#1. What about the circumstances in this setting leads to characters’ focus on [insert the operative terms from your theme question]?

 

    So if your theme question is How do you live a life built on lies? you would ask yourself, What about the circumstances in this setting leads to characters’ focus on building lives on lies? The answer for The Great Gatsby would be something like: social expectations that value the appearance of wealth, propriety, and prestige more than true character or true love. 

 

    If your theme question is How do you build a society that keeps your loved ones safe? You would ask What about the circumstances in this setting leads to characters’ focus on safety for their loved ones? In Arcane, the answer would be something like: historical inequality that stratifies society into haves and have-nots where the haves are worried the have-nots will hurt them for keeping them oppressed and exploited and where the have-nots are worried about getting hurt through further oppression and exploitation. 

 

    In the case of Pride and Prejudice and What makes for a good match in marriage, the question could be What about the circumstances in this setting leads to characters’ focus on a good marriage? The answer would be something like: social expectations on upper class women leave a good marriage as the only reputable path to securing a comfortable life. 

 

    There is always a little bit of ease in seeing these forces in play in a completed work of fiction rather than in a developing one. So if your answer doesn’t look so neat and grand as the above, don’t fret. Going back to the made up example of Kiara and the theme question of How do you find somewhere to belong? the question would be What about the circumstances of this setting leads to the characters’ focus on finding belonging? My answer for this is that a recent economic downturn has intensified the small community’s sense of in-group—those who can contribute to the community—and outgroup—those who are considered a burden. This is nowhere near as profound or elegant as some of the best works of fiction produced in the last 250 years, but it’s usable for the purposes of structuring a longform piece of fiction that you want to write! 

 

    Tip: When you’re tackling this question, do try to make the answer applicable to the full cast in the story. We’ll differentiate characters later on, but the more you have a unifying force impacting all your characters, the more coherently resonant your story will be rather than feeling like a coincidence. If you can’t figure out that unifier, try phrasing this first question in a different way. If even then you’re coming up blank, but you feel your idea kernel is solid, then skip to question #2. 

 

#2. What circumstances are contributing to the major characters feeling the opposite of how they want to feel?

 

    Unlike with the first question where you wanted the answer to apply to the full cast of characters, you will answer this question for each of the major characters individually. Most of the time they will have quite different answers from one another. 

 

    To illustrate: Kiara starts off feeling unappreciated. The circumstances leading to this are that she is an organizational genius. She can project manage like none other. However, she is a young woman living in a village which economy runs on manual labor—hauling timber, crafting furniture, making cloth. She is not very good at those things at all and so she is regarded as a burden which makes her feel understandably unappreciated. 

 

#3 What is highly valued under these circumstances? And what is actively devalued and/or looked down upon under these circumstances? (resources, traits, skills/abilities, and/or behaviors) 

 

    If you have a sprawling story that takes place across many different cultures or time periods, I suggest answering this question for each one separately if applicable. The main point of this pair of questions is to know how your characters fit into this world and if that aligns with the theme and their beliefs. 

 

    Regarding the example I’ve been using: Kiara’s village values the skills involved in the labors listed above. They value a neighbors-helping-neighbors attitude, and fair compensation for honest labor. It looks down upon nobility. To them they’re prissy outsiders who have others work for them. They also don’t value people who think they’re better than them. 

 

    Because my theme is how to find somewhere to belong and I know I want my character to start out not belonging, the circumstances above work for this setup. Kiara mostly falls into everything not valued in her immediate environment. 

 

#4 What event/occurrence sets the main plot into motion? 

 

    This is what you might already know as the inciting incident. It’s an event external to the protagonist that sets their primary plot goal into motion. Depending on the length and scope of your story, this catalyst can happen off page, very early on in your story, or even quite a bit later. I could write an entire essay on just the inciting incident and best tips around it, but for our purposes here, you just need to figure out what circumstance kicks off the main plot. The key is that this event is rooted in the theme and character work you’ve done so far. 

