12 April 2004
Interconnections
People say there are hardly any stories really that can be told. It is said that there are a few archetypes - but once you know what they are, it is just a question of changing the masks on the characters' faces. It's still the jealous friend, the over-proud hero, the fragile innocent and so on.
And if the protagonists remain the same, then the story is the same. Because the story depends on the characters. The story grows out of what the protagonists are like - even if, ultimately, the story changes them ...
But so what if there are only a few archetypal stories. In western music, there aren't very many notes to the scale, but the variations composers weave with them appear endless ...
If we are embroidering around a limited gamut of sequences of events, what is it that makes a good story?
Well, the characters appear sufficiently real to you, the reader, for you to care what happens to them. And for the characters to appear sufficiently real, they must have a certain measure of unpredictability. And if the characters are - even a little - unpredictable, then so is the story.
The story in a novel is the plot. The plot often has many strands. How satisfying it is when a skilful author weaves those strands together and shows how they are interconnected.
If you read detective stories - as I do - you will be used to the painstaking unravelling of clues and red herrings with which a brilliant author such as Agatha Christie or Ngaio Marsh will close her novel. The dénouement - literally the 'unknotting' - is an exquisite pleasure for the connoisseur of detective fiction.
There is a similar pleasure to be found in immersing oneself in the imaginary worlds of a Tolkien, a Pratchett or a Rowling. Each interconnected piece of the imagined fictional panorama slots into your own imagination and memory with a satisfying 'click' - it is right!
I took part in an Easter day programme for BBC Radio 4 on Sunday which touched on this subject. We were discussing gnosticism, the Cathars, and a recent thriller by Dan Brown.
Dan Brown's book is exciting, a story knotted tight into a tiny stretch of time, but woven of many strands. Not only is The Da Vinci Code exciting because you care for the characters and you are on the edge of your seat to see how their conflicts will turn out. But also, you enjoy the way the author has interwoven the many strands into a single, brightly-coloured cloth.
Enjoy unravelling the Labyrinth.
