Hang on tight, because this post is a little bit longer than the others. But it will be worth it, if you want to know how to make a story exciting….

And remember, this post builds on a mini-story we have already introduced, so if it seems confusing, start here.

Here we go.

In the last post I said that a story should have two key components:

1. A beginning, middle, and end.
2. Drama.

And although the last post talked about the first thing, it didn’t get into the second one.

So here we are.

The second component of a story is that something interesting has to happen.

You will often hear the word ‘drama’ when people talk about stories, or movies, or whatever. All the word ‘drama’ means is that ‘something interesting happens in the story’. That’s it.

So, try this:

My mother asked me to go to the store and buy some milk.

She gave me a 10 dollar bill.

On the way to the store, I dropped it down the sewer. I could see it down there, but I couldn’t reach it.

Now something has happened. We have a problem! And what we make happen next might solve the problem that occurred in the story:

I went on to the store and asked the store man if I could borrow some gum to get my money from the sewer, and I would pay him for the gum when I got the money. He said yes, so I took the gum, chewed it, stuck it to the end of a stick, and poked the stick down the sewer and got the money when it stuck to the gum. Then I went back to the store, paid for the gum and some milk, and went home.

So, this has a beginning, middle, and end, and it has some drama. A problem arose, the problem was solved, and that was that.

If you didn’t notice, I just snuck in a basic definition of drama:

‘A problem arose’.

But we could have taken the story in a different direction, to make it even more interesting (that is, we could give it even more drama):

I went on to the store and asked the store man if I could borrow some gum to get my money from the sewer, and I would pay him for the gum when I got the money.

He said no.

Now we’ve got the beginnings of some real drama.

She was sent on an errand, and she encountered a problem. She thought of a solution to the problem, and went after that solution (by going on to the store and asking the store clerk for help).

When the store clerk said no, she no longer had a solution to the first problem, which means she can’t complete the task that her mother gave her.

So the question is: what is she going to do now?

Coming up against that bigger problem, when the clerk said no, makes this version a more interesting story than the first or second version (the one where nothing happened, and the one where she solved the problem—see the previous post).

Why? Because of an important ingredient in all drama:

Conflict.

Conflict is when two people, or forces, or whatever, both want something in a situation but only one of them can win.

“I want the ball.”

“No, I want the ball.”

Boom. Conflict.

In the first story about the trip to the store with the money, there was no real conflict. So, no drama there.

In the second story, the conflict was between the girl and the sewer (or, maybe more specifically, between the girl and gravity pulling her money downwards, or the girl and her butter-fingers, but whatever). So, a little bit of drama.

The problem is, the force that is acting against the girl (let’s just say it’s the sewer) is not very strong, or interesting, or challenging.

When two people or forces or whatever are in conflict, you will get more drama depending on how powerful each side is.

Or how badly each side wants what they are going after.

The girl wants the money pretty badly. The sewer probably doesn’t care that much. So, there is only a little drama.

In the third story, we have another person (the store clerk) who is in conflict with the girl, and this time, we can imagine all sorts of reasons he said no.

Maybe he didn’t understand what she was asking, so with a little explanation he might end up letting her have the gum. (a little conflict)

Maybe he is suspicious of children, and thinks she wants to steal the gum from his store. She’ll have to think of some way to convince him otherwise (a little more drama).

Maybe his family has hated her family for generations, and there is no way in heck he would ever help her, no matter how simple her request (much bigger conflict, much bigger drama).

The bigger the conflict, the bigger the drama.

The bigger the drama, the more interesting the story.

Why? Because the bigger the conflict, the harder your main character is going to have to work to solve the problem.

And now we have something for your main character to do.

And the reader is more likely to want to know what happens next.

Which is what a story is supposed to do.

Your story is now ready to roll.

Happy writing, young writer.