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flaws
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.
bookends of the transformative journey.
Opening Image is a single scene or chapter. It’s one piece of information.
Briefly alludes to the transformative journey that your hero will take and the flaw or flaws they will eventually conquer.
Theme Stated is the hero’s need or life lesson, somehow hinted at up front in the story (often by a secondary character).
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.
“What exactly do you want to do with your life?”
By the end of all of these stories, the hero learns these exact themes.
take control of her life and live it for her (not for anyone else).
should be subtly mentioned within the first 10 percent of your story.
It’s about transformation!
Theme Stated is a single-scene beat.
sometimes see themes stated on a billboard the hero passes or in a book or magazine the hero is reading.
The hero often ignores it!
“You know what would really fix your life? This!”
ignore
resistant to change.
it’s often best to have the theme stated by a secondary character—a passerby, a fellow traveler on the bus, a nemesis—as opposed to someone close to your hero.
they had the answer to their problems the whole time; they just refused to listen!
some sort of transformative journey and come out on the other side having finally realized the truth. That is the essence of being human.
Now it’s time to show us the rest of the hero’s world.
What kind of person are they? What kind of character tics do they have? What do they want? It’s very important that your hero have a goal.
actively pursuing something when
This is the thing your hero thinks will fix their life. Will it actually fix their life? Of course not! Because it’s their want, not their need.
introduce everyone who exists within your hero’s Act 1, status quo world.
flaws in all of their glory.
things that need fixing.
things that are wrong with the hero’s life.
make the reader understand why this person needs to go on a journey of transformation.
we move through the story, we check in on these things and ask, What about now? Does he still hate his job? Is she still being bullied? Is his family still hungry?
stasis = death
Something needs to happen. Enter…the Catalyst.
life-changing event. WHERE DOES IT GO? 10% (or earlier)
Catalysts often come in the form of bad news
Catalyst is a single-scene
The Catalyst always happens to your hero. It’s something active that will bust through the status quo and send them on the road toward change.
Whoa! I didn’t see that coming! How are they ever going to recover from
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.
Debate.
What do I do? Should I go? Should I stay? How will I survive? What happens next?
take a step back and decide how they’re going to proceed after this life-altering Catalyst has knocked them down.
Pondering and weighing options and gathering more information is what we do as humans and heroes.
multi-scene beat in which you visibly show us how resistant your hero is to accept the change that’s been thrown at them.
Show them struggling to decide what to do next in all aspects of their life.
all Debates are designed to do one thing: get your hero and your reader ready for what they’re about to encounter in Act 2.
Act 2 is the opposite of Act 1.
Act 2 needs to be as different as possible from Act 1. So, let’s see what we’re dealing with in this upside-down world.
they will fix things the wrong way.
