1154: The Engine Is Not Enough

Yesterday, I talked about the importance of the "want" in storytelling.

Without the 'want', there's never a story.

In Roxanne – still a joy after 35 years – Charlie wants love.

Specifically, he wants the love of the smart and beautiful Roxanne.

But let's be clear...

That's NOT the story, it's just the ENGINE of the story.

Hitchcock famously called the engines of his films "muguffins" because he wasn't that bothered about the specifics.

In North By Northwest, Cary Grant and James Mason chase across America after 'the microfilm' ... but at no point does anyone ever say what it contains.

Because it doesn't really matter.

What matters is the desire ... the desire that sends characters out into the world to fight for something – to make choices under pressure.

For Charlie, the path to Roxanne is strewn with challenges and obstacles:

• his nose

• his self-doubt

• the handsome (but fantastically dumb) firefighter she's falling for

But of course, it's smashing up against these things that changed Charlie into the man Roxanne wanted.

They made the story.

So here's the question. What are you smashing up against?

(It's okay. I'll go first.)

In 2016, I knew I needed a change.

I stepped back from running my agency to try writing a thriller. It was a huge gamble, equal parts terror and excitement.

Like Charlie, self-doubt was constant whisper in my ear. Questions of talent, focus and worse.

But by the time I'd finished Execution is Everything, I knew I was hooked.

The engine got me started, but it's the challenges that forced me to tell a better story ... in every sense.

Nick

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This is one of 30 riffs on #Business #Storytelling. Follow me to get the series.