Understanding What a Story Is

8/9/2019 Understanding What a Story Is

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Understanding What A Story Is by Bill Johnson

edited byand consulting

Lawrence Booth

From prehistoric times when our ancestors gathered around fires in caves, storytellers have beenaware of how arranging events in a story-like way held the attention of an audience. This essayexplores how a storyteller engages the interest of an audience. Understanding that, writers canconcentrate on how best to create dramatic, compelling stories.

What A Story Is

A Story is an arrangement of words and images that re-create life-like characters and events. Byhow a storyteller describes and arranges a description of a story's events, issues and ideas, thestoryteller gains the attention of an audience. To sustain that interest, the action of a story is often presented as revolving around resolving some human need: to feel loved, to be in control of one'slife and fate, to be able to avenge wrongs, overcome obstacles, discover and understand themeaning and purpose of life. To reward the interest of an audience, the storyteller arranges theelements of their story to fulfill the issues it raises.

Through experiencing a story's arrangement of its events, a story's audience has experiences of "life" more potent and "true" than real life. "Life" with meaning and purpose. Where people getwhat they want if they really believe. Wherein true love exists. Where inexplicable events areresolved. Where even pain and chaos can be ascribed meaning.

This makes a story unlike the real world, where experiences happen, events unfold, time passes, but not always in a way that offers resolution or is fulfilling. Every element in a story is chosento create its story-like effect of a resolution that creates a quality of potent, dramatic fulfillment.

To create a story's fulfillment, the storyteller has an outer and inner focus. The outer focuses ison how and why the dramatic issues, events and characters of a story engages the interest of anaudience. The inner focus is on the task of arranging the order of a story's elements to create a purposeful effect of movement toward a fulfilling resolution. This edited arrangement makes theevents of a well-told story fundamentally unlike the vagaries of real life. The "true" facts of lifegenerally don't arrange themselves to create a story-like effect of fulfillment. If they did, afactual account of the suicides of two teenagers distraught that their parents kept them apartwould create the effect of the story Romeo and Juliet. The two are not the same in mood, tone,or dramatic purpose.

Understanding what an audience desires from a story, the storyteller perceives that a story'sdramatic issue must be presented in a compelling manner, in need of resolution. By taking issuesin need of resolution from introduction to resolution, a story's audience is offered fulfillingexperience of courage, redemption, rebirth, renewal, overcoming oppression, etc. A story thatraises no issue of consequence offers its audience no reason to internalize its movement tofulfillment.



To understand how an event can be described in a story-like way, consider the concept of "time."Real life is linear. We travel a certain direction through time, with no choice. In a story, however,the storyteller chooses a story's moments in "time" based on how they dramatically act out thestory. To understand this, consider a story set on a mountain. Four competing groups areclimbing the mountain. The writer sets up the overall goals of the four groups and the goals of

individual members. Furthermore, why it matters to both the story's characters and to the story'saudience who reaches the top first.

That gives the physical movement of the story's characters a meaning that revolves around thestory's ultimate outcome. Because of that understanding, a reader can track and assign meaningto the actions of the story's characters. Since the outcome of the actions of the story's charactersrevolves around fulfilling some issue of human need -- love, courage, etc. -- the story's audienceexperiences fulfillment around that issue based on the particular resolution a story's characterscreate. A factual account of the climb would not have as its central purpose this creation of fulfillment of a clearly defined dramatic issue.

In addition to the story's physical action, we have the emotional movement of different climbers.Just as these characters ascend the mountain, they ascend and pass through different states of feeling. As characters compete to shape the story's outcome, they must engage and overcome, or ally themselves with, other characters similarly compelled. By acting on their feelings as astory's events impact them, the story's characters allow its audience to experience moreconcretely -- to feel -- the story's journey toward resolution and fulfillment.

A story's plot operates to ensure a story's movement is dramatic and potent. It does this bygenerating obstacles that block the story's movement toward resolution. That generates dramaover a story's course and outcome. Thus, the actions of characters driven to shape a story'smovement by overcoming plot obstacles deepens the dramatic effect of their actions. As the

story's plot escalates the obstacles to be overcome, the story's characters are required to act withmore determination. Thus, a well-designed plot ensures that a story's conflict heightens thedramatic effect of a story's movement.

A plot, then, is an entirely different entity than a story. A story is about taking an audience on a journey to the resolution and fulfillment of some human need to matter, call it the "why" of thestory. A story's plot is about the method used to make a story advancing -- moving -- toward itsresolution dramatic and potent, and thus fulfilling in a desirable way.

On its story level, that ascent of a mountain might be about love, or wisdom, or compassion, or good defeating evil. And whoever reaches the mountain top "first" generates for the story'saudience a deeply felt experience of that fulfillment. Readers "share" in the story's outcome andfulfillment to the degree the storyteller has led them to internalize the story's dramatic, potent journey.

Thus, the storyteller recreates the sense of time that best heightens the dramatic effect of their story. Cliffhanger is an example of a story someone might say is "linear" or "true to life." Inactual fact, the storyteller creates the impression of a story being linear and true to life simply tomake its movement accessible to an audience comfortable with time's linearity.



In this case, Cliffhanger , because its actions move forward through time, doesn't ask the story'saudience to be overly aware of the story's time sense. Since it doesn't challenge the viewer'sconception of what "time" is, that aspect of the story is comfortable and familiar. Tarantino , in Pulp Fiction, plays with our expectation of linearity and "time." Thus, Pulp Fiction creates aclimax around a character who would be "dead" in a more straightforward, life-like interpretation

of "time" linearity. Viewers enjoy a Pulp Fiction-like story for the very reason that it pleasurably points out that the effects of a story are more potent and dramatically "true" than life. Thus, thestoryteller sees that "time" does not exist in their story in a literal, worldly sense. It is arrangedfor the effect it creates.

All the elements of a story, like "time," are shaped around a particular dramatic purpose in astory. This is what makes the events of a story and its characters ring "true" in a potent, vividway. It is not a matter of descriptive details, but details that make vivid a story's movementtoward resolution and fulfillment.

Because for many people, life is not something they can, or are able, to experience deeply, when

a writer is able to create an experience of deep feeling, thought, or sense impressions through thedetails describing a story's dramatic movement, such writing is innately satisfying. And by beingavailable upon the demand and particular needs of a reader, a story is empowering andsatisfying. The romantic can read novels that explore romance. The lover of action, heroicquests. The philosopher, stories that explore subtle nuances of thought and feeling. A story canthus create for its audience a quality of having a place where the reader "fits in." Another experience many people enjoy, but don't always get from real life.

Writing that is "life-like" in detail and design can lead to a story being rejected because a life-likeretelling of an event doesn't generate that powerful, story-like effect of resolution/fulfillment itsaudience desires/craves. It risks being a collection of inert details that fail to suggest a dramatic

purpose or movement toward resolution.

Thus, a story takes life-like events and gives them a sense of meaning and purpose that touchesus. Even a story about chaos and the meaninglessness of life, if well told, can ascribe a quality of meaning and purpose to those states. That's why there's such a relentless desire for stories thatare uplifting. They allow readers to feel that the "weight" of life is bearable. That solutions can be found to any problem. That no amount of pain is insurmountable, no obstacle unconquerable,if we have courage and persevere. That even the most painful sacrifice will be ultimatelyrewarded if we have faith.

What is a story? I say it is a vehicle that carries us on an engaging, dramatic journey to adestination of resolution we find satisfying and fulfilling. When we find a particular story/journey to be dramatically potent and pleasing -- more "true" than life, or life as we wouldlike it to be -- we can desire to re-experience the same story/journey over and over.

The ability to craft such a story vehicle that takes its audience to such a desirable state is at theheart of the art of storytelling.



Perceiving The Foundation of Storytelling by Bill Johnson

Revised 12/27/98

When many people consider how to tell a story, they think in terms of plot and character. Whilethese are often the most visible aspects of a story, there is an underlying foundation of principlesthat support a well-told story. These principles could be compared to a house foundation.Without a solid foundation, the other effects of a house -- its character and design -- cannot befully enjoyed. In the same fashion, these principles of storytelling are also mostly out of sight, but a badly laid story foundation has effects just as damaging as a badly constructed housefoundation.

