The Fall is one relational plot which is not (necessarily) a love story.  Falls to temptation, as the Medieval Church knew, can come in many forms: greed, gluttony, sloth, lust, envy, jealousy.  Think Othello, Hamlet, Macbeth. 

1.         Once again I have combined this plot with temptation because that is where it often begins.  It is not simply pride that goes before a fall, but temptation, when we succumb, that can lead us into despair, paranoia, madness and suicide.  When we give into the temptation to greed, lust or envy, (or lying, cheating or stealing), we risk a fall.  Real life does have consequences.

2.         Then again, the beginning might be simply life circumstances that we can all (potentially) relate to such as the discovery of a spouse’s infidelity or the loss of a job.  Think “going postal.”  Imagine a whiskey bottle dragging a person to perdition, as in the lost weekend.  Imagine being “mad as Hell and I’m not going to take it anymore.”  The fall can come when life throws that proverbial curve ball and we get beaned. 

3.         A third approach might be beginning the story on the fringes of society (I might say on the edge of respectable society).  Imagine the loner, the loser, the homeless bum that may be…?  Some people are already living a fallen life.  Others revel in excess and extreme living.  There is no telling what is out there in the dark, or maybe just around the corner. 

This storyline considers the exaggeration of emotions we see when they are set free from normal social and moral constraints.  In particular, fear and/or hopelessness or helplessness (if not madness) are often strong in the story.  It considers the extremes human beings are capable of going to and the excesses that can invariably cause us to stumble and fall.  Again, like last time, society does not like to lose so there often is not a happy ending.  Read Poe.  Redemption, though, is possible.

The Plot

Unless you are considering the third approach above, you might want to start by moving your character from as normal, average, common (everyone can relate) a life as possible to going off the deep end.  To do that, I recommend (for the sake of a strong hook at the beginning) that you begin with some hint or foreshadowing of what is to come.  The opening goes to the breaking point, when the **it hits the fan.  Consider the story of King David.  He is happy, successful, everything is going his way until he catches sight of Bathsheba sunning herself on the roof across the way…

In the middle, we watch in horror as the person sinks slowly or rapidly into their obsession – paranoia, schizophrenia, madness.  Perhaps they don’t fall quite that far, but the condition appears hopeless and we wonder how this person is ever going to get out of this bind.  David tries to manipulate Bathsheba’s husband, and fails.  He finally sends the man into the front lines in battle to get him killed.  Suddenly, David is not only guilty of adultery, he is guilty of murder;  and every step takes him deeper into the pit.

In the end, Othello kills his wife and kills himself.  David faces a rebellion by his own son.  He kills his son and yet, somehow he finds redemption.  There is not necessarily a tragic ending here.  But there will be resolution.  Think of it like a sickness.  The cure may require strong medicine so if the disease doesn’t kill you, the cure might.  Still, there is a chance for recovery.

Temptation may be a plot unto itself, but I include it here because presently it is hard to imagine any other motivation that would make a story.  In our multi-cultural, diverse, non-judgmental (anarchistic – anything goes) society, the idea of forbidding love seems old fashioned.  We have room for it all these days: black and white, Christian and Jew, gay relationships, may-December romances.  So the Minister ran off with his secretary or the Governor his South American hottie – yawn.  Heck, there is a television show about Cougars.  So what?

Lolita can still raise some eyebrows.  Incest, pedophilia, sadomasochism might still be “forbidden,” but for the most part, these days “forbidden is in the eye of the beholder.”  For that reason, temptation is a good opening.  If the participants are irresistibly drawn to each other, though they themselves believe it to be wrong, you may have a beginning.

Historically, forbidden love has been a powerful vehicle for exploring love and for exploring tragedy.  Adultery (The Scarlet Letter) and affairs have been standard fare.  Also, when two groups of people oppose each other and a couple find each other in the midst of that opposition, such a love is invariably tragic.  Imagine a young American soldier and the daughter of a Jihadist.  Imagine the Hatfields and McCoys.  Imagine Romeo and Juliet.

