By Peter Bloch-Hansen
Recently I had opportunity to talk about ‘writing from the heart’ of the story. What is the heart of the story? It’s what you want the reader to feel and understand that they didn’t, before reading it. In other words, it’s what your story, like cabbage leaves, boils down to.
So what story do you want to tell? Here is a good approach: who is it about? Age, gender, education, health condition, social status, et cetera, all matter, but what are that character’s attitudes; what or who does that character care about, most deeply want? In other words, how do you want the reader to feel about that character?
Next, what story will bring that out? What chain of events in that character’s setting? The answers to these questions give you the core and foundation of your plot because they will cause that character to act, and the results of those actions will test that character, reveal that character’s nature or change it.
Consider The Hobbit. At first, Frodo wants only to enjoy his peaceful Shire life. Anyone can relate to that. But there is no story in that. Except that when he’s suddenly given the choice to go on a dangerous adventure, he chooses to accept it. The heart of this story is whether and how he will accomplish this great goal and how it will change him. So, how do we feel about Frodo as he moves along, and what does his adventure teach or illustrate for us? That is the heart of his story.
So, you have your character, his situation and his goal. Next come the other characters, who either support or interfere with your character’s journey. You have events which help or challenge your character, or do some of both. As you consider your character’s nature in more detail, ideas will come about how those aspects will be revealed and what role they will play in that character’s behavior and choices; they will show you what events need to occur to reveal those aspects of character. For example, Frodo is actually quite clever, so he’s given a puzzle to solve that baffles everyone else. He finds the hidden keyhole and discovers he’s actually quite brave, though he didn’t realize it until he confronts the terrifying dragon. That event is necessary for Frodo to be the character his author and his readers want Frodo to be. It all comes back to how we feel about him and what we learn about ourselves from his story – the mark of a memorable story.
A more complex story requires more complex considerations and what is true for the hero or heroine is equally true for the villain or villainess. Even if you haven’t quite fully worked it all out, the heart of your story will tell you (if you’re receptive) what it needs and (often more difficult) what it doesn’t need to reveal itself. If you run into a knotty problem with your story, going back to its heart will usually give you an answer. The rest is editing and polishing.