Storytelling Lessons: Brandon Sanderson’s “Progress”
Most writers get this wrong.
In our last lesson, we discussed the importance of making promises in storytelling. In this lesson, we’ll examine the component of Promises, Progress, and Payoff that writers mess up the most: Progress.
You hooked the reader with your promises. Now, you want to hold their attention.
That’s where progress comes in.
Progress is the motion you apply to your promises.
The most common mistake writers make is moving in a different direction than what they originally promised.
This causes the audience to treat the progress as a side plot. They lose interest because you aren’t working toward the promises you made - therefore this information isn’t important.
You can remedy this by making the proper promises and then sign-posting your progress to satisfy those promises.
Audiences love satisfaction.
When you give clear markers of motion, the audience gets to experience the satisfaction of progress with the characters. And they get to enjoy the anticipation of moving closer to the Payoff (which we’ll discuss in our final lesson).
Progress is satisfying.
Satisfaction keeps audiences engaged.