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Every Good Story Needs a ZIGZAG

In medicine, “flat liner” means dead…

Both comedy and 3-act Aristotelian story telling depend on the wonders and energy of zigzagging.

There is nothing worse than a story that follows a straight plot line with no twists and turns.

Here is an example:

“The guy meets the girl. He wants to marry her and proposes. She says “but of course! I’d be delighted to marry you!” They marry, have two kids and a dog, and live happily ever after.”

Did you like it? It does not even sound authentic and real, does it? It comes across as too lame, too good to be true because… the story develops on a straight line.

There are no bends in the line, no U-turns, no zigzags.

Drama

Every good story worth reading needs unexpected obstacles and zigzags.

Every writer worth his salt knows this. It’s “Writing 101” stuff. No zigzags, no story worth reading. It’s as simple as that.

Let’s change the above story by introducing a few zigzags:

“The guy wants to meet the girl but doesn’t know how (ZIG). A friend says she can help but at a price (ZAG). He pays the “friend” to meet the girl of his dreams. He wants to marry her and proposes. But she says “no way! I cannot marry a writer!” (ZIG). The guy enrolls in a night program to become a lawyer (ZAG). Four years later he gets his law degree but the girl he loves is now mortally ill (ZIG). So, he makes a decision for which he’s going to pay for the rest of his life… (ZAG).”

Isn’t this a better story now? Don’t you read it with more interest since there is more adversity built into it with all those zigs and zags?

Comedy

Same thing with comedy. A joke is nothing but a premise, or the “setup”, followed by a sharp and unexpected “punch line.” The setup is the ZIG. Punch line is the ZAG. It’s the same one-two move that boxers use all the time. The only difference is, in comedy the end result is laughter instead of a knocked-out opponent.

Here is a one-liner by the brilliant Rodney Dangerfield: “My psychiatrist told me I was crazy and I said I want a second opinion. He said okay, you’re ugly too.”

Dangerfield sets up the ZIG and then follows it with an unexpected punch to the solar plexus: “You’re ugly too” (the ZAG).

This brings out another dimension of zigzagging in life — even when it might not be necessary from a career point of view, zigzagging certainly infuses our lives with humor and freshness that increases the quality of our lives.

The juice and electricity that a new zigzag brings to our lives is usually the best antidote to the monotony of a story with straight line.

Remember — in medicine, “flat liner” means… dead!

(Excerpts from ZIGZAG Your Way to Success!)