What I Like About the New Vook

• Gone are the short dramatizations that repeated part of the text. Instead, there are mini-documentaries that relate to the chapter. I wasn’t against the dramatization, per se, but I had not liked the way it repeated the text, providing no new content. It makes sense to me that this version of the Vook didn’t have them.

• There is now a clearer separation between the story content and the ancillary video material. Once I figured that out, I took out my earphones while I was reading, which is more comfortable for me.

• There were still images included with the text of the book.

Still Image from the Text Part of the Vook

• The videos were high quality and added quite a bit to my enjoyment of the whole Vook experience. Including Gothic Historians for a Gothic piece was fitting as were the older silent-film type clips with voice overs. It was a nice balance between engaging visuals and talking heads.

The beginning of the first video.

• I like the new slider at the bottom to help me navigate at a faster clip through the text. Gone are the up and down arrows at the top that didn’t really do anything for me.

I liked the slider on the bottom for navigation. The up and down arrows are replaced by the chapter number (3, in this case), and I can have white text on a black background. The blue link leads to a dictionary definition.

• Unlike the previous Vook that I’d read, the navigation was consistent and worked fine.

• White text on a black background–hurray!

• The icon for the app was easy to see and it was relevant.

What I Didn’t Like About the Vook

• I wasn’t able to place bookmarks, which has been a standard part of the ebook experience and a feature that I tend to use.

• After stopping and restarting the app, the text of the book doesn’t pick up where I left off. Again, I think this is pretty much expected in any ebook. Likewise, when I went to the table of contents for the book, I couldn’t easily get back to where I had been reading.

• The app bombed twice during the videos. This was never an issue with the previous Vook, but the OS has changed, I’m sure I’ve installed and uninstalled lots of apps, and you just never know where conflicts can arise. It was annoying but I’m not sure I can really fault the Vook. Oh, wait–even as I write this, the iTunes store has offered an update for “typos” and “persistence”.

• I was initially confused by the non-fiction video content at the top or end of a fiction chapter. I think this confusion probably stems from my previous experience where the videos shown in the book were dramatizations of the text. After watching the first video and checking the others, I simply read the story, then watched all of the videos afterward.

The thumbnail for the video shows Anne Rice in a coffin and I was confused since I thought it might be a dramatization of part of the text.

• I’m not sure if the gravedigger in the video about the black plague was a character or not. I’ve decided that he is, although he was so unlike the silent film actors that I couldn’t quite tell.

• Most of the videos end a little abruptly, which is fine, but I was hoping for something a little less abrupt on the last one. I call it the “last” one, although you don’t have to watch them in order.

• A final niggling detail: the video titles in the table of contents didn’t match the title as shown in the video. Oh, this is picky, I know.

Nice Improvement

I enjoyed this Vook much more than the first one and not just because it’s by Anne Rice. Some of things that I had wanted are now here (white text, video that adds context instead of repeating the story). Some items on my wish list are still missing (can’t read text in landscape, can’t listen to my own music while reading). Overall though, I was encouraged by the changes that I found and I’ll probably start to actively look for more Vooks that I might enjoy.

Now, I have ended up where I was probably heading all along, the geek’s delight and the nerd’s best friend. I decided to use the spreadsheet in Google Docs. Here’s the high-level view.

A Google Docs spreadsheet used as a beat sheet. The names have been Gaussian blurred to protect the innocent.

Let’s break it down.

The first column is just a running number that tells me which scene I’m on and also lets me know, by the end, how many total scenes I have.

The 2nd column is my brief description of the scene.

The third column is the type of scene we’re dealing with: Action (blue), Setup (grey), Reaction (green), and Deepening (purple).

The fourth column, column D, is the intensity level of the scene (see Plot & Structure by James Scott Bell for definitions of these). They range in value from 0 to 10.

Column 5, or E, is the POV character in the scene, generally my lead character (LC).

Columns 6 through to the end (columns F through W) are all the characters in the novel. An “X” in a character’s column means they appear in the scene.

Fascinating Rhythm

I can see the entire 69 scene structure, from start to finish, in order. The wide bands of yellow (or mustard) are major plot milestones. I am immediately struck by the long stretches of action, interrupted by setup, reaction, and deepening. I found a few trouble spots, where too much setup was happening together. I’m not sure if I need more deepening scenes, but based on the way the colors are laying out, I need to be on the lookout for lack of deepening as a potential problem.

The diagonal row of X’s that seems to be forming in the upper right quadrant of the snapshot above shows my supporting characters coming into play. Down in the lower right quadrant, as the end of Act II approaches, they have come together as the momentum builds.

Formulaic

Of course, a spreadsheet is much more than just a grid with colors and X’s. You can do calculations and make graphs! I did say this was a geek’s delight.

Google Spreadsheet Calculations and Chart for My Novel Revision

The main formula I use is the “countif” formula. It automatically tallies the number of scenes called “Action”, the number called “Setup”, and so on. I then do a little division to see how heavily weighted my novel is with respect to these scene types. I am gratified to see that action scenes predominate and that it’s falling into line with other books in the genre.

What I’ve Learned

Types of Scenes – Although I wrote from an outline, I wasn’t really aiming for a certain percentage of this type of scene versus another. Instead, I was writing with a fairly quick pace in mind, something that just felt right, after reading and analyzing other novels.

POV – I also wasn’t aiming for more lead character POV either. I wrote each scene from the POV that made the most sense for the scene and also the overall character arcs in the book. At one point after the first draft was written, while it was aging in my Dropbox folder, I had thought the whole novel might be done in the first-person. Then, when I saw what I actually had (10 of my 69 scenes are narrated by someone other than the lead character) I decided against that. I’m also bothered somewhat by the number of supporting characters. I believe I’ve made them distinct from one another, but I’ll have to read for this as I revise.

Intensity – Although the intensity scale “countif” calculations look like a classic bell curve, with the majority of my scenes in the 4, 5, and 6 range, the graph of intensity over the chronological course of novel shows it edging ever higher, until the climax and denouement. I’m bothered by the flat period in the middle of the book. I’ll need to pay special attention there to try to ramp it up slowly or perhaps interrupt it with a different kind of scene altogether that would still fit the logical flow of the narrative.

Number of Scenes – Because Scrivener doesn’t have a way to automatically number the binder documents, I was under a misconception when it came to the total number of scenes I had. The spreadsheet cleared that up quickly. Although I wrote to an outline, I deviated it from it as necessary as I wrote. I both added and subtracted scenes on the fly and now see that I ended up a little short, although the word count (not part of my spreadsheet) is about where I wanted it (85K).

Onward

Although I didn’t intend to create a beat sheet on steroids, that’s what I’ve done, in my quest for a visual technique that helps me to approach the first revision of a novel. I believe I have some idea of the big picture now. I also have a document to which I can refer as I make revisions. Now I feel prepared to dive in for a closer look (whether I’m really prepared or not). Since that’s all this visual technique was supposed to do in the first place, time to start revising.

But, as I noted in my first post about visual revision tools and techniques, I was looking for something visual in terms of writing technique, something that might help me really see my structure, pace, character development, and point of view in order to reveal whatever flaws and holes there might be.

Scrivener’s Corkboard

So, I turned to the corkboard interface that Scrivener offers. I know that some writers adore this feature of Scrivener, especially when it comes to plotting and revision. This is what my effort looked like.

See the binder of documents on the left, the corkboard in the middle, and the inspector on the right.

Scene Types in Color

According to James Scott Bell’s breakdown of scene “chords” or types, I’ve used the color of the index cards as follows:

Blue = Action
Grey = Setup
Green = Reaction
Pink = Deepening

I’ve set these up by customizing the first pull-down menu in the General window pane of the inspector. I can change how many index cards are in each row, such that all the index cards show, but not in a linear way, not in the way a plot might progress, beginning to end. I can get a general idea of how many actions scenes I have relative to others, although I can’t really see how the action is rising or falling, again, in a linear or chronological way.

POV in the Stamp

I’ve also used the stamp. Each card is stamped with the POV character for that scene. Again, I’m trying to establish, for the purposes of revision, if it’s lopsided, or if the ebb and flow of the different narrator voices serves a useful purpose in terms of the plot structure. I’ve customized the second pull-down menu, below the first, to accomplish this stamp.

A Wish List

But now that I’ve customized these two menus, I’m done. Unfortunately, for the purposes of analyzing the first draft, I’d also like to look at a few other things as well: I’d like to set the intensity level for a scene (numbered 0 to 10), I’d like to know the setting of the scene, and I’d even like to know where the major plot milestones are falling. Just those few things would mean that I’d need three more pull-down menus that I can customize.

Let’s just say I could have those new pull-down menus. How would they get displayed on the cards? I could possibly have a second stamp or perhaps it’s possible for the card to be colored one way and the pin a different way. Honestly, I haven’t a clue as to how my new scene information might be shown.

So my pursuit of the big picture, being able to see the entire novel at once, continues. In my final post, I find that the spreadsheet is the tool for me.

I found that after so many words and so much text, that I wanted something visual in terms of beginning this revision. Although I’m as digital as they get, I investigated all manner of visual revision techniques. I was looking for something that could show me the structure and pace of the novel, virtually at a glance. Although I never did light upon the magic method that would make clear to me my path, I found several things to think about.

In this three-part series on methods of visual revision, I want to share with you the results of my searching and the two applications that I ultimately used (Scrivener and Google Docs’ spreadsheet) to give me a handle on the big picture.

Hey, it’s called the big picture for a reason.

This first post is my breadcrumb trail of the internet resources that I pondered. Each has good information on revision and plotting, as well as offering something in terms of a visual technique.

The Index Card Method and Structure Grid by Alexandra Sokoloff
Although I’ve analyzed novels using the index card method, I’ve never written or revised one using it. While the article doesn’t provide any images of index cards on a corkboard, they’re readily imagined. In spite of many writers employing the use of index cards, I still resist it (not digital enough or neat enough and my handwriting sucks). Ironically, I would later use Scrivener’s corkboard and index card view.

The Beat Sheet – Your at-a-glance revision blueprint by Roz Morris
Again, no images, but Roz provides a complete description on how the beat sheet should be drawn and colored, with a passing nod toward the spreadsheet.

How to Write a Book by C. J. Omololu
I thought this was an interesting spin on using a grid on paper. I particularly liked how adjacent grids were next to each other for a reason.

Plotting? Moi? by Terry Odell
Of multi-colored sticky notes and a foam core triptych–and finally, a picture here.

Nano Tip #13: Pace Charts by Scott Westerfeld
Scott used to use a spreadsheet but is now using Scrivener’s corkboard. It would seem we are ships passing in the night.

How to write a novel by Justine Larbalestier
Justine is using a spreadsheet and coming dangerously close to what I think will turn out to be my favorite method.

Plotting with Scenes by Darcy Pattison
I enjoyed the images of office products that might prove handy.

Below are some visual techniques for brainstorming, not really for revision, but I didn’t want to leave them out.

Bigger Paper, Bigger Ideas by Kitty Bucholtz
Sometimes it takes something very different to break out of a writing rut or see things in a new way.

Brainstorming with the Wonder Wheel by Shonna Slayton
I just had to play with the wonder wheel. It is Google after all.

SimpleMind Express
It’s a free tool for the iPhone or the iPod touch that’s similar to Google’s Wonder Wheel. I’ve used it a couple of times, just to see what the brain would storm.

Do you have a visual technique that you use for writing?

In the whole media res mode, after reading over and over again about how important that first part of the manuscript is and how it needs to hook the reader and then not let up, I chopped out the first four chapters of the WIP. Ouch. I got right to the dead body. Bam.

It was liberating, exciting, and totally writerly! It also left me with a huge backstory hole. The new first chapter has a sequence of scenes where the characters now have insufficient motivation for what they do.

So, some judicious use of backstory seemed to be in order and I had thought that I might try a brief flashback. That’s where the wonderful internet resources come in and I thought I’d share them.

