An easy and visual method for plotting wounds and character arcs
Esme Brett and her cat Franklin up in the wee hours looking at frst draft statistics
I’ve read a lot of craft books/blogs
But it can be hard to figure out how to make all the things mash together, and I get angry and overwhelmed.
Like, can someone just tell me who is right and they can be the only person I listen to?
I know, impossible.
Some people put out resources like this one I’ve screengrabbed below, which makes me want to yeet myself into the void.
195 essential things to do! I get overwhelmed when my to do list has more than three things on it.
Writing Coach extraordinaire Becca Syme talks about this, she’s like, “craft advice is lowkey a scam, babe—” I’m paraphrasing, “—because everyone thinks their way is the right way but it depends on your brain and circumstances as to which thing resonates for you.”
Which is true and brilliant Becca, but I need to plot a fer-cucking book, okay?
The irony of me proposing a new method to overcome the problem of too many methods is not lost on me, but I struggled and cried and SWEATED for this method, and when I came up with it, I wished that someone else had done it and given it to me months ago.
If I can save just one writer a vial of precious writer tears, then the hour I spent writing this blog (and the four hours figuring out how to make the text boxes—maybe—work) will be worth it. BUY ONE OF MY BOOKS TO SAY THANKS.
Nothing I’m about to say is revolutionary, but it’s a way of looking at things that might unblock your mental drain.
*Disclaimer: I’m not a fancy writing coach I am a toppling panda in a human suit.
BUT COME WITH ME IF YOU WANT TO LIVE.
The one thing everyone agrees on is that your characters need wounds
And those wounds influence the narrative arc as well as the character arc.
If you’re like me, you’re screaming at the screen:
How tf do the narrative arcs and character go together?
How do you juggle dual POV, does that mean triplicate arcs?
Readers get pissed off if they think the narrative arc is weak (this is what readers mean when they talk about plotting), so, should I prioritise that over character arc?
OR are readers wrong and they don’t know it and all romance should focus on character arcs first and foremost and the rest will fall into place?
And can this come in a visual handout, I don’t understand words only diagrams
(Ironic for a romance writer).
Stay with me I’m about to lay some narrative context.
The main people I listen to
These are the three main methods of book plotting that live in my head:
Dan Harmon’s Story Circle
I love the TV show Community, I’m a diehard fan (six seasons and where’s my movie) so when someone whose work you like shares how they do something you listen. I could only find a video link, sorry.
Gwen Hay’s Romancing the Beat
This is the OG romance structure guide and it’s good, no qualms. If it works for you, that’s fab. I found it a little uninspiring but if you like structure and security like my whole family wish I did, then this is the craft book for you.
Libby Hawker’s Take Off Your Pants
This one’s good if you’re a discovery writer and don’t like to get too much into the detail. This is the one I use the most but it needs a caveat that it’s hard to apply to dual POV romance, it’s very much a hero/ine’s journey type situation.
*I know this numbered list is all 1s but it would take me too long to figure out how to change that.
Tthese three methods all follow the same 3 act linear structure.
It looks like this:
Line arc diagram reads 1) life BAU, 2) stuff gets interesting, 3) it all his the fan! and 4) it settles but we’re forever changed.
Above is a hand-drawn diagram of a linear journey and the key acts a long the way.
It reads: 1) life BAU, 2) stuff gets interesting, 3) it all his the fan! and 4) it settles but we’re forever changed.
Introducing my Wound Wheel
Characters have to have a wound and a lie they believe about themselves and a fatal flaw and a facade and also problems that make them relatable.
Here’s how I arrange that:
The annotation in the centre reads THEIR WOUND and the second circle is THE LIE THEY TELL THEMSELVES and the third and outer one is FACADE.
A hand-drawn diagram of a tight spiral creating three connected circles.
The annotation in the centre reads THEIR WOUND and the second circle is THE LIE THEY TELL THEMSELVES and the third and outer one is FACADE.
This is the same hand-drawn diagram of three connected circles as above. This one has additional bottom up annotation showing that the WOUND feeds THE LIE which results in THE FACADE.
This is the same hand-drawn diagram of three connected circles as above.
This one has additional bottom up annotation showing that the WOUND feeds THE LIE which results in THE FACADE.
This is the same hand-drawn diagram of three connected circles as above. This one has additional curved annotation showing that the outer facade is the DERMIS and the wound is your SQUISH. We all try to hide our squish, but we’re never as successul at that as we think we are.
This is the same hand-drawn diagram of three connected circles as above.
This one has additional curved annotation showing that the outer facade is the DERMIS and the wound is your SQUISH.
We all try to hide our squish, but we’re never as successul at that as we think we are.
How does the Wound Wheel fit the rest of it?
GREAT question! This is something I spent years being confused by.
Don’t laugh, if you don’t think this is confusing, then you’re not thinking about it enough, tbh.
I came to the conclusion that the wound is what drives the character arc (not the narrative arc, that one gets beefed around by external factors).
It’s like in life, right, when things are shit our therapists/bosses/family like to tell you about the circle of influence. No matter how hard you try you can’t help that the CEO has bad ideas and they land on your desk.
For good romance, the characters need to drive the story but they can’t control the story. That’s the delicate balance of character arc and narrative arc.
I’ve combined these the only way I understand how, which is to take the wheel and roll it up the little mountain diagram.
Wheels roll babe!
That’s their brand! Their reputation!
IT’S WHAT THEY LIVE FOR.
This is my two hand drawn diagrams together: the Wound Wheel and the basic three act structure.
This is my two hand drawn diagrams together: the Wound Wheel and the basic three act structure.
WHEELS ROLL THIS IS THEIR THING. This is a hand drawn illustration of the Wound Wheel rolling up the three act hill, and, you have to imagine, down the other side.
WHEELS ROLL! THIS IS THEIR THING.
This is a hand drawn illustration of the Wound Wheel rolling up the three act hill, and, you have to imagine, down the other side.
That’s how I ensure I’m hitting the right beats at the right time in the right way
Literally everything else in my plan can be a dumpster fire as long as these things play nicely together.
I build the plot twists into the narrative arc—if there are any.
Eye Candy has a plot twists, (a big one, iykyk), but Wide-Eyed has dread confirmation instead, and trust me, the girlies who get that will GET THAT.