Oh S**t, Oh Cool or How to Keep a Story Interesting

I’ve been on this kick about story structure lately. It seems the more I write, the more things occur to me and a topic I thought would be hard to tackle is actually turning out to be kind of fun to explore. So today I wanted to share a kind of silly little trick to help keep a story interesting. I like to call the Oh S**t, Oh Cool method of pacing.

Oh S**t, Oh Cool

(From here on out, I’m ditching the asterisks, so if you’re easily offended you might want to stop reading.) The basic idea is that, to keep a story interesting, you have to keep things dynamic. This can mean changing locations from scene to scene, introducing characters with different motivations, even changing the weather.

But another thing you can change up is the status of your hero’s quest. If they’re getting what they want in any particular scene, that’s an Oh Cool scene. If they’re losing, it’s an Oh Shit scene. Make sure you alternate pretty steadily from one to the other and your story will feel dynamic.

Keep a Story Interesting

As your story progresses, you should plan for the stakes to increase. The Cool parts will be cooler and the Shit parts will be shittier. Consider this very high-tech infographic:

Or, if you’re writing a tragedy, it might look more like this: 

(okay, yes, I just flipped the image, but do you really need the labels on this one?)

The point is, Oh Cool moments seem much cooler if you put them next to Oh Shit moments, and vice versa, and you want the stakes to increase over time.

Watch for It

This little trick is used ALL THE TIME in movies. So much so that we, as audience members, know that if Sally gets the pony for her birthday then dad is about to drop dead of a heart attack. Miright?

It’s a little less obvious in literary fiction, but if you look for it, you’ll see it in novels too.

As with any writing “rule,” I strongly encourage you to not get to crazy about following it, but if you feel like your story is sagging, it might be something to consider.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go put a copyright on those infographics.