Rapid Story Development: A Master Plan for Building Stories That Work

Rapid Story Development is a story development class, as well as a character development class.  It is a class that, for the first time, brings together two disparate yet related topics: classic story development best practices and the Enneagram System.

The Enneagram is the most powerful model available today that describes the nine common personality styles of human thought, feeling, and action. Classic story development is the common set of storytelling best practices that have developed over hundreds of years of creative writing. The two systems together provide a powerful and proven methodology for developing effective stories and robust and multidimensional characters.

Through this class participants will learn a systematic process, “The Rapid Story Development Method,” that will walk them through specific steps designed to build out any story’s natural structure and create characters that ring true as convincing, fully-formed people. Through weekly reading, targeted written assignments, class video chats, and individual one-on-one sessions students will systematically conceive, design, and execute the core story development components necessary to assure writing success using these two powerful and complementary systems.

Class Zoom sessions will be held every week on Mondays at 11 AM Pacific Time.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the tenth week, students will:

• Understand the basics of the Enneagram for Writers,
• Understand the basics of classic story structure,
• Understand how the Enneagram System relates to overall story development,
• Learn a repeatable and proven methodology for story development,
• Have working tools and deliverables to move to the next steps in the story development process.

Required Text(s):

There are two texts recommended for this course. The first is mandatory, the second is optional.

• Rapid Story Development: How to Use the Enneagram-Story Connection to Become a Master Storyteller, by Jeff Lyons (Focal Press). Students get free shipping. E-book: order e-book Amazon  (Links to an external site.)
• Anatomy of a Premise Line: How to Master Premise and Story Development for Writing Success, by Jeff Lyons (Focal Press). Students get free shipping. E-book: order e-book Amazon 

Course Syllabus

Week One: Intro & Enneagram Basics

Lecture: Basic course introductions and Enneagram system basics: Enneagram model and essentials for writers.

Add’l Reading: Chapters 3 & 4

Written Assignment: BEFORE you read the week’s lecture, or read any of the required materials, write out your story idea as best you can and upload to the system for my review. This assignment will be used as your benchmark for later comparison to the final premise line in week 10.

Weeks Two and Three: Build the Enneagram Foundation of the Moral Component

Lectures 1 & 2: Both weeks will focus on the Moral Component as a standalone story component and also as an Enneagram tool. We will cover the moral blind spot, immoral effect, dynamic moral tension, and examine the Enneagram components that can help build these other pieces.

Add’l Readings: Chapters 10 & 11

Written Assignment: AFTER you have read the two lectures for the weeks, and AFTER you have read the assigned reading, using the “Moral Component Worksheet,” and the “Moral Enneagram Worksheet,” build out the components of the tool.

Week Four: Define the Protagonist’s Enneagram Style

Lecture: We will look at each of the nine Enneagram personality styles from the perspective of character-building.

Add’l Readings: Chapter 5

Written Assignment: AFTER you have read the assigned reading, using the “Protagonist Enneagram Worksheet” analyze your protagonist’s Enneagram nature. Also, submit any new changes to your moral component from previous weeks if you have reworked them.

Week Five: Define the Protagonist’s Evolution and De-Evolution Enneagram Styles

Lecture: We will examine the nature of character change as a story structure component, but also how the Enneagram can inform the writer in developing a protagonist’s change process over the course of an entire story.

Add’l Reading: Chapters 8 & 9

Written Assignment: AFTER you have read the assigned reading, use the “Protagonist Change Worksheet” and the “Protagonist change Triangle Tool” to build the change process for your central protagonist.

Week Six: Identify the Common and Uncommon Pinches, Crunches, Blind Spots, and Distortion Filters

Lecture: We examine various core Enneagram character components, primarily related to communication styles and conflict styles, and demonstrate how to build unique and individual voices for your main characters.

Add’l Reading: Chapters 6 & 7

Written Assignment:  AFTER you have read the assigned reading for the week, use the “Protagonist Common/Uncommon Buttons Worksheet” to identify your protagonist’s main pinches, crunches, blind spots, etc.

Week Seven: Define the Opposition

Lecture: This week’s lecture will examine the process of opposition development, the function of the main opponent, and how the Enneagram can be a valuable tool in creating the pitch-perfect opponent structure for any story.

Add’l Reading: Chapter 14

Written Assignment: Using the “Enneagram Opponent Triangle Tool,” build your central opposition from your knowledge of the Enneagram and your protagonist’s Enneagram Style.

Weeks Eight and Nine: Build the Enneagram Elements of the Story Middle

Lectures: Both weeks’ lectures will focus on the critical story structure process of creating a compelling middle for your story, how to maintain narrative drive, and examine the two key patterns of drama every story needs to avoid the “mushy middle.”

Add’l Reading:  Chapter 12

Written Assignment 1: Using the “Classic Structure Middle Worksheet,” build the classic story structure middle components for your story.

Written Assignment 2: Using the “Define the Pattern of Decline Worksheet,” build your protagonist’s emotional pattern of decline during the middle of the story.

Written Assignment 3: Using the “Define the Pattern of Elevation Worksheet,” build your protagonist’s emotional pattern of redemption during the last quarter of the story.

Week Ten: Develop the Premise Line & Next Steps in Development

Lecture: This week’s lecture will describe the important topic of premise development and will pull together all the previous weeks’ work in the exercise of premise line creation. It will also provide “next steps” advise and suggestions about how to proceed to the next level of story development and talk about how to know when you are ready to start actual pages of your novel or nonfiction book.

Written Assignment: AFTER you have read this week’s lecture, using the feedback from the previous weeks and the “Anatomy of a Premise Line Worksheet,” take your first stab at writing a premise line. Premise development is its own 8-week course, so you don’t be frustrated if this is a difficult task. The point is to introduce you to this step in the development process as part of next-steps, along with the concept of short synopsis writing.

Why Take a Story Development Course with Writers.com?

• • We welcome writers of all backgrounds and experience levels, and we are here for one reason: to support you on your writing journey.
  • Small groups keep our online writing classes lively and intimate.
  • Work through your weekly written lectures, course materials, and writing assignments at your own pace.
  • Share and discuss your work with classmates in a supportive class environment.
  • Award-winning instructor Jeff Lyons will offer you direct, personal feedback and suggestions on every assignment you submit.