Nail Your Story Add Tension, Build Emotion, and Keep Your Readers Addicted
Introduction There are plenty of other books out there about storytelling craft—so why another one? This is a question I've asked myself a dozen times while writing this book. How can I say something different about storytelling, when so many others before me have broken it down in such detail, with such precision? I have purchased over 70 books on storytelling craft over the last five years, so I have a good sense of what is currently out there. There were some books that I adored, that taught me so much about the subject that I recommend them excitedly to every author I meet. There were also some that I skimmed the first few chapters of and went, "huh?" and set down. There are some that I still haven't gotten to because I haven't felt a particular need just yet—like one that's aptly titled Don't Murder Your Mystery. (I don't currently write in the mystery genre, and I'm not sure when or why I picked this one up!) There are others I haven't gotten to but want to get to; most which dive deep into a very specific topic, such as Writing Subtext: What Lies Beneath. What I've learned so far about studying my craft is that some books resonate more than others. More importantly, some books resonate with me more at different times on my journey. I've often come back to a book
that made little sense to me before, that suddenly helps something new "click" for me. This is because storytelling is tricky business with hundreds of moving parts, and our minds can only focus on so many parts at once. Additionally, we all have different goals based on our skill level, our career level, and the stories we want to write. That's why I believe the best way to help you decide if you should continue reading this book (or perhaps instead set it aside for another time) is to share with you my goals for creating the Smarter Storytelling Framework:
Goal #1 - Intuitively Understand Story This book was originally titled Nail Your Outline, but I changed it when I realized that my content has very little to do with nailing your outline at all. I am agnostic regarding the age-long debate over pantsing vs. plotting; in my opinion, it doesn't matter in the slightest what phase of your writing you discover your story. All that matters is that your best story makes it into print. You can discover parts of your story at all points in your writing— outlining, drafting, and editing. What's most important, though, is that you can recognize a misstep and realign your story—no matter which writing phase you're in. I wanted a simple system that would help me make consistent
decisions during the outlining, drafting, and editing processes. The only way to do this was to understand and integrate modern storytelling architecture into my being. This meant that I needed to understand the elements of the story and, more importantly, how each related to each other. I believe that the best storytellers do two things well—they make consistent decisions throughout their story, and they keep the layers of their story in deep alignment. I've set out to teach you how to do this using my framework.
Goal #2 - Create a System I wanted a process for writing a fiction story that I could turn to time and time again. I wanted it to make sense to me on an intuitive level and also reflect my values. You could chalk it up to my perseverance with writing efficiently, which I've discussed in three books already: •
Write Better, Faster: How To Triple Your Writing Speed and Write
More Every Day •
The 8-Minute Writing Habit: Create a Consistent Writing Habit
That Works With Your Busy Lifestyle
•
Dictate Your Book: How To Write Your Book Faster, Better, and
Smarter Or you could attribute it to my sometimes obsessive need to solve problems with systems and habits. But either way, even amidst those 70+ craft books, my quest for this magic system never appeared… So in typical Monica-fashion, I created it for myself! The goal of this framework is to take you step-by-step through writing a story that is layered, congruent, and marketable. Very few books offer a systematic framework that works for both outlining and editing, and none are like this one. I really wanted to create a framework that had people "off to the races." I wanted writers to dive right into their work-in-progress, no matter what writing phase they were at, and easily spot wrong turns and dead ends so they could fix them. Lots of writers believe that writing is "very personal." While I agree that writing is a personal endeavor, and my methods likely won't work for everyone, I also believe that having a system, even a terrible one, is a first step to improvement. You may have to optimize the system, tweak the system, retool the system, or scrap the system, but every system you try
teaches you something about yourself and your processes. Once you have self-knowledge, you can improve—but it's difficult to improve if you aren't given something to try and evaluate.
Goal #3 - Create Bestsellers I'm interested in writing big series—series that sell 10 million copies or more per book. While I'm nowhere near achieving this goal yet, I am interested in looking at the bestselling series of our time and, in typical growth hacking fashion, reverse-engineering what makes them so brilliant. This Smarter Storytelling Framework encompasses a lot of what I've discovered, and I'll be spending the next several years re-editing one of my series-in-progress that I think has legs to better match these expectations. I want to be clear that I'm not in any way promising that you'll sell 10 million copies just by reading this book… all I'm saying is that it's a goal of mine. If it's a goal of yours too, this framework might help!
Goal #4 - Sell a Ton of Books NOW Bestseller status is a next level goal for me, but my current goal right now is to sell more books. I'm not (at the moment) writing for publications, editors, publishers,
award pickers, or even a bestseller list. I would simply like to write stories that I love and get those stories into the hands of readers. Yes, this is a rather commercial approach to writing that English majors are likely shaking their heads at, but who cares? There's nothing wrong with this goal! However, if this isn't your goal, you might find my approach too focused on marketability.
Goal #5 - Create an Experience for the Reader Have you ever read a series that felt absolutely magical to you? There are several that have deeply resonated with me, but the truth is I could probably count series that have changed my life on an emotional level on one hand. I remember the agony of buying the last Harry Potter book and staying up all night to read it so I wouldn't get spoiled… realizing bittersweetly that it was truly the end of an era. I looked far and wide for another series that could capture my interest in the same way and found few. That was one of the reasons I started writing in the first place—because I wanted to write more series that created that special, transportive experience. I've dug deep into what creates this experience, and come back to the concepts of deep alignment and consistent decisions. When a story
resonates with the reader, it's always because all the story elements are aligned, creating a larger whole than the sum of the parts. This framework is the "how" behind creating this experience. Although this book will be heavy on marketability and commercial storytelling, there is a certain magic to creating a book using the Smarter Storytelling Framework. That magic could work for a more literary piece as well, and I'll use several books that are heavier on theme as examples. You've maybe told stories before, but have you created an experience? This framework attempts to highlight the difference between the two, and provide the missing piece that will take your story to the next level.
Why Me? At this point, you might be asking, "Who is this person?" My name is Monica Leonelle and I make a full-time living from my independently published books. Thank you for picking up this book. You have a number of choices for who to learn from, and I'm honored to be one of your picks. Here's my story: after working my way up to marketing director in the tech startup industry over the course of seven years, I transitioned out so I could focus on my fiction writing, which has been an all-consuming passion
of mine since late 2008. Since then, I've published 15 fiction books across two pen names that house five series at the time of this writing. My ideas show no signs of stopping, so I expect to be doing this for the rest of my life! Marketing was a first love of mine and is now a big part of my creative process. I can't imagine writing something without the hope that many, many people will read it. I just don't see the point, at least not at this stage in my life (but who knows if that will change). I'm greatly driven by making a true impact on the world, and while I don't believe my influence is anywhere near its potential, I try to make a dent in my long-term mission every single day. Like you, I'm still learning a lot about storytelling. I don't have all the answers, but I do have a lot of ideas to share. I know that when I was first trying to learn my craft, I had help from dozens of books that came across my desk at the right time, just when I needed to hear a specific message or learn a simple relationship that would suddenly help things "click" for me. In all my reading and research, I haven't come across any book that explains story using anything similar to the Smarter Storytelling Framework, so it may be just the thing that creates a "click" for you, too. I don't think this framework will necessarily make you a great storyteller
by itself. However, I do think it can help you on your quest to be a great storyteller. I also think that using this framework correctly will make your book or series "pretty damn good." By that, I mean, people will want to read the book, buy the book, and tell their friends about the book. Plenty of midlist authors (and even many bestsellers) build huge careers on a series of pretty good books, and I myself am an example of someone who can write a pretty good book that sells. Lastly, while I hope to provide a ton of insight in Nail Your Story, you'll still have to adapt the Smarter Storytelling Framework to the stories you want to tell. So play with the framework—adapt it, test it, tweak it, and mold it until it suits you. I don't mind. I'm merely here to share my knowledge and serve!
Who This Book is For I believe that as authors, we are all optimizing for something with our work. Some of us are optimizing for creative expression, while others of us are optimizing for fame and awards, while others of us are optimizing for money. The same person can be optimizing for different goals with each project as well. For example, I fully intend to write a feel-good, literary
young adult novel someday, when I have the luxury of not needing to bring in income from my work. But for now, most of my work is optimized for earning; alas, a job is still a job, even if it's a fun one. I also approach storytelling from a marketing perspective throughout this book.
I believe that story popularity increases when storytelling decisions are consistent and in deep alignment.
This is a huge growth hack that I'll continue to refer back to this insight throughout the entire text. As such, the writers who will get the most out of Nail Your Story are those who are trying to create commercially viable books. In other words, the book is best for authors who are working on popular, mainstream, genre concepts, and who hope to sell a lot of copies. Additionally, this isn't an academic approach. I was never an English major and most classics bore me to tears! Frankly, I couldn't care less about academia. I'm pragmatic and want to sell more books. I want to be clear that this doesn't mean I have issues with academics and the ways they analyze or teach story—it just doesn't work for me or my goals.
This book is for storytellers who want to learn their craft well enough to "turn pro," (a Steven Pressfield-ism). I believe in writing good stories, and I believe that the Smarter Storytelling Framework will lead you to writing a good story. From there, you can mix in hard work, hundreds of thousands of fiction words, and lots of experimentation to hit some of your larger goals—fame, awards, a rabid fan base, millions of dollars, critical praise, bestseller status, and more. But I believe that great storytelling starts with good storytelling, and good storytelling happens when you express your story in the way readers want to consume it. Finally, I use a TON of examples throughout the book to illustrate my points. Most of my examples are modern, and many of them come from television and movies. Plenty of them also come from books. I don't discriminate! I do use a few examples from my own books as well. If you don't enjoy examples, this may not be the right book for you.
How To Use This Book The Smarter Storytelling Framework is meant to be a system that you can use to outline, draft, or edit your current work of fiction. While it's primarily meant for novels and series, I share in the Frequently Asked Questions section toward the end how I apply it to other story lengths and types. There are several use cases I see for the Smarter Storytelling Framework: •
You are staring at a blank page with writer's block and can't figure
out how to start your book •
You have a series or book outline and it's not coming together as
well as you'd like on the page—there's no feeling of true cohesiveness and connectivity •
You have a series or book that you need to take back to the
drawing board due to low performance or lackluster sales •
You have a series or book that is good but not great, and you want
to take it to the next level before the sequel(s) come out •
You are a seasoned storyteller working professionally and making
a living, but now you want to aspire to greater success •
You are starting a new pen name and you want to replicate your
success as you pivot genres •
You have fantastic ideas but no system for plotting them out and
making the tough decisions about what to keep and what to cut •
You struggle through the editing process, unsure of when to stop
—when enough is enough •
You have rewritten your plot a dozen times, and you still don't
have an edited and published book •
You find yourself ignoring your outline over and over again—why
did you even bother? •
You have no system for spotting mistakes during edits, and you
wish someone would just tell you what to do next •
You can nail the beginning and end of your book, but you have no
idea how to keep the middle exciting •
You spend all your time outlining and world-building and
researching and end up doing way more work than is necessary All of these are fantastic reasons to try the Smarter Storytelling Framework to see how it suits you. I've spent an entire year trying to get this framework into an easily digestible format, and I'm thrilled that so many people can now test it out! Here's my recommendation for how to use this book:
Step #1 - Read the framework all the way through for understanding During this time, simply take notes. For now, it's more important that you understand the concepts and make connections between them. Later, it will be important for you to implement, but for now, aim for comprehension. You may also want to grab the worksheets I've put together for you to
implement this framework at:
http://proseonfire.com/nys-worksheets
As you read this book, I'm going to start from the top down, going into the details of each layer. However, you could just as easily work from the bottom up OR the middle out… once you've read the whole book through once, of course.
Step #2 - Fill in the worksheets for the parts you have As you are taking notes, figure out what you have already. If you are still in the outline phase, you may have an idea for the ending, for example. You may know the main protagonist and antagonist. You may know what the book is about at the high level, or you may know that you want to incorporate certain characters or situations who are inspired by your real life. You may know your characters goals and motivations. Whatever you have is the perfect starting point—we will grow the story from there. If you've written your story already and you're in the editing phase, you may have the entire plot, the characters, the world, and more. At this point,
you are looking to see if your story aligns. Are your decisions consistent? Do your arcs fit together? Are there missing pieces? Are there places where you can bridge the gap? If you don't have a story to work on at the moment, use this framework to diagram out your favorite stories. This is going to greatly aid your storytelling chops, help you learn the conventions of your subgenre, and help you learn more about the kind of writer you want to be. Then, move on to your own story and try to map that out too!
Step #3 - Work your way down, up, or out Once you know what you have already, it's time to discover more about your story. Start somewhere in the framework and take it as far as it can go… then take a break, write a few chapters, come back to it! Work your way down, up, or out depending on which worksheets are directly connected to the ones you can already complete. This will ensure all the elements of your story are in deep alignment. Stay open during this process—don't lock yourself in to one world, one character, one theme. This framework is meant to help you find places where your story is out of alignment, so you can make choices that will bring it back into alignment.
The more your story is aligned, the better it will do. Approach it all with an open mindset to get the best results. You may need to add characters, subtract characters, or completely change your ending. This is okay. It all benefits you because it helps you tell a better story. There's no right order to building your story. We're not using a linear process. We're building a ball of yarn. We're winding and winding and growing. We're unraveling and growing again. Eventually, it will spool up into something pretty. Make consistent decisions, and everything will work out. Go all in on your choices. For example: •
In the Harry Potter series, Gryffindors are known for their bravery.
J.K. Rowling demonstrated that every character from Gryffindor was brave, over and over again in their actions. •
In The Hunger Games, Katniss wears a mockingjay. Then she
spins around in a dress that makes her look like a mockingjay. Then when they need a symbol for the war, they give Katniss a mockingjay costume so she can become the mockingjay. Suzanne Collins could have made Finnick the symbol of the war and used a triton—but she didn't. She made consistent decisions. •
In A Song of Ice and Fire, George R.R. Martin gives each of the
houses a motto or phrase. There's never a Lannister who doesn't pay his or her debts. And if there is, he has to go all in on his rebellion and never pay his debts.
Step #4 - As you learn more about your story, go back and adjust Done is not done in this framework. It's a working, living document. You can and should use the Smarter Storytelling Framework at all phases of your writing. You may even want to update your document after outlining, after drafting, and after editing. When you feel stuck on a decision, come back to the Smarter Storytelling Framework and do a quick check for a alignment. This should almost always help you discover where you went wrong!
Step #5 - Create your system by tweaking this one I really hate the "guru" mentality that plagues so much of our education. My teaching strategy is to share what I know and encourage you to build off of the system that is working for me. I don't believe in "off-the-shelf" systems and I don't expect anyone to write or use this framework in the same way that I do. As you read the book, I don't want you to look at me as an expert
on the topic (I'm not!) or think that I know something you don't. We are all reading the same source material, and this is just my interpretation. My hope and goal for writing it down is that I can enhance your current understanding of storytelling and share connections and insights that I've made that may also help you. The system is built so that you can easily try it out, but feel free to tweak this system and do what works for you. Self-knowledge is the greatest productivity hack. Use it! Lastly, I have shared my full list of recommended books about storytelling craft in the supplementary material for this book. Make sure you download it here:
http://proseonfire.com/nys-worksheets/
The worksheets I've put together are based on the relationship between the two concepts listed. That means if you can nail the relationships between each of the concepts, you will naturally nail your story. Your story will feel full, detailed, vivid, and complete. Your plot will flow naturally from the characters, who will flow naturally from the theme. The world-building will be a physical representation of the theme of the
story. There will be lots of small, beautiful a-ha! moments that will make your readers fall in love and truly understand the characters. Your readers will feel invested in every aspect of your story world, which will make them cherish your story. One last thing I want to mention: NONE of these ideas are mine alone. All I've done here is created a framework to easily understand how a variety of storytelling concepts relate to each other. I try to cite my source material where possible, and I include a list of my favorite books on craft in supplementary material on my website. You can assume going forward that almost all of these ideas are influenced by these favorite books—I'm just putting the same storytelling concepts that we all know and love into a different context that unlocked story for me. I hope it unlocks story for you too! Here's the link again for that supplementary material:
http://proseonfire.com/nys-worksheets/
Examples I learn best by examples, so I've put TONS in this book. If you don't like examples, feel free to skip or skim through them.
I don't discriminate when it comes to examples. I'll use any example in storytelling, from movies to television to books. Why? Television and movies are so mainstream and I've found that even writers are more familiar with blockbuster movies and long-standing television shows, while not as familiar with as many classic stories and books that are often used as examples in other texts on craft. Here is a full list of examples I've used in this book:
Books and Series •
The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
•
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
•
The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
•
The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins
•
The Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer
•
The Shadowhunter Chronicles series by Cassandra Clare
•
The Southern Vampire Mysteries series by Charlaine Harris
•
A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin
•
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
•
Goosebumps by R.L. Stine
•
Chandler Brothers series by Carly Phillips
•
Emma by Jane Austen
•
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Television Shows •
The Flash
•
Modern Family
•
Scandal
•
How To Get Away With Murder
•
Game of Thrones
•
The Walking Dead
•
Breaking Bad
•
The Good Wife
•
Dexter
•
Girls
•
The Vampire Diaries
•
True Blood
•
How I Met Your Mother
•
Gossip Girl
•
Baby Daddy
•
Sex and the City
•
Seinfeld
•
Don't Trust the B—— in Apartment 23
•
Mad Men
•
Big Bang Theory
•
Gilmore Girls
•
Grey's Anatomy
•
The Americans
•
Homeland
•
Weeds
•
Under the Dome
•
Revenge
•
The Office
•
New Girl
•
The Tudors
•
Arrow
•
House of Cards
•
Veronica Mars
Movies •
The Martian
•
Gone Girl
•
Snowpiercer
•
Star Wars
•
Friends With Benefits
•
No Strings Attached
•
First Daughter
•
Chasing Liberty
•
Ex Machina
•
500 Days of Summer
•
Titanic
There may be major spoilers from any and all of these stories in the examples in this book, so please read with caution if that is a concern.
My Projects In addition to the examples of popular and prominent stories of the day, I've also added examples from three of my own projects. Breaking down modern stories and building up your own story are two very different things. These three examples will help you see how I walk my own talk and apply the Smarter Storytelling Framework to my own stories and business. The three examples are: •
Building my original young adult urban fantasy series, Waters
Dark and Deep - This is a series that has had a lot of false starts. I've been working on it since 2010 and even published an early version of it that wasn't good enough for a franchise. I reworked many parts of the original story and now I'm working on the deep alignment that is seen in other stories like it. •
Rebooting my new adult romance series that's a retelling of two Jane Austen novels, called Emma + Elsie - the first book in this series came out earlier this year and got slammed in reviews. I'll share throughout this book some of the wrong turns I think I made, and how I can adjust those to get the series back on track to building and earning its fan base.
•
Putting together a memoir of the first ~30ish years of my life - I'm not currently writing a memoir, but I want to show you how you can apply this framework to any story, true or made up, to unify it and give it more emotional impact. I also think it's helpful to understand reallife people as you are applying these concepts, and this will show you how to fit the facts into the story.
The Smarter Storytelling Framework Before we get into the specifics of the framework, I want to give you the larger picture. My framework has 5 layers that feed into each other, as diagrammed below:
As you can see, the framework consists of a variety of storytelling
elements and the relationships between them. Each relationship is represented by arrows and goes both ways, and each one is numbered for convenience. Although you can use the framework without the worksheets, they may be of help. You can download them for free here: http://proseonfire.com/nys-worksheets/ As we go through each storytelling element in the next several sections, you'll want to keep in mind what you know so far about your story. My goal isn't to tell you what the right decision is for your story, but to help you make consistent decisions all the way through based on where your story is at right now. You can start anywhere in this framework. You can start in three different places and fill in areas to connect the dots of your story. For now, we're going to discuss things in order, starting at the top.
The 5 Layers There are five layers to my framework:
Layer 1 - The Design The Design layer is where a lot of the magic happens, because a big part of what keeps your story in alignment is theme. In the Design layer, we'll define the concept, premise, and theme of your story and discuss the
relationship between them. If you look at any modern mega-hit story, its success is predicated on how closely it sticks to its primary or unified theme. This is something I hope to demonstrate to you in the examples. The center of the Smarter Storytelling Framework is without a doubt the theme—we'll dive deep into this topic, as the theme can and should be carried through the entire story to create the deepest emotional impact.
Layer 2 - The Surface The Surface layer is the stuff you sell to the reader—your characters, your plot, and more. In the Surface layer, we'll talk about genre and what it means for your plot, so you can be thinking about this early on. We will also get into the groups and characters in your story and start fleshing out your cast and major conflicts. Lastly, we'll tie the Surface layer back to the Design layer so you can see how these storytelling elements interact with each other!
Layer 3 - The Conflicts The pulsing beat of every story lies in the conflicts. In the Conflicts layer, we will dive deep into fatal flaws and external motivations for each of your
groups and characters. I'll explain how to create false beliefs and goals that form character arcs for your story and truly start to give it heart. Finally, I'll show you how to work backwards from these concepts to fill in your 4-Part Structure with a rich and rewarding sequence of events that makes up your plot. No more murky middle of your story!
Layer 4 - The Representations In the Representations layer, we'll look at everything we've already discovered about your story and tease out the many ways to better express it. We'll discuss symbols, metaphors, motifs, and more. So many authors stop at the first three layers. But by putting all of these thematic elements in place, you'll easily connect the first layer to fifth layer of your story all the way through, like pulling threads through five swaths of material to weave a quilt. If there is one takeaway you'll get from this book, it's that theme is the connective thread that makes your story magical. You'll see in dozens of examples across several genres throughout this book how this works.
Layer 5 - The World In the World layer, we will figure out the world that these characters live in.
We will look into background, history, and more for each of the thematic elements defined in Layer 4. This is the last layer, the base of the entire operation. Not all of it will make it into the book. But, like anything, tying up this loose end will strengthen your story. Finally, a word of warning if you think you can ignore this layer just because you are writing something contemporary. I'll show you how even contemporary stories need to build their worlds. There may not be wizards and vampires and kingdoms, but you'll still need to know the backgrounds and histories of your characters, and more.
The Relationships One of the ways this book is structured differently than others of its ilk is that I focus heavily on the relationships between two storytelling concepts. So, for example, if you already have your protagonist figured out, I want you to be able to translate the information you already know about him to his fatal flaw, to the groups in your world, and to the larger theme of the book. Then, you can translate each of these three pieces into more pieces, connecting through the framework along the arrows as you go.
Before you know it, you'll have a strong sense of your story at every layer, because every decision you've made is in alignment with all the other decisions. There are 9 relationships outlined throughout this book, and I give you solid guidelines on how to get the two storytelling concepts in alignment for each relationship. This, I hope, will allow you to start with any area of your book that you want and move up, down, left, or right to discover and learn more about your story. If you follow the trail these relationships create, you'll find that your story is in deep alignment. What does that mean? It means your characters match their character arcs, which matches your theme, which matches your plot, which matches your world. This creates an experience for the reader. It's like walking into an expensive department store—for example, Nordstrom. The lights match the layout, which matches the product, which matches the pricing, which matches the customer service. Shopping at Nordstrom is a very different experience than shopping at a big box retailer like Walmart, which is a different experience than shopping at a primarily online retailer like Amazon. When your story is in deep alignment, it simply works. More
importantly, it really works for its target audience, just like Nordstrom really works for its customers. In this book, I emphasize relationships between the storytelling elements because I know that all of your decisions need to be consistent for the story to have a major impact on your reader. As you go through the book, I'll show you example after example of huge bestsellers where this is the case. And, as homework, you can go through your own favorite stories to see each of these layers at work, all operating in unison.
Foundations As I was writing this book, it occurred to me that I can't explain my framework unless you as the reader have a basic grasp of storytelling architecture. The Smarter Storytelling Framework is built on top of the 4Part Structure, which I'll get into in a minute. If you've never seen this before, not a problem—you can get a quick overview here and read about it in further detail in other books on craft. My top recommendation is Story Engineering by Larry Brooks, and I also really love Story Grid by Shawn Coyne. Both books will give you tons of detail on these 4 parts. If you have seen this a million times before, feel free to skip or skim past this section and head straight into Layer 1 - The Design.
4-Part Structure If you are familiar with the 3-Act Structure that is prevalent in all modernday storytelling, you may also be familiar with the 4-Part Structure, which overlays the 3-Act Structure by dividing Act II into two parts. I first came across this structure when reading Larry Brooks's Story Engineering book, but I've seen it become more and more prevalent since then, taking place of the 3-Act Structure in many books on the subject. I want to be perfectly clear before we go on that I did not create this structure in any way, shape, or form. Yet, I also don't know who to credit for it, because it's based off of a 3-Act Structure that has been around for hundreds of years. We'll also be using the five Tentpole Moments that are prevalent across most storytelling frameworks. These Tentpole Moments are: •
The Inciting Incident
•
The Decision (aka the First Plot Point)
•
The Reversal (aka the Midpoint)
•
The "Cards on the Table" Moment (aka the Second Plot Point)
•
The Transformation Same as the 4-Part Structure, the Tentpole Moments are likely as old
as the novel form itself. I didn't invent them or even observe them; they are simply the basis for storytelling architecture and their individual elements can be spotted in both modern novels and the classics. I'm going to refer back to the 4-Part Structure and Tentpole Moments throughout the Smarter Storytelling Framework, so let's jump right in to each part.
Part 1 (aka Act I, The Setup) Part 1, often called Act I or "The Setup" in other storytelling books, is roughly the first 10-25% of your story. It includes two important moments (Tentpole Moments) called the Inciting Incident and the Decision (which we'll get to later in this section). In general, it follows these rough beats: •
We introduce the reader to the protagonist's normal world,
hopefully hooking them in the process •
Next, we explain to them why today is different for the protagonist.
