3 ms·
To any budding writers out there: please don't. I can't read any more hero stories, I've developed allergies. And, let's go a little deeper into them: a) The
by dsign 4y ago
To any budding writers out there: please don't.
I can't read any more hero stories, I've developed allergies.
And, let's go a little deeper into them:
a) They assume that there exists an area of comfort for characters, and the story will empower the reader to see it right at the beginning, so the story is asking the reader to make a judgement with incomplete data. (Do you like when your product manager asks you to estimate how long X will take?)
b) They "addict" the reader to this structure, which means writers who want to write other types of stories will be out of luck when it comes to their story being liked. Which takes me to
c) They shoe-horn the writer into writing a specific type of story. What if the writer is more interested in exploring a notion or a concept, but they don't want to do it through the exposition of the inner world/private life of a character? (like, should we understand US politics by following Donald Trump through his private life with camera, microphones and telepatic devices?)
- Turing_Machine 4y ago> I can't read any more hero stories, I've developed allergies. Given that the oldest stories we have are hero stories (e.g., Gilgamesh) and that the most successful stories of modern times are also hero stories (e.g., MCU), as well as pretty much every bit of fiction that has withstood the test of time in between, I would not expect that many share your opinion.
- PuppyTailWags 4y agoActually, the stories that are by far the most successful in modern day, romance stories, don't follow this structure at all. Romance has its own fairly strict story structure and expected beats, to the point where the industry has its own jargon (HEA, aka the happily ever after, describes a common-enough ending structure such that some folks interpret as a lack of it being a disqualification for considering the story a romance story!) Also, the many of the oldest stories we have also don't follow this structure. Consider traditional Australian Aboriginal storytelling, ancient Mayan storytelling, or even specific story structures in reference to current events: German storytelling had an entire genre that focused on postwar economic hardship and didn't at all follow hero stories. Thrillers rarely follow this structure, nor does horror.
- Turing_Machine 4y ago> Actually, the stories that are by far the most successful in modern day, romance stories The box office disagrees. https://www.boxofficemojo.com/chart/top_lifetime_gross/ https://www.boxofficemojo.com/chart/top_lifetime_gross/ One could maybe argue that "Titanic" (number 8) and "Beauty and the Beast" (number 18) are romances, but both of those also have strong action-adventure elements. The first one I see that I would qualify as a pure romance is "My Big Fat Greek Wedding", all the way down at number 149.
- PuppyTailWags 4y agoI mean, if you're only defining stories as movies, that's a little confusing... I was talking about literature.