The Long-Lost Secret of the Incas

10.

The Long-Lost Secret of the Incas

So let’s get back to your opus. Every writer is looking for the secret sauce of great storytelling. But the secret is that there is no secret sauce. There is no recipe or set of rules for “how to write a story.” There are, however, principles of storytelling. The difference between a rule and a principle is simple: a rule has only one application. Forget the sugar in the cake recipe and you can skip dessert. But a principle is a general proposition or guideline that can be applied in an unlimited variety of ways.

The principles of storytelling can be expressed in question form. In Bambi v. Godzilla, David Mamet avers that anyone who wants to write drama must learn to apply three questions to all difficulties, three magic questions that are the long-lost secret of the Incas:

Who wants what from whom?

What happens if they don’t get it?

Why now?

Answer those questions well and you’re on your way to writing a compelling story. For example:

Septimus Harding, the elderly warden of Anthony Trollope’s eponymous prelude to the Barchester Chronicles, wants to maintain his position as warden of Hiram’s Hospital, an almshouse for old men, when the benefice he receives for this post comes under the scrutiny of the zealous John Bold. If he fails to withstand Bold’s scrutiny, Mr. Harding will have to give up his house and find other means of livelihood. Complicating matters is that John Bold is engaged to Harding’s beloved daughter Eleanor. The pressure on Mr. Harding builds when Bold’s crusade is taken up by the The Jupiter, which publishes editorials criticizing Harding’s stewardship of the funds.

What does Mr. Harding want and from whom? Harding wants Bold to lay off and for his life to return to peace.

What happens if Mr. Harding doesn’t get it? If he doesn’t get it his comfortable existence will be upset.

Why now? The social pressure from The Jupiter and elsewhere makes Mr. Harding’s decision to resist or capitulate a pressing one.

Or: in the 2013 film The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, a very loose adaptation of James Thurber’s short story, Walter needs to find photojournalist Sean O’Connell’s missing Negative #25. If he doesn’t find the missing negative he won’t be able to honor O’Connell’s wish of having that image serve as the cover of Life magazine’s final issue.

What is the principle on which these questions are intended to help the writer keep focused?

Simply that a story is the adventure of a character’s pursuit of a goal, the attainment of which is in jeopardy due to forces of conflict personal, inter-personal, or impersonal (i.e., the weather).

So simple. Yet so hard to keep into focus.