Quick Look at the Strong Structure of a Contemporary MG Novel

I first heard of the contemporary middle grade novel Stanley Will Probably Be Fine when a book coaching client mentioned it. It was written by Sally J. Pla and published in 2018 by HarperCollins.

The novel is about a boy with a tremendous knowledge of comic book trivia. Stanley also has a sensory processing disorder that makes it hard for him to deal with too much stimulus like crowds and noise—including his school’s regular safety drills. When his best friend Joon suggests they participate in a treasure hunt to win VIP passes to Comic Fest, Stanley is nervous about it. But when Joon dumps him for another friend, Stanley is determined to beat Joon.

This novel is fun for readers who’ve ever had friend problems, who enjoy comics, or who like treasure hunts. For writers, it offers a different kind of treasure—a wonderful example of tightly woven  characters, plots, and subplots.

I was impressed by how well Pla created characters with their own distinct wants and desires and arcs of change, including her secondary characters. She wove those into the overall novel so well, while telling the story in first person from Stanley’s point of view.

Analyzing characters and plot with a spreadsheet

I wanted to get a better understanding of how she pulled that off. So I decided to track several things using a spreadsheet to see if that would illuminate things for me.

First, I made a list of 16 characters in the order they appear in the novel. I included the page number that the character is first mentioned on. I also noted each character’s relationship to Stanley.

For example, 5 characters are mentioned on page 1:

• Albert Einstein, the family dog

• Joon, Stanley’s best friend

• Calvin, Stanley’s older brother

• Gramps

• Mom

Then I identified the page number of the first interaction Stanley has with each character and what that interaction revealed. Calvin shows up right away (page 2). He’s essentially tormenting Stanley and the interaction is a window into the family situation. Mom enters the story on page 5 and through her conversation reveals Stanley’s anxiety and sensory issues.

Stanley interacts with his best friend Joon for the first time on page 14 when Stanley gets on the bus to school. That’s when they hear on the radio about Comic Fest and the trivia treasure hunt. There are also subtle hints about the strained friendship between Stanley and Joon.

The 16 characters I listed all show up in the first 31 pages of this 278-page novel.

One sheet per character

I quickly realized that while I could track each one, I needed an individual sheet for each. Otherwise I’d be scrolling sideways forever and it would be hard to read my notes on each interaction and its significance.

So I decided to focus on Joon since he affects Stanley’s own arc of change. Joon was crucial to the trivia treasure hunt and the friendship piece. He had external and internal impact on Stanley.

I counted 16 separate interactions between Stanley and Joon throughout the novel. The first, as noted above, started on page 14, and the last was on page 275.

The next interaction I noted was on page 50 when Stanley draws his first superhero. Joon isn’t paying attention and calls Stanley “Fart-in-bra,” a snotty nickname started by another kid (Stanley’s last name is Fortinbras).

You probably won’t be surprised that Joon quickly becomes Stanley’s ex-best friend. As a result, Joon is much less present in the middle third of the novel. However, he pops up 8 times in the last 100 pages, that’s half of his interactions with Stanley.

How is this kind of analysis helpful?

Going through the novel a second time and making notes about characters helped me see where and how Pla slipped in her subplots. For example, Stanley starts drawing a superhero comic when he’s by himself, sitting out another stressful school safety assembly. Stanley uses a pad of poster paper that remains in that room. The next time he’s there, he discovers that someone else has drawn a response to his comic. Who? He has no idea and neither did I.

But when I went back through the novel, I saw where she slipped that mystery character into the story, a character I’d scarcely noticed. So clever.

Using a spreadsheet to show character interactions created a mini outline and helped me see the cause and effect nature of those scenes. And those scenes had ripple effects to other characters as well.

Stanley is acting and reacting but so are the other characters. They’re not passively waiting around for Stanley to lead the way. They clearly have their own needs and desires that are driving them, just like Stanley.

I don’t know if a spreadsheet would be a helpful tool for planning character arcs and subplots and showing how they intersect with the main plot, but as an analysis tool, it worked.