Read on Twitter
Get a feel for natural consequences part 2:
How to Win
#writetip #WritingWithClark
Your protagonist may "win" in the end, or they may lose. But whatever happens physically/literally in the story, they have got to win The Argument.
Here's what I mean...
How to Win
#writetip #WritingWithClark
Your protagonist may "win" in the end, or they may lose. But whatever happens physically/literally in the story, they have got to win The Argument.
Here's what I mean...
Remember watching #BlackPanther, feeling like it was SO good, the whole time, right up until the end? Then there was that overly-CGI fight scene between the two panthers and then the movie ended. Were it not for the epilogue the entire experience would have felt unsatisfying.
The writers (or director or editors or someone) somewhere along the way lost sight of the natural consequences of the characters, and of The Argument. It's not a complicated case to make:
The protagonist of the film had to learn their lesson in order to grow into their heroic role. In this case, they did. The antagonist of the film had to learn their lesson—their fatal flaw—&come face-to-face with the reason their perspective was wrong. In this case, they did not.
No, in this case the ANT is never shown how or why they are wrong, and because of this the MC never gets a chance to prove that the lesson they learned is the superior argument. Hell, they hardly even get to show what lesson they learned.
Instead, the ANT simply loses a fist fight. This is dissatisfying. It doesn't feel like the consequences of their villainy were truly played out. Even though the hero "won," it doesn't feel like a victory. Even if we can't quite "put a finger on it," we walk away feeling like
The Argument of the story was unresolved. Certainly, we don't feel as though the MC won The Argument. In other words, we don't see that the viewpoint of the hero bested the viewpoint of the villain, whether or not that is reflected in a physical confrontation.
(it often is, but The Argument NEEDS to be resolved independent of fisticuffs). So when you're writing, keep in mind what "arguments" your characters are propositioning to the story. Get a feel for how those arguments conflict with each other,
and then you'll be able to reflect the story's abstract conflicts onto its physical conflicts. Et voila, you have the perfect recipe to give your story natural consequences, ones that feel compelling to see played out, and satisfying to read.
