"All models are wrong, but some are useful." - George Box
Nigel Watt’s Eight Point Arc
This research task introduced me to Watts' Eight-Point Arc:
Stasis – the ‘normal world’ or everyday scenario : Introduce the “every day” scenario in which the story is set / Introduce your character in their unsuspecting situation.
Trigger - Provide a catalyst to start the story moving away from what is normal and fine towards a problem (something which is often beyond control ).
Quest - Your trigger should result in a quest..this image should define the goal of the story and add some tension.
A surprise - Introduce turns in the story which show the elements which might get in the way of the quest and your character’s response. ( These could include pleasant events, obstacles, complications or trouble for your hero).
A critical choice / a reaction - The hero makes a crucial or critical decision about how they will respond.
The Climax - This image should be a penultimate cliffhanger before we discover whether the quest has been a success.
The Reversal - The goals have changed (the hero has been changed by the experience and has transformed).
The Resolution - A return to a new status quo / everyday scenario.
This was a new model for me on the topic of storytelling arcs, and it kicked my mind into gear, wanting to revisit my existing knowledge. So I decided to use the information in the exercise text to go and investigate other story arcs.
The Monomyth
The monomyth model below was proposed as part of Joseph's Cambell's book The Hero With a Thousand Faces; taking inspiration from James Joyce. He posited that all stories follow a common format under the hood.
This has been simplified into a model which is now ubiquitously known as The Hero's Journey.
The Hero's Journey
The hero's journey is the template most often used in storytelling, but is built on the idea of a singular protagonist. Whilst most stories can be mapped to any of the models above, storytelling is becoming far more nuanced, with characters (protagonists and antagonists alike) becoming various shades of grey.
Dan Harmon's Story Circle
A model I have been aware of for a number of years takes the cyclical journey further, and is structured in such a way that allows for more nuance, and increased ambiguity in the notion of 'hero' and 'villain'. It even allows them to return 'changed' only to decide not to actually change as a person (and perhaps doomed to go around the circle again).
A character is in a zone of comfort.
But they want something.
They enter an unfamiliar situation.
Adapt to it.
Get what they wanted.
Pay a heavy price for it.
Then return to their familiar situation.
Having changed.
I prefer this circle to Watts' arc, but I needed to complete the task by mapping an existing story to the 8-point arc:
Star Wars Episode 4: A New Hope
Luke is a simple farm boy on a desert planet.
Luke meets two strange droids, one of them runs off.
Luke meets Obi-Wan Kenobi, and they discover the secret message in R2-D2. Obi-Wan enlists Luke to join him on the Quest to Alderaan
Alderaan has been destroyed and Luke and the gang are trapped on the Death Star. They rescue Princess Leia and plan their escape.
Darth Vader! During Obi-Wan's sacrifice, Luke decides to escape on the Millenium Falcon, trusting Obi-wan' voice in his head.
The Rebel Alliance mount their desperate attack on the Death Star using the stolen plans. It doesn't go well and Luke is the last fighter remaining with Darth Vader on his tail.
He hears Obi-Wan and uses the Force to aim his proton torpedo. The Death Star Explodes!
Luke and his friends received medals for their heroism. Luke took his first steps towards his future as the next generation of Jedi Knights.
I think all of these models can be useful, and they all have their flaws. I think Harmon's model is the most powerful to me as it seems like it can be applied to the story as a whole but also helps depict individual character arcs, regardless of how noble their intention is. It also is a model that seems to translate well to lots of media.
Using the model will be a very valuable tool in helping to map out and pace narrative in my work, particularly in sequential work. I think it would still be useful in individual pieces too. If I were to think about what stage of the arc the picture represents, I could build in narrative elements to make that clear. I think the danger is to only represent and render the points of action. I think that the most successful narrative images show the viewer a point in time which is just before or just after the point of action, building anticipation or curiosity in the viewer's imagination. Again this is a use of Closure to build interest and do the heavy lifting of narrative storytelling.
References
En.wikipedia.org. 2020. Hero's Journey. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hero%27s_journey
Harmon, D., 2009. Story Structure 101: Super Basic Shit. [online] Channel 101 Wiki. Available at: https://channel101.fandom.com/wiki/Story_Structure_101:_Super_Basic_Shit
StudioBinder. n.d. How The Dark Knight Completes Dan Harmon's Story Circle. [online] Available at: https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/downloads/story-circle-template