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Plot, structure, and character transformation. Or what I like to call the “Holy Trinity of Story.”
Plotters are those who plot out their novels before they begin; pantsers are those who just “write by the seat of their pants” and figure it out as they go.
Don’t let the problem stay contained to just one area of your hero’s life. Let the problem(s) manifest and spread and infect! Your hero’s problem(s) should be affecting their entire world: their work, their home life, and their relationships.
But it’s not enough for your hero just to have flaws; your hero also has to want something (badly) and be proactively trying to get it. Your hero knows they’ve got problems. (Or maybe they don’t know, and that’s one of their problems!)
Almost every want or goal has an equal and opposite force holding the hero back from achieving it. This force is often presented as a “conflict” or “nemesis.”
The wants, regardless of whether they change or stay the same, are what drive the story forward. They’re what keep the plot moving.
We call that real problem the shard of glass. It’s a psychological wound that has been festering beneath the surface of your hero for a long time. The skin has grown over it, leaving behind an unsightly scar that causes your hero to act the way they act and make the mistakes that they do (flaws!). You, as the author and creator of this world, have to decide how that shard of glass got there. Why is your hero so flawed? What happened to them to make them the way they are?
Your hero’s want or goal is an integral part of what’s called the A Story. The A Story is the external story. It’s the stuff that happens on the surface.
On the other hand, the B Story is the internal story. It’s the story that’s intricately linked to what your hero needs to learn in order to change their life, complete their transformation, and enter the hall of fame of story-worthiness. The B Story/internal story/need is what your novel is really about.
The life lesson is the inner journey that your hero didn’t even know they were on, that will eventually lead them to the answer they never expected.
Forgiveness: of self or of others Love: includes self-love, family love, romantic love Acceptance: of self, of circumstances, of reality Faith: in oneself, in others, in the world, in God Fear: overcoming it, conquering it, finding courage Trust: in oneself, in others, in the unknown Survival: including the will to live Selflessness: including sacrifice, altruism, heroism, and overcoming greed Responsibility: including duty, standing up for a cause, accepting one’s destiny Redemption: including atonement, accepting blame, remorse, and salvation
every hero has one true plot that is meant only for them. And I also believe that every plot has their one true hero.
When reading other novels with more than one main character, the hero can often be identified as the character who first appears in the story. Or if the story is told from multiple points of view, whose point of view do we read first? This is essentially the author introducing you to your guide.
If you’re writing a story with multiple main characters and/or multiple points of view and you’re still having problems figuring out who the hero is, or whose arc is the biggest, try asking yourself, Which of my main characters is most like my reader?
Your beat sheet (or novel road map) can be as detailed or as sparse as you want. You can use the beat sheet before you start writing, somewhere in the middle when you’re feeling lost, or not until you’ve finished your first draft and are going back to revise.
That is the purpose of the Act 1 world. It is the thesis world, or the “status quo” world. It is designed to show the reader of your novel what your hero’s life and world look like before everything starts to change.
The Opening Image also sets the book’s tone, style, and mood. If it’s a funny book, this beat should be funny. If it’s a suspenseful book, this beat should be—surprise!—suspenseful. This is where your voice (or writing style) as the author shines bright and gives the reader a clear picture of what they’re getting into.
open your novel with something active.
Remember all those flaws you jotted down in chapter 1, when we created our story-worthy heroes? Well, here’s where you pick one (or two, or three) and show us how those flaws are screwing up your hero’s life.
The Opening Image has a mirror beat (or an opposite beat) called the Final Image, the very last beat of the novel.
It’s important to note that the Opening Image is a single scene or chapter.
Essentially, the Theme Stated is the hero’s need or life lesson, somehow hinted at up front in the story (often by a secondary character).
Somewhere in Act 1 (usually within the Setup beat), a character (usually not the hero) will make a statement or pose a question to your hero that somehow relates to what the hero needs to learn by the end of the story.
Whatever life lesson your hero has to learn, whatever epic transformation your hero has to make, it should be subtly mentioned within the first 10 percent of your story.
The Theme Stated is a single-scene beat. It usually comes and goes very quickly. The theme is stated and then the story moves on. But it doesn’t necessarily have to be a person who states the theme.
Your hero is essentially presented with the answer to all of their problems right there at the beginning of the book. But do they listen? Of course not!
Because at the start of the novel, your hero is resistant to change.
In the Opening Image, you gave the reader a glimpse of what to expect in this story. A small sliver of the hero’s life. Now it’s time to show us the rest of the hero’s world.
The Setup is a multi-scene beat. Meaning you get several scenes or chapters to accomplish all that you need to accomplish in the Setup.
Your hero has to be actively pursuing something when the book begins. Even if it’s not something they’ll pursue throughout the entire story, something has to be there from the start. This is the thing your hero thinks will fix their life.
In the Setup is where you’ll introduce everyone who exists within your hero’s Act 1, status quo world.
These are also called the A Story characters, because they represent the A Story (or external story) of the novel. (As opposed to the B Story character[s]—we’ll meet them later.)
Finally, the Setup is where you show your hero’s flaws in all of their glory.
The best way to show this is to include scenes or chapters that take place at home, work, and play. This means you may want to take time in your Setup to show your hero at home (with family, with spouse, with kids, or maybe alone in their apartment), at work (in the workplace, at their job, or at school), and at play (how your hero unwinds with friends or by themselves).
make the reader understand why this person needs to go on a journey of transformation. Because clearly things aren’t working out in this status quo world of Act 1. The things that need fixing all will reappear throughout the rest of the story. They will serve as checkpoints along the journey to demarcate change. As
If you’ve done your job well, you’ve already been hinting at the need for change. And your reader is already getting the sense
This is called the stasis = death moment. It’s the moment that comes somewhere in the Setup beat that shows the reader that change is imperative; otherwise, things are going south. Fast.
These are all harbingers of change. The Catalyst will crash land in your hero’s life and create so much destruction, your hero will have no choice but to do something different. Try something new. Go somewhere else.
The Catalyst is a single-scene beat in which something happens to the hero to send their life in an entirely new direction.
It’s something active that will bust through the status quo and send them on the road toward change.
So how do you know if your Catalyst is big enough? Ask yourself the following question: Can my hero easily return to their normal life and continue doing what they were doing after this happens? If your answer is yes, your Catalyst isn’t big enough. If your answer is Heck no! then you’re on the right track.
For every action, there is a reaction. And for every Catalyst, there is a Debate.
It is a reaction beat, and it usually comes in the form of a question.
The Debate is the time in your story for your hero to take a step back and decide how they’re going to proceed after this life-altering Catalyst has knocked them down.
It’s a multi-scene beat in which you visibly show us how resistant your hero is to accept the change that’s been thrown at them.
