For example, let’s say you’re writing an action thriller about an agent who is betrayed and goes rogue. Standard genre fare. Tough-as-nails hero. Check. Lots of action scenes. Check. Loved one in danger. Check. Smarmy politicians and duplicitous former friends. Check.
What’s missing? Well, aside from the fact that you’re hitting absolutely all of the genre clichés, you don’t yet have a story.
To which you may say, “What? Of course, I have a story. It’s all right here.”
To which I say, “Not really.”
All you’ve got at this point is the framework for a story. If you were to leave it at just that, you would be barely skimming the surface of your story’s potential.
How do you go about digging deeper and finding the mother lode of your story’s potential?
First thing, you hunt around for some original ways to hit your genre’s standard tropes.
Second, you look at your characters, particularly your protagonist. Winding up characters and letting them run through the motions of your plot isn’t enough. Dig deep and find what makes these people tick. It’s your characters’ personal reactions to events (not the impressive way in which they handles those events) that are important.
And this certainly doesn’t apply to just action stories. Whatever your genre, you must dig deep, not just for originality, but for emotion. You can do everything else right, but if you don’t put a check in that box, none of the rest will matter.
