Build Your Novel: Essential Elements

 

A story is the tale of a person in a place overcoming a conflict. While that might seem obvious, each of these elements is essential for a story to be told. The tale is the necessary exposition of the action, the history, the culture, and the consequences of actions. The person is the protagonist with whom the reader relates and through whose choices the reader experiences the story. The place is the setting in which the story takes place; it frames the actions that occur and restricts the choices available to the characters. The conflict is the antagonist that forces the protagonist to make choices that result in actions with consequences. These elements need not be described equally, but they must all be present. 

A story is the result of a protagonist making choices and taking action in opposition to an antagonist. Importantly, one of the primary elements should be interacting in every scene of the story; a novel will contain many different arrangements of protagonist, antagonist, and setting. Each of these is related to the primary arrangement of protagonists, antagonists, and setting known as the primary conflict. As the story progresses, these essential elements will be used in various combinations to provide context and scope for the primary conflict by setting up and resolving multiple non-primary conflicts.

Characters

Characters are the primary means for the reader to experience the events of the story and to relate to the emotional impact of the story. The characters are used to provide exposition through observation and dialog. They advance the story by making choices and taking actions that result in consequential change to the setting. Characters will act as both protagonist and antagonist. A character does not need to be a person; a character may be an anthropomorphized object or animal, or it may be a personified aspect of the setting. Anything that takes action and makes choices is a character. All characters will have a desire and a motivation. Characters are either primary or supporting, depending on their role in the story.

In Roc, the primary characters are:

• Saul Berm
  Saul is a professional photographer and amateur mountain climber. He believes the roc killed his daughter (Vanessa) and wants to kill it.
• Timothy Harris
  Timothy is a ranger with the National Park Service. He believes that Vanessa (his girlfriend at the time) accidentally fell to her death while mountain climbing. He wants to help people explore the parks safely.
• The roc
  The roc is a megafauna bird of prey. It has a nest with new hatchlings that it is feeding and protecting. Game is getting scarce, and humans are encroaching on its territory. It has begun hunting unusual food sources and aggressively defending itself.
• The media
  The media are the amateur and professional journalists and influencers who want to use the roc to boost their own careers.

The supporting characters are:

• Gee Coleman
  Gee is a photography student and Saul's assistant. Gee wants Saul to resume his career and use Saul's name recognition to launch his own career.
• Sarah Kendall
  Sarah is a park ranger who works with Timothy. She wants to protect Timothy from Saul because she thinks the relationship is unhealthy.
• Delina Farren is a cryptid hunter and social media influencer. She wants to document unknown species because she is fascinated by them. 

Conflicts

Conflict arises when characters take actions that frustrate the desires of other characters. The primary conflict is the reason for the story and it is the reader's largest emotional investment. Secondary conflicts increase the reader's investment in the primary conflict and expand its scale, scope, and relevancy. Secondary conflicts also arise from the existence of the primary conflict and as a consequence of the actions of the characters. Secondary conflicts are created and resolved throughout the length of the story. 

In Roc, the primary conflict is Saul's determination to find and kill the roc pitted against Timothy's determination to protect it and its habitat. Secondary conflicts include: the media wish to expose the roc and the roc wishes to protect itself; Delina is trying to document the roc and the roc wishes to be left alone; Sarah wants Saul to stay away from Timothy and Saul wants Timothy to help him; Gee wants Saul to abandon the search and resume his career but Saul wants to destroy the roc. 

Setting and Exposition

A story's setting is defined by the place and time in which the story happens. Elements of exposition such as history, expected behaviors, and cultural norms bleed over into the setting category. All of these elements are non-character elements and so do not make choices or take actions out of motivation. In the event that one of these elements is personified and described as if it is acting out of intention, it should be treated as a character and not an element of the setting. 

The setting requires description for the reader to understand the restrictions on the actions of the characters. The setting can be used to directly influence the reader with emotional language, and to communicate elements of history or culture. The setting can be used a literary device to emphasize the emotional impact of the action or to construct a parallel description of the characters' actions. The setting can be used to control the actions of the characters by restricting their abilities and defining the area in which a conflict occurs. Any aspect of the setting with which the reader is not expected to have a familiar frame of reference must be described. 

In Roc, the setting is the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness area in Montana and Wyoming. The location is remote and difficult to access; it is heavily forested with abundant wildlife. The time is the modern day, 2023, with technology common to the United States. The wilderness area is managed by the United States Forest Service. The culture of the story will largely concern outdoor recreational activities such as hiking, climbing, and camping; environmental activism will be an important motivation for some characters. The culture of the park rangers who protect the wilderness and the people who go there is important to the characters. 

Mix and Match

With the primary elements defined, and a framework created for secondary elements, combining these elements in various ways results in conflict from competing desires as framed by the setting. It the interaction of these elements within the framework of the rough outline that advances the action of the story.

There's only one thing left to do. Get the...

...and get scribblin'!