this scene is to get through it with a modicum of dignity intact.

The middle of the Scene consists of seeing how the character handles - or doesn't handle - the action she has taken. The middle of the scene is about conflict, your character's struggle. Bridget's tired of being the "odd woman out." She's already had a horrible day, and she has to stay on her toes to dodge the slings and arrows her dinner companions all seem intent on aiming at her. She isn't handling the problem - smug married couples - especially well. She's finally about to escape.

The Scene ends with a resolution. She either wins or loses her struggle. In this case a disheartened Bridget feels she has definitely lost this struggle. Then Mark Darcy follows her out - she thinks to insult her - and instead, tells her, "I like you, just the way you are." In the small sense of this tiny little story, this resolves her problem by reassuring her it doesn't matter that she isn't part of the club of "smug married couples" - he likes her anyway.

In the large sense of the rest of the story, a Scene advances the story and takes it to a new level. In this Scene Bridget has attracted the notice of Mark Darcy and is revising her previous, unflattering opinion of him.

The end of the Scene is the door into the Sequel where the character reacts to what has happened in the Scene. In the Sequel, the character evaluates where that leaves her and decides how she will deal with whatever just happened. The decision leads into the next Scene.

The beginning of the Sequel is about reaction. It shows the character’s response to the action of the Scene: Bridget is dazed by Mark's comments. She gathers her friends to tell them about the Scene.

In the middle of the Sequel, the character evaluates and deals with what has happened: Bridget and her friends analyze Mark's comments. She hasn't liked Mark up until now. She has to reevaluate her feelings and perceptions in light of his comments.

The end of the Sequel brings her to a decision about what to do with the information she now has. She changes the way she feels about Mark. She likes him better now, but decides to proceed with caution because of what she already knows and her own past experiences with him. Her decision sets her up for the next meeting with him. Her attitude and everything she thinks and feels about him will be different than it has been previously. The Sequel has a beginning (reaction), a middle (evaluation) and an end (decision). And that launches the next Scene. That's the important thing you should note about Scenes and Sequels. One leads to the other as surely as a door in your house leads you into another room. At the end of a Sequel the decision the character makes is like taking a step through a doorway, into the next room. In a Scene the resolution at the end is the same. It's like stepping through the doorway into another Scene or a Sequel room. At the end _Of a Sequel the decision the character makes is like taking a step through a doorway, into the next Scene.

When Bridget looks at her calendar at the end of a harrowing day, she makes the decision that ends this particular Sequel. She sees the scheduled dinner with "smug married couples" and decids to go, even though she isn't looking forward to it.

The resolution of the Scene with the "smug married couples" - Mark's comments - lead to the Sequel where she has to evaluate it all.

Bridget's decision to think of Mark in a different way leads into the next Scene, her assignment to cover the trial where she meets Mark again. Isn't that nifty how they all fit so perfectly together?

In an action-driven story, it isn't unusual to have several Scenes, one after another, before you get to a Sequel, especially the further you get into the story. A character-driven story will usually have more Sequels than an action-driven story, but neither will have more Sequels than Scenes. Your characters have to have something happen before they can react to that something.

Scenes are also usually longer than Sequels. Action keeps the pace steady, at the very least, and hopefully, gradually picks up the speed. Reaction and evaluation - often written as introspection and narrative, and essentially what most Sequels consist of - slow things down. You don't want your story to stay too long, dawdling in the slow lane, or your reader will find something else to do.

PLOTTING WITH STYLE

Those are the very basic things you need to know before you can begin to map out a plot. If you're a Seat-of-the-Pants (SOTP) writer - one who sits down with an idea and a blank page and just writes the story - that may be all you ever need. For those organized Plotters and Planners (P&P) – writers who have to know every aspect of their story before they can begin, this is only a beginning. For those of us who sit down to a blank first page with a certain amount of trepidation unless we have some sort of plan, but can get confused or overwhelmed if we plan too much, too far ahead, we need a hybrid of the two styles. We need to be SIB - somewhere in between.

