Deep Story

an introduction to immersive narrative

Your path. Your pace. This module is a one-page wiki. Use links in the topics and outline to choose your own learning path.

All narratives tell what happens. That’s plot. An immersive narrative also tells why it happens. Why it happens has to do with the protagonist’s internal struggle. The story of that struggle begins by wondering what if.

Assimilate

Assimilation is one way of adapting to new information or a new situation. It is the process of applying a mental model we already possess to understand something new.

To assimilate, modify discrepant information so it matches a current mental model. Examples:

• I speak English, so in learning Spanish I look for cognates.
• I know about wasps, so I’ll treat this new bug that has a stinger with caution.
• Hosting the family reunion, I want the kids to have activities to keep them busy (unlike last year).

Change of Heart

A change of heart changes not only point of view, but the way a person thinks (outlook) or feels (attitude) about something.

• I used to think the people in government cared about the country, but was I wrong. Some politicians care only about themselves.
• I suppose I don’t have to like your fiancé; this is your choice and I will support your decision.

Change of heart is triggered by enlightenment.

• Enlightenment is insight, greater awareness or understanding. It occurs when there is disequilibrium. That is, when new experience doesn’t fit a mental model one already has.
  • Meeting a diversity of people at college, I realized I was raised with prejudices.
  • I thought our family was dysfunctional because we didn’t live like those on TV and not I think that our family isn’t unusual—the ones on TV are.
• With a change of heart, the protagonist resolves the discrepancy between experience and mental model disequilibrium and restores equilibrium.

Deep Desire

Deep desire is what the protagonist has long wanted. Everything about the protagonist develops from the protagonist’s past and the deep desire it instills.

• Raised in poverty, I want to be safe and secure. I want somebody to love me, freckles and all.
• I want to go the stars and see moonrise on Mars. (The protagonist’s deep desire doesn’t have to be logistically possible to still be desired.)

Defining Misbelief

A defining misbelief is what holds the protagonist from achieving his or her deep desire.

• Being rich is being right [money buys anything]. If you’re nice, people won’t hurt you [like daddy did]. I’m not good enough [nobody like me did it before]
• The defining misbelief feels right or seems true to the protagonist because, at a crucial moment in the his or her life, it was true in the sense it did work some purpose.

Disequilibrium

Disequilibrium is a discrepancy between a person’s way of thinking (mental model) and environment (experience).

• When individuals encounter new discrepant information, they enter a state of disequilibrium.
• There is a natural desire to return to a state of equilibrium.
  To restore equilibrium, a protagonist has two choices.

Ignore or disavow the discrepancy, at least for a while (e.g., refuse to deal with bad news), or

• Have a change of heart and revise his or her outlook regarding the object or event (e.g., let go of a prejudice that doesn’t match personal experience).
• Disequilibrium may be bad for the protagonist, but it is good for the story.

In narrative, disequilibrium motivates behaviour.

• The protagonist feels frustrated and seeks to restore balance by overcoming the new challenge.
• Once a mental model has been revised (see assimilate), the new mental model will continue until there is ever a need to adjustment it.

Equilibrium

‘What If’ is the writer’s way of upsetting the protagonist’s equilibrium.

• Equilibrium is a sense of stability or balance that occurs when experience (external environment) matches expectations (mental model).
• Equilibrium occurs as long as the protagonist’s mental model can explain (make sense of, assimilate) any new perceptions or experiences.

External Struggle

External struggle is another name for the plot, the sequence of events involving the protagonist to solve the problem presented in the what if.

Internal Struggle

An immersive narrative has two types of struggle: external (e.g., finding shelter in a storm and internal (e.g.: dealing with my fear of trusting people).

• Internal struggle is the tension between the deep desire of the protagonist and the defining misbelief that keeps him or her from it.
• Overcoming defining misbelief is what the story is about.
  • What does the protagonist want? I want to feel appreciated for who I am. I want to feel wanted for myself and not the model’s clothes I wear.
  • Why does the protagonist want it? To compensate for feeling neglected growing up; only noticed for what I do (modelling), not who I am.
  • What having it will mean? Being noticed will mean I am okay, not broken or unwanted.
  • What is the protagonist’s defining misbelief? If people saw me, they would not want me just as others did when I was a skinny little kid.
  • Why does the protagonist have this misbelief? Our family was poor growing up and winnings from me in child parents helped, but left me feeling I am good as what I do, not who I am.
  • Why doesn’t the protagonist overcome the misbelief? Because I am not good enough on my own; clothes make me good enough.

