THE MESSAGE IN THE BOTTLE <p class="initial">Stephen King calls fiction ‘the truth inside the lie.’ The truth is what the story says about us. It takes us into the story. " This is an introduction to immersive narrative. " Narrative lies — that tell the truth about our lives. [storyBook.jpg] " You might be interested in the lesson goal or various resources. " Or wondering: how does it work? VARIOUS RESOURCES Adams, Kenn, “Back to the Story Spine,” 2013 Cron, Lisa, Story Genius, Ten Speed Press, 2016 Gottschall, Jonathan, The Storytelling Animal, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012 Storr, Will, The Science of Storytelling, Abrams Press, 2020 <p class="finePrint">Unless otherwise indicated, images are royalty free stock found on Pixabay. Icons by Flaticon, used with permission. The characters and events portrayed in this work are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. Copyright © 2022 Roger Kenyon.</p> Start the lesson | How does it work? HOW DOES IT WORK? Content is presented in short exchanges, like a conversation. Each exchange presents a point with examples or detail. " Keep it short. Show more, say less. " More like text messaging. Less like a text book. " Interested in the lesson goal or would you like to start the lesson? SHOW MORE, SAY LESS Words matter. We use words to converse, to make contracts, even to curse. Use words to engage. For starters, use fewer. And use words that invite the imagination. [oops_01.jpg] " Some times a picture is worth a 1000 words. " Other times radio is more visual than television. " Words leave room for the reader to fill with personal experiences. Lesson goal | Start the lesson LESSON GOAL Choose your path and move at your pace as you learn the essentials of immersive narrative in order to develop compelling storytelling. " Your reader will care what happens. " Caring leads to attention, which aids retention. " Great for a book club. More important in training and education. " Such as an employee onboarding tutorial or an online help. Start the lesson | How does it work? START THE LESSON All narratives have plot. Plot is a series of events. [car_chase.jpg] " The car chase, the fight scene, the love scene. " Plot is the sequence of what happens | why events happen. WHY EVENTS HAPPEN 🔴 Plot is what happens. Let's go a different direction. " Why has to do with a character’s motive, mistaken beliefs, or other internal factors. " Plot is external events: this happened, then that happened. WHAT HAPPENS 🟢 Plot is a sequence of events leading up to a point (story climax). " For example, a mystery leading to finding a missing person | collecting a set of clues. " At the climax, the problem is resolved. COLLECTING A SET OF CLUES 🔴 Collecting clues likely is not the mystery's climax. Collecting clues is part of the story development, but not a high point. " The climax is a resolution of the external conflict. " Clues would more likely lead to finding a missing person. FINDING A MISSING PERSON 🟢 The plot is the protagonist’s external struggle with the ‘what if’ problem. " What if there is an earthquake. " What has to happen to find shelter | find inner peace. INNER PEACE 🔴 Inner peace is internal. It might be part of the protagonist’s inner struggle. Plot, however, deals with the external struggle. " Plot refers to events around external events. "As far as the plot goes, if there is an earthquake, first find shelter. FIND SHELTER 🟢 Plot tells how the hero conquers the external struggle (e.g., finds shelter). " Every narrative tells what events happen. " An immersive narrative tells how it happens | why it happens. HOW IT HAPPENS 🌕 Immersive tells how? Well, yes—but every narrative tells how. " An immersive narrative distinctively focuses on why it happens. WHY IT HAPPENS 🟢 Immersive narrative tells ‘why’ through the protagonist’s internal struggle. " Injury, loneliness, regret. We have all had it. " You struggle. The protagonist also struggles | has an easier time. EASIER TIME 🔴 The protagonist also struggles with issues, just as we all do. " Getting along with cranky people. " Never having enough time. " Wishing you had made different choices. ALSO STRUGGLES 🟢 Can the reader can relate to the protagonist’s struggle? " If so, the reader becomes immersed in the protagonist’s world. " The reader becomes a spectator to | invested in the outcome of events. A SPECTATOR TO 🔴 The reader won't remain a spectator if invested in the outcome. The reader becomes ‘in the scene’ through the protagonist. " Active, not passive. Less like not a spectator and more like a participant invested in the outcome. INVESTED IN 🟢 To be immersed is to feel like you are there. To be invested is to feel that you care. " The invested reader cares about what may happen. " The personal history | ultimate fate of the protagonist matters to the reader. PERSONAL HISTORY 🟡 History matters—yes and no. How the protagonist got here helps the reader relate. Perhaps you have had similar struggles. Perhaps not. A story is a problem to solve. We want to know how the hero solves the problem. " History is the past. Fate is the future. " If I have problems like our hero has, I want to know my ultimate fate. ULTIMATE FATE 🟢 As a writer, the process often begins by asking: what if? " The protagonist was doing all right. " All right until, as a writer, you came along and disturbed the status quo | tried illustrating. TRIED ILLUSTRATING 🔴 The protagonist might be doing just as well if the work were illustrated. Illustrations don't affect internal or external struggle. " As a writer, however, you came along and upset the protagonist’s world or the status quo. DISTURBED THE STATUS QUO 🟢 As writer, you upset the protagonist's world with ‘what if.’ " What if there was an earthquake? " What if people could only utter the truth? " What if the new neighbours are nudists? ‘What if’ changes the protagonist’s world and is often upsetting change | welcome change. WELCOME CHANGE 🔴 A story is a problem to solve. Good news isn’t a problem, but there may be complications. "You win a lottery, but are hounded by people wanting a handout. "In that case, the narrative is driven by the complications—upsetting change. UPSETTING CHANGE 🟢 ‘What if’ upsets the protagonist’s world. " ‘What if’ is a problem that needs solving. " It is a quest that needs completing. We relate to the problem or to the protagonist or both. In effect, the protagonist is our avatar | our nemesis. OUR NEMESIS 🔴 A nemesis is an adversary, an opponent. An opposing force does not have to be human. The weather, such as a hurricane, can stand in the way of our hero. "The protagonist, however is our avatar. OUR AVATAR 🟢 The protagonist represents us in the narrative. " The protagonist puts us in the story and so is us in the story world. " The protagonist makes us a participant, makes us immersed | makes us concerned. MAKES US CONCERNED 🟡 Concerned, perhaps. If so, likely because we are immersed in the story, plunged into its world. "Why? because we care when the story makes us immersed. MAKES US IMMERSED 🟢 We want the protagonist to resolve the struggle. " Maybe the protagonist feels like an outsider—we have felt like an outsider. " Because the protagonist's struggle is great entertainment | also our struggle. GREAT ENTERTAINMENT 🟡 Struggle can entertain. Comedy can be enjoyable. Drama is often less amusing. " Watching a goat puzzle its way out of a crate. Amusing. " Feeling the hero’s struggle is also our struggle. Dramatic. IS ALSO OUR STRUGGLE 🟢 The reader goes from watching what happens to wanting it to happen. " What happens to the protagonist happens to us. " What happens here matters there. Or is it that what happens there matters here? HERE MATTERS THERE 🔴 Our lives don't inform or instruct the narrative. The narrative may have a message for us, however. " What to do or what to avoid. " That conveys a sense of ownership since what matters there matters here. THERE MATTERS HERE 🟢 Having protagonist like us is how readers have skin in the game. " The protagonist experiences an internal struggle leading to change of heart. " This struggle yields the main point | yields a bigger struggle. YIELDS A BIGGER STRUGGLE 🔴 The path to the climax may be a series of struggles or sub-tasks along the way in preparation. " Eventually it all yields the main point. YIELDS THE MAIN POINT 🟢 The protagonist’s transformation embodies the point. The protagonist is: " Someone whose past will make what happens to me (rather desirable | largely inevitable). " A loner who finds a friend. An outlaw who seeks redemption. [sunrise.jpg] RATHER DESIRABLE 🔴 Not all that happens to our hero is welcome, but it might be largely inevitable. EMBODIES THE POINT 🟢 Every story has a point, a message to be discovered. A message to give meaning or make sense of life | to put in a bottle. " It may be that good guys always win. " Or there is still time for fix the wrongs. TO PUT IN A BOTTLE 🔴 More likely the message is interpreted from events rather than literally floating onto the shore of castaways. " Some messages are hard lessons learned in trying to make sense of life. MAKE SENSE OF LIFE 🟢 Good guys don't always win. Time is worth more than money. Being right is not enough. The message is what you draw from events. The protagonist might move away. Might try to forget. All trying to bring personal demons | the course of events under control. THE COURSE OF EVENTS 🔴 Events do lead to other events, externally. The protagonist seeks to control the inner struggle—the struggle with personal demons. PERSONAL DEMONS 🟢 These demons are inner struggle and they are barely under control. " As protagonist, I put on a front that I am happy. " Something needs to happen so I have a change of heart | means of escape. MEANS OF ESCAPE 🟡 Metaphorically speaking, yes. And some times even a literal means of escape. But the biggest escape is internal. It is a change of heart. CHANGE OF HEART 🟢 