Good morning everyone. Before we begin our Task for the day, I need to mention that I made a mathematical error yesterday. The story I am working on is a fantasy novel and I am going for a manuscript in the 150K range. For that my chapter break outs are Act 1: 12 chapters, Act 2: 26 chapters and Act 3: 12 chapters. The example of Bob I was breaking out was supposed to be around 100K and so the chapters should have looked like: Act 1: 8 Chapters, Act 2: 18 Chapters, and Act 3: 8 Chapters.
You may have noticed that in yesterday’s example Bob’s Act 1 had 12 chapters. I am not sure my example has enough plot elements to carry off a 150K manuscript.(I will not be breaking Bob out into 26 chapters for this Act, just FYI as I think it would be rather torturous to try and stretch his plot that far.) I should have gone with the 100K for the example. And if I messed up anyone’s planning I apologize. It was my math that was wrong, not yours. I was thinking of my own story rather than the example.
Feel free to laugh at my confusion and know that it was not your math that was wrong.
It also is a bit of of a good thing though. When you start breaking things out into chapters, you may realize that you don’t have enough plot to stretch the length you have estimated. It may cause you to re think a few things. Add in a few extra obstacles maybe, or go for a shorter manuscript. It is something that can easily come to light in today’s task so keep your eyes open.
And so we reach our Task of the day. And you guessed it…
Task 37: Break out Act 2 into Chapters.
The process is the same as it was for yesterday’s task. The main difference is that in this section you have obstacles to add in so your protagonist’s path does not run smoothly. The key thing to remember is that they can over lap if you need them too. When laying out your chapters remember you can be in the middle of dealing with something when the next calamity strikes. You don’t have to resolve it before you bring up the next obstacle.
It depends on the type of tale you are telling.
If you are writing something where your characters have to solve a riddle and get a buzzle piece before they are allowed to have the next clue, then clearly they would physically have to resolve the issue, but there also may be emotional issues tangled up that have a one step forward two steps back sort of feel as you go through the clue gathering.
In others you can have the obstacles coming hard and fast so that your protagonist barely has time to wrap their head around the issue when the next one strikes. This can be used to build pressure and drama pushing your protagonist towards the breaking point when they finally start to have an idea and begin to work things out.
Basically the thing to remember is that just because you laid out the obstacles and resolutions in a straight line when setting up the act, doesn’t mean that you need to raise the issue and then clear it out in a straight line.
For example with Bob, In our Act 2 Bob is fighting with Henry about his return to the old ways. He will discover Chuck is embezzling and that other family members are stealing in other ways. He will also find his wife is cheating on him. We left the end of Act one’s chapter break outs with Bob looking into the family to see who he can get to help him make sure the company is stable as he makes his escape. The chapters that follow in act two would show him discovering the embezzlement and deciding how to deal with it. In those chapters he may get a hint that something is not right with his wife, but not have time to look into it while he deals with the embezzlement.
The example is set up so that he feels increasingly ill used by the family and the reader may be wondering why he doesn’t just walk away, and in addition to the doing what is right way of thinking he has, we may see him interacting with the non family employees who are frustrated with the family. We could add in scenes that show he doesn’t want to leave them in the lurch.
All the while the little clues about his wife start to pile up. It isn’t that he learns of the affair in one fell swoop, but more his suspicions becoming too many to ignore and thus he finally confronts the fact of the affair when he has some breathing room (so to speak) after telling Henry about the embezzlement.
There are many ways it could be laid out. I’m sure your story is the same. Don’t be afraid to go back and forth on those issues, even half way resolving them before they fall apart in the face of another problem.
It sounds wrong to say, but don’t be afraid to be mean to your characters. This is the act you will be putting them through the ringer. Make them earn the change you want them to see. Make them deserve the victory.
Happy writing.
Ten til Midnight 