The writer’s job is simple: to be
astounding! And doing that is actually easy... so long as we meet
only one demand: Tell us a
story about transformation.
Blake like to say that as we begin any story, you
the audience and I the writer are standing on a train platform. You
and I are getting on that train... and we’re not coming
back. The tale we tell is so life-altering, both for the hero and
for us, that we can never look at our world the same way again.
Because change is not only astounding, it’s painful. And
that’s why we tell stories.
There are all kinds of ways to map out this
change, but never forget that’s what we’re charting
here. We will get bored not seeing change occur. Despite all the
pyrotechnics you throw our way that dazzle us so, we must
experience life.
So how do you find the transformation in your
story? Blake Snyder discussed about two different
“maps” to chart change: the 15 beats of the Blake
Snyder Beat Sheet and the 40 beats of The Board. They are the basis
of the software.
But in the course of teaching structure, Blake
found another way, a third map, to help you see story. This is the
“flow chart” that shows The Transformation
Machine that is
change in action. It illustrates how, in the process of change, the
hero dies and the person emerging at the other end is wholly new.
We can actually track that change using this chart. It’s part
of the pdf
of Chapter 3 from his third book that
is included with the software. Have a look at
it.
There are three different "worlds" in a well
structured story. We hear these worlds called many things,
including Act
One, Act Two, and Act
Three, but Blake Snyder
prefer to think of them as "Thesis", "Antithesis" and "Synthesis". See attached map and read the
books.
