Where the action is happening is relevant to the themes and messages gained within the text. Field of Action:įield of Action is the setting the story takes place in, but more than that, it is the emotional and mental space in which insights interact with the reader.įirst, the setting helps support the arc of the story. It is only the way the writer uses time to build their story. It took me a while to understand this concept, because I thought there had to be more to it, but no. We see significant events happen when they are essential and gloss over moments that have no impact on the story. Harry Potter uses configured time by jumping through the months of the school year. Using the flow of time and flash-forwards and flashbacks shape the transformational arc. Clock time and configured time are not the same things, but it does have to make sense to the reader. It configures time in a way to best shape the transformation and stimulates a response from a reader. The second key element’s goal uses time to support the transformation. In Save the Cat! It is known as the dark night epiphany: the moment when the character realizes the answer to their flaws and makes the change. Harry Potter goes through a transformation from a muggle, nobody child, to a wizard excelling in the wizarding world in “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.” At the same time, I’m rooting for him to succeed – feeling his emotions and going through the transformation with him.Įvery transformation has a significant turn, a point in which the transformation hinges upon. When I read a story, I feel I’m a part of the world and feel a connection to the characters on the page. Save the Cat! is considered a transformation machine – plotting the character’s change over a period of time and how that change affects the reader. More than changing the character through a story, it encompasses the transformation within the reader on an emotional and intellectual level. The transformational arc is the first, and perhaps the most crucial element of literature.
Without further ado, I share my findings with you! 1. After reading a plethora of books, analyzing them, and picking them apart, I was able to see what they mean and how they can help my writing. I have struggled to understand these terms and didn’t get it until my Literary Genres for Creative Writers class. The eight key elements are a transformational arc, configured time, field of action, persona, voice/style, point of view, conflict/tension, and imaginal patterns. your writing must use these eight elements to be taken seriously.
It doesn’t matter the genre: fiction, poetry, non-fiction, drama, etc. All classes talk about the elements, in one form or another, sometimes with different names, but always referring to the same thing. During my first year in my creative writing master’s program, the realization that all literature has eight common elements: hit me.
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