Creating Your Story Question
Will Luke Skywalker save the galaxy? Will Scarlett steal Ashley from Melanie? Will Bruce Willis rescue his estranged wife before the terrorists blast her to bits? Each of these is a "Story Question" -- the question that drives a reader to read a novel or watch a movie. A novel without a Story Question is a car without an engine. It may look fantastic on the outside. It may have great styling. But it's got no oomph, and without oomph, it's not going anywhere.
Understand that the answer to the Story Question is usually not in much doubt. Most people who watch STAR WARS are pretty sure Luke is going to set things right, one way or another. Most readers of GONE WITH THE WIND can tell that Ashley is the wrong guy for Scarlett. Most viewers of DIE HARD know going in that Bruce Willis is a match for any number of terrorists.
There are two things that are critically important in setting up your Story Question:
* The reader should care about the answer
* The reader should be in doubt about how it'll be resolved.
How do you make your reader care about the answer to the Story Question?
You usually do that by making the reader care about the characters.
Luke and his compatriots, Princess Leia and Han Solo and Obi-wan Kenobi are likable enough characters, and they're on the side of right against the evil Galactic Empire. That's really enough.
Scarlett is a bit less likable. She's spoiled and self-centered. What makes her interesting is that she's so intent on getting Ashley. She desperately wants him, and a powerful desire always makes a character more compelling.
Bruce Willis is also not completely likable. He's a rough, tough New York cop. What captivates viewers in DIE HARD is that Bruce clearly has a soft spot for his wife, who really doesn't deserve it. She's pretty much written him off. Yet Bruce doesn't hesitate to take on a dozen machine-gun-toting terrorists -- barefoot and armed only with a pistol -- to save a woman who doesn't love him. That's downright heroic.
How do you keep your reader in doubt?
By showing your lead character constantly facing enormous obstacles. The road to nirvana should never run straight.
Luke and company face a ton of challenges -- escaping Luke's home planet, being captured by the Death Star, facing Darth Vader in single combat, being chased by Tie fighters, and finally being tracked by the Death Star to the rebel base. Each time, our heroes escape by a hair. They pay a price when they lose their leader. But they plug on, twisting and turning toward their goal. That's captivating.
Scarlett is no less challenged. Ashley turns her down and then that dreadful Rhett Butler mocks her. She marries a man she doesn't love and then is widowed. She lives in the same house with her rival Melanie who's married to the man she loves. She returns to her home and finds it nearly destroyed. Whether you like Scarlett or hate her, she faces a lot of trauma and survives it. Scarlett's life is a train wreck that you can't NOT watch.
Bruce hits a lot of challenges too. Rather than running and hiding, he confronts the terrorists, picking them off one by one, taking their weapons, mocking the survivors while he calls in the cops. Uncowed, the bad guys strike back harder than Bruce expected and convince the police that his SOS was a false alarm. Now Bruce is on the run, racing barefoot through rooms full of shattered glass. When the police finally come to the rescue, they misread the situation and make a battle plan that will get Bruce and the hostages killed. Bruce struggles on relentlessly, intent on getting back his wife at any cost. You know he's going to win, but you can't imagine how.
That's the secret of a great story. Create a compelling Story Question. Give the reader someone to root for and a reason to root for him. Make it look like he can't possibly win. Then answer the Story Question in an unexpected way.
Is it really that simple? Yes, it's really that simple. But being simple is not the same as being easy.
About the Author:
Award-winning novelist Randy Ingermanson, "the Snowflake Guy," publishes the Advanced Fiction Writing E-zine, with more than 21,000 readers, every month. If you want to learn the craft and marketing of fiction, AND make your writing more valuable to editors, AND have FUN doing it, visit http://www.AdvancedFictionWriting.com.
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