MAPPING FICTION

by Steve Steinbock

Last month fellow Criminal Briefer John Floyd shared some thoughts on plotting in a Mississippi Mud column, “Map Quest.” I enjoy that topic, and I enjoyed John’s column. In fact, it generated a lot of behind-the-scenes discussion among us CD columnists as James Lincoln Warren explored nodal structure maps of each of our websites.

I realize that plotting (which sounds a lot like plodding) had been out of fashion for the last several decades, but I enjoy it, if for nothing else, as a thought exercise. Studying plotting—the architecture of fiction—can help authors create more satisfying stories and provide readers with a better appreciation of them. As John’s column suggested, plotting—however loosely defined—can also help keep a story from derailing.

Some of the best work in the area of plotting has come from scriptwriting guru Syd Field. In brief, Field articulates a three-act structure with strategically placed plot-points at which the story pivots, reverses, or otherwise surprises.

Field’s system works for just about any fictional medium, but is particularly tailored (down to the page numbers) to full-length screenplays. It sounds formulaic, and it is. But as I said, it works. Pick up your favorite novel or movie and see for yourself. Field didn’t invent this system. He merely articulated it. I’m certain he would admit that it’s a structure that has been inherent in storytelling for centuries.

Inherent is the operative word. I predict that writers who focus too much on the structure and not enough on the storytelling will create dull fiction. On the other hand, I reckon that most successful writers, without ever having read Syd Field, intuitively pace their stories so that Field’s paradigm accurately represents their plotting.

I was recently sent a short ebook on the subject of mapping magic routines, created by magician Alvo Stockman. Stockman uses a very simple set of flowcharting shapes to graph the steps, events, and surprises in a magic routine. He uses circles to represent people, squares to represent states of events, arrows to indicate objects being handed from one person to another, thought-bubbles serve to show thoughts, and stars denote climaxes.

Here’s an example showing the plot of a basic “pick-a-card” trick:

Some of the advantages, as Stockman points out on his website and in his ebook, are that it helps a magician optimize the effect, improve interaction, and illustrate the ratio of steps to climaxes (getting the most bang from a buck).

I’m sure someone, somewhere, has developed a flowchart language for mystery plots. If so, such a system would include ways of diagramming real and perceived situations, backstories, plot-twists, revelations, and red herrings, among other elements.

Please let me know what you use, or what you would use if it was available. I’ll see you all in seven.