While these story principles are presented in a particular order, a storyteller can come at theseissues from any direction. There is no inherently right or wrong way to understand them.

1) Understanding the human need for stories.

A story is a world where every character, every action, every story element has meaning and purpose. This makes a story fundamentally different from life, which offers facts and ideas thatdon't necessarily have a clear meaning; events that generate emotional states that have no clear resolution; or, events engage the senses, but not in a meaningful, fulfilling way.

Real life, then, can be chaotic, or appear to lack a desirable purpose and meaning. We don'tmarry the love of our life...or we do, and things go terribly wrong. Or, the one we love is takenfrom us by a freak accident. Or, we work hard but don't get the rewards we desire. Worse, theyappear to go to someone who appears to be completely undeserving of the reward and honor wehave worked to attain.

So real life can be painful, unpredictable, or even wildly rewarding. But in spite of our best laid plans or efforts, we can never predict the outcome of any action or series of actions.

Most people, then, have a need for something that assigns a desirable, discernible meaning and purpose to life. This is what a story does. A story promises its audience a dramatic journey thatoffers resolution and fulfillment of life-like issues, events and human needs.

2) How stories meet the needs the human need for resolution and fulfillment.

Because stories promise experiences of life having meaning, a story fills a basic human need thatlife have purpose. All stories, then, from the simple to the complex, revolve around some issuethat arises from the human need to experience that life have a discernible meaning and purpose.That allows us to experience states of love, honor, courage. Fear, doubt, revenge. To feel a partof a world, even an imaginary one. To feel the freedom to explore new worlds. Or, to experiencea desirable state of the movement of the senses, intellect, or feelings to an engaging, desirableoutcome. To experience insights into life we might not see on our own, or see deeply. Only when



a story engages the attention of its audience via what a story is about at this deeper, foundationlevel does a story promise something of value to its audience.

Romeo and Juliet , as an example, is a story not about its title characters, but about the power of love. When readers enter its world, they are led to experience something deep and potent and

dramatically satisfying about love. This makes the story R

omeo and Juliet totally unlike a life-like, factual telling of the courtship and deaths of Romeo and Juliet. To be told that twoteenagers committed suicide because their families kept them apart, and to go over the true,factual events that led up to their deaths, is not the same as to create a story around those sameevents. The story Romeo and Juliet uses the deaths of Romeo and Juliet to create a deeply felt,fulfilling story about the power of great love.

3) Creating a story premise that sets out a story's dramatic idea, movement, and

fulfillment.

A tool to write a powerfully affecting story is creating a story premise. To be able to verbalize, in

the case of R

omeo and Juliet , that, This story is about the nature of a great love that proves itself by defying even death.

Any story, then, at its heart, must have some dramatic issue of consequence to its audience, andthe storyteller should be able to verbalize that issue. In the case of Romeo and Juliet , it's a story

about love.

The second part of creating a story premise revolves around describing a story's movement. In Romeo and Juliet , the story advances by its main characters defying the obstacles that separatethem.

The third part of the premise describes the fulfillment the story offers its audience, in this case,the potent, if tragic, experience of love offered through the teen's deaths.

4) Perceiving how a well-written story is true to its purpose.

While a story premise sets out the overall scope of a story's world, every element within thatworld must be true to it. To visualize this, consider a race with several runners. It has a beginning, middle and end. The varied actions of the different runners makes the action of therace from its start to finish -- its movement to resolution -- visible and concrete. So far, the samecould be said of a factual accounting of the race.

In a story, however, the events of the race and its outcome are arranged by the storyteller tocreate a particular state of fulfillment for the story's audience, in the same way Romeo and Juliet is shaped so readers can experience a deep sense of the nature of love. So the storyteller understands the why a race matters enough that an audience internalizes its movement toresolution. To be story-like in its movement, then, the outcome of a race would revolve aroundthe nature of courage, or faith and determination defeating overwhelming odds, heroism, victoryachieved even in defeat, hard work its own reward, some issue of human need being acted out tofulfillment.



When a story's movement -- on this deeper foundation level -- comes across as unclear, a story'saudience can struggle to internalize and assign meaning to the actions of the story's charactersand its plot. Such characters and plot events can appear to be life-like, i.e., unclear andunfocused, and not story-like, i.e., acted with meaning and purpose. The result of faultymovement is that the story's audience turns aside. Even when the members of an audience can't

consciously identify why a story feels false, false movement jars them out of a state of being ableto internalize a story's movement. This is comparable to out-of-tune notes in a song detractingfrom the experience of listening to the song (unless the out-of-tune notes serve some purpose thatsatisfies the song's audience).

In the case of Romeo and Juliet , the story is true to its movement because every action andexpression of Romeo and Juliet moves this story about the nature of love toward its fulfillment.They become the embodiments of the story. But it is what the story itself is about that gives

birth to these characters and assigns meaning to their actions.

5) Perceiving how story elements are arranged in a particular way.

A storyteller arranges the elements of a story to create the effect of dramatic movement towardthe fulfillment a story promises its audience. Referring again to Romeo and Juliet , this is a storyabout the nature of love, but its opening scenes play out the hatred of the Capulets and theMontagues via a confrontation on a street in Verona.

Because Romeo and Juliet is about the nature of love proving itself, it is clear what kind of action generates opposition to that: Hate. In Romeo and Juliet , then, the story starts out bydemonstrating the hatred of the Montagues and Capulets, because that shows the depth of hatredthe power of love must overcome to prove itself. So the story, in its arrangement of its elements,immediately sets out what's at stake in the story; what is at stake for the story's characters, AND,

by extension, its audience; and what love must overcome to fulfill the story.

Again, keep in mind that the opening lines of the story refer to the deaths of Romeo and Juliet, sothe story's drama is not over the outcome of its plot, but in the arrangement of its dramaticelements in a way that creates a powerful experience of the nature of love for its audience.

Because a story's arrangement of its elements also creates questions about the outcome of eventsand character issues, a story generates a continuous pull on the attention and interest of itsaudience.

6) Understanding how writing in the moment heightens the effect of a well-told story.

Writing that is true to expressing a story's movement creates a compelling sense of being in themoment for a story's audience. When a story's audience has been led to feel invested in theoutcome of a story's moments, the attention of that audience is drawn inside those moments. Butwithout the effect of movement, a story's moments risk becoming inert descriptions of things thatfail to create or sustain drama for a story's audience, offering no reason to be engaged by itsmoments.



Because for many people life is not something they can, or are able, to feel deeply, when a writer is able to create a story with moments shaped to be deeply and powerfully affecting, such writingis innately pleasurable. But this potency and vibrancy doesn't arise from a story's details, but thedramatic movement that a well-told story's details make vivid and potent.

7) Understanding story structure.

Many story elements can be arranged in particular structures that generate the qualities of a story,i.e., a question around the outcome of a story's plot, for example. In a detective story, a crime isgenerally committed early in the story, setting out what's at stake in the story's world and aquestion its resolution. The roles and purpose of the story's characters are thus clearly defined, aswell as how their actions will resolve what's at stake in the story. And the story's resolution --good avenging evil, injustice being overturned, etc. -- promise fulfilling story experiences.

In a horror story, characters must act -- move -- or die. But the deeper issue might be the penaltyhumans might pay for trying to control nature in God-like ways. Or, a character seeking

knowledge opening a pandora's box and suffering the consequences.

In a Western, the story's hero generally has no choice but to act, no matter the obstacles he or shefaces. And when those obstacles are framed around resolving issues of human need -- findinglove, courage, renewal, redemption -- the hero's journey transports the audience.

In a romantic novel, the audience may know very well how the story will eventually turn out, butit's the process of dramatic movement toward that fulfilling experience of love and romance thatthe story's audience enjoys.

In literary fiction, characters grapple with issues that speak deeply to the human condition,

offering desirable experiences of illumination for an audience.

8) Imitation.

By reading well told stories, an inexperienced storyteller can incorporate the principles of howthey are structured and arranged. A writer desiring to write mysteries can study and learn thestructure of a particular kind of mystery and recreate it. Learn how to structure sentences in adramatic way, how to introduce characters in a dramatic context, plot events, introduce storyideas, etc. The fact that the writer starts with a structure that creates an outline for how to presenta story and its plot, allows a writer to use their own voice as a storyteller while telling a story.

