{"id":2136,"date":"2019-11-12T09:00:48","date_gmt":"2019-11-12T14:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/?p=2136"},"modified":"2019-11-11T18:24:38","modified_gmt":"2019-11-11T23:24:38","slug":"baking-literary-bread-part-3-how-to-solve-common-story-problems-using-the-recipe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/baking-literary-bread-part-3-how-to-solve-common-story-problems-using-the-recipe\/","title":{"rendered":"Baking Literary Bread, Part 3 \u2013 How to Solve Common Story Problems Using the Recipe"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>[This blog was originally published in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nightowlreviews.com\/v5\/Blog\/Articles\/Baking-Literary-Bread-Part-3-by-Shana-Figueroa\">Night Owl Reviews<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"671\" src=\"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Breaking-bread-part-3-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1419\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Breaking-bread-part-3-1.jpg 1000w, http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Breaking-bread-part-3-1-300x201.jpg 300w, http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Breaking-bread-part-3-1-768x515.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 706px) 89vw, (max-width: 767px) 82vw, 740px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/?p=2134\">Last time<\/a>, we discussed the correct order and ratio of all the necessary ingredients for a successful story: <strong>hook<\/strong> (page 1) -&gt; <strong>inciting incident<\/strong> (anytime before plot point 1) -&gt; <strong>plot point 1<\/strong> (PP1; 20-25% mark) -&gt; <strong>midpoint<\/strong> (50% mark) -&gt; <strong>plot point 2<\/strong> (PP2; 75% mark) -&gt; <strong>climax\/denoument<\/strong> (last 90%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Knowing the correct order and ratio can solve a lot of\nissues with a manuscript that readers complain about but authors may have a\nhard time interpreting. Here are a few ambiguous but common problems decoded\ninto their meaning and solution:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>\u201cThe story drags in the beginning.\u201d<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Meaning: PP1 occurs sometime after\nthe 25% mark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Solution: Cut material in the first\npart of the book until PP1 occurs between roughly 20-25% of the way through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>\u201cThe story sags in the middle.\u201d<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Meaning: Either the midpoint\nhappens after the 50% mark, or the midpoint is not distinct enough to be\nrecognizable for what it is, or both.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Solution: Move the midpoint to the\n50% mark. Also, imagine the midpoint as a pole in the center of the tent of\nyour story. If the pole isn\u2019t tall enough, the tent will literally sag in the\nmiddle. Remember what the midpoint is supposed to accomplish\u2014it\u2019s the \u201cno going\nback\u201d moment\u2014and punch it up so it\u2019s crystal clear to the reader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>\u201cThe ending felt rushed.\u201d<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Meaning: PP2 happens after the 75%\nmark, pushing PP2, the climax, and the denoument too close together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Solution: Move PP2 closer to the\n75% mark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>\u201cThere was a lot going on, but I still had\na hard time caring.\u201d<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Meaning: There could be a lot of things causing this problem, including a lack of compelling conflict, unengaging characters, or murky motivations, but it could also be that PP1 happens too soon (as was the case in the baby-pact story I mentioned in Part 2).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p> Solution: Move PP1 out to the 25% mark. Remember that everything before PP1 is set-up to establish the characters, their world, and the stakes. It\u2019s the foundation of the story, and if it\u2019s not solid then the rest of the story crumbles. PP1 is NOT the inciting incident. In the baby-pact story, the inciting incident was when the woman decided to have a baby, which happened before the book even started and was told to the reader via an internal monologue. Because the author cut off this critical piece of background info in order to get to the action quicker\u2014and in the process committed the cardinal sin of telling rather than showing\u2014PP1 showed up before I had a chance to understand or care about anything that came next. The foundation for the rest of the story wasn\u2019t there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"498\" src=\"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Panda-bread-reality-2-1024x498.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1743\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Panda-bread-reality-2-1024x498.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Panda-bread-reality-2-300x146.jpg 300w, http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Panda-bread-reality-2-768x374.jpg 768w, http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Panda-bread-reality-2.jpg 1327w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 706px) 89vw, (max-width: 767px) 82vw, 740px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Of course, all these tips are contingent on your ability to\ncorrectly ID the ingredients of your story. If you\u2019re not sure what they are, go\nback and read the first article in this series,<em> <strong>Baking Literary Bread: The\nBasic Ingredients Every Story Must Have to Succeed<\/strong><\/em>. Or, try this\nexercise: <strong>summarize your entire story in\n<em>one paragraph<\/em><\/strong><em>. <\/em>That\u2019s what we call in the \u2018biz your \u201ccritical path.\u201d Everything\nyou don\u2019t mention in this paragraph <em>supports<\/em>\nthe story, while if you take anything out of the critical path then the story\ndoesn\u2019t exist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You might be thinking that you don\u2019t have to follow the\nrules. Writing is an art after all, and rules were made to be broken, right?\nIt\u2019s true that if you dig enough, you\u2019ll probably find a successful exception.\nBut keep in mind the baking metaphor: sure, occasionally you\u2019ll chance across a\nmaster chef in a five-star restaurant who can punt out a beautiful loaf without\nusing baking soda or flour. However, they can do so because they are <em>master chefs. <\/em>They have the rules down\ncold, are intimately familiar with each ingredient and its function, and have\nenough experience to know what will happen if they mess with the formula. \n\nIf you\u2019re not a master writer yet, stick to the\nrules until you are. When you\u2019re so popular that people will buy your stuff no\nmatter what you write, then break them all you want! The author of the\nbaby-pact story? \u2026Let\u2019s just say she\u2019s probably got more zeros at the end of\nher bank account statement than I do, despite my criticisms. A loyal fan base\nwill let you get away with pretty much anything, but that\u2019s a lesson in\nsuccessful marketing rather than quality writing.\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[This blog was originally published in Night Owl Reviews] Last time, we discussed the correct order and ratio of all the necessary ingredients for a successful story: hook (page 1) -&gt; inciting incident (anytime before plot point 1) -&gt; plot point 1 (PP1; 20-25% mark) -&gt; midpoint (50% mark) -&gt; plot point 2 (PP2; 75% &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/baking-literary-bread-part-3-how-to-solve-common-story-problems-using-the-recipe\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Baking Literary Bread, Part 3 \u2013 How to Solve Common Story Problems Using the Recipe&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[494,497],"tags":[390,473,391,385,386,388,387,389,472],"class_list":["post-2136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-craft","category-plot","tag-climax","tag-common-story-problems-solved","tag-denoument","tag-hook","tag-inciting-incident","tag-midpoint","tag-plot-point-1","tag-plot-point-2","tag-story-dragging"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9Vyi8-ys","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2136"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2136\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2178,"href":"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2136\/revisions\/2178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}