Sunday, October 10, 2010

Nanowrimo Prep: What KIND of story is it?

So for all you Nanos, the next few posts are really the critical ones.

Even if you are a confirmed pantser, I urge you to try the prep work involved in these posts. Just that much will guarantee you will have enough of a grasp on your story that you can go on from there and write whatever comes into your head from then on and still have a basic internal roadmap of where you're going.

- What's your PREMISE? (Click through whenever you want)
- What is a Big Book?/High Concept (Tomorrow)

And today:

What KIND of story is it?


Because different kinds of stories have different and very specific structural elements. And the kind of story it is is not the same thing as the genre.







If you’re writing a mentor plot, you could take a look at Silence of the Lambs, The Matrix, Karate Kid, Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, An Officer and a Gentleman, Dirty Dancing - all stories in completely different genres with strong mentor plot lines, with vastly different mentor types.


A Cinderella story, well, where do you even start? Pretty Woman, Cinderella of course, Arthur, Rebecca, Suspicion, Maid to Order (I think that's the one I mean), Slumdog Millionaire.





So this is what I’m trying to say today. Identifying genres is not enough. Identifying categories of stories is not enough. Knowing how general story structure works is not enough. What’s the kind of story YOU’RE writing – by your own definition? What are some great examples of that kind of story? What are the conventions - and great twists of that subgenre?


So to explore this further yourself:

- What kind of story ARE you writing?

- Make a list of other books and films that are that same kind of story.

- And for extra credit and extra brainstorming: Watch three of those films (easier and faster than reading and analyzing the books, but do the books if it will help) - and identify some of the common elements of that subgenre.

- Alex


Mark Entner said...

This post really cast my WIP in a new light. I had been thinking of it as a Chosen One story. For some reason I didn't realize it could fall into more than one category. Now I need to go back and revise my outline and see where I can incorporate elements of the other types of stories.

Thanks again for a great post!

Alexandra Sokoloff said...

Glad you got the AHA moment, Mark. Yes, it does help to understand the different kinds of stories you're dealing with in your WIP. There's always probably going to be one dominant (that's easier, anyway) - but there can be a lot more than just one.

Anonymous said...

Hi Alex, thanks for all your hard work here. I'm going to send Dudley over He's signed up for Nanowrimo. Oh, would it be okay to post my premise please? Thanks.