Story in Three Acts

I have been doing some thinking about Story. According to my book-reading, story in three acts has been the strongest structure since it was discovered about a thousand years ago or more by the Greeks.

So what are the "Three Acts." Simple, beginning, middle, and end. Ok, if you are like me, you need a little more explanation.

Beginning:

1. Meet the character
2. See his/her normal life
3. Meet or hear about the antagonist
4. Can be from 1/5 to 1/4 of the book or movie

Middle:

1. Conflict
2. Rising Action
3. After each choice or action there are less and less choices until...

End:

1. Knockout
2. Denouement

Although the three acts are very important, the transitions between the acts are important, too. For instance, in the beginning you meet a likable character who lives in a house with a white picket fence. He/she will not leave the house unless something forces him/her to leave it. (In some cases kicking and screaming).

The transition (or gateway) must be such that it forces the character to leave and not come back. Like in Star Wars, when Lucas' aunt and uncle are killed.

Also the transition from middle to end must grab the reader into knowing that this action or reaction is the only way... to overcome adversity (or the antagonist).

I spent a couple of years studying literature. This is the first time that I have an inkling about story structure and I have read stories for years. I wonder what it says about me when I say that the essay structure is the easiest to write. :-)

It has a beginning, middle, and end.

Plot and Planning

Just a note before I begin. I found most of this information from James Scott Bell's Plot & Structure from the Write Great Fiction series.

Plotting has been a weak spot for me. I have heard and read most of the helpful hints such as "structure," "use rising action," or "conflict." But until I read this book, I didn't really know what these words/phrases meant.

Here are some of Bell's ideas.

Plot is what happens to the lead character.
Plot and Structure serve the Story.
Strong plots and structures tend to strengthen the story.

Plot contains four elements (LOCK) which includes Leading Character, Objective, Conflict, and Knockout.

How this works:

The lead character is in the office in his tuxedo. (interesting? maybe?) He wants to get to his wedding (objective). His vows are not there where he left them on the desk (conflict). He searches for them. A coworker waves the vows in front of him, then shoves them through the shredder. (more conflict, maybe rising action?). He fires her (knockout). Pours his heart into three lines. Makes it to the wedding and lives happily ever after.

Ok, it is not the best story that I could have come up with in 30 seconds, but it ain't bad either. This formula works with every genre.

So now I need to figure how this will work with my nanowrimo novel. Erika... here I come.

Emotional Toolbox

I have been working a little bit on my nanowrimo character mapping. As you probably know, this aspect could be the basis of your whole novel (at least for me). I found an intersting website that has some great ideas for this type of work--the emotional toolbox.

Many of the ideas I found here has gotten me off my sluggish behind, and I am working hard (or hardly working). I found out that my sabotaging trait is procrastination. Too True.

So even if you are not getting ready for the fun and excitement of nanowrimo, you might enjoy this information.

Dreaming is another world

I need a dream journal. I have those multi-color dreams sometimes that are epics. The first one I had was when I was 16 years old. I dreamed about being a plains Native American woman during the 1840's when the white settlers were shooting buffalo and Indians alike. I won't mention the rest here, but it was quite a story.

This morning I woke up from another epic. I was with my parents and siblings in a tent with tons of boxes in someone else's driveway. Another family (who were thieves) lived in a mobile home next to us. They left with half of our stuff. (very similar to what has really happened...)

Anyway, most of the stuff they took belonged to me. I had decided to go to college and wanted my clothes. I sorted through my parent's boxes (and tried to get my trunks back). My dad had put his car tools and batteries in my trunks. Of course the extra pressure was that the people who owned the driveway were trying to evict us.

Even worse, I couldn't find any of my stuff to take to school with me. My mind tried to think of ways to make money. Finally, the showdown. A young man from the house tried to fight with us. In a thrice (bet you haven't seen that word before) I had him down on the ground. He was pretty embarrassed.

I told my dad (in this dream) that he needed to get off his butt and put his family in a home or apartment. Somewhere besides the street.

I woke up.

Fishybot, Web Directory

If you have been on the Internet for awhile, you probably are aware of web directories. A web directory is defined as NOT a search engine. It is a directory designed to place websites into categories such as Health, Arts & Humanities, Business & Computers, etc.

There are several web directories out there. What makes Fishybot different is that it is a human maintained and edited Web Directory that contains family-friendly websites.

Since health is a major concern for me, I looked into their Health Heading with subheadings of Addictions, Alternative, Animal, Disabilities, Diseases, Fitness, Health and Safety, Healthcare Industry, Medicine, Mental Health, Nursing, Pharmacy, Professions, and Women's Health.

Under Medication subheading was the URL for Medicine.net. Yea, I have used that URL for some good information on medication that I take to keep me healthy.

Another good thing about Fishybot is that it is ready to take suggestions. You can request headings. You can add sites that you are interested in for living well. You can even put your own site onto it.

I think that it is a massive project to organize the web in this way. With so many sites starting and quiting, it reminds me of the Old West Boomtown. The nice thing with this web directory is that you can be part of the excitement and work to untangle the many websites that may have some good information to help you and your family.

I am not sure where my blogspots would fit into this directory. Maybe this one would go into Arts & Humanities. My Sierra Sage could fit in personal family history, medication, books, or maybe miscellaneous.

The Color of Hunger

Sometimes at night when my stomach hurt, I would see the yellow and brown swirl at the back of my eyes. My eyes closed. I tried to think of anything, but my hunger.

We had washed the sheets today and pulled them taunt, pinning them on the line. The sheets would whip in the wind. It was much work, but when we were in bed we could smell the sweet pine in our sheets. No Downy. Just wind-whipped sheets.

Finally, when I could stand the sharp growls of my stomach, I would slip down the stairs to the kitchen. The kitchen was across from my parents bedroom. If they heard or smelled anything, they would be up... making us go back to bed hungry.

I dare not turn on the light.

Next to the oven, stood my sister and two brothers. We dry-giggled when we realized that all of us could not stand the hunger.

I put four eggs in a pan. Boiled hard, we hand-pealed them and ate them. The white, the yolk. Each had a distinct taste. We savored them.

Afterwards we quietly washed the pan. Hid the shells. We wanted no one to know we had been here.

We fell asleep.

Halloween Costumes

You know. Halloween was my favorite holiday when I was growing up. We would make carmel popcorn balls. Buy M&M candies and other goodies. We would pull out the moldy box of costumes and pick out our favorites.

I was either a gypsy or a pirate. When I was ten, I would dress up in the gypsy costume. Mother would smear red lipstick on my lips. I would sway down the hall, hoping someone would see how "grown-up" I was. (or was getting). We would stand on stage and the our peers would pick their favorite costumes.

So today is October 1st. In 30 more days, you will be scratching your head, wondering what kind of costume your boy or girl will want... a toga? (bedsheet) or what you have time to make, buy, or steal. You know that all the best Halloween Costumes will be gone and you'll be picking through the scraps three days before the big day.

So why not try something else. This website has Halloween Costumes for the boy or girl who are mad for NFL sports.

You can pick his (or hers) favorite team. Your kid's NFL Football outfit comes complete with jersey, pants and helmet, is packaged in its own box. Even better you can you can use them as pajamas after the Halloween party.

So, check it out. Finding the right costume could be easy this year.