Ah, the usual "the only one who can truly empathize/care about the WoL" because "X has value to the Scions outside of combat (cuz that's all they like WoL for)" as if flanderizing/crapping on/mischaracterizing/refusing to acknowledge the growth of the rest of the characters is doing any better than poor takes on one's own fave, and stops me from taking seriously the rest of one's analysis about the nuances of their character development through the story.
IMO, if you still think the Scions (and a lot of other characters) only care about the WoL as a murder machine and take their champion for granted post-Banquet disaster, then you haven't been paying attention - especially in ShB and EW and major parts of those stories' themes - to anyone but your own faves, and your analysis is flawed due to a refusal to examine those biases/other perspectives, and give old characters (including some antagonists and other secondary figures who continue to grow) and updated story a chance.
(Also welcome to the flaws in video game storytelling, where the Blank Slate POV character is primarily only allowed to participate in combat scenarios and other immediate, active forms of player input/engagement, and a lot of story is maybe summarized in quick dialogue as it was offscreen and out of said Blank Slate POV character's perception)
Plotting the story – a common stumbling block for even the most seasoned storyteller. The options seem endless. But what if there were just 7 universal plots underpinning all stories? What if finding the right one could bring your message alive and captivate your audience every time?
“Plotting the story – a common stumbling block for even the most seasoned storyteller. The options seem endless. But what if there were just 7 universal plots underpinning all stories? What if finding the right one could bring your message alive and captivate your audience every time?”
“In The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories, Christopher Booker explains how our best-loved stories throughout history fall into only 7 distinct story types. He follows in a long line of theorists who have tried to explain why storytelling is such a universally powerful means of communication.”
The 7 basic plots that Christopher Booker explains are key to the understanding of narrative structure, as audiences are still captivated by the same retold master-plots even today! They are:
OVERCOMING THE MONSTER
from the classic tale of David & Goliath, to modern movies and video games like James Bond and Super Mario, a hero character learns of a great evil overshadowing the land (sometimes not his own land). He gets special equipment and/or weapons, heads out, and defeats the evil, freeing the land. The most recent example of this is in Star Wars: The Force Awakens...Or basically any Star Wars film.
Good for:
Talking about succeeding despite the odds being stacked against you
Discussing the life lessons that an encounter like this teaches you
Demonstrating how you, your team or company became stronger through adversity
RAGS TO RICHES
The famed storyline for many Disney movies like Aladdin, Cinderella and The Little Mermaid, this development narrative portrays a character in poverty or feeling incomplete, who’s arc shoots them into their happily ever after, whether it be rich, famous, or happily married and settled down. “Key to this basic plot is the false ending, in which the hero appears to have gained his[/her] heart's desire - but it is too early, and he[/her] is too immature, so he[/she] loses it all”, only after determination and courage in the face of evil or peril can the hero truly be transformed.
A play on this narrative can be seen in “The Wolf of Wall Street”, in which after being showered with success, the protagonist loses it all once more, demonstrating morals that disregard success achieved through exploitation, crime and other false deeds.
Good for:
Talking about the importance of owning up to your mistakes
Discussing the benefits of taking risks and accepting vulnerabilities
Demonstrating how your protagonist earned their present-day success
VOYAGE & RETURN
The hero heads out to a realm that is unknown to them, often disregarding laws and customs associated with their home. This is the premise of “Alice in Wonderland” and “The Wizard of Oz”, the protagonist finds themself “in the realm where intuition rules, rather than logic, and [is] going to have to rely on the advice of allies or his own heart in order to pass the tests”.
The narrative is popular among children’s stories, as it provides an often magical realm to explore that is not bound to our world’s norms, standards and rules, it can be as out there as you could possibly want, but when they the return, the hero always learns a lesson, and has a different outlook on their home as a result.
Good for:
Talking about the benefits of opening up to new experiences
Showing what your protagonist learned on their travels
Demonstrating the power of friendship
THE QUEST
The quest is one of the those story plots that can be seen in nearly every story ever told, it’s easy to name a whole bunch of different characters and scenarios from famous stories that fit into the fundamental aspects of the quest:
A close friend who is loyal but little else: Samwise Gamgee, Samwell Tarly, Bolin from the legend of Korra, but they all show their strengths
A companion who is the very opposite of the hero: Toph, Sancho Panza, Diego from Ice Age
A large group of faceless minions who die left, right and center: Stormtroopers, Goblins and Orcs in the Lord of the Rings tales, most Zombies, we relate very little to these characters, and their lack of resemblance to us makes us feel no connection, and thus, little response when they are killed or beaten up on screen or on the page
The list goes on... Here (In the Quest narrative) it's the search for an object, a location or some information that requires our Hero to leave their (usually) everyday life to find. This is seen very clearly in the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings, as well as many other high budget epics like Interstellar.
Good for:
Talking about the importance of sticking to your convictions
Showing how your protagonist grows emotionally to be able to succeed
Demonstrating the power of teamwork
COMEDY
Usually the most light-hearted and easygoing of the seven universal plots, the Comedy, “for Booker, is the grand mesh of relationships among a large cast, rooted in miscommunication... Unlike the other stories, the villain here is almost never just defeated; he is often redeemed, brought to a point where he admits wrongdoing and joyfully joins the party of the other characters released from the fog.” In the end, after some comedic conflicts and a turn of events, everyone ends up happy and true to their identity, even if the tone is rather dark, a narrative can still be considered a comedy, look at Shakespeare for instance!
Remember, however, almost every story needs comedy in it, even if only small and manifested in a single character, the comedy relief, the “trickster” archetype. These types of characters keep the audience entertained, and provide at the very least a very brief distraction from all the seriousness, otherwise it just gets tiring!
Good for:
Talking about the early difficulties of a partnership – romantic, social or business
Discussing what your protagonist learned from negotiating a difficult situation
Demonstrating how both parties now accommodate and support each other
^ Captain Qwark, a comedy relief character in the series of “Ratchet & Clank” video games who serves his purpose of adding a little bit of humour to all the action and story, but usually does little more than that...
TRAGEDY
“Tragedy is the flip side of Overcoming the Monster: It's the tale of the villain spiraling down into evil and then being defeated by the hero. Here, release comes only with the death or destruction of the main character.” Tragedy stories are less common, they are harder to pull off and end with a very gloomy, sad ending. Common in some horror movies where the monster in question is not defeated or routed, the main character or characters often realise the errors of their ways (if at all) too late and must face their downfall, their punishment or their inevitable demise as a result.
The prime example is Shakespeare’s “King Lear”, “in which the Tragic Hero realizes his fault at the end and repents - too late to be saved.”
Good for:
Using the principle character to represent and explain a wider problem in society
Contrasting your own values and principles with theirs
Demonstrating how not to do things and what we can learn from their mistakes
REBIRTH
Let’s end on a high note, in the “Rebirth” narrative the main character is a bad or unpleasant person who is shown the error of their ways and redeems them self over the course of the story. “Rebirth is the more optimistic form of Tragedy, in which the villain spirals down into evil and then at the last second raises his head and gets pulled out of the mire by some redeeming figure, either his other half or a young child.” Though with some notable consistencies in the form of a dark cloud that follows the character around (much like Eminem in “Not Afraid”, about overcoming his drug addiction and the errors he has made in his life), the main character is born a new person through a redemption figure, who awaken’s the hero’s ability to love and/or feel compassion, whether it be a child or a love interest that the character wants to prove them self to.
A notable example from animation is “Despicable Me” (2010), in which super-villain “Gru” learns the error of his ways, and learns to love and feel compassion through three orphaned little girls that he decides to raise.
Source and Image References:
Booker, C. (2005) The Seven basic plots: Why we tell stories. United States: Continuum.
Vogler, C. (2007) The writer’s journey: Mythic structures for storytellers and screenwriters. 2nd edn. United States: Michael Wiese Productions. This book outlines the (coincidentally) seven main character archetypes according to Christopher Vogler, one of which is the trickster, which I said about in this post, who provides comedic relief to a story that is otherwise very serious and at times, tiresome as a result -
they “[provide] entertainment in the story through wit, foolishness or other means” -http://changingminds.org/disciplines/storytelling/characters/vogler_archetypes.htm
This is along the same lines as my Trigger-Pull post. There comes a time in every fictional characters life where the action has calmed down a bit, and they get a moment to breathe and relax. They might run through a field of daisies. It might be lovely.
It’s not lovely. It’s boring.
You know what’s not boring? Fire. Delicious hot flames crisping the clean white daisies into dark ash. Characters sweating and panting as they retreat from the hazy heat. Trauma isn’t boring. Trauma is especially not boring if the author is in complete control. You know, and I know…your characters will survive. They might be singed a bit. They might cough a little, or have lost an eyebrow or two. But they are stronger for the experience, and through them, your readers will feel stronger too.
In writing, we almost act as teachers to our readers. “this is how to survive such-and-such a circumstance”. Entertaining lessons, to be sure. Hopefully useful lessons.
Every daisy field must come to an end. End it in fire.
