Part One: Sequences 1 through 4
In the first article, I talked about how I came up with the idea for the novel and the characters I created for it. I also showed how I used the plot frameworks from my book Urban Fantasy: How to Write Paranormal and Supernatural Thrillers (2023) to construct my plot. Here, I’m going to take a slightly different approach.
Back in 2017, I wrote and published a book called Plot Basics: Plot Your Novel or Screenplay in Eight Sequences. In it, I shared everything I’d learned about plotting, drawing on the eight-sequence plot model devised and taught by Frank Daniel and on bits and pieces from Syd Field’s screenplay plot ‘paradigm’ and on Christopher Vogler’s The Writer’s Journey, based on the research and theories of Joseph Campbell.
The model I presented in Plot Basics was a generic one, based more or less on a typical hero’s quest and on the ‘flawed hero’ story. It wasn’t an exploration of the plot structures in any particular genre – that was something I studied in my Genre Writer series of books later.
I’ve used the eight-sequence model for every novel I’ve written since then – a dozen or so of them in a variety of genres. I sometimes dip into Plot Basics to remind myself of what sorts of things should be happening at a particular point in a story, but I don’t slavishly follow the points I listed for each of the eight sequences.
When I came to write about how I wrote my urban fantasy novel The Vampire’s Kiss in 2023, I was curious to know how closely I had followed the plot model I’d set down six years earlier. Had I absorbed everything I’d learned back then and applied it to my plotting process? Having spent six years studying the plot structures of different genres – whodunits, thrillers, and romance – had my thoughts on plot structure evolved or changed? There was only one way to find out – I would compare the plot of my novel against the model in Plot Basics.
This is a detailed post-mortem of my novel The Vampire’s Skull, comparing it against the eight-sequence plot structure I explained in Plot Basics. If you haven’t read Plot Basics, you should still be able to gain some useful information here, I think. But if you haven’t read The Vampire’s Skull, it’s not going to make a lot of sense to you. This is, obviously, a shameful attempt by me to sell more copies of my novel. This article is also one whole plot spoiler from start to finish, giving away every plot turn and even giving away the ending. Don’t you hate it when people do that? Please read the novel first.
This is a long article, something like 16,000 words, so I’ve split it into two chunks. This one examines the first half of the novel, up the the midpoint, and the second one covers the rest of the plot. And it’s one of two articles I’ve written on how I wrote The Vampire’s Skull, you can find the other one here.
The Eight Sequences of The Vampire’s Skull
In the first article, I referred to the three-act structure of beginning, middle and end, and how Act I, the beginning, is about a quarter of a novel or screenplay’s length; Act II, the middle, is two quarters, and Act III, the end, is the final quarter. In Plot Basics (2017), I refer to Act I as Setting Up and Setting in Motion. In the eight-sequence model for plotting, Act I consists of the first two sequences – though as I said before, these sequences are not necessarily exactly one-eighth of the story.
Sequence 1: Set-Up, Foreshadowing & Challenge
As mentioned previously, I recycled the opening from my old screenplay, turning Theo into a thief who escapes from prison to prove himself innocent of murdering the vampire Vadim Fredek. Frankie is sceptical of his claim of innocence. Why? Because she witnessed Theo putting bullets into the vampire’s chest. No one could survive that, not even a vampire. But Theo claims Fredek escaped from the morgue and is now walking around, whole and dangerous. I hoped this was enough of a hook to get readers interested in the story.
My first thought was that the vampire Theo shot would be the vampire that Frankie has a relationship with – the character that eventually became Roca. But then I had the idea of Frankie being attacked by a hideous vampire who had returned from the dead and Vadim Fredek was born.
After I decided that ‘the Vessel’ was a skull, everything else started to fall into place. The idea of resurrecting an ancient vampire came from the old Hammer horror movie Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966) – or rather, from a comic book adaptation of it.
As in my original story idea, Mr. Big – who became Oskar Strabö – hires Frankie to recover the skull, neglecting to tell her that it wasn’t actually stolen from him. Sneaky folks, vampires.
In Plot Basics, I list twelve functions that sequence one should fulfil. These functions don’t have to occur in the order listed, though some have to come before others, and this is true for functions I list in later sequences. I thought it might be useful to see how the opening of The Vampire’s Skull fulfils those functions. If in fact, it does – when writing the novel, I didn’t check things against this list. Hopefully, having studied the eight-sequence model for so long, I’ve absorbed enough that I didn’t need a checklist. Let’s see how I got on.
1. Vivid Opening Image or Paragraph.
I begin with Frankie introducing herself, hopefully in a way that a reader will find interesting. She’s a female private detective and she’s approaching a bar called the Green Man, which I try to make intriguing. I want the reader to be asking ‘What is this place?’ and ‘Why is she going there?’ It’s not for me to say whether I successfully made this vivid, but I tried.