Of course, it didn’t work out too well for Romeo and Juliet.  They were in love from the beginning (connected) but all the forces in the world conspired to keep them apart (separated).  They got together in the end (reconnected), almost.  I suppose that is why it is a tragedy, but Romeo and Juliet does follow the basic love story plot pattern.

Another approach to this storyline might be called the impossible love.  Both Casablanca and Cyrano de Bergerac touched on this.  The Hunchback of Notre Dame did a better job because as disfigured as he was, he knew his love for Esmeralda was impossible.  Of course, these days even monsters like vampires are seen as acceptable lovers (though there is some sense of forbidden love there, to be sure). 

Also, keep in mind that social standing cannot be used in “forbidden love” as it might have been in the past.  Yes, it was a scandal when Edward abdicated the British throne to marry that divorced American – and that had a basically happy ending, but these days would people really care?

The Plot

Like the basic love story, the story of forbidden love begins with the chemistry of two people drawn together, irresistibly.  In this case, though, the wrongness of the attraction or the impossible nature of the love must be made clear.  Then comes the trouble.

Unlike the love story, the center of this work often shows the two people together and to some extent shows what is right about the pairing even in the midst of the wrongness.  Often, it is not the world conspiring to keep the lovers apart so much as the fear that the world will find out, find them and force them to part.

Here is where all the plots are hatched, such as the plot to kill the spouse of the one that is married.  Sometimes they work out.  Often they don’t, but even when they do there are always consequences.

In the final act, the tragedy.  Society does not like to lose.  It is like our soldier and jihadist’s daughter.  Even while he is under guard and facing a possible dishonorable discharge, she is being stoned to death.  Sorry.  This plot rarely, very rarely has a happy ending.

The Love story and the Romance, what’s the difference?

Basically, a love story can be about anything: a man and a woman, two men, two women, a young boy and his dog.  Did you ever read Old Yeller?  How about a man and his statue – Pygmalion.  And can a puppet become a real boy?  Relationships stretch the emotional muscles and the love story is the basic relationship story.

On the other hand, Romance has a limited range of relationship options.  Publishers have great lists of dos and don’ts that they will gladly share with any aspiring writer.  And while I am no aficionado of the Romance, all of the basic elements of what I am calling plots of relationship can be found there as easily as in any love story. 

Without carving these words into stone, the basic plot is connection, separation, reconnection.  Hollywood put it this way:  Boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl.  To be sure, in the romance novel it tends to be girl meets boy and etc.

Scarlet and Rhett sparked the first time they met.  They crossed paths several times during the story.  By the time they finally got together, frankly Scarlet I didn’t give a damn.  I guess Rhett agreed with me.  It didn’t work out.  But I know my Romance reader has been up nights on occasion wondering if these two are EVER going to get together.

As with all plots, there must be more than just following the formula.  This may be especially true of Romance stories, and especially hard since they are the most formulaic of all genres.  Publishers don’t want innovation, and yet the story must be unique enough to make it rise above the rest.  (Romance slush piles are enormous).  Good luck.

With the love story there is more flexibility but you need to keep the relationship in mind or risk devolving the story into sentimental tripe.  Spooning under the Moon can be a hard write because it has been done so many, many times.

It is possible for the lovers never to separate as in African Queen, or for the story to pick up at the second meeting as in Casablanca.  It is also possible to twist the relationship, as in Jane Eyre where Bronte adds an insane first wife, or a story where two strong-willed lovers attempt to control each other through manipulation or violence.  But as for the basics, consider this plot:

The Plot

The connection.  The story begins with the recognition of the chemistry between two people.  One may resist, but the reader knows it is inevitable.  By the end of the opening, there is a committed connection between the two.  That connection may be anything from marriage to the two not realizing it themselves – but it is there.  The opening ends, however, when whatever it is comes between them.

The separation.  It could be almost anything.  A jealous ex-partner, a terrible accident or disease, prison –just or unjust – anything.  It does not always separate the two physically, but there is something between them, a real obstacle that must be overcome.  This is the testing phase that proves the love is real. 

