The concept sentence is a template into which you can plug your answers. The idea behind the concept sentence was taught to me by Jonathan Eaton, a distinguished opera director who was one of my instructors at The University of Cincinnati, College Conservatory of Music. His intention for this sentence was to teach young directors how to maintain focus while talking about their shows with designers, actors, producers, publicists, and so forth. I find it to be very effective in any creative process that involves organization and focus.

Concept Sentence Template: This is a story about how (who) did (what) in order to (why).

Let’s break it down:

Who = Protagonist

The “who” portion of the template forces the writer to choose a protagonist. In doing so, it provides the writer with a clear understanding of whom the play is about. I think it is important to know this so that the audience has a character to follow through the journey of the story. I think that there are some (very rare) exceptions when it comes to ensemble pieces, but in general, a story is best told when it is about one character and their journey.

What = Action

The “what” portion of the above template is the character’s action. This adds specificity and keeps the scenes as active as possible. The important thing for writers to remember is that actors can only act actions, not emotions, atmospheres or situations.

Why = Objective

The “why” portion of the template is the protagonist’s objective while implementing their action. It is crucial to the formula because it forces you to look at the character’s intentions and objectives while encouraging you to have something to say at the same time. In the words of the great director Mike Nichols, while being interviewed by James Lipton on The Actor’s Studio, “If you are going to get onstage, you better have something to say.” I agree wholeheartedly. José Rivera, in his 36 Assumptions About Writing Plays published in American Theatre in 2004, says “…a character must be stupendously hungry. There is no rest for those characters until they’ve satisfied their needs.” Why a character does something is very important for the actors, director, and writer to know in order to make the story work. The answer to this “why” question is ultimately what drives the play.

The concept sentence should act as a grounding tool to focus you on what your play is really about and why you are writing it. It is not an easy formula to implement, but once the sentence is created, the process of creating or rewriting a script just got a lot easier.

Exercise @

1. Here’s a list of some famous plays and movies to get you started, but feel free to pick your own from works with which you’re familiar. Write a one-sentence synopsis of the story and the Concept Sentence, then look at how they differ. Do as many as you like, but you should try to do at least three.

• Casablanca

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• A Doll’s House

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• Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone

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• Romeo and Juliet

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• Gone with the Wind
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• Death of a Salesman

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• Star Wars – Episode IV: A New Hope

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• The Importance of Being Earnest

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Upping the Stakes

When constructing your Concept Sentence, it’s important to use strong words. We could write the Richard III Concept Sentence as, "This is a story about Gloucester, who does what he must to be King", but that doesn’t make for very strong action. If your protagonist wants something, they must want it more than anything else in the world, and be willing to do anything to get it. This is true of both comedy and drama – even more so for comedy. The stronger the needs, the higher the stakes, and so the more compelling the action. In a Concept Sentence, characters should never just "want" or "need". They should desire, crave, lust, yearn, ache, covet, hunger, strive… They should never just "do". They should conquer, overcome, defeat, destroy, achieve…

Remember: to create really strong and memorable characters, their wants and desires must be strong and clear. Or, if you want to create a character who doesn’t know what they want, they have to be actively negative in trying to get anything at all – which is, in itself, a strong action.

This can apply to kings and empires, but it also applies to small, intimate stories. Say you’re writing a short film about Joe, who wants a ham sandwich. In real life, Joe may sit in his easy chair a while, thinking "I want a ham sandwich", then eventually get up and wander into the kitchen, after checking his mail, feeding the cat; whatever – and then he makes his sandwich. That may be real life, but it’s also very dull. Joe must want that ham sandwich more than anything else in the world. That’s the difference between, "This is a story about Joe, who goes to the kitchen to make a ham sandwich", and, "This is a story about Joe, who must battle escalating obstacles in order to obtain his heart’s desire – a ham sandwich." There will be more on how to up the stakes in the chapters on character and structure, but for now the main thing to keep in mind is this, and it cannot be repeated too often: The higher the stakes, the stronger the drama, and the more compelling it will be to your audience.

Exercise: @

2. Here are some Concept Sentence examples that are written with banal or weak words. Reword them to make them stronger and raise the stakes. Remember: there are no right or wrong answers, just answers that are stronger than the examples.

