John Truby And The Anatomy Of Story

Yesterday I read John Truby's, The Anatomy of Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller. I've had the book for ages, many people recommended it, but something was always more important than sitting down to study it. Or so I thought. 

Big mistake! 

Today I'm going to talk about John Truby's answer to the question: What is a story and what do we want it to do?

(Note: I was going to post the third and final part of my "Narrative Setting" series today. I will post that on Wednesday instead.)

What Stories Are

Imagine you're telling a story to a group of people. Truby writes that if the story you tell is a good story, two things will happen:

1. Your reader/listener will be emotionally enmeshed in the life of the protagonist.

In other words, a good story makes the reader identify with the protagonist. 

But, more than this, the reader will (ideally) be so caught up in the story they will experience her emotions, they will feel her both her happiness and her pain. This is what happens when we cry at the end of a sad story.

Truby writes that:

"[...] The storyteller is really selecting, connecting, and building a series of intense moments. These moments are so charged that the listener feels he is living them himself. Good storytelling doesn't just tell audiences what happened in a life. It gives them the experience of that life. [...]

"Good storytelling lets the audience relive events in the present so they can understand the forces, choices, and emotions that led the character to do what he did. [Emphasis mine]"

2. Your reader/listener will be engaged in a verbal game you are playing.

Truby writes:

"The storyteller is first and foremost someone who plays. Stories are verbal games the author plays with the audience."

Also:

"As a creator of verbal games that let the audience relive a life, the storyteller is constructing a kind of puzzle about people and asking the listener to figure it out. The author creates this puzzle in two major ways: he tells the audience certain information about a made-up character and he withholds certain information."

Why withholding information is important:

We've all heard this advice before: Don't overexplain! (Often there are several exclamation marks.) And it's great advice. But why? 

Why is overexplanation--and it's cousin, the premature information dump--such poison to a reader's enjoyment of a story?

Truby offers this cogent explanation:

"Withholding, or hiding, information is crucial to the storyteller's make-believe. It forces the audience to figure out who the character is and what he is doing and so draws the audience into the story."

Summary

These are the two main parts of story:

1. Feeling: Character Identification

Members of the audience--the audience as a whole--must feel as though (this is the goal) they have lived through the events of the story with the protagonist. This is part of character identification.

Truby holds that three things must happen for an audience to identify with a character. The audience must:

a. Understand the forces that led the protagonist to do what he does.

b. Understand the choices that led the protagonist to do what he does.

c. Understand the emotions that led the protagonist to do what he does.

2. Thinking: A verbal game or puzzle

We need to give the audience enough information about a character to identify with them, but withhold enough so that they are still curious, so that they want more."

We need to force the audience to:

a. Figure out who the character is.

b. Figure out what he is doing.

Change: The heart of story

Change lies at the heart of every story. 

What causes change? What inspires it? What drives it?

Truby writes:

"... change is fuelled by desire."

Desire is what "propels all conscious, living things and gives them direction. A story tracks what a person wants, what he'll do to get it, and what costs he'll have to pay along the way."

"A character pursuing a desire takes actions to get what he wants, and he learns new information about better ways to get it. Whenever he learns new information, he makes a decision and changes his course of action."

"Any character who goes after a desire and is impeded is forced to struggle (otherwise the story is over). And that struggle makes him change."

The Climax Of A Story

At the end of a story we have the culminating event. This is what everything so far has let up to, all the character identification, all the verbal puzzles. Truby writes:

"The focal point [of a story] is the moment of change, the impact, when a person breaks free of habits and weaknesses and ghosts from his past and transforms to a richer and fuller self."

A word of caution

I agree with Truby that, generally, usually, the culmination of a story is that point--usually toward the end of the a story--it is that point of internal change, when the hero goes through an internal transformation.

That is, I agree with him to a point. I think it depends on the kind of story one wishes to write. 

Take Indiana Jones And Raiders of The Lost Ark as an example. The movie did very well at the box office and enjoys high reviews (for example, it ranks at 95% at rottentomatoes.com).

Indiana Jones didn't have a focal point. He didn't have a moment of change. He didn't have a transformation of any sort. At least, not that I could tell. (Perhaps, though, I enjoy the movie so much as an action tale I've missed it. That's possible.)

I'm sorry, I have to say this: The ark was the only arc in that movie!

(Sorry, couldn't resist. Won't happen again.)

I read somewhere that Raiders was intended to be a homage to the pulp heroes of the 40s and 50s, and pulp heroes, in general, didn't have character arcs. (At least, the few that I've read didn't.) That movie was just about being a terrific action tale and, of course, answering the question: What will happen if they open the ark?

Truby focuses on internal change--and so he should. I'm not arguing with that. 

Really, I'm not. 

I'm just pointing out that not all financially successful and well loved heroes have both an internal and an external arc. Some, like Indy in Raiders, only have an external one.

That's it! On Wednesday I'll finish up my three part series on narrative setting by talking about how setting can help build conflict. Also, at some point in the future I'll discuss Truby's Seven Key Structure Steps.

Good writing!

Photo credit: "Ellipse" by Daniele Zedda under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0.

Narrative Setting: Part Two

This is part two of a three part series about narrative setting. In part one (Narrative Setting) I talked about what setting is. Today, in part two, I'll go over how setting can be used to develop character. In part three I'll focus on how setting can be used to introduce--and increase--conflict.

