Perfecting Plot: Charting the Hero's Journey
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About this ebook
Even the most unique and interesting characters will not engage readers if their journey—the plot—fails. In this book, bestselling author William Bernhardt reveals the secrets that will keep readers riveted to the page. He explains the importance of matching character to plot and the key distinction between surprise and coincidence. Bernhardt discusses how to enrich your story by layering three levels of conflict and, in the final chapter, analyzes the primary plot structures that have delighted readers since the first story was told. The book also includes exercises designed to help writers apply these ideas to their own writing.
William Bernhardt is the bestselling author of more than thirty books, including the blockbuster Ben Kincaid novels. Bernhardt is also one of the most sought-after writing instructors in the nation. He is the only person to have received the Southern Writers Gold Medal Award, the Royden B. Davis Distinguished Author Award (U Penn) and the H. Louise Cobb Distinguished Author Award (OSU), which is given "in recognition of an outstanding body of work that has profoundly influenced the way in which we understand ourselves and American society at large."
The Red Sneaker Writing Center is dedicated to helping writers achieve their literary goals. What is a red sneaker writer? A committed writer seeking useful instruction and guidance rather than obfuscation and attitude. Red sneakers get the job done and so do red sneaker writers, by paying close attention to their art and craft, committing to hard work, and never quitting. Are you a red sneaker writer? If so, this book is for you.
WILLIAM BERNHARDT
William Bernhardt (b. 1960), a former attorney, is a bestselling thriller author. Born in Oklahoma, he began writing as a child, submitting a poem about the Oklahoma Land Run to Highlights—and receiving his first rejection letter—when he was eleven years old. Twenty years later, he had his first success, with the publication of Primary Justice (1991), the first novel in the long-running Ben Kincaid series. The success of Primary Justice marked Bernhardt as a promising young talent, and he followed the book with seventeen more mysteries starring the idealistic defense attorney, including Murder One (2001) and Hate Crime (2004). Bernhardt’s other novels include Double Jeopardy (1995) and The Midnight Before Christmas (1998), a holiday-themed thriller. In 1999, Bernhardt founded Bernhardt Books (formerly HAWK Publishing Group) as a way to help boost the careers of struggling young writers. In addition to writing and publishing, Bernhardt teaches writing workshops around the country. He currently lives with his family in Oklahoma.
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Reviews for Perfecting Plot
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- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Insightful, practical and interesting. This covers almost everything you need to kick start your plotting process.
Book preview
Perfecting Plot - WILLIAM BERNHARDT
Perfecting Plot
Charting the Hero’s Journey
Perfecting Plot: Charting the Hero’s Journey
First Edition
Copyright © 2013 William Bernhardt Writing Programs
Published by Babylon Books
ISBN: 978-0-9979010-9-2
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.
Perfecting Plot
Charting the Hero’s Journey
William Bernhardt
The Red Sneaker Writer Series
Other Books by William Bernhardt
The Red Sneaker Writer Series
Story Structure: The Key to Successful Fiction
Creating Character: Bringing Your Story to Life
Perfect Plotting: Charting the Hero’s Journey
Dynamic Dialogue: Letting Your Story Speak
Promising Premise: Writing the Irresistible
Sizzling Style: Every Word Matters
Excellent Editing: The Writing Process
The Ben Kincaid Series
Primary Justice
Blind Justice
Deadly Justice
Perfect Justice
Cruel Justice
Naked Justice
Extreme Justice
Dark Justice
Silent Justice
Murder One
Criminal Intent
Hate Crime
Death Row
Capitol Murder
Capitol Threat
Capitol Conspiracy
Capitol Offense
Capitol Betrayal
Justice Returns
Other Novels
The Code of Buddyhood
Dark Eye
The Midnight Before Christmas
Final Round
Double Jeopardy
Strip Search
Nemesis: The Final Case of Eliot Ness
The Game Master
Challengers of the Abyss
Poetry
The White Bird
The Ocean’s Edge
For Young Readers
Equal Justice: The Courage of Ada Lois Sipuel (biography)
Princess Alice and the Dreadful Dragon (illustrated by Kerry McGhee)
The Black Sentry
Shine
Edited by William Bernhardt
Legal Briefs
Natural Suspect
Dedicated to all the Red Sneaker Writers:
You can’t fail unless you quit.
Plot: Stuff happens to people you care about.
