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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/31025
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/31025
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

What you have done so far is to create a history. A history is fine, but it is not a story. A story is a drama and dramas have a specific shape. You can think of a drama as being built around a choice, specifically a choice between competing values. A conventional hero is on a journey of discovery. Who are they? What do the want? What are they willing to do to get what they want?

The basic shape of a drama is to bring the protagonist, kicking a screaming, to that point where they have to make that choice, where they have to decide which value is most important to them, where they have to decide what price they are willing to pay to achieve their end. That choice is the central moment of a drama, though it is not always the height of the action.

Everything in a drama must be proved by action. It is not enough that the protagonist make the decision, that they agree to pay the price, we must also see that they really do pay it. Thus the climax of the action may come after the central choice has been made, its function being to prove that the choice has been made, that the hero's resolution is genuine, that the price has really been paid. (Alternatively, of course, it may prove that the hero has feet of clay, that they are not willing to pay the price.)

Once you find the moral core of your drama, the choice that must be made and the price that must be paid, you are ready to situate your drama in the history you have made. The function of the plot from that point on is to

- establish the values that the hero holds dear and between which they must eventually choose

- bring the hero to the realization that the choice must be made

- allow the hero to twist and turn and try to get out of making the choice

- force the hero into a place where they cannot avoid the choice

- have them make the choice

- prove, through action, that the price has been paid (or not) and that the victory has been earned.

Original score: 11