[DISCLAIMER: I was raised Roman Catholic and I studied Religious Philosophy/Italian Renaissance Art- I am not associated with the Catholic church currently but I have interest towards keeping information accurate and effective in this field.]
Narrative Context: Set Up the story. In the first 20% - 25% of your novel, you will: Introduce the character (backstory, their stasis, their inner demons, their strengths), establish stakes (what the character has to lose), foreshadow the imminent conflict to come.
Hook: The hook happens in the first chapter of your novel, the earlier the better. It grabs the reader, makes us empathize with the protagonist, and gives the reader something to bite into before the protag’s quest really begins.
Example: (Black Panther) Freeing kidnapped women from warlords to call Nakia back to Wakanda.
Inciting Incident: Something happens to your character that incites the coming conflicts. This could happen as early as the hook, or could happen as late as Plot Point 1.
Example: Klaw and Killmonger steal vibranium from a British museum.
Plot Point 1: At 20% or 25% in your novel, something big happens that alters the protag’s plans/status/beliefs, forcing them to respond. The first plot point defines the nature of the hero’s quest, and everything you’ve set up (stakes, inner demons, foreshadowing) has led up to this point. Imagine the first quarter of the novel as pulling back the plunger in a pinball machine, and the first plot point is when you let the ball fly. The antagonist is introduced, but their true nature will not be fully revealed until the midpoint.
Example for Plot Point 1 from Black Panther: ~35m/123m (28%), Klaw’s whereabouts are known. T’Challa needs to go on a retrieval mission, putting his leadership as King to test for the first time.
Part 2 - Wanderer
Narrative Context: Reaction. 25% - 50% of your story. Something big has just happened (Plot Point 1) and the protagonist is reacting to it, running from it, pursuing it without knowing what it is. There is a sense of indecision, or lack of knowledge. We don’t have all the answers.
Example: T’Challa, Nakia, and Okoye are after Klaw, but they haven’t been fully introduced to the true antagonist, Killmonger.
Pinch Point 1: The first Pinch Point comes in the middle of Part 1. A pinch point is a big moment that reminds the reader of the power of the antagonist.
Example: 59/123 min, 47%. Right when the gang thinks they’ve got Klaw, he escapes with the help of Killmonger. T’Challa sees Killmonger for the first time, taking notice of the ring he wears. Who is this man? T’Challa realises he doesn’t have all the answers, that there’s something bigger going on.
Midpoint: One of the biggest points in the story, and a huge plot twist that reveals the true nature of the antagonist. It is like a veil is lifted, and the character sees more clearly what they’re up against, on an external, internal, and thematic level.
Example of the Midpoint: In Black Panther, the midpoint happens from 63 min - 67 min (~52%) in two scenes. First, we get a big plot twist. Killmonger reveals that he is of Wakandan blood, and that he’s going to the hidden nation. He kills Klaw
and even his own girlfriend
without hesitation. This lets the viewer know Killmonger’s goals and the danger he poses as an antagonist. In the second scene of the Midpoint, Zuri reveals what really happened to T’Challa’s uncle (and Killmonger’s father): he was killed by T’Chaka, leaving Killmonger fatherless. T’Challa realises that he’s going to have to pay the consequences for his father’s mistakes, and truly questions for the first time whether Wakanda’s tradition of secrecy is moral.
Part 3 - Warrior
Narrative Context: Action. 50% -75/80% of your story. Again, something game changing has just happened (the midpoint), which suddenly clarifies the nature of the antagonistic force. With this new insight, the protagonist is able to go on attack mode, actively trying to solve the issue at hand.
Example: Now that Killmonger has made himself known as the true antagonist, T’Challa has to face him and the mistakes T’Chaka made in the past.
Pinch Point 2: The second pinch point occurs halfway through the third quarter. Like the first pinch point, it is a reminder of the threat of the antagonistic force.
Example: 81 min - 82 min in Black Panther, or 66% into the story, Killmonger overthrows T’Challa.
Plot Point 2: The second plot point happens around 75% or 80% into the novel. It may be a characters realisation of what they must do to defeat the antagonist or a piece of information that allows them to face the bad guy. Whatever it is, no new information may be introduced after this point unless it is heavily foreshadowed. This is to prevent a deux ex machina.
