Yesterday I
talked about how telephone in essence screwed up a perfectly, foolproof
understanding of Hauge's structure. What follows is my version. It's not
special or unique. It's the bastardized version of something that is foolproof
in my eyes. Yet I use it again and again without fail:
Catalyst: The
point in the story where the introduction ends and the story’s core conflict is
presented.
The best
examples are what you read on the back of every book–the blurb.
Paige
Darlington is finally free of the literal boss from hell–Satan. There’s just
one hitch: she’s cursed and will soon lose her soul. The only way to reverse
this ultimate buzz kill is to skinny dip in one of Heaven’s cleansing moats.
But Heaven has defense against girls like Paige...and they typically involve
being charred to a crisp.
~Sex and
the Immortal Bad Boy by Stephanie Rowe
The bolded
portion is the core conflict of the story. Paige has to figure out a way to get
there. If she can’t get there, she had to figure out a way to make herself less
evil. If all else fails what will she have to do in order to save the world
from herself?
Another
example:
Secrets she
(Emma Corrigan) wouldn’t share with anyone in the world....Until she spills
them all to a handsome stranger on a plan. At least she thought he was a
stranger...
But come
Monday morning, Emma’s office is abuzz about the arrival of Jack Harper, the
company’s elusive CEO. Suddenly Emma is face to face with the stranger on
the plane, a man who knows every single humiliating detail about her. Things
couldn’t possibly get worse. Or could they?
~ Can
You Keep a Secret? by Sophie Kinsella
Yes, Paige
in Sex and the Immortal Bad Boy had a huge problem already by being
Satan’s ex-minion, but then the heroine finds out that she’s a ticking bomb of
evil. At this point in the story we've gotten to know the heroine. We want her
to succeed.
Can You
Keep a Secret? starts off with the heroine sitting in a meeting
where she’s only supposed to be there as a bobble-head. Yes, yes, whatever
you say. Things go off-course and she ends up making a complete, excuse my
language, ass of herself.
All this
leads to a hilarious scene where she makes an even bigger ass of herself. That
builds up to the moment when Emma realizes the stranger is really her boss. Her
boss knows all her secrets. You cringe with the character.
Now imagine
for a moment someone knows all of your darkest secrets. The stuff you won’t
even tell your best friend, especially if that secret is she knits horribly. It
makes your friend happy to give you the things she has made with her hands.
Or that
your cousin, who lost her parents at a young age, is the golden child in your
family. What if someone knew when you were in desperate need of a job she refused
to give you one? What would you say or do to keep
those secrets, well, secret? What would happen if those secrets came out?
So, yes,
the core conflict is a narrowed focus on the novel, but that doesn’t mean it
can’t act like a crack in a window shield. If you ever had a crack in your
windshield you know that small crack, eventually, starts to grow. It gets worse
and worse.
The
Difference
The
Catalyst isn’t any different from a combination of The Opportunity and the New
Situation. Emma has to learn to live with what she’s said to her boss. Paige
now knows what she needs to do in order to not end mankind. A snafu in
understanding that a Catalyst could be broken down in two stages led me to a
simplified version, but I still had the same problem. What did it mean to start
where the story starts? Wouldn’t that automatically be the Catalyst? It’s where
the core conflict is presented, but what about Stage 1: The Set Up?
The
Conundrum
A novel is
not a movie. You won’t have the benefit of a montage to show who your character
is and what their life is like before the Catalyst.
By now I’m
sure you’ve been scared to death by the knowledge of an agent or editor
deciding your fate by the end of page one. If not by the end of the first
paragraph. One page, and the agent/editor has already decided to ask for more
or reject you. (Yes, really, go check out some agent and editor blogs if you
don't believe me.)
This knowledge has caused many a writer to
pass out. It’s okay to take a moment to breathe into a brown paper bag. It’s a
lot of pressure for 250 or so words.
It could
tempt even the most secure writer to put their Catalyst on the first page or
believe the Catalyst is the first page. If putting the Catalyst on page one
fits your story, then go for it. If not, then it can kill the urgency that a
proper build-up brings to your novel. Most people don’t keep reading because
the plot is interesting. They keep reading to see what happens to the
character.
