November 11, 2025 • 21 mins
If the line writing is lovely, but the story still falls flat, check for these surprisingly hard-to-spot problems.
You’ve written a draft of your novel. It’s a pretty good draft, actually. Maybe you’ve revised it—once, or twice, or five times. The line-by-line writing is evocative, and a lot of the scenes are exciting and fun.
But.
Come on, you knew there was a “but” coming. You can feel it in your gut. Your story is just not doing everything you want it to do.
There’s something missing. Something not quite right. The ending isn’t paying off the way you want it to. Even though you structured your story with care, crafted the plot and cross-checked it with every story outline you know, something is still falling flat.
You’ve taken it as far as you know to go. So why isn’t it working? And what can it possibly still need, when you’ve done everything you know to do?
I have met so many writers at this exact moment. And I’ve noticed common patterns cropping up again and again—three incredibly common, surprisingly subtle pitfalls stories tend to fall into without their writers even realizing.
I can’t guarantee that your story has any of these problems. But what I can tell you is, if your story isn’t landing the way you want it to yet, these three pitfalls are the first things to check. And the best part is, when you solve even one of them, that solution will cascade down to make so many more things work even better in your story.
So if you’ve taken your story as far as you can, and you’re not sure what to do with it, here’s where to go next.
Links mentioned in the episode:
- Get my feedback and find your story’s Next Right Step: alicesudlow.com/nrs
Go deeper with these episodes:
- The Hidden Half of Your Protagonist's Goal (That Makes Story Structure Work)
- How to Figure Out What Your Character REALLY Wants
- The 12 Core Genres That Power Every Great Story
- How to Use Genre as a Revision Tool (with Savannah Gilbo)
- One Insidious Cause of Disappointing Endings (and How to Fix It)
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
You've written a draft of yournovel.
(00:02):
It's a pretty good draftactually.
Maybe you've revised it once ortwice or five times.
The line by line writing isevocative and a lot of the
scenes are exciting and fun.
But come on, you knew there wasa butt coming.
You can feel it in your gut.
your story is just not doingeverything you want it to do.
(00:25):
There is just something missing,something not quite right.
The ending isn't paying off theway you want it to.
Even though you structure yourstory with care, crafted the
plot and cross-checked it withevery story outline, you know
something is still falling flat.
You've taken it as far as youknow to go.
(00:46):
So why isn't it working?
And what can it possibly stillneed when you've done everything
you know to do?
I have met so many writers atthis exact moment, and I've
noticed common patterns croppingup again and again.
Three incredibly common,surprisingly subtle pitfalls
that stories tend to fall intowithout their writers even
(01:09):
realizing.
I can't guarantee that yourstory has any of these problems.
But what I can tell you is ifyour story isn't landing the way
you want it to, yet these threepitfalls are some of the first
things to check.
And the best part is when yousolve even one of them, that
solution will cascade down tomake so many more things work
(01:31):
even better in your story.
so if you've taken your story asfar as you can and now you are
not sure what to do with it,Here's where to go next.
(02:30):
Welcome to your next draft.
This fall, I've been workingwith a lot of writers.
In my next right step process,it's where I start with every
new client, a deep dive intoyour seamless so that I can see
the arc of your story and spotwhat's breaking down and why,
which we then triangulatetogether into one clear next
(02:52):
right step in your revisionprocess.
The manuscripts I work with inNext right step are typically
pretty polished.
They're second drafts, fifthdrafts, the polished draft that
a writer has been querying toagents but not receiving
responses, sometimes their firstdrafts.
But even then, the writer hasusually done a lot of work on
(03:13):
structuring the story beforethey wrote that draft.
The point is, the problems inthese manuscripts are not
obvious.
You can read several pages, evenmany chapters without a glaring
issue jumping out at you.
The problems are subtle,nuanced, hidden, beneath layers
of really lovely line writingand intentionally crafted story
(03:34):
structure, which means that thewriter can't see them.
They can feel the symptoms ofthem, that the ending doesn't
pay off quite right Or thecharacter arcs feel flat, or the
plot loses steam in the middleof the story and the pacing
doesn't feel right, but theycan't figure out why these
issues are happening.
(03:54):
When they look at their outline,it seems to hit all the
important beats, and when theyread their scenes, the writing
seems lovely, like the scenesare well crafted and doing
everything they should.
This is one of the major reasonswhy at this stage I actually
don't read the manuscript.
