Storytelling 101: Three Principles of Crafting Compelling Stories
It’s all about change
Why do you write fiction?
I don’t know you but let me try:
You do it because you want to write stories people easily…. forget.
You want them to shut your book and never pick another one from you ever again.
Your dream is to piss them off with such terrible storytelling, they ask themselves, “Who the fuck wrote this shit? I should send them a death threat for torturing me with such drivel.”
Wondering if I’ve gone fucking insane? Great. I have your attention then.
“I want to write stories that bore my readers to death because I hate them and I hate myself,” said NO writer EVER. Not one.
Every writer has an amazing story idea. So do you. The sheer thought of it fills your chest with electrifying excitement. You cannot wait to take your readers on an epic journey of awesomeness.
This is why you tell stories. Why I tell stories.
Unfortunately, despite your best intentions, your readers cannot go past the first page of your story. They would rather watch the wall paint dry.
What went wrong?
How did your novel turn from awesome in your head to utter shit on paper?
It’s all in the execution — the skill of storytelling.
Storytelling is an art, but there’s a science to it. It’s alchemy; a step-by-step process of blending various story elements to produce synergy and magic.
At the heart of it all is one basic truth:
Stories are all about change.
Simple, really. But understanding it will revolutionize your writing forever. With this, even the most mundane idea can be spun into the most compelling story.
So, what do I mean by change and how do you weave it into your story?
I’ve come up with three principles to explain things more clearly and keep readers turning the pages:
1. Stories are about characters.
2. Characters experience conflict.
3. Conflict leads to change.
Let’s take a deep dive into each principle.
Principle #1: Stories are about characters
You’re reading a novel.
The plot hooks you right away — you won’t stop reading until it’s over.
Dialogue is so witty you wonder why you aren’t as articulate. Seriously, why do all your best clapbacks pop up in the shower, two weeks after a heated argument? It’s not fair.
Then there’s the world-building. It pulls you right in, immersing you in a world so real it’s hard to tell the difference.
And the description… my goodness. You never knew words could be this beautiful, this surreal.
Plot. Dialogue. World-building. Description. All important elements in creating a memorable story. I could list five more, and yet none of them matter without the core element that holds them all together:
Characters.
Characters are the heart and soul of any great story. They are the people (or animals, aliens, supernatural beings, robots, etc.), that populate your world, interacting with their environment, and making things happen. Their actions or inaction trigger the sequence of events — AKA plot — in your novel.
Characters are the reason the story is unfolding in the first place.
Without them, nothing happens. No epic plot. No witty dialogue. No immersive world. Nada.
To craft a compelling story, give a great deal of attention to character development.
Types of characters
In any story (long or short), there’s first and foremost the protagonist or hero. This is the main character, the one you want readers to most root for.
The villain is the hero’s main antagonist. Their goals directly or indirectly oppose the goals of the protagonist. So naturally, they clash.
The secondary or supporting characters are important characters that move the story along. They are usually allies of the protagonists. But they can be antagonists too. Various secondary characters include the love interest, the sidekick, and the mentor. Like the protagonist and villain, many of your secondary characters need a lot of character development. They must feel real enough to get readers to care about them.
Minor characters, however, need little to no character development. Most of them don’t even have names and are known for only one thing. They appear briefly to either reveal something or spur action. Despite their small role, they’re still important to move the story along and make it feel more credible.
What do characters want?
Characters have goals and motivations.
The goals are WHAT they want out of life. Their object of desire. Aspirations and ambitions.
Maybe they want their dream job or dream partner. They want to become a great leader for their people. They want to conquer the world. Or maybe, they just want to be free. While they have one major goal throughout the story, they might also have other smaller goals.
Their motivation is the WHY behind their goal. Why do they want what they want? What’s the driving force behind that?
They want that dream job but why? Is it to feel happier and more fulfilled in their life or is it to earn the respect of their ever-critical family?
Do they want to conquer the world, so they never feel weak in a world that constantly oppresses them?
What is the rationale behind their action? Sometimes, they don’t even know it themselves until they dig deep. Which is exactly what you — the writer — need to do.
Probe deeply into the psyche of your characters. Understand their goals and motivation. These shouldn’t be trivial. Especially for the protagonist. Even if their goals sound immature, their motivation must be profound enough to carry the entirety of the story.
Assuming your protagonist is a hacker who gets involved with the wrong company — a gang planning to rob a bank.
Your protagonist’s goal is to hack into the servers of the bank so the gang can steal the money without getting caught.
But why will he do this?
Maybe, he’s dying and wants one last thrill before the end comes.
Maybe, the owner of the bank ruined his life, so he wants revenge.
