Stomping Kittens (Revised): a Punching Babies Sequel

By Adron J. Smitley

*Now revised to include The Great Fiction Cheat Sheet: a Stomping Kittens companion!

 

Stomping Kittens is the long-awaited sequel to the critically acclaimed writing manual 'Punching Babies: a how-to guide' by award-winning and best-selling author Adron J. Smitley. Inside, the aspiring author will discover everything they need to know on how best to plot their first novel, specifically fantasy, from the spark of an idea to a finished book. Stomping Kittens guides you by the hand with its unique and highly detailed First Fantasy Novel Chapter By Chapter Blueprint Formula while also filled to the brim with writing knowledge that is guaranteed to help you create stories of every genre, providing an entire college worth of writing education in mere hours of reading you are sure to reference over and again throughout your writing career.

 

Stomping Kittens lays out everything for you in detail, from the essentials of great three-dimensional character creation, a plethora of plot formulas and how to apply them, a thorough explanation of the structure of Acts and their essential plot points, the best way to build dramatic story structure architecture, and how to apply the necessary flaw vs. virtue argument as the spine of your story and the soul of its protagonist, all while affording you tons of examples from movies for quick ease of reference which are deconstructed for you while the entire process of writing your first novel is explained in simple detail.

Also included is Adron's NaNoWriMo Novel Generator.

If you read only one book on writing . . . this should be that book!

So grab your high heels and get ready to make plotting and writing your novel as easy as Stomping Kittens!

 

 

BONUS: The Great Fiction Cheat Sheet: a Stomping Kittens companion!

 

A 10-minute master class crash course in how to plot great fiction for:

 

• novels
• novellas
• short stories
• screenplays
• comics
• manga
• graphic novels

 

The Great Fiction Cheat Sheet is perfect for all types of creative writers and aspiring authors from beginner to advanced or anywhere in between, as well for all ages. It's also the perfect teaching tool and reference guide for developing compelling characters, specifically protagonists both triumphant and tragic, as well works for any genre: action and adventure, fantasy and science fiction, mystery and suspense . . . you name it!

The Great Fiction Cheat Sheet breaks down two movies in particular (Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith & Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope) and compares their essential plot points while showing the differences between their opposing protagonists (tragic Anakin vs. triumphant Luke), as well it uses plot point examples from The Matrix and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring to ensure you gain a full grasp on plot and how best to apply it to your stories.

Most books on writing are like a steak dinner: you buy and enjoy it while eating though it's gone when you're finished. But with The Great Fiction Cheat Sheet you're taught essential writing knowledge that will last you the rest of your entire writing life!

And don't forget to check out Adron's other books in his Write Club series:

 

• Punching Babies: a how-to guide
• Pen the Sword: the universal plot skeleton of every story ever told
• On Writing Well
• Steal This Story!: how to write great fiction with one stolen sentence
• The 10 Day Novella Writing Method for Plotters and Pantsers

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Marley Bear Publishing
• Release date: Mar 10, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224549122

Adron J. Smitley

Adron J. Smitley is an award-winning and best-selling author of multiple genres, both fiction and nonfiction, including novels, novellas, short stories and various learning courses. When not writing books or playing HeroQuest, Adron teaches aspiring authors how best to plot, write and edit their novels. Adron's numerous writing manuals are used by the Hollywood film industry to teach students how to craft intriguing loglines, ensure satisfying character growth arcs, and implement essential dramatic story structure architecture. Adron resides in Ohio with his awesome rottweiler Marles Barkley.

Book preview

also by Adron

fiction

Kinslayer

___

Veilfall

Jinn

Powerless

Godzai

___

Of Blood & Love: the soothsayer novella series

___

The (not so) Legendary Journeys of Yor the Mighty!: Unepic Origins

nonfiction

Punching Babies: a how-to guide

Pen the Sword: the universal plot skeleton of every story ever told

On Writing Well

Steal this Story!: how to write great fiction with one stolen sentence

The Big Book of Plots: 1,000 clever plot hooks, twists, and story prompts for writers

101 Premade Plots to Steal: Fantasy

The 10 Day Novella Writing Method for Plotters and Pantsers

The Writing Mastery Series

The Lifting Mastery Series

Basement Strong: minimalist training for the caged manimal

Building the Beast: minimalist training for strength and size

gaming

One-Shot Dungeon: a solo dungeon-delving rpg

-The Opening Test-

So what’s with the title?