Mental Model

A mental model is a representation of an object or event that directs how a person will respond or interact with it.

• A mental model affects how a person perceives and interacts with an object or event.
  • We filter our world view through mental models.
  • If a mental model is incomplete or inaccurate, it may lead to faulty generalizations, such as stereotypes.
• Suppose the protagonist regards (has a mental model of) older people as dim and dull, but meets a senior citizen with keen mental acuity.
  • The protagonist might discount the acuity as the senior having a rare good day or focuses in on one instance of the senior citizen’s forgetfulness.
  • On the other hand, the protagonist might have a change of heart and assimilate a new mental model of senior citizens.
    Discrepancy between expectations (mental model) and actual experience create a state of disequilibrium.

To restore equilibrium, the protagonist has two choices.

• Ignore or disavow the discrepancy, at least for a while (e.g., refuse to deal with bad news), or
• Revise outlook regarding the object or event (e.g., let go of a prejudice that doesn’t match personal experience).

Plot

All narratives tell what happens.

• Plot is what happens, such as an alien invasion or being stuck in an elevator.
• Plot is a sequence of external events. The car chase, the fight scene, the love scene.

An immersive narrative also tells why it happens.

• It engages the reader with the protagonist’s internal struggle, such as fear of trusting, having been badly betrayed, or wanting an opportunity, but not having the confidence to take it.
• By relating to the protagonist’s internal struggle, the reader is immersed in the protagonist’s world and invested in the outcome of events.

Think of plot as physical sequence and internal struggle as psychological reasons.

• If I toss a ball in the air, it comes down and I catch it. Event to event. That is plot: a chain of observable events.
• If I toss a ball in the air, but have a flashback to a memory of a bullet coming at me, I run away from the ball. That is internal struggle.

Point

The point is the message you want readers to go away thinking about. It is what, as a writer, you are you trying to say about human nature.

• Examples: Those who tell you secrets will tell your secrets. People support what they help create. Whether clothes or cars, we take on the persona of what we wear.
• The point determines what kind of internal struggle the story will be about. The point doesn’t come from the events, but from the struggle events trigger within the protagonist in trying to figure out what to do about the problem faced.

The protagonist’s transformation embodies the point. The protagonist experiences an internal struggle leading to change of heart. This struggle yields the point.

• The protagonist is someone specifically whose past will make what happens to him or her inevitable. Pick a protagonist whose transformation (inner change) will embody the point.
• Example: the protagonist used to be a fashion model who was the clothes; that is, who found identity in what was worn.

Precipitating Event

The precipitating event is the trigger scene of the what if and sets off the protagonist’s internal struggle.

• By the precipitating event, the storyteller creates disequilibrium for the protagonist.
• This creates interest for the reader, wanting to know how the protagonist (how we, vicariously) will handle the discrepancy.
  The reader experiences the external struggle (plot), but invests in the protagonist’s internal struggle leading to change of heart.

Even if what the protagonist expects to happen does occur, it doesn’t feel like the protagonist thought it would, which in turn causes unintended problems that the protagonist did not anticipate.

Protagonist

In immersive narrative, what happens to the protagonist happens to us.

• The protagonist is the main character, often the hero, and acts is the reader’s avatar. It is how we, as readers, have skin in the game.
• The reader participates in the story by relating to the main character and caring about what happens.

The reader experiences the external struggle (plot), but emotionally invests in the protagonist’s internal struggle.

• Even if what the protagonist expects to happen does occur, it won’t feel like the protagonist thought it would, which in turn causes unintended problems that the protagonist did not anticipate.
• Here are some questions for building internal struggle into a scene:
  • What does the protagonist go into the scene believing? That her identity is the clothes she wears, so she dresses well.
  • Why does she believe it? Neglected as a child, except for beauty pageants.
  • What is my protagonist’s goal in the scene? To model for the nudist neighbours that they can be more glamorous if chicly dressed.
  • What does my protagonist expect will happen in this scene? That the nudists will put on clothes and welcome her.

What If

The story process typically begins by wondering ‘what if.’

• What if the new neighbours are nudists? What if the power went off and never came on again? What if people only spoke white lies, half-truths.
• What If is a situation that upsets the protagonist’s equilibrium and sets up an external struggle for the protagonist.

What If could be constructed with a story spine.

• Once upon a time … And every day … But one day … Because of that … And because of that … Until finally … And ever since then …
• For more information about story spine, see Kenn ADAMS, “Back to the Story Spine,” 2013 (Back to the Story Spine)