In order to spot the non-obviousunder the surface problems, we
need to strip away the linewriting and focus on the bones
(04:18):
of the story, and it's actuallyway easier to do that by reading
the seamless list, a reallyrobust outline that tells me
exactly what's happening in thestory and why it matters.
In fact, a lot of my goal innext right step is to strip away
everything that's overwhelming.
Overwhelming for me as theeditor and for you as the
(04:38):
writer.
I read the scene list instead ofthe manuscript so that I don't
spend a lot of time and energyon a task that actually makes it
harder to see what your story.
And I give you one clear nextright step instead of a really
long editorial letter so thatyou know exactly what to do with
what I find.
(04:59):
I don't want you to get lost ina mountain of feedback with no
direction.
I want you to move forward withpurpose and direction on the one
thing that matters most for youto figure out next.
And I thought that for thisepisode, it'd be pretty cool to
give you a peek at what the nextright steps have been lately for
the stories that I've beenworking on.
I want you to know what it isthat I'm watching for when I
(05:22):
walk into a manuscript that'sworking pretty well and my job
is to spot how to make itbetter.
What is it that I'm spotting inthe scene lists?
What do these stories need next?
I want you to see howidentifying just one next right
step for your revision processcan solve a whole cascade of
downstream problems.
(05:42):
How can one next right step makesuch a big impact on your story?
And like I said, I've done abunch of these this fall and I
have several more coming up.
And because my brain isbasically a pattern recognition
machine, I'm noticing patternsin the next right steps that
these stories need.
So I'm going to share threepatterns that I've observed in
(06:03):
these well-developed, polishedstories with non-obvious
problems, and I'd be willing tobet a good bit of money that
your story could use attentionin at least one of these areas,
if not all three.
Now, if you love what you hearin this episode and you'd like
me to bring this sort ofanalysis to your story, I would
love to help you find your nextright step to get started.
(06:26):
Go to alice subo.com/nrs andtell me about your story and
I'll be in touch.
I'll tell you more about that atthe end of the episode.
And yes, this is a break fromthe series I've been doing on
the six elements of story.
We'll come back to that, Ipromise.
But those episodes are veryintensive for me to create
because I'm articulating so manydeep thoughts in them that I've
(06:48):
never expressed anywhere before.
that's what makes them sorewarding, of course, but it
also means I've got to pace themout so I don't burn out.
So this week we're drawingdirectly from my current client
work, which is also one of myfavorite things to talk about on
this podcast.
Without further ado, let's getto it.
Three patterns.
(07:09):
I'm noticing in solid draftswith non-obvious problems.
Problem number one, theprotagonist's goal isn't clear.
If you've listened to recentepisodes of your next draft, you
know the goal framework that Iuse, a character wants X without
Y.
X is the thing they want to getto achieve, to attain, and Y is
(07:33):
the thing that they don't wantto do or don't want to give up
in order to get x.
I often find that that without yside of the goal is revelatory
for writers.
It's the missing piece youhadn't thought of that brings
meaning and conflict to theprotagonist's pursuit of their
ex, and in the next right stepsthat I've been doing lately,
(07:55):
I've noticed that too.
I've worked with several storieswhere the why side of the goal
isn't clear or is just entirelyunknown.
What is the protagonist avoidingwhat makes X difficult to
accomplish?
We don't know, which means wedon't know what tension or
conflict will come up againstthe protagonist to put pressure
(08:16):
on their pursuit.
We have to know what they don'twant in order to throw
challenges at them that matter,that pressure them in the ways
that are most painful.
but it's not just the Y wherethese stories are missing
something.
I'm also finding that many ofthem are unclear on the X, what
the protagonist wants.
Every story has a vague sense ofwhat X is.
(08:38):
we know generally that theprotagonist wants to do well at
her job or make it home from herjourney, or stop a villain from
doing something bad or solve amystery.
But that goal feels a bit like astock placeholder, waiting for
something more specific.
It's not clear enough, notpersonal enough to the
protagonist to really give ussomething to work with.
(09:00):
We don't understand thecharacter well enough on the
first page of the story to knowwhat she's going to do
throughout the rest of the book.
What drives her?
What's she chasing?
Why does it matter to her?
Let me ask that again.
Why does it matter to her?
Why does it matter to her?
Why does it matter to herwithout a clear and specific X
(09:24):
for the character to pursue, sheliterally won't have anything to
do.
