Super Structure: The Key to Unleashing the Power of Story (Bell on Writing)

by James Scott Bell

I call structure “translation software for your imagination.” Structure takes the story you have in your heart and mind and transforms it into a narrative that readers can fall in love with.

Good metaphor that speaks to my ADHD brain.

The great spy novelist John Le Carré suggested this axiom: The cat sat on the mat is not the beginning of a story. The cat sat on the dog's mat, is. Another writer said that a story begins when you strike the match, not when you lay out the wood.

Write several opening lines. Often it’s not the first one you write, but the fifth or sixth that really grabs you. And if it grabs you it will grab the reader.

So, two kinds of mirror moments: Who am I? What have I become? What do I have to do to change? I can’t possibly win this battle. I’m going to die. The first type of mirror moment tells the character he has to grow into a different and better person (if he doesn’t, we have a tragedy). The second type requires that the character grow stronger, in order to survive.

Mirror moments

In my humble opinion, the mirror moment is the most potent of all the signposts. It takes you to the heart of your story. It helps you determine exactly the kind of novel you want to write––or that your writer mind is trying to tell you to write. It’s like a search light on the top of a hill helping you see both directions on the highway.

Q is an emotional impetus that is set up in Act I that comes back to provide inspiration or instruction at a critical moment in Act III.

The Q Factor is mobile. It can be placed before or after Lights Out in Act III. Put it where it feels right.