9) A writer's experiences of life.

Because a writer has experienced states of love, grief, loss, hate, the desire to matter, they havesome of the most essential tools to be a storyteller: an understanding of the needs that drawreaders to stories. Because storytellers experience fulfillment through others' stories, they canlearn to perceive how to create that effect in their stories for their intended audience.

10) The Craft of Storytelling.



Part of the craft of being a storyteller means learning to create images with words. That requiresa willingness to learn the craft of language, how to use words to create metaphors, evocativedescriptions of scenery, strong dialogue, just as being a qualified carpenter or mechanic means amastery in the use of the tools of that trade. The storyteller must have a mastery of words, or bewilling to study and master that craft.

11) Technical knowledge.

To set a story on a ship, one must have some knowledge of ships. To set a story on an airplane,one must have some knowledge of planes.

This is not a call that to set a scene on a ship one must be a ship's captain, but the writer must beclear about what they describe. Otherwise, by lying to the reader in some detail, they givereaders a reason to set aside their stories, to question whether the storyteller understands how tofulfill a story's promise in a way that rings true.

12) The desire to be a storyteller.

In the main, one does not become a storyteller out of a desire for wealth, or fame, or prestige,although some do...and a few even succeed for those reasons. People more often write stories because they feel moved to do so. A storyteller's first audience is themselves. The trap for manyinexperienced writers is mistaking their feelings about their stories for the craft of writing storiesthat evoke potent experiences of fulfillment for their audiences.

13) Understanding the role of characters in a story.

Characters in a story operate to make a story's movement visible and concrete. But a storyteller

needs to make the subtle distinction between what a story is about on a deeper, foundation level,from what's at stake for its characters.

In Romeo and Juliet , Romeo is hot blooded and impulsive. He will not be denied the woman heloves...even if death is an obstacle that must be overcome. So Romeo is a character of greatstrength of will. All characters in well told stories must have this strength of purpose. Whether the issue is love, greed, revenge, compassion, hate, jealousy, characters must be willing toconfront and overcome whatever obstacles the story places in their path. Weak characters oftenfail to offer readers/viewers a reason to internalize their actions because their actions fail togenerate a quality of movement. No movement, no drama. No drama, no fulfillment. Nofulfillment, no audience.

14) Perceiving how a plot operates to make a story's movement concrete and dramatic.

This issue -- understanding what a plot is -- is easily the most misunderstood in writing.

The purpose of a plot is to make visible and concrete the dramatic movement of a story. A plotserves to make the movement of a story dramatic and potent by taking character concerns andintertwining them with what's at stake in the story itself, then compelling characters to act to



resolve what's at stake in the story while plot-generated events block their actions. As charactersface increasing obstacles, they must strive with greater purpose to shape the outcome of a story.This generates the effect of a story's plot, a heightening of a story's movement to fulfillment.

To illustrate, consider the novel The Hunt For Red October . On the surface, this story might

appear to be a plot driven thriller about a Lithuanian-descended commander of a Russian nuclear submarine attempting to flee to America and freedom. But on a story level, this story is about aclash between freedom and authoritarianism. Because many people desire to experience thatstate where the values of freedom win out over oppression -- which many times doesn't happenin real life -- the story's audience readily internalizes this story's movement. Because the story, inits every action, proves that freedom can, indeed, overcome oppression, it drew in readers andrewarded their interest.

To describe a story's plot is not the same as describing what a story is about on its foundationlevel, but to understand a story's movement is to see what gives rise to a story's plot.

15) UnderstandingPO

INTO

F VIEW.

Having a strong grasp of how best to present a story's point of view can be a struggle for inexperienced writers. Like understanding how a story's plot operates to create drama over astory's movement, seeing POV as an issue of storytelling related to a story's movement can helpwriters untangle this thorny issue. The core issue that underlies all POV questions is this: howdoes telling the story through the POV of one character over another make the story's movementto fulfillment more dramatic and concrete for the story's readers/viewers?

Many inexperienced writers struggle with POV issues because they shift their POV to make astory seem fresh and engaging. But it should be kept in mind that a reader/viewer needs to be

able to internalize a story's movement. If abrupt changes inP

OV keep a reader from being ableto internalize a story's movement, changes in POV have the effect of jarring a reader/viewer outof a story.

Inexperienced writers often believe that changing their POV among a variety of characters keepstheir story fresh because they have already internalized the deeper level of their story and itsmovement. What they then can fail to realize is that what they're putting on paper isn't recreatingthat dramatic movement toward fulfillment for their readers. So a POV that doesn't serve tomake a story's movement dramatic and potent is weak, no matter how it can be justified whenexamined in isolation.

To answer the question, what POV character will best tell a story? Think of it in these terms:does making this character, or using this POV device, help my reader/viewer internalize a senseof tension over the course and outcome of my story in a stronger, deeper way?

In most instances, clever, unusual uses of POV devices weaken a story, not strengthen it, unlessthe writer has mastered all the other elements of the craft of storytelling. Such a writer is free tochose how best to tell their story.



To conclude...

A storyteller should to be able to perceive what a story is about at its deepest level, and how tomove that to a resolution that offers fulfillment to a story's audience. Understand what about themovement of a story engages the interest, the needs of an audience. Such a writer can better

perceive how characters, plot devices andP

OV work to create a dramatic movement of a storytoward its fulfillment. How every element of a story works together in its characters, plot,environment and ideas to make vivid and potent a story's world.

That's why I say that at its heart, a story must have an issue at stake that is of consequence to thestory's audience. Something the members of the audience will desire to experience in a state of resolution and fulfillment. Love. Courage. Redemption. Renewal. Some issue that revolvesaround the aching need of humans to feel they matter, that they have a place in the world.

Even though I assign character, plot and point of view as the last of these principles, it is not tosuggest that most writers don't come to a story through some insight or interest in a character,

scene, or plot. Some issue that pulls at them. That won't let them sleep at night. But theunderlying issue I've sought to explore and illuminate here is the why an audience desiresstories, the how a story meets those needs of its audience. From that foundation of understanding, a writer can more easily perceive how words create vivid, potent images thatmove audiences.

Understanding the Process of Storytelling by Bill Johnson

edited by Lawrence Booth

revised 12/27/98

The craft of creating a dramatic story that engages and satisfies an audience has long beenviewed as a mysterious process. The myth of storytelling holds that certain individuals aretouched by a particular muse, and through some obscure, chimerical process, a story comes into being through them. Further, that those not visited by this muse must always view the creation of a story as an unexplainable mystery.

Those who view the creation of a story as an impenetrable mystery might be compared to thosewith no background in biology trying to understand the creation of a baby. One myth says that a baby arrives because a stork pays a visit, and that fanciful explanation seems as fitting as any.

Just like there is an understandable process for creating a baby, there is an understandable process for creating a story.



To illustrate that process, I'll use a simple story scenario set on a mountain. Two couples and oneminor character act out the story. John and Mary Fagin are the story's primary characters. Theyare a couple in their twenties who have lost a first child within the last year. Kyle Hart andLouisa Ferris are secondary characters. Harrison Sorge, a sheriff who operates a rescue service,is a minor character. Other characters populate the story, but they won't be identified, to better

keep a tighter focus on the process of creating a story.

The premise of the story: The courage to overcome fear leads to healing.

The story's dramatic issue is courage to overcome fear.

Its verb is leads to. It is through this process of courage being tested and the characters of thestory finding the courage to overcome their fears that this story moves to its fulfillment.

The story's fulfillment revolves around healing. By having the courage to face and overcome their individual fears, the story's characters prove the story's premise in a fulfilling way.

Just as those desiring a fulfilling experience of love find that in Romeo and Juliet, thosedesiring to experience the healing power of courage can experience that via this story.

What's at stake over the outcome of this story is whether its characters will find the courage tofind healing. This issue of understanding what's at stake in a story is vital. Only when a story'saudience feels, believes, accepts that something is at stake over a recognizable issue of humanneed being resolved can the members of that audience be led to feel invested in the story's courseand outcome.