2. The Hook: Grab Me or Seduce Me
I started off with intrigue, the Green Man and its non-human bartender, and this falls under the ‘seduction’ heading, I think. I’m drawing the reader in gently. Then I grab them by having Frankie being threatened by a man she helped put in prison. Later I add another hook by having this opening threat be a misunderstanding and Theo, the escaped prisoner, actually wants to hire her. I think my story succeeds on the narrative hook front.
3. The Opening Scene: Action or Slow Build
As mentioned above, I had a slow build to the action and then moved back to intrigue when Theo asks Frankie to help prove him innocent of murder.
4. Choosing the Right Type of Opening Scene
Is my opening scene right for an urban fantasy story? Does it meet reader expectations for the genre? I’m going to say yes, but only just. In my original idea, I had the protagonist appear and start fighting vampires, which was definitely an urban fantasy opening scene. In the story as I finally wrote it, I had to introduce the Beast-like bartender and references to a vampire owning the bar in order to establish that this is an urban fantasy and not simply a straight private eye story. I like my opening, but can only give myself five or six out of ten for it being genre-appropriate.
5. Genre
See above. Yes, I just about manage to show the reader that I’m giving them an urban fantasy.
6. Setting
Do I establish my setting – a ‘warped version of Nottingham,’ as I referred to it previously? I think so – the Green Man and its surroundings show that I’m writing an urban fantasy set in an English city. I build on this later with more specific setting references.
7. Introduce the Hero
Yep, she’s narrating the story in the first person and she’s there from page one, line one. I think I managed to capture her personality in the narration, dialogue, and action of that first chapter.
8. Theme
What are the themes of my urban fantasy story? Justice and the battle of good versus evil are standard for the genre. I think I give strong hints that that is where my story is going. Another urban fantasy theme is that sometimes the people are more monstrous than the monsters. Having a sympathetic non-human bartender and a human escaped convict coming for Frankie establishes that. I’m giving readers what they’d expect.
9. The Hero’s Internal Problem or ‘Lack’
One of the ways to create a protagonist that readers will identify with is to have some issue or situation in their lives which is causing them to feel dissatisfaction. By choosing an ‘underdog’ for my hero and making her a ‘down-at-heel’ private eye, I’m trying to achieve that. From the opening paragraphs, we see that Frankie is worried that she’s not a ‘proper’ private detective. And a little later we learn that she’s worried about the fact that she’s turned thirty and she’s still single. These internal factors show the reader that my character has the potential for character growth during my novel (or across a series), which adds an additional level of interest. There’s also a hint that a romance subplot is possible.
10. Foreshadowing – Coming Soon: Conflict!
Does the opening of my story show the reader that there is potential for interesting things to come? Can they begin to see that there is going to be some action? I begin with misdirection, making the reader think Frankie is in danger from Theo. Then I switch things around by having Theo become a potential client. When he says, ‘Help prove me innocent of murder,’ he sets up a situation that promises things will happen. It raises questions such as, Is Theo really innocent? If Vadim Fredek is really alive, what’s he up to? And there’s a possibility that Theo and Frankie could become romantically involved. Frankie also misleads her detective friend, Matt Holden, by not telling him Theo has contacted her. There’s potential trouble in this. Particularly if Frankie and Matt could also have a romantic relationship.
11. Opposition: The Antagonist
Do my opening chapters contain evidence that my protagonist will face a worthy antagonist? I think so, but it is implied rather than stated. This is pretty common in a private-eye story where the hero doesn’t know who he or she is up against at the beginning. Part of their job is to discover who the antagonist is. As I said, I start with misdirection by making it look like Theo is an antagonist. Then I have Theo tell Frankie about Vadim Fredek, the ‘murdered’ vampire who rose from the dead. Fredek is essentially a henchman of the kind we see in those old James Bond movies, though we don’t know that yet. We only know at this point that Theo was sent to prison for a murder that he (possibly) didn’t commit. If he’s lying, then potentially he’s an antagonist. Again, a client who lies is another traditional element in a private eye story.
I have a promise of antagonism, but it is more of a hint than a statement so I can’t give myself full marks.
12. The Challenge, Inciting Incident, or ‘Call to Adventure’
Is Frankie issued a challenge or provided with an opportunity to act? Yes, when Theo asks her to help prove him innocent.
Whew! When I began writing this, I didn’t know if the first couple of chapters of The Vampire’s Skull did fulfil the criteria I’d set down in Plot Basics. I’m relieved that indeed they do, more or less. You’d almost think I know what I’m doing…
Do I feel confident that the second sequence of my story meets all of the criteria I set down for Sequence 2? Maybe. Let’s give it a go. If things start to look bad, I can always delete it.
Sequence 2: Responding to the Challenge
I listed sixteen separate functions for the second sequence of a story, but some of these are optional as not every story in every genre needs them. If that sounds like I’m covering my back before I start, you’re right. I’m going to tackle a few of these out of sequence and combine them because they’re closely related.
