The Parallel

FROM THE LORD OF THE RINGS:

GANDALF: The veiling shadow that glowers in the East takes shape. Sauron will suffer no rival. From the summit of Barad-dur his eye watches ceaselessly. But he is not so mighty yet that he is above fear. Doubt ever gnaws at him. The rumor has reached him. The heir of Numenor still lives. Sauron fears you, Aragorn. He fears what you may become. And so he will strike hard and fast at the world of Men. He will use his puppet Saruman to destroy Rohan.

War is coming. Rohan must defend itself, and therein lies our first challenge, for Rohan is weak and ready to fall. The King’s mind is enslaved, it’s an old device of Saruman’s. His hold over King Theoden is now very strong. Sauron and Saruman are tightening the noose. But, for all their cunning, we have one advantage. The Ring remains hidden. And that we should seek to destroy it has not yet entered their darkest dreams.

And so the weapon of the Enemy is moving towards Mordor in the hands of a Hobbit. Each day brings it closer to the fires of Mount Doom. We must trust now in Frodo. Everything depends now upon speed and upon the secrecy of his quest. Do not regret your decision to leave him. Frodo must finish this task alone.

ARAGORN: He’s not alone. Sam went with him.

GANDALF: Did he? Did he indeed? Good. Yes, very good.

The Parallel plot structure is defined as having two or more stories going on at the same point in time. They are not flashbacks or subplots but two distinctly different plots with a complete beginning, middle, and end all their own. The Par-

allel plot is a simultaneous multi-plotted story that eventually intersects all plots presented.

Parallel Structure

There is still a sense of a clear three-act beginning, middle, and end to the Parallel structure:

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Act I

Act II

Act III

This structure can be either plot driven or character driven. With character-driven pieces, the Main Character can even be living two lives at the same time, as is the case with the film Sliding Doors. The Main Character is at the point of making a decision as she gets off a train, and the film splits into two stories showing us how her life would have been different if she stays with her current boyfriend (plot one) or if she leaves him (plot two).

Plot-driven pieces can do the same thing if a character’s actions or decisions are influenced by whether or not a taxicab is on time, for example. In any case, with this type of Parallel plot, the character may wind up in the same place regardless of choices or of external circumstances—as if the ending is fated no matter what decisions the character makes. Or one decision can be shown to be the better one depending on your theme and the point you want to make to your reader.

You may also present one whole story in one plot and an entirely different story in another. Toward the end they will intersect somehow, each affecting the other. The characters may even know each other. They may be fighting for the same Goal. Think of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. While Tolkien wrote the two storylines presented in the film as two separate volumes, they were still two parallel storylines. There were several intersecting events, such as weather problems and battles taking place, and in the large gaps of time when the stories didn’t intersect, characters from one storyline wondered about the characters in another storyline.

Think of Kramer in Seinfeld buying a strongbox for his valuables in one plotline and Jerry trying to impress Jerry Lewis in another plotline by wearing special cufflinks to a big dinner event. Toward the end of this episode Jerry can’t find his cufflinks for his big evening. Kramer tells him he put the cufflinks into his strongbox for safekeeping. Kramer then says he has lost the key to the strongbox, which he hid in a bird’s cage. It turns out the bird ate the key and died, and now they have to go dig up the dead bird to get the key. Jerry’s evening is ruined to say the least. It seemed as

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if the two plots were in no way related, but in the end things all came full circle.

The Parallel Elements

ACT I TRADITIONAL ELEMENTS

•Setup: The setup here needs to set up two stories instead of one.

•Mood or Tone

•Hook, Catalyst, or Inciting Incident

•Serious Problem and/or Goal

•Villain

•Main Characters: all of them introduced here

•Turning Point

ACT I NEW ELEMENTS

All of the traditional elements must work for two stories. Both storylines need to be set up and given a Hook or Inciting Incident. All Main Characters for both stories need to be introduced. You can do this by coming up with an Inciting Incident that involves all the characters for plotdriven stories or through asking a dramatic question in character-driven stories.

It’s easiest for the reader to follow both storylines if all the Main Characters are introduced right away and if there are few of them to follow.

Both storylines may intersect in the very beginning, but by the end of the Hook or Inciting Incident they are completely separated.

It is best to have separate storylines that are traditional in nature. You risk confusing your reader if you try to use the Fate or Replay structures, for example. There already are two plots to follow, after all.

The Turning Points can happen at the same time, with the same Inciting Incident affecting both storylines, or they can happen spread apart, showing one Turning Point in its entirety and then later showing the other one.

ACT I QUESTIONS

•Will you use the same Main Character in both storylines showing the different decisions she could make?

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•Will both storylines start out intersected in the beginning?

•If you are not using the same Main Character in both storylines, what

ties the two storylines together? What is the common element?

• Can you limit your number of characters?

ACT II TRADITIONAL ELEMENTS

•Problem Intensifies

•Temporary Triumph

•Reversal

•Dark Moment

•Turning Point

ACT II NEW ELEMENTS

Act II is all about each storyline moving along separately. They may intersect for a moment during the Temporary Triumph, or perhaps both storylines are just very similar at the moment each seems successful. But they do separate again. In Sliding Doors the Main Character is successful in both storylines for a brief period.

The Turning Points can happen at the same time, with the same Inciting Incident affecting both storylines, or not. Or they can happen spread apart, showing one Turning Point in its entirety and later showing the second Turning Point.

ACT II QUESTIONS

•Will you have the storylines intersect at all in Act II? Why? How will they separate again?

•Will you use a Temporary Triumph and Reversal?

•Are both storylines equally dramatic, or does one slow down a bit to give the reader a break in tension?

•Will any characters cross over from one storyline into the other?

•Do the characters in one storyline know about the characters in the other storyline? Are they adversaries?

•Does one storyline take place in another world?

•What do both storylines have in common? Do they share a common theme?

ACT III TRADITIONAL ELEMENTS

•Final Obstacle

•Climax

•Resolution

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ACT III NEW ELEMENTS

In Act III both storylines have a separate Final Obstacle that relates to each storyline. Following that is the Climax, where both storylines intersect and move toward the Resolution.

Both storylines should have had something in common all along. It is this common element that brings them together now. Otherwise, why write a parallel story at all? Just write two different stories if these have nothing to do with one another.

Two endings may be needed. In Sliding Doors, the Main Character is brought to a hospital in both storylines: In one she dies, and in the other she lives a happy life.

ACT III QUESTIONS

•How will you intersect the two storylines? Do you need to go back and flesh out the common element more?

•What do the characters learn from the intersection?

•Do you still feel this structure is the best way to tell the story?

•Should you have the two stories intersect in Act II if you did not? Will this help you set up the intersection here?

•Is there a character or two who knows both storylines? Can they help bridge the two together in the end? (This is not appropriate with char- acter-decision stories like Sliding Doors because we are seeing two sides to one decision with the same characters in each storyline.)

EXAMPLES

Sliding Doors, PETER HOWITT

A London woman’s love life and career both hinge on whether or not she catches a train. We see what happens if she catches the train and what happens if she misses it, in parallel.

The Best Years of Our Lives, WILLIAM WYLER

Three World War II veterans share a cab while returning home to small-town America. They each get dropped off at their houses and we follow their individual life stories as they discover their family lives have been irreparably changed.

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The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers,

PETER JACKSON (novel by J.R.R. Tolkien)

Frodo and Sam continue on to Mordor in their mission to destroy the Ring while their companions launch an assault on Isengard. Both plotlines support each other and all the characters know about each other.

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