Story Germs and Aristotle

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We story lovers recognize a story when we see it, hear it, or read it. But what is a story, exactly?

The simplest definition is this: an account of incidents or events.

Doesn't a story feel like much more than an accounting of incidents or events?  Perhaps this is a stronger definition: a story is a series of dramatized scenes or incidents (plot) that establish time and place (setting) and that move a main character through events. 

Still a little weak?

Most stories feel far richer and more complex than any single definition.

For that reason, it’s easier to discuss the elements that make a story.

More than 2,000 years ago, the philosopher Aristotle wrote On the Art of Poetry. In this work, he identified six elements that each story should have. (Specifically, Aristotle was talking about tragedy.)

• Plot (the incidents or story line)
• Character (the cast)
• Diction (the language and dialogue)
• Thought (theme; insights into humanity and life)
• Spectacle (setting; scenery and all visual aspects)
• Song (all sound; rhythm and music)

Here’s a short video that explains Aristotle's Six Elements. (In upcoming classes, we'll focus on each of these elements.)

Today, we tend to identify the story elements as the following seven:

• Plot, or the sequence of events that take place in a story
• Characterization, or the methods used to present the personality of a character in a story
• Setting, or the time and place in which the events of a story take place
• Voice, or the quality of the narration and the tone of the atmosphere
• Point of View, or who is narrating the story
• Conflict, or the Central problem that drives the action of the story.
• Theme, or the story's controlling idea or central insight

Let's get something straight: in literature classes, students are often asked, "What is the author's intent?" as if they can read the author's mind. The truth is that no one can ever know the author's true purpose or intent -- unless the author tells us. Readers can only know and understand their own response and their own reaction to a story, based on the evidence at hand.

Throughout this course, you are asked to read as a writer, not as a reader. There is a difference. Writers don't read to guess another writer's purpose or intent. Writers read to figure out how a writer accomplished what he or she accomplished. What tricks did the writer use? How did the writer organize the events of the plot? How did she develop a particular character? How did she evoke atmosphere? Describe the setting so effectively? Accomplish the story's voice? How is the theme played out? What language helps to develop or underscore the theme?

As you move through this course, try to read like a writer.

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