This is part 2 of my musings on story construction...
A Simple Story Foundation
One way to start a story is with three primary entities, called the triangle. One familiar example is the love triangle, but the concept is broader than that. And note that I said entities, not characters. One or more of the three may be a situation. The ideal is that the story starts with a potential conflict between two characters and a character and an entity. If it is two characters, it is essential that they each have at least one internal conflict that is related to their external conflict. Even better, their internal conflicts may be opposed in some way that neither understands. For example, two characters may be lovers. One has an inner conflict of suspicion - “maybe he’s after my money rather than my heart” - while the other has a conflict of self doubt - “maybe I’m not good enough for her”. The external potential conflict is that their parents do not approve of the relationship. This scenario may exist in a status quo for some time, until the introduction of third character, who throws a wrench into the works. For example, the wealthy family hires a private eye to spy on their daughter’s lover without the their daughter’s knowledge. He befriends the couple and then falls in love with the daughter. Or the other way around. In either case, the PI plays on the inner conflicts to bring the external conflict to a head. Either tragedy of comedy may ensue, depending on the writer’s intent.
If this sounds vaguely like the plot of a Hollywood movie, that’s because it is like the plot of many movies. It’s also a little like the plot of Othello (a little). It’s reliable. And though it’s formulaic, it’s versatile.
One thing I like about this example is that is demonstrates that conflict need not indicate aggression or opposition. The two primary characters are actually in love. But if there’s no conflict, there’s no story. The story is not that they’re in love. The story is that there are unresolved issues that will test that love. The story begins with the cinder that lights that powder keg.
So the triangle begins with two entities, a potential conflict and a potential resolution. If any of the entities are characters, then they each have at least one inner conflict relating to their external potential conflict. If the entities are in opposition, then we leave it this way. If they are not in opposition, then we must add a unifier. This is something that brings them together. This is not the same as the potential resolution. A resolution to a potential conflict is only strong enough to keep the conflict from boiling over, it is not strong enough to bring them together. There must be something else that stands alone without other mitigating factors.
In my example, the unifier may at first seem obvious: they are in love. But stating this is no better than stating the theme without involving the specific circumstances of specific characters. Why are they in love? There may be many reasons, but the story must story with at least one clear and powerful reason. For example, they may have both been in imprisoned in a foreign country because they volunteered with a humanitarian mission opposed by the local government. They helped each other escape. Along the way, we may find other things they share in common, but this is a good start. If we twist it further, we can make this unifier relate to the central conflicts: the woman’s family believes her humanitarian stint was just a phase and wants her to “grow up” and prepare to take over the family business. The man wants is worried that his lover was never really committed to the cause anyway. Throw in the third wheel and the story gets in motion.
Next up: Stories and Sub-Stories
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