Fun & Games
Most people are sadists.
Since some of you have written a book or two or more and some are writing one now or thinking of doing so, I’ve decided to write about the Fun & Games portion of your book. For those not familiar with the term, Fun & Games comes from Blake Snyders, Save the Cat book. Fun and Game occurs in the first half of a screenplay’s second act. If you’re writing a novel it’s well before the middle, somewhere between the twenty and fifty percent mark of your novel. This is where the action shifts to a “different world.” Your characters are now operating in an upside-down world. According to Erik Bork, a script consultant and writing coach, this is where the main character will try to confront their overall story problem goal. Props to reader A.R. Case for turning me on to Erik Bork’s website.
Fun & Games:
“It is the core and essence of the movie’s poster. It is where most of the trailer moments of the movie are found.” — Blake Snyder
We aren’t going to be super worried about progressing the story forward or moving the stakes higher, but there is going to be some fun. Don’t get confused by the title. It’s not called Fun & Games for the characters, it’s for the readers. This is not a place for your heroine and hero to have fun or be successful. Nothing will bore your readers faster than success. You need your characters to fail and fail miserably. Now I might get some pushback on this. I know there are people who might be writing upward arcs, if that is you, you know what you are doing; carry on, but eventually it can’t be all smooth sailing and great weather. My feelings are this: The biggest mistake you can make when you first start writing is to write a boring book that no one wants to read. Too much conflict is better than not enough.
I’ll admit it, I’m a sadist so I love writing this part of the book. I’m sure most readers are sadists too. Don’t believe me? Go to Goodreads and read some book reviews if you doubt me. Ever read any that sounded like this? This book is boring, don’t waste your time; Nothing happened to the characters; There needed to be more action; DNF; The book went on and on. It never went anywhere; Believe me things happened. Not just the things the readers wanted to happen. Readers want our characters to suffer, so give the reader what they want, torture them and do it well.
Understand it’s hard work. Maybe you’re a nice person. Pretend you’re not or write this part after you’ve had a bad day. Other tips: Pace yourself and pull out all the stops, you can always pull it back later. Put practicality aside and use your imagination.
Other advice from Blake Snyder: Save some of this juice for later in the story. You don’t have to crack the whip as badly here as you will after the midpoint in the Bad Guys Close In or All is Lost section, but you want your characters to realize that everything is going to be hard for them and it’s not going to be a cake walk. They are overmatched and outgunned. Could one or both be a “fish out of water?” Make sure they have many obstacles and they fail some.
Mr. Bork used the Legally Blonde movie as an example. In that movie the “Fun and Games” section consisted of Elle’s first ten days at Harvard Law. I’m sure you can remember it. She discovers her boyfriend, Warner is engaged to someone else, the someone else is smart and brunette too (imagine that?) has a large engagement ring, gets Elle kicked out of class and makes fun of her in front of her peers. The underlying theme—this is going to be hard and I’m not going to be able to do things my old way.
In the book I’m writing, my hero, a mobster is trying to become a legitimate businessperson to settle down with the heroine and have a real family. He applies to a bank for a substantial loan to build several restaurants and bars. This should not come easily for him. He’s not used to filling out paper work, asked about his prior educational and work experience and collateral. He’s never been rejected and when he is, how will he react to the smirking loan officer. He can’t break the man’s fingers and threaten him when he doesn’t get his way or will he?
My heroine, has just been hired as an assistant gallery manager. Even though she has the academic qualifications for the job, she is just getting back into the work force after a lengthy time off. She’s got some insecurity issues about her body. She’s helping install a new exhibit and backs into a pedestal with a two-thousand dollar piece of ceramics on it with her rear-end, knocking it over, with the gallery manager and the artist looking on. Fun for me to write, not so much fun for my character who already thinks her ass is too large.
The number one bit of advice, author Blake Snyder from Save the Cat gave is to meet reader’s expectations. This is where we first see the impossibility being explored. If I say my mobster wants to become a legitimate businessperson I can’t have him immediately be successful, nor can I have him immediately return to his old ways and do illegal things to finance the loan.
Like anything else, your fun and games section can’t go on forever. You have to move on, but it is the longest section of your book. Erik Bork mentions two things that he sees fail in scripts. I can imagine that novels would have the same issues:
Stories whose problems start too late. He’s not talking about the catalyst, he’s discussing not enough fun and games in the fun and games section and not occurring until after the fun and games section is over.
Things going too well for the characters in the Fun and Games section when they shouldn’t. Fun is for the audience not for the character.
I hope you have fun with the Fun and Games article. I will write about Blake’s book again. He gives so much good advice for writers. I do believe this is another classic for your arsenal.
Next week I’m going to discuss what makes a good hero, besides good abs, ha! If you have thoughts on this one, send them my way.
Have a great week. Start your engines for NaNoWriMo on Wednesday and good luck!