You could call it a "sector".

This plot embryo thing has fascinated me since you started talking about it, but I was never really able to fit my stories into it. This is the first one I managed to do somewhat fully and... holy shit! So insightful. Helped me see the ending of the whole trilogy and my antagonist feels so much more human now (well... she's vampire but still). I swear, your videos are just.. There aren't even words; every single time I sit down to plot with one of your videos on, something ALWAYS clicks and it's just magical. Your videos are fantastic and I hope you're aware of the awesome work you do :)

Joker (2019) is a villain with a happy ending.

Do not EVER stop those bloopers

After watching your plot embryo videos, I've FINALLY done it with a brand new story that I had almost NOTHING for. And that plot embryo seriously helped me. I agree it will definitely help pacing, and keep things on track. I am going to eventually do it for my other stories. And will definitely use this tragic embryo for my antagonists. Thank you Rachael!!

octant - an eighth sector of a circle, used in navigation.

10:56, An example, just popped into my head. In the SW: New Hope, this is the point in the story when Grand Moff Tarkin learned that Princess Leia had lied about the rebel base, even though they blew up Alderaan. Thus, ordered her termination.

This is the second one of your videos I have seen with this chart. I sat down and wrote out the headings and then tried to fit some of the ideas I had for my, so far un-plotted, story in to the different sections. It took me only about 45 minutes to add what I had already thought of, along with ideas triggered by the headings, and come up with a decent plot. Thanks for the inspiration.

This will really help me give my villain some substance. Thanks!

Rachael i really liked this take on it. When you applied it to Darth Vader you mentioned the prophecy with him and that made me think of something that Dan Harmon said in one of his podcasts, talking about his own life: “Why couldn’t you just tow the line at ‘Kung-fu panda?’ … there’s a version of me that knew, while working at Kung Fu Panda, that no one cares about story structure. That they don’t know that if a Panda is born entitled to win, that THAT MAKES HIM A VILLAIN!!!” it's interesting to me that privilege, wealth, prophecy, etc makes someone a villain...if approached in the wrong way, i think. for example, the story of the Buddha is one of prophecy... he was destined to either be a king or a holy man and he rejected both and found something else. His moment under the bodhi tree (FIND) was a rejection of his training as an aesthetic. Makes me wonder about the new Star Wars where, apparently Luke is rejecting both the light and the dark, which sounds like a very Buddha thing to do.

Omg am so in my happy "writerly" zone when I watch your videos, so informative !! thank you for the tremendous dedication and information you share, truly inspiring. i didnt even realise you had a website, am checking it out now !

These videos are so helpful and insightful! I have to watch them about ten times to fully understand and put them into practice, but I really do enjoy them and want to adopt some of these ideas into my own writing style. Thank you for sharing them!

This is amazing... I am seeing where parts of my plot already fit into the Tragic Plot Embryo and where I can go to get to my planned ending. Seriously, thank you for explaining this. I am writing a murder mystery and to be able to put my antagonist into this format allows me to figure out what's going on for my protagonist. So much clarity! -Katrina

As someone who writes technical stuff for work but has been thinking about writing something else for a hobby, these videos are very interesting.

Thank you for an amazing video! You are superb at creating writing videos.

New to the Plot Embryo technique, but I like what I’m seeing so far because my own methodology is that all stories blossom from a single seed. Liking your channel and subscribed. You’re giving solid advice and have a structured method-so many have neighter. Just getting started on KZfaq myself. Lots of trial and error, but have been a creative person my entire life and have worked with lots of creative people. Now I just need to find my KZfaq voice to share what I’ve learned :)

This is awesome. You make really great videos! And you have the absolute prettiest hair!

Good stuff. Another look at how to structure tragedy; and when I could stop staring at you long enough to absorb what you were saying, it was very helpful. :-) Thanks.

This is exactly what I needed. Thank you 🥺

I loved this video and it's probably also the first time I've liked background music (and I usually dislike acoustic guitars). very relaxing and informative:)

absolutely excellent video thank you!

This really helped me nail down my antagonist's motivation and story arc - and, because my antagonist is my MC's father (though their relationship is very different from Vader and Luke's) it helped illuminate my MC as well. Thanks!

Very helpful information, thank you!

Very insightful. Thank you.

This all was awesome, thank you!

I love the plot embryo's. It's really helped me see plot/characters in a different way. I just wish I wasn't broke right now so I could afford your printable! Soon hopefully!

Rachel, I really enjoy your videos. I think you offer a lot of insight to newbies. I also enjoy following you on Instagram. Lord help me, but I cannot get the hang of Twitter to save my life!

Way cool theory ... Thanks. I will make good use of this information.

Love this, thank you :) Totally agree with you about Anakin/Darth Vader.

she's back ❤️❤️❤️

This was so helpful, it helped me understand the heroic plot embryo a lot better. I was able to do a tragic embryo for my antagonist a lot easier than my protagonist, which definitely tells me something, haha. Thanks for this video, and for the easy example to follow.

thank you so much! this was so helpful! can you just mention why the 10 plot embryos ? is there one for each character or is it according to another element in the story. also how do you coordinate them?

This was terrific. I have watched your series on preptober. Backstories and story embryos. Simply terrific and very useful. Quadrant is technically incorrect. Sectors are technically proper. But this is your collaboration and your language is undrstood. Thanks again.

Please add Plot Embryos for story objects(like Little Finger's DAGGER), recurring locations, and phrases. Also, how did you integrate Plot Embryos with Scrivener?

This is perfect timing. I have a tragic character that needs the plot embryo treatment. I love the templates. Something to work on on stream for sure.