Generally here the story focuses on the point of view of the active seeker while the other person is passive (waiting to be saved).  In the fairy tale days, the damsel was in distress while the prince fought the dragon.  These days, she is just as likely to be the seeker as he.

The reconnection:  To be sure, sometimes it doesn’t work out.  Sometimes one dies as in Segal’s massive money making “Love Story.”  But generally, and especially in the romance novel, as I have said, people prefer happy endings.  Tears of joy are much more satisfying than tears of sorrow.

Next:  Forbidden Love and Temptation.

One way to understand the difference between competitive plots, journey plots and relational plots is to think of body, mind and heart.  Please click on the tab “On Stories” above to read about plots of competition and journeys.  I encourage you to do so. 

The Body:      Plots of competition are physical and active plots, not to be confused with action plots.  Whether the story is external (action oriented) or internal (character oriented) these plots turn on “what happens.”  When you have a strong protagonist and a strong antagonist, the plot will move on what they do, often to each other.  Whether they are in a rivalry, an adversarial relationship or one is an underdog,  whether it is man against man, man against nature or even man against himself, there is a fight going on and it will express itself in some outward form, though what happens.

The Mind:      Journey plots, on the other hand, might better be called plots of thought or learning if you will.  These are the plots that explore life, the universe and everything.  That is not to say nothing happens here.  The quest, escape, the rescue, or thrillers all have lots of action, but at the same time they are journeys of discovery.  Thus in the end the detectives understand something about life and perhaps something about themselves that they did not grasp at first.  This is especially true of plots of exploration, rising or falling, transformation or coming of age – all journey plots where something is learned in the process.

The Heart:     By contrast, plots of relationships are emotive plots, emotional explorations that depend more on what people feel than what they think or do.  Again, a plot where nothing happens will be dull, dull and no story at all; but in relational plots the whole motivation and response to what happens is more emotional than anything else.

Caution:         Competitors think and feel.  People on a journey do things and also feel.  And people in relationships are not mindless, inactive emotional blobs.  We are simply talking the emphasis of the story here.

The essential relational plot is two people in relationship (duh)!  Of course, one of those people might be something other.  Both the Last Samurai and Dances with Wolves might be described as plots of relationship where the person finds themselves in a strange culture with no means of escape.  There is a lot of emotional turmoil and angst in the process of getting adjusted to a new way of life.

Sometimes, the two people might be siblings as in Rich Man, Poor Man, or in some of the work of Jodi Picoult like My Sister’s Keeper.  Generally, though, the story is about a couple and again, generally it is about one man and one woman.  That does not mean it is necessarily a love story.  There is also fear, hate (falling out of love), anger and tears as well as faith, hope, joy and satisfaction.  There is also lust and to be sure, some people make money writing pornography.

The relational plot explores the emotional life that drives our relationships.  Yes, most plots of relationships are written and read by women who understand relationships in a way most men will never comprehend even if you spell it out and hit them on the head with the proverbial sledge hammer.  But don’t discount someone like Nicholas Sparks who in a single love story can encompass most if not all of the above emotions and more.

The Plot:

The basic relational plot starts with a spark between two people: eyes across a crowded room like Rhett and Scarlet in Gone With the Wind or escaping a nebulous enemy like Charlie and Rose in the African Queen.  Notice, neither starts with love at first sight (though that has been done, and often enough), but there is a spark of some sort to start things off.  Perhaps the best word to describe things is what we say in real life:  There must be a certain chemistry between these two people right from the start.

Next comes the obstacles, difficulties and testing of the relationship.  Sometimes there is no antagonist, per se, but simply circumstances that get in the way.  Where would Rhett and Scarlet be without the Civil War?  Sometimes the people are not separated but are still moved through various trials in which their true inner character is revealed, as in the African Queen.

