I’ve been reading about lots of journeys lately. Call them quests or pursuits or escapes if
you will – but they all boil down to a beginning point and a period of
travelling to get to the end, right?
In Ronald Tobias’s book 20 Master Plots and How to Build Them,
he reminds us that Rudyard Kipling thought there were exactly 69 distinct plots
in the universe. Aristotle, on the other hand, through there were precisely
two, from which all other plots could be derived. Writer Carlo Gozzi originally
suggested there were 36 different plots, but Tobias suggests his list could be
realistically pared down to 18 distinct plots in use by writers and
storytellers today.
I’m no expert – and would not propose a different number than
those above; however, lately….well, lately it seems to me all of the stories I’ve
come across have been about journeys.
Tobias’s chapter on the Quest plot outlines three different
acts of the story:
·
Act One – the Question. A force moves the hero
to act, either out of necessity or by desire.
·
Act Two – The Path. The journey that connects
Act One to Act Three, the spice, the flavor for the story.
·
Act Three – The Revelation. The hero obtains or
is denied the object of her search.
Off the top of my head, I can list lots of my favorite
stories that fit neatly into this pattern. Raiders
of the Lost Ark, Star Wars, True Grit, The Wizard of Oz, Shane, Outlander, Treasure of the Sierra Madre (or any other treasure hunt story). I
could go on and on… I’m sure you could, too.
If pushed, I could start to break down some of these stories
and categorize them differently. Tobias’s book offers 19 other options – like adventure,
pursuit, revenge, rescue, riddle, temptation, metamorphosis, forbidden love,
and sacrifice.
Is Dorothy on an adventure
in Oz? Sure. Does Mattie convince Rooster to help her find revenge for her father’s murder? Absolutely. Does Anakin Skywalker transform from a little boy into one of
film’s best villains while on his journey? Yes.
So while I’m stuck in a difficult patch with my own Work In
Progress (see those capitals? After all the months of work…it deserves to be
capitalized! Trust me!), I’m looking to other authors and other journey stories
to help me find my way.
Beth Revis brought me Across the Universe – a journey
across not only space but time. In it, our heroine must travel across the
universe frozen like a human popsicle. When she is awakened after centuries (but
still decades before the space ship’s landing) her journey takes an unexpected
turn – and Revis uses her Act Two to give us one of the most claustrophobic dystopian
settings in YA literature. I’m not sure Revis finishes the journey in this
story and am interested to find the sequel so I can see the end.
(On a site note: Interesting to me that many YA stories
lately are outgrowing a single book. In this one, I felt like I got Act One and
Act Two (in part) before the last page…)
In Erin Morgenstern’s Night Circus, we have crossing
journeys. Le Cirque des Rêves is open only at
night and arrives in a new location without warning or advertisement. For
decades, Le Cirque is the stage for a hidden competition as two magicians
compete. No sure of what they are competing for, these
orphans-turned-world-makers travel through cities and towns but also journey
down internal paths of understanding and love. Is this a straightforward
journey plot? No… There is nothing straightforward about Morgenstern’s book.
But who wants to read about a trip that moves from home to far away and back
again without some adventure?
Food for thought for this writer, to be sure. Does my WIP
need to have all three acts solidly completed in one book? I think so…although
if my story leads me elsewhere, maybe I should follow. Does my WIP need to
stick strictly to a physical journey? Absolutely not. I think it needs to
combine some of Tobias’s suggested plot types – merging adventure, escape, maturation,
and quest together into one complete story.
But can I do it? Can I tell this story? Are there list of
rules I need to follow – “acts” I need to be sure to structure and character
development points I need before I can move my characters’ journey forward? I
think the answer to all of those questions is yes… as long as I don’t let
myself get strangled by the rules. Right?
Maybe that first rule of writing (WRITE!) should outweigh
all structure and plot rules and regulations. If only for a while…until the
story grows a little on its own.
In the meantime, I’m going to queue up a good Indiana
Jones movie go work on chapter 23. Wish me luck!
