This is an outline for a five fic series on AO3 that studies stories, tropes and media in great depth - tagged under Fanworks & Reference Guides. The fics are respectively split into five topics: Narrative, Characters, Genre, Media and Worldbuilding.
There was an idea…
Originally as part of a high school project, I experimented many years back with making a digital book on how to write called Storywriter. It was mapped out like an English textbook of sorts, but focused around how to tell great stories and what made them so interesting - there was a section on planning, on implementing narrative techniques that I remembered taking a vivid interest in, and an entire section on the logistics of grammar and punctuation. It was a fun experiment that, in the end, didn’t really go anywhere… because up to that point, I hadn’t actually written anything. Nowadays I have way more experience both due to writing and proofreading fanfiction: but I am in no means in an expert position to tell people how they should tell stories. I now know well that is very subjective.
That being said, I transitioned from an interest in teaching to analysis - of the elements of great stories and what made them work, and the little minutia behind many tropes I read about on TVTropes and various YouTube videos. (Thanks OSP!) Part of me wished that information was more organized and comprehensive, instead of being scattered all over on a wiki… that by the nature of its contents couldn’t be that way, I get it. Still, considering what I worked on in the past, I had an idea in the back of my mind to make an organised book of some kind about tropes in media, and a study of them in turn. It was inspired by that project I used to work on when I was younger.
Later, I found a series that would be the template for this idea of a series of books about stories, elements of popular media and how people create them: the nonfiction books by Dorling Kindersley, Big Ideas Simply Explained. They essentially take big concepts or subjects and break them down into different ideas or chapters of information, excellent resource guides for getting the lowdown on an entire topic. What I wanted to create was essentially that! And as time went on, the idea grew stronger and stronger as I realised that I could make this happen - and then publish that work to a platform where everyone could see it - AO3, which is great for fanworks and transformative works about popular culture!
The only problem I had with it at the end, was that what I wanted to cover was too big for the scope of an entire fic… a lot of concepts overlap, but others seemed too distant from each other to be neatly organised. So I decided that I would not make this book/fic. Instead, I would create five.
So, thus the idea was born for the Storytelling Saga!
So, what is this about?
This is a planned five fic series on AO3 (Archive of Our Own) that studies stories, tropes and media in great depth. The fics are respectively split into five topics: Narrative, Characters, Genre, Media and Worldbuilding. Each fic is planned to be split into different sections with their own chapters, each of different varying proportions! I’ll list out the sections, but not the chapters: those are still in flux, of course. The sections are too, to be honest.
The Narrative Book
Overview
Plots
Settings
Narrative Techniques
Conflict
Themes & Motifs
Dialogue & Narration
Pacing
Continuity & Canon
The Character Book
Overview
Personality
Appearance
Character Devices
Stereotypes
Gender & Sexuality
Character Development
Character Flaws
Ensembles
The Genre Book
Overview
Action & Adventure
Comedy & Drama
Coming of Age
Fantasy
Historical Fiction
Horror
Mystery & Thrillers
Romance & Erotica
Science Fiction
The Media Book
Introduction
Visual Arts
Theatre
Literature
Music & Sound Effects
Film
Comics
Television
Animation
Games
The Worldbuilding Book
Introduction
History
Religion & Mythology
Places & Peoples
Cultures & Nations
Politics
Magic
Science & Technology
Philosophy
Again, these are all subject to change. The idea is that each chapter will introduce a concept or a bunch of related concepts, with examples for each of them by a different work of media (spoilers being tagged) - sort of in the way TVTropes does it, but a lot more deft and filled with less snark. I want this to be an analysis, so I also want to be able to include some of my opinions into it - but not to the point that it overtakes the information being presented. Most of it will be pretty neutral. Some of the stuff discussed will likely also involve analysis of societal culture and its depictions/intepretaions of feminism, sexuality and queerness, and how race is depicted etc.
Of course, I am in no way comprehensive in everything I plan to put in these books - especially when it comes to examples, which I want to be as diverse and wide as possible. This is where the thesis statement ends, and where I turn to anyone who might be interested in assisting with the ideas for this!
Interested in getting involved?
What would I ask from someone who might want to contribute, in the same way that hundreds contributed to making the Big Ideas books? Well, when this does come to AO3 this would be a work in progress. I would add sections over time and then edit them based on feedback and suggestions from comments - meaning there would likely be a changelog as well!
As well, you could suggest ideas for chapters to add that are about tropes: or add examples for tropes listed that would be different from other examples in the same chapter/section, etc. You could also add additional perspectives and insights that I wouldn’t have considered, and I would take them straight out of the comments and put them in the chapter itself! With full credit too. There are so many ways to contribute to the making of these books; and although it’s likely that I can’t approve them all (or have to leave some things out for the sake of brevity), I don’t doubt that this could be something really fun for everyone reading on AO3 to work on!
Provided of course, that there is an interest in this. I also have a busy life, so I know I can’t spend all my time working on this… it’s a nonprofit project. But if more people took an active interest in it, I would love to! If some of you who read this want to learn more, I can also share all the notes I made about how I want to structure these books. This would both give you an idea of what I want to write here, and also give you something to look forward to.
I think that’s everything I wanted to cover in this post. Whether you’ve followed me or are finding this for the first time, let me know what you think! And feel free to ask me any questions you like. I really hope that this is something that most people want to read, so please let me know if it is. It’ll greatly encourage me to work on it and make it come to life! :D
And of course, thank you for following this all to the end as well.
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