Full transcript
0:00Picture this. You've written 90,000
0:02words. Hit the end. Something still
0:04feels off. Chances are one of the eight
0:06storytelling pillars is cracked. Hello,
0:08my name is Jason, your friendly
0:09neighborhood story obsessive, former
0:11Kindle prneur, researcher, and full-time
0:13note-taker on all things narrative. In
0:15today's video, we're running a
0:16structural stress test on your work. And
0:19that goes from nailing the core concept
0:21to sharpening the final line of your
0:23voice. And I'll show you where the weak
0:25spots hide and how to reinforce them
0:26before readers do that demolition for
0:28you. Let's get to the story earthquake
0:30proofing. So the first pillar is
0:32concept. Every story from a grocery list
0:35scribbled on a napkin to a sprawling
0:37epic begin with a single concept and
0:40it's the highlevel one-s sentence pitch
0:42that either hooks someone instantly or
0:44sends them on their merry way. Is your
0:46book about a wizard school for orphans?
0:48Detective who solves crimes by tasting
0:51evidence? A romance between a
0:52timetraveling librarian and a Roman
0:54centurion? That's the concept. And a
0:56weak concept is one of the first and
0:58most fundamental cracks in your story's
1:00foundation. Now, while you can have some
1:03decent stories just deliver really good
1:05execution of a weak concept, these days
1:08in the world of AI, the concept is going
1:10to matter more and more because that
1:12execution will be easier to do than
1:14ever. So, to stress test your concept,
1:16ask yourself this, what is the central
1:19question your story poses? For Jurassic
1:21Park, it's what happens when man
1:23resurrects dinosaurs for profit? For
1:25Hunger Games, it's what if children were
1:27forced to fight to the death as public
1:29entertainment? And a strong concept
1:31contains an inherent sense of conflict
1:34and intrigue. It combines a familiar
1:36element with an unexpected twist. And we
1:38understand school, but a wizard school
1:41is a twist. We understand theme park,
1:43but a dinosaur theme park is a twist. If
1:46your concept feels generic, like a story
1:48about a soldier, try adding that twist.
1:50Is it a soldier who has to fight in a
1:52war orchestrated by an alien species
1:54using Earth as a chessboard? Now, we're
1:55getting somewhere. And a flimsy concept
1:57crumbles under the weight of a full
1:59narrative. But a solid one can support
2:01an entire universe of stories. But even
2:04the most brilliant concept is just a
2:06blueprint. So to build that the full
2:09house, you need a framework. And for
2:11that, we turn to the plot. So pillar
2:13number two is plot. The plot is the
2:15sequence of events, the actual bones of
2:17your narrative. And it's the answer to
2:19the question, what happens next? But a
2:21list of events is not a plot. A plot is
2:24a chain of cause and effect. This
2:26happened, so this happened which caused
2:28this to happen. And if you can replace
2:30the word so with and then you've
2:32actually found a hole in your plot. The
2:34king died and then the queen died is
2:36just a sequence of events. The king died
2:39and so the queen died of grief is a
2:41plot. Now, one little word so introduces
2:44causality. And causality is what makes a
2:46story feel inevitable and satisfying.
2:48Most western stories, for example, are
2:50built on a simple three-part frame. And
2:52really, all stories, but westerns in
2:54particular, have the setup, the
2:55confrontation, and the resolution. The
2:57first act sets up the world and the
2:59hero's ordinary life before an inciting
3:01incident kicks them out the door. The
3:02second act is the messy middle, where
3:04the hero confronts obstacle after
3:06obstacle after obstacle. The stakes get
3:09higher and everything gets worse. The
3:11third act is the final showdown and the
3:13answer to the central story question.
3:15Now, this isn't just a restrictive
3:17formula. It's the pattern that mirrors
3:18how we psychologically process change
3:21and struggle in our own lives. The plot
3:24is that tangible journey your characters
3:26take, the path they walk from point A to
3:28point B. But the most perfectly
3:30engineered plot is useless without
3:32someone to experience it. The plot is
3:35just what happens, but the character is
3:37who it happens to. So that leads me to
3:39pillar three, which is character. Now,
3:41if the plot is the skeleton, the
3:43characters are the heart and soul.