Obviously I don't plan everything up front. I plan some of it, then resort to figuring out the rest as I go. When I get stuck or feel something isn't right, I stop and think through the next part of my story. I suspect this style was part of my problem in understanding plot. Thinking of it as the story made me get ahead of myself. Thinking of it as structure let me write a portion at a time without worrying about what would be in the next few chapters. As long as the part I was working on had all the elements I needed to make that piece of the story complete, I was on track.

This plot structure is a checklist of sorts. Plotting, using this technique, is making sure all the necessary elements are there in the right amounts and in the most effective order by the time I finish the story. Again, the best way for you to work depends what kind of writer you are.

The kind of writer you are won't decide whether the information from this chapter is useful for you. Your style will probably predict when it will be most helpful to you - before you start (P&P), while you write (SIB), or after you’re finished with the first draft and are ready to revise, reorder, and shine your story (SOTP).

Not every story you read or see at the movies will have every element we will discuss, but I can almost guarantee that the ones you remember - the ones you love - will.

Fashions change in what people like to read and write just as they do in everything else. For example, they change in things like Point of View. For many years, most popular fiction was written in third person. In the past few years, we've begun to see more and more first person in every genre. Charles Dickens played God quite handily - with an omniscient point of view - and without apology: "... the guard suspected the passengers, the passengers suspected each other and the guard, they all suspected every-one else." But for a long time, seeing things and knowing things that the narrator couldn't possibly know or see was a no-no, almost a sure-fire way to get a rejection from a publisher. J. K. Rowling brought it back into limited style with her Harry Potter series: "Harry Potter slept on, not knowing he was special, not knowing he was famous ..."

While Shakespeare used a five-act structure in almost all of his plays, the current fashion in plotting leans toward breaking things into three acts. I divide stories into five parts, and the structure for a plot takes shape. (Though I don't usually think of my parts as acts, we'll use the terminology to keep us on the same page.)

The novel Pride and Prejudice wouldn't follow most of the fiction-writing rules you'll find in current writing books. But all five of the story parts I identify below are in that book.

Don't worry about fashions and formulas. There are none, unless you're to write a carbon copy of someone else's story - and then it isn't your story anyway! This is a plan for structuring your novel, like a blueprint if you were building a house.

THE FIVE MAJOR POINTS OF A FIVE STAR PLOT

Your story as a whole is comprised of five acts:

THE BEGINNING

1^st PIVOTALPOINT

2^nd PIVOTAL POINT

3^rd PIYOTAL POINT

THE RESOLUTION

When you finish the story, it will earn this star if you have included all of the parts of all of the acts.

Each of the first four acts (The Beginning and three pivotal points) has five necessary elements to make it complete. So think of each act as a little star hanging on the four points of the larger star, which is your overall story structure.

The Beginning lays the foundation and defines the parts needed to ground your story in either reality or in a world detailed enough to become real to the reader.

The purpose of the Beginning act is to set a tone for the story, set the stage and show the reader the world where our story will take place, intrigue the reader with someone they will care about, and introduce the problem that the character is going to face. This first act (the Beginning) ends with the character acting on a decision.

And the elements - which give us our first small star, in no particular order except for the decision - are:

THE PROBLEM

THE CHARACTER

THE SETTING

THE TONE THE DECISION

Though thoughts about the decision can come at any time, the act ends and the second act begins when the character actually decides something. Acting on the decision starts the next act.

The Beginning act continues for as few or as many pages as it needs to make the four initial things very clear: the problem, the setting, the tone, the character. When those things are established, your protagonist can make a decision. For the reader the decision establishes the main character's extrenal goal. When you've planned that much you have the first part of your first star.

If the story is action-driven, you may very well introduce the problem first. A blow-up-the-building prologue, perhaps? If your story is character-driven, odds are you'll want to get the character on the page before or as you introduce the problem.

