[gmw]

Originally Posted by crich70

What I meant was that you ned characters, a goal and a conflict as the very least on which to build a story idea. The premise is just the 1st step in the development. Just like you need wheels, a motive force and a means of steering in order to have a land vehicle that will go somewhere. lol. Of course you also need such things as breaks, windshield wipers and a speedometer but without the 1st three the other things are without use.

To pick up your analogy and run with it*: Before your wheels are any good you need some ground to run on (the setting). And having some idea whether you're driving in the backyard (kid's stories), a race track (thrillers), the highway (contemporary fiction), rocky ground (horror), or alien ground (fantasy) would be really helpful in choosing your wheels. The steering and motive force are totally pointless unless they are connected to the wheels. Do you see what I mean now?

I actually like your analogy better than the meaningless words of the OP. Motive force is the goal - something that drives the story from beginning to end. Character is the steering, that often arbitrary choice between left and right. Conflict is problems with your steering, or holes in your tyres. The way to understand conflict is to see that it is a way to make the goal more difficult to achieve. See it in that light and you begin to understand what it really means in terms of story construction.

Think back over the short stories you've read and think about conflict (what I'm talking about tends to be more obvious in shorts). I don't know about you, but I can name many where the conflict is not obvious. This is because conflict (by common interpretation) is not what is critical to the story. What is meant by "conflict" is what lies between the central character(s) and the goal(s). Seen this way it becomes obvious that just any conflict is not good enough, it has to be connected to the character and the goal. In fact conflict is not the right word. Obstruction comes closer. Rocks on the road of your analogy. Things that make achieving the goal more difficult. Understand what is really meant by "conflict" and you open up whole new vistas of story construction.

But the more I think about it, the more I come up with one word: connections. Stories make connections, even improbable ones. The connections are what makes the story feel complete. And not only connections within the story, but connections to real life, even from fantasy stories, so that the reader can be connected as well.

Think back to your Misery example.

Spoiler:

Annie is not just some random crazy thrown in to make Paul's life hard. No. She is his "number 1 fan". This highly improbable situation not only adds to the spice of the story, it adds to the difficulties that Paul faces. It calls upon connections to the past, from before the story started, and ties the story together in terms of motivation, both Annie's and Paul's. It calls upon the readers, most of whom have probably read favourite books and series where they wish the author hadn't killed off a character, and via this connection the reader gets a spark of understanding for Annie.

Connections. Stories make connections.


* My mother may have told me not to run with scissors, I really don't remember, but I'm pretty sure she never mentioned not to run with analogies .