William Bernhardt - Perfecting Plot: Charting the Heros Journey

Perfect ing Plot

Charting the Heros Journey

Perfecting Plot: Charting the Heros Journey

First Edition

Copyright 2013 William Bernhardt Writing Programs

Red Sneaker Press

An imprint of Babylon Books

All rights reserve d.

No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the authors rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

Perfecting Plot

Charting the Heros Journey

William Bernhardt

The Red Sneaker Writer Series

Other Books by William Bernhardt

Red Sneaker Writer Series

Story Structure: The Key to Successful Fiction

Creating Character: Bringing Your Story to Life

Perfe ct Plotting: Charting the Heros Journey

The Fundamentals of Fiction (DVD)

The Ben Kincaid Series

Primary Justice

Blind Justice

Deadly Justice

Perfect Justice

Cruel Justice

Naked Justice

Extreme Justice

Dark Justice

Silent Justice

Murder One

Criminal Intent

Hate Crime

Death Row

Capitol Murder

Capitol Threat

Capitol Conspiracy

Capitol Offense

Capitol Betrayal

Other Novels

The Code of Buddyhood

Paladins of the Abyss

Dark Eye

Nemesis: The Final Case of Eliot Ness

The Midnight Before Christmas

Final Round

Double Jeopardy

Strip Search

The Idea Man

Shine

Poetry

The White Bird

For Young Readers

Equal Justice: The Courage of Ada Lois Sipuel (biography)

Princess Alice and the Dreadful Dragon (illustrated by Kerry McGhee)

The Black Sentry

Edited by William Bernhardt

Legal Briefs

Natural Suspect

Dedicated to all t he Red Sneaker Writers:

You cant fail unless you quit.

Plot: Stuff happens to people you care about.

John D McDonald

INTRODUCTION

We lcome to the third book in the Red Sneaker Writers series. If youve read other Red Sneaker publications or attended Red Sneaker events, you can skip to Chapter One. If youre new, let me take a moment to explain.

Ive been writing for many years, doing almost every kind of writing imaginable. Ive been speaking at writing workshops and conferences almost as long. Every time I step behind the podium I see the same tableau staring back at me: long rows of talented people, most of whom have attended many conferences, frustrated by the fact that they havent sold a book. And wondering why. Yes, the market is tough and agents are hard to find yadda yadda yadda whine whine whine excuse excuse excuse. But when aspiring writers do the work, put it out there, but still dont publishtheres usually a reason. Too often enormous potential is lost due to a lack of fundamental knowledge. Sometimes a little guidance is all that stands between an unpublished writer and a satisfying writing career.

I do my best to help at conferences, but the large auditorium/general information lecture is not terribly conducive to writing instruction. And sometimes what Ive heard other instructors say was not particularly helpful. Too often people seemed more interested in appearing literary than in providing useful information. Sometimes I felt that speakers did more to obfuscate the subject than explain it, that they wanted to make writing as mysterious and incomprehensible as possible, either because that made them sound more erudite or because they didnt understand the subject themselves. How is that going to help anyone get published?

After giving this problem some thought, I fo rmulated the Red Sneaker Writing Center. Why Red Sneakers? Because I love my red sneakers. Theyre practical, flexible, sturdyand bursting with style and flair. In other words, exactly what I think writing instruction should be. Practical, flexible, useful, but still designed to unleash the creative spirit, to give the imagination a platform for creating wondrous work.

I held the first Red Sneaker Writers conference in 2005. I invited the best teachers I knew, not only people who had published many books but people who could teach. Then I launched my small-group seminarsfive intensive days of work with seven or so aspiring writers. This gave me the opportunity to read, edit, and work one-on-one with individuals, so I could target their needs and make sure they got what would help them most. This approach worked extremely well and Im proud to say a substantial list of writers have graduated from my seminars and published work with major publishers. But not everyone is able to attend my seminars. How could I help them?

This book, and the other books in th is series, are designed to provide assistance to writers regardless of their location. The books are short, inexpensive, and targeted to specific areas where a writer might want assistance.

Let me see if I can anticipate your questions:

Why are these books so short? Because Ive expunged the unnecessary and the unhelpful. Ive pared it down to the essential information, practical and useful ideas that can improve your writing. Too many instructional books are padded to fill word counts required by book contracts. Thats not the Red Sneaker way.

Why are you writing so many different books instead of one big book? I encourage writers to commit to writing every day (see Appendix F) and to maintain a consistent writing schedule (see Appendix E). You can read these books without losing much writing time. In fact, each can be read in a single afternoon. Take one day off from your writing schedule. Read and make notes in the margins. See if that doesnt trigger ideas for your own work.

I bet it will. And the next day, you can get back to your writing.

You reference other books as examples, but you rarely quote excerpts from them. Why?

Two reasons. First, Im trying to keep the books brief. If you want to look up a passage from a book, its easy enough to do. Second, if I quote from materials currently under copyright protection, I have to pay a fee to the copyright owner, which means Id need to raise the price of this book to cover the fee. I dont want to do that. I think you can grasp my points without reading copyrighted excerpts. Too often, in my opinion, excessive excerpting in writing books is done to pad the page count.

Why does each chapter end with exercises?

The exercises are a completely integrated and essential part of this book. Samuel Johnson was correct when he wrote: Scribendo disces scribere . Meaning: You learn to write by writing. I can gab on and on, but these principles wont be concretized in your brain until you put them into practice. So dont get in such a hurry that you dont get the full benefit from this book. Take the time to complete the exercises, because they may improve your next writing effort. If you were in one of my small-group seminars, this would be your homework. I wont be hovering over your shoulder when you read this bookbut you should do the exercises anyway.

What else does the Red Sneaker Writers Center do?

I send out a free monthly newsletter filled with writing advice, market analysis, and other items of interest. If youd like to be added to the mailing list, visit: http://www.williambernhardt.com/writing_instruction/index.php . There are three books in this series so far and there will be more in the future. We hold an annual writing conference with a very specific focus: getting you the information you need to publish. I lead small-group seminars every summer. The newsletter will provide dates and information about these programs.