Good Times

A story isn’t much of a story without a PROBLEM that needs fixing. Without an imbalance waiting to be righted, or a goal the main character is anxious to pursue. Any one who works with or writes about Story will bang on about this endlessly (because it’s true.) 

But what I want to talk about here is the flip side of this coin. Because, equally, if we have no sense of the nature of the equilibrium that has been lost, or the happiness the character is hoping to achieve, then the story will mean less to us. Because we won’t understand what was so great about this life to which our hero is trying to return, or so idyllic about the future they desire. 

Recently, an author I was working with pointed me in the direction of the book, Inside Story, by Dara Marks. Marks works in the world of cinema and screenplays, but as is usually the case, the elements of Story she identifies are just as relevant to prose. So if you’re looking for some new inspiration, I’d recommend. (By the way, some of the post before this one - Significant Others - was inspired by my reading of Inside Story, mixed together with my own terminology.) 

One aspect Marks talks about when looking at the complete arc of a story is what she calls the period of ‘Grace’ after the Midpoint. This is a section of the story where our hero, after having experienced a deep shift in their situation (either because of a bold action they have taken, or a new understanding of what they are dealing with, or the attainment of the goal they set out for**), starts to have a better time…for a while. If your story’s a romance, this could mean, after a rocky start and misunderstandings a-plenty, the aftermath of the Midpoint ushers in a new phase to the relationship. One in which both people are happy, and one that seems to promise further happiness ahead. We haven’t reached the end yet. There are rocky waters still ahead, but for now, things seem good.

Why is including this period of Grace important?

Firstly, because it can be difficult to read a story in which things continue to be un-relentlessly awful for the characters, and only seem to be getting worse! And secondly – in terms of a love story, especially – if you want me to root for these two people to get together, I need to understand what’s good about their combination. I need to be allowed to experience for myself what they see in each other. If I never see this, if I only see the hard times, the times when it seems as though the love interest is acting like a huge jerk, then I will begin to wonder why in the hell the main character wants to be with this person, anyway. And that will lead to me thinking the main character is sort of a fool and not maybe someone I care about very much. At least not in terms of them getting what they are currently pursuing.

Happy times are also important in another way: when it comes to raising the stakes. 

Even in the darkest of stories, we are usually given a glimpse of what happiness means, or meant, for the characters involved. I am thinking of The Road, by Cormac McCarthy. A much-loved book of mine, but one I know many people find hard to stomach because of its bleak apocalyptic setting. And indeed there is very little light in this journey. But - without giving away too much - there is a period even within this book when the two main characters, a father and son, drop into a bit of luck. A brief respite. And it is this sequence, in its heart-breaking contrast to the rest, which renders the story even more affecting, because for a short time we remember what these two are lacking, what they have missed, what they used to take for granted. (I hope that’s not too much of a spoiler…)

Similarly, in a trilogy like The Lord of The Rings, in order for the stakes to be raised for our band of slightly ambivalent Hobbits, they need to form attachments to the people with whom they are travelling. Because the more they care about the people in the world outside the Shire, the more they will want to protect these people, and prevent the destruction of more than just their own little corner. And in order to attach to this wider group, the Hobbits need to not only go through trials with them, as they of course do, but also to spend happy times together. Victories, yes – but also times of relaxation, gentle conversations, shared meals. It is in these good times the reader is allowed to experience what the Hobbits stand to lose, should these new friendships, these people they have begun to admire and love, perish. 

Here’s my final bit of advice: Only scenes will do this job - not just telling us.

If you want me to believe whoever the hero is trying to get with is actually a wonderful person, worthy of the protagonist’s love, you have to SHOW me. By what he or she does, in a scene that I experience alongside the the protagonist. By the effect the two lovers have on each other, during a period of time, no matter how brief, in which things are going well. 

As always – in story as in life – Actions speak ten times louder than Words.

So give me some Good Times. Scenes that allow me a glimpse of the desired happy ending, no matter distant, and make me want it even more. Or scenes that give me a heartbreaking sense of what there is to lose, or, in flashback, what has already been lost. By doing this you will increase my emotional connection to the story. And definitely keep me reading. 

** These are the 3 classic Midpoint events.