Before I talk about setting and character, let me tie up a loose end from my Narrative Setting post and talk briefly about how setting can affect the mood of a story.

Setting And Mood

"Mood creates an emotional setting that envelops the reader." 

The key point here is that mood is something that is created in the reader. (Tone, on the other hand, has to do with the voice of the narrator.) Recall that since our goal in telling a story is to evoke certain emotions in the reader, creating the right sort of mood is important.

I'll be talking a bit more about mood in my third post when I discuss examples.

All right! On to the topic of todays blog post: how a good setting helps us develop our characters' character.

Ways In Which Setting Can Be Used To Develop Character

1. Setting is essential to bring the story world to life through the senses: smell, taste, sight, touch, hearing.

2. Setting is essential for situating the character in--not just surroundings--but a society, a culture.

3. The setting of a story can be used to introduce, and increase, conflict.

Let's take these point by point.

1. Setting is essential to bring the world of the story to life through the senses: smell, taste, sight, touch, hearing.

The following is from Dwight V. Swain's excellent book, "Techniques of the Selling Writer":

"... How do you bring a setting to life?

"The answer, of course, lies in the human animal himself. His world is a sensory world—a world of green grass and white houses . . . purring kittens and thundering trucks . . . Chanel No. 5 and curling wood smoke . . . fresh cold orange juice and hot crisp bacon . . . silk’s rich smoothness and the harsh grit of volcanic ash.

"So, you build your story world of these same sensory impressions—the seen, the heard, the smelled, the touched, the tasted. Emphasis is on the vivid image and the impactful figure of speech."

A trick I sometimes use--I suppose it's not really a trick, more like a practise or a habit--is to keep lists of sensory words close at hand and review them periodically. 

Also, if I come across a particularly vivid turn of phrase--for instance, "curling wood smoke"--I write it down. And, as I write, I say it aloud. Picture it. For me, "curling wood smoke," that phrase, gives a certain feeling, it conveys a certain mood. It invokes memories of campfires and long warm nights up at my parents' place. Think how you could describe something else and invoke the same, or a similar, memory/feeling.

Here are a few links to lists of words that evoke the senses:

Smell

Smell, Sound, Taste, Touch

Smell

Smell

Taste

Taste

Describing taste and flavor

150 descriptive words for food

Sound

Words commonly used to describe sounds

Loud and noisy sounds

Sound, Smell, Taste

55 Words to Describe Someone’s Voice

Touch

209 Words To Describe Touch

400 Words To Describe Texture

Words that describe touch and feel (+)

List of Descriptive Words and Adjectives for Touch and Feel

Sight

List of Descriptive Words for Appearance (+)

All

Sense Words

Sensory Words

Sensory Word List

Sensory Words

Sensory Words

Misc

Lists of adjectives

2. Developing a milieu is essential for situating the character in--not just surroundings--but a society, a culture.

I talked a bit about this last time. This advice is from Dwight V. Swain and appears in his book "Creating Characters." He writes:

"Milieu is a word I like. Because while, technically, it’s defined as environment or surroundings, it implies a great deal more.

"Specifically, it captures the feeling not just of setting or landscape, but of a society; a social as well as a physical locale. Growing up in San Francisco implies more than just the Golden Gate, Pacific Park, and Union Square. Life in the Mississippi Delta is one thing; that in a Pennsylvania Amish community, another. And double that in spades for a past in the slums of Juarez, the singles bars of New York’s Upper West Side, or a French convent.

"Such social settings reach out to embrace people as well as geography. They mold the various strata of society that fix standards, for mutually accepted norms and rules are the glue that bonds any group or class together. Shared customs, which clothes are acceptable for which occasions, and how to behave in church or mosque or synagogue are what create a society."

Dwight V. Swain continues on to say that writers must know at least these two things regarding a character in a society:

1. "[...] know the rules and conduct patterns that govern behavior in that particular setting;"

2. "[...] know the degree to which Character follows these rules;"

This presents the writer with three questions:

a) What are the rules of your particular society (or societies)?

b) Does your character know the rules? (Did he grow up in this society or is he a stranger?)

c) Does your character follow the rules?

That's it! Next time we'll finish off this series by looking at how to use setting to increase conflict. 

Update: Here's the link to Narrative Setting: Part Three.

Stay tuned. Good writing!

Photo credit: "2014-009 - dry folsom" by Robert Couse-Baker under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0.

Narrative Setting

I've wanted to write an article about setting for what seems like ages. I've wanted to talk about what setting is and how it can be used to increase character identification and, as a result, narrative drive (/suspense). 

I wanted this to be one article--I really really did!--but it grew into two. In the first part, here, I talk about what narrative drive is and why we, writers, should care. In the second part, I talk about how to use setting to hook into a character and help make them three-dimensional.

What Is Setting?

For the purposes of this article, here's how I define setting:

The setting of a story concerns the time, place and circumstances of the narrative.

That definition comes from tvtropes.org, Settings.

I looked at a few different definitions, but that one came closest to how I think of it. Also, it's simple. Simple is good (but often not easy).

Before I go any further, I'd like to take a quick look at something I'm going to revisit toward the end of this article: Why should a writer care about setting? What does it do in a story? What is its function, its role? How does it help the writer accomplish his/her ends/goal of evoking emotion in readers?

The Goal of Storytelling

The goal of storytelling--this is what I think--is to invoke, or possibly provoke, emotions in an audience. In the case of writers, these are our readers.