Perhaps your character has a genuine funny bone and you want to reveal that immediately. Maybe she'll react to the beginnings of the problem, a slap in the face, by laughing. With a beginning like that you could reveal the main character by name, one of the character's main traits - her humor - and a symptom or hint of the problem - the slap - and set the tone, all in one opening sentence.

Setting becomes more important if you are creating a made-up world - such as Krikkit in The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams - or if you are in a historical time period - 35,000 years ago as in The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel - or even a real place - say Borneo - that isn't familiar to most readers. But setting is important to define early in every story.

You can't have your characters floating about in space and time with no reference that tells the reader where the story is happening. That's especially true if the setting is someplace unique and different from the reality occupied by the reader. He needs a signal to know he'll have to do a mind-shift to comprehend this different world. And you'd be surprised how easily you can establish setting very early in almost any story. The danger lies in getting so detailed that you ruin the launch of your story.

Let's say the problem you plan to introduce is a wrecked car. The heroine will have to have a new one right away or everything she values - her job? her sickly child's visits to the doctor for treatment? - will be threatened. A nice slide on the ice with Molly Mayberry trying to remember if you pump or don't pump the brakes when trying to stop a skid, tells us a lot as she's crashing into the bridge abutment and then caroming off into oncoming traffic.

We have the Problem - so much for that car. We have the beginning of a Character - we know her name. Is she screaming hysterically or reacting with cool reason? We know something of her character solely by her reaction and thoughts. Is she one who wears her seatbelt? Those answers give us hints of her character traits.

We have a glimpse of the Setting, too. We know the season - winter because of the ice. She obviously isn't in the tropics. It's probably the "forever now," or the car would be something notably different, like an aircar or a jetpack. As she wonders about pumping the brakes, we know driving on ice isn't something she does every day. The reader will assume she's in al clime more moderate than Alaska, or at least that she's new to the climate she's in. Or she could be new to driving. We have hints.

The Tone is established naturally from the type of story you're telling. But you do have to know and recognize what that tone will be. Is the description of what's happening told in a dramatic tone? A light one? Frivolous? Dark? Your beginning has to be told in the same tone you intend to continue using to tell the whole story.

Your opening scene will probably be told from the main character's perspective. We'll find out her tone, her voice. In the example above, is Molly Mayberry voicing the scene sarcastically in her thoughts? Hysterically? Is the danger to herself uppermost in her mind, or is she worrying about the car? Though a comedic story can have moments of drama - or vice versa - the tone you establish from the beginning must stay consistent throughout the story. And you set it here, from your very first word.

The heroine makes her Decision when she decides she will have to get a new car. The second act starts when she acts on the decision.

That's the breakdown of the first act. Now let's apply it to Bridget Jones's Diary.

In the movie, we get a bit of setting, problem, tone, and character in the first line. "It all began on New Year's Day in my thirty-second year of being single." The Setting is partially visual because it's a movie. Bridget (Renée Zellweger) is walking through a heavy snowfall. But we know the time is New Year's Day because she tells us. Her accent is British. (We pick up the accent rather quickly in the print version of the story, too, from the very British-sounding words she uses.)

The Problem is that she is alone. The fact that she is thirty-two years old and single makes the problem worse. Her mother is trying - as always - to "fix her up." Again, a nod toward the problem. (Double Duty: We also get a quick introduction to a second problem, a secondary character and subplot, when Bridget describes her mother as "a strange creature." It's a very insignificant line at the time, but it lays the groundwork for future developments in the subplot.)

From her first line, we know that Bridget is thirty-two years old, and we can deduce that her Character is lonely and concerned about being a spinster. The Tone is quirky. And because it is in Bridget's point of view, we know the character is going to have an interesting – quirky - way of looking at life.

Since this is a character-driven plot, the next five minutes are mostly spent learning about her character and re-emphasizing the problem. She goes without protest to put on the outfit her mother asks her to wear. We know by her description of the outfit - as a "carpet" - that she doesn't especially like it. Why does she put it on? At this point, we don't know if she doesn't stick up for herself, if she doesn't stick up for herself in general because it's her mother, or if she is just easy-going. Our suspicion that she doesn't stick up for herself enough is verified when the fake uncle gropes her butt and asks about her love life - both of which she hates, but does nothing about.

