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Every
Good Story
In every story we meet a main character in a specific setting. Once we
meet the main character we soon get the sense that trouble is coming.
Then the crisis comes. The main character enters and goes through all
of the throes of the critical event. In the process of living through
the crisis, the main character either gets help or learns something new
that enables survival of the crisis. Once this new learning or insight
has been acquired by the main character, life is, in some way, never the
same. The end of the story often comes when a recurrence of the same crisis
is successfully met or when there is a 'forever after that'
affirmation of some sort. -Donald Davis
An example of the Story-Form Format:
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Patterns
in Storytelling
You may begin to notice that most of the stories you are telling and
hearing are similar in pattern even if they are quite different in content.
Look at the following version of a simple story-form format to reveal
most of the important elements emerging naturally in the stories you are
finding in your family.
Stories
that Don't Work
Sometimes when a story doesn't quite work it may be because one or more
of the components in the scheme which follows is missing. Again, this
format is not a sacred formula, it is just a check-screen to help us find
holes in our stories which may be more easily filled in once we know where
they are. -Donald Davis
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Finding the Drama
A crisis is any happening which takes a part of our lives with which
we are comfortable and turns it upside down so that we have to adjust
to a world that is shaped different than before. This means that many
of the most significant crises in our family lives are crises we volunteer
for. -Donald Davis
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obstacle
arises, and the character attempts to overcome the obstacle. At first
he meets with failure; but ultimately, he or she is successful."
