The Story Equation

with guest Rachel Hauck.

Working on my 25th novel, I feel less of an expert on novel writing than ever. How is it the things I teach seem to elude me when I write?

Before starting a novel, I spend about a month dreaming and developing the characters.

Whether you’re a pantser or a plotter, knowing who you are writing about from the start is paramount.

Readers don’t really care about plots. They care about characters. The depth and detail in which you create your protagonists will determine the details of your plot.

Being writing partners with Susan May Warren for the past twelve years has taught me a lot.

We’ve matured together in our knowledge of the craft, but Suz is a master at putting ideas together in a teachable form.

For years we’ve taught the Lie Journey then formulated it into the Story Equation. Better known as the SEQ.

I never start a book without this little gem.

This graphic is the basic Story Equation. We’ve added are a few more “dots” along the circle but this basic formula should inspire your creative genius.

I know, it doesn’t look like much of an equation — I call it the story cookie — but the factors (ha! like how I did that?) you find here will help you develop strong characters to drive a compelling plot.

As you can see, the wound, lie, and fear surround the Dark Moment.

The Dark Moment is that “thing” that happened in the past to your protagonist. OR something she did in the past. This moment and the wound it created is what will heal in your protagonist as the story progresses.

The DM can be anything from parents divorcing, abuse, physical trauma to a broken heart, to neglect or outright rebellion.

The Dark Moment must be specific, relatable and poignant. 

Usually, the best Dark Moment happened to the protagonist when she was a child. Children cannot process events like teens or adults so trauma impacts them significantly. It changes their world view. 

 Death, divorce, abuse, seeing something they shouldn’t are all good DM launches. But remember, it must be specific, relatable and poignant.

This DM then forms a wound. From the wound, a lie develops.

One of my characters, Susanna, from Once Upon A Prince was a young girl when her parents divorced. Until then, they fought bitterly, throwing plates and four letter words at each other.

During these episodes, Susanna hid in her closet and pretended it was a beautiful garden.
As a result, she developed a wound: her parents did not love her or each other. Her world was unsafe.

This wound became a lie: she must take care of herself. No one else will.

Which matured into a fear: she could not let go of her securities, her plans, her very ordered life.

She grew up to become a landscape architect and a planner. She wanted her world orderly and safe. So when her long-time boyfriend breaks up with her, she is thrown back into those turbulent childhood wounds and lies.

Make sense?

I’m skimming the surface a bit with Susanna’s story but you can see how the DM from her childhood formed her thinking and impacted her world view.

These elements hold your character back from realizing her dreams. (P.S. You need to do this with your hero as well.)

However! The Secret Desire is dying to be released and realized. 

But it’s buried deep in your protagonist’s soul. It’s the thing she longs for — the hope of God has given her — more than anything but is terrified to attempt. 

The inciting incident awakens this desire and it comes knocking. “I want out. I want out. I want out.”

Make the secret desire the opposite of the fear. Again, the more specific you make these elements, the more dynamic the character. 

So there’s your basic Story Equation: Dark Moment of the past is an event that creates a wound which leads to a lie which develops into a fear. But the God-given secret desire is about to change everything.

This journey formulates the epiphany and a profound change for your character by the end of the book. 

Now, check out my new release The Writing Desk to see if I accomplished this in any way shape or form. (Snicker!)

Do you have any questions about SEQ? Can you see your story fitting into The Story Equation?

To find learn more about the SEQ visit www.mybooktherapy.com

Blessings!

Rachel 

Know your character
SEQ
Know what they want
What the story is about
Goals
Fears
Wound

• Find the through line - Robert McKee ( a theme or idea that runs from the beginning to the end.) Knowing your character and what drives them and you can define it in one sentence, then you know your character and you know your story.

Examples:

Dining with Joy

She wants to win her dead father’s approval. So she takes on his show. She thinks she wants OUT of the show but she can’t until she discovers how much he loved her.
 
Benjamin Martin in the Patriot 

Wanted to keep his family safe. Peace. It drove him. So war comes to his front yard and demands he participate to GET what he wants.  