Therefore, it is NOT the purpose of the opening of this story set on a mountain to simply

introduce characters and their physical characteristics, but to introduce the dramatic issue at theheart of this story in a way that through the actions of these characters something dramatically

at stake will be resolved. Hearing the promise of a story that potentially fulfills an issue of human need -- finding healing -- engages the interest of the story's audience. As the charactersmust overcome increasing obstacles to find healing, they heighten the drama over the story'sfulfillment of its promise.

The deeper issue to understand here is that the members of the audience to this story do notapproach it as blank slate. Many people have issues in their lives around courage, fear, healing.So a story that promises a journey of courage overcoming fear and leading to healing offerssomething of value to its audience. People who desire healing but who feel trapped by fear can,

through this story, experience something they don't always get from life. To not suggest thestory's promise through the actions and dialogue of the story's characters is to leave out of thestory that which potentially draws the story's audience into its world.

This is not to suggest that characters introduce themselves and their dramatic purposes baldly.Just that the storyteller understand that something like introducing characters who are in grief byitself raises the question of whether they can find healing. By the choices of how and in whatcontext storytellers introduce characters, they can communicate a story's promise. By how they



tell a story, they can suggest their ability to transport an audience to the fulfillment of their story's promise.

Continuing with the story scenario, the story opens with John and Mary, Kyle and Louisaarriving on the mountain. What we learn about them as characters is that because John and Mary

lost a baby, their relationship is in serious trouble, likely to end. What we learn about Kyle is thathe's created a persona of being fearless. His plans for the day are that by putting Mary and Johninto a fearful situation where they must depend on each other, they will regain the love and faithin each other they have lost.

What we learn about Louisa is that she has created a persona of being unflappable and in controlat times. Therefore, she ends up in relationships with men like Kyle in well-defined roles that preclude a heart-felt, and thus risky, intimate relationship.

The purpose of the story's dialogue and opening action is to set this story about courage into

motion by suggesting, through the description of these individuals, what's at stake for them. In

a few lines of dialogue it would come out that John and Mary have lost their baby and are readyto divorce. That Kyle has come up with this plan of climbing the mountain as a way to try and bring his friends back together and as a way to impress Louisa to complete his conquest of her.Louisa, as the story opens, is presented as someone who won't say "no" to Kyle because thatwould make her appear vulnerable.

The key issue here is that these characters start out "ripe" with a need to move toward a newsense of who they are. By putting characters with issues to resolve into a situation that will callfor courage -- the climb up the mountain -- the story has an environment that offers a dramatic backdrop to the tests of courage each of the story's characters must face. As these charactersascend the mountain toward a physical goal -- reaching its summit -- an audience cued in to the

deeper story about courage can assign meaning to their actions. As they ascend the mountain,their actions also make visible their ascent of, and encounter with, their own personal issues,internal obstacles, and desires. This creates an outward, visible manifestation of what thesecharacters are experiencing, thinking, and feeling internally, and thus a sense of movement of thestory toward its resolution and fulfillment. Their actions clearly arise from fulfilling the story's promise, which helps the actions of the story's characters 'ring true' to an audience.

The story's introduction raises the following questions:

y W hat will the outcome be for John and Mary's marriage if they successfully climb themountain?

y Conversely, what will the outcome be if they fail to climb the mountain? y H ow will Kyle's persona of being fearless be tested this day? And what will the outcome

be? y W ill Louisa's persona of being cool and unfazed by life survive being tested by a trial of

fear?



All these questions arise from the story itself. Because a well-told story naturally raisesquestions about its course and outcome, many writers confuse story questions with plotquestions.

Story and Backstory

One method a storyteller uses to bring out information is a backstory. In this story, as the bickering between Mary and John reaches a boiling point, the story could cut to Harrison Sorge,the mountain's ranger. Through Harrison, an overview of why people climb the mountain to testtheir courage could be offered. Knowing Kyle, he could offer some information about Kyle's background.

Thus, the story's backstory serves several purposes:

y it allows a minor character to offer insights about the story's dramatic purpose y it varies the pace of the story's intensity y

it allows dramatic information to be introduced about the story's main characters

Story and Movement

While understanding what a story is about at its heart is a prime issue of storytelling, another vital issue is understanding a story's movement. A story is introduced in a way that its dramaticissue or idea is clearly at stake. Further, that this issue will potentially be resolved via the actionsof a story's characters. These events must happen against the backdrop of a particular environment designed to heighten the effect of a story's movement toward dramatic resolutionand fulfillment. So every act John and Mary take to avoid dealing with each other only serves tocompel them to discover whether they have the courage to confront their fears. Their actions

move the story itself toward its resolution and fulfillment.

The Story Scenario

As the story continues, John, Mary, Kyle and Louisa begin their ascent. The dialogue betweenJohn and Mary is brittle and uncomfortable. It reveals the depths of the distress of their relationship. Louisa asks Kyle why he's brought Mary and John on the climb. He reveals his planto bring John and Mary back together by staging an accident and allowing them to rescue him.As John and Mary's bickering escalates, however, it appears the climb, instead of bringing themcloser together, is tearing them apart.

The purpose of John and Mary's bad feelings growing worse early in the story is that it escalatesthe drama over the outcome of the story's central question: will the relationship of John andMary survive being tested by what happens on the mountain?

Louisa, for her part, is angry at Kyle for using her as a prop, but she reacts by putting more iceon her persona. Ice Queen of a kingdom of one.



Because of Louisa's icy reaction to the story's events, Kyle feels his plan -- and therefore, hehimself -- is being belittled. In that way the events of the story escalate the dramatic tension over the story's course and outcome not just for John and Mary, but for Kyle and Louisa.

Plot Points

As the climb continues, the climbers reach a point where Kyle must free climb a rockface to setup a passage for Mary, John and Louisa. Kyle feels he needs to reassert his sense of fearlessnessto regain control of his intended purpose for the climb. His plan had been that he would purposefully put himself into a situation that he would appear to need rescue on this rockface.That by working together to rescue Kyle, John and Mary would grow close again.

Kyle climbs onto the rock faces, and he stages a "fall" that requires he be rescued. John andMary try and help Kyle while Louisa looks on unflappingly, aware that this is all part of Kyle's"act." The attempts of John and Mary to help Kyle, however, contribute to Kyle having an

unstaged fall/accident. This time, Kyle is badly hurt. Mary and John blame each other. Louisa,

still thinking this is part of Kyle's game, reacts unfeelingly.Worse for the group, Kyle's fall startsa snow/rock slide that blocks their return path down the mountain.

If this were a screenplay, this scene would likely happen about page 25, plot point one,according to Syd Field. This is point in the story's movement where the action of the story mustinescapably move forward. Kyle's efforts to "save" his friend's relationship has put them all inmortal danger that escalates the danger of John and Mary's relationship ending. Now, however,it's not just a question of whether John and Mary will be able to save their relationship: thestory's escalated to will they survive this effort to rescue their relationship? Will Kyle survive?

The story places these characters in a grave situation from which they figuratively cannot go

back, i.e. return down the mountain to a place of "safe" states of feelings.The underlying issue isthat these characters have moved from needing to experience courage, to being placed in asituation where without courage they face death.

Kyle tells Mary and John his only hope is that they continue to ascend the mountain to reach itssummit. There, they'll find a hut with a radio to call for help.

The story shifts here from the shadow play about courage, to the real thing. Movement. If Johnand Mary do not ascend to the mountain top and a radio transmitter, Kyle will die. It further brings what's at stake in this story into bold relief. Will they have the courage to overcome their fears? Now, for the audience as well, what's at stake is not simply the emotional well-being of these characters.

Note how the story arranges it elements to make more dramatic the story's journey to itsfulfillment. The purpose of this heightening of the story's drama is that for its audience, the potential outcome of the story's fulfillment will be all the more deeply felt, and thus satisfying.

To complicate matters, John wants to make the climb with Louisa, which further enrages Mary. Not just enrages her, it is a knife to Mary's heart. It makes it appear that it's not a question of



whether this relationship of John and Mary will heal, but if it will survive another ten minutes.Movement. Escalation of drama.

