The first valuable thing I learn is that Philip Blackwood's first Mystery novel isn't #11 "Enigma", but #2 "Deliverance".
That's useful information!!! :O
I'll explain:
Stories are magic: We don't know exactly how they work, but we know that they sometimes do. And when they work, they can work GANGBUSTERS!
Carl Jung had some exciting theories about archetypes working on the subconscious mind -- a collective unconscious, as it were -- and since the success of the (original 3) STAR WARS films Hollywood has become convinced that every movie should be a Campellian Monomyth, underpinned by "the Hero's Journey".
And while it can be fun to mock Hollywood for adhering slavishly to some turn-of-last-century-psychoanalytical speculation, I secretly believe that Jung was onto something. (Maybe more than most Jungian psychologists are willing to embrace.)
At the very least, at my most conservative estimation, I suspect that we (an Audience) "sense" when "something's missing" for a story or story moment.
Though I don't necessarily believe that when I dream about snakes I'm dreaming about some period of transition in my life, I totally buy that when I watch a movie "payoff" scene that was cut, the movie feels weaker, less impactful to me. Conversely, there is no doubt that certain movies -- like the first THE MATRIX flick -- affect me more deeply than I can articulate.
So if I assumed (as I would have) that my first Philip Blackwood Mystery was an "Enigma" story, here's where I would have been falling short:
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Elements:- Interrogator
- Seeker
- A Problem
Summary:The Interrogator poses a Problem which the Seeker must solve.
Variants:A: Search for person who must be found on pain of death
B: A riddle to be solved on pain of death
A riddle to be solved on pain of death in which the poser is the coveted woman
C:
- Temptations offered with the object of discovering his name
- Temptations offered with the object of ascertaining the sex
- Tests for the purposes of ascertaining the mental condition
Discussion:Puzzles and problems draw the reader into the situation as they (the reader) also seeks to understand and resolve the puzzle.
A basis of the motivation we feel to resolve puzzles is the need for completion and the consequent reward of closure. Resolving enigmas makes us feel clever and intellectual and hence more able to face life's other challenges.
More general temptations play to basic needs and desires.
--
I've got no "on pain of death" material. No one is likely to die in my novel.
I'm not searching for anyone, nor anyone's name.
So if I were trying to make my novel live up to the inherent, unconscious "Enigma" storyline, I would fail miserably.
However...
There is #2 "Deliverance":
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Elements:- An Unfortunate
- A Threatener
- A Rescuer
Summary:The Unfortunate is threatened in some way by the Threatener and is saved by the Rescuer.
Variants:A: Appearance of a rescuer to the condemned.
B:
- A parent replaced upon the throne by his children.
- Rescue by friends or by strangers grateful for benefits or hospitality.
Discussion:Being rescued plays to the primitive need for safety and echoes the childhood theme of being 'saved' by parents from the various messes into which children get themselves.
The general field of psychoanalysis is full of observations around the theme of patterns that originate from infancy
--
Okay, that's TOTALLY my novel!!! I've got all those elements!!! They're right there!
So knowing that my story fits the "Deliverance" Dramatic Situation like a glove, I really don't have to sweat the way the story as a whole plays out. I just have to make sure I play up certain elements:
1. An Unfortunate
2. A Threatener
3. A Rescuer
4. Appearance of a rescuer to the condemned. (Making this a #2A story, technically.)
So as a #2A type dramatic situation, I just need to remember that when "the condemned" meet my hero, the "rescuer" I should sort of make a big-ish deal out of the fact that Philip has "deigned" to help the Brimes family out. Easy!
Now, if I hadn't figured this out before I started writing, it is entirely possible that the missing "the Rescuer appears to the Condemned" story moment might have left the Reader's subconscious wondering just what type of story this is supposed to be, and left the Reader slightly unfulfilled after the story was finished.
I make this assumption because I don't think Jung was wrong about his archetypes theories. I may be completely wrong here.
