A Story’s Journey: How Stories Grow
Storytelling, screenwriting, stand up comedy, hell even music, all share something in common; narrative structure. Not to say they all share the exact same structure, but there’s no questioning that some of man’s most memorable and greatest stories follow an archetypal, and oftentimes, formulaic structure.
If you’re into story writing, you’ve inevitably come across American storytelling treasure and mythologist, Joseph Campbell. Perhaps best known for his influence over George Lucas’ famed Star Wars series, Campbell dedicated his life to understanding stories throughout the course of history. For him, successful stories follow a specific 12 stage structure known as the “hero’s journey.” If you break down your favorite books or movies, you may be surprised to find that in essence they tell the same story, but in a different way. Many like to compare James Camron’s Avatar to the Native American Myth, Pocahontas. And for a good reason. They’re nearly identical.
Screenwriting guru Michael Hauge has consumed and studied thousands of movie scripts and as a result he’s concluded that the most successful movies follow a page-for-page six stage plot structure. Of course there are exceptions to the rule, but should this approach to storytelling be condemned? Are those who use structure as a crutch limiting their creative genius? Or is a formula for structure really a necessity to reach success? Even Hauge admits that writing out a structure before writing the story can limit creativity.
Alternatively, prolific author, Stephen King, compares himself in his writers bible, On Writing, to an archeologist. At the very beginning of a story he finds the tip of a dinosaur fossil in the dirt. As he continues to write he uncovers what kind of dinosaur he has found. That is to say, that instead of having everything plotted out before writing, he simply let’s the pen flow and magically uncovers the story before him. In this way, his approach to writing evolves organically. Not to say his stories lack structure, but more the idea of structure is an afterthought.
Genre is another element that has great bearing on the substance of a story, and like structure it effects the originality. If you read into the short story fiction genre you’ll find that short stories often stand against structure. Maybe it is because of its short form nature. Maybe short stories are simply meant to get the point across in a succinct manner. This leads me to question, what is the purpose of storytelling? Does it matter that we have an inherent need for plot structure? I think a better question is, why? Why are we telling a story in the first place? Stories have been told throughout every culture throughout time.
I recently came across a seminar by another famed author and master storyteller Neil Gaiman, On How Stories Last. He seems to connect to King’s sentiment and the organic nature of stories. Except he takes a different approach referring directly to storytelling.
He states, “Do stories grow? Pretty obvious, anybody who has ever heard a joke being passed on from one person to another knows that they can grow. They can change. Can stories reproduce? Well, yes. Not spontaneously, obviously…We are the media in which they reproduce.”
Gaiman continues to imply that stories almost have a mind of their own, being passed down from person to person, from mind to mind. Stories then continue to evolve and take form as those who consume the story create their own meaning and interpretations.
Perhaps this reveals the primary importance of structure. Without it, would we be able to remember or retell timeless classics? Poet, Sylvia Plath, said, “Once a poem is made available to the public, the right of interpretation belongs to the reader.” Although, poems aren’t always narrative, I think this sentiment describes an important part of writing.
Instead of looking into structure as a possible hindrance, let’s look at structure as a tool. Stories have existed as long as mankind. Maybe structure is the means that allow stories to live, grow, evolve, and eventually (if told in an impactful way) influence our hearts and minds. Every craftsman has ehis tools. After all, would Van Gogh be a master painter without his brush?
