5 Steps to Finding Your Story’s Emotional Through-Line
There are lots of ways to approach a story.
This became glaringly obvious when I read a little book called The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
I picked it up because one of my favorite BookTubers claimed it as a new favorite. And…
I slogged my way through it. Yes, I thought it was funny and unique, even entertaining at times. But my enjoyment ended there.
I realized it was because the story was essentially missing the one thing I tout over and over as being the most fundamental building block of a good story:
An emotional through-line.
In Hitchhiker, I never felt grounded in a main character that desperately wanted something and then encountered obstacle after obstacle on his way to get it.
The next book I picked up was by one of my favorite authors. In a matter of pages, I felt an emotional connection to each of the POV characters. I knew what they wanted, who they were, what their stakes were, and the types of obstacles they would have to encounter.
Now. After I’ve said all that, let me make one more point:
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is insanely popular! I’m talking millions and millions of copies sold. And it has held its prominence in our popular culture for decades.
So maybe, just maybe, art really is subjective.
I say all of this to make a point I like to hammer home every so often, which is this:
I take one, of many, particular approaches to story that I have cultivated over several years.
If you are here (and have read many posts on Project Published), hopefully, that means that you resonate with this particular approach. Hopefully, we are drawn to similar genres, characters, tropes, journies, and archetypes.
If so, great! I would love nothing more than for you to glean something meaningful from these posts.
But this is a friendly reminder that storytelling, while it is a skill that can be sharpened, is also an art form.
There is no right or wrong way to go about it. I say it all the time in my webinars: take what resonates and leave whatever doesn’t. The more you uncover your unique approach to story, the better and more meaningful your stories will become.
I genuinely believe that. But it’s a lesson I keep having to learn. I keep getting it in my head that there is a right and a wrong way to do things. A right approach. A right timeline. A right trope.
There isn’t.
This is why it is so helpful for YOU to study YOUR favorite stories. You’ll begin to recognize the things you’re drawn to and better understand why they make an impression on you. And then you’ll be able to replicate those tools and archetypes in your own stories in your own unique ways.
Okay. All of that was an introduction to another one of my approaches to storytelling. One that just so happens to be a favorite. A core concept I use again and again:
The emotional through-line.
In the updated version of the Story Map, I talk about how I was introduced to the idea of an emotional through-line in Ed Catmull’s book, Creativity, Inc.
In the book, Catmull, one of the founders of Pixar, discusses the rocky development of Toy Story 2.
He explains how the story was not working until they, as a team, introduced a simple idea: an emotional through-line. This came in the form of the emotional stakes Woody would eventually face as a character as he began to come to terms with the fact that there was a good chance that Andy would one day outgrow him.
Catmull remembered how they added the scene with Wheezy the penguin, in which Woody realizes that Andy’s mom had no intention of ever fixing this broken toy. As well as the flashback scene with Jessie, in which the cowgirl reminisced about her time with her former owner, Emily. Jessie remembered that she was happy with Emily, until she outgrew Jessie and ultimately donated her, which led to the toy being stuck in a box for many years.
After hearing this, I sat down and combined the idea of an emotional through-line with my understanding of a story’s emotional core.
I came up with 5 simple steps to put together a single sentence that would embody a story’s entire emotional journey and identity.
In the Story Map, I not only guide you through this process, but I outline 8 Pixar examples to further demonstrate the emotional through-line in action.
(Check the examples out by grabbing the updated version of the Story Map here.)
For today, I’m going to take you through a brief summary of the 5 steps of an emotional through-line. And it all starts with desire…
Desire
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: your protagonist’s desire provides the foundation for your story. It is what will invest a reader and keep them hooked until that desire comes to fruition.
So, to start uncovering your story’s emotional through-line, you need to answer the simple question: what does your protagonist want?
This desire should be something they have an emotional attachment to, which brings us to step number 2…
Motivation
A desire can easily fall flat if there is no emotional motivation driving it. A villain wanting power for the sake of power is boring. A villain wanting power so that they can resurrect their soon-to-be-deceased wife? Hello, Darth Vader.
So the next question you need to answer is, why does your protagonist want their desire?
It might be for love, for revenge, for self-worth, etc.
Lie/Insecurity
Your character’s Lie is another idea I discuss a lot on Project Published.
Basically, a Lie is a harmful worldview that your protagonist will overcome by the end of their character arc/journey.
But, honestly, the best way I’ve found to describe it is this: a Lie is what makes your character conflicted. It is an internal insecurity or negative belief causing them to get in their own way.
In other words, what is making your protagonist hesitate to go after their desire?
For example, they want to pursue their love interest, BUT they’ve been burned in the past. Or they want to apply for the promotion, BUT they don’t believe they’re intelligent enough.
The Lie and/or insecurity is the thing your character believes about themself or the world that stops them from running full tilt toward their biggest desire.
Truth or Consequence
This isn’t just a lyric from a Foo Fighters song, it’s an idea that will encapsulate the dramatic final conflict in your story.
After your character completes their arc/journey, they will most likely come face-to-face with a choice of some kind.
When faced with this choice, they will either cast off their Lie and embrace a healthier Truth, or they will face the consequence that comes from clinging to their old ways.
For example, he could cling to the belief that he’s not brave and therefore stay small and reviled, or he could recognize that bravery is only possible when fear is present, and volunteer for the risky mission.
So the question becomes, what choice during the final conflict of your story will your protagonist inevitably face?
Dramatic Question and Answer
Once you’ve answered the first 4 questions, you should have a good idea of the single underlying conflict that will run the length of your story. Will the crew successfully pull off their heist? Will she break her curse? Will he defeat his evil twin?
After all of the work you’ve put in, it will essentially come down to this: What is your story’s dramatic question and its answer?
Okay, I know that was a lot, but once we clear away all of the excess, your Story Map will look something like this:
STORY MAP TEMPLATE:
My protagonist WANTS… (Burning Desire)
BECAUSE… (Close-to-the-Heart Motivation)
BUT… (Lie/Insecurity - What do they believe is true about themself or the world that is ultimately holding them back or making them hesitate in going after their desire?)
SO they could… (Embrace New Truth)
OR… (Face Consequence)
But examples are what make elusive concepts really click in my mind.
As I mentioned, the Story Map has 8 Pixar examples, but here, I’m going to bring it full circle by including the Story Map (emotional through-line) for Toy Story 2.
As a refresher, here’s the premise for the film:
Woody is stolen from his home by toy dealer Al McWhiggin, leaving Buzz Lightyear and the rest of the gang to try to rescue him. But when Woody discovers that he's actually a valuable collectible from a once-popular television show called "Woody's Roundup," and is reunited with his horse Bullseye, Jessie the yodeling cowgirl, and his faithful sidekick, Stinky Pete the Prospector, he’s not sure he wants to leave.
And here’s the Story Map:
Woody WANTS to get back to Andy.
BECAUSE he loves him.
BUT he’ll likely be thrown away eventually.
SO he could decide that whatever time he has with Andy is worth it.
OR he could live forever in a pampered museum, loved from afar.
Dramatic Question: Will Woody make it back to Andy?
Answer: Yes, with new friends in tow.
I go into greater detail about the emotional through-line in the Story Map, but this should provide a good starting point for you to find your own story’s emotional through-line.
In essence, it comes down to the core of your protagonist and the stakes they will face.
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