How does narrative setting help a writer reach this goal? In other words, what is its function?

The Functions of Setting

1. The setting helps establish the mood of the story.

2. The setting reflects the theme.

3. The setting aids in character explication and reader identification.

Before we can explore each of these aspects of setting--how a writer can exploit setting to aid in character identification--we need to take a closer look at what setting is.

The Elements of Setting

Time:

- Historical epoch: Does the story take place in the past? During what we now call the industrial revolution? At the height of the Roman Empire? At some point in the undreamt of future? Or perhaps the story is a strange, twisted, far-earth scenario?

- Seasons: What time of year is it? Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter? If this is a fictional world, does it have seasons?

- Day: What time of day is it? Day? Night? Twilight? The witching hour?

- Flow of time: Is there anything unusual about the flow of time in your narrative? Is your story written as a stream of consciousness? Does your novel employ time-jumps to convey the story? 

Place:

Where does your story take place?

- Location: 

If your world is fictional, what is its geography? Is it an unexplored wilderness or is it well populated? If your world is not one great wilderness, does the story take place in a town? A city? A jungle? A forest? Is the place barren? Lush? Isolated? Densely populated?

- Geography:

Is there much water nearby? Is the air dry or wet? Is there snow at Christmas time? Does it matter? What sports or hobbies could a person easily engage in given the features of the area? Snowboarding? Skiing? Swimming? Surfing? What sports couldn't your characters do? (Could your characters swim without risking hypothermia in December?)

Setting as it relates to each scene

I've touched on some of this information, above, but now we get specific.

Time:

- What time of day is it? Is it day? Night? Twilight? The witching hour? Lunch? Dinner? What associations do the main characters have about this time? What memories might it provoke? For instance, a character might wake during the witching hour and remember a nightmare they had as a child.

Place:

- Indoors? Outdoors?

- Outdoors: What's the weather like? Is the sun hidden behind clouds making it dark as night? Is it nighttime, yet lightning flashes make the landscape bright as day? Is it snowing? Raining? Sunny with the unbearable heat of the desert beating down? Are your characters in the Antarctic? Are they isolated by the distance and the unbearable, bitter, cold?

- Indoors: What are the characters' surroundings like? Are they lavish? Poor? Shabby? Ostentatious? Is it a human-made structure or natural, something like a cave. If man-made, were they invited here? Does the character find the place comfortable? 

The room could be lavish and yet uncomfortable if the character is too worried about ruining expensive furnishings to use them. This would be one way to show character, to demonstrate what kind of environment they were used to.

That's it! Stay tuned for part two where I'll talk about how to use narrative setting to make characters more interesting.

Update: Here's a link to Narrative Setting: Part Two.

Photo credit: "Catwoman Dark" by JD Hancock under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0.

409 Horror Tropes And Suptropes

I'm in the process of revising my post on How To Write A Horror Story and, as part of that, just came across a massive list of horror tropes over at tvtropes.org.

Below are 409 horror tropes. All of these--all of them--are from the article (just ONE article) I linked to in my last sentence. AND each one has a link to its own article, one that will tell you more than you'll likely ever need to know about the troupe.

Just for fun, why not pick a random number between 1 and 409 (if you like, you can do this by heading on over to random.org) and exploring the associated trope? Or how about picking two or three random tropes and using them to write a piece of flash fiction?

What twists could you add? Which non-standard characters could you use?

Click here for a list of character tropes: Characters.

409 Horror Tropes & Subtropes

Once again, these tropes are from: Horror Tropes.