This is often the first clue leading up to the inciting incident—or it could even be the inciting incident. •
The inciting incident happens, and everything changes for the
character. This is a surprising turn of fate type of moment. The inciting incident poses a question, and the protagonist will need to come up with an answer. •
Because of the inciting incident, the protagonist is faced with a
decision. The decision is the answer to the question. That decision is the end of Part 1. Every story opening follows this rough set of beats, no matter the genre. Let's do a few examples:
Example: The Flash The Flash is in the superhero genre, so I already know that the setup is going to include: •
A look at Barry Allen's world before he is bestowed superpowers
•
The "incident" that gives him powers
•
Him discovering his powers and potentially confiding in someone
—a mentor, most likely •
A point where Barry decides that he is going to start using his
powers for ______ (good, evil, etc.) Since Barry is a "Heart-of-Gold" hero (as opposed to a "Vigilante" hero like Oliver Queen in Arrow or Bruce Wayne in The Dark Knight), he'll of course use his powers for good. This setup is so familiar that it has its own name—an origin story. You could swap out The Flash for many of his comrades—Spiderman and Superman come to mind—and it's basically the same exact set of beats. Watch a superhero movie and you'll see this over and over again. Or watch one of the television shows (there are nearly a dozen on air right now) and you'll see this exact setup in the first episode. You can even steal these beats and create an origin story for your protagonist. Most stories won't have such a specific setup as the superhero genre, but every story still follows this rough pattern.
Example: Harry Potter Part 1 in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's/Philosopher's Stone happens in
the first few chapters. While the very first chapter (not from Harry's POV) sets the stage for the magic, Chapter 2 dives right into Harry in his ordinary world. Here, we learn about his ordinary life living in the space under the stairs, never getting anything his cousin Dudley has. Next, he goes to the zoo and speaks to snakes accidentally—oops! Here's the "extraordinary day in the ordinary world" beat that clues us in that something in Harry's world is about the change. Then, the inciting incident, when Harry receives his acceptance letter from Hogwarts (this is a long sequence that ends with Hagrid coming to collect him) presents Harry with a decision—become a part of the magical world and obey the rules, or stay with the Dursleys. Finally, Harry makes his decision. It's an easy one for him. He's headed to Hogwarts. (Note: This takes him a few more chapters to fully decide he's going. When he gets on the train, he's finally reached the point of no return.)
Example: The Hunger Games Part 1 in The Hunger Games happens almost entirely in the first chapter. We meet Katniss in her ordinary world, a day of hunting in District 12. Then, we learn that today is an extraordinary day for her—it's Reaping Day. When
her sister, Primrose's name is called (the inciting incident), Katniss is faced with her decision—let Prim go to the games or volunteer in her place. (Note: Again, there are a few chapters of tearful goodbyes and whatnot before Katniss gets on the train, and reaches the true point of no return.)
Example: The Martian Part 1 in The Martian (the movie version) begins with an ordinary day on Mars, tending soil samples. Mark Watney is annoying his crew mates when a deadly storm comes rolling through (the extraordinary day within the ordinary world). The team makes an emergency departure, but Mark get hit with some debris and nearly dies. The crew can't find him, so they leave him and escape the storm (the inciting incident). When Mark wakes up, he barely survives getting back to their bunker and has no way to contact NASA. He explains via a video diary that he has no food to survive for the four years it will take NASA to get to him. There are also a ton of other obstacles he faces. He's going to die on Mars. He wallows for a bit, then finds a few potatoes that were sealed for a Thanksgiving celebration. Since he's a botanist, this is a potential solution to one of the obstacles he faces. He makes a decision—he's not going to die on Mars (the decision).
The Inciting Incident Let's discuss the inciting incident to clarify it, in case the examples aren't enough. The inciting incident is the thing that happens that forces your character to make a decision. It's the incident that shifts the story from passive to active. And it almost always pushes the protagonist to do something he or she wasn't expecting to have to do. Additionally, the inciting incident can be one scene or a sequence of scenes, and it is usually foreshadowed by the contrast of "ordinary world" and "extraordinary day in ordinary world." The "extraordinary day" is often a hint at the inciting incident to come. This beat is a Tentpole Moment in your story. You have to have it because it's the event that forces your character to make a decision, which pushes your story forward.
The Decision (aka the First Plot Point) The Decision is another Tentpole Moment in your story. You have to have it because it launches the meat of your story. Without it, your story fizzles out and your character has no motivation to drive him forward. It is often called the First Plot Point, but I'm not fond of that terminology
because it doesn't provide any information for what this beat looks like. To me, the Decision is a major turning point for the character. They are presented with or forced into a situation. They do not get the choice to do nothing. There is no "hold on, let's think about that" option. They must pick. Now. And whatever they choose is usually life-changing, and dictates the rest of the story. If you want to turn up the heat on the Decision, put your character in a no-win situation. For example, Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games is faced with two terrible choices: •
Let her sister go to the games and die
•
Go to the games herself, even though she desperately doesn't
want to be a "piece" in them—save her sister, but probably die herself You don't have to do this, of course. Harry Potter, for example, did not have a tough decision at all—or at least he didn't struggle with it, because the Dursleys are so terrible to him. And in The Martian, Mark Watney's choice to survive isn't necessarily a hard choice either—at least not for an astronaut. Yes, there are people who would break down in the same situation, but it would be hard to believe a story where an astronaut breaks down, when they are specifically trained to do the opposite.
The Decision is also the end of Part 1 in this structure. It's the very last thing that happens. And once a character makes their decision, the path (and story) is launched. There's no turning back. One thing I've noticed is that there's usually a lull after the decision is first made—a transition period before the character "really" hits the point of no return. To some extent, this gives the characters a chance for their decisions to truly sink in, or for them to continue their decision before they are truly forced to say "yes." In both Harry Potter and The Hunger Games, this point of no return is when the protagonist gets on the train. I wouldn't personally get too specific about what the "true" First Plot Point is. Again, I'm not an academic; this just needs to help me write a great story. The easiest way to reconcile this is to realize that the Decision can last for multiple scenes, and it's nice to provide that longer transition from Part 1 to Part 2. In The Martian, this lull happens differently, in the sense that the decision is represented by Mark Watney's success at creating a greenhouse and growing the potatoes. If you want to get academic, you could say that section is already in Part 2, which is probably true for the novel (which I haven't read) but is sped up in the movie for length purposes.
Feel free to use your best judgment here and do what works best and makes the most sense for your story. Books are much more flexible than television or movies, so you can absolutely "eyeball" this and still get it right!
Part 2 (aka Act II: First Half, The Response) Part 2, often called Act II or "The Response" in other storytelling books, is roughly the middle 11/25-50% of your story. It includes one Tentpole Moments that I call The Reversal (usually called the Midpoint). In general, this section follows this format: •
The character is pretty confused. He's trying to make his way in this "new reality" that he faces.
•
He tries to take action, but he's still stumbling around. This means that most of his actions result in failures.
•
He also often has the wrong goals. He may not be attacking his enemy directly, or he may be in survival or defense mode. It's not that he doesn't want to orient himself, he's just in a transition period where he doesn't have the right answers or solutions.
•
There's often a mentor or some friends introduced in this section who help orient him toward his real goal.
•
He may have to overcome his own beliefs and faults to orient himself properly. We talk about this in the framework! All of this stumbling, false starting, and failure results in a pretty murky
section where anything can go. This is where you as a writer begin to really
start having power over how the story plays out. However, that also means it's easy to misstep, and that's what the Smarter Storytelling Framework will help you avoid. One way to make sure you don't misstep is to know exactly where you need to end up—at the Reversal, which is the end of Part 2. The Reversal happens in the middle of the book and moves the character from this passive state of stumbling to an active state of doing and succeeding. It comes in two distinct flavors… The first is that something TOTALLY unexpected happens that threatens EVERYTHING the character knew and believed before. This is typically a critical piece of information that the protagonist doesn't have until now (even though sometimes, the reader can see it coming from a mile away). In Star Wars, this is when Vader tells Luke he is his father. In the classic Jane Austen novel Emma, this is when Emma finds out that Mr. Elton does not love Harriet—he loves Emma! This flavor of reversal needs to truly threaten the protagonist to the inner core, and on a deep emotional level. Here's your chance for the, "This changes everything" revelation. The second type of reversal is when a character looks death in the eye literally. In a thriller, there's no way out—the character thinks he's going to die. In an action/adventure, the character misses death by a hair or is rescued at the last minute. (It's sort of a dress rehearsal for the final battle.) In Twilight, Edward could have killed Bella but didn't, to both their surprises —and now she's irrevocably in love with him. (Seriously, it says that in the book.) Let's do some examples:
Example: Harry Potter Part 2 in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's/Philosopher's Stone happens right up to the midpoint of the book almost exactly. He goes to school, makes friends, has some adventures, and gets into a bit of trouble with Snape. For the most part, he's a fish out of water, still feeling his way around the magical world and learning who to trust or not trust. The Reversal happens when he realizes that the package Hagrid picked up is the philosopher's stone, and that's what's being safeguarded at the school. He believes Snape is after it, so he begins to actively stymy him in any attempts to obtain it!
Example: The Hunger Games Katniss Everdeen goes to the 74th annual Hunger Games but makes mistakes along the way. She rejects Peeta out of distrust, even though he cares deeply about her. She is a pawn in her team's plan to turn her into a silly girl for the cameras. She doesn't attack anyone or try to win once the games start (she's in survival mode). She's afraid of the Careers, especially, because she doesn't think she can beat them—and they are targeting her specifically due to her high scores in the pre-games.
Right in the middle of the book, when she gets stuck at the top of a tree with the Careers below her, she is confident she's going to die. There are five of them, one of her, and there's no way out. But then, she sees Rue, who gives her a plan—to drop a nest of tracker jackers on the sleeping Careers below. She does this and escapes death, with the help of Peeta. She learns two things: •
She is so certain she is going to die, but then she does not—this new piece of information means she could still win the games
•
Peeta helped save her—is her distrust in him unfounded? Are all the things he's done up to that point (freezing her out, joining the careers, and so on) purposeful? Is he trying to help her survive? Both of these are huge reversals, one for Katniss's external conflict
and the other for her internal conflict. (We'll get into this in the framework.) You can see how both events would completely change her perspective on her situation. You can even see how she'd be going back through what she knows of Peeta, or the Careers, in her mind, seeing the past in a new light… What's most interesting about this Reversal is that it's so symbolic. During this encounter, Katniss also gets her bow and arrows from Glitter,
which moves her from prey (passive) to predator (active). We'll talk about this more specifically in Layer 4, but I wanted to point out this physical object so you can see just how deeply aligned this Reversal is.
Example: The Martian Since The Martian is a survival story, the Reversal is both symbolic and external. Mark Watney accidentally blows a hole in the Hab, where his greenhouse is flourishing. This destroys his crop and all the supplies he used to create his crop, effectively cutting his food supply in half. He is staring death in the face at this point, because he can only survive about half the time he needs until the rescue mission can happen. This is also a huge emotional blow. His greenhouse symbolized his first hope that he would survive Mars—that hope is now gone. Whereas in The Hunger Games this twin journey is caused by two pieces falling into place, in The Martian the internal and external are the same.
The Reversal (aka the Midpoint) The Reversal is another Tentpole Moment in your story. You have to have it because it moves your protagonist from passively fumbling around to
actively attacking his or her enemies. It is often called the Midpoint, but again I'm not fond of that terminology. To me, the Reversal is a new and major piece of information that spurs the character into action. I already explained the two flavors of reversal, and as you might have already guessed, they are actually two sides of the same coin. One follows the external conflict. One follows the internal conflict. The reversal can permeate in many ways that I think work well and mirror our own lives: •
When you reveal something new to the character that completely changes their perspective on everything. We'll discuss the idea of false beliefs in a later section, but it's when your character believes A but the truth is B. For example, a woman believes that her husband is trustworthy, then learns that he's been sleeping with her best friend, squandering all their money on tech gadgets, and lying about his past to everyone.
•
When you shake the character out of their idiocy and watch them make real change. It's a point of complete frustration, where the character moves from sort-of-trying to I'm-going-to-figure-this-out-no-
matter-what. In my own life, I had to "shake" myself out of sort-oftrying to be an author and get committed. This took a huge amount of change—I stopped accepting freelance work, I wrote faster and worked harder, I started releasing books every few months, I began networking with other authors even though I felt uncomfortable, and I even started putting more money into the effort. I had hit a breaking point and I was fed up with my failure. •
When your character hits "rock bottom" and thus has nothing to lose. He almost dies, but then he doesn't, so he starts to appreciate life more. Or all her efforts have made her situation worse, so she gives up and surrenders to her fate. You can come up with your own Reversals, but hopefully this spurs
some ideas. The Reversal is also the end of Part 2 in this structure. Like the Decision, it can go on for several scenes or be made up of several pieces that all work together to cause change (as in The Hunger Games). The only rule is that it's big enough to move your protagonist from a passive state to an active state! In The Martian, this Reversal is interesting, in that it does change the whole plan of waiting four years until the next mission lands. Now, the
whole world (including the crew that left him behind) has to go on an active rescue mission in order for Mark Watney to survive. In Part 2 of the story, most of the survival is due to Mark's actions. In Part 3 of the story, it's NASA and his former crew that need to get active. This is something to keep in mind, especially when you have multiple protagonists or groups whose story arcs are going at once. You can piece this "passive to active" move together using multiple storylines!
Part 3 (aka Act II: Second Half, The Attack) Part 3, often called Act II or "The Attack" in other storytelling books, is roughly the middle 50-75/90% of your story. It includes one Tentpole Moment that I call The "Cards on the Table" Moment. In general, this section follows this format: •
The character has had his mind blown by the Reversal. It's enough to get him moving.
•
The character actively goes after his main goal… and starts seeing success.
•
He's actively moving closer to where he needs to be, entirely through his own actions and efforts.
•
Things are sort of working. He's right more than he's wrong. He's almost ready to take on the antagonist. Your protagonist isn't a full-fledged hero yet, but he's learning and
improving in Part 3. He is no longer stumbling and has moved firmly past
his passive stage. Now that he's taking action, he accumulates information quickly and everything starts unfolding to the end of the story. The "Cards on the Table" Moment is the last piece of information the protagonist needs to go into the final battle. It is often called the Second Plot Point. Let's do some examples:
Example: Harry Potter Once Harry Potter is convinced that Snape is trying to get the philosopher's stone for Voldemort, he springs into action and risks getting into trouble. He tracks Snape using his invisibility cloak. He actively tries to help Hagrid get rid of his illegal baby dragon, Norbert. He sneaks out to go after a teacher (he thinks it's Snape) and gets stuck in detention. The "Cards on the Table" Moment comes when Harry learns that Hagrid has spilled the beans on how to get past Fluffy, the 3-headed creature that is the first line of defense against thieves, to a stranger who was clearly disguised. At this point, Harry has all the information he needs. Voldemort knows everything he needs to know to retrieve the stone, and he'll be moving as quickly as possible via his helper, Snape (or so Harry thinks). So Harry recruits his friends to go in after Snape and get to the philosopher's stone first!
Example: The Hunger Games After the tracker jacker incident, Katniss teams up with Rue. They have their survival needs met for the moment (thanks to Katniss's new bow and arrow) and they make a plan to blow up the Careers' stash of food. They launch this attack and it's a success… but unfortunately, Rue dies in the process. Then, the game makers change the rules and will now allow two winners if they are from the same district—which means she and Peeta could both survive and go home. She spends the next several chapters of the book rescuing him, keeping him alive, and even risking her own life to get him medicine. During this whole section, she believes there's a chance she can win, and also bring Peeta home with her. The "Cards on the Table" Moment comes when she delivers Peeta's medicine to him and he gets better—well enough for them to be a team in the games. He's not going to die due to his previous wounds; they can actually win this thing. At this point, Katniss has all the information she needs. There are a few Tributes left, and if she and Peeta can beat them, they're going home.
Example: The Martian In The Martian, Mark Watney has built his super-rover to get him to the Ares 4 landing site, where he will launch into space and rendezvous with his former crew members. Likewise, the crew has picked up the supplies they needed and gotten all the way to Mars without a hitch. And finally, the NASA team on the ground is doing everything they can to support the plan and are prepped on their end to get Mark through the terrible trials he must endure to get into space in the first place. There may be some more "gotchas" in the final battle, but everything to succeed is in place. If they can pull this off, Mark gets to live.
The "Cards on the Table" Moment (aka the Second Plot Point) I think of the "Cards on the Table" Moment as the trigger for the climax of the book. We are transitioning into Part 4 and we need to gear up and get ready. The "Cards on the Table" Moment is at the end of Part 3 in this structure. It's another point of no return, similar to the Decision that ends Part 1. We're entering the final battle, where the character will succeed or
fail. Everything is in place for him to succeed—but the final battle is where we find out if he will succeed. No new information can enter the story for the finale, unless it was seeded in the first three parts!
Part 4 (aka Act III, The Resolution) Part 4, often called Act III or "The Resolution" in other storytelling books, is roughly the last 75-100% of your story. It includes one Tentpole Moment that I call the Transformation. In general, this section follows this format: •
The character has everything he needs after the "Cards on the Table" Moment. No new information can be introduced. That doesn't mean there won't be a twist, it just needs to have been seeded and foreshadowed in the previous 3/4ths of the book.
•
The character is entering the final battle, which has several ups and downs, including a moment where he comes very close to losing.
•
Just as he's about to lose, something clicks into place and he sees another opportunity or way to escape.
•
He escapes and goes after the antagonist again, this time winning the battle.
•
There's usually several pages of resolution that come afterward to wrap up any loose ends in the story. Your protagonist has earned the right to be a called a hero in Part 4.
This means that he is the one who ultimately saved the day (not his friends —though they are allowed to help him), and that there was no deus ex machina going on (when something happens by chance that allows the
protagonist to win).
Example: Harry Potter Harry can't get any of the adults to listen to him, so he and his friends go after Voldemort themselves. They face obstacles that all of the teachers have set for them, each one unique to that teacher's special skill sets. The three of them continue through most of the obstacles, but eventually Harry is forced to go on alone as his friends get "taken out" (they're safe, of course). This means that Harry gets to be the sole hero who faces down Voldemort's ally—who ends up being another teacher, Quirrell, rather than Snape. He is able to stop Quirrell thanks mostly to several pieces that were already in play. Quirrell/Voldemort can't touch him due to the spell cast on him as a child, and he has already learned how to use the mirror of the erised by chance earlier in the book, which is how he finds the philosopher's stone in his pocket. He defeats Quirrell but ends up in the infirmary, and his first year at Hogwarts (and the story) winds down after he makes a full recovery.
Example: The Hunger Games
Katniss and Peeta are forced toward the Cornucopia to face the last Tribute in their way—Cato. But they are ambushed by mutts that represent the deaths of each of the Tributes. These mutts chase them up the Cornucopia, where they face off with Cato. They figure out a way to kill him and wait for hours before he dies, so the games can be over. There's a twist in the final battle, as Katniss and Peeta do not automatically win—the rules change again, and only one of them can do so now. Katniss is not willing to accept that. She forces the Capitol to declare them both winners by threatening to poison both of them with the berries they found earlier. The Capitol is not happy about that and they almost don't make it back home, but Katniss manages to convince them that it wasn't an act of defiance, it was only because she was so desperately in love with Peeta and couldn't bear to part from him (a Romeo and Juliet moment). They do make it home—but now Katniss has a target on her back. Get ready for Book 2!
Example: The Martian Mark gets ready on the ground for liftoff, and NASA projects him into the air —though his acceleration is off target.
His crew makes sacrifices on their end to get closer to him—but they are still pretty far apart, too far for a normal interception. The commander of the mission goes as far out into space as she can to catch Mark Watney—but he's still too far away. Mark then pokes a hole in his suit and uses the escaping air to steer himself closer to her, saving himself (with a lot of help from the rest of the world, of course).
The Transformation The Transformation is the last Tentpole Moment in the story. We'll come back to it again in the Smarter Storytelling Framework. What is important to know now is that the protagonist must have an internal change to go with the external change that allowed him or her to win the final battle. For Harry, the internal change was that he got past his vision of his parents in mirror of the erised. He no longer desired to be with them, without his scar, and that's why he was able to see the philosopher's stone in his pocket. Letting go of his parents is an important part of his larger character arc—again, we'll get to that in my framework. For Katniss, the internal change was that she stood up to the Capitol, her real enemy. Up until this point, she had been too scared to fight back
against them. She saw the other Tributes as her enemies, even though all of them are the victims. For Mark, the internal change was really just that he actually survived. Although he wasn't even going to give up trying to survive, he probably didn't truly believe he would survive until he reached Ares 3 and was finally safe. The Transformation is an important part of the climax of the story, and is a big factor in the overall emotional impact you make on your reader!
Summary Now that you understand the foundations of storytelling, let's get started with the Smarter Storytelling Framework. Although the 4-Part Structure is incredibly useful in creating a story, it's not the whole story. You've seen other impactful, popular, and successful stories mapped out, but that doesn't mean you can do it for your story just yet. The Smarter Storytelling Framework will change all of that, so let's get started!
Layer 1 - The Design In the Design layer, we'll define the concept, premise, and theme of your story and discuss the relationship between them. The center of the design is without a doubt the theme—we'll dive deep into this topic, as the theme can and should be carried through the entire story to create the deepest emotional impact.
Relationship #1 - Idea To Concept To Premise Idea, concept, premise—these terms have been confusing authors for ages. I've read about them a dozen times each and for a long time I had to wonder what the point was. Why do we need to know how to create these? What value does it ultimately add to the story, especially if you already have your characters, setting, world, and plot figured out? It wasn't until I studied Larry Brooks's Story Engineering that I finally understood how essential it was to nail these storytelling elements. They are an important part of the high level design of a story, and they lead to the theme—which I've already mentioned is pretty important for the entire rest of the framework. So let's go through these one by one:
Idea This is where a lot of stories start—but usually, there's not enough there to begin writing a story. You may not yet have a clear picture of your idea, but what's important to know for Relationship #1 is how to go from idea, to concept, to premise. Here are a few examples of ideas that eventually became stories in our
modern culture: •
Two powerful wizards who battle it out for control of both the
magic and muggle worlds •
A group of friends in their 20s-30s living in New York City
•
Two male vampires fall in love with the same human girl
All of these ideas are extremely popular stories in today's culture, and two of them have spawned multiple franchises. What does this mean? Is there value in an idea alone if it can spawn multiple huge franchises, none of which are infringing on another's copyright? More on that in a minute. We don't need to think much about an idea or even define it fully; we just need to recognize that it is not a concept or premise. If we can do that, then we can take an idea and hone it into more!
Concept Moving beyond an idea, the concept is the hook of your story. It can usually be phrased as a "What if?" question, and it often points to a theme and/or conflict for the story. For example: •
An 11-year old child learns that he is a famous and celebrated
hero in an underground magical world he never knew existed until now (Harry Potter and the Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone)
•
24 impoverished teenagers battle to be the lone survivor of the
yearly Hunger Games, ensuring their status and wealth for the rest of their lives. (The Hunger Games) •
A teenage girl falls in love with a vampire who wants to kill her
anytime he catches a whiff of her blood. (Twilight) •
The former employee and mistress of the President of the United
States is pulled back into his web of drama (Scandal) A concept isn't specific and usually doesn't "name names" or provide detail on the characters, the setting, or anything else. It may hint at those things, and it will certainly hint at conflict. But for the most part, it's a marketing piece that sums up the most basic design of the story. In scriptwriting, it might be called a log line or a pitch. At a writer's conference, it might be the sentence you say when someone asks you what your book is about. It is different from an idea because it's much more detailed, usually highlighting a few different elements: •
The protagonist
•
The opposition (not necessarily the antagonist, but an opposing
force) •
The "situation" (which is usually some sort of setting that forces
the protagonist to meet his or her opposing force) Some books also suggest that genre is included, but we'll get to that in a later section, so you can set that aside for now. Larry Brooks describes a concept as something that launches a series or franchise. For example, what's a show about a group of friends in their 20s-30s living in New York City (the idea)? If you said Friends, you're right. But if you said How I Met Your Mother,
you're also right. What about Girls? Seinfeld? Sex and the City? Gossip Girl? Baby Daddy? Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23? Each of these series is the same in idea, but slightly different in concept. The difference is the "What if?" part. •
What if a woman leaves her fiancé at the altar and seeks solace in
her high school best friend, whom she hasn't spoken to in years? (Friends) •
What if a man tells his kids about how he met their mother, but
starts the story long before he even meets her to explain why she was perfect for him? (How I Met Your Mother) •
What if a girl moves to New York City to be a "Carrie Bradshaw"
type of writer, and finds out that it's nowhere close to the Sex and the City dreams she aspired to? (Girls) We've now gone from the same idea to three unique concepts. Each of these is a "twist" on an old idea. A second example: what's a show about two male vampires who fall in love with the same human girl? Go back to the "What if?" question: •
What if the two male vampires are close, and one sired the other?
What if one ranks higher in that the other in vampire politics, and has ordered the lower-ranked one to start a relationship with the human in order to spy on her? (The Southern Vampire Mysteries and True Blood franchise) •
What if the two male vampires were estranged brothers? What if
the human girl looked just like the woman who originally tore the brothers apart? What if all three were teenagers living in the same town? (The Vampire Diaries novels and television show) It's hard to explain exactly how to write a concept, and I've found that the best way to do so is to simply try writing concepts for your favorite
books, television shows, and movies. It's much easier to write a concept for someone else's story, and that will give you practice for your own. Look for ideas that translate to concepts and vice-versa. Again, this is really easy to do in television and movies. For example, Friends With Benefits and No Strings Attached are basically the same movie that came out a few months apart, and Chasing Liberty and First Daughter are basically the same movie that came out a few months apart, and on and on. You probably know books in your own genre that are similar to yours, so knowing how to distinguish them in concept will help set your work apart. What is your twist on a familiar story?