Anatomy of a Flashback by Peter Selgin
Mastering the Long Flashback by Anna Staniszewski
Mastering the Short Flashback by Anna Staniszewski
Short Story Flashbacks by Anna Staniszewski
All About Backstory by Rachelle Gardner
Fatal Backstory by Darcy Pattison
Writing Flashbacks by Darcy Pattison
Ask the editor:  7 techniques for a dynamite plot by Alan Rinzler
Ask the editor: Tips for blending in the backstory by Alan Rinzler

My take-away:  Try a mini-flashback.  I kept it to one four-sentence paragraph.  I showed what motivated it.  I departed from a strong scene.  I summarized the past, instead of reenacting it.  One sentence with the word “would” got me into the flashback and one sentence got me out.  Done.

Does it work?  I think so, but I’ll leave it up to my beta reader to decide!

Do you have any flashback techniques that you like?

Do you use flashbacks at all?

His arrival in Philadelphia is one of the most famous scenes in autobiographical literature: the bedraggled 17-year-old runaway, cheeky yet with a pretense of humility, straggling off the boat and buying three puffy rolls as he wanders up Market Street.
Walter Isaacson
Benjamin Franklin: An American Life

John Wilkes Booth awoke Good Friday morning, April 14, 1865, hungover and depressed.
James L. Swanson
Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer

Vatican propaganda notwithstanding, Peter was never “bishop of Rome.”
Thomas Cahill
Pope John XXIII: A Life

“I promise you four papers,” the young patent examiner wrote his friend.
Walter Isaacson
Einstein: His Life and Universe

Popular myth has it that one of the most remarkable conversations in modern literary history took place on a cool and misty late autumn afternoon in 1896, in the small village of Crowthorne in the county of Berkshire.
Simon Winchester
The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary

In the early nineties (it might have been 1992 but it’s hard to remember when you’re having a good time) I joined a rock-and-roll band composed mostly of writers.
Stephen King
On Writing

If the intended reader of this book should want to go beyond disagreement with its author and try to identify the sins and deformities that animated him to write it (and I have certainly noticed that those who publicly affirm charity and compassion and forgiveness are often inclined to take this course), then he or she will not just be quarreling with the unknowable and ineffable creator who–presumably–opted to make this way.
Christopher Hitchens
God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything

I am not all here, it’s true.
Terry Brooks
Sometimes the Magic Works: Lessons from a Writing Life

The title of this book differs by only two letters from that of a book first published in 1988.
Stephen Hawking with Leonard Mlodinow
A Briefer History of Time

In November 2008 the surviving members of the original Monty Python team, stunned by the extent of digital piracy of their videos, issued a very stern announcement on YouTube.
Chris Anderson
Free: The Future of a Radical Price

Flying into Australia, I realized with a sigh that I had forgotten again who their prime minister is.
Bill Bryson
In a Sunburned Country

What should we have for dinner?
Michael Pollan
The Omnivore’s Dilemna: A Natural History of Four Meals

Anybody else have non-fiction line they’d like to throw out?
Do any of these lines make you want to read the book? Or just the first paragraph?

It also de-emphasizes the blog aspect of the site, since I do less of it.  More and more, I apply the time that I have to the work-in-progress and other writing duties.  I think it’s “putting the platform before the publishing” to spend too much time on blog entries and not enough on outlining, drafting, and revising.  The same goes for social media.

Of course, now that I’ve relegated the blog to an interior page of the site, I blog.  It must be that I feel the pressure less.

The fact is that writing something long (like the WIP) has accompanying longish periods where, were I to blog about it, I’d say the same thing from day to day, week to week, and even month to month.

Enough of that.  Time to write.

I have blogged, commented, and tweeted about my great admiration for ebooks, and my great desire not to have to move boxes of books ever again.  I have also been a purchaser of digital books.  It would seem, however, that I am also “an unusually active book customer” and so deserving of a limited-time offer: buy a 6″ Kindle for $249 and, if I’m not happy with it, get a refund AND keep the Kindle.  Say what?

Yes, you read that right.  Essentially buy it in the next few days, use the Kindle with my Amazon account, send an email within 30 days that I’d like a full refund (including shipping), and get my money back.  It’s a free Kindle.

Well, I’ve seen them in public and always kind of wanted to try one.  But one of the reasons I’m an active ebook buyer is that I’m pretty darn satisfied with my current ebook reader–my first generation iPod Touch.  It fits in a pocket or purse easily, it also has games, movies, music, news, RSS feeds, e-mail, and the web (if I’m near WiFi).  I’ve had it for a couple of years now and it has yet to show its age.  It’s got about thirty audiobooks on it now and about thirty ebooks as well.

Well, who knew that “free” could be so clarifying.  I like gadgets, but I think I’ll pass on this one.

Anybody out there like their Kindle more than their iPod or iPhone?

I started looking for WordPress plugins that would take an ISBN number and then magically produce a list for me. I downloaded and installed several, only to remove them (some just didn’t work, some didn’t use thumbnails, some only showed one book). Although it didn’t quite do what I wanted, I finally settled on the Now Reading Reloaded plugin and started customizing it. I already had the Amazon AWS key (the thumbnails are pulled from there), so it was just a matter of changing the php templates. Of course, because the plugin is nice enough to produce several different kinds of pages (a list of all books, past and present, books by a particular author, books in the sidebar, books with certain tags that you can search for) I had to fiddle with the templates for all of these pages, because I’m so picky.

Of course, I also had to revisit the whole PHP4 versus PHP5 issue as well, for my ISP which runs an Apache server. Ugh.

By the end of the day, I had basically got most everything functioning, and then I had to start populating the new database. As of now, I’ve only listed a few books, but will work on listing more, particularly as they relate to writing. It just seemed to me that because reading and writing are so connected, it seemed weird not to show books that I’m reading if I’m talking about writing. It’s also an opportunity for a shout out on the books that have really made a positive impact.

These days, I don’t really shoot anymore. I spend most of the day, every day, writing. When the writing energy peters out, though, I’m now culling thousands of images for those that I think might work for stock photos. It’s been an interesting process, one begun in the new year, and I realize how different the two processes are.

Although photography can involve a great deal of setup, it can also be very spontaneous. Many of my favorite shots simply happened in front of me and I was lucky enough to snap the shutter when they happened. I look at the images now and I’m glad I lugged those cameras everywhere.

Writing has been a much more studied affair. Sometimes it’s word by word. Sometimes it’s the detailed outline. By the time it’s done, though, it has to read right and it has to sound right. I find that I wordsmith and tinker and return repetitively to the same passages for more work. Writing has a spontaneous aspect to it, no doubt. But looking at my images now, I can’t go back and redo them, fiddle endlessly with the lighting and composition. Once the photo is done, it’s done. Yes, I use Photoshop, but even Photoshop can’t fundamentally change a photo and make it what it’s not.

Back in the day, of course, a photographer often didn’t know what they had until they got the developed film back. They learned through trial and error how to see the end product. You eventually got to the point where, when you looked through the lens or the rangefinder, the mind’s eye was already visualizing the final result, shadows, highlights and all the rest. That visualization was especially important with complicated lighting.

In writing, though, I find that I don’t have a clear idea of the finished product, especially if it’s complicated. No matter how detailed my outline, I find that the characters, turn of events, and locations will surprise me. Even in a rewrite, with much of my novel’s world complete, or in a tutorial, where I know the exact steps I’ve just taken, I find that the end result is often not what I had thought it would be.

Perhaps in photography I knew that I had to visualize in order to create a successful image. In writing, I have a goal that is less well defined and I work toward it. I honestly don’t know which is a better process, but I do know that I like not knowing exactly what will happen. I also like that the two processes are different. I guess I’ll keep them that way.

And here is one of those lucky shots I like.

2. Put down the remote.

3. Turn off the internet. Be it Twitter, Facebook, RSS feeds, NYTimes.com, Apple rumors, or what have you, turn it off. I sometimes also turn off the phone. Once you’re distracted, for even a second, it takes precious time to get back into the writing.

4. Get up earlier. I had read about this tactic for some time (Dan Brown gets up at 4 am and writes, John Grisham wrote from 5 to 7 am) but didn’t believe it until I did it. I wasn’t particularly going to try it until daylight savings time coincided with NaNoWriMo. Of course, the corollary to Rule 4 is to go to bed earlier, for me anyway.

5. Run scared. Be it a deadline, or life changes that you don’t even know about yet, write now, because it may be all you get. Don’t warm up and don’t think about it. Sit and write.

I used to read about authors who wrote novels in (what I thought) was a short amount of time–you’ll notice I don’t call my manuscript a novel yet–and I used to think they must be some sort of wunderkinds:

Stephenie Meyer wrote a first draft of Twilight in three months.
Charles Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol in six weeks.
Samuel Johnson wrote Rasselas: Prince of Abyssinia in a week or so.
Stephen King (writing as Richard Bachman) wrote The Running Man in a week.
Ray Bradbury wrote Fahrenheit 451 in nine days.

In fact, they may still be wunderkinds.

Even so, I’ve written a first draft of what I anticipate will be many drafts and it feels good to be through it. It will now simmer in some appropriately titled, but buried, folder while I turn to rewriting another work in progress. Writing is so awesome!

Although it contained 110 rules about how Star reporters were to write, Hemingway singled out the following above the rest:

Use short sentences.

Use short first paragraphs.

Use vigorous English.

Be positive, not negative.

—————————————————–

I’m told that these articles are supposed to be some use to the reader. I have a guilty feeling that all of the above may have been more for my amusement that for your edification. Therefore I shall chuck in as a bonus a group of practical tested rules which, if followed meticulously, will prove rewarding to any writer.

I shall assume that you can type, that you know the accepted commercial format or can be trusted to look it up and follow it, and that you always use new ribbons and clean type. Also, that you can spell and punctuate and can use grammar will enough to get by. These things are merely the word-carpenter’s sharp tools. He must add to them these business habits:

1. You must write.
2. You must finish what you start.
3. You must refrain from rewriting except to editorial order.
4. You must put it on the market.
5. You must keep in on the market until sold.

—————————————————–

And, as a special bonus, from the same article, because I couldn’t resist it:

“Not everybody talking about heaven is going there–and there are a lot of people trying to write science fiction who haven’t bothered to learn anything about science.”  - Robert Heinlein

1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.

2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.

3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.

4. Every sentence must do one of two things—reveal character or advance the action.

5. Start as close to the end as possible.

6. Be a Sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things
happen to them—in order that the reader may see what they are made of.

7. Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to
speak, your story will get pneumonia.

8. Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To hell with
suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.

By the time we were halfway through the middle of the second act, in Part 2, the heroic defense team had committed to an improbable defense:  proving that officers ordered the Code Red and that the defendants were following those orders when the victim accidentally died.

In Part 3, by the end of Act 2, the defense is well along in making its case in court and yet their most important witness has killed himself and one of their defendants has admitted lying on the witness stand.  At this point, Danny does the only thing he can to salvage the situation:  call Col. Jessup to the stand and try to get him to admit ordering the Code Red.

Scenes 43 through 47

Scene 43
1:50:14
Danny’s Apartment, next morning.
The hero and his allies brainstorm about how to approach Jessup. Danny thinks Jessup is dying to say he ordered the Code Red. Danny sees the clothes hanging in his closet while he fetches his bat, has an idea, and rushes out.

(The tension and energy is building again, moving toward the climax of the story. There is a new plan after the disasters of Markinson’s suicide and Downey’s testimony.)

Scene 44
1:52:01
Naval office
Danny prints a list of outgoing calls. He calls Sam and sends him to Andrews AFB, the base where the flights from Cuba land.

(Although we don’t know what this clue means, it seems to mean something important to Danny.)

Scene 45
1:52:42
Courthouse/Courtroom
Sam is on his way with some guys from Andrews AFB. Jo takes Danny aside to tell him not to risk his career if Jessup doesn’t seem like he’ll admit to ordering the Code Red. Jessup goes on the stand. Sam is still not there. Danny stalls for time and Sam finally shows up with two airmen, handing Danny a note. Danny can’t seem to get anywhere with Jessup and has a moment of doubt. Sam wants him to stop and Jo is non-committal. Then Jessup makes a wiseass remark and starts to leave but Danny tells him to get back on the stand.

