Tag: 10 plots

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A Rocky Scholarship

Next up in the list is Rivalry. Reading the cliff notes on this one I realized half or more of the Rocky movies are about rivalry. The other half are about tomorrow’s master plot, Underdog. Or so I’d guess.

I think since it’s Monday I’ll just work from a boxing story.

Theme –

Setup – Mark wins a boxing scholarship, but struggles to maintain the requisite grades to keep it while enjoying the fun on Freshman year at university.

Hook – Mark defends his Physics TA, Yuntao, against the bullying of some upperclassmen at a night club.

Plot Point 1 – Mark discovers that he and Yuntao both have eyes the same girl, and she seems to be hard pressed to make a definitive choice.

Pinch 1 – Yuntao sabotages a test Mark is studying for, but not in a directly ‘academically dishonest’ way. He regrets it too late to back out and Mark fails (or something serious) and is put on probation.

Mid-point Twist – Yuntao confesses to Mark and they argue about the betrayal. Mark decides to go it alone without his friend. He can fight and study; he’ll just knuckle down.

Pinch 2 – Despite semi-real effort on Mark’s part he flunks Physics. Because of this effort he’s been unable to spend time with Gabriella and thus Yuntao does spend time with her..

Lull – Christmas break back at home in…Nebraska. Mark spars with his farmer Dad. The old man tells him he should only try to change the things he can control and women ain’t one of them. He also iterates that Mark will have to pay for his own schooling if he loses the scholarship.

Plot Point 2 – During a friend-friend talk with Gabriella, she admits to preferring Mark over Yuntao, but having ‘chosen’ Yuntao due to his accessibility. She never really was that impressed with boxing.

Conclusion – After struggling between love and boxing, Mark chooses boxing and competes in the final match of the year. He wins; the referee, Susan, is impressed.

350 words on day 646

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Riddle Me This

The book says Riddle (mystery). I did that somewhat yesterday, or only needed a little tweaking to get here from there. Maybe I’ll cheat and edit yesterday’s to highlight the riddle element. Maybe not.

Thinking…for a whole day. And still nothing. Let’s see if I can at least phone this in…

Theme –

Setup – An old lady who write mystery novels finds herself in all kinds of crazy situations. This is one.

Hook –

Plot Point 1 – Her agent dies. Before she can get another one she must find her (agent’s) killer.

Pinch 1 – OMG, really you’re reading this far in still?

Mid-point Twist –

Pinch 2 –

Lull –

Plot Point 2 –

Conclusion –

128 words on day 645

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Revenge for the Troll

Today has not been the day for this. Grumble. If all I have to stand on for the day is that my Christmas lights are down and I end up with a crummy bit of writing, then I’ll consider the day a success.

Revenge. Revenge I’m told is about getting wronged in the first act, seeking vengeance in the second, then confronting the antagonist in the third.

Theme – Revenge.

Setup – Twins grow up without parents.

Hook – Probably a nightmare or prologue of the troll attack.

Plot Point 1 – A storyteller comes to town and weaves a tale of how a troll laid waste to a village a couple rivers over and the only survivors were a pair of twin boys. One of the two takes it more personal than the other and decides to enlist his brother to find and kill the troll. Their Uncle discourages revenge.

Pinch 1 – Visiting the ruins for the first time, the less aggressive of the two is struck by the horror of it all and collapses (into a coma?).

Mid-point Twist – Gathering information about the possible whereabouts of the troll turns up plenty of unexpected information, but one lead confirms other hints that maybe the village had it coming to them or that maybe the troll was more of a proxy for another man’s will. (The meek twin urges the other to stand-down and he himself leaves the quest).

Pinch 2 – Locating the troll, the boy(s) attack and kill it, but not before it kills the meeker twin. (I don’t know, he came back or something). The survivor finds documents hiring the troll and the penultimate clue to who that person is.

Lull – The surviving twin buries the other. A piteous graveside scene ensues.

Plot Point 2 – survivor learns that the man he’s called Uncle for all these years is the man behind it all. Dun, dun, duuuuuh. And of course why, but I don’t need to tell you that now—and can’t.

Conclusion – Well, survivor gets back home. Fucks Uncle the hell up and has a soul searching time realizing had he not gone out looking for trouble he’d never have found it. Or something karmically circular about revenge obviously hinging on stuff meek twin said earlier.

This turned out faster and better than I thought it would. I like it. Of course, I didn’t come up with a motive for the Uncle, but one will likely arise easily enough. People believe all sorts of shit on flimsy motives.

434 words on day 644