Self-Study of Hugo & Nebula Winners

If the scope of a short story is subdued to a:

• change in perspective
• you make a regrettable mistake and weep
• you get rid of an unwanted gift after paying the cost
• you break free of a self-imposed prison
• you question and come to terms with one of your routines/habits
• find a way to express something you’ve felt but couldn’t find the words to say it
• find the courage within you to confess a secret love/guilt
• find the strength within you, under duress and stress to do something you didn’t think you had in you
• finally do what you’ve been meaning to do but always had excuses

Then… what kind of stories can we tell with a 7500 word limit and 5-9 scenes at most? In some stories, the character is on a routine/habitual path, they’re doing something without giving thought to it. A trigger messes with it, bothers them, makes them think differently. In another, they are trapped by a force of their own making or externally, and they want to escape, but don’t know how. They’ve tried everything else. Nothing works.

What is the SCOPE of a 7500 word, 5-9 scene story? How much can you do?

• question your job, implying you’ll quit at the end
• do something heady, suffer withdrawal symptoms, solve it, but pay for it.
• given an animal to take care of, return it to the wild
• stuck in your own head about the way things should be, get out of it by the end
• hate identifying with something, reject it outright, but accept it in the end.
• doesn’t know how to express themselves, reflect on mentor, express it fully at end
• need to confess to someone, but held back by reasons, and realizes no need to
• must preserve your way of life despite threat and stress, tested and prevails.
• goes to forbidden place to make money, encounter mirrors, realize truths
• want to do something/go somewhere, but held by back excuses, finally goes.

IN ALL CASES: there is a shift in perspective in Act III

Four CHARACTER ARCS

1. Pattern Interrupt
2. Prison Breakout
3. Protect Way-Of-Life
4. Persecuted & Attacked

PATTERN INTERRUPT

Protagonist is doing something routine/ritual/habitual, but this time — during the opening scene — something is different. It affects them at a root level and makes them question their world. Maybe what they’re doing is so absurd (based on this world’s rules), they finally ask: “Why am I doing this? Why have we always done it this way? What are the benefits/consequences of doing it this way? What if we tried another way? What are the costs?” Maybe it’s the final straw that breaks the camel’s back. Maybe it’s because they see something different or unusual on this particular “case/gig/job/date/meal”.

Ultimately, the TRIGGER CHARACTER in the opening scene does something that affects the protagonist to think differently.

The BACKSTORY can be how they got this way originally. Were they born into it? Was it accepted cultural norms already? Was it something they ran headfirst into without thinking much about it?

The PROTAGONIST maybe privileged, sleepwalking through life, bored, taking things for granted or obsessed or ignorant. Either way, the PROCEDURE/RITUAL is something they didn’t really think about until this TRIGGER event/character.

The OPENING SCENE DRAMATIZATION would be showing the protagonist going about their day doing this routine/ritual/habit… this PATTERN. What could it be? It could be a job. It could be a habit. It could be a special power they use every day to survive. It could be them hunting something, or seeking it. or killing it. Or fighting. A routine sales job. Or a chase. Routine investigative PROCEDURE. There is a PROCEDURE here that’s highly RITUALIZED. Something you don’t questions doing…. until you finally do.

PRISON BREAKOUT

Protagonist is trapped na can’t seem to break free of a jail. Jail can be internal (excuses, limiting beliefs, negative thoughts, rackets, lies you tell yourself)… or it can be external (a dominating relationship, a job you hate, a commitment you regret, a oath you can’t break, a duty to an institution/organization/code, a promise to family or loved one, an actual prison). Whereas a PATTERN is something you do unconsciously and unaware, a PRISON is something the protagonist is keenly aware of and dislikes. They know they need to escape, confess, find the courage or strength to act or express their guilt, love or anger. They are LOOKING FOR RELEASE. So we start by putting the character in an elaborate trap where everything gutsy do, or the parts they try has this intense pressure. And in the opening scene, you can have them acting out passive-aggressively, or they openly rebel. This is something that has come to define them but they reject it.

The TRIGGER CHARACTER is someone who somehow offers an opportunity to break out. Someone who offers something new.

