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seasteading · 3 years

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so you're missing a plot

over the course of my 3+ years on writeblr and some time on writing twitter, i’ve noticed that a lot of people can come up with characters and worldbuilding, but then get stuck on creating a compelling plot around those characters. so, here are a few tips that have helped me, and that i hope will help you too!

note: this will apply mostly to fantasy and sci fi, since that's what i write and what tends to have more plot-heavy storylines.

these are also all my opinions! you don’t have to listen to any of this—all of these are tips that i’ve used in my own experience, and what works for me won’t necessarily work for you.

tone

this is one of the first things you want to decide. even within the same genre, you’re going to have a lot of variety in tone and atmosphere. the kind of plot that works for a fun fantasy adventure romp might feel odd and out of place for a darker fantasy with an emphasis on political intrigue. to figure out what kind of tone works best for your wip in particular, you want to look back at your characters. writing is a massive investment of time and energy, so you want to go in a direction that’s actually interesting to you. this is the very first step, and will help you decide what direction you end up going, and will most importantly give you a hint towards what ending will best suit the story you’re trying to tell. if you go with a more lighthearted tone, then suddenly having a tragic ending won’t make any sense since it’s the equivalent of a bait-and-switch. the same applies for having a darker tone—a happily ever after where everyone lives and gets therapy won’t necessarily fit.

worldbuilding

worldbuilding is important of course, but it doesn’t need to be completely developed before you start coming up with a plot. in fact, you should try to avoid dumping all of your time into worldbuilding, and instead get the basics down before moving onto the plot. i’m sorry to say it, but you’re not tolkien. you will never be tolkien, and you don’t have to aspire to be like him either. you don’t want to write yourself into a plothole because something in your worldbuilding ends up conflicting with the story, so generally it’s good to have a little bit of wiggle room. sometimes you also run into a situation where the plot itself inspires an important piece of worldbuilding that makes the story richer and more interesting. your worldbuilding is there to enrich your plot and inform your character motivations, not the other way around. however, you do want to establish any rules your world has before getting into the plot, since breaking them can itself become a driving factor in characters and their arcs. this is especially common in fantasy, where a frequent premise lies in the fact that everybody can’t use magic while the protagonist can, or the other way around. this isn’t a plot quite yet, but it can be a good starting point.

character driven vs. plot driven

you will also need to decide the main focus of your story. character-driven writing is common in literary fiction and shorter works, and it’s focused specifically on the internal conflict within characters, as well as their thoughts and personal arcs. few external events are going to happen in character-driven stories, which tend towards more towards slice-of-life where not much really happens but you’re still invested due to the characters. plot-driven writing puts emphasis on (you guessed it!) the plot, and this is a lot more common for longer works. the two can and do certainly overlap, but most works tend to lean a bit more one way or the other, and you can determine this by asking whether you’re more interested in the characters as people or in what happens to them.

motivation

so now that you have an idea of the direction you want to go, how do you actually come up with your plot? no matter if your story is character driven or plot driven, you still need compelling characters, and one way to find your plot is to look at their motivations. every one of your characters should have something they want to achieve or to obtain. your character’s want is going to be their main driving motivation. something is wrong in their life—if it wasn’t, then you wouldn’t be writing this story—and they think that obtaining what they want will fix it. this can be a macguffin-style quest for an object/place/person, the desire to climb the social ladder, solving the mystery behind a disappearance, etc. at this point, i would recommend taking a look at media with similar character motivations to yours and dissecting them to see what works and what doesn’t. you want to be genre-savvy and know what tropes are common to the type of story you’re telling.

gay is not a plot

repeat after me. gay is not a plot. gay is not a plot. gay is not a plot. there should be something to your wip’s plot other than “they’re gay, what more do you need?” (see this post). a romance isn’t going to be interesting if the characters aren’t interesting on their own, and that requires them to actually have their own motivations which (see motivation) themselves create the basis for a plot! in that same vein, having representation shouldn’t function as your plot or your primary selling point. representation should be a given, and making that the only descriptor for your work essentially boils down your characters to just their marginalization.

retellings

i know retellings of fairytales, myths, and shakespeare’s plays have gotten really popular, especially as of late. retellings are a great starting point since they already give you a base off which to work with, and instead of having to come up with all of your concepts from scratch, it becomes a question of putting your own spin on them. these tend to require some knowledge of the genre and common tropes, which you should have regardless of whether you’re writing a retelling or not. here, instead of having characters and a world first and a plot second, you’re working backwards from an existing work to reinterpret the characters and world surrounding a common plot. the important thing to note is that just because you have a starting point doesn’t mean that your work is done—i’d recommend researching other variations of the story you’re retelling and cataloguing similarities and differences, what works and what doesn’t, and moving things around/restructuring them depending on the changes you yourself want to make in your retelling.

prompts

i actually wouldn’t recommend relying on generators and prompt lists for your plots, since they tend to be extremely vague and difficult to get invested in, since you weren’t the one to come up with them. prompts can be really good for sparking inspiration, though, and once you get an idea for a few scenes, you can build off of them to figure out what circumstances lead to each one and what the pivot points are. prompts are a useful tool, but shouldn’t be used as the basis for your entire story.

final thoughts

if you’re here that means you’ve made it to the end of this behemoth of a post, and hopefully something here was helpful! at this point you should be able to find a premise, but it’s important to note that a premise is not a plot. here is where the real work begins—interweaving your characters and worldbuilding with your storyline, figuring out if there are any holes in your cast or if there are a few darlings you need to cryogenically freeze for now. you don’t need to fill in all of your plotholes; that’s a problem for when you actually have a draft down and more material to work with. for now, focus on creating a storyline that’s interesting to you. most importantly, don’t try to force it. you don’t want to treat a plot as a trope checklist, but instead let it come naturally so it actually fits the story your characters are made to tell.

