How to Structure the Third Quarter
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- Опубликовано: 8 сен 2024
- How to structure your novel's third quarter, including the midpoint, dark night of the soul, and second plot point.
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Hello everyone! I'm finally back with a new video. I had COVID twice, but I'm almost fully recovered now. Hope you've all been well! I'm excited to be finishing up the story structure series in the next video. I'll be doing some additional structural videos here and there moving forward, but let me know what else you want to see next! Thanks!
I'm so glad you're back! Please stock up on vitamin C, D, NAC (found in fresh garlic), protein, etc... The writing world needs you!
Hi Ellen!
Can you think of any stories where you said, "Wow. How was that a good story? It didn't follow any standard structure, no three act, no midpoint, maybe no real inciting incident or no resolution."?
I was wondering if something doesn't have enough structure if it would just be like real life, or like a documentary, or how-to, but not a story.
really glad you are doing better, your last video had me worried!
Could be -- I think a story with *astounding* levels of characterization and emotion, or an amazing premise, or excellence in one or more of the other aspects of a story -- *could* work, could be entertaining etc without a good structure... But it could still be so *much better* if it did provide the emotional and intellectual benefits yielded by story structure.
@@LeviathantheMighty I'm not Ellen, but Memento was a great movie.
I really love how you're not afraid to use children's stories as a way to illustrate how these beats work; at least for me, it makes it simple enough to understand *and* easy to see how I might apply it to more "adult" work (I'm writing something YA, so I need that clarity, while the emotional beats are slightly more complex)
I can get tons of inspiration from children's books and films. Disney and Pixar are masters at storytelling. All all those Penguin classics I used to read as a kid are baked into my writer DNA.
@@xensonar9652 I'm writing a horror novel and I'm still inspired by children's stuff
@@MadailinBurnhope A lot of the old fairytales are basically horror stories to scare kids into behaving. Some of them are a wild read. Still, there must be something there, because Hollywood still pillages them to this day.
I've watched over 20 different youru e novel writers videos for help and you're the only one that I feel explains it simply . The cut away to bullet points help tremendously because it allows me to write down the point and refer to them as needed. Please do not change that format
Einstein said if you can't explain it simply enough for a child to understand then you do not understand it yourself.
Can you please make a video on writing scifi novels in regards to the aliens point of view. I get confused about is it okay to use earth words for example. Door and chair or kingdom etc I get confused if that makes the alien civilization seem unrealistic or should I make up terms or be extra and instead of ayih door I should say entrance or entrance way.. do you get what I'm saying? Thanks
After 17 drafts and no formal story structure knowledge, I’m shocked that the first, second and fourth quarters of my manuscript follow what your videos have described so closely. It’s funny how throwing enough hours at this project has brought me to such a place. I had a beta reader comment that they were expecting a more obvious midpoint and that it caused the plot to move a little slow, which is what eventually brought me to this channel. Thanks to you, I now have a plan of action to tighten the final screws and get this thing done. You rock.
with no exaggeration, these are ones of the best videos in youtube 🙌🏻
Sorry to hear you were sick. I wondered what happened to my writer's inspiration/fix. Good that you are feeling better-please get back to 100% soon.
Many here appreciate your insights.
I just want to thank you for one of your other videos. I normally write / design / produce video games. In games we can show the player our super awesome deep world in a 2 minute cutscene. When I attempted to write my first book, I did the Chapter 1 Lore Dump, and my inciting incident wasn't until Chapter 3. I wrote Chapter 1 over and over and over... it wasn't working.
In a video you said, "Your audience only needs the lore for the current chapter and maybe the next one."
Something clicked and I restructured the story and everything fell into place. So, thank you so much for that!!!
(Then I got hired to make a bunch of games, and got too busy to write.)
I'm so glad you found that video helpful! Also congrats on your success in video games!
@@EllenBrock Thank you! I've worked with some of the best creative minds on Earth and I always recommend YOU to everyone who wants to write or learn about story structure or writing in general. You're the best.
@@Poisonedblade Wow, thank you so much!
@@EllenBrock My pleasure!
i’m so glad you are better now! i got worried when i found out you’ve been sick. welcome back!!! you were dearly missed ❤️
Thank you so much! I am much better now!
Another helpful lesson with great presentation. Thanks!
And speaking of your presentation, I was admiring just how long you seemed to be speaking without cuts or errors or apparently reading a script, so I'm guessing you have made or are on the verge of a complete recovery!
