Cage Escape Quest Dragons Home

Image by Gerhard G. from Pixabay

Cage

Escape

Quest

Dragons

Home

This is the “Inverted C.”

I learned this basic story structure about twenty years ago during a 9-month Writers Workshop at the University of Washington in Seattle.

I really, truly desperately wanted to become a novelist, and I had no idea how to get started.

Being a voracious reader of novels did not make me adept at writing them.

The Inverted C is very similar to the Joseph Campbell’s narrative structure that is known as the Hero’s Journey.

I like the Inverted C because it is simple and flexible.

However, if anybody struggles with a Quest cursed with a sagging middle, the Hero’s Journey would help to flesh out the meat of the story.

The Inverted C is perfect for beginners.

Over the years, I’ve shared this in 5-10 minutes with friends who were natural writers, but didn’t know what to do when it came to structuring a story.

When it comes to the Inverted C:

1. The arc of the entire novel is to fit the curve of the Inverted C;

2. Every chapter is to be structured on the Inverted C;

3. Every character should have an inverted C storyline, even the minor players.

For the purposes of simplicity, I’ll stick with the protagonist.

Cage:  This is where the Protagonist begins.

The Cage could be attractive, the protagonist a Lucky Dude who has everything – beautiful and loving wife/girlfriend (or both), exciting career, beautiful home, Master of the Universe status, etc.

Or the cage could be the prison of misery. A Wretched Dude has a broken spirit, broken bank, addiction, depression, despair, etc.

Escape:  Enter the Intruder and the Protagonist leaves the Cage.

The Intruder can be a friend or a foe. A murderer could kill the Lucky Dude’s beautiful wife/girlfriend (or both), and the character is now kicked out of his Cage of a wonderful life.

Or Wretched Dude could be visited by an angel or a demon (or both) and be challenged to change, heal, grow, or perish. Thus Wretched Dude leaves his miserable life to start the Quest.

Quest: What does Protagonist want?

What does Protagonist yearn for?

No Longer Lucky Dude wants vengeance for his dead and beautiful wife/girlfriend (or both). So he has to find the killer, find why the killer chose him and his loved ones, figure out the best revenge for killer, and meet all kinds of characters along the way, one of whom is a Comely Lady Cop.

Wretched But Wanting a Better Life Dude yearns for wholeness, healing, abundance, and redemption. Wretched Dude is in a battle against himself and his inner demons that lead him to make such bad decisions. He still meets friends and foes along the way, those who would help him grow and heal, and those who would keep him stuck, addicted, and toxic. These adventures and journeys make up the bulk of the novel story.

Dragons: The moment of truth.

Challenges/confrontations lead to the Crucial Choice.

Not Lucky Dude finds the killer of his wife/girlfriend (or both), and they battle. He has his chance to torture and kill the killer, and avenge her death (or their deaths). But he has met the Comely Lady Cop is on his tail, knowing that he is on the killer’s tail. Does he let Comely Lady Cop bring killer to justice or does he take it in his own hands?

Not So Wretched Dude has conquered his addictions and is feeling renewed hope in life. He goes to a party to celebrate his acceptance into school, but there are cocaine and a Hooker there. The Hooker’s Pimp is a dealer and it is her job to get Not So Wretched Dude back into his addictions. She pressures him to snort and swallow. Wretched Dude feels an uprising of his self-loathing and takes that silver straw to snort. But then he thinks of all he could have ahead of him. Does he give in to habit and the temptation of his weaknesses, or does he choose redemption and the unknown of a sweeter life?

Home: The destination at the end of the Quest.

Back to the original Cage, on to an open wide Vista, or descending into a deeper and darker Cage.

Has the protagonist changed? Or did the protagonist remain the same?

What did the protagonist learn? Did the protagonist find liberation or did the protagonist die?

Home can be anything from a happy ending to the abyss of despair to emptiness.

Lucky Dude could become Transcendent Dude if he forgives killer enough and chooses a second chance at joy and love with Comely Lady Cop. Or Lucky Dude could become Convict Dude in the Cage of prison by killing killer and getting caught by Comely Lady Cop who lives by her Cop-ly duties even with a man she’s fallen in love with.

Wretched Dude could become Healer Dude if he says no to cocaine and the Hooker, goes on to school, and becomes a therapist. Or Wretched Dude could become Homeless Dude because he succumbs, and goes down the spiral until he loses absolutely everything.

If every chapter and every character has the story curved on an Inverted C, and you’re golden.

This works for short stories, novellas, plays, screenplays, novels, and it would probably work well with poems too.

This is a structure, not a formula.

And it is ancient.

Myths and fairy tales are structured along the Inverted C.

Even Pulp Fiction was told along the Inverted C. Every character in that crazy movie had an Inverted C storyline that was spliced up and rearranged.

Hope this helps. Thank you for reading and happy writing!

Running HOT and COLD

Image by Jonny Lindner from Pixabay

Submerge.

Can you feel it?

Does the tingle flush heat tickle thousands of teases along your flesh?

Yes?

Good.

Now come up for air. Face to the sky, breathe and hold space until warmth becomes hot, so hot. The heat inside rises above your usual climate.

Time to get cold.

The frigid air startles when you come out of the hot soak.

You know that’s nothing as you rush to the plunge that makes you shriek.

You force yourself to go under.

Only your face comes free.