Louise refuses to go with John, even though she's an experienced climber. She's going along withKyle's "game."

Mary wants to know why they can't just wait for help? Kyle tells her he won't last the night, theymust ascend to the mountain's summit now. Mary and John, bitter and angry, set out.

As soon as they are gone, Louisa bursts out laughing, finding humor in the situation. Only thendoes she discover that Kyle is seriously injured. Louisa, she who doesn't want to be responsiblefor anyone else out of her fear of commitment, asks Kyle why she shouldn't just leave him.Kyle's answer: because he's afraid and he needs her. Louisa, angry, feels she can't leave Kyle.What Louisa fears in life -- intimacy and commitment -- is being forced upon her. Here thestory's plot serves to heighten the dramatic effect of movement around this issue of courage for Kyle and Louisa as well as Mary and John.

Note how the story arranges it elements to make more dramatic the story's journey to itsfulfillment by raising obstacles to its movement. The storyteller is always alert to what obstacleswill block the movement of their story in a way that escalates the drama over its course andoutcome. A story's plot operates to ensure a story's movement will be dramatic and potent, andthus fulfilling.

How a Story Uses "Time" to Create Drama

Time plays a significant role in this story. John and Mary must ascend to the summit beforenightfall if Kyle is to survive. This escalates the dramatic pressure on them, and on the audience.

As part of the story's backstory introduced by Harrison Sorge, a storm moving in will precludenot only Kyle being rescued, but also puts the lives of John, Mary and Louisa at risk.

"Time" is often a central element in a story, used to escalate the drama over a story's course or outcome:

y "X" must happen in 24 hrs, or...y Joe must marry by 21, or...y Sue will die, unless "B" happens by...y If "A" doesn't happen in a week, a catastrophic evil will be unleashed on the world that

can only be stopped if...

More About Plot Points

As the story progresses, John and Mary reach a rock overhang. They can't go around it. Theymust somehow work together to climb over it. But to climb over it is to risk death. To fail toclimb it and reach the mountain summit and a radio is to risk Kyle's death. After losing their child, such an outcome would clearly finish their relationship and shatter them individually. Thesituation puts into stark relief what's at stake: Can they overcome their fear? Can they trust each



other enough to make this final dangerous ascent? It is the very purpose of the story to put theminto this situation where their courage and faith will face these severe trials.

Louisa, feeling trapped by Kyle's actions, finds herself losing emotional control. She threatens toleave Kyle. Kyle, still clinging to his "fearless" persona, tells her to go ahead. Louisa gets up and

sets off.

Kyle, facing death alone, finds the courage to cast aside his persona and confess his terror of dying to Louisa. She initially turns away. She has no way to respond to a person in a state of intense feeling. But she can't leave, either. So listening to the fearless Kyle talk about his fears,Louisa, she of the cool exterior, is finally touched in an intimate way by another human. But shealso knows that if Kyle dies, she will be scarred, and her exterior of ice permanently encasingher.

Note how the story brings this issue of what's at stake in the story for these characters fully into play. The story has escalated where it's not just a matter of healing relationships, but whether the

story's characters will live or die based on the outcome of their efforts.

Resolution and Climax

The story places John and Mary, Kyle and Louisa in situations where they now face not just physical but emotional death. Only the greatest of courage will save them.

John and Mary risk a harrowing final ascent to reach the summit of the mountain. During theclimb, each risks their life for the other. Finally reaching the summit, they find the transmitter that will signal help. With help on the way, Mary and John hold each other. In their eyes is thelove missing at the beginning of this story.

Louisa does the one thing she thought she would never be able to do in life: as Kyle slips into acoma and death, she casts away all pretense and erupts with every heartfelt longing, need, desire, pain she's buried beneath her persona to keep Kyle from slipping away. In the heat of themoment, the Ice Queen melts. What has blocked Louisa is thrown off and she finally feels lifedirectly.

Kyle regains consciousness. He feels deeply that he has not been abandoned, that Louisa has notleft him.

Through this story's testing each characters courage through severe trials, each character moves

to a place of healing and renewal. It is only when these characters have been pushed beyondwhat they would have thought possible that the sounds of a helicopter can be heard approaching.

Because this story journey has been dramatically presented, the story's audience also experienceshow courage in the face of fear can lead to healing and growth. By these characters literally aswell as physically ascending through barriers and obstacles, they gain healing.



The rescue of Kyle, Louisa, Mary and John is the story's climax of its plot. This is the movie'smost-adrenaline producing moment. The story's fulfillment has two more scenes.

Story and Fulfillment

A year later, John and Mary are new parents, and clearly in love again. This is a visible andconcrete fulfillment of their relationship healing.

Kyle and Louisa are also shown to be in a relationship not of two personas, but two humans withneeds and desires who have decided to share the journey of life. Unlike the two people who used personas to keep others at a safe distance, Kyle does not need to appear fearless, Louisaunfeeling.

This would be the true, deeper fulfillment of this story. That what these characters were shown tomost lack as the story opens -- what has set them into motion -- is fulfilled through theaction/moment -- of the story.

Summary

Storytelling is a process. A process that involves understanding the dramatic issue or idea at theheart of a story and arranging a story's elements to bring that issue to resolution in a way thatoffers the story's audience a dramatic experience of fulfillment. The principles used to create thestory set out here can be perceived in any well-told story. From James Joyce, Jane Austen, to themost simple action-adventure film, all well-told stories are created through a definable process. Neither storks nor muses deliver them.

Even stories born full-blown and full-grown in the imagination need the craft of writing to

deliver them to an audience. The perseverance to take a story from idea to word and image. Thewillingness to revise, reshape, refine all a story's elements to a story-like purpose.

Again, this is not to preclude a writer from discovering a story as it is written. From creating astory ending so dramatic and fulfilling, the writer goes back to revise the story to fit itsconclusion. From discovering characters so dynamic, they demand a story world in which toenact their dramatic deeds. From writing a script and going back to discover its story. But thestoryteller who understands what a story is and the process of telling one has the tools to bring astory to life. However they come to that story: through characters, plot, inciting event, muse,stork, assignment, need for attention, desire for fame.

Such writers understand the craft of writing dramatic stories.



Premise -- Foundation of Storytelling By Bill Johnson

Beginning a story in an active voice is a crucial aspect of storytelling. Creating a story premisecan be a great help toward accomplishing that goal.

A story premise sets out a story's core dr amatic issue, the movement of that issue towardresolution, and the f ul f ill ment that resolution sets up for the story's audience.

Dramatic Issue

A story's core dramatic issue is the issue at the heart of a story's promise. Dramatic issues or ideas revolve around human needs. The need to be loved. To have control of one's fate. To feelneeded. To be able to overcome obstacles. To be able to grow and heal from life's wounds. Tounderstand and make sense of the events of life. To experience life in a deeply-felt way.

The important point is that storytellers be able to name the dramatic issue at the heart of thestories they are telling.

If perceiving a story's core dramatic issue is difficult for you, think about the issues in your lifethat you enjoy seeing acted out dramatically. Then put a 'name' on what that issue is. Does itrevolve around finding love? Gaining knowledge? Avenging some wrong? Someone going from being a nobody to somebody? Good defeating evil?

Movement

The movement of a story describes the overall direction a storyteller moves a story to resolve its promise. For example, a story about courage will have characters and events acting to resolvethat. The movement of the story might be described as overcoming, or confronting, battling fear,coming to a new understanding of what courage is.

If your story doesn't move somewhere -- across a physical landscape, through changing feelings,across a presentation of ideas -- it can't move an audience.

Fulfillment

A story's fulfillment is what concretely and visibly manifests the resolution of your story's promise...

and...

...the feelings and thoughts this resolution generates for a story's audience.

A fulfilling resolution for a story about courage could be that a fearful character discovers aninner sense of courage. This is fulfilling for an audience to the degree the story enables them toshare this story journey. To feel what it is like to move from being fearful to courageous.



Another story might offer a fulfilling experience of romance.

Another might show someone pined down by life finding a way to move forward.

Another someone coming to terms with their grief.

To understand fulfillment, consider what your favorite stories lead you to feel or think. That iseach story's fulfillment.

