Okay. One of the things I struggle with is maintaining focus. To me, I am focusing on  my characters and what they are experiencing. I want to develop each thing happening to its fullest and richest extent. Where’s the problem with this? Genre definitions. Percentages. Etc. If it’s a romance, every single detail must focus on getting the h/h together, right? It’s not a rule and quite a few authors send their focus elsewhere. That’s what urban fantasy is for, right? It lets you focus on the plot as much as the romance without the plot having to be designed to get two people together. Or something like that.

I begin to feel tied down and like my field view is narrowed when I am told to focus. But a story is better for it when it all ties together, right? So, John Truby has his premise and his designing principle and his single story spine and to me they are all three the same thing. One sentence telling what your story is about.

He says there are differences, but I keep getting lost. Now if you thought this would be a blog about me telling you how to do craft, it isn’t. I am a published writer, considered an expert in my field at times. But like all writers everywhere, I am really an eternal student. There is always more to learn. More to research.

So, I am thinking out loud here and would love input.

Using Buffy, because Joss is just that damn good, lets give this a try.

Premise: A superficial young girl is gifted with the supernatural power to fight evil and save the world while growing up.

Now, I’ve heard the growing up part in interviews, extras and what not. The whole series is about Buffy growing up and suffering the pangs of teen to adulthood amidst all the supernatural stuff. So maybe that premise is actually the designing principle?

Premise: A young girl becomes a slayer and is forced to grow up.

Designing Principle = Weakness (phychological and moral) X Basic Action

= a superficial young girl who wants to be normal is gifted with the strength and skill to fight evil and save the world, no matter what it costs her.

Hmm. I kind of like that because it’s all those costs that force her to grow up. Now, in one line, what is the single story spine? The one thing every episode but one really focuses on. (That one being the Xander-centric eppi in Season 3, The Zeppo, which even that focused a bit on Buffy by showing what those around her go through and how they feel being on the edge of her grand drama.)

Now each season had a character arc, and so did each episode, and they each had a single story spine.  Buffy enters a new school and makes new friends but being a slayer follows her even to Sunnydale and she has to balance friends, family, school and evil all over again. That would be Welcome to the Hellmouth and The Harvest.

So would the whole series single spine be: Buffy the Vampire Slayer struggles to balance love, family, life and evil.

Now, how are these three different?

P: A young girl becomes a slayer and is forced to grow up.

DP: a superficial young girl who wants to be normal is gifted with the strength and skill to fight evil and save the world, no matter what it costs her.

SSS: Buffy the Vampire Slayer struggles to balance love, family, life and evil.

What do you think?

This entry was posted on Monday, March 30th, 2009 at 1:00 am and is filed under Thoughts on Writing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.