High Concept vs. Plain Old Concept You've probably heard of a high concept and wondered if you need one and how to get one. A high concept, put simply, is an idea that's easily communicable and clearly marketable. In a one sentence summary, you can communicate the rough sketch of the protagonist, antagonist, and main conflict. Television is one of my favorite places to look for high concepts because almost every show that makes it onto the air has a high concept, even if it's a bait and switch as the series gets more convoluted and/or resets. Here are a few of my all-time favorites: •
An upper middle class suburban mom is suddenly widowed, so
she starts selling pot to pay the bills. (Weeds) •
Two vampire brothers both fall in love with the same teenage girl,
who is a doppelgänger of the woman that tore them apart when they were humans. (The Vampire Diaries) •
A small town suddenly gets enclosed by a large and unbreakable
dome, forcing all its inhabitants to learn to survive together. (Under the Dome) •
A chemistry teacher learns that he has cancer, so he starts
producing high quality meth in an effort to quickly secure his family's financial future. (Breaking Bad) •
A serial killer gets his kicks and controls his inclinations by going
after only murderers and bad guys. (Dexter) •
A woman who's father was wrongfully accused of terrorism goes
after the family that took him down (Revenge) •
A cheating politician's wife goes back to work at the law firm of her
former lover (The Good Wife) •
A CIA agent falls in love with a war hero, despite the growing
evidence that he's working with the terrorists (Homeland) You can practically feel the excitement in each of these concepts and know just from reading their one liners that they're bound to see some
success. Sure, execution will be important—but there's no question that people will at least tune in to watch these shows unfold. High concepts have all the same elements as regular concepts, but also point to huge tension and conflict. For example, compare the two concepts below: •
The former employee and mistress of the President of the United
States is pulled back into his web of drama (Scandal) •
A cheating politician's wife goes back to work at a law firm of her
former lover (The Good Wife) Both are aimed at a similar target audience and both certainly point to drama; however, the second one points to literal plot events unfolding. We imagine the protagonist, the "good wife," struggling to hold her marriage together while also dealing with the temptations of her former flame, all while being watched carefully by the public. We know that eventually the protagonist will break and fall for her former lover, and it will cause problems with her husband's political career. We can practically write this one, right? In the first concept, we can see the conflict, but it's a bit murkier. We can't see the events unfolding as easily. We assume that the protagonist will have conflict with POTUS, but we don't know the details.
I share all of this because we all know how this turns out—both shows are wildly successful. Which brings me to my next point.
You Don't Need a High Concept (In My Opinion, Anyway) I do not think you need a high concept to have a wildly successful book. There's a ton of value placed on having a high concept, but plenty of counterexamples that have done insanely well over the years. Star Wars, Harry Potter, The Fault in Our Stars, and Lord of the Rings are all plain old concepts. There are hundreds of other books about fantastical worlds and cancer patients falling in love, but these ones stand out from the pack because they are so well executed. Movies by quirky filmmakers like Wes Anderson, Quentin Tarantino, Tim Burton, and Lars von Trier also typically fall into the "concept" category. The execution is what we love—and fans can easily spot a Wes Anderson or Tim Burton film with just a few seconds of footage. Their style is what we buy, over and over again. To be clear, the highest contributing factor to the success of every single one of these stories is their execution. Throughout this book, I'll explain in more detail what is so special about the execution so you know
how to do this for your own story. Here are several more low concepts from television. These are all highly successful franchises that showed up in the right time, right place: •
An extended family loves each other despite its offbeat and
unusual modern units (Modern Family) •
A hot girl moves in next door to two nerdy scientists and befriends
them (Big Bang Theory) •
The death of a king's mentor sets in motion a power struggle for
his throne amongst the wealthiest families in his kingdom (Game of Thrones, A Song of Ice and Fire) •
A small band of strangers of a zombie apocalypse battle outside
threats to survive (The Walking Dead) •
As life and death matters threaten patients all around them, the
residents and doctors at a small hospital sort through their own drama and scandal while having lots of sex on the premises. (Grey's Anatomy) •
Two Russian spies in America during the Cold War struggle
through marital issues (The Americans) •
A mom and daughter act more like best friends due to their
proximity in age (Gilmore Girls) •
A teen detective tries to solve her best friend's murder case and
alienates former friends as a result (Veronica Mars) Why do these feel lower concept than the ones I listed earlier? It's hard to say, but here are a few common threads I see: •
Each has character-driven plots instead of high-stakes, situational
plots •
Each has characters that are so interesting, the audience is
hooked •
Each has stuck around because the idea was well-executed
•
Each has an idea that hasn't been worn out or done a million
times before •
Each has a strong theme that hits at the right place, right time
(we'll get to this in a bit)
I don't make judgments one way or the other about high vs. low concept and I don't think you should either. I love every single one of these shows for what they are, and all are what I'd call "successful." The largest difference to me is that in these lower concept examples, the characters absolutely have to hook the audience. In the higher concept examples, characterization takes a slight backseat—though, shows like The Good Wife, Homeland, Breaking Bad, and more have fantastic main
characters that drive these shows forward past their third and fourth seasons, when story lines typically begin to get stale.
Concept is Dependent on Context Although I don't think that you need a high concept, I do think that sometimes you need a higher concept due to what else is available on the market. Let's examine the example I gave before, about friends in their 20's and 30's living in New York Cit:. •
What if a woman leaves her fiancé at the altar and seeks solace in
her high school best friend, whom she hasn't spoken to in years? (Friends) •
What if a man tells his kids about how he met their mother, but
starts the story long before he even meets her to explain why she was perfect for him? (How I Met Your Mother) •
What if a girl moves to New York City to be a "Carrie Bradshaw"
type of writer, and finds out that it's nowhere close to the Sex and the City dreams she aspired to? (Girls) The latter two are much higher in concept than the first one. Can you tell? More importantly, do you know why?
It's because Friends is, in many ways, the embodiment of this particular sub-genre of comedy television, and one of the most successful sitcoms of all time. It's no surprise that everything after it has had to go higher in concept to rise above the stampede of copycats that flooded the market during the Friends era and after. But if you took out all the mother references from How I Met Your Mother, it's basically Friends with a mysterious pineapple joke. As you write your concept, pay attention to the other books in your sub-genre. If you're the first on the scene, the original, you can often get away with a lower concept because the idea is your concept and hook. However, if someone wanted to write, say, a television show about advertising execs set in the United States in the 1950's, It better have a higher concept than Mad Men did.
Concept is Not a Category, But a Spectrum Often, a concept alone can't carry a story. That's why you see over and over again a series or franchise rebooting or resetting. Again, it's usually easier to see this in television rather than a book series, because television has to crank out story after story after story over the years. For example, The Walking Dead started as a higher concept than I
described before: "A man wakes up in a hospital three weeks after 99% of the human population has become 'walkers,' only to learn that his best friend has escaped to Atlanta with his wife and son." Of course, that storyline eventually wraps up and the show in its later seasons becomes more of what I described. Likewise, Nancy Botwin (Weeds) and Walter White (Breaking Bad) eventually solve their families' financial crises, Damon and Stefan Salvatore (The Vampire Diaries) eventually work out their issues with each other, and Amanda Clarke (Revenge) eventually learns what really happened to her father. You also see the gimmicky concepts—most notably in shows like How I Met Your Mother and New Girl. The hook lasts for all of a few episodes before disappearing (sometimes actively) into the background. Both of these shows are really just about a group of twenty something friends, which networks know sells—there are just too many of them, and no one wants to watch another Friends copycat! These concepts are meant purely as marketing pitches to both studios and audiences. That's why I discuss concept as a spectrum, rather than a category— and why I ultimately don't think it matters how high or low your concept is. It all works if you know what you have and execute properly.
Moving Between High Concept and Low Concept Your story can move along fluidly along the concept spectrum. A high concept will sell better, but the characters better be compelling to keep readers around. And likewise, a low concept can hit at the right place, right time and you can use a high concept sporadically to boost interest in the story. Also (and perhaps this is more relevant for television than for movies or books), shows that start with high concepts always pivot or devolve to lower concepts because a high concept by its nature must be resolved. Homeland, for example, finally resolved its initial high concept after 3 seasons, and has now moved on to a more character-driven concept with leads Mandy Patinkin and Claire Danes. You can always take a concept higher. For example, Mad Men was originally about the golden age of advertising in the 50s. But then, one of the execs on the show suggested that the main character also have a dark secret. So they gave him one, and suddenly a story about an advertising agency became, "One of the best advertising execs in the business is also conning everyone around him." It's still not what I would call high concept, but the concept has been taken higher by the addition of this secret.
Consider the show The Office, which is fairly low concept. The main reason it was green lit in the United States was likely due to it being a remake of the British version. Throughout the series, though, there are several higher concept story arcs. There's a point, for example, when the lead character Michael Scott starts his own paper company that competes with the original office of Dunder-Mifflin where the show primarily takes place. These higher concept story lines boost and renew interest in what is ultimately a low concept. I believe you should know at any point in time whether your concept is high and low and where you're taking it. So many longer and serialized stories move fluidly along the spectrum these days. A classification is not nearly as valuable as knowing how to move between the two!
Premise So how do you go from concept to something with a bit more meat—the premise of your story? Whereas concept asks, "What if?," premise answers the question, "What is this particular story about?" If concept is what the series or franchise is about, premise is what a story within that series or franchise is about. The premise points to a major conflict and usually starts with a specific, named character.
Here's how to go from concept to premise:
The Premise Might Be the Concept If you're writing a standalone novel, the premise might be the concept. For example, the concept for The Fault in Our Stars is "a girl with cancer falls in love." Since there's only one book, this is also the basis for the premise: Hazel Grace Lancaster has terminal cancer, which causes her to shut herself off from getting close to anyone new. But when she meets Augustus Waters, a cancer survivor, she finds herself falling for him—even though she knows she can never really be a part of his bright future.
In this case, the premise just fleshes out the concept with more details about the characters and conflict. (Side note: you could almost see this copy appearing on the book's back cover, right? Hint, hint for why this is an important exercise.)
Harry Potter and the Same Concept, Different Premise For a series, we have a slightly different system, because the concept doesn't necessarily extend through every book. In the Harry Potter series, each book has the same format. Harry goes from the muggle world to the magic world, battles Voldemort or some lingering form of him and his cronies, and returns to the Dursleys's home by the end for another tedious and miserable summer.
This is the concept that Harry Potter is based on. He leaves the normal world, enters the magical world to explore new elements of it and have a big adventure, and then returns to the normal world again. The premise for each book changes, however: •
Book 1 - Harry Potter, an orphan boy who discovers he has magic
powers, also learns that he inadvertently took down the darkest and most powerful wizard of all time as a baby. Now, he's headed to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to become part of the wizarding world— but he's in for a surprise when he gets there. Is it possible that his nemesis, "He Who Must Not Be Named," is still alive? •
Book 2 - Harry Potter is back for year two at Hogwarts, but all is
not well. When the Chamber of Secrets is opened and the heir of Slytherin unleashed on the school, every "mudblood"—a witch or wizard with nonmagical parents—becomes a target of his cleanse. Will the heir of Slytherin restore witches and wizards to a pure-blooded magical society, or will Harry stop him in time? In both of these books, the essence of Harry Potter as a concept is still there. He's still an orphan, he's still new to many parts of the magical world, and he still has a lot of questions. He's also still fighting Voldemort in some way in each book, even if he doesn't realize it.
Although the details (the premise) have changed, at the high level (the concept), these stories are the same. Another way I think about premise vs. concept is that concept may hint at theme and conflict, but premise adds character and detail. It's no longer any old orphan boy, it's Harry Potter, a boy who always tries to do the right thing and has a high moral compass.
The New Girl who's no longer new Premise, without question, is a marketing exercise rather than a storytelling exercise. Take for example the concept of the show New Girl, which is this: a twenty something woman named Jess breaks up with her boyfriend and finds a roommate vacancy among a group of three guys who have known each other for years. If you still happen to be watching New Girl, you know that this premise is completely moot now. The story does not revolve around this premise in any way, shape, or form. Sure, Jess still lives with three (now four) guys who've been friends for years, and she still acts as quirky and weird and awkward as she did at the beginning of the series, but the story is no longer about being a "new girl." The premise was the marketing pitch to get you to start the show. The
show is about something else entirely. (We'll get to that in a minute.) Premise is something that marketers use to distinguish their particular property from similar ones out there… and that's how you should use it too.
Harry Potter vs. The Hunger Games for Tentpole Moments One last thing I want to compare is the tentpole moments in both Harry Potter and The Hunger Games. We originally discussed them under "Foundations" of "The Smarter Storytelling Framework" section. As you read through them again, you'll notice that in The Hunger Games, these moments are huge and feel life-changing—the stakes are so high every time. In Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, these moments feel more subtle—even though they are also life-changing in many ways. This probably has a little to do with genre and what a 4th grader can handle vs. a teenager, but I believe it also has to do with the original concepts for each series. Going back to high concept and low concept, you can see that The Hunger Games is simply higher on the spectrum than the Harry Potter series. You can feel it in the concept that we defined earlier, and you can also feel it in the Tentpole Moments. It's a big idea, and the architecture truly reflects that.
Harry Potter is a simpler idea with a more basic theme that has been executed extremely well. I wanted to reinforce this point because these series are both hugely successful and each one is in such deep alignment all the way through. You can do it either way!
Concept in My Projects Waters Dark and Deep is what I would consider low concept. A teen girl learns that she is a Hallow, a descendant of archangels and humans, and that there may be more to her mother's death than she previously thought. As she plunges headfirst into the world of the archangels and archdemons, she learns that her mother had enemies… and they are coming after her too. The concept for Emma + Elsie is, "What if Emma Woodhouse and Elsie (Elizabeth) Bennet were best friends in modern times?" This is Jane Austen fan fiction at its best, and certainly an idea that no one has ever done before. It's fairly high concept for a new adult romance, or for a Jane Austen fan fiction, too! My memoir's concept is a bit tougher to figure out. I know the protagonist (me), but it's tough to look back at the last 30 years of life and
come up with a specific antagonist or situation. I'm going to save concept for the next section, because I sense that coming up with the theme will be easier!
Working in Reverse You've learned how to go from concept to premise, and going from premise to concept is fairly simple if you just reverse the relationship. We've already talked about the Harry Potter series, so let's look at The Hunger Games trilogy. Katniss begins in District 12, goes to the capitol for an adventure, and returns in every single book. (Side note: You could argue that she doesn't at the end of Catching Fire, but I disagree, as her return is not only a mental return (she imagines District 12 completely demolished) but she also makes a pilgrimage back to District 12 toward the beginning of the next book.) If you are writing a series of novels, you have two basic options for working up to the concept from the premise: •
Same characters, different conflict
•
Different characters, similar conflict
So if you are writing romances where a man dominates over a woman, you'll want to continue that series with either new characters or roughly the
same conflict. Your concept for the series is, "A billionaire falls in love with a poor girl," or something similar. The premise changes for each book. If you are writing romances where the man is a playboy who won't settle down, you want to carry that theme through the series the same way. Your concept for the series is, "playboy meets the right woman and settles down," or something similar. There are probably hundreds of romance series like this, but one that comes to mind is the Chandler Brothers series by Carly Phillips. This idea doesn't apply to just the romance genre, as the same is true for mysteries, historical fiction, and more. Concept and premise are universal to all books—it's simply easier to see how to move between them for some genres over others. This reversal echoes an idea that authors are already familiar with: give your readers more of what they already know they want. J.K. Rowling did it and it made her the world's first billionaire writer. Keep this in mind as you plot your next series!
Relationship #2 - Concept, Premise to Theme In this section, we're going to get into the meat of the Design layer and flesh out the theme of your story. To learn more about theme, ask yourself: •
What is the big question that this story asks? (And potentially
answers?) •
What is this story really about?
I believe theme is one of the most neglected elements of story. The theme is the meaning behind a story—and if your story has no meaning, what was the point of writing it down?
Concept to Theme Imagine a conversation that goes like this: Person 1: "What is the story about?" Person 2: "It's about a boy who discovers he has magic powers…" Person 1: "No, what's it really about?" Person 2: *Pauses.* "It's a classic tale of good and evil where love triumphs over fear."
A-ha! The first answer to this question is usually the concept or the premise. But the second answer is theme, the why behind the why, the true meaning of your story.
There are many different ways you can discover your theme, but if you've done the work so far and you have your concept and premise, there's a very simple way to figure out your book's theme. The easiest way to go from concept and premise to theme is to ask, what does my main character represent? Let's go back to a few of the concepts I listed before: Concept: An 11-year old child learns that he is a famous and celebrated hero in an underground magical world he never knew existed until now (Harry Potter and the Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone) Character Representation: Harry Potter represents good, love, while his nemesis (and the antagonist) Voldemort represents evil, fear. Theme: It's a classic tale of good and evil, or love vs. fear. Concept: 24 impoverished teenagers battle to be the lone survivor of the yearly Hunger Games, ensuring their status and wealth for the rest of their lives. (The Hunger Games) Character Representation: Katniss Everdeen represents childhood, innocence, victim of the games, while her nemesis The Capitol (and President Snow) represents coldness, cruelty, power, and lack of compassion. Theme: It's about war and its effects on the children who fight it. Concept: The death of a king's mentor sets in motion a power struggle for his throne amongst the wealthiest families in his kingdom (Game of Thrones, A Song of Ice and Fire) Character Representation: There are no clear protagonists and antagonists, but everyone is trying to gain power with either good or evil intent. Theme: It's about the struggle for power and how much damage it causes while producing very little. Concept: A teen detective tries to solve her best friend's murder case and alienates former friends as a result (Veronica Mars)
Character Representation: Veronica fights for people to do the right thing, while her town continues to be plagued by corrupt politicians and a police force that does favors for the wealthy O'Niners, who seem to live above the rules imposed on the rest of the town. Theme: It's about privilege and income disparity.
I know it probably seems like I'm oversimplifying some of these themes, but in my opinion, that's a great thing. That's because having a tight, crystal clear theme creates a nuanced but layered depth to your story. Also, when people can describe your book succinctly to one another, it becomes very easy to market to your perfect readers via word-of-mouth. This is what creates mega-bestsellers. When this communication is easy, word about your book also spreads easily. Libbie Hawker, in her book outlining book Take Off Your Pants!, describes theme as "one of your most useful guideposts. It is your handydandy measuring tape, allowing you to quickly assess ideas for their utility." I'll explain this more throughout the book, and you'll see for yourself how theme is a connective thread through your entire story. For now, I want to point out something that is a key insight. If you look at concept vs. theme, you may notice a subtle relationship between the two. Concept almost always refers to the main external conflict. It's the
"hook" that brings people to your book. Theme, on the other hand, almost always points to the main internal conflict. We will come back to this distinction of external vs. internal throughout the book, so make a mental note as this will greatly aid your understanding of why the Smarter Storytelling Framework works so well.
Do You Need a Theme? Yes—it brings meaning to your book. You can have gorgeous characters, fabulous worlds, and a fast-paced plot. But if your book doesn't create meaning, it's not going to have the same emotional impact on your reader. Moreover, theme is deeply present in all the major book franchises of the last several decades. We've already discussed the Harry Potter and Hunger Games series, but what about these franchises? •
Twilight - It's about forbidden love and sex (without the sex)
•
50 Shades of Grey - It's about forbidden love and sex (with the
•
Lord of the Rings - It's another classic tale of good and evil
•
The Chronicles of Narnia - It's another classic tale good and evil
sex)
and Christianity •
Goosebumps - It's about the things we're afraid of
•
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (and its sequels) - It's about
justice and judgment and who can dole it out Lots of books have loose themes and still go on to be bestsellers, but if you want to position your book or series for mega-success, you need to get very clear on your theme. Your theme is the glue of your series. It's a direct mirror of your concept, the internal to the external. This means that your theme must permeate through every story in your series, just like your concept must permeate through every story. The premise may change, but the theme and concept stay the same because they are a pair. It took me a very long time to figure this out, but once I did, it became so obvious to me why I needed a theme. It's the same reason I need a concept—they are twins elements in the Smarter Storytelling Framework.
Finding a Theme To find a theme for your upcoming book, I urge you to consider these three questions:
•
What topics are you interested in?
•
What are the largest POVs for this topic?
•
What are the largest conflicts of opinion within this topic? In my opinion, the more heated your theme is, the better. This will
cause huge conflict within your story, since the theme persists through all the layers of the Smarter Storytelling Framework.
The Best Themes are Relevant to Today's World This is true even if the story isn't set in present day, and even if the story is science fiction or fantasy.
Historic Themes One of the early themes in The Tudors has little to do with country or crown, but instead concerns Henry VIII's marital problems with Catherine of Aragon. Although we cannot relate to the political workings of the marriage anymore, most of us can relate to a relationship or friendship that has gone sour and has us trapped, even though we've moved on emotionally and physically from it (even if "physically" just means we're spending time away from the person and leading separate lives).
Themes That Transport You Although The Walking Dead is about zombies or "walkers," as they're called on the show, most of the conflicts do not come from fighting the undead. Instead, they come from the inter-conflicts of the small community, from surviving human clans battling other surviving human clans, or from disputes between individuals. We can relate because we are transported into the situation and wonder how we would act in the same circumstances. Survival is instinctual, which is why survival as a theme resonates so well.
"Hot Button" Topics You can also think about what the "hot button" topic of your story is. If your book was a news item or opinion piece, what "hot button" issue or trend would it be covering? In New Girl, for example, the theme is not having your life figured out in your early 30s, or the extension of one's 20s into their 30s. This is a trend rising here in the United States as more and more of Generation Y and Z opt-in to extended education stints, move into cities and live the single "Sex and the City" lifestyle, and invest in their careers while putting off marriage and children.
Different Stories, Similar Themes Two very different stories can have similar themes. Consider how a show like Game of Thrones and House of Cards are quite similar with how they depict women. Although one is fantasy and the other is contemporary, there is still a deep struggle for power, and women are trying to get in on the action in both cases. But they face their own unique challenges from men. The women in both of these stories are strong, but still fighting for every last bit of respect they earn. It's twice as hard for the women in these two worlds, and they simply don't climb as high as the men do. Often, they are resigned to taking the backseat to a man but having the ability to "turn the man's head" in the direction they want. •
Cersei Lannister remains queen regent but can never be king. Instead, she settles for maintaining control over her son.
•
Melisandre worships the Lord of Light, but uses her powers of persuasion only to help Stannis Baratheon regain the throne.
•
Sansa Stark uses her grace and beauty to survive in the capitol, but she must still be saved by men over and over again—the Hound, Tyrion Lannister, Little Finger, and "Reek."
•
Margaery Tyrell is hungry for power and like Cersei, will do what she
can to be not a queen, but "the queen." Unlike Cersei, who rules with fear, she rules with love—though if the latest season of the show is any indication, there are downsides to both. •
Daenerys Targaryen is a confident queen who has managed to avoid using sex to gain power. While she seems to fair best among all these women on the show, she began meekly, with no power at all. On House of Cards, the women seem to have similar troubles while
trying to gain power: •
Claire Underwood must repeatedly give up her goals to further serve her husband's. Every single time, she sacrifices herself for the greater good of the team she's on—and thus loses out on opportunities that could move her up in the world.
•
Jackie Sharp is a political climber, parlaying her way up through the ranks of Congress. But she is still under Frank Underwood's thumb within the democratic party. And when she begins to have a family, Frank Underwood states multiple times that she's become weak as her priorities shift toward them, rather than his agenda.
•
Heather Dunbar is running for president against Frank Underwood, but he resorts to petty attacks against her children to discredit her in the debates.
•
Linda Vasquez steps down from White House Chief of Staff when she realizes that she's been left out of Garrett Walker's boy's club.
•
Zoe Barnes sleeps her way to the top just to get a story—and then is killed for it Two very different shows, but thematically, both represent and have
ties to today's world—because in today's world, it is still very hard to be a woman vying for power. There are many different approaches a woman can take, and each is represented across these characters. I believe that any types of story can say something about the world. This connection is what makes a theme resonate with readers. It's why readers care about these characters.
What If I Don't Want To Say Something About the World? What if I don't want to say something about the world through my fiction? It's a fair question, and a good reason to want to shove theme aside. Who are you to tell the reader what to think, anyway? Not so fast—your book is likely going to have a theme, whether you want it to or not. This emerging theme will come through in your characters and plot as you write, because you have certain worldviews and beliefs that you can't escape.
If you accept that a theme will emerge from your story, the only question left is whether you will give readers a satisfying conclusion to your emerging theme. Your theme is going to emerge as an open loop… are you going to close that loop? I believe that the best and most successful books always, always do. A dangling theme in a book is like introducing a character, going on for pages and pages about him, and never giving him an ending. When people end your book or series, they want closure. They want to feel like they "got" what the story was about. Without some sort of closure, you lose resonance. You may not have a theme for your story yet, and that's okay. If you're doing everything else right, a theme will emerge. Once it does, your primary job is to embrace and reinforce the theme in all your other decisions, so that it can permeate through all five layers of your story.
You Don't Have To Resolve Your Book's Theme Although you should provide closure for your theme, you don't necessarily have to provide resolution. There are lots of popular series, particularly in the mystery and thriller
genres, with themes that never get resolved. For example, in Stieg Larsson's Girl With series, we never really see resolution on who should or shouldn't dole out punishment for wrongdoings. On the television show Revenge, it takes nearly four full seasons for Emily Thorne to get past her desire for revenge—that's 87 episodes of no resolution. Similarly, on Veronica Mars, Veronica never truly gets past her cynicism and distrust, and Neptune's corruption never really gets cleaned up. At this point, you may be wondering how to provide closure without providing resolution. The way I think of this is that closure is posing the big question of the theme and presenting the major opinions thoughtfully. Resolution is taking that one step further and choosing a side. It's telling the reader what you think the right answer is. For example, for the first two books in The Hunger Games trilogy, the theme of war and its effects on the children who fight it permeates throughout. The author, Suzanne Collins, presents various situations that mirror these real-life effects and makes her protagonist a reluctant fighter and killer. By the third book, however, toward the end, Katniss makes the
choice to end the annual Hunger Games. She also chooses hope for the future by having children, which she never intended to do before the war. In the first two books, the author offers closure on the theme at each book's endpoint; by the third book, she goes a step further and provides a resolution to her theme. If you don't resolve the theme, that means you as the creator of this story haven't fallen on one side or another—and that's perfectly fine. It's okay to present the arguments and let the reader decide for themselves. Plenty of successful stories end this way, and sometimes it's the perfect choice. The movie version of Gone Girl, for example, ends ambiguously. The question is posed: do you stay with someone after they put you through that ordeal, even to protect your child? Although the character makes his choice, the audience is still left with this question and more. There's something unsettling about that ending, because the director doesn't really land on either side. It's not a happy ending, or a good choice, so the audience is left to decide for themselves. Some genres do require resolution. If your theme is some version of good vs. evil, for example, you probably need to have good defeat evil at some point, especially if you are writing fantasy. If you are writing romance,
you have to give the theme a resolution in the form of a happily ever after (HEA). Keep this in mind as we move into the next section.