Her father is an ally and sympathetic. She's an optimist. She hopes Mark Darcy (Colin Firth) may be Mr. Right when she sees him from behind. She is verbose without thinking. She isn't very self-disciplined. When Mark Darcy summarizes all the things we've also seen in her character - in the most negative terms possible - Bridget overhears, lifts her chin, smiles, says something inane, and pretende not to have heard. She's learned to put on a pleasant front.

We see her devastation at the insult - and her Decision to change - when she is home alone. Her decision tells us her goal. In the book, we see Bridget's decision - her New Year's resolutions - first, and then her reasons (her motivation) for wanting to change. The same problems, the characterization, the setting, and tone are revealed as we have seen in the movie. We reach the end of the first act and the 1st Pivotal Point, which begins the second act with Bridget taking the first step toward change.

The character of Mark Darcy isn't quite as offensive in the book as he is in the movie, but he makes it clear he isn't interested in having Bridget's phone number. He mostly just avoids her. She returns to her apartment feeling very unattractive.

In Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen's perennial favorite and the book that Helen Fielding loosely based Bridget Jones's Dìary on, we have a slightly different setup. It was first published in 1813, so it doesn't exactly hold the shape of most current popular fiction. We're introduced to the external goal - the Problem - right away. At least one or two of the five daughters must make a good marriage, or the family may well be destitute when the father dies. His estate is entailed - he is restricted as to who he can leave his property to - and will be inherited by his nephew since he has no male heirs.

We leisurely get to know the primary Characters - Elizabeth, her mother and father, Jane - and several of the secondary ones. The Tone is uniquely Jane Austen's, her time period, her world. And the Setting is especially worth noting.

In the entire first chapter, there is nothing to indicate the weather, whether Mr. and Mrs. Bennet are indoors or out, if they have an audience or are alone. By not mentioning it, we are firmly set in the "forever now." Though it was written nearly two hundred years ago, the "forever now" tells us that it could have been happening around the corner or down the Street from most of the readers of the time. Just as a book written in the "forever now" of today - a setting that needs no explanation -would tell the reader the story could be taking place around the corner and down the Street in the world they live in now. Setting is sometimes what you don't and shouldn't say.

If the Decision is any one character's, it is the mother's. Mrs. Bennet is intent on her daughters' all being introduced to the new neighbor, Mr. Bingley, because he would make one of them a good match. (After all, she points out frequently, he has 5,000 pounds a year.) Jane and Elizabeth both realize the family fortunes are in their hands and acknowledge they must marry well. But both dream of marrying for love - an external goal. That is also a Decision of sorts, but - because of the restrictions of the time period - destiny isn't fully in their hands.

If act one of your story - the Beginning - includes all these things, it deserves your first small star, with each point representing one of the necessary elements of a good Beginning.

The Beginning leads the character to act on a decision. The plot pivots on that decision, and we're ready for part two, the second act.

The elements needed in the second act, which will lead to the 1^ST Pivotal Point in the story, are:

CHARACTERIZATION

SECONDS

SETBACKS

SUCCESSES

FAILURE

The main character(s) should be introduced by now, with their major traits clear to the reader. In this part of the story, we need to develop her more fully. In a progression of scenes the reader will find out how the character specific traits cause her to act and react in her day-to-day life. For instance, Bridget doesn't always act in her own best interest. She gets drunk and sings karaoke-badly-at the company party. We'll learn more of the fill-in-the-gap things, such as her current situation. Bridget lives alone, works at a publishing company, and has some very entertaining friends.

Characterization in this part of the book will solidify the audience's initial impressions of the character. This is the introductory phase. She'll face the struggles (conflict) you'll throw at her in a constant barrage. The reader will see how she acts and reacts to those obstacles.

The Seconds in this plot structure refer to secondary plot lines and characters. This is the act where you will introduce and initiate them.