(The stakes are reiterated one more time, just before the final battle. Doubt is sown in the mind of the hero by his ally before entering the courtroom. During the confrontation, the hero gets conflicting signals from his allies and has one last moment of doubt, right in the middle of the final confrontation–the big battle between the hero and the antagonist. The hero is poised on the brink of defeat.)

Scene 46
2:08
Courtroom
Jessup loses his temper and admits he ordered a Code Red.

(Although that sentence gives short shrift to the phenomenal performance of Jack Nicholson in this scene, it does summarize the climactic action. The antagonist shows himself for what he really is and the hero evolves into the trial lawyer that he was always destined to be. Not only does the hero win the final battle, the antagonist is arrested.)

Scene 47
2:10:19
Courtroom.
The jury returns a verdict of not guilty on the counts of murder and attempted murder but guilty on the charge of behavior unbecoming.  The defendants will be discharged. Downey is incredulous and maintains they did nothing wrong but Dawson says they were supposed to fight for Santiago. Dawson and Downey are lead away but not before Dawson finally acknowledges Danny as officer and someone deserving his respect. Danny admits to Ross that the airmen had no testimony–it was a bluff. The final image is one of Danny in the courtroom alone at the end.

(The denouement of the story ties up all the story lines, but most importantly the hero fulfills his destiny. Even the defendants seem as though they’ll be able to move on, despite the dishonorable discharge. All of the risks and the hard work has paid off in the very place that Danny had never even wanted to see: the courtroom.)

By the time we were halfway through the middle of the second act, in Part 2, the heroic defense team had committed to an improbable defense:  proving that officers ordered the Code Red and that the defendants were following those orders when the victim accidentally died.

In the scenes below, the second half of Act 2 builds toward the final confrontation of the movie and moves our hero, Danny (played by Tom Cruise), into the courtroom to embrace the destiny that he has been denying.

Scenes 25 through 42

Scene 25
59:32
Danny’s Apartment/Jail
They prep the case and the defendants. Danny does a voice over of his father’s philosophy on how to look and act in  a courtroom.

(We have moved into the second half of the movie and part two of the second act. All sides are committed and we see the hero creating a new plan with the help of his allies. Sam, however, has to be convinced to participate since he views the actions of the defendants as reprehensible. Even with the hero committed, there is still conflict–from within the team.)

Scene 26
1:04:20
Court, Next Day
Danny meets the families of the boys. The prosecution and defense make opening statements. The first witness is an NIS investigator who testifies about the fence line shooting–the evidence was inconclusive. Cpl. Hammaker (Cuba Gooding, Jr.), from the unit, testifies that Kendrick met with the unit and ordered that Santiago not be touched. Danny, however, makes sure to note that the corporal was not in Dawson’s room after the meeting.

(We see our hero in action for the first time. All seems to go as planned and the first two prosecution witnesses seem to amount to an inconclusive draw.)

Scene 27
1:12:21
Danny’s Apartment
Danny, Jo, and Sam brainstorm but know they can’t get Jessup to confess that he coerced the bases’s doctor to lie about the cause of death.

Scene 28
1:12:58
Courtroom
Doctor Stone (Christopher Guest) testifies that he believes there was poison on the rag and won’t admit that Santiago may have had a heart condition. Danny casts doubt on his testimony since a heart condition could have led to the same outcome without the benefit of poison. During the prosecution’s re-examination, Jo objects several times, making the judge overrule her and refer to the witness as an expert. At the end of the day, Sam, Danny, and Jo even disagree over the nature of the crime.

(This scene is a setback for the team, internally and externally. We see how Jo, the hero’s ally, is not an asset in court.)

Scene 29
1:20
Danny’s Apartment
Jo stops by and asks Danny to dinner, where she tells him that she thinks they’re going to win, but Danny doesn’t think so.

(In a way, this is a reiteration of some points that we already know–that on the basis of what can be proved in court, the defendants will likely lose. We might also look at the scene in terms of rising stakes since Danny also has Jo’s expectations to deal with.)

Scene 30
1:22
Courtroom
Cpl. Barnes (Noah Wyle) says Dawson wouldn’t permit a Code Red on Santiago.

(This point is a small win for the hero and his allies. The defendant is cast in a good light by a member of his unit, especially with regard to ill treatment of Pfc. Santiago.)

Scene 31
1:26:14
Magazine Stand
Danny stops to buy a magazine from Luther. Markinson is in his car when he gets back. Markinson says it was a Code Red and that Santiago was never going to be transferred off the base. He signed the transfer orders five days after Santiago died.

(This is a big plus for the hero, a huge step forward. This is the evidence, the testimony, that will win the case for the hero, his allies, and the people he’s trying to help. Markinson forged the transfer order for Santiago and the first plane out of Cuba was not at 6 AM the next morning but at 11 PM the previous night. Jessup, Markinson, and Kendrick have all lied and a Code Red was ordered by Jessup.)

Scene 32
1:28:14
Danny’s Apartment
Danny tells Jo and Sam that Markinson is in a hotel room. Jo calls for security to guard him and Danny takes off to tell the prosecutor.

(It seems as though the game is over and that the hero has won.)

Scene 33
1:28:54
Bar
Danny tells Ross about Markinson, but Ross warns him that Markinson won’t hold up, and further, that if he charges officers Kendrick and Jessup without cause, Danny will be subject to a court martial.

(Even in the face of certain victory for the hero, the stakes rise. Even Ross sees that Danny is trying to please his dead father.)

Scene 34
1:31:10
Courtroom
Kendrick is on the stand and admits that Dawson snuck a certain Private Bell some food, against orders, earning him a low rating while also ensuring that he would follow subsequent Code Red orders. Kendrick denies, several times, giving a Code Red order for Santiago.

(Although he has Markinson’s testimony in his back pocket, this is a set back for the defense. The court acknowledges that Kendrick has an exemplary record.)

Scene 35
1:36:20
Danny’s Apartment
Sam arrives with the log book and says that Jessup is telling truth. The first plane out of Guantanamo was 6 AM.

Scene 36
1:36:40
Hotel
Danny races to the hotel to see Markinson. Markinson says that the log books are all doctored and Danny says he’ll be putting him on the stand.

(This is yet another setback for the defense and ultimately it is an attack from the antagonist, who has been pursuing his own plan behind the scenes.)

Scene 37
1:37:46
Danny’s Apartment
Jo wants to find a witness to the 11 PM flight to prove that Jessup is lying, but Danny says the Markinson and Downey testimony should be enough.

(Because we saw that Markinson was not pleased to find out he’d be on the witness stand, we have to wonder how secure his testimony actually is.)

Scene 38
1:38:14
Jail
Jo prepares Downey for testimony. She lies and tells him that he’ll be able to go back to his platoon soon.

(She seems confident that he’s ready and, given her past failures, we have to wonder if Downey really is ready.)

Scene 39
1:38:50
Courthouse
Jo is nervous about Danny questioning Downey as they enter court.

(Our apprehension grows when we see that Jo is not confident about the testimony that is just about to happen.)

Scene 40
1:39:07
Hotel
Markinson writes a letter to the parents of Pfc. Santiago, apologizing that he wasn’t strong enough to save him. Then he shoots himself, in full dress uniform.

(Although the hero and his allies don’t know it yet, this is the worse thing that could have happened to them. It is the beginning of the climax of act two.)

Scene 41
1:39:51
Courtroom
Downey admits under cross examination that Dawson gave him the order for the Code Red, not Kendrick. Downey wasn’t even in the room when it happened.

(Again, this is a huge setback for the hero, another failure from within. Their defendant is caught in a lie of which they had no knowledge. His testimony has hurt their case instead of helping it. This scene is part of the climax of Act 2.)

Scene 42
1:42:31
Danny’s Apartment
Sam and Jo are waiting and a rain soaked and drunk Danny shows up. He tells them that Markinson’s dead. Jo presses him to put Jessup on the stand but Danny blows his cool, calls her stupid, and Jo leaves. Danny wonders out loud what his father would have wanted. Sam says that Danny is a great lawyer, better than his father.   He puts the question to Danny about what he’ll do. Danny and Sam chase down Jo and Danny says he’ll put Jessup on the stand.

(This is the climax of act 2 and it is doorway 2. It is the first time that we hear the hero acknowledge his father’s legacy. He asks his ally for help in deciding, but the hero must step through that last door alone, which he does. Despite the fact that all is lost, he is going to do the right thing and try to win freedom for his clients. The stage is set for the final battle.)

In essence, the climax of Act 2 is the moment the audience has been waiting for–the setup for the confrontation between the protagonist (the young, inexperienced, but passionate hero) and the antagonist (the corrupt, jaded, and overconfident authority figure).

In the next post of this series, the movie reaches its memorable climax and the battle is joined.

Here in the first part of the second act, we see Danny begin to move away from the premise that has sustained his character in the first act–to arrange a plea bargain for his clients, two Marines accused in the death of another, all of them under the command of Col. Nathan Jessup, the antagonist (played by Jack Nicholson). Below, we begin the second act with their first meeting.

Scenes 15 through 24

Scene 15
36:22
Jessup’s Office
Danny, Sam, and Jo meet Jessup, Markinson, and Kendrick.  The three heroes leave with Kendrick so he can show them around the base.  They’ll all meet for lunch later.

(We learn some of Danny’s backstory when Jessup recounts how Danny’s father was involved with civil rights cases in the south and Markinson notes that Lionel Kaffee spoke at his high school. The stakes are higher for Danny than we might have thought at first glance. He is operating under the shadow of a famous father, now deceased.)

Scene 16
37:52
At Santiago’s Room
Kendrick claims to have had a meeting at 1600 with the unit, saying that there was an informant among them–Santiago–but they were not to touch him.  They visit Santiago’s room, see his closet, the blood stained bed and floor.  Kendrick believes that God killed Santiago because be didn’t obey the code.

(Not only does Danny have to deal with his own internal conflict about trying to acquit defendants in the face of huge odds, and living up to the standards of his famous father, he finds himself in the middle of an external conflict as well, confronting Kendrick’s animosity toward him, as well as the man’s zealotry.)

Scene 17
40:07
Lunch, Outdoors
Our heroes lunch with Jessup, Markinson, and Kendrick.  Jessup says that at their (Kendrick, Markison, Jessup) meeting, they agreed Santiago should be transferred off the base for his own safety, on the first available flight, i.e., six AM the next morning.  Against Danny’s wishes, Jo asks about the Code Red.  Jessup makes sexual comments about women in the military and essentially gives up no information.  Danny asks for a copy of the transfer order for Santiago and Jessup makes him ask for it nicely.

(Again, Danny confronts animosity from the military, this time directly from the antagonist.  Danny also sees that Jessup is taken aback by his request for the transfer order.)

Scene 18
46:11
Danny’s Apartment
Danny has the ball game on television but isn’t watching.  Jo shows up with news that Markinson has gone UA, unauthorized absence, and that she has been appointed Downey’s attorney by aunt Jenny.

(Danny must be conflicted if he can’t watch the ballgame.  The bad news, setbacks for the hero, pile on as Jo becomes co-counsel.  The fact that Markinson disappeared after their visit, however, is a clue that they may be on the right track.  They immediately head to the jail.)

Scene 19
47:42
Jail
Danny and Jo visit Downey and Dawson, who say that Kendrick ordered a Code Red in their room after the platoon meeting where he told the unit not to touch Santiago.

(Dawson confirms what Kendrick had said but also provides the additional information that they were ordered to give the Code Red in private.  It’s a good piece of information for Danny, and a small win.)

Scene 20
49:07
Basketball Court
Danny and Jo find Jack Ross playing basketball.   He offers the defendants two years (but they’ll be home in six months).  He tells Jo that Danny will lose in court and that his clients will do life if they plead not guilty.  He’ll throw the book at them.  Jack also lets them know that Markinson is ex naval counter intelligence and they won’t find him unless he wants to be found.