Theme in My Projects
Waters Dark and Deep Waters Dark and Deep's theme is similar to Harry Potter in that it's a classic story of good and evil. It's ultimately about love and fear and choosing one or the other. It's founded in my personal belief that the most successful gravitate toward one or the other in their decision-making.
Emma + Elsie When I wrote the first book for Emma + Elsie, I didn't consider theme, which I'm now confident was a major mistake! I was a bit lazy with this series because I figured I'm just retelling a story that's already been told. Of course, that's not the case—while I do know many of the major plot points, I have the opportunity to reframe them through theme. As I thought about the theme, the most obvious thing that came to mind was friendship. Friendship is a big part of the concept, so it should
play into the theme, right? I also realized I should probably work with the themes I already have. Jane Austen's theme was always the idea of how romance clashed with class (and she wrote six separate novels about it—a perfect example of same concept, different premise). It led me to think about how class is still prevalent in our modern day society. There is a lot of media coverage about meritocracy and how even when poorer kids do everything right, they still only end up at the bottom rung of where rich kids end up. This seems like an interesting concept to play with in terms of the two main characters— Emma has all the connections and wealth, while Elsie is a straight A student still struggling for an invite to a college business club that could open doors for her.
My Memoir When I look back over my life since about high school, I realize that I spent many years doing everything out of fear. I got good grades in school out of fear of not getting into college. I went to college (even though it didn't suit me) out of fear of being different or taking a different path. I even chose my degree based on what would get me the best job—quite pragmatic of me, although I did end up hating that job and wanting to switch!
Looking even deeper, I got married to the wrong person out of fear of being out on my own in the world. I went to grad school out of fear that I would never find my calling. I stayed out of the spotlight as much as possible and often self-sabotaged opportunities to break free from the path I was on. It wasn't until the last few years of choosing things that I loved, even if others didn't understand them, that I was able to find happiness. I left my husband even though I had no true excuse (he hadn't cheated on me or abused me). I left my career even though I had no money and no way to pay back my student loans. But making choices this way has led me to some of the happiest years of my life—writing for a living and married to the man of my dreams! I think the theme of my memoir would have to be making life decisions while aligned with love rather than fear. I still owe you a concept, so the concept (working backwards from the theme) is: A young woman who spent her life following society's blueprint for happiness hits a breaking point and realizes this "dream" is her nightmare. She swiftly starts tearing down everything "normal" until she is left with a blank slate... Even though it means hard decisions, broken promises, and letting go of achievements she once held so dear.
We will work on that one… still a little rough. For now, onward!
Working in Reverse If you have your theme but need to capture your concept or premise, the easiest way is to turn the internal conflict into an external conflict. For example, if you know you want to write about the dangers of marrying too early, before you've discovered yourself, you can go back to the three elements of concept and identify: •
The protagonist
•
The opposition (not necessarily the antagonist, but an opposing force)
•
The situation (which is usually some sort of setting that forces the protagonist to meet his or her opposing force) Let's say you choose a woman in her 20's who is unhappy with her
marriage as the protagonist. The opposition is probably something like she can't leave her marriage to her high-school sweetheart, and the situation could be anything: •
Her husband is suicidal and is threatening to kill them both if she leaves (ooh, dark)
•
They can't afford to live separately on their low incomes
•
Her husband is a good guy and she just discovered she's 3 weeks pregnant—but she still knows that they aren't meant to be All of these concepts are vehicles for the theme—it's just a matter of
how you want to discuss the theme and what elements of the theme you want to highlight in your story. By doing this exercise, you also refine your theme into not just your point, but the way you plan to make it. If you go the suicidal husband route, you are setting up some high stakes that will be more of a metaphor for the every day marriage (because most failing marriages crumble less spectacularly than this). If you choose one of the latter routes, you are telling more of an everyday, slice-of-life story. The second one in particular might be interesting. I know several people whose marriages fell apart not due to anything either person did, not even due to disliking each other, but because they just weren't compatible on the everyday things. This type of story would almost be an anti-Gone Girl.
Layer 2 - The Surface In the Surface layer, we'll talk about genre and what it means for your plot, so you can be thinking about this early on. We will also get into the groups and characters in your story and start fleshing out your cast and major conflicts. Lastly, we'll tie the Surface layer back to the Design layer so you can see how these storytelling elements interact with each other!
Relationship #3 - Concept, Premise to Genre Tentpole Moments For the first section of the Surface layer, I simply want to get some notes down about the plot of your story. Everything we're going to capture now is at the high level, but the goal here is to make sure we know the lines within which we're coloring before making decisions about our characters, plot, world, and more.
Genre Let's talk about genre, since it's going to play a factor in much of the rest of the framework. It doesn't matter what genre you choose and the framework is not genre-specific, but it does matter that your genre is in alignment with the other decisions you make, or have already made regarding your concept and premise (and even your theme). You probably already know what genre your story is in—it may have been the first thing you picked out, in fact. The question we need to answer in this section is, "What is expected in this type of book?"
Here are a few examples: Genre: General Romance Conventions: Two characters, happily ever after ending Genre: Murder Mystery Conventions: Sleuth protagonist, a dead body (most of the time), legitimate clues, red herrings, suspects, the crime solved at the end, ideally by the protagonist
It would be impossible for me to list the conventions for every genre, and the best way to learn them is usually to read as many books in the genre that you can get your hands on. Those patterns will emerge, and you'll be able to develop a list similar to the above for your current project. Here are a few examples of genre for popular stories: Story: Gone Girl (the movie version) Genre: postmodern thriller, psychological thriller, suspense, mystery, twisted romance Conventions: Because this isn't a traditional hard-boiled detective type of mystery, I don't expect to see a ton of focus on the details of the crime scene or the police force. The story isn't going to be told from the detectives' POVs, but rather from the husband's and wife's POVs (similar to a romance). That said, I expect the twists to be HUGE and to explore the couple's relationship in detail (again, similar to a romance). Story: The Flash (the CW television show) Genre: superhero, specifically hero character arc (vs. The anti-hero character arc that's prevalent in the Dark Knight franchise or its sister show, Arrow) Conventions: There are only three types of super hero movies: the "Heart of
Gold" hero who always does the right thing, the "Vigilante" anti-hero who struggles to do the right thing, and the group movie, where the superheroes band together. The Flash is the classic hero arc, so I would expect to see a nerdy guy accidentally get super powers, a crush he can never get until he does (Lana Lang, Lois Lane, Gwen Stacy, Mary Jane Watson), a mentor who steers him straight and keeps his morality in check, and a foe who starts as a friend. Story: Harry Potter series (the books) Genre: children/middle grade, fantasy, urban fantasy (fantasy set in a modern world) Conventions: Although this is a series about good and evil, the middle grade genre is going to keep the books from getting too dark (though the series ascends into young adult territory around book 4). A fantasy requires all the Tolkien-esque characters, plus since the character is young I would expect a Coming of Age story. Story: The Hunger Games (the books) Genre: young adult, dystopian, science fiction Conventions: Since this book is young adult, I expect a romance or even a love triangle. I also expect softer science fiction with not as much focus on the technical details of the world or the technology. I expect the world to be a lot darker than ours, but still connect to current events in some way. Story: Ex Machina (movie) Genre: science fiction Conventions: This movie is about artificial intelligence, but many parts of it seem lower tech, indicating it's a near-present future. I expect to see many of the typical sci-fi twists and a lot of conversation or dialog about the theme—whether it's dangerous to "give life" to technology, and if it would ultimately extinguish humans.
Don't feel like you need to have all of this figured out before moving on; you can certainly figure out and fill in this section later. Next, we want to figure out where these conventions that we've
discovered (by reading books in the genre) fit into our 4-Part Story Structure.
Concept and Premise (and Theme) to Genre I highly recommend figuring out your concept/theme pair for this section because in my opinion, your genre can affect all three. Of course, if the three are in alignment, then checking genre against theme is unnecessary work. However, you want to choose a genre that works well with your selected concept, premise, and theme—and not all genres are appropriate for every concept, premise, and theme. Here are some questions to consider: •
What is your book's genre?
•
What sub-genres can your book reasonably fit into? Write down all that apply.
•
What are the conventions of each of these sub-genres?
•
How do these conventions affect the concept, premise, and theme? For example, the Goosebumps series by R.L. Stine is about the things
we're afraid of, with the main theme being fear. But the genre for the books is not just horror, it's also middle grade. Those middle grade conventions apply, which means you won't have a gruesome death scene or any other
sort of disturbing imagery between those pages. Similarly, the A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin (which the popular television show Game of Thrones) is based on wouldn't include an epic love story with a happily ever after—that just doesn't match the concept and theme at all, which is about the struggle for power. There may be love stories in Westeros, but I would expect most if not all of them to end with a struggle for power hurting someone, killing someone, or banishing someone (and many of them do). In fact, I would imagine that any happy couples created in Westeros were only together because they gained power through their alliance, because that is what the book is about—the struggle for power. Although some of this may seem obvious, it's worthwhile to give thought to how your genre is going to affect the way you talk about your concept and theme. If don't want to resolve your theme, for example, you shouldn't write a romance—because it must be resolved. This goes back to Libbie Hawker's idea of "theme as a guidepost." There are many, many things you could do in your story, that would not contribute to the theme of the series. Consider which of your plot and character ideas are no longer right for your book or series due to the fact that including them would weaken the concept and theme in the end.
Although you may have to let go of some of your ideas, you can replace them with better ones that make sense and help you create deep alignment throughout your story.
Genre to Tentpole Moments We've previously discussed the 4-Part Structure and Tentpole Moments at a high level, and I have already introduced the concept of thinking about each of the 4 parts in this structure as buckets. If you need a refresher on these concepts, head on back to "Foundations" in "The Smarter Storytelling Framework" section. The only thing I want you to do with the 4-part structure and tentpole moments for now is to make sure that everything you've decided regarding your theme and your genre and its conventions makes it into the correct bucket. To do this, simply ask the question, "Roughly where does this genre convention typically take place in this type of story?" Again, I can't list out all the possible genres and give you these answers. You have to do the work yourself and figure it out based on where you often see a convention come up. For example, in fantasy, one of the conventions is that the protagonist
has an older and wiser mentor. Examples include Gandalf from Lord of the Rings, Dumbledore from Harry Potter, and Obi-Wan from Star Wars. This mentor usually appears in either Part 1 or Part 2 of the story. The mentor also usually has to die or be otherwise separated from the protagonist, so he can fulfill his destiny, complete his journey, and defeat the antagonist. This usually happens in Part 3 of the story, a few beats before the "Cards on the Table" Moment. I know this simply from reading the genre and spotting patterns. If I were writing a fantasy, I would want to create a mentor or mentors in Part 1 and find ways for the protagonist to break free of them by Part 3—perhaps not for every book, but certainly for the larger series. Here's an example of what I'm hoping you'll discover in this section: Genre: General Romance Conventions: Two characters, happily ever after ending Part 1: The two characters meet; something forces them together under either pleasant or unpleasant circumstances, which catalyzes the rest of the book Part 2: Physical encounter of some sort (whether it be a kiss, sex, etc.) Part 3: MAJOR falling out that highlights their differences and the things that each must change before ending up together Part 4: The two characters end up together after individually conquering their hangups that have prevented them from successful relationships thus far
We still don't have a real story at this point—we're merely starting to
flesh out our beats. Give this some thought as you match your concept, premise, and theme and your genre to the plot—and certainly see if you can figure out any of these scenes now. It will help you greatly later on if you know your Tentpole Moments!
Genre Tentpole Moments in My Projects
Waters Dark and Deep For Waters Dark and Deep, the genres are young adult, fantasy, urban fantasy, and angel stories (a more specific subgenre of fantasy). The conventions for these types of books include a female teen protagonist, often with one or two male love interests, who is entering a new world for the first time and doesn't realize that she is the key to solving a major problem in this new world. The tentpole moments for the larger series arc will be something like: Part 1: The protagonist discovers her powers and is introduced to the world. Part 2: She learns the truth about her mother's death/murder and also discovers who her enemy is. During this time, she is also training and using her powers to some success and some failure. Part 3: She goes after the enemy in full force, using her powers with more success, though she's still not a pro. Part 4: She beats the enemy—often not through sheer force, but through some
other quality. In Harry Potter, it was love. In The Hunger Games, it was Katniss's mercy.
I won't be mapping out anything yet, but I'll keep this in mind in the later sections. One other thing to consider for this story is that there are going to be 5 huge bundles with 5 smaller stories each about 50,000 words. That's a lot of story to cover. Also, there are multiple protagonists, each on their own journey to finish their "piece" leading up to the ending (similar to Lord of the Rings). If I only had one protagonist, I would likely pick a structure similar to Harry Potter or The Hunger Games, where each story follows a traditional Hero's Journey. However, this series will make more sense with less structure.
Emma + Elsie Emma + Elsie falls into the genres of women's fiction, romance, new adult, and Jane Austen fan fiction. It's going to be tough skirting the line between a romance (or really, drawing out several romances over the course of the series) and writing about the female characters' lives and journeys (which is more on the women's fiction side).
I'm not sure just yet how to bring the theme of friendship into play. It seems like the series may fit better into women's fiction than romance, which is fine. I originally marketed it as a romance, which was clearly a mistake! There's also the fan fiction aspect to contend with, because Jane Austen readers expect certain things from their characters. I stretched some of those conventions too far in my first attempt at this series, so I need to scale that back. Lastly, although this series is new adult, the covers skew more toward young adult and attract a younger audience. I'm happy with the covers, but the younger audience probably means that any sex scenes should be cutaway or fade-to-black, just to be safe. This is better anyway since the series is meant to be a crossover between my two pen names. The tentpole moments for the larger series arc will be something like: Part 1: The protagonists meet their love interests and there is interaction there. Their friendship is going steady and we learn how important they are to each other, though something (or someone) is about to change that for them. Part 2: The protagonists are struggling to stay friends and even taking each other for granted. By the end, they have a huge falling out (the Reversal). On the relationship fronts, I suppose that one or both characters should have fallouts in their love lives too… if not with their main love interest with other love interests. Part 3: The protagonists are actively working against one another. Perhaps they don't realize how their actions are affecting one another. They could be working against themselves without realizing it. The enemy is something—perhaps a
class or ideal Part 4: Friends again, they reach the end goal. The romance story lines resolve too.
My Memoir The memoir project would be in the Eat, Pray, Love category. Most memoirs, especially of women's lives, are the same and focus on internal struggles. This means I should hone and emphasize theme more than an external struggle of any sort. This type of book also falls well into the women's fiction category. The memoir likely wouldn't follow a traditional linear story format, but the parts needed are the same—even if there is some flash forward and flash back. Part 1: What my life was like before the breaking/turning point, leading up to the turning point (the Decision). Part 2: Feeling the initial sense of freedom of not living up to society's expectations—then realizing why so many people follow a typical path. Lots of obstacles and false starts here. This leads up to some sort of Reversal, though I'm not sure what yet (likely, I'll discover this later in the framework). Part 3: I'm not quite there, but I'm starting to see some traction. Ends with the light at the end of the tunnel moment that makes Part 4 possible. Part 4: The heroic victory and resolution. I don't yet know what my "big bad" is that I can have my final battle with, but no worries. I'll discover this as I continue along the framework!
Working in Reverse
If you know your genre and are searching for a concept, you can look to genre conventions to find something worth building off of. Forbidden love is an interesting and common theme in the romance genre, for example. You then have to ask yourself: do I have something to say about that? Your theme could be: •
Forbidden love is forbidden for a reason and acting impulsively is
•
Why cheating on your spouse is okay (or not okay)
•
No love is truly forbidden; all the rules are forced down on us from
bad
society •
There are some reasons to pursue forbidden love, and many
reasons not to •
This love could kill me, but it's worth the risk (basically the premise
of the forbidden love in Twilight) Another approach is to go all the way back to the three elements of concept and attempt to work from that starting point. You could then get to theme from concept. We are going to circle back to Tentpole Moments in a bit and flesh them out much more than we have so far, but again, I wanted to make sure that everything is lined up so far before we move forward. Theme is going
to permeate through the rest of the relationships in this book, and if your theme and genre are out of alignment, you're just going to have to redo a bunch of work to get it back into alignment… which I don't want!
Relationship #4 - Theme to Groups and Characters We discussed theme and the importance of it in the Design layer. In this section, I'm going to show you how to transform that into a full, lively cast of characters that can populate your book.
Theme Threads Now that you know your theme or hot topic, it's time to consider all the different sides of the issue. For example, if you were to take a fairly charged topic, like whether the St. Louis Cardinals are going to win the World Series this year, there are a few major schools of thought: •
Yes, the Cardinals will win the World Series
•
No, the Cardinals will not win the World Series
•
Not sure In those three general schools, there will be different approaches and
viewpoints: •
In the Yes category, there will be die hard fans who always think the Cardinals are going to win. There will be lots of fans who think it's
more of a maybe but will say yes when asked. There will be analysts who are fairly impartial, who will be looking at the stats. There will be people who live in St. Louis and have just become fans, swept up in the excitement. •
In the No category, there will be people who hate the Cardinals because of [fill in the blank]. You could spin on that one for awhile— every reason is a new thread. There will be Cubs fans who will say no just for the sake of the rivalry. There will be the opposing team's fans who believe their team is going to win.
•
In the Not Sure category, there will be people who don't follow baseball and have no idea who the Cardinals are. There will be people who do follow baseball but don't feel comfortable making a prediction. There will be people who live outside of the United States so it doesn't affect them. There will be people who just don't care for a variety of reasons—baseball bores them, they are only casual viewers, their team is out of the playoffs so they stopped following, they are in a challenging career or just had a baby, so they haven't followed the season this year, and so on. Now, your theme threads look like this:
•
Yes, the Cardinals will win the World Series
•
•
⁃
Die hards
⁃
Maybe, but says yes
⁃
Analysts looking at the stats
⁃
Sunny-day fans
No, the Cardinals will not win the World Series ⁃
Cubs fans
⁃
Pirates fans
⁃
Braves fans
⁃
Etc.
⁃
Haters
Not sure ⁃
Don't follow baseball/sports
⁃
Don't count chickens before they hatch
⁃
Baseball is boring
⁃
Team out of playoffs, thus don't care
⁃
Haven't followed season this year
⁃
Outside the US, thus don't follow/care
These threads are the basis on which we'll create our groups and characters.
Create Groups and Characters Once you have a strong idea of the landscape, you are ready to create Groups and Characters. As you might have guessed, you already have—your groups correspond to the major schools of thought regarding your theme, while the shades of grey per school correspond to different characters you are going to create. If you were writing a fiction book about baseball, you would have three different groups corresponding to the category above. You would create characters across the whole range—people who are die-hards, people who are active Cards haters, and people (probably the majority) who have other priorities or no investment in the outcome of the series. It might look something like this: •
•
Group #1 - Yes, the Cardinals will win the World Series ⁃
Character #1 - Die hards
⁃
Character #2 - Maybe, but says yes
⁃
Character #3 - Analysts looking at the stats
⁃
Character #4 - Sunny-day fans
Group #2 - No, the Cardinals will not win the World Series ⁃
Character #5 - Cubs fans
⁃
Pirates fans
⁃
Braves fans
⁃
Etc.
⁃
Character #6 - Haters
•
Undecideds - Not sure ⁃
Character #7 - Don't follow baseball/sports
⁃
Baseball is boring
⁃
Character #8 - Don't count chickens before they hatch
⁃
Team out of playoffs, thus don't care
⁃
Haven't followed season this year
⁃
Character #9 - Outside the US, thus don't follow/care
This may seem like a silly example, but if you were writing a series about the Cubs trying to beat the Cardinals in the playoffs? Maybe not as silly anymore. Here are some real-world examples of groups and characters representing theme:
Going From Groups to Characters A group may have a general view, but that doesn't mean the characters within the group are homogenous in their views and beliefs. Like a political party, there are factions within the group, often with their own leaders. There are people who do what their told, even if it's questionable, and there are people who stand up for what they believe in. There are people who are in between, who will mostly do what their told but will "switch sides" when asked to do something that they feel crosses the line. You want to have different shades of characters in each group to
represent a solid range of the "spectrum" of whatever your issue might be. Here's an example for an extremely charged topic: abortion. You will have people who 100% believe that a woman should have full control over her body and terminate her pregnancy. You will have people who believe it should be done only within the first three months. You will have people who believe it should only be done using a "morning after" pill (to account for the case of rape). You will have people who think a life is a life at any stage. You will even have people who don't believe that any form of birth control besides abstinence is acceptable. I'm certainly not trying to make a statement on whether abortion is a good or interesting theme… or not. If abortion were my theme, though, I would want to have characters all the way across this spectrum. That's how you create tons of conflict between groups and characters, plus how you can explore the topic from all sides. From there, it's your choice on how you resolve the conflict, and in many ways your groups and characters become a symbol for the meaning of your story. For example, in the Harry Potter series, I don't think this is a spoiler to say that Harry Potter ultimately defeats the bad guy (after tons of trials and tribulations). The series is thus saying that good will trump evil, love will
trump fear. This is not a huge surprise, as most children's books would want to teach kids to have good morals. The group may have a general inclination, but there will (and should) always be shades of grey within any group. This adds depth to the theme and world-building. (And no—world-building is not just for fantasy and science fiction! We'll get to that in a later chapter.)
Groups and Characters as Different Sides of a Hot Topic In Veronica Mars, which is about income disparity between the poor and the rich, and the corruption that comes with it, there are clear groups that represent all sides of the issue: •
The O'Niners, which is the rich class. It consists of Duncan Kane, Logan Echolls, and a slew of others. Veronica was once friends with this group of kids due to her father's place in the community as the sheriff.
•
The Others, which is the lower income class. (Veronica insists that there is no middle class—"If you go [to Neptune High], your parents are either millionaires or your parents work for millionaires.") This group consists of Veronica, Wallace, Mac, and others.
•
The PCH Gang, which is the "criminal" element of the show. The
PCH Gang takes power and frequently riles up the Sheriff's department. They fight against the O'Niners. •
The police force, which is largely corrupt, now that Keith Mars is gone. Veronica Mars frequently attempts to manipulate them for information on her case of the week. Each group represents different interests in the issue. The O'Niners
represent privilege, the regular kids represent the lower income class or the victims of corruption, and the bicycle gang represents a darker and more rebellious side of the lower/middle class. The police force represents the larger corruption that happens when the two different groups are treated vastly differently. That said, none of these groups is homogeneous. Within the O'Niners, there are jerks, nice people, truly terrible and corrupt people, and people who just happen to be wealthy. In the bicycle gang, Weevil, their leader, is generally a good guy who sometimes gets into trouble due to his circumstances. On the police force, Veronica actually at one point dates Leo D'Amato, one of the nicer Sheriff's Deputies—even though she generally thinks the whole group of them are idiots. The group may have a general inclination, but there will (and should) always be shades of grey within any group. This adds depth to the theme
and world-building. (And no—world-building is not just for fantasy and science fiction! We'll get to that in a later section.)
Groups and Characters as Choices for the Protagonist You can use groups or characters to show a choice that the protagonist must make. This is a common trope in young adult fiction. Because these stories are typically coming of age, this often presents as a girl choosing between two suitors that each represent different life path choices for her. That's why every young adult novel has the love triangle. The most prominent example of this is in the Twilight Saga, where Bella must choose between a life with the vampires or a life with the werewolves, technically shapeshifters. (These two groups are represented more specifically as a choice between Edward or Jacob). These groups hate each other, and each represents something different to Bella Swan: •
Vampires - dangerous to humans, killers, but can be redeemed if they go vegetarian
•
Shapeshifters - defenders of humans, willing to go to war if necessary, no tolerance for bloodshed of any kind Bella could have either of these lives, but she chooses Edward—who
in my opinion, represents redemption. Why is the third love interest, Michael, in the mix? Bella has this third suitor because her love choices are an extended metaphor, and Michael represents her human life… which she thoroughly rejects very early on in the books. She does not want to live the ordinary life. It's clear to the reader that her real choice is between vampires and shapeshifters, each of which Bella acknowledges has its positives… whereas her human life does not interest her much. In The Hunger Games, Katniss must choose between Peeta and Gale. Gale is the fighter and Peeta is the lover—they are essentially foils of each other—and the question posed is does Katniss need a fighter or a lover? She ultimately chooses Peeta because she doesn't want to be a part of war. Peeta softens her, reminds her of her humanity and what it means to live a life instead of fight for a cause. Katniss never fully embraces her place in the war, so this choice is no real surprise—Gale has a fire in him and will always fight for the cause. While both of these examples are from young adult, you can always use groups and characters to represent choices, even if you aren't writing a young adult novel. On Revenge, for example, Emily's two love interests are Daniel and
Jack. Jack represents the life that she could have had if her childhood had gone differently, while Daniel represents her quest for revenge—the thing she has to do to reach her goal. Aides enters the picture in the second season, and he represents adult Emily. She is still publicly dating Daniel, but privately she chooses Aiden and her adult self over Jack and her childhood self. It isn't until the end of the series that she eventually picks Jack… when she is finally ready to put her quest for revenge behind her and embrace the woman she should have grown up to be. (Then again, the other two are dead due to her revenge plotting—so maybe there isn't much of a choice left!)