Stomping Kittens is the sequel to my critically acclaimed teaching manual for writers called Punching Babies: a how-to guide. And as Punching Babies is my personal take on the metaphor ‘as easy as stealing candy from a baby’ so too is Stomping Kittens the continuation of its plotting education in much further depth and thus titled because I can’t imagine anything easier than punching a whiny baby in its stupid face . . . other than stomping a mewling newborn kitten (can you tell I’m a dog person yet?).

Point being, this manual teaches how to make the often frustrating process of plotting and writing your first novel, specifically fantasy, as easy as stomping kittens!

If this reference offends your pwecious wittle Social Justice Whiner feewings then I suggest you run home and dye your hair blue while crying about micro-aggressions that don’t exist to your enabling parents who obviously didn’t prepare you for what everyone else calls living in the Real World.

If you wish to close this book without reading any further and go around bashing it simply because you view its title as offensive regardless the enlightening material within then by all means cut your pierced nose off to spite your face while remaining the mediocre writer.

However, if you wish to educate yourself and become a master plotter while ascending into successful authorship then by all means keep reading and I will teach you how by cramming decades of tutelage into hours of reading, thus proving once again that college is a complete waste of time and money for 99% of those who are brainwashed into attending.

Stomping Kittens doesn’t care about your feelings or what you want to hear to sate your fragile little ego while pandering to your identity politics for worthless virtue points, it cares about telling you what you need to hear so you can transcend mediocrity both personal and professional to become a better writer.

So if the title offends you then I offer two options:

1. Get over it.

Or . . .

2. Choose another career.

Because publishing your work is tantamount to handing your novel to potential millions of readers while asking them to judge it as well the one who wrote it with unbiased scrutiny. And if your delicate psyche can’t handle something so innocuous as this book’s title then you certainly won’t survive any form of public criticism.

If you’ve kept reading . . . then congratulations! You just passed your first test as a writer, proving you might have what it takes to handle said scrutiny once you publish your work. If not, then you were never going to make it as an author to begin with. Because you can’t please all of the people all of the time, and trying to do so only leads to failure.

Writers are artists because writing is a form of art, and the reason art exists is to provoke emotion, to cause someone to feel something—anything!

And if someone is offended by your work then take satisfaction in knowing that is a good indication you have done your job well, because your art has caused an emotional response, which is the entire point of its existence.

Apathy is the absolute last response you want as a writer because it’s the sure sign of bad, boring and predictable writing.

Also, movies are just visual stories. And if we’ve both watched the same movie then we can imagine the same events because movies are far more objective than their subjective novel counterparts. Which is why I reference tons of movies throughout this book over novels as plot point examples.

-Why This Book Exists-

Books on plot have irritated me for years.

Because most of them are filled with nothing more than useless metaphorical bullshit that helps you write jack squat . . . and jack left town.

They promise you plenty of plot then give you heaps of flowery filler courtesy of the artsy-fartsy author’s masturbating ego while advising obscure little ditties such as discover your story’s big idea then make it meaningful or to sit down and have dinner with while interviewing your protagonist or light some candles and incense then meditate to your favorite music while allowing your muse to speak to you or to pretend you’re an archeologist at a dig site and while writing you’re unearthing your story’s bones and maybe, if you’re lucky, the ‘golden goose’ they provide you with is their trite version of a hundred years old plot skeleton every writer worth the salt of their typing sweat already knows (always something along the lines of: Inciting Incident, Plot Turn 1, Pinch Point 1, Midpoint, Pinch Point 2, Plot Turn 2, Resolution) before leaving you with an inane lesson they believe makes them sound sagacious like It’s not about finding your voice, it’s about your voice finding you as their parting pearl of wisdom . . . after which you realize you’ve just been swindled, as well you’ve learned nothing even remotely applicable to your writing on top of having wasted money buying another damn dust collector for your bookshelf you won’t leaf through twice.

Pretend I’m an archeologist?

At a dig site?

