What is a story? There are, of course, no universal answers. However, to challenge my first-year composition students to see themselves as storytellers, I require them to embrace one of my favorite storytelling theories, the Story Cube. Created by award-winning author Steven James, the theory explains that great stories have six key elements:
- Character is the story’s lead and must make the audience care about them.
- Setting is where the story takes place.
- Struggle is vital since it tests the Character’s desires, fears, and weaknesses. From Struggle comes tension, and if a story doesn’t have escalating tension, the story will likely bore or confuse audiences.
- Pursuit is the Character striving to defeat, ignore, overcome, or learn from the source of the Struggle.
- The Pivot is some kind of twist or reversal of expectations.
- The Payoff is a meaningful takeaway that can be conveyed (directly or indirectly) in dialogue, images, exposition, or thoughts.
James argues that whether you’re writing a best-selling novel or giving a compelling speech to co-workers, these six elements are like the sides of a cube. Without these sides, the cube, like a story, falls apart. Based on James’s theory, I composed a dynamic activity to help my undergraduate students see themselves as storytellers.
Here are the stages of the activity:
- I explain to students that most stories in Western tradition tend to be about a character with a problem in a setting. The character attempts to overcome that problem but fails. The character tries again (or several more times). Ultimately, the character fails or succeeds—or both (gaining something at a cost or losing something with a gain). This framework compels students to think in terms of conflict or instability.
- I outline the Story Cube theory in depth.
- I ask my students to create an original story outline based on all six elements. Specifically, I ask my students to develop their ideas in PowerPoint presentations. Each of the six elements should have its own slide. Each student must summarize in tremendous detail the Character, Setting, Struggle, Pursuit, the Pivot, and the Payoff of a story that they could expand into screenplays, novels, short stories, TV pilots, CNF essays, and so forth. I also ask my students to insert a relevant picture onto each slide. For example, on the Character slide of a story about a troll, a student may decide to insert a troll picture from Wikipedia.
- I give my students at least 48 hours to complete their PowerPoints. Next, students must present their Story Cube projects in small or large groups. This counts towards their attendance.
This semester, students had so much fun applying the Story Cube theory. I enjoyed walking from group to group as students shared daring stories about cowboys and silly stories about cartoon creatures in love triangles. The goal of teaching the Story Cube is not to produce the next Anne Lamott or Chimamanda Adichie, but rather to encourage students to practice their writing skills in a fun, innovative way.
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Jacob Butlett is a Pushcart Prize nominee with two MFAs in creative writing. His works have been published in many journals, including the Colorado Review, The Hollins Critic, and The MacGuffin. He is the author of a book of poems titled Stars Burning Night’s Quiet Rhapsody (Kelsay Books, 2024).