September 12, 2013

Short Stories - character, plot, setting, theme

Character

arc of change
characterization
categories of characters?

Pro-tagonist
Ant-agonist

Agon is an OLD GREEK word that means CONFLICT

The key thing about characters in stories is that they MUST be in CONFLICT

The two most common characters in any story, therefore, are likely PRO and ANTI - to make the story work -

A story goes A + B = WOW

The WOW means that we get something NEW!

Sometimes the protagonist is dealing with CONFLICT from outside other characters.

The hero - protagonist - main character - the lead - the Harry - the Katniss - the Jesus

THIS is the character that forces are going to change.

The change IS the antagonism - the opposite energy! Could be brought on by a Bad Guy - a Wolf - NATURE - a competitor - etc

The protagonist IS the character in whom we “ride” - we watch the story world through his/her POV.

Malfoy is bad because he is bad to Harry. Maybe, in another story, HE’S AWESOME!










WE ARE THE ONES WHO LEARN FROM THE CHANGE THE PROTAGONIST MAKES!

A story is a way to learn and be entertained by some kind of realistic problem that we might ourselves have to face. (in some way)

We associate and RELATE with that character and we think about OURSELVES in the same situation. We use METAPHOR to feel the feelings and learn.

Katniss does something that is a metaphor for something that we can understand and that we will do.

a) Protagonists in stories are ways of teaching people how to feel things, deal with things, accept things, behave in situations, etc.

Hey, they are also ways of getting us out of our heads and our lives for a while and enjoying the misery and horror of another life as an ESCAPE.

schadenfreude - it’s not me!

When you see misery in a movie, read it in a book, etc - you experience a joy of sorts after the empathy (feeling the feelings of another) because it happened, you felt the feelings of it and then you LIVED!

Horror movies, roller coasters, any thrill ride or thrill seeking is about managing a truth that is the ultimate fear - WE WILL ALL DIE

A story with a great protagonist LITERALLY gives you MORE LIFE.

We have VICARIOUS experiences. - we experience life through the character’s fake experiences. Our brains are good at creating reality (PS that is all they do all day, all night for your entire life)

(reality isn’t there unless your brain puts it there)

Making Connections - a kind of question of that you learned - HEY - I think you know what that means now!

Wing’s Chips - next short story

Take character notes on girl and dad

Take a few notes on what you think is the effect of the plot on the girl.


(in effect, what are you learning?) what is this fake life supposed to teach us?