1. Initial Reaction to the Challenge – 3. Refusal of the Call: The Reluctant Hero – 6. Consequences of the Refusal – 7. Pressure to Accept the Challenge – 12. Decision: Accepting the Call
After Theo asks Frankie to help him, what is her reaction? She’s not sure whether she believes he’s innocent. And she’s not sure if Vadim Fredek really did get up and walk out of the morgue. But when she learns from her detective friend Matt Holden that Fredek’s corpse may have gone missing, she thinks Theo could be telling the truth. This is enough for her to keep information from the police. She doesn’t tell Matt that Theo, the escaped prisoner, is in her office.
In many genre stories, including some urban fantasy novels, the challenge or ‘call to adventure’ given to the protagonist is so daunting that initially, they don’t want to accept it. They need time to think about it and there is usually some other plot incident that pushes or pulls them into taking on the challenge. In the original Star Wars movie (which I refuse to call A New Hope), Luke Skywalker is told he could be a Jedi knight, but he refuses to accept this until [spoiler alert] his aunt and uncle are killed by stormtroopers.
Private detectives and other investigators found in urban fantasy stories take on new challenges for a living. It is their job. So ‘refusing the call’ tends to be less of an issue. Though sometimes they’re offered a job by a client they don’t want to work with or the job crosses some moral boundary that they’re not prepared to cross.
By the time she’s finished her phone call with Matt Holden, Frankie has overcome her reluctance to accept the ‘call to adventure.’ It’s not a major plot point in the story. It exists in my story, but I don’t make a big thing of it. Since she doesn’t really refuse the call, there are no consequences to consider – though she does worry that Theo might hit her with a baseball bat if she doesn’t accept his case.
When it comes to the Frankie-Roca romance subplot, Frankie is reluctant to accept the opportunity it presents for her. And so is he.
2. The Hero’s Greatest Fear?
The reason I listed this as function two was that in stories where the hero does refuse the call, their refusal is often related to something they fear. Typically, some event earlier in their lives resulted in emotional or psychic trauma and they are afraid of any situation that is similar to that event or which reminds them of it. I discuss this at some length in my book Character Creation (2018).
Even though Frankie Rowan doesn’t make an issue of accepting the call, she does have fears which influence her attitude to life and her behaviour. They influence the choices she makes. Like many urban fantasy heroes, Frankie is an example of the Crusader personality archetype. A Crusader is a ‘hybrid’ personality type with the Thinker and Warrior aspects of their personality being strong and the Carer aspect being relatively weak. They tend not to be very good at expressing emotions and making commitments in relationships. They can be cynical, especially if they have been hurt in relationships in the past. Crusaders also tend to have strong moral values and high standards for their own behaviour and what they expect of others. Again, I cover this in detail in Character Creation.
A Crusader’s greatest fear is that they are not good enough. Not good enough to live up to their own high standards and not good enough to be worthy of another person’s love. They fear being seen as a failure or a hypocrite. We see that in Frankie’s fear that she’s not a ‘proper’ private detective and when she says to Theo that he should consider going to the police rather than hiring her.
4. Backstory
This comes in at number four because it is related to a character’s greatest fear. Often, we get some hint – but not yet the full story – of the traumatic circumstances that caused a character’s greatest fear. In Frankie’s case, we learn that she’s somewhat cynical about love because of a failed relationship. This is pretty common for a private eye. I don’t reveal any details, but I might choose to say more about Frankie’s ex in a future story.
I also had it in the back of my mind that Frankie was an example of the ‘Daughter’ female hero archetype. This is something I discuss in a chapter in Urban Fantasy (2023). A Daughter’s personality tends to be deeply affected by her relationship with her biological father or a father figure. I don’t make much of this in my story, though I do say that Frankie’s father ‘went away’ and at another point, she says it must be nice to have a parent who takes an interest in your life. Again, the potential is there for me to expand on this.
5. Subplots: The B-story & Other Secondary Plotlines
Having set up the main plot in the first sequence – Theo hiring Frankie – we set up any subplots in the second. This could potentially include a romantic subplot.
In The Vampire’s Skull, ‘refusing the challenge’ is not a significant feature of the plot, so four of the potential functions of Sequence 2 are not relevant. Subplots, though, play a major role and that is what I concentrate on.
The most significant subplot is Frankie’s second case, being hired by the vampire Oskar Strabö to find the missing skull. Initially, as I’ve said, this second case is thought to be entirely separate from Theo’s case. And client confidentiality prevents Frankie from saying anything that might lead Theo to tell her that he’s connected in any way to the skull. The fact that he’s a thief will lead many readers to figure this link out before Frankie does. This is not a weakness in the story: readers like to feel that they’re ahead of the on-screen investigator.
Another important subplot is Theo’s relationship with his former cellmate, Maxim Jarrett, who escaped at the same time. He will later be revealed as the leader of the Brotherhood of the Immortal One. But I introduce him only in passing in sequence one and make other minor references to him in sequence two.
A romantic subplot between Frankie and the vampire bodyguard Roca doesn’t go very far in this novel, it would develop over several novels, but it gets introduced in Sequence 2. Frankie is intrigued by and attracted to him.