#long post #anyway #r.writing #writeblr #writeblr advice #again take all of this with a grain of salt AHSDFKJLHASF

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codyfernaesthetic · 5 years

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Dichotomy

Part 8

Author’s note: The chapter in which Michael and Mallory are having none of each other’s shit. Also, buckle up, the slow burns about to become a wildfire.

Warnings: Language

Mallory became more comfortable with leaving her apartment as time went on, though she didn’t interact with anyone besides Rhoda. Not for lack of trying. She’d see other people, either at the various entertainment facilities they’d built or just in passing. At best, she was treated like a plague; avoided and snubbed, which she didn’t mind at all, she was used to it. Coco’s various functions and friendships had made her build up a callous to elitist bullshit.

The one difference between then and now was Rhoda. She couldn’t remember having any friends when she’d moved to L.A., let alone a best friend; but Rhoda quickly earned the title, perhaps out of necessity, but not begrudgingly. Once they’d gotten over the hurdle of master/servant, they found they had a lot in common; a grounded sense of self, a natural helpfulness, and now even a deep love and respect for Princess Leia. Mallory couldn’t help but wish that they’d known each other under much different circumstances. Ones where there was no apocalypse or Antichrist, and she wasn’t a designer human grown in a lab, and they could have normal lives; where she’d have Rhoda to hang out with on her birthday, and not feel completely alone every waking second of the day like she’d been since moving...though she forgot why she moved.

But the nicest times with Rhoda, or at any point, were at the Sanctuary’s library. It was a less populated area, and so peacefully quiet; even in the apocalypse people obeyed library rules.

It was a grandiose as the rest of the complex; floor to ceiling rows of books spanned rich mahogany shelves underneath a glass roof trimmed in gold, the floor the same reflective black marble. They’d get lost just searching for books, any kind; Rhoda was most fascinated by history, inundating Mallory with questions about what used to be America or other countries. To which she would shrug most of the time, she’d never been an A student in history. Oddly enough, Mallory found herself drawn to collections of fairytales or myths; enthralled by tales of witches and fairies, gods and monsters. She’d never considered herself a fanciful person, but felt an irresistible pull to the mystical.

Their peace, however, was interrupted one day when a servant entered the library and made a beeline for the two of them with an envelope in his hand. He stopped, gave a quick bow and held out the envelope.

“An invitation from Lord Langdon.”

They looked at each other, confused and scared. Mallory took the envelope carefully. It was blood red, a golden seal with the indent of a goat enclosing its contents. She popped it open, unfurling a short letter in a thick, cursive hand.

Mallory, may I have the pleasure of your company for dinner tonight? I await your answer with bated breath.-Michael Langdon

She gave the messenger a deadpan stare, “You can’t be serious.”

“He needs an answer,” they responded just as blankly.

She furrowed her brows, then nodded gravely, “Yes.”

They bowed and left in a hurried pace. Leaving the two women frozen in place.

“God, that man is pretentious,” Mallory muttered, rolling her eyes.

“He wants to appear calm and in charge,” Rhoda replied, more so to herself.

Mallory turned to her, “How’d he know where I’d be?”

She lifted up her arm with the black band, “Our wristbands are tracked.”

“Comforting.”

* * *

Lydia had become another fixture of Mallory’s new life, a slightly more annoying one, but still welcome. And of course, she just had to make Mallory a dress for the evening, even though she insisted she could wear any number of the others; but she was determined. Lydia was practically buzzing with chaotic energy as she designed, made the pattern, and started sowing this new dress in a single hour.

“Is that satanic influence or pure talent?” Mallory joked.

“Both,” she replied, not looking at her.

The final product, finished just in time, left Mallory speechless. It was a soft, flowing white dress. The bodice was encrusted with gold trim and adornment, leading down to a skirt with feathery fringe; the sleeves open and sheer, draped and falling off the shoulders. Rhoda helped place the finishing accessory of a golden crown of flowers.

“What do you think?” Lydia asked, glowing with pride.

“It’s gorgeous,” she said turning to her, “It’s very angelic.”

She chuckled with a wink, “I thought it’d be a nice little contrast.”

Mallory smiled and looked in the mirror again.

Words were scratched on the mirror; slowly each letter appeared, line by line. Time seemed to stall. Her gaze was set; unmoving, as the impossible happened right before her eyes once again. Eventually, the message was complete, and it was incomprehensible to her.

Spiritu duce, in me est. Deduce me in tenebris vita ad extremum, ut salutaret inferi. Descensum!

“Mallory?”

Rhoda placed her hand on her shoulder, “Are you ok?”

She gave no reaction, not wanting to alert Lydia.

“I’m fine.”

The same messenger from before arrived at her apartment with the same breakneck speed she’d delivered the invitation. The moment Rhoda opened the door, the escort looked at Mallory and informed her, “Lord Langdon requests Miss Mallory come alone.”

Mallory could see Rhoda’s grip tightened on the doorknob and the sudden fear in her eyes.

“It’s fine, Rhoda,” she assured, “I’ll be fine.”

As she left, Lydia called out after her, “Good luck, dear!”

She felt like a teenager going on her first date, her doting parents watching out for her. The entire situation both filled her with dread and a weird humor; of all things she never expected to happen, the first was a nuclear apocalypse, and the second was dinner with the Antichrist. She wondered if her reckoning had finally come for the Temple incident; she had flashes of blood and gore pass through her imagination, all the different ways Langdon could kill her.

