Catalyst
IN THIS LESSON
Audiences don’t just follow what is happening, they follow the “why” and “how” things are happening
A story is like a rolling stone. Something gets the stone moving, and then it starts tumbling down the hill. It’s going to continue its way down the hill one way or another. Sometimes it’s rolling from the pull of gravity. Sometimes a river overflows and picks it up in the current. Sometimes wind pushes the stone around, or an animal kicks it out of the way. Eventually, the stone makes its way down the hill.
Much like the rolling stone, your characters are going to travel their way through a story. You can decide what is pushing them forward, how they’re held back, and why the story progresses. Not just the “what”, but the “how” the story progresses has a huge impact on the audience’s experience and feelings.
Protagonist
There is always something pushing a story forward. There’s a force behind what’s happening, that’s propelling the story toward the next beat. “Where” that force is coming from can have a big impact on the narrative and the audience experience. Let’s discuss a few main categories and what effect they can have on the story.
The Protagonist is the character that is progressing through the story. They have goals, objectives, needs, and wants. Nine times out of ten, this is the main character of the story.
You’ve probably heard the Protagonist described as the “Good Guy” or the “Hero” of the story. That’s usually true, but not 100% correct. That’s like saying facial hair is a beard. Technically true, but facial hair could also be a mustache, goatee, etc. It doesn’t have to be the “Good Guy”. Even the villain can serve as the protagonist in a story as long as they are the one who is progressing the story forward. Thanos is more of a protagonist in Avengers: Infinity War (2018) than the Avengers. He’s the one with a plan, goals, objectives, and is progressing his way through collecting infinity stones. The Avengers are trying to stop him from succeeding, which makes them more of an antagonist.
Because the narrative and the audience are following the protagonist, it can be effective have the protagonist be the driving force behind an action.
Give your protagonist credit and/or responsibility. It’s more fulfilling if your protagonist earns something, rather than a good thing happening to them. The protagonist has a responsibility to remedy something if they’re to blame, rather than something bad happening around them. Things can happen to your protagonist, but your protagonist has the power to happen to your story.
Catalytic Sources
Using Catalyst to Influence Your Audience Experience
Following a story is an emotional experience. As a storyteller, you have the ability to manipulate what the audience feels as they follow along. A key component to this is carefully deciding where the catalytic forces are coming from in your story.
Every beat propels your story forward and steers it in a direction. How that happens can have a dramatic effect on the audience’s experience and feelings.
When the Protagonist propels the story to the next beat, that gives them agency and responsibility. Let’s imagine that your Protagonist has a goal in mind. They are working toward successfully achieving that goal. The audience is going to feel differently when the story propels to next the beat because the Protagonist took action, than if something completely out of their control propelled them to the next beat. This is important to consider for each and every beat of your story.
Consider how you want the audience to feel about your Protagonist. If you want the audience to sympathize with your Protagonist, have something happen to them. If you want the audience to be impressed by your Protagonist, have the Protagonist do something. If you want the audience to root for your Protagonist, have them overcome something. It’s not just about what beat gets to what beat, it’s also about how each beat gets the next the beat.
If something needs to hold your Protagonist back, consider how you want to audience to feel about that. Are they held back because the Antagonist took action? Are they held back from an external force? Are they held back by the consequences of their own actions? The same story moment could have a drastically different effect on your audience, depending on where the catalytic force is coming from.
Let’s explore some possibilities;
If you hold your Protagonist back because the Antagonist took action, the audience may be inclined to sympathize with your Protagonist. They may be inclined to dislike the Antagonist. They might even start rooting against the Antagonist. It can fuel their competitive spirit. It can make them frustrated. It can also inspire them to root for the Protagonist to strike back. This can be used as a method for getting your audience on your Protagonist’s side. It’s also a classic way to get audiences to feel a certain way about your Antagonist, especially if they represent someone/something real.
If you hold the Protagonist back through an external force, the audience will also be inclined to sympathize with your Protagonist. It keeps your Protagonist from taking any responsibility. That means that you don’t have to worry about the audience turning on your Protagonist. It can build a sense of frustration, despair, and a sense of hopelessness. It’s different when an Antagonist takes action. The antagonist is an identifiable entity that has goals and objectives. It’s logical, trackable, and predictable. External elements can be random, unexpected, and illogical. Sometimes you just have bad luck.
If you hold the Protagonist back by the consequences of their own actions, then you can choose how you want the audience to feel about it. It could be sympathetic if the Protagonist did the right thing and meant well, but suffers from unintended consequences. It could be a learning moment if the Protagonist made a mistake. Plenty of after school specials utilize this method. It could be satisfying for the audience experience if the character is held up after doing the “wrong thing”. That reinforces their belief in doing the right thing.
With each and every beat/moment of your story think about what you want your audience to think, how you want them feel, and what opinion you want them to have of your Protagonist.
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