Writers Tricks of the Trade Issue 3 Volume 9 | Page 10

tion, selfishness, bitterness, confusion, lack
of self-knowledge, lies, etc. must be reunit-
ed in love and harmony involving humor-
ous passages.
tablished and reader is introduced to the
hero/heroine, who is somehow constricted
or unfulfilled.
D REAM : The protagonist embarks on the
road toward a possible resolution and ex-
periences some initial success.
T RAGEDY : A character falls from prosperity
to destruction because of a fatal mistake or
a tremendous loss.
F RUSTRATION : The protagonist's limitations
and the strength of the forces against
him/her become more obvious, thereby
making attaining the resolution seem in-
creasingly difficult.
R EBIRTH : A dark power or villain traps the
protagonist in a living death or life-
threatening scenario until he/she is freed
by another character's loving or coura-
geous act.
N IGHTMARE : A final ordeal takes place that
determines the resolution. This can involve
a twist ending.
R EBELLION A GAINST 'T HE O NE ': The protagonist
rebels against the all-powerful entity that
controls the world or a particular situation
until he/she is forced to surrender to that
power.
M IRACULOUS E SCAPE /R EDEMPTION /A CHIEVEMENT
OF THE P RIZE OR ( IN THE CASE OF T RAGEDY ) THE
H ERO ' S D ESTRUCTION . In all cases, the entire
plot led up to this, and subtle clues were
dropped along the way..
M YSTERY : An outsider to some horrendous
event (such as a murder) tries to discover
the truth of what happened.
F IVE S TAGES T HESE P LOTS C AN G O T HROUGH
A NTICIPATION : After the initial setting is es-
Who?
What?
Where?
When?
Character Development
Locations
Conflicts
Successes
F ALL 2019
P AGE 5
W RITERS ’ T RICKS OF THE T RADE