She'll just sit on her bum forpages and pages because there's
nothing pushing her to move.
That want creates character ledmomentum for us to follow
throughout the story.
Without it, we won't have a goalpulling us through the story and
all the events will feel likethings that happened to the
(09:46):
protagonist rather than her owndriven pursuit of a goal that
she must achieve.
So the want X side of the goalgives the protagonist something
to do.
Something to chase, though Thewithout why side of the goal
determines what kind ofobstacles and challenges will
most get in her way.
(10:07):
And I see both of these sidesbreaking down in the next right
step manuscripts that I'mworking on.
The solution is to go back topage one and get to know your
character better and identifywith even more specificity what
exactly her X and Y are and whythey matter so dang much to her.
(10:29):
Stock placeholders for X and ycan get you to a finished draft.
Even a draft that looks prettygood.
But to elevate your story fromhere, you've got to bring more
nuance and sharper clarity toboth X and Y.
the more specificity you canuncover here, the better.
So ask yourself, what does yourprotagonist want?
(10:51):
What do they not want to do orsacrifice in order to get it?
And y do those two things matterso much to them.
If you want to go even deeperhere, I've linked to a couple
episodes in the show notes.
The first is the hidden half ofyour protagonist goal that makes
story structure work, whichunpacks that want X without Y
(11:13):
framework.
And the second is how to figureout what your character really
wants, which will lead youthrough a process of inquiry to
uncover more specificity, notonly in what your character
wants, but why it matters.
All this brings me to problemnumber two.
The stakes are unclear.
(11:34):
The next pattern that I'venoticed in these manuscripts is
that the stakes are unclear.
I like to think about the stakeslike this.
What will happen if theprotagonist fails to get X?
What will happen to theprotagonist?
What will happen to theprotagonist's, friends and
family?
What will happen to theantagonist?
What will happen to the world?
(11:55):
As you can see, this ispredicated on us knowing what X
is.
If we don't know what X is, whatthe protagonist wants, it's
really tough to identify,measure, or track the stakes of
the story.
You might be thinking, well,what about why?
The same goes for why.
We need to understand reallyclearly what the protagonist
(12:17):
doesn't want as well and why.
What will happen if Y comes topass?
What will happen to theprotagonist?
What will happen to theprotagonist's, friends and
family?
What will happen to theantagonist and what will happen
to the world?
And as an added bonus, we canget even more precise about the
(12:37):
stakes when we break this intointernal and external.
What are the external impacts oflosing X or experiencing Y?
And what are the internalimpacts of losing X or
experiencing Y, especially onthe protagonist when manuscripts
come to me in next right step.
(12:57):
We usually know the generalshape of X and the general shape
of Y, but I have a lot ofquestions about Y, both X and Y
matter.
I find that the stakes start offfuzzy in the first act.
In the middle of the story, thestakes might be roughly penciled
in or they might start to feel abit all over the place.
(13:19):
And in the final act, the stakeshave generally shifted to pay
off something different fromwhat was set up at the
beginning.
All of this is a symptom of thestakes being unclear, which is
often about us lackingspecificity about what the
protagonist wants and why thatmatters.
And so much of what I'm tellingwriters at this stage is you've
(13:39):
got good bones.
Now it's time to go deeper tounderstand your protagonist at
higher resolution, with moreclarity, with more nuance, with
more empathy, with more depth Togo deeper here, honestly, I'm
going to send you back to thesame two episodes that I
mentioned in problem one aboutgoals, and there's a third
(14:00):
episode I'll recommend on genre,but I'll tell you more about
that one after I share Problemthree, the inciting incident and
the climax are two differentgenres.
Or to put it another way, theproblem we're solving at the end
of the story is different fromthe problem we had at the
beginning.
(14:20):
you'd be amazed how common thispitfall is, I'm amazed.
I see it all the time that theinciting incident and the climax
of a story don't match.
The story in which this jumpedout most clearly for me is one I
worked on a few years ago wherethe inciting incident was an
attack by the villain with lifeor death action stakes.
And the climax was a pianorecital with honor or shame,
(14:44):
performance stakes.
You might think that's soobviously different.
I'm sure I would notice if myinciting incidents in climax
were from two different genres,but I see the same issue come up
again and again and again.
Yes, it is one of the subtlehard to spot, non-obvious
(15:04):
problems that I'm watching forwhen I read a seamless in next
right step.