As a writer, pick someone to play the protagonist whose inner struggle and change of heart exemplifies the point. " For example, I used to be a fashion model. We were poor. " I didn't just wear the clothes, they wore me. I became (what I wore | a fashion designer). A FASHION DESIGNER 🔴 In this case, the character withdraws emotionally and takes on a persona matching what I wore. " Similarly, some people take on an attitude matching their vehicle. " Such as the cliché big truck, big attitude. WHAT I WORE 🟢 Internal struggle is the tension between " my deep desire (to be valued for who I am) and " my defining misbelief (I am worthless) that keeps me from my deep desire. The effort to overcome defining misbelief | overcome deep desire is what the story is about. " We had nothing. I was nothing. I become something in what I wear. " Clothes make me glamorous, influential, provocative. OVERCOME DEEP DESIRE 🔴 The protagonist has been suppressing deep desire. " That is what causes internal struggle, internal conflict. " To be set free, the protagonist needs to overcome defining misbelief. OVER DEFINING MISBELIEF 🟢 What does the protagonist want? " I want to feel appreciated for who I am. " I want to feel wanted for myself and not … . for the clothes I wear because of what I have BECAUSE OF WHAT I HAVE 🔴 It isn’t what the protagonist has, but what is missing. " What is missing, in this case, is feeling wanted. " For me and not for the clothes I wear. FOR THE CLOTHES I WEAR 🟢 Why does the protagonist want it? " To compensate for feeling neglected growing up. " Only noticed for what I do (modelling) and (not who I am | not what I am). NOT WHAT I AM 🔴 The model was noticed for what was worn, but not for who, as a person. " The model was compensating for being noticed " for what I wear and not who I am. NOT WHO I AM 🟢 The protagonist’s defining misbelief? Not being worthy of notice. " Being noticed will mean I am okay, not broken or unwanted. " If people saw me, they would not want me just as others did when I was a skinny little kid. In other words, outlook defines the protagonist’s outlook. Outlook (defines behaviour | defines events). Perhaps turning to alcohol to numb the pain or becoming a recluse. DEFINES EVENTS 🔴 Outlook influences thoughts, beliefs, desires. " They, in turn, are what defines behaviour. DEFINES BEHAVIOUR 🟢 Why does the protagonist have this misbelief? "Our family was poor growing up. My parents put me in child pageants. "Winnings helped, but left me feeling I am good for what I do, not who I am. The past informs the present | informs the future. INFORMS THE FUTURE 🔴 The past led to a mistaken belief that keeps the character from achieving what is deeply desired. " The story is about moving from the present toward equilibrium. " Thus the past informs the present as a starting point. INFORMS THE PRESENT 🟢 Why doesn’t the protagonist overcome the misbelief? "Because I am not good enough on my own; clothes make me good enough. "My deep desire is what I have long wanted. Everything about the protagonist stems from the protagonist’s past and deep desire | present and mistaken belief. PRESENT AND MISTAKEN BELIEF 🔴 The situation at the outset of the story is the protagonist living with a mistaken belief. What drives the story is the past and deep desire. PAST AND DEEP DESIRE 🟢 Raised in poverty, the protagonist wants to be safe and secure. " I want somebody to love me, freckles and all. " Or, in another story, I want to go the stars and to see moonrise on Mars. The protagonist’s deep desire doesn’t have to be possible | have to be practical to still be desired and achieved. HAVE TO BE POSSIBLE 🔴 Seemingly impossible, perhaps, but achievable or meaningful in some sense. Otherwise there is no story except to achieve failure. " And even failure has to be possible. " That said, it does have to be practical. NOT HAVE TO BE POSSIBLE 🟢 The protagonist suffers from a misbelief. " It defines my character. " It holds me from achieving that deep desire. For instance, traumatic fear | false hope may hold the protagonist back. FALSE HOPE 🔴 Hope—even false hope—drives one to achieve. Traumatic fear is more likely to keep a person from achieving what is deeply desired. TRAUMATIC FEAR 🟢 Why perpetuate a misbelief that holds a person back? " Because it feels right or seems true to me. " At a crucial moment in the my life, it was true in the sense it sounded plausible | served some purpose. SOUNDED PLAUSIBLE 🔴 Perhaps it sounded plausible. Perhaps it sounded far-fetched, even at the time. In either case, it served some purpose. SERVED SOME PURPOSE 🟢 For instance: being rich is being right (money buys anything). "Or: if you're nice, people won't hurt you (like daddy did). "Or: I'm not good enough (nobody like me ever did such-and-such before). Let’s review. LET’S REVIEW ⚪️ Quick review: internal struggle isn't the same as external struggle. "External struggle is what happens to me, such as a robbery or falling in