STORY MAPS

  1. published in Script magazine, January 2002

Did you know that James Cameron’s pumped-up Science Fiction actioner Aliens is actually about “family?” Check it out:

Ripley is an ORPHAN, having been the only survivor of an attack on her colony (her adopted “family”) by deadly alien monsters. She is ADOPTED by a new family, albeit a dysfunctional one: a platoon of gung-ho Marines. Their mission is to save the family members of another colony that may have been overrun by the aliens. They get to the deserted colony, finding the only survivor is an ORPHAN, a little girl; Ripley “adopts” this girl, becoming her surrogate mother. Their first confrontation leads to casualties to the Marine family, causing breakup of morale and solidarity. When their rescue ship crashes, the Marines are stranded on this dangerous colony, being attacked from all sides by the horde of aliens, coming from an unknown source point. Ripley struggles to stay alive and defend her stepchild. One by one Ripley’s adopted family is killed off, and her stepchild is kidnapped. Ripley finds the child in an EGG; the aliens are attempting to make her a part of their family. Ripley investigates further, finding a huge “nest” of the aliens, tended by a huge QUEEN MOTHER. Ripley battles the Queen Mother, Mother against Mother, until the final showdown, when they literally fight for the property of the child. Two mothers, fighting over a little girl. Ripley triumphs and wins her child. The final image is mother and child, sleeping next to one another in fetal position, safe.

That, my friends, is a STORY MAP. Cohesive storytelling. Logical to its own dramatic world and controlling theme. In this case, it shows you how a story progresses from its basic foundation to its climax; how and why. This Story Map was focused on THEME, while showing us the basic STRUCTURE of the plotting. Theme is the WHY of the story, while structure is the HOW it is told. A Story Map can also tell you WHO (your protagonist) and WHAT (their goal/s).

A Story Map is my own term for a brief description of a story; its main elements and dramatic beats. In short, it outlines the protagonist, his/her goals, what keeps him/her from the goals, the theme, and how it ends. I find it tremendously helpful to look at produced films and note their elements in a Story Map, creating a quick-reference “library” of maps to compare and contrast. It helps to study how writers take their characters along their journey from point A to Z. Let’s break that down in the BASIC STORY MAP...

  1. the PROTAGONIST
  2. the protagonist’s EXTERNAL GOAL (plot/action/objective goal)
  3. the protagonist’s INTERNAL GOAL (char./emotional/subjective goal)
  4. the THEME (main, controlling theme) (what is this story about? what are you saying?)
  5. the MAIN DRAMATIC CONFLICT (what’s keeping them from the goal, the villain, the major problem)
  6. the ENDING (climax and resolution) (thematically consistent)
  7. CENTRAL DRAMATIC QUESTION (overriding mystery, to be answered in end; for more on this, see Central Dramatic Question.)

These main elements will dictate everything. They must, if you want to have STORY COHESION, or in more simple terms: focus. Story Cohesion occurs when every plot point and character moment relates logically back to the main dramatic elements and also creates conflict.

Because after all, Conflict = Drama. We know this. You can’t write a story about two lovers from the same side of the tracks who fall instantly in love and get married two days later with the blessings of all their loved ones. That’s not a story! There’s no conflict. You need to put your protagonist up a tree and throw stones at him/her.

Let’s look at an example, from As Good as it Gets, the character-driven drama/comedy written by Mark Andrus and James L. Brooks. Keep in mind that Melvin Udall (Jack Nicholson) has a strong FALSE GOAL, which is to isolate himself from the world; specifically, isolate from Simon (Greg Kinnear) and Carol (Helen Hunt) as much as possible while still maintaining the dysfunctional “order” of his life — but at the Midpoint he begins his true goals. So I’ve split his goals with a hyphen (which represents the Midpoint), so you can see his initial false goal and then his true goal, which he ultimately achieves.

You can probably envision a lot of opportunities for conflict just by reading that short Story Map. Again, drama = conflict. A recurring problem I see in weak stories is either the lack of one or two of these elements (e.g. no external goal, or no controlling theme) or the failure of the Protagonist to actively achieve his/her goals in the climax. And when there is a lack of conflict in a story, I can almost always trace it back to the Story Map and a problem with one or more of these elements (e.g. the Main Dramatic Conflict is not in direct opposition to the goals, or the internal goal is not SHOWN to be achieved through active story devices).

