Story Propellors

Just a quick Tip today. Once again based on something I’ve been trying out of late with writers, which seems to be proving useful.

Whenever I’m reading a writer’s work, one of the questions at the back of my mind – which, I suspect is in the mind of every reader, whether they’re aware of this or not – is why am I being asked to witness this section of time in the characters’ lives? What is this time – out of all the thousands of different slices of time I could spend with the characters – showing me about them and their story? How is it adding to my knowledge? Or changing my mind, or raising a new question. A new reason for me to want to turn the page and find out what happened next.

These kinds of stimuli a reader soaks up from a scene are what propels a story forward, and the reader’s interest in that story. So for the sake of trying to be a helpful teacher and editor, I’ve categorised the most useful Story Propellors into 3 separate categories.

1.  ACTIONS.  These are the things that happen in a scene. What the characters do. The actions they choose to take, which then have repercussions. An action creates a domino effect that runs through the entire story. And so, every time we readers witness an action, we are now looking for the probable effect of that action. Wondering about it, expecting it, casting ahead to the consequences. And from the inciting incident on, every important action a character takes in a Story should be part of this same domino chain, a reaction, a new strategy, based on what has already happened, which in turn creates the next domino fall. This doesn’t mean every scene in your story has to contain an Action of this kind. But it’s one of the three Story Propellors that makes the reader feel witnessing a scene has a purpose.

2.   NEW INFORMATION. There are some scenes in which no important Action takes place. The characters don’t push the story forward in this way, because they don’t know what to do or they’re not ready to commit to a new course. And often what happens in a scene without any significant, story-pushing Action, is some New Information comes to light. This can be small or huge. It can change everything we and the character have believed up to this point – a big secret revealed – or it can be something small but new about a character and what they’re capable of, a different facet to their personality, a significant fact from their back story. Even if there is no forward-pushing Action in a scene, if there is something new we learn, readers will feel satisfied that they haven’t been witnessing this slice of time for no reason.

3.   BREAKTHROUGH. The final element that can make a scene feel satisfying for a reader, even though there are no big Actions that take place or New Information shared, is when we see a character we are rooting for (usually the protagonist) make a breakthrough of some kind and emerge victorious. This means some strategic Action they have taken, in order to get what they want or feel they need, or to resist what they don’t want, has worked! (For now…) It’s an important thing to remember, to give your readers occasional upward surges in the Story, moments when things are going well for the characters and readers are crossing their fingers for them, just enjoying them being happy and/or out of immediate danger. Unless it’s the end of the book, and everything’s resolved, the reader will know that this breakthrough, this plateau of success, isn’t going to last. (And this knowledge provides its own suspense.) But the sense of a small breather, a temporary victory, is all the justification we need for spending this time with them.

Some of you may have noticed that these three Story Propellors are very similar to the three kinds of Midpoint events described by John Yorke, in his wonderful book on structure, Into the Woods. You’re right. And they work in a similar way, at the Midpoint, pulling readers in and casting their imaginations onward to the second half of the story, in which the fallout from any of these three Propellors will affect the journey ahead and its outcome.

So. Have a try with these Propellors. When you are looking at the scenes in your story, ask yourself: is tone of these things going on for the readers? Especially if that small, wise voice in your head is telling you this scene or chapter is a bit mehhh…could it be that the scene contains none of these elements? Could you add one, if so? Make a character do something (large enough to topple a Story domino). Show or tell us something we didn’t know before. Let your character succeed at something (for now). And feel the momentum of your story take flight.