5:01 / Stages 9 & 10 / Greatest Plot Structure / Discovering Your Plot

Welcome to the 5th season of The Write Focus, the podcast for writers of all types, newbies and veterans and everyone in-between. Our FOCUS is productivity, process, craft, and tools.

We are justifiably proud of achieving this 5th season. We started in 2020, that dreadful year, so good things do come from bad ones. Apart from our yearly hiatus in the hectic Decembers, we haven’t missed a weekly episode. This week, we officially open this season with Episode 198. How is that for meeting deadlines? OOO, OOO, OOO

We start our 5th season with the first of the last episodes on the greatest plot structure in the world, taken from our host M.A. Lee’s craft guide Discovering Plot.

In this episode, we delve into Stages 9 and 10 of the 12-Stage Archetypal Story Pattern, Greatest Plot Structure in the World.

Stage 9 is the protagonist’s Reward for surviving the trials and the dark ordeal. Our main characters still have a difficult journey ahead, yet Stage 9 gives a respite.

Then we descend to Stage 10, the Road Back, seemingly straightforward but still tricksy, still twisty, still dangerous.

This wave-like up-and-down pattern of events all through the Archetypal Story Pattern creates pacing and tension. The writers offers rewards to keep the readers from tumbling off the journey. The troubles continue to offer angst and suspense for reader engagement.

Don’t make the mistake of cheap thrills and unthinking, uncaring sacrifices now that you’ve brought the reader this far. Love has an emotional reward. Danger and death have consequences. Justice cannot be totally blind. Not for the reader. AND Not for us, the satisfied writer who wants to keep writing, not burn out and burn up our love of story-telling.

TIMINGS

• 00:00 Welcome


• 00:39 Introduction


• 03:03 Stage 9 / Joy after Darkness


• 07:44 Ordeal vs. Reward


• 09:20 The Difficult Reward


• 11:53 Stage 10 / Driving to Destiny


• 13:04 Driving with the Old Desired Dear


• 19:28 How to Find the Right Road Back


• 25:20 Last Words / Closing


• TOTAL TIME = 27:00

Examples from Deathly Hallows (Harry Potter series), Jane Austen’s Persuasion and Pride and Prejudice, 13th Warrior by Michael Crichton, The Crown, Castaway film with Tom Hanks, and Tolkein’s Return of the King.

LINKS

Invocation of Blood, from 13th Warrior :: https://youtu.be/qQekqWha7fg

Links to the Ebook

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0838PTN49

https://books2read.com/u/bOJK6K

Link to a paperback 8 x 10 bundle for plot / characters / branding / sentence craft, called Discovering Your Writing https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08691892S

Trailer https://youtu.be/hTVQn92kNBk

Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. Our podcast is for newbies who want to become writing pros and veterans who are returning to writing after years away.

Our current focus is Discovering Your Plot, from host M.A. Lee’s guidebook of the same name.

Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr

• You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters


• Available Now: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand.

For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  .

Write to us at [email protected].

If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.)