What if I write a story like Cast Away, and there’s really only one or two characters? Would you just downsize you ‘Big World’ to fit those one or two characters? or would you just skip that type of conflict?
That’s such a good question. Castaway has achieved a sense of the Big World in some creative ways, but also, Castaway is an anomaly in its storytelling. It breaks many of the rules we’ve been discussing.
I think Castaway has some assets that compensate for what it lacks in story structure. Really, it was an absolutely masterful performance by Tom Hanks (who was extremely popular when the movie was released) that sold the movie. It’s also a very unique and well-executed movie in every other respect. Sometimes if we can get enough spectacle in other areas of our production, we can get away with weak storytelling.
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen it. However, as I recall, one of the big ways that the storytellers maintain a sense of the bigger world is with the one package that Tom Hanks’s character refuses to open and keeps with him. That ties him to the bigger world and a bigger team, he is FedEx and FedEx delivers their packages, no matter what. We’re also aware of secondary characters through Tom Hanks’s performance, even though they don’t necessarily appear on screen.
And of course, Wilson (they volleyball) is a brilliant move–to invent a secondary character that can perform some (although a limited version) of the functions we’ve discussed. From the protagonist’s perspective, Wilson is an intelligent, interactive character, even though it’s obvious to us that Wilson is the product of the protagonist’s imagination.
To pull off a story like Castaway as a book, and to find an audience for that, would require absolutely masterful, beautiful prose and require that you’re executing on as many story elements as possible. What you do have present in the story needs to be functioning at 110%.
I don’t recommend starting with a story like this. That’s something that you’re going to want to build up to. Master the art of story with a more basic structure first, THEN challenge yourself to break the mold and do the thing that 99.99% of writers cannot pull off.
I hope that helps!
Personally, I think even small stories have to touch on the big world in some way, or we have no reason to care. BUT, I also believe you can have that effect even with intimate or isolated casts.
To use your own example, I actually think Castaway has brilliantly strong Big World conflicts – the fragility of humanity vs. the merciless power of nature (external) and the emotional resilience of an individual vs. each individual’s need for others (philosophical). (I suppose first glance you might think that second one is Tom Hanks’ internal conflict, but I would say his internal conflict is more specific than that, and has to do with overcoming the arrogance he shows at the beginning of the story).
I think Brad was right to say that a story without each of those things can still be a story, but probably not a novel-length story. But, I would also double check whether you may already have big-world conflicts at your disposal that you just haven’t clearly defined yet. Would you be willing to share more of what your story is about? I love intimate stories too, I’d be interested to hear more about yours.
My story is about two siblings who go on an adventure to an island to find treasure. But when their parents don’t come and find them after the plane crashes, they find ways to survive alone with only nature’s resources. Jedediah wants to sail across the sea in a homemade raft, while Rachel just wants to stay and find the treasure. When Jed finally convinces Rae to sail home, they hit a storm and are thrown back on shore. An old Scottish hermit who was also stranded on the island kidnaps them and keeps them as slaves. When they finally escape they find themselves in a fast flowing dark river headed straight for a deep cave.
Well… that’s probably all i should tell, or I’ll spoil the story. Haha!
Anyhow there’s not a whole lot of people to interact with. though I am thinking of added another slave or two to the Scottish hermit scene. We’ll see.
Thanks for getting back to me, I see what you mean about Castaway, and I think that will help me a lot. Thanks Jessie!
-Colleen A.