Discussion Guide for A MILLION MILES IN A THOUSAND YEARS

Getting Started

1. On a scale of 1-5, what would you rate this book and why?
   
2. If you could summarize the point of this book in one sentence, what would it be
   

The Big Picture

1. If your life was a kind of story, what kind of story would it be? Suspense? Romance?
   
2. Does your story have a "narrative arc"? What would the theme of your life be if it were written as a story?
   
3. Do you think your story is written by you, or written by forces outside of your control?
   
4. How do you take more control of how your life is being written
   

Finding the Plot

1. What do you think of the definition of a story as "a character that wants something and overcomes conflict to get it"?
   
2. What do you think of Don's discovery of inciting incidents? Have you created inciting incidents in your life? How have they come into your life unannounced?
   
3. What are the major conflicts in your life? How have they defined you?
   
4. What plot turns in your story do you see ahead?
   

Getting Into Character

1. How would you feel about the process of editing your story?
   
2. How do negative turns drive a story when you observe it?
   
3. How do positive turns drive a story?
   
4. Which usually comes first, the positive turn or the negative turn?
   
5. Which of the following parts of character development intrigued you the most?
   

   Inciting incident
   

   A good character must face fears
   

   Saving a Cat
   

   Positive turn
   

   Negative Turn
   

   Making yourself the hero of your story
   

   The three acts of a person's life (discovery, stability, reflection)
   

6. How do you keep from getting stuck in a bad story?
   
7. How do you change to write a better story?
   

How do you become a more admirable character in the midst of your story?