But you know what?
It costs me NOTHING to proceed as though a lot of what Jung was saying was correct, and it gives me the reassurance that I have analyzed the fuck out of my Outline before I started writing the actual chapters.
So here I go...
Chapter 1:
#7D "Falling Prey to Cruelty or Misfortune; The unfortunate robbed of their hope"
This scene is about BRITNEY BRIMES (a fascinated viewer of Paranormal Reality TV shows) discovering that some of the weirdness in her home is malevolent, it intends her harm. (Ironically, it's the ghost of a young boy who is pretending to be "The Devil" and could not hurt her if he tried to, and also ironically, the reason he is threatening her is because he is afraid she might offer harm to his sister or himself.)
Chapter 2:
#2A "Deliverance; Appearance of a rescuer to the condemned."
Okay, I'm juking with this concept a little bit, but I think this will work.. I think the "appearance" will work because Philip "appears" to the Reader at the same time he appears to Misty in this scene. Now, the way this won't work is the fact that Misty obviously knew Philip before the Reader is introduced to him... However... I think I might be able to pull this off (on a subconscious level) because this is the introduction of the character to the Reader AND this scene introducing the Reader to Philip echoes the Dramatic design of the story as a whole!
So I'm willing to take this chance and take any potential consequences of not introducing Misty as an "Unfortunate" before revealing the "appearance of a rescuer to the condemned".
Plus, I'm hoping the Reader will be dealing with the fact that the explanation of this mini-Mystery is both paranormal AND mundane so that they won't "feel" the imperfections of this configuration of story logic.
Chapter 3:
#2A - Part 1
Okay, this is the first part of the Main Story, so Tiffani is the agent of introduction between the "Rescuer" and the "Unfortunates".
So this scene really doesn't have it's own internal motivation, other than to begin other parts of Philip's subplot arcs...
Chapter 4:
#20C "Self-sacrificing for an ideal; Sacrifice of well-being to duty"
This one will take a little work, and it's an excellent example of why I chose to do this before writing the chapters.
Chapter 4, as originally conceived, is just an exposition scene. It's meant to unnerve the Reader by displaying a sampling of the paranormal phenomena that has been recorded, but it's not really a dramatic scene.
However, it can easily be turned into a 20C scene if I emphasize that Philip doesn't want to investigate, but he feels a moral responsibility to lend his expertise to the Brimes family.
Chapter 5:
#2A - Part 2
This scene is clearly the next movement in the overall "Deliverance" plot.
Chapter 6:
#28 - Part 1 "Obstacles to love"
I feel I'm being a bit deceptive with this one, because I never really intended for Philip and Amber to get together. But, clearly, this is the dramatic beat I'm playing here.
Chapter 7:
#20C "Self-sacrificing for an ideal; Sacrifice of well-being to duty"
This is this beat again. But kind of reversed from Chapter 4. Here's I'm really playing up the "well-being" part, so much so that Philip intends to back out. Now all I have to do is remember to play the "duty" note before he re-commits to the case.
Chapter 8:
#33A2 - Part 1 "Erroneous judgment; False suspicion"
Here are the elements:
- The Mistaken One
- The Victim of the mistake
- The Cause or Author of the mistake
- The Guilty Person
"The Mistaken One makes some judgment about or is suspicious about the Victim, instead of the Guilty Person. This is due to some Cause or is caused by the Author of the mistake."
So in the subplot of which this is the first part, Carlton Brimes is "The Mistaken One", Britney Brimes is "The Victim of the mistake", the Elemental is "The Guilty Person" and the idea that Britney might be a poltergeist "agent" (the focus or perhaps cause of poltergeist activity) is "The Cause of the mistake".
This situation is complicated by the fact that Carlton's false suspicion will lead Philip and CTPI to falsely suspect the same thing -- but only because Carlton didn't share his suspicions right up front so that CTPI couldn't investigate and rule it out.