The BACKSTORY is how they got trapped, or the strategies they’ve tried to get out with already. The costs they’ve had to pay. Why do they want to get out so badly now? What are the stakes at hand? Do they have someone on the outside they need to get to? Do they have an enemy they need to exact vengeance on? Who put them in this prison? If it’s themselves, what do they need to forgive themselves on? If it’s others, what put them there?

The PROTAGONIST is oppressed, already threatened, at a loss, desperate, filled with excuses, has a bunch of rackets. They are AWARE of their problem and are looking for a chance to escape.

The OPENING SCENE DRAMATIZATION could be a day in the prisoner’s life. Show the precasting conflict and turmoil. Show they be passive aggressive or openly rebellious. Maybe show they getting published for trying to get out. Or break a rule in this prison. And reflect on a half-man who tried to get away.

PROTECT WAY-OF-LIFE

Protagonist’s current way of life is precious or fragile. They must protect it. They’ve paid a heft price for this lifestyle and they have a lot riding on it. They could be rich and under threat of it being taken away. There could be rules that were broken and it’s now up to the protagonist to fix it. It could be a mission they’ve poured tons of energy, time and life into it… and now there’s an obstacle or problem that jeopardizes the entire operation. They are looking to PROTECT their way-of-life from threats.

The TRIGGER CHARACTER will invariably be that said THREAT that comes to try and destroy that way of life. The protagonist’s job is to stop that threat at all costs.

The BACKSTORY are the STAKES of this way-of-life. Why do they protect it so dearly? What do they think would happen if they lost this way-of-life? Who are they dishonouring? Who are they putting at risk? Who gets hurt if they stop defending so heartedly? What happens if they lose it all? These are things they’ve thought long and hard on an are in constant PARANOIA over losing it. There could be something that’s catching up with them. A regrettable PAST.

The PROTAGONIST is powerful, paranoid, protective, always looking behind their shoulders, but they will not run. They will stand and fight and DEFEND their turf. They have too much to lose.

The OPENING SCENE DRAMATIZATION shows the talking about how fragile things are. They reflect. Or maybe they’re preparing for the incoming threat already. They’re getting armed, plotting, planning. Thinking of what traps to lay. Something could be BROKEN already and they’re desperately trying to fix it or deal with it and numb themselves from it.

PERSECUTED & ATTACKED

Protagonist starts off right away being attacked or having already been attacked. It could be psychological, physical, sexual whatever. There’s a FRESH WOUND here. So now the protagonist is in the process of running away. Maybe they need to hide or escape or evade or avoid or whatever. They may need to disguise themselves, hide their identity, who they are or their past. They may need to try new identities. They are RUNNING AWAY. But at the end of the day they need to turn around and face their enemy. If it’s internal, maybe they need to face themselves and accept who they are and that they can’t run from the past/themselves/who they are. If it’s an external enemy, they might have to just FIGHT them or DIE TRYING. Because life is better when you’re courageous and stand for yourself than to constantly be running away.

The TRIGGER CHARACTER is the PREDATOR that has already destroyed the protagonist’s life. We have an in-built ANTAGONIST right away, where as other stories take a while for us to figure out. The ANTAGONIST is who the protagonist is RUNNING AWAY from.

The BACKSTORY is perhaps a story that reveals why they’re so afraid and running away instead of fighting. Maybe they’ve been hurt before. Maybe they never had the courage to fight before. Maybe they were never taught. Maybe simply can’t deal with the enemy right now.

The PROTAGONIST is on the defensive. They are the poor, the downtrodden, the minority, the small fry. They are everyday heroes. They are fugitives, refugees, the oppressed. The weak.

The OPENING SCENE DRAMATIZATION can be you showing the attack. The protagonists in media res being hunted down, attacked, or persecuted. Or it happened already and now they’re running and hiding or escaping.

The Opening Scene

1. It must feel like something is about to go wrong - as sense of urgency and tension
   • it ends in violence
   • Countdown to incoming threat
   • Deadline to get something done.
2. Something already gone wrong and you’re dealing with the consequences
3. INTRODUCE TRIGGER ➔ Problem