Bonus Post: Love in the Aftermath - 4-act structure

Since I didn't post yesterday, I wanted to let you see a draft of the 4-act structure for my next novel "Love in the Aftermath." This is very ROUGH draft and not yet completed I create about 15-20 versions of this type of structure before I write. The 4-act structure is like a rough map of my story, which I use as a guide. I almost never stick to my rough map however, because I find that when writing the story you discover new things that will change the structure. Writing is always a work in progress I've discovered, even when you've spent hours on creating the structure. 

Title: Life in the Aftermath

Concept:  The last Lemurian princess is forced to go on the run with a wizard monk to escape the Atlantean prince who wants to wipe out all traces of Lemuria from history.

 Main Conflict:   The new rulers of Atlantis (atlantean prince) want to wipe out all traces of Mu after the war between the Mu and Atlantis. Princess Serri is on the run to hide her family treasures and to survive being killed once the Atlantean prince finds out what she’s done.

Princess Serri OLD WAYS

   1.  Old Identity: Spoiled as the youngest daughter of the king and queen

   2.  Main goal in life is to be married and become a queen

   3.  Flighty and a partier

Princess Serri NEW Ways:  

  1.  New Identity: caring partner to Mojic

  2.  New goal is live in secret and simply

  3.  Mature and accepts responsibility to keep Mu alive through her story

THE 4 ACTS (Acts 1-2 only)

ACT 1: Set up and see the old ways

Opening:  

We see an older Princess Serrula (Serri) writing her life story. She looks bruised and fragile, and winces in pain while writing. We read what she wrote. But she sighs and says what she thought would happen when the war ended between Mu and Atlantis was something completely different.

The Story continues as a flashback to the beginning of the story.

Serri is picking out the fabric for her wedding dress since she expects to be married to the Atlantean prince now that the war is ended. We see her interacting with the Atlantean prince and they seem to get along, but her mother thinks the prince is used to getting his own way and warns Serri. Serri says she can handle him. Her father the king summons her to a family meeting.

Inciting Incident:

Her father tells her he has learned that Atlantis wants to wipe out any trace of Mu. They have started the systematic destruction of anything related to Mu. Her father reminds her that his family has been since its founding the record keeper of Mu history. He was not going to let the Atlantean prince destroy what his family had been collecting since their founding. He tells Serri that she must take the sacred scrolls to the Wizard temple and that they can hide the scrolls away. Serri objects because the prince is here and she wants to spend more time with him, and the king tells her she will when she gets back from the Wizard temple. Serri agrees but she is not happy about it. The king makes her promise that she will make sure the scrolls are hidden away and kept safe. Serri promises.

Serri travels to the Wizard temple and meets Mojic, a young monk who has been tasked with hiding the scrolls. Serri does not like him and Mojic thinks of her as nothing but a spoiled princess.

Turning Point 1: The king’s most trusted servant arrives at the Wizard temple and tells her that the Atlantean prince murdered her parents and her brother when he found out that they wouldn’t tell him where the scrolls were. He called her parents traitors and took over the running of the kingdom.

ACT 2: On the run with Mojic

 The wizards tells Serri that she cannot stay there and must take the sacred scrolls with her and that Mojic will find a place to hide them. The atlantean prince will come after her and kill her and destroy the scrolls.

Serri and Mojic travel together by horse to the next wizard temple. Very few people know about this temple. They arrive at the temple, fighting the whole time, but the wizards have found out that the atlantean prince killed all the wizards and they are afraid that he will travel there. They tell Serri and Mojic that they cannot stay there and must leave. The wizards give them an old map of old wizard hiding places. They do not know which one will be safe and they will need to visit each one to see which one will work.

Serri and Mojic constantly fight about which temple to go to, and when Serri picks one and they go there, they find out that the house has been destroyed.

Next Mojic picks one, and when they visit the house, it seems to be a good place, but a wizard comes and tells them that the Atlantean prince tortured one of the wizards and was told them two of the most obvious locations where they could be found. So they flee again.

Turning point 2: They decide to pick the next place together, and they get there and it seems ideal, but they are spotted because Serri doesn’t want to disguise herself and they are forced to leave when they find out there is a reward for her capture.

 Day 351 Bible Reading

I don’t’ have any favorite Bible passage from today’s readings. We read Ezra 1 and 2, Revelation 8, and more of Psalm 144. But when I read Revelation 8, I was reminded of how many doomsday prophecies there have been over the years, and how there are people of every generation trying to tie what is happening in the world to Revelation 8. I’ve seen it in movies and have read what the fulfillment of this book would look like if they had happened. The language in Revelation 8 is very dire and beautiful at the same time. Are we in end times? I’m not sure. Should we be concerned about end time prophecies? Absolutely! I think as long as we have daily conversations with God, he will help us discern what is happened in the world and what needs to be done.

 Day 350 Bible Reading

Psalm 144: 1-2

“Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle; he is my steadfast love and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield and he in whom I take refuge, who subdues peoples under me.”

I love these two lines from Psalm 144. I feel sometimes that I am a solder for God, a warrior he can put to use in these uncertain times. God is training me for war, but he is also my rock, my fortress, my love, my shield, and my deliverer. I can see reading this psalm when facing a difficult situation in life where you have to fight.

No Bible reading reflection today. I read Malachi, Revelations 6, and Psalm 143 but nothing really stood out for me. 

I did however hear a sermon today where the pastor said that the believer’s responsibility is obedience to God and God’s responsibility is to the outcome. This is a hard one for me because I was taught to be responsible for the outcome of my actions. But if I want to truly rely on God then I have to surrender control over what actions I take, so I can be instrument for God and he can use me however he sees fit. I might not know the game plan of what he’s trying to do in the world, but I can let myself be used to fulfill his plan. I have such a hard time with the surrender part, but I think I am starting to see that maybe surrender will make my life easier because I know I can control my actions. What makes life so frustrating for me is I cannot control anything else. But if I surrender to God, perhaps I can let go of the frustrations in my life because it’s not my responsibility to control anything other than my own actions.