When writers try to describe their unique story to others it can be helpful to ground it in something familiar. For example, the 1994 thriller film Speed is described as Die Hard (1988) on a bus. Obviously these stories are not the same, but there are patterns or relationships that overlap within a venn diagram, and those similarities (as well as the differences) help us and others intuitively get what a story is about. We better understand something new and different in relation to something we’re already familiar with. Even if we’re not deeply familiar with the comparable stories, we can begin to get a sense of what the story is about—enough to tell if we’d be interested in finding out more.
This pithy description can help us pitch a story to an agent, publisher, or studio, but if we can collapse all our disparate ideas about our story into a simpler concept, we will get it at a deeper level. The better we understand our story—and the more we can distill the whole shebang into a concise statement—the easier it is to make decisions to craft a coherent story. Here are a couple of examples.
Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson: Sanderson set out to write a story he described this way: My Fair Lady (1964) meets Ocean’s 11 (2001) meets Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000). The internal arc of the main character, Vin, follows Eliza Doolittle’s journey from flower girl to someone who can masquerade as a duchess at the embassy ball in My Fair Lady. The main plot of the story and the means by which the heroes defeat the main villain is a heist as in Ocean’s 11. And the magic system and action scenes mirror Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. (If you’re not familiar with one of more these stories, you can glance at its synopsis on Wikipedia.)
A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman: The internal arc of Ove’s story is that of a selfish person withholding their unique gifts from the world to someone who shares their gifts unconditionally, similar to Scrooge’s journey in A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. An unexpected mentor helps Ove recover after life loses meaning for him because of his personal and professional loss as in It’s a Wonderful Life (1946). Ove’s transformation plays out in mini-plot as he has a mostly positive impact on different characters within the context as in Love Actually (2003). (Again, if you’re not familiar with one or more of these stories, take a look at its synopsis on Wikipedia.)
What is the story you’re working on like? Can you describe your story as the intersection of two or more other stories?
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 typically be longer than 400 words.