Happy October in September :) I'm looking forward to this Preptober and have been for a while, in spite of the fact that I haven't even attempted NaNoWriMo in many years, after failing a few times. Maybe someday I will give it a good solid effort, but this year, like last year, I am working on a comic project. The same one as before. Going to try this plot embryo stuff very soon. Imminently. Right now?!

This was very interesting. While I know Darth Vader's general story arc I haven't watched all the Star Wars movies. To help me think about the tragic embryo I mentally applied it to "A Bronx Tale". I think you could say that the neighborhood gangster played by Chazz Palminteri could be limned by your idea of an incomplete story cycle. In fact, at the end of the movie the main character's verdict on him is "wasted potential". Palminteri is resolute, intelligent and a leader but certainly not a hero. Maybe "A Bronx Tale" isn't a perfect example because it isn't really about Palminteri, we don't see where he went wrong, the movie is about how the kid who idolizes him ultimately comes to see him realistically. Other movies where the character's promising beginnings don't pay out because he can't successfully navigate the full circle: Citizen Kane, The Candidate, Michael in The Godfather, the William Holden character in Sunset Boulevard. I think you can also create a tragic plot embryo by placing the failure in the first half of the circle rather than in the second half. The character starts off badly and is converted to virtue, meets the goddess heroically, but it all crumbles because the foundation is false. The examples that occurred to me all involved imposters: In The Man Who Would Be King two raffish British noncoms decide to loot a remote Himalyan kingdom called Kafiristan. I don't want to give too much of the wonderful plot away, but one of them is mistaken for the reincarnation, or second coming anyway, of Alexander the Great who conquered Kafiristan on his way to India. The scoundrels are freely offered all the treasure they can carry but Danny, the soldier mistaken for Alexander, becomes grandiose and decides to settle in as king. He actually is a good king, and never more regal or impressive than when his subjects discover he is not Alexander and kill him. If only he had stayed true to his original, scoundrelly intentions... Somewhat similar is Kagemusha, directed by Akira Kurosawa, and The Lion's Skin, a short story by Somerset Maugham. Stories where the character pretends to be someone else, someone better, but surprisingly lives up their pretense before being destroyed by it.

Thrilled to see you back! ^^ Thank you for spending time on the tragic embryo - this kind of arc doesn't get enough attention. This will help me immensely! Happy autumn ~

Hi! Could you do a plot embryo breakdown for the possible structure of a romance novel?

I love your accent so much! Is there anything more beautiful than an Celtic accent?? No! 😫💯❤

I stumbled upon your channel as Im studying acting and read about the character embryo via a method coach. Is this the same thing?.

Do you have this all in a book that I can purchase?

this seems to fit one of my main characters more than the original plot embryo did ... which is kinda weird but also makes a lot of sense. i guess i was unintentionally creating a tragic character. i mean i should've known - she doesn't achieve her goal at the end of the story - but i wouldn't call the ending i have in mind for her tragic. things take a dark turn for her in the middle of the story but she manages to pull herself out of her own downfall before things go too far. maybe a mix of the two will work

Rachel, your video is great and I really enjoyed it, but I kept being distracted by lust for that star-covered notebook on the shelf behind you. Where did you get that? Please share your stationary-fu!

Great video! Can you add an option to buy your worksheet on Paypal for US Customers? Thanks!

character gets to the brink of reforming, but... chooses the wrong path cause he rejects the lesson, as it's not compatable with the goal he chooses to persue. he could start a new life, one that is happy and sees him forgiven, but.. he falls back to his revenge or something like that. What is your view on flat arc characters? characters that do not change, like Goku or Paddington, but change the world around them instead?

Was anyone able to buy and download the printable? I called PayPal, but they say nothing is wrong with my account.

bloopers!

What if you want your hero to have a tragedy like the hellboy comic series

hemispheres, instead of quadrants, perhaps. Or poles, as in polarity.

Which type of plot embryo do you suggest for a good character that dies? Such as Primrose. Is it a standard plot that ends at number 6 (pays price)

I think of them as "axes"

One death is a tragedy, a million deaths a statistic. attributed; first attributed to Stalin in the form ‘If only one man dies of hunger, that is a tragedy. If millions die, that’s only statistics’ in Washington Post 20 January 1947

What if the villain never gets what he wanted?

I can literally watch you make monster hands until the Armageddon.

Cinnamon apple buns

The fastest way to make your characters unlikeable is to make them “morally perfect” in your own eyes. Because with that setup, as soon as the reader disagrees with you, the author, on any single point, they will also find your protagonist obnoxious.

This is brilliant! The entire tragic embryo is going to help me so much for one of my characters soonish. THANKS!!! **hugs** Although, hehehe, I sorta disagree w/your antagonist embryo for Darth Vader. Mostly cuz the prequels don't exist. **shoves fingers in ears** La la la! But, if they did, this would be perfect! Seriously though, Lucas needed to at least look at the monomyth when plotting for Anakin, and just reverse some of the positives to negatives. I imagine he'd be completely unfamiliar with the plot embryo, but he must have learned all about the monomyth back in the day. He needed to brush up on it again. And I think I read somewhere he was a pantser. Big mistake!!! Cuz he's not that good at it, IMO, especially in the last ~20 years. Anyway, thanks again for this videos existence!!! I'll have to rewatch it a bunch!

I am sorry, but every characters have their own happy ending no matter what. I think you should plot out the story by the plot of the story. I am writting a story the first main character losses the ending of the book.

Please get rid of the distracting background music in your videos. It's unnecessary and, well, it's distracting.

Everything is grey. There is no black and white. Protagonists who "do the right thing", even though it will hurt someone else, are just as culpable as a villain who hurts people on purpose. The protagonist knows their actions will hurt someone, but they decide to do it anyway for their own moral superiority. Best examples.. Emma Swan and Snow White in Once Upon a Time. Most infuriating characters ever.