{"id":23949,"date":"2021-02-26T03:00:19","date_gmt":"2021-02-26T11:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/?p=23949"},"modified":"2021-02-23T04:21:33","modified_gmt":"2021-02-23T12:21:33","slug":"the-shape-of-stories-by-kay-keppler","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/2021\/02\/26\/the-shape-of-stories-by-kay-keppler\/","title":{"rendered":"The Shape of Stories by Kay Keppler"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/a>Let\u2019s welcome back monthly columnist, editor, and novelist, Kay Keppler<\/a>, as she shares with us \u201cThe Shape of Stories.” Enjoy! <\/em><\/p>\n

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Authors sometimes like to think that the book they\u2019re writing has never been done before. But more likely, they are (or hope they are) giving an old story a new twist.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kurt Vonnegut\u2019s Theory on the Shape of Stories\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n

More than thirty years ago, for his master\u2019s thesis at the University of Chicago, <\/span>Kurt Vonnegut<\/span><\/a>\u00a0proposed to<\/span> demonstrate that classic stories from popular culture had predictable plot arcs that could be graphed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That concept was too far out for the faculty committee<\/strong>, which rejected the proposal.<\/span><\/p>\n

Vonnegut\u2019s theory was that any story could be charted along a vertical and horizontal axis, giving it a particular shape.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Scenes that evoked good fortune were plotted at the top of the vertical axis<\/strong>, and story events that resulted in ill fortune fell below the median (the \u201cG\/I\u201d axis).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The horizontal axis denoted narrative time (the \u201cB\/E\u201d axis).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Eight Universal Archetypes and the Shape of Stories<\/b><\/h2>\n

Vonnegut hypothesized that all stories fell into eight universal archetypes that could be plotted on this graph.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For example, the<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Man in Hole <\/b>archetype (in which the protagonist, at great personal risk, must thwart a threat), when graphed, looked like a U<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/i>and<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Boy Meets Girl looked like an N.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now a recent analysis using artificial intelligence has proved his theory.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

AI Analysis and the Graphing of the Shape of Stories<\/b><\/h2>\n

Matthew Jockers, a scholar and data scientist who has written two books on text mining, built an AI program that examined thousands of popular novels.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What he learned confirms Vonnegut\u2019s theory about story shapes.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Of course, lots of people have written about universal story shapes, archetypes, or plots.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Jockers\u2019s AI analysis adds another dimension to the work others have done.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In his work,<\/strong> he shows how popular authors tend to follow the same storytelling patterns: Isaac Asimov tended to favor <\/span>The Quest and Descent<\/b> archetypes, while Danielle Steel favors Man in the Hole.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Dean Koontz often employs the <\/span>Rags to Riches<\/b> archetype, which Stephen King avoids.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cReaders come to a novel with certain expectations,\u201d Jockers said. \u201cIf you stray too far as an author, it can betray readers\u2019 desires\u2014or worse, bore the hell out of them.\u00a0Literary experimentalists like James Joyce can get away with this sort of rule breaking. But\u00a0Ulysses, for all its wonder, never made it onto tens of millions of readers\u2019 nightstands.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Archetypes as Guideposts for the Shape of Your Stories\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n

No one is advising that authors use these archetypes\u2014or any others\u2014as a blueprint for their work. But these tools can help you form a conceptual framework for your story, a guideline of sorts to help you see what has worked in the past and shape where you want to take your characters.<\/span><\/p>\n

For a detailed description of these archetypes,<\/strong> including the graphic depictions and some of the books included in the AI analysis, as well as an amusing YouTube video of Kurt Vonnegut describing how the graphs function, check out the article by J.D. Lasica <\/span>here<\/a>. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Barany School of Fiction offers a story structure course: \u201c<\/span>Choose Your Story\u2019s Structure: <\/b>Learn the ins and outs of five powerful storytelling structures\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>https:\/\/school.bethbarany.com\/p\/how-to-choose-your-story-structure<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Some books on story structure<\/span><\/h3>\n

Story Structure Architect: A Writer’s Guide to Building Dramatic Situations and Compelling Characters <\/b>by Victoria Lynn Schmidt <\/span>https:\/\/geni.us\/Uw91m8<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Heroine’s Journey: For Writers, Readers, and Fans of Pop Culture <\/b>by Gail Carriger <\/span>https:\/\/geni.us\/paHFd<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Want to read more articles like this one Writer\u2019s Fun Zone? <\/span>Subscribe here.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR<\/h2>\n

\"On<\/a>Kay Keppler<\/a> is an author Zero Gravity Outcasts<\/a><\/em>, Betting on Hope<\/a><\/em>, Gargoyle: Three Enchanting Romance Novellas<\/a><\/em>, and editor of fiction and nonfiction \u2013Angel\u2019s Kiss<\/a><\/em> and Outsource It<\/em>!<\/p>\n

She lives in northern California. Contact her here at Writer\u2019s Fun Zone in the comments below, or at kaykeppler@yahoo.com<\/a> to ask questions, suggest topics, or if you prefer, complain.<\/p>\n

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More popular articles by Kay Keppler on Writer’s Fun Zone:<\/strong><\/p>\n