Plot

The 10 Point Checklist

by
Perry Glasser

Perry Glasser is the Coordinator of the Professional Writing Program at

Salem State University, in Massachusetts.

© Perry Glasser – editorial and critical services available. See www.perryglasser.com

Inquiries to perry@perryglasser.com Classes now being organized.
 Plot
The 10 Point Checklist
by
Perry Glasser

S ome believe Moby Dick to be the most important American novel, a story that is at once deeply
philosophical and a sea adventure.
Seeking revenge. Captain Ahab obsessively hunts the white whale, Moby Dick
On the level of plot, one could argue that the novel is structured to be a sequence of incidents to prepare
readers for the final confrontational scene.
Ahab, a single man, is atop a huge whale in mid-ocean. He famously says, “ From hell's heart I stab at
thee; for hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee. Ye damned whale.”
On the face of it, this contest should be a foregone conclusion; yet Melville is able to persuade us the issue
is in doubt. As forces, this man and this whale at that moment are equals .
He achieves this equivalency by having shown us Ahab in action, among other things pulling lightning
from the air, whipping his crew into a frenzy of bloodlust, and tracking a single, specific whale around the
world. He also is sure to have Moby Dick surface, for without doing so no confrontation is possible.
Melville’s plot design is magical.

_____ 1. Does my story create drama by depicting characters who struggle?

_____2. Do successive episodes of struggle mount in severity and significance?

_____3. Do their strategies of struggle put my characters at further, deepening risk?

_____4. Are my characters equipped to triumph? (They need not “win,” but readers
need to believe the characters are not hopeless fools.)
_____5. Are the troubles my characters confront significant?

_____6. Does each scene in my story illuminate another aspect of the struggle?

_____7. Do the antagonists have clear motive to struggle?

_____8. Will the struggle change my characters in significant ways?

_____9. Does the struggle have resonance for all projected readers?

____10. Is it plain to readers that the struggles that engage my characters are either
unique to them or how are they common problems a specific time, place, or among a
class?
The answer to this last question will go a long way to making it clear what scenes need to be put in and
what scenes need to be left out.

© Perry Glasser – editorial and critical services available. See www.perryglasser.com

Inquiries to perry@perryglasser.com Classes now being organized.