And yes, I do find that manymanuscripts at this stage run
into this pitfall.
I've seen stories move fromperformance to action or from
action to society.
I've also seen stories move fromunclear, beginning to unclear,
but definitely different end,and it's surprisingly hard to
(15:27):
spot.
If writers noticed the mismatch,they wouldn't write the mismatch
match.
Instead, they usually feel thissense that the ending isn't
paying off in the way that theywant it to, but they can't
pinpoint why.
You might be thinking if thebeginning and the end are two
different genres, the solutionis simply to pick one of those
genres and make the other end ofthe story match it.
(15:50):
But here's the thing, thismismatch is a symptom of a
larger problem.
The beginning and end aren'taligned because the stakes
aren't clear.
Because the protagonist wants Xwithout Y.
Goal isn't clear.
All this is often because thewriter hasn't yet decided what
(16:10):
they want this story to be, soto solve it, I rarely approach
the genre's head on.
I don't give the writer anultimatum, pick A or B, red pill
or blue pill.
Instead, we explore the stakes,laying out everything the writer
knows about what is at risk atthe beginning of the story, and
what is actually won or lost atthe end of the story.
(16:35):
We explore the goal, whatprecisely the protagonist wants
and what they don't want to doto get it, and why that specific
goal is so important to thatspecific protagonist, not as a
stock placeholder, but as a deepcore need, and we explore what's
driving the writer to tell thisstory.
(16:55):
Which part, the beginning or theend is more compelling to them.
What is the story about at itscore?
Why does it matter to the writerto tell it of every aspect of
the story?
What are they most attached to?
What is most important?
Because if you're beginning andyour end don't match, it's not
because you set out to create adisjointed story with a strange
(17:18):
genre pivot halfway through.
It's because there are manyideas competing for space in
your story and your imagination,and you have not yet rooted down
securely enough in the onethat's most important to you,
which means all those ideas areweaving their way into the story
all at once and pulling it in avariety of directions.
(17:39):
Way too many for your reader tofollow a clear thread.
So look for clues in your storystakes.
Look for clues in yourprotagonist's goal.
Look for clues in what drivesyou to tell this story, why it
matters so much to you.
That you would spend years ofyour life wrestling it onto the
page and triangulate from there.
(18:01):
The core that you'll shape yourstory around that core will
point you to the genre that fitsyour story best.
Which will bring all thesepieces into alignment from the
beginning to the end and pay offa story that your readers will
absolutely love.
To go deeper into this, Irecommend all the episodes that
I've already mentioned, plusthree more.
(18:22):
First, the 12 core genres thatpower every great story, which
lays out what's at the heart ofevery content genre.
Next, how to use genre as arevision tool where Savannah
Gibo shares how she diagnosesgenre problems in stories.
And third one, insidious causeof disappointing endings and how
(18:43):
to fix it, where I talk aboutwhat it looks like when the
beginning and the end of a storydon't match links to all those
episodes are in the show notes.
So you've got quite the playlistto dig into next.
So there you have it.
The top three non-obviousproblems that I'm observing in
these pretty polishedmanuscripts.
(19:04):
The first problem is that thecharacter's X without Y goal is
either unclear or not specificenough.
That tends to cause the nextproblem, which is that the
stakes are unclear, and thatcascades into the third problem,
which is that the incitingincidents and the climax are
from two different genres.
(19:25):
Writers who join me in nextright step.
Typically haven't spotted theseprecise problems themselves, but
they do feel it as a gut feelingthat their ending isn't paying
off the way that they want itto, no matter how much more
drama they try to pack into theclimax scene.
And they feel it as the sensethat the character arc isn't
arcing, right?
That there's something aboutthis character's development
(19:46):
that just isn't working.
The good news is that I cannormally pin down one specific
thing for the writer to explorethat will unlock all the rest of
this.
I don't give writers a laundrylist of to-dos at the end of
next right step or an editorialletter laying out in granular
detail a thousand things they'llneed to fix because these are
(20:06):
cascading problems.
That also means we can findcascading solutions.
and I send writers right to thatone thing in their story that
will cascade down to solveeverything else.
Of course, this doesn't meanthat solutions are easy to find
or to implement.
It takes a lot more time andspace to solve the problems that
we find.
I do that work with writers andside story clarity, which is a
(20:28):
much larger coaching container.
But identifying one clear nextright step does mean that you
don't have to try to solve athousand things at once.
