I did plot through the weekend. I wasn’t pleased with the themes of Love or Forbidden Love; I wasn’t pleased with the effort either. I didnt like some of these plots when I first read the book, and I still don’t like many of them. I’m bothered by that but don’t have time to really analyze that right now.
Theme – Sacrifice. The novel writing book references Casablanca—the movie. Eventually Tobias talks aboutA Tale of Two Cities.
Setup – Describe someone unlikely to sacrifice him or herself in a situation unlikey to generate a need for sacrifice. Sacrifice should have a hierarchical component that allows threshols of giving(up).
Hook –
Plot Point 1 – Have main character make descision to change life which doesn’t at first appear to have sacrificial implications. Falling in love usually does the trick.
Pinch 1 – Tempt protagonist to abandon long held belief or put in position to make mini-sacrifice similar to one required to conclude PP2.
Mid-point Twist – Take away reward or benefit of descision made in PP1.
Pinch 2 – Sacrifice required in P1 resurfaces, but accepting doesn’t win back prize lost in MPT.
Lull – Reflecting on the sunk cost of minor sacrifice made in P2 and the loss of reward in MPT.
Plot Point 2 – Loss in MPT threatens to become permanent. Love cooled becomes love crushed; lover separated becomes lover dead.
Conclusion – Long held belief cast aside with no hope of redemption in order to protect reward’s integrity, but not reunite reward with protagonist.
Yes, conceptual—sorry about that. The effort was helpful to me despite it’s lack of specificity.
I see another version of this now that I’d not considered when I started. The protagonist could be sacrificing willingly all along the course of the plot thinking they’d be rewarded. Give a little to gain the prize; give a little more to gain it; give a lot to get it; give it all, but still get nothing in return. The sacrificer and the reward diverge throughout the story.
350 words on day 674