The end may be tragic… or not.  People like a happy ending.  Despite the innumerable women that die in Italian Operas – even while they belt out monstrous arias – a tragedy need not include death.  Rhett reached the point where he no longer gave a damn.  In Casablanca, the lovers separated for the greater good.  Still, people like a happy ending even if Mister and Missus Allnut end up in the drink in the African Queen.  Even when she doesn’t meet him at the top of the Empire State Building – he tracks her down…

Next time, the Love Story versus the Romance.

Shortly after the Corsicarian and Spiders battled it out over Cuba, say 1600 AD, the warring Reichgo and Kargill met over the planet of the Zalanid.  There are stories, legends, almost myths about the Zalanid powers of persuasion.  It was said a Zalanid could sell a mother her own child.  It was said they could make a drowning man beg for water, and so on.  Really, they were a wise and empathetic race who turned their gifts toward the benefit of all peoples.  Though their own world was destroyed and made uninhabitable by the war, the few survivors managed to make a peace, a treaty between the Reichgo and Kargill which held for 400 years.

The Kargill, who generally talked to no one and lived apart to where no one even knew what they or it looked like, would condescend to communicate with the Zalanid.  Part of the treaty was that one Zalanid should be taken aboard every Kargill ship to act as an interpreter and go-between for the races.  The Elenar called the Zalanid the Kargill’s messenger of peace.  The Gott-Druk called him the Kargill’s dog.  In any case, our earth was clearly granted to the Kargill by treaty.  The Reichgo could visit since we were so near the border, but they could not stay.  (whew!)  All the Kargill did was park its ship at the bottom of the Atlantic and watch.  The Kargill was also very protective against any alien intrusion in its territory.

That did not mean the earth remained untouched during those years.

For one, the Kargill established a kind of interstellar police force in their corner of space to take the burden of keeping order.  (Apparently, this was so the Kargill could spend more time pursuing its chief occupation of just watching).  One penal ship refueled in the Pennsylvania mountains during the French and Indian war.  One group of slippery characters manipulated the earth (various governments) and almost turned the War of 1812 into the First World War.

Then a prison ship crashed in the American West not long before the Civil War, and the police came for the prisoners some short time after the war.  In the Victorian era, we were visited by true shape shifters who could masquerade as human well enough to fool even the Kargill.  And then, finally, the inevitable happened.

During the 20^th century and spanning into the early 21^st, (for roughly 100 years) the Reichgo intruded more and more on the earth.  Our unsophisticated border planet in a back corner of Kargill space can hardly be blamed for the second Reichgo-Kargill war, but we did not help.  The more the Reichgo came to earth “just to visit,” the more the Kargill got upset.  Let’s just say the Reichgo really ticked the Kargill off once over Roswell.

Yes, it took little over two hundred years for the Kargill and Reichgo to wipe each other out.  Those races vanished from history around 2250.  Sadly, by then they had dragged a number of other species into the fight including the Vordan, the Orlan and the Bospori—all on the Reichgo side.  In 2278, a space fledgling Earth faced the Orlan (and first became aware of the Bospori) and our time in space was almost over before it began… but now I am speaking of the future.

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Hmmm…  I suppose I could give a brief history of the future, if anyone is interested.

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Every creative writer must be inventive–even in crafting the most mainstream, realistic story.  The setting must be a world in which the characters can live and breathe and interact.  These posts are inventive, yes, but encouragement to think through your own work and flesh out your world.  Your vision will likely be different, but so it should.

I suppose it was to be expected.  The Reichgo (ET) imposed order on one section of our corner of the galaxy, primarily by moving in on certain planetary systems to get what they wanted, even by toying with the genetic code of the locals if that was what it took.  Meanwhile, the Kargill imposed a kind of order of fear on the other portion of our interstellar neighborhood, mostly by not permitting one civilization to impose on another.  Even trade was carried on very carefully, and outright shunned by many.  The races became isolated in Kargill space, each left to develop in its own way and at its own pace.

I suppose it was inevitable, though, that these two powers should eventually clash.  That happened about the time Joan of Arc was leading the French against the English.  Things looked bad for those otherwise innocent races out moving between the stars.  They did not look quite so bad for us, being as we were on the border, but technically in a back corner of Kargill space.  No one bothered us at first.  The Kargill would not permit it.

