Finding your Story's Core

 
   I spent all of Saturday at Teen Author Boot Camp, a writing conference designed for teens. It was AMAZING. Plus, it gave me material for several weeks' worth of blog posts.
    Today I'll be sharing what I learned from Catherine Linka's class, Writing that's Ripped (or Make your Editor Swoon). The title came from an underwear model analogy, but I'm not going to go into that. Suffice it to say, she taught us how to tighten our story's core-- and how to find it.
      To get a great story, according to the presenter, you need it to diet and exercise--AKA you need to revise it. She brought up the point that there is no good writing, but only rewriting. And while rewriting is a large, and often daunting, process, knowing your story's core can help.
      At this point, I was confused. I'd never heard of a story's core (which just goes to show that as soon as you think you've got it figured out, you find something you don't know.). Basically, the core supports the characters, theme, and plot.
      Catherine Linka taught us three exercises to find and implement your story's core. She said they were simple, but not always easy. So, here they are--
     Exercise #1-
        What does your main character want? What does he/she yearn for? And what lengths are they willing to go to to get it? Sometimes they themselves aren't entirely aware of what it is, but you, as the writer, ought to know. My writing mantra is Motivation is Everything. What they want most will drive them throughout the story.
      To find what your character really wants, you can think long and hard about it. If that's not working, try reading through what you've written for clues. You can also ask a friend to help you--sometimes you need an outside point of view.
     Exercise #2-
         What is your story really about? The good thing about this is that it also works for a quick-ish pitch. Ms. Linka gave us a basic formula for this--
        -Who the character is
        -What they want/need/long for
        -Something that happens to change their life
        -They have to choose between multiple paths
        -But their journey is made harder by their flaws
      Once you have this core, you can use it to link each chapter. Each scene should be related to one of these five elements. And each of these should be present. If they aren't, find ways to implement them. You also may need to cut bits that don't relate to the core. I put my cut bits in a separate document. I can often find new homes for them later. 
       Element #3-
          Ms. Linka started this section of her presentation with a slide that said these four words-- Deed, Decision, Discovery, and Accident. Just because your character is doing something doesn't mean they're moving the plot forward. Each scene should fall under one of those categories.
        A Deed is an action that puts them closer (or further) from what they want.
        A Decision is a choice that affects the rest of the story.
        A Discovery is when your character learns something that affects the goal, their feelings about it, or how they need to achieve it.
        An Accident is an unexpected occurrence that affects the story goal.
        Each scene and chapter should have at least one of these; otherwise, it's not moving the plot forward. It's what another presenter, Kiersten White, termed a "baby otter scene." It's adorable and you want to keep it and snuggle it, but it just doesn't work (I'll talk more about that class another week).
           Look for the scenes that don't tie into the core. Rework them, or find new homes for them. Also look for scenes that repeat earlier scenes. It's hard to cut them, but your story will be 1000% better when you do.
     
     P.S. Catherine Linka's novel is entitled A Girl Called Fearless. I haven't read it, but it sounds super cool, so you should look at it.