Because this story has two main characters, they can team up and combine their strengths to solve the problem. It takes Marisa’s science knowledge to both build the crane and create the explosives they use to trick the cavepeople. And it takes Tom’s people skills to manage the cavemen when they’re operating the crane to fish the fetcher out of the lake.
In stories with just one main character, they often have to overcome their big weakness to solve the problem. For example, if Tom had been alone in the Stone Age, he would’ve had to get the fetcher out of the water without Marisa’s knowledge to help him.
It’s a lot of fun to watch a character finally overcome their weakness. For example, Marisa was too shy to correct either Dr. Palindrome or the cavemen when they kept getting her name wrong in the beginning and middle of the story. Finally, at the end of Chapter 26, she gets the courage to correct them:
“MY…NAME…IS…MARISA!”
Seeing Marisa find the courage to overcome her weakness of being shy and nervous is pretty awesome!
Idea Storm: Plan the Climax
Does your main character solve their big problem? Whether they do or not, make sure your story’s climax takes into account the main character’s strengths and weaknesses. If they solve the problem, they should do it using their strengths—either the same strengths they’ve shown since the beginning of the story OR weaknesses that they’ve overcome.
Try not to make the solution too easy. It’s much more satisfying if your main character really has to dig deep. The more reversals and obstacles you can add as they pursue the solution, the better.
Check out the Plan the Climax Organizer we made for Tom and Marisa. You can draw your own to map out exactly how your characters put their plan into action—and what obstacles get in their way.
Don’t be afraid to rewrite your climax if you think of a more challenging way to solve your character’s problem. The ending is often the hardest part of a story to write. Many writers change the climax more than once before they find the right one for their story.
Storytelling 101: Getting What They Want…In a Surprising Way
Once we’ve reached the story’s climax, and the huge problem has been solved, is the story over?
You actually have at least one more interesting decision to make: What kind of ending do you want for your story? How will the story look after the problem has finally been solved? You have a few options:
•To Be Continued: Right when we think everything is wrapped up, the characters run into a new problem! But there’s no time left in the story to solve it, so the reader is left wondering what happens next. (Like how Dr. Palindrome escapes in the time machine!)
•Happily Ever After: The classic way to finish is with a Happily Ever After ending. Tom and Marisa make it back, Dr. Palindrome gets fired and swears to never be a villain again, and all the other scientists are friends forever.
•The Tragic Ending: This is the opposite of Happily Ever After. Marisa gets eaten by Tooka, Tom is stuck in the Stone Age forever, and Dr. Palindrome gets rich and famous. Certain readers will get angry that you wrote something so sad, but other readers will love you for it. (Some people get tired of all those Happily Ever After endings)
•The “Twist” Ending: Sometimes the twist in a story happens right at the end, when you least expect it. Dr. Palindrome reveals that he’s actually…Marisa’s long-lost father! Keeping her stuck in the Stone Age was just his weird plan to help her overcome her fears and build confidence! (That example is obviously a little silly, but the twist can be anything—except having the whole story be a dream, where the main character wakes up safe in bed. Don’t do that one. It’s been done so often at this point, it’s not even a twist anymore.)
Because Tom and Marisa solve their main problem, Stuck in the Stone Age has a happy ending. Most comedies have a happy ending, because they’re usually meant to make the audience feel good. On the other hand, it’s not exactly a “Happily Ever After” ending. It’s something a little more interesting. Let’s call it a “Characters Get What They Want…In a Surprising Way” ending. Here’s what we mean.
Tom always wanted to be a scientist, but in the darkest hour, Marisa tells him he’ll never be one. After thinking it over, he realizes she’s right. He can’t get what he wants after all.
In Marisa’s case, she wanted to not be lonely, and she tried to achieve that goal by making an invention so awesome that everyone would love her. But when she comes back to the present and finds herself surrounded by reporters asking questions, she realizes she doesn’t want to be around too many people. What she really wants is one really good friend.
So Tom can’t get what he wants, while Marisa realizes she doesn’t want what she thought she wanted. That sounds like a less-than-happy ending. But there’s one more reversal left in the story.
When Tom loses his job and Marisa quits CEASE to start her new solar panel company, Marisa has the brilliant idea to ask Tom to be the spokesman for her new company. It’s the perfect solution! Not only will Tom get to be around the science he loves so much, but the job fits his big strength, which is getting along with people. By going into business with Tom, Marisa won’t be lonely anymore—they’ll get to have lunch together every day! But she will be able to spend most of her time alone, working on the science that’s her big strength.