The protagonist will deal mostly with minor obstacles and minor Setbacks in this part of the book, usually related to external goals rather than internal ones, and she'll find some Success - again, mostly in relation to her external goal. She'll take two steps forward and one step back.

By now the character is feeling great about the successes she has had. And in this act, there will probably be more successes than setbacks because the struggles are easy - or so the character thinks. And then she experiences a crashing Failure.

As soon as Bridget makes the decision to change, she succeeds - or so she thinks. With very little effort or action on her part - and a mistake at that, (with her boss catching her in a lie about the phone call from the dead professor - a minor Setback) – she seems to have Daniel's attention (Success). Never mind that avoiding men like Daniel was part of her resolve (Minor Setback in reaching her goal to change since she totally ignores her plan.) We've already established that she doesn't always act wisely. Her overall goal is not to be alone come next New Year's. (Do you see the focus on the external rather than the internal at this point?) He flirts with her skirt (Success). She flirts back, then plays it cool, lecturing herself about finding a nice man (a nod toward her internal goals, more Characterization, and a realization on her part that she's experiencing minor Setbacks). Her tally of the number of cigarettes she smokes, the alcoholic units she consumes, and her weight goes up and down (more minor Successes and Setbacks.) He takes her to dinner (Success). They bond talking about Mark Darcy (Success). She worries about her hemlines and how people around her view her. (Her Setbacks and Successes are mostly external, not internal.)

The secondary storyline - her mother's dissatisfaction with her marriage and new boyfriend - is launched (Seconds). We get to know Bridget's friends and all the secondary characters better (Seconds). She and Daniel take a mini-break. "Oh joy! No longer a tragic spinster ... A mini-break means true love" (Success). "Daniel? Do you love me?" He doesn't exactly answer (Setback). He zips out and leaves her to face the Tarts and Vicars party alone (Setback). Bridget finds him with another woman. (Failure). You've reached the 1^ST Pivotal Point.

In Pride and Prejudice, Jane makes headway in the marriage stakes. The new neighbor, Mr. Bingley, is very much taken with her and she with him (Success). There are a couple of flies in the ointment though: his sisters and his friend (Setback). And it doesn't help that they consider her family far beneath Mr. Bingley on the societal scale (Setback). Jane falls ill while visiting Mr. Bingley's sister (Success for Mrs. Bennet). Elizabeth goes to care for her sister and is subjected to Miss Bingley's snobbery (Setback).

Elizabeth is not doing as well in the marriage stakes. Mr Bingley's friend, Mr. Darcy, doesn't even find her "tolerable" enough to dance with (Setback). After overhearing that conversation, she forms a very prejudiced opinion of the conceited Mr. Darcy.

She does attract the attention of a new officer in town, Mr. Wickham (Success), but he doesn't have the means to support a wife and needs to find someone himself who can bring financial backing to a marriage (Setback). They bond over their shared dislike of Mr. Darcy (Seconds).

Mr. Collins, the male cousin who will inherit the Bennet estate, is deter-mined to find a wife and asks Elizabeth to marry him (Seconds and Success). She finds him intolerable (Setback). We get to know all of the family better (Characterization and Seconds) and find that the mother and younger sisters do not always exhibit the most proper behavior (Seconds and Setback).

After an especially obnoxious display on the part of the Bennet family, the Bingley party departs for London, leaving behind a very disappointed Jane. The hopes of any of the daughters forming a "good match" with Mr. Bingley turn to dust (Failure).

If this act has shown your character acting and reacting with the character traits you have given her, if it has introduced your secondary story lines and characters, if you've shown your character finding some success and experiencing some setbacks, followed by a major failure, your second act is complete. You've reached your 1^ST Pivotal Point and earned another star.

The failure at the end of the second act leads the character to reevaluate and renew her resolve to reach her goal. The plot pivots to act three, (and takes you to the 2^ND Pivotal Point.) Act three of your story will need:

RENEWAL

OBSTACLES

SUCCESSES

GROWTH

REAL RISK

Whatever the character's goal, after her Failure realizes that reaching it is not going to be as easy as she thought it would be.

