Intention & Obstacle

The two ingredients to Aaron Sorkin's 'drive shaft of drama'

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Shortly after The Social Network won Best Picture, Aaron Sorkin was asked how he writes stories. His answer is simple but brilliant:

“You know, everybody writes different. But for me I have to stick — really closely, like it's a life raft — to Intention and Obstacle. Just the basics of somebody wants something, something is standing in their way of getting it.”

He concludes, “I worship at the altar of intention and obstacle.” (The full interview is here)

I find that good story advice is often extremely specific or extremely universal. At first, I thought this idea was oversimplified, but that’s exactly why it’s so powerful. After all, if it’s good enough for Sorkin then it’s certainly good enough for me.

Here’s how I think about it.

Intention drives the story. It gives your characters something to chase. They aren’t sitting on their butts waiting for stuff to happen. Instead, they want something and they intend to make it happen.

What they want can be external or internal:

  • External – Katniss wants to win the Hunger Games. You want to find a girlfriend.

  • Internal – Katniss wants to prove District 12 is as good as the others. You seek external validation.

Often, I find the internal need drives the external goal. Ask yourself, What’s your protagonist chasing? And why does it matter to them?

Then comes the fun part. What’s stopping them?

Obstacles create struggle, which keeps Readers hooked. They make us root for the protagonist and sweat the stakes alongside them. 

Sorkin says Obstacles should be “formidable and escalating.” A minor inconvenience doesn’t push characters to reveal who they truly are. You learn a lot about someone when they’re backed into a corner, forced to make tough calls, or realize the plan they had isn’t going to work. The best obstacles evolve, forcing characters to adapt.

Similar to Intentions, Obstacles can be both external (villains, budget, etc) and internal (lack of self-belief, hubris, etc). 

Summing it up – One quick test

You should be able to write this sentence for your story:

“My protagonist wants to do [X], but [Y] stands in their way.”

  • I want a romantic trip with my wife but we end up sleeping on the floor of the Barcelona airport and arguing all night.

  • Beckham wants to win the World Cup for England but he gets a red card and becomes the most hated man in the country.

  • Katniss wants to save her sister but that means risking her life in the Hunger Games.

You get the idea. A simple test that might be harder in practice than you expect. If you can’t complete that sentence easily, I’d bet either the Intention or Obstacle is too weak.

Give it a try: What does your protagonist want? What’s in their way? Write it down in one sentence, then build from there. Once I have this foundation, the rest of the story starts to fall into place.

Have an awesome weekend,

Nathan

P.S. Sorkin’s 2017 interview is worth checking out. He touches on Intention and Obstacle around minute 33.

Trivia — A Sentence I Wish I Wrote

What book does this line come from? Tap your best guess.

"In the moment when I truly understand my enemy, understand him well enough to defeat him, then in that very moment I also love him."

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