I’ve been reading a lot of blogs about plot structure lately, as I get ready for NaNoWriMo. Although I’ve read several books about plotting, some specifically for the thriller genre, there’s always more good information to be found. In fact, the more books you’ve read about plot and structure, and the more novels you’ve written, the more helpful the blogs.
Analyzing for Plot
But, I find that many books and blogs about book writing analyze movies, and not books. Ergo, vis-a-vis, concordantly–this is a book analysis, done as an exercise while reading James Scott Bell’s wonderful Plot & Structure. He asks his readers to do an index card exercise and break down several books of their choice, scene by scene, and identify several things for each scene, on one index card: the POV character, the setting, the type of scene (action, reaction, setup, deepening), a two-line summary of the scene, and a note about why you’re reading on (or not). In general, my note about why I’m reading on is phrased as a question–the one the scene has made me ask, so I have to read on to discover the answer.
Deception Point
The first book I read for the index card exercise was Dan Brown’s Deception Point probably the third or fourth DB novel I’ve read. It came out in 2001.
By the way, it should be obvious but let me say it anyway–spoiler alert. Don’t read this exercise if you haven’t read the book. Also, if you haven’t read the book, my two sentence summaries may not mean much.
That said, I will not be posting the entire book. Instead, I’ll show my analysis up to Doorway 1 (the end of Act 1). It’s not a tease and it’s not my way of trying not to get sued–well, yeah it kinda is. Mostly, it’s what I would want if it were my book.
With 137 scenes and approximately 116,000 words (an estimate based on number of pages), even getting to Doorway 1 is too much for one blog post–even for me. In Part 2, we’ll see the catalyst for the novel, in Part 3 we’ll see Doorway 1, and in the final post, I’ll summarize the entire book, in pure plotter fashion.
The Milestones
As we go through the scenes, we’ll be looking for the major milestones of plot: the disturbance (aka the hook), inciting incident (aka catalyst), and doorway 1 (aka the first plot point, aka the climax of Act 1). Were we to go further, we’d also be looking for pinch point 1, the world-changing midpoint, pinch point 2, doorway 2 (aka the second plot point, aka the climax of Act 2), and the climax of the novel. Even though I’m not going to show the scene-by-scene breakdown after Act 1, I will show where the major milestones fall in my last post.
Scenes 1 through 20
Scene: 1
Setting: Arctic
POV: Brophy
Scene type: Action
Summary: Geologist Brophy with sled dogs picked up by helicopter. Transmits radio message, then is tossed out the back with dogs and sled.
Read on? What the hell is going on?
(Bell would call this scene the “disturbance” and it’s also been called the “Oh No! moment” or “the hook“. I liked the hook in the first scene. In hindsight, I wish it had somehow involved one of the main characters–without them dying.)
Scene: 2
Setting: Washington, D.C.
POV: Rachel
Scene type: Setup
Summary: Attractive 34 year old Rachel has breakfast with Senator Sexton, her father, who is running for president. She’s an intelligence analyst. They’re not on the best of terms. He’s a sleaze.
Read on? Ho hum.
Scene: 3
Setting: Arctic
POV: Delta Force Team
Scene type: Setup
Summary: Three military men watching a structure in the distance. Using a robot for flybys.
Read on? Who are they and what do they want?
Scene: 4
Setting: National Reconnaissance Office (NRO)
POV: Rachel
Scene type: Setup
Summary: Arrives at work and is paged by the director.
Read on? Ho hum.
Scene: 5
Setting: NRO
POV: Rachel
Scene type: Setup
Summary: In the director’s office. President has sent a helicopter to pick her up for an immediate meeting. Director suspects politics but recommends she go.
Read on? What does the president want?
Scene: 6
Setting: Arctic facility
POV: Delta Force Team
Scene type: Setup
Summary: The flying microbot is inside the structure. They listen to scientists in awe of something happening. The Delta Team concludes everything is proceeding as expected.
Read on? What are the scientists doing?
Scene: 7
Setting: NASA Base
POV: Rachel
Scene type: Setup
Summary: Helicopter delivers her to nearby NASA Base where Air Force One is waiting.
Read on? What does the president want?
Scene: 8
Setting: Limousine
POV: Sexton
Scene type: Setup
Summary: Sexton is with young, attractive assistant, Gabrielle, who had previously recommended Sexton attack NASA to good PR effect. She says the president has been sidetracked ever since a meeting with NASA one week ago.
Read on? Will Sexton, the sleaze, win the race?
Scene: 9
Setting: Air Force One
POV: Rachel
Scene type: Action
Summary: Rachel meets the president, who is very amiable.
Read on? What does he want?
Scene: 10
Setting: Limousine and Garage
POV: Gabrielle
Scene type: Setup
Summary: She’s beginning to doubt Sexton.
Read on? Will she abandon the sleaze?
Scene: 11
Setting: Air Force One
POV: Rachel
Scene type: Setup
Summary: Rachel and the president talk about NASA. He says they’ve made a great discovery.
Read on? What has NASA found?
Scene: 12
Setting: NASA Base
POV: Rachel
Scene type: Setup
Summary: The president takes her to a hanger, takes her cell phone, says he’ll talk to her later. He’s used private scientists to confirm findings, but wants her analysis, and will have a press conference tonight.
Read on? Time pressure and what does NASA have? (I like that a ticking clock has begun.)
Scene: 13
Setting: F-14
POV: Rachel
Scene type: Action
Summary: An F-14 takes Rachel north.
Read on? What is going on in the Arctic?
Scene: 14
Setting: Parking Basement
POV: Sexton
Scene type: Setup
Summary: Sexton meets an anonymous old man in a white van. He instructs Sexton to meet with corporate moguls at his house. Suggests that victory only begins with the White House.
Read on? Who is helping Sexton and why?
Scene: 15
Setting: White House
POV: President
Scene type: Setup (I know that an international thriller takes some time to set up, but I would really like the story to take off sooner.)
Summary: The president arrives and wants to meet with the entire staff at 4 pm in the oval office to make an announcement.
Read on? Still waiting for the big announcement.
Scene: 16
Setting: Arctic
POV: Delta Force
Scene type: Reaction
Summary: Delta Force is contacted by their controller, who tells them a new player is about to arrive and must be watched closely. The big news will go public in eight hours and their current assignment will end.
Read on? The time table is short, even if the setup isn’t.
Scene: 17
Setting: F-14
POV: Rachel
Scene type: Deepening
Summary: Rachel recalls her mother, her death in a car accident at Thanksgiving. The plane lands in the Arctic and a big NASA vehicle drives out to welcome her.
Read on? What’s going on in the Arctic?
Scene: 18
Setting: White House
POV: President
Scene type: Action
Summary: Analyst Marjorie tells the president she will debate Sexton at 1 pm on CNN to make the president’s team look desperate.
Read on? Will her tactic work? Somehow they want to appear down, before their big announcement later on.
Scene: 19
Setting: Arctic, Milne Glacier
POV: Rachel
Scene type: Setup
Summary: The NASA director (Ekstrom) is waiting for her in the domed structure.
Read on? Get there already!
Scene: 20
Setting: Arctic, NASA structure
POV: Rachel
Scene type: Action
Summary: The NASA director tells her they’ve found a 300 year old meteorite.
Read on? So, it’s a meteor. So what?
Moving Along
In the next post, we’ll analyze the next twenty scenes and, in terms of the story, we’ll actually get some of the information for which we’ve been patiently waiting. In terms of plot analysis, we’ll also get the catalyst–how interesting those two go together.
Subscribe: