What’s in a Story Question?

I know I said the last post was the last one in the series before I dove into my combining it all post, but I was wrong. My disorganized self forgot something very important. Story questions.

   If you’re not me you’re probably looking at the screen and going John I know what a story question is. It’s a question we ask about the story while reading it. What does that have to do with writing? Well, I’m sorry but you’re wrong, and if that wasn’t your thought process you have my apologies for being presumptuous. While those are story questions in a very literal sense they aren’t what we use to write a story with.

   A story question is the question that underscores the entire premise of a story. I like to think of them like synopsis. You can write stories without them, but in the end a story question will really help you better understand the goal of your story. This will help you to not meander when plotting and writing your story and give you something concrete to inform your subplots with. There are a lot of applications for story questions, but the main thing is just to ensure you know what it is you are writing. I’ll leave the rest for you to extrapolate from incomplete data. I’ve always wanted to say that.

   Now that we know what a story question is and what its purpose is you’re probably wondering how do you write one? Is there another amazing formula we can use to create this? You’re in luck because there is, and it is dead simple. I mean it. It’s almost too easy to get wrong.

   To start a story question is usually two sentences and looks something like this.

   When her blind date turns out to be an absolute tool Maria vows to not ruin the double date for her friend. But can she salvage the date when the vampiress Jaque lures her away and attempts to kidnap her?

   If that looks really simple that is because it is. Don’t worry if it looks too simple to form the foundation of a story. It’s not. I can assure you. This is something taught in genre fiction classes at universities and it has been shown to work.

   Let’s break this down into its core components using an acronym I picked up from Deborah Chester in her book The Fantasy Fiction Formula. SPOOC. It’s a bit like spooky but without the hallows and eves. Alright, that joke was a stretch so I’ll just segue back into what it stands for.

   Situation- This is the background event that causes the events of the story to happen

   Protagonist- This is your main character

   Objective- This is the goal of your protagonist. It can be anything from a desire or what they require to combat the situation

   Opponent- The person standing in the way of the protagonist reaching her goal

   Climax- this is the most intense portion of the plot where the protagonist is put to the test and where she may fail. In a sense this is the point where in an effective story all hope seems lost but the protagonist manages to turn the tables with the tools she has picked up along her journey.

   Pretty simple? Good. Now let’s map the example sentence onto that so we can see where the breakdown is.

Situation- When her blind date turns out to be an absolute tool

   Protagonist- Maria

   Objective- Vows not to ruin the double date for her friend.

   But can she salvage the date when

   Opponent- vampiress Jaque

   Climax- lures her away and attempts to kidnap her?

   That’s all there is to it. Using this you establish some of the things I have discussed before in fantasy writing, but in a much quicker way. Not everything is fleshed out, but that isn’t the point of the story question. You use the story question to prompt you toward filling out all the details and then use those details to garden a wonderful plot.

   I’d like to see your example Story Questions. Please leave me a comment below with your examples. It’s a fun exercise and who knows we may inspire one another into writing some wonderful stories.

   If you have any questions please feel free to ask me in the comments below.