FSN - Day 18 - First Plot Point/Point of No Return

[ladyseishou]

Day 18 - 13 days until the start of NNWM




This week we’re going to fashion a kind of very loose framework for our story Nano Writer - a guide that will lead our protagonist from the beginning built around our character’s background we worked on last week through to the ending we envisioned yesterday, all while pursuing his or her heart’s desire.

Got all that? Well, don’t worry. We’ll work on putting all the pieces together at the end of the week. For today, we’re going to spend fifteen minutes and make a list of things or events that will convince our hero of the necessity of leaving behind the comfort and safety of “home” to begin “the quest.” What will it take to persuade your character? True love? Gold? Survival?

Questions? Comments? Motivation? You’ve got the moves, Nano Writer! Let’s hear what you got! Keep writing!

Comments

[dark_kana]

She leaves the safety of 'home' and begins her 'quest' out of revenge. And love. ^^

And I'm sorry I haven't replied to the previous posts ... I'm lacking time and inspiration. But ... I'm going to try and catch up soon! Because these posts are awesome and they really help me! :-)

[dark_kana]

And of course she leaves on her quest to survive ... *headdesks* How could I forget to mention it. *sweatdrop*

[ladyseishou]

Survival is pretty good motivation ;-) Revenge and love are good followups!

[cheyinka]

I think the problem I've been having with these questions is that, while my story is probably going to have a major battle close to the end, that antagonist isn't working against $as_yet_unnamed_protagonist all along; her problem is that she's half-orcish, half-human, so orcs think she's weak, humans think she's dangerous, gnomes think she's untrustworthy, and she doesn't know who or what she is at all.

(Viewed in that light, I think I'm finally writing a character-exploration novel, after eight years of stories with interesting plots and bas-relief-at-best characters. Heh.)

---

So she's realized she's nearly the right age either to start having children... but she'd be expected to have children with someone who's all-orcish, and none of them are interested in her because she's half-human, and the only other half-orcs in her band are her siblings.
Or to start fighting for the band with its other warriors... but she doesn't actually want to go out raiding and pillaging.
Or to have already been apprenticed to learn a trade, though it's not too late to start... but she's not interested in learning how to make or repair weapons, boats, wagons, or really anything.
She doesn't have any craft skills that would make her noteworthy for them, either, so if she's not making more raiders, being a raider, or supporting the raiders, she has no place there - and no orcish band will take in a half-orc who isn't trying to be more orcish than the orcs.

[ladyseishou]

Yes, it sounds like you are planning a story that will be more about your character's internal journey (somewhat more common for female protagonists and called the "heroine's journey"). What it really comes down to is that your character's opposing force is herself (or as you said in another post Man vs. Society). She will need to figure out how she can find her place in society and still remain true to herself if indeed she even knows who she is (as a half human half orc). That's her "quest" and its as important/relevant to the reader as any slay-the-dragon kind of story.

It might help things along if she were to meet an adviser or elder that might help guide her as she works things out because it sounds like she needs an outsider's POV.

[cheyinka]

Yeah, she's going to get badly injured at some point and taken to a monastery for healing, and one of the monks will be her mentor while she's recovering and afterwards - I think I may make that happen sooner, just so I don't have to write as much mental flailing around. :D

(It's one of the big turning points for her - she'll have met someone who taught her how to use a weapon capably, but she would never have imagined, until she had months of time spent sitting in the monastery garden recovering, that she could find people who could help her learn about herself.)

[serpentrose]

I'm thinking two things will spur my MC to action, both of them other people. First he's now of an age where he will be expected to take on more responsibilities, only he's not very good at what's expected of him. As a result he is going to be confronted by his older sister.

Second, and less interestingly, he's going to meet and fall in love with someone.

Thinking on this I realize that my MC is very passive, which is one of the reasons he would make a very poor King. One of the major plotlines involves him, and his elder sister, working to change the Rules of Inheritance.

[ladyseishou]

Is it your MC's decision to act or is he forced to act? Passive MC's are tricky to write so that they don't alienate the reader. It may be that your MC is afraid? Be sure to bring that to light early. Or if he's just uninterested - find something that he does care about and tie that into the larger plot.

And as for love - as a motive it can move mountains.

[lap_otter]

I guess the first thing that happens to Garth that starts his world changing is moving halfway across the country, from Texas to Oregon. But that happens before the story starts. The second thing is probably meeting Adison in art class; Garth is asexual and cisgendered, and Adison is queer and--well, she's queer, is what she is; as she'd say, "I'm not a chick and I'm not a dude; I'm an Adison and that's what I like to be." Biologically she's female. They're such polar opposites to each other, they become best friends and she makes him join the GSA at their high school, which she founded. From there, there's bullying, the school administration trying to stop the bullying by shutting down the GSA, Garth's pregnant ex-girlfriend, Adison getting expelled, and--"WHAT, are you telling me you can do MAGIC, too? Could my life get just a LITTLE bit harder, please?!"

I uh haven't been commenting; a lot of these exercises so far have had little to no tangible result until last Friday, when I cracked down on five or six I'd been behind on and ended up with a rough outline that ties up all loose ends. Each day's tiny, insignificant amount of progress just all suddenly came together into, OH, I have a STORY.

[ladyseishou]

It's like magic, isn't it when the story just sort of appears like that? Very happy for you!