Story energizes both fiction and nonfiction. Though he writes on deep topics, Philip Yancy’s use of story pushes his books to the top of the charts. He tells about childhood lessons, about relationships and his own struggles. He grips his readers with emotion while pouring his philosophies into their minds. Some nonfiction authors say, “I’m not worried about fiction techniques. They don’t apply to me.” But the wise writer knows better. Story pounds home a point like rhetoric can never do.

Story is a series of events that build to a climax which fundamentally and irreversibly change the hero’s values. In short, every author writes his inmost convictions about life. The substance of the story comes from the heart of the author. Writing is risky business. It calls for someone with the courage to bare his soul.

A writer must select a few incidents to show his hero’s entire life—his hidden desires, his secrets, his Self. These incidents, or scenes, are building blocks which fit together in a definite pattern. Scenes form Chapters which make up Acts which produce the Story.

A Scene is an event that arouses specific emotions and portrays a specific worldview. This event changes the hero’s life in some way that touches his values. In the first scene of Reaping the Whirlwind, Deputy Sheriff Trent Tyson finds a dead woman inside a locked house. He recently lost his job with the Chattanooga police force for digging too deeply into a case that a crooked police chief didn’t want solved. Instead of drawing back when this new situation is treated lightly, Tyson continues to investigate. He has to make a conscious decision based on his values.

A Chapter is a series of scenes that end on a point of high tension. This can be good or bad tension. The hero may be feeling great or he may be depressed, but something continues to pull the story forward. The reader feels compelled to know how the situation will turn out.

An Act is a series of chapters that crescendo into a scene that brings about a major reversal of the hero’s values. Typically, books follow a three-act format. These acts should be well defined.

The first Act introduces the situation and ends with an event that rocks the hero or heroine to the core. This event sets her on a quest that surprises her and compels her, though she’d rather turn back. In the first act of Jane Eyre, young Jane is in her aunt’s house and at school. She gets a job at Thornfield Hall at the end of the first act.

The second Act follows the heroine through her quest--with advances and setbacks. This is where Jane falls deeply in love with Mr. Rochester. She meets her beautiful rival and wonders at Rochester’s moods. In the end she agrees to marry him and is stopped at the very altar--the major reversal at the end of Act Two.

The final Act brings the heroine to the Dark Moment when all is lost. Then from the ashes comes the answer to everything she has yearned for. This final interchange proves her mettle and changes her forever (for better or for worse). When Jane Eyre stands on moral principle and leaves Thornfield, she thinks Mr. Rochester is lost to her forever. She returns later to find tragedy. Mr. Rochester is now blind. From the ashes of her lost hopes, she finds what she’s wanted after all: Mr. Rochester needs her and is humbly grateful for her presence. She can be all to him that she couldn’t be when he was so proud. From tragedy springs life.

Each scene produces specific emotions, so a story is a theme with an emotional pull. The greater the emotion, the bigger the impact.

Story structure resembles an inverted funnel to show greater and greater pressures forcing the hero to make increasingly difficult choices with higher and higher risks until his true nature lays bare. The reader must see what he’s made of.

The hero must have certain qualities. He must want something. This is his external goal. He must be able to fight toward his goal to the far reaches of human ability. He must also have an internal conflict, a point of growth in his values that the reader can understand and relate to.

Begin the story when the hero takes a baby step toward his goal and slams into a brick wall. In It’s a Wonderful Life George Bailey wants to see the world. College is his first step toward the goal. When his father dies, George finds himself facing a brick wall. The story’s narrative drive is found in the gap between the hero’s expectations and reality. Constant struggle and endless reversals keeps the reader turning pages.

The hero’s hunger for the prize will determine how much he’ll risk to get it. In The Fugitive, Harrison Ford was ready to give his own life.

In order to portray the emotional journey of his hero, the writer must select issues that grip his own emotions. He must live through the joys and disappointments of his hero and deliver that emotion to the printed page. Like giving birth, this can be a painful process, but the thrill of creation outshines the anguish of labor.

*For further study, see Story by Robert McKee, HarperCollins, 1997.