Speaker: Jon Franklin
Session: Beginning, Middle, and End: The Shape and Psychology of Story
Dec. 1, 2001, 2:00-3:15 p.m.

Dear Colleagues:

It wasn't that I didn't respect Jon Franklin. After all, the man's a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner whose work was held up by my college professors as the pinnacle of narrative non-fiction, the lofty writing summit to which we should all aspire to reach.

Still, as I sat waiting for his seminar to begin, I wasn't too impressed as my friend Kate raved about his book, "Writing for Story: Craft Secrets of Dramatic Nonfiction."

"It's a great book," she said. "You really should get it."

I nodded and smiled at her. I have shelves of books at home that purport to hold the secrets of how to be a better writer. With the exception of the occasional interesting tidbit, the only thing I've learned from those books is not to waste my money on books of writing secrets. I've been burned before, so I didn't go running up to the bookstand to shell out my hard-earned dollars for Franklin's book. But regardless of my doubts about such books, I still had high hopes for his seminar as he stepped up to the podium.

I came to this conference with the specific goal of focusing on story structure. I've spent years working on leads, refining my interviewing techniques, becoming a more thorough researcher. But it didn't occur to me until a few months ago, as I struggled with a travel piece on Plymouth, that I've given very little thought to how I shaped my stories. I wanted ideas and to hear how other writers approached this subject, so Franklin's seminar seemed the perfect fit.

I had just eaten lunch and was ready more for a nap than tuning in my brain to an intellectual presentation on the finer points of sculpting a story. "I hope this is good," I thought to myself.

But Franklin got me to sit up right away as he talked about things like "character" and "plot" -- words I'd associated with novels and short fiction, not journalism. These, he said, were important elements to any good story -- fiction or nonfiction.

Any good story centers around a character complication. That complication makes the character insert an effort, Franklin said. It can be any number of things, from some horrible event or obstacle, to even something such as falling in love. How the character deals with this complication is what makes each story different.

The development of that story usually follows three parts, he said. First, the character digs in; then the character digs in deeper; and finally the character digs toward some kind of insight. That insight is that significant point of change in the story, which is usually followed soon after by some kind of resolution and the end of the story.

But beyond what happens, a writer must also consider elements such as how the story must follow some kind of rhythm, and how what occurs in the story makes both the character and the reader feel. And beneath all this, Franklin said a writer must also address what the story means -- the theme behind the story, such as love endures or war destroys. The idea of meaning, he said, is central to storytelling.

To wrap up his seminar, Franklin tied all these storytelling elements into psychology. He explained the brain has three parts: the part that speaks rhythm; the part that speaks emotion; and the part that speaks logic.

They're the same parts that make up a good story. The brain has evolved to solve complications. So, he said, it is obvious why we like stories: That's where we get our meaning.

With the seminar over, my mind was swimming with these new thoughts and elements to consider in my writing, ideas like plot and character, rhythm and meaning.

I stood up and slipped through the crowds of people and over to the bookstand outside the seminar room. There I bought Franklin's book.

It's a great book. You really should get it.

[ Join The Conversation About This Session ]

Jack Hart
Convince your Editor to Accept Narrative