Possible Three-Act Structure

[tk1912]

I gave a little thought to the overall plot of our story last night and came up with what I thought might be a fun three-act, three-disaster structure for it (a structure I learned from Randall Ingermanson’s Snowflake Method).

Before you read this, let me offer a caveat: from what I understand, at some point in the month, we’ll vote on what the overall structure of the story is. I’m not trying to stifle anyone else’s ideas for overall structure. This is just an idea I had and wanted to share it. Feel free to tell me this idea is garbage.

And one explanation for the structure. I’m going to outline the story in very broad strokes and put numbers in parentheses after certain plot points. Those numbers will correspond to ideas of what I think could fill those plot points based on what we’ve discussed already. These ideas will be listed in a separate posting.

So here we go...

ACT I - “First Contact”

Various individuals of the fantasy world are being contacted by aliens who are masquerading as “travelers from a far land.” These aliens are searching for the MacGuffin (1) and are seeking allies to help them acquire it.

What the denizens of the fantasy world are unaware of is the fact that the aliens are kind of split on how to approach their search for the MacGuffin. Some think they should politely ask to borrow it. Other think they should trick the fantasy world citizens into giving it to them. Still others are of the opinion that they should just go in, lasers blazing, and take it.

Tensions build as the aliens reveal themselves more and more openly. Finally, the tensions break due to a horrible mistake (2) that sets the aliens against the fantasy world. War is imminent.

The fantasy world quickly rallies its troops. Bitter enemies must set aside their grudges for the common good and they develop a plan to defend their world.

The aliens, in the meantime, are readying an invasion force that they are sure will overwhelm the fantasy world, although there are a good number of people who don’t wish to shed innocent blood and regret how badly things have gone.

The battle takes place (this is the first disaster). The aliens are surprised at how well the fantasy world denizens are able to defend themselves. The battle is basically a stalemate ... until one of the fantasy world warlords (3) betrays his allies, which tips the battle in favor of the aliens.

The aliens are cheered by what seems to be a rout, but their victory turns out to be a Pyrrhic one. One of the heroes of the fantasy world (4) sacrifices himself to hurt the aliens as much as possible (5). The battle grinds to a halt and the two sides retreat to lick their wounds.

ACT II - “The Search”

It’s six months later and things haven’t improved. The aliens have established a beachhead on the fantasy world but haven’t made much progress in their search for the MacGuffin due to constant harassment by the denizens of the fantasy world.

Some on both sides are getting weary of the constant fighting and are beginning to reach out to each other. Maybe romantically (6).

But then the second disaster hits: the citizens of the fantasy world discover what the MacGuffin is and what it can do. This basically shatters alliances and forms new ones. Some of the fantasy world people go into business for themselves to get the MacGuffin before the aliens can. Some of the fantasy denizens rush to protect it. The aliens pour more effort into finding the MacGuffin.

Finally, the disparate group of searchers find the MacGuffin. And, much to their horror, they encounter the third disaster: one of the aliens, it turns out, had ulterior motives for the MacGuffin. They want to use it to unleash a horrible evil on the universe (7). This individual is the one to capture the MacGuffin and they spirit themselves off to unleash the evil.

The good aliens and the good fantasy citizens realize that they need to join forces to stop the evil from being unleased.

ACT III - “The Showdown”

The good guys must fight their way through the ulterior motive alien’s allies and defenses to try and stop him/her. They almost make it, but they’re too late. The evil has been unleashed and they are powerless to stop it.

Or so it would seem. Someone (8) steps forward and does battle with the evil, beating it back and finally sacrificing him- or herself to vanquish the evil (9).

The crisis is over; the aliens realize that they can’t take the MacGuffin with them, much to their despair. But the denizens of the fantasy planet come up with an idea that they think will work: the aliens can send students to their world to learn how to do whatever it is the MacGuffin was supposed to do while citizens from the alien world go out to help the aliens. The two societies are at peace and cooperating.

[tk1912]

The Notes:

1) The MacGuffin - In the MacGuffin thread I started, we’ve discussed the idea that the MacGuffin is some sort of creative battery that can be used to clean up polluted worlds or even create new ones.

