Hi, I think I got the dates mixed up when I was supposed to post this... and I hope it's the right place. I had a couple of really busy days.
--Ardyth
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Supporting Revision With Literary Criticism
Literary Criticism as a vital tool
Remember high school and or college literature classes, and all those complicated vocabulary words… dissecting stories and writing papers. Fantasy in general largely ignores the academic literary world, and yet, it has something important to offer us. Every story out there says something more than the tale on the surface. Does the reader need to find it to enjoy it? No. But theme and message add beauty and depth to our work. Who doesn't want to touch the minds and hearts of others? Even a comedy can say something deeper—like we need to let go of our fussy nit-picking and remember to enjoy life again.
No tool is more powerful in discovering and bringing out the deeper themes of your story than Literary Criticism. And anyone can do it, not just boring college professors. And every story out there, no matter how common or brief, can be deconstructed with literary criticism. Best of all, Fantasy as a genre is especially open to it, because it draws on deep archetypes that resonate with us. Your story contains powerful images and messages that can touch the human spirit in symbolism you may not even be aware of.
Does that make Literary Criticism finding things that aren't there?
No! Not at all. The images in fantasy resonate deep within us, and by drawing on those, you are being open to your story meaning more.
To demonstrate how easy and useful Literary Criticism is in revision, I'm going to deconstruct a short, 140 word story. This story was told to me about thirteen years ago by my then, four-year-old brother, Jonathan. If a four-year-old can tell a story in 140 words that talks about deep issues of the human nature and soul, so can you.
When I sat down to record his thoughts, Jonathan spent an hour on "world building" and then ended with this one minute tale. On the surface, you'll see nothing stunningly original. But literary criticism can dig deeper into ANY story.Jonathan’s story
"The idiot!" yelled Shadow. Shadow ran to the entrance of the jungle. "Jungle Guardian!" he yelled. Jungle Guardian popped out and said "Boo!" "Dragons!" squeaked Shadow. "What about them?" said Jungle Guardian. "The jungle is on fire," said Shadow. "Won’t you do something?"
The dragons set fire to the jungle and Shadow wants Jungle Guardian to do something.
"Warriors," said Shadow. "Won’t you do something?" A crowd of warrior ran at Veltroe-ger. Veltroe-ger roared and fried them into cinders. "Egad!" screamed Shadow. "Do something Jungle Guardian." Jungle Guardian whistled to Veltroe-ger. He said "Hey, there is a crystal at Mount Heavens." Veltroe-ger started. Boom. Boom. Boom. Then Veltroe-ger stomped off. About a minute later every one in Sablooma could hear the sound of the old creature screaming in distress. "Thank God and thank you too Jungle Guardian," said Shadow.
The Story on the Surface
As you can see, my brother is not some sort of literary genius. Even this short, the story is rife with small problems. Jonathan assumes his reader has read his two pages of world building, as no names of places or people are explained. For example, it's not immediately clear to the reader that Veltroe-ger is defeated by sending him off to attack a more heavily guarded city, by tempting him with a greater prize. And, there's unnecessary repetition, and a host of other simple issues. If my brother saw this story today, he'd probably die of embarrassment.
Yet, it also has promise. There's both external conflict (the burning of the jungle by the dragon Veltroe-ger) and internal conflict (Shadow's struggle to get Jungle Guardian to act). There is sufficient tension, high stakes, and resolution. So, really, it's a story that might be worth revising, if the author cared to. Let's dig a level deeper than simple action.
Character Conflict and Theme
When looking deeper in a story, one easy way to start deconstructing it, is to look at character conflicts. The inner struggle of the main characters and the interactions between characters give us a clue as to what the essential message of the story is.
What jumps out at me is the repetition of the fact that Shadow wants Jungle Guardian to do something about their problem. This highlights a fundamental theme of human behavior… How many times have we had a problem and want someone else to DO something about it? Maybe we feel they're more qualified at fixing it, or that it's their problem, not ours, or we're just trying to get out of our responsibilities… But, noticing that shows that this story is essentially about someone trying to get someone else to act.
Thus, when revising it, keeping that theme in mind would help the author still bring out that message, even if the repetition was removed. When revising, knowing what your major character themes are will help you not lose the essential truth of your story, and keep you focused so that you can enhance that meaning and make it clearer to the reader. Now that you've found your theme, you can bring it to life, and it can better touch your reader.
However, don't stop there! Digging even deeper, using symbolism, you can find even more ways to make the story resonate with your readers.
Symbolism and Deeper Meaning
Examining the theme brings up an important issue in Jonathan's story. All Jungle Guardian does, after all that prodding, is in one sentence redirect Voltroe-ger to another, more inviting looking, target. Why can't Shadow do this? And why is it so easy for Jungle Guardian? To consider this issue, I will play with the symbols in the story.
Jonathan uses symbolic names and elements, which I interpret in my own worldview and culture. The most potent of these is fire. Fire often represents passion, energy, and desire. In this case, the fire is bringing destruction upon the jungle, in the form of the dragon… a possible metaphor for the soul overrun with misdirected energy and desire.
What led me to consider the jungle as the soul? The use of fire combined with the names of the two main characters—Shadow and Jungle Guardian. Often the soul is seen as having two important elements. First our passion, energy, desires, the force within us that drives us forward—fire. Secondly, our balance, order, direction, and structure—water. Shadow hints at the first, Jungle Guardian, at the second.
If we run with these symbols, how does the meaning of the story change? The fiery dragon (raw and misguided desire) overruns the soul, and Shadow, the creative, passionate side of the soul is overwhelmed. He cannot overcome Veltroe-ger, only Jungle Guardian, the ordering and balancing side of the soul can. And how does he do it, but turning the attention of desire (Veltroe-ger) to the divine (Mount Heavens) and the greater treasure there.
Thus, Shadow concludes the story by thanking the parties responsible for balancing the soul (God and Jungle Guardian).
Did Jonathan know all that was in there for the finding? I'm guessing not, but I found it, by looking at the symbols. As I said, any story can be deconstructed with literary criticism and a deeper meaning found. And once you've found it, you can use it to your advantage and make your story stronger.
Using What You Find
The final thing is to consider if you like what you found. Perhaps you didn't intend what you discovered, but once seeing it, does it excite you, catch your imagination? Does it say something you think is worth saying? Does it speak to your heart and soul?
If so, make it stronger. Add little symbolic details, edit out what doesn't fit, and make the inner message shine, even if you think no one else can see it. I've found that someone almost always does, even if it's only one person… there's enough of us out there who like to go treasure hunting through what we read.
But perhaps you'll not care for the message you discovered. Perhaps it says something you don't quite believe… like it's too depressing, or overly cheerful. In that case, you've discovered the tools to change that meaning, and you can purposefully use your symbols and themes to say something different.
Literary Criticism is not something to avoid, fear, ridicule, or look down on. It's a valuable tool, when used in revision, to add layers to your story. And, once you get going, it's a lot of fun! So don't forget this valuable tool when looking over your first draft.
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