Turning Point #2: A Change of Plans

Posted on October 3, 2012 by RoseAnn DeFranco

Turning Point #2 of The Six Stage Plot Structure marks a hero’s CHANGE OF PLANS.  It is here that a NEW DESIRE is created with a clearly defined end point. Hollywood loves this one, mainly because the hero starts to pursue a new and clearly visible goal.  It is the tangible that gives audiences something to cheer for.  This TP is different than the hero’s initial desire from Turning Point #1. 

Audiences have certain expectations when it comes to films.  Going back to Peter Parker in The Amazing Spiderman, at Turning Point #2 Peter discovers what Dr. Curt Connors has become.  He now has an end goal to stop him and save the world.  In the movie Brave, Merida’s original goal is to escape an arranged marriage.  At this new Turning Point the stakes are much higher as her desire is now to save her mother’s life.   

In my current WIP, Forbidden Signs, Terra reluctantly acclimates to her new role as the Earth Goddess in an Elemental World during Stage II.  Turning Point #2 brings the realization that she must find the Sacred Elemental Medallions in order to save Planet Earth.  That is a lot of pressure for a sixteen year old!  Fortunately she has her fellow young God’s along for help and support.    

Writers must keep in mind not to confuse this new outer motivation with the hero’s inner journey.  Much of what audiences and readers respond to emotionally stems from the hero’s wounds and growth into their essence.  While the audience wants Katniss to reach her end goal – survival in The Hunger Games – we connect and are moved by her inner growth and journey. 

Turning Point #2 in our World

Examples of Turning Point #2 are readily visible in our society.  We hear stories in the news all the time about an individual’s struggle toward their end goal.  At some point, an athlete made the decision to work towards that Olympic Gold medal.  Maybe they saw their parents struggle for a better life, or maybe someone told them that they weren’t good enough which ignited their resolve.  At a time in her life, a mother is told that she has a terminally ill child and determines to fight to see that her child gets the proper medical care against all odds. 

Inspiration and heroes walk beside us every day.  Who are some of your favorite heroes in history, movies, books, current world news, or in your own life?  Each hero came to their crossroads or change of plans and triumphed to reach their end point.

Posted in Forbidden Signs, Inspiration, The Hero's Journey | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

A Glimpse of Essence: Stage II – A New Situation

Posted on September 25, 2012 by RoseAnn DeFranco

Stage II of the Six Stage Plot Structure finds our hero adjusting to their New Situation following the events of Turning Point #1.  Sometimes they might journey to a new location or they will suddenly see their local terrain through an altered lens.  Regardless, at this point our hero will take baby step towards moving into their Essence.  The Nemesis or Reflection character might hit the stage at this time as well.  For example, in The Hunger Games Katniss travels to the Capital and gets to know Peeta better.  Here we see a hint of her Essence.  In most novels or movies as the hero acclimates to this new situation, they are unaware that Turning Point #2, and a huge change of plans, is just around the corner. 

The view looks different in the New Situation

During Michael Hauge’s Six Stage Plot Structure workshop I only wrote down Stage II – New Situation and then realized that he quickly moved on to Turning Point #2.  I don’t want to down grade the importance of Stage II though.  I’ve sort of been hanging out in Stage II in my writing world over the past month.  My shouts of joy over being selected as a finalist in the Maggie’s were heard far and wide.  Maybe it was over the top, but I honestly couldn’t contain my excitement.  While I’ve had requests and mild industry interest for my previous projects, this contest final felt like the first real validation that I was moving forward towards an actual career in the publishing industry.  Shortly after came the notification that Forbidden Signs had been selected as a finalist in the Lone Star Contest.  The overwhelming positive feedback and scores from that competition floored me.  A week following I heard from an editor regarding one of my previous contemporary romances.  They were very interested and said that I’d hear from them soon.  I had to lie down on the sofa.  This was too much to absorb at once. 

Following my entrance into this new situation, I had to give careful thought as to how I wanted to proceed.  Initially, I stayed focused on completing the revision for Forbidden Signs.  Then I went to town on the dreaded synopsis.  Feedback on that indicated that I had work to do there.  While preparing query letters for prospective literary agents, I realized that I needed to decide what I wanted out of my writing career and prepare the foundation accordingly.  As a full time working mom, there are only so many hours in the day that I can devote to writing and marketing manuscripts.  For now I plan to focus on building my brand as a YA Author.  You may have noticed that the link to this blog has shortened.  It is now www.radefranco.com.  What does this mean?  It means that I have FINALLY settled on a Pen Name.  I’ve wanted to buy my own domain for a long time, but I wasn’t fully committed to any one name even though I’ve been blogging as R.A. DeFranco for a while.   The fact that R.A. was available when I created a twitter account (you can follow me @radefranco) sort of sealed the deal.  While I’m not overly active on twitter yet, in a short period of time I’ve gained enormous YA industry knowledge.  The next step is to join the Young Adult RWA online Chapter.  The idea is to study that part of the publishing industry – Agents, Editors, published authors and readers – so that I can find my place in it. 

 In a nutshell, while maybe not a lot has happened, and it felt like I’d been swallowed into a black hole, I’ve been pretty busy in my new situation.  In essence I’ve been laying the groundwork for what hopefully lies ahead.  🙂

Posted in Contests, Forbidden Signs, Goals, The Hero's Journey, Writing, Young Adult | Tagged , , , , , | 13 Comments

Turning Point #1: An Opportunity for Shrek…and a few others

Posted on August 13, 2012 by RoseAnn DeFranco

A Turning Point is where our hero is presented with an opportunity, which will create a new, visible desire, and will start the character on their journey.  If you refer to The Six Stage Plot Structure, our heroes are destined to experience 4 such turning points over the course of their story.  Let’s take a look at Turning Point #1 as they are all a bit different. 

Turning Point #1 presents our hero with an opportunity which often times takes the hero to a new geographic location.  In the movie Shrek, our hero initially wants his peaceful swamp back.  Lord Farquaad promises Shrek that if he rescues Princess Fiona, he may have his swamp back.  This opportunity takes Shrek in search of Princess Fiona.

Our hero travels to an unfamiliar land

 

At times in a movie or novel, Turning Point #1 will reveal itself as an opportunity lost, thus creating a new and stronger desire for our hero. This is the case with my current WIP.  At the start of Forbidden Signs, Terra and her longtime friend Con are about to embark on a romantic relationship.  Following mysterious events at his 16th Birthday party, he abruptly ends their budding relationship without explanation.  Terra’s new desire is to now investigate what prompted this drastic change of heart.  As a reminder, a lost opportunity for your hero, along with several other devices discussed in Stage I, creates empathy and will help draw your readers closer to your hero. 

When I first started writing this blog post, I didn’t have a clue as to how to relate Turning Point #1 to our everyday lives.  More than likely I planned to write about Jordyn Wieber.  While she lost the opportunity to earn an individual Goal Medal in the All Around competition, she still journeyed with her teammates to the Gold in The Team Competition.  The mere definition of a turning point listed above happened in my writing life last week when I learned that I was a Finalist in The Maggie’s writing competition.  There is nothing like a bit of positive reinforcement to light a fire under a writer.  Since that announcement, I’ve been working steadily, if not obsessively, on my revisions.  The desire to polish and shine Forbidden Signs for submissions is the same desire I had two weeks ago.  Only now, due to an opportunity, I want it reach that finish line that much faster.

Posted in Forbidden Signs, The Hero's Journey | Tagged , , | 10 Comments