Introduction
In the beginning...
In 2007 I sat down to write my first novel. By that point, I’d spent seven years learning how to construct narratives through blogs and short stories. My other qualifications included reading a lot of books, watching many films and studying all things ancient history. I also possessed a daydreamer’s imagination and had spent three decades befuddled by the demands of everyday social interactions. Which meant I largely viewed the world from the outside in.
What Happens Next
Through the creation of that first novel in 2007, I wrote nearly 500,000 words. 500,000 words as I shaped the first and second, third, fourth and fifth drafts, re-writes, edits, edits from peer groups, editor edits, copy and proof edits. Despite the multiple drafts, my abiding memory is of crafting endless dead ends as I figured out the best story paths. I’d constantly deliberate my bookcase wondering, ‘What sort of thing would happen at this point in my favourite novels?’
Mahrie was my second long-form story. The experience didn’t require quite so many dead ends, it was a novella and much shorter. The writing was still fraught with the same question though, ‘What sort of thing would happen at this point in my favourite novels?' I started two other novels, both stuttered to a halt as I grasped at some kind of structure to build my story on.
Foundation
Surely there had to be a story foundation? Surely, there was a method that made plotting and structuring stories more efficient? Some bare bones to hang my story on? Of course, there is.
When I first laid eyes on Blake Snyder's, Save the Cat, I pounced on it, then armed with keywords I consumed every book I could get my hands on. If you’re reading this, you’ve probably also dabbled in Blake Snyder, Syd Field, John Truby. Maybe Robert McKee, John Yorke and K. M. Weiland. And if you haven’t I’d recommend you start with Yorke and Weiland. And get the Audible of Robert McKee's Story.
Avoid Toe-Tapping
But before you rush off, you should know reading any of these books (save for John Yorke’s and maybe Robert McKee’s) is not necessarily going to make you a better storyteller. These books will expand your understanding of story but also bog your storytelling down in further uncertainty and detail. The books are good. They’re designed to expand your knowledge of story, but they don't cover you with magical storyteller dust. The emphasis is often on waypoints, or turning points. Also called story beats. Without an appreciation for the cycle of drama connecting these waypoints, the story is reduced to a dull checklist. The list may have potential but the audience needs to revel in the journey, to be held by the drama, not idly toe-tap as you head for the next turning point.
Essential Companions
In addition, we should consider each of these 'How to tell stories' books is a commercial endeavour, intended to provide the prospective author with enough answers to generate more questions. You might end up buying a lot of books. Another consideration is the difference between knowledge learned passively and the experience gained by actually writing. I would say John Yorke and Robert McKee are essential companions that make more sense the more you write. But even then John Yorke is closer to the science of story than How-to Guide.
Analysis Outside In
Whatever my storytelling credentials may be, my natural tendency has always been analysis. Maybe too much of this life has been spent analysing life without taking part. The upside is that since I first set eyes on Save the Cat and dove headfirst into story structure, I’ve spent a decade analysing other people's stories with that structure in mind. That’s a lot of books, a ton of films and many, many manuscripts.
An Author's Needs
During the decade I’ve also read and provided editorial feedback on manuscript drafts for authors, some of them published authors. In every instance, almost without exception, the story in the manuscript has been underpinned by a fascinating concept buried inside early draft excess. Which is normal, by the way. The problem is that each time the author reads the draft, they see the story that's in their head. They don't actually see the extra dialogue, descriptions, dead ends, exposition, it took to get that story onto the page. In their mind's eye the story works just as they imagined. Unfortunately the excess it took to build and shape the characters, the plot and the narrative, make the story unreadable for all but the most dedicated. Which brings us to the strapline of this endeavour. There is a fundamental difference in what an author needs to write to tell a story, and what the audience needs to read to enjoy it. There is a HUGE difference. An author's inability to see this essential difference is why so many great ideas never leave the agent’s desk, or forever languish in the Amazon publishing wilderness.
There is a fundamental difference in what an author needs to write to tell a story, and what the audience needs to read to enjoy it.
Better Manuscripts
The huge divide between an author's manuscript and an audience ready novel is why I’m commiting these elements to the written word. First and foremost it's for me, to make sense of everything I've learned. To have a better idea for, ’What sort of thing should happen next?’ Story Elements would have helped me without compare, would have removed so much uncertainty and experimentation as I edited the subsequent drafts of Chasing Innocence and Mahrie. They would have helped inform the next three novels long before I bogged them down in dead ends. Story Elements are all about turning the behemouth first draft into an entertaining story for the audience.
The question on your lips is almost certainly, why? Why are these Story Elements going to help me write better stories than the books by Weiland, McKee or Yorke?
To be clear, I don't know story any better than Yorke, McKee or Weiland. My ability here is analysis, and simplifying complex subjects. I'm not sharing how to write, I'm describing a foundation for layering or editing your story. The goal is to make the Story Elements a set of tools authors use to turn their drafts into better manuscripts.
I'm also not writing this to make money. Money would be nice, but my motivation is to read and write better stories.
JK