It gives you focus and directionin your revision process so you
can stop wondering why yourstory still doesn't feel right
and start solving the rootproblem.
So if you have a completedmanuscript, you've revised it to
(20:51):
the best of your ability, butyou still feel like it is not
fulfilling everything you wantit to be, and you're not sure
what to do with it next.
Then I would love to help youfind your next right step.
To get started, go to alicesudler.com/nrs.
There's a form there that willask you a lot of questions about
your story.
(21:11):
Fill that out and I'll be intouch.
That's alice sudler.com/ns.
And of course, that link is inthe show notes with a ton of
other links to episodes that godeeper into every story problem
that I've shared here.
I hope those episodes help youfind a bit more clarity on
what's going wrong and goingright in your story.
And if you need some outsidefeedback to help you see what
(21:34):
your story needs, come join mein next right step.
Until next time, happy editing.
You've written a draft of yournovel.
(00:02):
It's a pretty good draftactually.
Maybe you've revised it once ortwice or five times.
The line by line writing isevocative and a lot of the
scenes are exciting and fun.
But come on, you knew there wasa butt coming.
You can feel it in your gut.
your story is just not doingeverything you want it to do.
(00:25):
There is just something missing,something not quite right.
The ending isn't paying off theway you want it to.
Even though you structure yourstory with care, crafted the
plot and cross-checked it withevery story outline, you know
something is still falling flat.
You've taken it as far as youknow to go.
(00:46):
So why isn't it working?
And what can it possibly stillneed when you've done everything
you know to do?
I have met so many writers atthis exact moment, and I've
noticed common patterns croppingup again and again.
Three incredibly common,surprisingly subtle pitfalls
that stories tend to fall intowithout their writers even
(01:09):
realizing.
I can't guarantee that yourstory has any of these problems.
But what I can tell you is ifyour story isn't landing the way
you want it to, yet these threepitfalls are some of the first
things to check.
And the best part is when yousolve even one of them, that
solution will cascade down tomake so many more things work
(01:31):
even better in your story.
so if you've taken your story asfar as you can and now you are
not sure what to do with it,Here's where to go next.
(02:30):
Welcome to your next draft.
This fall, I've been workingwith a lot of writers.
In my next right step process,it's where I start with every
new client, a deep dive intoyour seamless so that I can see
the arc of your story and spotwhat's breaking down and why,
which we then triangulatetogether into one clear next
(02:52):
right step in your revisionprocess.
The manuscripts I work with inNext right step are typically
pretty polished.
They're second drafts, fifthdrafts, the polished draft that
a writer has been querying toagents but not receiving
responses, sometimes their firstdrafts.
But even then, the writer hasusually done a lot of work on
(03:13):
structuring the story beforethey wrote that draft.
The point is, the problems inthese manuscripts are not
obvious.
You can read several pages, evenmany chapters without a glaring
issue jumping out at you.
The problems are subtle,nuanced, hidden, beneath layers
of really lovely line writingand intentionally crafted story
(03:34):
structure, which means that thewriter can't see them.
They can feel the symptoms ofthem, that the ending doesn't
pay off quite right Or thecharacter arcs feel flat, or the
plot loses steam in the middleof the story and the pacing
doesn't feel right, but theycan't figure out why these
issues are happening.
(03:54):
When they look at their outline,it seems to hit all the
important beats, and when theyread their scenes, the writing
seems lovely, like the scenesare well crafted and doing
everything they should.
This is one of the major reasonswhy at this stage I actually
don't read the manuscript.
In order to spot the non-obviousunder the surface problems, we
need to strip away the linewriting and focus on the bones
(04:18):
of the story, and it's actuallyway easier to do that by reading
the seamless list, a reallyrobust outline that tells me
exactly what's happening in thestory and why it matters.
In fact, a lot of my goal innext right step is to strip away
everything that's overwhelming.
Overwhelming for me as theeditor and for you as the
(04:38):
writer.
I read the scene list instead ofthe manuscript so that I don't
spend a lot of time and energyon a task that actually makes it
harder to see what your story.
And I give you one clear nextright step instead of a really
long editorial letter so thatyou know exactly what to do with
what I find.
(04:59):
I don't want you to get lost ina mountain of feedback with no
direction.
I want you to move forward withpurpose and direction on the one
thing that matters most for youto figure out next.