Chapter 9:
#12 "Obtaining"
- A Solicitor
- An Adversary who is refusing
"A Solicitor requests something of the Adversary, who refuses to cooperate."
Technically, this would be #12B "Endeavor by means of persuasive eloquence alone", but I think "Obtaining" pretty much says it all.
The ghost hunters are trying to obtain evidence of paranormal activity, and the ghosties are refusing to give it up. And the chapter ends with the ghosts not cooperating.
To me, this chapter is invaluable because it offers the Reader a realistic understanding of what paranormal investigation is: You try and you wait. When I first got started, someone compared ghost hunting to fishing: You cast your line, and then you wait; and some days you don't get a single nibble.
It's essential for noobie ghost hunters to understand this, but I think that if Readers are going to appreciate this story, they will need to"experience" a realistic investigation, to understand how rare activity is, even at a location that has a lot of activity.
But the key to making this chapter -- in which nothing actually happens -- feel like a dramatic scene, I will need to frame it within the parameters of "Obtaining".
Chapter 10:
#33A2 - Part 2 "Erroneous judgment; False suspicion"
Technically, this is just an exposition scene. It's also the calm before the storm. But to make it even a little bit dramatic, I'm framing it as a continuation of the "Erroneous judgment" subplot.
Chapter 11:
#7 "Falling prey to misfortune"
I think this is pretty self-explanatory.
Chapter 12:
#33 "Erroneous judgment"
Chapter 13:
#33 "Erroneous judgment"
This one is an "Erroneous judgment", too, but a different error. Tiffani is bothered because she's afraid that Britney may have caused -- intentionally or unintentionally -- the scratches on Ariel. She wants Philip to tell her that the scratches were paranormal, so she doesn't have to inform Child Protective Services that Ariel may not be safe with her mother. But Philip isn't telling her that yet. (Though, she hasn't actually voiced this to Philip, but she doesn't want to "pollute" Philip's opinions of the case with preconceived notions.)
This scene will work or fail to work based on how well I represent the subtext. Either I will have the Reader asking what's going on inside Tiffani's mind, or they will be bored.
Chapter 14:
#17A1 "Fatal imprudence; Imprudence the cause of one's own misfortune"
So while this chapter is my excuse to talk about the martial arts, and the unusual feats one can accomplish with training, the dramatic underpinnings are "Fatal imprudence" -- Drunk dude challenges Philip to a fight and Philip defeats him without actually fighting him; drunk dude embarrasses himself when he was hoping to embarrass a smaller opponent.
Chapter 15:
#12 "Obtaining"
Philip is trying to obtain evidence. He fails, but Tiffani has obtained potentially useful background information on the property that the Brimes' house was build on.
Chapter 16:
#12 "Obtaining"
Philip and Noel have both obtained EVPs.
Chapter 17:
#20C "Self-sacrificing for an ideal; Sacrifice of well-being to duty"
This is kind of a re-cap scene, to let the Reader know where Philip and CTPI are in the Mystery. But I'm ending it on a note of Philip not wanting to sacrifice his well-being for duty.
Chapter 18:
#28 - Part 2 "Obstacles to love"
I'm removing an "obstacle to love"... sort of...
I mean, the Reader knows Philip is going to have to investigate again. But I'm hoping that this scene makes the Reader feel that Philip still has a chance with Amber, and I'm also hoping the Reader will like Amber enough to want Philip to be with her. (So I can rip them apart by the end of the novel... What a heartless bastard I am!)
Chapter 19:
#20C "Self-sacrificing for an ideal; Sacrifice of well-being to duty"
...sort of...
In the next chapter, Philip actually has figured out how he doesn't have to sacrfice anything at all!
But, still, any drama that can be gotten from this scene would have to be that beat or two where it looks as though Philip is going to have to sacrifice for duty.