Example: (98 min, 80%) T’Challa speaks to his forebears and realises that their actions were immoral. He says, “I must take the mantle back” and regains his power as black panther. He is ready to face Killmonger, and there is a sense that he now has a chance of defeating him.
Part 4 - Martyr
Narrative Context: Martyr. 75/80% - 100% of your story. This is the final battle, the end game. Often in a self-sacrificial way, the protagonist faces the big baddies and defeats them one by one. They are heroic, they are active, and they defeat the antagonist by their own strength.
Example: T’Challa and his crew face Killmonger to stop him from sending Wakandan weaponry to other countries. Notice that each character, T’Challa, Shuri, Okoye, Nakia, and Ross do something heroic and self-sacrificing. Occasionally something comes in that turns the tides in the heroes’ favour (this must be heavily foreshadowed) like when M’Baku decides to join sides with T’Challa.
Climax: Close to the end, midway in Part 4, the antagonist is defeated and the theme is clearly splayed out.
In Black Panther, this happens at 115 min - 118 min (or 94%) when T’Challa brings Killmonger out of the vibranium mines to see the Wakandan sunset. Killmonger chooses to die rather than live in bondage. After this point, we switch to the resolution.
Resolution Scene: Everything is wrapped up after the climax. This isn’t necessarily one scene, but can be many. May be one chapter or several depending on how many plot threads need to be tied up. Whatever happens, we enter into a new stasis and see the effect of the protagonist’s journey both physically (how the world changes around them) and psychologically (how they have changed internally).
Example: In Black Panther, we find out that T’Challa has decided to make an outreach program for African-American youth. He learns from Killmonger and decides to use Wakandan technology and resources so that the future generation does not suffer like Killmonger did.
How to use the Four Act Story Structure
On a practical level, how can writers use the Four Act Structure? I would recommend using it both in reading and in writing:
When reading or watching a movie, look out for the major plot points and act breaks. Have you ever felt that a story feels unbalanced? Rushed in parts? It is likely because it does not follow the Four Act Structure.
You can also use this structure in outlining. It will prevent you from going, “What the hell is going to happen next?” and will help you create a story that is well structured. Another reason I like this structure is because it details how to plot the middle portion of a novel.
However, keep in mind that movies are paced differently than books, and that even all books aren’t paced the same. You will not die in writers hell if you don’t follow this structure exactly. Rather, it is good to understand why this structure works so that you can better structure your ownnovels.For instance, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone does not follow this structure like I’ve laid out (though many argue that the first book is unbalanced; Harry doesn’t get to Hogwarts until 40% into the book.)
If you’d like to read more in depth about the Four Act Structure, Larry Brooks writes about it in Story Engineering. But a word of warning: Brooks does seem to believe that you will die in writing hell if you don’t follow this structure, and he hates pantsers with a passion. It’s still an informative read, but please take everything he says with a grain of salt.
Oh my gosh. I just found this website that walks you though creating a believable society. It breaks each facet down into individual questions and makes it so simple! It seems really helpful for worldbuilding!
Heads up that this is a very extensive questionnaire and might be daunting to a lot of writers (myself included). That being said, it is also an amazing questionnaire and I will definitely be using it (or at the very least, some of it).
There are a
lot of reasons to put your party on a ship: adventure, exploration, raiding, saucy pirates, running into cyclopean ruins in which elder gods sleep, and just plain getting from Point A to B. Plus, the only thing stupider/more amazing than mixing boating and alcohol is mixing PCs, boating, and alcohol.
Obviously there are lots of books like Stormwrackthat can give you all the mechanics you’d need, but I thought I’d outline the kinds of fundamentals that give you access to all the most exciting parts of shipboard adventuring. I want you guys to be able to have thrilling sea chases, cunning deceptions, perilous storms, sneaky attacks, and some of the goddam sexiest ships afloat. I haven’t really found a book that gives good examples of this stuff, so here I go!
(Nota Bene: the basic rule of thumb for the difference between a “boat” and a “ship” is that you can put a boat onto a ship, but not the other way around.)
There are two
very important things to know about ships:
1. They
make leeway. When the wind blows on a ship, it will push the ship sideways in
the direction the wind is going. The deeper and sharper the bottom of your ship,
the less leeway it will make. The shallower and smaller the bottom of your ship
– or, rather, the less draught (UK/CA)/ draft (US) she has, the more leeway she’ll
make.
