Date: Thu, 23 Oct 1997 09:58:11 EDT
Subject: EXERCISE: Plot #13: Maturation: 20 Master Plots [with mere hours to go before the midnight parade of the zombies...] Based on the book "20 Master Plots (And How to Build Them)" by Ronald B. Tobias. ISBN 0-89879-595-8. Master Plot #13: Maturation [the loss of illusions...] (p. 160) "The maturation plot--the plot about growing up--is one of those strongly optimistic plots. There are lessons to learn, and those lessons may be difficult, but in the end the character becomes (or will become) a better person for it." (p. 161) "The protagonist of the maturation plot is usually a sympathetic young person whose goals are either confused or not yet quite formed. He floats on the sea of life without a rudder. He often vacillates, unsure of the proper path to take, the proper decision to make. These inabilities are usually the result of a lack of experience in life--naivete..." "This coming-of-age story is often called the _Bildungsroman_, which is German for 'education novel.' The focus of these stories is the protagonist's moral and psychological growth. Start your story where the protagonist has reached the point in her life at which she can be tested as an adult. She may be ready for the test, or she may be forced into it by circumstances." Phase the First: Before (p. 162) "...begin with the protagonist as he is before events start to change his life. We need to see who this character is, how he thinks and acts, so we can make a decision about his moral and psychological state before he undergoes change. Your character may exhibit a lot of negative (childlike) traits. Perhaps he is irresponsible (but fun-loving), duplicitous, selfish, naive--all the character traits that are typical of people who haven't accepted the responsibilities of adulthood or who haven't accepted the moral and social code that the rest of us abide by (more or less)..." When suddenly... (p. 163) "Which brings us to the test. The catalytic event. ... suddenly something comes along and smacks her square in the face...." death of a parent, divorce, loss of home.... "...The event must be powerful enough to get the attention of the protagonist and literally shake up her belief systems...." "You will prove your skills as a writer by making us feel the apocalyptic force of the event on the child's psyche..." Phase Two: I Don't Wanna The first reaction usually is denial, either literal or figurative. Don't shortcut this. There's anger, resistance, etc.--work your character through them. (p. 165) "It may be, in fact, that your protagonist is actually trying to do the right thing, but doesn't know what the right thing is. That means trial and error. Finding out what works and what doesn't work. That is the process of growing up, the journey from innocence to experience." Phase Three: Finally (p. 165) "Finally your protagonist develops a new system of beliefs and gets to the point where it can be tested. In the third dramatic phase, your protagonist will finally accept (or reject) the change. Since we've already noticed that most works of this type end on a positive note, your protagonist will accept the role of adult in a meaningful rather than a token way." Be careful with this plot. Don't lecture or moralize, let the reader find the meaning buried in the prosaic...and see the world fresh again. Checklist: 1. Is your protagonist on the cusp of adulthood, with goals that are confused or not yet clear? 2. Does your story clearly show the readers who the character is and how s/he feels and thinks before the event occurs that begins the process of change? 3. Does your story contrast the protagonist's naive life (childhood) to the reality of an unprotected life (adulthood)? 4. Does your story focus on showing the protagonist's moral and psychological growth? 5. Does the "precipitating event" clearly challenge the beliefs and understanding of the world that you have shown? 6. "Does your character reject or accept change? Perhaps both? Does she resist the lesson? How does she act?" 7. Does your story show your protagonist undergoing the process of change? Is the change realistically gradual and difficult? 8. Is your young protagonist convincing? Does she display adult values and perceptions before she has developed them? 9. Does your story try to convert someone to "instant adulthood"? Or does it use small lessons and major upheavals to reflect the long process of growing up? 10. Does your story accurately show the psychological price that this lesson demands, and how your protagonist copes with that cost? That's our technical background lesson from Tobias... Since we're still in the time of the halloweenies, let's consider whether growing up (maturation) could be the basis of a horror...aha! Suppose, just for example, that we have our normal, fun-loving bunch of teenagers (young people, pick your age group)...hotrodding, dancing on the beach, headed for the prom...or just hanging out at the mall? And then comes...the bubbling goo from outer space? the phone call from the doctor (and just what was the diagnosis?) or the maniac from central New Jersey?...design your precipitating incident, anyway. Spend a while mixing, brewing, stirring the soxes off the emotional twists and turns of the kids... And rock our little worlds with the maturity that the kids step up to. Did Jose really skip the homecoming dance just to sit with Fernando, watching the sun rise one last time before...or does Emily decide that she doesn't care if the baby does have cloven hoofs and those buds on its skull, it's her baby and it's going to get a college education if it wants one...what about the wonderful way that Alfred admits to the police that while he did lure the graduating class into the swamp, he was simply not aware that the great vampire bat migration was going on.... In short, it seems to me that facing down a little natural (or unnatural, take your pick) horror often is the catalyst for maturation. Take that kid with the cotton candy, add a boll weevil gleefully eating its way towards his heart, and if he's plucky, bold, and true...you may end up with an adult who knows that dental hygiene helps avoid cavities. (and if you think you've seen this plot before a few times--you're right! but there are still a few tales for you to wring out of this one...so start twisting!) How about...a number from one to six? 1. "Mature man needs to be needed, and maturity needs guidance as well as encouragement from what has been produced and must be taken care of." Erik H. Erikson, Childhood and Society (1950), 7. 2. "We have not passed that subtle line between childhood and adulthood until we move from the passive voice to the active voice--that is, until we have stopped saying 'It got lost,' and say 'I lost it.'" Sydney J. Harris, On the Contrary (1962), 7. 3. "The latter part of a wise man's life is taken up in curing the follies, prejudices, and false opinions he had contracted in the former." Jonathan Swift, Thoughts on Various Subjects (1711). 4. "To live with fear and not be afraid is the final test of maturity." Edward Weeks, "A Quarter Century: Its Retreats," Look, July 18, 1961. 5. "The turning point in the process of growing up is when you discover the core of strength in you that survives all hurt." Max Lerner, "Faubus and Little Rock," The Unfinished Country (1959), 4. 6. "One of the signs of passing youth is the birth of a sense of fellowship with other human beings as we take our place among them." Virginia Woolf, "Hours in a Library," Times Literary Supplement, "Nov. 30, 1916. [Quotes taken from The International Thesaurus of Quotations, by Rhoda Thomas Tripp, ISBN 0-06-091382-7] How about making a list of five different qualities which you admire (honesty? okay...) Then consider how someone who has not yet achieved that level of maturity may act. Focus down to the one that your character is going to be tested on (or challenged)... Then pick the catalytic event. If you like, here's a list (pick your number!): 1. Death (of a friend, a relative, etc.) 2. Illness 3. Pregnancy 4. Reaction by others to revealed "secret" (you did what?) 5. Being "invited" to join in a crime 6. Having a parent (or other influential adult) leave Refine that general event. Lay out the reactions to it. (and if you want, mix in the horror...up the ante on that catalyst! I think almost every item on the list has been used as the basis for horror--just push them a bit beyond the everyday, and you find fear and loathing grinning through the muck...) Then lay out the story. Introduce us to the young person(s). Have their life interrupted by...change. Show us the actions and reactions, the attempts to escape, to hide, to avoid...and then show us the growth into maturity, into someone who acts with knowledge of the price of their actions... (wow! what a tale you've got to tell! write!) tink
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