Adron Smitley - Pen the Sword: the universal plot skeleton of every story ever told

Pen the Sword

the universal plot skeleton of every story ever told

ADRON J. SMITLEY

Copyright 2018 Adron J. Smitley

All rights reserved.

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ISBN: 9781721783083

note to reader

Reviews sell books and keep authors writing.

Please do me the fantastic favor of reviewing and recommending Pen the Sword on Amazon.com and any other place you can let others know how this book helped you in any way. Ive spent well over a decade and countless hours researching and deconstructing hundreds of novels and movies to present you the information in this book, and I appreciate the kindness of your honest review more than you can possibly imagine.

And thank you, dear reader, for spending your hard-earned money on my book as well as your precious time reading it. I hope it proves time and money well spent.

CONTENTS

RECOMMENDED READING

Techniques of the Selling Writer

by Dwight V. Swain

The Story Solution: 23 Actions All Great Heroes Must Take

by Eric Edson

Creating Character Arcs

by K. M. Weiland

* THE CORE ELEMENT

Every story ever told, every movie ever filmed, every novel ever written follows the universal plot skeleton in this book. Because its the most logical yet dramatic process to resolving a life-changing issue newly encountered. And when things come down to it thats what all stories are about, right? Someone striving to resolve a life-changing issue they have never dealt with before which ultimately ends in triumph or, less often, tragedy. Either a major problem or a big opportunity. A world-breaker or a world-saver. A whopper of a doozie.

You say you failed your drivers test because you forgot to signal? So what. I failed mine because I drove over an old ladyafter crashing through a school bus full of blind nuns!

You say you got a pay raise at work? Big deal. I just inherited $100 million smackaroos and a haunted mansion to boot!

Dwight V. Swain, author of Techniques of the Selling Writer , said it best. And Ill paraphrase. All stories contain one fundamental desire when you break them down to their absolute bare core. The protagonist seeking to obtain or achieve one of three outcomes above all things else:

1. Possession of something.
2. Relief from something.
3. Revenge for something.

As the writer, this is where you begin. This core element not only tells you the beginning of your story but also its ending, and all in three little words.

Once you know the fundamental element of your story you then know its core. And once you know its core you wont be led astray because every scene must in some way revolve around this one core element. If it doesnt then it belongs in a different story. This core element is the reason why your story exists and why you need to tell it. Without this core element there is no story. Period.

So how do you know which of the three is your storys core element? That depends on your Inciting Incident (a.k.a. the Catalyst). Because the Inciting Incident creates the reason why your protagonist seeks Possession of, Relief from, or Revenge for something .

I can see youre anxious for an example so Ill give you one.

Let us say murder is your Inciting Incident. You dont yet know how or why or to whom, all you know is murder tickles your muse and you want to start from there. So lets keep it simple with plain old-fashioned hammer-to-skull murder. Bundles of conflict all snarled up into one simple word.

Youve already made your first decision because the Inciting Incident is either a major problem or a big opportunity, and murder is obviously a major problem.

Now you have three optionsPossession, Relief, Revengebut a whole plethora of roads to travel.

Maybe your protagonist wants Revenge for a murder committed against a loved one because lawful justice wont satisfy their aching thirst.

Maybe they want to gain Possession of necessary evidence to convict the murderer in question because the police are morons who couldnt plug their bungs with their own thumbs.

Maybe they witnessed the crime and are now being stalked by the murderer and seek Relief from the chase.

Or maybe they committed the murder themselves in the heat of passion and...

See how easy that was?

As soon as you choose a particular Inciting Incident you immediately have at least three options to pick from which then begins branching your untold story into an endless array of possibilities.

With murder as the Inciting Incident you have a beginning because obviously you have to set things up before the murder. Then comes the murder itself, which mucks things up for everyone involvedespecially the victim! Then, and depending on the circumstances of the murder, you decide which course of action your protagonist takes. And whether possession, relief, or revenge... you now have an ending because your protagonist either achieves said possession, relief, or revenge or they dont.

Pantsers take note because this is where you come in. Dont like knowing the end of your story before you get there? Of course you dont because youre a Pantser! You enjoy not knowing until you actually write it.

And thats perfectly fine because nobody says you must know the ending. Just because you choose possession, relief, or revenge as your ending doesnt actually make it so. What this does is allow your Pantsing muse wiggle room to create that wonderful unexpected twist ending all readers enjoy.

You have an idea of what might happen and so plant inviting bread crumbs along the way to lead your reader along as well as your self. Everyone assumes your protagonist is going to eventually obtain or achieve their desired possession, relief, or revengethen BAM! you hit them upside the head with a twist ending they never expected because you never expected it until you wrote it yourself!

Possibilities spilling all over the place. Watch your feet!

Your protagonist gets their revenge at long last then BAM! they find out their victim was also a victim who was blackmailed into the murder by a serial killer.

Or your protagonist gets their relief from the hunt then BAM! only to find the murderer isnt dead or in prison after all but is now their new mailman or neighbor and nobody but them is the wiser.

Or your protagonist gets their possession then BAM! the evidence also places them at the scene of the original crime as an accomplice and theyre locked away with the murderer as their new cell mate. Grab the bunk, punk, cause youre serving booty duty!

But maybe you havent decided on a particular Inciting Incident just yet.

Okay. Lets work backwards instead of forwards.

What kind of ending do you want, triumph or tragedy? Does your protagonist gain possession of, relief from, or revenge for something?

Lets choose possession, and not in the literal sense for this example. You want a happy ending with your protagonist getting the girl of his dreams. If he has her at the end then at some point he didnt have her because he hadnt met her yet. Or maybe he did but lost her by becoming a gambling drunk. Or maybe she was his best friends girl and...