8. Lock-in – Why Doesn’t the Hero Run Away?
If you’re going to get your main character into all sorts of danger and unpleasant situations, you need a reason for them to stick with it and not walk away. This is especially true in a romance, particularly an enemies-to-lovers romance, where you need to keep your two characters together when things get tough. With a private detective, this is often a combination of professionalism (you don’t give up on a client with a problem), tenacity (not showing weakness when the going gets tough), and stubbornness (not letting other people tell you what to do. Or not do). A lock-in is more important in a story where a character reluctantly accepts the call to adventure.
In The Vampire’s Skull, the lock-in sort of occurs when Vadim Fredek attacks Frankie. This could be an incident that causes a hero to run for the hills, but it makes Frankie more determined to continue her investigation. Seeing him proves to her that Theo has told her the truth. She becomes more determined to help him.
9. Introduce Other Major Characters
As a rule of thumb, any character that you will need in the second half of your story should be introduced before the midpoint of your story, i.e. in the first four sequences. Even if your villain doesn’t appear on stage until Act III, the reader must be aware of his existence – perhaps through the consequences of his actions – before the middle of the story. In a whodunit, we don’t know the name of the murderer until Sequence 7 or even Sequence 8, but that person has been hidden in plain sight since the early part of the story. Similarly, a James Bond villain may not be seen onscreen until relatively late in the movie, but we see the actions of his henchmen from almost the beginning.
Similarly, any significant object you want to use in the second half of your story should be introduced in the first half. Again, it may be hidden in plain sight. You might not call attention to it, but when you refer to it later in the story, the reader remembers it. If you don’t ‘plant’ or foreshadow things in this way, if you suddenly have your hero pull a magic wand out of her pocket, it’s going to look like cheating. This is why mystery writers bury significant clues in a list of trivial items and why James Bond has a scene early on where Q gives him a super-duper car and all sorts of other neat gadgets.
I could have had Theo’s mum play a much larger role in the climax of my story because I mentioned her earlier. I even set up the fact that she is probably a criminal. At the time, this was just a throwaway comment Theo makes – his mum knows how to lose a police tail – but it inspired me to do something different with her character later.
As I’m writing this, I’m wondering when I first introduced Emil Pendaran as the second vampire Mr. Big. I know he’s in the first half of the story, but is he referenced in Sequence 2? He was a relatively late addition during the writing process. If I didn’t hint at his existence in Sequence 2, I should have gone back and put something in there. (I just checked, he’s introduced before the midpoint, so I got it right – more by accident than judgment, but the reader will never know that).
10. Stakes – A Potential Disaster
What is at stake for the protagonist and for other characters in the story? And what is the worst thing that can possibly happen if the protagonist fails in her mission? In an urban fantasy, we typically need to think about physical danger coming from external situations and emotional harm arising out of danger to relationships. Both kinds of stakes will typically be raised at various points in a story. The hero will find herself in situations where there is more and more physical jeopardy. And developing relationships – friendships and romance – means that other people become more important to the hero and the threat of harm coming to them harder to bear.
In a private-eye novel, there is also a risk of the detective not succeeding in his or her investigation. Professional failure. There is also typically danger as a result of people trying to scare them off and make them give up the case. There is a risk to the client, who the detective may come to care about. In Theo’s case, there is a risk of him being sent back to prison or – worse – being killed by the vampire he shot.
Later in the story, there is danger to other people – Theo’s mum and his nan – and Frankie feels an obligation to protect them. And her developing relationship with Roca means that she starts to worry about his safety. When an attempt is made on Oskar Strabö’s life, she is even concerned for his safety.
Increasing the stakes in a story means there are more people to worry about and that developing relationships means that one or more characters become increasingly important to the hero.
In terms of external stakes, I have the potential for a gang war between the two groups of vampires. And there is a danger that a magic ritual will bring the powerful vampire sorcerer back to walk the earth and cause all sorts of mayhem if he creates a new vampire ‘master race.’ I think I have the ‘What’s at stake?’ question answered.
13. The Hero’s Goal
What is the hero trying to achieve? This needs to be something specific and tangible. The reader should be able to see what success and failure look like. ‘Preventing the end of the world’ is too vague. How is a threat to human existence symbolised? In my story, the clue is in the title. The Vampire’s Skull. It is what Alfred Hitchcock called a MacGuffin. An object given significance by the circumstances of the story. The Maltese Falcon is a MacGuffin. The Death Star plans in Star Wars are a MacGuffin. Success is visible when the hero has the MacGuffin. Failure is visible when the villain has it.
When we come to the hero’s ‘darkest hour,’ usually towards the end of Sequence 6 or in Sequence 7, we see failure because at this point the MacGuffin is usually taken by the villain.
14. The Major Dramatic Question
In every scene in a story, you plant a question in the head of a reader: How will this turn out? What will happen? A novel or movie’s major dramatic question is usually, Will the hero achieve his or her goal? Will the rebels get the Death Star plans and use them to blow it up before it destroys their planet? Will the heroine find permanent happiness with the tall, dark and handsome hero? Will Frankie stop the criminal conspiracy involving the skull and prove Theo innocent?