Anyway,
below are some examples:
gods in
Alabama by Joshilyn Jackson
Part of
Blurb: When Arlene Fleet heads up north for college, she promises God that
she’ll stop fornicating and lying, and never, ever go back to her hometown in
Alabama. All she wants from Him is one miracle: make sure the body is never
found. Now, ten years later, God breaks the deal when a dark secret from her
past lands on her Chicago doorstep.
“There are
Gods in Alabama: Jack Daniel’s, high school quarterbacks, trucks, big tits, and
also Jesus. I left one back there myself, back in Possett. I kicked it under
the kudzu and left it to the roaches.
I made a
deal with God two years before I left there. At the time, I thought He made out
pretty well. I offered Him a three-for-one–deal: All He had to do was perform a
miracle. He fulfilled His end of the bargain, so I kept my three promises
faithfully, no matter what cost. I held our deal as sacred for twelve solid
years. But that was before God let Rose Mae Lolly show up on my doorstep,
dragging my ghosts and her own considerable baggage.”
The Catalyst is right there on the first
page. God breaks his promise to Arlene by allowing Rose Mae Lolly to stand on
her doorstep. It works for the novel because the past and the present are told
in a way that blends the NOW with the past. The NOW isn’t the prologue and it
isn’t the backstory or flashback. It’s what’s happening right at that moment in
the character’s life.
Jackson
creates a sense of NOW when she goes over the events that made her make that
deal with God. She creates a sense of urgency to keep reading. Yet when you
look at that first paragraph you can see the character, and it takes you for
one hell of a spin. I mean, who would say big tits and Jesus in the same
breath?
Evermore by Alyson Noël
Part of
Blurb: After a horrible accident claims the lives of her family,
sixteen-year-old Ever Bloom can see people’s auras, her their thoughts and know
someone’s entire life story by touching them. Going out of her way to avoid
human contact and suppress her abilities, she has been branded a freak at her
new high school-but everything changes when she meets Damen Auguste...He’s the
only one who can silence the noise and random energy in her head...
“Guess who?”
Haven’s warm, clammy palms press hard
against my cheeks as the tarnished edge of her silver skull ring leaves a
smudge on my skin...”
This sort of set-up goes on for pages and
pages. No catalyst to speak of. Ever doesn’t find out Damen can silence
the “noise” until page 25.
The
Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella
Part of
Blurb: Workaholic attorney Samantha Sweeting has just done the unthinkable.
She’s made a mistake so huge, it’ll wreck any chance of a partnership.
Would you consider yourself stressed?
No. I’m not stressed.
I’m...busy. Plenty of people are busy. I
have a high-powered job, my career is important to me, and I enjoy it.
OK. So sometimes I do feel a bit tense. But I’m
a lawyer in the City, for God’s sake. What do you expect?
By the time
the big mistake happens (page 47), I want to take a vacation for Samantha.
When Does
the Catalyst Happen?
From the
examples the Catalyst occurs on page 1, 25, and 47. There’s no pattern to speak
of, so it would be easier to pin down at what point it doesn’t happen. If you
have made it to page 100 and the Catalyst hasn’t occurred, you might have a
problem. Unless you are Nora Roberts and can make 150+ pages of backstory work.
Why is it
likely to happen in 100 pages or less? It’s the chicken or the egg theory.
Partials sent to agents/editors are usually 100 pages or less. Most places that
sell books have a sample and it will be, maybe, the first chapter and part of
the second. Maybe more, but never 100 pages. (At least none I've read.) The
answer: There’s no exact science to where the Catalyst should fall. Put it
where it feels most natural.
*****
By now, if
you're still actually reading, you're eyeballs have dried out. You might be
slumped over half-dead, I'm going to stop now and pick up in the next
installment. It's going to continue on with my jacked up version of the Three
Act Structure.
As usual I'm more than open to questions or
outright disagreement. Do so in the comments.
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