One could make a case for Simon and Carol also being co-Protagonists in As Good as it Gets, as they both have character arcs (they go through change and achieve goals). But Melvin is the *main* protagonist, if you will. This is also the case in The Sixth Sense, in which Malcolm (Bruce Willis) is the main Protagonist, while Cole (Haley Joel Osment) is a co-Protagonist. Malcolm’s external goal is to help Cole and his internal goal is to resolve his problems with his wife. Cole’s external goal is to decipher the meaning of his gift and his internal goal is to tell his mother about his gift. The third Act closes on a series of climactic moments: Malcolm helps Cole to help the ghost of the little girl by going to her funeral (thus both co-Protags achieve their external goals); Cole tells his mother the message from her dead mother (achieving his internal goal); and Malcolm realizes he is actually deceased, and he reconciles with his wife as she sleeps (achieving his internal goal). One can see the importance of the external and internal goals and resolving them in an active manner. It’s also interesting to note how the main Story Engine of a film usually stems from the External Goal. That pursuit provides the foreground action, while the emotional content is largely kept in the background, until the third act.

It’s also interesting to note how, when a Protagonist does not defeat the Antagonist nor actively overcome the Main Dramatic Conflict in the climax, the Central Dramatic Question must still be answered (e.g. Saving Private Ryan, Leaving Las Vegas, It’s A Wonderful Life, Citizen Kane). In three of those examples, the Protagonist dies in the end; the answer to the question acts a substitute for the resolution of the protagonist’s triumph, and the audience is still satisfied.

You’ve probably seen other forms for the Story Map. You’ll find a few different formats below. What they all represent is what we will refer to as CLASSICAL THREE ACT STRUCTURE, the dominant form in dramatic narrative storytelling. Although there are a million different terms to describe the various ‘necessary plot points’ in Classical narrative storytelling, I use the following eight points. In my experience, roughly 90% of narrative feature films employ this narrative structure. This takes your Story Map to the next level.

Keep in mind that Structure is FORM, not formula. It doesn’t dictate your individual story choices, just maybe where you might place them in the story. Add the Story Map points, a through g from above, to these 8 points, and you create your FULL STORY MAP:

A great exercise: Take a look at three of your favorite films and look for these moments as they occur in the story.

The Full Story Map is essentially the MAIN ELEMENTS and MAIN PLOT POINTS of your story. You will ALWAYS keep your main elements in mind as you write, no matter where you are in the script or what draft you’re on. They are absolutely crucial; they are the foundation of the house that you are building. Thus, if they are poorly formed (e.g. they don’t generate conflict for your protagonist, or they communicate the wrong theme) then your house will crumble.

A key is to build a Story Map and structure template that creates an ACTIVE story. This means your Protagonist takes action which shows their character — they drive the story, rather than being passive and allowing events to occur around them. Or, just sitting around and discussing things. Stories with passive protagonists, who do not take action but rather REACT to external conflict, are very difficult to tell successfully. They are not advised for the new writer, and are usually signposts of story problems.

Here’s another Story Map/ Structure Template form...

THE MYTHICAL HERO’S JOURNEY

Another story step diagram which is essentially very similar to the one above, comes to us from ANCIENT MYTHOLOGY. Every culture and religion is abound with stories of heroes taking journeys of adventure and consciousness on a search for truth. That truth (goal) may take the form of a princess, a magic sword, a golden fleece, or self-actualization. You will see this structure used very obviously in fantasy like STAR WARS or THE MATRIX and less obviously in all manner of other genres. This is a 12 STEP form, from The Writer’s Journey, by Christopher Vogler, based on the works of Joseph Campbell.

Again, it might be helpful to look at a few films and try to spot the corresponding points from the Mythical Hero’s Journey.

Keep it simple, silly

Writer John Vorhaus sought to create a more simple step template. Here’s his own version of the Story Map from his book The Comic Toolbox:

Write up one sentence answering each question, and you’ll have a strong narrative foundation to begin with.

Now, this may all be rubbing you the wrong way, if you’re one of those writers who feels confined by outlines! Many writers choose to write freeform, dumping everything in their head on the page, ending up with hundreds of pages more than they need. The strategy is to “find the story” later, by sifting through the massive pile of material. This can work for some, and I won’t deny I haven’t done it, myself. But the problem is, of course, that there’s no guarantee anything in that pile is worthwhile, because it didn’t stem from strong main dramatic elements to begin with.

Alas, to each his/her own. Some writers choose to outline ahead of time, some just “let it flow.” But whichever template you use, whatever terms you use to identify your main elements, one thing is certain: you can save yourself a lot of time by having a strong Story Map in place.

And, I promise you, it will always get you to where you’re going.


-Daniel Calvisi
www.actfourscreenplays.com
copyright © Daniel Calvisi 2005-2006

NOTE: I've since expanded my Story Map template to include three more plot beats and three more main dramatic elements.  I guarantee it's the best screenplay structure method available!  If you'd like more coaching in the Story Maps method, please click HERE.

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