2. They
can’t go directly into the wind.
If you try sail a ship directly into the wind, she’ll eventually just stop and begin to drift backwards. This is called being “in irons”. If a sailing ship is trying to go in the direction
that the wind is blowing from, she has to zig-zag back and forth across the wind. Depending on the type of
sails she has, the ship makes broader or more acute-angled zig-zags.
The bigger the zig-zag, the less actual progress the ship is making towards her
goal (especially with leeway in operation!).
Got it?
Bitchin’.
Holding fast to your sparkly, new-found knowledge, prepare for the next thing you need to know:
There are two(-ish) types of sails.
1. Fore-and-aft
sails: These are what you usually see on the average sailboat these days. They
run from front to back of a ship, and their design lets a ship point closer
towards the wind (i.e. where the wind is blowing from). These sails are attached to supporting poles called “booms”. If you pull in your
fore-and-aft sails close to the centre line of your ship, it’s called sailing “close-hauled”
or “full and by the wind”.
2. Square
sails: Think Pirates of the Caribbean and Treasure Island. These sails sit
roughly athwartships a.k.a. at right angles to the centre line of the ship. These sails are attached to horizontal poles known as “yards”. They
are extremely effective at sailing generally downwind-ish, which is known as “sailing
large”.
(3. Jibs: technically run fore-and-aft, but they don’t go on masts or booms, but rather the “stays”, which are ropes that hold masts in place so they don’t fall out. )
Fun fact: if a ship is good with both styles, you’d say that “she sails well, both by and large”. And that, shipmates, is where the expression “by and large” came from. 🌟NOW YOU KNOW.
With most tall ships (by which I mean wooden ships from the Age of Sail), you get a mix of these sails:
Also: note that, when we’re being technical, a ship in the general sense of “it r a big boat” may not be “ship-rigged. Because nautical jargon is like, 90% things being confusing.
Now, let’s boil all this down to some broad generalisations:
Big draught/draft/fat-bottomed girls ≈ makes less leeway, but can’t go in shallows.
Smaller draught/draft ≈ makes more leeway, but can zoom into rivers and shallow waters.
Fore-and-aft sails
≈
sails better going upwind.
Square sails ≈
sails better going downwind.
Big ship
≈
can carry more/bigger guns, which can shoot farther, but goes slower. Hard to row in a calm, if at all.
Little ship ≈
zippy like a bunny on crack, but smaller/fewer guns. Plus, being lower to the water, in heavy seas (storms, big swell/waves), she may not be able to open her gunports without getting her guns soaked so they can’t fire. Easier to row in a calm.
You can add magic sails that go directly into the wind. You can shape wood to change draught/draft. You can have guns that fire underwater, or can get wet. You can give a ship harpoon guns to pull the other guy in. You can make your ship fireproof. You can do anything you want, because magic.
But before you even begin to indulge in fantasy ship fantasies, you need the ship you’re going to modify.
Because you’re not just limited to the basic, Golden Age of Piracy galleon:
You can get a galleass, and row your way to ramming the other ship when they’re becalmed:
You can have a party-sized crew, and cross oceans in a Polynesian proa (feat. outrigger):
Forget putting your junk in the trunk, put your trunk in a junk (Zheng He’s junk!):
And much, much more!
_________________________
But let’s talk pretty simple shopping, and what you can do with it:
Say you
have Big Ship, which is a larger, heavy draughted/drafted mostly square-rigged
ship. Playing the role of Big Ship today is a smallish frigate:
Big Ship is chasing Little Ship, a sharp-hulled but shallow-draughted/drafted, mostly
fore-and-aft ship. Meet the sexy, sexy xebec[pronounced: /ˈziːbɛk/ or /zᵻˈbɛk/], feat. lateen sails, which are the hottest kind of fore-and-aft sail, IMHO, if not always practical:
There are so many ways this encounter can go, even if you don’t drop a kraken, mutinies, fires, and/or huge storms on them:
If Little
Ship wants to escape and is upwind of Big Ship, she can point herself as close to the wind as possible,
and her zippy fore-and-aft rig will help her escape the lumbering foe, and she
can show the Big Ship her ass with a cheeky wink and a wave.
