Copyright 2020 by Gary L. Pullman
According to Kenneth
Burke, human communication consists of answering six questions, to
which, I suggest, a seventh should be added.
Burke's questions: Who?
What? When? Where? How? Why?
The question I would add:
How many? or How much?
Specifically, these
questions seem to relate to
Who?
= agent, agency
What?
= act, force, object, incident
When?
= duration, time
Where?
= location
How?
= method, process, technique
Why?
= cause, motive, reason, purpose
How
many? or How much? = quantity (in number or quantity, respectively)
To fully describe the
basic plot of a short story, a novel, or a movie, each of these
questions, as appropriate, should be answered:
Who?
Norman Bates
What?
murders Marion Crane and Detective Abogast
When?
Where?
in the motel he manages and in the house in which he lives
How?
by stabbing Marion and pushing Abogast down the stairs
Why?
because the personality of his deceased mother orders him to do so
How
many? two (murders)
By putting these answers
together in a single sentence, an effective synopsis of Alfred
Hitchcock's film Psycho
is obtained:
In
response to the command of his deceased mother's internalized
personality, Norman Bates, a motel manager, commits two murders,
stabbing Marion Crane to death in her room's shower and pushing
Detective Abogast down the stairs of the Victorian house in which
Norman lives.
This
method is not only useful in generating story synopses, but it can
also be used to generate plot twists. A writer can introduce an
innovation at any point (that is, for any question). For example,
let's take an item from USA Today's
“News
from around the 50 states” column. The original item,
concerning Montana, reads:
A
federal judge has ruled that the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service must
do more to protect Canada lynx from bobcat traps. The
Missoulian reports the lawsuit
by WildEarth Guardians and Center for Biological Diversity claimed
the federal agency is failing to follow a treaty protecting
endangered species and not doing enough to stop trappers from
capturing the wrong animal. Lynx are classified as a threatened
species under the U. S. Endangered Species Act.
First, let's separate the
information into our interrogative scheme:
Who?
A federal judge
What?
ruled that the U. S. Fish and
Wildlife Service must do more to protect Canada lynx from bobcat
traps
When?
recently (implied by the fact that the item is a news report)
Where?
in Montana
How?
follow a treaty protecting endangered species and . . . [do more] to
stop trappers from capturing the wrong animal
Why?
because Lynx are classified as a threatened species
Now,
to introduce a plot twist, we can simply replace one phrase in the
answer to a question with another phrase that mentions a bizarre or
an unexpected substitution:
Who?
A secret court
What?
ruled that the U. S. Fish and
Wildlife Service must do more to protect Canada lynx from bobcat
traps
When?
recently (implied by the fact that the item is a news report)
Where?
in Montana
How?
follow a treaty protecting endangered species and . . . [do more] to
stop trappers from capturing the wrong animal
Why?
because Lynx are classified as a threatened species
or
Who?
A federal judge
What?
ruled that . . . U. S. Fish and
Wildlife Service personnel should
shoot people who injure
Yetis
with bobcat traps.
When?
recently (implied by the fact that the item is a news report)
Where?
in Montana
How?
follow a treaty protecting endangered species and . . . [do more] to
stop trappers from capturing the wrong animal
Why?
because Lynx are classified as a threatened species
or
Who? A federal judge
What?
will rule that the U. S. Fish
and Wildlife Service must do more to protect Canada lynx from bobcat
traps
When?
during a future meeting
Where?
in Montana
How?
follow a treaty protecting endangered species and . . . [do more] to
stop trappers from capturing the wrong animal
Why?
because Lynx are classified as a threatened species
or
Who?
A federal judge
What?
ruled that the U. S. Fish and
Wildlife Service must do more to protect Canada lynx from bobcat
traps
When?
recently (implied by the fact that the item is a news report)
Where?
on
Space Station Zebra
How?
follow a treaty protecting endangered species and . . . [do more] to
stop trappers from capturing the wrong animal
Why?
because Lynx are classified as a threatened species
or
Who?
A federal judge
What?
ruled that the U. S. Fish and
Wildlife Service must do more to protect Canada lynx from bobcat
traps
When?
recently (implied by the fact that the item is a news report)
Where?
in Montana
How?
follow an intergalactic
treaty protecting
endangered species and . . . [do more] to stop trappers from
capturing the wrong animal
Why?
because Lynx are classified as a threatened species
or
Who?
A federal judge
What?
ruled that the U. S. Fish and
Wildlife Service must do more to protect Canada lynx from bobcat
traps
When?
recently (implied by the fact that the item is a news report)
Where?
in Montana
How?
follow a treaty protecting endangered species and . . . [do more] to
stop trappers from capturing the wrong animal
Why?
because Lynx are classified as a human
predators
Personally,
I like the “Yetis” substitution the best, which implies not only
that the creatures actually exist, but also that they are protected
by the federal government because they represent an “endangered
species,” a plot that could be developed humorously, perhaps as a
satire.
Of
course, another possibility also exists: change not just one, but
several, of the answers to our questions. (Probably, this is the most
effective approach.) Here's an example:
Who?
Cryptozoologists
What?
recommend that the U. S. Fish and
Wildlife Service protect Yetis from hunters and trappers
When?
recently
Where?
throughout the United States and its territories
How?
by allowing the creatures to roam free, rather than confining them to
particular areas, or “reservations,”
Why?
because, free to roam, Yetis, a threatened species, will be better
able to defend themselves against human intruders
If, initially,
the results of this process seem lame, choose a different news item
and start fresh. Ultimately, the process can be rewarding!
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