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  1. TheNineMagi

    TheNineMagi take a moment to vote

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    The 4 Ws and The Missing W

    Discussion in 'Word games' started by TheNineMagi, Aug 5, 2017.

    My biggest problem has always been the why something is happening in my stories.

    The who, the what, the where, the when have always been relatively easy, I can immerse myself into the scene and more or less describe it. I know these need work also, but at least for these 4 Ws, I can get something on the page.

    So hoping by seeing some example of how other members approach this, I can learn a bit more. I'm figuring setting a prompt is easier to dissect than going thru a whole story or chapter.

    To help other members who struggle with another aspect of the 5 Ws, we can make it so the thread, evolves based the missing W they feel they have a problem expressing.

    --------------------------------------------
    so to make it fun answer the missing W and then provide the next 4 Ws prompt specifying your missing W for someone else to answer.

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    Where: In the treehouse
    Who: A young boy named Jimmy and best his friend
    What: Are having an adventure fighting a storm on a pirate ship
    When: on a relatively hot summer day

    Why ???

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------

    In the treehouse, he helped build with his father during spring break ten-year-old Jimmy with scruffy red hair was at the helm of the great pirate ship Belladonna. His best friend was the first mate consigned to swabbing the decks and hoisting the sails. It was then the storm hit their ship, and captain Barbarossa issued his commands undaunted and fearless. His father was a fisherman in the local village with a fishing trawler of his own and had taught Jimmy from a young age how to sail and run a boat.

    "Strike the Royals!"
    "Aye Captain"

    Their imaginary storm was getting worse by the minute. Jimmy was guiding the ship with an expert hand on this relatively hot summer day.

    "Reef the Mainsail!"

    A moment later with the ship at risk, Jimmy would have to take the chance.

    "Abandon course and point her to the wind!"

    Jimmy knew striking the main sail and free-boarding the ship was the last recourse, before dropping anchor and laying out all chains.

    "Land Captain!, Land dead ahead."

    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    how would you take something like the above and give it a purpose, i.e., the why it is a part of the story?
     
    Last edited: Aug 5, 2017
  2. Homer Potvin

    Homer Potvin A tombstone hand and a graveyard mind Staff Supporter Contributor

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    Presumably they are playing because it is fun. Can't say why the story exists yet... presumably because it has something to say about something meaningful. Or for pure entertainment.

    As far as your larger concern about "why," I would say it's only important in the context of a character's actions/motivations.
     
  3. Trish

    Trish Damned if I do and damned if I don't Contributor

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    @TheNineMagi I like your idea, and am happy to participate, but are we also supposed to be writing a mini story for the prompt we're giving for the next person? I see it going easier if we just answer the W and then create the next one?
     
  4. TheNineMagi

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    I'm flexible, we can definitely do it the way you are mentioning ... and make the story part optional.
     
  5. TheNineMagi

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    the why is always the hard part for me, it just comes off flat

    It is more of how to tie small bits like this into a much larger story. I see a lot of question like; why is that there? Does the reader need to know about this? --- I want to be able to answer yes, and this is why.

    so the actual exercise is finding the why it would belong in a larger story

    in a mini context, an important person is coming over, and his mom sent him out to play, so we show Jimmy playing vs. telling the reader Jimmy is playing outside.
    In a larger context, how is this different, does she always send out to play when people are coming over? Is there something about this person coming over making this day or set of events special?
    Is Jimmy going to remember his days in the treehouse or his best friend... could it be tied in with a funeral or a wedding or some other event?
    maybe the overarching why is tied to external or unrelated events? more or less the question I'm asking is what type of vehicle is being used to bridge between smaller events to tie it back into an over all plot.
     
  6. Trish

    Trish Damned if I do and damned if I don't Contributor

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    I know this was to Homer, but here are my thoughts.

    As I read it (short though it is) the why that I imagined in my head was that his dad had died, and he was playing in his version of how his dad worked. I also assumed he was upset (though I don't know why). I don't think my brain is currently functioning at a level for me to make one up, but I will happily participate properly tomorrow. Don't know if that's what you're looking for or not though.
     
  7. TheNineMagi

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    Yes, this would be the piece I would be looking for in this example

    I write little short clips like the one above and can tie some of them together, but always struggle with a legitimate purpose for the clips to be in the story.

    It's like I can write a series of events, and when done there is still has no rhyme or reason for this set of events to occur. There is no significance or purpose, looks good on the page, but ultimately worthless.
    ---------------------------------------------
    to continue this, you would just fill in 4 of the Ws of your choice and then request the next person to provide the fifth.
     
  8. Bill Chester

    Bill Chester Active Member

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    This is the problem that pantsers face. I was in exactly this position when I finally decided that it was time to outline. What a dreadful word.

    The book that finally made sense to me was Lisa Cron's
    Story Genius. The title refers to those rare people who have an innate genius for telling stories, who just write and out comes something great. She tries to bring that genius to ordinary folk.

    The why is an important question that needs to be answered for every scene. A story is united by what she calls the third rail, which to me is like the third rail in my old Lionel train toy. The third rail provides the power to drive the train. It's the struggle that the whole novel is about and any scene that isn't powered by the third rail is redundant. That's why you are producing a series of events-- they aren't powered by the third rail.

    I've set my default new document in Scrivener to Lisa Cron's scene sheet:


    Scene #
    Alpha Point:
    subplot:
    subplot:
    subplot:
    subplot:

    THE PLOT
    CAUSE: What happens:

    EFFECT: The consequence:

    THE THIRD RAIL
    Why it matters:

    The realization:

    AND SO


    The book goes into detail about each line requires. But note the line Why It Matters.

    No doubt others will pooh-pooh such regimentation, but for the dissatisfied pantser, it's a good way to start outlining.
     
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  9. Homer Potvin

    Homer Potvin A tombstone hand and a graveyard mind Staff Supporter Contributor

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    Tough to tell until the larger story is completed. The "whys" aren't a first draft problem in my opinion unless you're so far off the map that none of the scenes connect at all. My first draft attitude when it comes to the why of a scene is fuck it, it's there because it sounded cool in my head and I wanted to write it. If you chase the why too much you'll end up trying to fit the story to the scenes instead of the other way around. It takes me nearly the full first draft to even know what I'm writing about, at which point all the scenes become negotiable. The tree house scene in this example might not survive at all if the larger story cannot support it.
     
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  10. TheNineMagi

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    @Bill Chester thank you I think you summed it up nicely, these are now books on my hit list, I went to Lisa's website and started reading some of her articles. Some helpful things in there going to have to give some of it a try.

    I can definitely see your point of over doing this and crushing the creative process just to acquire a structure. I definitely do not want to fit the story to the scenes and want to maintain the creative feel it has.
    I have one story coming in from multiple angles and it's even merging to a central event, but beyond saying it's to stop the evil empire I have nothing. Even this seems a bit contrived and not the real purpose behind the various actions and scenes already on the page. At this point, it's like the story is stuck until I can breathe some kind of purpose into it.
     
  11. Homer Potvin

    Homer Potvin A tombstone hand and a graveyard mind Staff Supporter Contributor

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    Not the worst thing in the world. Plenty of books have been built around less. So long as your characters have some stake or personal gain in destroying the empire, you can make it fly. What I usually do is take stock of things once the story is complete (the empire is destroyed) and then work the characters backwards to add more meaning, stakes, choices, etc. Usually I can count the scenes that survive from first draft to final on one hand. I think in my current WIP there might be five scenes in 100k words that have made the cut so far, and even those have probably been rewritten a half a dozen ways to reflect a half a dozen vibes.
     

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