The Library · Workshop 01
What Makes a Story?
Six steps. About 25 minutes. Up to 8 stars. The constellation you're building is called First Story.
The Library · Workshop 01
Six steps. About 25 minutes. Up to 8 stars. The constellation you're building is called First Story.
Every story you've ever loved is built on the same four bones.
It doesn't matter if it's a picture book, a movie, a song lyric, or a 600-page novel. The bones are the same. Character. Want. Problem. Change. Once you can see them, you'll see them everywhere — and once you can see them, you can build your own.
This workshop walks you through the four bones, lets you find them in a real passage, and ends with you writing a one-paragraph story that has all four. Smaller than a song. Bigger than a sentence. Yours.
You'll know what a story is by the end. The next workshop teaches you to read like a builder. The third one teaches you to write the real thing.
If the four-bone idea makes sense to you — Character. Want. Problem. Change. — tap below.
Multi-select. Some of these are real story bones. Some sound like they should be but aren't. Pick the four that are. We'll check after.
Click one on the left, then click what it does on the right. Match all four.
Below is a short passage. The bones are all in there — but you have to spot them. Pick a tag below, then click the line that matches it. You're looking for one line each for Want, Problem, and Change. (The character is named in the very first line.)
Now your turn. One paragraph. Has to have a character, a want, a problem, and a change. The checklist will light up as it detects each piece. Don't overthink — this is a sketch, not a novel.
Write at least 60 characters. The smaller the story, the more each word matters.
Not what you'd write. What you wish you could read. The book that doesn't exist yet. The story your library is missing. Name it — that's how you find out what's worth writing later.