The nature of story

Jack Spencer Jr · Dec 15, 2004

In an effort to bring up interesting conversations, I ask what is the nature of story. Often folk talk about the story in their games. many say that RPGs are about stories and such.

So what does that mean? Story? What is the nature of it?

I mean, we could look it up in a dictionary, which says, basically, a narrative describing a series of events. But that's not what we tend to mean when we say story in regards to a film or novel, and for many, not for their games, either.

There is something that makes Jaws better than Jaws 2, Jaws 2 better than Jaws 3, and Jaws the Revenge utter crap.

So, what do you think nature of story is?

Crothian · Dec 16, 2004

Everything in the story. Interesting plots, characters, action, and a certain X factor that just makes it all come together.

Jack Spencer Jr · Dec 16, 2004

And what is this certain x factor?

Agback · Dec 16, 2004

A story is a connected account of a sequence of consequential actions in which incident arises from character and characters repond to incident, having some sort of unity and completeness, and a point of interest to the audience.

Umbran · Dec 16, 2004

Jack Spencer Jr said:
So what does that mean? Story? What is the nature of it?

Consider - you can tell teh story of a man's life. Then the question "What is the nature of story?" is found to be as broad as, "What is the nature of life?" Too broad a question to be answered in such a forum as this.

There is something that makes Jaws better than Jaws 2, Jaws 2 better than Jaws 3, and Jaws the Revenge utter crap.

So, what do you think nature of story is?

Well, all the Jaws movies are stories. So, are you really asking, "What is the nature fo a good story?"

GrayIguana · Dec 16, 2004

Umbran said:
Well, all the Jaws movies are stories. So, are you really asking, "What is the nature fo a good story?"

You beat me to that one. If I really knew the correct answer to that, I'd probably be a fabulously popular author. In reality, I'm not.

Unfortunately, what makes a good story is also subject to taste. Making a good story (in my opinion) is more art than science.

To me a story is the relating of how a crisis or conflict was resolved, or not resolved. A good story usually starts with a conflict or crisis of some kind. The conflict can be huge or rather small, but the conflict is usually what drives the characters to action. A story may consist of the resolution of the entire conflict, or it may be a chain of conflicts. In the end the conflict may be resolved, but that is usually not the point. The good story makes the journey entertaining from beginning to end.

Granted this is just my opinion, and there are probably plenty of examples that can prove me wrong.

I can’t comment on Jaws since, I don’t even remember II and III. I'm sure I've seen them, but I can't even recall what the plots entailed. (Though I imagine that a shark was involved

)

Crothian · Dec 16, 2004

Jack Spencer Jr said:
And what is this certain x factor?

It's a variable, it can be a lot of things; thus an X factor.

Jack Spencer Jr · Dec 16, 2004

Umbran said:
Consider - you can tell teh story of a man's life. Then the question "What is the nature of story?" is found to be as broad as, "What is the nature of life?" Too broad a question to be answered in such a forum as this.

Well, when telling the story of a man's life, if you tell it in its entirety, then it would take a lifetime to tell it. Therefore, to tell a story requires selection from the whole. That question is not too broad a question, I would think.

Well, all the Jaws movies are stories. So, are you really asking, "What is the nature fo a good story?"

I suppose. But then when baking cookies one wants to bake cookies that taste good, right? With logic, pretty much anything could be argued to be a story, albeit a bad story. While the logic may or may not be sound, it's not very helpful for making good stories in our games.

Umbran · Dec 16, 2004

Jack Spencer Jr said:
Well, when telling the story of a man's life, if you tell it in its entirety, then it would take a lifetime to tell it. Therefore, to tell a story requires selection from the whole. That question is not too broad a question, I would think.

In general, perhaps. But specifically, for a message board, I think it is still too broad. A great many books have been written on the subject. It is the focus of an untold number of graduate degrees and theses. YOu want us to manage it in a few measly paragraphs?

While the logic may or may not be sound, it's not very helpful for making good stories in our games.

Ah, okay, so it is good story you are ultimately interested in. That in and of itself is a great focusing of the topic, you see.

But, to address that question, we need to ask another question - who is the audience? Since "good" is subjective, we need to know something more about the audience. Gamers in general, don't all have the same tastes that we can say, "This is at the center of all stories all gamers will like".

Turjan · Dec 16, 2004

This makes me remember my school days (that's quite some time ago

). I had a teacher who summarized each and every book or story according to the formula "The individual in a crisis". We just had to identify the crisis, characterize the individual and then look, how this poor guy dealt with the crisis (or not

). Somehow he managed to squeeze everything into this pattern. Is this the definition of story? Who knows...

The nature of story

Jack Spencer Jr

First Post

Crothian

First Post

Jack Spencer Jr

First Post

Agback

Explorer

Umbran

Mod Squad

GrayIguana

First Post

Crothian

First Post

Jack Spencer Jr

First Post

Umbran

Mod Squad

Turjan

Explorer

Similar Threads