tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-941881639491756278.post3962778720736767155..comments2023-06-11T12:13:23.085+00:00Comments on Writing: The Boot Camp Diaries: Story Arcs - Prrrrttttt!!The Boot Camp Diarieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10553474526217476846noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-941881639491756278.post-84810106497750362802007-04-05T06:48:00.000+00:002007-04-05T06:48:00.000+00:00Thank you.I shall go and reflect upon that!Marzipa...Thank you.<BR/><BR/>I shall go and reflect upon that!<BR/><BR/>MarzipanMarzipanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09428922512813464857noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-941881639491756278.post-89319553994702138042007-04-04T19:54:00.000+00:002007-04-04T19:54:00.000+00:00A story is a story when it describes something - a...A story is a story when it describes something - an action, a thought, a feeling, a person - which causes the reader to reflect on some thematic point. I'm talking in terms of literary fiction here. Genre fiction needs to work within its respective conventions, obviously. I see literary fiction as being much freer to experiment, and as long as there is some underlying point to it, I don't mind if it has no plot, no narrative, no conventional form. If it makes me reflect, it is a story.Tom Conoboyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15453513605683030041noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-941881639491756278.post-27046333274571809672007-04-04T19:15:00.000+00:002007-04-04T19:15:00.000+00:00Hi Tom C,Thanks for your comments.I think you may ...Hi Tom C,<BR/><BR/>Thanks for your comments.<BR/><BR/>I think you may be right about story arcs restricting creative flow, but without the arc, what makes a story a story, rather than a piece of prose or description ?<BR/><BR/>Marzipan.Marzipanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09428922512813464857noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-941881639491756278.post-65813332279389842642007-04-04T18:10:00.000+00:002007-04-04T18:10:00.000+00:00Hi Marzipan, Tom C here. I think it was me who mad...Hi Marzipan, Tom C here. I think it was me who made the references to Hollywood.<BR/><BR/>What I mean is that the use of the story arc tends to shoehorn a writer into a specific type of story - one with rising drama, until it reaches the point of bubbling over into melodrama. Because you're aware of this element of quest, and the concomitant challenges thrown at the protagonist, and the need for an initial failure followed by the final battle, it tends to lead you in often predictable ways.<BR/><BR/>If you have the ability of Joyce you avoid that and produce something (in this case) more understated and subtle.<BR/><BR/>I'm not arguing that story arcs are completely wrong - they're only an equivalent of a normal distribution curve, really - but I am very wary of writing while too conscious of the notion, because I think it would restrict my creative flow.Tom Conoboyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15453513605683030041noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-941881639491756278.post-15191431688805618932007-04-04T10:05:00.000+00:002007-04-04T10:05:00.000+00:00Dear Al,Thank you for addressing this issue.This i...Dear Al,<BR/><BR/>Thank you for addressing this issue.<BR/><BR/>This is what my course notes say:<BR/><BR/>'Nearly all stories will contain the 3 Cs (Characters, Conflict and Climax). They will also have a setting, a quest (however small), a critical moment – if not a fully fledged crisis – and usually some kind of resolution, surprise or closure.<BR/><BR/>in Joyce’s ‘Araby’, for example, at a structural level, the initial situation is that the narrator, a young boy living in Dublin, is infatuated by a girl. The inciting incident occurs when she asks him if he is going to Araby. His quest is then to go to the bazaar and buy her something. There is internal conflict between the young boy and the adult world. Complications occur when his uncle does not come home until late. This creates tension and leads to a critical moment when the young boy almost doesn't make it to the bazaar. The climax comes when the young boy arrives at Araby, but it is too late and the people make him feel uncomfortable.<BR/><BR/>The theme of the story, never stated, is disappointment.'<BR/><BR/><BR/>Surely, you couldn't say that 'Araby' was in any way 'Hollywood'.<BR/><BR/><BR/>Marzipan.Marzipanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09428922512813464857noreply@blogger.com