I Only Meant to Warn You

intent--a purpose for performing or not performing an action; a governing motive or reason for a character doing something in a novel or short story; the desire to do or become; the planning and performance of an act or the planning and performance of an opposition to an act or behavior.

A character may step forth in a story without intent, only to be drawn into a crisis point is reached and a decision--you're either with us or against us--is required.

A character may step forth in a story with intent, only to have that intent abruptly and directionally changed.

A character may intend to remain neutral through some crisis point, only to find the position of neutrality beyond his grasp.

Each of the previous three examples places a character in stress, which may evolve into jeopardy. Each example also places the character well within the landscape of story.




jeopardy--a danger, risk, or peril existing as potential for a character; the state of vulnerability a character experiences before, after, and during the making of a decision; enhanced possibility of complication or danger a character lives through while navigating toward solution of the problem that landed him in the story in the first place.

The jeopardy may be the internal one of losing faith in a person, discipline, plan, even a philosophy; it may also be the risk of falling in love, getting into further complications, causing more damage or being caused more damage; it is the consequence of trying to move through the literary equivalent of a mine field while wearing snow shoes.

Many stories begin with the spirit-of-the-stairway comment of the narrator to self--I should have known better. The more productive characters never know better, rarely know enough beyond maintaining the status quo before being mired further in some activity or attitude where they become even more firmly stuck without traction.

In ways, jeopardy is cousin to risk, a state where additional things, worse things, can arise as a consequence of a character having taken some step, whether to avoid a problem, cope with it, or entirely flee from it. A narrative without some front rank character being in jeopardy of some consequence or in some risk-free circumstance is yet to be a story.

Jeopardy becomes the return of the pigeons, the consequences of the thing that should not have been done in the first place. Now it is worse; the character could have opted out (but there would have been no story). Now there is a price to be paid.

Acting Up

act--the noun, not the verb. An orchestrated and contrived performance given by one or more persons, intended to define reality while pursuing some agenda; hence the judgmental, a class act, meaning a person or group whose behavior suggests quality and substantial grace of approach; or a step beyond, a tough act to follow, meaning an extraordinary performance, or getting one's act together, suggesting an orchestrated routine of behavior intended to produce a desired effect.. A component of a stage play, an act contains one or more scenes in which character simultaneously pursue agendas and through their actions reveal relevant individual traits. The act is the thematic framework in which story is set in motion, then advanced as the characters, attempting to be true to their intentions, confront opposition, reversal, and surprise.

Although meant originally as a theatrical segment, the act is a useful reminder to the short story writer and novelist as a check list of events that have happened, that should have happened, the might happen, and are being actively hoped for. An act is a larger Petri dish of smaller segments, scenes, which have some temporal or thematic hierarchy. Many short stories are readily transformed into a one-act play. Many longer novels are reduced to the equivalent of a short story before being transformed into a motion picture. (William Styron's novel Sophie's Choice, is an example of the transformation from a number of acts on its way to becoming a motion picture.)

Instructive examples of acts: act one, scene two of Richard III by William Shakespeare sets forth characters and their agendas in immediate and irresistible motion. Act one, scene one of St. Joan by George Bernard Shaw quickly establishes a political climate, introduces the background of an as-yet unseen major character, all the while evoking the ambiance of a time in the distant past. Act one, scene one of Entertaining Mr. Sloan by Joe Orton presents an immediate agenda which foreshadows a bold, arresting conclusion, ironic in its Solomon-like logic.

As a verb, act connotes individuals who assume or take on agendas, attitudes, and entire modes of behavior that are not necessarily their own. In most stories, this acting is apparent to the reader if not the other characters, thus forming a double bind with irony; the author has conspired with the reader at the expense of the characters to produce this effect.