Novel Writing Made Less Impossible -- Working the Master Plot, Part 5

And now we reach the three-quarters mark in Lester Dent's Master Plot. Remember, Mr. Dent (the creator of Doc Savage) used this framework to plot his stories. He also SOLD every story he ever wrote when using this formula. You should try this at least once as you prepare your novel.

As always, my comments will be in Bold. All I'm doing is bringing Dent's to you with some contemporary perspective.

And now ...

THIRD 1500 WORDS 1--Shovel the grief onto the hero.

Again, try to make the act of resistance result with more problems. For instance, when your protagonist attempts to clear his/her name, the result is just looking more guilty of the transgression or humiliating themselves.

2--Hero makes some headway, and corners the villain or somebody in:

Lead the protagonist to a possible victory, right?

3--A physical conflict.

Or SOME kind of encounter. Perhaps a cyberpunk story would occur in whatever passes for The Matrix, eh? Be creative within the genre you're writing in. 4--A surprising plot twist, in which the hero preferably gets it in the neck bad, to end the 1500 words.

Obviously, the protagonist doesn't seize the villain, much less the day. But definitely show the hero(ine) the goal and then snatch it from them, resulting in sliding a little closer to the end of the rope.

I'd add that the plot twist needs to happen logically in terms of the overall action. This could mean going back and ensuring that you've foreshadowed the possibility of the plot twist earlier on. It goes back to what Anton Chekov used to say concerning showing a gun in act three of a play, that you must show the gun in act one. DOES: It still have SUSPENSE? The MENACE getting blacker? The hero finds himself in a hell of a fix? It all happens logically? These outlines or master formulas are only something to make you certain of inserting some physical conflict, and some genuine plot twists, with a little suspense and menace thrown in. Without them, there is no pulp story.

Since I was raised on the adventures of Doc Savage, The Shadow, The Avenger, The Phantom Detective, I'm all about the pulps. It's probably influenced my writing more than any other genre, aside from its fist cousin, the '70s/'80s paperback action series. So I respect the idea of physical conflict as a place marker in a plot.

However, the modern reader can handle suspense and other types of conflict that doesn't have to involve martial arts. For instance, what if someone investigated a possession and after a few confrontations, the protagonist learns that the spirit inside was a relative of theirs? Surely, a moral or ethical dilemma could prove to be a game changer.

For instance, you could consider the 3/4-point plot twist in Star Wars: A New Hope to be the fact of the Death Star's approach, that it's coming to wipe out the rebels before they can take the fight to the Empire's greatest weapon. Or perhaps it's Han Solo's desire to literally take the money and run. Or fly, in this case.

In Vulcana: Rebirth of the Champion, the three-quarters plot twist was the revelation that Sandra Kensington was indeed the Big Bad. I added to that ta-dah moment the fact that she held Angelique helpless and powerless. So there was a conflict in that Angelique confronted her enemy and the twist was that she couldn't reach the place where her armor was concealed, nor was there any indication that she could activate her powers.

In The Original Skyman Battles the Master of Steam, I gave the title character the knowledge that his enemy built not just one Wing, but two of them. The "get it in the neck bad" part was the fact that both airplanes were on their way to Nazi Germany. So the protagonist doesn't have to be the person who gets the shaft. In this case, the entire Free World was in dire trouble.

So the plot twist doesn't have to tie in with a physical conflict. Still, a solid example of fisticuffs doesn't hurt matters either.

Also, if your plot follows more than one person, each of the conflicts could involve a different member of your cast. For instance, in a Skyman story, one fight could center around Allan Turner, the next around Skyman, then Fawn Carroll with either Peter Turner or Skyman handling the following battle. These physical conflicts in each part might be DIFFERENT, too. If one fight is with fists, that can take care of the pugilism until next the next yarn. Same for poison gas and swords. There may, naturally, be exceptions. A hero with a peculiar punch, or a quick draw, might use it more than once.

A good example of this would be the Doctor from Doctor Who. In watching the classic episodes in particular, the Doctor might confront someone with his sonic screwdriver, then his Venusian Aikido, followed up by a machine that goes "DING!" So mix it up. In fact, use one attack, then give the protagonist a challenge where that particular offensive move won't work a second time and might even make the situation worse.

You're a writer. You can do this thing! The idea is to avoid monotony.

Exactly! ACTION: Vivid, swift, no words wasted. Create suspense, make the reader see and feel the action. ATMOSPHERE: Hear, smell, see, feel and taste. DESCRIPTION: Trees, wind, scenery and water.

Something a lot of writers forget, and I need to remind myself every so often, is that even though you are using words alone, you can appeal to all of the readers' senses. The more you can tease their senses, the more immersed they will become in your world. THE SECRET OF ALL WRITING IS TO MAKE EVERY WORD COUNT.

Writers are often paid by the word when they write for magazines. But a novelist isn't. You can push a lot of plot movement into the smallest of spaces.

One way to increase your word strength while practicing economy of prose is to eliminate the passive verbs like "are," "was," could," etc., especially in your descriptions. Transforming your verbs from passive to active brings immediacy and energy to the scene you're describing and saves a LOT of space.

I wrote a novella once and kept track of the passive verbs that I edited out. I had enough to create a reasonably-sized short story when I completed my task. Now, I try to not insert those evil verbs during the first draft, if only to save time later on.

You can get away with some passive verbs in your dialog because we all have done that, right (see what I did there?) Just don't overdo it. You (and your readers) WILL regret it ... yeah, I saw what I did there.

END of PART THREE

NEXT WEEK: We conclude our discussion of the Master Plot.

Be sure to SUBSCRIBE to this blog. We're going to put out something every WEDNESDAY morning or you'll know the reason why. We plan to beef up our output to five times a week eventually.

Don't forget that you can support me via Patreon as well as purchase my works on Amazon.

And of course, I'd love for you to purchase my books.

I'm also on Twitter and Instagram.

And don't forget Silver Phoenix Entertainment.

As long as you're at it, give a LIKE to my Facebook pages for Freelance Words, Rising Tide Publications, and Vulcana.

And every Monday and Thursday at 9:30 a.m. Eastern Time, I host a live interactive broadcast entitled NEVERMIND THE FURTHERMORE on my Facebook page. If you show up live, you can leave a link to your business or charity. Plus, you make comments, I talk back to you, we have a real conversation.

See you next Wednesday, if not sooner! Take care and be good!

#writing #LesterDent #DoctorWho #FreelanceWords #Vulcana