During those two centuries of interstellar war, once the war started, we were touched twice:

The Corsicarian were a people who lived and died according to their family ties, and far reaching, extended families at that.  They had a Patriarch and Matriarch and various relations such as uncles, aunts and cousins to the tenth degree.  Their planet, though, was badly overpopulated, and they felt with the Kargill distracted, they just might be able to spread out a little.  They wanted land, and one extended family saw the earth as a perfect opportunity for settlement.  After all, Earth came complete with a solid, working class. 

The Corsicarian arrived at Gibraltar in 1490.  The Patriarch himself wished Columbus the best of luck.  They had no chance to set down roots, however, not because we were a rebellious lot, nor because the local Kargill returned from the war and intervened, but because of the other species that was eyeing the earth along with eyeing any number of other worlds.

Dubbed the “Spiders” by any human who saw them and lived (and there were not many), these insect-like creatures saw the Reichgo-Kargill war as the perfect opportunity to pursue their destiny which in the short form was to destroy all other forms of intelligent life.  While not quite the mad fanatics that the Balok had been, they were nevertheless killers of the first order, and like insects, they swarmed and seemed impossible to get rid of completely.

The Spiders actually looked more like bent upright wasps without wings.  They stood on four feet and had two arms free.  Though a bit smaller than the average human, there was no chance that they could be squashed with a rolled up newspaper.  They were poisonous besides (though they did not sting or have a stinger) and they spat a kind of acid that could melt unprotected human flesh. 

Needless to say, the Corsicarian had their hands full, and eventually wanted no part of it.  The final battle occurred in the Caribbean where at the time there were pirates and privateers and all sorts of Spanish gold.  There was also the Flying Dutchman, but not at all like the Disney version.

The Spiders were beat back and I am sorry to say there is little information about what happened to them after that.   At that same time, the Corsicarian left for other, easier pastures, and they must have traveled a long way because when humanity first ventured out to the stars, most of the nearby planets that had life were devoid of any intelligent life… easy colonies for a while…

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Every creative writer must be inventive–even in crafting the most mainstream, realistic story.  The setting must be a world in which the characters can live and breathe and interact.  These posts are inventive, yes, but encouragement to think through your own work and flesh out your world.  Your vision will likely be different, but so it should.

Back in the days of Charles Martel, Charlemagne and King Aelfred of Wessex, out on the edges of the Humanoid sphere in space, there were a number of younger races untouched by the Wolf that were ready to move into Humanoid space and enter the big time.  Sadly, there was no clear leader among them, and so for some 600 years after the Wolf they clashed, one with the other.  Twice there were battles on earth that should have come nowhere near the earth.  It seemed for a while that it was going to be a pattern, and not a healthy one for the human race.

The “Apes” (ape-like creatures that could separate a human head from a body with their bare hands) came from -20 degrees eliptic north +30.  They were a peaceful people for the most part, but very territorial.  Once claimed, they would defend their territory to the death.  Surrender was not an option.

The “Flesh Eaters” (people who could easily pass for your neighbor if they did not show their sharp teeth and who liked their flesh raw and saw us as we might see a field of ripe strawberries) came from +70 degrees to the east -10.  They landed in England as against the Apes in France.

The Apes built a second base in Sweden to protect their flank, but the Flesh Eaters countered with a base in Morocco near the Algerian border.  Naturally there was a battle, mostly in North Africa, but it ended in the alps, just shy of Bavaria around Y1K.  Needless to say, neither side won, and there were men there to clean up the remains, but it was a close encounter of the kind no one would ever want.  Sadly, those men did not know that worse was coming.

From almost perfectly -90 degrees (straight out from the south pole) there came a single people who were busy fighting among themselves and in the process brought a large part of our small corner of the galaxy into the argument.  Apparently, at one point the people needed to defend themselves from another people, and they did two things that must never, ever be done.  Never.

