I’m continuing to look at the scale of change because there is a direct link between the scale and what I call the narrative fabric, what we emphasize sentence by sentence as we construct a story.
When I talk about scale in this context, I mean both the problem and who must change to solve it. As I’ve written before, there are three levels of story scale that are relevant for us: character, community, and world. I’ll review the levels again from the perspective of the narrative fabric and specific techniques with an example of each.
1. Character or Portrait stories emphasize Individual Actions.
Primary focus: What characters do, their physical movements and speech.
Example: In The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler, the narrative consistently draws our attention to his specific actions, for example organizing his suitcase, writing his guides, dealing and with his dog. While Macon has relationships and exists within groups, the emphasis is on what he is doing.
Description Choice: Detailed description of individual movements, thoughts, sensations, perceptions
Scene Selection: Scenes generally highlight personal choice and consequences
These actions carry the weight of meaning. The narrator shows us how Macon as an individual is dealing with the fact that his wife left him. Other elements (relationships, group dynamics) exist, but they serve mainly to illuminate the significance of individual actions.
2. Community or Tapestry stories emphasize Group Tactics.
Primary focus: How people work together or against each other and the tactics they employ.
Example: In Emma by Jane Austen, while we follow Emma's individual actions, the narrative consistently emphasizes how characters maneuver within social constraints. The tactics of matchmaking, social calls, and rumors drive the conflict and solution in the story.
Description Choice: Description of social interactions, power dynamics, collective movements.
Scene Selection: Scenes that reveal group dynamics and social mechanisms.
These tactics the characters use to meet their needs for connection and belonging reveal their suitability for love and commitment. Individual actions are dramatized but primarily to illustrate group dynamics.
3. World or Cosmos stories emphasize Universal Relationships.
Primary focus: Connections between self, other, and world
Example: In All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, while there are plenty of individual actions and group tactics, the narrative consistently draws attention to how each element connects to every other element—light, radio waves, snails, diamonds, all linking the personal to universal patterns. Actions and tactics exist serve to illuminate larger universal patterns.
Description Choice: Description of patterns, echoes, connections across different scales.
Scene selection: Scenes that show how individual moments connect to universal patterns.
This story is like a cosmic symphony. Each sentence is a note that contributes to both the immediate melody (character) and the larger harmony (world patterns). These relationships deliver the meaning. Doerr masterfully shows how individual relationships (Marie-Laure and her father, Werner and his sister) are part of larger social patterns (occupation, resistance), which in turn reflect universal patterns (light/dark, preservation/destruction, connection/isolation).
A word of caution: This is a general rule. The scale of the problem the protagonist faces can help us identify whether the narrative should emphasize actions, tactics, or relationships. But there is at least one other factor that also informs this choice, and this factor affects how we frame the story for our readers. I’ll explore that in the next post.
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.