Writer/director, Francis Ford Coppola (The Conversation, The Godfather, Apocalypse Now) was a black belt storyteller if ever there was one. He knew the power of simplicity. In an interview with Charlie Rose he once described The Godfather II as the story of “a good man who becomes a bad man.” This from a writer who explored some of the most psychologically complex characters in film.
Because Storytelling is such a personal, revealing and difficult art, it’s important to keep things simple and add complexity as you develop your Story. In martial arts there’s an expression, “Speed and power are negative on white belt.” It’s bad to go too fast too quick. If you do you’ll get your ass beat.
The point of this principle is to help you properly set up your story. It’s about constructing a Beginning that kicks ass. And it consists of two simple steps.
Step One: Set up the Hammer
You set up the hammer by introducing your hero. You drop the hammer by constructing an event, or moment, that radically alters their life. The purpose of this is to build empathy between your audience/reader and your hero. It’s to make them want to go for the ride.
In Pixar’s 2003 animated classic, Finding Nemo the story begins with a young father, a clown fish named Marlin who just bought a house. It’s in a beautiful neighborhood with good schools, has a magnificent view of “The Drop Off” and is the perfect place for he and his wife, Coral, to raise their soon-to-be-born children — hundreds of them, who sleep peacefully in their little eggs. Marlin and Coral are very much in love and have the rest of their lives before them.
This sets up the hammer.
Step Two: Drop the Hammer
Marlin and Coral playfully race out of their new home to find their neighborhood — which was just bustling with life-suddenly deserted. They turn to see a long, dark barracuda glaring at them dead-eyed. Coral darts to protect the children and the barracuda lunges at her. Marlin tries to save her but gets knocked unconscious. He wakes late at night, utterly alone, and finds the barracuda killed Coral, and ate all unborn kids. He’s devastated. he home he bought to raise a family, to fill with laughter, joy and memories — to live in, is now, cruelly, a place of death.
This drops the hammer.
Every little detail, each line, action, every single thing that happens prior to the hammer coming down is designed to increase the emotional impact of the hammer.
Marlin then sees something orange glowing beneath him. He glides down to find that one of their babies survived. It sleeps peacefully, nestled in its little egg. Marlin cradles him gently and names him Nemo — Coral’s favorite name. He then vows not to let anything happen to him. And the opening credits roll.
I don’t know about you, but when I saw Finding Nemo — not long after 9/11- I was hooked and fully invested in Marlin. How could you not be?
Of note, since this hammer comes down so early in the film, the writers drop a second hammer around the 30-minute mark but we don’t have to get into that now. For now the important point is writers Andrew Stanton, Bob Peterson and David Reynolds dropped the wickedest hammers in a kids’ film since Disney’s Bambi.
Use Every Part of the Animal
The question for you to think about now is how do you Drop the hammer in your story? Consider this question: Why does this event, or moment, happening to this hero, at this time, radically alter their life? It doesn’t need to be negative — just radically life altering. For example, falling madly in love. Or inheriting a fortune.
The trick is to look at every choice you make prior to dropping the hammer. If it adds to the set up — or the emotional impact of- the hammer coming down keep it. If not, cut it. Make every choice count. This is a critical reason Finding Nemo was such a big hit. Get this right and you radically increase your odds of success.
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