PLOTTING THE 8-POINT ARC BUILDING BLOCKS TO GET A WRITER FROM BEGINNING TO END STASIS: (The situation before

re the story begins) Once upon a time TRIGGER: Something out of the ordinary happens THE QUEST: That causes the protagonist to seek something SURPRISE: But things dont go as expected CRITICAL CHOICE: Forcing the protagonist to make a difficult decision CLIMAX: Which has consequences REVERSAL: The result of which is a change in circumstances RESOLUTION: And they all lived happily ever after (or didnt) The stasis is the base reality of the tale, what life is like in general, not much upheaval or anything out of the ordinary. The trigger is an event beyond the control of the protagonist which turns things from the average to the exceptional. It can be huge or tiny, pleasant or unpleasant, it may not be recognized as significant at the time, but this is the point where the characters come to life. This is the first blip on an otherwise stable line. The effect of the trigger is to generate the need for a quest. In the case of an unpleasant trigger, it could be a need to return to the original stasis; in the case of a pleasant trigger, it could be to maintain or increase the pleasure. The quest can change throughout the novel, but if it does, it should incorporate the first quest in order to up the stakes all the time for the protagonist. The characters need to encounter obstacles on their quest. At the very least, the unexpected must happen. Sometimes the surprises will be pleasant, helping the central character on his or her way. More important are the unpleasant surprises. Surprise is conflict made concrete, and may be caused by another person or by the environment. It may happen suddenly or as the result of an accumulation of events. For it to work well, we need to balance two things: unexpectedness and plausibility. A poorly constructed surprise is often predictable, foreseen ten pages back and boring to wait for. It is no good being unexpected if it doesnt happen within the bounds of credibility, however. If the unexpected brick wall in a heros path in insurmountable, then he comes to a stop and the story is over. If he is to continue the quest, however, he will have to change course, change tactic, and that means making a difficult decision. The word drama is a Greek word meaning a thing done. Not a thing happening by chance or being done to another, but the action of human beings when faced with obstacles. Our protagonists must respond rather than react. The difference between the two is a question of

decisiveness. The characters may be compulsive, driven, inadequate, and deluded, but they must be responsible for their actions, even if those actions are not enough to achieve what they want. Unless the character is in some way accountable for his or her actions all we have are accident, coincidence, and chaos. These critical choices come to a head in the climax the decision made manifest. Sometimes the two are back to back, seemingly one action. At other times there can be a long delay. This climax is an event something occurring in the tangible world of things and bodies. It need not be spectacular but it must be visible. Aristotle defined a reversal as a change from one state of affairs to its opposite which should develop out of the very structure of the plot, so that they are the inevitable or probable consequence of what has gone before. If the climax does not result in a reversal, then it begs the question if the climax was there solely for spectacle. The climax must change the status of the characters. The reversal should be inevitable and probable. Resolution is the new stasis, a return to the state of suspended animation on a new level.

The eight points which Nigel Watts lists are, in order: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Stasis Trigger The quest Surprise Critical choice Climax Reversal Resolution

He explains that every classic plot passes through these stages and that he doesnt tend to use them to plan a story, but instead uses the points during the writing process: I find [the eight-point arc] most useful as a checklist against which to measure a work in progress. If I sense a story is going wrong, I see if Ive unwittingly missed out a stage of the eight-point arc. It may not guarantee you write a brilliant story, but it will help you avoid some of the pitfalls of a brilliant idea gone wrong. So, what do the eight points mean? Stasis This is the everyday life in which the story is set. Think of Cinderella sweeping the ashes, Jack (of Beanstalk fame) living in poverty with his mum and a cow, or Harry Potter living with the Dursleys. Trigger Something beyond the control of the protagonist (hero/heroine) is the trigger which sparks off the story. A fairy godmother appears, someone pays in magic beans not gold, a mysterious letter arrives you get the picture. The quest The trigger results in a quest an unpleasant trigger (e.g. a protagonist losing his job) might involve a quest to return to the status quo; a pleasant trigger (e.g. finding a treasure map) means a quest to maintain or increase the new pleasant state. Surprise This stage involves not one but several elements, and takes up most of the middle part of the story. Surprise includes pleasant events, but more often means obsta cles, complications, conflict and trouble for the protagonist. Watts emphasizes that surprises shouldnt be too random or too predictable they need to be unexpected, but plausible. The reader has to think I should have seen that coming!

Critical choice At some stage, your protagonist needs to make a crucial decision; a critical choice. This is often when we find out exactly who a character is, as real personalities are revealed at moments of high stress. Watts stresses that this has to be a decision by the character to take a particular path not just something that happens by chance. In many classic stories, the critical choice involves choosing between a good, but hard, path and a bad, but easy, one. In tragedies, the unhappy ending often stems from a character making the wrong choice at this point Romeo poisoning himself on seeing Juliet supposedly dead, for example. Climax The critical choice(s) made by your protagonist need to result in the climax, the highest peak of tension, in your story. For some stories, this could be the firing squad leveling their guns to shoot, a battle commencing, a high-speed chase or something equally dramatic. In other stories, the climax could be a huge argument between a husband and wife, or a playground fight between children, or Cinderella and the Ugly Sisters trying on the glass slipper. Reversal The reversal should be the consequence of the critical choice and the climax, and it should change the status of the characters especially your protagonist. For example, a downtrodden wife might leave her husband after a row; a bullied child might stand up for a fellow victim and realize that the bully no longer has any power over him; Cinderella might be recognized by the prince. Your story reversals should be inevitable and probable. Nothing should happen for any reason, changes in status should not fall out of the sky. The story should unfold as life unfolds: relentlessly, implacably, and plausibly. Resolution The resolution is a return to a fresh stasis one where the characters should be changed, wiser and enlightened, but where the story being told is complete. (You can always start off a new story, a sequel, with another trigger) Ive only covered Watts eight-point arc in brief here. In the book, he gives several examples of how the eight-point arc applies to various stories. He also explains how a longer story (such as a novel) should include arcs-within-arcs subplots and scenes where the same eight-point structure is followed, but at a more minor level than for the arc of the entire story.