This episode of Buffy and the Art of Story covers The Witch, Season 1, Episode 3.

Buffy and the Art of Story is for anyone who wants to learn more about plot, characterization, and other story elements by watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Every discussion is spoiler-free, except at the end (with plenty of warning).

Story Elements in The Witch

In this podcast episode we'll look at how Buffy handles:

Opening Conflict

Story Spark (a/k/a Inciting Incident)

The first major plot turn at the one-quarter mark

The Midpoint

The twist at the three-quarter point

The Climax

Falling Action

Continuing character arcs

We'll also talk about some highlights from the Buffy Season 1 DVD commentaries by Joss Whedon.

The 7 Season Plan

Buffy and the Art of Story plans to cover every episode of Buffy in order and spoiler-free -- except at the end so I can talk about foreshadowing, but I'll give you plenty of warning.

Down the road there'll be a Patreon account where you'll be able to get a free story structure template. As a patron, you'll also get access to bonus episodes.

Those episodes will include Buffy-adjacent stories (such as key Angel episodes). Also films or TV episodes that are intriguing from a story, theme, or character perspective.

Requests will be welcome.

Next Up: Teacher's Pet, S1 E4

More On Story Structure

The plot points in Buffy and the Art of Story are outlined in detail, and with additional examples, in Super Simple Story Structure: A Quick Guide To Plotting And Writing Your Novel. Workbook, ebook, and audiobook editions are available.

Episode Transcript For The Witch

Hello and welcome to Buffy and the Art of Story. If you love Buffy the Vampire Slayer and you love creating stories or just taking them apart to see how they work, you are in the right place.

I am Lisa M. Lilly, author of suspense, mysteries and supernatural thrillers and founder of WritingAsASecondCareer.com

Each week I'll talk about one episode of Buffy in order, covering plot turns and other story elements. The discussion will be spoiler-free except at the very end and I'll give you plenty of warning.

This Week: The Witch

Today we're talking about Season 1, Episode 3: The Witch. This is a standalone episode. So we'll cover all the key plot turns. We’ll also talk about subplots and how this early episode sets expectations for this series by expanding the Buffy universe beyond vampires. That was hinted at in the pilot, but it's made explicit now.

Okay, let's dive into The Hellmouth.

Opening Conflict in The Witch

In the first scene, we have Giles giving Buffy a speech about her sacred duty and how she is now enslaving herself to this cult. We then get a shot of Buffy in a cheerleading uniform.

This is another great way to get across the exposition through conflict, which was done so well in the pilot. And it sets up, for audience members who have not seen the pilot, exactly what is going on in the show.

Remember, when this came out a lot of people might jump into a series in the middle or at least certainly in the first season or two. So, if you hadn't started a series at the beginning you could wait for reruns. But you were more likely to just start with a later episode.

So it was important to set up exactly what was going on and that was done well here. I videotaped a lot of episodes once I got to like the show. But I don't think that I saw it in the order it aired until years later when I got the DVD sets.

More Than Exposition

This opening conflict does exactly what it should do beyond the exposition, which is to grab the audience member right away.

Our opening conflict can really be about anything. It's something to simply draw the reader in. But it's ideal if it hints at what the main conflict is going to be for the story.

And here we get that because our main plot will involve somebody getting cheerleaders out of the way. It's not whether Buffy becomes a cheerleader or not....