Last night, Ahmed, the newest member of my international family told me about“What he really, really, really wanted.” and referenced an earlier conversation we had had when we were discussing his career and study plans. It made me think back to how that exercise arose out of what we considered to be the engine of a story.
At Storywise.com we describe a story as something whose engine is DESIRE and whose Fuel is both DREAM and MEMORY. We use this as a way of getting a handle on different kinds of stories and how they measure up. Inspired by Ahmed, lets have some fun applying it.
If the engine of story is DESIRE, then one can immediately see how some stories fall apart even before they start, because they have no engine, or their engine is way too small to carry the load of their dreams and ambitions. We live from the surface, and our desire never gets attached to anything bigger than the daily pleasures, or the desire to avoid any pain. Its a low risk life, and .one that perhaps is committed to the status quo. How then can we break through the surface and discover that every life entertains the possibility of greater desires? A bigger and richer story?
What I do is keep asking the question. “What do you want?” and after the first answer, treat it as a first draft, and ask again, “What do you really want?” and take the second answer as an exploration, and ask again, “What do you really really want?” and then, regardless of what comes out, to finally go for ground zero, “OK, sure, but come on, what do you really, really, really want?” When I do it for others or try it on myself when I feel my story is stuck, I am always surprised at what I knew all the time, but didn’t bother to tell myself.
Try it for yourself.
What do you really want? If you have not discovered your deeper desires, you can hardly discover your bigger story.