Date: Fri, 26 Sep 1997 09:43:11 EDT From: "tinkle, tinkle, little tar" Subject: EXERCISE: Plot #12: Transformation: 20 Master Plots Based on the book "20 Master Plots (And How to Build Them)" by Ronald B. Tobias. ISBN 0-89879-595-8. Master Plot #12: Transformation (p. 153) "The plot of transformation deals with the process of change in the protagonist as she journeys through one of the many stages of life. The plot isolates a portion of the protagonist's life that represents the period of change, moving from one significant character state to another." Some "standard" points of change: becoming adult; war and combat; search for identity; divorce and other family shifts; facing violence; deaths; and learning something new (remember Pygmalion?). But the large-scale change is only one kind. Consider small events that may build and shake lives... Structure: Phase one - an incident that starts a change in the protagonist's life. Be sure the reader knows who the protagonist is before the change! Now let the ripples of the incident begin to stretch out..."There are lessons to be learned, judgments to be made, insights to be seen." Phase two - show us the full effects of the transforming incident. What hidden parts of the main character are stirred up in the wake of the storm? Phase three - show us (often via another incident) the results of the transformation. What does the protagonist (and the reader) learn? "It's common for a protagonist to learn lessons other than what he expected to learn. The real lessons are often the hidden or unexpected ones. Expectations are baffled; illusions are destroyed. Reality overtakes fantasy." Checklist: 1. Does your plot of transformation deal with the process of change as the protagonist journeys through one of the many stages of life? 2. Does the plot isolate a portion of the protagonist's life that represents the period of change, moving from one significant character state to another? 3. Does the story concentrate on the nature of change and how it affects the protagonist from start to end of the experience? 4. Does the first dramatic phase relate the transforming incident that propels the protagonist into a crisis, starting the process of change? 5. Does the second dramatic phase depict the effects of the transformation? Does it concentrate on the self-examination and character of the protagonist? 6. Does the third dramatic phase contain a clarifying incident representing the final stage of the transformation? Does the character understand the true nature of the experience and how it has affected him? Does true growth and understanding occur? 7. What is the price of the wisdom gained? a certain sadness? Thus spake Tobias (along with some paraphrasing). Transformation, change...what could be more appropriate for our little Halloweenies contest? (Don't know what I'm talking about? Take a look at http://web.mit.edu/mbarker/www/hall97/hall.html !) Let's pick a number! From one to six, or thereabouts? 1. amphisbaena -- serpent having a head at each end (Greece) 2. dybbuk -- dead person's evil spirit that invades a living person (Jewish folklore) 3. ghoul -- evil being that feeds on corpses 4. lamia -- monster with the head and breast of a woman and body of a serpent that lured children to suck their blood 5. phoenix -- immortal bird that cremates itself every 500 years, then emerges reborn from the ashes (Greece) 6. windigo -- evil spirit, cannibal demon (Native American folklore) [taken from the section on Mythological and Folkloric Beings in Random House Word Menu, ISBN 0-679-40030-3] Now, back up and consider your character(s). How old are they? What change or shift in their life are they facing? For example, someone who is just starting high school has a little different viewpoint from someone who is about to graduate from college and face the world of work, or from the young couple about to have their first baby, or the slightly older parent thinking about their child leaving home, or... And don't forget, if you don't want to go with the big shifts, a little dabble do you! So think about the change they were facing... Then mix in that delightful creature you picked up in the first part. Offhand, I'd recommend making a couple of lists. First, a list of points about the change--what's good, what's bad, what are we going to learn from it? Second, a list of points about the monster in our midst--what's good, what's bad, what are we going to do about it? Now, look at the linkages between the lists. Can defeating the monster be turned into a sort of metaphor for the change we are dealing with? What if we don't defeat the monster, but learn from it something about ourselves? Could defeating the monster be an "anti-metaphor," contrasted to the change which we cannot defeat? What if we are transformed into the monster? Or what if there is no monster, just poor sad humanity, hiding behind the cloak of the monster? Let's see. How about something borrowed, and perhaps blue? Pick a number, one to six, and let's see what you got: 1. a yellow highlighter 2. a red papiermache pepper 3. a 5 pound bag of sugar 4. a spoonful of hot fudge 5. a two year old comic book from a dentist's waiting room 6. a clipboard There you go. Now you have a prop, a little bit of physical setting which you are going to cleverly weave into the story. And don't forget, if you mention hot fudge in the first scene, someone should have a sundae before we get done... Put it all together, it spells... Well, that's up to you! Write! tink [Other exercises can be found at http://web.mit.edu/mbarker/www/exercises/exercises.html Other materials related to the list can be found at http://web.mit.edu/mbarker/www/writers.html ]