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Elizabeth Fais

Tag Archives: Beat Sheet

The Covenant of the Character Arc ~ Raise the Stakes & Make it Count

31 Sunday Jan 2016

Posted by Elizabeth Fais in Story, Writing

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

All Is Lost, Bad Guys Close In, Beat Sheet, Blake Snyder, BS2, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Character Arc, Dark Night of the Soul, Elizabeth Fais, Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling, Joss Whedon, Miss Congeniality, Sandra Bullock, Save the Cat!, Tim Stout

Stories help us cope with the chaos of life. They show us how to navigate social situations and overcome adversity. A New York Times article, “Your Brain on Fiction”, by Annie Murphy Paul, discusses studies that prove this.

For a story to fulfill its function and satisfy the human spirit, there has to be change. The covenant of the (character) arc, as Blake Snyder so wisely described it, is the necessity for characters to change. The measure of change is a character’s arc. In the best stories, all characters arc except the bad guy. J.K. Rowling did an excellent job of this throughout the Harry Potter series.

Harry Potter

The Transformation Machine

Shake. Stir. Whip. Frappe. Do whatever it takes to force your characters to confront their frailties and become wiser, stronger, better. Blake Snyder, Mr. Save the Cat! referred to this process as the Transformation Machine.

All stories are about transformation. And seeing this as a good thing is the starting point of writing a successful story of any kind. ― Blake Snyder

In essence, the hero’s transformation mirrors the process of a caterpillar turning into a butterfly. A type of death and rebirth are required to complete a satisfying character arc. Take Gracie Hart, the unrefined FBI agent (Sandra Bullock) in Miss Congeniality, who must become a polished beauty pageant contender in order to solve the crime and save the lives of her new friends.

Miss Congeniality, Sandra Bullock

Dishing out conflicts for characters isn’t always easy, but  it’s a must. To achieve a great ending—as described in Secret Ingredients of a Satisfying Ending—the characters have to change. A lot.

There are plenty of character arc graphs and charts. I understood the theory, but applying it evaded me until I read Save the Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever Need. The Blake Snyder Beat Sheet (BS2) story points, or beats, that push the character arc include: Bad Guys Close In, All Is Lost, and Dark Night of the Soul. Tim Stout provides excellent descriptions for each of these beats here.

Make ‘Em Suffer Till They Shine

It’s simple. To survive, our hero has to change. Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) puts characters through hell—literally and figuratively. This pressure has an effect similar to that which transforms a lump of coal into a diamond. It files down the hero’s rough edges and makes him shine.

You take people, you put them on a journey, you give them peril, you find out who they really are.
― Joss Whedon

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Take it up a notch!

In chemistry, heat accelerates change. The same is true for stories. Here’s a few suggestions for turning up the heat and increasing the transformation process:

  • Make the Bad Guy badder—For the protagonist to be perceived as the hero he is, the Bad Guy has to be as bad as possible. The villain must be an equal match for the hero, but willing to do whatever it takes to win. Beating the villain has to seem impossible, so when the hero wins he shines brighter.
  • Increase internal conflicts—Fear, doubt, jealousy, shame, any and all emotional trauma. Bring it. The pressure makes the hero to face his inner demons, and forces him to realize that what he thinks he wants isn’t what he really needs. Dig Deep for a Story That Resonates shows how this can strengthen the story’s theme.
  • Increase external conflicts with friends and relatives—Betrayal, abandonment, rifts in trust, arguments, even death. Pile it on. These conflicts push the hero to his lowest, forcing him to find strength he didn’t know he had.
  • Throw in a force of nature—Wind, rain, earthquake, snakes, anything to make your character’s goal harder to accomplish. These obstacles can force the hero to overcome his flaws.
  • Blow something up—A couple of authors shared this advice at a conference. The event has to be organic to the story and plausible for the characters. The action must also come from a deep emotional need to force transformation. Extreme times call for extreme measures.

Enhance the Heat

Stories have flavor. And just like a great meal, flavor is enhanced when complimented by an opposite. To strengthen the impact of a transformative moment, pair it with its opposite.

Joss Whedon said it best…

Make it dark, make it grim, make it tough, but then, for the love of God, tell a joke.
― Joss Whedon


Fiction Fatalities: The Serial Plot Killer

13 Saturday Oct 2012

Posted by Elizabeth Fais in Fiction Fatalities, Story

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Beat Sheet, Blake Snyder, Fiction Fatalities, Serial Plot Killer, Story, Writing

Mistakes that Murder Stories

Sit through enough critique sessions with a group of writers and you’ll soon see that we all make the same mistakes. Eventually.

But here’s the rub…

It’s always easier to spot mistakes in someone else’s story. In fact, it’s the mistakes that jump out at us in someone else’s work that we are most prone to make ourselves. I should know. Been there. Done that. And went back … more than once. And I’m not talking about misplaced commas, either. These mistakes can literally murder a story. Exposing these hooligans for what they are–fiction fatalities–is the only way to stop them.

Today’s smack down is with my own worst offender … The Serial Plot Killer.

When More Isn’t Better…

The old adage that “more is better” doesn’t work so well with fiction. The Serial Plot Killer is proof of that. Multiple main plots competing for the attention of the reader ends up killing the overall story. This happens when each plot is strong enough to be its own solid story, and the results is like a yelling match: “Follow me! Follow me! Follow me!”

No way is this kind of “more” better. It’s just more confusing. Readers won’t be able to figure out who or what to care about. Then you lose them.

An example of a personal plot faux pas was when I pitched a logline to Blake Snyder (in one of his Beat Sheet Workshops), and Blake just shook his head. I was bewildered by his negative reaction until he explained, “It’s Turner & Hooch or Miss Congeniality. You can’t have both.” He was right too. I was trying to tell two stories at once. I wasn’t the only one in that class who made that mistake either. A fellow sitting next to me admitted to adding his extra plot during revision, because he thought it would make his story more interesting. I’ve done that one too. In fact, it’s what I’m fixing in this revision of my current work in progress (WIP), hence this post.

This Fiction Fatality is hard for me to shake, because it dazzles and promises to make the story sparkle like the Emerald City. This is especially true during a second or third revision, when I’m way too familiar with the story. It’s easy to think that a new plot idea will be just the zing the story needs to make it bright shiny again. It might … but watch out. It’s more likely to be the Serial Plot Killer ninja-ing its way into the story to ensure it meets a murderous end.

This is why I feel critiques and beta reads are vitally important. They’ll expose the Serial Plot Killer for what it truly is … fatal confusion.


What story problems keep ninja-ing your writing?

You might be surprised at how many of us encounter the same problems!


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