Unearthing my story’s bones?

Really?

What.

The.

Actual.

Phuq!

How does any of that crap help you find your protagonist’s dominant character flaw they must replace with its opposite virtue in order to overcome the antagonist during the Climax?

Or explain what a Midpoint Reversal really means and how the death stakes established by the Inciting Incident need raised at the Midpoint to ensure the protagonist’s full commitment against the antagonist?

Or tell you the difference between the Pinch Point that divides Act 2A and the Punch Point that divides Act 2B and how both are reminders of the central conflict to keep your story focused from straying too far into subplots?

Or how to establish protagonist empathy on page one and why your story needs to start with it otherwise we won’t care when the Inciting Incident happens?

Or how the Physical Crossing is the linchpin that holds Act 1 & 2 together same as the Spiritual Crossing is the linchpin that holds Act 2 & 3 together?

Or why a triumphant protagonist automatically gives you a tragic antagonist, and vice versa?

Or how the protagonist’s decision during the Rubicon decides the entire plot of your story for you and why it’s the most crucial moment you need to write everything else around?

Or why without a solid flaw vs. virtue argument your story is nothing more than a random collection of events that present zero character growth and without it the only real thing they have in common is that they happen to the same person?

It doesn’t.

Because most books on plot offer you only vague advice that’s about as useful for plotting and writing your novel as a wet wadded cobweb is for wiping your butt after a night of chugging skunk beer and a midnight run to Taco Bell.

THAT IS NOT THIS BOOK!

Stomping Kittens will teach you everything you need to know about essential plotting basics, explain multiple plot formulas and their necessary plot points in detail, advise how and why to apply them to your story and characters, and basically guide you by the hand through writing your first fantasy novel from scratch to finish and chapter by chapter.

Because I don’t deal in bullshit.

And I don’t waste people’s time because what I hate most is having my time wasted.

If this is your first foray into the wonderful wonders of plotting then consider Stomping Kittens your initiation into my Write Club, so knuckle up and prepare for thirty years of writing and plotting knowhow to punch you in the face and leave you gasping for more.

Now, will Stomping Kittens teach you how to only write a fantasy novel?

Of course not!

But everyone needs to start somewhere, and I’m using the term ‘fantasy’ as a catch-all for the action, adventure and romance genres all nestled up inside the classic Hero’s Journey with a bit of science fiction and superhero genres thrown in for taste to cover multiple bases.

Plus I like to think I know a thing or two about a thing or two when it comes to writing fantasy.

For sake of insulting example, imagine this teaching manual as a coloring book that I’ve handed you along with a box of crayons. Use my suggestions to color your first fantasy novel as directed while staying inside the lines, then once you have some writing experience under your belt you can color outside those lines to your writerly heart’s content by switching plot points around and administering other such story changes to future novels of various other genres. Until then: stay inside the lines!

This manual mainly covers the typical triumphant protagonist hero’s journey, not so much the tragic protagonist or the anti-hero protagonist. The latter two are touched upon here and there throughout, but our main focus is the triumphant protagonist because they are the most common as well they are the easiest to write.

Also understand that many variations of plot formulas and plot points exist. The examples listed herein are not the only ones by any means, they are just the typical plot points for you to use as reference and help you write your first fantasy novel in the easiest and most productive way possible.

And don’t fret about memorizing or writing down any of the charts and such along the reading way because at the end I repeat them for you while putting it all together.

I’ve rehashed several of my writing articles in this book because they contain necessary explanations pertinent to the information involved. So if you’re familiar with and have read them already then I suggest either rereading them to brush up or just skipping them over.

You’ll also find I repeat myself throughout this book, and that’s because I want to hammer those particular points into your brain. People learn best through imitation and repetition, otherwise the phrase Practice makes perfect wouldn’t exist as true.

-The Necessary Basics-

Before we get in to the nitty-gritty that is your first fantasy novel chapter-by-chapter blueprint formula, let me explain some necessary basics . . . because the most important nugget of knowledge every budding writer needs to understand is that every story is about change.

And you present this change through adversity.

Because adversity builds character.

And the only way to overcome adversity is to face it.

Which in turn provides your story’s necessary element of conflict.

Because without conflict there is no story, just a random collection of meaningless events.