John D McDonald
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
Chapter One: Understanding Plot
Chapter Two: Pairing Plot and Character
Chapter Three: Plot is Conflict
Chapter Four: The Face of Conflict
Chapter Five: The Thrill of Surprise
Chapter Six: The Agony of Coincidence
Chapter Seven: Layering the Conflict
Chapter Eight: Understanding Your Plot
Appendix A: Inner Conflicts
Appendix B: Personal Conflicts
Appendix C: World-Building
Appendix D: Synopsis
Appendix E: The Writer’s Calendar
Appendix F: The Writer’s Contract
Appendix G: The Writer’s Reading List
Note From the Author
About the Author
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to the Red Sneaker Writers series. If you’ve read other Red Sneaker publications or attended Red Sneaker events, you can skip to Chapter One. If you’re new, let me take a moment to explain.
I’ve been telling stories for many years, doing almost every kind of writing imaginable. I’ve been speaking at workshops and conferences almost as long. Every time I step behind the podium I see the same tableau staring back at me: long rows of talented people, most of whom have attended many of these events, frustrated by the fact that they haven’t sold any books. And wondering why. Yes, the market is tough and agents are hard to find and self-publishing can be frustrating. But when aspiring writers do the work, put it out there, but still don’t succeed…there’s usually a reason. Too often enormous potential is lost due to a lack of fundamental knowledge. Sometimes a little guidance is all that stands between an unknown writer and a satisfying writing career.
I do my best to help at conferences, but the large auditorium/general information lecture is not terribly conducive to writing instruction. And sometimes the teaching I’ve heard offered is dubious at best. Too often people seemed more interested in appearing literary
than in providing useful information. Sometimes I felt the presenters did more to obfuscate the subject than to explain it, that they wanted to make writing as mysterious and incomprehensible as possible, either because that made them sound deeper or because they didn’t understand the subject themselves. How is that going to help anyone?
After giving this some thought, I formulated the Red Sneaker Writing Center. Why Red Sneakers? Because I love my red sneakers. They’re practical, flexible, sturdy—and bursting with style and flair. In other words, exactly what I think writing instruction should be. Practical, flexible, resilient, useful, but still designed to unleash the creative spirit, to give the imagination a platform for creating wondrous work.
I held the first Red Sneaker Writers conference in 2005. I invited the best speakers I knew, not only people who had published many books but people who could teach. Then I launched my small-group seminars—five intensive days with seven or so aspiring writers. This gave me the opportunity to read, edit, and work one-on-one with people so I could target their needs and make sure they got what they needed most. This approach worked extremely well and I’m proud to say a substantial list of writers have graduated from my seminars and placed work with major publishers. But I realized not everyone could attend my seminars. How could I help those people?
This book, and the other books in this series, are designed to provide assistance to writers regardless of their location. The books are short, inexpensive, and targeted to specific areas where a writer might want assistance.
Let me see if I can anticipate your questions:
Why are these books so short? Because I’ve expunged the unnecessary and the unhelpful. I’ve pared it down to the essential information, practical and useful ideas that can improve the quality of your writing. Too many instructional books are padded with excerpts and repetition to fill word counts required by book contracts. That’s not the Red Sneaker way.
Why are you writing so many different books instead of one big book? I encourage writers to commit to writing every day and to maintain a consistent writing schedule. You can read the Red Sneaker books without losing much writing time. In fact, each can be read in a single afternoon. Take one day off from your writing schedule. Read and make notes in the margins. See if that doesn’t trigger ideas for improving your work.
I bet it will. And the next day, you can get back to your writing.
You reference other books as examples, but you rarely quote excerpts from books (other than yours). Why?
Two reasons. First, I’m trying to keep the books brief. I may use a book as an example, but I rarely quote excerpts. If you want to look up a passage from a book, it’s easy enough to do. You don’t need me to cut and paste it for you. Second, if I quote from materials currently under copyright protection, I have to pay a fee, which means I’d need to raise the price of the book. I don’t want to do that. I think you can grasp my points without reading copyrighted excerpts. Too often, in my opinion, excessive excerpting in writing books is done to pad the page count.
Why does each chapter end with exercises?
The exercises are a completely integrated and essential part of this book, designed to simulate part of what happens in my small-group seminars. Samuel Johnson was correct when he wrote: Scribendo disces scribere. Meaning: You learn to write by writing. I can gab on and on, but these principles won’t be concretized in your brain until you put them into practice.
So get the full benefit from this book. Take the time to complete the exercises. If you were in my seminar, this would be your homework. I won’t be hovering over your shoulder when you read this book—but you should do the exercises anyway.
What else does the Red Sneaker Writers Center do?
I send out a free e-newsletter