• ACTION

Keep the characters moving and talking. Not musing in their heads.

• EXTERNAL PLOT

What is going on in the world around them? 
It can't be Nothing. 
Have to enter into their NOW world. What’s going on now?

• INTERNAL WANT V EXTERNAL OPPOSITION

What do they want and what’s keeping them from it.

Examples:

Dining with Joy

She wanted out of the show. She couldn’t cook. But people were counting on her. Her family. The show. Some pleasure in having fame. And to keep her promise to her Daddy.

The Proposal (the movie)

She wants to stay in America to keep her job. He wanted a promotion. Each scene builds around these overall WANTS. Something keeps the protagonist from getting what they want.

Opening scene: Drew’s tension. He is late for work. The whole opening shows Drew’s want and tension. He’s late. He spilled coffee. 

Her opening is she has to fire Bob is and called a Bee-ach. There’s tension in how she’s in command. But when she’s told she is being deported, which she bought on herself, we get how devastating this is to her. Story tension must drop down and create scene tension

What they want + obstacles = scene tension

• DIALOG

Words count.
Mean things.
The dialog has to tell the story.
“Tell the story between the quotes.”
  Use the dialog to up the tension.
Say what they’re thinking.

• PACING

Keep the pacing up. Don’t spend too much time in detail. Or describing things. 
Don’t write in circles.

• DROP THE BOMB

Dining with Joy

• SHORT SENTENCES

Short, choppy sentences with active verbs signal tension. Think of the text mirroring your protagonist's racing heart. Long, meandering sentences filled with adjectives and adverbs imply a relaxed pace. Varying the format of the text will shoot tension into key moments of each scene.

• MAKE IT PERSONAL

The more personal the better. 

• DETAILS

Make it as personal as possible.
Specifics!!

• SEQ

The reason you want to discover your characters and your story is because you want to know where you're going so you CREATE the right tension. It is a more efficient use of your time.


Leave a comment today to win a copy of The Writing Desk. Two winners. One copy of The Writing Desk is up for grabs in ebook and one in print. Winner announced in the next Weekend Edition.

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Wedding Dress comes a new captivating novel of secrets, romance, and two women bound together across time by a shared dream.


Tenley Roth’s first book was a runaway bestseller. Now that her second book is due, she’s locked in fear. Can she repeat her earlier success or is she a fraud who has run out of inspiration?


With pressure mounting from her publisher, Tenley is weighted with writer’s block. But when her estranged mother calls asking Tenley to help her through chemotherapy, she packs up for Florida where she meets handsome furniture designer Jonas Sullivan and discovers the story her heart’s been missing.


A century earlier, another woman wrote at the same desk with hopes and fears of her own. Born during the Gilded Age, Birdie Shehorn is the daughter of the old money Knickerbockers. Under the strict control of her mother, her every move is decided ahead of time, even whom she’ll marry. But Birdie has dreams she doesn’t know how to realize. She wants to tell stories, write novels, and make an impact on the world. When she discovers her mother has taken extreme measures to manipulate her future, she must choose between submission and security or forging a brand new way all on her own.


Tenley and Birdie are from two very different worlds, but fate has bound them together in a way time cannot erase.

Special Bonus!! "The USA Today HEA blog unveiled the cover of Second Chances, a romance anthology arriving Sept. 12 from Romance Writers of America and featuring stories from some of your favorite authors. They're also sharing an excerpt from Rachel Hauck’s included story, Love Is in the Air." Check it out here!

Rachel Hauck is an award winning, New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author.

Her book The Wedding Dress was named Inspirational Novel of the Year by Romantic Times. She is a double RITA finalist, a Christy and Carol Award Winner.

Rachel sits on the Executive Board for American Christian Fiction Writers and is the comical sidekick to Susan May Warren at My Book Therapy. She is a worship leader and speaker.

A graduate of Ohio State University with a degree in Journalism, Rachel is a devoted Ohio State football fan. She lives in sunny central Florida with her husband and ornery cat.