How to Catalyze a Story
The Big Question
Have you ever been sitting at your computer beating your head against the table because everything that should be so simple is causing you suffering? I have. But enough about my day at work.
Constantly Moving Goal
I came home to enjoy my favorite past time, writing. I love creating worlds and exploring them. I love getting emotionally invested in characters that I create. My goal with my newest story is to refine my storytelling.
Every story needs a catalyst. It needs a place where the status quo gets upset. The world explodes around the main character.
This is not easy for me because I don't like things going wrong in my life. I like having all the answers and knowing where I'm going. I need to get over my neurotic phobias and write the part that makes my blood pressure sky rocket and my vision blur with tears. Okay, that's ridiculously dramatic. But I think writing should be dramatic even when it's comedy.
Every story needs a catalyst. It needs a place where the status quo gets upset. The world explodes around the main character.
This is not easy for me because I don't like things going wrong in my life. I like having all the answers and knowing where I'm going. I need to get over my neurotic phobias and write the part that makes my blood pressure sky rocket and my vision blur with tears. Okay, that's ridiculously dramatic. But I think writing should be dramatic even when it's comedy.
The Big Thing
A catalyst is a big moment. It's the Earth shaking event that changes everything.
What are some good catalysts?
A Few Random Catalysts
- Contest
- Alien invasion
- Burned cake
- Car crash
- Birth of a baby
- Sudden reappearance of a dead man
- A splinter
The Point
A splinter could be enough to trigger the events of a novel. A splinter can be deadly.
In the film, The Little Prince (2015), there were several life changing events that altered the course of the little girl's life. Her parents presumably divorce, she moves to a new house and she nearly dies. The last event is the most important because she almost dies but also because she meets a friend. The friend changes her. It is the single, nearly tragic moment that changes her forever. She meets the Aviator, he invites her into his world and she accepts the invitation.
In the film, The Little Prince (2015), there were several life changing events that altered the course of the little girl's life. Her parents presumably divorce, she moves to a new house and she nearly dies. The last event is the most important because she almost dies but also because she meets a friend. The friend changes her. It is the single, nearly tragic moment that changes her forever. She meets the Aviator, he invites her into his world and she accepts the invitation.
Blake Snyder called the big moment the "catalyst" when he wrote Save the Cat!. The Little Prince makes the catalyst clear with the symbolism of her carefully arranged life plan being scattered everywhere. The catalyst doesn't need to be so obviously laid out but it needs to be powerful enough to drive the change in the main character's world.
I have a really big problem other than the fact that my nephew's love of Peg + Cat means I scarcely make it through a day without hearing one of their voices in my head.
I want to find a unique, strange and perfect catalyst. Maybe it's my obsessive compulsive tendencies or maybe I'm procrastinating or I'm just working myself up for no reason. I do those things. The best way to solve this problem is to pick a catalyst and let the story evolve without worrying whether it's the perfect catalyst.
I want a catalyst that I will enjoy writing. After all, I am my primary audience. If I don't like writing it, I'm going to stop writing and wander off to find something better to do. My favorite stories feature protagonists whose lives are altered by their choice, not by external forces. So I'm going to let my main character make a choice and live with the outcome of that choice.
I Have a Really Big Problem!
I have a really big problem other than the fact that my nephew's love of Peg + Cat means I scarcely make it through a day without hearing one of their voices in my head.
I want to find a unique, strange and perfect catalyst. Maybe it's my obsessive compulsive tendencies or maybe I'm procrastinating or I'm just working myself up for no reason. I do those things. The best way to solve this problem is to pick a catalyst and let the story evolve without worrying whether it's the perfect catalyst.
I want a catalyst that I will enjoy writing. After all, I am my primary audience. If I don't like writing it, I'm going to stop writing and wander off to find something better to do. My favorite stories feature protagonists whose lives are altered by their choice, not by external forces. So I'm going to let my main character make a choice and live with the outcome of that choice.
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