Andy S: how did you load/post
your flash fiction? Can’t open it.
I want an end to these Bb
glitches!
Next Week
All semester cyber work to date
must be ready for a check by
class time.
If you want to revise anything, or
post a late assignment, you have
until March 4th. After that we begin
a new check period.
I’ll do two or three checks over
the semester.
Remember each week to
check the Weekly Cyber
Class Instructions forum, as
well as the online schedule
and any new and/or
updated Power Point
presentations.
Also for Next Week
• Read Sebold stories: Alice
Fulton, “A Shadow Table” and
Alex Rose, “Ostracon.”
• Workshop.
• Project #2 due March 11
(I’ll get some draft feedback to
you within a few days)
Interested in Writing Fiction?
A Crash Course in
Creating Characters,
Plot and Setting
First, a quick review of a couple important points…
What is the difference between an essay or a work of
expository prose and a story?
Essays generally have a thesis, are primarily
factual and reflective (not dramatic), are
“narrated” by the actual author, and are usually
structured as traditional, a-temporal arguments.
Stories don’t have a thesis, are primarily dramatic
and fictional, are narrated by an invented
character, and have temporal structures.
Don’t confuse a firstperson narrator of a story
with the author of the
story! They are not
(necessarily) the same
person!
Note that experimenting with
plot is one of your options for
Fiction Project #2
Ok. Plot
What is it?
How do you
make one?
How do you make a GOOD one?
Plotting a Story

What's a plot?
o

When this question linked is
to CHARACTER, you have a
stronger, richer story!
The sequence or pattern of events in a story.
“First this happens, then that happens, then this…”
What sets a story in motion?
o
o
A QUESTION is posed, explicitly or implicitly.
So why do you continue reading? What keeps
you turning pages?
You want to know the answer!
Thinking about “The Narrative Question”
A guy is climbing a mountain.
What’s the narrative question?
Right: will he make it to the top?
What are the possible answers?
Yes
or
No
Nothing wrong with a story like that;
it can be quite good.
But you can do a lot more with plot.
Suspense and interest can get
REALLY intense when ADDITIONAL
questions are introduced in the
course of the plot.
Two guys are climbing a mountain.
One is having an affair with the
other guy’s wife.
More questions
What’s the narrative
question(s)?
• Will they make it to the top?
• Will one make it and the other
fail?
• Will one find out that the other
is having the affair?
• What will happen when he
finds out?
and/or more
possible
answers
=
more
suspense!
There are other ways of thinking
about what sets a plot in motion
and keeps it moving.
A balanced situation becomes…
unbalanced! Some sort of equilibrium is
disturbed.
An obstacle is presented. The more obstacles,
the more potential suspense.
Usually :)
Another way to think of PACE, in
fact, is the RATE OF REVELATION.
What else is important to plot?
PACE
What speeds
thepace?
slows the
 Exposition.
pace?





Interior monologue.
• ACTION!
Description.
• Revelation of
Dialogue.
Sub-plots
or parallel plot
ANSWERS
to(more
the on this is just
a sec)
narrative
False clues, misdirection, or otherwise
questions
withholding
answers to the narrative question.
See class notes (material on board) for details
Helpful Plot Devices







Framing (we’ll talk about this more in a sec)
Flashbacks
Foreshadowing
Parallel or intersecting plots or sub-plots (more in a sec)
False clues
“Hooks” (these are not so much “devices” but
integral elements; sometimes they’re referred to as
complicating actions, triggers, or twists)
Delay (withholding answers to the narrative
questions)
Plot Structure
What’s the shape of your plot?
How do its parts fit together?
Hook = “triggering action” or
“complicating action” or “narrative
question” or “twist.” Different sources will call
these by different names.
False clue
Increasing
tension
X
Partial answer
X
Introduction of
minor parallel plot
X
X
X
Flashback
TRADITIONAL
PLOT
STRUCTURE:
standard
rising and
falling action
What SLOWS
Pace?
X
X
X
X
X
X
What SPEEDS pace?
ACTION!
ANSWERS!
Scene-setting (exposition)
Dialogue.
Internal
monologue.
Description.
Resolution
Nothing wrong with a traditional plot structure.
And did you know: each
carries with it its own
ideological assumptions
about the nature of time,
desire, purpose, even human
existence itself?
Authors and titles mentioned here are class
assignments or material you can easily look
up.
Alternate Plot Structures
Different plots
Framed narrative. (Or this is actually a plot device.) Have you seen
can express
Titanic?
alternative
Montage or collage. O’Brien story?
ways of
experiencing
Multiple
and intersecting plots. Continental Drift.
TIME and
Chronologically backwards plot. (Yes—backwards. See Lorrie Moore’s
REALITY! See
“How to Talk to Your Mother.”)
Gabriel Garcia
StaticMarquez’s
plots. (See experimental
stories by Robbe Grille.)
One
Hundred Years
All flashbacks, or footnotes, or exposition. Nicholson Baker’s, The
of Solitude.
Mezzanine.
Tim O’Brien’s,
“How to Tell
a True War
Story”
What do you make of PLOT in this story?
Plot Thingys to Avoid