1 Abandoned Area
2        Abandoned Hospital
3            Abandoned Hospital Awakening
4        Abandoned Playground
5        Abandoned Warehouse
6        Ghost City
7        Ghost Town
8        Ghost Planet
9        Haunted Castle
10        Haunted House
11    Absurdly Ineffective Barricade
12    The Adjectival Man
13    Afterlife Express
14    Alien Geometries
15    All Hallows' Eve
16    All in the Eyes
17    All Webbed Up
18    Alucard
19    Always Night
20    Anal Probing
21    Ancient Tomb
22    And I Must Scream
23    And Show It to You
24    Ankle Drag
25    Another Man's Terror
26    Apocalyptic Log
27    Artifact of Doom
28        Artifact of Death
29        Summoning Artifact
30        Tome of Eldritch Lore
31    Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever
32    Attack of the Killer Whatever
33    Attack of the Monster Appendage
34    Autocannibalism
35    Ax-Crazy
36    Backstory Horror
37    Bad Black Barf
38    Bad Humor Truck
39    Barred from the Afterlife
40    Barrier-Busting Blow
41    Bat out of Hell
42    Bat Scare
43    Bear Trap
44 "    Beat Still, My Heart"
45    Belly Mouth
46    Beware of Hitchhiking Ghosts
47    The Blank
48    Blood Bath
49    Bloody Handprint
50    Blue-Collar Warlock
51    Body and Host
52    Body Horror
53    Body of Bodies
54    Brain Food
55    Broken Heel
56    Buried Alive
57    The Calls Are Coming from Inside the House
58    Campbell Country
59    Camp Unsafe Isn't Safe Anymore
60    Cannibal Clan
61    Cannibalism Superpower
62    Cat Scare
63    The Chain of Harm (especially #4 and #5)
64    Chest Burster
65        Spawn Broodling
66    Child by Rape
67    Chinese Vampire
68    Chupacabra
69    Circus of Fear
70    Clingy Costume
71    Cobweb Jungle
72    Complete Monster
73    Conjoined Twins
74    Connect the Deaths
75    Corpse Land
76    The Corruption
77    Cosmic Horror Story
78    Creepily Long Arms
79    Creepy Basement
80    Creepy Cemetery
81    Creepy Changing Painting
82    Creepy Child
83    Creepy Children Singing
84    Creepy Circus Music
85    Creepy Doll
86    Creepy Housekeeper
87    Creepy Long Fingers
88    Creepy Souvenir
89    Crop Circles
90    Cruel and Unusual Death
91    Crusty Caretaker
92    Curiosity Killed the Cast
93    Damsel in Distress
94    Dangerous Key Fumble
95    Dangerous Windows
96    Danger Takes a Backseat
97    Dark Lord on Life Support
98    Darkness Equals Death
99    The Darkness Gazes Back
100    Dark World
101    Daylight Horror
102    The Dead Can Dance
103        Vampire Dance
104    Deadly Bath
105    Deadly Prank
106    Deadly Road Trip
107    Death by Materialism
108    Death by Mocking
109    Death by Sex
110    Defanged Horrors
111    Demonic Dummy
112    Depraved Dentist
113    Developing Doomed Characters
114    Distress Call
115    The Doll Episode
116    Don't Go in the Woods
117        Stay on the Path
118    Drool Hello
119    Ear Ache
120    Eaten Alive
121    Electromagnetic Ghosts
122    The End of the World as We Know It
123    The End... Or Is It?
124    Enemy Rising Behind
125    Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette
126 "    Everybody's Dead, Dave"
127    Evil Elevator
128    Evil Hand
129    Evil Is Visceral
130    Evil Phone
131    Exorcist Head
132    Extremely Dusty Home
133    Eye Awaken
134    Eyeless Face
135    Eye Scream
136    Eyes Are Unbreakable
137    The Eyes Have It
138    Face Revealing Turn
139    Facial Horror
140        Tear Off Your Face
141    False Innocence Trick
142    The Family That Slays Together
143    Faux Horror Film
144    Faux Horrific: Pretending something is scary for laughs.
145    A Fête Worse than Death
146    Final Girl
147    Fingore
148    Flat Scare
149    Flaying Alive
150    Flies Equals Evil
151    Food Chain of Evil
152    Footprints Of Muck
153    For Doom the Bell Tolls
154    The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You
155    Freak Lab Accident
156    Gate of Truth
157    Ghostapo
158    Ghost Butler
159    Ghost Story
160    Ghostly Chill
161    Ghostly Goals
162    Ghostly Glide
163    Giant Eye Of Doom
164    Giant Spider
165    God and Satan Are Both Jerks
166    Gory Deadly Overkill Title of Fatal Death
167    Gory Discretion Shot
168        Sound-Only Death
169    Gross-Up Close-Up
170    Grotesque Gallery
171    Gutted Like a Fish
172    Gypsy Curse
173    Half the Man He Used to Be
174    Halloweentown
175    Hair-Raising Hare
176    Harbinger of Impending Doom
177    Haunted Fetter
178    Haunted Headquarters
179    Haunted Heroine
180    Haunted House Historian
181    Haunted Technology
182    Hazardous Water
183    Headless Horseman
184    Hell Hotel
185    Hell Is That Noise
186    Hockey Mask and Chainsaw
187    Hollywood Exorcism
188    Homicide Machines
189    Horny Devils
190    Horrifying the Horror
191    Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday
192    Horror Host
193    Horror Struck
194    A House Divided
195    Humanoid Abomination
196    Human Resources
197    Human To Werewolf Footprints
198    I Can See You
199 "    I Hate You, Vampire Dad"
200    I Love the Dead
201    Inescapable Horror
202    I'm a Humanitarian
203        Cannibal Clan
204        Cannibal Tribe
205        Horror Hunger
206        Invited As Dinner
207        No Party Like a Donner Party
208        Picky People Eater