At least she knew she had a defense mechanism; she had no idea how to use it, but it was something. She’d tried to manifest it on her own free will, but no matter how hard she focused, she would hit a brick wall. Maybe, she thought, it was only an emotional response. Maybe the threat of dying will be all it takes for me to go off. That is if I get the-

Her thought stopped as they exited the main complex, a motorized cart waiting outside. It wasn’t anything fancy or futuristic like she’d come to expect, just a simple gray cart.

“What, does he live in an entirely different building?”

They got into the cart without a word. She took that as a yes. She slipped into the cart and they began to drive. The artificial lights had been dimmed to a more evening-time atmosphere, the outside of the glass looking as green and dark as before. They came upon a house 20 miles eastward of the complex, as gothic as Mallory expected. It was Victorian architecture, the wood painted a deep red with accents of black. A black iron staircase led up to stain glass doors under a spherical archway, which to her looked like a mouth, the black crown molding its ready teeth. The escort parked and led her up the stone pathway, the familiar darkness creeping up around her.

The escort rang the doorbell, receiving an immediate answer.

Michael opened the door, fully clad in gothic regalia; though not as extravagant as expected. The escort bowed deeply without a word, immediately leaving at the wave of Michael’s hand. Within a blink, the two were left alone, Mallory still standing on the stairs.

“Oh, Mallory,” he mused, looking her over, “you didn’t have to dress up for me.”

She restrained herself from rolling her eyes, didn’t want to get killed too early.

He raised an eyebrow with a smug grin, “Still so shy?”

“What would you like me to say?” She crossed her arms, “Thanks for inviting me to dinner? Nice place you got here?”

“Gratitude is always a good way to start.”

She stared at him blankly.

“Or not.”

He stepped back, extending his arm to invite her inside. She cautiously slipped passed him, feeling her skin tingle from his gaze never leaving her. She looked around, the inside not as loft and flamboyant as the exterior. It was stately, like a house that came from old money.

“I wanted a house similar to my childhood home...” he told her, “one of them, anyway.”

He turned to the left and started walking, she followed silently. They entered a dining room, not dissimilar to...

She couldn’t finish the thought, like the memory was hiding from her.

Food was already laid out on the table, nothing fancy at all; steak, potatoes, a few vegetables on two plates at each end, wine glasses beside them; a simple candelabra in the center.

“Ms. Mead has opted not to join us this evening,” he said in passing as he pulled out her chair.

She obliged and sat down, the strangeness of the whole situation growing in the pit of her stomach; she thought of the Twilight Zone, or like being in a simulation where the ones controlling it only barely know how everyday life operates.

“Why am I here?”

He had already begun to eat, “I feel as if we got off on the wrong foot.”

She didn’t move, “That’s a weird way to say you poisoned me.”

“I told you, it was a test,” he lifted the glass to his lips, “And you seem to me to be alive and well.”

“And are you trying to fix that?”

He set down the glass, looking at her with a mixture of offense and concern, “Mallory, I’m a man of my word. You passed the test, you made it to the Sanctuary, why would I take that away from you?”

She shrugged, “Seems like something you’d do.”

“Perhaps you don’t know me as well you assume, then.”

Something in his tone, or in his eyes, was off; not as confident, not as clear.

“Just as I don’t know you,” he continued, “I haven’t forgotten your coyness at your first interview,” he smiled, “I was hoping this would establish a new sense of trust. Perhaps we can be friends.”

She huffed, “You have an odd way of making friends.”

“Must explain my lack of them.”

There was the shift again. A twinge of...sadness? A wavering.

He leaned closer, curling his fingers under his chin, “There are so few interesting people in the world. People you can’t figure out within the first five minutes of meeting them. I like getting to know these people. See what makes them tick.”

She nodded, finding herself slipping into peculiar comfort, “I’m an experiment.”

“You’re fascinating,” he mumbled to himself, “Tell me about Coco.”

Words spilled from her, like an overflowing glass, “She was a Capricorn, hated hazelnut, the color orange, and Lana Del Ray. She wanted an iced mocha with exactly 10 large ice cubes every morning at 8:30 on the dot. One time she asked me how to spell the word “insatiable” for a tweet,” she chuckled, “I still have no idea what that tweet was. She once threw my phone into my drink because I wasn’t paying attention to her while she was talking. I was texting my mom,” her voice became sad, but her mind somewhat struggled to pull the memory from the depths, “She’d just had a mastectomy and I hadn’t seen her face to face in three years.”

“And yet you mourn her,” he whispered, his eyes fixed on her like a trance.

After a pause, she looked down in thought, “She was no stranger to being a bitch but she was still a person. I never thought she deserved to die. She needed me to take care of her to watch her and make sure she was ok. For all her bravado she was like a baby bird that really didn’t know how to flap its wings. And it was my job to help her,” a tear slipped down her cheek onto the plate, “And the one time I don’t...”

He stood from the table, slowly walking towards her. She was weeping now, not of her own free will.

“I should’ve seen that something was wrong, I should’ve known. I could’ve done something. I failed her. And then I got to come back, I got to keep living. And I can’t help but keep thinking that I don’t deserve to when she didn’t.”

He crouched down next to her, using his thumb to brush away a tear, “Why did she matter so much to you?”

She shook her head, I have no idea. I just felt so protective of her. She was such a short part of my life, yet I felt this connection to her, more than anyone” she blinked confusedly, “...that I can remember at least.”

He touched her hand, entwining it in a comforting grip, “When you lose someone you love, you very quickly seek for an outlet to express your rage,” his eyes were wet, “sometimes even after your scapegoat has been sacrificed on the altar of your vengeance, there’s still some residue of anger left over for yourself.”

