"Story is about a search for meaning..." The plot is a vehicle for character transformation through the realization of the meaning assigned to that character's desire.
This just helped me ENORMOUSLY. Ive been stuck on the sequel to my novel for I cannot count how many months. And the whole time Im here like "ytf am I struggling to figure out this story? The characters are naturally progressing through the plot, whats going on?" And I just remembered that in the 60,000 words I have written, there is no deep truth. Lots of character growth but I see now it can be even deeper. No one has that visceral, deep 'omg' moment. In the first book, almost everyone does. Sequels are hard. And this is only book 2 out of a 8 *sigh*
I have to disagree... you might want to make a character to be unlikable, how about your antagonists. Not being unlikable just because, under his/her eyes... maybe misunderstood.
I strongly have to disagree. These days people stress so much they want characters to be likable (and even an example to people on how one should behave) that they don’t understand anymore how stories can have ambiguous/ ambivalent or even unlikable characters and think that the writer is being irresponsible or immoral or must be a horrible person in real life. I’m not saying that this is what you are saying, but things generally seem to have gone a bit too much in this direction in my view.
This was excellent. Alan's great ability to explain the inner workings of story in a conceptual way (rather than a paint-by-numbers sort of way that many "gurus" fall into) is enlightening and inspiring. Just ordered your book. Thank you for doing what you do.
interesting to see how most who answered the related survey-which had multiple good options-intuitively came to the same conclusion as him. and having done the survey first and answered "for meaning", this was helpful hearing his version of what that means, and fleshing out how that takes place. thank you both!
love this. it can't be applied to every story since every story achieves its outcome differently (and that's great) but seeing as i've just watched the holdovers (2023) - it was released late for uk - i'd love to compare. there are 3 dilemmas occurring in the story, all 3 characters moving towards healing now that their environment has been stripped to the barebones and all they have is each other. mary's powerful desire could be that she wants her son back, false belief being that that isn’t possible anymore. by the end of the film, she's reconnected with her family and has at least begun to address her grief. is opening herself up again and letting people back into her life, people who remember curtis and will carry him with them, her truth? or can she actually have her son back in her life, but in a different manner? not sure. for angus, i suppose his powerful desire is much like a 17 year old's always is (at least it was for me): i need everything to stop breaking apart at the seams please. he wants his dad back (whether that's his father before he was struck down with mental illness or even after), he wants his mother to be more present, and he wants his life to be easier. false belief?? that his father won't be allowed back into his life (either still mentally ill or also after a dramatic and unlikely overhaul), that his mother doesn’t have space for him in her life anymore/doesn’t want to be reminded of his father, that his father's legacy ("hardwired" is a real & terrifying belief for anyone with parents like this, kudos to hemingson, i always worry that i'll develop paranoid schizophrenia) will ruin his own life sooner or later. truth? as proposed by his teacher and almost-father figure, nobody is their own father, we are all our own individuals, which could possibly shift all of his false beliefs: won't turn out like his dad, mother won't be reminded of his dad and will still want him in her life, and as long as he can breathe he still has a choice. for paul its a little more tricky for me to place. his powerful desire at the beginning of the film seems to be that he just wants to hide. that by hiding, he can't be seen and his secret can't get out. he's safer that way? more "in control" of how he's being received by others, on the surface anyway. false belief: he would be ruined if anyone found out he hadn't graduated because of someone else's privilege, he would lose all respect, and his job. truth: it's hard for me to say but he isn't respected in the first place :( he's looked down on by his own ex-student, he's othered by his peers and thrown under the bus to hold over, he's ridiculed and disliked by pretty much everyone - he's not respected in the first place at all. by learning more about mary's and angus' very different experiences of grief, maybe he learns about his own grief? it's thrown into sharp relief that the things he sacrificed (love, family, etc), to somehow rationalise the turn his life took after college, were things he could have had if he'd just let go of his pride. long story short, his truth could be that it doesn’t matter what happened back then and success is not meausred by the piece of paper you leave school with - success is, like in the video, an intrinsic movement. he succeeds at the wnd of the film because he has learned to love mary and angus like his own family, and he finally has people who are important to him. he can move on, he can come out from hiding under barton and go do his own thing, the stuff he really wants to do. god, i love that film so much
What Alan says is on the dot. The universal truth is what we loose to address in our stories. The drama between a character’s dilemma and acting on them makes the story. In the meantime the characters struggling with their false believe in the process of resolving the dilemma can fill most parts of the plot in the story. Finally the story should answer the theme.
The search for Truth is the journey of being healed from the Lie ... is how I frame it. But yeah this was super helpful to see it this clearly in my mind, thank you.
While I appreciate this, I don't agree when everyone says something like "At the core of every story..." etc. Some stories are different. Not every great movie is the same.
There’s always exceptions to the rules/ conventions. But it’s good to have a set of models to study so you don’t fall into beginners traps; then if you gained skill and experience you can break the rules/ conventions if you think you’re sure it’s better for your story.
You are absolutely 100% correct, and I'm glad you stuck to your guns with the Spielberg comment. I am so SICK of this, " every single story MUST be about a character having a false belief in their subconscious that they don't even know about. This this false belief holds them back until, voila, it's pointed out and they overcome and change and that's the entire plot and that has to be that way for every single story ever. It sure wasn't that way for The Expanse or Game of Thrones. I'll stick with Faulkner's advice, The Only Thing Worth writing about is the human heart in conflict with itself. It's worked out pretty well for George RR Martin.
4:54 well.. the bad thing was the relationship lie was like cheating .. not as bad, but a block or a disease in the relationship still. It’s still damaged dna in the marriage bond.
![Why Plot Doesn't Help Writers Finish A Story - Alan Watt [Founder of L.A. Writers' Lab]](/img/logo.svg){kind=logo}
