The Story Grid

1. The Story Grid: A powerful tool for writers and editors

The Story Grid is a tool with many applications: It will tell the writer if a Story "works" or "doesn't work."

Analytical framework. The Story Grid is a comprehensive method developed by Shawn Coyne to analyze and improve stories. It provides a systematic approach to identifying problems in a narrative and offers concrete solutions to fix them. This tool is invaluable for both writers and editors, as it allows them to:

• Pinpoint exactly where a story has failed without emotionally abusing the writer
• Determine the specific work necessary to fix the story's problems
• Re-envision and resuscitate seemingly irredeemable manuscripts
• Inspire original creations

By breaking down a story into its component parts and examining each element critically, the Story Grid enables writers to craft more compelling narratives that resonate with readers.

2. Genre is crucial: Understanding and meeting reader expectations

Genre's an incredibly broad way of cataloguing all Stories. Like the category Coffee includes all varieties from Sumatra to Folgers, Genre includes War and Peace as well as the pedestrian (to some people) entertainments described above.

Managing expectations. Understanding genre is essential for writers because it helps manage reader expectations. Each genre has specific conventions and obligatory scenes that readers anticipate. By recognizing and fulfilling these expectations, writers can:

• Create stories that resonate with their target audience
• Avoid disappointing readers by failing to deliver on genre promises
• Find opportunities to innovate within established frameworks

Genres are not limiting factors but rather guidelines that help writers craft stories that work. By mastering the conventions of their chosen genre, authors can then subvert or expand upon them in creative ways, delighting readers with fresh takes on familiar themes.

3. The five commandments of storytelling: Essential elements for every scene

The five elements that build Story are the Inciting Incident (either causal or coincidental), progressive complications expressed through active or revelatory turning points, a crisis question that requires a choice between at least two negative alternatives or at least two irreconcilable goods, the climax choice and the resolution.

Scene structure. These five commandments form the backbone of effective storytelling at every level, from individual beats to the overall narrative. By ensuring that each scene contains these elements, writers can create compelling, dynamic stories:

1. Inciting Incident: The event that kicks off the action
2. Progressive Complications: Escalating challenges or revelations
3. Crisis: A dilemma forcing a difficult decision
4. Climax: The moment of choice and its immediate aftermath
5. Resolution: The consequences and new equilibrium

Applying these commandments consistently throughout a story helps maintain tension, drive the plot forward, and keep readers engaged.

4. The importance of progressive complications and turning points

Progressive complications move stories forward, never backward. They do so by making life more and more difficult (in positive as well as negative ways) for your lead character.

Escalating stakes. Progressive complications are crucial for maintaining reader interest and driving the story forward. They serve several essential functions:

• Increasing tension and raising the stakes
• Revealing character through increasingly difficult choices
• Preventing the story from becoming predictable or stagnant

Turning points, which can be either actions or revelations, mark the moments when the story shifts direction. By alternating between action and revelation turning points, writers can create a varied and engaging narrative rhythm that keeps readers guessing.

5. Masterful use of internal and external genres in storytelling

The best stories, the ones that we fall head over heels in love with, are those that contend with finding deep internal truth.

Dual narratives. Great stories often combine external and internal genres to create rich, multi-layered narratives. The external genre (e.g., thriller, romance, mystery) provides the plot-driven framework, while the internal genre (e.g., worldview, morality, status) explores the protagonist's inner journey. This combination allows writers to:

• Create more complex, relatable characters
• Explore deeper themes and ideas
• Satisfy readers on multiple levels

By carefully balancing and intertwining the external and internal genres, writers can craft stories that are not only entertaining but also emotionally resonant and thought-provoking.

6. The foolscap method: Outlining your story on a single page

Steve, the good Lord wisely made one sheet of foolscap paper just long enough to outline an entire novel.

Concise planning. The foolscap method, developed by Norm Stahl and popularized by Steven Pressfield, is a powerful tool for outlining a story on a single page. This approach forces writers to distill their narrative to its essential elements:

• Beginning Hook
• Middle Build
• Ending Payoff
• Genre
• Theme/Controlling Idea
• Inciting Incident
• Climax

By condensing the entire story onto one page, writers can easily identify plot holes, pacing issues, and structural problems before diving into the full draft. This method provides a clear roadmap for the writing process while allowing for flexibility and creative discovery along the way.

7. Creating a compelling protagonist: Balancing want vs. need

Remember that the quest is most often a two front journey. There is the external quest for a conscious object of desire like justice or survival or companionship or a prize of some sort like the rave review or victory. Then there is the internal quest, the one the lead character doesn't know he is in need of until a critical moment in the telling.

Character depth. A truly engaging protagonist has both external and internal goals, often referred to as their "want" and "need":

• Want: The conscious, external goal the character actively pursues
• Need: The subconscious, internal goal the character must fulfill to grow

By creating tension between what the protagonist wants and what they truly need, writers can develop more complex characters and create opportunities for meaningful growth and change throughout the story. This internal conflict adds depth to the narrative and helps readers connect emotionally with the character's journey.

8. The power of the crisis: Best bad choice or irreconcilable goods

All crises, of course, are not created equal. You need to build to the end of the line. They all are not life and death, but they all must be the best bad choice variety or of the irreconcilably good variety.

Compelling dilemmas. Crisis points are crucial moments in a story where characters face difficult decisions. These dilemmas should be structured as either:

1. Best Bad Choice: Choosing between two negative options
2. Irreconcilable Goods: Choosing between two positive options that cannot coexist

By presenting characters with these challenging decisions, writers can:

• Reveal character through choices and actions
• Increase tension and reader engagement
• Drive the plot forward in meaningful ways

As the story progresses, these crises should become increasingly difficult and consequential, building toward the climax of the narrative.

9. Crafting a satisfying ending: Surprising yet inevitable

A controlling idea must be boiled down to the fewest possible words and cannot be longer than a one-sentence statement. It must describe the climactic value charge of the entire Story, either positively or negatively. And it must be as specific as possible about the cause of the change in value charge.

Thematic resolution. A satisfying ending should feel both surprising and inevitable, resolving the story's central conflict while delivering on the promises made to the reader. To achieve this, writers should:

• Ensure the ending aligns with the story's controlling idea or theme
• Resolve both the external and internal conflicts of the protagonist
• Provide a clear change in the story's core values from beginning to end

By carefully crafting an ending that ties together the various threads of the narrative while staying true to the story's central theme, writers can leave readers feeling fulfilled and emotionally satisfied.

10. The Story Grid Spreadsheet: Analyzing your story scene by scene

The Story Grid Spreadsheet is the place to keep track of all of the little details that can sabotage the finest of stories.

Detailed analysis. The Story Grid Spreadsheet is a powerful tool for breaking down a story into its component parts and analyzing it scene by scene. This spreadsheet includes columns for:

• Scene number and word count
• Story event
• Value shift and polarity shift
• Turning point type (action or revelation)
• Point of view character
• Time and duration
• Location
• Characters present (onstage and offstage)

By meticulously tracking these elements for each scene, writers and editors can:

• Identify pacing issues and plot holes
• Ensure proper character development and arc progression
• Maintain consistency in setting, time, and point of view

This detailed analysis allows for a comprehensive understanding of the story's structure and helps writers make informed decisions about revisions and improvements.

Last updated: August 28, 2024