Rewrite: Day 22. A twelve-cycle story

Home. I'm home again after family journeyings over Easter. Today, it took me three and a half hours from Bristol because I did the sensible thing, crossed the bridge and paid the fine instead of driving half way round England to get into Wales toll-free. It was a good journey, clear roads and little traffic - more traffic coming the other way, going back home to England after the holiday weekend at the edge of the world. I came back by the usual route over the mountains. The snow is thawing now but it was still piled up in deep drifts in some points alongside the road. The thermometer dropped to 1C and then to -1C as I came over the passes.

I have the house to myself for two days, so tomorrow I will be writing which is slightly scary because I've totally lost confidence in my ability to pull this story through. While I was watching telly this evening I once again reviewed the novel's structure. What was it all about? What did Broderick do and why? It helped (or maybe it didn't) that I found an episode of CSI NY on 5 USA and I scribbled down the structure of the plot as I watched the episode. Is this obsessive or what? I reduced the plot to a twelve-cycle story line. You've never heard of the twelve-cycle story? Each cycle is a little story in itself with a beginning a middle and an end. Details will vary but, essentially, the scheme goes something like this:

The framing conceit: Protagonist, Antagonist 1 and the precipitating incident

1. The scene/ Antagonist 2 & 3/ Investigators/ Problems with power brokers
2. Red herring gives a false lead/ Dead end
3. Techy analysis gives Lead 1/ Antagonist 4/ Closure/ Timeframe
4. Snoop around related scene finds evidence/ Problem pressures increase
5. *Backstory to incident gives Lead 2/ Antagonist 1/ Closure/ Timeframe tightens
6. Techy analysis/ No lead/ Problem pressures increase
7. *Crisis for Protagonist raises stakes/  
8. Personal backstory gives Lead 3/ Antagonist 5/ Closure/ Timeframe tightens
9. Forensic evidence fills in background to incident
10. Reconstruction gives the mechanism behind the incident
11. *New evidence gives Lead 4/ Antagonist 2 & 5/ Closure/ Timeframe tightens
12. Techy evidence gives Lead 5/ Antagonist 6/ Result

Outrun: coda

The turning points are *marked. These are Plot Point One, Mid Point and Plot Point Two, if you are familiar with those terms. Notice the number of Antagonists and the way that Problem pressure increases and the Timeframe tightens progressively as the story develops. Notice, too, the number of dead-ends and leads that end in closure before finally getting to the result. That, all in an episode of CSI NY. Mac Taylor got his man and his team did their stuff. All in all, a satisfactory result and an effective screenplay. Act One builds up to cycle 5, Act Two runs from 5 to 11 and Act Three is short and downhill all the way. Just the way it should be. Look, learn and apply. (Note to self.) 

Ends