by The Anatomy of Story- 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller (mobi)
"Theme of the Traitor and the Hero" is a short story made up almost totally of revelations. In it, the unnamed storyteller explains that he is formulating a story whose details are not yet revealed to him. His narrator, Ryan, is the great-grandson of Kilpatrick, one of Ireland's greatest heroes, who was murdered in a theater on the eve of a victorious revolt.
■ Revelation 1 While writing a biography of Kilpatrick, Ryan discovers a number of troubling details of the police investigation, such as a letter Kilpatrick received, warning him not to attend the theater, much like the letter Julius Caesar received warning him of his murder. ■ Revelation 2 Ryan senses that there is a secret form of time in
which events and lines of dialogue are repeated throughout history. ■ Revelation 3 Ryan learns that words a beggar spoke to Kilpatrick were the same as those found in Shakespeare's Macbeth.
■ Revelation 4 Ryan discovers that Kilpatrick's best friend, Nolan, had translated Shakespeare's plays into Gaelic.
■ Revelation 5 Ryan finds out that Kilpatrick ordered the execution of a traitor—identity unknown—just days before his own death, but that order doesn't square with Kilpatrick's merciful nature.
■ Revelation 6 Kilpatrick had previously given his friend Nolan the job of uncovering the traitor in their midst, and Nolan had discovered that the traitor was Kilpatrick himself.
■ Revelation 7 Nolan devised a scheme whereby Kilpatrick would be assassinated in a dramatic way so that he would die a hero and trigger the revolt. Kilpatrick agreed to play his part.
■ Revelation 8 With so little time for the plan, Nolan had to steal elements from Shakespeare's plays to complete the scheme and make it dramatically convincing to the people. ■ Revelation 9 Because the Shakespearean elements are the least dramatic in the scheme, Ryan realizes that Nolan used them so that the truth of the scheme, and Kilpatrick's identity, would one day be uncovered. Ryan, the narrator, is part of Nolan's plot. ■ Audience Revelation Ryan keeps his final discovery a secret and instead publishes a book glorifying Kilpatrick.
THE STORYTELLER
To use a storyteller or not, that is the question. And it's one of the most important decisions you must make in the writing process. I am talking about it here in connection with plot because the storyteller can radically change the way you sequence the plot. But if you are writing an organic story, a storyteller has just as much effect on your depiction of character.
Here's the rub (to carry the Hamlet metaphor a bit further). The storyteller is one of the most misused of all techniques, because most writers don't know the implications of the storyteller or its true value.
The vast majority of popular stories in movies, novels, and plays don't use a recognizable storyteller. They are linear stories told by an omniscient storyteller. Someone is telling the story, but the audience doesn't know who and doesn't care. These stories are almost always fast, with a strong, single desire line and a big plot.
A storyteller is someone who recounts a character's actions, either in the first person—talking about himself—or in the third person—talking about someone else. Using a recognizable storyteller allows you greater complexity and subtlety. Stated simply, a storyteller lets you present the actions of the hero along with commentary on those actions.
As soon as you identify the person who is telling the story, the audience immediately asks, Why is that person telling this story? And why does this particular story need a teller, need to be recounted right now before my eyes? Notice that a storyteller calls attention to himself and, at least initially, can distance the audience from the story. This gives you, the writer, the benefit of detachment.
A storyteller also lets the audience hear the voice of the character who is doing the telling. People handy about the term "voice" all the time, as if it were some golden key to great storytelling. When we talk about letting the audience hear the character's voice, we are really putting the audience in the character's mind, right now as he speaks. It is a mind expressed in the most precise and unique way possible, which is what the character talks about and how he says it. Being in the character's mind implies that this is a real person, with prejudices, blind spots, and lies, even when he isn't aware of them himself. This character may or may not be trying to tell the truth to the audience, but whatever truth comes out will be highly subjective. This is not the word of God or an omniscient narrator. Taken to its logical extreme, the storyteller blurs, or even destroys, the line between reality and illusion.
Another important implication of a storyteller is that he is recounting what happened in the past, and that immediately brings memory into play. As soon as an audience hears that this story is being remembered, they get a feeling of loss, sadness, and "might-have-been-ness." They also feel that the story is complete and that the storyteller, with only the perspective that comes after the end, is about to speak with perhaps a touch more wisdom.
Some writers use this combination—someone speaking personally to the audience and telling the story from memory—to fool them into thinking that what they are about to hear is more, not less, truthful. The storyteller says in effect, "I was there. I'm going to tell you what really happened. Trust me." This is a tacit invitation to the audience not to trust and to explore the issue of truth as the story unfolds.
Besides heightening the issue of truth, the storyteller gives the writer some unique and powerful advantages. It helps you establish an intimate connection between character and audience. It can make your characterization subtler and help you distinguish one person from another. Furthermore, the use of a storyteller often signals a shift from a hero who acts—usually a fighter—to a hero who creates—an artist. The act of telling the story now becomes the main focus, so the path to "immortality" shifts from a hero taking glorious action to a storyteller who tells about it.