It’s this big question that keeps a reader turning the pages. They want to find out what happens in the end. You create suspense by delaying this outcome and by making a successful outcome seem more and more unlikely.
To have a major dramatic question (MDQ) that works, you need your hero’s goal to be specific and tangible. You need your reader to see that this action brings your hero closer to success but, oh no, that action makes success less likely.
15. Crossing the Threshold
This is a concept from Christopher Vogler’s book The Writer’s Journey, based on Joseph Campbell’s theory of the monomyth. When a hero finally accepts the challenge, it is a significant moment. It is symbolised by the hero stepping through a doorway or gateway – crossing a threshold – and stepping into a ‘strange new world.’ Often the hero has to prove his commitment and show he has the right stuff by facing and overcoming a threshold guardian. Someone stands in his way, physically or metaphorically, and he must get past them so he can cross the threshold and enter the new world where his story adventure will take place.
As I said above, ‘refusing the call’ isn’t usually a major plot element in private-eye and urban fantasy stories featuring an investigator hero. The challenge is accepted at the end of Sequence 1 or early in the second sequence. This means that our hero crossed the threshold earlier than in some other genre stories. And she faces the ‘threshold guardian’ earlier too.
In The Vampire’s Skull, Vadim Fredek functions as a threshold guardian. When Frankie faces him and (sort of) defeats him, she crosses into a world she didn’t know before. She knew of the existence of vampires, but she was never really part of their world. Now she’s been attacked by one, is working for one, and is finding herself attracted to one. Her life will never be the same again. Her ‘strange new world’ isn’t a new physical place – though in some stories it will be – Frankie is looking at the world around her from a new perspective. She is seeing an ‘underworld’ that she didn’t know existed.
16. Major Turning Point
A ‘turning point’ in a story is an event that changes things and moves the story in a new direction, giving it new impetus. There are many of these during the course of a story. They are what keep a reader interested. There is likely to be one – or perhaps more than one – in each scene. If a scene doesn’t add something important to a story, what is it doing there?
There is usually a significant turning point at or near the end of each of the eight sequences – it turns the story, setting up the situation that will be explored in the next sequence. The challenge, inciting incident, or ‘call to adventure’ at the end of Sequence 1 is an example.
The end of Sequence 2 is the end of Act I, the end of the beginning. The turning point here is a major turning point because it sets up the situation for Act II, the middle. There is another major turning point at the end of Act II (the end of Sequence 7) that paves the way for Act III. There is another significant point at the end of Sequence 4, the midpoint of Act II and the midpoint of the story as a whole, though this may be somewhat different – it is often a point at which the hero realises or discovers something significant. More on this later.
What is the event that takes our story from Act I – Setting Up and Setting in Motion – and moves it into Act II? It needs to be something that raises the stakes and moves the story forward. In a story where the hero refuses the call to adventure, the major turning point is usually the moment when he or she finally accepts the challenge. That doesn’t really apply in The Vampire’s Skull. It is also the point at which the major dramatic question is asked. In Frankie’s case, then, the major turning point occurs when she agrees to locate the skull. This commits her to a quest that will take up the rest of the story.
Act II of the novel is all about Frankie’s attempts to obtain the skull. She’s sidelined a couple of times, but that’s what the story is about. And in her darkest hour, at the end of Act II, she seems to have failed when the skull falls into the hands of the villain. This failure is the major turning point (Pinch Point II) at the end of Sequence 7. It sets up Act III, which is all about what she does now that she seems to have failed in her quest.
That brings us to the end of Sequence 2 and the end of Act I. We are a quarter of the way through The Vampire’s Skull. More or less. Often, sequences in the first half of a story are a bit longer than those in the second. Setting up a story takes more time and more words. After the midpoint, action tends to move more quickly, and sequences may be shorter. Shall we cross the threshold into Act II?
Sequence 3: Responding to the ‘Strange New World’
In Plot Basics (2017), I listed fourteen functions that this part of a story could or should fulfil. Again, some are optional and not necessary for all genres. And they don’t necessarily occur in the exact order I list them. And some of these functions will occur more than once.
When I wrote Plot Basics, I explained a hero’s attempt to achieve their goal in terms of three attempts – the first two fail and make the hero’s situation fail, and then a third last-ditch attempt brings them success.
I’m certain that I didn’t use this ‘three attempts’ model when I wrote The Vampire’s Skull, so it’s going to be interesting to see the extent to which what I wrote fits the items I listed for Sequence 3. Let’s find out. Oh, and if you’re growing weary of these long lists of plot functions, some of the later ones only have half a dozen functions. Or less.
1. First Test: The Threshold Guardian
I mentioned this in Sequence 2 because it is closely associated with ‘crossing the threshold.’ The hero steps into a strange new world and is immediately challenged to prove that he or she belongs there. They have to demonstrate that they’ve got what it takes to continue with their quest.
As I said above, in The Vampire’s Skull, Frankie accepts the challenge in Sequence 2, where she also crosses a threshold and faces Vadim Fredek as her threshold guardian.
