Good morning from a hot sunny Caffe Nero in Station Square, Cambridge.
There’s classical music playing in the background. In the foreground, there’s the hiss of milk being boiled, the sharp tapping of coffee grounds being discarded, the clatter of crockery and cutlery.
As I order my Americano (with hot milk on the side), the barista asks me how I am.
“Good,” I reply. “I was imagining I was in Italy.”
“Ooh, I want to go to Italy and visit the mountains!”
“You will see them if you fly over the Alps.”
“I want to go next summer.”
There’s a queue.
“Enjoy your day,” she says with a smile.
I sit down with my coffee. Station Square in Cambridge is nice, but how inspiring it would be to sit and write al fresco at a cafe in the shadow of Duomo di Firenze, Florence Cathedral, one of the most beautiful buildings I have ever seen.
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I will be working today on ‘Now Is The Time Of Monsters’, the third and final book in my fantasy trilogy ‘Portals’
I know how the book begins. I know how it ends. I’ve written three and four-chapter sections of the middle, but they are disconnected. By the beginning of this week, I felt I was grinding to a halt. I didn’t want to open my laptop and look at it.
On Wednesday, I realised that the book needed structure.
So, I went back to the structure I’d used for Book One, ‘Beyond The Shining Portals’.
Since Wednesday, I’ve mapped out 60 chapters using the structure below.
If you’ve read ‘Beyond The Shining Portals’, you’ll recognise ‘The Inciting Incident’. That’s the moment Brigid tells her brothers, Billy and Jack, that a very important amulet containing a blood-red spider has been stolen by a drunken nobleman. She demands they get it back.
At that moment, they could have said no. They could have used Brigid’s prickly personality as a reason. But Brigid has an emotional hold on Billy. She knows it and she exploits it. So Billy says yes, and Jack reluctantly agrees.
And ‘The Key Event’? That’s when Billy and Jack enter The Mercers’ Tavern, where the nobleman is playing cards with friends, and execute their plan to steal the amulet.
That is the moment all hell breaks loose, and lives fall apart.
Later, in the middle of the book, comes the structurally planned centrepiece, ‘the amazing event’. Jack climbs through the shining portal into only God or the Maiden knows where. He is about to embark on his ‘great adventure’!
Of course, the penultimate and final chapters did not follow the structure laid out below. They are primed to set up Book Two, ‘The Half-Life Girl’. However, they will in ‘This Is The Time Of Monsters.’
Now I have the structure, I will rev up my writing engine and go go go!
I’ve set out the structure below. It's a taste of what’s to come.
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THE HOOK
THE OPENING ENGAGES THE READER, AND THEY READ ON
THE INCITING INCIDENT
THE INCITING INCIDENT SETS THE STORY IN MOTION
THE KEY EVENT
THE KEY EVENT IS WHAT THE STORY IS ABOUT. IT DRAWS THE MAIN CHARACTER INTO THE STORY
25%: THE FIRST PLOT POINT
THE FIRST PLOT POINT IS THE FIRST MAJOR TURNING POINT AFTER THE INCITING AND KEY EVENTS. THE PROTAGONIST MAKES OR IS FORCED TO MAKE A BIG DECISION
3/8ths: THE FIRST PINCH POINT
THE FIRST PINCH POINT IS THE MOMENT THE ANTAGONISTIC FORCES MAKE THE READER (AND THE PROTAGONIST) AWARE OF THEIR GREAT POWER
50% THE SECOND PLOT POINT
THIS IS THE CENTRE-PIECE OF THE STORY - THE SECOND INCITING EVENT. SOMETHING AMAZING HAPPENS. THE PROTAGONIST’S REACTIVE PERIOD IS OVER. HIS ACTIVE PERIOD BEGINS
THE PROTAGONIST CEASES SIMPLY RE-ACTING TO EVENTS AND BEGINS TO TAKE ACTION
5/8ths: THE SECOND PINCH POINT
THE SECOND PINCH POINT ONCE AGAIN SHOWCASES THE POWER OF THE ANTAGONISTIC FORCES AND THE EASE WITH WHICH THEY CAN DEFEAT THE PROTAGONIST. IT RATCHETS UP THE STAKES
75%: THE THIRD PLOT POINT
THE THIRD PLOT POINT IS ANOTHER MAJOR TURNING POINT. WHAT THE PROTAGONIST WANTS IS ALMOST WITHIN THEIR GRASP, ONLY TO BE SNATCHED AWAY AND FOR THEM TO BE SMASHED DOWN EVEN LOWER THAN BEFORE
90%: THE CLIMAX
THE CLIMAX IS THE COLLISION BETWEEN THE PROTAGONIST AND THE ANTAGONISTIC FORCES LEADING TO THE CLIMACTIC MOMENT
THE PENULTIMATE CHAPTER
THE PENULTIMATE CHAPTER: THE CLIMACTIC MOMENT IS WHEN THE PROTAGONIST DECISIVELY DEFEATS THE ANTAGONISTIC FORCES IN A FINAL UNEXPECTED TWIST
THE FINAL CHAPTER:
THE DENOUEMENT IS THE SHORT MOMENT OF CALM WHICH THE READER SPENDS WITH THE PROTAGONISTS TO SAY GOODBYE TO CHARACTERS THEY HAVE, HOPEFULLY, GROWN TO LOVE