Harry Potter and Many Distinctions If you are writing a huge story, you may be wondering what to do if you have more than one set of groups. For example, in the Harry Potter series, there are lots of categorizations: •
Among Wizards and Witches ⁃
Muggles
⁃
Mudbloods
•
•
•
⁃
Half-bloods
⁃
Pure bloods
In the Magical Community ⁃
House Elf
⁃
Giant
⁃
Centaur
⁃
Goblin
At Hogwarts ⁃
Gryffindor
⁃
Slytherin
⁃
Ravenclaw
⁃
Hufflepuff
In the Past War ⁃
Order of the Phoenix
⁃
Death Eaters
⁃
Bystanders
⁃
Victims
Each of these represents the theme in different ways. In the earlier books, the Hogwarts Houses appropriately represent good and evil, since
the books were aimed squarely at children. As the characters grow up, they learn about more discrimination in the magical community through these other distinctions. There are shades of grey in every single one of these groups. Sirius Black is from a long line of Slytherin graduates, yet he chooses Gryffindor during school. He also joins the Order of the Phoenix, though his younger brother becomes a Death Eater. Yet, he treats his house elf, Kreacher, with contempt and cruelty. Even within the same character, there are shades of grey—which makes sense, given who raised him (we'll talk about this more when we get to the fifth layer). There are death eaters who betray Voldemort, bystanders who stand by the Order of the Phoenix, haters of Voldemort who also have contempt for muggles, and more. As long as the groups all somehow trace back to the theme, you'll still find your story in deep alignment.
Allies, Sidekicks, Mentors, and more Another thing to think about as you are creating different characters in your groups is what your protagonist needs. We'll get into this in more detail
when we discuss character arcs, but for now, you'll want to remember these to create a few characters to serve in these relationships with your protagonist: •
Mentor(s) or Allies - There are characters who help your protagonist face obstacles and overcome false beliefs. Not every protagonist needs a mentor or partner, but unless your character is James Bond and magically has every skill set he'll ever need, you probably want to create a few characters that make up for your protagonist's deficiencies.
•
Sidekicks - These characters don't necessarily provide skill sets to your protagonist (though they could). Instead, they provide emotional support; they are your protagonists friends. You can certainly overlap this category with mentors, but it's also okay to have characters who just serve as friends in your story.
•
Love Interest(s) - Few stories these days have zero romance, so don't forget to add a dash. Also, if you want to tie the romance to the theme, create a few love interests that each represent different choices for the protagonist. Love interests also serve as fantastic catalysts for a character to take action—particularly for men. Supernatural, The Vampire Diaries,
•
Family - Similar to love interests, family can be a great catalyst or opposing force for a protagonist. Everyone has at least a mother and a father, so make sure you give your protagonist one of each. Once you've defined these relationships for your protagonist, I
recommend also defining them for your antagonist, even if we don't spend as much time with every single character you end of creating. You can use these categories that mirror the above:
•
Evil Mentor(s) (Sometimes called Contagonists) - They contaminate the protagonist's mind and mess with his world view. A great example of this is Barty Crouch Jr. As Mad-Eye Moody in the Harry Potter series. These evil mentors are extensions of the antagonist but hurt the protagonist.
•
Henchmen - Sidekicks for antagonists
•
Tempter/Temptress - The equivalent of a love interest for the antagonist, who temps the protagonist toward the "dark side." In Homeland, this would be the war hero/terrorist that CIA agent Carrie Mathison is both sleeping with and investigating at the same time. Some books have multiple protagonists. That's okay. What's important
is their relationships to the other characters.
Team-Shifting Don't get too hung up on where a character fits in your protagonist's posse. Although I've listed these distinctions as categories, characters can and should move around or play different roles as the series goes on. Some of the most interesting stories in the world begin with the protagonist and antagonist being best friends. In Smallville, for example, Clark Kent and Lex Luthor begin as best friends, and Lex is often a confidant and mentor to Clark. This dynamic plays out in other stories too, including The Flash, The Walking Dead, Breaking Bad, Revenge, and Game of Thrones.
It plays out in reverse as well, as enemies later become friends. This happens on Gossip Girl, The Vampire Diaries, and How To Get Away With Murder.
Skipping Groups and Using Just Characters For some stories, grouping characters may not be necessary. If you are writing a simpler story, a standalone story, or have a small cast of characters, you simply don't need groups.
New Girl In New Girl, the theme is not having your life figured out in your early 30s, or the extension of one's 20s into their 30s. This is a trend rising here in the United States as more and more of Generation Y and Z opt-in to extended education stints, move into cities and live the single "Sex and the City" lifestyle, and invest in their careers while putting off marriage and children. There are several different cliches in this trend. There is: •
The Yuppie Millenial who is rising up in his corporation, who has tons of cash to spend but fritters it away on "stuff" or his image (Schmidt)
•
The guy who's smart yet doesn't try in life (Nick)
•
The guy who has jobs but no real career, who's not particularly good
at anything but gets by (Winston) •
The washed up guy who had a great career in his 20s but has gotten too old and thus has to start over (Cece, Winston)
•
The entrepreneurial guy who is building a non-traditional career (Coach—sort of)
•
The guy who makes a crap salary but still chooses his passion because he wants to make a difference in the world (Jess) We all know people in our personal lives who fit these archetypes, and
we're able to learn more about the trend as we watch them interact with each other as roommates and friends.
The Fault In Our Stars In The Fault in Our Stars, which is about death, Hazel and Augustus, our heroine and hero, are on two sides of the issue. Hazel Grace Lancaster believes that your life only matters to the people closest to you. She wants to share the little time she has left with a select few—her parents, and just a few friends. There's little reason to worry about doing more, because someday, oblivion will wipe away all traces of human existence anyway. Augustus Waters, on the other hand, wants to leave a legacy. He
doesn't feel like his life will matter unless he accomplishes something big. That something big was supposed to basketball, but then cancer took his leg. Now, he's searching for that next something big. These two clash on these two different world views in several pivotal conversations throughout the book. Hazel's view on life is a bit hopeless, while Augustus's is admittedly overly optimistic. (Ironically, my husband and I clash on this very topic in this exact way—I'm sure you can guess which side I'm on.) If you were to expand on this theme, you might consider other ways that people approach and reconcile with death. Here are a few I brainstormed: •
God's plan
•
Fate's plan
•
Pleasure now
•
Avoidance (young people)
You could create a larger cast that included characters representing each of these world views, but it's not necessary. John Green, the author of The Fault in Our Stars, is able to say quite a bit about death with just these two characters wrapped in their romance.
Resolving the Theme through the Characters Some themes demand resolution, while others do not. In the Harry Potter series, we get a clear resolution through Harry defeating his nemesis, Voldemort. This is a clear statement that love (Harry) defeats fear (Voldemort). Veronica Mars is an example of a story where the theme is never resolved. The world is as it is, and we choose whether to live in it or not. (Veronica struggles with whether she wants to live in it, even leaving for a time—but at the end of the movie, she admits she's addicted to fighting the corruption in Neptune.) It's not necessary to resolve your theme in the slightest. You can present different arguments or sides of the story and let your reader decide. Or, you can make a larger statement by resolving the theme yourself. Your choice.
Worldviews Let's go back to theme and character. It is my belief that all characters must eventually choose a point of view on the theme—and often, that is exactly what the story is about at a high level. A character can have a solid worldview before the book starts and be
static, or can shape their worldview during the books through their character arc. Some characters will have already chosen—this is fine. They are going to fill in various roles for the protagonist: mentor, crew, etc. Other characters haven't landed—this can be part of their flaw, false belief(s), or character arc.
Do Worldviews Not Related to Theme Matter? Most worldviews that are not related to the theme simply don't matter in your book. For example, unless your book is about politics in the United States, it probably doesn't matter if your character is a Democrat or Republican. Likewise, unless your book is about religion, it doesn't matter if your character is Catholic or Mormon. Now, it's possible that your theme is about a topic that one of these large parties cares about—for example, if your theme were abortionrelated, you would want most of your Pro-Life characters to be Republicans or Catholics as well, for consistency. But I'm not a fan of filling out silly character inventories that ask a bunch of questions on topics like this—unless that topic relates directly to the theme.
How To Establish Initial Worldviews The easiest way to establish worldview is to look at the groups a character is a member of and adopt those worldview, then give a slight tweak. Families are also more likely to share similar views on matters, since the children were raised similarly. (Likely the reason that 50% of marriages end in divorce—because the couple comes from two different families who have heavily influenced their worldviews.) Finally, worldviews are also heavily influenced by the society one grows up in, as well as the generation one is a part of. Environment often dictates expectations and beliefs. There are sometimes people who reject the traditional worldview of their family/generation/society, but there's always a reason, a backstory for it. It's important for you as the author to know about this and explain it within the book, if necessary. We'll discuss this more when we get to the fifth layer.
Groups and Characters and My Projects
Waters Dark and Deep
In Waters Dark and Deep, the theme is good vs. evil, or more aptly, love vs. fear. The Hallows, descendants of archangels, represent love, while the Nephilim, descendants of archdemons represent fear. There is a third group, the Trinities, that are an in-between—what happens when love and fear are used at once. Within each of these groups, there are shades of grey, of course. My protagonist is a Hallow, but there are also Hallows that are: •
pure lovers, uninterested in the politics with Nephilim
•
sticklers to the rules, believing that only Hallows who obey are
•
lovers who believe in justice against those who wrong them (and
true
potentially become vengeful) Likewise, the Nephilim group has: •
rulers who believe that the end justifies the means and will do
what they must •
those who lay low and look out for themselves, who will stand by
as others do evil •
those who are hungry for power and will take what they want
I won't get into the details, but hopefully you can see how each of these character archetypes stems from the theme.
Emma + Elsie In Emma + Elsie, the theme is about class in our modern day society. The groups are the haves and the have nots. If you are familiar with the two books this series is derived from, Emma and Pride and Prejudice, then you know this is where the characters fall: •
•
Haves: ⁃
Emma Woodhouse
⁃
Jace Knightley and his family
⁃
Charles Bingley and his family
⁃
Fitz Darcy and his family
⁃
Frank Churchill
Have nots: ⁃
Elsie Bennet and her family
⁃
Charlotte Lucas
⁃
Harriet Smith
⁃
Robert Martin
⁃
P.J. Elton
⁃
Jane Fairfax
⁃
Mrs. Bates
Each of these characters is a shade of grey already (and you can read the original Jane Austen books to see this further demonstrated).
My Memoir In a memoir, it's unlikely that I would have groups, but would probably have characters. These might include previous bosses, mentors, friends, and family who had an influence on my choices. For this type of story, the characters would be less important than the specific stories that led to the theme, which is a transition to fearful decision-making to a love-centered or abundant mindset. Remember, it's perfectly okay to not use groups, especially for a smaller cast of characters or a quieter story.
Working in Reverse If you already have your characters and groups figured out and need to find the theme, look at what each character or each group represents to you. You likely already have an emerging theme, all you have to do is use it as a filter and get your groups and characters in line with that theme. That may mean you need to cut irrelevant conversations, subplots, or even characters. By choosing a theme, you are creating more lines within
which you must color. But the end result is a tighter, cohesive, deeply aligned story, so it's worth it!
Layer 3 - The Conflicts In the Conflicts layer, we will dive deep into fatal flaws and external motivations for each of your groups and characters. I'll explain how to create false beliefs and goals that form character arcs for your story and truly start to give it heart. Finally, I'll show you how to work backwards from these concepts to fill in your 4-Part Structure with a rich a rewarding sequence of events that makes up your plot. No more murky middle of your story!
Relationship #5 - Groups and Characters to Fatal Flaw Now that you have your groups and characters, it's time to choose the most important ones so we can determine group and character arcs. I recommend limiting yourself to just a few groups and characters— perhaps your main two or three groups that will have the major conflict in the series, and the main protagonist(s) and antagonist(s). If you are figuring this out at the book level as opposed to at a series level, I would also throw in any additional POV characters that need character arcs for that specific book. Once you have your groups and characters picked out, we can move onto their arcs. Both a group and a character arc are unlocked through the concept of Fatal Flaw and False Beliefs. Here's what they are:
Fatal Flaw As most storytellers know, characters must move, grow, and change within a story. Similar to how we might define plot arcs, we call this growth throughout the story a character arc. Every character you expect to go through a transformation (or to have
a character arc) needs to start with a fatal flaw. This first clicked for me when reading Libbie Hawker's book, Take Off Your Pants!, which I highly recommend. This fatal flaw is a way of looking at the world that will change by the end of the story. Here are several fatal flaws from popular modern stories: •
Harry Potter is afraid that he can't beat Voldemort; his fatal flaw is lack of confidence (Harry Potter)
•
Olivia Pope can't stop loving Fitz, even though he is married and President of the United States; her fatal flaw is she believes in being a "Gladiator," even at the cost of her personal happiness (Scandal)
•
Tyrion Lannister has been shunned by his family his entire life; his fatal flaw is he is desperate for love and approval from his father and sister (Game of Thrones)
•
Walter White is a brilliant chemist that should have succeeded in all the traditional ways in life; his fatal flaw is his desperation for validation (Breaking Bad)
•
Katniss Everdeen doesn't want to bring children into this world because it's so terrible; her fatal flaw is she has no hope for the future (The Hunger Games)
•
Veronica Mars has endured horror at the hands of the O'Niners; her
fatal flaw is her cynicism and distrust toward even the ones who prove themselves trustworthy, like her boyfriend, Logan Echolls (Veronica Mars) These fatal flaws are the basis of the character arc. From the fatal flaw, you must now determine the transformation (if any) you want the character to go through. Here's what this (potentially) looks like for each of the fatal flaws above: Fatal Flaw: Harry Potter is afraid that he can't beat Voldemort; his fatal flaw is lack of confidence (Harry Potter) Transformation: Harry Potter recognizes his strengths where Voldemort is weak and uses those to his advantage to beat him Fatal Flaw: Olivia Pope can't stop loving Fitz, even though he is married and President of the United States; her fatal flaw is she believes in being a "Gladiator," even at the cost of her personal happiness (Scandal) Transformation: Olivia let's Fitz choose her over his presidency, even if it causes a scandal Fatal Flaw: Tyrion Lannister has been shunned by his family his entire life; his fatal flaw is he is desperate for love and approval from his father and sister (Game of Thrones) Transformation: Tyrion finds love and approval somewhere else (perhaps within himself) and is satisfied with it Fatal Flaw: Walter White is a brilliant chemist that should have succeeded in all the traditional ways in life; his fatal flaw is his desperation for validation (Breaking Bad) Transformation: Walter realizes the non-career accomplishments he has in front of him, specifically his family.
Fatal Flaw: Katniss Everdeen doesn't want to bring children into this world because it's so terrible; her fatal flaw is she has no hope for the future (The Hunger Games) Transformation: Katniss learns that although there are terrible people and happenings in the world, there is plenty that is worth fighting for. Fatal Flaw: Veronica Mars has endured horror at the hands of the O'Niners; her fatal flaw is her cynicism and distrust toward even the ones who prove themselves trustworthy, like her boyfriend, Logan Echolls (Veronica Mars) Transformation: Veronica learns to set her detective skills aside and trust the ones around her
As you can see from the examples, the fatal flaw is the thing that's going to ruin everything for the protagonist if he or she doesn't get it in check: •
Harry Potter needs to boost his confidence that he can beat Voldemort, or else he's going to die at his hand
•
Olivia Pope continuously screws up by going back to Fitz, over and over again. She can't stay away. He's her downfall
•
Tyrion Lannister does everything he can to win his father's approval (and to a lesser extent, his sister's) and they consistently stab him in the back or throw him under the bus, often in attempts to get him killed
•
Walter White failed when he sold his stock to a billion dollar company he cofounded for pennies on the dollar. Now, he's turned to an illegal
business for validation, and it nearly gets him killed multiple times throughout the series •
Katniss Everdeen becomes a symbol of freedom and justice against her will, putting a huge target on her back. She will die if she doesn't fight
•
Veronica Mars consistently screws up her relationships, specifically her relationship with Logan Echolls, because she doesn't trust him
The fatal flaw and the transformation serve as endpoints for the character arc. The fatal flaw belongs at the beginning in Part 1 of the 4-Part Structure, while the transformation belongs at the end in Part 4. There are lots of characters who don't reach the transformation of their character arc, especially on television. I'll explain how to handle unresolved character arcs in a later section, so don't worry if your character has no transformation at the moment. Once you have figured out your character's fatal flaw and transformation, we can construct the full character arc using the concept of false beliefs.
False Beliefs False beliefs are permutations of the fatal flaw. If the fatal flaw is the BIG thing your protagonist has wrong about his or her life, the false beliefs are the small truths that your protagonist holds dear. These small truths are holding your protagonist back from breaking through the fatal flaw. Let's say you have a single friend. She's pushing 35 and hasn't had a boyfriend in ten years. You've seen her on dates and she treats men like crap. It's obvious to you why she's still single… but to her, it's not obvious at all. When you talk to her, she says things like: •
"There are no good, single men my age"
•
"I need a guy who can handle my dominant personality"
•
"I'm not picky, I'm just not willing to settle"
•
"Every time I like a guy, I find something wrong with him by the third date"
•
"I would never change ____ for a guy" All of these beliefs sound reasonable on the surface, and for some
women they may be valid… but they are also holding this particular woman back from finding a man. Her fatal flaw is she's not willing to meet any guy halfway, and these phrases are the false beliefs that she's holding onto, that are holding her back from finding her perfect match. As humans, we have trouble seeing our own false beliefs. We are fish who can't see the water all around us. You could tell the woman: •
"Oh, there are lots of single guys our age"
•
"Well, compromising on some of your criteria isn't settling, it's just part
of life" •
"Constantly dominating a man might make him feel emasculated" But it is going to challenge these false beliefs, either successfully
(breakthrough, insight) or unsuccessfully (hurt feelings, anger, defensiveness). This is exactly what you must do for your characters. Your protagonist has a fatal flaw. But this fatal flaw lurks below the surface. It's not stated explicitly in the text, and the character isn't necessarily even aware of it. The way the fatal flaw is handled in the text is more subtle, through these small truths that are actually false beliefs.
Harry Potter's False Beliefs Harry's fatal flaw through the entire series is that he lacks confidence in his abilities to defeat Voldemort. It is expressed his false beliefs, which he speaks and thinks frequently: •
He's not special.
•
He was unluckily chosen at birth.
•
He is like Voldemort/Tom Riddle. (They are both orphans, they both speak parseltongue, etc.)
•
He only survives with the help of others.
•
He often survives due to lucky circumstances (like being wand twins with Voldemort).
•
He's destined to die at Voldemort's hand. These are just a few I came up with off the top of my head, but you see
them over and over again throughout that series. Many of these come out in the fifth book in the series, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, while he is explaining to Dumbledore's Army why they shouldn't admire his past encounters with Voldemort. Here's a rough breakdown of how they show up in the books over and over again: •
Book 1 - Harry fears that Voldemort is coming back for him. He's haunted by the confrontation between them when he was a baby, and the burden of being the "Chosen One." All he wants is be normal and have his parents back (as seen in the mirror of erised).
•
Book 2 - Harry fears that he will be like Tom Riddle/Voldemort. He sees a lot of similarities as he battles the Heir of Slytherin. It scares him!
•
Book 3 - Harry fears Sirius Black, the man who gave his parents up to Voldemort. This goes back to the same false belief from book 1, that Sirius is coming after Harry, the "Chosen One," to finish off what he started.
•
Book 4 - Harry fears that he's not smart enough or good enough to
compete against the older students and win the Triwizard Tournament. This mirrors how he feels he's not smart enough or good enough to beat Voldemort. •
Book 5 - Harry fears death (thanks to Cedric Diggory, represented symbolically with the introduction of the thestrals). He is the reluctant leader of Dumbledore's Army, even though he doesn't see himself as a hero. He is running toward the prophecy (toward death at Voldemort's hand).
•
Book 6 - Harry fears his own judgement after the fiasco at the ministry of magic that got [spoiler] killed for no reason.
•
Book 7 - Harry fears that Dumbledore was wrong. Wrong to trust Snape, wrong to send Harry after the horcruxes instead of the hallows. Harry is afraid that Dumbledore's plan sucks and doubts whether he should follow it. This has nothing to do with Dumbledore —it's Harry's own judgment that he questions. All of these fears (which he conquers one by one) are just
permutations of the fatal flaw—that he lacks confidence to destroy Voldemort. They are the fatal flaw manifesting in different ways, different forms, not unlike they do in real life. Just as he conquers one of those fears, another one pops up in a slightly different permutation—just like in
real life. (Have you heard the phrase, "New level, new devil," before?)
The 4 Houses and Their (Potential) False Beliefs False beliefs are not necessarily obvious and not even always wrong. We live in a world of dualities—and in fact, one of my favorite things in life is collecting dualities. As happiness expert Gretchen Rubin often says, "the opposite of a great truth is also true." For example, you must love yourself before you love others. But, you must also love others before you truly love yourself. Both are true, but neither is more true than the other. There's no clear, right answer! Likewise, I find false beliefs most interesting when they are rooted in truth. For example, "money comes from hard work" is sort of true, but there are many instances when it's not. We all know a lazy someone who has inherited money or gotten a payout in some other way; likewise, we all know a hardworking someone who barely earns any money (and as writers, we might be the latter… ahem.) We don't want our characters to be out in left field with their beliefs and worldviews. We want them to have reasonable beliefs and expectations that happen to not hold up in every case. These are some of the false beliefs that I could imagine members of
each of the Hogwarts Houses having: House: Gryffindor Fatal Flaw: Reckless, too eager to jump into danger False Beliefs: Action is better than [fill in the blank]. Could be knowledge, power, etc. Doing something is better than doing nothing. Fear is the enemy. House: Slytherin Fatal Flaw: Save themselves at any cost, even if it sacrifices key relationships False Beliefs: Everyone else is in it for himself, so I should be too. I have to protect myself because no one else will. There are only so many resources and we're all in competition for them. House: Ravenclaw Fatal Flaw: Believe that the pursuit of knowledge is critical and may struggle to solve problems that aren't taught in books False Beliefs: Being "smart" is a huge advantage over everyone else. Everything you need to know is in a book. Studying and getting good grades is the only way to succeed House: Hufflepuff Fatal Flaw: Eager to please, too kind, potentially taken advantage of by others False Beliefs: Being kind is underrated skill set, but the most important of all. It's safer to be in the background than on display for everyone to pick apart. Inclusion is critical to making the world better. A wide spectrum of personalities is the best kind of group to be in.
Do you see how most of these beliefs are reasonable and valid? For a Slytherin, it's true that if you don't look out for yourself, no one else will. Some would call that being independent and standing on your own two feet. Some would even call it survival instinct—generally a positive trait.
But if you've been alive for long enough you know that anything can be negative, because everything has pros and cons, positives and negatives. Your false beliefs can't be things that are obviously wrong; they need to be beliefs rooted in rational, logical thought, that can be traced back to a fatal flaw.
Creating False Beliefs As I've mentioned already, I love exploring a character's false beliefs. If you are having trouble coming up with false beliefs, here are some permutations you can use to tease them out:
Know-it-all Is your character a know-it-all, sure he or she is right and willing to do what it takes to see justice? In Revenge, Emily Thorne draws the line at killing. However, she continuously harms others to exonerate her father and get revenge on the Grayson family. She believes she's right and continues to sacrifice others for her cause… completely ignoring the fact that she's becoming Victoria, the woman she hates.
In Arrow, Oliver Queen has no trouble lying to his friends and family about his identity. He believes he's protecting them, but over and over only proves to push them away and get them into more danger because they are in the dark about his enemies. In the first several books of the Harry Potter series, Hermione Granger is the ultimate know-it-all. She creates the organization Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare (S.P.E.W.) and forces her agenda on both her friends and the elves, who do not want her help. She later learns that she's insulted all of the elves by trying to give them clothes to free them, and Dobby is forced to clean Gryffindor Commons on his own!
Expectations Does your character make an assumption, "When I get X, I will also get Y" as he or she sets goals? In The Hunger Games, Katniss believes that if she can just win the Hunger Games, her nightmare will end. It isn't until the second book in the series that she figures out she will always be in the spotlight, always be bound to Peeta, and will relive her nightmare every single year as a mentor at the games.
Misplaced blame Does your character blame someone wrongfully for something that wasn't really their fault? In Game of Thrones, Cersei blames Tyrion for the death of her mother (who died giving birth to him) and is cruel to him into adulthood. When harm comes to her children and he is accused, she is sure he did it—no matter how far-fetched the story is. Yet, her misplaced blame eventually causes her father's death and tears her family apart.
Confirmation bias Does your character seek only information that confirms his or her belief, while ignoring information that doesn't? In the movie 500 Days of Summer, Tom ignores the obvious signs that his girlfriend, Summer, is just not that into him by romanticizing their former relationship. He also personalizes things that shouldn't be. Summer is an in-the-moment type with no ill will toward him, so of course he assumes any bit of kindness she shows him is a sign they are getting back together. He also sees himself as the victim, instead of just looking at how the two of them were incompatible. And finally, he thinks that if he could just remind
Summer of how great their relationship was, then he will win her back.
False rules Does your character have a beliefs system or a set of rules that is a bit woo woo or not grounded in reality? In Scandal, Olivia Pope always trusts her gut. We are told in the first episode that her gut is never wrong. Until it is, and in a big way. She later blames Fitz by telling him he's "broken" her gut.
Lack of fairness Does your character want things to be fair—and they're not? In The Hunger Games, Katniss is appalled that Primrose Everdeen is chosen for the games when she only has one entry. Others have dozens, hundreds even. Even worse, Primrose is only 12 years old—she's too young, and won't stand a chance against the older teenagers. Katniss believes Primrose is safe because the "odds are ever in her favor"—but she's not, of course.
More false beliefs
Think of all the false beliefs that trouble yourself, your friends, your family, and anyone else you talk to. We all have the girlfriend pushing 35 who insists, "there are no good men out there," failing to realize she's a nightmare to date. There's the elderly figure who says, "companies just want young people," the poor person who says, "rich people are evil," and the conservative or liberal who irrationally hates specific elected officials. Start paying attention to the false beliefs you hear in both your life and through your characters. You'll be surprised by what you discover!
Character Arcs Once you have your fatal flaw, false beliefs, and transformation, building a character arc is fairly simple. Here's what it looks like: •
Part 1: Fatal Flaw is made known
•
Part 2: The protagonist is challenged by a series of escalating false beliefs and fails to break through most of them, though a bit does chip away. She then gets hit with a major false belief in the Reversal and breaks through it.
