One Goal and Three Things that Go Wrong

I think I've stumbled across a formula that helps with my students' writing. I call it, One Goal and Three Things Go Wrong. 

It goes like this, your main character wants something. It could be as simple as a glass of water and as complex as overthrowing a despotic ruler. That's the One Goal. The whole narrative will be built around achieving this thing.

Okay, you have the goal. You probably have the beginning of the story too, when our protagonist discovers why they need the One Goal, or why it matters they get it. You probably have an idea for how the story ends too. They either get the One Goal or don't. They all live happily after, or the other thing. 

But what happens in the middle? How do I get from the beginning to the end?

That's where the Three Things Go Wrong comes in.

You take your One Goal, and you ask yourself, "Okay, what are three things that can go wrong one the way?"

This is much easier than asking yourself what happens in the story. Asking yourself this question puts an imperative on you the writer to create a conflict at each major event, all building up to the resolution of that final conflict. You might even forget this step and start writing to the next event without ever considering how to make the event halfway interesting. 

If you're just writing from point to point, then you're not actually going on a journey, you're on a road trip. A road trip should be boring. You got in the car, got on the road, and then you drove. The end. If stuff happened, if conflict happened, then it starts to look like a journey.

Enter, the Three Things that Go Wrong.

Instead of asking what happens, ask what goes wrong. Let's take that glass of water example from earlier.

ONE GOAL: Glass of water.

Things that Go Wrong

1. Our MC learns that the cafeteria is occupied by that horrible Rebecca from Human Resources that always talks like she's about to burst into song.
2. Our MC tries to get past Rebecca and ends up being shanghaied into assisting in a seminar on Active Listening that's about to begin.
3. Our MC's throat dries badly during the seminar and he is reduced to gasping breaths in front of their work crush. She is no longer attracted to him, and this sends him into a spiraling depression.

Now we have a story! A boring story, but you can add in interesting bits however you like. You can keep adding Things that Go Wrong as you go, and expand what you have. Your story is racing now, and it is filled with interesting conflict rather than pitstops on the way to the end.

Try it out in your own writing, or introduce it to others. It's a great way to begin a story of any length, but works especially well with short narratives or chapter length tales.