One group enhanced their abilities to fight and became connected one to the other by cybernetic technology.  The other group sought to enhance their abilities through controlled mutations.  They actually toyed with their own genetic code.  By the time they came to earth, they had long since forgotten the threat that got them started.  Indeed, they had destroyed their own planet: brothers fighting brothers and with such cyborg and mutant capabilities they dwarfed any such confrontation that might have taken place during the American Civil War.  Of course, this was long before the United States convulsed itself, but you get the idea of what it was like.

The Cyborgs landed in Normandy just as William was ready to move on England.  They hid there because things were not going well in space.  Roughly 50 years later, a group of Mutants landed in Japan and hid because things were not going well in space for them, either.

They discovered each other after another seventy years or so and that battle raged from the Caspian Sea to Nepal before the two groups escaped once again into space.  Poor Marco Polo ran across some mutant remnants not far from the silk road where they had burrowed in and, using some Agdaline-like cryogenic technology, remained dormant and hopefully undetectable until it was safe to come out…

Apart from these close encounter events, there are two others that should be mentioned because they had a much more long-lasting effect on the earth.  When Richard the Lionheart was in the Holy Land and John was botching up rule in England, the Kargill made its first visit to the earth.  It did not stay at that time, but it did lay claim to our world, whatever that meant.

Some years after Marco Polo, in fact not long before the battle of Pointier, the Reichgo visited.  The Reichgo are the ones most people think of when someone says the word “ET.”  Pictures of the Reichgo have appeared on book covers, on television and appear regularly in those supermarket magazines.  You know the ones I mean.

No one knows what the Kargill looks like, except one person—but that is a story.

With the arrival of the Reichgo and the Kargill, though, we leave the pre-modern era of the Younger Races and enter into the Modern Era, because between them, the Reichgo and Kargill impose some stability on the space ways—the most stability since the Humanoid era, or really almost since the Anazi Empire.

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Every creative writer must be inventive–even in crafting the most mainstream, realistic story.  The setting must be a world in which the characters can live and breathe and interact.  These posts are inventive, yes, but encouragement to think through your own work and flesh out your world.  Your vision will likely be different, but so it should.

This last journey plot needs no introduction.  It is the journey from childhood to adulthood, and as the fools say, “been there, done that.”  On the one hand, if you have such a story in mind, you have a ready-made audience.  Everyone can (more or less) relate.  On the other hand, unless you write like Salinger or plan to pen the next To Kill a Mockingbird, you may find it is not so easy to do well or in a fresh way. 

Generally, something will happen that will shake or shatter the child’s comfortable view of the world.  Unless you are planning a series like Little House on the Prairie, it is probably best to stick with one thing.  Other aspects of life will be touched on, like a young girl confirming in her mind that her father is a good man, but only one thing should be troubling, and that should be more than enough.

Then it depends on the character you have drawn because not every child will approach a problem in the same way.  Some will explore and discover—perhaps treating the new information like a mystery to be solved.  Some will stand back and watch, taking in how this new information plays out in the rise or fall of the adults around her.  Some might let the information transform them, like trying on mom or dads grown up clothes—and may find out that the information was not quite the same as they first imagined.  There is not just one way to get from New York to Los Angeles.

In the end, the crisis will be resolved one way or another, and it will be transformative, even if all Dorothy learns is if she ever goes searching for her heart’s desire again, she won’t search any further than her own back yard.  Children will grow up (we hope—I’m still struggling with teenagers).  It needs to show in the resolution.

The Plot

Actually, we have already walked through the basic plot.  There are only a few things to add—things which are essentially true of all journey plots.

First, let the dilemma be presented up front.  The journey cannot begin until staying home is no longer an option.  Grandma dies, or single mom brings her boyfriend into the house, or a burglar breaks into the house and terrorizes the family, or the child learns their father died in Afghanistan—whatever.  There is an issue (issues) and childhood’s safe and secure world is at stake.  That is where the journey begins.  That is where they story begins.