209            Brain Food
210    I'm Cold... So Cold...
211    Impromptu Tracheotomy
212    Indian Burial Ground
213    Infernal Retaliation
214    Initiation Ceremony
215    Inn of No Return
216    Inscrutable Aliens
217    In That Order
218    Ironic Nursery Tune
219    It Can Think
220    It Won't Turn Off
221    The Jersey Devil
222    Jump Scare
223    Kaiju
224    Keeper of Forbidden Knowledge
225    Kensington Gore
226    Lamprey Mouth
227    Life or Limb Decision
228        Amputation Stops Spread
229    Light-Flicker Teleportation
230    Lightmare Fuel
231    The Little Shop That Wasn't There Yesterday
232    Living Bodysuit
233    Living Shadow
234    Long Neck
235    Losing Your Head
236    Lost in the Maize
237    Made from Real Girl Scouts
238    Made of Plasticine
239    Madwoman in the Attic
240    Magnetic Medium
241    Malevolent Masked Men
242    Malevolent Mutilation
243    Man-Eating Plant
244    Marionette Motion
245    Meat Moss
246    Meaningful Background Event
247    Medical Horror
248    Menstrual Menace
249    Mirror Monster
250    Mirror Scare
251    Mobile Menace
252    Monster Clown
253    Monster Progenitor
254    Monsters Anonymous
255    Monstrous Humanoid
256    Mook Horror Show
257    The Most Dangerous Video Game
258    Mother of a Thousand Young
259    Mouth Stitched Shut
260    Mummy
261    Mummies at the Dinner Table
262    Mundanger
263    Murder by Cremation
264    Murder Water
265    Murderous Mannequin
266    Murderous Mask
267    Museum of the Strange and Unusual
268    Nested Mouths
269    Never Sleep Again
270    New House New Problems
271    Nightmare Face
272    Nightmare Fuel Coloring Book
273    Night Swim Equals Death
274    No Face Under The Mask
275    No Immortal Inertia
276    Not a Mask
277    Nothing but Skulls
278    Nothing Is Scarier
279    Not Using the Z Word
280    Occult Detective
281    Occult Law Firm
282    Offscreen Teleportation
283    Ominous Crack
284    Ominous Fog
285        Fog of Doom
286    Ominously Open Door
287    Ominous Music Box Tune
288    Once is Not Enough
289    Organ Theft
290    Orifice Invasion
291        Orifice Evacuation
292    Our Werewolves Are Different
293    Paint the Town Red
294    Peek-A-Boo Corpse
295    People Farms
296    Personal Horror
297    Perverse Puppet
298    Phlegmings
299    Picky People Eater
300    Pleasure Island
301    The Power of Blood
302    Prank Date
303    Pretend We're Dead
304    Protect This House
305    Psychological Horror
306    Psychological Torment Zone
307    Psycho Party Member
308    Puppeteer Parasite
309    Over The Shoulder Murder Shot
310    Rain of Blood
311    Raising the Steaks
312    Razor Apples
313    Regret Eating Me
314    Resist The Beast
315    Removing the Head or Destroying the Brain
316    Rise from Your Grave
317    Room 101
318    Room Full of Crazy
319    Room Full Of Zombies
320    Rule of Scary
321    Sadist
322    Safe Zone Hope Spot
323    The Savage South
324    Scare Chord
325    Scary Flashlight Face
326    Scary Jack In The Box
327    Scary Scarecrows
328    Scary Scorpions
329    Screamer Trailer
330    Screaming Woman
331    The Secret of Long Pork Pies
332    Security Cling
333    See-Thru Specs
334    Senseless Phagia
335    Sensor Suspense
336    Sensory Abuse
337    Serial Killer
338    The Seven Mysteries
339    Shadow Discretion Shot
340    Shaggy Search Technique
341    Silver Bullet
342    Sinister Scraping Sound
343    Skele Bot 9000
344    Skeleton Crew
345    Slashers Prefer Blondes
346    Slow Transformation
347    Sole Surviving Scientist
348    Sorting Algorithm of Mortality
349    Spiders Are Scary
350    Spooky Painting
351    Spooky Photographs
352    Spooky Seance
353    Spring Loaded Corpse
354    Stages of Monster Grief
355    Staking the Loved One
356    The Stars Are Going Out
357    Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome
358    Supernatural Proof Father
359    Surprisingly Sudden Death
360    Surreal Horror
361    Swarm of Rats
362    Taxidermy Is Creepy
363    Taxidermy Terror
364    Tentative Light
365    Television Portal
366    Terror At Make Out Point
367    Too Much For Man To Handle
368    These Are Things Man Was Not Meant to Know
369    Things That Go Bump in the Night
370    Through the Eyes of Madness
371    Too Many Mouths
372    Touch of the Monster
373    Tongue Trauma
374    Torso with a View
375    Torture Cellar
376    Town with a Dark Secret
377    Traumatic C-Section
378    Tulpa
379    Überwald
380    Ultimate Evil
381    Uncanny Valley
382        Uncanny Valley Makeup
383    Undead Author
384    Unexpectedly Abandoned
385    Unfinished Business
386    Urban Legends
387    Vampire Invitation
388    Vagina Dentata
389    Van Helsing Hate Crimes
390    Very Loosely Based on a True Story
391    Viral Transformation
392    The Virus
393        The Corruption
394    Virus Victim Symptoms
395    Walking Backwards
396    Wax Museum Morgue
397    We Are Experiencing Technical Difficulties
398    Wendigo
399    What Happened To Mommy?
400    White Mask of Doom
401    Who You Gonna Call?
402    Wipe That Smile Off Your Face
403    With Great Power Comes Great Insanity
404    Word Salad Horror
405    The Worm That Walks
406    You Are Who You Eat
407    You Look Like You've Seen a Ghost
408    Youth Is Wasted on the Dumb
409    Zombie Apocalypse

