First we’ll talk about what dramatic questions are and how they work, then we’ll turn to Breaking Bad.
In its most basic form, a dramatic question is, What will happen? That’s it.
The simplest way to think about constructing a story is to ask a dramatic question then answer it. Will Hamlet kill the king? Will Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy get together? Will Jason Voorhees kill all the camp counselors? Once the question’s answered, the story’s over.
Each genre is fueled by a simple question: Will the sheriff save the town? Will the thief steal the jewels? Will the superhero stop the villain?
This is why there are so many TV shows about doctors, cops and lawyers. These genres have simple, clear, built-in dramatic questions. Will the doctor cure the disease, the lawyer win the case, the cop catch the killer?
This is why people love sports. The dramatic question is always crystal clear, Will my team win?
Laying Tracks
Think of CDQs like constructing a train track for your story to ride on from start to finish. If a scene relates to the CDQ it’s on track. If not, it’s off track and must be adjusted or cut.
In How Finding Nemo Drops the Hammer we discussed the first essential principle of Story — Drop the hammer. The idea of dropping the hammer is to create a scene, or moment, that radically alters your hero’s life. You drop the hammer to get your reader/audience fully invested in your story’s dramatic question. It makes them want to go for the ride.
After the Ghost tells Hamlet to kill the king, this provokes the question, Will Hamlet kill the king? And this question fuels the play.
The purpose of this blog, and my book 27 Essential Principles of Story is not to introduce, or merely teach the fundamentals of the craft. It’s to drill them just like jiu-jitsu and karate fighters train martial arts. It’s not enough to merely know them. Make tthem part of your DNA there to be called up instantly, without doubt or hesitation.
Breaking Bad’s Dramatic Questions
The TV series, Breaking Bad which is widely considered to be one of the best of all time, is fueled by the dramatic question, Will Walter White provide for his family? He’s a high school chemistry teacher whose promising career as a scientist was derailed by a love affair. He’s in debt. He has a special needs teenage son. And his wife has unexpectedly become pregnant.
If all this is not enough, in the pilot episode, the hammer comes down on Walter when he’s diagnosed with terminal lung cancer and given at best a year to live. He’s not only faced with death, he may leave his family destitute. After his brother-in-law, a Drug Enforcement Agent tells him about the amount of money drug dealers make, he decides to use his skills as a chemist to make and distribute Crystal Meth.
The entire TV series, all five seasons, roughly 60 hours of television, are fueled by Walter’s quest to provide for his family. This simple question becomes thematically complex when Walter’s definition of “provide” changes, and his ego gets the best of him. But still, what he wants most in the world is to provide for his wife and children so they don’t have to go begging.
Central and Sub Dramatic Questions
This dramatic question, Will Walter provide for his family? is what’s called a Central Dramatic Question (CDQ). But it’s not the only kind of dramatic question. There are also Sub Dramatic Questions. For example: Will Walter learn how to cook meth? Will Walter defeat rival drug dealers?Will Walter’s wife discover what’s he’s doing — and rat him out?
These questions are Sub, as in Subordinate, to the Central Dramatic Question. In other words, Will Walter defeat rival drug dealers so that he can sell enough meth to provide for his family? See how that stays on the train track?
In the first episode Walter connects with a former student, Jesse Pinkman, who has become a drug dealer. He needs a partner to help cook and sell his meth. In the second season, Jesse falls in love with a girl named Jane.
I will avoid spoilers here, but if you know the show, I’ll bet you can remember Jane and what happens to her. That’s because Head Writer and Series Creator, Vince Gilligan is a master storyteller who never let his story veer off track. The show never jumped the shark, the way The Sopranos did, with episodes like “Johnny Cakes” about a sadistic gay mobster’s quest for love that no one cared about.
When Jesse falls in love with Jane, the focus stays on the show’s Hero, or anti-Hero, Walter. What happens is Jane becomes an obstacle for Walter because she interferes with his business. The Sub Dramatic Question here becomes, Will Walter break up Jesse and Jane — so that he can keep Jesse in line and protect his drug money to provide for his family?
If the story lost track of Walter’s quest to provide for his family the Jesse/Jane love story would have killed the show’s momentum. Instead, because it kept the focus on Walter, the Jesse/Jane love story is resolved in not only a satisfactory way, but one that provoked additional dramatic questions, set up powerful future scenes, and revealed new aspects of Walter’s character.
Dramatic Questions Make Stories Memorable
If you’ve seen Breaking Bad I’ll bet you can recall virtually every scene. That’s because you were hooked by the Central Dramatic Question and each Sub Dramatic Question. So you feel as if you watched both a TV series and many short films — Gus Fring, the train robbery, the fly, the big magnet and many more.
In the second chapter of 27 Essential Principles of Story I do a much deeper dive into other kinds of dramatic questions and the elements of them all. For now, stay focused on telling a simple, clear, coherent story. But note that this is never about structure for structure’s sake. It’s about leveraging the principles to explore ideas, add texture, depth and nuance to your stories and to discover the Truth as you see it, to learn who you really are.
To mix metaphors, think of dramatic questions like a bowl and your story a great big stew you poured your heart and soul into making. No one really cares about the container. But without it you can’t serve your stew. You’d ladle it out all over the floor and make a mess.
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