Lajos Egri in The Art of Dramatic W riting goes into great detail about what a premise is. Egri's premise for Romeo and Juliet : "Great love defies even death."

The dramatic issue here is love. Because readers desire to experience love in a fulfilling way,love as a dramatic issue is at the heart of many stories.

The movement of Romeo and Juliet is about love overcoming obstacles that escalate to include

death. By defying even death, the story fulfills its premise. The word defying, then, describes themovement of the story.

Note that to defy something suggests active movement. From the opening page of the story, it'sgoing somewhere.

Every premise must express an active quality of movement. Only that creates an anticipation of an outcome of a story's issues, events and character goals. If nothing goes into motion in the beginning of a story, there's nothing to be resolved, and no reason for an audience to feelengaged.

To manifest a story's movement, a story is populated with characters who feel compelled to act by what's at stake over the story's course and outcome.

Rocky, for example, acts out someone going from being a nobody to being somebody byovercoming insurmountable odds.

The characters in Romeo and Juliet who would love are blocked by characters who hate. Theresult is conflict. Characters who must love blocked by characters designed to hate. Theunwillingness of both sets of characters to be blocked by the others moves the story forward.

A story lacking a clear premise risks being populated with characters whose actions fail to create

drama. They act to no discernible purpose. Events happen, but lack meaning.

Lastly, a premise identifies what makes dramatically potent and concrete a story's fulfillment.

In Romeo and Juliet , the actions of the characters make concrete the story's fulfillment. Their actions offer the story's audience a fulfilling experience of profound love.



Characters simply having goals opposed by others does not make their actions story-like,however. It is by their actions moving a dramatic issue toward resolution of a story's promise thatthey become story-like. A subtle point must be understood. To describe the premise of Romeoand Juliet , or any story, is a separate issue from talking about a story's character actions, goals or plot issues. Romeo and Juliet is a story about great -- if tragic -- love. Its plot operates to make

the story's fulfillment dramatic and deeply felt. Its characters act out the story to create for itsaudience this experience of great love.

A story that has no discernible movement around some recognizable issue appears to lack purpose. Even a story about the meaninglessness of life needs a dramatic focus to be engagingand satisfying.

Premise -- Foundation for Storytelling

A premise could be compared to a house foundation. It supports a well-constructed story. It isnot meant to be artistic or original so much as clear and direct about setting out a story's core

dramatic issue and what manifests its movement toward fulfillment.

To visualize a premise, think of a community burned to the ground. If you looked at it before thefire, every house would be unique in some way. After the fire, when all that's left are barefoundations, the foundations all have a similar quality. They all tend to look alike.

A premise is like that. It's not meant to be different, artistic, or unique; unlike any other premise.It's meant to set out a foundation that supports the more visible aspects of a story, its charactersand events; just like a house foundation supports the more visible aspects of a house, its walls,roof, windows, etc.

A writer could start with the premise of R

omeo and Juliet and write an entirely different storythan Shakespeare. The story would be different because the writer would bring their "voice" tohow they dramatically presented its characters, situations, events, issues and ideas.

Once you understand how to create a dynamic story premise, it will help you with every other element of storytelling:

y W hat kinds of characters will populate your story. y H elp you create plot events that serve to make your story's movement dramatic. y S uggest what characters actions and story events best manifest your story's f ul f ill ment . y Or, you might write your story first...then explore it to see the premise that lies at its

heart and use that to guide rewrites.

S ummary

The ability to create a premise offers a writer an opportunity to understand the foundation of a

story BEF OR E they begin to write it. S uch an understanding can help a writer avoid multiplerewrites in an attempt to "find" a story.



W hen writers understand a story's premise, they have a guide to setting out a story in an activevoice from its opening words.

Characters and Story by Bill Johnson

additional editing by Lawrence Booth

Dynamic characters promise to take a story's audience on a journey. The key issue to understandis that it is because characters in stories act out to resolution and fulfillment issues of humanneed that they engage the attention of an audience. When introducing a story's characters, then,writers need to suggest in some way that their characters are "ripe." By that I mean a character has issues that arise from a story's promise.

For example, if courage is the main issue in a story, the storyteller can set a character into anenvironment designed to compel them to act. That's how a story's promise is made visible. Itestablishes both why characters act and why a story's audience should care.

Viewers want to care, to believe in the possibility of what a story's characters can accomplish. Inthat way they experience that belief in themselves. That's why a storyteller often arranges astory's elements to deliberately beat down and place characters in great danger, so the story'sreaders can more powerfully experience their rising up unconquered. Just as we secretly imagineourselves, standing in their shoes, doing as well.

For example, in Romeo and Juliet , Romeo and Juliet are designed to be strong- willed charactersin love with the idea of love. They are characters who refuse to allow anything, even death, to beobstacles to their love proving itself. By their actions, they bring this story about love to life in away readers have enjoyed for centuries. Because their actions arise from the story's dramatic purpose, they manifest the story's movement to fulfillment.

Once the storyteller understands the role their characters serve for an audience, they can better perceive why such characters should be introduced in a particular manner:

I n a way an audience can understand and identify with a particular character and their goals.

I n a way that the audience is led to care about the outcome of a character's goals and issues

while also perceiving how they advance the story toward its resolution and fulfillment.

That's why it's important a storyteller introduce characters in a way that allows an audience thetime to take in who the characters are and what issues they have to resolve. Often this can bedone simply by limiting the number of characters introduced in a scene. Many popular movies,for example, have only one or two main characters in a scene. Large group scenes are theexception, not the rule. The purpose of this is so the audience can clearly identify with anunderstand a character's issues.



Second, the actions of a story's characters should advance a story toward its resolution andfulfillment along its story and plot lines in a discernible way. If characters serve no dramatic purpose in a scene -- if their actions don't serve to advance the story -- save their introduction for a later time.

Characters in a story should be designed by the storyteller to have emotions that suggest howthey will react to a story's events. In a story about courage, characters might confront their feelings about lacking courage. That's the internal side of the equation. The storyteller then putsthem into an environment that compels them to react. By how they react, they set out the story'sdramatic purpose and give voice to their feelings and concerns as the action of the story exerts pressure on them. By resolving questions based on the inner conflicts of characters, a story hasmeaning to those in the audience with similar feelings and issues.

Story events that have no real effect on a character's inner feelings -- a character's sense of mattering -- serve no purpose in a story. Worse, they can confuse an audience. They seecharacters with certain issues reacting to events that don't clearly elicit those responses. Or that

elicit responses that seem out of sync with what they know about a character. Or a character'sissues have been kept hidden in a way the audience has no way to feel engaged over how or whycharacters are responding to a story's events.

The deeper issue here is that the storyteller have a sense of how the types of characters that populate a story arise from a story's dramatic purpose. That their emotions arise from setting outthat purpose. That the events of the story clearly compel those characters to respond based on asense of who they are. That all of these are blended together to recreate a story's journey along itsstory line from its introduction to its fulfillment.

Well-told stories populated with dynamic, dramatic characters with larger than life passions and

needs act out issues those in the audience might struggle with. Such characters battling withother determined characters to shape a story's course and outcome bring a story's dramatic purpose to life in a fulfilling way.

Creating such characters is another art in the craft of storytelling.

What a Plot IS by Bill Johnson



Understanding what a plot is creates a foundation for an ability to create one. Unfortunately for most writers, they are consumed with the idea of creating the effect of what a plot does withoutfirst understanding what a plot is.

What a plot does is raise dramatic questions a reader or viewer will follow a story to its

conclusion to get answers.

What a plot is is the process of generating questions around the outcome of a story's dramatic purpose that gives a story a dramatic shape and outcome fulfilling to an audience.

Romeo and Juliet is an example of a well-crafted plot. By loving each other in spite of themutual hatred of their families, Romeo and Juliet set the story in motion. But it is the story's plotthat makes the story's movement toward its fulfillment dramatic. By raising up the obstacles that block the love of Romeo and Juliet fulfilling itself, the story's plot makes the lover's plight moredramatic. Even knowing the story's outcome, the action of its plot -- moment by moment --generates for the story's audience a dramatic experience of the power of a love that will not be

denied.

