The Story Code

A few weeks ago, I think I told you about a class that I attended about story writing. It was wonderful. It opened up my eyes to some ideas I’d never thought of before. By the end of the class, I knew that I really had to redo my musical.
I had already been planning to fix up a few things in a few scenes. It really didn’t have the “cry” factor that I was hoping for. I wanted a little more of an emotional response as you left afterwards.
Over the last two weeks, I’ve finally been figuring out why. Yes, it’s a little painful, but like most things- I’m excited because even though I’m having to redo the whole thing, I just know it’s going to be SO much better.
One of the things I’m learning, is that you have to be blunt, and spell things out. If you want your main character to be struggling with something, you have to have that character SAY that they are struggling. Another thing I’ve discovered, especially in musicals, is that every character usually has some kind of “I Want” song. I knew my main character needed one, but I didn’t realize that the other characters needed one too.
I started studying some of my most favorite musicals- “Aladdin”. Think back to every character- they all spell it out. Aladdin sings the first song all about how he wants to be known as the person he really is, not defined by his appearance, Jasmine wants to be free, not confined to the palace where she “has her life lived for her”. The king- he wants to solve the problem with his daughter. Javar- he wants power. The genie- he makes this HUGE statement about what he wants more than anything in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD-  to be free.
Every single character pulls us into their world by expressing (audibly) what they want. In comparison, I watched another movie this week, that I actually left because of boredom. In the first scene, they set it up good, the main character expressed what they wanted, but within the first 5 minutes he had it! Then it went on for about another half an hour with no struggles, and nobody really having anything that they wanted. Yes there were problems, but nobody cared. The audience didn’t care. I thought that was interesting.
So anyway, I’ve been rewriting. I’m trying to make it clear what every single character wants and hopes for. I’m also thinking about what they fear the most. That dimension adds a ton to a story.
This is the first time I’ve really worked on a musical before, but for awhile I really studied musicals and what makes them good. I realized I always studied the music- and not the actual story, or plot. It’s just as important. The other thing every musical needs- is a good opening number with the whole cast if possible.  I knew that was missing, but I couldn’t quite figure out how to do something like that for a musical about Visiting Teaching. I figured it out….. I’m excited!