Good writing!

Photo credit: "2014-005 pulvis et umbra" by Robert Couse-Baker under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0.

Theme: What It Is And Why Your Story Needs One

Today I'd like to talk about theme, what it is and why it's important.

Theme

Before I say anything about theme, though, I'd like to direct you to a marvelous article about theme by Chuck Wendig, although, fair warning, Chuck loves making creative use of adult words and ... er ... images (some of which it may take a while to forget--and not in a good way). You've been warned! Here's the link: 25 Things Writers Should Know About Theme.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Before we talk about what theme is and why we should care about it, lets look at a couple of examples of well-known themes.

J.R.R. Tolkien & The Lord of the Rings

Here's what J.R.R. Tolkien had to say about the theme of his Lord of the Rings trilogy:

"But I should say, if asked, the tale is not really about Power and Dominion: that only sets the wheels going; it is about Death and the desire for deathlessness. Which is hardly more than to say it is a tale written by a Man!" (Letter 203, 1957)

"It is mainly concerned with Death, and Immortality; and the 'escapes': serial longevity, and hoarding memory." (Letter 211, 1958)

Those quotations were from the Wikipedia article, Themes of Lord of the Rings.

What is stronger than the fear of death? Love and friendship. 

J.K. Rowling & Harry Potter

J.K. Rowling in a 2006 interview with The Telegraph, "There Would Be So Much To Tell Her ..."

"Death is the key to understanding J K Rowling. Her greatest fear - and she is completely unhesitant about this - is of someone she loves dying. 'My books are largely about death. They open with the death of Harry's parents. There is Voldemort's obsession with conquering death and his quest for immortality at any price, the goal of anyone with magic.

"'I so understand why Voldemort wants to conquer death. We're all frightened of it.'"

Here, again, we see death as the theme. How the fear of death can give rise to all the evils of the world. 

I would suggest that the theme for many of J.K. Rowling's books can be summed up as: "Love conquers death."

Although J.K. Rowling's theme was inspired by her mother's passing--she had started writing the first of the novels as, unknown to her, her mother lay dying--it is interesting how similar it is to that of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings.

(This is slightly off-topic but I'll mention it since we're discussing death in Tolkien's novels and death as a theme. 

In Tolkien's universe elves lived in the past. In one of his many letters Tolkien wrote that the elves' memories were more real to them than their existence, their actions, in the present. Contrast this with humans. For humans, memories (usually) are like dreams, dimly remembered.

Where elves lived in the past, humans lived in the future. Some humans, fully apprised of the inevitability of death, were obsessed with averting it. It was this conflict--between the mortal and the immortal (between men and the elves, between the mortal Frodo and the immortal Sauron)--that fueled the events of the The Lord of the Rings. 

Hobbits, on the other hand, lived in the now. They knew how to enjoy a meal and delight in the company of friends. One could argue that they had the greatest of all gifts; greater even than immortality or great riches: they possessed the ability to be happy--or at least content.)

Okay, back to theme!

Theme: What Is It And Why Should I Care?

What is "theme"?

Put simply, theme is whatever it is that gives a story purpose.

A story as a whole should demonstrate the truth of a single statement. That statement is the story's thesis. Although we don't have to call such a statement a thesis. We could talk, instead, about a story's premise.

Lajos Egri held that the essence of any dramatic story is "character through conflict leading to a conclusion". The theme, or premise, of a story is what guides the characters through the story toward the conclusion. The premise puts bounds on the story, limiting it, structuring it.

Frey writes, "When you formulate your premise, remember the three C's: character, conflict, and conclusion. A dramatic story is the transformation of character thorugh crisis; the premise is a succinct statement of that transformation."

So here's what we have:

i. A character in crisis.
ii. A goal plus opposition to attaining that goal (often supplied by the antagonistic force) equels conflict.
iii. The conclusions, or resolution, of the crisis in a satisfying manner. How does the hero resolve the crisis? Does he achieve what he/she set out to? Did it resolve the crisis?

I think, explained this way, we can see the theme as an abstract articulation of the structure of the story; a generalization of the plot.

For instance, in "The Reichenbach Fall" (season 2, episode 3 of Sherlock) [spoiler warning] we see that even though Sherlock Holmes has the emotional intelligence of a dust mite, he loves his friends. He would give up his life if it meant saving theirs.

There's an expression I remember from childhood--it comes from John 15:3--"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends". So, perhaps, we could state the theme of the episode as, "Love sacrifices all," or, "Love would sacrifice all".

i. A character in crisis. Sherlock was in crisis because (apparently) he was faced with a choice: live and take revenge on Moriarty OR accept defeat, die, but save his friends.

ii. Sherlock has a goal: Moriarty wants to make London his plaything. Sherlock wants to stop him. Moriarty resists by destroying Sherlock's reputation.

iii. The matter is (or seems to be) concluded when Sherlock defeats Moriarty, fakes his death and goes into hiding.

In this way the plot can be seen as articulating the theme.

Why you should care: Your theme helps determine what material should be included, as well as excluded, from the story.

One of the advantages of knowning your story's thesis (not all stories have them, but nearly all dramatic stories do) is that it will help you figure out what should be included. It will help you structure your novel.

W.T. Price in "The Analysis of Play Construction and Dramatic Principle" claims that the underlying, unifying,  principle of a work is "the brief, logical statement or syllogism of that which has to be demonstrated by the complete action of the play."

The theme is the root idea of a story; the theme articulates its driving force.

In other words, a story is the proof of the premise given by the theme. If your premise is love conquers all then you have to make sure that, within the pages of your novel, love does indeed conquer all.

This means that if a part of your story doesn't go toward proving the premise, scrutinize it. Perhaps it needs to go. Ask yourself: if this scene were not in the novel would it be weakened? Would there be any difference? If the answer to either of those questions is "no" then I'd advise you to grit your teeth and toss it.

Okay, that's it! Often talk of theme is rather nebulous. I've tried to pin down what theme is and why it is important to writers, why having a theme can make writing simpler. And stronger.

Good writing!

Photo credit: "My hangover coffee" by 55Laney69 under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0.

Point Of View: First, Second And Third

The point of view of a story (whether first, second or third) determines the perspective the story is viewed through.

Narrative voice has to do with the way a story is told.

