There exists only one plot in all of fiction: A Hero Goes on a Journey . . . or . . . A Stranger Comes to Town. The difference between them is the protagonist’s point of view.
A good place to start yours is by utilizing the tried and true classic Quest: an object to obtain and limited time to obtain it.
Star Wars: A New Hope
Object to obtain: Darth Vader is after the stolen plans,
Limited time: before the rebels can use them to exploit the Death Star’s design flaw.
The Matrix
Object to obtain: Agent Smith is after Zion’s access codes,
Limited time: before the rebels can catalyze The One prophesied to free humanity.
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Object to obtain: Sauron is after the One Ring,
Limited time: before Frodo and his fellows can destroy it in the fires of Mount Doom.
You see, most villains are after the same thing: Power.
In other words to expand and/or complete their dominance over others through tyranny and oppression.
If they already control a village then they seek to rule the whole region; if they already control a state then they seek to rule the whole country; if they already control a continent then they seek to rule the whole world; if they already control a galaxy then they seek to rule the whole universe . . . etc.
But then the unanticipated happens because of some form of ‘rebel alliance’ representing liberty and freedom who attempts to thwart them, which the missing-piece protagonist usually isn’t a part of at the beginning though joins to take up the shared cause and eventually becomes its foremost true-believer champion.
So the villain’s focus shifts to removing the rebel alliance in order to finish their stalled plans . . . which never works out when you throw a triumphant protagonist monkey-wrench into the cogs.
Star Wars: A New Hope
Darth Vader wants to eradicate the rebels and finish the Death Star to ensure the Empire’s galactic dominance.
The Matrix
Agent Smith wants to eradicate the rebels and ensure full control over the matrix simulation enslaving all remaining humans.
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Sauron wants to eradicate the fellowship ‘rebels’ and ensure his world-dominating power via the One Ring.
When beginning your story from scratch, the two most important plot points are:
1. The Act 1 Key Event
2. The Act 3 Climax
An Inciting Incident has four main requirements: 1. it must happen to the protagonist, 2. it must present their first (not full) awareness of the story’s central conflict, 3. it must be tailored to their dominant character flaw, and 4. it must be linked to the antagonist.
The difference between the Inciting Incident and the proceeding Key Event is that the Key Event is what locks in the protagonist to the story’s central conflict, either by choice or by force, but most importantly it also presents your story’s dramatic question that the Act 3 Climax will eventually answer with either a resounding Yes (triumphant protagonist) or a resounding No (tragic protagonist).
This all-important dramatic question establishes the protagonist’s main objective for the rest of the story that is Act 2 and beyond, and it is one of three things which they will seek to achieve:
1. Possession of something
2. Relief from something
3. Revenge for something
To simplify, Act 1 exists to present the story’s dramatic question, Act 2 exists to debate the story’s dramatic question, and Act 3 exists to answer the story’s dramatic question.
You should never open your story with backstory because if the backstory is so damn important then it wouldn’t be backstory, it would be the story.
So where to place it instead?
What happens between Act 1’s Inciting Incident and Key Event is something special because that’s where the protagonist is trickle-fed more relevant information about the story’s central conflict, and it’s interwoven with the first real brunt of backstory, thus killing two birds with one stone.
Star Wars: A New Hope
Between Luke accidentally triggering the holographic message (Inciting Incident) and finding his aunt and uncle dead (Key Event), Obi-Wan saves him from the sand people then they have a revealing conversation providing more of the story’s central conflict while interweaving it with plenty of Anakin and Empire backstory.
The Matrix
Between Neo meeting Trinity at the club (Inciting Incident) and taking the red pill (Key Event), Neo learns why the agents are after him courtesy of his interrogation and how they intend to use him to get to Morpheus courtesy of the bug implant removed from his stomach on the way to meeting Morpheus.
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Between Frodo witnessing Bilbo inexplicably vanishing during the big birthday bash (Inciting Incident) and leaving the Shire with the One Ring as its temporary ring-bearer (Key Event), Frodo learns more about the One Ring’s history and why it’s so desired by evil forces courtesy of Gandalf.
Instead, open your story by establishing protagonist empathy before the Inciting Incident, otherwise we won’t care. It’s easy to do by using Save the Cat and Kick the Dog scenes (in any number and sequence thereof).
Save the Cat is just a metaphor for showing your protagonist doing something admirable (not necessarily virtuous) to establish likeability. And Kick the Dog is another metaphor showing your protagonist suffering an undeserved misfortune to establish sympathy.
This combination of events is crucial because: Likeability + Sympathy = Empathy.
