From Poets and Writers magazine.
Last year the Atlantic reported that researchers using computer systems to analyze the emotional trajectories of protagonists in nearly two thousand works of English-language fiction found that there are just six basic storytelling arcs:
1. Rags to riches (rise)
2. Riches to rags (fall)
3. Man in a hole (fall then rise)
4. Icarus (rise then fall)
5. Cinderella (rise then fall then rise)
6. Oedipus (fall then rise then fall)
Think of a story you often tell in your own life, perhaps a childhood memory that involves school friends or a family occasion, or an adventurous incident that happened on a trip or vacation. Does it seem to align with one of these basic plotlines? Write a short fiction piece that maps the major elements of your story into a different, unexpected arc.
Note to Trail Brazens: Take this prompt as tightly or loosely as you desire. Feel free to let us know on the FB page if a draft is ready for feedback.
Deadline: February 7 (our next meeting)
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