And, yes, that was cribbed from Wikipedia! But, honestly, Wikipedia has an excellent article on point of view and the closely related topic of narrative voice. Definitely worth the read.

What follows is my summary of the subject. 

First Person Perspective

- Story is told by a narrator who is also a character in the story.

- Narrator uses the pronouns "I," "we," "me," "us," "my/mine," "our/ours".

- The narrator is often the protagonist.

Advantages to using the first person perspective:

Since the reader has intimate access to the thoughts and feelings of the viewpoint character some feel it's easier for readers to identify with--to care about--them. This is especially welcome if you wish your readers to identify with and care about a character whose actions seem unmotivated, antisocial or destructive.

Beginning writers often find it easier to keep from 'head-hopping,' and stick to a single, consistent, point of view, when they use the a first person perspective.

Disadvantages to using the first person perspective:

Story events can only be shared if the viewpoint character is nearby (or if they have the ability to project their consciousness.)

Note:

Orson Scott Card has an excellent discussion--the best I've read--about the pros and cons of using the first person perspective in his book "Character And Viewpoint." He includes easy to understand, and fabulously written, examples. (By the way, OSC argues that writing in the third person is easier for beginning writers.)

Second Person Point of View

- Story is told by a narrator who is often a character in the story.

- Narrator uses the pronouns "you," "your," "yours".

- The narrator is often the protagonist.

Advantages to using the second person perspective:

Makes the reader feel as though they are a character within the story, putting them into the action of the story.

Disadvantages of using the second person perspective:

Can have a jarring effect on the reader by reminding them they are reading a story.

Note:

The second person point of view isn't used much, though it is interesting (to me at least) that it is often used in blog posts! Every time I talk to "you," dear reader, I'm using the second person. It's also often used by journalists.

Third Person Point of View

- Story is told by a narrator who often is not a character in the story.

- Narrator uses the pronouns: "he," "she," "it," "they".

- The narrator is often not the protagonist.

Advantages of the third person perspective:

The third person point of view gives a writer the greatest flexibility, allowing them to pick any character in the story as the POV character.

Disadvantages of the third person perspective:

Every point of view character should have a distinct voice. G.R.R. Martin does this exceptionally well but many writers try to minimize this disadvantage by sticking to only one or two point of view characters (depending on the length of the story).

Character Voice

Often--usually--a character within the story (as opposed to a disembodied voice) takes the role of the narrator. Such an entity is known is the viewpoint character, the character through which the story is told, the character through which the reader "sees" the world.

Viewpoint Character vs Focal Character

The viewpoint character is often the focal character--the person the story is about--but not always. For instance, in Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories the focal character is Sherlock Holmes but they are told from the point of view of his trusted friend and helper, John Watson.

Narrative Points of View: Limited, Objective, Omniscient

The voice of the third person narrator can be limited, objective or omniscient.

Third Person Limited

The narrator is limited to the thoughts and feelings of one character. Throughout the course of the story the thoughts, feelings and perceptions of many different characters may be explored but, traditionally, only one head may be explored at a time. To do otherwise can often be confusing and, as a result, irritating.

Violation of this rule provokes accusations of "head hopping."

In my experience, a number of writers do violate this rule occasionally, but the trick is to do it in a way that doesn't confuse the reader. Clarity is king.

Third person limited, is much like the first person point of view except for the use of third person pronouns.

Third Person Objective

In third person objective the narrator does not have access to any of the character's thoughts or feelings. This point of view is often called "fly-on-the-wall" and is often adopted when the storyteller wishes to be dispassionate and objective--or perceived as such. For instance, most news stories are written in third person objective.

Third Person Omniscient

An omniscient narrator knows everything that happens in the world of the story including the thoughts and feeling of each of the characters.

Pros and cons of using the third person omniscient

The omniscient perspective is good for telling complex stories involving many characters and/or great spans of time.

An undesirable side effect of using third person omniscient is that it can seem impersonal and make it more difficult for readers to identify with the characters. As a result readers might not care as much about what happens to them.

Which would be bad since, arguably, the goal of storytelling is to elicit deep emotions in readers.

That's it! I hope you all had a marvellous Christmas and a very merry New Year's Eve!

Photo credit: "2014-001 like it's the first time" by Robert Couse-Baker under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0.

Testing Your Story Concept

I've been following screenwriter Matt Bird's blog, Cockeyed Caravan, for a couple of weeks. Recently Bird wrote a post, The Ultimate TV Pilot Checklist: Mad Men, chalk full of useful information.

Here are what, for me, were the highlights.

1. Is your story concept strong enough?

It makes sense that if you're going to write a book--something that is going to take, for most people, a few months (or years!)--it's a good idea to make sure you're starting off with a story idea that can go the distance.

Let's put our story ideas to the test by asking these questions:

"Does the concept contain a fundamental (and possibly fun) ironic contradiction?"

I'd come across this notion of an ironic contradiction previously when I read  Blake Snyder's excellent book, "Save The Cat!"

Blake Snyder writes about irony in relation to the logline, or one-line, that summarizes your story. He writes:

"The number one thing a good logline must have, the single most important element, is: irony."

Here are Snyder's examples:

Die Hard: "A cop comes to L.A. to visit his estranged wife and her office building is taken over by terrorists."

Pretty Woman: "A businessman falls in love with a hooker he hires to be his date for the weekend."

A Note About Irony

(If you don't care whether those loglines really are ironic, then you might want to skip this section.)

