Layer Your Novel: The Innovative Method for Plotting Your Scenes (The Writer's Toolbox Series)
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#13 R4 – Wise Friend Counsels. Again, this can be, and often is, scenes with both the hero and heroine. They can each have a mentor/ally/wise friend character that gives them advice regarding their love life and/or pushing them to consider the potential love interest.
#4 – Twist #1. Something new happens: a new ally, a friend becomes a foe. New info reveals a serious complication to reaching the goal. Protagonist must adjust to change with this setback. With a romance novel, this goal is to reach that HEA, so this leads into . . .
#14 R5 – Acknowledge Interest. A key scene that throws the lovers together so they start getting to really know each other. I often have the twists be disasters (hailstorms, tornados, floods, locust, blizzards, etc.) that have the hero save the heroine (my rule is the hero must save the heroine three times in my novel, the third time the biggie at the climax, so those three “save scenes” are in this ten-scene layer).
#5 – The Midpoint (50%). No turning back. Important event that propels the story forward and solidifies the protagonist’s determination to reach her goal. Usually one of the lovers realizes and decides the other is for them, and they will now pursue without letup, despite current obstacles. And at the same time, the other lover may see something that makes him/her decide the relationship is not gonna happen.
#15 R6 – The First Quarrel. Things start coming to a head and creating high tension with the lovers.
#6 – Pinch Point #2 (62%). The opposition comes full force. Time to buckle down and fight through it. Again, this is further development of the subplot. The nemesis or opposition is going to make it nearly impossible for the couple to get together: nature, mean parents, jealous ex, angry former business partner.
#16 R7 – The Dance of Attraction. The two are again thrown together, and now they are perilously close to falling madly in love. But . . . there are still obstacles (subplot unresolved) and emotional resistance due to fear and doubt and past wounds.
#7 – Twist 2. An unexpected surprise giving (false?) hope. The goal now looks within reach. A mentor gives encouragement, a secret weapon, or an important clue. Events occur to make this romance look possible, giving hope. Which causes . . .
#17 R8 – The Black Moment. Then something happens to kill the possibility of a true romance. A misdirection, lie, reversal, misunderstanding. This is a great place to throw in that monkey wrench. A parent announces at a party that the heroine is going to marry choice B, and the hero finds out and thinks all is lost.
#8 – Turning Point #4 (75%). Major setback. All is lost and hopeless. Time for final push. Think about the scene in Ever After, when Prince Henry is wrongly told by his mother the queen (who was lied to by the evil stepmother) that Danielle left France to go marry some other guy. Danielle, for her part, learns that her gig is up and is locked in the pantry, unable to go to the ball. Dark, dark moment of lost hope. But the final push is when Da Vinci opens the door and gives her “wings to fly” into the arms of her lover.
#18 R9 – The Lovers Reunite. Somehow they find a way to get together despite the huge obstacles. It may be brief, but this is the scene where they admit/realize they both are fated to love each other and profess that love. This is a fun scene because they still can’t unite fully.
#19 R10 – Complications Push Them Apart. There is one last big obstacle in their way. Which sends them reeling into the high action and tension of . . .
#9 (also #20 – R11 – Together at Last) Turning Point #5 (76-99%). The climax in which the goal is either reached or not; the two MDQs are answered.
#10 – The aftermath (90-99%). The wrap-up at the end. Denouement, resolution, tie it all in a pretty knot.
#20 R12 – The HEA. A final, parting shot of the happy result of the wrap-up. This could be included in the last scene (above) as the two plot elements merge together, or they might be separate scenes within the final chapter(s).
Notice: R1 is essentially scene #1, R11 is scene #9, and R12 is scene #20. So you have basically the twenty key scenes here, give or take one or two depending on how you want to lay this out.
But note that once you have all this sketched in, you are way ahead of the game! The key, as I mentioned, is that subplot.
In my Westerns, I have bad guys going after gold, parents standing in the way of the lovers aching to unite, and even a grizzly bear acting as the opposition that brings the lovers together, tears them apart, then pulls them back united in a fight for their lives.