(The stakes rise for the defendants and the lawyers.  Ross is obviously anxious to keep Jessup out of court, and essentially says so, but reiterates the weakness of Danny’s case and what he has to lose.  Danny also learns that his one possible ally, Markinson, is out of reach.)

Scene 21
51:00
Jail
Danny and Jo take the deal to Dawson and Downey, but Dawson doesn’t’ want the deal.  Dawson obviously doesn’t like Danny and eventually calls him a coward.

(The plot takes a pinch as the hero is thrown a curve ball from his clients.  He/they have been offered an incredible plea bargain but they don’t want it.  The screws are tightening on Danny from both directions.  His co-counsel wants to go to court, his client is hostile and Danny has had enough.)

Scene 22
54:40
Danny’s Office, night
Danny wants off the case, Jo wants him to stay but then tells him he’s a nothing as Sam stands by.

(Danny can see the coming train wreck and wants no part of it.)

Scene 23
56:30
Bar/River
Danny goes to a bar and overhears lawyers talking about plea bargains.  He sits by the river, thinking.

(Here, in the aftermath of the plea bargaining disaster, as things look their most bleak for the defendants, Danny reconsiders, regroups and looks inward for the answer.)

Scene 24
57:15
Courtroom
Danny is the last to arrive in court and pleads not guilty for his clients.  He starts to organize the team.

(Ah, the world-changing midpoint crisis has arrived.  Danny has accepted the call to adventure and has also committed to the destiny that he’s been avoiding–comparing himself to his father.  He has locked himself, and his clients, on a path that will lead to a confrontation with the US military in court.  There is no going back.)

The next post in this series enters the second half of the second act–a section that is very different in tone from this group of scenes.  Then again, it’s not called a world-changing midpoint for nothing.

What the title really ought to say is “A Few Good Men and One Great Writer.”

Per recommendations from writing coaches (and writers) such as Larry Brooks and Alexandra Sokoloff (please see their fantastic blogs for veritable treasure chests of writing information), I’ve decided to deconstruct the plot of a movie instead of a book this time around.

It had been years since I’d seen A Few Good Men but I had the vaguest of memories regarding its plot and what I thought were the major plot points.  Although I didn’t realize it at the time, A Few Good Men was originally a stage play, which I think may have something to do with it sticking in my mind as an example of a particularly strong three act structure.

If you haven’t seen the movie, I’d recommend that you not read this scene-by-scene analysis and watch the movie first. In fact, you really should avoid this analysis if you do think you’ll be watching the movie.

Scenes 1 through 14 (Act 1)

Scene 1
Early morning, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba
Two marines tie up and gag another marine in his room.

(The opening image immediately establishes the military nature of the story and begins with the crime in question.)

Scene 2
2:12
As the credits for the film roll, we watch a Marine marching band and a drill unit.

(At the very least, we begin to get a sense of military bearing, the unit acting together, and the effort that must go into such exacting performances.)

Scene 3
4:30
Judge Advocate General’s Corp in Washington DC
Lt. Commander JoAnne Galloway (Demi Moore) is rehearsing something she’s going to say as she crossesthe parade field. She is requesting that she be assigned to a certain legal case. She attends a meeting with Capt. West (John M. Jackson) and two other officers and briefs them about Pfc. William Santiago’s death in Cuba, killed by two other marines, Lance Cpl. Harold Dawson and Pfc. Louden Downey. The theory is that Santiago was killed to keep him from naming Dawson in a fence line shooting incident. Galloway, however, thinks that Santiago’s death sounds like a Code Red. She requests that Dawson and Downey be sent up to Washington DC and that she take over their case (she flubs her practiced delivery). When she is asked to step out of the room, we learn that she’s a good investigator but isn’t cut out for litigation. West doesn’t want a mess on his hands and tells her that he’ll bring the defendants up to DC but he wants a plea bargain and she won’t be handling it.

(Although Jo Galloway is not the lead character, she is an ally to the hero. We see her desire is to pursue litigation and that she is thwarted in her pursuit immediately. We also see a demonstration of why she may not be suited to litigation.)

Scene 4
8:00
Baseball Diamond
Lt. Danny Kaffee (Tom Cruise) is practicing with his baseball team. Another lawyer in Navy uniform shows up, angry with Danny’s stalling. They negotiate a case where some soldier bought oregano thinking it was marijuana. Danny spouts the legal jargon like nobody’s business and gets the deal he wants.

(We meet the hero of the story, Danny Kaffee. In that we’ve already heard that West wants a plea bargain and we see the hero quickly plea bargain in an offhanded manner, we can assume that Danny is the lawyer that will be representing the defendants. The tension is set up immediately since we know that Jo suspects that the defendants were given a Code Red order. It would seem that Danny’s outer desire is to play baseball rather than practice law.)

Scene 5
9:40
Conference Room
Danny Kaffee shows up late to his commanding officer’s meeting. We learn that Lt. Sam Weinberg (Kevin Pollak) has a new baby girl and that he is being assigned as Danny’s aide when Danny gets the Cuba case from Division. They are scheduled to meet with Jo Galloway.

(We meet Sam, an ally for our hero, Danny. Sam is obviously versed in military jargon and will at least be able to help Danny with the military aspects of the case.  He also seems like Danny’s opposite–a quiet family man.)

Scene 6
11:44
JAG, Galloway’s office
Sam and Danny show up and Jo is unimpressed. She tells them that Santiago wrote to everybody, including a senator, to get off the base, but finally offered information on a fence line shooting in exchange for a transfer. Danny could care less about the facts and instead plans to offer a 12 year sentence to the prosecution in order to keep security counsel nominee, Col. Nathan Jessup’s (Jack Nicholson) name clean–he is the head of the Guantanamo Bay base. Jo, however, has authority independent of Danny and wants him to do a real investigation.

(In the heroic adventure arc, this scene would be the call to adventure. Jo has begun the process of bringing the real villain, although we don’t know who that is yet, to justice. Neither Danny nor Sam is interested in the answering the call.)

Scene 7
16:34
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba
Col. Nathan Jessup meets with two officers–Lt. Johnathan Kendrick (Keifer Sutherland) and Lt. Col. Matthew Markinson (J.T. Walsh) to discuss the Santiago problem. Jessup tells Kendrick to take care of it although Markinson disagrees. Jessup dismisses Kendrick, although they will meet later for lunch at the Officer’s club to talk about Santiago. Jessup tells Markinson they’ve known each other a long time, but not to question his authority.

(We meet the antagonist, Col. Jessup, and his ally, Kendrick. Markinson is an unknown at this point. As Jo had suspected, Jessup and Kendrick, although they don’t use the term Code Red, are planning on some type of disciplinary action for Santiago. This scene is a jump backward in time, before Santiago’s death.)

Scene 8
21:31
Washington D.C.
Dawson and Downey arrive in the early morning hours.

(We don’t have a close-up view of the two defendants but apparently neither of them have been to Washington D.C. before and are a bit in awe.)

Scene 9
22:05
Baseball field
Danny is batting and practicing with his team. Jo confronts him about not visiting the two defendants. She blasts him with a spot on characterization of his life (doing the minimum while he serves out his time in the Navy) and asks if he’s ever heard of a Code Red.

(Again we have the call to adventure and again Danny is not answering, although he seems intrigued by the Code Red.)

Scene 10
25:08
Jail
Danny and Sam visit Harold Dawson (Wolfgang Bodison) and Lauden Downey (James Marshall) in jail. The defendants say they were ordered to give a Code Red to Santiago, to shave his head, but he died accidentally. Dawson admits that he did fire over the fence line, but only when his mirror engaged.

(Again, we have the call to adventure when the defendants tell their counsel, point blank, that they are innocent of anything except following orders and that Santiago’s death was an accident. Dawson had even called the ambulance, although there were no witnesses. We also see the central question of the movie–can the fact that someone ordered a Code Red be proved.)

Scene 11
29:35
Kaffee’s Office
Prosecutor Capt. Jack Ross (Kevin Bacon) visits Danny in his office. Although they barter for a short time, Jack immediately offers a 12 year deal after hearing the words “Code Red”.  He then tells Danny that Kendrick told Dawson and Downey not to touch Santiago. Danny says he’ll think about the offer and is on his way to Cuba the next day. Outside the building, Jo wants to make peace–because she can’t get him fired. She’ll be on the case, per papers signed by Downey’s next of kin, and she’ll be in Cuba.

(Again, Danny refuses the call to adventure, the call to defend his clients successfully. Although Jo is an ally, her official status as a member of the defense sets up a possible problem for the hero, since we’ve seen that she is not litigation qualified.)

Scene 12
32:14
Magazine Stand
Danny stops for a magazine and trades sayings with Luther.

Scene 13
32:45
Near Sam’s House
While Sam is walking his little girl in a stroller, Danny talks to him about the prosecutor’s offer. He’s bothered by it and by the mention of Kendrick’s name.

(Sam, like Danny, is in favor of the plea bargain. Danny, however, is starting to have his doubts.)

Scene 14
34:52
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba
Danny, Sam, and Jo arrive at the base.

(The summary of the action is really as simple as that short sentence but this is the end of Act 1, its climax, and Doorway 1. Our hero and his allies have crossed the threshold into the antagonist’s lair. It’s an enormous change of scene. Technically, our hero hasn’t committed to the adventure, although we know he has his doubts about the case. It’s also true that he has not yet committed in such a way that he cannot turn back–even after being in Cuba. Even so, the trip to Cuba marks a definite break from his world of plea bargaining without an investigation and his immersion in the life of military. Also, we’ve just passed the thirty minute mark.)

In the next post:  the first part of Act 2 and our hero’s first encounter with the antagonist.

TattooSymbol.com Website Grade

Today, I found that the Website Grader SEO Tool gave my tattoo web site a score of 97 out of 100. It made me stop and wonder why. So, after thinking about it for approximately 0.3 seconds, I had the answer and I think it boils down to the one simple rule employed by many money-making web sites.

The One Rule Is Valuable Content.

The Accidental Web Designer

Like so many other things, I discovered this one rule of a profitable web site by accident. My site about the meanings of tattoo symbols, TattooSymbol.com, was born from creating an online brochure to accompany my first tattoo book, The Tattoo Encyclopedia. I created a small site that featured a little information about me, a little information about the illustrator (Greg James at Sunset Strip Tattoo, in Hollywood), a couple of tattoo symbol definitions, and the release date for the book. That first site went online eight years ago.

I pretty much left the site alone, except for updates about various radio, newspaper, and magazine interviews. By the time I got around to writing the second tattoo book, Ink, I had decided I’d better overhaul the site. As a result of that overhaul, I included a stat counter. What a revelation. Through no fault of my own, people had been visiting the web site looking for all sorts of tattoo information.

Content Is King, Queen, the Whole Royal Court

Although the site was created eight years ago, I’ve been methodically adding content since early 2005 (before the second book came out). As of today, there are:

• Nearly 300 articles.
• About 7,000 unique visitors per day
• Over half-a-million page views per month.
• Dedicated returnees to the site accounting for 15% of all traffic.
• Over 100 sites linking in, per Alexa.
• Nearly 800 inbound links.
• About 40 del.icio.us referrals, about 8 diggs and a lot of stumbleupons.

I don’t have a blog there, nor an RSS feed, or a forum–just plain old HTML articles plus images. I’ve never looked for link exchanges or advertisers nor have I used advertising to increase the traffic.  I don’t do anything special for SEO either–just the standard meta descriptions, image tags, and headings.

To this day, though, I add one new article per month (like the one I added today) and I delve into the type of tattoo symbol information that people who are considering getting a tattoo might want to know.

Wait, Is There Any Money?

About the same time I learned that my web site was getting visitors, I also learned about Google Adsense. I added some ad blocks according to their heat map and we were off and running. Since that time, I’ve experimented with:

• banner ads from private businesses
• affiliate programs that are tattoo-themed
• Amazon affiliate links for various books, including my own (these amount to little)

However, nothing has worked as well or as easily as straight Adsense, by itself.

