stormwritingschool.

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Ramp up your
story elements
workbook

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hello
The following pages lay out the five key elements of story and prompt you to consider how to
ramp up those elements in your own storytelling.

I’d be thrilled to address your questions or challenges to the paradigm I present here. Online
classes don’t provide as quick and direct a means of feedback/dialogue as in-person classes
do. But I encourage you to ask clarification questions via email: td@stormwritingschool.com

Keep in mind, though, that this five-element paradigm is just the start. It provides the basis for
the five ensuing lessons on building story momentum. Those lessons will delve much deeper
and will challenge you far more than this basic paradigm does. Look for those videos to be
released at stormwritingschool.com

Thanks!
TD Storm

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The five key
elements
Understand what makes a story so
you can make your story great

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 Critique Questions
In the video, I challenged you to complete two tasks:

1. Read a successful story and consider how it puts the elements to work (see
below).
2. Look to your own work, preferably with the help of a critique partner or
group, and get some feedback on the extent to which each element is
aiding the momentum of the story. The ensuing pages in this workbook
focus on this second task.

To be a good writer, it’s essential that you read good writing. I’d recommend “Anything Helps” by
Jess Walter, if you can get ahold of it; that’s the one I use in my Story Momentum classes. But you
can use any successful story in your consideration of how momentum is gained by the ramping up
of the five elements of story.

1. Is there a character you care about? Why do you care about him?

2. What’s the character’s goal? And what does he stand to lose?

3. What’s the big conflict and what small conflicts does he face?

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 Character
• Definition: a focal point, usually human, but always human-like. Even if it’s an
object, animal, or alien, the character will reflect human desires and
psychology.

• Without character: you can have a fiction, but not a story.

• Key points: it’s character empathy that matters, not sympathy. Empathy = “he’s
like me”; sympathy = “I like him.”

Examine your protagonist. What makes him/her empathetic? Will the reader believe the
protagonist is “like me”?

Get a reader to read your story or story excerpt and address the following: Is there a character
you care about? Why do you care about him/her?

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 objective

• Definition: the character’s goal or desire. It’s best if this is something tangible,
something whose attainment, or lack thereof, can be pinpointed in the story.

• Without objective: a character sketch.

• Key points: a list of like/dislikes is not an objective. An objective must be a

goal. You should have a story-wide objective, but you’ll also have scene
objectives. The story-wide objective is your “story spine.”

Does your protagonist have a desire that drives the whole story? Is that desire concrete or
abstract? (You must have a concrete one. You might also have an abstract one, but I’d caution
against excluding a concrete objective.)

Get a reader to read your story or story excerpt and address the following: Even if the objective
isn’t entirely clear to you, does the story excerpt feel driven by the character’s desire/objective?

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 conflict

• Definition: whatever stands in the way of the protagonist’s objective.

• Without conflict: an anecdote, an episode, information. Goodnight Moon.

• Key points: “The essence of story is conflict.” Conflict helps bond us to the
character. You should have small hurdles as well as a story-wide source of
antagonism.

What’s the overarching conflict and what small conflicts does the character face?

Get a reader to read your story or story excerpt and address the above as well.

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 Action

• Definition: What the character does to achieve the objective.

• Without action: fixed action, rumination.

• Key points: story is about moving action, not fixed action. You want action that
will transform your protagonist.

Is the protagonist taking actual steps to achieve an objective or is s/he just ruminating? Is the
action in the story moving action or fixed action?

Get a reader to read your story or story excerpt and address the following: Did the protagonist’s
actions seem consequential to you?

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 stakes

• Definition: the consequences of failing to achieve the objective.

• Without stakes: a terrible story.

• Key points: stakes = a death or loss—loss of life or physical capability; loss of

purpose; loss of mind, self, or meaning. The higher the worth of the
protagonist, the higher the stakes.

What are the consequences of the character’s failing to achieve the objective, and do those
consequences matter?

Get a reader to read your story or story excerpt and address the following: Did it feel like it
mattered if the character failed to achieve his/her objective?

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 ramping up
You have all five elements, but will they engage the reader? Will readers
need to read your story?

Element in the hurdle race Ramped Up

Character: Any of the hurdlers could have been Liu Xiang was a more compelling competitor. He had
the protagonist, but Liu Xiang became the both pride and humility in this departure from a career
protagonist. of hurdling, demonstrating an indomitability that the
other hurdlers didn’t show.

Objective: In this heat, the objective was to

Xiang’s objective was also more compelling since it
qualify for the next round, but the ultimate
moved from qualification/winning to seeking dignity in
objective was to win or at least medal. Clearing
the face of failure.
each hurdle, however, makes for scene
objectives.

Conflict: the other racers are antagonists, and Xiang's conflict was more severe. He didn’t just face
each hurdle is a conflict. rivals and hurdles; he had to face humiliation, injury,
and the death of his racing career.

Xiang simply did more than the other racers in this

Action: run! And jump! And don’t hit the hurdle story. Because he had more post-race conflict than the
with your lead leg! others and because his objective shifted, he had to do
more to achieve his goal.

Xiang had more to lose since he was the favorite to win

Stakes: loss here means your Olympics are over
gold and since he had failed to make the finals in his
and the time, effort, and sacrifice you’ve put into
previous Olympics in his home turf of China. He was
training has failed to get you your dream.
also at the end of his career.

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 ramp up your story
Look at your own story, chapter, or scene, and think about what you can do
to ramp up the story elements.

Element Ideas for Ramping Up

Character:

Objective:

Conflict:

Action:

Stakes:

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