Evolution of a Story: What Makes you Love the Stories you Love?

Today I had an epic realization about the novel I’m working on. It’s actually a little bit sad.

I might have gotten the setting all wrong.

But then, I ask myself: How do I solve the problem of the _____ in a new setting? (I still haven’t figured that part out yet.)

Photo by Oscar Portillo on Unsplash

Here’s the reality: When you start to analyze the “why” behind a story you already know and love, you begin to see its merits, the character arc, the structure of the story keeping pace with the character arc, and how the setting meets the character — or causes conflict — and then, what do you do?

You realize your story might not be in the right place.

In my last post, I told you I was researching hiking trails in New Jersey. They may still have a crack-of-dawn moment in the arc of my story, but I’m not sure that they will be as pivotal as I once believed them to be.

How is this so? How does an author not KNOW where a story is going or why the setting isn’t right?

I like to think about an author discovering his story pieces like a dating-turned-married couple. (Put a bookmark here — I’ll come back and explain it.)

Before I go on, please humor me.

Consider your favorite movie.

Go ahead, I’ll give you a few minutes.

Okay, so you can’t pick just one — pick a favorite. Doesn’t have to be the favorite.

You can probably tell me the character names, what they look like, what troubles they face, what their personality quirks are, why you love them or do-not-so-much love them and where their stories collide, can’t you? This is because when we love something, we get lost in it, learn it inside and out, and the knowing of it becomes a part of us.

We’ve taken the story out on more than just a few dates, that’s for sure.

My favorite movie is “Notting Hill.” (Incidentally, I keep thinking I should change this to suit the “smart people” in the world or to make myself seem more academic than I really am. But no, this has been my favorite movie since I was in my mid-20s.)

After watching it once, I could tell you the jokes and one-liners and I could tell you the basic premise of the movie and how it ended. But now, after viewing it at least a handful of times (probably more), I can tell you the musicians who have songs featured in it, the color of the front door of Hugh Grant’s house, the exact outfit that Julia Roberts (whose given name is actually Julie) wears to dinner to meet Grant’s friends… and so on. I have learned it by getting wrapped up in different aspects of it each time I see the film.

Okay, back to the marriage-and-story analogy.

When you’re dating, you get to know the person. You ask them what they like, what they don’t like, how they grew up, what their goals and dreams are, and who they want to “be” when they grow up. Then, you get married.

Photo by Jakob Owens on Unsplash

You find out that their goals are maybe further from their reach than they once thought. You find out their weaknesses and you start to learn that you have a direct impact on some goals and whether those weaknesses are magnified or not.

But after a while (maybe 10, 15, 20 years in), you realize that the weaknesses and identified goals from when you were dating that person have evolved. You have learned that your spouse’s weaknesses can actually be strengths when placed in certain contexts. You discovered that the goals that your would-be spouse once held were actually not a great fit for who they really are.

This is how a story — and all that goes into it — evolves as it’s written, revised, edited, read, and rewritten.

It’s why books take forever. It’s why your favorite authors and series can absolutely not be written fast enough. It’s why writing is so hard — persevering is an understatement. And that’s before anyone even rejects it, revises it, and tells you to start over or come up with a different idea.

So… why do authors write? Well, that’s for another day.

But until that day, what is something you love about a story? Give me a title (film, novel, short story, play) and what makes that story special to you.