The “it was all a dream” ending. (Besides the fact that it already
happened to Dorothy, it’s just a cheap solution to the difficulties
raised in the story.)

Suicide endings. (Sorry—your characters will have to find some
other way out of their problems. Avoid this kind of ending at least
for now.)

O’Henry twist endings. (Clever, but get old fast. The twist
becomes the whole point of the story, and ultimately has limited
interest.)

Tidy, comprehensive endings in which everything comes out
well, all loose ends are neatly tied up, and the universe is pretty
much explained to one and all. Let your stories end
inconclusively now and then. Let them end with questions rather
than answers.
Something to Think About
Does a story have to be plot-centered?
NO! A piece can be character-driven,
image-driven, idea-driven, even
setting-driven. (Look at selected
scenes from Robert Altman’s, The
Player.)
So, a little sum-up:
Plot—Don’t Plod!
o Be aware of your narrative question. Introduce
additional narrative questions. Create multiple
obstacles, physical or emotional.
o Control the rate of revelation. Slow pace = interior
monologue, description, dialogue, exposition. Fast
pace = action, jump cuts, answers to narrative question.
o Provide false clues, misdirection.
o Develop sub- or parallel-plots which delay revelation in
the main plot, add interest and complexity.
o Consider creating your backstory gradually. Don't give
main character’s full story immediately. Let it evolve.
o Provide powerful IMAGERY which heightens tensions.
Students almost NEVER use imagery with feeling.
Note: many students are not aware of where their
scenes stop and start, and their transitional
passages are consequently “muddy”: overelaborated, bogging the whole story down.
What else is important to plot?


Scene Development
o
A unit of time and place in which (usually) important action takes
place.
o
Can be like mini-stories within the larger story.
Scene transitions
o
o
o
Provide a simple extra space on the page. This is common these
days.
Transitional phrases.
“Jump cuts.” Leaping from one scene to another abruptly. Done
well, reader intuits the transition. Student stories often have
needless exposition and crud between scenes.
How long should a scene be?

Depends on length of story.

Depends on pacing: do you want to speed
things up or slow things down? Short scenes
obviously go faster than longer ones.

Student scenes are often neglected. Too
long, too short, non-existent…
What do you make of the dinner
scene in “Cathedral”?
Characters
How do you make
them?
How do you make
them INTERESTING?
Types


Flat (or Simple, Secondary, Static)
Round (or Complex, Primary, Dynamic)
Need to Be



