Elements of Story

I recently told 2 stories here on the blog - one about our temporary dog and one about my first kiss. I was searching for something in the stories that would allow me to use them as more stories. In reflecting on the telling of the story, I started reflecting on the elements of storytelling (a flashback to first grade!)

All good stories have these elements. I want to now examine the stories I told in light of these elements, and see where the strongest elements of each story lay.

1. Setting - where and when is the story happening?

Neither of the stories have particularly strong settings. "Chopper" takes place in Charleston, two or three years ago. The dominant location is our house, and I don't do a particularly strong job of laying out the geography of the house. "First Kiss" for the most part happens in a driveway.

In telling stories, I think this is sometimes my weakest element. I don't do well with laying out a scene in a particularly interesting or engaging way. This is an element I need to work on, clearly.

2. Plot - what is happening in the story?

Plot can be a hammer if you're not careful. I've written in the past to not let plot be the primary driver in any story, fictional or nonfictional. Plot should happen as a result of characterization. Looking at my two stories, the plot is more natural in the "First Kiss" story. There is a definite order to what is happening, but the reason it's happening in that order is because of the characters involved. The plot involved with "Chopper" is more by-the-numbers - x happened, then y, then z.

3. Characterization - who is the story happening to?

The primary drive behind any good story is solid characters. One of the reasons I remember Stephen King novels is because he creates wonderfully vivid and engaging characters. This is an element of story that occurs (for me) most unnaturally. I have to struggle to imbue the characters on paper (or on-screen) with the character that they have; it's a challenge to not end up in cliche. In writing Ashram, I worked the hardest at bringing out the essence of each team member. Writing the plot and conflict was easy - but making the characters true to the real life persona's was most difficult area. One of the notes I remember getting from Dave after he read the manuscript was "Um, could Keith and I not be idiots the entire way through?"

In the two stories, the characters are mostly flat. You don't get a sense of Steve through his actions in "Chopper" - probably the most developed character is Chopper himself. In "First Kiss," you can see some of my essence coming through in what I wrote (pretty easy to write for yourself!) but you can't really see Jess. This is an area that I need to remember to work on.

4. Conflict - why do the characters care about the plot?

Ultimately, why are the characters invested? Conflict should arise naturally as a result of your characterization. I reflect on Lost, season two, and one thing that seemed so clear going in was how epic of a showdown Mr. Eko and Locke were going to have. The reason you could feel that coming was that both had very strong characterizations, and those characterizations were in conflict. For them to be true to their characters, they needed to have conflict.

In "Chopper," the conflict is readily apparent - our house was being destroyed by a demon-dog. In "First Kiss," there are two conflicts occuring, but only one illustrated. The first conflict is between Jess and I specifically, about the status of our relationship. The second conflict, the one I didn't (and should have) addressed is the conflict inside of me - how should I respond?

Those are the elements of story, as I recall them. Thoughts?