In a post on Writers in the Storm, Sandy Vaile asks if your story has a beating heart. “It’s the vision that keeps all the working parts of a novel focused on what really matters, enabling the author to outline more easily and write a purposeful story,” she explains.
The heart of your story is the reason you’re writing it. You might feel connected to a particular theme, or a lesson you want to share. You might want to explore a specific type of character or show the results when combustible elements mix. Whatever it is, your story’s heart is what drew you to the idea in the first place.
“When we have a clear story purpose, it defines the type of story we are telling, the audience who will read it, the subject matter it will explore and the direction of each plot thread,” Vaile says. “When an author isn’t clear about the story’s purpose, they end up with too many elements competing for attention and readers who aren’t fully invested because there isn’t a clear pathway from start to finish.”
Knowing your story purpose can help you:
- Choose which ideas fit with the story purpose
- Keep all of the plot threads cohesive
- Unify the desires and actions of the characters
- Stop the anguish of losing your way, which invariably leads to disjointed or unfinished manuscripts
But if you don’t know your story’s heart, how can you find it? It’s easiest to solve this puzzle before you start to write, but it’s never too late. Vaile suggests some questions to ask yourself:
- What kind of story do you want to tell? Often, we want to tell the kinds of stories we like to read.
- What topic(s) do you want to include? What interests you? What types of story elements, moods, or characters do you like reading about?
- What theme(s) do you want to explore? What values are important to you? What troubles you? What motivates you?
- What deep-seated beliefs do you hold about this theme? How do you feel about this theme? How has it affected you in the past? What do you have to say about it?
“Taking the time to understand what drives us to explore certain aspects of a topic, enables us to imbue our stories with situations and characters that are meaningful to us and will translate into powerful tales that affect readers,” Vaile writes. “It also helps make the story cohesive by keeping every decision you make focused on the right things.”
