Designing Principle
Start by turning the designing principle of your story into a theme line. The theme line is your view about right and wrong action, in this story, stated in one sentence. As you look again at the designing principle, focus on its key actions and their moral effects.
Instead of denying your problems, you should face them head-on.
Theme Line Techniques
Look for any techniques, like symbols, that can condense your moral statement to one line or can encapsulate the unique structure you will give to your story.
A butterfly that shows up when she needs a sign from her mom.
Moral Choice
Write down the key choice the hero must make near the end of the story
To turn her father in or live with his dirty work.
Moral Problem
After reviewing your work on-premise, a state in one line the central moral problem your hero will confront throughout the story.
Should I turn in my only parent left or learn to live with what they did?
Characters as Variations on a Theme
Starting with the hero and the main opponent, describe how each major character approaches the central moral problem of the story in a different way.
Main Character: deals with the problem head-on
Opponent: Tries to hide it but causes a bigger issue.
Values in Conflict
List the key values of each of the major characters, and explain how those values will come into conflict as each character tries to reach the goal.
Main Character: Doing the right thing and doing right by others
Opponent: Doing whatever it takes to get ahead
Hero’s Beliefs and Values
Restate your hero’s essential beliefs and values.
She believes that everyone should live their lives being the best they can with whatever cards they are dealt.
Moral Weakness
What is your hero’s main weakness when it comes to acting toward others?
She is afraid that either people won’t believe her or that she will lose her father.
Moral Need
What must your hero learn by the end of the story about the right way to act and live in the world?
She needs to learn how to, even though she loves her dad, turn him in because that’s the right thing to do.
First Immoral Action
Describe the first action your hero takes that hurts someone else in the story. Make sure it is an outgrowth of your hero’s great moral weakness.
She figures it out but waits a couple of days until it starts eating away at her
Desire
Restate your hero’s specific goal.
To figure out if the letter she receives is true
Drive
List the actions your hero will take to win that goal.
-She will dig into her dads’ personal things to find anything that she can.
-She goes to the police with her information
-She hires a P.I. to find out more
Immoral Actions 2
In what way, if any, are these actions immoral?
Criticism: For any immoral action, describe the criticism, if any, that the hero receives.
Justification: How does the hero justify each immoral action?
She should have told someone when he got the letter and have them deal with it, but then she would have never seen anything get done because the police wouldn’t have taken it seriously
Attack by Ally
Explain in detail the main moral attack that the ally makes against the hero. Again, write down how the hero justifies himself.
At first, the ally doesn’t feel like she is going to find anything but in the end because the main character paid the ally so they had to do their work
Obsessive Drive
Describe when and how your hero becomes obsessed with winning. Put another way, is there a moment when your hero decides to do almost anything to win?
The moment when she got the letter really lights a fire under her to find out the truth
Immoral Actions 3
While obsessed with winning, what immoral steps does your hero take?
Criticism: Describe the criticism, if any, that the hero faces for these actions.
Justification: Explain how the hero justifies his methods.
She hires a P.I. to investigate her father, which is kind of immoral but if she didn’t she would have never found out the truth
Battle
During the final battle, how do you express which values, the hero’s or the opponents, are superior in this fight?
The hero has the upper hand in the moral fight because she is trying to do the right thing and turn in her dad
Final Action Against Opponent
Does your hero take a final action against the opponent, whether moral or immoral, before or during the battle?
Yes, she shows the evidence to the police to turn her father in
Moral Self-Revelation
What, if anything, does your hero learn morally at the end of the story? Be sure that this insight is about how to act properly toward others.
She learns that being in your family doesn’t make them good people.
Moral Decision
Does the hero make a decision between two courses of action near the end of the story?
She gets the confirmation that her father did in fact kill her mom and has to decide if she wants to turn him in or not
Thematic Revelation
Can you think of a story event in which you express your vision of how human beings should act in some other way than through the self-revelation of your hero?
No, I think when she decides to turn in her father, that was how I think humans should act. It doesn’t matter who they are to you, if they do something wrong they should pay the price.
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