Plot Outline - Night of the Spadefoot Toads

Sometimes I need a break from all the pink-fairy-cupcake-unicorn books my two princesses command me to read at home.   So my inner tomboy was delighted when I won a collection of "boy books" from Peachtree Publishers.   The reads also showed me I love middle grade boy books (which probably doesn't surprise anyone, knowing my penchant for potty humor, pirate speak, and torturing bugs.  

I admit to reading Night of the Spadefoot Toads (by Bill Harley, 2008) first, because the cover made me think it was about an attack of zombie toads (which would be awesome!)  It turned out to be a great environmental story where the scary things were moving to a new town and the threat of losing a vernal pool where endangered toads were breeding.

I have started work on a middle grade story (and by "started work" I mean I have a character, a situation, and a lot of sheets of blank white paper).  Spadefoot Toads with a simple story line and a short span of time (4 months) makes for a great book to study plot.  I graphed the plot across the book's 218 pages (about 40,000 words).  

Exposition

Chapter 1:  The first three sentences introduce the Main Character, Key Supporting Character (his teacher/neighbor) and the Nemesis.  The first page provides the setting and the MC's challenge of starting at a new school.  The Buddy is introduced on page 3.  The MC makes his first mistake by page 5 which creates the relationship dynamics for the rest of the story.  Bam! All that in the first chapter.

Chapters 2 & 3: We learn about the MC's main problem, and the MC is confronted with an obstacle.  He has a couple small wins.   

Rising Action

Chapters 4-10:  MC has a small step forward and a small step back (more obstacles) in each chapter which shows us his personality and demonstrates how his relationships are developing with the other characters.  The foundation is laid for the main conflict.

Chap 11-15: Learn details of his teacher's problem and takes his first action to solving the problem.  

Climax

Chap 16: BANG, BANG, BANG - Bad things are piling up.  He reaches his lowest low, but then is given a second chance.

Chap 17: Peak: Momentum is in the MC's favor and good things start to happen.  He makes his final attempt at solving the problem.  

Resolution

Chap 18: Resolution!  I'm not going to include spoilers here, but let's just say it's a happy ending.

So that's how it's done!  Easy enough.  Now why do these white pages seem so darn intimidating?!

Do you have any great plot resources to share?  Post them in the comments, please!