Wow, I know this is a lot to take in. But I hope you see how I built off those initial ten scenes and laid in the requisite romance scenes so that the romance story engine is in place. Now—you can get to work on the next ten to add in all the added excitement, stakes, and obstacles.
Yes, I made a chart that you can download and work with. Here’s the PDF. It gives you these twenty basic scenes and the 12 Key Romance Scenes Michael Hauge recommends. If you are reading the print version of this book, you can find the chart (all of them) on my blog Live Write Thrive.
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Your assignment: Print out the 12-Scene Romance Chart and start figuring out your twelve key romance scenes. If you’ve already laid out your first layer of ten scenes, see if you can layer in the romance ones in the right places. If you’re not writing a romance, get working on your either your subplot layer or your action-reaction layer!
Chapter 13: The Romance Layer on Display
I’ve shown you one way you might integrate the key romance scenes into your foundational ten scenes.
Yes, it can be a daunting—but fun!—process to layer in your scenes. I hear some of you complaining.
But listen—writing a novel is hard. You can do it the really hard way or you can smooth out the path and make way easier. The hard way is to wing it—go ahead and waste months of your life. I can write a novel in about a month if I plot it out carefully using this method. You can too.
If you are clear about your ten key scenes and have them in their approximate place, you’ve done the hard work of getting the big rocks in the jar. Those pebbles can fit into all the spaces between the rocks. You may have to jiggle the jar a bit to get them to settle in, but that’s part of the process.
You’ve seen how romance novels have a very specific structure and story engine. That’s another framework you can use to help you have solid structure for your story.
So now, I’m going to show you how useful this method is.
When I first wrote this section as a series of blog posts, I’d just started writing my fifth installment in my Front Range series—historical Western romance set in Colorado in the 1870s. When I began brainstorming this novel, I decided to go straight into using this method and started with my ten key scenes.
I first, of course, worked out my basic plot idea, my themes, key characters, opposition, and high stakes. The goal for the book is always clear in a romance novel—the girl wants to get the guy or vice versa despite obstacles and forces keeping them apart.
We looked at Michael Hauge’s “Lover’s Journey” list of key scenes, which I’ll again utilize in this chapter.
Breakdown of Colorado Dream
Once I had all the basic components I needed, I began laying out those ten scenes.
The story in Colorado Dream centers on a heroine whose dream is to become a principal violinist in the NY Phil and a hero, a rough and tumble troubled cow-puncher, whose gift is breaking wild horses.
As is intrinsic to romance novels, the two are as different as can be, yet they are perfect for each other. They both land in Colorado—she’s there to buy a violin from a master instrument maker in Greeley, and he arrives half-dead after being chased and shot at and running from trouble.
Like a wild horse, my hero is untamable, restless, unable to find peace due to heavy guilt hanging around his neck. Yet, when my heroine plays her violin, he is strangely calmed—similar to how horses respond to his voice. The more he fights her magical spell, the more entangled he becomes . . . and of course falls in love.
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nbsp; The horse whisperer meets the cowboy whisperer. Or something like that.
The Key to Success Lies in the Subplot
In order to have a strong story, I needed a strong subplot. For, in my opinion, the best romance novels are all about the subplot.
Remember: the main plot is the “guy meets girl, guy gets girl.” In other words, the romance story is the main engine driving the story, which is what I explained in the previous chapter. But while that in itself may have interesting and original components due to the character types and background issues, what really makes a great romance read is a subplot that works to create the opposition, heighten the stakes, and prevent the lovers from getting together.
Strong subplots can be the source of misdirection, twists, complications, setbacks, and all sorts of great novel elements. (Hence . . . the practicality of using the Ten Key Scene Chart to ensure those conflict-packed scenes are figured in.)
So, I came up with a basic subplot that is set in motion before the novel starts. In fact, moments before the first scene with my hero Brett, he was at a cowboy competition (precursor to what we now know as a rodeo). As he was readying to leave, he saw a rich rancher’s son trying to rape a woman. He interfered and a fight ensued, followed by the chase scene that is shown in his first scene.
