The hills we climb along the plot line of our real life stories are the obstacles, adversities and challenges we must face, the ups and downs of life. This uphill track is not always easy however; as we struggle to sustain our momentum and maintain our pace on the way up and the way down. And, inevitably some will fall behind, become lost or give up completely as the hills grow steeper, more slippery or rocky, and multiply.  When we are starting out at the bottom, looking ahead to the open space in front of us the climb might not look so bad, but as we move forward, the landscape will inevitably change. It is how we adjust to those changes that determine the shape we will be in when we arrive on the other side of each hill. 

In writing, the story’s plotline resembles the hilly landscape we travel in our real lives.  The story begins at the bottom of the narrative with exposition (introduction), an even steady ground from which to start the hike, before the plotline advances the protagonist along the trek uphill through the conflict and rising action.  But, it really gets tough as the incline grows more precipitous, propelling the protagonist upwards to the highest point of the story at the peak, or the climax of the story where she faces her biggest challenge.  Then, once she makes it over that hurdle, the descent along the falling action becomes less painful, and easier to think and to breath.  Ultimately, the protagonist reaches the resolution at the bottom where the meaning comes together at last. These pit stops dotting the hills of the plotline comprise those story elements that stitch together the bare-bones roadmap of the narrative. 

There are several different types of plots from which the author will select to lay out her tale.  Some resemble the hill we climbed in the previous paragraph and others are made up of multiple hills or parallel hills running alongside one another. But regardless of the layout differences, the one thing that must be a part of any strong plotline is the hills.  Without hills to climb there would be nothing worth celebrating at the end of the story, or worth the reader’s time to reflect on the meaning when she turns the last page. Much like our real life story plotlines.

Among the types of plotlines  from which the writer picks, the first one to consider is the Linear plot, which is a progressive chronological plot that glides from the beginning  with exposition, winding  through all the those elements that make up the hill(s), sliding into the story’s  ending in the resolution.  This is different from the second type of plot , the episodic plot, also chronological, but unlike the linear single hill plot line it includes a series of smaller  flimsily related stories that explore one or more characters and the social cultural aspects of different time periods to tell a larger narrative.  The parallel plot, on the other hand tells multiple stories that occur independently, joining together later, while remaining bound by the theme like a bridge connecting the hills to one another.  Finally, the flashback plot presents the story out of order, through memories, moving backward and forward to create depth.  

All stories contain an up and down rhythm to them, an action and reaction.  These “hills” must exist to provide meaning and excitement to the story.  There must be action and reaction, cause and effect, choices and consequences in our stories.  Without those hills, the narrative would be like a rollercoaster with no ascents or drops, no thrills and adventure mixed with peace and  relief. And, who would want to ride a flat rollercoaster?   

 Much like the  hills we climb in our real life stories, moving along the plotline through the many phases of our lives, the writer constructs a pattern of actions and reactions in which the character or characters take one step forward and two steps backward, making choices that create a cause or action followed by the reaction or effect that usually do not go the way the character(s) wanted or expected, propelling them into unintended consequences for which they must make another choice that initiates a subsequent action or cause, which in turn creates another reaction or effect.  And on it goes as the characters climb the hills along the plot line.

To illustrate the weight of the plotline on the story, Writer Digest contributor Jacquelyn Mitchard says in her “Gotcha! Let’s do the Plot Twist” article; When you create great plot turns, you build a strong narrative spine. The hills lend to the structural strength of the story just as they do to our real lives.  Like a house with a rotting foundation so soft you can slide a knife through it, a story with a weak plotline won’t ever be strong enough to hold up the whole narrative.

In our own large overreaching real life story plot line we continuously climb up and down hills as we ascend from childhood  adolescence  to adulthood, graduating from school, getting a job, pursuing a career, finding love and building a family, moving to our first homes, and creating friendships. However, as we scale this slope we encounter hurdles,  a building up and breaking down as we move from one hill to another. Then, boom, we reach the peak where there is a life-changing  explosion.  It may be a divorce, a death, a loss of some kind.  Maybe a job, a friendship, a home. A tragedy.  But, then the dust settles and we begin the descent down the other side, stumbling over smaller hills along the decline; car troubles, home repairs to tackle, kids in trouble at school issues, tax deadlines looming, law suits to untangle, minor health problems to work out, family discord, tough decisions to make, prices to pay, sacrifices to endure, ups and downs to navigate.  We keep going because we made it through the worst and we can do it again when and if we need to. And again. And again.  And again.

To this point, Writing Coach and Story Analyst, Deb Norton says in her 2017 Writer Digest article; Story structure, Simplified”;  “ Story structure, at its core, maps the archetypal journey of a human facing a challenge and navigating change- and this is something that every one of us has ample experience with. Both challenges and change, after all, are inevitable.” The hills may be steep at times and overwhelm us, but as long as we keep moving forward our muscles will grow harder, our bodies will become leaner and our endurance gets greater. We change… We become stronger…. We become better.

And so, as we lean forward into a new year, starting out at the bottom of this year’s hill looking onward, we’ll work our way along the hilly plot line, writing our real life and fictional stories.  As Jinnie Austin wrote in a 2015 article I found online about “How to Run Hills”, we should think of ourselves “ like a pencil angled when you’re writing. That’s your body going uphill, not exactly rigid but all of you straight and firm, pressing into that giant sheet and writing your story.”   

So,  leaning forward, we’ll  persevere through the hilly plot line landscapes of our real lives and our fiction, filling in the spaces between pit stops with narrative.  We’ll  lower the tension of our chain and downshift on our ride up the hill when we need to, ease up on the distance we cover as we get tired, back off on our stride during the times we run hard,  control our breathing when we feel pressure and want to give up,  and hold our breath when we peddle through  the explosions at the peaks.  Then, once we make it through that part, we’ll  smile, unwind and breathe easier as we coast downhill, and like the fictional characters in our fiction, we’ll  become stronger than we were before and changed for the better, one hill at a time.