Chapter 20:
#12 "Obtaining"
I'm gonna call this chapter "Obtaining" because really it's about Philip figuring out a way to have his cake and eat it, too.
Chapter 21:
#12 Obtaining
The 2nd investigation was a bust, and they believe it might be because Carlton is keeping Britney away from the investigations. (He's the "Adversary who is refusing" in this scenario.)
Chapter 22:
#12 Obtaining
This is kind of the follow-up to the previous scene, dramatically speaking, but it's also kind of "#2A - Part 3", sort of, since it's a key part of the main storyline.
But the way to milk the best dramatic cream from the scene is to emphasize the "Obtaining" part -- the fact that they are being blocked from "obtaining", specifically.
Chapter 23:
#28 - Part 3 "Obstacles to love"
The obstacle has fallen.
You know, I wonder if I haven't stumbled onto a really great situation here... The Reader KNOWS that Philip is going to solve the case. But right at this moment, it seems as though that's not possible. And in this moment when the Reader should be disappointed that Philip seemingly is off the case, it looks like Philip is going to get the girl. But... Does the fact what we KNOW Philip is going to solve the case mean that Philip is NOT going to get the girl?
If I can get my Reader asking this question, at least subconsciously, then I may be in pretty good shape! :D
Chapter 24:
#30A3 "Ambition watched and guarded against by a relative or person under no obligation"
This was a tough one, because when I read the outline of the scene, I wasn't sure, at first, what was happening dramatically. It's just an exposition scene, right?
But this scene is something that happens in life, so I operated under the assumption that Polti had covered EVERYTHING. I mean, some writers maybe would write this simply as exposition and move on...but I'm not confident enough to be one of those writers. So I looked and looked, and sure enough...!
"The Ambitious person Covets a Thing, however that ambition is guarded against by an Adversary."
Max and Philip "covet" a resolution to the mystery. In the context of this chapter, the "Adversary" is both Carlton, who kicked them off the case, and also what they don't know, the facts that will eventually allow them to solve the mystery.
And keeping "Ambition" in mind, the chapter plays out two instances of this: Max is mourning the loss of a case that really got her juices flowing for the first time in a while, and then the second part is Philip resuming the pursuit when he finds another avenue of possible information.
Chapter 25:
#2A - Part 3
Here the "Unfortunates" are, once again threatened by the "Threatener" and are renewing their plea for help from the "Rescuer".
I don't know if I was unwittingly clever to stage it this way or not, but I have Tiffani calling Philip and asking for help for the Brimeses on their behalf. It may be clever (or not) because of the symmetry: Ultimately, Philip is "rescuing" the Brimes family, but it's actually Tiffani that convinces him to investigate; so it seems sort of symmetrical here that it's a phone call from her that re-enlists Philip into the investigation. Carlton can kick them both off the case, but it's Tiffani that gets Philip back on it.
I dunno...maybe it's nothing, actually. It just seemed neat when I realized it, and I don't remember doing it on purpose. (That's just the way I imagine it would play out in real life.)
Chapter 26:
This one is clearly 2 different dramatic situations:
#12B "Obtaining; Endeavor by means of persuasive eloquence alone"
I think this is self-explanatory. As is the second dramatic situation:
#28 - Part 4 "Obstacles to love"
Chapter 27:
#33 "Erroneous judgment"
I'm furthering my Red Herring here.
But I wonder if this is actually the dramatic beat I'm writing...
Because all these scenes that I've been labeling as "Erroneous judgment" never actually play out that moment, the moment of the judgment being proved to be erroneous. So am I being lazy and coping out here?
I guess they're all PARTS of an overall "Erroneous judgment" storyline.
So I should have attached a "Part 1", "Part 2", etc.
But I won't.
Now I'm being lazy.
Chapter 28:
#12B "Endeavour by means of persuasive eloquence alone"
This is actually exposition, again. It's late enough in the novel that I need to start guiding Philip (and the Reader) toward the ACTUAL solution, so Philip just happens to make an observation that leads him to ask the correct questions that confirm his supision.
