CHAPTER 10
Prof. K.’s Storytelling Rules and Tools, Part 3—The Fine Art of Revision
Art is never finished, it is merely abandoned.
—Leonardo da Vinci
As Oscar Wilde said, it is true that we must eventually abandon our stories after reworking them over and over again. Yet, before you give up on rewriting, there are many rules and tools that will help you get your story to the most highly polished, well-crafted version possible. It is only then that your story is ready to be abandoned and released to the world.
The you can always be meaner prerogative
Most of the people whom I do story consulting with are nice. They are good, kind-hearted people who want to be better storytellers. And that is, many times, their biggest problem. As people, they are just too nice to be good storytellers.
Good storytellers must be ruthless, at least when it comes to their characters and the things that happen to them. In fact, as someone who constructs stories, it is your job to figure out the worst, most horrible things that could possibly happen to your characters and then make those very things happen!
Maybe the biggest note that I give is simply, “THAT’S TOO EASY! Things can’t happen too easily in your story. There needs to be more conflict!” Often, we make things too simple for our characters and we need to go back and provide more conflict and complications.
This is especially hard for writers who fall in love with their characters. But, alas, how will your characters ever grow if things are easy for them to achieve? In many cases, growth only comes out of adversity, and so it becomes incumbent upon you, as a storyteller, to make the lives of your characters very difficult, and as a result, very dramatic.
Along these same lines, always make your antagonist into a worthy opponent. For it is your antagonist who helps drive the story by constantly putting roadblocks in the way of your protagonist’s goals.
The three potential audience positions
There are three potential positions for your audience to be in during a story. They can be equal to, inferior to, or superior to your protagonist at any time in the story. Think about the ramifications of each of these positions and employ them accordingly.
For instance, if you want to create greater tension, you might put your audience in a superior position to your main character. The audience might see a man with a knife hide in the closet. Then, when the main character walks into the room and reaches into the closet, what reaction do you think your audience is going to have?
When your audience is equal to your main character, they know as much as, but no more or less than, the protagonist. This might work in some cases and is worth considering.
In other cases, you might want to have the audience know less than the main character. This happens often in detective stories. The detective has already figured out the case and the audience keeps reading to determine what the characters are doing and why. Hence, by putting the audience in an inferior position, the storyteller has helped insure that the reader will keep turning the page.
What position should your audience be in for your story in order to maximize the potential impact of your narrative?
The North Star theme meme
The North Star remains constant while everything else in the sky revolves around it.
In terms of your story, you should think of the theme as your “North Star.” It is your theme that remains constant throughout your narrative. It is your theme that provides the meaning, the moral content to your story.
What is the theme in your story? Is it clear by the end and does your audience understand it by the time the story is over?
Themes are hugely important and are essentially the morale and meaning of your story in your audience’s mind.
The Imperial Stormtrooper commandment
This is a biggie. Remember all those guys in white stormtrooper uniforms in Star Wars? And remember what you felt when Luke or Han Solo shot them and they died?
Nothing! You felt nothing, because you didn’t know them. Beyond them even being bad guys, they are faceless, nameless creatures. As a result, you have no connection to them and no strong emotional response to their deaths.
So, then, how does this apply to your storytelling?
Well, if something bad happens to your nameless antagonist, don’t worry about it. But if you want us to feel for the protagonist in your story when something bad happens to them, we need to meet them, know them, and emotionally connect to them before they face adversity. In other words, if you want us to really care about a person, let us meet them first, before you have events transpire that affect them.
The Passover principle
In the traditional Jewish holiday of Passover, one is asked to think about the story of Moses and the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt. This story is read every year and questions are asked to help those at the table relate to this story and how it applies to their lives today.
My favorite line in the whole Passover service asks, “How is this night different from all other nights?”
In fact, I like this line so much that I have rephrased it and have used it with all of my students. If you work with me in class, your story must pass the Passover principle and you must be able to answer the question “How is your story different from all other stories?”
Of course, all stories will inevitably share some structural similarities, but it is imperative that you, as a writer, think about making your story different.
What specific elements can you employ and must you utilize to differentiate your story from every other story ever written? Sure, it’s a bit overwhelming, but it’s your job!
The been there, done that directive
A corollary to the Passover principle is this one. When you look at your story, are there any scenes, events, or lines of dialogue that feel false or overly familiar or just plain predictable? Have we already “been there and done that”?