• This is a story about Cathy, who wants to divorce her husband in order to discover herself

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• This is a story about Ralph, who must prove his innocence in order to clear his name

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• This is a story about Tracy, who goes back home in order to visit her dying mother

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• This is a story about Joel, who investigates his boss in order to learn the truth

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Action vs. Objective

Finally, you have to keep clear the difference between Action and Objective. The former is what the protagonist (or any character) does, the latter is why they do it. That may seem clear enough, but occasionally you’ll wind up with Concept Sentences that don’t quite work on the first try. There are several possible reasons for this, but primarily they involve confusion of Action and Objective, as follows:

1) Your Action and Objective are reversed.

2) Your Objective should be your Action, with the real Objective something else.

3) Your Action should be your Objective, with the real Action something else.

Let’s look at one of the Concept Sentences from above, and see how it could have gone wrong along the way. Richard III, Original: "This is a story about Gloucester, who will destroy anyone in his way (Action) in order to fulfill his desire to be King of England. (Objective)"

Version 1: "This is a story about Gloucester, who fulfills his desire to become King of England (Action which should be Objective) by destroying anyone in his way. (Objective which should be Action)"

On first glance, it’s not much different, and in terms of grammatical function, it’s an identical sentence. But, when it comes to focus, it turns attention from what your character wants and desires to what he does – in effect, turning character-driven actions into plot-driven points. The "correct" version of this Concept Sentence describes a character-driven play about ambition and deceit. The latter describes a plot-driven story of a serial killer. One little reversal between Action and Objective, and we go from Shakespeare to a low-budget slice-and-dice movie.

Version 2: "This is a story about Gloucester, who fulfills his desire to become King of England (Action which should be Objective) in order to make up for his ugliness. (Wrong Objective)".

Again, becoming the King is his goal, but the objective here doesn’t really lead anywhere dramatically. In fact, in this case, the stated "objective" is actually one of the motives driving Gloucester’s desire to be King, so doesn’t belong in the Concept Sentence at all; it’ll come into the picture later, during the character work. Also, at least in this case, "to make up for his ugliness" isn’t really a goal in fitting with the story itself. It conjures up images of Richard III putting on the crown, announcing, "Now, I am pretty," and… curtain. It may be one of your character’s private goals, but it’s not part of the public drama – see "Gelman Factor" in Chapter Two– and it won’t lead to where you want to go with your story.

Version 3: "This is a story about Gloucester, who lies and plots (Wrong Action) in order to destroy anyone in his way. (Objective which should be Action)".

This Concept Sentence fails to answer the question "Why?" What is Gloucester trying to achieve by lying and plotting to destroy? It implies that the destruction is a means to a different end. In this version of the story, we’d have a madman just out to ruin people; a not very sympathetic or complicated protagonist, and one completely without needs – making for bland and meandering drama, indeed.

Conclusion

The Concept Sentence is the most important tool for providing focus in writing or rewriting. When structured well, it will provide your story with a spine, and a through–line that will get you from beginning to end without getting lost. While it may be somewhat difficult at first to grasp the concept and create the sentence, once you get the hang of it, it is invaluable.

The late, great Jerry Fey, who taught playwriting for many years, used to have a saying. "A play (or story) is like a river, and every single element you add must flow into that river." In other words, there are no tributaries or pretty bays or side-trips along the way. We enter at the river’s head and exit at the mouth, and the trip from one to the other is straight, direct and true.

The Concept Sentence creates the riverbed within which your words and story will flow. Create a clear, strong Concept Sentence, and writing your piece will be an easier journey for you and an enjoyable, interesting ride for your audience.

Che’Rae Adams is the Producing Artistic Director of the Los Angeles Writers Center. The above excerpts are from her book “Writing is Hard and Other Whinny Baby Comments: An Objective Approach to Looking at Your Own Writing” with additional material by Jon Bastian and Colm Byrne.

Che’Rae teaches writing workshops in North Hollywood at the Lankershim Arts Center-her next workshop starts Monday, July 29^th-log onto www.cheraeadams.com to register.