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?
That's brilliant. So interesting to see it visually.
Lol! That's not a shape that's a picture π
(and does anybody ever paruchute out?)
Agree with above – that's a picture!Nonetheless, love it ( :
Thanks all.All right, it's a picture. I admit it!
brilliant… mine would be a car heading towards a brick wall with the reader at the other side of the street looking from an upstairs window twitching the curtains!
I think you should draw it, Annie…Go on, I dare ya! π
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.
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. π
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.
Sounds good!
I loved this idea and have posted the shape of my novel on my blog – with full credits to you for the idea, natch π
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
Me too :)My shape is here
Ace! Thanks Miriam. Off to have a look now…