There’s nothing to stop you from having a second threshold and a second guardian. You could, for example, have your hero face one guardian and enter a criminal and/or supernatural underworld. And then face another guardian before crossing into the villain’s secret base or inner sanctum. You see that in the old James Bond movies. Or you could have a threshold and guard for each of your investigator’s two cases, with maybe a third after she discovers the two are closely related.
2. First Impressions of the ‘New World’
Having chosen to accept the challenge or take on the quest or mission, the hero passes into a ‘strange new world.’ Think of it being like Alice dropping down the rabbit hole into Wonderland. What are the hero’s immediate impressions of this place? What do they see, hear, smell, touch and/or taste, and what do they think of it? How do they physically respond to it?
Frankie Rowan’s experience of the world of vampires begins in Chapter 5 of the story. She goes to meet a potential client at the Green Man pub, not suspecting that he will be a vampire. Frankie is aware of the existence of vampires. As a teenager, she had some romantic notions about them, and in college, she dated one briefly. However, she doesn’t have in-depth knowledge about vampires and their culture. Like most people, what she knows about vampires comes from literature and movies. She will embark on a journey of discovery, finding out what is truth and what is urban legend.
She has a couple of physical encounters with vampires in the early part of the novel. When she accidentally touches Roca’s hand, she feels a kind of energy she’s never encountered before. And then the attack by Vadim Fredek is a much more visceral experience.
3. Initial (Emotional) Reaction
What emotional response does the hero have to the new world? How does it affect them? As a Crusader hero, a personality with strong Thinker and Warrior elements but lacking the Carer aspect, Frankie Rowan isn’t good at expressing feelings and emotions. She enjoys flirting with Theo and the detective Matt Holden, but she’s wary of a committed relationship. And although Roca fits her ideal mean and moody, tall, dark and handsome image of a vampire, she doesn’t want to admit that she’s attracted to him. She overthinks things and doesn’t trust her emotions.
As a private eye, Frankie is aware of the criminal underworld and of the semi-secret world of supernatural creatures, though she doesn’t have a great deal of experience of either. While she is not as innocent or naïve as many ordinary humans, she still experiences fear when confronted by Fredek. And she’s aware that there is a lot she doesn’t know – and that her ignorance could get her killed.
4. The Hero as Outsider
As someone who has just physically or metaphorically entered a ‘new world,’ the protagonist is very much an outsider. They don’t belong in this place, they don’t know the people, and they don’t know the rules or conventions for proper behaviour in this environment. Think about your first day at a new school or first day in a new job. It’s that sort of situation.
I make it clear from the beginning of the story that Frankie suffers from ‘imposter syndrome’ – she worries that she’s not a ‘proper’ detective and that she might be found out. I think that’s something many readers can identify with. This is even before she takes on a couple of investigations that lead her into the world of vampires, ritual magic, and scary snake women.
5. Mistakes and Transgressions
Given that the protagonist doesn’t know the rules and conventions of the ‘new world’ they have entered, it is inevitable that they make mistakes. They might even break some pretty serious rules. They could unintentionally offend people and anger them. The risks can be great.
Frankie Rowan isn’t aware of how dangerous things can get in the world she has entered. When she asks Lenny Starrs to get information for her, she has no idea what the consequences might be for him. It costs him his life. She also attracts the attention of the vampire Vadim Fredek, who attacks her in an abandoned warehouse. She doesn’t know anything about vampire politics and yet soon finds herself between the two most powerful clans in England. One wrong step could spark a war between the clans. She can’t afford to make any more mistakes – she needs to learn fast.
6. Tests
Tests are a key part of any hero’s quest. The hero must prove themselves worthy of winning whatever goal symbolises success in the story. Some of these will be tests of character – is the hero a moral individual who deserves good things? Others will test skills and experience. Early in the story, the hero typically lacks experience and may lack some vital skills. When tested, they fail. During the course of the story, they gain experience and may learn new skills. When they face similar tests later, they can prove that they now have what it takes.
There should be points in a story where the hero doubts whether they can continue, they doubt whether they’re the right person for the job. Or quest. These doubts will be strongest after they have failed a particular challenge thrown at them.
The hero’s courage and tenacity are also tested. The opposition will try to scare them off or grind them down. The hero will have to prove that they don’t give up easily.
Facing Vadim Fredek is the first test Frankie faces. She learns that she’s not quick enough or strong enough to outfight a vampire. This proves to her – and the reader – just how dangerous things can get for her.
Tests continue throughout the story, being a way of demonstrating how far the hero has come – or not – to gaining the knowledge, skills, and experience necessary to complete their quest successfully. Some of the tests may also demonstrate how far a character has come along their character development arc.
7. Learning
If the hero wants to survive, they have got to learn quickly and adapt to the world they now find themselves in. They need to learn things that will help them deal with their immediate situation and things more generally which will help them operate more effectively in this ‘strange new world’ going forward.
