Science?

I never thought it was possible but… I guess I might be doing science? Hmmm

The transcript is below if you aren’t able to view the video!

What makes a story good? I think the answer is subjective, but there are a lot of people out there who would give you a huge spiel about it.

A good story has to have a hero, they say. That hero has to want something. So, does that mean that if you don't want something, you don't have a good story? Also, aren't heroes a bit showoffy?

Sorry, that's my inner rascal coming out, but it's still something I question a lot. I have a bachelor's degree in English literature, but I originally started with creative writing. When I was in creative writing, my grades were low because my teachers told me my stories weren't right. I switched to literature because I couldn't afford to be given bad grades over stuff that was so subjective.

I'm not that good at being told how to think.

Ever since, I've been searching for whatever it is that made my stories wrong. I'd won writing awards in high school, and I got into the college literary magazine, so I was doing something right, but I couldn't tell what it was. I submitted my stories for feedback in a lot of places. I got a lot of the same. Your characters aren't active. Why should I care? What does your character want?

A couple years ago, I realized that my stories were inspired a lot by anime and manga. I had slow building arcs that required a reader to be patient. So, I started writing more action. Then, I was told that my stories smelled of web fiction. They opened too fast and were too active.

What the heck? What did it all mean? What do people want in a story? What is right? What works?

In a way, my research project for my class this year seeks to answer that question. I have a hunch, but it's just a hunch. Maybe I'll know someday, but right now, I'm just the shrug emoji about it.

Back to my research project. After doing some studying about storytelling for a couple of years, I realized that stories are often in some way little philosophical things. They kind of show you what someone else thinks about the world. What is this person's philosophy? They can show you in their writing what does this person understand about the world? Their character can show that to you.

Prose writing especially is this a way to show the inner part of your mind to other people. If you're able to communicate well enough, other people can understand that part of you. But being from the west, I can't escape Aristotle or Plato and all the people who came after them. A lot of science came out of philosophy and so did the idea of good storytelling. When I was being taught how to analyze and evaluate writing, I was taught to use western philosophy, Aristotle's definition of good drama, the active protagonist in quest of something who must learn a lesson and either live happily or in tragedy.

But having grown up on Japanese culture with anime and manga, I always felt some frustration about that. There was another way. And until recently, I couldn't articulate it. Not until I got more into eastern philosophy. Then it all started to make sense.

There are non-western story traditions that aren't related to Aristotle. The question was, will people in my culture accept it? Will people who expect a western story accept a non-western philosophy in a story? Maybe.

But I have to be aware of what I'm writing and of who's reading and be sure I can communicate between all of that. So complicated!

In a way, I guess my research project is part trickster stirring the pot. I want people to be interested in non-western stories more. I also want to educate with my research and maybe just get people talking.

All right, enough batting around the bush. Here's my research study idea.

Testing the lore. What does narrative structural framework reveal about ideology?

The lore about western storytelling structure is Freytag’s pyramid and Aristotle's definition of good drama. It's Joseph Campbell’s Heroes Journey and Save the Cat. It's a pattern that people recognize in movies and TV shows and books and they expect to see it. When they don't get what they expect, they get disappointed.

But there's other lore, too. Kishotenketsu, where events build until a twist changes your perspective. Nature as character in a slow unfolding of events that reveal a bigger picture. Characters don't have to want anything, but their perspectives are still relevant and they affect whoever sees or reads.

My research idea is to recruit writers, preferably writers who are not really familiar with story structure, and then instruct them to write a story based on either a western or non-western story structure. When given the same starting prompts besides the structure, what sorts of ideals do the story structures produce by themselves? I have my guesses, but I'm extremely curious to find out more.

After this study, I'd love to have another where readers review the stories that were written and provide their thoughts on them.

Is Western structure based on Western philosophy truly universal? Or do people enjoy a wider range of story than we think? We just don't know. But maybe I can do some research to find out.

Stay tuned if you want to hear how the study goes. I'm hoping to conduct it this year, go through the whole acceptance process and everything.

Well, that's all I have for you today. Take care and stay safe out there.