It may surprise you to learn that you can strip 99% of everything away from your story—the events, scenes, situations, car chases, bomb explosions . . . et cetera—because all of that is interesting but nonessential window-dressing, and what you have left is the foundation of your story, its true meaning and purpose, or its flaw vs. virtue argument.

This is the real story you are telling which everything else is built upon.

And where do you get your flaw vs. virtue argument?

From your protagonist.

It may also surprise you to learn that you can strip 99% of everything away from your protagonist—their age, race, and gender because none of that matters yet—and what you have left are the three most essential character traits. Their Wound, Shield, and Sword. Or their scar, their dominant character flaw, and its opposite virtue.

The Wound is a traumatic event, or more typically a past traumatic event, that has emotionally, psychologically, and sometimes also physically scarred the protagonist. Everyone has wounds because you cannot live life without accruing them.

And from this Wound you get their Shield, or their dominant character flaw. This Shield is what they carry around and hide behind because they believe, at least on a subconscious level because most people aren’t consciously aware of their dominant character flaw otherwise we would work to correct it, that it protects them from ever being wounded in that way or any similar kind of way ever again. Think of it as their defense mechanism to every situation you put them in.

And from this Shield we get their Sword, or its opposite virtue. The Sword is the panacea that provides the possibility to alleviate the protagonist from the burden of their dominant character flaw and eventually achieve their full potential through character growth. It doesn’t guarantee it, mind, but it does provide that possibility.

Now, when I say ‘opposite’ virtue that doesn’t mean the Sword must be the flaw’s exact opposite virtue. It only needs to be an opposite virtue, all depending on your particular protagonist and their particular story.

As rudimentary example, if we both have a protagonist whose Shield is hate, your protagonist’s Sword might be love whereas mine might be compassion or empathy (both varying degrees of love). Again, the virtue doesn’t have to be the exact opposite of the flaw, only an opposite. We just start with the exact opposite as our origin point then go from there.

The best wounds come from the writer themselves, because this keeps your writing honest while injecting it with the passions of your personal pained experiences. So make a list of all of the worst, scariest, most traumatizing and traumatic, embarrassing situations you’ve ever been through. Now pick the most interesting one and apply it to your protagonist as their Wound. Once you have their Wound (scar) you can then figure out their Shield (flaw) and their Sword (virtue). The three are so interconnected you might as well consider them as one unit, because if you know one then you can discover the other two with ease.

And once you know your protagonist’s Wound, Shield, and Sword, their story practically writes itself because all scenes in it must be connected to one of these three essential character traits in some way, for example as with the triumphant protagonist:

ACT 1: The flawed protagonist lives behind their Shield out of habitual practice because of their Wound.

ACT 2A: The blossoming protagonist learns of their Sword while considering the scary possibility of living without their Shield as their Wound mends slowly.

ACT 2B: The regressing protagonist retreats behind their Shield because they endure more wounds worse than before, but now they recognize their Shield for the heavy burden it truly is (usually because it causes great harm to someone they’ve come to care about).

ACT 3: The changed protagonist casts their flawed Shield aside and raises their virtuous Sword while embracing their full potential then proving its worth against the antagonist.

Or to simplify the focus:

ACT 1 = Shield

ACT 2 = Shield vs. Sword

ACT 3 = Sword

Change is a scary process but also a necessary part of life, which is why it forms the foundation of the greatest stories ever told as well creates the best protagonists.

As I’ve said, the three traits go hand in hand because they are linked; the Wound is the reason for the Shield, and the Sword is the panacea virtue of the Shield’s flaw.

Common recurring Wound (scar) = Shield (flaw) vs. Sword (virtue) arguments exist throughout all the staple genres, such as (but not limited to by any means):

Horror: Phobia = Fear vs. Courage

Superhero: Loss = Doubt vs. Faith

Romance: Betrayal = Fear vs. Love

And sometimes the flaw vs. virtue argument is character-role specific, as with the typical selfishness vs. selflessness Anti-Hero.

But don’t think Wound, Shield, and Sword are restricted to genres, because they apply to every story of every genre, and they differ depending on the individual writer and their particular protagonist.

