Basics of Setting

When writing literature, there is often considered a "holy trinity" of sorts - that being plot, character and setting.  These are all considered essential for the beginnings of narrative.  So what exactly is setting?  Well, it is basically what it sounds like.  Setting is the culture, time, space, geographical location, feel, and weather of a story.  It is where the story takes place, the backdrop to the main tale.  The details given in a setting help to inspire a reader to picture new worlds, new landscapes.  Sometimes it allows for gargantuan, fully-imagined worlds - this is described as high fantasy.  Let's take a look at Game of Thrones' Westeros and Essos as an example:

Westeros and Essos are a perfect example of the setting found quite often in high fantasy - a complete world, much like our own, but the creation of a sole individual who created an entire fictitious history of the one we know and understand.  In this case, George R. R. Martin managed to create his own world, a world in which winters can last for decades and the Iron Throne is the symbol of ultimate power.  This world has whole histories of noble families (Stark, Targaryen, Lannister, Baratheon) and peoples (such as Dothraki).  Worlds forged in high-fantasy, such as Tamriel from The Elder Scrolls video game series or Middle-Earth from Lord of the Rings, are what most people think of when the term "setting" is discussed.

Yet this is simply not the case.  In fact, high-fantasy is but a fractional example of setting in narrative.  While most other fiction does borrow from our world here on Earth, they are still examples of setting as a key literary device.  While writing literature, it is key to remember that far-away temples...

secluded California mountain ranges...

or abandoned houses...

are all potential settings for a story.  Actually, just looking at these pictures is inspiring me to write.  Perhaps these examples will become true settings in the near future!

Thanks for reading once again this week!  I hope to see you next week as well!

Basics of Plot

So you want to write a story?  Well, what is a story?  What are the basics of story writing?  Well, the most basic answer to that question is this:

PLOT

When writing stories, plot is king.  Imagine writing a story in which absolutely nothing happens - a story with no narrative.  If you can't imagine this scenario, awesome.  A story cannot exist without plot due to its very definition.  Academic essays and journals are perhaps the best example that I can think of that illustrate written works without plot.  

So then, what IS plot?  Plot, basically, is conflict between the protagonist and the antagonist, and we can divide how the conflict unravels into into five main categories. 

Exposition - This is the "story before the story".  Exposition tells us about the background of the world that the narrative takes place in.  A perfect of exposition is the legendary yellow scrolling text from the openings of the Star Wars films.  Exposition can also tell us about the main characters, answering basic questions such as their life so far or current state of mind.

Rising Action - Everything after the Exposition is part of the Rising Action.  These are small events that begin to escalate.  Even small parts of the story, such as the main character missing a meeting or him getting sick, can be part of the rising action if they relate to the conflict at hand.  Ultimately, however, the rising action is building towards the Climax of the plot.

Climax - This is what the rising action has been building up to for the entire story - the high point of action, where the conflict reaches its apex.  Depending on the story, a climax can happen anywhere, but is usually best saved for near the end of the tale.  Think of when Darth Vader reveals his true nature to Luke in The Empire Strikes Back - That is a perfect example of the climax of the movie.

Falling Action - The events that happen due to after effects of the cliamx.  At this point in the narrative, the plot is racing towards a conclusion, the resolution.

Denouement - The final part of a narrative, during which the story ends.  Perhaps the conflict is expanded on; perhaps there will be more of the tale in the near future - room for a sequel, perhaps.  But, for the moment, the tale is complete; the conflict is resolved and its effects have been noted.

Characters: Antagonists

So what makes an antagonist?  Well, simply put, an antagonist is the character who stands in the way of the protagonist's goal.  So, once again, the antagonist can be either good, bad, or somewhere in between, depending on the story's protagonist. Thus, antagonists can have a wide variety of goals, but they must always in some way make life more inconvenient for the protagonist. Antagonists come in many shapes and sizes, from the large and mysterious such as Darth Vader to the more basic, such as Agent Smith from the Matrix.

Watch this clip from the Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.  Luke, our protagonist, finally has a chance to fight the man who has made his life so inconvenient and destructive.  This is the man whose actions killed his aunt and uncle, blew up Leia's home world, killed Obi-Wan and would soon chop of his hand.  In this clip, Darth Vader is displayed as one of the most essential of all antagonists ever made.

Characters: Protagonists

One of the most fundamental aspects of writing is crafting interesting, likable protagonists for the story.  A protagonist, if you aren't aware, is the leading character in a story who the audience is most supposed to relate with.  It is a general rule that if a story doesn't have a protagonist, then that story does not have a very strong narrative.  The protagonist gives the audience someone to root for, a character whose actions drive the story and give it meaning.  Sure, you could have a story about just some random things sitting around, but with no protagonist, the story simply falls flat.  However, this does not necessarily mean that the protagonist has to be a good person, just someone the audience can support and hope to succeed.  A good example of this is Alex from A Clockwork Orange.  Alex is by most means NOT a good person at all, as he robs stores, assaults minors and commits murder, but he is the one who is narrating his experiences to us.  We, as an audience, become most emotionally invested in Alex as the tale unfolds.

 So if protagonists can be both good and bad people, are there any qualities they should have?  The answer is yes: protagonists must be in some way likable and interesting to us as an audience.  But what exactly constitutes as characters who have these qualities?  Well, I've found a good basic place to start is the moral alignment chart made famous by Dungeons & Dragons:

(by Dogpersonthing @ http://dogpersonthing.deviantart.com/art/Blank-Alignment-Chart-413418733)

Generally, when crafting a character, try to place their general attitude in one of these nine basic categories.  It should give one a basic place to start when examining how your characters will behave in a given situation.  For example, if my protagonist Enoch the Greater was of the Lawful Good alignment and came across a weary escaped prisoner, it would be of Enoch's alignment to help the prisoner until he was once again ready to serve for his crimes.  However, this could lead to some interesting dilemmas internally with Enoch.  He may want the prisoner to stay free if he doesn't seem like such a bad man.  Alternatively, he may be taken advantage of by the prisoner, and come to regret his decision to nurse him back to health.  All of these scenarios place Enoch in a relatable light that gives us emotional investment with him. It's worth noting that, while the alignment chart is a good place to start, it is not necessarily the end-all, do-all for a particular character's, especially a protagonist's, decisions in a story.

Another important idea to keep in mind while writing protagonists is that of Jason Campbell's hero's journey.  In a hero's journey, the character grows as a person in regards to the general plot of the tale.

 For example, if my protagonist, John Redhelm, is called to kill the dragon terrorizing the Northern villages, he would find himself at the beginning of his own heroic journey.  The amazing thing about Campbell's theory is that it is applicable to not only nearly all ancient stories and legends but also many modern day ones as well.  If writing a protagonist and how the plot unfolds for him/her is becoming difficult for you, you could always just step back and see if Campbell could help you out in some way.

Next week, I'll be taking a look at the opposite of the protagonist - the antagonist.  From there we'll be examining three dimensional characters, plot conventions, tropes, setting and so forth.  Thanks for reading and see you next week!