3:45Readers don't remember plot twists as
3:46much as they remember the people who
3:48survived them. A character is not a list
3:50of traits. A character is a collection
3:52desires and fears and flaws and all
3:54kinds of emotions. The most common
3:56mistake writers make is creating
3:57characters who are merely passengers in
3:59the plot. Your character must be the
4:01driver. Their choices based on their
4:03unique personality and motivations must
4:05be the engine of your cause and effect
4:06chain. If this isn't the case, then
4:09you're going to have readers who don't
4:10empathize with anything that happens.
4:12The secret to a compelling character
4:14lies in the gap between what they want
4:16and what they truly need. A character
4:18might start the story wanting to win a
4:21promotion at work. But what they need is
4:23to learn that their ambition is
4:25alienating their family. The plot you
4:26design should be the perfect machine to
4:28force them to confront this gap. And the
4:31events of the story should
4:32systematically strip away their ability
4:34to get what they want until they are
4:36forced to seek what they need. This
4:37journey from want to need is called a
4:40character arc. It's that change that
4:42happens to your character over time. Is
4:45the protagonist the same person on the
4:46last page as they are on the first? The
4:49answer is yes, then you've got a major
4:51weakness in your characters. And a
4:52character journey is shaped not just by
4:54events, but by the world they inhabit,
4:57which brings us to the next pillar.
4:59Pillar number four, which is setting.
5:01And setting is far more than just a
5:02backdrop. It's an active force in your
5:04story. Where and when your story takes
5:06place should influence everything from
5:08the character's dialogue to the central
5:10conflict. In fact, one of my mentors,
5:11uh, David Farland, would actually say
5:14that you should start with the setting
5:15because it influences everything so
5:17perfectly. A story about a rebellion
5:19against an oppressive government feels
5:21very different in a futuristic cyberpunk
5:23metropolis than it does in a medieval
5:26fantasy kingdom. And the setting
5:27provides constraints and opportunities.
5:29A blizzard doesn't just make things
5:31cold. It isolates characters. It forces
5:33them together, creating a natural
5:35ticking clock, and can be a source of
5:37life or death conflict. Now, to stress
5:39test your setting, ask yourself this. If
5:41I moved the story to a different time or
5:43place, would it fundamentally change? If
5:45the answer is no, then your setting is
5:47just a dressing. It's a painted backdrop
5:49on a stage. Make your world an actual
5:51character that participates in the
5:53story. How does the environment reflect
5:55the internal state of your protagonist?
5:57In a horror story, decaying house can
5:59actually mirror a protagonist's
6:01psychological decay. In a romance, a
6:03beautiful blooming garden can reflect
6:05the blossoming relationship. The setting
6:07should press in on your characters,
6:09shaping their choices and forcing them
6:11to react. It's that soil from which the
6:14entire story grows. And that story grows
6:16one moment at a time through the craft
6:18of individual scenes. Which leads us to
6:21the very next pillar, pillar number
6:22five, which is your actual scenes. And
6:24if the plot is the skeleton, scenes are
6:27the individual bones. And a scene is the
6:29fundamental unit of storytelling, a
6:31self-contained moment of action and
6:33reaction that moves the story forward.
6:35And my friends over at Story Grid, for
6:37example, you can check their YouTube out
6:38called Story Grid. They will actually
6:40start with the scene when they're
6:42teaching people how to write because if
6:43you can get the scene down, it's just a
6:45series of building blocks for that goes
6:47out from there. Every single scene in
6:49your book must serve a purpose. It must
6:51either advance the plot or develop a
6:53character. And the best scenes do both
6:55at the same time. If you can cut a scene
6:57and the story still makes perfect sense,
6:58that scene is a crack in your foundation
7:00and you should definitely cut it. The
7:02golden rule of scene craft is actually
7:04show don't tell. Don't tell me your
7:05character is angry. Show them gripping
7:07his coffee mug so hard his knuckles turn
7:09white. Don't tell me the relationship is
7:11failing. Show a dinner scene where the
7:13silence is louder than any argument.
