Mariner Software Contour for Mac - Manual (Page 17)

The Central Question
Throughout the story, the Protagonist moves closer and closer to answering the Central Question; once the question is
answered, the story is over. Will Luke Skywalker save the Princess? Will Rocky beat Apollo Creed and become cham-
pion? Will Marty McFly go back to the future? Will Erin Brockovichʼs actions make a difference? Will Batman beat the
Joker and Harvey Two Face and save Gotham City once more?
The Formula
The Formula is helpful in distilling a story down its basic logline, and is an indispensable and necessary step
in determining whether the glimmer of an idea is going to be worth the effort.
“When a TYPE OF PERSON has/does/wants/gets A, he gets/does/tries/learns B, only to discover that
C now happens and he must respond by doing D.”
The “A” statement is the Orphan statement.
The “B” statement is the Wanderer statement.
The “C” statement is the Warrior statement.
The “D” statement is the Martyr statement.
Using E.T. as an example: When a lonely boy finds a stranded space alien (“A” statement / ORPHAN
statement), he decides to keep him as a pet (“B” statement / WANDERER statement), only to discover
that since the alien canʼt live on earth for too much longer he will try to get it home (“C” statement / WAR-
RIOR statement), but in order to do so he will have to thwart the efforts of a team of scientists. (“D” state-
ment / MARTYR statement.)
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