**The ideas here come from Orson Scott Card in How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy. This is my take on them.**
Last but certainly not least is the Event Story. In an event story, something is amiss with the order of the universe. It can be pretty much anything. The Lord of the Rings is the reappearance of an ancient and powerful evil. Hamlet's disruption is the assassination of the king. The story ends either when a new order is established or when things return to the old one.
White Echoes is such an Event Story. The disruption is the conspiracy. The story is about bringing those responsible for it to justice. It's about revealing their actions to the world.
It's important to note that narration-wise, the Event Story doesn't start with the disruption. It starts when the main character comes in contact with it. The Lord of the Rings starts when Frodo learns about the ring's power (or close enough). Hamlet doesn't start with the assassination, but with Hamlet learning from the ghost that his uncle is behind his father's death.
Most fantasy stories fall under this category. Most of my project do. It's a flexible structure and while you might not have a Milieu story, I believe the event one allows you to show this setting you built with so much care through this disruption.
Orson Scott Card's politics are so severe and he is so vocal about them that it's difficult for me to separate any advice he might have from outright anger of the person. But I think you for at least pointing these out because it is good advice.
ReplyDelete@Michael: Yeah, I heard about that after I bought the book. I'm getting the most out of this since I already bought it and... Well, there's plenty of OTHERS who give good writing advice too.
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