Narrative Causality
Mar. 24th, 2010 10:20 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alliancesjrI'm afraid I've been thinking1. Mostly about stories lately. Not specific stories, but the idea of stories in general.
Where did they come from, really? Most stories told today are some adaptation of older, classic stories, with a bit of real-world influence thrown in. Lord of the Rings? It's World War II with swords. Avatar? Take a look at the imperialistic and colonial world of 1600-1900 Europe. District 9? Schindler's List with lobsters2.
Most "fresh" stories are basically the old tales told through new means. Instead of a princess and her entire kingdom being put to sleep for a hundred years until Prince Charming comes along, let's put the prince under the spell and have the sexy warrior princess come and slay the dragon! While you're at it, throw in a whole cartload of anachronistic jokes for both the kids and the parents watching. (See also: The awesomeness that is Shrek.)
I'm not saying any of these are bad, necessarily (aside from Avatar; there could have been so much more awesome there than there was). District 9 was the best movie that came out last year, and should have won Best Picture hands-down. And the re-imagining of Alice in Wonderland was absolutely phenomenal3. I don't know, there's just something about pretty girls taking charge and grabbing the biggest sword they can handle. (They say it's a Freudian metaphor4.)
No, all these things can be great if they're handled well. I'm simply making an observation: There are too few original ideas left. Even the most original stories take influences from what has gone before; I've started reading Ursula Kaye Le Guin, who loves to take simple "What if?" ideas and run with them to their logical conclusions. The Left Hand of Darkness, for example, explores a society where a group of humans have evolved to be completely hermaphroditic; they turn male or female as necessary for breeding and are completely androgynous otherwise5. Definitely an interesting concept, and it's an incredibly captivating story. An extremely original idea, in fact, with influences and references to human history, psychology, and insights into basic human nature.
My point, though. Where do stories come from? Everything seems to be cyclical; new stories reference or pay tribute to those that have gone before, and in turn go on to become referenced in other stories yet to come.
Terry Pratchett puts a fair amount of this in his novels, even going so far as to make it self-aware. The Discworld is held together with magic the way ours is held together by physics, and a vast majority of that magic is ruled by a concept called "Narrative Causality". He goes on at length about it - especially in the Witches of Lancre books, since most of what a witch does is ride stories, using them to achieve the desired effect - but what it boils down to is this: Things work in that world because of stories. When a conflict arises between common sense and narrative convention, the story will always win out6. Stories are so much a part of the Discworld that it is now completely impossible for the third and youngest son of a king to go on a quest that has previously ended the lives of his older brothers and not succeed.
I've had a story idea kicking around in my head for about three years that plays a bit off that same concept. It's not an entirely original idea, but as I've said, it's hard to find something that is. What it is, though, is interesting, and I really hope I can do it justice.
You guys will be the first to know if I can.
Where did they come from, really? Most stories told today are some adaptation of older, classic stories, with a bit of real-world influence thrown in. Lord of the Rings? It's World War II with swords. Avatar? Take a look at the imperialistic and colonial world of 1600-1900 Europe. District 9? Schindler's List with lobsters2.
Most "fresh" stories are basically the old tales told through new means. Instead of a princess and her entire kingdom being put to sleep for a hundred years until Prince Charming comes along, let's put the prince under the spell and have the sexy warrior princess come and slay the dragon! While you're at it, throw in a whole cartload of anachronistic jokes for both the kids and the parents watching. (See also: The awesomeness that is Shrek.)
I'm not saying any of these are bad, necessarily (aside from Avatar; there could have been so much more awesome there than there was). District 9 was the best movie that came out last year, and should have won Best Picture hands-down. And the re-imagining of Alice in Wonderland was absolutely phenomenal3. I don't know, there's just something about pretty girls taking charge and grabbing the biggest sword they can handle. (They say it's a Freudian metaphor4.)
No, all these things can be great if they're handled well. I'm simply making an observation: There are too few original ideas left. Even the most original stories take influences from what has gone before; I've started reading Ursula Kaye Le Guin, who loves to take simple "What if?" ideas and run with them to their logical conclusions. The Left Hand of Darkness, for example, explores a society where a group of humans have evolved to be completely hermaphroditic; they turn male or female as necessary for breeding and are completely androgynous otherwise5. Definitely an interesting concept, and it's an incredibly captivating story. An extremely original idea, in fact, with influences and references to human history, psychology, and insights into basic human nature.
My point, though. Where do stories come from? Everything seems to be cyclical; new stories reference or pay tribute to those that have gone before, and in turn go on to become referenced in other stories yet to come.
Terry Pratchett puts a fair amount of this in his novels, even going so far as to make it self-aware. The Discworld is held together with magic the way ours is held together by physics, and a vast majority of that magic is ruled by a concept called "Narrative Causality". He goes on at length about it - especially in the Witches of Lancre books, since most of what a witch does is ride stories, using them to achieve the desired effect - but what it boils down to is this: Things work in that world because of stories. When a conflict arises between common sense and narrative convention, the story will always win out6. Stories are so much a part of the Discworld that it is now completely impossible for the third and youngest son of a king to go on a quest that has previously ended the lives of his older brothers and not succeed.
I've had a story idea kicking around in my head for about three years that plays a bit off that same concept. It's not an entirely original idea, but as I've said, it's hard to find something that is. What it is, though, is interesting, and I really hope I can do it justice.
You guys will be the first to know if I can.
- A dangerous pasttime, I know.
- Which is funny in and of itself 'cause that means that they can never keep kosher.
- Even without the fact that Trekkiegirl and I couldn't get past the fact that the girl who plays Alice looked so strikingly like Tessa that Trekkiegirl wanted to go out and buy an Alice dress for her right that moment.
- Although this is a phallusy.
- Not unlike Marilyn Manson.
- Except once in the case of Nobby Nobbs, and even that doesn't count 'cause the humor aspect won out even against conventional storytelling.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-24 05:06 pm (UTC)You've been waiting for a while to deploy that one, haven't you?
(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-24 05:35 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-24 05:54 pm (UTC)Speaking of stories, I've been working on mine in a psuedo-summary form. I hit page 4 last time.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-24 06:03 pm (UTC)Very glad to hear you've been working on yours. Is that going well, then?
(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-24 06:48 pm (UTC)Actually, would you like to read what I have so far? I'm all for suggestions. Won't take them all, but its nice to bounce back ideas.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-24 06:49 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-24 06:52 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-24 07:15 pm (UTC)Actually, have you ever read On Writing by Stephen King? It's a great resource; it's basically a combination autobiography and a how-to guide for writing and publishing. He uses a lot of stories to show what to do (and more often, what not to do) regarding this, and one that stuck out in my mind was when he was talking about writing Misery.
Basically, he had two absolutes in his mind when he wrote it. One was the basic premise, and the other was how it ended. He struggled with writing the story until he realized that he had to change the ending, because the way the characters developed and the story unfolded, it wouldn't make sense to do it the original way.
Ever since then, what I've mostly done was write chronologically; if I've got an idea about where I want the story to go, which is usually (if not always) the case, I still leave it vague enough that I can fiddle around with it as I'm writing, in case something happens that requires me to change it.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-24 09:03 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-24 06:31 pm (UTC)GOD FUCKING DAMMIT KEVIN
(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-24 06:57 pm (UTC)