Topics versus Events: avoid flatlining your story-dramatize it.

Sometimes you are incredibly passionate about a particular topic. Like rainforests, for instance. You see them getting destroyed and know that while they cover a small part of the earth, half of the planet’s creatures live there. You see threats like deforestation and believe that preservation is crucial to stemming the tide of climate change and the impending doom of the planet.

The stakes are high! This has to make a great movie, right? Everyone will get on board to save the rainforests!

Well, that depends entirely on how you tell the story.

The "Topic" Trap

You could create a film where a character explains all the issues with the rainforest. But what you are doing is simply talking about a topic. It may be fascinating to you and could even make a great Ted Talk, but in a story, it can get boring—fast.

Why? Because a topic is static. It’s a collection of facts and ideas that you are presenting to an audience. They are passive listeners. To create a story, you need to stop talking and make something happen.

The Power of an "Event"

Imagine this: you're in your everyday world, talking about your favourite topic, the rainforest. Then suddenly, a huge tractor crashes through the trees, nearly killing you as you flee for your life.

Suddenly, we have an event. This is your story's inciting incident—a moment that shatters the ordinary world and launches your character into the action.

An event is a live drama your character (and your audience) experiences in real-time. It has a clear beginning, middle, and end. The tractor appears, it demolishes the trees, and you are left behind, bewildered.

From Global Threat to Personal Danger

Now, perhaps that tractor is there illegally. You make a decision to go after it. You are now a motivated character on a quest. You wave it down and get in a fight with the driver. He knows he’s caught, so he pulls out a gun. You run for your life.

Do you see what happened? The stakes have transformed. The story is no longer about an abstract, global threat (climate change). It's now about a personal, immediate threat: a man with a gun is trying to kill you.

This is the essence of the classic writing advice: Show, Don't Tell. Don't just tell us deforestation is dangerous; show us a character running from a gun. Your audience is no longer passively listening to a topic; they are experiencing the drama right alongside your main character.

A Special Note on "Big Ideas"

This doesn't mean your story can’t impart information about your topic. It absolutely can, but it must be an organic part of the story, revealed as characters gain information while trying to achieve their goals.

I purposely used an environmental issue to illustrate this because these topics are tricky. The real-life drama can take thousands of years to manifest. In situations like this, you must connect the big idea to an immediate, human-scale event. Find the human-scale drama within the large-scale topic. 

Your Turn to Write

Keep the difference between "topics" and "events" clear in your mind and remember that it is a succession of character motivated dramatic events that creates a story.

Give it a try. In the comments, pick a topic you're passionate about. Then, invent a single, dramatic event that could launch a story and make that topic personal.

Happy Writing!

For more tips and useful information check out the blog posts or for personal assistance with your latest project reach Susanna at scriptsbysusanna@gmail.com.