Rising Action

If you were to graph the plot of a conventional novel, it would appear as an upside-down check mark, rising gradually, peaking, then falling off abruptly. As the plot progresses, the action rises due to increased pressure on the character. This creates tension and suspense for the reader. This pressure builds to a point (the “peak” in the check mark) where the protagonist confronts the central conflict in the story and resolves it (or, in some cases, fails to resolve it.)

The sequence of events plays an important role in the structure of a plot. If the sequence does not give an impression of rising action and increasing suspense or danger, the plot will appear to be disjointed and illogical or, in other words, graphed like an upside-down question mark.

Benito Cereno, a novel by Herman Melville, is an excellent example of the classic use of rising action, also called “building action.” In the book, a British sea captain encounters a disabled ship populated chiefly by African slaves who claim that the crew was decimated by typhus. As the captain explores the ship and talks with the terrified skipper, Benito Cereno, he notices that all is not as it spears to be. Disturbing clues cause the captain (and the reader) to doubt the slaves’ story: Cereno is terrified of one of the slaves; a white sailor is wearing the remnants of an elegant shirt; some of the slaves start suddenly when the captain makes a sudden move; the figurehead is covered with a tarp. (We later learn that the figurehead has been replaced by a human skeleton, a victim of cannibalism.)

As the pressure mounts and the captain becomes more and more puzzled, the story reaches a climax when the captain at last realizes the truth: The ship has been overrun by the slaves. A skirmish ensues and the slaves are overpowered. A brief denouement describes the subsequent trial and Cereno’s death.

While the characters of the captain, the head slave and Benito Cereno are well drawn and compelling, the suspenseful plot line is at least as important as the yare to the effect of his story. The battle and denouement are almost afterthoughts, because the conflict has been resolved the moment the captain understands the situration.

It is important for the beginning writer to realize that a novel is dynamic and must rise in action, that is, increase in suspense. A static novel, where nothing of great conflict happens, or an episodic novel, in which incidents happen one after another in no particular order, will quickly fail to hold a readers interest. Events must build upon one another, step upon step, until you reach the “peak” of the action, and the pressure is so great that the conflict must be resolved.

The following exercise has been designed to help you find ways to construct your plot so that the action rises in the story.

Plot Exercise Three
Objective: To show how sequencing events affects conflict, suspense and the rise of action.

Part One
Below are the key events in the plot of a simple, conventional western story featuring a hero named Josh and his nemesis, Archer. As they appear here, the events are severely out of order. They do not make sense, are not chronological and do not logically build suspense. Rearrange these events so that they create a conflict, build suspense and rise in action.

1. Someone fires at Josh from a house but he escapes.
2. Josh shoots Archer, disabling him.
3. Josh discovers that Archer, whom he sent to jail years ago for robbing a stagecoach, has been released from jail.
4. Through a clever trick, Josh leads the sheriff and a deputy, who are pursuing him, to Archer’s hideout.
5. A guard is found murdered and the money he was guarding is gone.
6. Archer threatens the sheriff and deputy.
7. Incriminating evidence is found linking Josh to the guard’s murder.
8. Josh rides into Sundance, a town he has not visited in years.
9. The sheriff discovers large amounts of money hidden in Archer’s house.
10. Josh flees Sundance.

Part Two
Once the events are in order, choose two of the first five events and write each up in a short scene, no more than two pages for each event. Do the same for two of the last five events on your list. The purpose of this exercise is to show how action rises from one scene to the next. Note that Josh does not appear in all of these scenes.

Part Three
Archer is not seriously wounded at his hideout and manages to escape. List some ways in which he might seek to take revenge on Josh, thus increasing the conflict in the plot.

Part Four
Now take your own novel idea. List some ways in which you can increase the conflict. Put them in a logical order so that you build suspense.
If you are not working on a novel of your own, use the story hooks you created in Plot Exercise Two and see if you can come up with a list of events that build upon your initial conflict. Make sure you order your events in a logical manner that causes the action to rise.

Check back next week, when we explore “Conflict and Resolution,” from Writing Aerobics I. For more helpful tips and exercises, visit www.sterlinghouse-bookstore.com and check out:
Writing Aerobics I by C. Sterling and M. Davidson

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