In any story, as characters act to achieve goals, the actions of such characters should advance thestory toward its resolution and fulfillment. Because other characters are driven to shape a story'sdramatic purpose to their design, they are naturally in opposition. As different characters act and block each other, they generate new obstacles to each others progress. This escalates the dramaover character goals, scenes and the story's outcome.

A plot operates around the effect of making a story's movement toward resolution and fulfillmentdramatic. The catch is that it's only when a story is in motion that it has a movement to block.Without this quality of dramatic tension generated by a plot around a story's movement, a story

appears to be a collection of incidents. The incidents may be dramatic individually, butcollectively they fail to engage the interest of an audience. They fail because they lack adiscernible purpose that arises out of resolving a story's dramatic purpose.

The key here is to understand that to describe a story about love is not to describe its plot. Astory is about an issue of human need. A plot is what makes that issue acted out to resolution andfulfillment dramatic. To create a great plot about love is to turn what might appear to be a wornstory idea, two teenagers in love, into Romeo and Juliet .

To illustrate how a plot grows from a story's premise, consider the novel The H unt For Red October . On the surface, it appears to be a plot-driven thriller about a Lithuanian-descendedcommander of a Russian nuclear submarine attempting to flee to America and freedom. On astory level, however, it is about a battle between freedom and authoritarianism. This is laid out inthe story's premise, The courage to battle oppression leads to freedom.

Because readers desire to experience that state where the values of freedom win out over oppression, they readily internalize this story's movement. Because the story in its every action proved its premise, it drew in readers. Its highly praised plot succeeded because it made theunderlying conflict of the story, freedom battling oppression, clear and dramatic.



It moved its audience.

Its plot operated to make that movement dramatic.

When every character's actions revolve around a story's core dramatic issue, the actions of each

character affect every other character. A well-designed plot ensures those premise-generatedactions increase the drama around the story's course and outcome. That makes the story's journeyto its ultimate destination more potent.

Tom Clancy succeeded in creating a great plot because he understood how to create a plot thatmanifested the movement of his story. Every character, situation, and action grew out of hisstory's promise and existed in the world it created. Since the story of The H unt For Red October concerns freedom battling oppression, the story's plot made visible and concrete the playing outof that deeper level of story. To the extent a reader feels emotionally or thoughtfully connectedto this story, they are engaged by its plot.

As the story of H

unt is clearly and powerfully presented, the readers sees/feels/experiences howthe freedom they identify with battles the oppression they dislike/hate/want to see vanquished.That is why so many people had to read to the end of the book to get that story questionanswered:

W ill Ramius make it to America and freedom?

They had been hooked on a deeper, emotional level. They had been led to care about theoutcome. It was important to their own state of emotions, their own sense of what was right and just, their own sense of mattering.

Engaging the interest of an audience around an issue of human need invests them in the story'soutcome. They want to know how it will turn out. They have to know how it will turn out.

When someone has to finish your story to see how it turns out, your plot has fulfilled its purpose.

The writer who doesn't see the connection between a story, its characters, and plot risksintroducing characters or plot devices that confuse what's at stake in the story. That confuses areader's emotional response/desire to pursue the story's journey of feelings, thoughts and senseimpressions.

The answer for the struggling writer is to see that a plot is generated by a strong, well-realized

story. It is not a substitute for a story. Setting up a situation common to action films, "Who'sgoing to get out of here alive," is plot-like. Lacking a story issue, however, such films struggle toengage a wide audience.

To create a great plot, start with your premise. Understand how what's at stake in your storyraises questions to which your audience desires answers. Understand that your plot should makethe journey to get those answers potent and dramatic. When you start to write, be clear about the



obstacles that block the movement of your story. How those obstacles force your characters toact with ever greater determination if they would shape the outcome of your story's outcome.

That's when you'll be told, "Wow! Loved your plot! How did you think of it?"

Writing a Story Synopsis by Bill Johnson

Revised 5/3/98

The following is an abbreviated version of my essay on writing a story synopsis. The full essay isavailable in my workbook, A Story is a Promise, available for $15.95 plus $4 shipping and

handling. This workbook guides writers to an new understanding of the craft of writing dramaticstories.

A one-page story synopsis that accurately reflects the issues at stake in a story is valuable whendescribing a story to agents, producers and editors.

Many writers struggle with writing a one page synopsis because they want to set out the actionsof their characters. To describe a story, however, is a separate issue from writing about acharacter's goals or one's plot. For example, the story The H unt for Red October is aboutfreedom battling oppression. This is the dramatic issue at the core of the story.

To describe The H

unt For R

ed O

ctober , then, is not the same as talking about the actions of itsmain character, Ramius. A synopsis of The H unt For Red October might begin,

"The Hunt For Red October is the story of one man's battle to be free of the system that

oppresses him."

Note, the first line of the synopsis identifies what's at stake in the story, freedom battlingoppression. One should avoid writing,

"The H unt For Red October is the story of Ramius, the commander of a S oviet nuclear-missilearmed submarine who uses the submarine to flee to America."

Ramius manifests the story, but the story itself is about this issue of freedom battling oppression.Because readers desire to experience this story's fulfillment, it engages their interest.

The story's synopsis should make clear what's at stake in the story itself , before introducing thestory's characters.

Continuing...



"To gain his freedom, Ramius, the commander of the Soviet nuclear missile-armed

submarine Red October, sets in motion a plan to escape to America."

Note that Ramius is described in relationship to what's at stake in the story, the issue of freedom.This continues the synopsis describing the story itself. One should avoid writing,

"As the story opens, Ramius, commander of the nuclear missile-armed submarine Red October, sets in motion a plan to escape to America."

This only offers a description of the story's main character, and the story's plot. It doesn't suggestthe connection between Ramius' actions, the story's plot, and what's at stake in the story.

"Ramius has long hated his oppressors, the communist party that rules Russia and his

native Lithuania. He's been held in check while his wife was alive. With her passing, he has

no restraints on his desire to be free."

This gives a sense of why Ramius desires to be free: it is to escape the oppression of hiscommunist masters, whom he loathes. Even though this appears to be describing Ramius, it'sdescribing him in a way that makes clear his relationship to the story itself.

One should avoid writing,

" Ramius wants to pay back the communists for what they have done to Lithuania, his homeland."

This explains why Ramius acts, and it's true, but it doesn't tie his actions into the story'sunderlying premise.

The essay concludes...

When you write a synopsis for your script, it's important it communicate what is dynamic andengaging about your story, not that it appear exactly like the synopsis I've created for The H unt

for Red October . In working with students, I've found they often create a first sentence that can be too plain when they talk about their story and its premise in a concrete way. Often, the secondsentence of their synopsis is the natural opening for the synopsis. For example, I recently read afirst sentence for a synopsis that began (approximately; I have revised it):

" The Price is a t ale o f political intrigue and one man's struggle to f ind redem ption in a

corrupt world ."

The second sentence of the synopsis began:

"In a world where science allows a handful of powerful people to create truth for a price,

one man struggles with the worth of his soul."

This sentence is another potential opening sentence for this synopsis. It sets out the issue at theheart of this story while suggesting its plot.



Another possible opening sentence:

"Craig Bowman was a man who thought he knew the price of his soul until his was sold."

Choose the opening sentence that communicates the purpose of your story in the strongest, most

engaging language.

Good luck. Writing a great synopsis can be difficult, a real art.

Stories and Feelings

by Bill JohnsonMany stories are a journey of feeling for a story's audience. As characters overcome or passthrough various obstacles to get what they want, they pass through stages of feeling, and readerswho identify with these characters or become invested in what happens to them, share thesefeelings.

This makes a story different than real life, where many people struggle to access their truefeelings, feel a need to take drugs to mute or control their feelings, or feel unable to express or experience feelings.

Some writers struggle with writing about feelings because they tend to be thoughtful andreflective, waiting until after an experience to process their feelings. Writers who deal with their feelings with detached reflection tend to create story characters who deal with their feelings withdetached reflection, often off-stage and out of sight of a story's audience. The story's audiencegets an objective report about a character's feelings, but does not get to share those feelings intheir most immediate and potent form.

