David Mamet said that a good story was like a joke: it has to be inevitable but surprising.
Aaron Sorkin said it's like a taut clothesline with two things: intention and obstacle. The intention is really big and the obstacle is really big. No such thing as an intention too strong or an obstacle too high. Once you have those two, you can hang anything on it.
The trick is in rephrasing it to be surprising. It's like adjusting a camera. You want it to show it at an angle where the intention seems impossible and the obstacle seems too big, and they're surprised by the actual ending.
Aaron Sorkin said it's like a taut clothesline with two things: intention and obstacle. The intention is really big and the obstacle is really big. No such thing as an intention too strong or an obstacle too high. Once you have those two, you can hang anything on it.
The trick is in rephrasing it to be surprising. It's like adjusting a camera. You want it to show it at an angle where the intention seems impossible and the obstacle seems too big, and they're surprised by the actual ending.