Or the gang threatened to kill his family if he doesn’t help them.
Or the love of his life is dying, and the only way to save her life is to rob the bank.
A concrete motivation behind your protagonist’s goals is an excellent way to garner empathy for them even if their methods are less than stellar. Seeing themselves in the character’s shoes, the reader will start to care.
Even villains have a good reason for doing vile, villainous shit. It’s pretty twisted, but it still makes sense in their mind. This is why some villains are so loved.
Once you know what your characters want and why, the rest of the story will be all about how they try to get it.
Principle #2: Characters experience conflict
It was love at first sight.
Time froze when Karl laid eyes on her. Today, like every other day, she wore a simple black and white maid uniform that hugged her in all the right places. Her long black hair was up in a bun. Very little makeup. Yet, she glowed, dazzling her customers with her smile. How could one be so stunningly beautiful? It held Karl’s heart hostage. But he didn’t want to escape.
He wanted her instead. He had to talk to her. He breathed in slowly, clenching his fists to stop them from shaking too much. Mustering all the courage in the world, he walked up to the waitress who had just finished serving a young man gaping at her in infatuation.
“Excuse me, Miss,” Karl said, swallowing the nerves building up in his throat. Her features were even more striking now that he was closer.
He almost had a heart attack when the woman flashed him a brilliant white smile. Breathe. He told himself. Relax.
“Oh, hi. What do you need?” Her voice was a song, a siren calling out to him.
“I, well… I’m Karl. You must be…” he squinted, taking in the label on her chest, “Lara. Such a beautiful name.”
“Thank you.” The woman tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. Karl could have sworn she blushed. That made him smile.
“Well, Lara, I was wondering if I could get your number.” Karl waited, his chest racing. This was it. He’d been coming to this diner in the last three weeks just to admire her from afar only to leave quietly like a mouse.
But not today.
“Do you want to take me out?” Lara tilted her head with a knowing grin.
Karl gulped, the blood almost freezing in his veins. “Yes.”
“Okay.” Lara nodded. She scribbled something on her notepad and handed it to Karl. It was her number. “A date it is then.” She flashed her smile again before sashaying back to the kitchen.
Karl stared at the piece of paper in disbelief. Was this happening?
After two dates, Lara agreed to be his girlfriend. And then they got married and lived happily ever after.
The End.
Okay, I exaggerated a bit at the end. But even without that, this would make an incredibly boring love story. Karl wanted something, in this case, someone. His goal was to attract his love interest. He got what he wanted way too easily. No challenges. No tension. No obstacles.
The lack of conflict is the bane of every story.
Even the most beautifully written one will lose a reader’s interest if the characters get everything they want with zero problems. They have the most powerful magic to destroy all their enemies without trying. The villain is no match for them. They can do everything and have no weaknesses, flaws, or limitations.
Fuck that.
Let your characters experience conflict, because that’s how they learn. Put obstacles in their way. Ramp up the tension.
I can think of a hundred ways to make things more difficult for Karl before getting that date.
First of all, Lara might reject him. Or he wouldn’t even get the chance to speak to her at all.
He might bump into another waiter and spill soup all over himself. Lara would see him for the first time and feel sorry for him. Karl would run away in embarrassment.
Or perhaps, Karl is not one to easily get embarrassed. So he would stick to the plan despite being thoroughly soaked by hot chicken soup.
Seeing a man following her, Lara might feel threatened. Someone had been stalking her for a week now and she’s paranoid. She would run back to the kitchen and tell Oleg, the cook. Oleg and a bunch of other kitchen staff, armed with their knives and pans, would throw Karl out.
Okay, maybe let’s make things less dramatic. Karl is at his table, trying as hard as possible to muster the courage to go talk to Lara. He’s very nervous. He doesn’t want to do it because he’s so shy around women… and people in general. After a lot of internal pep talk, he finally musters the courage to go and talk to the woman. But just as he takes another step from his table, he gets a call. It’s his mother. His father just had a heart attack and he’s been rushed to the hospital.
Suddenly nothing else matters. Karl has to go to the hospital.
Of course, the decision he makes at that moment depends on who he is — characters should do nothing out of character without good reason.
The point is that they must go through a lot of shit to get what they want.
Don’t coddle them. Put them in difficult situations. Squeeze the very life out of them.
If they’re smart, give them a smarter villain. If they’re strong, a stronger villain.
Things must get progressively worse. They face a tiny problem. They try to solve it. It gets a little worse, then even worse, until it’s all batshit crazy. Totally hopeless. Even you have no fucking idea how to write them out of it.
Now that’s a gem.