•
Part 3: The protagonist is challenged by another series of escalating false beliefs, though this time she successfully breaks through many of them.
•
Part 4: The protagonist breaks through any lingering false beliefs and completes the transformation; OR the protagonist reevaluates her
beliefs and decides they are valid (meaning she doesn't complete the transformation)
A Traditional Character Arc In The Fault in Our Stars, Hazel Grace Lancaster and Augustus Waters, our two romantic leads, go head to head with their fatal flaws in the first chapter. The theme is young people forced to confront death, and both characters state their opinion on it at support group. Augustus Waters's fatal flaw is that he fears oblivion (when all traces of humanity will be burned up). He wants to perform a heroic act before he dies and fears his life and death passing without much point. He wants to matter. Hazel Grace Lancaster's fatal flaw is the opposite—that she doesn't fear oblivion. She is less interested in her legacy and more interested in life going on after she's dead. These fatal flaws permeate in different ways throughout the book: Character: Augustus Waters Fatal Flaw: Wants his life to matter False Beliefs: He fixates on a heroic act that he must perform before he dies, to validate his significance to the world. He is no longer a basketball star, but shot "existentially fraught" free throws before his leg is amputated. He tries to control
the thing that can kill him (cancer) by keeping an unlit cigarette between his teeth. Character: Hazel Grace Lancaster Fatal Flaw: Wants her loved ones to move on unharmed after her death False Beliefs: She believes that her mother will no longer be a mother when Hazel dies (a comment she overheard accidentally at the hospital). She is obsessed with a book called An Imperial Affliction that ends mid sentence and longs to know what happens the the other characters. She doesn't want to start a relationship with Augustus Waters because she doesn't want to be like his last girlfriend, who died of cancer. She believes that she is a grenade and seeks to minimize the damage to those around her by not getting close to anyone.
By the end of the book, both characters have changed and adopted some of the other's views. Augustus's transformation is he learns that the relationships he forms are more important than the legacy he leaves. He leaves his "scar" on Hazel in the form of breaking her heart in death. He admires Hazel for "walking lightly upon the earth." And he also dies without ever performing his heroic act, at least in the sense that he wanted to—but he makes peace with this. Hazel's transformation is that she realizes that her death may hurt others, but she can still have a full life, even if it's a short one. She learns that her parents' lives will go on after her death. She learns that her mother will always be a mother. She tells Augustus that "some infinities are bigger than other infinities" and that she's happy for the small infinity he has given
her (their romance). These character arcs are fairly standard in a romance, and allows the characters to have a meaningful relationship with one another. Each character had to get past many false beliefs to eventually reach their transformation, and the book ends in a hopeful place, despite its morbid discussion.
An Unresolved Character Arc Not all characters get a neat resolution. In Veronica Mars, Veronica teeters back and forth on her false beliefs. Her fatal flaw is her cynicism and distrust of everyone—she has a chip on her shoulder. Throughout the series, she will frequently break through a false belief and begin to see the good in the world, but then someone will do something that reconfirms her false belief. For example, Logan Echolls, an O'Niner, changes his relentless bullying and starts a relationship with Veronica. She begins spending time with her old crowd again, but still contends that they are terrible people. When she finds a video camera in the guest house where they are about to hook up, she assumes the worst of Logan immediately and he's back on her suspect list.
This teetering back and forth on false beliefs, never quite breaking through them, is common on many television shows. On Revenge, Emily's fatal flaw is revenge itself. She frequently believes that she can get revenge with minimal damage, a false belief that is both proved and disproved throughout the series. Another false belief she has is that the pain caused is either deserved, or it was worth it and a fair price to pay to get what she wants. She goes on like this for four seasons, never moving on from her quest for revenge (her fatal flaw). It isn't until the very last episode that she finally concludes that the path to revenge can only end with two graves. Here, she finally breaks through her fatal flaw and the audience sees her transformation into a healthier, safer, and happier lifestyle. At the time of this writing, Veronica Mars still hasn't gotten past her cynicism and distrust—probably for the better! There would be no conflict, no story if she lost these traits.
Fatal Flaw and My Projects
Waters Dark and Deep
For Waters Dark and Deep, there are dozens of paths I could go down. For starters, each of my three groups, the Hallows, Nephilim, and Trinities need a fatal flaw and false beliefs. Additionally, although I do consider Brie van Rossum my protagonist, there are another dozen characters that have major story and character arcs during the series. These characters are both allies and enemies to Brie at various points in the story, but they also have their own stories worth telling. Each of these characters needs a fatal flaw and false beliefs. I won't bore you with the details of my decisions for this series, but if you have a large cast of characters you'll definitely want to print out a new set of worksheets for each character and dig in. This is a lot of work, but so worth doing to better understand your story! I'll give you Brie van Rossum's fatal flaw and false beliefs so we can carry them forward in examples. Again, this story is similar to Harry Potter's, and Brie represents "good" in the "good vs. evil" equation. Brie's fatal flaw is that she doesn't want to accept her place in the war that is coming, because she doesn't believe in herself. She lacks confidence, and she's not brave, and she's not willing to make the sacrifices necessary to win. She's a reluctant hero. She demonstrates this over and over again in her false beliefs:
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She longs to believe that her mother's death was an accident rather than a murder. This is the equivalent of burying her head in the sand, ignoring potential enemies that she might have inherited from her mother
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She refuses to search for the stones, which she learns her mother was searching for before she died. She essentially refuses to take up her mother's cause, even though it's her destiny. She does eventually come around, but it takes a catastrophic event to spur her into action.
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She denies herself many relationships and tons of support that could help her move faster. She believes she's not worthy of them. This is lack of confidence in general.
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She runs and hides instead of facing her enemies.
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She hates being a "chosen one" of sorts. She resents the power that others give her because she hasn't earned it. However, this ends up with her wasting that power… because she could have been wielding it for good this whole time, whether it was earned or not. Her character arc is very similar to Harry Potter, Katniss Everdeen, and
many other reluctant heroes who have come before her.
Emma + Elsie
Emma + Elsie is a slightly more manageable cast, so I'll share what the fatal flaw and false beliefs I've decided for Emma Woodhouse and Elsie Bennet: Character: Emma Woodhouse Fatal Flaw: Bends (manipulates) situations using any means necessary False Beliefs: ⁃ She takes credit for more than is her fair share ⁃ She believes that she knows what's best, then makes it happen, even if it's not what others want ⁃ She wants to better people, even if it's in ways that don't suit them ⁃ She sees only what she wants to see and lives in a dreamlike state most of the time ⁃ She's a schemer, and too often gets her way! ⁃ She rarely fails and thus doesn't think she can fail. She feels invincible (a common trait of someone in their 20's) ⁃ She doesn't have any real motivation to work hard… nothing has ever been hard for Emma
Character: Elsie Bennet Fatal Flaw: She passes judgment easily and holds tightly to her opinions, forming quick prejudices. She has a chip on her shoulder about the rich. False Beliefs: ⁃ She does not compromise on her values and doesn't think anyone else should choose money over love, respect, and affection ⁃ ⁃ ⁃ ⁃ ⁃
She actively dislikes anyone her mother tries to marry her daughters to She projects her own feelings onto others, even if they feel differently or have different goals She is witty and quick to judge, sometimes cleverly making fun of others right to their faces She avoids her true feelings by making everything a joke a lot of the time She's quick to dismiss her other sisters' feelings, although it causes them trouble, heartbreak, and shame
Admittedly, I've been handed these from Jane Austen herself. But you can see how these false beliefs each "roll up" into the fatal flaw. In this series, it's my job to enforce and inter-weave them into my new story of friendship.
My Memoir For the memoir, my fatal flaw might be something like I believed too deeply in society's path for me and made choices based on how others might judge me. In my desire to avoid judgment, I ended up making myself the most unhappy. My false beliefs included: •
I thought that going to a good college was critical to my happiness as an adult. I felt like I was in competition with all my other peers. As a result, I strived to get straight A's and achieve perfection.
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In college, I ignored my interests and instead focused on getting the highest paying job possible right out of college. Again, I was in a competition against my peers, even though most of them didn't care about getting a high-paying job.
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When I got married, I dreamt of being a part of a power couple. I was going to get my MBA, he was going to become a doctor. I was set on
being a millionaire by thirty. (Spoiler alert: didn't happen!) I pushed us both to again get the very best education. I aggressively saved all our money and bought an expensive condo in Chicago at age 23! I was determined to "win" at the game of life… but I didn't really know what game I was playing (and who I was competing against, either). There were likely many more, but these all represent a similar theme, which is the one I started from. I was making decisions out of fear, not out of a love for life. I was living out someone else's version of success instead of my own. I was competing in a game that plenty of people were playing, but that I shouldn't have been.
Working in Reverse It's rare to see writers working in reverse on this one, but not impossible. If you know that you need to build a certain antagonist who is a foil to your already created protagonist, you can use the fatal flaw to begin building that character. For example, in The Hunger Games, Katniss is battling other tributes for survival. She is also battling the Capitol—though in the first book, the Capitol doesn't play a huge role as an antagonist. It is basically just the creator of the environment or situation Katniss is stuck in. You could even
say her enemy is death, because she doesn't show particular anger or fight back at the Capitol much throughout the games, until the end. However, the Capitol did need a face, a symbol of its corruption. That symbol is in President Snow, who becomes the antagonist for the rest of the series. President Snow's fatal flaw is that he continues to carry out the cruelest of traditions with no empathy for the districts. He may even believe that this is the only way to maintain order (a false belief). President Snow as a character isn't particularly important, and he's not particularly evil in and of himself. He's only evil because he represents an idea. His character is based solely on this idea and grows out of the fatal flaw that is needed only because Katniss needs a manifestation of her real enemy. If you are interested in learning more about character arcs, check out one of my favorite books on the topic, called 45 Master Characters by Victoria Lynn Schmidt. She explains archetypes better than anyone I've read, and I always have a lot of fun looking at my characters and fitting them to the archetypes that are a match.
Relationship #6 - Fatal Flaw to Motivation After creating your group and character arcs, you may be wondering, how do these arcs contend with the Tentpole Moments we defined in an earlier section? This section will help you link the internal conflict, the fatal flaw to false beliefs to transformation, to the external conflict, the motivation to goals to transformation.
Motivation and Fatal Flaw Every protagonist has an internal and external conflict that must be overcome before reaching the transformation. These conflicts are expressed early on in the book through two devices, the Motivation and the Fatal Flaw. The motivation and fatal flaw are the external and internal conflicts, respectively. They are two acknowledgments of the same problem. The external plot arc kicked off by the motivation is symbolic of the internal character arc kicked off by the fatal flaw, and vice-versa. Here's a continuation of the example from The Fault in Our Stars:
Character: Hazel Grace Lancaster Fatal Flaw: Wants her loved ones to move on unharmed after her death False Beliefs: She believes that her mother will no longer be a mother when Hazel dies (a comment she overheard accidentally at the hospital). She is obsessed with a book called An Imperial Affliction that ends mid sentence and longs to know what happens to the other characters. She doesn't want to start a relationship with Augustus Waters because she doesn't want to be like his last girlfriend, who died of cancer. She believes that she is a grenade and seeks to minimize the damage to those around her by not getting close to anyone. Transformation: She realizes that her death may hurt others, but she can still have a full life, even if it's a short one. She learns that her parents' lives will go on after her death. She learns that her mother will always be a mother. She tells Augustus that "some infinities are bigger than other infinities" and that she's happy for the small infinity he has given her (their romance).
You can imagine that her fatal flaw happens in Part 1 of the 4-Part Structure, she breaks through her false beliefs in Parts 2 and 3, and she experiences a transformation in Part 4. But how do we create an actual plot from that? We do this by defining her motivation from the fatal flaw and matching up the external and internal journeys. Remember, the fatal flaw and motivation are two sides of the same coin. In The Fault in Our Stars, Hazel's flaw is that she sees herself as a grenade.
Augustus challenges this right away, getting closer to her as they exchange messages and read each other's favorite books. Hazel discloses that she wants to know the ending to An Imperial Affliction, a book that ends mid-sentence when the protagonist dies. Augustus contacts the author, who says he will tell her in person if she comes to Amsterdam. From this point on, Hazel makes a decision. She is going to learn the ending to An Imperial Affliction, no matter what it takes. This is her Motivation for the rest of the book. On the outset, the fatal flaw and motivation don't look like they go together… but for anyone who has read the book, we know that they do. Learning the ending to An Imperial Affliction is Hazel's way of reconciling her own death and belief that she is a grenade. She longs to know that her parents will be okay after she's gone. She want to know that they have a future, and she attempts to reconcile that by learning the futures of the other characters in An Imperial Affliction.
False Beliefs and Goals Next, we can get closer to a map of the Tentpole Moments when we break down the motivation into goals. Just as the fatal flaw and motivation are twin concepts, two
expressions of the same problem, the false beliefs and goals are also twin concepts, two expressions of the same solution. The goal is just the external expression of the false belief, and the false belief is just the internal expression of the goal. Each is a solution or coping mechanism for the fatal flaw/motivation. When a false belief is challenged, the protagonist either reaffirms the belief or breaks through the belief. Similarly, when a goal is challenged, the protagonist either succeeds at the goal or fails at it. Whereas the fatal flaw and motivation stay the same throughout the story and are only broken through at the end, the false beliefs and goals change and are broken through as we go along—primarily in Parts 2 and 3 of the story. Let's continue our example with The Fault in Our Stars: Character: Hazel Grace Lancaster Fatal Flaw: Wants her loved ones to move on unharmed after her death Motivation: Learn the ending to the other characters' futures in An Imperial Affliction False Beliefs: She believes that her mother will no longer be a mother when Hazel dies (a comment she overheard accidentally at the hospital). She is obsessed with a book called An Imperial Affliction that ends mid-sentence and longs to know what happens to the other characters. She doesn't want to start a relationship with Augustus Waters because she doesn't want to be like his last girlfriend, who died of cancer. She believes that she is a grenade and seeks to
minimize the damage to those around her by not getting close to anyone. Transformation: She realizes that her death may hurt others, but she can still have a full life, even if it's a short one. She learns that her parents' lives will go on after her death. She learns that her mother will always be a mother. She tells Augustus that "some infinities are bigger than other infinities" and that she's happy for the small infinity he has given her (their romance).
From this, we can map out goals that will directly help Hazel break through her false beliefs. False Belief: She believes that her mother will no longer be a mother when Hazel dies (a comment she overheard accidentally at the hospital) Goal: She wants to see her mother to have a life outside of her. False Belief: She is obsessed with a book called An Imperial Affliction that ends mid-sentence and longs to know what happens to the other characters. Goal: She wants to get the ending from the author directly, which requires her to go to Amsterdam. False Belief: She doesn't want to start a relationship with Augustus Waters because she doesn't want to be like his last girlfriend, who died of cancer. Goal: She pushes him away for as long as she can, keeping him firmly in the "crush" category. False Belief: She believes that she is a grenade and seeks to minimize the damage to those around her by not getting close to anyone. Goal: She closes herself off to anyone new so that she doesn't break their hearts.
This list of goals is helpful, but in order to create a real plot that we can start writing, we need to put them in some sort of order.
There's a ton of wiggle room here, because you can break through these beliefs in any order. That said, it may be helpful to move from least offensive false belief to most offensive false belief in your story, because the harder it is to overcome a false belief, the larger and more challenging the external goal would need to be. Here's the rough order in which Hazel pursues these goals: •
She believes that she is a grenade and seeks to minimize the damage to those around her by not getting close to anyone. So she closes herself off to anyone new so that she doesn't break their hearts.
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She is obsessed with a book called An Imperial Affliction that ends mid-sentence and longs to know what happens to the other characters. So she wants to get the ending from the author directly, which requires her to go to Amsterdam.
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She doesn't want to start a relationship with Augustus Waters because she doesn't want to be like his last girlfriend, who died of cancer. So she pushes him away for as long as she can, keeping him firmly in the "crush" category.
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She believes that her mother will no longer be a mother when Hazel
dies (a comment she overheard accidentally at the hospital). So she wants to see her mother to have a life outside of her and finally confronts her about it.
Now we are starting to see a plot come together, that we can start to map onto the Tentpole Moments (which we'll do in the next section). But we still haven't figured out how to move your character through these external goals to overcome their false beliefs. Here's how that works: •
If the character succeeds in her Goal, it confirms the false belief, which allows the character to continue believing it.
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If the character fails in her Goal, it challenges the false belief, which allows the character to break through. Armed with that knowledge now, here's the rough order within which
Hazel overcomes her false beliefs: •
She doesn't want to date Augustus at first, because he's already had one girlfriend die of cancer. She confronts him on this, telling him she's a grenade, to which he replies, "It would be a privilege to have my heart broken by you." She's unable to scare him off (failure). They eventually do have a relationship.
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She attempts to get the ending for An Imperial Affliction, but the
author insists that the characters "simply cease to exist." Hazel is incredibly unsatisfied with this. She wants to imagine a future for the characters, who are a metaphor for her own parents and all the people she will leave behind when she dies. She never does get her ending (failure), but she realizes that her true goal is securing her own loved ones' futures. •
She confronts her mother about the comment she overheard, that she won't be a mother after Hazel dies. Her mother then tells her that she is taking classes and earning a degree and has plans for her life if and when Hazel passes away. This helps Hazel realize that even her death can't make her mother not a mother (failure). She is able to accept her death with the peace of mind that her family will continue on. Hopefully, by now you can see how you can plot out your entire story,
figuring out each of your major moments by simply lining up the false beliefs and choosing goals to either break through a belief or confirm a belief. This is how the character moves along through the story and makes progress toward the transformation, which we'll tackle next.
Transformation
You probably understand the drill by now—we are defining and matching up the external with the internal. For the Transformation, I didn't bother to give the external a separate name because by this point, the transformation represents both the internal and external. Let's look at the transformation of Hazel Grace Lancaster from The Fault in Our Stars: Transformation: She realizes that her death may hurt others, but she can still have a full life, even if it's a short one. She learns that her parents' lives will go on after her death. She learns that her mother will always be a mother. She tells Augustus that "some infinities are bigger than other infinities" and that she's happy for the small infinity he has given her (their romance).
This is expressed externally in eulogies that the two characters write to one another. Hazel reads her eulogy directly to Augustus on his last good day before he dies, while Augustus sends Hazel his eulogy via Peter van Houten. In both cases, however, there is no longer a huge need to transform the external to internal, or vice-versa. They genuinely feel like one and the same.
Setbacks in the Character Arc
As I said before, you can use this relationship between false beliefs and goals to create a character arc that maintains the reader's interest while never actually being resolved. Let's revisit the simple rule for moving a character toward transformation: •
If the character succeeds in her Goal, it confirms the false belief, which allows the character to continue believing it.
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If the character fails in her Goal, it challenges the false belief, which allows the character to break through. If you do not want to move your character toward transformation, but
you still want your character to have interesting motivations and goals, all you have to do is use the first part of this rule to create a "setback" for your character. The arc looks like this: •
The character sets a goal that helps him maintain his false belief. That goal is challenged, and he fails at it, which breaks through his false belief.
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This happens again. He's getting closer to transformation.
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Setback! This time the goal is challenged, and he succeeds at it. This allows him to hang on to and reinforce his false belief. Now it's
stronger and will be harder to break through in the future. •
The character sets a new goal that helps him maintain his false belief. That goal is challenged, and he fails at it, which doesn't quite break through his false belief, but does chip away at it.
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This happens again. He's getting close to breaking through again.
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Setback! Something reconfirms his belief, and it grows stronger. You can see this pattern happen over and over again with protagonists
whose character arcs must extend over several books or seasons (for television). For example, Harry Potter is gaining more and more confidence that he can beat Voldemort… but in Book 5, he jumps the gun and heads off into a battle that he's not really ready for, dragging all his friends with him. It's a trap set by Voldemort and leads to the death of his godfather. This is a terrible defeat for him and sets back his movement toward his transformation. He finds his confidence shaky again at the start of Book 6, and learns that he still has more to overcome before he can truly face Voldemort and beat him. Sometimes it makes zero sense to ever let the character reach her transformation. Veronica Mars is a perfect example. Although she usually solves the case (and either helps or doesn't help the victim involved) she
remains mostly the same character, rarely ever dramatically shifting her worldview. Even as her false beliefs are challenged, she often finds new events or information that swings her back to her original cynicism and distrust. If you are working in a genre where the character arc never completes —where the transformation never truly occurs—you can still keep your readers invested in your character. Simply move your character forward a little by breaking through one of the beliefs, then pulling him or her back by reconfirming a false belief that was already broken through. Veronica Mars is such an interesting character because the writers do just this, over and over again. For example, Veronica reconnects with Logan Echolls, even feeling sympathy for him. Then, an O'Niner does something terrible and she's back to hating all of them. Then, Duncan Kane gets elected class president and fights for the regular kids by fixing Pirate Points. Then, she catches Duncan in the Tritons, an exclusive prep club that admits only O'Niners. Back and forth, back and forth… why?
Because Veronica without her cynicism simply doesn't work, and the mystery is the forefront of the interest for this type of story. A "shades of grey" story works really well—but again, just as we talked about with high and low concepts, you must have an amazing protagonist to keep viewers interested.
Motivation and My Projects
Waters Dark and Deep For Waters Dark and Deep, again there are a dozen paths we could explore. I'll use Brie van Rossum again. As a reminder: Character: Brie van Rossum Fatal Flaw: She doesn't want to accept her place in the war that is coming, because she doesn't believe in herself. She lacks confidence, and she's not brave, and she's not willing to make the sacrifices necessary to win. She's a reluctant hero. False beliefs: ⁃
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She longs to believe that her mother's death was an accident rather than a murder. This is the equivalent of burying her head in the sand, ignoring potential enemies that she might have inherited from her mother She refuses to search for the stones, which she learns her mother was searching for before she died. She essentially refuses to take up her mother's cause, even though it's her destiny. She does eventually come around, but it takes a catastrophic event to spur her into action. She denies herself many relationships and tons of support that could help
her move faster. She believes she's not worthy of them. This is lack of confidence in general. ⁃ ⁃
She runs and hides instead of facing her enemies. She hates being a "chosen one" of sorts. She resents the power that others give her because she hasn't earned it. However, this ends up with her wasting that power… because she could have been wielding it for good this whole time, whether it was earned or not.
This is fairly easy to turn into motivation and goals: Character: Brie van Rossum Fatal Flaw: She doesn't want to accept her place in the war that is coming, because she doesn't believe in herself. She lacks confidence, and she's not brave, and she's not willing to make the sacrifices necessary to win. She's a reluctant hero. Motivation: Brie's main motivation is to survive and win the war for the Hallows. She doesn't start out this way, though. At first she simply hopes to avoid the war. But as she breaks through that, she gets closer to her transformation. Goals: ⁃ She longs to believe that her mother's death was an accident rather than a murder. This is the equivalent of burying her head in the sand, ignoring potential enemies that she might have inherited from her mother. She searches for evidence of how her mother died but ignores anything that points to enemies. She wants to feel safe. She only reluctantly accepts that her mother has enemies and they are coming after her when they are literally on her doorstep. The information is irrefutable. But up until this point, she can live in a dreamworld. ⁃ She refuses to search for the stones, which she learns her mother was searching for before she died. She essentially refuses to take up her mother's cause, even though it's her destiny. She does eventually come around, but it takes a catastrophic event to spur her into action. Her brother Pilot's life is put at risk if she doesn't find the stones. She is going to lose him. While she couldn't find the stones to save herself (she didn't think she was worthy) she now must find them to save
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him. She denies herself many relationships and tons of support that could help her move faster. She believes she's not worthy of them. This is lack of confidence in general. She pushes people who love her away at first. She feels like she's damaged goods. Eventually, she realizes that even if her life/future is doomed, she should still accept the love of others in the present. She also must stop believing that she is a bad person. She runs and hides instead of facing her enemies. She eventually must face her enemies when they reach her doorstep (Part 2 of the 4-Part Structure). In Part 3, she needs to actively identify and go after her enemies. She hates being a "chosen one" of sorts. She resents the power that others give her because she hasn't earned it. However, this ends up with her wasting that power… because she could have been wielding it for good this whole time, whether it was earned or not. Eventually, she has to accept that although she didn't ask for this power/influence, she has it and continues to wield it. If she doesn't use it, her people, the Hallows, will wither in the face of threats. She has to accept her destiny. When she realizes this, she eagerly runs toward her destiny, finding a sense of purpose in her life.
I've purposely kept these goals generic and simple just to give you a taste without getting too deep into the details of the plot. Everything in bold represents the plot points or beats that I know I need to hit in the story. In reality, and because this is such a long series, many of these points would probably be multiple encounters in the books. For example, Brie "runs and hides instead of facing her enemies" might have two or three enemies she's hiding from in succession. Around the middle of the series, she would then shift into seeking out her enemies. During those earlier battles, I know
I need to develop her skill sets, let her win and lose a few, and build her confidence so that she can go after her enemies. Likewise, I need to start providing her the missing information so she knows who those enemies are and has a chance to figure out where they are located. These are all details of the plot points that would likely go into the outline or the beats… but I won't bore you with the details here. As you are doing this exercise for yourself, it might also be good to note for each false belief the Part 2 version and the Part 3 version (referring, of course, to the 4-Part Structure). Remember, in Part 2 your character is wandering, trying to find his or her bearings still. He is likely resisting the very thing he should be doing. He may also be training or preparing for the next phase. In Part 3, your character is actively seeking solutions and making moves. You'll see that I wrote out goals that were for Part and Part 3 for most of these false beliefs.