Try starting with a
CHARACTER idea, not
a plot idea!
Believable, Real
Consistent
Distinctive
Worst beginner
faults: characters
who are all alike
(can’t tell one from
the other), or are
generic.
Starting with a Character
Imagine-up a distinct, rounded, believable person. What
is that person’s main faults? Greatest fears? Worst
neuroses? What makes this person nervous, edgy,
confused, repulsed? What do they NOT KNOW about
themselves?
NOW:
put that character in a setting and situation which will
MAXIMAZE his/her fears, faults, neuroses; a situation
which may force them to confront their what they do not
know about themselves or what they don’t want to know.
EXAMPLE:
“CATHEDRAL”
Well…
• He’s not a genius.
• He’s not very worldly. Limited experience.
• He’s put off by what is different. Narrowminded. Kind of a xenophobe.
• He’s not especially ambitious.
• He’s a bigot.
• He’s left-brain oriented.
• He’s not really a bad guy, just a dope?
How does Carver handle those questions,
and what is the outcome?
applied to CHACTERIZATION
Let only the tip of the iceberg show—the right details
will evoke the great complex mass of what lies
beneath. In other words: show—don’t tell. Provide
fewer, but better, details. (Less is more.)
Don’t explain your protagonist’s feelings or issues
away; reveal their character dramatically:
o
o
o
Have the person do something which reveals
interesting nuances of their personality.
Have your character react to what someone else
does or says.
Show other characters reacting to, or speaking
about, your protagonist.
Silences aren’t silent.
Silences aren’t nothing.
Being good with words means knowing when to shut up.
Sometimes it helps to LITERALLY
sketch or draw the character!
Try a verbal “character sketch”…
I.e., invent someone…
My character’s name is X and
she is an X. She’s from X and
first Xed when she Xed…
a person who will be with you the rest of the
semester.
You can explain many things, but try to describe
more than explain.
At least 3 paragraphs. Can be notational.
Now look again at your character
sketch.

What were you doing? Your
character is FLAT! BORING!
GENERIC! 2-dimensional!

Look at questions in Harmonious
Confusion and TRY AGAIN
bonehead!
www.ndsu.nodak.edu/instruct/cinichol/CreativeWriting/323/HarmoniousWhole.htm
Don’t feel you have to know everything there
is to know about your protagonist!
In fact, if your protagonist
is any good, you WON’T
know everything there is
to know about the person.
SETTING and IMAGERY

What do SPECIFIC ITEMS in the setting say about the main
character?
–
–
–
What is in your invented character’s bedroom?
What is in YOUR bedroom?
What is in the jungle in “How to Tell a True War Story”? What
is in the home of the protagonist of “The Cures for Love”?

What mood is created by the setting and by the story’s imagery?

How do the setting and the imagery contribute to theme?

In what ways might a story actually be ABOUT setting? (setting
that is almost a character)
Settings which tell us very
GENERAL kinds of things about
the characters (socio-economic
class, general historical time and
location), though some are at
least evocative)
These tell us more about the
specific individuals living in
them
And now…
Fiction:
Again, Some #1 Things to Look
Out For
Before handing in workshop material,
ask yourself at least a few of these questions:
1. Does the story rely entirely on plot? Are other story elements—character, setting,
perspective, language, image—ignored?
2. Does the plot in turn rely entirely on an "O'Henry twist" or trick ending? This is fun
maybe once or twice, but it gets old really fast. You should only be doing this
sparingly. The outcome is a foregone conclusion for the writer and so no discoveries
have been made. One of the central pleasures in writing—for the writer—has been
missed.
3. A related problem is the plot based heavily on a clever, "ooh-aah" or "oh wow"
premise. Such a premise or basic concept is fine if the story is otherwise fully
developed, but too often the premise becomes the only point, a gimmick of interest
for about 3 seconds. Try founding your story on some interesting and unresolved,
possibly unresolvable problem of character rather than plot. The premise may seem
less snappy or clever at first, but ultimately the story will be richer and take the reader
(and you, the writer) into more interesting territory.
4. Is the plot "front-heavy"? That is, does it have page after page of initial scene-setting
and exposition, followed by screaming slide to a conclusion?
5. Is there a suicide ending? Come on.
6. Are there plenty of specific, concrete, sensory DETAILS so that the reader can really
see and feel the setting and characters? Or is most of the language general and
abstract?
7.
Are the characters in the story distinctive? Can you tell one apart from the other, or are they all
basically the same person?
8.
Are the characters developed? Do you really know the central people in the story—their
desires, physical quirks, beliefs, contradictions? Does the main character leave an
impression? Do you know everything there is to know about the main character? (you
shouldn't!).
9.
Are scenes* in the story distinctive and delineated? If they all kind of run together, chances are
there's a lot of inconsequential action which is diluting the best stuff so we can't see it or
experience it vividly. Go through and mark where scenes in the story begin and end, and
consider cleaner transitions from one scene to another.
10.
Look at the scenes you've marked. Is each one sufficiently developed? Notice where some
good scene opportunities are being brushed over. These are places where you probably
SUMMARIZED or used EXPOSITION rather than developed the moment with sensory detail.
11.
Are the scenes well-modulated? You want to alternate action, reflection, dialogue, and
exposition—not action scene followed by action scene followed by action scene. If there's no
modulation, the high points just run together with the low points and the story will feel
monotonous.
12.
Is the point of view modulated? You want "distant shots" as well as detailed "close-ups."
13.
Is there real engagement with language? Or, oops, is the prose style pretty much a soggy
paper towel?
14.
Look out for dull, hackneyed language; cliché words and expressions:
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
"sly smile"
"evil smirk"
"deep into his eyes"
"heart leaped to his throat"
"face etched with concern"
"blacker than night"
"bitter tears"
majestic sunset," etc.
15.
Try some interesting figurative language! Look at Lorrie Moore and Annie Proulx
for evocative, surprising, moving, vivid, juicy metaphors and similes.
16.
Watch out for monotonous sentence length and style; no rhythmic, modulated, or
otherwise engaging sentences.
17.
Listen for voice—does your narrator, whether she's wholly omniscient, limited
omniscient, or first-person—have a distinctive way of talking?
* Scene = an unbroken stretch of time and action, usually in one place. Unlike a summary or
exposition, which may overview a broad period of time, a scene generally covers a brief,
detailed, circumscribed period. Scenes are almost like small stories in themselves.
Copyright
A VERY Brief Look at a TINY Number of Issues
Idea-Expression Dichotomy
You can’t own an idea…
but you can own the original expression of an
idea.
“[T]he ‘ideas’ that are the fruit of an author's labors go into the
public domain, while only the author's particular expression
remains the author's to control”
(http://www.edwardsamuels.com/copyright/beyond/articles/ideapt1-20.htm).
“Given the difficulty of defining the terms of the doctrine,
some courts and commentators have developed an
‘abstractions’ test[FN6] or a ‘patterns’ analysis,[FN7] which
purports to place a given work along a continuum between
idea and expression. Although it is impossible to state
precisely when a particular work has crossed the threshold
from one end to the other, the courts are nonetheless
supposed to struggle to apply the terms.”
Ibid.
Other Considerations



