1. BREEZER

    BREEZER Member

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    Help with first plot point..

    Discussion in 'Plot Development' started by BREEZER, Apr 21, 2017.

    Hi all,


    I’m having trouble understanding the structure of my story. I’m wondering what the first plot point is..


    Genre is mafia romance


    Dual POV male and female.


    Scene outline


    1. The story begins with girl escaping an abusive boyfriend. GIRL POV (HOOK) ? (boyfriend will come back as a complication later)

    2. Back ground on her police officer friend, giving her a contact for a ‘safe house’ and a new identity to escape. GIRL POV (SET UP) ?

    3. Background that the cop has called on a favor he is owed and put the girl under the protection of a notorious crime network in Sydney. MALE POV (SET UP) ?

    4. Back ground that the cop is on the syndicate payroll as an informant to the syndicate administration and to ignore and cover up their organised criminal activity. MALE POV (SET UP)

    5. The syndicate underboss, is forced into protecting the girl in exchange for security and protection of assets. MALE POV (INCITING INCIDENT) ??

    6. Meanwhile we learn the girl is on a mission to find out what happened to her Father who’s been missing for ten years. GIRL POV (WANT/DESIRE)

    7. Underboss accepts an offer to marry the Boss’s stepdaughter in exchange for the top job. (WANT/ DESIRE)

    8. Girl makes the call to her ‘safehouse’ and she meets the underboss at the syndicate owned strip club where she gets a job behind the bar. (FIRST PLOT POINT / END OF ACT ONE)


    From here there are a host of complications but eventually they fall in love.


    The climax is where the male needs to make a choice between his agreement to marry the stepdaughter and the girl he has fallen in love with.


    The resolution is he goes back on his agreement and marries the girl instead.



    Is the first major plot point when the underboss accepts the girl into the syndicate? (similar to To Kill A Mockingbird where the first plot point was actually Atticus’s agreement to take on the case) or is this the inciting incident?


    Is the first plot point His agreement to marry the stepdaughter?


    Is the first plot point when the two meet for the first time? Because this really closes of the first act and opens the rest of the story.


    Is a romance almost always when the two meet?



    Any advice would be much appreciated.


    Thanks in advance.
     
  2. OJB

    OJB A Mean Old Man Contributor

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    This is your first plot point. I am not sure if the question you are asking, is the question you want an answer for. A plot point is any event that happens in your story.
     
    malaupp, Simpson17866 and rktho like this.
  3. OJB

    OJB A Mean Old Man Contributor

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    Ahh, you merged the terms; don't do that. The break into act II is marked by a decision your MC MAKES. It is the MC that has to make this decision, but whatever the decision is, the MC cannot go back on it; it cannot be undone.
     
  4. BREEZER

    BREEZER Member

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    The story begins with girl escaping an abusive boyfriend

    This is the opening scene.. the hook perhaps?


    I thought that first main plot point is the end of act 1.
     
  5. Cave Troll

    Cave Troll It's Coffee O'clock everywhere. Contributor

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    It seems like a plot demand in the climax/resolution portion.
    Something is just too convenient about the Underboss blowing
    off his proposal to the Boss's daughter for the MC.

    Your plot is a bit too 'by the book' for my taste. Lacks that
    unpredictability and freshness. Trading favors among
    cops and crime lords, where is the fun in that?

    Granted this is half speculation due to lack of info, and
    the other is based on common cliches. Though what is
    presented is all kinda 'normal' based on what you have
    offered. Almost like something in a Mob/Mafia film.
     
  6. BREEZER

    BREEZER Member

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    Yep you're right... Cave Troll, I do need to find some fresh ideas and weave them into a cliche mafia romance.

    Thanks
     
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  7. malaupp

    malaupp Active Member

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    Most of the mafia/biker gang romances have a huge lack of realism and this seems to be following suit. In real life, the resolution wouldn't be a resolution. It would be a source of major conflict. Going back on an agreement like that would be a huge insult to the mafia boss. The underboss is essentially leaving his daughter for another girl after agreeing to marry her. It would be worse if the boss's daughter wanted to marry him. Maybe I'm relying on stereotypes here, but that seems like the kind of thing that would come with huge backlash. The underboss would be losing more than just a possible promotion. He'd have to run for his life.

    But like the others have said, the first plot point is literally the first major decision/event/choice whatever that moves things along.
     
  8. BREEZER

    BREEZER Member

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    Thanks malaupp, I have taken that on board... many thanks
     

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