3 Essential Moments Every Story Needs To Have
Going beyond the hero's journey to tell tales that change lives
Stories move us and change us in unexplainable ways that can hardly be called science. Yet, there still seems to be a formula — a pattern of a story that makes it irresistible to mankind.
I believe it’s our call as writers to learn, study and memorize that formula, and exploit it to bring about the greatest and most satisfactory stories possible.
“At the end of the copy you’ll find yourself.” — Yohji Yamamoto
Here are a few of my insights into the formula of great storytelling. Specifically, the three key moments that every great story has, that you should include in your own: (Littered with examples from my favorite films, of course)
#1: The promise
The promise moment of every story is where the audience knows that the thing just presented will soon be flipped on its head.
It’s the classic “What’s the worst that could happen?” line, delivered right before everything worse happens.
This moment is a suggestion of something more, of the drama that we as audience members, readers, and viewers alike crave in our innermost being.
“There is no map on the back of the Declaration of Independence”
— Riley in National Treasure
Oh, but isn’t there?
In the movie Date Night, Steve Carell and Tina Fey’s characters are seated at an expensive NYC restaurant impersonating another couple — a somewhat innocent choice that will eventually ruin their evening.
They’re talking about their lives and how the evening’s going to go when one of them raises a glass to toast.
“Isn’t it bad luck to toast with an empty glass?”
“That’s not a thing…”
We as the audience take that as a signal to the hectic evening they’re going to have, a message only strengthened by the title of the film. This will be no ordinary “Date Night” — and that line is when we know it to be true.
In Princess Diaries, the “promise” sets in when Mia says “I don’t want to be a princess.” It’s at that moment that it’s signaled to the audience that by the end of the movie she’ll both be a princess…and it’ll have been a choice that she made.
Additionally, the entire film will be about her resisting that end — because people are stubborn and often don’t want to end up where they most need to be.
The promise moment is also well captured in every moment a character in a film says some variation of “I will never fall in love.” We all know that when we hear that line, that character will fall in love by the end of the movie — and they’ll like it.
“I just want somebody I can have a decent conversation with over dinner.” — Sam in Sleepless in Seattle
In Couples’ Retreat, the entire scene where Jason Bateman and Kristen Bell’s characters are explaining their vacation plan qualifies as a “promise moment”.
They paint this idyllic picture of what the trip will look like to their friends — and as an audience member, you know that this is for sure not what the rest of the film is going to look like.
“We’re teachers, we’re parents, and every morning when we wake up, that’s all we gotta be.” – Elizabeth in the pilot episode of Madam Secretary
We cherish these promise moments in stories, even when they’re so blatantly obviously suggesting something to us because we know something the character doesn’t: just how big of a shit show of a fictional life they’re about to have to endure, whether the timeline of the film is simply a day or a whole slice of life.
#2: The shot clock is set
It doesn’t always have to be a literal clock being set, but oftentimes it is. The calendar is marked and we as the audience, whether we realize it or not, know that there’s something at stake.
In Onward, Ian has exactly 24 hours until he loses his chance of meeting his father forever.
That clock being set is the inciting incident of the rest of the events of the film, establishing urgency that creates an emotional pungency that permeates every scene of the movie.
“Without a sense of urgency, desire loses its value.” — Jim Rohn
This moment is so shot-clocky that Ian literally holds his watch up and sets a twenty-four-hour timer, one he will reference several times throughout the story.
In Princess Diaries 1, Princess Mia has a certain number of weeks until she must decide whether to renounce her title or not.
Similarly, in the second film, parliament tells her that she has thirty days to find a husband in order to become queen — and so the adventure begins.
While sometimes inorganic or heavily crafted by the writers, the instigation of a shot clock makes the film move at a more entertaining pace than how things might go in real life. And we eat it up.
#3: The lesson
This is similar to the road home, but there isn’t always a moment where the character crosses the threshold again and comes back to the ordinary world.
This moment can be at the very end of the movie as the credits roll, or moments before the last battle. Either way, this moment is what warrants the film in the first place. It’s the lesson that the main character and the audience had to learn.
It’s when Tony Stark finally says “I am Iron Man” — both a lesson moment for him and the audience as well as the instigation of other installments of the Marvel franchise.
“Destiny is something that we’ve invented because we can’t stand that everything that happens is accidental” is what Meg Ryan’s character, Annie, says in Sleepless in Seattle.
How ironic it is, then, that she, seemingly by fate, ends up holding Samuel Baldwin’s hand at the end of the movie in a turn of events that never ceases to make me cry as she learns the ultimate lesson of this film.
“You did it Ben, for all of us.” — Ben’s dad in National Treasure
Sometimes this is just the moment in the movie where the main character is finally proven wrong — and they realize it.
It’s the family hug at the end of a hard journey, the kiss the couple finally gets to share, or the nod back to something earlier in the film that we were all supposed to pick up on and learn in the end.
Sometimes it’s the moment the Ebenezer Scrooge character donates his wealth to the town in a moment of true altruism, and Tiny Tim utters his lines that will warm hearts for eternity.
“God bless us, every one!” — Tiny Tim
In whatever way the storytellers choose to portray it, this is the part of the film where the characters look back and realize just how far they’ve come — like when George Bailey realizes how wonderful of a life he really has in the middle of Bedford Falls as his friends and family shower him with love and help he’d been searching for.
They in some way pronounce something, agree with something, or accept something that they’ve been avoiding for the entire story — and it’s always a glorious sight, no matter what package it comes in.
They realize that everything they did, everything they worked on, and everyone they met, was worth it — getting them in some shape or form to where they are now, a place they can make peace with in some way.
I can’t tell you why in our souls this stuff works — but it does.
We can only succumb to the rules of story and tell the best tales we can with the tools we have available to us.
“Rules are what makes art beautiful.” — Aaron Sorkin
I hope a breakdown of these three moments has called to your mind moments of your favorite stories that you can analyze and steal elements from. Enjoy your writing. Go tell the story only you can.
Best of luck!
Kindly, Katie
Enjoyed this article? Here’s another one of my pieces on storytelling!
