The Art of Storytelling (as told by Noah Garber)
Where did everything take place? Who are the main people involved? What is the conflict or struggle that those people encounter and face head on? Who (if anyone or anything) is opposing to the main characters, because the main characters don't have to be in opposition with a person. Conflict comes in the external form, as well as internally. Some of the best stories have the protagonist dealing with inner conflict with their own defects. Through a series of events listed out by the narrator (who serves as the omnipotent and omniscient string puller of everything that happens)…we build our way up to the climax. This is where everything comes to a head and is the biggest point of importance...leading up to the ending. The ending is a point where you can resolve all the conflict and tie things off nicely, or leave the reader hanging off a cliff, only to inspire and motivate them to climb up at the promise of a sequel.
This is the nutshell of the art of storytelling as it were. Art created by the narrator, who's words you are reading. He is pleased to meet you as he takes of his top hat and politely bows at your presence. As he pulls back the curtain and show you behind the scenes, don't be alarmed. Little surprises around every corner, but nothing dangerous. Everyone has their own way of unrolling this big ball of yarn and winding it back up again. Always in a different pattern and in a different direction, but all the same it becomes wound back up again. Yet more thoughts remain in the mind that created the words you just read. So, continue to humor this narrator as he continues to spill his hot lemon green tea on an attempt to educate.
SETTING
How can anything happen surrounded by nothing? How can nothing exist, then all of a sudden something. This question is asked with more in the logical sense of telling a narrative, and less in an existential and apologetic sense. Still, the location is one of the factors that effects the characters in numerous ways. In addition to the actual location, the time can also be essential. Take Great Gatsby for example. F. Scott Fitzgerald sets the scene in 1920's Prohibition New York. The time is just as important as the location in my opinion. Had the time and place been stripped, it would be bare bones without any meat. Even though Fitzgerald takes his time to describe the euphoria regarding the city at the time, they both are essential in supporting what happens to the characters of the story. In addition, a narrator wants to trigger the imagination so that their reader or listener to visualize your location. Show them the location with your words instead of just telling them.
PROTAGONIST(S)
These are the people that you want all your attention on in your story. The possibilities are truly endless. You can explore the inner workings of a characters mind. More importantly, what kind of main character(s) do you want to have? The narrator speaking to you as you read these words, is quite fond of the anti-hero. A character that makes morally questionable decisions, but they are still rooted for. They are made to be sympathetic or tolerable because you as the reader and listener are invited into their life and you begin to wish them well on their endeavors. When they are given the opportunity to "sell out" and make a decision that is against their character, you hope and pray that they don't take it. Even if it would do good for them, you hope and pray that they don't shake hands with the devil and turn on you. Every decision you make is important. Though again this narrator asks "what type of protagonist do you want?" Do you want a useless and coward main character of Nick Carraway who stands aside and allows his best friend to be murdered? Or do you want an Edmond Dantès who avenges his own imprisonment and achieves justice against his afflicters. Consider the type of person you are creating, and find the right moments to share with your audience new things about them.
GOAL/STRUGGLE/CONFLICT
What is the problem that your protagonist(s) are facing? Is the conflict internal or external? How big is the problem? Is it Man vs. Man? Is it Man vs. Society? Is it Man vs. Self? These are important questions to ask yourself as you are the creator. This narrator is a fan of all three. In his own personal life, the Man vs. Self conflict is present due to the fact that there is insecurity, doubt, and other types of torture. On the subject of torture, allow this narrator to once again humor his audience as he shares an observation about the people of this generation. This is in regards to the Man vs. Society conflict. To put it bluntly, it hides behind an excuse of sensitivity and self-made identity that serves as castle walls. It's heart has been hardened with the same stone to build their castles, and they have filled their ears with hot wax. It's philosophy and justification is built on a contradiction. "There is no objective truth. What's true for you is true for you, and what's true for me is what's true for me."
So if you believe that you can live without drinking water, you would rather be offended and disagree with the man offering you a bottle of water than take a drink? No. There IS indeed objective truth. Facts are Facts to everybody regardless of what you believe. Nor does it make logical sense to be the source of your own morality. There is a definite right and a definite wrong, and it certainly doesn't come from self. Humans are flawed...just like the characters of a story. Find the best moments expose every aspect of their personality and their beliefs.
Antagonist
This is the part where this narrator describes how to create evil. Unlike the narrator of the Good Book who never created evil or the villain, this is the opportunity to challenge your protagonist. You want to give them a challenge that takes them the whole narrative to overcome. For this narrator who's words you are reading, a villain does not just cause horrific things to happen to the main character. A brilliant villain tries to manipulate the protagonist, as well as any supporting characters to betray their morals and "turn to the dark side" to quote a famous masked villain with a red laser sword. A villain not only hurts the emotions and body, but the mind. A villain who he is able to look through the fourth wall and realize that there is an audience looking right at him, and he looks back and laughs a laugh unlike anything you've ever heard. He knows that his adversary won't kill him, but he consistently tempts him to betray his morals. No matter how much evil this villain causes, his heroic counterpart will not kill him. When the rest of the world is suit-wearing money laundering gangsters, he laughs in their faces and asks "why so serious?". As this narrator grew up and learned about characters, he began to have less loyalty to the red and yellow HulkaMania of "say your prayers and take your vitamins" and began to like the black and white of the nWo . The spray paint, the matching t shirts, the gang mentality, the running away from fights and not letting anybody else win. That's pure villainy. This narrator gives it the "chef's kiss" as a work of art. Create a villain that is hard for the good to defeat.
RESOLUTION
The ending of the story is almost as important as the climax. Where all the tension builds to in the middle, and all of it is resolved at the end. This narrator sits at the table, determined to finish writing his first story. The ending, will not be when the story get's finished. The story written by this narrator does indeed have an ending, but this narrator’s ending hasn't happened yet. In fact...his story will never end. The narrator who's words you are reading is a character in a far greater story, written by the greatest narrator of them all. Who has seen fit to have the beginning and the end written down on paper. All of us as characters in his story have the end to look forward to. Yet, the ending does not occur at the grave. The end of life on earth is simply the end of a chapter. Eternity on the other hand is the voyage yet to be experienced, and the character who’s words your reading, looks forward to it with confidence. Confidence in that he will meet his creator, and be welcomed into eternity with open arms. Without bitterness. Without fear. Without "mourning, crying or pain". Without any imperfection or defect or struggle. Without any evil. Benevolence lasting in perpetual victory. Permanent joy and fulfillment. This is the end we have to look forward to, which makes everything that happens between now and then worth it.
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