So what happens when your premise, that brilliant story seed that came to you in a dream or while pacing your kitchen at 3:00 a.m. on a sleepless night, doesn’t fit neatly into one of those broad categories? What if the term genre makes you feel slightly nauseated or makes you fear you’ll have to kill too many darlings?
Let’s say you have an idea for a story involving a meteor streaking toward earth, a conflicted scientist, his crumbling marriage, and coworkers who make his life miserable. How do you decide what to do with it? There are hundreds of variations on the same premise. You develop the idea by choosing a story skeleton and dressing it up to suit your taste. Let’s start with choosing a story skeleton based on the central question. Every plot hinges on a central question. Posing the question at the beginning of the tale and answering it at the end is sound story architecture.
Let’s play with skeleton selection with a few broad options. We start with a story idea about protagonist Dick, love interest Sally, bossy Jane, jealous Ted, and a meteor streaking toward earth.
OPTION ONE: We can dress up the Literary skeleton and explore the theme that relationships are vulnerable to unexpected blows. The impending meteor strike could be real or imagined, past or present. The tension it creates, or the mystery that surrounds it, tests the bonds of the people involved. Threatening situations can bring out the best or worst in people. The central question becomes: What life altering decision will Dick make and how will it affect his life? He can decide to walk away from his chosen career, stay or leave an unsatisfying relationship, or come to terms with the fact that you can’t save everyone, especially from themselves.
OPTION TWO: We can take it on a Road Trip. Dick, Sally, Jane, and Ted travel to the crash site. What they find when they get there isn’t the main concern. It is what they learn along the way. The central question is: What is he feeling and how does it change? Dick can gain an important insight about himself, clear up a misunderstanding from the past. He can find out Sally is having an affair with Ted and Jane has always been in love with him. External obstacles make the destination difficult to reach and interpersonal squabbles bring the conflict to a head, but the internal journey is the focus. The Road Trip could be a slow psychological dissection or a hilarious Comedy.
OPTION THREE: We can wrangle it into a Western. Dick is the Sheriff. Ted owns the ranch where the meteor landed. Jane is the saloon girl who secretly pines for Dick while fighting off unwelcome advances from Ted. Sally is the new widow in town that Dick falls for. The Indians see the meteor as a sign that the white man must leave town or their world will be destroyed. The overall story question becomes: Will they overcome the challenges and stay or will they go?
OPTION FOUR: We can warp it into a Science Fiction future where the meteor is being controlled by savage Carpathians. Dick is the ship’s captain. Ted is his argumentative first officer. Jane is his communications director and is having an affair with Ted. Jane wants Ted to take the Captain’s seat so she can become first officer. Sally is the security chief and half Carpathian. Dick is intent on finding a way to turn the meteor against the Carpathians while Sally lobbies for a peaceful resolution. After all, not all Carpathians are evil. Ted and Jane realize at the last minute that if Dick fails, they all die along with promotional possibilities. Sally forges a peace treaty while Ted and Jane live to plot another day and Dick is once again the hero in the eyes of the federation.
Which category do you want to explore with your premise? You may not be certain yet. There are subcategories to consider. You can mix genres. You can bend and twist genres. But at some point, you have to pick a main through line that gives a story direction and momentum.
You can have a historical thriller with romantic complications. If it is heavy on romance with the thriller threat as a complication, you market it as romance. If you follow the thriller skeleton, the romance complicates the threat they overcome at the end. The way you layer the genres affects the skeleton dressing, but the central question drives the marketing.
You can have a historical thriller with romantic complications. If it is heavy on romance with the thriller threat as a complication, you market it as romance. If you follow the thriller skeleton, the romance complicates the threat they overcome at the end. The way you layer the genres affects the skeleton dressing, but the central question drives the marketing.
Next week we look at the different layers of conflict that play a part in your decision making. Who is your hero and what complicates his mission? Who is your antagonist? Who are the friends and foes? Is there a love interest?
Next week, we look closer at the external conflict layer.
The four layer method is laid out in Story Building Blocks: The Four Layers of Conflict, available in paperback and e-book if you wish to have a copy with all of the information. The theory information is also available on https://dianahurwitz.com/.
As always, if you find the information useful, please like and share.
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