Exp Plotters Pt 2

Day 13 - Theme and Tone

The main theme of my story is the power of information: all the characters are affected by this in some way.

Nicolas: the key way that he is able to gain control of the Great Council and the court.

Jesca: her access to information about the court is slowly strangled by Nicolas’ grip on the court. This lack of information is in part what makes her realise that Things Are Wrong, and she and Laurent fight back against Nicolas with his own methods – by finding out as much as possible as they can against him and the hold he has over the nobles, and then using it against him.

Another theme in the story is (thank you William Blake) the key character’s journeys from innocence to experience and then on to either ignorance or wisdom.

Nicolas does have a period of innocence, but it is fairly short (he never really joins in the other children’s games) and he spends the majority of the story in the corrupt, corrupting world of experience. By the end of the story, he has moved to a place of ignorance in the way that he is blinkered to the suffering he has caused and also that people are starting to move against him.

Jesca also begins the story in the world of innocence (mixed in with ignorance, because she doesn’t know what is going on with the different factions etc.) She is brought into the world of experience by Nicolas (when he seduces her), and begins to move into wisdom when she fights back against Nicolas.

Tone

1) The scenes were Nicolas is sneaking around and watching people will be serious. I’ll want to almost make the reader feel uncomfortable with the way they are watching all these people through Nicolas’ eyes.

2) The scenes that are seen from Jesca’s point of view will be somewhat lighter. There will be a dreamy, detached tone, and this could potentially create an interesting juxtaposition – if she is observing quite nasty things with a dreamy, light tone. This will increase as she becomes caught up in Nick and his world. There might be a dramatic change in tone later on when she finally wakes up and realises that
Things Are Wrong.

3) When I show things from Laurent’s point of view – e.g. his travels - I think the tone will need to take on a more epic air, alternating with self-deprecating humour to reflect his character, as he alternates between feeling like a noble prince on a quest back to his homeland and realising how silly and grand that sounds. The tone will grow more to the humour side as he gets closer to the capital, and then turn to more of a sour, biting irony when he realises how corrupt everything is in the city.

4) I will aim to make the general tone of the novel get more claustrophobic as it reaches the climax. One way I could achieve might be with longer, over-complicated descriptions, perhaps focused on the setting and weather.

5) In the final climactic scene, the tone will have to be ridiculously tense and suspenseful for it to work.

(528 words.)

Day 14 - Twenty Scenes

1. The execution of Lady Susannah.
2. The climactic scene when Nicolas is brought down.
3. Laurent’s arrival in the village/meeting Amelie.
4. When Amelie finds out/rejects Laurent.
5. When Laurent leaves the village, and Danial decides to go with him.
6. Several scenes where Nick blackmails/persuades various members of the Great Council onto his side e.g. Andreas.
7. Nicolas exploring - the city, the castle, some of the surrounding countryside.
8. When Jesca first meets Nick.
9. When Danial first gets recruited into the spy network.
10. When Danial first meets Nick.
11. When Jesca and Laurent first meet.
12. Laurent and Danial first arriving in the city.
13. Danial finding out who Laurent is.
14. Danial telling Nicolas about Laurent and Jesca’s meeting.
15. Jesca declaring publicly that Laurent is her brother.
16. Several scenes - deliberately paralleling the other scenes where Nick was bringing them over to his side - where Jesca/Laurent are persuading people against him.
17. Nicolas being flung in the cells...
18. And escaping...
19. And kidnapping Jesca.
20. The final showdown where Nicolas has Jesca, and Laurent and Danial chase after and confront him.


Day 15 - Plot Basics

Exposition

One way I will introduce the stories and characters will be by following Nicolas around as he explores the castle, city and surrounding countryside. This will introduce him to a wide variety of characters as well as setting.
On Laurent’s side of things, it will start with his life at Meadowview (possibly retrospective) and then his journey from there to the village.
I will also have to introduce Jesca’s daily life in some way - perhaps could do a “day in the life” - because all her days are pretty much the same, this could work for a long introduction.

Inciting Incident

For Laurent, it is Lady Castra leaving Meadowview, possibly to betray him to those who want him dead.
For Jesca, it is her coming-of-age ceremony - she feels that she is grown-up now and so should have grown-up responsibilities, but of course there are those in the Great Council who are unwilling to relinquish the power they’ve held for the past ten years.
For Nick, it is when he is able to gain control over Andreas - by his grand words and vision of power rather than blackmail. He realises what he could achieve.

Rising action

Laurent has a second inciting incident - his rejection by Amelie. This leads him to leave the village (which really needs a name!) and set out to the city with Danial.
A fairly big obstacle is put in Jesca’s way - Nick’s plans to seduce her. It takes her a long time to even recognise it as an obstacle: she is focusing on the trouble she’s having with the Great Council.
These are Nick’s glory days. He has complete control over the government and the monarch. He’s still in the shadows, but revels in knowing that he’s in control and that no-one else really realises how much. (e.g. the Great Council don’t talk to each other so they don’t figure out that they’ve all been coerced by the same person.)
Also in this section: the build-up to Nick’s reveal, Jesca and Laurent’s meeting, Danial’s development.

Climax

Lady Susannah’s execution. (Note to self: need to develop her character and her and Nick’s relationship - why does he want to execute her, specifically?)
Danial coming back to Laurent and Jesca’s side.
The revelation of all of Nicolas’ secrets and black-mailings.

Falling action

I’m not quite sure what would come in this section. I guess it would be everyone getting back to normal, deciding on the new roles in government - and Amelie might arrive in the city at this point, if I want to be really soppy...

Denouement

Nicolas escapes from the cells, kidnapping Jesca in an insane, last-ditch attempt to get back the power he once had. Laurent and Danial chase after him, and then... I’m genuinely not sure what happens now.

Ending A) Jesca is killed by Nicolas because she betrayed him. This would make it more of a love story ending, and my instinct is that Nicolas would have to die as well. Laurent has to assume the throne (possibly with Amelie as his queen), and Danial is made Chief Minister.

Ending B) Danial finds Nicolas and Jesca before Laurent does, because he knows Nick better. He begs for Jesca’s life, and Nicolas allows her to go free because he never really cared for her anyway - I’d imagine she’d be quite devastated by this... But Nicolas takes Danial hostage instead, and then kills him because he betrayed him. Jesca concedes the throne - or perhaps they decide to co-rule - and Nicolas escapes...