7:15Showing immerses the reader in the
7:17experience. It hands them the sensory
7:19details and lets them draw the
7:20conclusion themselves, which is much
7:22more powerful than having a conclusion
7:24handed to them. A scene should enter
7:26with a specific goal for the character
7:28and end with a different outcome, often
7:30a setback of some kind that creates a
7:32question in the reader's mind and makes
7:34them desperate to keep reading and turn
7:36the page. That desperation, that page
7:38turning quality, is almost always fueled
7:40by our next and most explosive pillar,
7:43conflict of the story. Conflict is
7:45essentially the engine of a story.
7:47Without it, you have a pleasant
7:48anecdote, not really a narrative.
7:50Nothing happens until something or
7:52someone gets in the character's way.
7:54Conflict is that force that tests your
7:56characters, reveals their true nature,
7:58and forces them to change. A story
8:00without conflict is like a car without
8:02gas. It looks fine, but it's not really
8:04going anywhere. The cracks here are
8:06often a lack of stakes or a conflict
8:08that is too easily resolved. Now, uh
8:10you'll get conflict in two different,
8:12we'll call them primary flavors. There's
8:14external and there's internal. External
8:16conflict is that visible struggle. The
8:18hero fighting the dragon, the detective
8:20hunting the killer, the rivals competing
8:22for the same prize. This can be man
8:23versus man, man versus nature, man
8:26versus society, or even man versus the
8:28supernatural. But the most powerful
8:29stories layer external conflict over a
8:32roing sea of internal conflict, also
8:35known as man versus self. The hero isn't
8:38just fighting a dragon, he's fighting
8:39his own cowardice. detective isn't just
8:41hunting a killer. She's battling her own
8:43past trauma that the case has dredged
8:45up. The internal struggles give the
8:46external fight more meaning. The harder
8:49the struggle, the more meaningful the
8:50victory or the failure. And that
8:51meaning, the deep resonant why of your
8:54story is our next pillar. Pillar number
8:55seven, theme. Theme is the big idea your
8:58story is wrestling with. It's what the
9:00story is about on a universal human
9:03level. It's not the plot, it's the
9:06meaning that arrives from the plot. A
9:08story can be about a man hunting a white
9:09whale, but its themes are obsession,
9:11humanity versus nature, and madness.
9:14Theme is not a moral or a message you
9:15beat your reader over the head with.
9:17It's an exploration, more of a question.
9:20Is redemption possible? Does love
9:21conquer all? What is the cost of
9:23vengeance? And one of my favorite ways
9:25to create theme is just to have multiple
9:28characters who represent multiple
9:29viewpoints around that theme. As
9:31authors, this could be one of the
9:33trickiest things that we do where we
9:34want to make sure that every one of
9:36those characters can argue for their
9:38perspective of the theme just as well as
9:40a real person might argue that in real
9:42life. So, if you're getting into like
9:43political questions and stuff like that,
9:45imagine trying to argue a political
9:48issue from both sides perfectly.
9:50Actually have really wellthoughtout
9:52arguments from both the red and the
9:54blue. That's the kind of thought that
9:56needs to go into creating a good theme.
9:58A weak theme or a theme that's clumsily
10:01handled feels a little bit preachy and
10:03inauthentic. That theme should emerge
10:05naturally from the characterser's
10:06journeys and the resolution of their
10:08conflicts. Your protagonist arc is often
10:10the primary vehicle for that theme.
10:12You'll see it in the change that they
10:14have over time. And if your theme is
10:16about the corrupting nature of power,
10:17your protagonist journey should
10:18demonstrate that corruption. Supporting
10:20characters can represent different
10:21facets of the thematic argument. And one
10:24character might believe redemption is
10:25possible while another believes it's a
10:27lie. A story doesn't have to give a
10:28definitive answer, but it must explore
10:31the question honestly. And theme is that
10:33in individual architecture that gives
10:35the entire structure significance. But
10:38the way all of these pillars are
10:40assembled and presented to the reader
10:42comes down to one final crucial element,
10:45which leads us to pillar number eight,
10:46voice. Voice is the magic. It's the
10:49intangible quality that makes your story
10:51uniquely yours. It's the personality of
10:53the narration. It's the combination of
10:55your word choice, your sentence
10:57structure, your tone, and the point of
10:59view you choose to tell the story from.
