Time Drawn: September 2006
Be careful where you go in the woods, or the Fae might just steal you away…
Have you heard those old tales? Of elven kings and trickster fairies and rings of mushrooms you should never cross? Well, this girl obviously never did.
I love the old stories. Largely because time prunes away the poor stories and leaves the ones that tell the tale best. When I was younger I frequently delved into the children’s mythology section at my library, reading up on English tales and Greek tales and Chinese tales and whatever other tale was offered up.
There’s some great tales in those old books. Just ask Disney, they’ve been using them for decades.
I know, I know, it’s been said. But still, a large part of why these tales keep getting retold is that there are actually only seven basic plots a story can have.
I know, that seems like such a small number. But it’s true! I know, I know, there’s far more than seven novels out there, even far more than seven stories being written a second. But if you cut away all the non-essential parts, there are only seven cores for a story to bear.
Now, there is a LOT of place to add those non-essential parts that change the story immensely. A Rags to Riches type story can be a murder mystery (down on her luck detective gets a few lucky breaks and catches the killer despite the challenges in her way) or a romance (highly teased teenager finds true love in an unexpected place) or a science fiction tale (robot sent to be decommissioned ends up getting away and forms a robot society) or any other genre you can think of. Genres are the flavoring on top, and just as in cooking, they’re what makes the novel stand out from the pack.
So if you’re telling a story, it helps to have a core story in mind to keep yourself on track. But if you don’t add extra elements, your story will be bland and uninteresting, and if you add too many, it will just be a confusing mess. Like most things, it’s a balancing act to keep your eye on.
Just like you might need to keep an eye out for rings of mushrooms the next time you go walking in the woods, just in case stepping in them leads you to a particularly bad ending to your story…
I prefer Robert A. Heinlein’s three basic plots: Boy Meets Girl, Man Learns Better, and Events Snowball. Heinlein actually called the third plot The Little Taylor, but the reader has to like the old tales to know that story.
My favorite modern Events Snowball story is The Warrior’s Apprentice by Lois McMaster Bujold. I was going to link to the copy in the Baen Free Library, but that library has been gutted of most of its holdings due to agreements with other vendors, alas. So I will pick an example from a roleplaying game: the warrior Ichiro Chikara is sent by her small border clan to run hundreds of miles to the capital to request re-enforcements against a possible invasion. She is sent not because of political connection nor skill in court etiquette, but because she can run fast. Just before she reaches the capital, she helps rescue two girls and their bodyguard from bandits. The girls are the key to immediately seeing the Empress in order to deliver her message, instead of waiting weeks for an audience. She becomes entangled in a prophecy. The Empress, in hopes of making the prophecy come out well, sends Chikara and the others out with the re-enforcements. But on the way, they encounter … The story grows like a snowball rolling downhill.
The same roleplaying game is also a Man Learns Better story. Akechi Renju, a young warrior hoping to become a great commander, is given the unimpressive duty of escorting two girls to the capital hundreds of miles away. He expect that he will lead a small patrol to protect those girls, but instead a powerful wizard magically transports the three of them to just outside the capital. But in the single mile they have to walk to complete their journey, they are attacked by bandits. Fellow travelers rescue them, Next, the older girl reveals their mission: they are to see the Empress herself. Renju is not ready for that level of court etiquette! Then he learns that they are the subjects of a prophecy. Surely, the kami spirits hate him, to send him so far from the expected path of his life. He does get to command a small patrol, but it is made out of the unruly fellow travelers who rescued them and the two uncanny wizard girls.