- commit
- 98dc52c8badd65d183fc4b8e92fd51c59794a121
- parent
- 2c00ce0b04be67cf1efd35f041b399c19cd97fa7
- Author
- Tobias Bengfort <tobias.bengfort@posteo.de>
- Date
- 2023-07-19 16:31
add post on crime stories
Diffstat
M | _content/posts/2020-07-30-conservative-stories/index.yml | 2 | +- |
A | _content/posts/2023-07-19-crime-storytelling/index.md | 65 | ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ |
A | _content/posts/2023-07-19-crime-storytelling/index.yml | 3 | +++ |
3 files changed, 69 insertions, 1 deletions
diff --git a/_content/posts/2020-07-30-conservative-stories/index.yml b/_content/posts/2020-07-30-conservative-stories/index.yml
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@ 1 1 title: The good guys are always conservative 2 2 date: 2020-07-303 -1 tags: [philosophy]-1 3 tags: [philosophy, storytelling]
diff --git a/_content/posts/2023-07-19-crime-storytelling/index.md b/_content/posts/2023-07-19-crime-storytelling/index.md
@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@ -1 1 As someone who has never published a novel, a short story or even took part in -1 2 a creative writing class, I am extremely confident in saying that the current -1 3 state of narrative analysis is bad and all the online pop culture critics are -1 4 wrong. -1 5 -1 6 Stories consist of static stuff and changing stuff, and people nowadays seem to -1 7 think that the changing stuff like arcs and character development are what -1 8 makes a story interesting. They are completely wrong of course. -1 9 -1 10 This unfortunate misunderstanding is especially destructive in sequels. There -1 11 are so many stories today that establish an interesting world and present a fun -1 12 and emotional journey with some kind of resolution at the end. But when authors -1 13 want to continue their story in a sequel, all they can think of is to undo that -1 14 resolution: The villain that was just defeated returns, the treasure that was -1 15 just captured is lost, and the ever-so-perfect relationship breaks apart again, -1 16 just so that the protagonist has something to do. This is not just lazy, it -1 17 also retroactively lessens the impact of the initial resolution. We can't have -1 18 nice things in these stories. -1 19 -1 20 This is also very different from how stories have been told in the past. -1 21 Grimm's Fairy Tales, One Thousand and One Nights, Journey to the West, or the -1 22 stories that are told at family gatherings are all episodic, very light on -1 23 characterization, stuffed to the brim with tropes, and, most importantly, told -1 24 again and again. -1 25 -1 26 Of course there still needs to be a rhythm of suspense and release, but it is -1 27 more of a necessity. It doesn't even have to be grounded in the story itself. -1 28 Since the readers (or listeners) already know what is coming, either because -1 29 your story is so tropy or because they have heard it before, you can create -1 30 suspense simply by dragging out the story beats. You already know that Goku -1 31 will beat Freezer at some point. But will it be in this episode or the next -1 32 one? -1 33 -1 34 Another great way of artificially injecting suspense into a story is to add a -1 35 crime. I will use the [Donna Leon -1 36 novels](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guido_Brunetti) as an example: They tell -1 37 the story of Guido Brunetti, a police detective in Venice. There are extensive -1 38 descriptions of him walking the historic streets, having dinner with his -1 39 family, drinking a glass of wine, or meeting with a roaster of recurring -1 40 characters. It is nice. -1 41 -1 42 Each novel also has some crime that needs to be solved. So each novel -1 43 introduces new characters that are specific to that case and that might have -1 44 some form of arc or development. But the protagonist and recurring characters -1 45 typically stay static with very little development. -1 46 -1 47 With this format, Leon has already created 32 novels. Readers can just spend -1 48 some time in this world and with these people. And it never gets boring because -1 49 the crime provides the necessary suspense. -1 50 -1 51 I believe this is the secret why crime stories (and hospital series for similar -1 52 reasons) are so popular: They have an external source of suspense so that the -1 53 main characters and world in general can remain relatively static, with -1 54 positive relationships and sustained success. They can be cozy. -1 55 -1 56 Of course, your definition of what makes a story "good" can vary. Those are not -1 57 necessarily stories that will make you change your view. No one will start a -1 58 riot because of a Donna Leon novel. Since these stories need to keep their -1 59 worlds static, they are also [inherently -1 60 conservative](http://tobib.spline.de/xi/posts/2020-07-30-conservative-stories/). -1 61 -1 62 If you want to describe social change, you need to focus on the changing stuff. -1 63 But sometime you want to describe a positive vision instead, and then it is -1 64 completely valid and probably even better to concentrate on the static stuff -1 65 and use an external source of suspense.
diff --git a/_content/posts/2023-07-19-crime-storytelling/index.yml b/_content/posts/2023-07-19-crime-storytelling/index.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ -1 1 title: Why crime stories are the purest form of story telling -1 2 date: 2023-07-19 -1 3 tags: [storytelling]