The Hero Within Structure

Over the last few weeks this eLog (the word blog is a disgusting sound so I’m flushing it) has discussed one of the most important elements to most stories – the character. If you have one book at your fingertips to guide your writing I strongly suggest My Story Can Beat Up Your Story by Jeffery Alan Schechter (Amazon Books, new and used for a moderate price or Kindle for a whole lot less).

I have seen a lot of help books over the years and there are some very good ones such as Hooked by Les Edgerton (Amazon Books for inexpensive or Kindle for overpriced), however Schechter pulls all those suggestions together so to make sense, and backs it up with copious examples.

I am not going to do more than graze the surface because this is a book that must be read cover to cover, and then again very carefully while highlighting and taking notes.

For those not familiar with screenplay writing (I am not) a standard movie is about 90 minutes long guided by a 108-120 page script. What Schechter discusses is structure, the skeleton on which a writer hangs his creativity. That same skeleton is easily adapted to the novel, the length of which allows for tremendous creativity.

Here are some highlights.

** Before you write be sure there is a clean thematic question from the hero and a clear thematic argument from the villain.

Act 1  Who is your hero?

   1.  Know what the central question is

   2.  Exploration, realization, and amplification of orphan status

  

Act 2a  What is your hero trying to accomplish?

   1.  Begins journey to find clues to answering central question

   2.  Acquires all helpers and material to answer central question

Act 2b  Warrior

   1.  Fights, bloodied, wins, loses, draws

   2.  His death and rebirth and/or death of stakes character(s), or near death.

Act 3  What happens if hero fails?

   1.  Must be willing to die and not reborn to answer central question

   2   By giving up what thought he wanted to be awarded what he needs.

   3.  It's not being successful, but doing what is right and necessary.

   4.  The martyr can be another character, and hero learns from or motivated by this other person.

The Opponent:

   1.  Powerful

   2.  Ruthless

   3.  Committed

   4.  The hero of his own story, doing what he believes is right. So what if have to break a few eggs.

Think on it. You’ve read a few great novels and seen some great motion pictures. Are those elements present? In all likelihood, yes. That’s what made them great.

As example here is Act 1 or in my case, Chapter 1 of Order of the Brethren:

Act 1 Who is your hero?

   1.  An orphan

   2.  A pirate

   3.  A successful plantation owner, husband, and father

   4.  A person with moral convictions

   5.  A person with a past he can not forget

   6.  A person who has done something which he regrets and is not sure how to make amends.

   7.  A person who lives a lie

   8.  Undeserved misfortune:

           a. loss of natural parents to plague

           b. sinking of Flourette and loss of his pirate family

           c. loss of Henry, his adopted little brother

           d. sinking of a French warship when loses control of temper and ensuing curse

   9.  Nice to kids and animals

 10.  Quirky and/or fun mannerism

           a.  stands with feet spread and hands clasped behind his back

           b.  unusually calm during high stress situations such as battle

 11.  Compelling goal

           a.  Stop Lord Chudleigh’s war on pirates and innocent people

          

There it is, Chapter 1 in 2,830 words; the hook, the hero, and winding up of tension. In future eLogs I would like to explore how Schechter’s structure works in other chapters of, A Pirate’s Legacy: Order of the Brethren, a work in progress.