The Plot Device

So most writers have at some point stumbled across Campbell and 'archetypes' and the ever popular story plots. There is nothing new under the sun. Everything has been written before, just in a different way. Yes, there is truth to this. But here's the question-- do you embrace it, or do you reject it?

One could argue that if you follow the pie chart, you'll get the desired results. Kind of like a production line. Consumers like blue cars. Therefore you buy blue paint, spray it on said car, and sell it. Your customers are happy. But how far should we go in terms of art? How much does this inhance or cheapen the forms of artistic expression?

For example, recently Target in association with the Warhol Foundation has come out with themed Campbells soup cans. You can get them in vivid colors of bright yellow and california blue, or magenta and orange. All in commemoration of the famed screen printer and modern artist Andy Warhol.

Now don't get me on my soap box about Warhol to begin with. I could say a few words, at least. Back to the point. Commercialization. Does it help or harm? You look at commercialized and churned out art-- posters, prints, magnets, mugs-- and compare it to seeing the real thing in the museum. Art for the masses. In the same way those cheap romance novels in the airport or the back of the book store...does this help or harm authors trying to get their books published? Does it drain water from the pool and bring us all to a Harrison Bergeron level of equality?

In the end, it doesn't get that forceful. We can write whatever we want. But unfortunately we are at the mercy of our audience. We are trying to sell our work, to make a living. If we just wanted to write for ourselves we could do it. In fact we do do it. But that won't put food in our mouths.

Knowing the story tropes that exist, is it wise to follow them and give our audience something to chase after and recognize or do we simply write. Don't worry about the hero, the adventurer, the call to purpose or the resolution. Write, and the story will figure itself out. These 'tropes' existed before they were labeled, and they'll sort themselves out.

Maybe it'd be a really interesting idea to try and write a story that purposefully has not a single trope to it. Then again, maybe that'd be the most boring story known to man. And then consequently it'd be hailed as the next best thing to Freud.

Challenge. Outline the tropes found in your book. It could be amazing, or amusing. And then try and write that short story that has not a single trope to it. Chances are, you'll fail, or you'll succeed and someone will find tropes in your story via their own interpretation. Isn't that funny how everything can take on so much meaning depending on the set of eyes looking at it.

Whether science fiction or fantasy or horror or nonfiction or self help books, the archetypes and tropes of literary and artistical concepts will find us.

They're watching...they're always...watching...