THE STORY SPOT

As important to creating compelling stories as it is to focus on the protagonist, it’s equally (possibly even more important) to create formidable conflict for the hero. Without challenges to overcome–challenges worthy of our heroine’s mettle–an audience may quickly become disinterested. I mean, wouldn’t you?

After all, stories represent pivotal points in people’s lives, times of great personal change and/or accomplishment. Our attention tends to breeze by the moments of our lives spent washing dishes or putting gas in the car and, instead, we remember our first day at school or the day we stood up for ourselves when it really mattered. Why is this so? It’s likely because in those moments, when we faced great internal or external conflict, we were challenged to reach beyond ourselves or risk failure and came out on top.

In storytelling, the source of this type of life-changing conflict will often come from one person — one person who is an equal to the hero and who possesses a drive as strong as the protagonist’s only theirs is a goal that is at direct cross-purposes with the hero’s.

That person is the antagonist.
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Giving our attention to the news media these days is bound to have anyone feeling a little quivery with fear. For writers — the majority of whom aren’t in a position of comfortable wealth in which to easily ride out the turbulence — these times can be especially worrisome.

So this goes out to you, writer-for-hire, who may be taking on extra projects or calling your agent a few extra times this month. And it goes out to you writer-for-pleasure, who may be cutting back on your time at your laptop in favour of extra income-generating activities. It even goes out to me, your humble editor, who finds herself succumbing to all of the above in an effort to restore calm to an unsettled writing life.

This is the Art of Zen Pool at Flickr. It’s a random slideshow posted for your restorative enjoyment by those who interpret their world through a camera’s lens.

Whoever you are and however you write, take one selfish celebratory moment to remember that you put pen to page because that is who you are. No matter what’s happening outside your body and your walls (and your control), your imagination is yours and not a thing can alter it. Do whatever is necessary to honour your talent and your drive, especially in this, a most distracting and challenging time in history and you will be honouring yourself.

We write for as many reasons as there are writers: to relax, to dream, to vent, to explain, to create, and simply because we must. Why do you write?

David Perry talks about the evolution of video games — not only about the sensory experience of playing games such as Halo, Warcraft, Guitar Hero, the Grand Theft series, the range of NFL and NBA titles and more, but also about the current and future development of creating immersive, emotional engagement.

The big question is: can a game make a player cry?
Storytellers, an emerging frontier awaits.

Before we dig into this one, let’s brush up on a couple of concepts that are essential to great storytelling:

1. Sympathy: sharing the feelings or interests of another (“I feel the same!”)
2. Empathy: vicariously experiencing the feelings or thoughts of another (“I understand how you feel.”)

These two sides of the same coin are what enables storytellers to create and recreate stories that resonate with their audiences. These are what allows our work to transcend the state of being a series of events laid out on a page and, instead, reach another person on a meaningful level. These are also, as you are doubtlessly aware, the same two little words that can make writing one of the most difficult and daunting ways to spend one’s life.

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