Friday, December 04, 2009
Plotting: The Murphy's Law Method
Is your Special Character TOO Special?
Yaoi Writers: Are your Male characters MASCULINE?
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Are you committing a MARY-SUE/Gary Stu?
Slipping on my Hakkai mask, I jump in the jeep and set out for the west with Sanzou and the guyz, pretending all along that it's Hakkai telling the story I'm writing and not me at all..."
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Women see it in cooperative terms.
Women focus on emotion.
Women form a consensus.
Women talk about problems.
Women are indirect.
Women’s body language usually does.
Men see Women as protectors of children.
Men see eye contact as challenge.
Women wait their turn.
Women ask questions to further the conversation.
Men listen in silence.
Women invite it.
-- Literary Guy
Women say “I’m sorry.”
Women are more critical.
Men generalize.
Men are most comfortable talking when they need to establish and maintain status.
Women are more likely to let feelings in one area spill over into another area.
Women share secrets to build rapport.
Women see challenge as destructive.
Women interpret the meaning.
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Monday, August 31, 2009
BASIC Plotting
-- Beginning
-- Middle
-- End
All successful (read: popular) stories have patterns. Sometimes it’s simple, sometimes it’s complex, but all of the stories read or told often enough to remain in the popular mind of any culture have a pattern, a plot.
Here are some examples of simple plot patterns…
Traditional:
• He came.
• He saw.
• He conquered.
American Dream Version:
• He came.
• He conquered.
• He became very rich.
The Heroic version:
• He conquered.
• He became the leader of his people.
• He died in the middle of a glorious battle to defend his land, and became a legendary figure that would never be forgotten.
Erotic Version:
• He saw.
• He conquered.
• He came.
Aristotle’s Elements of a Greek Tragedy - simplified:
• Act One: He rose to glory.
• Act Two: His pride drove him to make a foolish but costly mistake.
• Act Three: He crashed and burned.
Aristotle’s Elements - American version:
• Act One: He rose to glory.
• Act Two: His pride drove him to make a foolish but costly mistake.
• Act Three: He crashed and burned.
• Act Four: He fixed his mistake and rose again.
Your basic Romance plot:
• The lovers are thrown together.
• The lovers are forced apart.
• The lovers go against the odds to get back together.
Your basic Yaoi Romance plot:
• One lover seduces the other.
• A misunderstanding drives one lover away.
• The lover that misunderstood chases the other lover down to beg for forgiveness.
Your basic Adventure plot:
• Hero meets Villain.
• They fight and the Villain wins.
• The hero rises from his defeat to battle the Villain again, and wins the war.
Your basic Manga Adventure plot:
• A group of friends meet a Villain.
• The villain corners them individually and defeats each one.
• The friends rise from their individual defeats to team up on the Villain and win the war.
I can already hear the whining…
Where’s the creativity?”
Creativity is Overrated.
No matter what those Creative Writing classes teach, for a story to be enjoyed by the widest possible audience, it needs to have some sort of structure, a pattern -- a plot.
Why?
Because a story without some sort of plot pattern reads…wrong.
(Paraphrased to avoid copyright issues.)
Act One - Chosen
Humble Beginnings
Destiny Comes Knocking
Shoved into Adventure
Sagely Advice ~ Paramours & Sidekicks
Act Two - Challenge
Leaving the Known World behind
Challenges, Friends & Foes
Battle at the Crossroads
Act Three – Crisis
Into the Labyrinth
Temptation & Betrayal
Anger ~ Despair ~ Sacrifice
Inheritance / Blessing / Curse
Treasure & Celebration
Act Four – Climax
Escape / Expelled from the Labyrinth
The Hunter becomes the Hunted
Rescue & Loss of Paramour / Side-kick
Battle at the Crossroads to Home
Death / Rebirth
Delivery of Treasure & Just Rewards
Unfortunately, that’s not a talent I possess. I have to work everything out on paper or I get lost in a hurry.
“What is plotting good for anyway?”
In short, if you know where you’re going when you start out, sooner or later, you’ll actually get there.
‘Eight Ways to say You ~ The Challenges of Translation’
By Cathy Hirano
The most obvious differences between Japanese and English writing styles are organization and tone.
My English composition classes in high school taught me that English is supposed to flow in a linear fashion, from introduction to body to conclusion, and that a statement should be supported by a logical explanation. Even in literature, a book works toward a climax and then a conclusion. In contrast, Japanese composition appears almost circular, and although it has its own logic and organization, it is very different from how I learned to write in school.
In English, we stress clarity.
In Japanese subtlety is preferred.
Cathy Hirano is the translator of The Friends, winner, for Farrar, Straus & Giroux, of the 1997 Batchelder Award.
In Conclusion…
-- By using even the most basic of plot patterns, the writer can keep track of not only where they are in their story, but where they intend to end up. This makes it very easy to avoid the most common pitfall of fiction writing: “The story’s halfway done and I have no idea how to end it!”
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Morgan Hawke
www.DarkErotica.Net