Yes, I am almost back to normal! Thank you! And I'm very glad you found the video helpful.
Oh, my goodness, I’m so happy to see you! And glad you’re feeling better.
Welcome back Ellen! I hope you are doing much better with your health. Thank you for taking out time to come back to us. Blessings!
Now, let me watch!
I was already having a pretty good day and then one of your videos appeared!!!
So excited to see this video!! Thank you Ellen for your content, hope you just keep feeling better!!
Me too! Thank you!
Glad to see you back and looking healthy!!! :)
I've been eagerly looking forward to this one!! Welcome back!!
Thank you! I hope you find it helpful!
Welcome back 😍
I cannot tell you how helpful this series is proving to be as I work my way through drafting the first novel I've written since discovering that I am not, in fact, a Pantser as I believed I was for years. Realizing (thanks to your videos about writer types) that I am actually an intuitive plotter has been revolutionary, and this series about structuring has been an amazing resource to lean on as I re-learn with a new and better process.
That is so great to hear!
So happy you're feeling better and back with a new video!
You really have the best way of explaining things. I can never find anyone else who breaks down these plot point so clearly. I have been *struggling* with the third quarter of my stories you have no idea. What you broke down into three separate moments I had so far only written down as one vague big muddle of a point. Thank you so much!
I'm so glad the video helped! Thank you!
It's great to see you again, welcome back!
Hi Ellen! Glad to see you back and hope you're feeling better 😊 I was wondering if you'd consider doing a video on magic systems in writing!
The triumphant return! I hope you've taught covid a lesson and to not come 'round here no more!
I'm thrilled about this video as I have been struggling with a re-write from first drafts and shifting things around made the opening better but things still feel messy at about this exact point (due to said restructuring).
Thank you for these awesome videos and now that you've vanquished covid TWICE!! I look forward to future videos.
Very helpful!!! Thank you!!!!
Hell yes, can’t wait to watch. Glad you’re feeling better 👍
Thank you! I'm listening because I was stuck in writing at beyond the midpoint and switching between listening and working on my outline gave me some hints at problems as well as new, better ideas for filling in the coming plot points of my skeleton outline. Thank you!!
Ellen, I’ve recently discovered this series and been finding it extremely useful, Thankyou so much for making these videos. Could you also make some tutorials on how to write scenes? I saw some older content on your channel on scene structure but would love to have an updated more polished and detailed version. Thanks again!
That's a good idea, thank you!
Glad to see you back! I found this one very useful. Thanks so much!
Thank you so much for this video!🤩❤️
You‘re back! Fantastic!
Thank you for this! I have absolutely loved this series and get so excited every time there is a new installment. Your analysis of plot structure is so great and has helped me think critically about and work through some of my more persistent gaps in understanding. An example: In Save the Cat! Writes a Novel (which I love and have read multiple times), the author analyzes the Hunger Games and says there is no decision to transition into the second quarter because Katniss has no choice. When you pointed out that her decision was about whether she would try to win, it blew my mind. Please keep up the great work! I hope you continue to feel better.
Thank you so much for your kind words and well wishes. I'm really glad you're finding the videos helpful!
I've been writing my novel mostly intuitively lately because I can't stick to an outline. I can already tell a lot of what I need to fix but I'm definitely not covering all my bases so these videos help a lot. I'm hoping to be done writing the draft this month so I'll be referencing all this for the big edit soon.
Before watching the video, I do think the second quarter and third quarter can be combined in a way depending on the scale and scope you are working with (you know, think of it like this; you have a line in the first quarter, it wobbles slightly, the second quarter it begins to bloat, the third quarter it is at a standstill of the seams the line can stretch too; the final quarter is about either poking the bloat to deflate it instantly or slowly releasing it through the other end of the line(fast or slow to the finish).
When you listed "The Kid" I looked it up on IMDB and was like, "There's an 8 year old kid in the Billy the Kid movie with Ethan Hawke? Does Billy the Kid learn how to become a criminal through a child?" Then I saw "THE KID" with Bruce Willis from 2000 and I was like "OHHHHHH." Ha ha ha.
First, glad you're feeling better. My wife and I just recovered from Covid last week and it sucked as much as everyone said. Just awful.
Second, I'm glad you listed all these examples because I did a comparison with my current book and managed to check the boxes. So I'm really happy to see that all the writing advice I had been following and trying to practice is finally paying off.
Thank you for the educational content!
Yes, in the previous video I called it "Disney's The Kid," but I totally forgot to do that in this one.
