Writer's Workshop: Structuring Stories with the Designing Principle · 4:26pm Jul 16th, 2017
If you've read anything on narratology and story structure, you probably know most of the basics. The more I read, I tend to see the same ideas being offered, with only minor variations between them. There's a pretty general consensus on the fundamentals of what makes story work: characters with strong desires, growth over the course of an arc, obstacles and moral weakness that test the main character's resolve, and so on. So when I read John Truby's "Anatomy of Story," while I was hopeful for some new insights, I had a feeling it was gonna be mostly the same as things I've heard a dozen times before. Sadly, I was right on that front; nevertheless, a couple things did stand out to me. In particular, I want to talk about the "designing principle," a neat little concept to distill your story's structure into a single reigning idea. And when I was working on one of my story ideas and realized the problem was the lack of a designing principle grounding it, I knew I needed to share it with you. So, here we go: the designing principle.
As far as I'm aware, the designing principle is an invention of Truby's. It sits somewhere between the premise, the outline, the Limit, the theme, and the genre. If the premise is your "what," and the theme is your "why," the designing principle is your "how." It's... well, it's your principle for how you design your story. With this concept under your belt, you should be able to give your story a strong spine to center everything else you create: the character interactions, the thematic core, the setting, and the plot beats. So, yeah. This idea ends up echoing through every part of the story creation process.
But I've blathered long enough. Here's the formula for the designing principle, exactly as Truby explains it:
Designing principle = story process + original execution
Wow! So elegant! But, uh... hrrm. That's kinda obtuse. Let's walk through both terms in our equation to get a better sense for it. First, story process. I apologize for the vagueness again, but it's kinda like the formula, or the beats you're going to follow, or the Limit. It really depends on your story. For example, "a journey across the ocean" could be a process, or "rising in the ranks in a secret society," or "finding a cure in the three days before the patient dies." This is your framework for how the characters move from A to B. Don't worry about it being "earth-shattering;" that's what the next part is for. 
I don't have a whole fancy list of processes for you to choose from, but hopefully, you should have an idea of what your story requires. So for example, the story process of "Applebuck Season" might be something like, "Applejack balances helping her friends and bucking her orchard," and "MMMMystery on the Friendship Express" would be "While aboard a train headed to Canterlot, Pinkie and Twilight investigate the murder of a helpless cake." 
The original execution, then, is your twist on the subject. This is all on you; this is your power. As the Good Book says, "There is nothing new under the sun;" the original execution is your chance to give enough flavor to your story that a familiar story process gets your special touch. This doesn't need to be amazing or lifechanging, just enough to get the audience to perk up and pay attention. "Applebuck Season's" original execution would be something to the effect of, "Applejack screws everything up due to sleep deprivation," and "MMMMystery on the Friendship Express'" would be "Pinkie's off-kilter logic comes square up against Twilight's stern, methodical view." See how that makes these stories more original? We've seen tons of stories of characters who try to balance work and friendship, but sleep deprivation brings a specific comedic angle to it. "Murder on the Orient Express" riffs are as old as, well, "Murder on the Orient Express," but siccing Pinkie on the case means we're gonna get wacky and meta up in here.
Your designing principle requires both of these together. A story process without an original execution will be a bog-standard snoozefest that every audience member can predict ahead of time. On the other hand, an original execution with no story process will turn your story into a meandering mess. Having a designing principle is all about taking your genre standard and investing a bit of yourself into it, or taking your super-unique story idea and funneling it into something structurally sound. A good designing principle will give your story the structure it needs; without it, you'll be totally lost.
This may sound stupid--fundamental, even--but as soon as I started to think about it, I realized I actually didn't have it right. One story I was working on was about an agent infiltrating a rebellion with the intent to destroy it, only to realize it could be better served if he subtly took it over for his own ends. That's a great original execution, if I do say so myself. But, uh... then I realized I had no idea for the story process. I had no timeline, no mission structure, nothing for this agent to actually latch onto to complete his plans. Embarrassing, right? Back to the drawing board for that one. One of my clients did something similar: they were working on a mystery story, and they'd imagined all of the twists and turns for the characters to discover... but they hadn't actually figured out the actual investigation part of the story. You know, the investigation--the most important part of a mystery. 
(It's here that I would give you some examples of the other way around--stories with processes, but no original execution--but even though I know I've had a couple, I can't for the life of me remember them. Just goes to show you how a story without an original execution completely slips from memory as soon as you're done reading it, huh? 
)
So, how do you create a designing principle? To start with, you've got to have a story premise. I can't tell you how to find story concepts, because everyone is a little different in that regard. But once you've got your premise, you need to find the critical aspect that can substitute into one of the two variables in the designing principle equation. If your premise is about a popular genre, like a mystery or a romance, you've already got the process nailed down. If you're not sure, look for symbols or clocks that you can pin to the story's arc. Beauty and the Beast has its dying rose; "Fall Weather Friends" has its contests and race; season 4 has its keys. Figuring out the original execution is easier, and yet harder. When you came up with your premise, what made you excited to tell this story? Is that somewhere no man has gone before? Is that idea enough to lift your process up into something unique? If it is, then great! That's your original execution. If not... I hate to say it, but your story might not be interesting enough yet. Now comes the hard part: you need to find the life in your story and give it a little more juice.