They stared at each other, something passing between them; a spirit of humanity, a shared grief. For a moment, she forgot who...what he was. His words sunk into her heart and made grooves for empathy to flow through like a river through tunnels. Her hand reached over and rubbed his shoulder, she didn’t know what he’d been through, but she knew she desired to relieve the pain.

Something changed when she touched him, his eyes were filled with a new emotion, determination, “Would it relieve some of your grief if Brock was killed?”

She was taken aback by the question. She didn’t answer at first, her mouth having to catch up with her mind.

“No,” she replied sadly, “No more death.”

He shoved away from her, and stood, an obvious aura of anger boiling over the surface, quickly dissolving the tenderness of the moment, “How selfless,” he growled, “and utterly apathetic of you.”

Her defenses shot up, “What?”

He looked ready to rip her apart, “You say you cared about Coco and yet you feel absolutely no desire to do anything about the one who took her life.”

Energy began to stir in her fingertips, “Not wanting revenge isn’t the same as indifference.”

He slammed his fist on the table, making her jump, “You didn’t give a fuck about Coco,” he leaned in, snarling, “She was your project, your tool to find your own self-satisfaction in helping such a stupid, vapid little heiress keep her life together.”

The fire began to coil in her chest and surge through her veins. She balled her hands into fists, “That’s not true.”

He laughed viciously, “You’re glad the bitch is dead, you only wish you had a replacement to keep up your illusion that you’re in control of your own life,” his eyes were wild with rage, “Is that your dark place, Mallory? Making the weak rely on you so you can feel better about yourself? You didn’t give a damn about her!”

She pushed away form the table, standing to face him, closing in on him, her voice as enraged, “You don’t know the first thing about me.”

”I know too well,” he met her confrontational stance.

Thick tension swirled around them. Sparks of power flaring between them, a sign of deeper energy, begging to explode.

He grimaced, “Do you know why I haven’t killed you yet, Mallory?”

“Because you’re afraid I’ll come back again,” she spat.

She was against the wall in a second, Michael’s fingers crushing her throat, his other hand tightening around her wrists above her head, his legs pinning her firmly. His hot breath ghosting over her face and neck with each word of venom, “Because you’d take it like a martyr,” he spoke dangerously low, she could barely struggle underneath his grip, her body going cold, “you’d grit your teeth and watch as I gutted you like a goddamn animal.” His eyes traced over her lips, she felt his breathing quicken, his heartbeat race, “You’d stare at me with those big brown eyes and whisper forgiveness from your pretty little mouth. You’d take every single blow with saintly silence. And I personally don’t like getting that angry,” he squeezed her neck, strangling a terrified gasp from her mouth, “Congratulations, you’re too infuriating to kill.”

She pushed him back with inhuman strength. He flew to the other wall, his head slamming with such force that for a moment she worried it had cracked. Panicking, she ran out of the room, nearly falling out the front door.

Ms. Mead came running in, seeing Michael on the ground, disoriented, “ What the hell happened?!”

* * *

She didn’t look back or think. She just ran. All she knew was the moving ground beneath her feet. She just had to-

She was in her room. Like a blip. Her body appeared in her room. Rhoda screamed, scared at first, before realizing it was her.

“Mallory!”

The world was shaking. Mallory’s eyes widened, seeing blurs of color and light. She collapsed to the floor.

“Mallory!” Rhoda shook her, crying.

Words came from her, spewing out with perfect clarity.

“Spiritu duce, in me est. Deduce me in tenebris vita ad extremum, ut salutaret inferi. Descensum!”

Her vision began to fade, the world around her getting smaller and smaller like she was descending into a tunnel. Pressure bared down on her body, and she sank lower and lower. Darkness covered her, a dull ring pierced through her ears, her skin feeling numb...

Blinding white light exploded all around her, then left as quickly as it came; replaced by gentle blue. The ground was solid beneath her; she wiggled her fingers, soft grass poking against her skin. She touched her face, feeling a temperate warmth on her cheek. It took her a moment before she realized...

Oh, it’s the sun...

The thought was so strange, the sensation even stranger. She sat up, using her arm to shield her eyes as her other hand swept over the grass. Looking around, she saw miles of open field stretch on into eternity, splashes of color dotting everywhere from the myriads of flowers. She stood, examining more of her surroundings, not seeing-

“Mallory!”

She whirled around, seeing a large glass building, similar in shape to a gazebo. The beams of sunlight bounced off its roof, casting a heavenly glow around it. She saw a figure standing in front of it, whom she assumed had called her. She couldn’t make out any features, or details, but recognized the voice as feminine...

And familiar

“Come inside!” she heard the figure say again, “We have a lot to talk about!”

A burst of energy surged through her veins, and Mallory found herself running; but without exerting any effort, as if she were a breeze nearly passing through with ease. She stopped at the front of the building, even bigger up close, and looked inside. It was a greenhouse, sections of different flora organized neatly throughout. A woman, honey-toned hair cascading down her back, stood watering a hanging plant.

“Hello?” Mallory called out carefully.

The woman turned. It had been months since she’d seen this face, but the memory appeared like a solid figure out of a pillar of smoke; along with a faint whisper, a ghost of remembrance.

Cordelia

“Mallory,” she smiled, placing the watering can down and walking up to the young woman, brushing a tuft of hair behind her ear with all the nurture of a mother.

“I’m so happy to see you.”

#michael langdon #mallory #millory #millory fanfic #mallory x michael #cody fern #billie lourd #michael langdon fanfic #my writing #ahs apocalypse

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coreybass84 · 4 years

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Defining Racism

“What is Racism?”

A once unique, American system built and implemented to segregate people into artificial socio-economic environments in order to define their existence according to the needs, desires, and beliefs of the ruling class. It’s worldwide now, to the detriment of the human race.

