No matter the genre or time period, all good literature tells something about how to be human. I don’t mean the classic elements for writing like plot, character development, conflict, setting, and resolution to the dilemma. I mean the motives for human interaction: love, honor, quest, change, relationships, violence, fidelity, revenge, sensuality, history, courage, cowardice, defense – these are the scaffolds of writing because they are the markers for living. They are what make people tick, what stimulates their actions. A story should expose the extraordinary range of human behavior, morality, intelligence, corruption, and spirituality.
To me this is key: how one feels about one’s place in the universe and how one functions in response must be the essential blueprint of the story.
Just a Thought 8
Painting The Storm by Pierre Auguste Cot, 1880, courtesy Wikipedia
Sharon Bonin-Pratt's Ink Flare 
Comments on: "The Blueprint of Story" (13)
Reblogged this on Nothing Gilded, Nothing Gained-Period Drama on Paper at Middlemay Farm.
LikeLike
Thank you, Adrienne. I consider this reblog an honor.
LikeLike
Beautifully said and so true. ” mean the motives for human interaction: love, honor, quest, change, relationships, violence, fidelity, revenge, sensuality, history, courage, cowardice, defense –”. What else can there be.
LikeLike
Thank you, Delphini. Someone is probably thinking I left something out or didn’t get it right, but I appreciate your comment.
LikeLike
I do see your point. Maybe that’s why I struggle with writing–because I don’t really care about my place in the Universe. It is what it is. I am what I am. Sigh.
LikeLike
Really? I would say that you care a great deal but perhaps not about what other people think of you. This people thinks highly of you – maybe you’ll be pleased to know that.
LikeLike
Always humbled when visiting your thoughts, Shari.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, Audrey. I look forward to hearing from you.
LikeLike
I think you have hit the nail on the head Sharon. Although I would argue that all writing is literature, not all writing stands the test of time and it is these works that many now classify as literary works. All those essentials you have mentioned I believe will be found in works of this type.
LikeLike
It might depend on how one defines “literature” but that isn’t something I want to get into right now. Certainly some writing touches us more than others, some warrants discussion, some encourages self evaluation, and some makes us want to become writers.
LikeLiked by 1 person
True.
LikeLike
What you described is not just the blueprint, it’s the heart.
LikeLike
Thank you – that’s what I was trying to implicate, in a roundabout way.
LikeLike