The Josh Theory of Awesomeness

Whether it's books, games, movies, plays, or any other kind of entertainment, how do you create something that's truly amazing and memorable? The key is to apply what I call the "Theory of Awesomeness".

To properly present it, I'll have to start by explaining the prevailing view: what I call "The Checklist Method". The checklist method is the idea that there are certain elements to a good piece of entertainment and to create a masterpiece, you try to include as many of these elements as possible. For a book or a movie, it would include items like good characters, detailed setting, surprise twist ending, humor, romance, tragedy, etc. For video games, it's more along the lines of solid gameplay, interesting story, good graphics, good sound effects, and so forth. These lists can get quite long, especially if you start discussing what works well in a particular genre. Even reviews are often based around the Checklist Method, rating each element separately then taking the average.

The Theory of Awesomeness takes a different approach: Each piece of work must start with an idea or a set of ideas that are really interesting or entertaining. The success of your work is based more on the execution of your few brilliant ideas than the presence or absence of the various checklist items. I'll use some examples.

I recently read a book (I won't name it, since my comments here aren't particularly favorable) that did a great job of hitting the items in the checklist method. Solid characters, interesting setting, a properly foreshadowed twist ending, violence (standard in Fantasy), romance, a range of emotions, etc. It was fairly enjoyable but not particularly memorable.

I'll contrast it to Harry Potter (the books. Not the movies). The Harry Potter novels have numerous plot holes, tons of "Well, why didn't you just do this?" moments, and some of the worst deus ex machina I've ever read. And yet, I love them. They're far more flawed than the previously mentioned book, and they don't hit as many of the checkboxes on what supposedly makes a good story, and yet, they're far better overall.

The reason is because there are a few things that J.K. Rowling does masterfully. Though Potter's in a fantastic, magical world, most of his experiences are just enough like what the reader experiences that they can closely relate. Her characters strongly radiate their personalities to the point where the reader feels exactly how she wants them to about each person (i.e. how many people didn't have an overwhelming desire to strangle Dolores Umbridge during the fifth book?). There are a few things in those books that are done so well that most readers either forgive the flaws, or they don't even notice them.

If you want examples from other mediums, consider Tetris (Great story? No. Great graphics? No) or Monty Python (The only checklist item it hits is humor). Both are extremely well-known and well-liked, much more so than most works that have done a far better job hitting the checklist points.

Does that mean that the checklist theory has no merit or that once you've found your awesome points that you can just ignore everything else? No. The checklist items are common elements often contained in a great work, and generally, they should be analyzed for possible inclusion in your own piece. The deciding factor is how they affect the aspects of your work that make it really good. I've seen comedies with a good, emotional story where I felt that they were improved by it, but trying to do that with Monty Python and the Holy Grail would have just handicapped their ability to be funny. I love the fact that the Wheel of Time novels have a detailed, in-depth world where each nation has distinct culture, history, traditions, and even speech patterns, but trying to put the same into Harry Potter would have just added a lot of text that would distract from what made the books great. Even the fans who can't get enough would probably prefer that to all come through a separate volume, rather than being included in the main text.

The key is to identify your point(s) of awesomeness. If you go out with the idea of "I want to make an RTS game" or "I want to write an Urban Fantasy" and you just start working on the checklist, you might make something good, but I don't believe that you can ever create a masterpiece. Rather, your starting point should be "Here's my awesome idea. How can I make it work really well?" Most of the time the checklist items will work in your favor, but sometimes they'll undermine you or at least, bloat your work with stuff that the audience isn't all that interested in.