Tales are as manifold as their tellers. It is notoriously hard to pin down a universal story structure; even Hollywood's darling, the Hero's Journey, does not work for every story.
Which is unfortunate. As mere mortals, possessing a general framework aids us in both analyzing stories and creating our own. A framework helps to organize our thoughts, offers avenues of comparison to other works, and eases the creation process.
We may never have a universal story structure as specific as Campbell's magnum opus. But we can take something more vague and, as long as we acknowledge its limitations, make use of it. I was introduced to one such structure in university (much obliged, Dr. Finitsis), and have used it liberally ever since. In the spirit of mischief, I call it the Ur-Story.
The Ur-Story splits a story into four parts:
Introduce the Characters: Begin by showing the audience the people or things who matter in this story.
Introduce the Problem: Move as quickly as possible into the meat of the story: conflict. Something is wrong, and someone wants to change it.
Escalate the Problem: Raise the stakes. Make readers invested in what happens next. The problem has gotten worse: will the characters fix it? Or will they only hasten the worst outcome?
Resolve the Problem: End the story. Maybe the problem is fixed. Maybe it becomes unfixable. Either way, the driving force of the story is done.
This structure is valuable in two ways: simplicity and flexibility.
It's simple. You can fit any story into these four parts, and you can do it easily. For example, Star Wars: A New Hope:
Welcome, from stage right, Luke Skywalker. Simple farm boy.
Alas! The evil Empire has killed Luke's family! He's going to help the Rebel Alliance take them down.
But wait! The Empire has a doomsday weapon! And they destroy a whole planet! We really have to stop them now.
Luke, simple farm boy, destroys the Death Star, avenging his family, and winning the day.
It's flexible. You can analyze a story from multiple perspectives:
Welcome Luke Skywalker. Simple farm boy.
Simple no longer! Luke's father was a Force wielder! And someday he may be too, with Ben Kenobi's help.
But wait! There's an evil Force wielder! And he kills Ben! We have to stop his plans.
Luke, once a simple farm boy, uses the Force to defeat Darth Vader's doomsday weapon, and mark an important step in becoming a true Jedi.
The Ur-Story is a great way to begin the creative process. It's easy to implement, and provides a broad foundation upon which you can build specifics. Try it out in your own creations.
Until next time!
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