what can you learn from traditional stories?
We can use traditional stories to look for the key elements of story structure: the beginning, the middle and the end; the status quo, the conflict, the resolution etc. We can find the theme or universal truth and we can look at ways to change them up to bring a new element to an old story.
what are traditional stories?
Traditional stories have been passed down through the generations, being told and re-told. They are stories that almost everyone comes to know.
They are often called fairy stories. Nursery rhymes are another example.
They have stood the test of time.
They often teach messages or morals and can have elements of culture and tradition.
They often involve myth, legend and folklore.
why it can be good to look at traditional stories.
- These stories have become well established partly because they follow a fundamental rhythm or story arc. There is often a well defined beginning, middle and end. They are satisfying so we remember them.
- They are universally known so there is a great tradition of changing them up, changing the setting, the mood or even the moral. Readers love the familiarity of a set pattern that has been altered in some way.
- As a writer, it can be great fun to follow the general pattern but introduce some of your own ideas. It can take some of the pressure off you when it comes to the story arc because you are following a well-established blueprint.
what could you do with a traditional story?
change some of the key elements?
What if Cinderella was a boy?
What if the story happened now/in the future?
What if Cinderella was a really grumpy, bolshy character? Or she had her eye on someone other than the prince?
you could change the genre...
The three Little Pigs might become a newspaper report of a ‘real’ event. So, you could tell it as if it were non-fiction.
You could turn Jack and the Beanstalk into a science fiction where Jack meets the giant in space.
Goldilocks and the Three Bears could become a humorous story and have the reader laughing at the things she finds in the house or the way she booby traps the bears’ house?
find out about traditional stories from other countries and cultures
Aladdin is a good example of a story that has come from the Middle East and made it into Western popular culture.
Mulan, popularised by the Disney film, is another example of a traditional story that has crossed cultures. A young Chinese girl dresses up as a boy and goes to war. Her story comes from ancient Chinese myth and legend.
Look for other such stories and try to find a way to tell the story in a way that follows the structure of a fairy tale.
look into the story structure of a traditional story
See if you can identify the beginning, the middle and end.
Can you identify the inciting incident?
Can you find the ‘all is lost’ moment?
What can you say about the resolution at the end? Is the final scene a ‘happily ever after’?
I hope you will agree that there is lots of fun to be had with traditional stories
Far from being babyish and boring, they can teach us what makes a story so successful that it stands the test of time, often many hundreds of years.
Few of us will ever achieve that kind of longevity in our stories, but it is a great goal to aim for!