Writing Blockbuster Plots: A Step-by-Step Guide to Mastering Plot, Structure, and Scene

246 Pages·2016·3.48 MB·English

by  Alderson

Writing Blockbuster Plots
A Step-by-Step Guide to Mastering Plot, Structure, and Scene
Martha Alderson
Cincinnati, Ohio
WRITING BLOCKBUSTER PLOTS. Copyright © 2016 by Martha Alderson. Manufactured in the
United States of America. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form
or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems
without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief
passages in a review. Published by Writer’s Digest Books, an imprint of F+W Media, Inc., 10151
Carver Road, Suite # 200, Blue Ash, OH 45242. [phone]. First edition.
For more resources for writers, visit www.writersdigest.com/books.
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Acknowledgments
I owe a big debt of gratitude to all of the writers that openly shared their need,
and often desperation for and resistance to, plot and structure and scene. I may
never have self-published the original Blockbuster Plots if not for them, which
would never have led to The Plot Whisper and best-selling author status. I know
for a fact that A Spiritual Guide for Writers: Secrets of Personal Transformation
would have remained hidden and unrealized.
I continue to give thanks to Teresa LeYung Ryan and Luisa Adams for their
love, generosity, and belief in me. Added gratitude goes to Luisa for her gentle
and nurturing nature and a shared belief in the healing power of spirit.
Thanks also to the following:
Melanie Rigney for being the first person to believe in my approach to
teaching writers how to plot, and for believing in me. Thank you for your
encouragement when I needed it most.
Phil Sexton for his patience and his offer to breathe freshness into the
original Blockbuster Plots, which has sent me on a twelve-year journey into the
heart of stories, writers, and me.
Rachel Randall for taming what often felt like chaos, editing with a brilliant
eye for detail, and caring for and vastly improving Blockbuster Plots. Cris Freese
for seamlessly stepping in with his support.
Writer’s Digest for their endorsement from the very beginning. Thank you
for finding merit in my work as early as 2003.
There are many to thank in the intervening years between the first
Blockbuster Plots and what Writing Blockbuster Plots is today, including the
University of Santa Cruz Extension, the California Writers Club, Brian Parker,
various writers’ groups, the San Francisco Writing Conference, Jill Corcoran,
Adams Media, Peter Archer, Paula Munier, and Jordan Rosenfeld.
I am forever grateful to my husband, Bobby Ray Alderson, for his love and
protection, for never letting up on me to finish as I labored to bring my original
vision of Blockbuster Plots into form, and for his constant and passionate belief
in me.
About the Author
Martha Alderson is known as the Plot Whisperer for her books on plot: The Plot
Whisperer: Secrets of Story Structure Any Writer Can Master, The Plot
Whisperer Workbook: Step-by-Step Exercises to Help You Create Compelling
Stories, The Plot Whisperer Book of Writing Prompts: Easy Exercises to Get
You Writing, and Writing Deep Scenes: Plotting Your Story Through Action,
Emotion, and Theme (with Jordan Rosenfeld), and for the award-winning blog
she manages, The Plot Whisperer, which has been awarded top honors by
Writer’s Digest from 2009 to 2015.
Martha has been exploring and writing about the Universal Story for the
past twenty years as part of the plot support she offers to writers. More recently,
she has expanded her work to include helping writers transform their creative
lives.
She is currently filming two new video programs: The 27-Step Tutorial:
How Do I Plot a Novel, Memoir, Screenplay? and A Spiritual Guide for Writers:
Secrets of Personal Transformation.
Visit her website: marthaalderson.com
Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Introduction to the Revised Edition
Introduction
Who This Book Is For
How to Use This Book
Sensory Feedback
Examples
What to Expect
Part One: Plot Planner
Introduction: Plotting Is Like Juggling
The Plot Planner
Chapter One: What Is Plot?
Sifting Through the Layers
Plot Redefined
Other Layers of Plot
Chapter Two: How to Use the Plot Planner
The Benefits of Using a Plot Planner
Formats for the Plot Planner
Plotting Above and Below the Lines
The Structure of Stories
Tips for Creating Plot
Chapter Three: Plot Planner Parameters
Plan by Scene
Plan by Page Count
Take a Break
Chapter Four: Construct Your Plot Planner
The Beginning
Create the Plot Planner
The End of the Beginning
Changing POV
Chapter Five: Plot the Beginning
Example
Plot the Beginning
Keep Writing
Chapter Six: Plot by Cause and Effect
Using Cause and Effect
Avoiding Episodic Scenes
Linking Scenes Through Chosen Details
Example
Plotting Nonlinear Stories
Plot the Cause and Effect in the Beginning
Chapter Seven: Plot the Middle
The Anatomy of the Middle
Plot the Middle
Chapter Eight: Plot the Dramatic Action
Dramatic Action vs. Passive Action
Test Scenes for Dramatic Action
The Pattern of Stories
Generating More Dramatic Action
Chapter Nine: Plot the Tension and Conflict
Avoid Making It Too Easy
The Benefits of Taking Risks
Add Antagonists to the Plot Planner
Introducing Plot Twists
Intensifying the Conflict and Tension
Chapter Ten: Plot the End
The False Summit
The True Summit
The Light Switches On
Plot the End
The Resolution
The Whole Story
Chapter Eleven: Creating the Character Emotional
Development Profile
Developing Character Emotional Development
Character Emotional Development on the Plot