If so, they must be trashed and new, more original language should be inserted.
The baby on a high window sill injunction
When you have a tense moment, such as a baby crawling along a window sill 12 stories up, you want to always think about extending the scene instead of curtailing it.
Your goal when you have a good moment of suspense is to stretch it out. Audiences love these kinds of moments and most writers tend to end them a bit too quickly. Always consider how you can have the baby slip a little, and then a little bit more, and extend the moment to last as long as dramatically possible.
The old Mr. Withers/Scooby Doo directive
Endings are always tricky. There is a tendency for endings to be too simplistic and for far too much explaining to occur. Endings are also hugely important. If you screw up the ending of your story, no matter how good the rest of your story is, you will have failed and the audience will be let down. So, when considering your ending, think about the Old Mr. Withers/Scooby Doo directive. Let me explain:
In most every episode of the old cartoon TV series Scooby Doo, the ghost/monster/demon/beast is unmasked and revealed to just be old Mr. Withers who wanted to scare everybody away so he could have all the land cheap and sell it for a huge profit. Upon revealing that the ghost/monster/demon/beast is not real and just old Mr. Withers, usually it is Velma, the smart, more “nerdy-looking” one of the gang who explains to all exactly how old Mr. Withers pulled it all off.
So, what can we learn from this? Well, first be careful of an overly simplistic ending in which everything is revealed too easily. Once you do have a reveal at the end, be careful of having everybody in your story standing around and listening as you or your Velma tries to explain it all to them.
Audiences have become very sophisticated, and these days they will quickly see what is really happening. Let them write the ending in their head, and make sure that ending is satisfying to them and need not be explained. They will get the moral of your story if your story is told well!
The shark in your tank decree
This is one of my favorites. It is derived from a story I heard about the fish stick industry. I am not sure if it is true or apocryphal, but in the end, it’s a great story, so I don’t really care. So here goes.
The head of a fish stick company was in trouble. Consumers were complaining that his fish sticks did not taste as fresh as they should. Sales were down and he didn’t know what to do. Concerned, he brought live fish into the factory so that they would be happily swimming around in a tank until the very last moment when they would be processed into fish sticks.
Still, the fish sticks tasted, well, not so fresh. At wit’s end, the owner was ready to throw in the towel when the janitor of the factory walked up to him and said that he was an avid fisherman and he had an idea. The owner was desperate, so he readily agreed to listen. The janitor suggested that they drop a few little sand sharks into the tank. This caused all the fish in the tank to swim around like crazy as they were constantly being pursued by the sharks.
And just in the moment after the fish escaped the sharks, they were captured and processed into fish sticks. The taste difference was huge. Finally, the fish sticks tasted incredibly fresh, and the meat was tender and firm, and sales soared.
So, what’s the meaning of this tale? In my mind, it’s a great parable about how in most of our stories, we are happy to have our characters swimming around lazily. What we need to do every time we write, is to think of how we can drop more sharks into our story. This way we crank up the stakes so that our characters are desperately swimming through life and the story feels as if it’s filled with great tension, complicated action, and life!
The catalyst canon
In general, most stories start with a situation that is dysfunctional and out of balance. You were in trouble, or your business was hurting and you needed to make changes or else. Then, suddenly, a catalyst—a new product, a new system, something different—is introduced and the story really takes off!
This is the “catalyst canon.” The beginning of the story is essentially the old status quo, and then it is problematic. The story then kicks into high gear as the catalyst is introduced. And then, when all the conflict has been resolved, the story reaches a satisfying denouement and a new status quo has been reached. Amen!
The glazed donut truth
The last but not least rule/tool that I want to mention is a simple one. Before I share my work, I always ask myself: Are there any moments in this story when the audience’s eyes will glaze over like a hot donut?
You must be brutal with your own work. If something in your story is not necessary, get rid of it. And no matter how good your beginning is, if the middle or end moves slowly, you are in trouble. Be judicious with what you include in your story.
A final checklist
Lastly, you might want to check this one out and see if your story does the following. Note, however, it must do all the following for your audience, not just for you:
1. Does it entertain?
2. Does it inform or teach?
3. Does it engage or connect?
4. Does it tap into emotions?
5. Does it feel genuine?
6. Does it employ specifics?
7. Does it use as many senses as possible?