I admire Blake Snyder. When he wrote Save The Cat! I'm sure he'd forgotten more about screenwriting--and writing in general--than I'll ever know. That said, the idea that either of those loglines is ironic doesn't sit well with me.

Here's one of the definitions, or senses, of "irony" that I think comes closest to how Snyder used it:

"(1) :  incongruity between the actual result of a sequence of events and the normal or expected result (2) :  an event or result marked by such incongruity. (Merriam-Webster)"

I think this usage note gives voice to my reservations better than I could:

"The words ironic, irony, and ironically are sometimes used of events and circumstances that might better be described as simply "coincidental" or "improbable," in that they suggest no particular lessons about human vanity or folly. Thus 78 percent of the Usage Panel rejects the use of 'ironically' in the sentence, "In 1969 Susie moved from Ithaca to California where she met her husband-to-be, who, ironically, also came from upstate New York." Some Panelists noted that this particular usage might be acceptable if Susie had in fact moved to California in order to find a husband, in which case the story could be taken as exemplifying the folly of supposing that we can know what fate has in store for us. By contrast, 73 percent accepted the sentence, "Ironically, even as the government was fulminating against American policy, American jeans and videocassettes were the hottest items in the stalls of the market," where the incongruity can be seen as an example of human inconsistency. (The Free Dictionary)"

So it seems that what Snyder and Bird call "ironic" many would call "improbable." But, enough about terminology!

Ironic Contradiction

Another way to think about irony, and ironic contradictions, is as a hook. 

A hook is a familiar idea to most writers. The hook introduces a question that your reader will want answered. Snyder writes:

"[A] good logline must be emotionally intriguing, like an itch you have to scratch."

Lee Child mentioned that one way he hooks readers' interest is by asking a question he leaves unanswered until much later in the story.

Before I leave this point, I think that Breaking Bad had one of the best hooks I've ever heard. You have a genius teaching chemistry, sleepwalking through life, until he's told death will claim him in a few months. Then, as the result of a desire to provide for his pregnant wife and children, to leave them some money before he dies, Walter White starts to use his genius to make meth. And money. Lots and lots of money.

Is the protagonist going to have a happy ending? Um ... no. That's obvious right from the beginning. This is a doomed character. But we're interested! Walter White is doing something very bad but for the best of reasons. He's a weak guy putting it all on the line, finally (tragically) fighting for something he wants.

I was going to go through more points but it seems I've reached my word limit!

I encourage you all to read Matt Bird's article and, if you haven't, to pick up a copy of Blake Snyder's Save The Cat!

Photo credit: "This Is The Construct" by JD Hancock under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0.

12 Archetypes

Sometimes it's difficult to settle on what to write about but (thankfully!) today was not such a day.

Lately, I've been consumed (obsessed?) with exploring various character types so I was thrilled when I discovered "The 12 Common Archetypes" by Carl Golden.

Golden, from his reading of Jungian Psychology, believes there are 12 archetypes, each divided into three categories. (From my writerly perspective, whether this is the case is immaterial. I only need the archetypes to be interesting, not true.)

Types of Archetypes: Ego, Soul, Self

One thing I love about Carl Golden's presentation of these archetypes is that he gives for each a motto, core desire, goal, greatest fear, strategy, weakness and talent.

For instance:

Archetype: The Innocent
Motto: Free to be you and me
Core desire: to get to paradise
Goal: to be happy
Greatest fear: to be punished for doing something bad or wrong
Strategy: to do things right
Weakness: boring for all their naive innocence
Talent: faith and optimism
"The Innocent" is also known as: Utopian, traditionalist, naive, mystic, saint, romantic, dreamer.

I'll let you read Golden's article for the details on the rest of the archetypes, but they are worth looking at.

Ego

1. The Innocent
2. The Orphan/Regular Guy/Gal
3. The Hero
4. The Caregiver

Soul

1. The Explorer
2. The Rebel
3. The Lover
4. The Creator

Self

1. The Jester
2. The Sage
3. The Magician
4. The Ruler

One of the cool things about these archetypes is that you can mix and match. For instance, one of my characters, a secondary character, is both a Regular Guy and The Lover.

The Four Orientations: Social, Order, Ego, Freedom

Here's where things get interesting. We've seen that the archetypes can be broken into three types (Ego, Soul or Self). But they can also be given an orientation: Social, Order, Ego or Freedom. ("Social" and "Ego" are opposites, as are "Freedom" and "Order.")

For instance, the archetype "Ruler" has the orientation of Order. "Hero" of Ego, and so on.

Social

a. Lover
b. Caregiver
c. Everyman

Order

a. Innocent
b. Ruler
c. Sage

Ego

a. Magician
b. Hero
c. Creator

Freedom

a. Explorer
b. Outlaw
c. Jester

Fun Exercise

Find out where you think each archetype fits. Here's how I arranged them:

I think the most valuable thing is finding out which orientation you think each fits since that'll help expose how you think about characterization.

Interesting Articles:

- Major Archetypes and the Process of Individuation

- Archetypal/Mythological/Jungian Approaches to Literary Criticism

- The 12 Common Archetypes

- Character archetypes

- A List of Character Archetypes

- 8/12 Character Archetypes You Should Be Writing

- And now for something different! Elizabeth Spann Craig shared this link and it's so good I wanted to include it. The Murder Mystery Arc

Photo credit: "Season's greetings!" by Marina del Castell under Creative Commons Attribution License 2.0.