By the way, I’ve never tried:

• The membership paradigm of monetization
• Donations
• Adwords
• The freemium paradigm, wherein the free version of the site is a smaller/lesser (imageless?) version of the premium version for which you have to pay
• An ebook (although I might if either of my books goes out of print)

In essence, I offer free content with ads alongside. For every click, I am paid pennies–quite literally, because, although the advertisers are bidding against one another, they eventually find that their ROI (return on investment) is only so much, i.e., there is a limit to how much advertisers make from their ads and how much they’re willing to spend on those ads.

No, I’m not going to spill the beans on the Adsense money.

What I will say, however, is that the Adsense money has easily outstripped the advances and royalties for the two tattoo books. In fact, it’s double the amount and counting, and keeping the wolf from the Apple Store’s door, so to speak.

Just Keep Writing

Although I was surprised to see that my site ranked 97 out of 100, I can’t really say I’m hugely shocked.  That site does the one thing that any successful site does: it provides specific information that is of value to a certain demographic. It provides that information for free, whether they see the ads or not and, if they click on an ad, it’s hopefully because they wanted something tattoo-related that the ad offered.

More than that, though, the site has allowed me to keep writing about a subject that fascinates me, while also allowing me to connect with readers. Today’s web grade was a total bonus–and a reminder, that if you do what you like, and keep doing it, you succeed in ways you would never have predicted.

By the way, his entire collected works are available from Project Gutenberg.

FENIMORE COOPER’S LITERARY OFFENCES
by Mark Twain

The Pathfinder and The Deerslayer stand at the head of Cooper’s novels as artistic creations. There are others of his works which contain parts as perfect as are to be found in these, and scenes even more thrilling. Not one can be compared with either of them as a finished whole. The defects in both of these tales are comparatively slight. They were pure works of art.–Prof. Lounsbury.

The five tales reveal an extraordinary fulness of invention. . . . One of the very greatest characters in fiction, Natty Bumppo . . . . The craft of the woodsman, the tricks of the trapper, all the delicate art of the forest, were familiar to Cooper from his youth up.–Prof. Brander Matthews.

Cooper is the greatest artist in the domain of romantic fiction yet produced by America.–Wilkie Collins.

It seems to me that it was far from right for the Professor of English Literature in Yale, the Professor of English Literature in Columbia, and Wilkie Collies to deliver opinions on Cooper’s literature without having read some of it. It would have been much more decorous to keep silent and let persons talk who have read Cooper.

Cooper’s art has some defects. In one place in ‘Deerslayer,’ and in the restricted space of two-thirds of a page, Cooper has scored 114 offences against literary art out of a possible 115. It breaks the record.

There are nineteen rules governing literary art in the domain of romantic fiction–some say twenty-two. In Deerslayer Cooper violated eighteen of them. These eighteen require:

1. That a tale shall accomplish something and arrive somewhere. But the Deerslayer tale accomplishes nothing and arrives in the air.

2. They require that the episodes of a tale shall be necessary parts of the tale, and shall help to develop it. But as the Deerslayer tale is not a tale, and accomplishes nothing and arrives nowhere, the episodes have no rightful place in the work, since there was nothing for them to develop.

3. They require that the personages in a tale shall be alive, except in the case of corpses, and that always the reader shall be able to tell the corpses from the others. But this detail has often been overlooked in the Deerslayer tale.

4. They require that the personages in a tale, both dead and alive, shall exhibit a sufficient excuse for being there. But this detail also has been overlooked in the Deerslayer tale.

5. They require that when the personages of a tale deal in conversation, the talk shall sound like human talk, and be talk such as human beings would be likely to talk in the given circumstances, and have a discoverable meaning, also a discoverable purpose, and a show of relevancy, and remain in the neighborhood of the subject in hand, and be interesting to the reader, and help out the tale, and stop when the people cannot think of anything more to say. But this requirement has been ignored from the beginning of the Deerslayer tale to the end of it.

6. They require that when the author describes the character of a personage in his tale, the conduct and conversation of that personage shall justify said description. But this law gets little or no attention in the Deerslayer tale, as Natty Bumppo’s case will amply prove.

7. They require that when a personage talks like an illustrated, gilt-edged, tree-calf, hand-tooled, seven-dollar Friendship’s Offering in the beginning of a paragraph, he shall not talk like a negro minstrel in the end of it. But this rule is flung down and danced upon in the Deerslayer tale.

8. They require that crass stupidities shall not be played upon the reader as “the craft of the woodsman, the delicate art of the forest,” by either the author or the people in the tale. But this rule is persistently violated in the Deerslayer tale.

9. They require that the personages of a tale shall confine themselves to possibilities and let miracles alone; or, if they venture a miracle, the author must so plausibly set it forth as to make it look possible and reasonable. But these rules are not respected in the Deerslayer tale.

10. They require that the author shall make the reader feel a deep interest in the personages of his tale and in their fate; and that he shall make the reader love the good people in the tale and hate the bad ones. But the reader of the Deerslayer tale dislikes the good people in it, is indifferent to the others, and wishes they would all get drowned together.

11. They require that the characters in a tale shall be so clearly defined that the reader can tell beforehand what each will do in a given emergency. But in the Deerslayer tale this rule is vacated.

In addition to these large rules there are some little ones. These require that the author shall:

12. Say what he is proposing to say, not merely come near it.

13. Use the right word, not its second cousin.

14. Eschew surplusage.

15. Not omit necessary details.

16. Avoid slovenliness of form.

17. Use good grammar.

18. Employ a simple and straightforward style.

Even these seven are coldly and persistently violated in the Deerslayer

tale.

Although I intend to finish the novel in exactly the same fashion as I’ve started it, blasting through the (minutely plotted) first draft, I’ve decided to blog first today, instead of getting the words down for the novel.  That decision marks a change in mindset for me. Somehow I have NaNoWriMo permission to get back to previously scheduled programming.

Until I get to the massive rewrites, I won’t know the results of this grand experiment.  One thing I can say right now, though, is that I’ve never written such a bloated first draft.  At 50,000 words I am basically at the midpoint of the novel when I had planned to be at the midpoint around 40,000 words or so.

Another thing I can say is that I am feeling less connected with the characters, which is also not my usual.  I sense them whooshing by and can’t quite grab hold of them as I hurtle through the first draft at breakneck speed.  Although I adore plotting, I find that I write for the characters–for their demons and dreams, for their quirks and quests, for what they will eventually become.  But not on this novel’s first draft.

I had wondered what the view would be like once I broke through the 50K word ceiling and it turns out to be not much different from the view at 25K. There’s still a lot of novel left to go and I can’t wait to find out how the finished product will look.

I’m uncomfortable with the process thus far, which is the best thing that could have happened. For me, that’s what learning feels like.

Dracula, First Edition Cover

In the final installment of my plot analysis of Dracula, by Bram Stoker, we follow our heroes from the end of Act 2 to the exciting climax of this classic Gothic, horror, thriller.

To briefly recap the novel to this point, we learned in the beginning that Dracula and his minions preyed on human blood. At the start of Act 2, Dracula traveled to England, bringing his search for victims to a new shore. At the midpoint of the novel, after the death of young Lucy, we discovered that Dracula could create more undead like himself using his human victims and that killing the undead, although not impossible, was a grisly business. As we begin the scenes below, Mina is in danger of becoming a vampire and Dracula has managed to escape England.

Scenes 101 – 116

Scene: 101
Setting: Varna
POV: Jonathan
Scene type: Action
Summary: The entire heroic team has taken the Orient Express eastward in pursuit of Dracula. Under hypnosis, Mina reveals that he is still on his ship. They wait for him to arrive at Varna.
Read on? Will Mina betray them?

(This scene is the end of Act 2 and what James Scott Bell, in his book Plot & Structure, would call Doorway 2. Although the knowledge that Dracula was on a boat headed home was acquired in an earlier scene, and is certainly the information that permits our heroes to pursue him, this scene cements their journey. Our heroes crash through the end of Act 2 in pursuit of their enemy and would find it very difficult to turn back at this point, even if that’s what they wanted. The hunt for Dracula in England has turned into a chase, as well as a race, as they make their way east to confront him.)

Scene: 102
Setting: Varna
POV: Seward
Scene type: Action
Summary: The team continues waiting and Mina seems lethargic but reports the same ship sounds.
Read on? Will Mina betray them?

Scene: 103
Setting: Varna
POV: Seward
Scene type: Action
Summary: They receive word that the ship will not land at Varna, but at Galatz instead. They will take the train to Galatz, first thing in the morning.
Read on? Will they get to Dracula before he gets out of his box at sunset?

Scene: 104
Setting: Train
POV: Seward
Scene type: Action
Summary: Via hypnosis Mina reveals he is close to land but is not yet on shore. They near Galatz.
Read on? Will they get to Dracula before he gets out of his box at sunset?

Scene: 105
Setting: Galatz
POV: Jonathan
Scene type: Action
Summary: They discover that Dracula is being ported over, but don’t know where.
Read on? Are they too late?

(This is yet another setback for our team. They had hoped to get him on the ship.)

Scene: 106
Setting: Galatz
POV: Mina
Scene type: Action
Summary: Mina composes a memorandum trying to deduce the location of the Count, possibly traveling via the Pruth river and perhaps another further on that loops close to his castle. The men are overjoyed at her work. They decide to pursue by river, carriage, and horseback along the banks. Van Helsing is with Mina at the hotel.
Read on? Can they catch up with him?

Scene: 107
Setting: Steam Launch on River
POV: Jonathan
Scene type: Action
Summary: Jonathan is on the river with Arthur. Mina and Van Helsing are traveling by carriage. Seward and Morris go by horseback.
Read on? Can they catch up with him?

Scene: 108
Setting: On the Road
POV: Seward
Scene type: Setup
Summary: Seward and Quincey have heard that a river launch has had an accident but has continued on. They don’t know if it’s Arthur’s launch or Dracula’s.
Read on? Can they catch up with him?

(I should note that, in terms of deepening types of scenes, quite a bit of deepening goes on in this novel as the characters continually make flowery and emotional speeches to each other.)

Scene: 109
Setting: Veresti
POV: Mina
Scene type: Action
Summary: Mina and Van Helsing have arrived at an intermediate destination. They stop for dinner and also stock up on food. He says they may not get other food for a week. They’ll be leaving after dinner.
Read on? Can they catch up with him?

Scene: 110
Setting: Carriage
POV: Mina
Scene type: Setup
Summary: Mina sees, through hypnosis, that the Count is still on the river. They travel for days, during which time the sound of the water that the Count hears becomes louder, meaning he is further upstream.
Read on? Can they catch up with him?

Scene: 111
Setting: Carriage
POV: Van Helsing
Scene type: Action
Summary: At night, the three women from the castle come for Mina but Van Helsing keeps himself and Mina safe by sprinkling communion wafer crumbs in a ring around them. The three call to their “sister.” The horses all die.
Read on? Is Mina one of them now?

(Another setback.)

Scene: 112
Setting: On the Road
POV: Jonathan
Scene type: Setup
Summary: It was Jonathan’s launch that had the accident. They are behind now and setting off with horses.
Read on? Can they catch up with the others?

(Another setback for the team.)

Scene: 113
Setting: On the Road
POV: Seward
Scene type: Setup
Summary: Seward and Quincey are drawing closer on horseback.
Read on? Can they catch up with Dracula?

Scene: 114
Setting: The Castle
POV: Van Helsing
Scene type: Action
Summary: Van Helsing leaves Mina and kills the three women in their tombs.
Read on? Can they catch up with Dracula?

(Finally, we have an outright success for Van Helsing and our team of heroes.)

Scene: 115
Setting: On the Road
POV: Mina
Scene type: Action
Summary: Mina and Van Helsing see the cart with Dracula in the distance, racing against the sunset, with Quincey and Seward in pursuit, and also Arthur and Jonathan. They all assault the cart, routing the gypsy drivers. With the sun setting, they open the box, but Dracula seems to be waking up. Jonathan and Quincey quickly knife him and he crumbles into dust. The castle of Dracula stands in silhouette against the red sky. Although they have triumphed, and Mina is able to step out of the holy circle that Van Helsing made for her, Quincey dies of a wound he has just suffered in the struggle.
Read on? Are there any more vampires out there?