The very creative process that helps fuel storytelling, thoughtful reflection and an ability tovisualize the creation of a story world, lends itself to storytelling being an objective process(watch the movie in your head and write down the details). The trap for some writers is thatwhen they draw on their own experiences from life to create objective portraits of characters,

they experience these objective portraits subjectively. Think of this in the context of someoneelse's home movies. To you that collection of stills of a Hawaii vacation might include somegreat shots of beaches but, since you aren't on them, so what? But, to the creators of these homemovies, each picture helps them relive, re-feel, the experience.

It's the job of the storyteller to help his or her audience experience that beach in Hawaii, what itfeels like, and to suggest a story-like purpose to being on that beach (that something is in need of resolution and fulfillment).



I'm not suggesting there isn't a place and purpose for objective writing. Hemingway, for example, appears to be writing in an objective fashion, but he is always direct and immediateabout creating a sub text for what the action of a story means, both to a character and to a story'saudience.

Writing feelings that connect with actions and suggest a dramatic purpose is a skill that somewriters need to study and learn.

Movies as Healing Journeys

Viewing Movies to Understand Life's Problems

by Bill Johnson

When I first heard the idea that movies could offer insight into life¶s problems ± into some of my problems ± I found the idea far fetched. The idea behind this concept is that people can be socaught up wrestling with their issues -- dysfunctional relationships, bad choices in life,addictions, struggles to resolve childhood problems ± that perspective is lost. It¶s the old ideathat we can spot solutions to others problems, while we aren¶t able to clearly see or understandhow to resolve our own.

Watching certain movies, we can see how others deal with difficult problems or issues.

Someone watching A Beautiful Mind can learn about the disease of schizophrenia and how itimpacts individuals, families, co-workers, and friends.

Someone dealing with abandonment could watch This Boy¶s Life, Kramer Vs. Kramer, or ToKill a Mockingbird.

Someone dealing with being with family over the holidays could watch Rocket Gibraltar andcome to an understanding of why going home for the holidays as an adult can be so difficult. Inthis movie, adult children revert to childhood roles.

People struggling with the concept of denial could watch the Accidental Tourist or When a ManLoves a Woman.



I was introduced to this idea of Hollywood movies offering healing messages by a therapist, Dr.Gary Solomon, who wrote a book, The Motion Picture Prescription, followed by Reel Therapy.As a proofreader of the original manuscript for Motion Picture Prescription, and as someone whounderwent therapy with Dr. Solomon, I have first hand experience in how this process work. Inthis article, I¶ll be mentioning some of the issues that I confronted in therapy and how watching

movies helped me to deal with them.

For myself, I found that the underlying dynamic of using movies to gain healing insights sprangfrom the fact that while I typically shield myself from the effect of painful or difficult problems,when I watch a movie, I relax and let in ideas and feelings, even ideas and feelings I wouldnormally resist, reject or deny.

One of my major issues when I started therapy revolved around being a fixer. I couldn¶tunderstand why someone I was helping in a relationship was angry. Dr. Solomon suggested Iwatch the movie When a Man Loves a Woman, with Meg Ryan and Andy Garcia. In the story,Ryan is a lively personality who brings excitement to the life of quiet, thoughtful Garcia. When

the drinking that fuels her fun personality becomes life-threatening, they have to deal with her alcoholism. She goes into treatment. When she returns, there¶s a scene where Ryan¶s children aresquabbling. Ryan is dealing with the situation when Garcia shows up. He basically announces,µI¶m the healthy person here; will the recovering alcoholic please step aside so I can fix this problem.¶

I then saw why my girlfriend was angry. To satisfy my need to µfix¶ her and feel good aboutmyself, I needed her to not be able deal with her own problems. I wasn¶t giving her the time tofind ± and be responsible for ± her own solutions.

I could only µsee¶ this dynamic when I watched this movie. I simply could not understand this

concept when it was explained to me. I had developed a powerful self-image that revolvedaround µfixing¶ others. When I saw the truth of what I was doing ± and why -- mirrored back tome in a movie, I didn¶t block out the message, and I could begin to deal with the underlyingissue of resolving my own problems instead of avoiding them by helping others.

Another issue I couldn¶t understand about myself was how some people responded to myesoteric sense of humor. For many years, good friends had asked me to understand how peoplewho didn¶t know me interpreted my sense of humor. I shrugged their advice off. Then Gary hadme watch a film called The Men¶s Club, about a group of men who decide to imitate a women¶ssupport group to see what happens. The idea of the club is sabotaged by a man who can¶t dealwith his feelings. He masks this by suggesting the men go to a bordello instead of talking abouttheir feelings. The character I was asked to pay attention to was someone in the group whogenerally stayed in the background making esoteric, off-the-wall remarks. Remarks that oftenmade no sense whatsoever.

The same kind of remarks I enjoyed making.

I could finally µsee¶ what I looked like, and I didn¶t like it at all. This realization had a potenteffect on me. Since that time, I try to introduce myself to people who don¶t know me in a



straightforward manner before indulging my sense of humor and making esoteric remarks thatmade no sense to others.

A third movie Dr. Solomon recommended I watch was Drop Dead Fred. This film took me intomore painful territory I didn¶t want to explore. In therapy, when Dr. Solomon would try and

probe where I put my anger, I would not be able to hear him, even though I knew he was talkingto me. Even when I re-listened to tapes of those sessions, I could not µhear¶ those questions. I hadsome serious body/mind armor protecting me from dealing with anger.

So Dr. Solomon recommended I watch Drop Dead Fred. In the film, a young woman isabandoned by her husband. She returns home to live with her mother and reverts to a morechildish, dependent personality. When she returns home, she also finds someone she left behindlong ago, Drop Dead Fred, her imaginary playmate. Drop Dead Fred is more than an imaginary playmate, however. When she was a little girl, Fred acted out her anger toward her overbearingmother. While she silently stewed, Fred would smear animal excrement all over the mother¶s beautiful white carpets, etc.

When the young woman again decides to be an adult and be responsible for her own decisions,Drop Dead Fred disappears. She has no place for him in her adult life.

I never had an imaginary playmate raining ruin on the people I was angry with, but the wholeconcept of displaced anger made me extremely uncomfortable. I came to realize that in my lifeI¶d swallowed a significant chunk of my anger with large doses of sugar, salt and fatty foods.The movie helped me come to grips with what happens when I repress anger instead of processing my feelings.

This issue of imaginary friends became a topic of discussion between myself and Dr. Solomon

when I was proof-reading MotionP

ictureP

rescription. He insisted that in the movie Harvey,Harvey is an IMAGINARY rabbit. I insisted Harvey is an INVISIBLE rabbit. Dr. Solomonnoted our disagreement in his book. I¶m sure anyone who watches the movie will agree with methat Harvey is INVISIBLE, not IMAGINARY. I assume Dr. Solomon has some deep-rooted,unresolved issues around invisible rabbits.

Each of Dr. Solomon¶s books, The Motion Picture Prescription and Reel Therapy, have indexesthat cross reference movies by title and healing messages. While some films focus on one topic,alcoholism, for example, another movie might touch on several issues, being raised by anabusive parent, alcoholism, co-dependency. The basic topics covered in Motion PicturePrescription are: Abandonment, abuse, adoption, alcohol, cop-dependency, death/dying, denial,divorce, drugs, family, food, friends, gambling, mental illness, relationships, sex/sexuality.

I¶m not suggesting this method is an easy cure all to life¶s problems. I wrestle daily with many of the issues I took into therapy. I just recognize what I¶m wrestling with now. That helps me make better choices; or, if I still make bad choices, at least I can recognize what I¶m doing and changecourse.



I believe in this process not only because it helped me, but because so many people in the worldwill never be able to afford therapy. Most people, however, can afford to rent movies that, alongwith a guide like Dr. Solomon¶s, will provide them some healing insight into their lives andstruggles.

There¶s also a very practical benefit to this concept. Screenwriters can use the understandingthey gain from movies with therapeutic messages to build stronger, more believable charactersand plots.

(This article appeared in ScreenTalk , The International Magazine of Screenwriting.)

©2002 Bill Johnson

Understanding What a Story Is

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