Story Structure
“Outside of a dog,” Groucho Marx once said, “a book is man’s best friend. Inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read.”
That’s one of my favorite lines, but is it a story? A joke, a quip, a pun maybe. But it’s missing something. The three elements of story.
One of my mentors at the Writer’s Guild, Clay Frohman, said a story is three elements:
Hero + Goal + Conflict
Without those three elements you might have a conversation, the start of a plot, or a theme, but you don’t have a story.
My screenwriting teacher, Jonathan O’Brien, always talked about STRUCTURE.
He said, “If there is no structure, the story is BS.”
Structure = the Big Picture
The story as opposed to the plot (which is the details).
Jon then went through his patented structure method:
How to Test Your Concept (structure) using the 7 C’s of Character:
CHARACTER: Who is the story about? Who, not What! We have to connect & care about this character.
Example: One of the hobbits saying “I can’t carry the ring (I’m not worthy) but I can carry you.” The character will need to be put to the test and CHANGE. Underdog was an example given of the improbable doing the impossible. The character who is the least likely to succeed. << CONFLICT
CRISIS: Something happening to the character, situation or environment that will change their life and the character has to deal with it. This usually occurs within 8-10 minutes of the screenplay. Called the Catalyst or the Inciting Incident.
Example: Changeling – Angelina Jolie loses her baby in 1930’s Chicago and doesn’t know how to get her back. She spends the movie learning how. Her character is unprepared and unequipped for this quest.
CUEST (QUEST): This must be a simple, singular, tangible thing we can see or touch. This is what the character is trying to achieve.
Example: All Dorothy wanted was to get back home. This must be shown through ACTION.
CLOCK: Built-in urgency. Shrinking the time frame. It is the amount of time we have to complete the quest, or else…? << This has to have weight. There has to be a consequence if it is not achieved.
Example: 3:10 to Yuma, High Noon.
Another example Jon gave was of someone having to drive across the US in 90 hours. (Is that even possible?) Otherwise her sister is killed. What happens to the character by the time the clock runs out?
CONFLICT: Who or what is in the way of the character trying to achieve their quest? An Antagonist (External) = Conflict Personified (i.e. there is a person keeping the character from achieving their quest).
There are 3 types of conflict:
1) Physical,
2) External,
3) Internal – characters wrestling themselves. Internal is the big one.
Jon asked us to search ourselves to see how we should write this by asking: When have I had internal conflict? How did I behave?
Jon said: Use all 3 ALL the time!
CHANGE: Catharsis = Transformation. This is a wholesale change in someone’s emotional state. How do the events of the story change the character? The character needs to be proactive to change.
Key words: learns, realizes, decides, chooses, sacrifice, vows. The change has to be on the emotional and psychological level. << This is not about the plot, it is about the character.
COLLABORATION: Who would you collaborate with so that you can understand this new world you are creating?
Example: Pilots and Boeing for Air Force One, cops and their trainers for Training Day.
You can see above that Jon has included the basics: Hero + Goal + Conflict. He then adds other elements of the story that he feels are absolutely necessary to build your structure BEFORE you start writing.
I’ll continue building on this structure theme in my next blog.