PLOT THREAD: Metamorphosis

Everybody wants shortcuts in life. Wealth, sex, power, fame, freedom. But what happens when you “get your wish” via magical means? The Metamorphosis Plot Thread tells stories of these sudden changes. It could be a transformation (get super powers, turn into an animal or invisible), it can be a device (a magic potion, monkey’s paw, or some unexplainable tech), it can be a spell, prayer, or anything really. The point is the prot gets a shortcut. But what are thecosts of that shortcut?

In sci-fi and fantasy stories… you could expand this “shortcut” to society at large. What happens when we all achieve immortality? What happens if we discover FTL drives? What happens if magic spells were real?

In mundane stories, the “magic” could be as simple as inheriting a ton of money from a long lost uncle, winning the lottery, or finding a bag of cash by the side of the road. Maybe accidentally identified as someone in power.

You’ll want to use Sanderson’s Three Laws of Magic for these types of stories:

1. Your ability to solve problems with magic (or tech) in a satisfying way is directly proportional to how well the reader understands said magic.
2. Flaws or limitations and costs are generally more interesting and creates more story potential than powers themselves.
3. Before adding something new to your magic (or setting in general), see if you can instead expand what you have.

The key to these wondrous stories is the exploration of this “what if” situation. What is the new tech, new magic, new laws? What are the benefits, consequences and implications of this on our characters, relationships, and society at whole? It gives the reader an exercise in seeing all the implications from the individual, to the whole.

The story should center on who has the most stakes in this idea. It must be matched with an adventure, thriller, horror, heist, quest, mystery, romance, whatever. How does the idea change the genre you’ve matched it with? Because if it doesn’t, it’s just window dressing.

Some questions to ask when you develop this story.

• How does it affect their environment?
• What do they wonder about the idea?
• What is it about the environment they need to get out of?
• How are they feel trapped?
• What questions do they have?
• What is challenging their self-definition?
• What has gone terribly wrong?
• Who has the most to gain and lose?

Metamorphosis Plot Thread: Key Elements

• WISH: Empowerment, comeuppance, or cautionary tale. The trigger just expedites it.
• SPELL: The magic. What sets this off and what RULES it sets up. Once you set up rule, you can show its handicap. Often, the rules are revealed AFTER the magic, so there’s no return without living through it.
  • TRIGGER: Body switch, elixirs/potion/totem, special being (angel, fairy, god, demon), monkey’s paw, accident, vending machine, fortune teller, mask, birthday wish, near-death experience.
  • FULFILLMENT: Becoming an adult, become the opposite sex, become someone younger/sexier/fitter, attract the opposite sex, mess with time, time travel, parallel universe, see ghosts, get stuck in a time-loop, Superhero power: flying, telepathy, telekinesis, invincibility. Christmas Tale time travel. Become someone else (via disguise or invisibility) and befriending all the people in your old environment to find out what they really think about you.
  • RULES: timer, scope, magnitude, limits, cost.
  • Avoid double-stacking:If you have two sets of rules, you have to deal with making sure everything follows properly.
• LESSON: Eventually, by act three, the prot realizes they didn’t need the magic all along and they were “enough”. AND/ORthey see the cost and how they’ve hurt a bunch of people by abusing their power. AND/OR it’s a cautionary tale and the prot is just cursed with this power now.
• There’s usually someone who knows the hero’s secret, a confidante.

Metamorphosis Plot Thread: Progress Bar

A SERIES OF MAGIC USED: Prot plays with newfound magical powers and it’s fun at first, and they take advantage of it in various ways, until they realize there’s a cost too. And they have to realize all the things they lost by taking on this magic… and finally realize what they had was actually what they needed. OR they go mad with power. OR they regret everything they’ve lost and can’t go back.

