The Anatomy of Story (6 page)

In forcing ourselves to describe
Star Wars
in a single line, we see that the one action that unites all the myriad actions of that film is "uses his skills as a fighter."

Or take the case of
The Godfather,
an epic book and an epic film. But again, if we work through the process, starting with reducing the story to a one-sentence premise, we can see the basic action clearly:

The youngest son of a Mafia family takes revenge on the men who shot his father and becomes the new Godfather.

Of all the actions Michael takes in that story, the one action that connects them all, the basic action, is that he takes revenge.

KEY POINT:
If you are developing a premise with many main characters, each story line must have a single cause-and-effect path. And all the story lines should come together to form a larger, all-encompassing spine.

For example, in
The Canterbury Tales
, each traveler tells a story with a single spine. But the stories are all part of a group—a microcosm of English society—that is traveling to Canterbury.

Step 8: Determine Your Hero's Possible Character Change

After the designing principle, the most important thing to glean from your premise line is the fundamental character change of your hero. This is what gives the audience the deepest satisfaction no matter what form the story takes, even when the character change is negative (as in
The Godfather).

Character change is what your hero experiences by going through his struggle. At the simplest level, that change could be represented as a three-part equation (don't confuse this with three-act structure):

WxA = C

where
W
stands for weaknesses, both psychological and moral;
A
represents the struggle to accomplish the basic action in the middle of the story; and C stands for the changed person.

In the vast majority of stories, a character with weaknesses struggles to achieve something and ends up changed (positively or negatively) as a result. The simple logic of a story works like this: How does the act of struggling to do the basic action
(A)
lead the character to change from W to C? Notice that
A,
the basic action, is the fulcrum. A character with certain weaknesses, when being put through the wringer of a particular struggle, is forged and tempered into a changed being.

KEY POINT:
The basic action should be the one action best able to force

the character to deal with his weaknesses and change.

This is the simple geometry of any story because it is the sequence of human growth. Human growth is very elusive, but it is real, and it is what you, the writer, must express above everything else (or else show why it doesn't occur).

The key to doing this is to start with the basic action and then go to the opposites of that action. This will tell yon who your hero is at the beginning of the story (his weaknesses) and who he is at the end (how he has changed). The steps work like this:

1. Write your simple premise line. (Be open to modifying this premise line once you discover the character change.)

2. Determine the basic action of your hero over the course of the story.

3. Come up with the opposites of
A
(the basic action) for both
W
(the hero's weaknesses, psychological and moral) and C (changed person).

Going to the opposites of the basic action is crucial because that's the only way that change can occur. If your hero's weaknesses are similar to the basic action he will take during the story, he will simply deepen those weaknesses and remain who he is.

KEY POINT:
Write
down a number of possible options for the hero's weaknesses and change.

Just as there are a number of possibilities for developing your premise, there are many options for both the weaknesses and the changed person your hero will become. For example, let's say that the basic action of your hero is to become an outlaw during the story.

Starting with this basic action, you might come up with these opposites for possible weaknesses and changes. Notice that each weakness and change is a possible opposite of the basic action.

■ An uptight, henpecked man becomes involved with a gang of outlaws and gets a divorce.

W—
weaknesses at the beginning: uptight, henpecked man
A—
basic action: becomes involved with a gang of outlaws C—changed person: gets a divorce

■ An uptight, haughty banker becomes involved with a gang of outlaws and gives aid to the poor.

W—weaknesses at the beginning: uptight, haughty banker

A—basic action: becomes involved with a gang of outlaws C—changed person: gives aid to the poor

■ A shy, timid man becomes involved with a gang of outlaws and gets drunk with fame.

W—
weaknesses at the beginning: shy, timid man A—basic action: becomes involved with a gang of outlaws C—changed person: gets drunk with fame

Any of these are possible character changes that you can glean from an initial one-line premise about a man becoming an outlaw.

Let's work through this technique for a couple of familiar stories.

Star Wars

■ Premise
When a princess falls into mortal danger, a young man uses his skills as a fighter to save her and defeat the evil forces of a galactic empire.

W—weaknesses at the beginning: naive, impetuous, paralyzed,

unfocused, lacking confidence A—basic action: uses his skills as a fighter

C—changed person: self-esteem, a place among the chosen few, a fighter for good

Luke's initial weaknesses are definitely not the qualities of a fighter. But when constantly forced to use skills as a fighter, he is strengthened into a confident fighter for the good.

The Godfather

■ Premise
The youngest son of a Mafia family takes revenge on the men who shot his father and becomes the new Godfather.

