Friday, January 01, 2010
The Secret to Proper Paragraphing and Dialogue
Wednesday, December 09, 2009
Plot Devices: Deus Ex Machina or Chekhov's Gun?
Deus Ex Machina
or
Chekhov's Gun?
"What are your thoughts on Good Deus Ex Machinas? I find them hard to pull off realistically in a plot." -- Puzzled Writer
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A Deus Ex Machina is when the Hero doesn't find the solution to the story's problem. The solution is handed to them, or taken care of, by someone or something far more powerful.
From TV Tropes:
Good Deus Ex Machina only happen when they've been set up to happen all along and were simply overlooked--which means they're not really Deus Ex Machina...~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Deus Ex Machina is an outside force that solves a seemingly unsolvable problem in an extremely unlikely (and, usually, anticlimactic) way. If the secret documents are in Russian, one of the spies suddenly reveals that they learned the language. If the writers have just lost funding, a millionaire suddenly arrives, announces an interest in their movie, and offers all the finances they need to make it. If The Hero is dangling at the edge of a cliff with a villain stepping on his fingers, a flying robot suddenly appears to save him.
The term is Latin for god out of the machine, and has its origins in Greek theater. It refers to situations in which a crane (machine) was used to lower actors or statues playing a god or gods (deus) onto the stage to set things right. It has since come to be used as a general term for any event in which a seemingly fatal plot twist is resolved by an event never foreshadowed or set up.
--They're actually a Chekhov's Gun.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third chapter it absolutely must go off. If it's not going to be fired, it shouldn't be hanging there."
— Playwright Anton Chekhov (From S. Shchukin, Memoirs. 1911.)
"Honestly, what kind of situation would require the use of a pair of fake arms and a remote-controlled wheelchair? Only, I imagine, a completely ludicrous one!"
— Father Ted
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Example:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The story opens with the sheriff saying that he's gonna cruise by the local huge creepy mansion later that night because the teenager that's watching over it is known for painting rude Graffiti. A house that big and that empty is clearly far too much of a temptation for a kid like that to resist.
meanwhile in the huge empty mansion, the radio and the TV blast out "Crazed Killer on the Loose in our area! Be on the look out...! News at Eleven."
Creeped out, the kid calls a few of his friends over to keep him company.
After a few forbidden cigarettes and a twelve-pack of beer, his friends start encouraging him to paint graffiti on one of the walls in the house.
Eventually, the kid gives in. "Why the hell not?" He goes to get his spray paint.
Right at that moment the monster strikes! It chases the troubled teen though the house and kills off his friends one by one. Blood! Guts! Mayhem! Screaming...!
Finally, the monster corners the kid on the roof with no place else to go.
Out of nowhere, a police helicopter shows up to rescue the kid
-- Deus Ex Machina?
The copter door swings open and it's the sheriff. He wasn't just keeping an eye on the kid, he was also watching out for the crazed killer that had been all over the news for days.
-- NOT a Deus Ex Machina -- a Chekhov's Gun! The cop showing up was set to happen from the beginning. However, this works even better if...
Before the kid can get up on the copter the monster finds a way to drag the helicopter down from the sky.An example of a Chekhov's Gun that LOOKS like a Deus Ex Machina can be found in the closing scene to the game Final Fantasy VII where the heroes tried everything to save the world, but failed. Suddenly, the world saved itself using the Life-stream--the power that had been the focus of the story's main problem since the story's opening. This Deus Ex Machina power had been there from the very beginning, yet had been overlooked making it in fact, a Chekhov's Gun.
With the judicious use of a can of spray paint and a lighter, the monster's eyeballs are fried goo. The kid makes his escape straight into the REST of the cops heading up the road.
The cops shoot down the crazed killer and the kid goes on National Television saying how Graffiti saved his life.
The End~~~~~~~~~~~~~
However, an even better ending came in the sequel game Dirge of Cerberus, where one of the least understood characters in the Final Fantasy VII cast proved to have had a monumental power sleeping inside him all along--that was again, overlooked.
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By the way, most Fairy Tales and Fables tend to have a Circular plot pattern -- ending where they began.
Enjoy!
Friday, December 04, 2009
Plotting: The Murphy's Law Method
Is your Special Character TOO Special?
Yaoi Writers: Are your Male characters MASCULINE?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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.
~ * ~
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