Frankie Rowan’s actions are already well underway during the third sequence and most of what happens concerns new things she learns. Roca tells her about the vampire clans; Lily Lomax tells her about vampires; she learns there was a fire in the warehouse where she fought Fredek and a body has been found; she learns that Roca took photos and video of Fredek, and she learns that Theo stole the skull that she has been hired to locate. The whole sequence is about her discovering things, some of it relating just to the case and some of it expanding her knowledge of the supernatural world that she has stepped into.
8. Allies and Enemies
At the beginning of Sequence 3, we have the idea of the protagonist stepping into a ‘strange new world.’ Given that they are an outsider, they will have to discover who their allies might be and who their enemies are likely to be. Who can they trust and who will betray them or seek to harm them? This is a significant element in any thriller which involves some sort of criminal conspiracy.
A key theme in urban fantasy is that things are not always what they seem. Sometimes the ‘monsters’ are the good guys and the humans are the villains. Frankie trusts her old friend Lenny Starrs and comes to trust her new friend Lily Lomax. She doesn’t know whether she can trust Oskar Strabö. And early in the story, she has some doubts about both Theo and Roca. Vadim Fredek, who first appears onstage in Chapter 7, setting up Sequence 3, is a monster and very definitely an enemy.
9. Recruiting
In some stories, the hero has to recruit a team to help them complete their quest, and this can be a deliberate and/or formal process. In an urban fantasy, the hero is more likely to gather a group of friends and colleagues around her in a more casual way. Think of the ‘Scooby Gang’ in Buffy the Vampire Slayer or the people around Anita Blake – the vampires, the shapeshifters, Edward, Olaf and so on.
In The Vampire’s Skull, Frankie Rowan does have a group around her – Theo, Roca, Matt Holden, and she calls on the expertise of Lily Lomax who is a researcher on the paranormal.
10. Beginning of the B-Story Relationship
If it has not yet begun, a B-story relationship such as a romantic subplot or ‘buddy movie’ relationship will usually begin in the third sequence. Frankie Rowan meets Theo in Sequence 1 and Roca in Chapter 5, which is either the end of the first sequence or the beginning of the second. This is where Frankie and Roca touch and experience an odd connection. Sequence 3 (Chapter 8) is where the two of them begin interacting properly.
11. First Actions Towards the Goal
If a story protagonist has gone through the stages of refusing the call to adventure and only committed to their quest at the end of Sequence 2, the third sequence is where they begin taking action to try and achieve the goal they have chosen. Since Frankie Rowan doesn’t refuse the call, she begins taking action in Chapter 4, towards the end of Sequence One. The end of Sequence 2 and beginning of Sequence 3 (chapters seven and eight) are where Frankie encounters the vampire Vadim Fredek in the warehouse and her actions kick up a notch.
12. Planning the First Attempt: How to Be A Success
This is linked to the ‘first action’ discussed above. In Plot Basics I discuss this in terms of the basic stages of planning any action:
- Identify a desire or need
- Set a specific goal that you believe will bring about your desired outcome
- Create a plan containing the steps necessary to achieve your goal: stepping stones towards your ultimate destination
- Consider what resources will be necessary to carry out your plan: do you have all of the knowledge, skills, experience, equipment, people, etc.?
- Gain skills and equipment. Train your team. Obtain the resources identified as missing in step 4.
- Create a schedule for the individual steps or activities that make up your plan.
- Take the first step – do not procrastinate!
These are the stages you find in some form or other in most self-help books. And to some extent, these steps are what a private detective does when conducting an investigation. Each person they interview and each location they check out is a step towards the ultimate goal.
Again, this is linked to the ‘first actions’ in 10 and 11 above. We’ve already established that Frankie, like most private eyes, begins taking action almost immediately. In Chapter 4, she conducts her first interview – the first step in tackling Theo’s case.
13. Pinch Point I – ‘Page 45’
This is a concept from Syd Field’s plot ‘paradigm,’ originally presented in his book The Screenwriter’s Workbook. He said that in a typical 120-page screenplay for a two-hour movie, there would be a ‘story progression point’ at around page 45 and another at around page 75. He called these Pinch Point I and Pinch Point II. And he said that these two story points are often related.
In the eight-sequence model, Pinch Point I occurs a little before the end of Sequence 3 and Pinch Point II a little before the end of Sequence 5. Often you will find that the first one sets up something that ‘pays off’ at the second one. If you want something significant to happen in your story, using a set-up (or ‘plant’) that pays off later can give your plot symmetry and make it seem more like a unified whole. You can do it at other points in the plot, with the two ‘story progression points’ being equidistant from the midpoint.
These two points can also be used as significant moments in a thematic argument and/or as key moments along a character’s development arc.
I didn’t deliberately use ‘pinch points’ in The Vampire’s Skull, but I do try to use set-ups and plants which pay off later in the story. For example, Frankie learns about the Corpus in Chapter 11 and actually sees it in Chapter 20.
