Copyright © 2023 Jerry Dunne
Before reading this post it is a good idea to read The play’s 3-act plot arc structure and The scene’s plot arc structure, if you do not understand the 3-act plot arc structure. This plot structure works as equally well for films, novels and short stories as it does for plays.
Writing a play is a very personal and absorbing experience and therefore it is very difficult for a writer to stand back and look objectively at their work. So, it is very easy to make any number of mistakes and to keep on making them. Yet a plan gives us (and an editor) a bird’s eye view of our potential plot arc, storyline and character development which acts as a great aid in helping to pinpoint weaknesses early on, particularly structural ones. The more we get used to planning out our work, the sharper we become at discovering and correcting problems before we even begin the draft writing process.
How much to plan is up to the individual. We can, of course, elaborate on many storytelling elements such as character, setting, language, theme and tone. In this post, we are just going to discuss the plan with regards to plot arc outline.
Personally, I make a plan mainly to keep a sharp eye on the plot arc, in order to make sure that the stakes for the protagonist and therefore the tension of the story are constantly rising from the inciting incident through to the climax of the play. I sketch out my main characters’ plot-related attitude here, too, obviously; what they are desperately trying to accomplish throughout the story. I cover their physical and emotional journey throughout the acts. This way I have the skeleton of my play in place; and that’s enough at this stage. With the skeleton properly structured, I do not have to be restructuring parts of the plot at some later date, when the first or second draft of the play is written, for instance, because I only now spot its flaws. Because this can be quite aggravating, confusing, energy draining and time consuming.
Here is my advice of how to proceed. First, plan each act briefly, just showing what its aim is in relation to the overall plot arc. So, for example, outline the main characters physical and emotional journey roughly for each act. You will obviously do much more for the second act than the first and third. Our story is also very much about deepening conflict and raising stakes for the protagonist so that the tension will always be rising. Make sure you have that in there, too. If you are struggling to put something down at this stage, ask yourself why? Don’t I already know the goal of my protagonist? My antagonist? Anyway, as far as overall plot outline is concerned, this is all we need to see before us for now. Our bird’s eye view will show us clearly and concisely at this stage how much in charge we are of our own play and what is going to be happening in the story.
When we have done that much, we can now go on to write a brief description of what we want each scene to accomplish within the acts. Again, sketch this out concisely but simply so that it is easy and quick to read, and we cannot help but see whether or not a scene has the potential to perform its duty within the movement of the plot arc. Each scene must be fully plot related, must provide a necessary plot point (change), to help push the protagonist deeper into the issues of the story even as they seek to solve the ‘big problem’ with which the inciting incident firstly challenged them. This way the audience are fully engaged in a tightly plotted play where the stakes and the tension are constantly rising. If a scene doesn’t accomplish this, if a scene or part of a scene, or even a whole act has drifted away from the plot arc, then we can tweak it or even scrub it at this early stage, and try again.
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Let’s think how this plot arc of rising tension would appear on a simple graph. The horizontal axis at the bottom measures from the inciting incident to the climax. Rising tension is measured by the vertical axis on the left side of the graph. The line working across the graph from the inciting incident to the climax on the horizontal axis while also working with the rising tension axis represents our plot arc, which must always be climbing at a steady angle overall, and obviously represents a steady rise in tension throughout the story. We won’t see this rising plot arc any clearer than in our graph. If there is no rising tension in the story, the plot arc line would be perfectly horizontal between the inciting incident and the climax. If tension rose in the first act and then fell off during the second, our plot arc line would rise from the inciting incident to that part of Act 2 where the tension fell off. From that point on, the line would continue horizontal for the rest of the second act or until the tension picked up again. Thereupon, the graph line would start to rise again. Draw the graph and see for yourself.
Every time we draw up a plan for our plot arc structure, we can also draw this graph to show ourselves very clearly whether or not we have planned our plot arc with rising tension. This is really such a simple thing to do, and works equally well for any piece of fiction writing.
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As this use of the plan is about getting the plot arc structure right, it should be noted here briefly, as it is explained in the article The play’s 3-act plot arc structure, that this structure sits over the overall structure of the play. The play itself can be a two, three, four or five act play. Read the recommended article to understand it better.
