What is the premise?
Opponent's Plan and Main Counterattack
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| 11. Opponent's Plan and Main Counterattack Just as the hero has a plan and takes steps to win, so does the opponent. The opponent comes up with a strategy to get the goal and begins to execute a line of attack against the hero. I cannot emphasize enough how important this step is, and yet most writers are largely unaware of it. As I've already mentioned, plot comes largely from reveals. To get reveals, you have to hide the ways the opponent attacks the hero. So you want to devise a detailed plan for the opponent with as many hidden attacks as possible. Each of these hidden attacks, when sprung on the hero, is another reveal. KEY POINT The more intricate the opponent's plan, and the better you hide it, the better your plot will be. Casablanca * Opponent's Plan Ilsa tries to convince Rick that she left him at the station for good reasons and that Laszlo must escape Casablanca. Major Strasser's plan is to pressure Captain Renault to hold Laszlo in Casablanca and intimidate anyone, including Rick, who might help Laszlo escape. * Main Counterattack After Rick turns down Laszlo's offer to buy the letters, Ilsa comes to Rick's and threatens him with a gun. Strasser's main attack occurs after Laszlo inspires the Frenchmen in the bar by having the band play "La Marseillaise" Strasser orders the bar closed and warns Ilsa that she and Laszlo must return to Occupied France or Laszlo will be either imprisoned or killed. Later that night, he has Captain Renault arrest Laszlo. 12. Drive The drive is the series of actions the hero performs to defeat the opponent and win. Comprising what is usually the biggest section of the plot, these actions begin with the hero's plan (Step 10) and continue all the way to his apparent defeat (Step 14). During the drive, the opponent is usually too strong, so the hero is losing. As a result, he becomes desperate and often starts taking immoral steps to win. These immoral actions are part of the moral argument of the story see Chapter 5.) KEY POINT During the drive, you want plot development, not repetition. In other words, change the hero's action in a fundamental way. Don't keep hitting the same plot beat (action or event. For example, in a love story, two characters falling in love may go to the beach, then to the movies, then to the park, and then out to dinner. These maybe four different actions, but they are the same plot beat. That's repetition, not development. 27 For the plot to develop, you must make your hero react to new information about the opponent (revelations again) and adjust his strategy and course of action accordingly. Download 0.98 Mb. Share with your friends:
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