Plot Points

[SnoopyPilot]

Have some good story ideas stuffed in my drawer, but have been having trouble with them becasue of plot points. Does anyone have any good excercises or suggestions on working plot points within the screenplay?

[ComicBent]

Nope.

You have to know the beginning and the ending of your story, unless you want to wander around a lot.

Then you work out all the interesting things between the BEGINNING and the END. That provides the basis for a detailed outline.

About one-third of the way through, you should have Plot Point 1; about two-thirds of the way through, you have Plot Point 2. Between points 1 and 2 you can also have a midpoint.

Remember that you are telling a story. It has to mean something. It has to develop naturally. The plot points are incidents or situations along the way that define where the story is going.

[whistlelock]

Yeah, it's called practice. The more you work at building a story, the more you're able to discern which ideas are really the good ones and which ideas are only good on the surface.

I find it's easier to work backwards. Start with where I want to end and then work towards the begining.

end
act 2
act 1
begining.

then I work on how I get the characters from the begining to the end of act one. then to the end of act two and then to the end of the screenplay.

More often than not, the end changes to something else.

but there's only one thing to do, practice, practice, practice.

[UserName]

Think about your story. What are its major events? These events should be negative surprises that are relevant to your story. Often they are a direct threat to the emotional and/or physical health of the protagonist or something he cares about.

[Deus Ex Machine]

I agree with what's already been posted.

Your story must constantly be advancing/changing and to do that every scene must contain one or more of the three dramatic building blocks, New Info, Deeper Understanding and Reversal.

Then you have to consider pacing and contrast, the point and counter-point of the story, like peaks and valleys on a roller coaster, they should be placed so each maximizes the impact of the other.

Watch films similar in style, pacing and tone tot he one you wish to write and reverse engineer the structure to use as a template for your own story.

HTH

[nickj]

Think about your characters, esp. your protagonist. The things that change their plans or motives are the plot points.

[pantalone]

I like what whistlelock says. Working backwards you might be surprised to see that the best story for your story doesn't meet up with your ACT I.

I like to work out my plot points as a series of "and thens". Once I have that chain, then I look at what the "why" behind each point. This can lead to me removing entire sections of story that are good in intent, but poor in fully developing the story.

[teresa20]

I agreehave Ideas. but just the middle :rolleyes and I want to write it. seem good but the whole thing isn't there. Need a beginning and end. I always have the middle on what happens. but why and how. I haven't figure out yet. 8o