The W Plot Technique by Lynne Marshall

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The W Plot Technique by Lynne Marshall

Contrary to popular belief, there isn’t a formula for writing Romance.  However there are specific ways to plot it.

Commercial fiction of all types makes a promise:

Mystery – Solve the case

Thriller – Catch the villain

Fantasy – Complete the conquest

Romance – Happy ending with hero and heroine in love and committed to each other.

Getting there (to the happy ending) can happen in countless ways, as individual as each author.

I’m going to use the steps of the W Plot format with the popular movie The Proposal to make my point.

SPOILER ALERT!

The beginning – h/h meet – the inciting incident

Super editor Margaret is being threatened with deportation to Canada and won’t be able

to come back for one year, which means she’ll lose her job – the job she lives for since

she has no other life.

Lead up to plot point I – i.e. call to action – She bamboozles her assistant, Andrew, into marrying her. Andrew has dreams of becoming an author, and has taken this job as a foot in the door. He seizes the moment and asks her to publish his book. She won’t so he makes sure she’ll make him an editor if he goes along with her ruse. She agrees. He

makes a completely phony statement to convince the publishers - “We are two people

who weren’t supposed to fall in love…” This is a foreshadowing statement.

He takes her home to Alaska for his Gammy’s birthday. Margaret realizes Andrew

comes from money, has a family that loves him, and isn’t the person she has pegged him to be. His family throws a party in honor of their fake engagement. They annoy and

humiliate each other as often as possible. They realize they need to quit bickering and act like they’re in love in order to pull this off.

Plot point I - They kiss and feel something. The story question arises: Will Margaret

and Andrew be able to pull this off? Moving up toward the first peak of the W – The H&H get to know each other and many problems arise. They have to share a bedroom, though he gallantly sleeps on the floor. They bond singing a silly song together. She gets to know his family. He sees her dancing and singing a crazy song and calls her a freak! They kinda sorta begin to like each other for real.

The Stakes get higher when they run into each other naked.

Peak of W - Middle of the book –A monkey wrench gets thrown into the mix. Often a

love scene can bring on this point of no return, bonding the H/H to each other. But there

isn’t a love scene in The Proposal.

Midpoint (Peak of W) Andrew’s family forces them to marry right then on that weekend.

Margaret gets swept up with the preparations and with his family. She tries on his

Gammy’s wedding dress. Being an orphan since the age of fifteen, she has forgotten

what it is like to have a family.

Here’s where the monkey wrench gets thrown in: she feels guilty about her

manipulating plan. Confused and upset by the surfacing of her long forgotten conscience, she takes off in his boat, falling overboard, and she almost drowns. Andrew rescues her and comforts her. She feels cared for and it shakes her up even more.

Traditionally, in the second half of the book the heroine must deal with the fact that she

has feelings for the hero. Romances are all about emotion, emotion, emotion. Don’t be

afraid to delve deeply into the issues of loving someone who, by all outward signs, is the

worst person in the world for you.

Sliding down that W peak – first there is that rosy glow, some reflection, the future

looks bright! In order to keep your reader’s interest, you must have conflict and tension

at every turn of the page.

Plot point II -- The immigration officer shows up, and Andrew’s father makes a deal to

get him off the hook. BUT Andrew doesn’t accept the deal and tells Margaret he really

wants to marry her. This genuine, heroic and sacrificial gesture changes Margaret’s

heart.

Crisis (The black moment) the last W peak – Margaret can’t go through with the

wedding. She confesses in front of everyone that it is all a sham, takes full responsibility, and runs out.

First waylaid by his family, then by Gammy’s fake heart attack, then finding a note left to

him by Margaret telling him what a wonderful writer he is, and that she will make sure

his book gets published before she leaves the company, Andrew chases her to the airport to confront her about her sudden change of heart.

The screws tighten - Margaret flies off, Andrew stands watching her, and realizes he

really has fallen in love with her.

Climax – A day or two has passed. Andrew shows up in New York where Margaret is

clearing out her office. In front of everyone, he asks her to marry him. She confesses she is more comfortable in life alone. He won’t let her take the easy way out. She’s willing to take the chance.

Anti-climax – They kiss in front of everyone.

The story is brought full circle when she accepts his honest and heartfelt proposal.

Here is where the Romance promise comes into play: The heroine reaches the end of the story on higher ground than where she first started, and she has found her soul mate along the way.

Though there is a structured process by which all good stories are told, each story is as

individual as the hero and heroine’s personalities. I reiterate – there isn’t a formula for

writing romance.

A well-written romance will clutch your heart, make you laugh or cry (hopefully both)

and leave you with a good feeling. That feeling is called hope, and hope is a hot

commodity these days!

Lynne Marshall has a new romance novel out...

HER PERFECT PROPOSAL 

WRITING HER OWN HAPPY ENDING?

Journalist Lilly Matsuda just writes headlines; she doesn't make them. That is, until she runs afoul of Gunnar Norling while on assignment in the tiny town of Heartlandia. The handsome policeman intrigues more than Lilly's investigative senses…but she isn't going to let Gunnar's megawatt smile or smoldering good looks melt her heart.

Gunnar isn't a fan of people snooping around Heartlandia. He's been sworn to secrecy about the town's mysterious past, and he refuses to compromise that for anyone…even beautiful Lilly, who's hot on the story's trail. Besides, she's not going to stick around forever, and Gunnar refuses to let his heart get trampled on—unless Lilly decides to put love first!

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