✍️ What is Story?
Asking for a Friend...
Even though it seems like a basic question, “What is story?” is something I’ve been wrestling with – in definition and in my WIP. It’s not as easy for me to pin down as I would like.
Recently, in the Writing Craft Book Club, we covered Story Genius by Lisa Cron. If you read our review, you can see that most of us saw good and bad in that book. But it has a definition of story that I like. I’m paraphrasing, but essentially plot is what happens in a work of fiction whereas story deals with the context – what the events in the plot mean to the characters, and most specifically to the main character (MC).
The way I look at it now, your MC has to change in some way by the end. The plot is the crucible that forces change. The story is the way your MC reacts to that crucible, how they grow, how their lives are different once the plot wraps up. Your MC has to have a reckoning of some sort, a realization that what they thought before was wrong. The story shows how they overcome their misbeliefs to become a better version of themselves.
In other words, stories are about people.*
Understanding this was a key step for me in my development as a fiction writer. I seem to have a knack for writing non-fiction articles in a way that are engaging and entertaining. (Not to toot my own horn – just that I’ve been actively developing that skill for over 30 years now…) However, that story/plot balance seems much more difficult for me in fiction writing.
One theory I have is that although I can naturally see a storyline in a non-fiction piece, it’s harder for me to make it up as I go. For an inexact example, I can look at a room and say, “Oh yes, I like the design!” because I know what I like. But it wouldn’t be as easy for me to create that room myself. There’s a disconnect for me between seeing story and inventing story.
But I’m getting better. The first step, as they say, is realizing you have a problem… lol
As I work my way through my WIP, I’m consciously trying to connect plot (external action) to story (resulting internal conflict). More often now, I’m reverse-engineering: what internal conflict do I want for my MC, and what external plot point would best bring that on?
This approach is helping me resolve issues I had with plot. At certain points, I wasn’t sure why the characters were doing what they were doing, other than it was interesting (I hoped). In extreme situations, I played with whether or not the opposite action might work better. I had no idea. I didn’t have a compass to decide which direction to take.
But looking at story as the driving force gives me that compass. Instead of looking for plot points, I’m framing the story in terms of my MC’s ups and downs on his way through the crucible. I know which way the plot should go because I know what way I want the MC’s story to go.
At first, it seemed like a weird and backwards way of doing things. But it made sense once I started doing it! I’ve found a more effective way of connecting story with plot.
This is the basic approach I’m when trying to decide the next plot point:
Decide what I want the character to go through at this point of the story – a challenge or a respite, etc. How do I want my MC – and by extension the reader – to move forward?
What’s next? A major challenge like running from a bear? A respite like a picnic by the lake with a potential love interest? An intellectual challenge like solving a puzzle of some kind? In each instance, I’m trying to find the exact right situation to test (or rest) my main character AND still fit naturally in the plot.
I try to include a setback or the seed of a setback into the scene so he’s not moving entirely forward – at least not until nearer the end of the novel. It can’t all come up roses until (at least) the end! This keeps up tension and keeps things interesting.
I’m trying to be more aware that non-MCs have rich inner lives, too. What do they need to get out of the scene? How are they changing? How are they at odds with the MC? What direction is their general character arc going?
I’ve recommended Story Genius here before, and I’ll recommend it again. It’s helped me see crafting my novel in new ways.
Over to You
Have you read Story Genius? How did it affect your writing? Do you have any tips for balancing story and plot? Let us know in the comments below!
Until next time, keep writing with wild abandon!
~Graham
email me if you get lost.
One important aspect to constructing the plot is also developing surrounding characters and letting the world take their individual personalities and collective dynamics into account. There might be a decision taken under time pressure by the governor of the city in which your main character lives for example and that could also influence how the MC has to react. Each character has the opportunity to shape that reality, to invent that room. It's like playing with bounded infinities.
"Plot and story" always reminds me of my Mom, who could never tell a story straight :) - A movie for example: the story would be about a young girl who unexpectedly becomes Queen, a Cinderella thing. Mom would get lost in the plot: and she did this, and that, and the dress she wore, it was blue, with ribbons .... the entire family would go: for God's sake, what's it about???