Middle Grade Musings: Plot

Middle Grade Musings: Plot
Everything I Need to Know about Middle Grade Novels I Learned from Jurassic Park

As I watched the three Jurassic Park movies, I also learned great tips about creating a plot and subplots for my middle grade novel.

Jurassic Park had three strong plots and a large number of subplots. The three main plots were:
1. Get approval for island: This plot was carried all the way through the movie, referred to often, and was important at the end.
2. Steal DNA. Again, this plot was carried all the way through the movie, referred to often, and was important at the end.
3. Get off the island.

Jurassic Park 2 (Lost World) did not really have a single plot that carried the entire way through the movie.
1. Get on the island and find girlfriend: Since he found her right away, it was the end of this plot.
2. Wealthy guy’s safari: This lasted until they got off the island. Then they were in the city and it was a different kind of plot.
3. Get off the island: This only lasted until they got off the island. Then a new plot started.

Jurassic Park 3 also did not really have a single important plot that carried the entire way through the movie.
1. Find kid: They found him in the middle of the movie. End of plot.
2. Get off the island: By the third movie, this was the same plot as the others so it got kind of old. It wasn’t important any more, it was predictable.

Here’s what I learned about plotting a middle grade novel by watching all three movies of Jurassic Park:
1. Create at least three main plots to develop, refer to often throughout the book, and still be important at the end.
2. Create numerous, character-driven subplots that are developed throughout the book and are resolved by the end.

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