Seven Pounds of Plot

Is it ever right to make the wrong decision?

Seven Pounds is a movie that slipped by my notice when it first came out, but caught my eye when I had my chance at it at the local sticky foot theater over the weekend. Here was a movie that was provocative, disturbing, and yes brought me to tears more than once. I love Will Smith in serious roles.

But the most fascinating aspect of this movie isn’t something most people would notice.

In the last few weeks I’ve been going through Jeff Gerke’s ebook, How to Find Your Story, very thoroughly in an attempt to really study plot. What I expected to help me with my own novels (and YES it did….) turned out to have added benefits. It gave me eyes to see the marvelous intricacies of plot that are not normally seen in a movie.


Seven Pounds didn’t attempt to quite follow the usual Hollywood formula. While I don’t want to give away the ending let's just say when the moment of truth comes the decision that’s made is opposite what has been accepted standard of plot writing. Not that this hasn’t been tried before (anyone remember Mosquito Coast?) but it rarely WORKS. What follows is absolutely heartwrenching, yet, amazingly, there is still a feeling of rightness to it.

Don’t get me started on the moral issues this movie raises. I’m not talking about that. What I’m saying is that, for this storyline, for this PLOT, the right decision was made. To go the accepted route would have required the viewer suspend disbelief to the point where the movie would have been corny and lost all its forward momentum. This was plotting at it’s best. Plain and simple.

What movies do you think exemplify plotting in way that stands out?

What God Has Planted

I think I’m trying to absorb the publishing industry.

I started out a writer. One of those dreadfully earnest kinds that showed up at conferences clutching one-sheets as if they were the Golden Ticket and everybody with the label of “editor” or “agent” were Willy Wonka.

That lasted until about two years ago when someone nudged me, whispered in my ear that I was looking at things from the wrong angle entirely. That I should be an agent.

Now I’m not given to listening to random nudgings from strangers…oh wait a moment. That was God. Only, at that time He and I weren’t on the best terms, so I tended to fight anything He had to say. So I doggedly pushed forward on what I thought I should be doing. But oddly enough from that point onwards when I attended conferences my feet led me anywhere but to what would get me published. In fact, back last September they led me straight to Terry Burns.

Now Terry Burns is the epitome of the gentleman cowboy. He’s also one of my favorite authors (You have GOT to read Mysterious Ways). And he happens to be a literary agent with Hartline Literary Agency. Interestingly enough He does listen to God nudges so when I bumped into him he offered me an opportunity I couldn’t ignore. I would be his assistant while he trained me to be an agent.

So, not one to stall when God is hitting me upside the head with a 2x4 I accepted. And so have been immersing myself in the industry since then.

Think the story is over? Think again?

So a few months go by. My life has a few little bumps along the way, someone reminiscent of the twister that launched Dorothy into OZ. I found myself in Colorado Springs with the rest of my families. (Hey, guess what, mountains get bigger the closer you get to them….)

Well I had only been here a few weeks when my paths crossed with Jeff Gerke of Marcher Lord Press. Now I’ve gotten a bit better at listening to God nudges so this time when I had this meeting I only spent about an hour of our conversation with an internal dialogue that ran something like this…

‘Ok, go on. Tell him you want to work for him.’

‘What do you mean work for him? I already work for Terry.’

‘But you could learn so much from him. Do you have any idea who this guy is?’

‘Yes I know EXACTLY who he is, thank you very much. But he’ll think I’m crazy. What kind of person goes up and says, Hey teach me everything you know about the publishing industry, please.’

‘That’s why you offer to work for him.’

‘But I already am learning about the industry…’

‘From the agent side. Now learn the editor side…’

By this time I’m getting curious looks from those around the table so I suspect my internal dialogue was noisier than I suspected. Either that or maybe they feel God nudges too…

So, long story short I work for Jeff now. And Terry. And am learning everything I can from both. I’m beyond amazed and have no idea where any of this is leading. But I certainly can’t wait to see what God has planned for me along the way.

What has God been nudging you to do lately?