Storytelling as an Emotional Algorithm: Inputs and Outputs

Every story is an emotional algorithm. It’s not just about creating a series of events—it’s about designing a system that generates specific emotional experiences in the audience. Your plot, characters, pacing, and themes? Those are the inputs. The goal? To produce the desired emotional outputs, whether it’s awe, suspense, catharsis, joy, or fear.

As storytellers, our job is to take control of these inputs, refining them so the emotional journey we create lands exactly how we intend. Let’s dive into how this works and how it fits with the 8 Universal Conflicts and the 6 Pillars of Storytelling to form a practical, powerful framework.

The Story Algorithm

Here’s the deal: a story is a system.

• The Algorithm: The story itself—a structured process designed to create an emotional experience.

• Inputs: The storytelling elements you control (plot, characters, pacing, themes, and so on).

• Outputs: The emotional and intellectual responses you want to evoke in your audience (suspense, joy, catharsis, heartbreak, etc.).

For example:

• A well-paced thriller? That’s built to generate tension and relief.

• A heartfelt romance? Designed to evoke longing and joy.

• A hero’s journey? All about inspiring awe and empowerment.

This approach doesn’t make storytelling mechanical. It actually makes it deliberate. The better you understand how to tweak the inputs, the more reliable the emotional outputs become.

The 8 Universal Conflicts as Emotional Algorithms

Your 8 Universal Conflicts provide the foundation for your story’s emotional algorithm. Each conflict establishes the core emotional journey and shapes the type of responses you’re designing for:

1. Threatened Existence:

   • Inputs: External danger, escalating stakes, life-or-death moments.

   • Outputs: Fear, tension, relief.

2. Life Unraveled:

   • Inputs: Loss of stability, betrayal, challenges to identity.

   • Outputs: Despair, hope, triumph.

3. Epic Transformation:

   • Inputs: A seemingly impossible challenge, personal growth, redefining identity.

   • Outputs: Awe, inspiration, empowerment.

4. Daring Rescue:

   • Inputs: Urgency, high stakes, sacrifice, moral dilemmas.

   • Outputs: Suspense, compassion, satisfaction.

5. Ultimate Quest:

   • Inputs: Obstacles, long-term stakes, a distant "prize."

   • Outputs: Excitement, perseverance, catharsis.

6. Defeat Evil:

   • Inputs: Moral stakes, escalating conflict, justice.

   • Outputs: Righteousness, catharsis, relief.

7. Desperate Escape:

   • Inputs: Confinement, resourcefulness, close calls.

   • Outputs: Anxiety, thrill, liberation.

8. Romantic Entanglement:

   • Inputs: Chemistry, obstacles, longing, resolution.

   • Outputs: Desire, heartbreak, joy.

Each conflict acts as a blueprint for the emotional experience you’re crafting, giving you a clear sense of what your inputs and outputs need to be.

The 6 Pillars of Storytelling as Inputs

Your 6 Pillars of Storytelling are the tools for designing your story’s inputs. Each pillar is a critical piece of the emotional algorithm, shaping how the audience engages with and responds to the story:

1. Character

• Role in the Algorithm: Characters are the emotional core, the anchor that connects the audience to the story through empathy.

• Inputs: Character arcs, internal and external conflicts, relationships.

• Outputs: Emotional connection, inspiration, frustration (if intentional).

2. Plot

• Role in the Algorithm: Plot provides the structure that guides the audience through intentional emotional peaks and valleys.

• Inputs: Escalating stakes, twists, resolutions.

• Outputs: Tension, surprise, catharsis.

3. Theme

• Role in the Algorithm: Themes give the story depth and meaning, shaping intellectual and emotional resonance.

• Inputs: Core questions, moral dilemmas, symbolic motifs.

• Outputs: Reflection, inspiration, moral clarity (or ambiguity).

4. Worldbuilding

• Role in the Algorithm: The world provides context and amplifies the stakes and emotional journey.

• Inputs: Setting, culture, constraints, systems.

• Outputs: Immersion, awe, tension.

5. Genre

• Role in the Algorithm: Genre sets the tone and emotional expectations for the audience.

• Inputs: Tropes, conventions, subversions.

• Outputs: Satisfaction (or intentional discomfort), alignment with audience expectations.

6. Prose

• Role in the Algorithm: Prose is how the story is delivered, shaping immediate emotional responses.

• Inputs: Style, tone, pacing, imagery.

• Outputs: Atmosphere, immediacy, emotional resonance.

The Pillars are your dials and sliders, letting you fine-tune every aspect of your story to produce the emotional experience you want.

Designing the Algorithm for Emotional Precision

Here’s how you can deliberately craft your story algorithm:

1. Start with the Conflict:

   • Choose one of the 8 Universal Conflicts to define your story’s emotional arc.

   • Example: For a "Desperate Escape," the emotional journey is from confinement to liberation, with tension and relief as the key outputs.

2. Define the Emotional Outputs:

   • Decide what specific emotions you want the audience to feel at each stage of the story.

   • Example: Anxiety in the setup, thrill during the chase, and satisfaction in the resolution.

3. Craft the Inputs (Using the Pillars):

   • Build your characters, plot, themes, and world to serve the desired emotional journey.

   • Example: A resourceful protagonist, high-stakes obstacles, and a tightly paced plot heighten the tension in a "Desperate Escape" story.

4. Test the Algorithm:

   • Write and evaluate whether your story produces the intended emotional responses.

   • Refine as needed to align the inputs with the desired outputs.

The Feedback Loop: Refining Your Algorithm

Storytelling is an iterative process. Your emotional algorithm improves through a cycle of observe, create, reflect, and refine:

1. Observe:

   • Study great stories and notice how their inputs generate emotional responses.

2. Create:

   • Apply what you’ve learned by writing your story with specific emotional goals in mind.

3. Reflect:

   • Analyze your work: Did it land? Were the emotional beats as strong as they could be?

4. Refine:

   • Adjust your inputs. Experiment with new techniques. Tighten weak points.

This loop sharpens your storytelling instincts and makes your emotional algorithms more precise over time.

Conclusion: Stories as Emotional Machines

Thinking of stories as emotional algorithms changes the game. It lets you approach storytelling with both intention and flexibility, balancing creative inspiration with deliberate craft. By starting with the 8 Universal Conflicts, using the 6 Pillars to shape your inputs, and refining through feedback, you can reliably create narratives that resonate deeply and linger with your audience.

Stories aren’t just art or science—they’re experiences. When you master the algorithm, you don’t just tell stories. You create emotional journeys that leave a mark.