6 Elements Of A Strong Story

Using the Story Grid 5 Commandments and Value Change

The Story Grid breaks the story into three acts of five parts each for a total of fifteen core scenes. The five parts of each scene are called the 5 Commandments of storytelling. These 5 Commandments can be used at the act and the scene level.

For the sake of this example, let's use a scenario of a single father, Bill, and his son, Ryan. Bill and Ryan live in a small farming town and Ryan has always dreamed of traveling the world but has never had the time or means.

Inciting Incident

This is the thing that knocks the world out of balance for your protagonist; it can be causal or coincidence.

Using our example story, the Inciting Incident might be Ryan coming home and telling Bill that he has joined the Army to travel the world.

Turning Point

This is the thing that forces the protagonist out of their status quo and causes them to make a decision; this can be caused by a revelation or a character action.

Bill is not happy, but he understands Ryan is fulfilling his dream. After going to a routine medical check-up, he finds out that he has cancer, and this is the Turning Point of this act.

Crisis Question

This is the question the protagonist asks himself based on the Turning Point. Does he do one thing or the other? The answer to this question will show what kind of character your protagonist is. It’s important to note that the stakes of the decision must be clear to the reader, and the stakes should be near equal for both decisions.

Bill must decide to tell Ryan if he has cancer or not. If he does, then Ryan may decide not to go into the Army and stay to take care of Bill, thus never fulfilling his dream of travel. If he doesn’t, Bill will have to learn to survive through the cancer treatments himself or be put in a home. This is a best bad decision for Bill and shows the reader what kind of person he is. Is he selfish, only thinking of his own comfort, or does he love his son enough to let him go despite his health condition?

Climax

This is the decision made by the protagonist.

Bill decides to tell his son, and his son decides not to go into the Army.

Resolution

These are the repercussions of the Protagonist’s decision.

Value Change

Related to the 5 Commandments is the Global Value of the novel which is the sixth element that can help you write a strong story. The global value depends on the core emotion the reader will elicit from reading the novel. In a Thriller or Action novel, the reader wants to be thrilled and be in fear for the protagonist’s life. The reader wants to celebrate when the protagonist barely survives. The global value for Thriller and Action novels is Life and Death. So, each of the fifteen core scenes of the story (the 5 Commandments of each Act) needs to revolve around the protagonist being close to dying or surviving.

The Star Wars (Act 1) Example

Inciting Incident: Luke discovers that Princess Leah has been captured and may be put to death

Turning Point: Luke’s uncle and aunt are killed by Stormtroopers

Crisis Question: Does Luke go with Ben Kenobi to rescue the princess, or not? The stakes are: if he goes, he will be put in danger and if he doesn’t go, he may never have another chance to leave Tatooine, and the Stormtroopers have already come and may find him and kill him for having interacted with R2D2.

Climax: Luke decides there is nothing left for him on Tatooine, so he goes with Ben.

Resolution: Luke meets Han Solo who agrees to get them off the planet, but they are immediately involved in a shootout as they board the ship.

You will notice that all of these 5 Commandments involve life and death. Princess Leah is at risk of death, Luke’s family is killed, Luke must decide to face death off or on Tatooine, he chooses to face life off-planet with Ben, and is immediately involved in a shootout with stormtroopers.

The Global Value of the whole Act goes from Luke’s life is potentially at risk because the stormtroopers are searching for R2D2 to the end to the act when his life is physically at risk when the stormtroopers are shooting at him.

What’s Next?

For some other examples of the 5 commandments and the Global Value, see my analysis of Waylander by David Gemmell or Old Man’s War by John Scalzi.

The Story Grid book uses the thriller The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris as an example, but there are many articles on the Story Grid webpage that explain in detail the different genre requirements with other examples.

If you keep these 5 Commandments and the Global Value under consideration when you create your story, you are sure to make a more compelling novel.

Good luck and happy writing!