A storyteller is tremendously liberating when it comes to constructing the plot. Because the actions of the plot are framed by someone's memories, you can leave chronology behind and sequence the actions in whatever way makes the most structural sense. A storyteller also helps you string together actions and events that cover great stretches of time and place or when the hero goes on a journey. As we've discussed, these plots often feel fragmented. But when framed by a remembering storyteller, the actions and events suddenly have a greater unity, and the huge gaps between the story events seem to disappear.
Before we discuss the best techniques when using a storyteller, here's what to avoid. Don't use the storyteller as a simple frame. The story begins with the storyteller saying in effect, "I'd like to tell you a story." He then recounts the events of the plot in chronological order and ends by saying, "That's what happened. It was some amazing story."
This kind of framing device is quite common and is worse than useless. Not only does it call attention to the storyteller for no reason, but it also fails to take advantage of any of the implications and strengths of the storyteller technique. It seems to exist only to let the audience know that they should appreciate this story because it is being told in an "artistic" way.
However, there are a number of techniques that will let you take full advantage of the storyteller. The reason these techniques are so powerful is that they are inherent in the structure of a person who needs to tell a story and of a story that needs to be told. But don't think you must use all of them at once. Every story is unique. Pick the techniques that are right for you.
1. Realize that your storyteller is probably your true main character.
Whether you use first- or third-person narration, nine out of ten times, the storyteller is your true hero. The reason is structural. The act of telling the story is the equivalent of taking the self-revelation step and splitting it in half. At the beginning, the storyteller is looking back to try to understand the impact his actions or someone else's actions have had on him. In recounting those actions—of another or of himself at some earlier time—the storyteller sees an external model of action and gains a profound personal insight t
hat changes his life in the present.
2. Introduce the storyteller in a dramatic situation.
For example, a fight has just occurred, or an important decision must be made. This places the storyteller within the story, creating suspense about the storyteller himself and giving the storyteller's tale a running start.
■ Sunset Boulevard: The storyteller, dead man Joe Gillis, has just been shot by his lover, Norma Desmond.
■ Body and Soul: The storyteller is about to enter the boxing ring, where he will throw the championship fight.
■ The Usual Suspects: The storyteller may be the only survivor of a mass killing and is being interrogated by the cops.
3. Find a good trigger to cause him to tell the story.
Instead of "I'm going to tell you a story," the storyteller is personally motivated by a story problem in the present. And this story problem, this personal motivation, is directly linked to why he has to tell this story right now.
■ Body and Soul: The storyteller hero is a corrupt boxer. He is about to throw the title fight, so he needs to understand how he got to this point before the fight begins.
■ The Usual Suspects: The interrogator threatens to put a contract out on Verbal's life unless he talks.
■ How Green Was My Valley: The hero is devastated that he is being
driven out of his beloved valley. He needs to know why this happened before he goes.
4. The storyteller should not be all-knowing at the beginning.
An all-knowing storyteller has no dramatic interest in the present. He already knows everything that happened, so he becomes a dead frame. Instead, the storyteller should have a great weakness that will be solved by telling the story, and thinking back and telling the story should be a struggle for him. This way, the storyteller is dramatic and personally interesting in the present, and the act of telling the story is itself heroic.
■ Cinema Paradiso: The hero, Salvatore, is wealthy and famous but also sad and in despair. He has known many women but never really loved any of them. And he hasn't visited his hometown in Sicily for thirty years. When he learns that his old friend Alfredo has died, it causes him to remember growing up in the place to which he vowed he would never return.
■ The Shawshank Redemption: "Red" Redding, serving a life sentence for murder, has just been turned down again for parole. He is a man
without hope and believes he needs the walls of the prison to survive. One day, Andy arrives and walks the gauntlet between the lines of jeering prisoners that all new prisoners must walk. Red bets that Andy will be the first new prisoner to cry that night. Andy doesn't make a sound.
■ Heart of Darkness: This is ultimately a detective story where the "crime"—the "horror" of what Kurtz might have done and said—is never known or solved. Part of the mystery is Marlow's true motive for telling and retelling his tale. One clue may be his final words to Kurtz's "Intended," when she asks him the last thing Kurtz said before he died. Instead of his actual words—"The horror! The horror!"—Marlow lies and says, "The last word he pronounced was— your name." Marlow is guilty of telling her a lie, telling a story that promises a simple answer and a false emotion, and this is reprehensible to him. And so he is doomed, driven, to tell his tale again and again until he gets it right, even though Kurtz's experience, and the heart of darkness itself, is unknowable.
5. Try to find a unique structure for telling the tale instead of simple chronology.
The way you tell the story (through the storyteller) should be exceptional. Otherwise it's just a frame and we don't need it. A unique way of telling the story justifies a storyteller and says: this story is so unique that only a special storyteller could do it justice.
■ It's a Wonderful Life: Two angels tell a third angel the events of a man's life that have led him to the point of committing suicide. The third angel then shows the man an alternative present: what the world would look like had he never lived.