(The climax of the novel couldn’t be more fitting. In a sense, we return to the opening of the book as Dracula and the team race toward his castle. The location is thematic as Dracula returns to his turf and his castle looms above them, darkly silhouetted against the red sunset. It is the last place that our heroes wanted to be and yet they will risk everything in order to eliminate him. Although they prevail in the final battle, a melee between our heroes and Dracula’s protectors, and Mina experiences a final evolution back to a human, the victory is tempered by the loss of Quincey.)

Scene: 116
Setting: England
POV: Jonathan
Scene type: Reaction
Summary: Seven years on, Jonathan and Mina have a son named Quincey and have visited Transylvania, which showed no traces of the horrors that had unfolded there.
Read on? The End. Hope, I guess that’s the end of the vampires.

(A brief denouement shows us that Jonathan and Mina have returned to a normal life and that the world has been made safe.)

The Major Plot Milestones

The Hook – Scene 2: The old woman at the inn is obviously terrified for Jonathan’s well being on learning that he is going to see Dracula. She gives him a rosary.

The Catalyst – Scene 8: Dracula tells Jonathan he will be staying for a month and not to fall asleep anywhere but his bedroom. Jonathan sees him crawl down the outside of the castle wall, head first.

Ticking Clock – Scene 13: The count asks Jonathan to write three letters saying that he’s left the castle and journeying home, and future date them. Jonathan now knows he won’t be leaving and how long he has to live.

Doorway 1 – Scene 20: Dracula is taken away in his box and Jonathan decides to escape through his window, rather than be left with the three women.

Midpoint Crisis – Scene 74: Seward and Van Helsing confirm that Lucy’s coffin is empty.

Pinch – Scene 82: Seward takes Mina for an amiable visit with Renfield because she is curious after listening to Seward’s diaries. Eventually, Van Helsing arrives to complete the team (Arthur, Quincey, Mina, Jonathan, Seward, and Van Helsing) and uses the word vampire for the first time in the book. As they hold their meeting, a bat hovers outside the window and Quincey tries to shoot it from outside, but misses, shattering the window. They decide to go to Dracula’s house in Carfax immediately, but leave Mina behind.

Doorway 2 – Scene 101: The entire heroic team has taken the Orient Express eastward in pursuit of Dracula. Under hypnosis, Mina reveals that he is still on his ship. They wait for him to arrive at Varna.

Climax – Scene 115: Mina and Van Helsing see the cart with Dracula in the distance, racing against the sunset, with Quincey and Seward in pursuit, and also Arthur and Jonathan. They all assault the cart, routing the gypsy drivers. With the sun setting, they open the box, but Dracula seems to be waking up. Jonathan and Quincey quickly knife him and he crumbles into dust. The castle of Dracula stands in silhouette against the red sky. Although they have triumphed, and Mina is able to step out of the holy circle that Van Helsing made for her, Quincey dies of a wound he has just suffered in the struggle.

Denouement – Scene 116: Seven years on, Jonathan and Mina have a son named Quincey and have visited Transylvania, which showed no traces of the horrors that had unfolded there.

For Uber-Plotters

I’ve split the 116 scenes of the novel into equal “parts” of twenty scenes each, except for Part 6, which had 16 scenes.

Compared to James Rollins (80% action scenes) or Dan Brown (51% action scenes), Bram Stoker uses action scenes 48% of the time. Often, though, the setup scene in Dracula serves to build tension and suspense, as we might expect for a novel that is also a gothic horror tale.

In terms of major milestones, we have the following:

As we might expect, the three act structure holds: Act 1 is 17% of the book, Act 2 is 70% of the book, and Act 3 is 13% of book, by weight. Many setbacks fill the lives the heroes in Act 2 and even the climax is not free from death.

Take Away

Although I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from a novel written over one hundred years ago, I was pleasantly surprised to learn a few different things as a result of this analysis. Although not part of the scene-by-scene breakdown, I was encouraged by the fact that Bram Stoker wrote Dracula while he worked a day job. I also found it interesting that this classic didn’t spring full-blown from his forehead and that he changed his mind about the characters in the book, at least a couple of times.

Most of all, though, I found that the plot structure of the thriller shone through. Because Dracula isn’t strictly a thriller and also because audience expectations may have been very different, the story seemed too slow at times. The orations that the characters seem to create off the cuff, although they may have provided deepening to readers of the time (and to us), today they serve more to create an evocation of the time, an ambiance of gentlemen and ladies who never seem to forget who they are, even as they chase a vampire. Likewise, the dated letters and journal entries achieve the same end, while also emphasizing the pace of the proceedings, not to mention providing interesting glimpses into the different character points of view.

Although Dracula is a classic for many reasons that I haven’t touched upon here (character, theme, the enduring popularity of vampires), its solid plot provides a fabulous foundation.  If you’ve never read the book then treat yourself.  I can recommend it highly!

For your convenience, here are links to Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5 of this plot analysis.

Stoker’s Character List

Count Dracula
Dracula Historiae Personae

○ Doctor of madhouse Seward
Girl engaged to him Lucy Westenra Schoolfellow of Mrs Murray
○ Mad Patient (theory of getting life – instrumental goes for Count follows up idea with mad cunning)
○ Lawer (sic) Arthur Abbott John Peter Hawkins Exeter
○ His clerk —– Jonathan Harker
○ Fiancée of above —– Wilhelmina Murrary (called Mina)
○ Lawyer Wm. Young
○ His sister
○ Auctioneer
Friend + schoolfellow of above —– Kate Reed.
The Count —— Count Wampyr Dracula
A Deaf Mute woman
A Silent Man
English servants of the Count
○ A Detective —– Cotford
○ A Psychical Research Agent —– Alfred Singleton
○ An American Inventor from Texas
○ A German Professor —– Max Windshoeffel
○ A Painter —– Francis Aytonn
○ A Texan —– Brutus M. Marix

Mem.
makes dinner of 13

(The following in pencil.)
Mem.
secret room — coloured like blood

Bram Stoker's Notes About Characters in Dracula

Who’s Who

For those readers who have seen the previous parts of this plot analysis–and, of course, also readers of the novel–many of the names are familiar as are many of the characters, though not all.

In the above list, Lucy is engaged to Seward and not Arthur, as in the final version of the novel.

Although the American inventor from Texas didn’t make the final cut–apparently Stoker liked Americans–another Texan does, called here Brutus Marix, although finally named Quincey Morris in the novel.

We might speculate that the German Professor, Max Windshoeffel, ended up as the Dutch professor, Van Helsing.

Strikingly, the count himself has gone through a name change and was previously known as Wampyr.

Detective Cotford seems to have fallen by the wayside, as has the painter Francis Aytown. Perhaps their purposes in the story were taken over by other characters. It’s interesting to speculate that the investigative authority of the detective might have been given to the combination of Arthur (Lord Godalming) and Jonathan as they try to track down Dracula’s secret lair.

Kate Reed, a third female character, never made an appearance in the novel, possibly because she was a friend to a character listed just above her that was nixed (either the auctioneer, the sister, or the lawyer).

Likewise, the mute servants of Count Dracula do not appear in the novel, while Dracula seems to take up many of the castle housekeeping duties himself.

Perhaps of most interest, though, is the character Alfred Singleton. Who and/or what was the “psychical research agent”? Possibly this role was taken on by Mina–which we haven’t seen yet in this analysis–when Van Helsing hypnotizes her.

Although the bottom of the list has a memo that notes “makes dinner of 13”, there was never a dinner scene in the book at which all of these characters were present. Finally, there is a very provocative reference to a secret room colored like blood, although there is no such room in the novel.

Recap

To recap our analysis of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, looking at its structure with an eye toward the plot milestones in a thriller, we have just passed the midpoint of the novel, where we saw that Dracula can potentially turn any of his victims into one of the undead. The team of heroes is assembled and we have seen Dracula’s confederates as well.

Scene: 81
Setting: Whitby
POV: Mina
Scene type: Setup
Summary: She has finished the manuscript (of all Dracula related exploits) and shares it with various of the heroes, at the hotel where they are all staying.
Read on? Ho hum.

Scene: 82
Setting: Whitby
POV: Seward
Scene type: Setup
Summary: Seward takes Mina for an amiable visit with Renfield because she is curious after listening to Seward’s diaries. Eventually, Van Helsing arrives to complete the team (Arthur, Quincey, Mina, Jonathan, Seward, and Van Helsing) and uses the word vampire for the first time in the book. As they hold their meeting, a bat hovers outside the window and Quincey tries to shoot it from outside, but misses, shattering the window. They decide to go to Dracula’s house in Carfax immediately, but leave Mina behind.
Read on? So, the two sides of the battle know about each other.

(This scene has the makings of a pinch point. Between the big action of the novel’s midpoint, which we saw in Part 4, and upcoming end of Act 2, we have a quieter moment where we are reminded of the powerful capabilities of Dracula and what it will mean if the heroes do not succeed.)

Scene: 83
Setting: Whitby
POV: Seward
Scene type: Setup
Summary: Before they leave for Carfax, they visit Renfield who has sent an urgent message. Appearing as the model of sanity, he begs them all for his immediate release, but they refuse and leave.
Read on? Ho hum.

(The Renfield character doesn’t work for me, although I like that he’s unpredictable.)

Scene: 84
Setting: Carfax
POV: Jonathan
Scene type: Action
Summary: They go to Carfax and start opening the crates of dirt. Jonathan thinks he sees Dracula’s face in the shadows, but then it disappears. The place is swarmed by rats, but they have dogs ready to chase the rats. When Jonathan gets to his room, Mina is asleep but seems pale. She has trouble waking up the next morning as well.
Read on? Why do the men all keep making the same mistake, just as with Lucy?

(They haven’t found Dracula but he’s been to visit Mina. This is a defeat for the team, although they don’t yet realize it.)

Scene: 85
Setting: Carfax
POV: Seward
Scene type: Setup
Summary: Van Helsing pays a visit to Renfield but doesn’t learn much.
Read on? Ho hum.

Scene: 86
Setting: Carfax
POV: Mina
Scene type: Setup
Summary: Mina writes in her journal of a strange fog that seemed to come into her room the previous night while she waited for Jonathan. Also, a pair of red eyes appeared, such as Lucy had described.
Read on? Ho hum.

(Again, the enemy seems to be able to have his way with our heroine, right under the noses of the heroes.)

Scene: 87
Setting: Carfax
POV: Jonathan
Scene type: Setup
Summary: Jonathan is out interrogating people, still trying to get information about Dracula and the missing boxes.
Read on? Ho hum.

Scene: 88
Setting: Carfax
POV: Jonathan
Scene type: Action
Summary: Jonathan tracks down a probable location for one of Dracular’s lairs. Mina is looking more pale and tired–yet nobody seems worried.
Read on? Ho hum.

Scene: 89
Setting: Carfax
POV: Seward
Scene type: Setup
Summary: Seward meets with Renfield and realizes that Dracula has been in touch with him. Seward informs Van Helsing and they decide to watch him that night.
Read on? Ho hum.

Scene: 90
Setting: Carfax
POV: Seward
Scene type: Action
Summary: Preparations are in progress for a visit to Dracula’s house. Seward receives word that Renfield has been found in his cell, covered in blood.
Read on? Ho hum.

Scene: 91
Setting: Whitby
POV: Seward
Scene type: Reaction
Summary: It looks like Renfield has been attacked and his back might be broken. Seward summons Van Helsing who performs a trepanation. When Renfield wakes, he tells them that Dracula visited in a fog and that Mina is in danger.
Read on? Oh, Mina? No, really?

Scene: 92
Setting: Carfax
POV: Seward
Scene type: Action
Summary: They return to the hotel and enter the Harker’s room. Jonathan is lying on the floor in a stupor while Mina drinks the Count’s blood from a wound in his chest. Dracula escapes.
Read on? Has Mina now turned into a vampire?

(Although we had never witnessed Lucy doing the same thing, we must assume that the same fate lies in store for Mina. At the very least she is on the slippery slope, although her husband and most of the other men don’t seem to realize it.)

