Though it is designed to be clear and easy to understand, this diagram is not completely accurate. The Story Spine for a feature-length cinematic narrative not exactly this simple. The Spine of a feature-length film should look more like this:
The difference is that the first diagram shows the Path of Action to be a single, arcing arrow going straight from the protagonist's Problem to the protagonist's Goal. This representation is misleadingly simplified. A single long line seems to suggest that the protagonist needs only to take one broad action is order to pursue his or her goal, and that through persistence, that one action will be ultimately successful.
One single action from the protagonist might be enough to support short forms of storytelling, such as a folktale or an anecdote, but a cinematic narrative demands a storyline that takes up ninety minutes or more of screen time. Watching a character continue to plow forward in one direction, never changing or deviating from his or her original course, will quickly becomes a repetitive and even dull viewing experience. What audiences call the “movie experience” is created by watching the protagonist's Path of Action continue to DEVELOP and ESCALATE throughout the course of the story.
DEVELOPMENT
Here is how a cinematic narrative usually works: The protagonist encounters the Story Problem. The protagonist then proceeds to take the SMALLEST action they think will achieve the Goal. The protagonist honestly believes that this first small action will be enough to fix everything, or at least get the ball rolling to a simple solution.
But something gets in the way. Something blocks the path to the goal. In common screenwriting parlance, this is aptly called an OBSTACLE – something that literally creates a roadblock to cut off the protagonist's intended path. The obstacle can come from the actions of other characters, the introduction of a new element into the story, or perhaps the protagonist finds out that the situation is much more difficult than originally imagined, or any number of things. One thing, however, is certain about the obstacle – the protagonist cannot continue forward on their current course of action, or else they will fail. The protagonist must choose to take a NEW ACTION. The hero turns down a new path which they hope will circumnavigate the obstacle and still get them to the Goal.
The obstacle in the protagonist's path, combined with the decision to take a new action, creates a TURNING POINT in the story's narrative. These turning points are represented on the diagram by the white circles that connect each line segment. For more detail on story sequences and turning points, check out my November 2008 article.
Now our protagonist heads off in a new direction, taking a new set of actions -- on the second leg of the journey the protagonist hopes will get them to their Goal. The protagonist now believes that he or she is on the right track, THIS is what will achieve the Goal. But before too long, the protagonist runs in ANOTHER obstacle. Just like with the first obstacle, it once again becomes impossible for the protagonist to continue along the current path. In order to achieve the Goal, the protagonist must once again decide on a NEW ACTION. They must turn in another new direction and do whatever needs to be done to get around this new obstacle if they wish to continue. We have reached another turning point.
The story continues on like this, action after action, turning point after turning point, as the protagonist weaves a crooked path that the character desperately hopes will eventually get them to the ultimate Goal. The protagonist always has a plan in mind, but that plan is always being FORCED to change by whatever obstacles the Conflict puts in the protagonist's way.
One way to think about a character's path of action is to imagine you are taking a road trip. You're going to drive from Dallas to Denver. Your GOAL is to get to Denver. So, you take what seems to be the easiest route by hopping on the interstate highway. BUT, right across the Texas border you find a detour. You are forced to turn off onto a different highway to get to Denver. Okay, this road isn't as convenient, but it will still get you where you're going. BUT, after a few hundred miles you find that this second road has been closed off due to flooding. You must now find another road to bypass the flooding and get you to your destination. So, you double back and find a small winding road through the mountains. BUT, after a few hundred miles more, you find that the bridge over a canyon is out. You must once again find a new road, a little dirt road that's not even on the map in the hope that this road will somehow get you to your ultimate Goal. Your path may always be forced to change, but your GOAL always remains the same. You want to get to Denver.
ESCALATION
As I said before, when your main character first begins his or her path, they take the smallest action they think necessary to reach the ultimate Goal. But when they encounter an obstacle, the character is forced to ESCALATE. The smallest action isn't enough. They must take a somewhat bigger action to get what they want. But when they encounter the next obstacle, the slightly bigger action proves to be insufficient. They must again go bigger, and bigger, and bigger. This escalation continues to the point of the climax, when the protagonist, after all previous actions have failed, must take the BIGGEST action possible. One enormous effort, all or nothing, with everything on the line. When your character takes this ultimate action, only one of two things can happen. Either the protagonist finally defeats the conflict and achieves the Goal, or they are completely and irrevocably defeated with no further chance of recovery.
It is not only the character's level of action which escalates at each turning point, but also the character's level of DEDICATION to the Goal, and the amount of RISK the character is willing to take. When your protagonist takes that first small course of action, their level of dedication is not very strong and the risk is quite low. When they run into the first obstacle, your protagonist has a choice: quit or escalate. With the decision to take a new, bigger action, the character also decides to become more dedicated to the Goal. As each action become bigger, so does the level of risk your protagonist must take. Dedication and risk continue to escalate with each turning point until the climax, where the protagonist has become so dedicated that he or she is willing to risk everything (quite often their lives and everything they care about) to finally conquer the Conflict and seize the Goal.
Take a look at Star Wars. When Luke Skywalker is first presented with the idea of leaving home to join Obi-Wan Kenobi, he isn't too keen on the idea. His dedication is low. He would rather stay at home with his family. But, he then returns home to find his family murdered by Imperial Troopers. He now has no choice. He must dedicate himself to a new cause and take the risk of leaving home. In Chinatown, Jake Gittes shows about as little personal dedication to his cases as a detective could have. Until someone plays him for a sap. Gittes decides to find a little dedication and take a little risk to find out why. This ends up getting him roughed up by hired goons. At this point he could quit, but instead he decides to up his level of dedication and take on more risk to continue onward.
There's another thing: Notice on the updated Story Spine diagram how, as the Path of Action advances, not only the line segments grow bigger and bigger (representing the protagonist's actions), but so do the green arrows representing the force of Conflict opposing the hero. As the actions escalate, so does the level of Conflict.
Obstacles don't just pop up in front of your hero randomly. These obstacles are the work of your source of Conflict (usually an antagonist). The antagonist does not WANT your hero to achieve his or her goal. So the antagonist does things to STOP this. The antagonist hopes the obstacles it creates will be enough to make the protagonist quit for good. When the protagonist chooses to escalate in order to get around those obstacles, the antagonist must escalate as well. Whatever level of effort the protagonist makes to get to their goal, the antagonist must continually bring more to stop it. A great conflict is a test of wills. Both sides are willing to push things to the very edge. In the end, the side who is most dedicated will win and the other will be destroyed in the effort. This model works just as well for stories without an antagonist character. In these cases, the conflict created by the situation or dramatic circumstance must also continue to escalate and continue to force the main character into bigger and bigger actions.
Next Article: Things I Learned from Die Hard
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