Types of Conflict
Generally, there are two types:
1. Internal conflict
2. External conflict
Internal conflict happens inside the character. It’s when his thoughts, feelings, beliefs, or worldview collide with each other. Perhaps, the identity he’s clung to so dearly is falling apart — he’s not who he thought he was when faced with tough choices.
There isn’t much action involved in internal conflict; it’s a tense moment, nonetheless.
External conflict originates from outside the character, usually from other characters — especially the villain. It could also come from society (a tyrant government or institution), nature (harsh environments or weather conditions), or supernatural beings (gods, demons, ghosts).
As mentioned in the first principle, your hero has goals. However, so does every other character. So, their goals will oppose each other. This directly leads to conflict.
The gang wants to rob the bank.
The chief of police doesn’t want that to happen. She’ll do everything to stop them, or at least keep the hostages alive.
This is a classic conflict type where two people want opposite things.
But what if the characters all want the same thing? Can that still breed conflict? Absolutely.
The gang has five members. Five very different people with individual ideas, beliefs, and values. Sure, they’re all thieves. But they have their motivation for doing what they’re doing.
Now, things go wrong during the bank robbery, forcing the gang to take hostages to negotiate terms with the police.
Our protagonist wants to keep the hostages safe.
Another member of the gang, however, doesn’t want that. He thinks the police are playing them. He wants to kill the hostages and shoot his way out.
Then there’s the Judas of the group who’s plotting to sell out his comrades when things go south.
This is a whole ass drama waiting to happen.
How boring would it be to read a heist story where the team easily walks into the vault to steal the diamond? The End. Yawn.
Let them go through shit.
Principle #3: Conflict leads to change
“You won’t believe what happened yesterday?” Sam said to Paul in excitement.
“What?” asked Paul, struggling to keep his eyes open.
“A UFO landed in our backyard.”
Paul bolted out of the bed, the sleep completely gone. “No fucking way. What happened after that?”
“Huh, nothing.” Sam shrugged. “Dude, I’m hungry. We should get some pizza.”
Paul glared at his best friend, praying to all the gods he didn’t believe in to give him the patience of a saint. He’d been tortured by Sam’s half-told stories since they were in diapers, and he was this close to strangling him.
I don’t know about you, but I usually feel like Paul when someone starts telling me a story… and then nothing happens in the end. Like, what even is the point?
Stories begin at A, go through B, and end at C. When it stays at A, it’s not a story, it’s an incident. It’s like the build of a joke without the punchline. That’s not a joke — that’s a freaking speech.
Stories are about change.
The conflict your characters experience will ultimately cause a transformation for better or for worse. But it must happen. In the beginning, your hero may be a miserable selfish bastard. When the story ends, they either become kinder or tragically even more selfish. They learn along the way and change their behavior.
This brings to mind two important concepts.
Crisis and climax
As things get progressively worse for your hero, he reaches a point where everything feels hopeless. Here, he has to choose between two irreconcilable goods or two best bad choices. This is the crisis. The dilemma he faces as he decides what to do.
His choice will determine whether he’ll get closer to his goal or further away from it. It will also reveal to the reader what kind of person your protagonist is. If that’s the case, then it shouldn’t be an easy choice.
Let’s use the example of the bank robbers. Things have gone to shit. After a hot pursuit, they’ve finally been surrounded by the police. Their pilot hasn’t arrived yet because something has gone wrong with the helicopter. The protagonist has lost all hope.
The only reason Karl got mixed up in all this in the first place was to get the money to save Lara, his dying wife. Yes, Karl is the hero of this story all along.
And he’s in deep shit. What’s he going to do? He has a gun.
At this point, he can decide to pull the trigger. But he’ll die in the process.
Or he can get arrested. He’ll go to prison, but at least he’ll live.
Two very difficult decisions. He must think carefully before making a choice. His choice will reveal the strength of his character. And while the reader doesn’t know what Karl will do, his choice shouldn’t be surprising to them.
After carefully weighing the pros and cons, Karl chooses to surrender. This is the climax — the precise moment in the story the character acts on the crisis.
The effects of the climax will lead to the resolution or end of the story. Things will never be the same anymore, whether for better or for worse.
A change has occurred.
Final thoughts
A series of events does not a story make.
Characters embody those events through their choices, actions, or inaction. They encounter challenges along the way, which get progressively worse until all hope is lost.
Readers anticipate this thrill as they read your story. While they’re rooting for your protagonist to succeed, they want to see him tested over and over again. Make things too easy for him and you’ve lost the reader.
You don’t want that.
Honor the author-reader contract: Write a compelling story and your reader will be hooked from the beginning to the end.
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