Scene: 93
Setting: Carfax
POV: Jonathan
Scene type: Action
Summary: The team plans their visit to the Count’s house. Van Helsing prepares Mina’s room with anti-vampire stuff and discovers that a communion wafer burns a scar into her forehead. They leave her alone to go to the Count’s house.
Read on? Oh, Mina alone? Really?

(Mina is confirmed as unholy, a further worsening of her condition and a setback for the team.)

Scene: 94
Setting: Picadilly
POV: Jonathan
Scene type: Action
Summary: The team enters Dracula’s house and thereby discovers the whereabout of his other houses. Arthur and Quincey head off to those houses, while Jonathan, Van Helsing, and Seward wait for the Count.
Read on? Can they thwart the Count at his various lairs?

Scene: 95
Setting: Picadilly
POV: Seward
Scene type: Action
Summary: They receive a courier note from Mina that the Count might be on his way. They are joined by Arthur and Quincey, but the Count eludes their capture. They return to the hotel and Mina.
Read on? Can they thwart the count at his various lairs?

(Dracula was essentially in their clutches and yet he seems to escape anyway–another failure for the team.)

Scene: 96
Setting: Carfax
POV: Jonathan
Scene type: Action
Summary: They know that Dracula still has one hidden box of dirt but they don’t know where it is. Mina has an idea to be hypnotized by Van Helsing so that she might locate the box. From her description, they realize it’s on a ship.
Read on? Can they find the ship and kill him?

Scene: 97
Setting: Carfax
POV: Van Helsing
Scene type: Action
Summary: The team leaves the Harkers and goes in search of the ship.
Read on? Can they find the ship and kill him?

Scene: 98
Setting: Carfax
POV: Mina
Scene type: Action
Summary: They have discovered that Dracula’s ship has left for Transylvania and is heading for the mouth of the Danube. Van Helsing proposes to go overland and get to his destination before him.
Read on? Can they arrive before the ship and then kill Dracula?

(Dracula has eluded them yet again, despite not being able to move about in the day–another failure for the team.)

Scene: 99
Setting: Carfax
POV: Seward
Scene type: Action
Summary: Van Helsing tells Seward that Mina is becoming a vampire. The men meet and make a plan without Mina. Jonathan is supposed to remain behind with Mina and then Van Helsing indicates to Seward that it’s OK for Jonathan to tell Mina about their plans.
Read on? Will Mina betray them?

Scene: 100
Setting: Carfax
POV: Jonathan
Scene type: Action
Summary: Mina sleeps during the day and wakes in the evening, making Jonathan promise not to tell her of their plans. The next day, she insists on going with them because she can be hypnotized and act as a guide. She’s most herself at sunrise and sunset, but makes the others promise to kill her if she becomes a vampire.
Read on? Will Mina betray them?

We must wait for the final post in this analysis of Bram Stoker’s Dracula to see the end of the second act. By making sure that the team has failed at virtually every turn, Stoker is driving them to a final confrontation with the enemy that seems as though it will take place on his turf. Although we don’t know if it’s the case, we also hope that Mina can still somehow be saved, unlike Lucy.

Scene: 41
Setting: Budapest
POV: Mina
Scene type: Action
Summary: Mina has traveled to Budapest and is with Jonathan and they have been married.
Read on? Then what will happen to Lucy and the people in Whitby?

(We finally see, or rather hear, that our hero has been united with his love interest.  Their subplot now takes a back seat to the main theme in Act 2–the danger follows Dracula, and he’s in Whitby.)

Scene: 42
Setting: Whitby
POV: Lucy
Scene type: Reaction
Summary: Writes to Mina that she and Arthur are doing wonderfully and will be married the next month.
Read on? Is she lying?

Scene: 43
Setting: Whitby
POV: Seward
Scene type: Action
Summary: Renfield escapes at night again, fights like a madman until he sees a bat flying, and then is recaptured.
Read on? He’s trying to reach Dracula.

(It would appear that Dracula has an ally in England.)

Scene: 44
Setting: Albemarle Hotel
POV: Lucy, Diary
Scene type: Setup
Summary: Neither she or her mother are feeling well.
Read on? What’s wrong with Lucy?

Scene: 45
Setting: Albemarle Hotel
POV: Arthur
Scene type: Setup
Summary: Arthur writes to friend Dr. Jack Seward, worried about Lucy and knowing the her mother is terminally ill with heart disease. Has arranged for Seward to meet with Lucy.
Read on? What’s wrong with Lucy?

Scene: 46
Setting: Albemarle Hotel
POV: Arthur
Scene type: Setup
Summary: Telegrams Seward that he has been called to his father, who has taken a turn for the worse.
Read on? Ho hum.

Scene: 47
Setting: Whitby
POV: Seward
Scene type: Setup
Summary: He found Lucy anemic and recommends his old professor, Van Helsing, to Arthur for further scientific help.
Read on? Ho hum.

Scene: 48
Setting: Unknown Location
POV: Van Helsing, MD, PhD, and even more degrees.
Scene type: Setup
Summary: Is on his way to see Seward.
Read on? Ho hum.

(We meet the mentor and vampire expert, Van Helsing.  His knowledge will act as the catalyst for many key scenes to follow.)

Scene: 49
Setting: Hillingham
POV: Seward
Scene type: Setup
Summary: Seward sends word to Arthur that Van Helsing has come and gone, needs to think about a couple of things, and will get back to him.
Read on? Ho hum.

Scene: 50
Setting: Hillingham
POV: Seward
Scene type: Setup
Summary: Renfield is eating flies and feeling abandoned.
Read on? Ho hum.

Scene: 51
Setting: Hillingham
POV: Seward
Scene type: Action
Summary: Lucy takes a sudden turn for the worse and Seward sends for Van Helsing. They decide to transfuse her. Arthur arrives and donates his blood. Van Helsing sees the puncture marks on her neck and leaves Seward to watch over her. The next day she is better and Van Helsing wires that he will be returning.
Read on? Has Van Helsing figured out that it’s Dracula?

(Two final allies, Arthur and Van Helsing, finally arrive in the flesh.)

Scene: 52
Setting: Hillingham
POV: Lucy
Scene type: Setup
Summary: Feeling much better.
Read on? Ho hum.

Scene: 53
Setting: Hillingham
POV: Seward
Scene type: Action
Summary: Van Helsing returns to find Lucy nearly dead. They transfuse some of Seward’s blood and she improves.
Read on? Ho hum.

(I usually reserve “ho hum” for a setup or reaction scene, but this action is repetitive.  Although Stoker is building some tension as Dracula manages to outwit the heroic allies, this scene isn’t really advancing the plot.)

Scene: 54
Setting: Hillingham
POV: Seward
Scene type: Action
Summary: Van Helsing receives a box of garlic and askes Lucy to wear it around her neck.
Read on? He must suspect Dracula.

Scene: 55
Setting: Hillingham
POV: Lucy
Scene type: Reaction
Summary: She’s gratefully using the garlic.
Read on? Ho hum.

Scene: 56
Setting: Hillingham
POV: Seward
Scene type: Action
Summary: Seward and Van Helsing return to Hillingham. Her mother had removed the garlic in the night. Another transfusion, this time from Van Helsing, who then stays with her.
Read on? Ho hum.

Scene: 57
Setting: Hillingham
POV: Lucy
Scene type: Reaction
Summary: Van Helsing has been watching over her for four days and she’s feeling great and an angry bat keeps flapping outside the window.
Read on? Ho hum.

Scene: 58
Setting: Zoological Gardens
POV: Pall Mall Gazette Reporter
Scene type: Setup
Summary: The wolf was very agitated and then escaped through bars that had been bent. As the reporter watched, though, the wolf returned to the keeper like a stray puppy, and the keeper put it away.
Read on? More of Dracula’s doings?

(This will turn out to be the work of Dracula, creating allies.)

Scene: 59
Setting: Whitby
POV: Seward
Scene type: Action
Summary: Seward is attacked by Renfield with a dinner knife, cuts his wrist, and laps his blood off the floor. He is summoned by Van Helsing to Hillingham.
Read on? What is happening with Lucy?

(The attack by Renfield is really an attack by Dracula, using him as a pawn and a surrogate.)

Scene: 60
Setting: Hillingham
POV: Lucy
Scene type: Action
Summary: As Lucy and her mother spend some time in Lucy’s room, the bat flaps outside then the window breaks and a wolf pokes it head in. Her mother dies of a heart attack and Lucy faints. The wolf leaves but is howling outside and maids arrive. Lucy leaves the garlic on her mother’s body, the maids drink wine laced with a narcotic and fall asleep. Lucy writes the above in a note and then waits.
Read on? Will she survive the night?

(This is an attack by Dracula, using the wolf. It’s quite the cliffhanger too!)

Although scenes 41 through 60 haven’t advanced the plot much, Stoker is creating a near claustrophobic atmosphere by placing most of the action in Lucy’s room or Renfield’s cell. We see that danger is drawing very close and that people who are desperate to help Lucy can’t seem to manage it for any length of time. In the next set of scenes, the tension will continue to build, and we will look for it to snap, with the approach of the midpoint of the novel.  We will not be disappointed.

Scenes 21 – 40

Scene: 21
Setting: London
POV: Mina
Scene type: Setup
Summary: The story regresses in time and Mina writes to her friend Lucy, speculating positively on her future with Jonathan.
Read on? Is he still alive? Will she get a letter from him and understand it?

(We meet the love interest of the hero, who is a heroine in her own right and an ally of our hero, Jonathan.)

Scene: 22
Setting: London
POV: Lucy
Scene type: Setup
Summary: Lucy writes to Mina of the new man in her life, Arthur.
Read on? Ho Hum.

(So often, my reaction to the setup scene is “ho hum”.  This type of scene has to happen–mostly–and it doesn’t stop me from reading on–mostly–but it’s my least favorite type of scene.)

Scene: 23
Setting: London
POV: Lucy
Scene type: Setup
Summary: Lucy writes to Mina about three proposals of marriage that she has had in one day.
Read on? Ho Hum.

(We have our first encounter with Quincey Morris, her American suitor. He will later turn out to be an ally and hero. Dr. Seward was the other suitor and Arthur was the third, who she has decided to marry.)

Scene: 24
Setting: London
POV: Dr. Seward
Scene type: Setup
Summary: Seward writes in his diary about a patient he has seen, a Mr. Renfield. Seward seems like a psychiatrist, although I’m not sure the writers of the late 1800s really differentiated between medical doctors and psychiatrists in the way that we do now.
Read on? Ho Hum.

Scene: 25
Setting: London
POV: Quincey Morris
Scene type: Setup
Summary: Quincey writes a letter to Arthur Holmwood, inviting him to meet a friend of theirs, Jack Seward, to reminisce.
Read on? Ho Hum.

(In essence, the team is coming together, and these three men make up about half of the people who will eventually do battle with Dracula.)

Scene: 26
Setting: London
POV: Arthur
Scene type: Setup
Summary: Arthur telegrams Quincy to say he’ll be there.
Read on? Ho Hum.

Scene: 27
Setting: Whitby
POV: Mina
Scene type: Setup
Summary: Mina writes in her journal that she is walking around Whitby, near the sea, simply looking at whatever strikes her fancy. Lucy and her mother are absent.
Read on? Ho Hum.

Scene: 28
Setting: Whitby
POV: Mina
Scene type: Deepening
Summary: She and Lucy have a strange conversation with an old sailor about the gravestones.  Mina is missing Jonathan since she hasn’t had a letter from him in a month.
Read on? Ho Hum.

Scene: 29
Setting: London
POV: Dr. Seward
Scene type: Deepening
Summary: Seward discusses his patient, Renfield, a homicidal maniac, who may have eaten his own bird collection, raw.
Read on? Ho Hum.

Scene: 30
Setting: Whitby
POV: Mina
Scene type: Deepening
Summary: Lucy has started walking in her sleep again and Mina has received a cryptic letter from Jonathan, which doesn’t seem like him. The old sailor says they’re in for a storm. There’s a Russian ship steering around strangely in the harbor.
Read on? Ho Hum.

