Jul 09, 2024 08:00:00

The trick to creating a story is to use the image of 'tying the circle' found in picture books and fairy tales

Some well-known picture books and fairy tales end with a happy ending, like 'And they lived happily ever after,' while others, like some of

the Grimm Brothers' fairy tales , have cruel and horrifying punchlines. These stories with opposing characteristics all have one thing in common: they 'close the circle,' and best-selling author Julia Phillips explains that this is the secret to making a story a masterpiece.

Julia Phillips on the Writing Lessons of Fairy Tales ‹ Literary Hub
https://lithub.com/julia-phillips-on-the-writing-lessons-of-fairy-tales/

Because picture books and fairy tales are often read by parents to young children, there is a tendency for the exciting and thrilling story to end with a romantic and wholesome 'happily ever after.' On the other hand, old tales and Grimm's fairy tales also have stories with 'what goes around comes around' punchlines, such as ' They were all executed as punishment for their evil deeds,' ' When their dual natures were revealed, they were thrown into the forest and eaten by wild animals ,' and ' And thus Hans lost his bride .'

Even in happy stories like ' Cinderella ,' where a prince falls in love with a girl from a hard life and becomes a queen, the punch line is that the family who had been cruel to Cinderella suffered serious injuries as punishment. These violent and punishing stories teach us moral lessons and also teach us what is important in creating stories, Phillips said.

Many picture books and fairy tales begin with a description of the protagonist, the enemy who will hinder the protagonist's success, and the predicament the protagonist is in. By the end of the story, all of these enemies and predicaments are resolved, the protagonist wins, and the villain is punished. Phillips points out that this 'everything introduced at the beginning is resolved in the end' point is important.

Writer and art teacher

Christine Schutt also stresses the importance of 'a continuous story thread.' In a workshop she held around 2014, Schutt said, 'A story is a circle.' According to Schutt, readers can feel a sense of accomplishment when the story unfolds in some way, whether it's an image, a phrase, a relationship, a setting, or an idea, and they reach a place where they've incorporated something they've already developed at the beginning.

'The important concern in thinking about a story is not whether the characters will be happy, but whether the reader will enjoy it,' Phillips said. A fairy tale with a cruel ending may seem painful, but it can be read as enjoyable because it is a necessary element to close the circle that unfolded at the beginning of the story. Even if you write a story in which the characters suffer but have a cruel ending, being conscious of 'closing the circle' will give the reader a happy feeling after reading it and will leave a lasting memory for the reader as a great work, Phillips said.