What Brett doesn’t know is that after he is shot in the leg, his return shots have hit his pursuer and caused the rich rancher-son-would-be-rapist to fall and smash on the ground, leaving him paralyzed. This sets off an enraged father whose goal is now to find Brett and make him pay—with his life.
A good subplot, as I showed in a previous chapter, will build just as the main plot builds, and at the climax of the novel will also build to a strong climax, and then will resolve either at the climax or shortly after.
Let’s grab the 20-scene structure I shared with you in the last chapter. I’ll plug in my story’s scenes into this chart in boldface (remember the scenes marked with R are the layered romance scenes):
Breakdown of Colorado Dream’s 20 Key Scenes
#1 (also R1) – Setup. Introduce protagonist (heroine) in her world. Establish her core need. Set the stage, begin building the world. New York: Angela tries to sneak off to the train station to leave for Greeley to get her violin. Mother tries to dissuade. Father chases after the train. Establish her father’s violence and that her mother will no doubt suffer from helping Angela leave.
#11 R1 –introduction of HERO. This is the match to the first essential scene. Brett is being chased by three guys, gets shot at, hits the open range of CO, shoots back, gets lost in a dust storm, wanders the desert, has to shoot injured horse, dying of thirst in the heat.
#2 Turning Point #1 (10%) Inciting Incident. This incident moves the heroine into position for the meet (a move to another location, an event, etc.). Angela in Greeley at the violin-maker’s house. Brett is next door recovering, after being found nearly dead by a local doctor. They are positioned to meet.
#12 R2 – The Meet. Brett hears her play violin at night. He’s very moved, goes outside. They meet, but there is friction because he fights the attraction and power of her music. She finds him crass and uncouth.
#3 Pinch Point #1 (33%). Give a glimpse of the opposition’s power, need, and goal as well as the stakes. This is the full setup of your subplot, against which your lovers face conflict, opposition, and obstacles. Introduction of subplot! We see the rich rancher, Orlander, angry that his son has been paralyzed. He sends his men out to search for Brett to kill him. He is lied to about what happened (important later).
#13 R4 – Wise Friend Counsels. The hero and heroine can each have a mentor/ally/wise friend character that gives them advice regarding their love life and/or pushing them to consider the potential love interest. Both hero and heroine have a “wise counselor.” The doctor helping Brett recover helps land Brett a job at big rancher Logan’s cattle company outside of town. Angela finds a mentor in the kind violin-maker (recently widowed)—the father she wished she had.
#4 Twist #1. Something new happens: a new ally, a friend becomes a foe. New info reveals a serious complication to reaching the goal. Brett gets the job at the ranch, but a top (arrogant) ranch hand is humiliated by him and ends up losing his job. Sets up antagonist that will align with Orlander’s men to attack Brett at the climax. Angela gets a job at the same ranch to teach violin to Logan’s young daughters. This twist brings them together but also creates problems. Set up allies for Brett—cowboys at the ranch he helps and encourages. Angela learns her mother hospitalized by her father dragging her from the train platform. She is grieved, and Fisk (violin-maker) consoles her and encourages her to stay a while and not rush home to her angry father.
#14 R5 – Acknowledge Interest. A key scene that throws the lovers together so they start getting to really know each other. A first scene of the two lovers spending time together on the ranch. She sees his gift in taming horses. They learn a bit about each other and note that they both have violent fathers. She sees he is hiding something (his guilt over his mother’s death at his father’s hand—same situation as hers, in essence). Note: it’s so important to have some key early scenes in which the two lovers start getting to know each other. Too many writers rush their characters into love, which is unbelievable. They have to see in what ways they are alike.