“How was Racism created?”

Originally, the Africans brought here were treated as indentured servants and worked alongside other indentured servants and given the same provisions. They could buy their freedom, own land, marry women from the colonies, and that their children would not be born as slaves. Just as anyone else. But as the slave trade proved highly profitable, hiring indentured servants became costly, Native Americans were either successfully running away or dying from European-borne diseases, and the risks of losing free labor that could survive said diseases and brutalities became considerable enough, more and more Africans were bought and kidnapped from Africa and Slave Laws were put into place in order to keep profits up and costs down and keep Africans enslaved. Africans were no longer on the same level as indentured servants and Africans who were indentured became slaves outright. Any children born from African parents or at least one African parent (and could not pass for White) were forced into slavery at birth rather than being born free. They could no longer buy their freedom or land, were forbidden to read, forbidden to marry colonists, had their histories wiped away and converted to Christianity, and the “white” designation was created to further the divide so that it became clear who was a slave and who wasn’t. Myths and fairytales about African slaves spread to prevent them from intermingling and developing relationships with the newly designated “whites”. Surely enough, a clear divide was made between “whites”, “others”, and “slaves/blacks”, with social/economic benefits were given to people who upheld the laws and distinctions between the groupings.

And...that’s how Racism was born.

“Don’t you have to hate in order to participate in Racism?”

Nope. You can have friends and loved ones that are a different ethnic group or nationality than you. You can even have kids with someone that from a different ethnic group or nationality than you. Plenty of people who participate in Racism make “exceptions” and will continue to do so without ever questioning or disrupting Racism. But at the end of the day, even with intermingling, as long as the false generalizations and distinctions are being made that benefit Racism, then it doesn’t matter how it gets done.

“But isn’t Racism about the Individual?”

Individuals play a role in the system, but individualism does not drive the system and stopping the individual from participating in Racism and focusing solely on the individual does not stop the system. That, and the United States’ idea and desire to further idealize the individual as some sort of mythic figure that changes the course of history on their own is mostly ahistorical mythology and a problem of the system itself.

“Then what is Racism about?”

Place. The goal of Racism is to dictate what your place is in a society, as a group, and keep the majority within that grouping in that designation.

“Can anyone participate in Racism?”

If you participate in the artificially constructed socio-economic segregation and believe that the classifications and dynamics created by Racism are normal and observable, whether it’s necessary evils, natural and biological occurrences, a moral and ethical certainty, then yes. Or, as it was originally, just making money from Racism.

“Can Black People participate in Racism?”

If a Black man or Black woman, consciously or unconsciously, upholds or perpetuates the beliefs and myths that Racism needs to maintain itself and keep people within their place as dictated by the system, then yes. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas believed in Black Exceptionalism but promoted it through the ideas of segregation created by and enriched from hostility from White people, and the rulings he helped to vote for have led to harm towards Black communities and continue to do so.

“Can other minorities actively participate in Racism?”

Yes. For the same reasons that Black people can.

“Why would Black People willingly participate in Racism?”

That is a difficult question to answer without getting into ADOS/FBA, Pan-Africanism, and the overall complexities of the Black Diaspora. But suffice to say that money, sex, and self-esteem are themes that pop up often.

“But how do black people benefit from Racism?”

They don’t. Not in the long run, and sometimes not even in the short run.

Racism was specifically designed to designate Black people* as a permanent underclass to be exploited and killed without question. So even the richest and most powerful of Black men and women can still be seen, spoken to, and treated as an underclass.

*Native Americans and brown/black Mexicans and certain Asians hold that underclass status as well. In different ways, but the same results.

“Do any minorities benefit from practicing Racism?”

Most people don’t benefit from practicing Racism. Period.

“But what about “model minorities?” They make a lot of money so don’t they benefit from Racism?”

Yes, certain groups that are considered “model minorities” do have a higher median household income, but they don’t control the system or how they are perceived within it or have any real access to the upper echelons without engaging in their countries of ancestral Ethnic origin. Money is meaningless without control of the levers of power in a society.

“But what about minorities that aren’t labeled a permanent underclass but aren’t designated a “model minority” by Racism?”

They get ignored and abused/mistreated until it’s time to reinforce Racism and White Supremacy, whether it’s as tools to oppress others or punching bags to bolster the esteem of certain people looking to attack people who can’t fight back.

“Then who benefits from Racism?”

Only the ruling class/Rich White Supremacists can truly benefit from Racism, for they are the ones who created Racism and placed themselves at the top, and have the resources to keep the system functional while receiving the most benefits from the system they created.

“But aren’t White people the biggest participants in Racism?”

It’s more like they’re kept in the nicest, most obscuring (but not that much) bubble.

“How so?”

In America, everyone has been taught that life is a certain way and that people are a certain way. But a large percentage of White people, specifically the White working class, have been placed or actively entered into a bubble where they do not have to see or deal with any minority group beyond media or meaningless interaction while being taught that life is a certain way and that people are a certain way. For all intents and purposes, for a lot of White people, minorities have become a myth in their everyday lives. Visible but not tangibly real until forced to be.

“So, yes?”

In a frustrating way. It’s easier to deal with people getting outright screwed over than White people who get the crumbs from rich White people who are screwing them over. It’s like what I’d imagine dealing with a victim of Stockholm Syndrome would be at it’s worst. Or a happy cult at it’s best.

“Do White people, in general, benefit from Racism?”

Kinda, but not really.

“What are you talking about?”

