Most people know how to give an account of happenings. “This
happened, and then that, and after that then this.”
These are accounts, not stories.
Unfortunately, some writing advice completely misses the point.
I’ve heard some variations of asking and answering “…and then, and then…” offered
as process to constructing stories from writing coaches and blog posts about
writing. It’s understandable, because this is the way young children tell
stories. It’s basic to telling imaginative narratives.
But, as any listener or reader knows, these aren’t stories.
They are accounts.
I like pithy definitions. I love Jonathan Blum’s description.
A story: mapping
the process of meaningful change.
Every word in this six-word definition is relevant and essential.
Without mapping, it’s a meditation, not a story.
Without process, it’s a static photograph, not a
story.
Without meaningful, it’s an empty collection of words.
Without change, it is just the same as nothing worth
telling happened.
We are accustomed to happy or positive changes, because kidlit
is wedded to such. But many stories for adults map meaningful demises. (Anna
Karenina, anyone?) Either way, change is a must for a story not to be merely an
account.
©Chris Brecheen
4 comments:
Interesting ideas for me to ponder. I've never tried to distinguish a "story" from some of these other concepts.
Oooh, such a good post! Thank you for that quote by Jonathan Blum. I agree--there are anecdotes and then there are stories and stories have alchemy. Transformation. Not only in the story people, but the writer, and reader.
Interesting! I was more of an account writer in the beginning, but I'm working on the events of my stories pressing my characters towards change. And meaningful is key. I don't mind a down ending (like Anna Karenina or Hamlet) if it has meaning and we learn something from the character's failure.
I agree. I'm reading The Art of the Story: An International Anthology of Contemporary Short
Stories, ed. Daniel Halpern. The stories I am blown away by all show change; the one so far that I didn't like made me think, "So who cares?" Nothing had changed and nothing much had happened. The author probably was included because she's famous.
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