Advanced Brilliant Writing: Make Your Plots Wider and Your Characters Deeper (Go! Write Something Brilliant) (15 page)

I’m going to veer away from
Cellular
and
Eagle Eye
for a moment—only because they are such straightforward plots, and look at
Live Free or
Die Hard,
the latest in the Bruce-Willis-saves-the-world-saga.
Live Free or
Die Hard
is a perfect example of peripheral plotting.

Basically, through the Internet, the bad guys are trying to take over all the transportation, finances and utilities in the United States, and if they succeed, the entire world as we know it will collapse. Fascinating, big stakes, and the Primal Instinct here is survival. The problem is, that after a while, we as the viewer become bored or hardened to these larger stakes, and the Primal Instinct to save the world—and survival gets old.

Ultimately, we only care about stories that touch our hearts, and frankly, survival of the world, while important, just feels untouchable. Thankfully, the creator chooses to make it personal, to require John McClane to become nobler by making the situation personal. The villain kidnaps John's estranged daughter and threatens her life.

Suddenly, there are new stakes to the story.
By putting pressure on John to save his daughter and abandon the quest to save the world, we now have a twist that re-engages the reader into the storyline. He has to choose between two Primal Instincts—survival of the world or saving his daughter. And only one is nobler. Therefore, when he chooses his daughter, he becomes more heroic. Now, of course, he could have also sacrificed his daughter (but we’ll get to that element in a second), but that would make him less heroic.

The technique of reaching beyond the main storyline to find those fringe elements and using them to exert pressure into the story is called
Peripheral Plotting
.
The creator could have used a stranger off the street and threatened their lives—but this wouldn’t have been personal to John, and, therefore, wouldn’t have touched our hearts. He could have decided to threaten the life of the president, but this is too far out of the periphery for John. Peripheral Plotting requires that the plot element be
Personal
and close in
Proximity.

Another great example of Peripheral Plotting is the television show
24
. Notice how, at any given point, Jack Bauer has two or three other issues to deal with, on a personal level, along with saving the world? In the last season I saw, Jack was trying to find a terrorist (of course) who was trying to keep the president from sending troops into an African country. This is a noble goal, but it doesn’t touch Jack’s life, unless you saw the prequel, where Jack is in the African country and sees his friends killed. As the season opens, Jack is standing trial for his many “crimes” but is pulled away because of his personal knowledge of the situation. (Why!) As we get further into the story, Peripheral Stakes begin to weave into the story. Suddenly, Jack discovers he must save his best friend from being sucked into a terrorist plot. Then, he is required to save the president’s life and another friend is killed. Then, Jack contracts a biological disease and is going to die, which brings his estranged daughter into the scene. When she is threatened, he’ll do anything to save her. The gem of this plotting is that all of these things are happening at the same time, making it harder for him to complete the big picture task.

All of these conspire to raise the stakes and keep the adrenaline flowing in the story.

How do you find those Peripheral Stakes?

Look around you—each one of us has people and things we care about in a widening circle. This is our periphery.

Let’s say my goal is to get to the airport so I can get to Seattle to see my mother for Christmas. In a linear plot, all that might stand between me and my goal might be transportation, or perhaps money. Maybe getting time off from my job. But let’s do some peripheral plotting.

Let’s say that I get a call from the principle of the school. My son has had a fight on the playground and they can’t find his father (who is supposed to pick him up). I must get off work early and go to the school. Now, my son has been pulled in from the periphery.

After meeting with the principal, I call my husband and discover that he never showed up at work today. Let’s add more stress to the plot and say that we are estranged. Now, do I go find him, or do I drop my son off at my sister’s house? In plotting, I could pull in the disappearance of my estranged husband into the periphery.

But let’s say that I decide to ignore him, and head home to get my bags and drop my son off. When I get home, I discover that my house has been broken into. I must call the police, and one of the answering officers just happens to be an old boyfriend I haven’t seen in years.

Now I have two more peripheral elements—the ransacked house and the old beau.

See how the story is widened already?

Now, a missed call and cryptic message on my cell phone from someone I don’t know, but who says she knows where my missing ex-husband is, pulls in another element and raises the stakes even more. Especially when I convince the old beau to come with me to meet this woman . . . and find her dead!

See how pulling in peripheral events suddenly creates more tension? I might then also turn the focus back onto the main goal by having my mother call, and tell me she is on her way to the hospital with chest pains.

Now, this is an intriguing story.

Book Therapist Question:
As you’re plotting, ask: What is the worst thing (within reason) that could happen, right now, to someone or something in your periphery that would derail your own quest in life?

Another way to figure out Peripheral Stakes is to do
Visual Plotting
: Create an idea web, with your character at the center, and a web of the things he or she cares about around that central hub. Then it’s easy to see the big picture and create scenarios or “what-ifs” for each of these things. From there, you can develop the Peripheral Stakes.

Note:
Peripheral Stakes are
not
Subplots, or even Layers, but additional devices used in the main storyline. But, peripheral plotting can help you find those Layers or Subplots you may want to incorporate into the story. (We’ll talk about Subplots and Layers next!)

Pick someone or something in your character’s periphery and create trouble.
Something that could potentially divert your hero's attention, or even damage him. As he races to solve this peripheral problem, of course, the larger stake is affected, and worsens. He is forced to choose between two equally good Primal Instincts and your reader is on the edge of their seat.

Finding Peripheral Stakes opens up new scenes, new secondary characters, new plotlines and new opportunities for character growth and widens your plot!