Or, if
Little Ship knows there are underwater obstacles around like reefs or
sandbanks, or a shallow channel between islands, Little Ship can lure Big Ship
towards those obstacles and cause Big Ship to run aground. Then Little Ship can zoom around and rake Big Ship with cannonfire at her leisure until Big Ship surrenders.
However, Big Ship will be able to carry heavier guns that can shoot further away: at any moment, Big Ship could blast away one of Little Ship’s masts, and then Little Ship is seriously boned. Superior gunnery and training in aiming prevail, and the rewards of hard work are repaid with $$$.
And what if
Big Ship has Little Ship downwind? What if there are very light winds, which
Big Ship’s taller masts allow her to catch, since she can spread more sail?
Then Little Ship is in serious fucking trouble, and will need to start throwing her guns, water, food, and possibly even (*sob) treasure! overboard to survive. And if she gets away, she will now find herself without the ability to fight, probably in the middle of the ocean, with nothing to eat or drink. This is usually about when bigass white whales and elder gods can add a little zest to your time afloat.
This is just one scenario, with two ships, no magic, no monsters, and no inclement weather.
Plus, I’ve left out my most favouritest part of sailing ships, like, ever: deception, disguise, and generally outsmarting the other guy.
Next time on Captain Doesn't Shut Up About Boats:
Luff & Bluff: The Sneaky, Lying Bastard’s Guide To Tricky Sailing and Sailing Trickery
fat bodies, fat anatomy, and how body fat tends to work should be taught as standardly as skinny anatomy and how muscles work in art courses. fat bodies are not an outlier. fat bodies are not a minority and theyre not abnormal or wrong. fat bodies are normal and they belong in art teaching spaces as commonly as other anatomy, because fat bodies ARE normal anatomy. people have diverse bodies and there will never be a single body type that encompasses the “normal body type”
tldr; fat anatomy should be taught as a staple in art courses just like any other anatomy. this is fact <3
ive gathered various links to refs so that people who see this can actually access helpful info on how to draw fat people. first and foremost though, using references will always be the biggest help :)
The main difference between thrillers and horror is the effect it has on the reader. Yes, both genres are meant to “scare” the reader, but with a thriller, the ending is less predictable. It’s about the building tension that comes with the unknown. The writer’s goal is to unsettle the reader, make the fear of the unknown be the main aspect and make their heart rate rise steadily over the course of the plot. Horror is repeatedly scaring the reader, though the tension is lesser because a horror story is one of inevitable doom. It’s not so much about if, but rather when and how. Thriller is about that sweet, slow dribble of ice water down the reader’s back, while horror is splashing them repeatedly in creative and shocking ways.
Balancing the Tension
With the tension being the most important element in a thriller, you must balance this carefully and you can do so by utilizing the mystery aspect. You can build the tension with events and the steady state of unknowing, but you can also use the mystery to relieve or ramp up the suspense. Mysteries introduce time-sensitivity into the plot, as well as identifiable risk and payoff, but it also preserves that feeling of unpredictability. You need to be careful to keep the tension thick enough that the plot twist is surprising, but not unexpected. Readers should expect a dramatic shift in the trajectory, but they should be completely shocked at what it actually is.
Suspension of Disbelief
Mysteries and thrillers do not have the luxury that thriller does of a reader coming in with their sense of what is and isn’t “realistic” being thrown out the window. Readers of the mystery thriller genre expect an air of credibility and when their predictions and deductions are thwarted for something completely illogical, it isn’t a pleasant surprise. The suspension of disbelief comes in the details that may or may not be stretched for fictional purposes, but the meat of the story, the mystery and all the steps within, do not have that wiggle room. Exercise deep, critical thought when developing the plot development and the characters themselves because the reader is paying attention.
Choose the Right Antagonist
Antagonists in mystery thrillers are a great opportunity for creative freedom. Yes, readers expect the antagonist to surprise them or be clever, but your job isn’t to fool the reader, it’s to impress them with how cleverly you masked or built up the reveal of the antagonist; the result of their sleuthing. You don’t always have to choose some minor, seemingly insignificant character to be the antagonist at the end. There’s so many roads you can choose, such as making the protagonist the murderer, a family member the thief, the romantic partner the deceiver, etc. Don’t try to avoid cliches in this part of the plot, because it’s impossible. Every possible ending has been done in some way or another. Try to be original in the way you reveal them and be clever about developing the antagonist to have as much impact on the reader as possible.