It's human nature to resist change. We all do it, especially if the change is difficult. Up until now - during the second part of your story - that is what the character has been doing. She's been resisting real change by making virtually effortless moves, taking the easy way out, if you will.

She Renews her commitment to the goal, even though she realizes it is going to be tough. She begins to make the less obvious changes she needs to make. She begins working internally instead of just superficially. The Obstacles get larger. Her struggles require greater effort. But her Successes are bigger, too. The reader starts to see real Growth and change in the character. And the character becomes more aware of how she's changing. She begins to feel a sense of satisfaction that she is making them. Then something happens to make the character put her goal at risk.

After Bridget throws her well-deserved pity party, we see her Renewal when she tells her diary, "I have two choices. I can give up and accept permanent state of spinsterhood and eventual eating by dogs ... or Not. And this time, I choose Not."

Daniel points her in the right direction for internal change when he tells her his new American fiancée has "confidence." Bridget throws out all her self-help books geared toward supplying a man with what he wants and replaces them with books about how to get what she wants. Her Obstacles get bigger as she looks for a new job, but her successes do, too. She lands a very different but potentially great job, and we see Growth as she finally gets to confidently tell Daniel she'd rather "wipe Saddam Hussein's ass" than work for him.

Her first effort at her new job is less than stellar - demoralizing in fact. A dinner with "smug married couples" (Obstacle), bottoms out the demoralizing day. But Mark Darcy bolsters her confidence by telling her he likes her just the way she is (Success).

Her next job assignment turns out much better. "Oh Joy! I am broad-casting genius." This time she celebrates something she did, her own achievement, something deeper than what's on the surface. (Growth again and Double Duty: Success with Mark).

She is celebrating her Success with her friends and with a newly appealing Mark Darcy - since he contributed greatly to her "broadcasting genius" success - when Daniel turns up again.

Mark and Daniel fight over her (Big-time Success)! Yet when it comes right down to it, based on what she's learned (Growth), she turns them both away, putting her goal of not being alone at risk (Real risk). She tells Daniel she is still looking for something more extraordinary than he offers.

An amazingly well-told story - explaining its popularity for almost 200 years - Pride and Prejudice is also a product of its time. The elements are tricky to compare to current popular fiction because the overall goals are broad, not those of individual characters, and the societal restrictions made it difficult for the characters - especially women - to make decisions that would make a real difference in their lives. Most of the changes that take place are in attitude and outlook. Success and Growth in this story are often measured by how the characters deal with life as it was, not in how they substantially changed their lives, though that was a part of it.

At the 1^ST Pivotal Point, Jane Bennet, who always assumes the best of everyone, goes to London in hopes of running into Mr. Bingley again. (Renewal) She is treated to the snobbery that Elizabeth first experienced from Mr. Bingley's sisters (Obstacle). She admits that perhaps not everyone is as kind and well-wishing as she gives them credit for being (Growth). She doesn't see Mr. Bingley (Obstacle).

Elizabeth is strong-willed and jumps to conclusions on very short acquaintance. Her character growth relies on learning to live with the consequences of her prejudices and on not forming her opinions so quickly. She admits to loving few and liking even fewer. "The more I see of the world, the more am I dissatisfied with it," she says, "and everyday confirms my belief of the inconsistency of all human characters, and of the little dependence that can be placed on the appearance of either merit or sense."

She becomes friendlier with Mr. Wickham (Renewal), though she knows a relationship with him holds few possibilities because of their fortunes - or lack of them (Obstacle). By listening to his prejudices, she makes some judgments that will have a negative impact on her family (Obstacle). When her best friend Charlotte marries Mr. Collins, the man she turned down, Elizabeth is, at first, appalled on her friend's behalf. Then she grows more tolerant of the choices others make (Growth). Except in the case of Mr. Darcy.

