Crafting Momentum: Ensuring Your Story Moves Toward Its Climactic Resolution
Six Essential Steps for Evaluating and Enhancing Your Story's Progress
In my last article on the craft of storytelling, I did a deep dive into the central dramatic question. What does your story set out to answer?
Today, I share some insight into how you can ensure your story continually makes progress toward answering that question.
As a full-time editor, I specialize in helping fiction writers like you transform their comic scripts and novels into compelling narratives that engage readers and spark interest from publishers. With this series about craft, I draw from real-world editing experience to provide practical solutions that help you address common storytelling pitfalls.
By setting a clear central dramatic question, you’re promising readers the story you’re telling will actually answer it. Once you set that question, there’s an expectation that you’ll take readers on a journey that culminates in the answer.
Read that again, it’s important.
Not only must you answer the question, but you also have to show signs that the characters are making progress toward answering it.
If you’re not showing signs of progress toward that goal, you risk losing readers.
In the past, I’ve said stories that lack signs of progress feel like they're meandering. They might be loaded with action, but if those scenes aren’t tied to answering the question you posed, your scenes feel like they don’t have any point.
I often read stories that start with a strong hook. I’m compelled to keep reading... to experience the journey the writer promised to take me on. Then, slowly, I realize the story isn’t going anywhere. It seems like it should be engaging, what with the interesting ideas and twists and moments of action, but overall, it all sort of feels… blah.
A lack of conflict plays a big role here. So does having scenes that don’t grow organically from previous actions and decisions.
But at the heart of it is that we don’t see clear signs of progress.
It’s as if the writer understood the beginning and the epic finale, but the middle could only muster, “Stuff happens.”
Well, the stuff that happens must lead us toward the end. We need signs that show we’re moving in the right direction.
I usually call these signs breadcrumbs. A sort of plot outline that guides you toward the next key scene and, ultimately, the end. But that’s from the writer’s POV. You’re giving yourself a breadcrumb trail to follow to help you stay on course.
From the reader’s POV, your story needs what Brandon Sanderson calls signposts. It’s like you’re waving your arms, shouting, “Hey, reader, look, we’re getting closer!”
Progress and Story Structure
The structure of your story can help ensure you have those breadcrumbs and signposts in place.
Let’s say you’re using the 3-act structure, such as what you find in Save the Cat by Blake Snyder. The 3-act structure has clear breadcrumbs built in.
For example, at the end of Act 1, you have a significant event that forces the main character toward the main conflict, propelling the story into Act Two. The character takes up the challenge. He steps into the story. That’s a signpost.
Later, the bad guys move in. They get closer to the main character, setting up obstacles for the main character to deal with. Again, these are signposts that the story is progressing.