Scene: 31
Setting: Whitby
POV: Newspaper
Scene type: Action
Summary: After the storm, a boat has been found in which a dead man was tied to the wheel, holding a crucifix. In his pocket was a bottle with an addendum to the ship’s log. The hold had empty wooden crates. Reading between the lines of the log, it seems that Dracula has arrived.
Read on? About time.

Scene: 32
Setting: Whitby
POV: Mina
Scene type: Setup
Summary: She and Lucy see the aftermath of the storm and also the captain’s funeral.
Read on? Ho hum.

Scene: 33
Setting: Whitby
POV: Mina
Scene type: Action
Summary: Lucy had been sleepwalking and was apparently found and bitten by Dracula. Mina can’t quite make out in the darkness what has happened. Lucy sleeps late the next morning and Mina assumes her safety pin must have punctured Lucy’s throat. Otherwise, Lucy appears better than she has.
Read on? What will happen to Lucy now that she’s been bitten?

(We may not, as readers in the late 1800s, know what will happen to Lucy once she’s bitten, but we’ve seen the three women at his castle.)

Scene: 34
Setting: Whitby
POV: Mina
Scene type: Setup
Summary: Lucy keeps trying to escape at night. She points out the window and Mina sees a giant bat flying around.
Read on? Is the bat Dracula?

Scene: 35
Setting: Whitby
POV: Mina
Scene type: Setup
Summary: Mina goes out for a walk at night and returns to see Lucy at the windowsill with what appears to be a large bird. Once inside, Lucy is already going to bed.
Read on? Has Dracula been visiting?

Scene: 36
Setting: Whitby
POV: Mina
Scene type: Setup
Summary: Lucy is not feeling well and is in decline. Mina cannot understand why Lucy is doing so poorly.
Read on? Has Dracula been visiting?

Scene: 37
Setting: Whitby
POV: Billingston and Son, Solicitors letter to Carter, Paterson, & Co.
Scene type: Setup
Summary: Arranging delivery of fifty boxes for their client. Carter, Paterson reply that all has been done.
Read on? Is this Dracula’s stuff?

Scene: 38
Setting: Whitby
POV: Mina
Scene type: Setup
Summary: Lucy is feeling much better.
Read on? Why?

Scene: 39
Setting: Whitby
POV: Mina
Scene type: Action
Summary: She receives news that Jonathan had been unwell but is now improving. A caretaker’s letter, from Budapest, says he’s been through some sort of ordeal with wolves and poison and ghosts. He’ll convalesce another few weeks.
Read on? So, he’s survived. Will he make it back in time to help Mina and Lucy?

Scene: 40
Setting: Whitby
POV: Seward
Scene type: Action
Summary: Renfield says that the Master is at hand and escapes, but then is recaptured.
Read on? Is Dracula the master?

Tension is continuing to build as we primarily watch Lucy and Mina interact, mostly through Mina’s point of view.  Although we have yet to hear his name mentioned or see a clear description of him, we know that Dracula has arrived in England.  Essentially, the plight of our hero and heroine have reversed and we hope that Jonathan makes it back from Budapest in time to help Lucy (and Mina, although she will shortly leave to join Jonathan).

In the next post, we’ll see Act 2 continue with more setup, as the team of heroes is completed.

So, yes, Dracula is horror.  It’s also Gothic, part travelogue, an invasion tale, and even a romance.  More to the point of this blog, though, it’s also a thriller.  Despite the archaic speech patterns, not to mention speeches (conveyed via journal entries, letters, and news clippings), the structure of the thriller shines through.

Why Dracula

One of the reasons that I selected Dracula was its price:  free!  You can get it from Project Gutenberg, and there are also free ebooks out there, including the iTunes store.  I read a free ebook  that came with Adobe Digital Editions on my Mac laptop.

Another reason that I chose Dracula is my belief that many people may not actually know the novel, or even the full story, for that matter.  I know I didn’t and I had even read it as a teenager.

Finally, though, it’s a thoroughly enjoyable classic–for good reason.

Plot Analysis

For my analysis, I’m using a method advocated by James Scott Bell in his oh-so useful book on novel writing called Plot & Structure.  I don’t care how many fiction writing books you own, you should not miss out on this one.  I’ve read several but Plot & Structure really made a few key things click for me.

At approximately 161,000 words, Dracula is a lengthy work.  In this exercise, I’ll be breaking it down, scene by scene (116 in all) and noting the following for each scene:  the setting, the POV character, the scene type (setup, action, reaction, deepening), a two or three sentence summary of what happened in the scene, and my assessment of whether I should read on or not (typically phrased as a question).  Along the way, I’ll be noting down the milestones of the plot as they go by–the real point to the exercise.

Without further ado, let us begin Dracula!

Scenes 1 – 20

Scene: 1
Setting: Transylvania
POV: Jonathan (journal entry)
Scene type: Setup
Summary: Jonathan Harker has traveled to Transylvania from London and receives a letter from Dracula making arrangements for transportation to meet Dracula.
Read on? It’s only the most famous setting in all of horror-dom. I guess I’ll read on!

(We meet the protagonist, our hero, and our opening image is one of a strange and foreboding landscape.)

Scene: 2
Setting: The Inn
POV: Jonathan
Scene type: Setup
Summary: The old woman at the inn is obviously terrified for Jonathan’s well being on learning that he is going to see Dracula. She gives him a rosary.
Read on? What does she fear?

(This scene works as a disturbance, our first substantive hint that something is very wrong with this trip. The woman at the inn, and just about everybody else in the story, is uneasy or downright fearful when they hear about Dracula and that our protagonist is on his to the castle.)

Scene: 3
Setting: Two coaches through the countryside
POV: Jonathan
Scene type: Setup
Summary: Jonathan’s coach is met by Dracula’s coach, which conveys him through the creepy countryside to the castle.
Read on? What will he find in the castle?

Scene: 4
Setting: Dracula’s castle
POV: Jonathan
Scene type: Setup
Summary: He is visiting as a solicitor to explain the purchase of a London estate. He meets the Count and he eats dinner–Dracula does not. The Count is strong but cold to the touch, making Jonathan nauseous when he’s too close.
Read on? What is wrong with the Count?

(We meet the antagonist and the namesake of the novel.  It had been titled “The Un-Dead” while Stoker was working on it but the title changed shortly before it was published.)

Scene: 5
Setting: Dracula’s castle
POV: Jonathan
Scene type: Setup
Summary: He has a late breakfast by himself, spends the latter part of the day talking with Dracula, mostly about the estate he’s purchased. Again he dines solo and Dracula keeps him up until the first light of morning.
Read on? What is wrong with the Count?

Scene: 6
Setting: Dracula’s castle
POV: Jonathan
Scene type: Setup
Summary: Dracula doesn’t have a reflection in a mirror, is excited by the sight of Jonathan’s blood, but is then put off by the rosary. Jonathan has breakfast alone again and explores the castle to find many locked doors.
Read on? Is he a prisoner?

Scene: 7
Setting: Dracula’s castle
POV: Jonathan
Scene type: Action
Summary: Jonathan is convinced he is a prisoner. He spies Dracula doing all the servants work. He needs to draw information out of Dracula without raising suspicion that he knows something is going on.
Read on? Can he escape?

Scene: 8
Setting: Dracula’s castle
POV: Jonathan
Scene type: Action
Summary: Dracula says Jonathan will be staying for a month and tells him not to fall asleep anywhere but his bedroom. Jonathan sees him crawl down the outside of the castle wall, head first.
Read on? What kind of creature is Dracula?

(This scene could be characterized as a Call to Adventure or an Inciting Incident. Jonathan knows he’s up against something non-human and that, if he’s going to survive, he must take matters into his own hands, conquer his fear, and escape.)

Scene: 9
Setting: Dracula’s castle
POV: Jonathan
Scene type: Reaction
Summary: Jonathan sees Dracula scaling the wall again and confirms that virtually all doors in the castle are locked. He finds one unlocked.  It was apparently once occupied by ladies in the castle.
Read on? What kind of creature is Dracula?

Scene: 10
Setting: Dracula’s castle
POV: Jonathan
Scene type: Action
Summary: Jonathan is found by three women who want to suck his blood but Dracula intervenes, saying that Jonathan is his. He tosses them a small child in a bag to quiet them and they leave. Jonathan faints.
Read on? What kind of creatures suck blood? What do they want with the child?

(We meet the allies of the Count, aside from the local people he employs, who fear him. Our hero suffers his first defeat after deciding that he must try to escape.)

Scene: 11
Setting: Dracula’s castle
POV: Jonathan
Scene type: Reaction
Summary: Jonathan awakes in his room and finds that his diary is still safe in his jacket pocket. Were Dracula to read it, he would know that Jonathan will try to escape.
Read on? Will he escape before they kill him?

Scene: 12
Setting: Dracula’s castle
POV: Jonathan
Scene type: Action
Summary: Jonathan tries to enter the ladies room again, but finds it has been locked, from the inside.
Read on? Will he escape before they kill him?

Scene: 13
Setting: Dracula’s castle
POV: Jonathan
Scene type: Action
Summary: The count asks Jonathan to write three letters saying that he’s left the castle and journeying home, and future date them. Jonathan now knows he won’t be leaving.
Read on? Will he escape before they kill him?

(A ticking clock begins, building suspense.)

Scene: 14
Setting: Dracula’s castle
POV: Jonathan
Scene type: Action
Summary: A band of gypsies camps below his window. He writes a letter to Mina, his fiancé, and his employer and throws them down with money. The gypsy seems to understand, but the count intercepts the letters and gives them back to Jonathan.
Read on? Will he escape before they kill him?

(Although we haven’t met them, we know that Jonathan’s allies are Mina and Mr. Hawkins, but they are in England.  We hold out the remote hope that they may yet be able to help.)

Scene: 15
Setting: Dracula’s castle
POV: Jonathan
Scene type: Action
Summary: All of his personal effects have been taken from his room.
Read on? Will he escape before they kill him?

Scene: 16
Setting: Dracula’s castle
POV: Jonathan
Scene type: Action
Summary: Jonathan sees workmen delivering large empty crates below in the courtyard. He tries to leave his room but the door is locked. He calls down to the men, but they ignore him.
Read on? Will he escape before they kill him?

Scene: 17
Setting: Dracula’s castle
POV: Jonathan
Scene type: Action
Summary: Jonathan sees Dracula leaving in his own (Jonathan’s) clothes, probably to fake his leaving. The three women accost Jonathan in the form of sparkling dust that almost hypnotizes him. The count returns and Jonathan hears a scream for the count’s room. A woman shows up in the courtyard below, screaming for her child. Dracula calls the wolves and they kill her.
Read on? Will he escape before they kill him?

(We had suspected that Dracula was linked with the “children of the night” but now we see his web of allies includes animals.)

Scene: 18
Setting: Dracula’s castle
POV: Jonathan
Scene type: Action
Summary: Jonathan climbs down in daylight to the count’s window, enters, and eventually finds him sleeping in one of the boxes.
Read on? Will he escape before they kill him?

Scene: 19
Setting: Dracula’s castle
POV: Jonathan
Scene type: Action
Summary: Dracula assures Jonathan that he’ll be leaving the next day. He hears Dracula beyond his door telling the three women that Jonathan is his now, but theirs the next day.
Read on? Will he escape before they kill him?

Scene: 20
Setting: Dracula’s castle
POV: Jonathan
Scene type: Action
Summary: Dracula is taken away in his box and Jonathan decides to brave leaving through his window, rather than be left with the three women.
Read on? Will he escape before they kill him?

(Not only is this Bell’s Doorway 1 and the end of Act 1, it is also the climax of the first sequence. Jonathan is committed now to escaping, wouldn’t go back if he could, and would likely die if he went back anyway. We are propelled into the middle part of the novel and wonder where Dracula has gone and if Jonathan will make good his escape.)

In the next part of this plot analysis of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, we look at scenes 21 through 40 and meet our hero’s love interest.