The Shape of Stories

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about the shape of stories. And, after a conversation on Twitter last night, I decided to have a go at putting the shape of one of my stories into an image. This is what I came up with.
A challenge: what would yours be? What shape are you?

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nikperring

Nik Perring is a short story writer, author, teacher of writing, and editor from the UK. His stories have been published widely all over the world. His books include the widely celebrated Not So Perfect (Roastbooks 2010), A Book of Beautiful Words; and Beautiful Trees; and he co-wrote Freaks!(TFP/HarperCollins, 2012).

15 thoughts on “The Shape of Stories”

  1. One of the exercises that I did whilst at the Royal Court was pretty much the same idea but we didn't draw an image to represent the story, we drew a line to represent the structure and development of the plot.Eastenders came across as a zig-zag affair whilst Cinderella was more of a steady decline, massive lag in the middle and then a gradual incline towards the end of the story.It got us thinking about when an inciting incident happens and its location. For example if the significant inciting incident is at the beginning of a story then it is inevitable that the existing part of the story will be the fallout and consequence. If it's in the middle then it's focused on the characters/issue before and after. And if it's at the ending then it's the culmination of forces bearing down on a character; a pressure.But we did do one where we just had to draw an image we wanted to see on a stage… and that's where my first play came from.:)Kx.p.s. Nice piccy.

  2. Exactly! I think that's what I was thinking (the point of conflict) ie that it comes at the beginning of the story, which I think's a reflection of the form as I write it. Or something. πŸ™‚

  3. I just wrote a story deliberately putting my big bang (original idea had this as a near end point) at the start and then making myself write the rest of the story bigger. It was interesting. Like a huge bubble rising up and up and getting bigger all the while then- POP! And tiny sparkling spray falls gently for a fraction of a second to let you know it did exist after all – just a trace left. A soapy reminder.

  4. I've just left a comment on your brilliant blog. LOVE what you've done with it – it's made me really happy. I think I love you very much! ;)All best wishes and good luck things for the novel (and everything else).Nik

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