If you’ve been following this three-part series, you know that Lisa Cron’s Story Genius is a valuable book guiding writers through the scene card process.
Post one was all about getting to know our protagonist before crafting the story.
In post two, we finally broke down the scene card method, using it to plot the first five scenes in our novel, including the opening scene and the “aha” moment.
Armed with this knowledge, we’re ready to discover the plot that will guide our main character’s internal story arc.
Our goal is to get them from the opening scene to the “aha” moment.
Everything in between these two pivotal events should serve the protagonist’s internal struggle, forcing them to confront and ultimately overcome their misbelief.
In today’s blog post, we’re looking at the final few chapters in Lisa Cron’s book. We’ll learn how to determine potential plot points and secondary characters who will support your protagonist’s journey.
What’s Going to Happen in My Story?
There are two requirements for every plot point that’s going to make it into your story:
1. It must cause the next event to happen. Remember the “And so?” section of the scene card? At the end of every scene, you need to know what action your character will take next based on their internal dialogue. Essentially, how will you escalate the conflict?
2. It must touch your protagonist’s internal struggle. All external events must aid your protagonist in grappling with their misbelief. Either the friction intensifies as they struggle to hold on to their misbelief, or it reveals a tiny tick toward their “aha” moment.
With that knowledge, you can immediately go through the list of plot points you’ve been toying with. Cross off those that don’t make the cut, or do a bit more digging and see if you can discover how they’ll impact that internal story arc.
How to Discover Effective Plot Points
Cron wants us to start by summarizing our novel as we see it right now. Include the central problem, how it might escalate and what it might cost your protagonist internally and externally to overcome it.
Review your summary and note key moments that might force your protagonist to take action or challenge them as they strive to accomplish their goal.
If any plot points come to you as fully formed scenes, stop and write scene cards for them. Use the method laid out for you in the previous blog post.
Keep the “maybes” and less fleshed-out scenes on a working Ideas List.
Use this same process to review your early notes and scene cards for other potential plot points and conflicts. You probably already have a few lurking in the wings.
What Conflicts Might They Encounter?
It can be tempting to throw tragic obstacles at your protagonist just because they’d be fun to write. But every conflict must be there because it will lead your protagonist to their “aha” moment.
So, how can you choose the correct conflicts for your story?
Cron suggests asking yourself these two questions to discover potential conflicts that are already bubbling within your protagonist’s path:
What secrets or lies does your protagonist have? These could be secrets from others and lies that they are telling themselves.
What external obstacles already exist in your story? Start by looking at your protagonist’s past. Consider any past promises that might crop up, betrayals, broken relationships and debts owed. Do this as well for the trajectory of your present-day narrative.
Add any discovered conflicts to your Ideas list and continue to write scene cards for those that feel certain to influence your protagonist’s journey.
Does Every “What” Have a “Why”?
Once again, this leads back to ensuring that every plot point connects to your protagonist’s internal arc and can logically happen in your narrative.
We don’t want to add an event because that’s what anyone would do in this situation. We want to craft scenes based on what your protagonist would specifically do given their goal and misbelief.
So, Cron has provided us with three questions to test all potential plot points against.
1. Why does the plot need this to happen?
2. Is it realistically possible for it to happen within your story’s world?
3. Why would it happen based on the protagonist’s internal struggle?
To answer these questions, analyze every scene in chronological order. An event should only remain in the narrative when it passes all three tests.
Where are My Subplots? Who are My Secondary Characters?
Until now, you’ve probably focused on your protagonist’s central journey.
Yet, we know that great stories provide more for readers to discover. Intricately woven subplots and secondary characters who hinder or help your protagonist are necessary to developing a believable narrative world.
So, let’s start to explore the subplots and additional characters who will infuse your story with a richer landscape.
Once again, we must remember that these subplots are not separate storylines running alongside your protagonist’s narrative. Like everything in your story, they enhance your protagonist’s internal arc.
To craft strong subplots and rich secondary characters, keep these tips from Cron in mind.
Subplots Must:
1. Be tied to and influenced by the central plot.
2. Reveal information that the reader needs to understand about the protagonist and their journey.
3. Be the result of past events or driven by secondary characters and their (often clashing) goals.
Subplots often revolve around a secondary character whose story crosses paths with your protagonist.
In some ways, figuring out the secondary characters who will feature in your novel first will help you develop logical subplots that serve your MC.
Secondary Characters Should:
1. Have their own agendas and internal logic.
2. Have a worldview that contrasts or challenges your protagonist’s misbelief.
3. Have their own arcs or revelations (even if it’s small).
4. Help reveal something about your protagonist’s misbelief (providing friction, revelations, etc.).
A friendly reminder that secondary characters may also be found in backstory, flashbacks and memories.
Some of those characters won’t be physically in your front story. They might be someone who influenced your character’s worldview and misbelief in the past.
Your protagonist interacts with them through their internal thoughts, revealing that they still impact their journey.
While you’ll want to ensure the key secondary characters in your story are well-developed, don’t waste time learning things about them that won’t affect your protagonist.
For scene cards, focus on the interactions between your protagonist and secondary characters that influence the internal arc of your story.
And that’s it!
We’ve made it through Cron’s books, leaving you ready to craft an emotionally relevant narrative driven by your main character’s internal revelation.
We’ve Discovered:
- How to flesh out your protagonist’s backstory with their goal and misbelief.
- How to write scene cards that are focused on your protagonist’s journey.
- How to pinpoint relevant obstacles, subplots and secondary characters who will drive your protagonist’s story further.
Plot, conflict and secondary characters work together and must always tie back to the central plot.
If you’re eager to get started, I’ve compiled the questions from today’s blog post into a free workbook to help you develop your subplots and secondary characters.
With this freebie, the free workbook I provided in the first blog post and Lisa Cron’s scene cards, you’re ready to craft an impactful plot that centers on your protagonist’s internal journey.
Over to you!
Share how it’s going!
What part of your plot are you working on right now?
Talk soon!
Julia
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