love. "Internal struggle occurs within me; it is how I deal with my deep desire. When the story starts … WHEN STORY STARTS ⚪️ When the story starts, the protagonist has a sense of stability, balance, equilibrium. " My experience (external environment) matches my expectations (outlook, attitude). " I have a sense of equilibrium | a change of my heart when my outlook can explain (make sense of, assimilate) any new perceptions or experiences. A CHANGE OF MY HEART 🔴 A change of heart leads to a new status quo for the protagonist. " However, it is not the same as that stability or a sense of equilibrium. A SENSE OF EQUILIBRIUM 🟢 Equilibrium goes out the window when aliens land or a hurricane hits or someone from the past wants revenge. " Outlook affects how a person perceives and interacts with an object or event. " We filter our perception through our world view or personal prejudices | my mental model. PERSONAL PREJUDICES 🟡 Prejudices do affect how we see things. They are one part, at sometimes and important part of my mental model of how the world works. MY MENTAL MODEL 🟢 If a mental model is incomplete or inaccurate, it may lead to faulty generalizations, such as stereotypes or bias. " Suppose, as protagonist, I regards older people as dull and dim. " When I meet a senior citizen with a sharp mind, I discount it. " I might write it off as the senior having (a rare good day | a lucky guess). A RARE GOOD DAY 🟢 Such is a faulty mental model, but writer can give the protagonist a change of heart. Change of heart is enlightenment or coming to awareness. As protagonist: " This is an insight into my internal struggle. " I realize my mental model is not correct. A LUCKY GUESS 🟢 Such is a faulty mental model, but writer can give the protagonist a change of heart. Change of heart is enlightenment or coming to awareness. As protagonist: " This is an insight into my internal struggle. " I realize my mental model is not correct. MENTAL MODEL IS NOT CORRECT 🟢 Change of heart: " I realize that I've been acting from mistaken expectations. " This prevented me from achieving my deep desire. It leads to a new outlook (a change in mental model) and is a turning point for the protagonist personally. It should not be confused with the climax of the external struggle. " I may realize not all old people are cranky, some are helpful. " But we have not found a bomb shelter yet (reached the climax). A TURNING POINT ⚪️ Here are a few examples how change of heart changes the way a person thinks. " I used to think the people in government cared about the country, but was I wrong. Some politicians care only about themselves. " I don't have to like your fiancé; this is your choice and I will support your decision. " It turns my family isn't atypical; the ones on TV are. FOR THE PROTAGONIST PERSONALLY ⚪️ With enlightenment comes reassessment of what makes sense to the protagonist. " It is a change in outlook, a new perspective, a revised mental model. " It also changes the way a person thinks (outlook) and feels (attitude). Putting it together … CHANGES THE WAY A PERSON THINKS ⚪️ Change of heart, change of thought. " Meeting a diversity of people at college, I realized I was raised with prejudices. " Life in the city was nothing like home for the visiting country mouse. " I thought you loved me for who I am, but you were only using me. PUTTING IT TOGETHER ⚪️ With a change of heart, the protagonist resolves the discrepancy between what is experienced and what was expected. This restores equilibrium. "In narrative, disequilibrium motivates behaviour to find a new equilibrium. "I feel frustrated and want to restore balance by overcoming the new challenge | seeking the help of professionals. SEEKING THE HELP OF PROFESSIONALS 🟡 Use all the brains you have and all the brains you can borrow. But first use all the brains you have in overcoming the new challenge. OVERCOMING THE NEW CHALLENGE 🟢 A story is about the protagonist finding a new equilibrium. This new balance—new status quo or way of life—will continue. " Until there is a need to adjustment it, which is what sequels are for. " Until then, there is the message or meaning of the story. The message or meaning is what you want readers to go away thinking about. It is what you are you trying to say about human nature. WHAT YOU ARE YOU TRYING TO SAY 🟢 For example: clothes, like cars, project the image we have of ourselves. " Or: those who tell you secrets will tell your secrets. " Or: people support what they help create. ABOUT HUMAN NATURE 🟢 The main point determines what kind of internal struggle the story will be about. " The point doesn’t come from external events. " It comes from the struggle those events trigger within the protagonist. WITHIN THE PROTAGONIST ⚪️ It comes from how we would try to figure out what to do about the problem faced. " The point is what we take from the story into our lives. " It is the message in the bottle.
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