“Substantial Use”
“Fair Use”
“Sufficient originality”
Commercial
Screenwriting
Movies vs. Plays vs. Novels








Novel: author has control of nearly all of the main
product
Plays: playwright has total control of script
Movies: screenwriter usually has little control of
anything 
Novel: can get directly into characters’ thoughts
and also provide exposition easily
Movies: primarily visual
Plays: primarily verbal (dialogue)
Novels: a solitary art
Plays and especially movies: highly collaborative
arts
Basics BASICS
 Shooting
BASICS
or Production Script:
 Formatted
for actual use on set.
And there’s
the:
Pitch
Outline
 Spec
or Writer’s Script:
Treatment
Synopsis
 For
shopping your script around.
 100-120
pages. Period.
In MANY commercial films, CONCEPT is key.
A successful concept:













Can be understood by an 8th grader
Can be summed up in one or two sentences
Is provocative
Provides a compelling mental picture
Has a main character who experiences a conflict which leads to
an initial HOOK
Has sequel potential
Has “legs” (could work even without big stars)
Will nonetheless attract a big star
Stands out
Is original but also has familiar elements (Being John Malkovich)
You can see the whole movie in it
Has broad appeal
Is marketable; the exec knows immediately that the idea has
potential
Formulating the concept
(the “one-line” or “logline”):

Pose as question:



What if Dorothy had a sister?
What if Titanic were a spaceship instead of a boat?
What if one of the ghostbusters were himself a ghost?