Metamorphosis Plot Thread: Plot Beats

• STASIS: After setting up the current situation, the stasis the prot(s) are stuck in… get to the magic/catalyst ASAP. How are they unhappy in their lives? How are they stuck?
  • How are they miserable, regretful, suffering in silence, wishing there was more, etc.
  • Are they at the end of their lives?
  • Are they a minority, fat, a nerd/loser, or what society (or their particular niche of the world) would deem “undesirable”? Are they being bullied, persecuted, discriminated against?
  • Are they stuck in a mindset that’s old, traditional, or behind the times?
  • Are they completely lacking in self-awareness and they actually get kicked out or exiled from their old environment? They’re given a list of things they need to fix. Defects like being difficult, selfish, insensitive, bad friend, greedy, womanizing. They’ve been spoiled and need to be kicked out into the world. They’re fired, kicked out, and/or given an ultimatum: grow up.
• DISRUPTION: Moment where prot(s) gets used to newfound powers. Must be unique and different from what we’ve seen before. See above for example “triggers” and “fulfillment”. What’s the unique combination you’re using? How did they get their powers? Was there an initial cost, or unknown one? Did the prot know what they were getting into?
• B-WORLD: With their newfound powers, they go back to their old environments (home, work, friends) and “show off”. Maybe beat up the bully. Impress the crush. Show up their rival. They’re getting used to and/or abusing their powers.What are interesting set pieces and riffs you can play off here? Make them do awkward things. Experiment. Try things they wouldn’t otherwise. Test their limits. Think primal needs wants: sex, power, money, a taste of the exotic, of how the other side lives.
  • Do they go through a period of denial?
  • A period of shock and horror?
  • A period of sharing but not believed in?
  • A period of testing?
  • A period of rejection (if they didn’t want this in the first place), trying to get rid of it?
  • And then a period where they exploit it?
  • Include a “big event” (or a villain confrontation that you’re buiidling up to) that’s coming later in act 2 or 3 so it makes the magic super inconvenient.
• MID-to-LOWPOINT: Cross the line. Do something that’s unethical or close to it. They use their powers in a way that creates cringe, if not outright moral disgust in the audience. There should be dread leading up to the event. We know they’re going to abuse it, we don’t want them to, but then they do.Show the cost of the magic. Start showing how the grass isn’t greener on the other side. Some people find out, some don’t. Keeping the ruse going gets more difficult. The lies mount up. They start criss-crossing. More people find out. People that trusted the secret identity feel betrayed. Maybe there’s a mirror moment where they see themselves for all the hurt they caused, as their previous identity and their new one as well.
• CLIMAX: Prot is put in a situation where they have to come clean (they can’t be in two places at the same time maybe… you show the limit of the magic. It can’t do everything). There could be a stunning reveal as the Prot confesses to the world about how they cheated the world. (Takes of the mask, reveals their tricks). Or it’s a complete disaster, but there’s clean up later.Prot realizes they didn’t need the magic after all. Or the magic can’t do it all. There might be a reversal/return of the magic. Or it’s just something they have to live with now as a curse or cautionary tale.

Sources & Resources

• Snyder, Blake. Save the Cat Goes to the Movies. Michael Wiese Productions, 2007.
• Sanderson, Brandon, Mary Robinette Kowal, Howard Tayler, and Dan Wells, hosts. “11.10: Idea, as Genre, with Nancy Fulda.“Writing Excuses, season 11, episode 10, Dragonsteel Production, 6 March 2016, https://writingexcuses.com/11-10-idea-as-genre-with-nancy-fulda/
• Sanderson, Brandon, Mary Robinette Kowal, Howard Tayler, and Dan Wells, hosts. “11.12: Idea as Subgenre, With Nancy Fulda.“Writing Excuses, season 11, episode 12, Dragonsteel Production, 20 March 2016, https://writingexcuses.com/11-12-idea-as-subgenre-with-nancy-fulda/
• Sanderson, Brandon, Mary Robinette Kowal, Howard Tayler, and Dan Wells, hosts. “11.13: Elemental Idea Q&A.“Writing Excuses, season 11, episode 13, Dragonsteel Production, 27 March 2016, https://writingexcuses.com/11-13-elemental-idea-qa/
• “Lecture #2: Plot Part 1 — Brandon Sanderson on Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy"YouTube, uploaded by Brandon Sanderson, January 29, 2020, https://youtu.be/jrIogch5DBU
• “Lecture #3: Plot Part 2 — Brandon Sanderson on Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy"YouTube, uploaded by Brandon Sanderson, February 12, 2020, https://youtu.be/Qgbsz7Gnrd8

All other plot thread notes here