#5 The Midpoint (50%). No turning back. Important event that propels the story forward and solidifies the protagonist’s determination to reach her goal. Usually one of the lovers realizes and decides the other is for them, and they will now pursue without letup, despite current obstacles. And at the same time, the other may see something that makes him/her decide the relationship is not gonna happen. Brett convinces Angela to go for a ride with him. She’s never ridden before. When they land in a nest of rattlesnakes, Brett goes crazy in killing them. She is afraid of his violent streak (as is he, which is his big fear—that he’ll end up like his violent father). She decides it’s time to go back to NY. The West is too wild and scary. Brett is falling for her but doesn’t know how to win her heart.
#15 R6 – The First Quarrel. Things start coming to a head and creating high tension with the lovers. Brett hears/sees she is leaving and tries to stop her. She promises the rancher’s wife she won’t leave until after she performs her violin at the big birthday party for the rancher. Their differences seem too great to reconcile.
#6 Pinch Point #2 (62%). The opposition comes full force. Time to buckle down and fight through it. Again, this is further development of the subplot. The nemesis or opposition is going to make it nearly impossible for the couple to get together. Fight at the roundup. Brett angers two of Logan’s hands. They quit and storm off. Connect with Orlander’s men, who’ve arrived in town, following leads to Brett. They team up and plot killing Brett at the big birthday bash at the ranch (climax situation).
#16 R7 – The Dance of Attraction. The two are again thrown together, and now they are perilously close to falling madly in love. But . . . there are still obstacles (subplot unresolved) and emotional resistance due to fear and doubt and past wounds. Big firestorm across the prairie. Brett and hands are taking horses to the park for a cowboy event. He helps to save picnickers and Angela and gets them to safety. She sees how self-sacrificing he is in saving others. Not what she expected. His almost losing her makes him realizes how smitten he is.
#7 Twist 2. An unexpected surprise giving (false?) hope. The goal now looks within reach. A mentor gives encouragement, a secret weapon, or an important clue. Events occur to make this romance look possible, giving hope. Angela gets position with the opera, with Fisk’s help. She thinks about staying and making her life here. Brett hears she’s staying.
#17 R8 – The Black Moment. Then something happens to kill the possibility of a true romance. A misdirection, lie, reversal, misunderstanding. Angela mishears and misunderstands someone, thinking Brett killed someone and is a wanted man. She thinks he’s lied to her. Rejects him. He doesn’t know why.
#8 Turni
ng Point #4 (75%). Major setback. All is lost and hopeless. Time for final push. Brett seeks her out and tells her the truth, begs her to believe him. She is conflicted.
#18 R9 – The Lovers Reunite. Somehow they find a way to get together despite the huge obstacles. This is the scene where they admit/realize they both are fated to love each other and profess that love. They are at the ranch party. He hears her play the violin and this time lets it reach his heart and wound, which scares him. But now he knows he is in love. They talk, he shares his wound, she realizes she loves him. But their worlds are still apart.
#19 R10 – Complications Push Them Apart. There is one last big obstacle in their way. Which sends them reeling into the high action and tension of the Climax. Big fight and shooting scene at the ranch. Orlander is caught, and rancher and Brett are brought before Logan to face off. The truth all comes out.
#9 (also #20 – R11 – Together at Last) Turning Point #5 (76-99%). The climax in which the goal is either reached or not; the two MDQs are answered. Brett is exonerated. Angela sees he is innocent and a hero, not a villain.
#10 The aftermath (90-99%). The wrap-up at the end. Denouement, resolution, tie it all in a pretty knot. Angela makes her decision to stay in Greeley and teach music and play with the local opera orchestra. Brett, no longer running, becomes Logan’s foreman of the ranch. The lovers can now be together.
#20 R12 – The HEA. A final, parting shot of the happy result of the wrap-up. A happy Christmas party that brings all the players on stage. Brett receives money as compensation from the rich rancher, so he can now marry Angela and buy property to start a horse ranch (his dream).
Some of these scenes got moved around as I wrote, but laying out these scenes gave me a foundation to work with. From this, I created a whole lot of other scenes to connect the existing ones—the sand that gets poured into the jar and fills in around the pebbles. Those scenes involve action with secondary characters who serve as key allies to both characters.