Also show the flawed protagonist’s three slices of life: home, work, and play (social) to establish relatability. This gives us a glimpse of what is most important to them during their everyday life of enabling circumstances before the Inciting Incident comes along to challenge those enabling circumstances—which is what all Inciting Incidents must do.
Because the enabling circumstances is what allows the protagonist’s dominant character flaw to fester unchallenged, and without the Inciting Incident it would remain unchallenged. But more importantly their dominant character flaw is what your story is really all about when everything else of lesser value is stripped away since every story is about one thing above all else: protagonist change, whether positive (triumphant) or negative (tragic).
So what’s the difference between them?
First, know that if you have a triumphant protagonist then you automatically have a tragic antagonist (and vice versa).
Secondly, understand that every protagonist has two antagonists: Internal and External.
The internal antagonist is the protagonist’s dominant character flaw they begin their story afflicted with.
The external antagonist is the ‘villain’ whom is the physical manifestation of the protagonist’s dominant character flaw.
So in essence you have two climaxes, the internal antagonist Rubicon confrontation at the end of Act 2B, and the well-known external antagonist Climax confrontation at the end of Act 3. This is extremely important because what happens during the Act 2 Rubicon climax determines what happens during the Act 3 Climax.
A triumphant protagonist eventually confronts the internal antagonist during the Rubicon and overcomes their dominant character flaw by embracing its opposite virtue, and this is what empowers them to win against the external antagonist as their reward during the Act 3 Climax because they become the physical manifestation of the virtue.
A tragic protagonist eventually confronts the internal antagonist during the Rubicon and surrenders to their dominant character flaw by rejecting its opposite virtue, and this is what condemns them to lose as punishment during the Act 3 Climax.
And here is where the two protagonists differ the most, because a tragic protagonist becomes the physical manifestation of their dominant character flaw during the Rubicon but the antagonist already exists, so the protagonist must replace the old antagonist (either directly or indirectly) to become the new antagonist then battle the physical manifestation of the virtue character and lose as punishment.
The Rubicon is so damn important because the Act 3 Climax it determines must be the physical manifestation of the virtue character vs. the physical manifestation of the flaw character.
With a triumphant protagonist you already have that outcome as an inevitability, but with a tragic protagonist it becomes a slight more complicated because you cannot have two antagonists in the same story so one must replace the other (I call this the ‘antagonist replacement theory’ to sound like I’m smart).
You also must replace the former protagonist with a new protagonist who embodies the virtue now that the new antagonist embodies the flaw (I call this the ‘protagonist replacement theory’ to sound like I’m even smarter).
For example, in Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, General Grievous is the antagonist (one of many secondary puppet-antagonists to Palpatine, yes, but consider them the Saruman & Sauron pairing here since Star Wars isn’t a standalone story but a series in which Palpatine gets his comeuppance later on), and Obi-Wan kills Grievous during the Midpoint at the same time Anakin aids Palpatine against Mace Windu to become Darth Vader, thus the old antagonist (Grievous) is replaced with the new antagonist (Anakin).
This then leads to the Climax where the new physical manifestation of the flaw replacement-antagonist (Anakin) battles it out with the new physical manifestation of the virtue replacement-protagonist (Obi-Wan) and is punished with defeat for his Rubicon decision of surrendering to his dominant character flaw.
Do you see now why tragic protagonists are that much harder to write and should only be tackled by experienced authors?
For this same reason it’s also much harder to plot out a trilogy than a standalone novel. For example, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.
The Midpoint of the Fellowship story by itself is the Council of Elrond in Rivendell when Frodo interrupts all of the arguing with his declaration that he will take the One Ring to Mordor . . . though he does not know the way. But for the overall trilogy, the Council of Elrond is not the Midpoint but the Act 1 Key Event.
See the problem?
If you do not have a firm grasp on plot, trying to map out an entire trilogy as well each of its individual books will lead only to confusion because the plot points won’t match up while getting all jumbled in your head.
Even established authors have a hard time writing trilogies—let alone an entire series of novels—because of this, which is why most of them don’t bother.
That’s why it is well-advised, at least for your first several novels, to plan them as standalones.
*A quick bit of explanation on the whole ‘physical manifestation’ term . . . take the movie Jaws as a perfect example. The man-eating great white shark antagonist is the physical manifestation of protagonist Brody’s dominant character flaw of aquaphobia (fear of open water). Brody must overcome his aquaphobia in order to kill the shark in the middle of the ocean during the Act 3 Climax.
(to be continued . . .)
