A bit atypical for this blog, perhaps, but Larry Brooks posted this on his Storyfix.com blog. That’s a title I couldn’t resist. I clicked, read, and wanted to record. Even if just for me. Those six words are (this is all direct quote):
Compelling – will anyone care about your story? Is there a hook, a draw? Is there inherent emotional and intellectual appeal? What question is your story posing to the reader, and is the answer compelling enough for anyone to care?
Hero – yeah, we know we need a protagonist, blah blah blah. But is your lead character heroic? In what way? Do we empathize with what they need to do? What is at stake for her/him? What do they need to conquer, both internally and externally, to reach their goal? Why do we care about that goal? What is heroic about their ways and means of getting done what must be done in your story?
Conflict – nobody wants to read about a walk in the park. Really, they don’t. What opposes your hero’s quest? What does this conflicting force – usually a bad guy, a villain, but not always – want or need? What is at stake for him/her/it? Most importantly, how does this conflict exert the force of dramatic tension into the storyline, into each and every scene in the story?
Context – the most overlooked and taken-for-granted nuance in storytelling. What is the contextual sub-text at any given moment in your story… how is the past influencing the moment at hand?… how is the inherent conflict of the story exerting context into the moment at hand?… what forces influence the characters as they speak, take action, make decisions?… what is the thematic context of the overall story, and how does it manifest in the moment at hand? This is truly advanced stuff… master it and you’ll find yourself on a bookshelf somewhere. Context and dramatic tension – often synonymous, but not always – are what makes your scenes work.
Structure – that sound you hear is me once again beating this drum. Does your story unfold with a proper set-up? With the properly-placed and paced revelation of the hero’s new quest and need following that set-up? Has the context of the hero’s new journey, in a personal sense, been clearly established, and how does it affect what is said and done going forward? Are there shifts and surprises, valleys and peaks, both in terms of narrative exposition and dramatic tension?
Resolution – does the end of your story deliver an emotional payload to the reader? Does it makes sense? Will it linger once the final page has been turned? A killer resolution forgives the sins of softness in the story, but only if the hero is empathetic, the conceptual heart of the story rich and compelling, the thematic gift of the story penetrating, and the technical execution of the story optimized to make your ending the best it can be.
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