Filling in the Sticky Notes: Act II -- The New Landscape

This is #2 in a series of posts following up my Mapping the Plot class.

Post #1 is HERE

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So-- we were discussing Emma Coats' Pixar Rule #4:

"#4: Once upon a time there was ___. Every day, ___. One day ___. Because of that, ___. Because of that, ___. Until finally ___."

At the end of Act I, and moving into Act II, is where the "One day ______" event occurs. This was the last sticky note you filled in yesterday.

Act II contains a lot of "Because of that, _______." One event following another.

Early in Act II you want to establish the New World, as your character explores it. How is it different from the Known World of Act I? How does your character respond? Think about some scenes that can show this.

This overlaps with Blake Snyder's idea of the "fun and games" section of the story. According to Snyder's framework, this section provides the images on your movie poster, images that show this New World your character finds and explores in your narrative. (Note that there are many exceptions to Snyder's rules-- and anybody's rules!)

In The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy and Toto look around Oz and take in all the strange sights that tell them they're not in Kansas anymore. This section is all about realizing this is no longer Kansas. Lots of characters introduce themselves and tell Dorothy about the new world. (That she's killed the witch, that she can get back home by finding the Wizard, that the Wizard can be found at the end of the Yellow Brick Road, etc.)

In the movie Elf (which really did not hold up well when I watched it this year, imo!) this is where the main character runs around New York doing stupid things and marveling at things that a normal resident of NYC wouldn't. Acting amazed by shoe-shine men, etc.

In Hemingway's "Indian Camp" this might be the section where Nick follows his dad to the house of the woman in labor, and enters the house, taking everything in.

In DuMaurier's "The Birds," I would put this in the three paragraphs following the line "The birds had been more restless than ever." These are three paragraphs where we survey, through Nat's eyes, the new, strange behavior of the birds this season.

In Atwood's "Stone Mattress," some of this surveying-the-New-World occurs in the first passage of backstory that tells us about Verna's history with Bob. The New World is going to be one in which she is, again-- for the first time since age 14-- dealing with Bob. The New World is where Verna, who had her life and routine down pat, is suddenly gut-punched with these memories; emotionally vulnerable again as she was then.

In Mrs. Maisel, this is where we get an overview of Midge's Life With Joel as his helper and perfect wife. (Although timewise she has already been married to Joel for four years, the narrative skips those years, so for us the audience, it's our first look at this new World of Marriage.)

TO DO: 

Fill in four or more sticky notes early in Act II with scenes that show your character encountering this New World of Act II, bumping up against its strangeness, experiencing that it's different from the world left behind in Act I.

Again, do this as a thought experiment-- don't wait until you have perfect ideas, just imagine what might work here. DO make sure the scenes are concrete: things you can picture visually.