The Storybook Formula
Aug 26, 2011 5:43:42 GMT -8
Post by Mia Garossa on Aug 26, 2011 5:43:42 GMT -8
Thought of this while on the can. (known to be the best spot for thinking)
Writers know that the basic elements for any story are plot, characters, setting, conflict and resolution. Good stories always supply the five, and the not-so-good ones...lacking the last two mostly. How to construct the story is what this topic's about.
The two main elements (plot and characters) play a major part in story writing. What should be identified is to which you take priority to. You can either,
1) Write characters for the plot, or
2) Write the plot for the characters
Sometimes it's not even priority in effect but which exactly came first to mind for inspiration. Anything can inspire a writer. I noticed this difference coming from the same author when he released 2 books. The first one he ever started out with was praised for its captivating storyline and the characters' roles in it. His second release about 5 years after the first had more focus on the characters' personalities and their development into the plot but the plot itself was not as substantial as before. Note how the reactions differ with the two books. It was easy to tell that the story was his priority for the first book, and then wanted to write about certain characters then make the story later in the second book. Personally I do prefer the first one, and those characters still appealed to me more than the ones in the second. Asking myself why led to the fact that Mike (second book character) led the story around so that the reader would be more focused on his development and resolution as a character while keeping the story going at his own pace, while Joe (first book character) was led around by the story's development and its resolution determined his.
In other words, a character in a book can either affect the story, or the story can affect them. But I know that there are even more ambiguous examples where the author finds inspiration in a concept first, then writes characters setting the story into motion and how the story ends is how they went about resolving the conflict. Sometimes there's just no plot without the characters taking the steering wheel, and sometimes a plot just begins before the characters can enter the stage. It depends on the type of story a writer would write about. A story about an alien invasion is a good example of a story steering the characters with the characters finalizing it. The plot would be about the aliens' world in need of more resources and go off to find a planet that would suit their needs and prevent their own planet from dying. The aliens stop at Earth and decide to plunder it knowing that taking the Earth's resources(e.g. meat, water, plants) would exhaust it and slowly kill the humans, so in an act of amoral practicality, start a genocide on them, mostly to ensure that there are no obstacles to their mission. The characters are the humans and aliens, and the circumstances/plot forced them to act. The conflict is their fight to obtain the right to survive. Either one of the two sides will win and determine the outcome of the plot and that's the resolution. Not arriving at the resolution just pretty much means avoiding the conflict. (Or you can deus ex machina that shit and pass it off as a solution to the conflict and get a happy ending. Not.)
This doesn't mean that you have to write based on what's better to prioritize. You can write about anything and start it with either a plot or a character. I personally prefer a story that while character-based, is not entirely focused on them but how they fit into it and what their circumstances are. Whereas the other alternative is about a certain character or two or several, what roles they would play in a plot which centers on them, and the story being resolved once they've reached a resolution.
That ends my incredibly long heads-up.
Writers know that the basic elements for any story are plot, characters, setting, conflict and resolution. Good stories always supply the five, and the not-so-good ones...lacking the last two mostly. How to construct the story is what this topic's about.
The two main elements (plot and characters) play a major part in story writing. What should be identified is to which you take priority to. You can either,
1) Write characters for the plot, or
2) Write the plot for the characters
Sometimes it's not even priority in effect but which exactly came first to mind for inspiration. Anything can inspire a writer. I noticed this difference coming from the same author when he released 2 books. The first one he ever started out with was praised for its captivating storyline and the characters' roles in it. His second release about 5 years after the first had more focus on the characters' personalities and their development into the plot but the plot itself was not as substantial as before. Note how the reactions differ with the two books. It was easy to tell that the story was his priority for the first book, and then wanted to write about certain characters then make the story later in the second book. Personally I do prefer the first one, and those characters still appealed to me more than the ones in the second. Asking myself why led to the fact that Mike (second book character) led the story around so that the reader would be more focused on his development and resolution as a character while keeping the story going at his own pace, while Joe (first book character) was led around by the story's development and its resolution determined his.
In other words, a character in a book can either affect the story, or the story can affect them. But I know that there are even more ambiguous examples where the author finds inspiration in a concept first, then writes characters setting the story into motion and how the story ends is how they went about resolving the conflict. Sometimes there's just no plot without the characters taking the steering wheel, and sometimes a plot just begins before the characters can enter the stage. It depends on the type of story a writer would write about. A story about an alien invasion is a good example of a story steering the characters with the characters finalizing it. The plot would be about the aliens' world in need of more resources and go off to find a planet that would suit their needs and prevent their own planet from dying. The aliens stop at Earth and decide to plunder it knowing that taking the Earth's resources(e.g. meat, water, plants) would exhaust it and slowly kill the humans, so in an act of amoral practicality, start a genocide on them, mostly to ensure that there are no obstacles to their mission. The characters are the humans and aliens, and the circumstances/plot forced them to act. The conflict is their fight to obtain the right to survive. Either one of the two sides will win and determine the outcome of the plot and that's the resolution. Not arriving at the resolution just pretty much means avoiding the conflict. (Or you can deus ex machina that shit and pass it off as a solution to the conflict and get a happy ending. Not.)
This doesn't mean that you have to write based on what's better to prioritize. You can write about anything and start it with either a plot or a character. I personally prefer a story that while character-based, is not entirely focused on them but how they fit into it and what their circumstances are. Whereas the other alternative is about a certain character or two or several, what roles they would play in a plot which centers on them, and the story being resolved once they've reached a resolution.
That ends my incredibly long heads-up.
![Melon Collies [Mo] Avatar](http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2011/322/9/6/moar_sheep_by_nukathefox-d4glx8v.jpg)