In the end, they both get what they want, but not in the way they (or the audience) expected.
They’ve also learned something about themselves. Tom learned that he really isn’t very good at science. Marisa learned that she’s actually an introvert who doesn’t want to be around people as much as she thought.
In the end, Tom and Marisa have changed. They both end up happier and more aware of their own strengths and weaknesses than when the story started. When characters change like this over the course of a story, it’s called a character arc.
Idea Storm: Did Your Character Change, Grow, or Learn?
What kind of ending do you want to have in your story? Happy? Sad? Something weird or in between? It’s up to you to decide what works best for your story.
Now look back at your story and your main character’s journey through it. Does your character have an arc? In other words, do things happen in the story that cause them to change? Does their life get better? Worse? Do they learn something about themselves or about the world? Do they become more (or less) kind, helpful, friendly, or generous?
It’s okay if they don’t change! In some stories, especially action stories, the main character is pretty much exactly the same at the end of the story as they were at the beginning.
But having your main character learn, grow, or change over the course of your story is a great way to give the story a bigger emotional impact—for your characters, for your audience, and for you as a writer.
This is the last of the Idea Storms. Did you do them all? If so…
CONGRATULATIONS! YOU JUST WROTE A STORY!
Take a look back at your Idea Storms. If you did them all, you:
•Created a character
•Established a setting
•Gave your character a main problem
•Made the problem HUGE
•Put some obstacles in your character’s way
•Revealed your story’s villain
•Plotted some twists and reversals
•Plunged your character into their darkest hour
•Brought them back from the brink to solve the problem in the climax, and
•Showed how solving the problem gave your character an arc of growth, learning, or change
That’s a whole story. You did it! Wow! Amazing job! You’re officially a writer!
So now what?
Go back and make it better! Remember how we said that all the best writing comes from RE-writing things? It’s true! Go rewrite the weak parts! Make the huge problem even more huge! Make the twist even twist-ier by turning your main character’s best friend into a shape-shifting villain! Don’t be afraid to cr
oss things out and get messy!
OR…
Start a brand-new story! Give yourself permission to make this one EVEN MORE WEIRD!
OR…
Just go eat a cookie. You deserve it! You wrote a whole story! Congrats again! You are awesome.
APPENDIX: Vince’s Original Idea (With Spoilers!)
Here’s the complete idea that Vince originally submitted for Stuck in the Stone Age.
But if you haven’t read the whole story yet, ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO READ THIS? Because there are spoilers. Don’t say we didn’t warn you. It’s not too late to turn back!
Okay, here it is.
CEO: Benjamin Salka
Artistic Director: Lee Overtree
Education Director: Quinton Johnson
Story Pirates Senior Management: Duke Doyle, Nicole Brodeur,
Peter McNerney, Jeremy Basescu, Joanna Simmons, Sam Reiff-Pasarew, Lauren Stripling, Graeme Hinde, Sherry Layne, Will
Kellogg, Jason Boxer, and Amanda Borson
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We would like to especially acknowledge our Education Director Quinton Johnson, whose brilliant pedagogies underlie the Story Creation Zone and without whom the Story Pirates would not be teaching creative writing in such a dynamic, engaging, and effective way.
We would also like to thank the following friends, colleagues, and champions (in no particular order): Stephen Barbara, Rhea Lyons, Derek Evans, Charlie Russo, Sam Forman, Adrienne Becker, Laura Heywood, Allen Hubby, Eric Cipra, Jon Glickman, Natalie Tucker, Gimlet Media, The Drama Book Shop, Maggie Pisacane, Mark Merriman, Marcie Cleary, Mara Canner, Matt Gehring, Brandon York, Eli Bolin, Bekah Nutt, Gabe Jewell, Connor White, Annabeth Bondor-Stone, Amy Gargan, Lynn Weingarten, and the hundreds of thousands of kids who have sent us their stories since 2004.
An imprint of Rodale Books
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Text © 2018 by The Story Pirates
Illustrations © 2018 by Hatem Aly
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any other information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher.
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Design by Tom Daly and Jeff Shake
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Stuck in the Stone Age Page 15
