I posted a simple question on Twitter today.
The response was fairly visceral.
I asked, “Do stories need antagonists/conflicts to still be a story?”
I got a lot of responses, and they all seemed to vehemently say “OBVIOUSLY!” like I was a fool to ask. But that’s what disturbs me. Somewhere along the way, authors stopped asking questions. We stopped looking for story ourselves, and took for granted it was exactly what we’ve been told.
But what if it isn’t?
Most creative forms change, grow, and revolutionize over time. Physical Art has had many different ages of change, from impressionism to modern art. Movies change every year. But books don’t seem to be going anywhere. The most I’ve seen authors pushing the limits has been to write in 1st person.
Which I find quite unimpressive.
So today I’d like to ask, what limits do we, as authors, put on ourselves that even we don’t know about?
Let’s start simple: We agree that to be a novel, there has to be a story (or does there? Too much? Maybe later), but we all have such stringent designs on what story means. The definition of a story (I’ll attempt to break out of the mold of this contrived definition later) is:
“an account of imaginary or real people and events told for entertainment”
So, holding that this definition is true and binding (for now) and that we need story, lets break out of a few preconceived molds:
First, events, by definition do not necessarily connotate movement of time. An event can be just a gathering. So by definition, characters at a party, at any one moment in time, could be considered a story. I’d love to see some stories that don’t happen, but just ARE.
But if you disagree with that, let me zoom back out for a moment. The definition says NOTHING about conflict. So then, a person walking down stairs, drinking coffee and then going to work with nothing attempting to prevent them would still be a story. Stories don’t NEED conflict. Readers want conflict, but stories don’t need it. Just because a story isn’t interesting to most people does not mean it isn’t a story. I’ve had a surprising amount of push back on this idea actually.
Alright, lets take another step back. I’m not sure who came up with the definition of story, but I see no reason to accept it as objective fact of what a story has to be, but simply as what people generally understand story to be. I don’t care about what is generally accepted. I’m interested in what a story can be.
Lets start with the last part of the definition, “entertainment.”
With that logic, if no one enjoyed Jane Eyre, it wouldn’t be considered a story? Foolishness! If a priest or teacher tells a story to help students learn it isn’t really a story? Just a random event told to people for scholarly benefit? Nonsense! Stories are stories no matter if told or accepted as entertainment. But perhaps that’s the danger of settling all our bets as authors on a word. So let’s distance ourselves from it.
Perhaps some fringe authors will write novels about”Recountals” not stories. (Also, I understand that poetry can fit this mold easier, but I also believe that most poems are stories so let’s not go down that hole)
Next, Characters are defined only as people with thoughts, morals and feelings. So an anthropomorphized animal would count, but a normal one can’t. Are we really ready to say that it is impossible to tell a story about a wolf, or a beaver? I should hope not! Can we not learn anything from watching moraless beings?
Needless to say, I take issue with that definition. But there are so many aspects of this problem I’d love to discuss with you! What about stories that don’t have any relatability? I mean zero. Is it a story if no one really understands what it’s talking about? Is it still worth writing?
There are deeper and more elusive places we could reach with this line of questioning, and I say go! Revolutionize your Craft!
Disagree with me if you will, But I believe we as authors have been too focused on the tried and true for far too long. It’s time we broke out of our molds. It’s time we gave up three or seven or twelve act format, and created for ourselves.
Blessings,
The Indefinable Emotion
The Indefinable Emotion 