In general, working class and poor white people, whether willingly or by coercion through social forces, give up their votes, their money, their independence, sense of self and an honest sense of their place in the world and the people around them for the sake of upholding Racism and White Supremacy. The only thing that poor whites and working class whites get in return for everything that’s being taken from them is a pat on the head, a job/house, and the lie that they matter to the elites who happen to have skin like theirs even as those same elites control their lives, tell them how to think and how to react, and perpetually keep their hands in their wallets and purses.

“Is Racism natural?”

No. Racism cannot and does not exist on it’s own. It was birthed by greed and laws meant to create a artificial underclass, and even though it has transformed by the ruling class to keep on making obscene amounts of money off of depressed and subjugated labor, without constant vigil in keeping everyone separate and defined by artificial constructs, the system will collapse.

“What does White Supremacy have to do with Racism?”

It was land owning, rich white men who came up with the Slave Codes that kept people segregated, benefited from the myths perpetuated by ignorance and classism, and defined through the political system a permanent underclass of people to be exploited and deemed subhuman. If Racism is a tool, then White Supremacy is the mind that manipulates the tool and the face that represents the work when finished.

“Can Black Supremacy exist as mentioned by Terry Crews?”

In America...no. Just no. In order for Black Supremacy to exist in America, a major socio-economic shift would have to happen that reverses the positions of black people and rich white men. Black people would have to control the means of production and propaganda so thoroughly that the transition would be seamless, and there’s more than 400 years of propaganda and structural opposition against Black people to prevent such a change from happening without drastic use of force.

“Can Racism end?”

Yes.

“How can Racism end?”

Through full-on, no fault/no requirements/no limitations/no illusion of meritocracy integration.

“But Killer Mike said Black people were better off segregated?”

Killer Mike says things sometimes. And a lot of those things lack historical context and romanticize an era of neo-slavery that lasted up until the 60’s. For every successful black business, there were hundreds of thousands of black people that were denied anything but laughter and got told to go serve the white man’s family with no back talk or side eye. And for the few black people that were successful, there was always the risk that if enough white people got upset about it, they were going to get shut down with no recompense and the chance of being killed in the process. Killer Mike’s ideas of a Black Renaissance in the South ignore how the South has been operating since it became the South and the problems that continue to plague Black people all across the country.

“But I thought we were already integrated?”

We really, really weren’t. The most blatant of laws enforcing segregation were mostly taken off the books, but the social-economic structures that encourage and reward segregation are still going on. Redlining and blockbusting and white flight did not go away, they just were hidden behind “good schools” and good neighborhoods” and “good cops.”

“What do you mean about “good schools”, “good neighborhoods”, and “good cops?”

Money as a measure of Morality and Segregation as an ethical choice. Convincing people that having a lot of money equals good morals because how else is it supposed to work? But you have to use that money to get away from all of the bad elements which so happens to a result of Black people who “just can’t get their act together.”

“Now you’re getting into Capitalism.”

Capitalism is kin to Racism.

“What do you mean?”

It’s pretty hard, mentally and emotionally, to oppress and dehumanize and segregate from people, whether for your personal gain or to uphold the social order. You need something to keep you going and to justify what you do. A system of morals and ethics with a “benevolent good” that is tangible enough to participate in and observe, but intangible enough to keep pursuing without questioning how it truly functions.

And then you need an enemy. Someone you can point to and say, in the same way you can point to money as a benevolent good, that their existence is evil or misguided and perverts the benevolent good and your access to it when allowed to. So segregate from them, keep them from that source of good, and better your own life in the process.

Money as a measure of morals and segregation as an ethical choice. A job is a virtue and measure of the morality of the person. You suffer for it because that suffering proves that you’re a good person. And people who don’t look like you are evil beings who threaten your ability to be a good person. And then you have an excuse to be horrible to other human beings.

“It sounds like you should be focusing on Capitalism.”

Even if you get rid of money and the elite’s control on us through money, people will always want to feel good about themselves and know their place in the world. And Racism, as horrible as it is, gives people answers and a place in the world and someone to look down on and fight against.

Ideally, I’d curtail both. But if I had to choose, then Racism would be the one I’d get rid of first.

“Why?”

Because at the heart of everything, it’s about controlling who gets put where and why and how. Control who gets the money and why, control a woman’s ability to have children and why, control the narrative/stories/propaganda about others and yourself, and then give yourself an “other” that justifies it, and you have your system.

And I think that if you collapse Racism, you collapse the system. Racism gives people fictional enemies that can’t be anything else but an enemy because you can’t change skin color. People understand fighting more than they understand money and power, and once you get rid of that fiction, that perpetual mythological enemy, then what is left but people. And people are far easier to fight when you can see them clearly.

#racism

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zak-animation · 5 years

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BA1b Narrative Research: A Propp(er) Introduction

In this post, I’m continuing my narrative research looking at Vladmir Propp, and his theories towards character and narrative after having analysed Russian folklore stories. Understanding these theories and principles allows our own creative work to be more inspired and successful.

How to Turn a Fairy Tale into an Equation

Before we explore the work of Vladmir Propp, it’s important to note how fairy tales were categorised before his studies. This was called the Aame-Thompson Classification System, and it was according to type or motif: animal, fantastical or everyday life stories, or the which included the appearance of a dragon. Of course, these are just a handful, but Russian folklorist and scholar Vladmir Propp found that the system did nothing to illuminate the underlying structure of these fairy tales. He was the first to make a sequential and strictly linear analysis: looking only at what happens, and in what order. Propp could care less about how something happens, he was more interested in the function of these events and what these did to the story that’s being told - and broke these key events down into ‘functions’. Propp analysed the basic plot components of 100 Russian folk and fairy tales and found striking similarities between them: identifying the essential components and narrative elements, though the scholar is the first to admit this won’t (and shouldn’t) be applied religiously to stories across cultures, so westernised narratives may not strictly follow the theories he lines out here.