Chapter 29:
#33 "Erroneous judgment"
I'm calling this an "Erroneous judgment" because the bulk of it is Tiffani trying to finally confirm the Red Herring hypothesis. But the rest of it is Philip taking action to confirm or debunk his new theory about the Elemental entity. (But that's all done on the DL so the Reader starts asking "WTF?" so that I can explain it later.)
Chapter 30:
#7 "Falling prey to misfortune"
This is a bit of a misnomer, because Philip interracting with Britney and the ghost girl in the kitchen is extremely FORTUNATE. In many ways, it's what the Reader has been waiting for.
But #7 is just the best way to write the scene. It should be a scare. (Hopefully.) And "Falling prey to misfortune" is the best characterization of "scare" that Polti offers.
Chapter 31:
#7 "Falling prey to misfortune"
Again, this is the best dramatic designation for how I want to write this scene. The Reader needs to feel as though something really, really bad is happening, although for Philip this is the best thing he could hope for. He has confirmed another of his theories.
Chapter 32:
#33 "Erroneous judgment"
Noel and Carlton have misjudged the importance of what happened last chapter. And what Philip tells Carlton hints this to the Reader.
Chapter 33:
#12 "Obtaining"
This couldn't be more straight-forward. Philip is literally obtaining information that (probably) validates one of his theories about what's going on in the Brimes house.
Chapter 34:
#31 "Conflict with a god"
Elements:- An Immortal
- A Mortal
Summary:The Mortal challenges the Immortal. There are consequences.
I think this is the dramatic situation that best fits.
Though, this is the last scene of that storyline, and nobody realized that they were dealing with an "Immortal" until now. (Except for Philip. He began to suspect back in Chapter 28.)
Chapter 35:
#2A- Part 4 "Deliverance; Appearance of a rescuer to the condemned."
This is it, the ultimate moment of the story. Philip delivers Poe from his burden to protect his sister, and in so doing he delivers the Brimes family from the threat that has shaken up their lives for so many months.
Chapter 36:
#0 "Exposition"
In this chapter, I'm not worried about the whole chapter simply being exposition. This is a Mystery story, and I think the Reader will be satisfied to have Philip explain what has been going on and how he figured it all out.
And if it doesn't work, I'll add a dramatic framework to this chapter in the rewrite.
Chapter 37:
I don't think I'm going to worry about a dramatic framework for the wrap-up, either. This is me and the Reader saying good-bye to the book, so I think it'll be fine if it's written well.
--
So I'm done with the Polti Report!!! :D
It seems like there was one more thought I wanted to add to this before I post it... It's not coming to me though...
OH YEAH! "PLATFORM DOCUMENT!"
John Vorhaus (I want to say it's in THE LITTLE BOOK OF SITCOM) says that when he's training a staff writer, he is disappointed if the first draft of their script too closely resembles their outline. He feels that every document should be treated like a platform document, and changes to the story and characters should occur throughout ever stage of the writing.
I believe the idea is that we're not meant to spend too much time at any stage trying to get every little detail perfect. We're meant to allow each stage to be imperfect, and trust that we will make it better in each progressive stage of the process.
We're meant to trust the process.
So even though I have taken the time to identify each Dramatic Situation in the outline, I will feel free to drastically alter any aspect of what I have outlined if I come up with a better idea on the day.
Theoretically, the novel that lead you to read this blog should be very different than the outline I have posted. The outline is meant to make sure I haven't left any glaring plot holes in my story, and to make sure I've got it all sorted in my head. (I just found one hole, though... I need to make sure Philip learns Doddy's and Poe's names earlier in the story, and I haven't actually written that into the outline. So the outline appears to be working.) It will also protect me from that horrible, soul-devouring question: "What happens next?!"
So now it's time to write me a novel! :D