She goes to visit Mr. Collins and Charlotte and finds herself often in dose proximity to Mr. Darcy. She verbally spars with him at every opportunity - and usually wins (Success). She finds from his companion, Colonel Fitzwilliam, that Mr. Darcy was instrumental in separating Jane from Mr. Bingley. Her prejudice against Mr. Darcy grows by a huge bound.

Mr. Darcy - stunningly - proposes to her (Success!) by naming all the reasons he should not want a marriage with her: her family and her low social status (Setback). He tells her he likes her against his will, his reason, and even against his character. Mr. Darcy is very wealthy, much too high in society to consider marrying someone as lowly as she is and still think of it as a "good" marriage for himself. He asks her to marry him because he loves her, and risks his respectability.

She should be flattered (Success). But she dreams of marrying for love, and all he has done is insult her and her family. She makes it clear that she doesn't respect him.

Elizabeth turns him down (Real Risk) putting the goal of marrying well to secure her family's future security in jeopardy. As Mr. Collins warned her, there are few chances she will get more proposals of marriage and none that she will get a better one than from Mr. Darcy.

Your story gets another gold star if you can confirm that all of these elements are included in this part of your story:

RENEWAL

OBSTACLES

SUCCESSES

GROWTH

REAL RISK

With that Real Risk, your plot reaches the 2^ND Pivotal point and act four begins.

From the protagonist's point of view, act four leading to the 3^RD and final Pivotal Point is mainly about the internal changes she has to make. But it is also where you resolve subplots and problems that have to do with secondary characters. Act four of your story should include (in no particular order):

SECONDS

CHANGE

REALITY CHECK

BLACK MOMENT

ULTIMATE RISK

The items needed to have a satisfactory fourth act in a story truly don't need to happen in any specific order.

This is the point in the story where you tie up loose ends. Secondary plots – Seconds - are resolved. Secondary characters resolve any outstanding conflicts. Any questions remaining must be answered. In order for the character to Change, core beliefs must be challenged. She must finally realize the error of her ways. Then she must take the steps necessary to make the change. A Reality Check is anything that tests the character's resolve to make the change. An obstacle that would have defeated her previously is now determinedly disregarded. The character is now willing to take the Ultimate Risk of failure. After the character takes the Ultimate Risk, the outcome is often out of her hands. The risk leads to crisis - the Black Moment, which occurs when it seems that the protagonist has, indeed, lost everything, including hope of reaching her goal (some call this the climax). The Black Moment describes it perfectly for me in that it is the dark before the dawn.

In some stories the character's change results in the Black Moment. and induces the character to take the Ultimate Risk. In others, the Black Moment forces the change. In action-driven plots, character change is often so subtle that you miss it unless you're intent on looking for it. Sometimes the character takes the Ultimate Risk and then comes face-to-face with the Black Moment.

Again, the elements needed in act four do not have to happen in any particular order; just so all the pieces are there.

Bridget shows Change at the moment the plot pivots again. Does she want just any man or does she want a "nice" man as she first stated in her resolutions? She chooses being alone over Daniel Cleaver.

When she goes home for Christmas, her mother appears and her parents reunite (Seconds). The Change continues when she discovers that she has been wrong about Mark Darcy. Her decision to turn him away was based on inaccurate information. She determinedly sets out to correct the problem.

Bridget's Reality Check comes when she arrives at Mark's party for his parents' anniversary. She first sees Mark in a crowd. She plunges ahead. Mark isn't exactly receptive or encouraging. She plunges ahead anyway. Natasha interrupts them. Bridget plunges ahead again. She takes the Ultimate Risk and gets him alone to have her say. They are interrupted. Mark goes back to the party without reacting.

Bridget's Black Moment comes when she discovers Mark is leaving the country and becoming engaged to Natasha. Still true to her verbally incontinent self, she plunges ahead, she protests loudly, extending her Ultimate Risk. She returns home, defeated, feeling all is lost.