The middle is the struggle to deal with it all.  Explore, discover, step up in strength, fall back in weakness and withdraw, trying on clothes.  The success of the story will depend to a great extent on how well these turns of the mind and heart, like obstacles in the road are portrayed, how well they relate to the end result and how creative, imaginative and well written the obstacle sequences are

The end—the transformation from child to adult, at least in this small way—will mirror all journey plots: success or failure; that is good, bad or sad.  Good will be if the child gains a more realistic view of life and is better able to handle reality on a more adult level.  Bad, if the child rejects the lessons and leaves the reader thinking that this one is going to need some serious counseling (if not drugs) ten years down the line.  Sad, if it ends the way so many of these stories apparently want to end these days: with the child replacing innocence with cynicism.  There are other options, you know.

In any case, start at the start, ditching the background and build-up.  Keep in mind that this is a journey.  Arrive at the destination in a few pages and stop.  Yes, the train slows before the station and the plane taxis to the terminal after landing, but don’t drag it out.  Don’t let the beginning or ending drag.  A journey story is all about the middle—it is all about the journey.

All the world’s a stage, as Shakespeare said, and in the course of watching the play, if you watch closely, you will see that some travel on the upward path, some fall calamitously, and some do both and in no particular order.  As so many others have said: life is a journey, and in examining journey plots we must not miss out on where life takes us.

No single story has probably received more derision that the story of Horatio Alger.  Yet as an archetype plotline, no story has likely been copied quite so often.  No film has honestly received more praise than Citizen Kane, yet if you look closely, the thrust of both Horatio Alger and Citizen Kane is the same.  One man, from (relatively) humble beginnings makes good in the world.  The virtue of Citizen Kane was in adding the “Rosebud” ending, but whether or not your character will be content in the end to live a simple, humble life and drive a taxi, only Somerset Maugham knows for sure.

Generally, this plot begins with some kind of Great Expectations.  The upward direction, however, is invariably set by some virtue on the part of the young man or woman that makes us want to see them succeed.  This is true even in this day of ethical relativity.  If the person is a scoundrel motivated by greed, a desire for power or some other “un-virtuous” trait, we shall be waiting for them to receive their come-uppance. 

The downward spiral is then obviously a matter of some vice or corruption of the character and we are satisfied when they collapse before our eyes.  Now, this does not mean the virtue or vice needs to be Horatio Alger obvious.  Unless you are rewriting Pilgrim’s Progress, focus on the attributes is not recommended—but they must be there and self-evident in some way to make the plot really sing.

When the rise and fall are both involved, consider how a man or woman can become corrupted at the top, or how one fallen soul can discover virtue at the bottom of the heap and fight their way back to the top, this time to stay!

The Plot

As with all Journey plots, the stage should be set quickly.  Someone is going to move and indeed must move quickly.  Take the first forty pages of background and set-up and throw it away.  When starting with vice at the top there may be a little space to show how badly this person deserves to fall, but even there the inevitable direction of the journey should be obvious from the start.  If they fall, have a redemptive experience and rise back up again, great.  But the coming fall should be clear from page one.

In the middle, as with all journey plots, there will be obstacles. To quote myself:  “This is where obstacles invariably turn up and the success of the story will to a great extent depend on how well these obstacles are portrayed, how well they relate to the objective and how creative, imaginative and well written the obstacle sequences are.“

In the case of the Rise and Fall, there is a great opportunity to reinforce the deserved direction by moments, words, vignettes, subtle actions that show the virtue or vice of the character rather than tell about it.  These would be sort of like clues in the mystery or thriller plots or points of meaning (direction) in the exploration and discovery plots or near misses in the rescue or escape and pursuit plots.  These might be called points of revelation in the Rise and Fall plots.  Don’t neglect them, especially if the fallen will rise again…

In the end, as with all journey plots, one succeeds or fails.  All journey plots arrive somewhere, even if it is not the intended final destination.  One of the saddest verses in the Bible says, “and he stopped there.”  You see, Abraham’s father, Tera was first called by God to go to the promised land.  He got as far as Haran “and he stopped there.”  So God called his son, Abram, to finish the journey and now Abraham is considered the father of nations, and I bet you did not even know who Tera was…