Nigel Watts wrote a little
book called “Writing a Novel” as part of the Teach Yourself series of books
that cover a wide variety of subjects. I was perusing the interwebs years ago
and happened across a comment from another writer recommending Nigel’s book, so
I hopped on to Amazon and bought myself a copy. Unfortunately for me, at the time
the book was rare and pricey and I had to buy a used copy for $20, though now
one can purchase a cheaper copy be it paperback or digital. Oh well, it was $20
well spent regardless.
In
his book, Nigel explains the 8-point story arc, an incredibly useful tool for
writers that has proven its worth many times over since I began implementing it
into my own writing ventures. Nigel’s 8-point story arc is freely available all
over the internet these days if one does a simple Google search, but I
recommend you buy his book anyways because he spent the time writing it and
“Writing a Novel” contains much more valuable (though some a bit outdated given
our current digital age) information than just his 8-point story arc. So what’s
the 8-point story arc? Zip-a-dee-doo-dah:
1.
Stasis
2.
Trigger
3.
Quest
4.
Surprise
5.
Critical Choice
6.
Climax
7.
Reversal
8.
Resolution
Or . . .
Once
upon a time (stasis),
something
out of the ordinary happens (trigger),
causing
the protagonist to seek something (quest),
but
things don’t go as expected (surprise),
forcing
the protagonist to make a difficult decision (critical choice),
which
has consequences (climax),
the
result of which is a change in status (reversal),
and
they all lived happily every after–or didn’t (resolution).
Thus
is Story, or so says Nigel Watts. And I concur. But I also say the 8-point
story arc not only applies to your overall story but also to each and every
scene within it. And my suggestion is this: use Nigel’s 8-point story arc and
describe your entire novel’s story in one sentence each pertaining to the 8
points of the story arc. This is a great way to grasp a secure feel of your
whole story, before spending countless hours and months of daily writing, while
also figuring out any pesky plot holes that may pop up.
Now
that you have a loose plot of your overall story figured out in a logical
though surprising way for your reader, you can next break down into further
detail the scenes your story contains by way of applying the same yet different
8-point scene arc. Think of them as mini arcs within the maximum story, bridges
leading from one scene to the next. If you wish, apply them to each of your
chapters, though you will have to change the “resolution” of your scenes so
that each event connects into the next in a continuous flow until your story
reaches its true resolution, but that’s a minor detail easily figured out with
a little tinkering . . .
And
so the protagonist continues forth, executing their new plan of attack (new
stasis),
until
something out of the ordinary happens (trigger),
causing
the protagonist to seek something (side quest),
but
things don’t go as expected again (surprise),
forcing
the protagonist to make another difficult decision (critical choice),
which
has consequences (climax),
the
result of which is a change in status (reversal),
helping
them decide on a new plan of attack (continuation) . . .
Repeat
as needed.
As
example, let’s say you have a 20 chapter novel planned for writing. Okay, now
let’s apply Nigel’s 8-point story arc as follows:
1.
Stasis
2.
3.
Trigger
4.
5.
6.
Quest
7.
8.
9.
10.
Surprise
11.
Critical Choice
12.
13.
14.
Climax
15.
16.
Reversal
17.
18.
19.
20.
Resolution
Now
one only needs to fill in the gaps with the 8-point scene arc, connecting each
of the 8 story arc points with a logical yet surprising sense of flow, and
viola! the rest writes itself. But that still leaves a lot of white space
begging for filling, truth be told, and if you’re familiar with my detailed
writing guide for both Plotters and Pantsers (Pen the Sword: the universal plot skeleton of every story ever told) then you might plug in those pesky plot gaps
even further like this:
1.
Opening Hook
2.
(Stasis) Save the Cat & Kick the Dog
3.
(Trigger) Inciting Incident
4.
Try/Fail Cycles
5.
Physical Crossing
6.
(Quest) Fish Out of Water
7.
Allies & Enemies & Training
8.
Betrayal Set-up
9.
Big Success
10.
(Surprise) Midpoint Twist
11.
(Critical Choice) Rededication
12.
Betrayal influence
13.
Try/Fail Cycles
14.
(Climax) Betrayal Pay-off & All Is Lost
15.
Spiritual Crossing
16.
(Reversal) Rally the Troops
17.
Storming the Castle
18.
All Is Lost . . . Again
19.
All Is Won
20.
(Resolution)
Whew!
Isn’t that much better without all the white space screaming for words? Of
course it is!
Though
the above examples are only that: examples. You can devise your own novel plot
chart as according to your particular story, changing and rearranging as needed.
As to the details of the fill-in-the blanks, well, that’s what buying and
reading the books are for, silly!
In
Pen the Sword: the universal plot skeleton of every story ever told I break
down at length every essential scene required for an engaging story learned
from more than a decade and countless hours spent dissecting hundreds of movies
and novels, leaving no plotting stone unturned but for your decision to choose
and apply the essential scenes to your own story at your writing leisure. Pen the Sword: the universal plot skeleton of every story ever told is the perfect
writer’s resource for both Plotter and Pantser and their next novel-to-be,
especially so the NaNoWriMo writer looking to hunker down for the month and pen
that novel they’ve been itching to write all year. You can apply my detailed
plot skeletons and your story will practically write itself, or you can pick
and choose whenever you feel stuck for ideas while pantsing and are unsure as
to what your protagonist should do or what should happen next.
So do yourself a favor and buy your copy of Pen the Sword: the universal plot skeleton of every story ever told today. Your
novel will thank you and so too will your readers!