We were also introduced to Acel Olrik, and his Epic Laws of Narrative (1908), which describe the district characteristics of a folk-tale narrative. The influence of these observations can’t be overlooked since today, we take most of them for granted.

The law of repetition - actions in folk tales are typically repeated three times

The law of contrast - other people should be antithetical to the hero: therefore if the hero is generous, other characters should be stingy around them

The law of twins - two people can appear together in the same role, and should be similar in nature.

The Ugly Sisters from Cinderella (1950), an example of the law of twins in action

The law of patterning - situations and events are told and re-told in as ‘a similar a manner as possible’. Olrik also said that folktales are ‘single-stranded’ and have a ‘unity of plot’. There’s a concentration on a leading character, and don’t branch off into sub-plots.

Twenty years later, Propp releases his masterwork Morphology of the Folktale, and broke new ground in the narratology world: analysing chronological story rather than plot. This was a revolutionary concept, and as a result, we are learning about his theory today. Propp outlined four Fundamental Principles of the Fairy Tale, which I will break down now.

1. Functions/ actions of characters serve as stable, constant elements in a tale, independant of how and by whom they are fulfilled. They constitute the fundamental components of a tale.

2. The number of functions known to the fairy tale is limited, 31 to be exact. Propp stripped away and showed what’s essential to narrative - and although this is argued to this day, it’s a beginning point and a helpful entrance into analysing narrative theory that paved the way for narratologists today.

3. The sequence of functions is always identical. There is logic behind this, e.g. a princess cannot be rescued before she has been kidnapped.

4. All fairy tales are of one type in regard t their structure. For instance, they all proceed chronologically

Propp found that all one hundred of the tales he analysed was built on a pattern drawn from 1 functions occurring in a set order. In other words, only 31 things can happen in a fairy tale. The term ‘morphology’ means the study of forms, and in doing this work, Propp was analysing form as separate from the content. His character archetypes, which I’ll explore shortly, can be shared over characters: it’s more about who does what, rather than who does that. Whereas all hero stories use all 12 stages of the mono-myth, Propp’s morphology theories can be found (some, not all) but they will be found in his written order: that is the nature of the fairy tale.

English author Scarlett Thomas summarised that a fairy tale is made of a certain amount of functions, set in a specific order. To Propp, functions are actions performed by characters under certain circumstances. The actual content of what happens is not important - it’s the central function - it’s what happens in term of plot structure. Some elements in a fairytale are variable: ‘a dragon may well be a whirlwind as long as it has the same effect on the plot’. All plot types have constants and variables. Any basic plot will have static elements and variable elements. If we decide, for example, that the quest is a basic plot then we can say that a static element is that it will always involve a journey. A variable, then, would be the destination.

Function 14: the hero acquires the use of a magical agent.

‘It doesn’t matter (on the level of plot) whether someone is given a magic horse or bus some magic beans or steals a magic sword. The key thing is that they (the hero) have received a magical object.’

Scarlett Thomas, 2012

The latter part of the session was exploring the work of Russian folklorist Vladmir Propp. He was also a sociologist, one who studied Russian folk tales - analysing the basic plots, characters and most simple narrative elements. Propp published “Morphology of the Folktale” in 1928, a work that represented a breakthrough in both morphology and folkloristics, Despite influencing fellow narratologists Claude Lévi-Strauss and Roland Barthes, it was generally unnoticed in the West - until it was translated in 1958. Propp’s original theories concluded that all characters could be classified into seven broad character functions, a statement found after analysing a hundred folk stories. These character archetypes can be applied to almost any story, from literature and theatre to animation and film - and as such, his character structures are used in narrative education to this day. These were seven archetypes that have their own ‘sphere of action’, also known as the Dramates Personae in narrative study. It’s important to remember that a single character may fulfil more than one role, and more than one character may inhabit the same sphere of action. However, each function is connected with the designated character. ‘So it’s always the hero who ascends the throne at the end…never the villain’. (Thomas, 2012)

The Hero

The Villain

The Donor

The Helper

The Princess (or sought-after person and her Father)

The Dispatcher

The False Hero

The Heroes In a fairy tale, Props suggested that there are two types of hero: one who directly suffers from the action of the villain (a victim-hero) and one who actively wants to solve the problem (a seeker hero). The hero is the protagonist, our main character in which the audience will follow and normally associate strongly with. Often a heroic, brave character - but this is not a rule. The hero thwarts the villain, resolving any problems or conflicts.

The Villain - the antagonist, usually moral evil and highlights the hero’s goodness through binary opposing. They are the opposing force to the hero, seeking to prevent them from achieving their goal. Villains often appear twice (once, without the hero’s notice, and twice after being sought out).

The Dispatcher - the character who sends the hero on the mission, who illustrates the need for the hero’s quest.

The Princess / The Prize - the hero’s prize after beating the villain - either the sought-after object, or a reward.

The Donor - a character who gives the hero something special, such as a magical weapon. This character may be combined with the helper. However, we were reminded that the donor is not always benevolent e.g. Rumpelstiltsken who gives a magical gift to a miller’s daughter but demands her firstborn in return.

The Helper - the hero is supported by this character, often a wise old man, who appears at critical moments to provide support. Supporting role.

The False Hero - a character, usually a variant on the villain, who appears to act heroically and may be even initially mistaken for the hero. They steal the hero’s credit, and the audience want to see this character beaten - keeps them engaged as we’re rooting for the hero.

Star Wars is a great example of mostly all Propp’s archetypes, with Lando Calrissian playing the part of false hero in the sequel, Empire Strikes Back.