And I thought that for thisepisode, it'd be pretty cool to
give you a peek at what the nextright steps have been lately for
the stories that I've beenworking on.
I want you to know what it isthat I'm watching for when I
(05:22):
walk into a manuscript that'sworking pretty well and my job
is to spot how to make itbetter.
What is it that I'm spotting inthe scene lists?
What do these stories need next?
I want you to see howidentifying just one next right
step for your revision processcan solve a whole cascade of
downstream problems.
(05:42):
How can one next right step makesuch a big impact on your story?
And like I said, I've done abunch of these this fall and I
have several more coming up.
And because my brain isbasically a pattern recognition
machine, I'm noticing patternsin the next right steps that
these stories need.
So I'm going to share threepatterns that I've observed in
(06:03):
these well-developed, polishedstories with non-obvious
problems, and I'd be willing tobet a good bit of money that
your story could use attentionin at least one of these areas,
if not all three.
Now, if you love what you hearin this episode and you'd like
me to bring this sort ofanalysis to your story, I would
love to help you find your nextright step to get started.
(06:26):
Go to alice subo.com/nrs andtell me about your story and
I'll be in touch.
I'll tell you more about that atthe end of the episode.
And yes, this is a break fromthe series I've been doing on
the six elements of story.
We'll come back to that, Ipromise.
But those episodes are veryintensive for me to create
because I'm articulating so manydeep thoughts in them that I've
(06:48):
never expressed anywhere before.
that's what makes them sorewarding, of course, but it
also means I've got to pace themout so I don't burn out.
So this week we're drawingdirectly from my current client
work, which is also one of myfavorite things to talk about on
this podcast.
Without further ado, let's getto it.
Three patterns.
(07:09):
I'm noticing in solid draftswith non-obvious problems.
Problem number one, theprotagonist's goal isn't clear.
If you've listened to recentepisodes of your next draft, you
know the goal framework that Iuse, a character wants X without
Y.
X is the thing they want to getto achieve, to attain, and Y is
(07:33):
the thing that they don't wantto do or don't want to give up
in order to get x.
I often find that that without yside of the goal is revelatory
for writers.
It's the missing piece youhadn't thought of that brings
meaning and conflict to theprotagonist's pursuit of their
ex, and in the next right stepsthat I've been doing lately,
(07:55):
I've noticed that too.
I've worked with several storieswhere the why side of the goal
isn't clear or is just entirelyunknown.
What is the protagonist avoidingwhat makes X difficult to
accomplish?
We don't know, which means wedon't know what tension or
conflict will come up againstthe protagonist to put pressure
(08:16):
on their pursuit.
We have to know what they don'twant in order to throw
challenges at them that matter,that pressure them in the ways
that are most painful.
but it's not just the Y wherethese stories are missing
something.
I'm also finding that many ofthem are unclear on the X, what
the protagonist wants.
Every story has a vague sense ofwhat X is.
(08:38):
we know generally that theprotagonist wants to do well at
her job or make it home from herjourney, or stop a villain from
doing something bad or solve amystery.
But that goal feels a bit like astock placeholder, waiting for
something more specific.
It's not clear enough, notpersonal enough to the
protagonist to really give ussomething to work with.
(09:00):
We don't understand thecharacter well enough on the
first page of the story to knowwhat she's going to do
throughout the rest of the book.
What drives her?
What's she chasing?
Why does it matter to her?
Let me ask that again.
Why does it matter to her?
Why does it matter to her?
Why does it matter to herwithout a clear and specific X
(09:24):
for the character to pursue, sheliterally won't have anything to
do.
She'll just sit on her bum forpages and pages because there's
nothing pushing her to move.
That want creates character ledmomentum for us to follow
throughout the story.
Without it, we won't have a goalpulling us through the story and
all the events will feel likethings that happened to the
(09:46):
protagonist rather than her owndriven pursuit of a goal that
she must achieve.
So the want X side of the goalgives the protagonist something
to do.
Something to chase, though Thewithout why side of the goal
determines what kind ofobstacles and challenges will
most get in her way.
(10:07):
And I see both of these sidesbreaking down in the next right
step manuscripts that I'mworking on.
The solution is to go back topage one and get to know your
character better and identifywith even more specificity what
exactly her X and Y are and whythey matter so dang much to her.
(10:29):
Stock placeholders for X and ycan get you to a finished draft.
Even a draft that looks prettygood.