Emma + Elsie For Emma + Elsie, these are the fatal flaws and false beliefs I've decided for Emma Woodhouse and Elsie Bennet: Character: Emma Woodhouse Fatal Flaw: Bends (manipulates) situations using any means necessary
False Beliefs: ⁃ She takes credit for more than is her fair share ⁃ She believes that she knows what's best, then makes it happen, even if it's not what others want ⁃ She wants to better people, even if it's in ways that don't suit them ⁃ ⁃ ⁃ ⁃
She sees only what she wants to see and lives in a dreamlike state most of the time She's a schemer, and too often gets her way! She rarely fails and thus doesn't think she can fail. She feels invincible (a common trait of someone in their 20's) She doesn't have any real motivation to work hard… nothing has ever been hard for Emma
Character: Elsie Bennet Fatal Flaw: She passes judgment easily and holds tightly to her opinions, forming quick prejudices. She has a chip on her shoulder about the rich. False Beliefs: ⁃ She does not compromise on her values and doesn't think anyone else should choose money over love, respect, and affection ⁃ She actively dislikes anyone her mother tries to marry her daughters to ⁃ She projects her own feelings onto others, even if they feel differently or have different goals ⁃ She is witty and quick to judge, sometimes cleverly making fun of others right to their faces ⁃ She avoids her true feelings by making everything a joke a lot of the time ⁃ She's quick to dismiss her other sisters' feelings, although it causes them trouble, heartbreak, and shame
This series is tricky in the way I'm writing it because each episode needs to address the fatal flaw and chip away at it… but the progress will happen slowly. Here's how I would change these to motivation/goals sets:
Character: Emma Woodhouse Fatal Flaw: Bends (manipulates) situations using any means necessary Motivation: Whatever Emma decides will happen is going to happen. She pushes her limits to how much she can turn Harriet Smith into a miniature version of herself. False Beliefs: ⁃
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She takes credit for more than is her fair share. She credits herself for a number of businesses around her town of Rosebelle, when at the end of the day the business owners deserve the bulk of the praise. She did help them secure funding, but building an actual business is much harder than it looks. (One of her goals should be to start a small business in the area… but it should fail due to her mismanagement.) She believes that she knows what's best, then makes it happen, even if it's not what others want. She pushes Harriet Smith toward PJ Elton and away from Robby Martin. She pushes Elsie toward business studies, even though Elsie isn't particularly great at it. She wants to better people, even if it's in ways that don't suit them. She forces Harriet to don better clothes, makeup, and more. She pushes her to do things she doesn't want to do as well. She treats Elsie the same way, not seeing what Elsie really wants and guiding her there. Instead, she pushes Elsie into the same career path she's chosen, but bests her every time and doesn't notice that her friend is hurting as a result. She sees only what she wants to see and lives in a dreamlike state most of the time. Emma will be awakened from her dreamlike state several times in the series. First, when she learns that she was completely wrong about Harriet's love life, and second, when she is horrible to Miss Bates (same as in the book). She's a schemer, and too often gets her way! She is able to make Jace do anything she wants. She also gets her way with Annabeth Taylor/ Weston and her father, and several other characters in the books. The best way to break through this is to have her ask a character (probably Jace) for something and NOT get it. She rarely fails and thus doesn't think she can fail. She feels invincible (a common trait of someone in their late teens or early 20's). She jumps headfirst into tasks that most people her age wouldn't feel comfortable taking on. For example, she starts a small business over
the summer despite having no experience building and running a business. She believes she can't fall and falls harder as a result. ⁃
She doesn't have any real motivation to work hard… nothing has ever been hard for Emma. Things tend to come together easily for Emma, so breaking through this false belief may take several situations where she falls flat on her face. One I'd definitely like to try is watching Elsie beat her at something! Emma wouldn't handle that well.
Character: Elsie Bennet Fatal Flaw: She passes judgment easily and holds tightly to her opinions, forming quick prejudices. She has a chip on her shoulder about the rich. Motivation: Elsie doesn't want to change. She forms her immediate opinions and sticks to them. She doesn't want to leave high school where she had her place figured out. She deflects a lot of this anxiety with humor. False Beliefs: ⁃ She does not compromise on her values and doesn't think anyone else should choose money over love, respect, and affection. She is holding out for the right guy. She has no interest in dating the wrong guy or dating someone casually. Even when she tries to have a casual summer fling at Emma's prodding, her attempt fails miserably. ⁃ She actively dislikes anyone her mother tries to marry her daughters to. She tests Chuck Bingley, whom her mother is obsessed with. He wants to date her older sister and Elsie is just waiting for the other shoe to drop. She has a huge chip on her shoulder about the wealthy… one which many others in the story confirm. Even Emma starts to confirm it, leading to their blowout. ⁃ She projects her own feelings onto others, even if they feel differently or have different goals. She assumes Charlotte Lucas wants the same things she does, and is surprised to find she doesn't. She assumes Jane feels the same way she does as well, but often Jane is just being nice to appease her sister. She even assumes that Emma feels just as insecure as her about life, though Emma suffers from the other end of the spectrum… overconfidence. ⁃
She is witty and quick to judge, sometimes cleverly making fun of others right to their faces. She makes fun of Mr. Collins, her younger sister Lydia, and Fitz Darcy to their faces. She teases Emma mercilessly
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about Knightley though it really bugs her. She avoids her true feelings by making everything a joke a lot of the time. Even when she starts to feel something for Darcy, she laughs it off at first. She jokes about her future career options, even though she's truly worried about them. She's quick to dismiss her other sisters' feelings, although it causes them trouble, heartbreak, and shame. This is primarily true when Lydia gets into trouble toward the end of the book, but it's also true for Jane, who falls in love with a rich guy that her mother has picked out. She even pushes Emma a few times, which leads to trouble for her.
My Memoir For the memoir, I have the hindsight of knowing what my goals were at the time (and knowing how they ultimately made me unhappy). This project is one where I might have done better to work in reverse. Here's a refresher of my fatal flaw and false beliefs: Fatal Flaw: I believed too deeply in society's path for me and made choices based on how others might judge me. In my desire to avoid judgment, I ended up making myself the most unhappy. Motivation: I strived to attain outward success and went after things I knew would "impress" people. One was more money. I always wanted to be the highest paid of all my friends. Another was education at top-tier schools. Finally, job titles. I was proud of the fact that I rapidly rose to the marketing director level at several tech startups. I was in charge, running the marketing for several of these companies. False Beliefs: ⁃ I thought that going to a good college was critical to my happiness as an adult. I felt like I was in competition with all my other peers. As a result, I strived to get straight A's and achieve perfection. My goal was to have perfect grades, which I came close to achieving but which didn't necessarily make me happy. I ended up going to a small school
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instead of a prestigious one due to financial concerns. And I really didn't need such good grades to go there! In college, I ignored my interests and instead focused on getting the highest paying job possible right out of college. Again, I was in a competition against my peers, even though most of them didn't care about getting a high-paying job. My goal was to finish in four years with the degree that would get me the most high-paying job. I ended up with a degree in computer science, which really did get me into Caterpillar. But I was pretty miserable working for a large Fortune 300. When I got married, I dreamt of being a part of a power couple. I was going to get my MBA, he was going to become a doctor. I was set on being a millionaire by thirty. (Spoiler alert: didn't happen!) I pushed us both to again get the very best education. I aggressively saved all our money and bought an expensive condo in Chicago at age 23! I was determined to "win" at the game of life… but I didn't really know what game I was playing (and who I was competing against, either). My goal was to line myself and my husband up for success. I ended up pushing him into a few things that didn't suit him, though. He also just wasn't well-suited to be part of a power couple. He was a hard worker but didn't have the drive to achieve much greater heights. I wanted him to start his own practice right out of school, but he wanted to gain experience at a LensCrafters type of place (he was an optometrist). I was pushing for us to invest in real estate, but he had no desire to be a landlord (or do anything related to passive income). I wanted to be an entrepreneur, but he wanted to live by society's standards. This was something I wanted at first too, but it conflicted with my goal to be a millionaire (as taking the proper path in life rarely leads to riches). As I changed, my goals changed and he and I grew apart.
Working in Reverse Many authors will have the external conflicts figured out long before they touch the internal conflict. To get to the internal conflicts, simply ask the question, "What is this a symbol of?" In every mega-bestseller, the events
don't just unfold—there's always a deeper meaning to them. (And if there isn't, definitely invent one, as your readers will be longing for one!) The motivation/goals structure is a pair to the fatal flaw/false beliefs structure. As long as they match up, you can start with either and work your way to the other.
Relationship #7 - Motivation and Goals to Tentpole Moments Now that you've worked out all this conflict, it's time to map it onto the 4Part Structure and Tentpole Moments. What I've found works best is when both the internal and external are represented equally in each section. This is especially important regarding the tentpole moments. Since you've created the external motivation and goals from the internal fatal flaw and false beliefs, this should be fairly easy to match up. Here's how it matches up in The Fault in Our Stars: Part 1: August and Hazel are just getting to know one another. There is a lot of flirting back and forth, but it's slow-going because Hazel does not want to get too close. Inciting Incident: Hazel and Augustus have a disagreement at support group on the topic of oblivion. They are far apart on the issue. This is a genre tentpole moment in romance novels, where the hero and heroine meet. The Decision: One night, Hazel and Augustus stay up talking on the phone until all hours of the night. Although she has tried to keep him at bay, she is in too deep. They've even picked out their couple flirting device, which is "Okay." This is the point of no return. Hazel and Augustus also decide they will have an ending to An Imperial Affliction, which launches their external journey. Part 2: Hazel and Augustus face several obstacles here. Hazel has a health setback. They have trouble getting to Amsterdam. Once they get there, Peter van
Houten, the author of An Imperial Affliction, refuses to give them a satisfying ending to the book. On the romance side, they have the conversation about how it would be a privilege to have his heart broken by her. The Reversal: A few things happen in quick succession. They kiss at Anne Frank's house, then sleep together shortly after. This is a genre tentpole moment for romance. They are both all in on the relationship. The next day, though, Augustus admits that cancer is back, all over his body, and he only has a short time left to live. Part 3: They are both rocked by this huge setback in their relationship. Through this new lens of information, they set aside the goal to get the ending to An Imperial Affliction, for now. They spend a lot of time together actively trying to accept both of their deaths, when they finally decide they are going to write eulogies for each other. She writes his, but he is too sick to write hers. The "Cards on the Table" Moment: At his fake funeral, she assures him that she is not angry at him for being the grenade that blew her up. She is so thankful for their "infinity." Shortly after, Augustus dies, and their time together has ended. All is lost. Part 4: Hazel tries to move through her grief, but these attempts mostly end in failure. She is very, very sad and there's no easy way to get past it. The enemy, death, has won. Peter van Houten tries to make amends with her, but she's not having it. She's just completely over her quest for the ending of An Imperial Affliction. But he does make her realize that it wasn't her goal to begin with; her real goal is to make sure her parents have lives after she is gone. She goes home and settles this with them, finally gaining peace of mind about her own death. The Transformation: She receives Augustus's eulogy for her. In it, he asks her if she likes her choices about who got to hurt her in this world. She says, "I do," confirming that her fatal flaw, that she did not believe she should "leave her scar" on anyone, is completely overcome.
As you analyze these four parts, you probably notice that at each tentpole moment, Hazel breaks through a false belief that we came up with, and also has a breakthrough on her external journey with confronting death through An Imperial Affliction.
You can have multiple false beliefs in a single part, but the major ones should be reserved for tentpole moments.
Weaving it All Together Once you have completed Relationship #7, and if you are doing these in order, you're ready to start weaving all of your beat sheets together. This is both the fun and daunting part of creating a book, because now you (hopefully) have all the pieces you need to create a compelling and complete story. The biggest "gotcha" you might face at this point is that you are still missing a group or character arc that is necessary to make the story feel whole. So do a quick check in with yourself. Have you selected the perfect point-of-view character or characters? Is/Are their character arc/s compelling? Is the fatal flaw for each of these arcs interesting enough, difficult enough to overcome that it can sustain a story? Are you missing any group or character arcs? Is there anyone in your story who might have unclear motives—and can you clarify those? For example, in The Hunger Games movies, the producers decided to flesh out the antagonist point of view using the character of President Snow. This provides a ton of clarity about this dystopian world that Katniss lives in and better explains so many of the reasons for certain plot points to happen. Katniss's limited perspective doesn't provide that. If you are not sure if you want or need to dive into other characters and their story arcs, take a few extra minutes to just start using the worksheets. Start with the fatal flaw and see if there's anything interesting there—or if there's more to expand upon. You may discover a critical missing element
to your story!
A Focused Narrative Although the Harry Potter series contains one of the largest casts I've ever seen in a fiction series, the narrative is incredibly focused on just one— Harry Potter. Although several characters see some growth throughout the series, most of them do not complete a full character arc. They primarily serve as Harry's allies and friends throughout the series. Everyone—from Dumbledore, to Snape, and even Ron and Hermione, is somewhat static. The older characters have made their decisions long before the books start, while the younger characters are fairly ordinary and lead mostly ordinary lives, aside from being confidants of Harry Potter. It's only Harry who overcomes his confidence issues to become the hero he has always been labeled as.
A Silent Character Arc Compare that to The Hunger Games, which is full of silent character arcs. The first is Peeta Mellark, who has no POV chapters (as the entire series is told through Katniss's limited perspective) but who is extremely heroic in the first book. He goes to the games determined not to be "a piece" in them
—then carries that mission out by doing everything he can to save Katniss and help her win the games. His goal is to get the girl—and he sort of does, until he loses her at the end. You can see his entire arc though, and remember that he is one of the winners of the 74th annual games, just like Katniss. Another silent arc is that of the Capitol. You can see these beats play out in the movie version of this series—notice how they easily follow the tentpole moments, too. The Capitol's arc is trying to squash the rebellion they've created by allowing winners of the Hunger Games that then become leaders of their people. They've given power away, so they attempt to take it back… and it does go all wrong for them in the end.
A Rest and Pick Up In the movie version of The Martian, Mark Watney's storyline slows down shortly after he accidentally blows up his greenhouse. At that point, NASA and the rest of the world are trying to figure out how to save him. His former crew is also making decisions to save him. He has been incredibly heroic thus far, but he is now at the mercy of others. He's carrying out their suggestions like a puppet… and he doesn't get his next heroic moment until he punctures a hole in his spacesuit to get back to the Ares 3.
This is common when weaving, especially when you have multiple group/character arcs. You'll notice in this story that the arcs are staggered. For example, NASA has no clue that Mark survived until Sol 54, which is long after Mark has made many, many decisions on his own that have helped him survive. However, for NASA, the inciting incident and decision can't happen until they learn he is alive. Likewise, the crew's story arc stops dead for about an hour of the movie. During that whole time, they have no idea Mark is alive and thus have no decisions to make.
Tentpole Moments and My Projects
Waters Dark and Deep For Waters Dark and Deep, the genre tentpole moments for Brie van Rossum are: Part 1: The protagonist discovers her powers and is introduced to the world. Part 2: She learns the truth about her mother's death/murder and also discovers who her enemy is. During this time, she is also training and using her powers to some success and some failure. Part 3: She goes after the enemy in full force, using her powers with more success, though she's still not a pro. Part 4: She beats the enemy—often not through sheer force, but through some other quality. In Harry Potter, it was love. In The Hunger Games, it was Katniss's
mercy.
And here is her character arc: Character: Brie van Rossum Fatal Flaw: She doesn't want to accept her place in the war that is coming, because she doesn't believe in herself. She lacks confidence, and she's not brave, and she's not willing to make the sacrifices necessary to win. She's a reluctant hero. Motivation: Brie's main motivation is to survive and win the war for the Hallows. She doesn't start out this way, though. At first she simply hopes to avoid the war. But as she breaks through that, she gets closer to her transformation. Goals: ⁃ She longs to believe that her mother's death was an accident rather than a murder. This is the equivalent of burying her head in the sand, ignoring potential enemies that she might have inherited from her mother. She searches for evidence of how her mother died but ignores anything that points to enemies. She wants to feel safe. She only reluctantly accepts that her mother has enemies and they are coming after her when they are literally on her doorstep. The information is irrefutable. But up until this point, she can live in a dreamworld. ⁃ She refuses to search for the stones, which she learns her mother was searching for before she died. She essentially refuses to take up her mother's cause, even though it's her destiny. She does eventually come around, but it takes a catastrophic event to spur her into action. Her brother Pilot's life is put at risk if she doesn't find the stones. She is going to lose him. While she couldn't find the stones to save herself (she didn't think she was worthy) she now must find them to save him. ⁃ She denies herself many relationships and tons of support that could help her move faster. She believes she's not worthy of them. This is lack of confidence in general. She pushes people who love her away at first. She feels like she's damaged goods. Eventually, she realizes that even if her life/future is doomed, she should still accept the love of
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others in the present. She also must stop believing that she is a bad person. She runs and hides instead of facing her enemies. She eventually must face her enemies when they reach her doorstep (Part 2 of the 4-Part Structure). In Part 3, she needs to actively identify and go after her enemies. She hates being a "chosen one" of sorts. She resents the power that others give her because she hasn't earned it. However, this ends up with her wasting that power… because she could have been wielding it for good this whole time, whether it was earned or not. Eventually, she has to accept that although she didn't ask for this power/influence, she has it and continues to wield it. If she doesn't use it, her people, the Hallows, will wither in the face of threats. She has to accept her destiny. When she realizes this, she eagerly runs toward her destiny, finding a sense of purpose in her life.
I'm now going to pull the character arc and I've uncovered through the genre tentpole moments to further flesh out the 4-part structure and tentpole moments. Now, keep in mind that for Waters Dark and Deep I've only provided a broad character arc for the protagonist, Brie van Rossum. Since there are several others (about 10) who will have their own stories throughout the series, this isn't going to be a traditional mapping—just the broad strokes of how the book will form. Part 1: Brie van Rossum discovers her powers and is introduced to the world. She believes that her mother is dead and is grieving her. Several Hallows that she meets tell her that her mother had enemies, but she ignores them. She searches for evidence of how her mother died but ignores anything that points to
enemies. She wants to feel safe. She learns about the stones her mother was searching for but does not want to go after them, because her mother died for them and she is not a revolutionist. The inciting incident (there are several) is that she meets one of her mother's enemies. The Decision is that she goes on the run, and into hiding. Part 2: She learns the truth about her mother's death/murder and also discovers who her enemies are. She only reluctantly accepts that her mother has enemies and they are coming after her when they are literally on her doorstep. The information is irrefutable. During this time, she is also training and using her powers to some success and some failure facing those enemies. However, she is still waiting for them to come to her and primarily in defense mode. In terms of her relationships, she pushes people who love her away at first. She feels like she's damaged goods. At the Reversal moment, she learns that her brother Pilot will succumb to the dark side if she does not find the stones. She is going to lose him. While she couldn't find the stones to save herself (she didn't think she was worthy) she now must find them to save him. Part 3: Brie goes after the enemy in full force, using her powers with more success, though she's still not a pro. She easily finds the first stone (she knew where it was all along) and starts going on perilous missions to recover the other six. Along the way, she meets and makes more enemies, all escalating in power and ability. She also starts asking for help and stops pushing people away. She realizes that even if her life/future is doomed, she should still accept the love of others in the present. She also must stop believing that she is a bad person. Eventually, she has to accept that although she didn't ask for this power/ influence, she has it and continues to wield it. If she doesn't use it, her people, the Hallows, will wither in the face of threats. She has to accept her destiny. When she realizes this, she accepts her destiny (does not eagerly run toward it). She just wants to get it over with. Since she knows what's coming, she's able to say her goodbyes and make her arrangements for when she's gone. The "Cards on the Table" moment is when she determines her main enemy and finds the seventh stone. Now she knows who she's after and she has the weapon to use against him. Part 4: Brie beats her main enemy and wins the war for the Hallows. She tricks her enemy into stepping under the stones (vague, but stick with me). This kills him and the war is won. Similar to the Lord of the Rings, though, this journey destroys her emotionally. She is the hero, but it has come at a huge personal
sacrifice. Her transformation is making the personal sacrifice for the greater good.
At this point, and because this is an outline for the full series, not just a specific book in the series, I would go through each part and flesh out the specifics even more. For Part 2, for example, I would decide which 3 enemies Brie encountered and in which order. I would then line them up in my outline (perhaps one per book if it's a longer series) and come up with the specifics of how she met or came across them, and so on. This is what I would call nested plotting. Start with the large, the series arc, and work your way down into the cracks and crevices of the details. If you know specific scenes you plan to write, you should be able to at least identify where in your story they belong (which part out of the four). You should be able to start putting those scenes in a sequence and putting other markers around it. I'm not going to flesh out the other two projects in full detail, because I think this is probably enough to make my point. If you have any questions, we can always work on it together—see my Frequently Asked Questions section for more information.
Working in Reverse
If you already have your outline or your draft and are trying to figure out a character's motivation, just look at the tentpole moments. Tentpole moments are almost always breaking through a big goal or a false belief, or both. If you've been mapping out your story intuitively up until this point, you've probably inserted the goals/false beliefs into your story in this way— you just haven't had a name for them until now. Once you identify a few goals/false beliefs pairings, you can look at the similarities or overarching theme of them and roll it up into a motivation/ fatal flaw pairing. If you are feeling like you still have a murky middle of your book after going through relationships #1-7, Super Structure by James Scott Bell is a fantastic resource. He provides lots of scenes that belong in the middle of your book, that can spur ideas for your own story.
Layer 4 - The Representations In the Representations layer, we'll look at everything we've already discovered about your story and tease out the many ways to better express it. We'll discuss symbols, metaphors, motifs, and more. So many authors stop at the first three layers. But by putting all of these thematic elements in place, you'll easily connect the first layer through fifth layer of your story all the way through, like pulling threads through 5 sections of material to weave a quilt. If there is one takeaway you'll get from this book, it's that theme is the connective thread that makes your story magical. You'll see in dozens of examples across several genres throughout this book how this works.
Relationship #8 - Fatal Flaw and Motivation to Thematic Elements I've already talked a lot about symbols and metaphors, but in this section we're going to add a whole lot more meaning to our story using thematic elements. What is a thematic element? It's a representation of an idea in a different format. Once you have your character and plot arcs laid out and matching the concept, premise, and theme, you can reinforce everything with these thematic elements: •
Names
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Locations, Places, Settings
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Weather
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Mood
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Objects (Jewelry, Weapons, Creatures)
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Motifs
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Metaphors
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Quotes
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Symbols
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Anecdotes The best way to see how to do this is through example, so let's dive in
to several!
Fatal Flaw and Motivation to Thematic Elements If you aren't sure where to start coming up with thematic elements, look to your fatal flaw and motivation. These are prime opportunities to create symbolic meaning through objects or artifacts within your world. Here are some examples:
The Protagonist's Shorthand On Revenge, Emily Thorne draws a symbol that represents her quest for revenge, Infinity x Infinity. We learn that she got this from her father and it was originally a way for them to tell each other they loved each other. That symbol has been repurposed for Emily's revenge mission and comes up over and over again as a recurring motif throughout the series. It doesn't just symbolize her revenge plot though. It's also used to remind viewers that in the midst of all the terrible Emily Thorne-y things she's doing, the young and ruined Amanda Clarke is still in there. She's still a good guy, she's still justified in her actions, and therefore we can still root for her, despite her desire to get revenge, which is usually a rather ugly trait in someone. Infinity x Infinity eventually becomes Emily's tell. It's a symbol that only
Victoria is capable of matching to the young Amanda Clarke—and poetically, Emily's fatal flaw becomes her nemesis's weapon.
The Antagonist's Fatal Flaw and Motivation In the Hunger Games trilogy, the Capitol is in trouble. Their fatal flaw is that by using the games, they've accidentally sparked a rebellion. This is represented by the mockingjay, which is also an accidental creation of theirs from mixing animal DNA to form new mutations. The mockingjay starts as Katniss's lapel pin. It grows into a full-fledged suit that Katniss wears as she becomes the Mockingjay (starting when she shoots her arrow into the force field). This symbol soon becomes the symbol for the rebellion, transcending Katniss herself and representing something more.
Goal and False Beliefs to Thematic Elements Your tentpole moments (usually represented as a goal/false belief combo) are also a fantastic place to look for opportunities for symbolism. Here are some examples:
A Fault In Our Stars and the Reversal When Hazel and Augustus from The Fault in Our Stars finally kiss, it's on a
tour of Anne Frank's house. Anne Frank is a young woman who lived a short but good and impactful life, which matches Hazel's acceptance that her life will be short but can be good, and that it's worth it to have loved and lost, as the two of them are fated to do. When she learns about Augustus's cancer, it only reinforces the moment, because their time is even shorter than she realized, and she is the one who will have to survive and live with the "scars" he gifts her from their love. The Fault in Our Stars happens to be heavy on the metaphors, quotables, anecdotes, and symbolic representations of the theme at every turn, so I won't list them all here—but if you have the chance, grab the book and read or re-read it. It's a quick one, and you'll be surprised at how much of this framework applies to that novel. (And don't forget, it was a breakout novel!)
The Hunger Games bow and arrow In The Hunger Games, Katniss knows that she can only win the games if she finds the bow and arrow from the Cornucopia. She isn't able to retrieve it during the first few minutes of the games, and rival Glitter grabs it instead so she must wait. But she does eventually reclaim the bow and arrow during the
Reversal moment, which is also when she transitions from passive to active. Before she has the bow and arrow, she's simply trying to survive the games on her own. After she gets her bow and arrow, she begins hunting and actively trying to win the games. This is small and subtle, but incredibly clever on Suzanne Collins part! There's no question in my mind that it was a purposeful and symbolic placement to represent this important transition.
Gone Girl and anniversary presents In the movie Gone Girl, we learn at the Reversal moment that Amy is still alive and well. At the same time, her husband Nick solves her last clue of their anniversary scavenger hunt, revealing the marriage present that she's left him—framing him for her murder. Everything about this reveal, from the symbolic anniversary scavenger hunt, to where she leaves the present, represents the real theme of the story—a marriage with so much pain and hurt that one member enacts revenge on the other.
Star Wars and cheap twists I love Star Wars and used to marathon the first three movies (episodes 4-6) several times a year as a kid.
