Photo by Cristina Gottardi on Unsplash
In the day 53 post, I wrote about viewing a story through the lens of change. In this post, I’d like to introduce the scale of change involved in a story and how we connect this to our story’s essence, the distillation of what's most important to us about our story, captured in a clear, pithy statement. (See the day 9 post for more on this).
Scale
When we talk about scale we mean both the problem and who is responsible for it in the story and the solution. There are three levels of story scale that are relevant for us: character, community, and world.
A character story is like a portrait, focusing on personal actions and individual change. Examples include Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson, Brooklyn by Colm Toíbín, and Billy Elliot (film 2000).
A community story is like a tapestry, focusing on group tactics and communal change. Examples include Ragtime by E. L. Doctorow, The Body in the Library by Agatha Christie, and Sharpe’s Rifles (ITV series based on novels by Bernard Cornwell).
A world story is like the cosmos, focusing on universal relationships between individuals, groups, and the entire universe. Examples include All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, 11.22.63 by Stephen King, and The Expanse (Syfy and Amazon Prime series based on the novels by James S.A. Corey).
This choice of scale influences the entire fabric of the narrative and how the story is told. The readers attention is directed primarily to personal actions, group tactics, or universal relationships depending on the writer’s choice for the story.
Emphasis
While all stories show change that ripples outward from character to community to the world, the category is determined by the primary emphasis. No protagonist acts in a vacuum, and even if we don’t see all the possible effects, we can imagine the ripples because we have lived a human life and have seen cause and effect operate.
Every functioning story has a resolution that dramatizes a response to the protagonist’s action in the climax. And that resolution will show, to a greater or lesser extent, the effect on people, places, and things to resolve the narrative question raised with the inciting incident. The well told story suggests a world, characters, and events outside of what’s dramatized in the story proper. And that suggestion combined with our own experience enables us to sense the impact moving out beyond what we see.
But the emphasis is what the story is truly about and that brings me back to the story essence.
Return to Essence
With our story’s essence in mind, we consider the scale that makes the most sense. Sometimes that will be clear; other times we’ll need to unpack the essence. Reviewing the five whys as well as the themes and considerations will inform the choice.
In the case of my Wreck of the Ten Sail story idea, the connection between essence and scale is clear. Here’s my expression of the essence: "A young captain facing a catastrophic failure must navigate not just treacherous waters, but also human nature and his own limitations, to find a new way forward and leave a positive mark on the world."
This is a character story, which emphasis his individual transformation with a narrative focus on the actions that Lawford takes to solve the problem he is responsible for. This doesn’t mean he will act alone, but his response to the problem will become the impetus for others to act.
This post is part of a 75-day writing challenge and experiment. From September 9 through November 22, I'll be posting daily thoughts on writing, storytelling, and creativity based on recent readings or reflections. While my intention was to keep them very short—250 to 400 words—I've found that this range doesn't give me enough space to cover these topics adequately. I aim to keep them brief enough to be read quickly, but they will often be longer than 400 words.
At the end of the challenge, I will organize and revise the material with intention. For now, the object is to explore and share.