But to elevate your story fromhere, you've got to bring more
nuance and sharper clarity toboth X and Y.
the more specificity you canuncover here, the better.
So ask yourself, what does yourprotagonist want?
(10:51):
What do they not want to do orsacrifice in order to get it?
And y do those two things matterso much to them.
If you want to go even deeperhere, I've linked to a couple
episodes in the show notes.
The first is the hidden half ofyour protagonist goal that makes
story structure work, whichunpacks that want X without Y
(11:13):
framework.
And the second is how to figureout what your character really
wants, which will lead youthrough a process of inquiry to
uncover more specificity, notonly in what your character
wants, but why it matters.
All this brings me to problemnumber two.
The stakes are unclear.
(11:34):
The next pattern that I'venoticed in these manuscripts is
that the stakes are unclear.
I like to think about the stakeslike this.
What will happen if theprotagonist fails to get X?
What will happen to theprotagonist?
What will happen to theprotagonist's, friends and
family?
What will happen to theantagonist?
What will happen to the world?
(11:55):
As you can see, this ispredicated on us knowing what X
is.
If we don't know what X is, whatthe protagonist wants, it's
really tough to identify,measure, or track the stakes of
the story.
You might be thinking, well,what about why?
The same goes for why.
We need to understand reallyclearly what the protagonist
(12:17):
doesn't want as well and why.
What will happen if Y comes topass?
What will happen to theprotagonist?
What will happen to theprotagonist's, friends and
family?
What will happen to theantagonist and what will happen
to the world?
And as an added bonus, we canget even more precise about the
(12:37):
stakes when we break this intointernal and external.
What are the external impacts oflosing X or experiencing Y?
And what are the internalimpacts of losing X or
experiencing Y, especially onthe protagonist when manuscripts
come to me in next right step.
(12:57):
We usually know the generalshape of X and the general shape
of Y, but I have a lot ofquestions about Y, both X and Y
matter.
I find that the stakes start offfuzzy in the first act.
In the middle of the story, thestakes might be roughly penciled
in or they might start to feel abit all over the place.
(13:19):
And in the final act, the stakeshave generally shifted to pay
off something different fromwhat was set up at the
beginning.
All of this is a symptom of thestakes being unclear, which is
often about us lackingspecificity about what the
protagonist wants and why thatmatters.
And so much of what I'm tellingwriters at this stage is you've
(13:39):
got good bones.
Now it's time to go deeper tounderstand your protagonist at
higher resolution, with moreclarity, with more nuance, with
more empathy, with more depth Togo deeper here, honestly, I'm
going to send you back to thesame two episodes that I
mentioned in problem one aboutgoals, and there's a third
(14:00):
episode I'll recommend on genre,but I'll tell you more about
that one after I share Problemthree, the inciting incident and
the climax are two differentgenres.
Or to put it another way, theproblem we're solving at the end
of the story is different fromthe problem we had at the
beginning.
(14:20):
you'd be amazed how common thispitfall is, I'm amazed.
I see it all the time that theinciting incident and the climax
of a story don't match.
The story in which this jumpedout most clearly for me is one I
worked on a few years ago wherethe inciting incident was an
attack by the villain with lifeor death action stakes.
And the climax was a pianorecital with honor or shame,
(14:44):
performance stakes.
You might think that's soobviously different.
I'm sure I would notice if myinciting incidents in climax
were from two different genres,but I see the same issue come up
again and again and again.
Yes, it is one of the subtlehard to spot, non-obvious
(15:04):
problems that I'm watching forwhen I read a seamless in next
right step.
And yes, I do find that manymanuscripts at this stage run
into this pitfall.
I've seen stories move fromperformance to action or from
action to society.
I've also seen stories move fromunclear, beginning to unclear,
but definitely different end,and it's surprisingly hard to
(15:27):
spot.
If writers noticed the mismatch,they wouldn't write the mismatch
match.
Instead, they usually feel thissense that the ending isn't
paying off in the way that theywant it to, but they can't
pinpoint why.
You might be thinking if thebeginning and the end are two
different genres, the solutionis simply to pick one of those
genres and make the other end ofthe story match it.
(15:50):
But here's the thing, thismismatch is a symptom of a
larger problem.
The beginning and end aren'taligned because the stakes
aren't clear.
Because the protagonist wants Xwithout Y.
Goal isn't clear.
All this is often because thewriter hasn't yet decided what
(16:10):
they want this story to be, soto solve it, I rarely approach
the genre's head on.
