Change and story architecture

Look at the snippet from Furia again.

How would you describe the change in Camila? Where does she begin and where does she end?

I joined the defense to make a protective wall in front of Roxana as the blond Royal captain got ready to shoot. She glanced over at her coach, then at me. At one meter and fifty-five centimeters, I was the shortest person on my team. She'd try to send it over my head. I was her only opening. So I jumped, and the ball hit me right in the face.

Stars exploded in my eyes as I fell hard on the ground, where I stayed, catching my breath.

"Hassan, do you need a sub?" Coach Alicia called from the sidelines.

Furia(2020)

What happened?

She went from forming a protective wall to lying on the ground with her face smacked.

What caused the change?

She jumped to intercept the ball and got hit in the face.

Is the change big or small?

Given she's not seriously injured, we'd call this a small change.

What about the snippet from Walk Two Moons?

What changes?

In the woods, I climbed an oak, singing my mother's song: Oh, don't fall in love with a sailor boy, a sailor boy, a sailor boy—I climbed higher and higher. Don't fall in love with a sailor boy—

Then the branch I stepped on snapped, and I grabbed out at another, but it was dead and came away in my hands. I fell down, down, as if I were in slow motion. I saw leaves. I knew I was falling.

Walk Two Moons(1994)

She changes from climbing to falling, via a broken branch.

Is this a big or small change?

It depends on what happens when she hits the ground. If she's winded, it's a small change. If she's paralysed or killed, then it's a big change!

This is a pretty easy activity, isn't it?

We are so used to cause and effect in our lives that we tend to recognise this beginning/middle/end type pattern everywhere.

What about The Three Snake Leaves?

The king of a nearby country was a powerful ruler, and at that time he was waging war. The young man enlisted in his army and soon found himself at the front where a great battle was being fought. The bullets flew like hail, the danger was hideous, and his comrades were falling dead all around. When the general himself fell dead, the last of the troops were going to flee, but the young man took his place and yelled: "We won't be defeated! Follow me, and God save the king!"

The men followed him as he led the charge, and they soon had the enemy on the run. When the king heard of the young man's part in the victory, he promoted him to field marshal, gave him gold and treasure, and bestowed on him the highest honours in the kingdom.

The Three Snake Leaves(2012)

The young man changes from impoverished fortune-seeker to wealthy field marshal via the death of the general and rallying the troops to victory.

This is definitely a big change!

Notice how Furia covers a small change and Three Snakes covers a big change, but they are roughly the same number of words.

This is an example of what we call narrative distance: whether you detail a moment in close-up or summarise events from a distance.

This is an important technique in writing, one to explore in another lesson.

So far we've only seen changes that happen within a snippet, but what about change that happens across an entire story?

Stories often use the same situation-action-consequence pattern we've seen in these snippets, but applied across a whole story these elements basically become beginning-middle-end.

Let's sample each of these points from one short story to see how it works.

Change, cause & effect

Change and story architecture