Philosophy of Storytelling

[Cognisant]

What is a story?
A retelling of events, either real or imagined.
This is important to understand because it illustrates the importance of events to a story, in other words there is no story if no events occur, so when a writer takes an aside to describe something they're putting the story on hold to contextualize what's happening. So if a writer takes the time to describe something and that something doesn't contextualize what's happening in the story we need to ask ourselves, is what's being described really part of the story?

J. R. R. Tolkien was infamous for this, now granted his world building has become the de facto basis of the modern fantasy genre, but if you try to read his collated works on the Lord of The Rings in a version that hasn't been heavily edited for brevity it can be quite a chore.

There's also the matter of Ernest Hemingway's shortest story "For Sale: Baby shoes, never worn." but I think this is the exception that proves the rule because it works by implying events and it is these implications that are the actual story, even if the details are left up to the reader to speculate upon.

What makes a story entertaining?
At its most fundamental I believe the reason people read (or otherwise consume) stories is to partake of the experience, for example a list of events would by the strictest definition be a story however it would be a story deprived of everything that makes a story worth reading. Although it's worth noting that this is a great way to craft a story, start with a series of events (it's recommended to start at the conclusion and work your way backwards), then elaborating upon and contextualizing those events is the telling of the story

All this being said just because a story is an experience doesn't necessarily make it a desirable experience, in my experience when a story is unpleasant it's because it's not giving me the experience that I expected/wanted and is quite often the case such stories may appeal to someone else. For example were I to pickup Twilight expecting a violent dark horror/thriller fantasy about a girl unfortunately caught in the crossfire in a war between werewolves and vampires, I would probably be very disappointed. Likewise someone reading Sophie's Choice expecting a will-they-won't-they slice of life romantic comedy is likely going to be somewhat traumatized.

When trying to decide upon the appeal of a story you're writing the conventional wisdom is to either write something that appeals to you or to someone you know well, or undertake a critical analysis of a genre of fiction that doesn't appeal to you and try to ascertain why it appeals to someone else. The latter method is ill-advised however potentially the most rewarding as having an outsider's perspective on a genre can give you a degree objectivity that a fan of the genre would lack; the lack of such detachment is why fan fiction tends to have such a voracious appetite for sucking ass.

Coming soon because screw you it's 2am and I'm tired,
Why does a story have a beginning,?
Why does a story have a middle?
Why does a story have an end?
AND MORE! maybe

 

[Ex-User (9086)]

I enjoy reading your writing related threads

Sometimes a story is just a vehicle for displaying interesting characters and their reactions to relatable or completely absurd situations that don't connect in a meaningful way.

At other times a story can be a symmetric art of nice form and composition, a play on emotions that the writer wants to have the reader experience.

At its most fundamental I believe the reason people read (or otherwise consume) stories is to partake of the experience, for example a list of events would by the strictest definition be a story however it would be a story deprived of everything that makes a story worth reading. Although it's worth noting that this is a great way to craft a story, start with a series of events (it's recommended to start at the conclusion and work your way backwards), then elaborating upon and contextualizing those events is the telling of the story

If I may add to this. Many genres have a pre-defined set of emotions the reader likes to experience. Looking at the romance genres and its subgenres it's often about the unfriendly oppressive world that makes the characters and readers feel isolation and melancholy, then hope and joy at meeting the lover that joins them in this lonesome world, then anguish and frustration that the lovers misunderstand each other or the world breaks them apart and finally harmony, validation and happiness that lovers reunite and stand together against the universe.
People frequently consume emotions, some people like sad, poignant music, some like energetic and bold tones. Some people like to cry often when reading, others want to be satisfied with good outcomes.

 

[ZenRaiden]

I don't write much these days.
Novigrod is state of mind you see.

 

[Cognisant]

Sometimes a story is just a vehicle for displaying interesting characters and their reactions to relatable or completely absurd situations that don't connect in a meaningful way.

Can you give an example?

I think "character driven" is a misnomer, the story is the events that occur and the characters contextualize those events, as evidenced by the fact that you can tell the story without including anything about the characters (which would be a boring story) whereas you can't tell a story by only describing the characters and not describing or at least implying the events that occur.

What "character driven" actually means is that the character effectively contextualizes the plot, in the movie John Wick the titular character's killing spree is contextualized by the death of his wife and dog. The story could be told without including that context, who John is, how he feels, how other people feel about him, what his wife and his dog meant to him, but that context is what makes the events compelling.

By contrast when a story is not "character driven" that means the characters are not effectively adding context to the plot, for example in "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" Rey's character adds zero context to the events. She has no reason to be for or against the First Order, she's a scavenger on a planet nobody gives a damn about and her priorities are first survival and second to find out who her parents were.

She escapes the planet with Finn but she evidently didn't need his help to do so, she could have hijacked a ship and left anytime she wanted but she didn't because she was surviving and apparently thought waiting for her parents to return would be the best way of finding them, so why did she leave? When telling a story every scene, every sentence, every goddamn word, should be either advancing the plot (telling the events of the story) or contextualizing the plot through world-building and/or characterization.

These short asides in LotR didn't advance the plot but they were meaningful because they contextualized the events that followed, the battle at Helm's deep wasn't just a battle it was a desperate all-or-nothing last stand for survival. Gimili and Legolas aren't just on the same side, they're very different people from very different cultural backgrounds with a long and often unpleasant history, becoming true friends through mutual respect and battlefield brotherhood.


The sense of impeding doom and tragedy is what makes the battle of Helms Deep so meaningful, with every scene the orcs get closer to breaching the keep and slaughtering everyone, people who aren't soldiers but farmers and villagers, sons and daughters, fathers and mothers and children.


When you see Legolas and Gimili fighting your heart soars because they're not just fighting, they're fighting together and competing as both friends and rivals, their relationship elevates mere events into something beautiful.

 

[onesteptwostep]

What is a story?

What is a story? What makes it so captivating and gripping for people, such as through oral speech or through books or film, and how is it advantageous to us as a species, and/or is there a certain teleology that is within stories and storytelling that we head towards? Is there supposedly a...

www.intpforum.com

I went with a more abstract angle, but yeah, it's an interesting mental exercise to dissect what 'story' is.