Story Themes and the 4E’s of the Writer’s Craft

Most ancient tragedy had at its heart the contradiction between two morally justifiable positions. Aristotle begins defining tragedy as “imitation of actions of great import”; the actions themselves are motivated by a conflict of ideas. We may apply this to our own context and craft through the lens of “Story Themes.”

A few of examples:

• Agamemnon & Iphigenia: Agamemnon is forced to chose between his duties as a king and a field marshal of all Greek armies and his duties as a father.
• Antigone: the conflict is between the traditional “divine” law (portrayed by Antigone) and the laws of the state (portrayed by Creon).
• Hippolytus: explores the contradiction between chastity (embraced by Hippolytus’ worship of Artemis) and sexual desire (the punishment inflicted upon him by Aphrodite for disrespecting her by his chosen celibacy).

In these as well as many other cases action is pushed forward not simply by characters but by the way specific concepts are reflected in those characters. Those aforementioned concepts are valuable in themselves and can be seen as ethical virtues (civic duty, statemanship, family, observing the laws, justice, sexuality). But when they are made to collide they create drama.

As such, Story Themes may manifest as:

“With enough context, everything can be justified.”

“History is written by the victors.” This is a concept, but it’s never really explored.

“The afterlife is mundane.” Most worlds/stories illustrate afterlife as some extreme or just nothing, but rarely ever is it seen as a bland continuation.

The Keys to Finding Story Themes

Ask

• What does he want?
• Why does he want it?
• What is he willing to selflessly sacrifice to get it?
• What is he willing to selfishly sacrifice?
• What will he gain and what will he lose by the story’s end?
• How will he have changed?

Praxis>Axis

So how might these guidelines and suggestions inform your next story? I’d love to hear from you.

Well that’s it for today.

Well, my friends. What are your practices and interactions with crafting an irresistable stroy through the development of Story Themes? Thank you for showing up and participating in this project. Your presence and comments serve to fuel the ongoing efforts of yours truly.

Cheers,

Bumi.