 

    For our example, we already know that Kiara believes she’ll achieve her emotional goal if she achieves outward success. We know from her backstory that her father put ideas about courts of nobles in her head as something worth striving for. So here’s what I’m thinking for my theoretical story example:

 

The Bothorro family is a powerful noble family and their summer estate is on the outskirts of Kiara’s village. Kiara managed to be employed as the Bothorro’s Stable Valet this year where she had to manage the entire stable operation and staff in her care. She excelled, which got her noticed by the Lady herself. She had grand dreams of this being her chance to be hired on permanently and taken off to the city by them. However, even before summer ended, the Bothorros left prematurely, withdrawing all their staff. This is not just unusual, but it upset the seasonal rhythm of the village with one of their large markets gone sooner than expected. The villagers are scrambling to transport their offerings to farther away markets and their general distaste for the nobility and their uncaring ways deepens. 

 

Kiara’s dreams are dashed until Until, a letter arrives addressed directly to her, written by the Lady herself. It explains that by mistake a delivery would be made to the estate and requests that Kiara receive it on the Bothorro’s behalf and bring it to their estate in the city. She will not only be paid, but would be offered a position as Manor Valet as their current Manor Valet is soon to retire (otherwise he’d have been sent to fetch the package, but he’s too infirm for such a voyage). 

 

    And voila, the plot is set into motion. Kiara has a plot goal of becoming the Bothorro’s Manor Valet and has to succeed at a concrete task in order to accomplish this. Note that the first paragraph of the above write up is not the event itself. It’s just the background context that is needed for the actual event to set the plot into motion. Also note that all elements of this inciting incident link back to the protagonist’s emotional goal and belief. She believes if she accomplishes this, she will be valued and will find a place where she belongs. 

 

Understanding the Power Structures of Your Story World

 

    The four questions above help connect the world of your story, its people, culture, and values to your characters and your theme. I find the next three questions are generally good to know and can help writers flesh out their conflicts and consequences better. That said, these may not be applicable to every story, so ignore them if they don’t apply to you. 

​

#5 What is the power imbalance in this setting? Where do your characters fall within it?  

​

    You can consider this a scale from “characters in power can exercise power with impunity” to “all the characters in the story are pretty much peers and equals”. If you’re telling an epic fantasy about the rise and fall of empires chances are there will be a wide gulf between your most powerful and your least powerful character. On the other hand, if you’re writing a contemporary romance about a character fake dating his roommate to make his ex jealous, chances are there’s not a huge power imbalance between the most and least powerful characters. 

​

    For the purposes of answering this question, I would suggest just listing the most powerful and the least powerful characters. For Kiara’s example, the Lady Bothorro is the most powerful character here and Kiara is among the least powerful ones. 

​

#6 What is the resource or factor that determines this power imbalance? 

​

    Assuming there is a power imbalance among characters in your story, is it based on: 

• Some innate ability/trait or lack thereof? (e.g. elves and their innate longevity in Lord of the Rings)

• Location? (e.g. residents of Piltover in Arcane have clean air to breathe)

• Access to/possession of a resource? (e.g. Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice is wealthy)

• Merit/performance of a task that is seen as valuable? (e.g. Piranesi in Piranesi has knowledge of the House that no one else has)

• Connection to/alliance with certain people or groups? (e.g. Tom Buchanan in The Great Gatsby is “old money”, a descendant of generational wealth)

​

    Starting out in my example story, the power imbalance between Kiara and the Lady is one of wealth, but the power imbalance between her and her fellow villagers is one of skill. Kiara doesn’t have the skills that are valued there. 

​

#7 What aspects of the setting make the physical environment dangerous? 

​

    This concerns things like war, weather, natural phenomena, and/or geology. It’s definitely not applicable to every story, but if it’s relevant to yours, jot down your answer.

​

    I know in my example story I want the forest between the village and the city to be dangerous to traverse because of both wild animals and bandits.