Meaningful Death
Death isn’t as rampant in thrillers as in other suspenseful genres, but it’s still important to note that all death should have a purpose and a consequence. It should always serve the plot, and it should always have an observable effect on the characters. Killing characters (especially main characters) to build suspense or stakes doesn’t work and it reads as lazy. Keep the purpose and consequence in mind, and be open to death and where it takes the story.
Common Struggles
~ How do you create a good mystery thriller plot?… It depends on what you like about the genre. If you prefer to have the majority of the story surround the actual mystery and the development of its nuance, then focus the plot around that and sprinkle the suspense throughout. If you want the mystery to be the catalyst for a bigger, more complicated emotional conflict, then structure accordingly. It’s really about what you want to say and how you would want to hear it.
~ How do you balance a subtle build up without making the twist look like it came out of nowhere?… Action and reaction. Every twist and turn should be traceable to a series of identifiable events throughout the previous chapters. Your readers should be able to see the breadcrumbs when they read the story a second time. That’s how you know the subtlety works, rather than dropping two or three breadcrumbs throughout 16 chapters and then drop the whole remaining loaf in chapter 17.
~ How do you create a spooky, thrilling atmosphere?… Writing style. It’s all about writing style, I promise. Utilize some of the staples, like shorter sentences leading up to an explosive moment, visceral vocabulary about something seemingly mundane, etc. Over-describing things to have that “this normal thing doesn’t seem so harmless anymore” or under-describing things that the reader would assume requires more focus. Either turn up the volume or turn it way down. These little aspects in the vocabulary and structure you use add up and work wonders for tension and suspense. Also:
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When you begin a story that is heavy with technical detail that must be checked for accuracy, the most efficient way of going about it is approaching the first draft with a general sense of the topic. Then, as you write more and more, keep note of details you don’t have or facts you need to find. When you reach the second and third drafts, turn that general idea into specific detail. You’ll know what you need to know at that point, and you won’t waste valuable time doing unnecessary research instead of revising.
Keep Track of Your Resources
Hoard. Your. Sources. Not only so you can cite them to any editors or beta-readers whose knowledge may conflict with what you’ve researched, but so you can refer back to them if you decide to elaborate on the part of the story that required that information in the first place. Always keep a list of links in a document with the specific information you’ve gleaned from it, listed in a way where you can easily navigate and revisit sources and information.
Back when I was doing my MA program, I typed up a guide to writing query letters. It’s the post from this blog that I’m most proud of: a thorough step-by-step guide that combines days and weeks of research, and dozens of sources, into a neatly packaged 1,800-word post.
And I have to admit, I didn’t write it for tumblr. I needed to write a query letter myself for a publishing class, and my post was little more than compiled homework notes, saved as a Tumblr post for posterity.
I’ve actually had pieces of this in my drafts for years, but now I actually have to write a synopsis and I’m piling up the research, so I thought it was finally time for the sister to my query post to be published here.
But first…
What is a synopsis?
A synopsis is a 1-2 page summary of the events that transpire in a book, either proposed or already written. It’s used to give people who haven’t read your book a quick overview, so they know the story that’s being told in the book without having to read it.
When is a synopsis necessary?
Some literary agents request synopses along with query letters. More often, they’re used slightly later on in a writer’s career, when they have an agent or an editor and they need to submit a proposal for a new idea or project. A synopsis can also be used later on, in situations that don’t involve the author. For instance, when an editor pitches the book to the marketing and publicity team, who may not have time to read every book they’re working on. Unlike a query letter, the book doesn’t necessarily have to be written when you’re submitting its synopsis.
Basic Style
The job of a synopsis is to lay out the story with little fuss and no frills. They let the person you’re pitching know what they’re going to find in that giant stack of pages on their desk or in that obscenely long Word document (or else in the Word doc they’ll eventually receive).
Most professional synopses follow these rules:
They’re told in third person
They’re told in present tense
Characters’ names are CAPSLOCKED at first mention.
They are double spaced.
They tend to avoid descriptions longer than this sentence.