This plunge is cold, so cold.

Your breath comes in short gasps and the freeze holds you hostage.

You count quickly and hope time will pass swiftly.

Then something shifts.

You stop fighting it.

You stop hating it.

Cold becomes comfortable.

The chill is now a thrill.

Your mind floats to the ethers and expands to infinity.

You could stay there in stillness forever, you think.

Then the chill hints of kill, well not really kill, but the cold has penetrated you.

It’s time to get warm.

The air affects you not as you run back to the hot.

Submerge again.

So the tingle flush heat tickles thousands of teases along your skin, more vivid, more intense.

You savor that warmth flooding your bones through your flesh.

You breathe slowly and wait for the heat to become hot, so hot…

Doesn’t that sound fabulous?

Soaking hot and plunging cold is even better when you actually do it.

I learned about this incredible practice at Hippie Hot Springs, one of my favorite places in the whole wide world.

At Hippie Hot Springs, all your needs are met through no exertion on your part. There are 3 meals a day served at the same time every day. Food is served buffet style. When you’re finished, you drop your dirty utensils in the appropriate bins after dumping your leftovers in the compost.

And that’s it. Besides keeping your cabin tidy, there are no chores, leaving you free to soak, sauna, and show up on time to eat.

But the quartet of pools with increasing temperatures, with a cold plunge at the end of the deck are high on my priorities. The hottest pool can get up to 112°F or as low as 106°F. Most of the time, the HOT pool hovers between 108°-110°F.

The cold plunge is a small wooden tub and the temperature varies. The water is not freezing, but after heating up in the HOT pool, it sure feels like it.

This is not for the faint of heart. But if you want to clear your lymph and purge the ICK of life out of you, go at least 7 rounds between the HOT and COLD.

The recommended times vary, but it comes down to 2:1 ratio of hot to cold, or half the time you spend in the hot, spend in the cold.

It sounds insane to deliberately mess with your body temperature like that, doesn’t it? But this is incredibly good for you.

Dilating and constricting your blood vessels is amazing for the circulation of your blood and your lymphatic fluid.

Our lymphatic system, which removes bacteria and other foreign invaders our bodies don’t need, plays a vital role in our immunity. Yet lymph doesn’t have the strength of the heart behind it, thus moves at a slug’s pace on its own. Exercise moves lymphatic fluid to the nodes.

And so does running hot and cold.

Even though I know how healthy and euphoric this is, this practice never ceases to daunt me. I cringe every time.

I’ve been known to do a couple of partial rounds to warm up before going into the official 7 rounds. You can break down the time however you like, but I’m fond of 2 minutes of hot to 1 minute of cold.

This is approximate, because I’m hardly working with a timer. I’m counting in my head. But the bottom line is to stay in each temperature as long as you can until you feel uncomfortable.

It’s hard to believe.

But once I get used to it, I find myself CRAVING the COLD.

I even move my limbs so that there isn’t a part of me that isn’t chilled. The bliss of that moment when the freeze becomes pleasurable is impossible to truly describe.

Sometimes I stay longer than the allotted time until the cold starts to hurt.

Then it’s time to get back in the HOT. Every time the heat rushes in, my skin comes alive in a whole new way.

By the way, don’t forget to stay hydrated. That is really, really important.

Then it’s back to the COLD.

If you want to go more than 7 rounds, go for it. Cautiously, of course.

This isn’t just good for the body. You are also creating an altered state of consciousness with this practice.

It is an ultimate natural high. The more rounds you take on, the deeper the dive. I’ve reached the edge of delirium more than once.

Then the bell rang and it was time to eat.

Don’t ignore that call. Eating and drinking is good after doing something like this.

But can you imagine feeling depressed, angry, anxious, hopeless, sad, or lonely after a practice of running HOT and COLD?

For me, that isn’t possible.

Physically, I feel so alive every time I do this. And mentally, I’m so deep in the peace, there’s no room for anything else.

This also works with sauna and steam.

So give HOT and COLD a try. You’ll feel incredible.

Creative Fantasy Writing Prompts Online

In one of my earlier blog posts, My Top 10 Tricks for Writing Inspiration, I mentioned that a good way to quickly become inspired is to look at writing prompts online. I linked my Pinterest account where I already have a collection of inspiring writing prompts (which you can find here), but in reality, there are so many more quality Fantasy writing prompts out there online. That's why I wanted to make this post showcasing some of the better ones to make it easier for you. (Just like I did with my recent post: Need a Laugh? Here’s a List of Some Good Jokes) Plus, this long list will help ensure that you won't run out of new prompts once you've gone through all of the ones one website has to offer: (I put my favorite one first!)

Fantasy Writing Prompts - The Grimmoire

25 Fantasy Writing Prompts - Justin McLachlan

Free Creative Writing Prompts: Fantasy - Build Creative Writing Ideas.com

Creative Writing Prompts for Sci-Fi & Fantasy Lovers - Writing Forward

Science Fiction Story Ideas - Write Pop

And just in case that's not enough for you, here are some Fantasy Prompt Generators:

Seventh Sanctum Generator

Genre, Plot, & Story Prompt Generators - Spring Hole

Create a blurb for a fantasy - Plot Generator

Whether you're struggling from writer's block or just looking for something fun to pass the time, writing prompts can be a terrific resource. I hope you found this list helpful!