Elizabeth, in Pride and Prejudice, begins to Change almost as soon as she rejects Mr. Darcy. She receives his letter, telling her the irrefutable facts of his relationship with Mr. Wickham. She sees her family and situation from his point of view. A visit to the lake country with her aunt and uncle cements the Change. She visits his estate and hears about his real character from his housekeeper. She meets him again and he goes out of his way to be gentlemanly and cordial to her and her aunt and uncle - even though they are also socially inferior to him. (Mr. Darcy is changing, too, but we've had most of the focus on Elizabeth so we'll stay there.) Mr. Darcy invites them to his home and introduces her to his sister.

Elizabeth's Change is complete when Lydia, her youngest sister, runs off with Mr. Wickham. She realizes her mistaken assumptions have contributed to her problems and have, in fact, helped make what has happened possible. She knows she and her whole family will have to deal with the consequences of her mistakes.

On hearing the news about Lydia's behavior, Mr. Darcy seemingly turns his back on her. Elizabeth hits her Black Moment when she and Jane console each other with the knowledge that Lydia's blemish on the family's reputation means they have little hope of marrying at all, let alone of marrying well or for love.

Lydia is found, and Mr. Wickham is forced to marry her (Seconds). Mr. Bingley returns and proposes marriage to Jane (Seconds).

Elizabeth's Reality Check begins when she finds that Mr. Darcy is the one who secretly brought about a resolution to the situation with Lydia and Mr. Wickham. When he comes to visit with Mr. Bingley, her mother persists in insulting him. The Reality Check continues when Mr. Darcy's aunt comes to call to warn Elizabeth not to marry Mr. Darcy. After all of that, does she still dare hope that he cares?

She fears she will never know unless she takes the Ultimate Risk. She apologizes and offers her thanks to Mr. Darcy for his part in solving the problem with Lydia and Mr. Wickham. She knows that she is giving him the opening he needs to declare himself, if he is still interested. If he doesn't take it, she'll know hope is gone.

And your plot has reached at the 3rd pivotal point, of the Ultimate Risk, and the final act begins.

THE RESOLUTION

There is only one thing left at this point. Either the character will get what she wants or she will fail. The scene (or scenes) that shows whether your protagonist walks away with the prize is the sum total of the resolution.

In both Bridget and Elizabeth's cases, they succeed.

In Bridget Jones's Diary, Mark Darcy returns to England to get the kiss he forgot to get before he left. In Pride and Prejudice, Mr. Darcy asks Elizabeth if her feelings have changed. She admits they have. And Elizabeth and Bridget both achieve their ultimate goal (Resolution).

Whether your character succeeds or fails, you have succeeded in building a stellar plot if you have included all of the things we've discussed.

NOTE

A REALITY CHECK FOR AUTHORS. REMEMBER THE SCENE WHERE THE PUBLISHING COMPANY IS "LAUNCHING" A BOOK? SEVERAL FAMOUS AUTHORS MAKE AN APPEARANCE, INCLUDING SALMAN RUSHDIE. HE PLAYS ALONG WITH AN INSIDE JOKE, ESPECIALLY MEANT FOR AUTHORS I WOULD BET. TWICE, SOMEONE ASKS HIM WHERE THE BATHROOM IS.

AT AN AUTHOR'S FIRST BOOK-SIGNING, HE HOPES FOR - AND DESERVES - A LITTLE AWE AND ADMIRATION. ONLY TO DISCOVER THAT NO ONE, NO MATTER HOW MIGHTY, GETS BY WITHOUT AT LEAST ONE PERSON COMING UP TO ASK - NOT FOR AN AUTOGRAPH - BUT FOR DIRECTIONS TO THE BATHROOM.

PLAN ON IT! IT'S PART OF THE PLOT TO KEEP AUTHORS FIRMLY GROUNDED IN REALITY.

Alfie Thompson has given writing workshops from New York to Hawaii. She's earned Write Touch Reader's Awards and climbed as high as #14 on Ingram's most requested author list. Two and a half million copies of her books have been sold in 32 languages and 29 countries.