Stage 7 / Greatest Plot Structure / Discovering Your Plot / 4:50

Stage 7 is the first of the two most important stages of the Archetypal Story Pattern. It is the Approach to the Inmost Cave and sets up events and character dynamics for the crucial Stage 8, the Dark Moment or the Ordeal.

The Inmost Cave is the location of the Ordeal, the point where our protagonist comes closest to Death. That could the loss of love, of a motivating goal or dream, of a job or status, an intellectual pursuit, or physical death.

We writers want to lead straight into the Ordeal, but we do our readers a disservice when we don’t give equal attention to the big build-up of the Approach to that Dark, Fearsome Cave.

Let’s get to it.

TIMINGS

• 00:00 Welcome
• 00:39 Introduction
• 01:33 Stage 7A
• 04:15 Ongoing Transformation
• 06:00 Resurrecting the Desired Dear
• 10:11 Jam Today
• 11:33 Stage 7B / What is AND isn’t a Cave?
• 15:03 The Inmost Cave and its Darkness
• 17:28 Personal Darkness
• 19:41 Last Words / Closing

Total Run Time = 21:24

Examples from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, the films 13th Warrior and Raiders of the Lost Ark, Tolkien’s The Hobbit, and William Shakespeare’s Hamlet.

 

Direct Link to the Blog https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2023/11/stage-7-discovering-plot-series.html 

 

Links to the Ebook

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0838PTN49

https://books2read.com/u/bOJK6K

Links to a paperback 8 x 10 bundle for plot / characters / branding / sentence craft, called Discovering Your Writing https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08691892S

Trailer https://youtu.be/hTVQn92kNBk