I don't give the writer anultimatum, pick A or B, red pill
or blue pill.
Instead, we explore the stakes,laying out everything the writer
knows about what is at risk atthe beginning of the story, and
what is actually won or lost atthe end of the story.
(16:35):
We explore the goal, whatprecisely the protagonist wants
and what they don't want to doto get it, and why that specific
goal is so important to thatspecific protagonist, not as a
stock placeholder, but as a deepcore need, and we explore what's
driving the writer to tell thisstory.
(16:55):
Which part, the beginning or theend is more compelling to them.
What is the story about at itscore?
Why does it matter to the writerto tell it of every aspect of
the story?
What are they most attached to?
What is most important?
Because if you're beginning andyour end don't match, it's not
because you set out to create adisjointed story with a strange
(17:18):
genre pivot halfway through.
It's because there are manyideas competing for space in
your story and your imagination,and you have not yet rooted down
securely enough in the onethat's most important to you,
which means all those ideas areweaving their way into the story
all at once and pulling it in avariety of directions.
(17:39):
Way too many for your reader tofollow a clear thread.
So look for clues in your storystakes.
Look for clues in yourprotagonist's goal.
Look for clues in what drivesyou to tell this story, why it
matters so much to you.
That you would spend years ofyour life wrestling it onto the
page and triangulate from there.
(18:01):
The core that you'll shape yourstory around that core will
point you to the genre that fitsyour story best.
Which will bring all thesepieces into alignment from the
beginning to the end and pay offa story that your readers will
absolutely love.
To go deeper into this, Irecommend all the episodes that
I've already mentioned, plusthree more.
(18:22):
First, the 12 core genres thatpower every great story, which
lays out what's at the heart ofevery content genre.
Next, how to use genre as arevision tool where Savannah
Gibo shares how she diagnosesgenre problems in stories.
And third one, insidious causeof disappointing endings and how
(18:43):
to fix it, where I talk aboutwhat it looks like when the
beginning and the end of a storydon't match links to all those
episodes are in the show notes.
So you've got quite the playlistto dig into next.
So there you have it.
The top three non-obviousproblems that I'm observing in
these pretty polishedmanuscripts.
(19:04):
The first problem is that thecharacter's X without Y goal is
either unclear or not specificenough.
That tends to cause the nextproblem, which is that the
stakes are unclear, and thatcascades into the third problem,
which is that the incitingincidents and the climax are
from two different genres.
(19:25):
Writers who join me in nextright step.
Typically haven't spotted theseprecise problems themselves, but
they do feel it as a gut feelingthat their ending isn't paying
off the way that they want itto, no matter how much more
drama they try to pack into theclimax scene.
And they feel it as the sensethat the character arc isn't
arcing, right?
That there's something aboutthis character's development
(19:46):
that just isn't working.
The good news is that I cannormally pin down one specific
thing for the writer to explorethat will unlock all the rest of
this.
I don't give writers a laundrylist of to-dos at the end of
next right step or an editorialletter laying out in granular
detail a thousand things they'llneed to fix because these are
(20:06):
cascading problems.
That also means we can findcascading solutions.
and I send writers right to thatone thing in their story that
will cascade down to solveeverything else.
Of course, this doesn't meanthat solutions are easy to find
or to implement.
It takes a lot more time andspace to solve the problems that
we find.
I do that work with writers andside story clarity, which is a
(20:28):
much larger coaching container.
But identifying one clear nextright step does mean that you
don't have to try to solve athousand things at once.
It gives you focus and directionin your revision process so you
can stop wondering why yourstory still doesn't feel right
and start solving the rootproblem.
So if you have a completedmanuscript, you've revised it to
(20:51):
the best of your ability, butyou still feel like it is not
fulfilling everything you wantit to be, and you're not sure
what to do with it next.
Then I would love to help youfind your next right step.
To get started, go to alicesudler.com/nrs.
There's a form there that willask you a lot of questions about
your story.
(21:11):
Fill that out and I'll be intouch.
That's alice sudler.com/ns.
And of course, that link is inthe show notes with a ton of
other links to episodes that godeeper into every story problem
that I've shared here.
I hope those episodes help youfind a bit more clarity on
what's going wrong and goingright in your story.
And if you need some outsidefeedback to help you see what
(21:34):
your story needs, come join mein next right step.
Until next time, happy editing.
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