11:01You could give 10 authors the exact same
11:03plot, character, and theme, and you
11:05would get 10 completely different books.
11:07That difference is voice. A story told
11:09from the first-p person perspective of a
11:10cynical, hard-boiled detective will have
11:13a wildly different voice than the same
11:15story told from a whimsical third person
11:17omnisient perspective. And a crack in
11:19this pillar often shows up as an
11:21inconsistent tone or a voice that
11:22doesn't match the story. You could have
11:24a dark, gritty thriller, but that
11:26shouldn't suddenly adopt a playful,
11:28comedic voice halfway through. The
11:29narrative voice is the lens through
11:31which the reader experiences every other
11:33pillar. It colors their perception of
11:34the plot, characters, and setting. Uh,
11:36developing a strong, consistent voice is
11:38one of the hardest parts of writing, but
11:40it's also one of those parts that kind
11:42of just comes as you get more
11:43experience. It's that final coat of
11:45paint that brings the entire structure
11:47to life and makes it feel like a
11:48unified, deliberate work of art. Now,
11:51these eight pillars are all
11:52interconnected. A weak character will
11:54lead to a predictable plot. A boring
11:56setting will create an uninspiring
11:58conflict. A clumsy voice will obscure a
12:00powerful theme. But when all eight
12:02pillars are strong, they support each
12:03other, creating a structure that can
12:05stand the test of time and give your
12:06reader an experience that they will
12:08cherish. Now, these pillars aren't just
12:10something I made up for a YouTube video.
12:12They represent a distillation of how
12:14humans have understood narrative for
12:15thousands of years. We see the bones of
12:17the structure in Aristotle's poetics
12:19where he first broke down drama into
12:21components like plot, character, and
12:23thought, which is his word for theme. We
12:25see it formalized in the 19th century
12:26Frey tags pyramid, which gave us the
12:29classic five-part structure of
12:30introduction, rising action, climax,
12:32falling action, and resolution. This was
12:34a model designed specifically for drama,
12:37mapping the emotional journey of an
12:39audience at the theater. Later in the
12:4120th century, we get people like Joseph
12:43Campbell who studied myths from around
12:44the globe and discovered a consistent
12:47pattern that he called the mono myth or
12:48the hero's journey. This was something
12:50of a psychological map of transformation
12:52following a hero who leaves their
12:54ordinary world, faces trials in a
12:57supernatural one, and then returns with
12:59some kind of boon for their community.
13:01And these frameworks from the classic to
13:03the modern all reinforce the same core
13:05idea that a story is not a random
13:07collection of events. It's a carefully
13:10engineered machine designed to create a
13:12specific emotional and intellectual
13:14experience. Now, understanding these
13:16pillars isn't about following any kind
13:18of rigid formula, although you can. It's
13:20about understanding the deeprooted
13:22psychology of what makes a story
13:25resonate with us as human beings. Now,
13:26running a stress test on your own work
13:28can be pretty tough because you're often
13:30too close to it. You built the thing, so
13:32you can't always see the cracks in the
13:33foundation. Uh, if you want a community
13:35of fellow story architects, and I call
13:37them story hackers, and a guide to help
13:39you check your blueprints every step of
13:40the way, I have something for you. I've
13:42put everything I know about this process
13:44into a private group called Story Hacker
13:45Gold. It's a school group where you can
13:48go through the entire process from
13:50finding that high concept idea to
13:52holding the finished book in your hands.
13:53We cover the tools that you need to
13:55market it. And we even get into how AI
13:57can enhance your process without
13:59compromising your own creativity or your
14:00ethics. So, this is the system that has
14:02led authors to write a book a month
14:04easily while still making it a book that
14:06matches their unique vision. And I've
14:08personally used these methods to write a
14:09complete novel with my own world
14:11building and characters in just one
14:13week. So, if that's interesting to you,
14:15I would check out the link down below
14:16and I will hopefully see you