Plotwreckers

When a Good Plot Idea Goes Bad

A good ending is like, dare I say it, an orgasm, that perfect moment when everything in a book comes together in a perfect explosion of understanding, satisfaction and enlightenment. The ahhh moment. Am I wrong in wanting more from a story's ending--kapow--something I never saw coming, gripping and mind-blowing, a sudden burst of energy when everything becomes clear? Here are some good plot ideas gone bad: (Warning, contains plot spoilers. If you'd like to watch these movies and do not want to know how they end, please stop reading now!)

Mister Buddwing: This movie, starring James Garner (book by Evan Hunter) is the story of a man wandering around New York with amnesia (I always love amnesia stories). He thinks he may be an escaped mental patient and he meets three women who may help him unravel the truth. Unfortunately the ending is a clunker. After all this mystery and stunning intrigue, which frankly left me riveted, it turns out he only blocked out an accident involving his wife. Ugh, big letdown.
Deadly Encounter: A Lifetime Channel movie where a woman is involved in a road rage incident because a man is angry with her for cutting her off. Afterward, she receives threatening calls, is stalked, her mother is severely injured in a car accident and her son is kidnapped. Another clunker ending: after a deadly confrontation with her armed attacker in a deserted quarry, the man explains the reason for his rage: "You cut me off!" he shouts. So it's only because of the road rage, no surprise. I was expecting so much more.

Better Endings, Better Plots:

Mirage: Great amnesiac movie (one of my favorites) starring Gregory Peck as a man with amnesia in New York in lovely sixties black and white. His life is threatened and he is stalked because of what he knows. A woman claiming to be his former girlfriend feeds him tantalizing clues. More mystery surrounds the death of a big industrialist who has fallen from a high-rise building. Turns out Peck is really a chemist who has invented the formula for a perfect bomb--one that produces no fallout. He wanted the formula destroyed because it would make war too easy and munitions companies rich while his boss (the industrialist) did not. The irony is that the industrialist was also the head of a renowned peace foundation and Peck was responsible for accidentally causing his fall from the building because the man was reaching out for a copy of the formula Peck was trying to burn. Great ending, great irony.
Unknown: Another excellent amnesiac movie starring Liam Neeson as a doctor attending a biotechnology conference in Berlin with his wife. When he realizes he left his briefcase behind in a cab, he tries to retrieve it, but winds up getting involved in a car accident and is in a coma for four days. When he returns to the hotel, his wife does not recognize him and she is seemingly married to another man, who has assumed his identity. Once again, his life is threatened and he is stalked. In reality, he and his wife and the other man are really assassins supposedly sent to kill a Saudi prince. But there's another surprise, the target is actually a scientist who has discovered a new breed of corn with the ability to survive in any climate, easing the world's food supply problem. Once again, surprise and irony apparent in the fact that he thought he was a doctor, but in reality was a cold-blooded assassin.

While reading Writing Suspense and Mystery Fiction,I learned that Sherlock Holmes wrote stories that had surprises in them, but Edgar Allen Poe wrote stories that contained both surprise and irony. So really good endings should have both as well as providing the reader with that big kapow they were waiting for.

Next week: Metaphors and Similes, the Bane of My Existence

Amazing Treasures-More Great Fodder for Fiction

Fascinating tales of lost gold and treasures beyond belief, amazing expeditions, daring adventurers. Writers have used these real-life treasure hunts as the basis of their stories for decades.

1. The Amber Room--Dubbed the "Eighth Wonder of the World," this eleven foot square hall consisted of large wall panels inlaid with several tons of amber, large gold-leaf-edged mirrors and four Florentine mosaics. Inlaid with precious jewels, the room was created for Prussia's King Friedrich I and given to Russian czar Peter the Great in 1716. Located at Catherine Palace, near St. Petersburg, Russia, it is valued at over 142 million today. Fate: Taken by the Nazis to Konigsberg Castle during World War II, but missing at the end of the war. Speculation: Russians destroyed the Amber Room when they bombarded the castle. Or it could have been buried in a bunker somewhere. Novelist Steve Berry penned a hit novel about this one.

2. The Lost City of Atlantis--According to the Greeks, Atlantis was a highly advanced island society that supposedly sank into the sea in 9600 BC. Philosophers say Atlantis was greater in extent than Libya and Asia, with luxurious palaces, abundant gold and silver and the best soil and climate in the world. However, Plato wrote that the people of Atlantis were defeated in war by other tribes and then disaster struck, destroying the island, perhaps by earthquakes and floods. Fate: Possible location 620 miles off the northwest coast of Africa near the Canary Islands. No treasure has ever been uncovered. Too many popular books and movies on the Atlantis theme to mention!

3. Blackbeard's Treasure--Edward Teach, known as Blackbeard the pirate, plundered the high seas for only two years (1716-1718) but managed to amass a great deal of wealth, pouncing on Spanish treasure ships returning from Mexico and South America. Fate: Researchers believe they have found the wreckage of Blackbeard's ship "Queen Anne's Revenge," in the depths of the Atlantic Ocean. Thought to have run aground near South Carolina, the wreck contained gold dust, apothecary weights, a mortar and pestle, and many other artifacts. However, the pirate may have transferred the treasure to another ship before his own vessel sank and none of his booty has ever been found, despite many searches in the Caribbean and the Cayman Islands. Remember "Pirates of the Caribbean?" Or what about "Treasure Island?" Some say Jack Sparrow is really Blackbeard!

4. Montezuma's Gold--Legends abound that after Montezuma was killed in the 1500's and the Spanish were driven from the Aztec capital, the Aztec people took Montezuma's treasure and hid it from the Spaniards. Fate: Some believe the treasure was hidden underneath mud and sludge on the outskirts of Mexico City. A former Mexican president even had a lake bed dredged, but found nothing. Other suspected hiding places include Guatemala and even Kanab, Utah! Read my book "The Montezuma Secret" to find out where I hid it!

5. Oak Island Treasure--Oak Island, on the south shore of Nova Scotia, Canada, is believed to hold a variety of missing treasures: the gold of Captain Kidd, Marie Antoinette's jewels, even the Holy Grail of the Knights Templar! Fate: After 200 years of searching, nothing has been found. Oak Island has often been called the "Money Pit," because archeologists found a deep pit 31 meters down, and layers of logs, along with a large stone inscribed with symbols deciphered to mean "Forty feet below, two million pounds lie buried." However, the pit is described as a natural phenomenon of the islands, similar to a sinkhole. Novelists Preston and Child wrote "Riptide" about the mysterious Money Pit.

Next week: More Lost Treasures!