NaNoWriMo Preptober: Nail Your Main Tentpole Scenes

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Note: This month I’m reposting my annual NaNoWriMo Preptober series. Even if you’re not doing NaNoWriMo, it’s a great way to begin thinking about any novel you plan to write! 

This week, we’re going to tackle the basics of your story structure. I say basics because when I work with clients, this part alone can take weeks to nail down if we were to do all the pieces, including feedback. If you’re starting NaNoWriMo on November 1, you don’t have that kind of time. Hence, this quick-and-dirty introduction to figuring out the major story milestones you need to hit, which will at least give you some goalposts to work towards as you write your first 50K words.  

Keep in mind that 50K is on the very low end for novels (pretty much only Middle Grade will fall into this length). Writer’s Digest has a great guide to industry standard lengths for all kinds of genres. The point is, you might still have quite a bit of writing to go even after you hit the 50K word mark. Keep that in mind as we talk about the story milestones below.     

Basic Story Structure follows a format that has been time-tested over thousands of years of storytelling, long before novels were a thing. It’s been refined since then, but the framework below gives you a general introduction to the major story milestones and where they sit. (Note: there are a lot of different systems out there that talk about story structure in various ways. Some of them have a lot more beats. Some have different names for the various milestones. If you know about one and feel it fits your needs, go for it. This is a good starting point though, if you’re unfamiliar with it.) 

Before you tackle this, you should go back to the Questions to Consider Before Writing post and make sure you have a clear Premise, and a working summary paragraph. As a reminder, here is a possible formula to follow: 

a.     Who is the protagonist?  

b.     What do they want?  

c.     What is at stake? 

Examples: 

d.     A [character] who [has a problem] must [action] in order to/before [consequence]. 

e.     When [problem occurs], [character] must [action] before/or [consequence] 

The One-Paragraph Summary can be thought of as a front-flap or back-of-jacket blurb – but one that actually gives away the ending. It should show the clear character arc and the major plot arc. For examples, look at the books on your shelves. Analyze the front or back jacket copy. What does it say about the characters, and the journey the go on (literal or metaphorical)? How can you tell what the story is “about” from these paragraphs?  (Note: you can go to two paragraphs if you need to, but not beyond that. This is just to ground you for the next part of the process.)  

 
Now start to look at your Big Tentpole Scenes and the goals you will be working toward with each section: 

The Setup — the ordinary world; this may include the Protagonist’s early attempts to reach their story goal or avoid the story problem.

The Inciting Incident — the thing that happens that kick-starts the story proper. The Protagonist is called to action, although they may refuse at first. 

The First Plot Point — about 25% in. This is also known as the “point of no return.” Something has happened — new information, new dangers or obstacles, and the Protagonist must act or react in a determined way. If they’ve been waffling about it, now is the time they commit.

The Midpoint – about 50% in. The point where everything the Protagonist or reader thinks they know changes. The stakes are amped up. The Protagonist’s goal may change, as they realize their original goal was too small or is unobtainable in light of this new information. If they’ve been primarily reacting to outward circumstances, now is when they need to shift to a plan of action. 

The Second Plot Point – about 75% in. Final point where new information enters the story. Possible final plot twist, catapulting the protagonist into the Climax. 

The Climax – The big scene where the final confrontation between Hero and Villain takes place. 

The Resolution – What happens as a result of the climax, for the inner and outer worlds of the Protagonist.  

The thing to remember is that The Action Arc (what happens in the story) must be tied to the Character Arc of Change (how it affects the Protagonist - what they do at each stage to try to solve the problem set by the story, and how they change as a result). Every scene needs to interweave these. This is how your story builds in a satisfying way.  

Try to at least build these major scenes before you write. Having goals to hit will help tremendously as you work through the story. You won’t be tied up in the middle, wondering what happens next, or forgetting about character development entirely in your excitement to write a really action-packed scene.  

For each scene above, write: 

What happens (the plot or Action Arc)

and then: 

What it means for the Protagonist (the Emotional Arc – how they react or what they do as a result of what happens in the plot). 

For each, this only needs to be a short one-two sentences worth of info. Just enough to begin to see your way forward. You may end up changing these as you write, but you will have a skeleton to build on. As you fill out your skeleton with other scenes, you might write because of that… between each set, like so:

Scene: what happens
Point: what is means to the Protagonist
because of that… 

Scene…
Point…
because of that…

And so on. This ensures that there is an actual narrative cause-and-effect trajectory that makes sense. Your characters aren’t just doing random things because hey, it might be cool. 

An important point: at the first draft stage, you may want to keep it loose and play around a bit. Maybe random things do happen. That’s okay — as long as you know you’re just getting the ideas down, and you have to put it together later, making decisions that serve the story and not keeping something because it’s cool. Kill your darlings, remember?  

Again, I stress that this is basic preparation. You can go into a lot more detail – and some people do. Others feel stifled by knowing too much before they start. But this is enough to get you started on a strong first draft, which is really what NaNoWriMo is all about.