For example, let us say you and I both start our protagonist with the same Wound of loss. This does not mean they must have a Shield of doubt and a Sword of faith (as previously exampled with Superhero). Loss can be anything, and we each deal with it in our own personal and private ways.

I’ll stricken my protagonist with a loss of having survived the terrorist bombing attack that killed their parents during a county fair. Then burden them with a Shield of anxiety in the form of agoraphobia (fear of public places) through crippling panic attacks. And their Sword will be courage so they can eventually overcome their agoraphobia to hunt down the terrorist organization responsible for their parents’ murder.

Whereas you might stricken your protagonist with the loss of their children to disease. Maybe they’re religious and you burden them with a Shield of resentment so they blame God because of it and are jealous that their Atheist friends’ children are still alive and well. Then you give them a Sword of forgiveness so that they can eventually restore their Christian faith while regaining compassion for their fellow man despite the opposing beliefs involved.

See? Two completely different stories and two different flaw vs. virtue arguments though both stem from the same Wound of loss.

Because in basic terms and regardless the fiction genre: the Wound provides an emotional detriment, the Shield an insecurity because of it, and the Sword a panacea to the Shield.

The possibilities are endless, limited only by your imagination.

And to simplify, when everything else of lesser value is stripped away:

ACT 1 exists to introduce your flaw vs. virtue argument.

ACT 2 exists to present and debate your flaw vs. virtue argument.

ACT 3 exists to reward or punish the verdict of your flaw vs. virtue argument.

This is your scarred protagonist’s character growth arc in a nutshell which produces necessary change (whether positive or negative), and once it is complete their story is finished . . . at least for your first novel, though if you plan a sequel then most times the protagonist’s Wound in the sequel is something traumatic or tragic they experienced carried over from the previous novel into the second, usually via the All Is Lost or the All Is Lost . . . Again! events of Act 2B or Act 3 respectively.

But let’s not get too ahead of ourselves just yet.

Back to the flaw vs. virtue argument.

Imagine a zigzag line of progression with its origin point in Act 1. Slowly it continues throughout the rest of Act 1, into and through all of Act 2, zigzagging up and down, up and down, up and down with increasing intensity while its peaks and valleys become more pronounced through its continuing progression.

Each ascending peak represents an event or scene or situation where virtue is proven over flaw, as well it shows the rewards and consequences for doing so.

Each descending valley represents an event or scene or situation where flaw is proven over virtue, as well it shows the rewards and consequences for doing so.

You don’t want to show only the rewards for virtue over flaw and only the consequences for flaw over virtue because that presents a one-sided lecture. You want to show the rewards and consequences for both because that maintains unpredictability in your story while keeping the reader guessing as to which one is going to eventually win out: virtue or flaw?

Also note that the zigzag line of progression is not a true zigzag, I only use it for sake of imaginary example. Which means you don’t want every ‘even’ event proving virtue over flaw and every ‘odd’ event proving flaw over virtue because that is predictable. Your ‘zigzag’ line of progression may be: virtue, virtue, flaw, virtue, flaw, flaw, flaw, virtue, flaw, virtue . . . et cetera, or any combination all depending on your particular story and your particular protagonist.

That zigzag line of progression will eventually come to a head and a halt at the end of Act 2 during what I call the Rubicon (also referred to as the Spiritual Crossing because it’s the Physical Crossing on steroids; more on this later), which is the linchpin that holds Act 2B and Act 3 together same as the Physical Crossing is the linchpin that holds Act 1 and Act 2A together. The Rubicon is the most crucial moment in your story because it is where the protagonist, after enduring all the adversity that you’ve put them through, finally makes their defining decision to choose virtue over flaw or the flaw magnified over virtue. Once that decision is made, whichever they choose becomes their dominant character trait for the rest of the story that is Act 3.

Also understand that change is never instant, so after their defining moment of decision they don’t suddenly become gung-ho with their virtue over flaw or their flaw magnified over virtue. Instead they have set themselves upon that particular path which finalizes their change through process of proof.

Before we continue, I need to explain two important things.

Determined by the Inciting Incident, every protagonist seeks one of three goals as their main outward desire:

1. Possession of something

2. Relief from something

3. Revenge for something

But don’t think