Pose as a logline: TV Guide or newspaper movie
section one-sentence summary

Pose as a hook:






The Graduate: Part II
Out of Africa meets Pretty Lady
Braveheart comes to America (The Patriot)
Night of the Living Dead meets Star Wars (The Imposter)
Night of the Living Dead meets Outbreak (The Invasion)
Animal House meets The Good Girl (The Tao of Steve)
Logline should have an implied structure—on
hearing the concept, an exec would sense a
beginning, middle, and end, or the “beats”:
1. Opening Image
Every handbook you consult will
2. Theme Statement
break these parts down a little
3. Set-up
differently or with different headers
4. Catalyst
5. Debate
6. B Story (usually the love story, page 30)
7. Fun and Games
8. Midpoint
9. Bad Guys Close In
10.All is Lost
11.Dark Night of the Soul
12.Finale
13.Final Image
The killer TITLE
+ the
CONCEPT
= a one-two
Know Your Genres
Thriller
 Love Story
 Action/Adventure
 Sci-Fi
 Horror
 Detective mystery
 Comedy

…including ones not mentioned in your local video store:

The Fish Out of Water


Dances with Wolves, Dangerous Minds, Miss Congeniality, Legally Blonde,
Benjamin Button, The Reader
The Pet Who Heals

Winn-Dixie, Seabiscuit, As Good as It Gets (sub-theme), Marley and Me

The Buddy Story (Sensitive Male Bonding Flick)

Ill-Fated Lovers (Casablanca, Romeo and Juliet,

Plain Jane Transformed


The Devil Wears Prada, Pretty Lady, My Fair Lady, Cinderella (of course)…
Beloved Mentor

Dead Poets Society, Dangerous Minds, Good Will Hunting

Rites of Passage (A Few Good Men, Rocky, Titanic, The Reader)

The Quest (Titanic, Troy, Indiana Jones, My Best Friend’s Wedding

Monster in the House (The Exorcist, Tremors, Panic Room, Alien)

The Brilliant Dope (Forrest Gump, Dave, I Am Sam)
There is much, much, much, much,
much, much, much, much, much,
much, much, much, much more to
this discipline.
I’ve given you a wee taste, a feel for
the commercial foundations.
Finding resources is EASY
To read actual film scripts, try out:





www.isriptdb.com (Internet Movie Script Database)
www.dailyscript.com
www.newmarketpress.com/category.asp?id=10www.scriptcrawler.com (New Market Press’s film
and television scripts for sale)
www.script-o-rama.com
www.simplyscripts.com
TV and movie script writing site:

www.cybercollege.com/index.htm
Quicky on film script format:

www.cybercollege.com/dram_flm.htm
Longer thingy on script writing format:

http://www.screenwriting.info/
These sites haven’t been
thoroughly examined; they are
suggested starting places only.
BTW,
how do you know when a website is junk?











No contact info or verifiable background
No affiliations, stated or linked
Claims made without supporting evidence
The site is problematically “.com” or other
“.orgs” are getting easier to fudge, apparently
No documentation of sources
No documentation of little-known or debatable info
Conspicuous ill-will, bias, disregard for opposing views
Unedited and unproofread
Links take you to advertisements or porn
Comes from Wikipedia :)
Wickedpedia
There’s a whole world of non-formula filmmaking and screenwriting out there; you
just might have to look a little further
than franchise theaters or screaming TV
trailers.
E.g., visit
the Fargo
Theater!
But, man, do you
really want to
write formula
stuff?
The Snow-Munching
Exercise: What’s the
Story?
Where to?
•
•
•
•
•
•
Possible pts. of view:
– You
– Teacher
– Onlookers
– Classmates
Point of entry
– Instructor giving assignment
– You on your way
– Teacher waiting
– Snow in the mouth
– Someone reflecting back (frame)
Narrative question:
– What will it feel like? (action story about people in conflict, danger)
– What will happen to me when I do this weird thing? Can I make myself do it?
(character-based story about personal growth; tiny coming-of-age piece)
– Why is instructor doing this? (story about education; maybe mentor-piece; battle-ofwills piece)
– What will students think of this assignment? (the burned-out teacher; the evil
teacher; the heroic teacher)
Triggers, hooks, complicating actions, mounting tension
– Dialogue with other students on the way
– New thoughts on the way
– Diversions; delays; false leads
– Setting: how do things LOOK when one is stepping directly into the unknown?
Climax
Dangers of this story
– Pat theme
More on Fiction Coming Soon!
Screenwriting info freely cribbed from Blake Snyder’s Save the
Cat, Linda Seger’s From Script to Screen, David Trottier’s
Screenwriter’s Bible, and Skip Press’s The Complete Idiot’s
Guide to Screenwriting and Rob Tobin’s The Screenwriting
Formula.