W—weaknesses at the beginning: unconcerned, afraid, mainstream,

legitimate, separated from the family
A—
basic action: takes revenge

C—changed person: tyrannical, absolute ruler of the family

The Godfather
is a perfect example of why you want to go to the opposites of the basic action to determine the weaknesses and change of your hero.

If Michael begins the story as a vengeful man, raking revenge on the men who shot his father will only make him seem more of the same. There's no character change. But what if he starts off the opposite of vengeful? An unconcerned, afraid, mainstream, legitimate man, separated from his Mafia family, who then takes revenge could become the tyrannical, absolute ruler of the family. This is a radical change, no doubt. But it is a totally believable one.

Note that what you end up with using this technique are only
possible
character changes for your story. Premise work, especially concerning character change, is extremely tentative. Be open to considering different character changes as you work through the writing process. We will explore this crucial story element in much greater detail in the next two chapters.

Step 9: Figure Out the Hero's Possible Moral Choice

The central theme of a story is often crystallized by a moral choice the hero must make, typically near the end of the story. Theme is your view of the proper way to act in the world. It is your moral vision, and it is one of the main reasons you are writing your story.

Theme is best expressed through the structure of the story, through what I call the moral argument. This is where you, the author, make a case for how to live, not through philosophical argument, but through the actions of characters going after a goal (for details, see Chapter 5, "Moral Argument"). Probably the most important step in that argument is the final moral choice you give to the hero.

A lot of writers make the mistake of giving their hero a fake choice. A fake choice is between a positive and a negative. For example, you may force your hero to choose between going to prison and winning the girl. The outcome is obvious.

KEY POINT: To be a true choice, your hero must either select one of two positive outcomes or, on rare occasions, avoid one of two negative outcomes (as in
Sophie's Choice).

Make the options as equal as possible, with one seeming only slightly better than the other. A classic example of a choice between two positives is

between love and honor. In
A Farewell to Arms,
the hero chooses love. In
The Maltese Falcon
(and almost all detective stories), the hero chooses honor.

Again, notice that this technique is about finding
possible
moral choices. That's because the choice you come up with now may change completely by the time you have written the full story. This technique simply forces you to start thinking, in practical terms, about your theme from the very beginning of the writing process.

Step 10: Gauge the Audience Appeal

When you've done all your premise work, ask yourself one final question: Is this single story line unique enough to interest a lot of people besides me?

This is the question of popularity, of commercial appeal. You must be ruthless in answering it. If you look at your premise and realize that the only people who will want to see your story are you and your immediate family, I would strongly caution you against using that premise as the basis for a full story.

You should always write first for yourself; write what you care about. But you shouldn't write
only
for yourself. One of the biggest mistakes writers make is to fall into the trap of either-or thinking: either I write what I care about, or I write what will sell. This is a false distinction, born of the old romantic notion of writing in a garret and suffering for your art.

Sometimes you get an idea that you simply
must
write. Or you get a great idea and you have no idea whether an audience will like it. But remember, you will have many more ideas in your life than you can possibly develop as full stories. Always try to write something that you care about and also think will appeal to an audience. Your writing should mean a lot to you personally. But writing for an audience makes it a lot easier to do what you love.

Creating Your Premise—Writing Exercise i

■ Premise
Write down your premise in one sentence. Ask yourself if this premise line has the makings of a story that could change your life.

■ Wish List and Premise List
Write down your wish list and your premise list. Study them together to identify the core elements of what you care about and enjoy.

■ Possibilities
Look for what is possible in the premise. Write down options.

■ Story Challenges and Problems
Describe as many of the story challenges and problems that are unique to your idea as you can think of.

■ Designing Principle
Come up with the designing principle of your story idea. Remember that this principle describes some deeper process or form in which the story will play out in a unique way.

■ Best Character
Determine the best character in the idea. Make that character the hero of your premise.

■ Conflict
Ask yourself "Who is my hero fighting, and what is he fighting about?"

■ Basic Action
Find the single cause-and-effect pathway by identifying a basic action that your hero will take in the story.

■ Character Change
Figure out the possible character change for your hero, starting with the basic action
(A)
and then going to the opposites of the basic action to determine his weaknesses (W) at the beginning and his change (C) at the end.

■ Moral Choice
List a moral choice your hero may have to make near the end of the story. Make sure it's a difficult but plausible choice.

■ Audience Appeal
Ask yourself if your premise is likely to appeal to a wider audience. If not, go back to the drawing board.

Let's look at
Tootsie
so you can see how you might work through the

premise process.