Someone wants something
A list of events is not a story. Learn the three parts every story needs (a person, a want, an obstacle) and test any draft with one sentence.
THE PROBLEM
A list of events is not a story
Most flat stories are really reports: this happened, then this, then this. Every sentence may be true and even interesting, but nothing pulls the listener from one sentence to the next. They have no reason to wonder what comes next, because nobody in the story is trying to get anywhere.
"On Friday I woke up early. I had breakfast and went to the market. I bought fruit and ran into a friend. Then I came home." Four events, zero story.
THE ENGINE
Person + want + obstacle
A story starts the moment someone wants something and something is in the way. The want gives the listener a question (will they get it?). The obstacle keeps the answer from arriving too soon. Take either one away and the engine stops.
Cinderella wants to go to the ball; her stepmother forbids it. Almost any story you remember can be said this way.
Same Friday, two versions
Events
On Friday I went to the market. I bought fruit and ran into a friend. Then I came home.
Story
My mother's guests were coming at one, and she had asked for one thing: fresh figs. By eleven I had tried three stalls. The last seller shrugged and said, "Figs? Those finished at seven."
Check yourself
Omid writes a post: "Last month I travelled to the north. We stayed in a villa, ate fish, walked in the forest, and came back on Saturday." His friends scroll past. What is missing most?
- More adjectives to describe the forest and the food
- Someone who wants something, and an obstacle
- A longer text with more of the trip's events
- A moral at the end about the value of travel
Show the answer
Someone who wants something, and an obstacle
Yes. Nobody in the post is trying to get anything, so there is no question pulling the reader forward. One want and one obstacle would change everything.
Desire (the want)
The specific thing a character is trying to get, reach, keep or avoid in this story. A good want is concrete enough that we would know the moment it is won or lost.
Weak: "Sara wants to be happy." Strong: "Sara wants her father to come to her graduation on Thursday."
Negar had forty minutes to get her grandmother's medicine across the city.
The bus broke down at the second stop.
She looked at the line of taxis, then at the few coins in her hand, and started to run.Person: Negar.
Want: deliver the medicine in forty minutes.
Obstacle: a dead bus, and no money for a taxi.
Three sentences, and you already want to know if she makes it.Notice there is no description of Negar at all. The want and the obstacle do the work.
Check yourself
Story engine, or just events?
- Reza needs his landlord's signature by noon, and the landlord isn't answering his phone.
- We visited Isfahan, saw the bridge, ate biryani and took many photos.
- Maryam promised her son she'd be at his school play, and her boss just called a 4pm meeting.
- The company was founded in 2015, grew to 40 people, and opened a second office.
- The old baker wants to keep his shop open one more year, but the oven has cracked.
- It rained in the morning, the sun came out at noon, and the evening was cool.
Show the answer
Has a want and an obstacle: Reza needs his landlord's signature by noon, and the landlord isn't answering his phone., Maryam promised her son she'd be at his school play, and her boss just called a 4pm meeting., The old baker wants to keep his shop open one more year, but the oven has cracked.
Just events: We visited Isfahan, saw the bridge, ate biryani and took many photos., The company was founded in 2015, grew to 40 people, and opened a second office., It rained in the morning, the sun came out at noon, and the evening was cool.
The one-sentence test
- Fill in the sentence
Before you write or tell anything, complete this: "___ wants ___, but ___."
- Check the person
Is it one person (or a small group) we can picture? "People", "our team" and "society" are hard to care about.
- Check the want
Could a camera see the moment they get it or lose it? If not, make it more concrete.
- Check the obstacle
Is it strong enough that the outcome is in doubt? If the obstacle falls over at the first push, there is nothing to tell.
Check yourself
A woman deciding whether to open a letter can hold a reader better than a car chase can.
Show the answer
True
True. The pull comes from a want meeting an obstacle, not from the size of the event. In the chase we may not know who wants what; in the letter scene we do, and the waiting is the story. A storm is only weather until it stands between someone and what they want.
Check yourself
Maryam is preparing a two-minute story for a family gathering about the day she got her driving licence. Which opening line gives her story an engine?
- "I had failed twice, and my father said the third test was the last he'd pay for."
- "I got my licence in the summer of that year, at a test centre in the east of the city."
- "Driving is an important skill that everyone should learn."
- "The test centre was big and crowded and the weather was very hot that day."
Show the answer
"I had failed twice, and my father said the third test was the last he'd pay for."
Right. We know who (Maryam), what she wants (to pass), and what is in the way (two failures and a last chance). We want to hear the rest.
Try it on your own story
- Think of something you told someone this week. Write its one sentence: "___ wanted ___, but ___."
- If you can't fill the "but", you were reporting. Look for the moment something got in the way.
- If the want is vague, ask: what did I want that day?
- Small wants work. "I wanted the last fig in the market" is enough if the obstacle is real.
Check yourself
Match each want to an obstacle that makes it a story
Show the answer
- A student wants to hand in her thesis today → The only printer on campus has just jammed
- A father wants to be home for his daughter's birthday → His flight has been delayed by six hours
- A shop owner wants to win back an angry customer → She has already posted a one-star review
- A boy wants to tell his friend the truth → He promised his brother he would stay silent
Lesson recap
- A list of events is a report. A story needs a person, a want and an obstacle.
- The want gives the listener a question; the obstacle delays the answer.
- A good want is concrete: you could see the moment it's won or lost.
- Test any draft with one sentence: "___ wants ___, but ___."