2) The Horrible Mistake - My thought was that when the leaders of the aliens met with the leaders of the fantasy world, someone loses their temper and kills someone, ending the negotiations and leading to the invasion. I’m not sure who would wind up killing who yet.

3) The Betrayal - Personally, I’d love it if Lord Vanglore is the traitor, but that’s just me.

4) The Sacrificial Hero - I’m thinking a powerful wizard, somewhat along the lines of Gandalf. A secret follower of the Hidden God, he realizes that to save his world and his people and bring about the salvation promised by the Hidden God, he must sacrifice himself.

5) Hurting the Aliens - The Gandalf-esque character not only wipes out a number of dropships bearing invasion troops but somehow makes it difficult for reinforcements to arrive, thereby cutting off the alien invaders from their government and help.

6) The Romantic Entanglement - I think it’d be great if a fantasy world character who absolutely despises the aliens because they’re aliens winds up falling in love with one of them.

7) The Horrible Evil - When I thought of this story structure, my first thought was Idok, the dark god from the Lythia thread.

8) The Someone - This would be the Christ figure for the story, a manifestation of the Hidden God I mentioned in the Christian themes threads. This character would be someone who has been in the story from the beginning and seemingly does little through most of the story (although hints of the divine should pop through, I think). My choice for this character would be Koko, the little girl that Aoni cares for.

9) Vanquishing the Evil - In my original idea, Koko would drive Idok back into whatever chasm he came from, sacrificing her life to close the portal.


Okay, so there we go. Like I said, just an idea I had late last night. Pick it apart, please.

[lexkx]

Hmmm.... it's not all garbage.

Two things I think it would be wise to avoid are 1) the idea of a Hidden God and 2) too many parallels to LOTR. As to 1), we're Christians. We have the freedom to be explicit in revealing God and goodness, let's show the One True King for who he is. And for 2), I *love* LOTR. I love Gandalf, I love Legolamb, I love Aragorn, I love Samwise. It's hard not to. BUT, Tolkein did not clearly portray God in the trilogy. Satan was well-defined, and few people fail to identify with the struggle between good and evil that Frodo embodies, but if the readers don't know the God Gandalf serves, they're not going to find Him. I think we can improve on that.

Perhaps that murky Qali character could be used for the betrayal. Lord Vanglor didn't strike me as quite sharp enough for the betrayal. Besides, this provides excellent opportunities to expound upon redemption and forgiveness.

In Him,
Lex

[tk1912]

lexkx said:

2), I *love* LOTR. I love Gandalf, I love Legolamb, I love Aragorn, I love Samwise. It's hard not to. BUT, Tolkein did not clearly portray God in the trilogy. Satan was well-defined, and few people fail to identify with the struggle between good and evil that Frodo embodies, but if the readers don't know the God Gandalf serves, they're not going to find Him. I think we can improve on that.

When I said Gandalf, that was the only character that popped into my mind. A lot of fantasy stories have "Gandalf-like" characters in them; mentors with a great deal of power to back up what they're teaching. Yoda in Star Wars, Dumbledore in Harry Potter, etc.

What I had in mind was an extremely powerful wizard/magician dedicated to the Hidden God and makes no bones about his devotion. Whereas Gandalf maybe kept his faith to himself, this guy wouldn't.

[mongoose]

Let's be VERY careful when we want to "be explicit in revealing . . . the One True King for who he is." After all, WHO IS He? Do you know? I don't. Not well enough to write about who he is with any kind of confidence, especially in a fantasy/sci-fi setting. This is a constant dilema. How powerful does the divine show itself to be in my story, and how accuratly does this reflect how powerful God shows himself to be in the real world? How involved do I show the divine to be in my story, and how accuratly does this reflect how involved He is in the real world?

In the real world, God doesn't slap people upside the head and say, "Hay, here I am. I'm real. I'm God. You should love me," very often. Nor does he ask us to do this with people. So why should the divine in our story do that, in effect? I urge caution in this.