Sorry to hear you and your wife were sick, but I'm glad you've recovered. It is no fun at all!
I'm glad you found the video helpful and that you already checked all the boxes!
Welcome back. I appreciate your insight as an editor and concrete examples as a teacher.
Very useful, very clear, and really helped crystallize my own third quarter plotting. Thanks!
Great video. Thanks for the deep dive. :)
Yay! A new video from the best writing channel on youtube!
Fantastic! I’m writing a second draft along to these videos.
After soaking up this latest run of videos and scribbling notes I wait with bated breath for your video on structuring the final quarter - hopefully your health continues and we can see this wonderful series completed :)
It's nice to have you back :)
You're the best Ellen. Hope to have you as our editor soon! :)
As usual, fantastic, in-depth content. Thank you!
Thanks so much Ellen, this was super helpful as I'm currently stuck in this section of my novel. And sorry to hear you had COVID recently - hope you're fully recovered now!
You deserve way more views! I hope your channels grows substantially
This series is just fantastic. I have struggled alot with my second and third quarters and your videos have been an invaluable resource i keep coming back to. I dont leave comments often but I wanted to say that I think you are providing some of the best writing advice on the Internet.
I am glad you u are feeling better
It's great to see you looking and sounding healthy again! Thanks for carrying on with this series. It's so helpful when you provide examples and also when you distinguish different options or approaches to key points. So glad you're back!
Hi Ellen, so glad you're back! Your videos have helped me so much. I was just thinking that it would be amazing to watch you do a reaction video while commenting or breaking down the plot's structure, I would watch them all! Can't wait for the next video!
I would really like to do that, but I'm a little unsure about copyright strikes on RUclips.
Your videos are the first time I've ever had story structure explained to me in so much detail! And to my surprise, almost all of these plot points occur in the story I'm writing, even though I didn't know anything about structure. I guess I'm more intuitive than I thought :)
That's awesome!
This is great, thank you! Waiting on pins and needles for your Q4 video (hoping that's next!).
This morning I just wrote 1k words of story framework to re-structure a 50k-word Nanowrimo project YA quirky dark fantasy book I never finished because I was pantsing it, and it finally looks like the cohesive plot I intended it to be in the first place.
Hope you have fully recovered by now and are feeling better!
Thank you from Poland. I am so pleased I found you.
It is like CHRISTMAS!!!!!! ❤️💎❤️💎
Edit:typo
It's going to be very fun when the full story outline videos are done since then I'll never have to wonder about what I need to do for my stories again xD But seriously though the way you describe and use examples and bullet points is extremely helpful!!
Omg i'm so freaking happy you're back!! this series is my life line! LOL the best!!!
Awww, thank you!
Thank you for your videos! Maybe you could include some examples from the Romance genre in the future, please? Especially in the 4th quarter video :) Keep up the great work! Get well! :)
It’s refreshing to see you again 🙌 satisfying to see how far you’ve come. Glad you’ve been recovering well!
I struggle in the third quarter. This video helped me improve my story structure.
Thanks Ellen you rock
Your content is fantastic. Thank you! It also just so happens that your competition sucks. Thanks so much ✨ humble, to the point, helpful, and interesting. Ellen Brock rocks 💖
This was such a helpful video. Thank you, Ellen!!
Great video! Can't wait for the next one!
Writing powerful dialogue!
These videos are so helpful!
Amazing advices
As always, a great compehensive video. Thank you.
YEAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Hi! Could I ask you to make a playlist of all your videos? For people like me, who like to binge watch/listen?
EBNE!
slay queen destroy the competition snatch all the wigs make everyone shooketh
(That is to say that I enjoyed the video! Thanks.)
Heckin yeah this has helped.
Most of the advice on RUclips is that an agent is a must for submitting a novel. Is this also true for novellas?
You're my writer's block medicine
That's where I am right now!
You are one of the few young female novel editors/ writers giving useful advice on writing fiction, without pushing an agenda.
Amazin'
Why would you spoil Shrek for me?? 😭
Would this layout or points work in a book series as well?
I would love to see this point by point written. What structure is this, Can anybody help me find the right template?
Is the Second Plot Point in your framework the disaster, dark moment, and aha moment all in one? 🤔
Buzz Lightyear should be a conservative hero, thinking about it: The entire message of his arc in the first Toy Story movie seems to be “You can’t save the world; focus on your family / local community.” 🤔
Do you provide online tutorials for writing?
I mean workshop or something