The Zettelkasten Method for Fiction III - Create a Toolbox to Analyse Stories that Live in Your Zettelkasten

• Jan 18th, 2022
• by Sascha

Recap: In the first part, we learned not to care about the source of the knowledge we deal with, but about its nature. In the second part, we learned what we are dealing with when we deal with story.

So, how do we actually deal with story material using the Zettelkasten Method?

Story Tools - Concept and Example

Tools are devices to perform work. Story tools therefore can be described as devices used to perform the work that is done to analyse or create stories. Story tools are mostly bi-directional. The same tool can be used to both analyse and create stories. Or parts of them. There are exeptions, of course.

One of my personal tools is the functional model for character. I use the functional model to analyse or create a model of a character that gives me just the mechanical gist of a character. The mechanical gist is how the plot is driven forward or leading questions are answered. So I have a general character model that I use to create specific models for actual characters.

In essence, it is a miniature character sheet that just governs the essence of what a character does to the inner workings of story. It’s partially based on John Truby’s The Anatomy of Story¹ and Shawn Coyne’s The Story Grid²:

• Strengths
  • External strengths (physical, mental)
  • Inner strengths (moral, psychological)
• Weaknesses
  • External weaknesses (Physical, Intelligence)
  • Inner Weaknesses (Moral, Psychological)
• Objects of desire
  • External object of desire (craving)
  • Inner object of desire (need)
• He/She as an answer to the core questions:
  • What is happiness?
  • What is meaning?
  • What is morality?
  • What can I hope for?
  • When am I responsible?
  • When must I act?
  • What must I endure?
• Answer to the guiding question of the narrative
• Role for the plot

This model is incorporated into my Zettelkasten like this:

1. Another tool named Unfolding the Character Network uses this tool as a subroutine. The character network is a tool to, well, unfold the social fabric of the story’s characters and for that I need to have a functional model for each of them first.
2. The functional model is part of my general character sheet (it is available in German and in English).
3. It is referenced on my main structure note that governs everything I write and know about characters in story. (In my Zettelkasten, it is very interconnected with psychology.)

This model is mostly part of a more complex structure, like a more complex tool or structure note. It needs to be fleshed out more. Each concept I use, like the above lists of core questions (partially based on Kant) or objects of desire (partially based on Truby and Coyne), requires outgoing links to detail notes where I can write more about these concepts. But at this point in time, these are not complete. That is fine for me, though, because I have a good enough grasp on these concepts. But over time, this tool will evolve, and to support my decisions it will require an internal debate within my Zettelkasten.

I have created a tool box for these tools of mine. It looks like this:

Tool Box

Preface: These tools can be used both ways: Both as tools for writing a narrative, and as tools for analysis.

The following is the actual toolbox: It has compartments (“plot”, “characters” etc.) in which the tools reside. In my Zettelkasten, the note is named “story tools”.

Core idea of a narrative.........................[[202107300945]]
Plot
    Bookertest for completeness..................[[202111201159]]
    Storyboarding................................[[202111040801]]
    Global Story Grid............................[[202107030735]]
    Plot Table...................................[[202107081145]]
    Seven-Step Plot..............................[[202108111130]]
    Checklist Plot...............................[[202108111020]]
    Kubler-Ross change model for narratives......[[202107071052]]
Characters
    Individual
        Functional model.........................[[202108180823]]
        Character sheet..........................[[202009090952]]
    Relationships
        Shaping the character network............[[202108180846]]
        The conflict square......................[[202108181350]]
Stage
    Building stage for narrative.................[[202108301209]]
Guiding question/topic
    Basic outline of narrative leading question..[[202108250950]]
    Guiding question flower......................[[202108210906]]
    Truby's moral argument strategy..............[[202108211043]]
    Booker's Rule of Three.......................[[202112081055]]
Imagery and symbolism
    Truby's tool.................................[[202109011041]]
Structure of the narrative
    Arrangement of narrative elements............[[202108071134]]
Designing individual elements
    Schematic of scene notes.....................[[202109040812]]

Using the Tool Box to Analyse Fiction

Imagine I read The Godfather by Puzo. How do I process it? Well, it depends on who I am.

If I just like to read fiction and want to save the nuggets and use them to improve my Zettelkasten, then I don’t need to do anything special. Knowledge is knowledge after all. I will do the same as if it was just a non-fiction text.

If I want to go deep with the story – as a critic, an aspiring author or just as an enthusiast, I need to ask myself what I want to create, what analysis I want to perform. Do I want to learn about the inner mechanics of the story? Do I want to really understand the magic of Don Vito Corleone?

An objective is needed because the possible number of angles on how to analyse a story is near infinite. We need an aim to reduce infinity to possibility.

I finished reading The Godfather a week before writing this article – which is the reason I am using it as an example. My personal agenda with this book is the following:

1. I want to extract all the iconic aphorisms. These will be attached to their respective themes and topics.
2. I want to understand how Puzo is able to make people truly sympathise with a mobster.
3. I want to have a basic character sheet for Don Vito Corleone, since he is one of the most iconic characters. I want to truly understand him in the hopes of improving my ability to create iconic characters myself.
4. I want to understand the basic leading questions and how they are answered.

To fullfil my agenda, I go to my tool box and choose tools that will help:

1. I will create a structure note for the novel The Godfather.
2. I will copy the complete story tool box into this structure note.
3. I will then delete everything I don’t need to my agenda.

This will be the result:

Core idea of a narrative...........................[[202107300945]]
Plot
    Bookertest for completeness....................[[202111201159]]
    Global Story Grid..............................[[202107030735]]
    Seven-Step Plot................................[[202108111130]]
    Kubler-Ross change model for narratives........[[202107071052]]
Characters
    Individual
        Functional model...........................[[202108180823]]
    Relationships
        The conflict square........................[[202108181350]]
Leading question/topic
    Basic outline of narrative leading question....[[202108250950]]
    Leading question flower........................[[202108210906]]

Then I will process the book from start to finish, guided by these tools. In the end, I will have a complete or incomplete functional model of Vito Corleone,³ a conflict square, etc. Then I’ll try to fill in the missing parts by going back to the book to the best of my ability.

Then the analysis is finished. The result will be a model of the book The Godfather by Mario Puzo.

Third Conclusion: Create a Tool Box to Analyse Story

If you want to analyse stories with your Zettelkasten, create a tool box and let it live within your Zettelkasten. If you go to work, do it like any good worker: First, prepare the tools you need and keep the tool box at hand. And second, know what you are aiming for.

This is how you can use the Zettelkasten Method to analyse stories. In the next installment of this series, we will learn how to create stories using the Zettelkasten Method.

Do you want me to assist you with using the Zettelkasten Method? I offer 1-on-1 coaching.

Christian’s Comment: Last time, I pointed out I have no clue about storytelling and that the elements of story were new to me. The idea of a character sheet “copypasta” sounds appealing to me to get started, though, probably because it resonates with what I know as “Design Patterns” in programming. The presentation of such patterns is often formalized a bit. And the character sheet in particular resembles this practice. In fact, I believe that the practice outline here would’ve been quite useful to assemble Design Patterns in the tradition of Christopher Alexander and his book on architecture.