However, I'm lukewarm on George Lucas's overall storytelling abilities, and there was something in the third movie of that trilogy that always felt like a letdown to me. It's supposed to be a big reveal that Luke's sister is Princess Leia, but that whole piece of the story always felt incredibly hollow to me. In adulthood, I figured out why: because the revelation means very little to the characters. While Luke and Leia do kiss in Episode V, she's actually in love with Han Solo and seems to always have been. Thus, there is no conflict of interest. Luke and Leia are friends and remain friends—albeit, they may get a little closer with the upgrade from "best friends" to "brother and sister." Leia and Darth Vader have no real conflict or confrontation over this revelation either. He stood by while the Death Star blew up her entire home planet, yet there's no revelation to the fact that he's her father—at least not the same kind of revelation there was for Luke when he found out. Yes, Leia and Darth Vader are on opposing sides, but she still doesn't have a strong personal relationship with him throughout the movies. He only thinks of her as Luke's sister. Again, no conflict in the revelation, no meaning attached to it. If you're going to use a big revelation in one of your false beliefs, make
sure you both seed it and resolve it—otherwise, it has zero emotional impact on the reader!
Names and Locations to Thematic Elements We haven't talked much about names and locations, so I wanted to bring them up here. Your character names, location names, and even your book title are fantastic places to hint at theme! Here are a few examples: •
J.K. Rowling is the master of naming things and comes up with some fun ones, including Kreacher (the house elf), Diagon Alley and Knockturn Alley (the darker marketplace), Flourish and Blotts (an ink and paper store), Tom Riddle, and more.
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The Fault in Our Stars is a reference to a Shakespearan quote, "The fault, dear Brutus is not in our stars, But in ourselves." Author John Green explained that he does not agree with this quote, and sometimes bad things do happen that are out of our control.
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The names Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse are all references to how the moon relates to Bella and Edward's relationship in the book.
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Emily Thorne is a thorn in Victoria Grayson's side; she sends black thorny roses to Victoria to inflict emotional pain on her
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Although A Song of Ice and Fire has not yet been completed, most
fans (including myself) suspect that the final battle will be between the White Walkers (ice) and Dragons (fire).
Thematic Elements and My Projects
Waters Dark and Deep For Waters Dark and Deep, there are dozens of symbols, so I'll share just a few. The Hallows are defined by the seven stones, one for each of the seven archangels, while the Nephilim are defined by the seven weapons, one for each of the seven archdemons. In general, it's a good idea to give your various groups some sort of symbol, saying, or phrase—think Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, Divergent, and more. I've done the same for mine. Blood is also very important and much of the wars and conflicts is based on blood. Each Hallow and Nephilim has powers based on which bloodline(s) they are part of. When a Hallow and Nephilim blood line cross, that offspring is a Trinity. This is taboo for both the Hallows and Nephilim as Trinities are unstable and loyal to no one.
Brie also has something—a necklace her mother gave her. It's a symbol of their relationship and she wears it every day. It also plays a role in the plot. Another symbol is an engagement ring meant for two people who should not be together (due to their blood lines) but make it work anyway. I really like jewelry, and it's good for merchandising anyway (if the books were ever to get that big). These jewelry pieces serve as metaphors and shorthand in the series, similar to the mockingjay pin, the death eater symbol, the one ring, the horcruxes and hallows, and more in various other franchises.
My Memoir For the memoir, it's hard to come up with a ton of symbolism because it all must be real. There are a few that come to mind: •
When I was 20 years old, I got a butterfly tattoo to symbolize freedom… yet I was living the exact opposite.
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I own (now owned, as I just recently got rid of it) a guitar for about 15 years. I moved it with me everywhere, to college, to every apartment I lived in as an adult, always with the intention of playing it. But I never learned. Eventually, I had to accept that I would never play it. Letting
go of the past that I had idealized is a big part of my journey. •
My graduate degree sat at the registrar's office for two years after I graduated. They finally mailed it to me. It's still in its original envelope. (Though, now that I have my own office, I may finally take it out and hang it up!)
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My wedding ring is always going to be an obvious symbol of my marriage… but perhaps I could tease out a story there to bring it into my memoir story. All of these symbols are just objects right now—they would only be
given meaning if I could come up with a (true) story to tie them back to the original theme. I don't think this would be terribly difficult, to be honest. Even a memoir can have a fourth layer!
Working in Reverse Can you give a symbol meaning? Absolutely! The easiest way to do this is to tie it to a group or character and give it a backstory. This means working the thematic element in both directions, but if there's something you want to incorporate (for example, you really like a book or a quote and you want to bring it up in your story) you can easily make it a character's favorite, an object of conversation, or the thing they are discussing in English class (a
popular trope in teen fiction).
Layer 5 - The World In the World layer, we will figure out the world that these characters live in. We will look into background, history, and more for each of the thematic elements defined in Layer 4. This is the last layer, the base of the entire operation. Not all of it will make it into the book. But, like anything, tying up this loose end will strengthen your story. Finally, a word of warning if you think you can ignore this layer just because you are writing something contemporary. I'll show you how even contemporary stories need to build their worlds. There may not be wizards and vampires and kingdoms, but you'll still need to know the backgrounds and histories of your characters, and more.
Relationship #9 - Thematic Elements to World This is the bottom layer because it must blend in so easily to the background. Some of this won't make it into the actual text. Everything that does will go in the form of an anecdote, backstory, flashback, or history. These stories (and sprinkling them through your text) make the world feel old. It adds the element of passing time and allows the reader to connect with your world in surprising ways. This is how rabid fandoms are born—even if you are not writing fantasy! You may have heard of the Iceberg Rule, that only 10% of the worldbuilding and backstory you create should make it into your story. This is the layer that applies to most. That said, my personal preference is not to create much more than the 10% I actually need (I don't like working that hard for no reason). The Smarter Storytelling Framework should help you drastically reduce the amount of world you create that doesn't end up being useful or necessary, though of course we'll never achieve full efficiency on this. However, we'll go through the most important connections you need to make so that the right background information is available to sprinkle throughout your book.
Who Needs Backstory?
Sometimes we look at huge fantasy series with twenty major characters and think we need to have that level of backstory for our stories, too. Again, I'm of the mindset that I'll write the character's backstory when I need it. If you've studied J.K. Rowling's creative process, you'll know that she created dozens of additional characters that were never mentioned in the book, and learned things about her characters (like their favorite colors, their favorite breakfasts) that never had a chance of making it into the books. If you love creating this content, you should absolutely go for it. I'm not saying it's bad in any way. If you are looking for an efficient way to narrow down what you truly need to create, these are the groups and characters I would create backstories for:
Your Protagonist(s) Here are some examples of how backstory is used for character:
Backstory as a Catalyst Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games loses her father at a young age. This story shows up right at the beginning of the book and masterfully serves so many different purposes. It builds the world of District 12 and shows us how dangerous it really is to work in the coal mines. It is the catalyst for Katniss and Gale's friendship. It is also the catalyst for Katniss
and Peeta's relationship. And finally, it is the reason for Katniss's skill with the bow—which is essential for everything else in the story to work. To start exploring your protagonist's backstory, ask the question, "What has to be true about him to make him the way he is?" Try to come up with explanations that would help your reader understand and sympathize with the character. We have a lot of sympathy for Katniss because she stepped up and saved her family from starvation when her mother checked out. She is more of an adult than someone her age might normally be, and she considers her younger sister Primrose her own child in many ways. All of this makes it believable when she not only takes Prim's place, but also goes on to win the games.
Backstory Inherited... Or Not One thing to remember about people is that we inherit so many of our beliefs and flaws from our parents, our family, and things that have happened in our childhoods when we were most impressionable. Annalise Keating from How To Get Away With Murder has questionable morals, which we learn as the series goes on. When her mother comes into town, we learn that Annalise was raped
by her uncle as a child, and that her mother solved the issue by purposely setting fire to their house while he was still in it. Thus, it's no surprise that Annalise thinks about issues the way she does—she's inherited some of her questionable morals from her mother, who raised her. This backstory also explains a lot about her relationship with her husband Sam, who is a major part of the first season. Like Katniss's backstory, it serves multiple purposes, which gives us a fuller picture of our protagonist, Annalise, and why she does the things she does.
Backstory Need To Tell Us Something About the Character Compare these two backstories to Revenge's Emily Thorne and her mother, Kara Wallace. In the second season, we learn that Kara, whom Emily thought was dead, is actually alive. Her father lied to her about it because her mother tried to drown her when she was five. But that's where the insight stops. We know that Kara's a bad mother, but throughout the rest of her arc, there are no additional details that relate to the person we actually care about—Emily. It's not enough to give your characters a sad backstory. You must give that story meaning for your character in the present day as well.
It would be completely different if Kara had her own story of Revenge and shared everything she had lost as a result of going after it. That might change something for Emily now. Another route the writers could have gone would be to have Kara show us something new about the antagonist Victoria's character… that didn't happen either. Moral of the story: make sure your backstory matters!
History Repeating Toward the end of season 4 on the television show Dexter, our titular serial killer with a heart-of-gold character is getting everything he wants. Then, the serial killer he is chasing comes after his family. It would be one thing if his enemy just killed his wife, taking away his happiness. That would have been terrible on its own. But what happens is way worse, because his wife is murdered in front of his son, and his son is covered in her blood. Your heart breaks for Dexter when this happens. Why? Because it mirrors his own childhood of watching his mother die and being covered in her blood, which (understandably) traumatized him and made him the way he is today. He blames this one defining moment of his childhood for so many of his inner demons (outwardly represented as his penchant for
killing)… and now, his son is given the same traumatizing moment. Everything comes together so well here because of what we know about Dexter. The death in season 4 is symbolic in several ways. The absolute worst thing that could happen to Dexter does. And it's going to change him permanently.
Your Antagonist(s) The second opportunity for backstory, which is commonly a missed opportunity, is with the antagonists of your story. The antagonists rarely get as much of a character arc because they often have so little screen time in the book. According to most story structures, the antagonist should only show up a few times throughout your book to remind the protagonists of the imminent threat, but otherwise remain a mystery. I'm not a fan of this. How can we get to know the antagonist if we don't see more of him? The antagonist also shows up for the final battle, of course, but by that point there's rarely enough time for backstory. There are plenty of effective ways to incorporate your antagonist's backstory into the book, but there are two I particularly like:
Flashback Investigation In the Harry Potter series, we get to dive deep into our antagonist Voldemort's past in Book 6 right alongside Harry. Dumbledore has been
collecting important memories of Voldemort/Tom Riddle's early life to better understand him, in the hopes of defeating him. He shares this information with Harry and we get to learn about it too. Although this is done through a magical device called a pensieve in this series, you can do this in your book too by using flashbacks.
Start the Character as a Protagonist A second option is to put the future antagonist in the story as an early ally or sidekick of the protagonist. On the television show Smallville, Lex Luthor and Clark Kent start as best friends. As a result, we get to know and understand Lex Luthor in the early seasons. When he shifts to being Clark's enemy, we already know what drives and motivates him. Damon Salvatore from The Vampire Diaries is inserted into the story in the same way. He starts out as an antagonist and quickly becomes an ally and friend of Elena Gilbert. In the later seasons, the two of them fall in love —which goes to show how much a character can change over the course of a story.
Major Groups Within the World Just like the protagonist, every major group in your world needs a deep and
rich backstory and history. A lot of this is meant to help explain the fatal flaws and false beliefs of this group so that the reader can better understand characters that hail from this group and any conflicts that may arise. In Lord of the Rings, we learn the histories of the elves, the dwarves, the hobbits, the humans, the orcs, and more. This helps us understand the conflicts they have over land and everything else. In Harry Potter, we learn the history of the Death Eaters, Voldemort's inner circle of wizards and witches, many of whom continue to serve him. This gives us insight into how the Order of the Phoenix formed, which helps the main characters, Harry and his friends, understand exactly what the first war was like for the generation before them.
The War Before the War If your groups are going to war with each other, you'll want to know the history of all other wars that have come before between these groups. In books like Harry Potter, A Song of Ice and Fire, and Lord of the Rings, there is always a "war before the war" which has caused a ton of prior tension and may even be the spark igniting this war. Keep in mind that there are winners and losers of every war, and it takes time for a group of people to recover from old hatred and rebuild their strengths.
Past Relationships The main way to tie groups and characters to the world is to focus on their wounds and how they got them. How did a specific character wind up with a specific false belief? Or, why does a specific group have tension with another group? For example, why do the Martells in Game of Thrones hate the Lannisters so much that they won't visit the capitol? It's not because of anything that happened recently—it's because of the deep history between the two houses. The Martells blame the Lannisters for ordering the rape and murder of their princess Elia and her children after Robert's Rebellion 20 years earlier. This wound has not yet healed, so this backstory explaining it all is important. This not only affects current events when Prince Oberyn faces the Mountain (the man who raped his sister Elia) in a trial by combat, it also puts Myrcella, Cersei Lannister's daughter, in jeopardy. All of this causes tension and conflict between these two prominent houses, but the backstory is what makes it feel so interesting and real. You can create all sorts of backstories you want, but the ones readers find most compelling all stem back to wounds. That's because a wound is something that can drive a person in one direction or another. A wound is,
in itself, a decision. A character or group may not have caused their own wound, but they have a choice as to how they react to it. All of this causes a ton of tension in your story. Going back to the example from Game of Thrones, there are some in the Martell family who do not want to let old hates continue, and others who are determined to get revenge. This is the type of world-building that's worth doing. Here's the thing: if your backstory, history, flashback, or recollection doesn't highlight a current wound that your character or group is still holding onto, it's probably not going to be relevant to your story. This is what I believe lies in the 90% of world-building that belongs underwater and never makes it into the book. In my opinion, don't even bother creating it! It serves no purpose and moves you no further along in your story. Another example is from The Vampire Diaries, where the two main brothers, Stefan and Damon Salvatore, both loved the same woman in the past. Her name was Katerina Petrova, and teenage human Elena Gilbert is her doppelgänger. In present day Mystic Falls, both brothers are again falling in love with the same woman, the doppelgänger of their shared past girlfriend. Talk about tension! There are tons of past wounds that come up as a result.
Settings That Define Groups Don't forget that when you have groups, you have places associated with them. In the movie Titanic, the theme is a class war between the wealthy and the poor. It plays out on two fronts: in a romance between the main characters, and on the unsinkable boat that we all know sinks. Rose represents the wealthy class. She's trapped in a marriage she doesn't want to save her mother's place in society, and she's too afraid to break free (her fatal flaw). Her motivation is to break free from her family and her place in society, which she does through small goals, then larger ones. Jack represents the poorer class. He's on the up and up and hopes to create a new life for himself in America, the land of the free (his motivation). His fatal flaw is pursuing a love above his station that is likely to ruin him. Both of them are trying to break free of their class, or their place in society, which is perfectly in line with the theme. Thus, Titanic is the ideal setting for a romance like this to take place because it's a huge metaphor for the two characters' relationship. As the ship sinks, so do their chances of being together… and while he ends up
dying for her (succumbing to his fatal flaw), she manages to break through hers, rejecting the opportunity to go back to her family even though she has lost Jack, and starting a new life for herself. In Catching Fire, the second book in the Hunger Games trilogy, a double agent in charge of making the games creates the ticking clock game board which goes off every hour with another horror to damage the Tributes. This board is like a countdown to war, and at both midnight and noon, lightning strikes the cornucopia as if to light a fire. It's an ideal setting for the show of rebellion to light a spark.
Secondary Characters (Sometimes) Sometimes it makes sense to create backstory for secondary characters, especially if it somehow provides insight into your current characters. It's also useful to do if you have a huge cast, as is the case with the Harry Potter series. Much of the third book in that series is dedicated to the foursome Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs and their relationship with Snape during their school years. These four are Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, Sirius Black, and James Potter, respectively, and all seem to converge on the same space in this book:
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Sirius Black has escaped from prison
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Remus Lupin is hired as a teacher at the school
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Peter Pettigrew is accused of murdering Harry's parents
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And James Potter is Harry's dad who shows up in his patronus Snape is their school mate and victim to their deadly pranks. Why is there so much detail on these five characters? I believe it
makes sense because this backstory tells Harry so much about his parents, whom he desperately wishes he could meet. It also gives him a ton of information about Snape, who has always been a seedy character in the story, but eventually turns out to be loyal to Dumbledore. And it explains Lily's relationship with both James and Snape. All of this makes the end of the book possible… which I won't spoil for those who haven't read it yet. You don't want to create a ton of backstory for characters unnecessarily, but if it makes sense and is critical to your plot, don't be afraid to dive deep, even though the character is not a protagonist.
World and My Projects
Emma + Elsie
For Emma + Elsie, I wanted to give the two titular characters a symbol for their friendship. A number of Jane Austen fans have questioned whether these two would ever be best friends, and I wanted to address that in the books. Sometimes, you are friends with the people around you, and for these two growing up in a small town, it would only take a compelling backstory to make this relationship plausible. This same tactic was used in the Harry Potter series to bring Hermione into Ron and Harry's lives. Remember, they saved her from a troll in the girls' bathroom, which bonded the three of them for life? I also wanted this backstory to relate to the one trait I believe the two girls share in common—they are both feminists of their time and neither feels she needs a man to survive the world. I'm thinking that it's something ridiculously middle school, like some boys are trying to figure out or rank the girls at their school based on who has a thigh gap. They are teasing Emma and Elsie stands up for her. The two become fast friends as they bond over their dreams for the future—none of which involve finding a boyfriend to be happy. I may change this backstory or tweak it, but that would be the gist of it. I also want to create some sort of short hand that both represents this incident and represents the girls' friendship. This way, I can easily remind
readers why they are friends, long after the backstory is originally told. Friendship necklaces and bracelets are cute, so I was thinking perhaps two halves of an infinity sign that Emma had custom made for the two of them. The infinity symbol is a common representation of the idea of "no limits," which can apply to both friendship and feminism. And I think there are several feminism quotes that use this concept of having no limits that I may be able to work into the story as well. Hopefully this gives you an idea of how you can create incredibly meaningful symbols and background story within your story!
Working in Reverse If you have a great backstory that you want your readers to remember, you can create a thematic element for it to give it a shorthand. We discussed how the show Revenge does this with Infinity x Infinity already. I also shared how I intend to do this in Emma + Elsie. Here are a few others: •
Harry Potter's patronus is a stag just like his father's; every time a stag comes up, we know it's a reminder of Harry's father and how alike they are
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The first green plant that Mark Watney grows on Mars gives him hope that he can survive too; later, when he sees a plant springing up it
reminds him of that hope •
A simple black pork pie hat symbolizes Heisenberg, also known as Walter White's nickname when he becomes a drug lord. This hat has literally no meaning until it comes to represent Heisenberg—then it becomes a symbol of fear and a way for others to identify Walter White. The general rule to remember here is that any backstory that's
important (and they should all be important if you're including them in the book) can use a thematic element, if only so that you can refer back to the backstory without having to rehash it. Shorthand is important in books— and to me, all thematic elements are meant to be shorthand. If you want a recommendation for a fantastic book on developing your world, try Storyworld First by Jill Williamson. It will give you what is essentially a checklist of the many ways you can create a unique world.
FAQ You've now learned the entire Smarter Storytelling Framework, but there are a few points I wasn't able to cover. Here are some of the answers to frequently asked questions I've received:
Can I use the Smarter Storytelling Framework for a series/ novella/short story/serial? The framework is meant for novels, but you can adapt it for other story lengths fairly easily. For novellas and short stories, simply use a condensed version, plotting only the key tentpole moments. For serials, because of the way they should be end on cliffhangers, use everything up to Part 4 of the 4-Part Structure. Then, in the next episode, resolve the last cliffhanger and start again. The order for episode 2 and after is essentially, Part 4, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3. This creates that rising tension that is not released by the resolution! For a series, you may want to plot an arc over the entire series, then
do an arc for each individual book. Start at the highest level and get the story right there. Put the tentpole moments of the highest level arc at the ends of each book. Harry Potter is a fantastic example of this. There's a reason that Voldemort returns (and Cedric Diggory dies) in Book 4. It's the Reversal for the series! Although the series arc is in place, each book also still fulfills its own self-contained and full story arc. I call this story recursion. You repeat the process on just a small part of your original process.
Do I have to get all of this right to build a story? I don't think perfection is necessary or even achievable for most authors. There's plenty of room for error in this framework. I believe that if you get 70-80% of this framework correct, you'll have a damn good novel that makes sense, resonates, and delights readers. That's fantastic and plenty to build an author career on. I also don't think all of these rules apply at all times. It's just a framework. If something else works for you, go for it! There's nothing hard and fast here. All I've done is pattern-matched a boatload of information to help you better understand story architecture across a variety of mediums. However, there is no "right" answer. Try the worksheets and use them as is
helpful to you… but don't try to force your story into the framework if it just doesn't make sense.
What about being too heavy-handed? Some people don't love what fashionistas would call matchy-matchy (e.g. a handbag that matches a pair of heels that matches a headband) and some people do. This framework is really more for people who prefer things to line up. Remember, the basis for this framework (and the theme of it) is deep alignment. That by its nature means that the story elements match. If you prefer something more "realistic," then this framework will come across as heavy-handed in parts. Specifically in layer 4, the representations, you definitely don't want to overdue it and give everyone a symbol, a saying, and so on. It will come across as trite. All of that said, I do believe that most authors will do best to get their story in deep alignment. This is the best way to create commercial work. Maybe someday it will make sense to break all of the conventional storytelling rules, but for the most part, we should leave that to the Stephen Kings of the world.
How do I capture all of this information? There are several ways to get started:
Worksheets I've created a set of worksheets for Word that you can use to implement this framework. You can grab them here:
http://proseonfire.com/nys-worksheets/
The StoryShop App The team at Sterling and Stone is working on an app that helps you build story worlds and pre-production packages for any story you want to create. You can learn more about StoryShop here:
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The podcast mini-series: http://sterlingandstone.net/series/storyshop
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The permanent link for the project: http://sterlingandstone.net/ storyshop
Can I work with you on my outline? Yes! My partner and I provide the Nail Your Outline Sessions—so if you
have an outline, we'll happily go over it for you when you hire us. You can learn more about the full service here:
http://proseonfire.com/nail-your-outline-sessions/
Conclusion I want to review a few major points:
The best stories are built on consistent decision-making and deep alignment.
There is something magical about a story that flows at all levels, that is layered and nuanced, and that surprises readers with small connections long after the fact.
This framework should get you 95% of the way there when implemented correctly.
The framework itself is pretty easy to understand. Completing it is not hard work, it's just work! Even if you don't do the work, understanding the relationships between these concepts is key. Even just reading the book several times over will tune your storytelling intuition. So if you don't have time to do the worksheets, just read it again!
You can use this framework to understand a story or to outline a story or to edit a story.
You don't need to use this framework to outline your story. If you prefer pantsing, you can write your story and then come back and essentially just "check the boxes." You can also use the framework to better understand stories in your genre, stories that you love, or more. So even if you aren't a plotter, this book can be useful to you somewhere down the line.
Additional Resources
Worksheets I love seeing people actually implement, so I've created a huge bundle of supplementary material for you as a thank you for grabbing the book. You can download the worksheets + the full framework at:
http://proseonfire.com/nys-worksheets/
The worksheets correspond to the layers and relationships in this framework, and you can start with any worksheet.
Original Articles You can find my weekly articles at ProseOnFire.com/blog/
Don't forget to sign up for more information on future books in this series: ProseOnFire.com/Storytellers/ So many good books coming up!
Review Request! If you enjoyed this book, there are two things you can do that will really help spread the word about it:
#1: You Can Write a Review As an independent author, reviews are one of the most important ways I have to get the word out. Your review will encourage others to grab the book. You can share anything, but here are a few ideas:
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What you liked about the book
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What you didn't like about the book
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Your favorite chapter/part in the book
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Three things you are going to implement from the book
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The results you hope to get or have already gotten from the book
Go to ProseOnFire.com/pofnys if you want to leave a review and help others discover a new way to write!
#2: You Can Tell Three Authors You Know About This Book There are probably a few author friends who could benefit from this information, right? Why not send them an email or text with the title of the book right now? Takes just a few seconds, and you can do it from your phone!
Email or Text: Check out Nail Your Story by Monica Leonelle on Amazon! I enjoyed it and thought you would too.
I greatly appreciate all your support! Please let me know if I'm able to help you with anything in the future:
[email protected].
About the Author Monica Leonelle was born in Germany and spent her childhood jet-setting around the world with her American parents. Her travels include most of the United States and Europe, as well as Guam, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and the Philippines. She started publishing independently in 2009 and has since published over half a million words of fiction spread across five series, Socialpunk, Waters Dark and Deep, Emma + Elsie, and two under a pen name. In 2014, she published 8 books and one short story. She writes about indie publishing at ProseOnFire.com. She is the author of 3 additional non-fiction books: Write Better, Faster, The 8-Minute Writing Habit, and Dictate Your Book, each of which has earned raving reviews from the independent publishing community for going deep into the topic of writing speed. She currently averages around 3,000 words per hour and writes 25,000+ words per week (most weeks). Before becoming an independent author, Monica led digital marketing efforts at Inc. 100 companies like Hansen's Natural and Braintree. Monica is a lifetime member of Sigma Pi Sigma honor fraternity and was a 2007 Chicago Business Fellow, graduating with an MBA from the Chicago Booth School of Business at 25 years old. She holds a Bachelor of
Science in Computer Science with a minor in Physics from Truman State University. She's been an avid blogger of marketing and business trends since 2007. Her ideas have been featured in AdAge, The Huffington Post, the AMEX OpenForum, GigaOm, Mashable, Social Media Today, and the Christian Science Monitor. In 2009, she was named one of the top 25 Tweeters in the city of Chicago by ChicagoNow, a subsidiary of the Chicago Tribune.
Copyright This material is provided "as-is" without any warranty of any kind. Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of this book; however, errors and omissions may occur. The publisher assumes no responsibility for any damages arising from the use of this book.
Copyright 2015 by Monica Leonelle
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced or transmitted—electronically, mechanically, graphically, or by any other means, including photocopying, recording, taping, or by any information storage or retrieval system—without written permission from the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.
Spaulding House Publishing 600 S. Dearborn Chicago, IL 60605
First Edition
First Printing
Author: Monica Leonelle Cover Icons: Made by Freepik from Flaticon and licensed CC BY 3.0
