Seven Step Exercise

A story has a minimum of seven steps in its growth from beginning to end:

1. Weakness and need
2. Desire
3. Opponent
4. Plan
5. Battle
6. Self-revelation
7. New equilibrium

The seven steps are not arbitrarily imposed from without, the way a mechanical story structure such as three-act structure is. They exist in the story. These seven steps are the nucleus, the DNA, of your story and the foundation of your success as a storyteller because they are based on human action. They are the steps that any human being must work through to solve a life problem.

Truby, John (2008-10-14). The Anatomy of Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller (pp. 37-38). Faber & Faber. Kindle Edition.

Follow the exercise 2 at the end of  Chapter 3 in Anatomy of a Story, as summarized below (more detail in the text).

To use the seven steps in your story:

1. Story Events Write down some story events, describing each in a single sentence.
2. Order of Events Put the story events in some rough order, from beginning to end.
3. Seven Steps Study the story events, and identify the seven structure steps.
4. Psychological and Moral Self-Revelation When figuring out the self-revelation, try to give your hero both a psychological and a moral revelation.
5. Psychological and Moral Weakness and Need After figuring out the self-revelation, go back to the beginning of the story. Try to give your hero both a psychological and a moral weakness and need. Remember: A psychological weakness or need affects just the hero. A moral weakness or need affects others.
6. Problem What is the problem, or crisis, your hero faces at the beginning of the story? Try to make it an outgrowth of your hero’s weakness.
7. Desire Be very specific when giving your hero a desire. Make sure your hero’s goal is one that will lead him to the end
8. Opponent Create an opponent who wants the same goal as the hero and who is exceptionally good at attacking your hero’s greatest weakness.
9. Plan Create a plan that requires the hero to take a number of actions but also to adjust when the initial plan doesn’t work.
10. Battle Come up with the battle
11. New equilibrium What is the new state after the protagonist’s change?