I updated my article on comic writing fundamentals, with a concept I actually didn’t cover in Storycraft for Comics. Story Shine is usually something I go over during a direct consult or edit, or gets covered adequately enough just by hitting all the other story fundamentals. After updating that article I realized I was covering a little too much ground. The concept really needed it’s own separate article.

So here it is. And here we go.

 

The core concept and story gravity anchor YOU to the story… but there’s another important element at play, the one that anchors THE READER to the story.

People picking up your story for the first time can’t read your mind.

They can’t recognize the gravity of your story until they take the journey you put before them.

But there IS something upfront in your creation that jumps out at them.

An element of interest that gets their attention and holds it.

Well thought out fiction will have multiple elements of interest, but nearly all the time, you can whittle everything down to one core element. The one element that if it isn’t present, the narrative just loses all potency.

Some writing teachers call this the heat, or energy of the concept. I prefer to call it the Shine. A nod to the uniquely fantastic as defined by Stephen King’s fiction, but more so, sticking with our universe analogy, Shine represents the light of the Sun. Without it, we find ourselves in the cold, unforgiving dark. Without it too long, and we freeze to death.

You can think of the Gravity of the story, as the subtextual reason behind the story… and the Shine of the story as the best obvious and outward expression of that reasoning. More on this in a second…

• In a buddy cop story, it’s not the drug deal of the plot holding the reader, it’s the dynamic of the two characters (in some sort of conflict).
• In a sci-fi adventure story, it’s not the battle for the universe holding the reader, it’s the protagonist coming of age across an array of never-before-seen worlds; thrust headfirst into the most extreme unknowns possible.
• In John Wick, it’s not simply an assassin killing bad guys, it’s a legendary assassin trying to escape the life he created for himself, by facing impossible odds of physical violence.

Whatever your one element is, it’s in your best interest to identify it as soon as possible… and make sure the story stays with it as much as possible. Imagine if John Wick sat down at a computer terminal and hacked a computer system for 15 minutes of screen time. Seeing John Wick breach some cyber security protocols drifts far from the shine of the story, far from ‘escaping the life he created by facing impossible odds of physical violence.’

If you recognize the shine sounds like Narrative Drive.

Gold Star for you.

The shine of a story, is the fundamental dynamic that drives the Narrative Drive of your plot.

Read that line again.

Narrative Drive keeps the story moving forward. The shine, keeps the narrative drive working at maximum engagement.

Scenes with low narrative drive and no shine, drag your narrative into the abyss.

 

If you’re having trouble putting your finger on the one thing readers are there for most, try this:

Take the reason why you’re writing the story from your core concept, and ask yourself what’s the main way I’m going to showcase this.

Whatever that thing is, is the main thing the reader’s are there for.

For example: Jaws.

The reason behind the Core Concept; I want to pit man vs. beast, giving the beast an extreme home-court advantage—Jaws

And what’s the main way you’re going to capture that? Are you going to showcase courtroom drama, where the chief sues the town, to get a legal injunction to close the beach. NO, that has nothing to do with pitting man vs. beast in beast’s home court. Instead you’re going to capture it by basically, creating a survival horror situation with the protag stranded at sea with the shark. 

There you go. 

You just identified why readers are reading (or watching) Jaws. 

Jaws’ Shine:  survival horror situation of regular people stranded at sea with killer shark.

 

Maximum Engagement Scenes in Any Story:

• High narrative drive, dazzling with the shine of the story (scenes that showcase survival horror situations at sea with the protag and shark in our Jaws example.)

High Engagement Scenes in Any Story:

• High narrative drive scenes that move the reader toward the next scene dazzling with story shine. (In Jaws, been a while since I seen it, but this would be when Richard Dryfus pulls the license plate out of the smaller shark, revealing the real shark threat is still at large, and pushing closer toward the inevitable confrontation.)

Medium Engagement Scenes in Any Story:

• Medium narrative drive scenes supporting the main narrative, by focusing on other cool elements of your narrative. (Mood, style, etc.)  (again, just going by memory, maybe when Chief Brody is drinking wine with his wife. They discuss something about having moved to the island and they can’t just quit and move back to the city. Since this scene doesn’t really push the story toward survival horror with the shark, it lacks shine. It’s in the dark. It still works as a medium engagement because it develops important supplemental elements that round out the jaws narrative.)

Low Engagement Scenes in Any Story:  [AVOID THESE SCENES]

• Low narrative drive scenes. Scenes that digress and get lost in the worldbuilding, backstory, or narrative minutea.   (Jaws probably doesn’t have any dead scenes. But let’s say Chief Brody was working on his car and discussing how to rebuild a carburetor. Cool that the Chief knows about old cars, but that doesn’t have anything to do with anything of the story… Having nothing to do with the shine of the story, this scene would be totally dark… combined with no actual narrative drive, it would be a dead scene.) ▪About the Author —
  Nick Macari is a full-time freelance story consultant, developmental editor and writer, working primarily in the independent gaming and comic markets. His first published comic appeared on shelves via Diamond in the late 90’s. Today you can find his comic work on comixology, amazon and in select stores around the U.S.  Visit NickMacari.com for social media contacts and news on his latest releases.