They focus on the central conflict and the protagonist’s emotional journey
They spoil the ending
They should be 500 words or less. (That is 1 page single-spaced, 2 pages double-spaced.)
HOW TO WRITE YOUR SYNOPSIS
The plot
Writing your synopsis, you have one goal: to tell a 50,000-100,000 word story in 500 words. It can be a little difficult to do this right. A great way to do this is to identify the key turning points in your protagonist’s story.
Do you remember those little plot roller coasters you’d make in elementary school? They’d usually be pointy witch’s-hat shaped things labeled with the terms: “beginning, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution.”
Those turning points are the events you should be including in your synopsis.This is the structure you want to emphasize to your reader. You want to make abundantly clear that your story works like a story, that the events of your book have a beginning, a middle, and an end, that there’s an intriguing beginning, an exciting climax, a satisfying conclusion. You don’t want to just list out the events of your novel, but highlight the function of those events. X moment is important because it’s the inciting incident, the moment that takes the protagonist from their normal life and throws them into the story.
There are tons of great story roadmaps out there, that go into more specific story elements. The Hero’s Journey is the most famous example of a detailed, and mostly universal, story structure. There’s also the three-act structure that’s famous among screenwriters.
Find a structure that fits your story the best and use that to identify the events of your story that need to make it into your synopsis. I’ll link to different sources at the bottom of this post that will give you variations of story structure.
If you can correlate key scenes in your novel to the descriptions of these plot points, you’ll find an easy roadmap to navigating the many events of outlining your novel.
Your protagonist’s journey
Your protagonist is the heart of your story, and should be the heart of the synopsis, too. The protagonist’s emotional journey may not string all of these plot points together, but it’s going to be what makes them matter to the reader. The human element of your story has to be represented in your synopsis.
There’s no room for long descriptions, so you’ll have to be smart about finding a few terms that not only tell your reader who the character is, but what their story will be. For instance, if your story is about someone trying to get their critically-panned paintings in the Museum of Modern Art by breaking into the museum and installing the pieces themselves, you may want to introduce them with a sentence that begins like so: “When IGNATIUS, an ambitious and untalented struggling artist, discovers his work is rejected from yet another gallery…”
In addition to these descriptive terms, you should spell out what your protagonist wants (or wants desperately to avoid) and their stake in the events of the story.
Along the way, tell us how these key aspects of their persons change due to the events of the story, or else how they influence the events of the story. Tell us about how after raving reviews for his DIY MoMA exhibit came in, Iggy realized that though he still liked painting, his talents actually lay in performance art. Untalented to talented, struggling to successful, all because his ambition pushed him to try new and daring things.
Tips:
As in query letters, you only name the most important characters and locations outright. If you’re writing a synopsis for Harry Potter, you’ll want to use Harry’s name in the query, but most other people and places can be referred to by their function in the novel. Ex: Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon can be “his cruel relatives.” Hermione and Ron can be “his friends.” Even Hogwarts can be a “school for people with magical abilities.” This makes it easier for a reader to understand what’s going on in your story. Too many names in such a small amount of space can be overwhelming.
All telling, no showing. This is one piece of writing where you’ll want to tell, instead of show. You need to get to your point as quickly, as clearly, and concisely as possible; this isn’t the place for creative storytelling.
Oftentimes, synopses are given along with other materials, such as pitch letters and sample pages. While a synopsis should be captivating in-so-far that it’s well told, and it should maybe be a little stylish, being captivating and stylish aren’t its main goals. Additional materials like sample pages and pitches have more room for creative flourishes and can do a better job of selling the story, while the synopsis focuses on telling it.
Your synopsis should show that you know how to tell a story. While a synopsis doesn’t sell a story like a query, it should still illustrate the fact that you have an interesting, unique and well-structured plot. When finished, your reader should be able to think to themselves “that’s a good story. I want to read that.”
Your first draft will be too long. Your first draft of a synopsis will always be at least a page or two longer than it should be. Identify the sentences and paragraphs where you explain why a thing happens and ax them. Identify sentences where you repeat yourself and ax them. Identify descriptors that aren’t vital to understanding of the story and ax them. Once you make your first painful cuts and see that the story still makes sense without those things, you’ll start to get a better understanding of what can and cannot be taken out of your synopsis.
Anonymous