Hmm... I've covered what the designing principle is, why it's important, and how to construct it. What am I missing? Oh, right, the design principles of my own stories! 
Here are some examples that come to mind:
Twilight's Star
Premise: Twilight loses her mind after her guiding star disappears, leaving Rarity to pick up the pieces.
Designing Principle: Send Rarity through heaven and earth to look for a cure, when the only effective treatment is to slow down, take a deep breath, and come grips with reality.
Patchwork
Premise: When Rarity becomes obsessed with her poor dresswork, the only thing that can shake her out of her funk is an even worse dress!
Designing Principle: When Twilight asks around court, the responses only dig her further into trouble; the best gift comes from her own talent (or lack of talent, in this case).
Mother and Child
Premise: After severe changes to the past, Pinkie finds herself trapped in an alternate present; her only hope of getting back home is to understand what happened in the past, get back to the past, and undo it.
Designing Principle: Pinkie travels back and forth through three different cities to rediscover her love of home and to bring harmony to a fallen world.
...Wow, that designing principle is terrible. That explains why Mother and Child keeps crashing and burning! See, these Writer's Workshops are as instructive for me as they are for you. Well, I was gonna talk about how to use the designing principle for character, theme, setting, and plot, but... I'm suddenly having a crisis of faith about my stories. Let's save it for part 2, maybe. 
All right, all right, closing takeaway. Ideas are a dime a dozen, but a well-designed story takes an idea and prepares it in a pleasing and interesting way. There's no one right or wrong way to do it, but it requires a process to push you through beginning to end and a spark of creativity to set you apart from the crowd. Establish this central core, and the rest of the story will follow.
For the record, not all of John Truby's designing principles are winners. For Tootsie's, for example, he just has "Force a male chauvinist to live as a woman." I see the original execution here, but I don't see the process. Then again, I haven't seen the movie, so maybe that's a 100% accurate description of the plot. But from what he describes of it, I would have said something like, "Force a male chauvinist to experience the struggles of women new to the TV industry." His designing principle for Harry Potter is also really weird: he calls Harry a "magician prince" and claims the story is about him learning "to be a man and a king." I mean... I guess his parents were prominent leaders in the fight against Voldemort, but... I'm not sure that really captures the structure of the novels. I would have focused more on his capacity to accept his state as the Chosen One, and, eventually, how he gains mastery of death itself with the three Hallows. But that's just me.
Hm. I think we're dealing more here with state transitions and defined conflicts.
Example: In Harry Potter, he starts at the bottom of the food chain, and is destined to be a great wizard (State transition), however, he is opposed by the forces of dark wizardry and Lord Voldomort (conflict) who has returned and is plotting something specific against Harry.
In one of mine, Drifting Down the Lazy River, there are multiple state transitions that go along with character development, and the conflict is driven by the main character and his goal.
Character: Turpentine Goal: Become a famous painter Methods to achive goal: 1) Travel to Baltimare and attend the famous school there. 2) Cast into confusion by first method failing. Try to find second method. 3) Determine second method is to go to Canterlot and attend school there. (Final) Determine original goal and method flawed. Revise.
Character: Ripple Goal: (shifts) 1) Enjoy playing with Turpentine 2) Be torn between convincing Turpentine to stay and allowing him to achieve his goal.
Supporting princesses: Help both of them achieve their goals by quiet support and nudging.
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I... think we're talking about the same thing? What John Truby is focused on is more 1) the path from A to B, and 2) finding the originality in the story beyond simple genre convention. So yes, he's concerned about state transitions, but specifically the mechanistic structure to cause state transitions. And I think it's more than simply conflict, because many genres come with a conflict baked in. It's more about the specific characteristics of the story you are telling right now. Like with my example of the "MMMMystery on the Friendship Express," every mystery comes with the baked-in conflict of "figure out whodunit." The magic of that episode is Pinkie's overactive imagination, where she accuses each character in a goofy genre.
Hi. So Story process is Plot structure?
Thanks :)
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That's my understanding of it. It could arguably also be, say, the thematic, setting, or character structure. For example, my hypothetical designing principle of Inside Out would be, "As they travel through Riley's mind, Sadness will smile, and Joy will cry." This tells me how to structure the story: give Sadness opportunities to shine, and break Joy down until everything seems hopeless. Or "The Fall of the House of Usher," which might be "Contrast the self-destruction of an incestuous family with the literal destruction of their house." Basically, the story process part is just the framework for you to tell your story. If the events of the story are the framework, then yes, by all means, it's plot structure.
...I'm not sure if that's more confusing or less.