Make Your Plot Wider:

What is in your character's periphery?

• Create an idea web, with your character in the middle.
  
• Create their world, with all the possibilities that come to mind. Include friends, activities, family, job—even enemies.
  
• Now, pick one element in that periphery and cause some trouble.
  
• (And if you want—don’t stop there!)
  

Subplots and Story Layers

Now that you’ve figured out the big picture Why and Why not, added heroism and Peripheral Stakes and put them together in the right balance to drive the plot, let’s expand your plot further, and really give the theme resonance.

When you’re working with plot, you want something that lingers in your readers mind—makes an impact, regardless if it’s suspense, or romance, or women’s fiction. One of the key elements to making your plot Wider is adding
Subplots
and
Story Layers.

We’re going to talk first about the difference between the two, and then how to use them for powerful plotting and impact in a story.

One of my favorite teeny-bop movies is
Chasing Liberty.
It’s the story of an eighteen-year-old girl who is the president’s daughter. She wants to attend the Berlin Love Parade, so she runs away
from her parents while they are on a diplomatic tour in Europe. The president, aware of his daughter’s mischief, assigns a Secret Service agent to watch over her and keep her out of trouble. The agent is a young, attractive man and of course, the daughter falls in love with him. His goal is to not fall in love with his assignment while keeping her safe.

By the way, it’s a very loose remake of
Roman Holiday.
The difference is that the remake took the theme of “royal girl on vacation” to a new level by adding in a Subplot.

Embedded in this tale is another tale:
:
the romance of two more Secret Service agents tracking the above-mentioned duo. Their story is what makes this movie such a delight—their banter, their eventual romance, their happy ending. It’s this extra story in a story that that gives the movie the sparkle that takes it from teeny-bop to good-enough-for-grownups.

In short, the Subplot makes the movie.

What is the difference between a
Subplot
and a
Story Layer
?

A Story Layer is an element to the plot that adds depth and enhances the character struggle and eventually his/her epiphany. A Story Layer deepens the
theme
of the story.

A layer is some fringe element in the periphery that directly relates to the character growth, and thereby, the plot of the story. However, a layer, if standing alone would be lacking a story arc and its own three act plot.

For example, if you’ve read my book
Happily Ever After
, you know that Joe, our hero, has a brother, Gabe, who has Down syndrome. Joe is in town to reconnect with his brother—and part of the story is how they accomplish this. But there is no Black Moment between them, no character arc for Gabe. It’s just a layering tool used to reveal Joe’s insecurities, his issues with unforgiveness, and to give Joe a glimpse at what unconditional love looks like. And all these elements feed back into the main plot—Joe’s inability to commit to a relationship with the heroine, Mona.

A Subplot, however, is its own distinct story.
It has an Inciting Incident, obstacles, a Black Moment, and lessons learned (and hopefully a happily ever after). A Subplot can mirror the main plot, and even intersect with it, but it has its own main characters, its own arc, and if pulled out of the story, could stand alone as a mini-story.

Subplots are often found in longer books, due to the extra word count needed to form a complete story. Layers are found in shorter books and used to enhance the main plot.

Let’s consider some examples from movies:

In
How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
is the roommate’s romance a Subplot or a layer? (Layer) It starts with the Black Moment, and all we see is the happy ending. It isn’t its own story.

In
The Patriot,
is Gabriel’s romance a Subplot or layer? (Subplot) Gabriel meets his girl, dates her, they have obstacles (their past), overcome them, have a wedding, and she dies and it changes his life.

In
Independence Day
there is a Subplot
and
a layer: The romance with Captain Steven Hiller (Will Smith) is a Subplot, the one with David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum) is a layer.

Captain Hiller and his girl, Jasmine, have an Inciting Incident (he has to leave to go back to work on the 4
th
of July), an obstacle, (he wants to marry her, but her background as a stripper stands in the way of his career goals of being an astronaut), a Black Moment (he left her behind and the city is destroyed) and an Epiphany (he doesn’t want to lose her). When he finds her, he realizes what is important, proposes, and they find happiness, which gives him the strength to be the astronaut he’s always wanted to be.

David Levinson has never given up on his marriage, even though he’s divorced. The few moments he has with his wife reveals that they need to focus on the important things—that they still love each other—to get through this. This is a strong layer, but with no Black Moment, no full story arc. Can you see the difference?

In
Return to Me,
is the romance between the waitress and the cook a Subplot or a Story Layer? (Layer)

In the
Pirates of the Caribbean,
is the romance of Will and Elizabeth a Subplot or a layer? That should be obvious.

Most movies have layers because Subplots take up more time. Shorter books require layers instead of Subplots. Longer books, and certain genres, like Women’s Fiction or Long Romance can have Subplots.

Let’s analyze some of my books:

• Happily Ever After
  has a layer with Gabe, Joe’s brother.
  
• The Perfect Match
  has a layer with Joe and Mona losing a child.
  
• Wiser than Serpents
  has a Subplot with Gracie and Vicktor.
  
• The Team Hope series has a layer threaded throughout with Sarah and Hank
  
• Reclaiming Nick
  has a Subplot with Cole and Maggie.
  
• Taming Rafe
  has two Subplots – one with Lolly and John, and yet another with the characters in John’s novel.
  
• Finding Stefanie
  has a Subplot with Gabe and Libby.
  
• Nothing but Trouble
  has a Story Layer with PJ’s nephew Davy