14. First Action of the First Attempt
Once more, this relates to a character who is a reluctant hero who only accepts the challenge at the end of Sequence 2. As mentioned above, I wrote Plot Basics around the idea that the protagonist of a story would make three attempts to achieve their goal, the first two failing and the final one being successful. What you sometimes find in a private detective story or a suspense thriller is that during the hero’s investigation, the villains make three attempts to prevent the hero from interfering with their criminal conspiracy.
In The Vampire’s Skull, Vadim Fredek’s attack on Frankie is the first attempt to prevent her from getting to the truth.
Sequence 4: First Attempt, First Failure & Consequences
In Plot Basics, I listed only six functions for this sequence. It is the part of the story that takes us up to the midpoint.
1. The First Attempt
Frankie Rowan’s first attempt to resolve Theo’s case is to ask Lenny Starrs to find out what he can about the vampire Vadim Fredek. She wants to know if Fredek is alive, and she thinks Lenny’s vampire friends will know.
This action takes place at the end of Sequence 1, not in Sequence 4. This is because Frankie is not a character who ‘refuses the call.’ She does learn about Lenny’s death in Sequence 4.
2. First Failure
Lenny doesn’t come back with news for Frankie. He doesn’t come back at all. And later she learns that he has been killed.
3. The Antagonist Counter-Attacks
Lenny asking questions about Vadim Fredek almost certainly tips the vampire off, prompting him to kill Lenny. Fredek then lures Frankie to the old warehouse building, intending to do away with her as well. This occurs at the end of Sequence 2 and the beginning of Sequence 2.
4. Consequences of the Failure
Lenny is murdered. Frankie is attacked and barely escapes.
5. Co-Protagonist/Team Confront Hero Over Failure
Nobody blames Frankie for Lenny’s death, though she does feel guilty and blames herself.
6. The Hero Denies There is a Problem
This story point relates to the protagonist’s character development arc. In a story about a flawed hero, the protagonist typically has some character flaw or weakness that is at least partly responsible for the failure in (2) above. This flaw is something they will need to overcome if they want to complete their quest successfully. I talk about the character flaw of the Crusader and their character arc in some depth in Character Creation (2018).
Other than inexperience, Frankie doesn’t have a flaw that plays a significant part in The Vampire’s Skull. When I develop her relationship with Roca – or maybe someone else! – in a future story, her character flaw will probably play a larger role. Her lack of self-confidence isn’t really responsible for Lenny’s death – it just makes her criticise herself even more. Frankie is not in denial about her own character flaw or weakness.
Midpoint
The midpoint of the story occurs at the end of Sequence 4 and/or at the beginning of Sequence 5. Typically, Sequence 5 features a reaction to what happens at the midpoint.
In thrillers, the midpoint is often where the protagonist finally discovers the true nature of the villain’s criminal conspiracy. They typically discover that things are a lot worse than they suspected. Sometimes the reader is aware of the villain’s plans before the hero discovers them at the midpoint.
While the midpoint can be dramatic and action-packed, it could also be a quieter moment where the hero discovers or realises something significant. Either way, the midpoint changes things drastically and makes the hero look at things in a new way, reassessing everything that has gone before.
Having said all that, I’m not exactly sure what the midpoint in The Vampire’s Skull is. In terms of word count, it occurs in Chapter 19. Often the ‘midpoint’ occurs slightly after the physical middle of a story, but it can also occur a little before. In Chapter 19, the three heroes are in the dungeon under the abbey and Frankie revives Roca with a kiss.
In Plot Basics, I listed four potential functions for the midpoint.
(i) What the Hero Learns About the Story Situation
In Chapter 19, Frankie meets Maxim Jarratt, the high priest of the Brotherhood, for the first time. He gives a crazy villain speech where he reveals his grand plan.
(ii) The Wrong Goal or a Change of Goal
Having learned Jarratt’s plan, Frankie’s priority changes – she’s no longer intent on finding the skull, she and her team have got to stop Jarratt from bringing the vampire sorcerer back to life. In Chapter 20, we also learn that the Corpus, the sorcerer’s body, that has supposedly been protected by the Brotherhood for centuries, is a fake. The skull becomes even more significant at this point because the Corpus is effectively worthless.
(iii) Conflict with Antagonist & Thematic Argument
Maxim Jarratt’s villain speech presents his values and beliefs. He wants to become a powerful vampire and perhaps a sorcerer. He will then be able to rule the world yadda yadda, crazed dictator, very selfish, etc. This conflicts with Frankie’s beliefs as a Crusader – she believes in helping others, especially those who are weaker. We have the good versus evil theme covered there. Jarratt is also human, so we have an element of the humans being worse than the ‘monsters.’ I sort of emphasise that by having Roca rendered powerless by Jarratt.
(vi) The Relationship of B-Story
When Frankie kisses Roca, this is a significant moment in their relationship, though I try and avoid making it a deeply romantic moment. If I’d taken the cliché and run with it, Frankie would have given her blood to revive Roca. Instead, I have her give some of her life energy to him via a kiss. And I have Theo on hand to make a joke of it so it doesn’t become too lovey-dovey.
PAUL TOMLINSON 