The DNA of Story

Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions for the development and function of living organisms. One could call it the blueprint for all life.

The DNA of Story is the blueprint, in my oh so humble opinion, for all stories. Just as DNA is responsible for everything from a water lilly to a sperm whale, the DNA of story is responsible for every kind of narrative story, from 30 second commercials to Homeric epics.

In the context of Story, I define DNA this way. A character Desires something. For some reason she is Not able to have her desire. As a result, she takes Action to overcome whatever obstacles are between her and her desire.

I believe that any story that does not have all of those elements will not work. Period. Now, I'm not one for making such statements blindly. I have the kind of mind that can see an exception for every rule and looks at playing the Devil's Advocate as more than just a diversion; it's a life's mission.

But I feel very strongly about this. Enough to posit it as a near inviolable rule of storytelling. (Notice how I snuck in the word "near". See, I can't help myself. *grin*)

Biological DNA is the building block of all life. Narratilogical DNA (don't you just love that word! I just made it up.) is the building block of every story.

I'll break it down and show you what I mean. Let's start with D - Desire.

In every story, or every story that works, a character should desire, crave, need or want something. In Kurt Vonnegut's Eight Rules for Writing Fiction Rule # 3 states that "Every character should want something, even if it's only a glass of water."

Why? Because if a character doesn't want something, there's nothing to drive the story. It's like getting into a car that has an empty tank. You're not going anywhere and neither is your story if the character doesn't want something! Now, it could be that he wants not to want something, but that's still a want.

Desire is the fuel that moves the story along.

N - Not able to have the Desire.

Okay, let's say you're going to write a story about a man who wants a raise. You set up the scene where he walks into his boss' office and asks for the raise. The boss looks at your character for a moment then says, sure, why not. And that's it. The character gets what he wants and he's happy, and you the writer are happy because you love your character so much and you want him to be happy too.

But guess who is not happy? Yep, the reader, who has probably by now either flung your story across the room, shredded it into pieces, or is placing the ripped-out pages in the cat's litter box.

There have to be obstacles, barriers, roadblocks, between your character and his desire. Why? Because obstacles create Conflict and conflict is the guts and heart of drama.

Our hapless employee wants a raise. No, he needs that raise in order to pay for his Mom's operation. (This is a realy bad example, so work with me here. *grin*) But guess what? He's only been working at Acme Electronics for two weeks! Nobody gets a raise in two weeks. And he hasn't exactly been a model employee. He's come in late nearly every day since he started, and he's always asking to leave early so he can see to his ailing mother. As a matter of fact, the boss is fingering a pink slip with hapless employee's name on it as we speak.

Finally, A - Action.

Now, I've read quite a few books on the craft of writing fiction and just about everyone talks about goals and obstacles. And quite a few spend a lot of time talking about motivation, or why the character wants the goal. Those are all important, of course. But I haven't come across that many books or articles that talk about the action the character takes in order to overcome the obstalces to get to his goal.

Back to hapless employee. We've established that he needs a raise. We know that the obstacle facing him is the fact that he's new and, to top it all off, he hasn't exactly endeared himself to his boss. We even know what his motivation is. He needs the money for his mother's operation.

But we still don't have a story. Why? Because hapless employee could just as well sit in his cubicle, needing that raise so bad he can taste it, mulling over the fact that he's got about a snowball's chance in hell of getting it, and......well, he could just keep doing nothing until it's too late and dear old Mom has passed on from this life to the next.

No, our guy has to take action. He has to do something. And, depending upon the kind of character he is, whatever action he takes will be illustrative of the kind of person he is.

So, what does he do? He can do any number of things. He can boldly stride into the boss's office and ask for the raise. If the boss says no, he can try and embezzle the money from the company. Or he could kidnap the boss, whom he can't stand anyway, and demand a ransom.

By having the character take action something exciting begins to happen in the story. It's like a game of pool. You hit the cue ball. It bounces off the side of the table and hits another ball, and that ball hits another ball, and so on.

Every action a character takes is a stimulus for a reaction from the other characters in the story. Hapless employee asks boss for a raise. Boss can't believe his ears. He's so pissed off by the cheek of hapless employee that he fires him on the spot. Oh, no! Now hapless employee has another barrier between him and the money he needs for Mom's opeartion. He's unemployed.

Or hapless employee kidnaps boss. That action causes the FBI to become involved. They succeed in getting the boss back, unharmed. But, oh, no! Hapless employee discovers ransom money had an expolding packet of red dye concealed among the bills. It explodes, money is no good and hapless employee now has red dye all over his face. He's gotta hide so he won't get caught, and another barrier slams into place between him and the money he needs for dear old Mom's operation.

And so on and so forth until you end the story, one way or another.

D.N.A. The building block, the blueprint, the living guts of Story.