Four kinds of stories (was Tolkien vs. Rowling)

[Elizabeth Dalton]

No: HPFGUIDX 32205

As some folks know, I have some aspirations toward a writing career myself
someday. (So far all I have is rejection slips, but that's a start, I guess.) In
the course of trying to improve my writing, I've read a number of books about
the subject. My favorites are by Orson Scott Card. (Unsurprising, as I like his
writing rather a lot as well.)

He has an interesting way of categorizing stories, which I'll summarize here,
because it's related to the Tolkien vs. Rowling discussion.

According to Card, all stories (as opposed to books, btw, some of which seem to
be missing any story whatsoever) are about either change, or an attempt to
change that fails. There are four basic kinds of change: Milieu, Idea,
Character, and Event. (Card calls this the M.I.C.E. quotient.) The important
point that Card makes is that the story "begins" when the change is first
attempted, and is over when the change is complete (successful or failure). But
if the author switches story types in the middle, the reader is generally
unsatisfied. This is breaking an implied promise on the author's part. But of
course story types can be mixed or nested together, as well, as long as all the
"promises" the author has made are kept. In fact, I would venture to say that
the strongest stories will have elements of all of these story types in them,
and that a full-length book with only one would be pretty flat.

A Milieu story is a "traveller's tale," and the change is a change in setting.
The story begins when the narrator or POV character leaves home. The story
continues while they marvel at all the sights, then ends as they arrive home
again. "Gulliver's Travels" is one classic example (though of course, that's
really political satire). Many of Arthur C. Clarke's books fall into this
category, as well (though not 2001). I'm not especially fond of these stories,
generally. But this was *one* of the elements in the Lord of the Rings, which is
why the story starts and ends in the Shire, and we get so much description of
everywhere the Hobbits go. Tolkien is showing off his world. We don't get much
of this sense in the HP books, though. There is the fact that the stories begin
and end on Privet Drive, effectively, but they aren't really Milieu stories. We
get some descriptions of Hogwarts, and they're very impressive, but they aren't
the main focus of the story, they are usually in support of one of the other
elements (Character or Idea, usually.) OoP might have some elements of this, if
we leave Hogwarts for an extended period, but I don't think that will be JKR's
main story type in any of these books.

An Idea story is the classic mystery or SF problem-solving story. The story
begins when the characters discover some puzzle that needs solving. The story
ends when they solve it (or fail to, but that's less common in these types
stories, I think). LotR is not this type of story, either. The characters are
pretty sure right from the get-go what needs to be done. However, the HP stories
usually have a strong element of this. Early on in each book, our heroes trip
across some important clues that Something Is Up, and they keep trying to figure
out the pieces until they solve the problem. Usually there are several false
starts and plot twists related to this element. Some SF short stories stop here,
but JKR is doing a lot more with her books.

A Character story is about one or more characters attempting to change. The
story begins when the character decides to change or realizes they may need to
change, and ends when they succeed or fail. As "luminary_extraordinaire" notes,
LotR is not particularly a character story. The hobbits get opportunities for
growth (literally in the case of Merry & Pippin), and Frodo is definitely more
mature and wiser at the end -- Sauruman comments on it in his last scene. But
that's not the focus of the story, and the "great" characters (Aragorn, Arwen,
etc.) don't change. Even Gandalf dies and comes back and is still more or less
the same, just more powerful. Sauruman's lack of change is tragic. Character
change is, however, a main theme in the HP books (and in most "young adult"
literature, I think). The changes are most dramatic in SS/PS and GoF, I would
say, but are certainly present throughout the entire series, and since the
series as a whole is, after all, a story about Harry growing up, it makes a lot
of sense that this would be so. (Another good example of this is Lloyd
Alexander's Prydain series, any of Tamora Pierce's series, or... you get the
idea.) And other characters are changing too. Many of the other kids grow and
change (though Draco hasn't, so far). We even hope that adult characters, like
Snape, may change (just a little ;). Hagrid certainly changes over time. And JKR
gets some "perceived change" out of her adult characters, even when they don't
(presumably) actually change. Dumbledore is a classic example of this.

Finally, we have Event stories. These are when the characters become aware of
some cataclysmic event which is about to take place which will change the world
forever, for better or worse. These are often "good vs. evil" stories, in which
the characters are trying to alter the event to make it less harmful or even to
prevent it, but "comet whacking the Earth and nothing you can do about it"
stories count, too. The story begins when the characters first realize the Event
is coming, and ends when the Event is over (or has been averted) and the
characters are taking stock of how well they've survived it. Both LotR and the
HP stories are Event stories in full, and it is probably their most common point
of comparison, even though they are in fact very different kinds of stories
otherwise.

Let's tally that up again.

For LotR, it was Milieu = yes, Idea = no, Character = not much, Event = Oh yeah.

For HP, it was Mileau = slightly, Idea = yes, Character = you betcha, Event =
better believe it!

Looking at the two series this way, it's easier to see how they aren't really
comparable. They set out to do completely different things, in all except the
Event category. And they deliver on their promises, but they each make very
different promises. They were also written for very different audiences, in
different time periods subject to the writing styles common in those periods. So
I don't think it's fruitful to go on at length about how one is "better" than
another, as it's bound to be a matter of taste. The different story types are
equally valid, but people tend to prefer some over the others.

Not that I would tell anyone to "shut up" about which one they think is better,
of course. Please, carry on all you like. ;)

Elizabeth
(who re-read LotR to prep for the movie she still hasn't had time to see, and is
now stalled in the middle of the Silmarillion)