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The following first act plan is from Liam’s Lament, a two-character, two-act play, and shows how to make quick and simple notes of each scene, with an eye for its place within the overall plot arc structure. The stakes are always rising from scene to scene from the inciting incident onwards and so the tension is also always rising. Once we’ve done our simple plan like this, we can check our plot arc by drawing a simple line graph. (I haven’t done that here.)
Act 1
Scene 1 Set-up
Niamh manages to convince Liam to return to Ireland from England where they will start a new life with their Irish culture and traditions at the centre of it – although they are traditional Irish musicians he is an IT specialist, she a music teacher. So we’re about to have change.
Scene 2 Inciting incident
They’ve been home at his mother’s now a few weeks, a quiet backwater of a place, Niamh loves it here, but Liam seems detached and not up to his usual playing on the fiddle. So we have change. Niamh gently probes him for an explanation but is dissatisfied with any reply. But this becomes her ‘big challenge’ of the play, the inciting incident, to find out what’s going on with him, as things only start to deteriorate between them.
Scene 3
Two weeks later, they argue over the right way of staking turf. Of course, this argument is really about other things. Liam’s change since he has come home is deepening. He isn’t playing his fiddle at all now, though he’s keeping it close. He still refuses to tell her what’s going on, leaving her frustrated. The couple are already drifting apart, though both are in denial of the problem as they want to stick to their dreams for as long as possible. So we have further change in the relationship. The stakes are raised, the tension is rising. She has a job interview, he’s had none yet, and he wants them to leave his mother’s, where Niamh is happy, but without really explaining why. This further change makes her more determined to find out what the problem is with him. The stakes are rising even higher, therefore the tension is rising with it.
Scene 4
Two weeks further on, Niamh now has a job offer; he had an interview but thinks it went badly. Change in the power structure of the relationship. Niamh wants to remain in the house longer; he wants to leave right away. In fact, he really wants to return to England to his old life or at least go to Dublin, get out of the backwater where they are. But she loves it in the Irish backwater. Again, this isn’t really about staying or going, but about what’s bothering him deep down. She’s still trying to get info out of him about his problem (her goal); (is it related to his dead father?); he’s still trying to hide it but gives away some clues in their first big heated exchange here. He really kicks off now about staying in the house. So we have further change in the relationship. She realises it is truly time now to leave his mother’s, and even though she had thought his moodiness and middling fiddle playing might even be down to his not getting a job, by the end of the scene, she no longer believes this. Whatever his problem is, it is deep and she now knows for sure that if it doesn’t get resolved it will probably end up ruining the relationship completely, or at the very least they will likely have to return to England, spoiling her own dream of living in Ireland. The stakes are being raised all the time. She must resolve the goal the inciting incident set for her. So more change coming.
End of the first act and the interval.
From this plan you can see quite clearly and rapidly that all the changes are integrally plot related and that the stakes are rising (and therefore the tension) because of the possible calamity of the relationship if Niamh does not resolve the ‘big problem’ that first came to challenge her in the inciting incident in scene two. This will continue to be the ‘big issue’ right through to the climax and resolution.
Summing up
The plan enables us to look at our plot arc outline from a bird’s eye view, which makes it easy to see whether or not we will have a well plotted story, with strong conflict (the fuel of any story) and with basic inner and outer character development and rising stakes and tension throughout the play. These are probably the most useful elements for a writer or editor to see in the plan. Once our notes are done, we can also draw a simple line graph to show even clearer our rising plot arc, or lack of it.
The plan is just that, a plan. The story is organic, and we may make big or small changes along the way. Even a short play like the one above can throw up unexpected twists and turns in the plot. Nevertheless, it would be useful to incorporate these changes back into our original plan, so we are better able to check our rising plot arc is still going up and up from the left to the right side of the graph.
Links:
The play’s 3-act plot arc structure
The scene’s plot arc structure
Emotion and the play’s plot arc
Character is dramatic action
Inspiration from inside an empty matchbox
Sparking up character for the play
Individuality in the characters
From stereotype to rounded character with speed and ease
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