■ The Usual Suspects: A number of men are murdered on a docked ship. Customs agent Kujan interrogates a crippled man named Verbal who tells how it all started six weeks ago when the cops questioned five guys for a heist. The story goes back and forth between Kujan questioning Verbal and the events that Verbal describes. After he lets Verbal go, Kujan looks at the bulletin board in the interrogation room and sees all the names Verbal used in his confession. Verbal has made up all the "past" events in the present. He is both the killer and the storyteller.
6. The storyteller should try different versions of how he tells the story as he struggles to find and express the truth.
Again, the story is not some fixed thing, known from the beginning. It is a dramatic argument the writer is having with the audience. The act of telling the story and the act of an audience listening to it, and silently questioning it, should partly determine how it turns out.
The storyteller creates this give-and-take by leaving openings where he struggles with how best to tell it and lets the audience fill in the gaps. Through his struggle, he comes to understand the deeper meaning of the events, and by pulling the audience in and making them participate, he triggers the deeper meaning of their life narrative as well.
■ Heart of Darkness: This is the antistoryteller's tale: it uses three narrators to show structurally that the "true" story is hopelessly ambiguous and can never be told. A seaman talks about a storyteller (Marlow) who is telling his shipmates a tale told to him by a man (Kurtz) whose dying words, "The horror! The horror!" are never explained. So we literally get a mystery wrapped in an enigma, an infinite regression of meaning, as obscure as "The horror" itself.
Also, Marlow has told this tale many times, as though trying to get closer to the truth by each telling, always ending in failure. He explains that he went up the river to find the truth about Kurtz, but the closer he got to him, the murkier things became. ■ Tristram Shandy: Three hundred years ahead of its time, Tristram
Shandy uses this same storytelling technique in comedy. For example, the first-person narrator tells a story that goes backward as well as forward. He talks to the reader directly and admonishes the reader for not reading properly. And he complains to the reader when he has to explain something that he says should come out later.
7. Do not end the storytelling frame at the end of the story, but rather about three-quarters of the way in.
If you put the final storytelling frame at the very end of the story, the act of remembering and telling the story can have no dramatic or structural impact on the present. You need to leave some room in the story for the act of recounting the change to the storyteller himself.
■ It's a Wonderful Life: Clarence, the angel, listens to the story of George's life until the moment when George is about to commit suicide. This recounting of past events concludes with about a third of the story to go. In the final third of the story, Clarence shows George an alternative and helps him change.
■ Cinema Paradiso: The hero, Salvatore, finds out that his friend Alfredo has died. He thinks back to his childhood, which he spent mostly at the Cinema Paradiso, where Alfredo was the projectionist. The memory ends when Salvatore leaves his hometown as a young man to make his name in Rome. Back in the present, he returns to his hometown for the funeral and sees that the Cinema Paradiso has become a boarded-up ruin. But Alfredo has left him a gift, a reel of all the great kissing scenes the priest ordered cut when Salvatore was just a boy.
8. The act of telling the story should lead the storyteller to a self-revelation.
By thinking back, the storyteller gains a great insight about himself in the present. Again, the entire storytelling process is structurally one big self-revelation step for the storyteller. So telling the story is the way the storyteller-hero fulfills his need.
■ The Great Gatsby: Nick says at the end, "That's my middle West.... I am part of that, a little solemn with the feel of those long winters.... After Gatsby's death the East was haunted for me like that.... So when the blue smoke of brittle leaves was in the
air and the wind blew the wet laundry stiff on the line I decided to come back home."
■ The Shawshank Redemption: Red learns to have hope and live in freedom after being inspired by his friend Andy.
■ Goodfellas: As a black comedy, Goodfellas uses the first-person storyteller to highlight the ironic fact that the hero doesn't get a self-revelation at the end, even though it is clear that he should.
9. Consider having the storyteller explore how the act of telling the story can be immoral or destructive, to himself or to others.
This makes storytelling itself a moral issue, dramatically interesting in the present.
■ Copenhagen: Copenhagen is really a competition of storytellers: three characters give different versions of what happened when they met during World War II to discuss building a nuclear bomb. Each story represents a different view of morality, and each character uses his own story to attack the morality of another.
10. The act of telling the story should cause a final dramatic event.
This event is often the hero's moral decision.
Telling the story should have an effect, and the most dramatic effect is to force the storytelling hero to make a new moral decision based on his self-revelation.
■ The Great Gatsby: Nick decides to leave the moral decadence of New York and return to the Midwest.
■ It's a Wonderful Life: George decides not to commit suicide but rather to join his family and face the music.
■ Body and Soul: The storyteller hero, after looking back, decides not to throw the fight.
■ The Shawshank Redemption: Red decides not to give up outside of prison as his friend Brooks did. Instead he decides to live and join Andy, who is starting a new life in Mexico.
77. Don't promote the fallacy that a character's death allows the full and true story to be told.