{"id":1859,"date":"2017-01-12T08:33:04","date_gmt":"2017-01-12T16:33:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/storymind.com\/blog\/?p=1859"},"modified":"2017-01-12T16:11:40","modified_gmt":"2017-01-13T00:11:40","slug":"a-story-is-an-argument","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/storymind.com\/blog\/a-story-is-an-argument\/","title":{"rendered":"A Story Is An Argument"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Melanie Anne Phillips<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"There are two principal forms of story structure: the tale<\/em> and the story<\/em>.<\/p>\n

A tale is a statement – a statement that \u2018this<\/em> leads to this<\/em> lead to that<\/em>\u2019 and \u2018here\u2019s how it ended up\u2019.<\/p>\n

Using this technique, a\u00a0storyteller can\u00a0say “Ok, I\u2019m going to tell you about this situation, in which\u00a0if you start here and you take this series of steps you end up there and it\u2019s a good thing or its a bad thing to be there”.<\/p>\n

Large good, small good – little bad, big bad – that’s up to the author, depending on the message he or she wants to put forth. \u00a0But in a tale, the statement made is simply this: follow this\u00a0series of steps from this starting point and you will end up with this thing that is good or bad.<\/p>\n

That’s the whole basis for fairy tales and cautionary tales, and there\u2019s certain amount of power in that.\u00a0But what kind of power could you get as an author if you were able to expand that and say \u2018this is not just true for this particular case I’m telling you about, but it is also true for all such similar cases?\u2019<\/p>\n

In other words, if you start from here, no matter what path you try to take based on this particular problem you started with, this is the best (or worst) path to take of all that might be taken.\u00a0 Then the message of your tale becomes \u2018this particular path is the best or the worst.\u2019 It\u2019s no longer just good<\/em> or bad<\/em>, it\u2019s the best<\/em> path or the worst<\/em> path to take. \u00a0Now you are aren’t just making a statement about a particular case; you are making a blanket statement<\/em> covering all similar cases.<\/p>\n

Now that has a lot more power to it because now you are telling everyone to exclude any other paths \u2013 \u2018take only this<\/em> one if you find yourself in this situation\u2019 or, \u00a0\u2018if you find yourself in this<\/em> situation no matter what you do, don\u2019t do that<\/em>\u2019.<\/p>\n

While a simple tale with a simple statement is designed to influence audience behavior in a specific case, a more complex tale with a blanket statement is designed to influence general behavior by an audience.<\/p>\n

But when you make a blanket statement have you really convinced your audience to alter its behavior? \u00a0In practice, an audience won\u2019t sit still for a blanket statement without at least some supporting evidence. They will cry foul. They will at least question you.<\/p>\n

So, for example, if an early storyteller\u00a0is sitting around the campfire and says, \u2018this is the best of all possible paths that I have shown you.\u2019, his audience is going to say, \u2018hey wait a minute, what about this other case, what if we try this<\/em>, this<\/em> and this<\/em>?\u2019<\/p>\n

If the storyteller\u00a0is to satisfy his audience and actually \u2018prove\u2019 his case to its\u00a0satisfaction, he will need to be able to argue his point, saying, \u2018in that<\/em> case such and such, and therefore you can see why it would end up being not as good or better than this<\/em> path that I\u2019m touting.\u2019<\/p>\n

Another person brings up another scenario such as \u2018what about going down this<\/em> way and trying that<\/em>.\u2019 Then, if the point can be well made, the storyteller is again able to defend his assertion and say, \u2018well that case, such and such, so you can see the point that the blanket statement I made is still true\u2019.<\/p>\n

Eventually either something will be found that is better than what the author was proposing and the blanket statement is rejected or the author will be able to stick it out and counter all those rebuttals and convince the audience that yes, the message of this tale is true in all such similar cases.<\/p>\n

In a practical sense, you (the storyteller) won\u2019t have to counter every potential different path\u00a0when you are telling the story live because your\u00a0audience will only come up with a certain number of them before they are satisfied that the alternatives they<\/em> think are most important to look into have been adequately addressed.<\/p>\n

But the moment that you record the story, the moment you put it into a song, stage play, a motion picture or a book, as soon as that happens, you\u2019re no longer there to counter the rebuttals. You also don\u2019t know exactly which potential rebuttals might come up. So if somebody looks at your story in the form of a movie in the theater and they see some pathway they think ought to be taken wasn\u2019t even suggested, then they are going to feel that you haven\u2019t made your case because maybe that would have been a better path than yours.<\/p>\n

So what do you do? Well, in a recorded art form you have to anticipate all the different rebuttals that might come up about other potential solutions and preempt them by showing in your message why all these other potential reasonable solutions would not be as good or as bad as the one that you are proposing.<\/p>\n

If you can cover them all, then you will have proven<\/em>\u00a0that your purported solution\u00a0is in fact\u00a0the best or the worst, and your audience will accept your message.<\/p>\n

Just as simply saying something is true is the essence of a tale, proving<\/em> it is true by making an argument is the essence of story. \u00a0And that is why a tale is a statement and a story is an argument.<\/p>\n

But how do you make such an argument?<\/p>\n

Here’s a short video from my “classic” 12-hour program<\/a> on story structure I recorded way back in 1999:<\/p>\n