All fairy tales begin with an initial situation: according to Propp, the dispatcher, hero, false hero and princess are often introduced in the initial situation. This initial situation is followed by any of the 31 Functions, which are organised into six different chronological stages.

Preparation 1. One of the members of a family absents himself from home. 2. An interdiction is addressed to the hero. 3. The interdiction is violated. 4. The villain makes an attempt at reconnaissance. 5. The villain receives information about his victim. 6. The villain attempts to deceive his victim in order to take possession of him or his belongings. 7. The victim submits to deception and thereby unwittingly helps his enemy. Complication 8. The villain causes harm or injury to a member of the family. 9. One member of a family either lacks something or desires to have something. 10. Misfortune or lack is made known; the hero is approached with a request or a command; he is allowed to go or he is dispatched. 11. The seeker agrees to or decides upon counteraction. 12. The hero leaves home. 13. The hero is tested, interrogated, attacked, etc. which prepares the way for his receiving either a magical agent or helper. 14. The hero reacts to the actions of the future donor. 15. The hero acquires the use of a magical agent. 16. The hero is transferred, delivered or led to the whereabouts of an object of search. Struggle 17. The hero and the villain join in direct combat. 18. The hero is branded. 19. The villain is defeated. 20. The initial misfortune or lack is liquidated. [Narrative reaches its peak.] Return 21. The hero returns. 22. The hero is pursued. 23. Rescue of the hero from pursuit. Recognition or Difficult Task 24. The hero, unrecognised, arrives home or in another country. 25. A false hero presents unfounded claims. 26. A difficult task is proposed to the hero. 27. The task is resolved. 28. The hero is recognised. 29. The false hero or villain is exposed. 30. The hero is given a new appearance. 31. The villain is punished, the hero is married and ascends the throne.

‘But deviations do occur’ (Propp, 1968, p. 84). Propp’s system aimed to catalogue oral fairy tales of Russian origin. He admits that it may not fit all fairy tales and stories.

It doesn’t matter how these functions occur in the narrative: only that they do. This is what Propp was fascinated by - that there’s an underlying structure for story. As a class, we then applied these principles to a short analysis of the Little Red Riding Hood fairytale, which follows the order of events nicely as outlined by Propp. A Proppean analysis is good for defamiliarising ourselves with a beloved narrative, allowing us to look at a story with fresh eyes. Academics have likened Propp’s approach to narrative study to reducing the story to it’s moving parts, allowing us to simply look at the actions that compose a story, and recognise that these actions are repeated across narratives.

Which functions are present in Little Red Riding Hood?

An animated rendition of the classic story, taken from Little Red Riding Hood - Revolting Rhymes (2016)

1. Little Red Riding Hood sets off to visit her grandmother in the woods. [One of the members of a family absents themselves from home.]

2. As she is leaving, her mother warns her not to stray from the path. [An interdiction is addressed to the hero.]

3. She strays from the path. [The interdiction is violated.]

6. The wolf makes friendly conversation with Little red Riding Hood, asking where she is going. [The villain attempts to deceive his victim in order to take possession of his or his belongings.]

7. Little Red Riding says she’s going to visit her Grandma. [The victim submits to deception and thereby unwittingly helps the enemy.]

8. The wolf eats Grandma! [The villain causes harm or injury to a member of the family.]

16. The wolf tries to eat Little Red Riding Hood and Little Red tries to avoid being eaten. [The hero and the villain join in direct combat.]

18. A passing huntsman saves Little Red as the wolf is about to eat her. [The villain is defeated.]

30. The wolf is cut open, Grandma is rescued! [The villain is punished.]

In this lecture, I have been able to grasp a better understanding of folklorist Vladmir Propp and his theories exploring story and character. Although I’ve been able to apply this learning to a fairy tale today, I’m tempted to give a more contemporary narrative a Proppean analysis - looking at not only the narrative, but each character’s ‘sphere of action’ too. Props allows us to reduce a story down to it’s simplest parts, taking away any stylistic choices and idiosyncrasies in order for us to see that a story, like everything else, has a structure. Stripping a story down to it’s bare bones in such a way only works to give us a clearer understanding of each action, and therefore, the story as a whole. When gathering research about my chosen film, I will consider if it features any of the narrative functions outlined by Propp.

At the moment, I’m interested in the idea of a modern-day fairy tale in the form of superheroes, and as such, these two narrative lectures have been helpful and inspiring to my own ideas. Whilst I want to potentially develop my own essay question for this task, I have found the ideas and concepts outlined here to be important and I’d like to explore some of these ideas further. I plan to break my chosen film down into these functions, and look at the role of characters, investigating whether or not they fit Propp’s formula.

Lecture Summary

Vladmir Propp was a Russian folklorist and scholar who broke down fairy tale narratives into 31 functions, a breakthrough in the narratology scene

Propp’s approach reduces story to it’s moving parts, allowing us to look at a beloved story with fresh eyes

Props identified seven character archetypes, each with their own role in the narrative called a ‘sphere of action’

Interestingly, Propp’s narrative functions can (and are) applied to more than just Russian folk lore, westernised stories and some contemporary narratives still exhibit the same simple structure (Star Wars, for example)

What’s next? Over the Christmas period, I want to begin looking at potential film choices for this essay. Ideally, I’d like to start with two to three potential candidates and develop a question and final film choice from that selection, evidencing a few potential analytical directions before I begin writing. I’ve got a few ideas, mainly exploring the idea of the superhero story replacing fairy tales in today’s society, but also exploring Dreamworks’ Megamind and how the main character goes through the Hero’s Journey, as a villain; writing down my own thoughts on the subject before gathering research.

#ba1b:narrativetheory

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