‘The Substance of Story’ by Robert Mckee

This reading nuts out the key points of storytelling and a narrative, showing the layers a story has, peeling them away like the skin of an onion. It starts by suggesting that at the centre of a story is whats called the substance. When writing a story it must build to a final action, where the audience cannot imagine any other outcome. Story is born in a place where the subjective and objections realms touch.

It all starts with a protagonist, who is a wilful character. They have to have a conscious desire, or may contradict this and have an unconscious desire, and they pursue an object of desire. The protagonist must be empathetic and not sympathetic. In a story, however, there can be a plural-protagonist, where all of the individuals in the group share the same desire; mulit-protagonist, where characters pursue separate and individual desires, suffering and benefiting independently (these become multiple stories).

The reading talks about the difference between story and life, that being that in story we cast out the finer points of “daily existence in which human beings take actions expecting a certain enabling reaction from the world, and, more or less, get what they expect“.

Another main point taken from the reading is about the character. There are three layers when writing a character and their story. There is the inner circle = Own self and conflicts arising from the elements of his nature, mind body and emotion; Second circle = Personal relationships, unions of intimacy deeper than the social role, social convention assigns the outer roles we play; Third Circle = Extra personal conflict, all sources of antagonism outside the personal.

The questions this reading raises are:

1. What is the source of story energy?
2. How does it compel such intense mental and sentient attention from the audience?
3. How do stories work?

‘The Philosophy of the Short Story’ by Brander Matthews

This reading looks into the difference between a novel and a short story. It states that a short story has unity which a novel cannot have. A short story shows one action, in one place, on one day. It deals with a single character, a single event, and a single emotion. A writer of a short story must be concise, and it is essential for them to have originality and ingenuity. Matthews says that short story is a high and difficult department of fiction, and that the writer just have a sense of form. A good short story will always demonstrate symmetry of design.

When writing a short story, you have to get to the point, it isn’t like a novel where you have the space to elaborate. It needs to get to the point, however still explaining what is happening, and being descriptive enough the lure the audience, which is seen in the next reading by Roald Dahl.

‘Lamb to the Slaughter’ by Roald Dahl

The story started by describing the protagonist (the wife) and the scene. This allows the reader to picture this scene in their head, and allows them to immerse themselves into this tale. The whole time we are picturing ourselves in the wife’s shoes, thats why we are always rooting for her, and her conscious desire. This is why, when she kills her husband, we are on her side, we think that he is the bad guy, not her. This is how Dahl has set up the story, we only see her point of view, we are only given her details and her emotions.

This was a short drama, where the story was constantly gaining suspense. From the readings above, it shows unity thought the piece, and doesn’t have a set love story. It shows one action, in one place, on one day. It all happens in the afternoon/evening at her house, and it was one action that took place – the murder.