You can put anything you want in your story… just be careful to frame it the way you want to.
What does that mean? Let’s discuss then practice “framing” some stories together!
During the last stream, a subscriber requested that we talk about framing.
“Framing” is the manner in which you choose to present something in a narrative (a story, a question, anything)
For example:
- “Do you like Pokemon?”
- “Do you like the awesome game Pokemon?”
- “Do you like that baby-game Pokemon?”
They all ask the same question, but the framing is different. 1 is neutral, 2 has a positive framing, and 3 has a negative framing.
Neutral framing is important when writing news, but for writing fiction, it can be very boring Positive/negative framing gives your story/characters personality, however it’s important to be aware of the framing you’re using.
Framing is important to keep in mind when writing about relationships, factions, power struggles, social hierarchies, class structures… pretty much every kind of story out there!
So let’s go over three types of framing, discuss some examples, then practice framing some stories together
#1. Character Framing
How character traits are framed in your story
Let’s say you’re writing a fantasy about a random dude who gains magical powers, then he becomes the savior of an oppressed, ancient magical tribe. Hooray!
You may want to rethink that character framing
You can still write the same story, having the tribe defeat their oppressors, but perhaps frame the character a different way: maybe the random dude tries to help them on his own, fails, and only succeeds in helping when he learns from the tribe, etc.
- For a basic example, in Harry Potter, a significant part of Harry’s character is the fact that he relies on his friends for help
- It’s only by relying on his friends that he makes it through all of the tasks at the end of the book
- The story could’ve been the same, with Harry going alone at the end and there only being the tasks he knew how to do, but the author chose to have tasks he couldn’t do alone
- This frames Harry’s character trait of relying on his friends as a positive thing
- For a different example, in the movie Thank You For Smoking, the main character (a tobacco lobbyist) is attacked at the end and has dozens of nicotine patches slapped onto him, a lethal dose
- However, since he’d been a smoker all his life, he survives the attack, framing his lifelong smoking as a positive thing
#2. Plot Framing
How your plot choices are framed in your story
Let’s say you’re writing a sci-fi story about a company that works poor people to the bone to build spaceships, colonize other planets, and expand humanity to the stars. Hooray!
You may want to rethink that plot framing
You can still write the same story, a company building colony spaceships, but perhaps frame it in a different way: maybe something goes wrong with their slave spaceships, or maybe their ideals don’t on the new planets, etc.
- For another example, in Twilight, a lot of the backlash was due to the positive framing of Bella/Edward’s relationship
- Bella falling in love with a creature that hunts her, is decades older than her, and shows little affection to her beyond stalking felt odd to many readers
- The story could’ve been the same, with Bella and Edward slowly falling in love and getting together, but the framing could’ve been different:
- Perhaps Bella could’ve called Edward out on his creepiness more, perhaps she could’ve struggled more with deciding to be with him, perhaps they could’ve worked together to defeat the MacGuffin bad guys instead of just being a damsel in distress
- Some changes like that would’ve helped frame the plot of their relationship a little more realistically/deeply
#3. Theme Framing
How what your story says is framed by your story
Let’s say you’re writing a mystery where it turns out a maid who was in love with her rich employer killed him. Hooray!
You may want to rethink that theme framing
You can still write the same story, a murder mystery where the maid did it, but perhaps frame it in a different way: maybe the maid was coerced into the relationship, maybe the detective takes pity on the maid and lets her go, etc.
- For another example, in Ready Player One, one of the worst parts of the story was the framing of the theme/ending
- There were no twists, no surprises, it actually turned out that memorizing lots of useless 80s pop culture trivia, and having blind faith in an eccentric billionaire were unironically the right things to do and were framed as positive things
- With just a few changes, the story could’ve been the same, with Wade saving the virtual world and defeating the evil corporation, but the framing could’ve been different:
- Perhaps the final clue could only be found in the real world, to show that there’s value in real life too; or perhaps it all could’ve been a ruse by the crazy billionaire Halliday, to show the folly of devoting your life to memorizing useless trivia
- Some changes like that could’ve helped frame the theme of story to better resonate with readers
In Summary!
- A lot of people misunderstand “framing”
- They see that a book has a racist in it, or sexual shaming in it, or horrific violence in it, and they misinterpret that as the author believing those ideas are all positive
- Usually, they’ve missed that the author has “framed” those ideas as negative by associating the antagonists with them, by having the protagonist change over the course of the story, by ridiculing those ideas themself, etc.
- When you’re writing a story, make sure that the framing of the characters, plot, and theme is what you want it to be, so you don’t accidentally end up creating a story you didn’t mean to!
After that, chat voted on a story idea for us to outline, framing it both negatively as positively.
They voted on this story idea: A kid is living in the shadow of their famous parent.
Here’s an outline for that story framing the idea as negative:
– Mother is a very successful author of grimdark fantasy series, even named her son after the main character in her popular book series, and has trained him to write from day one so he can continue her series.
– The son: “When your family talks to you, it’s like they aren’t even talking to you, but your mom. It’s like you don’t even exist, you are just a reminder of what your parent achieved.”
– The son is rejected from his mother’s alma mater, she is furious at him, and that is the last straw between them.
– The son leaves and resolves to write his own stories that are even better than his mother’s, even changing his name to the villain from his mother’s story.
– He becomes more and more obsessed with being more successful than his mother. He takes up painting, purely because taking breaks increases the efficiency of their main task: writing. It turns out he’s insanely talented at painting, but he won’t pursue it, just sees it as a distraction.
– Years later, he finally strikes gold, writes a successful romance series, and his sales outstrip his mother’s for the first time ever
– He goes to see her, tell her what he’s done, show that he’s surpassed her, but she doesn’t care because it’s a different genre, a lesser genre. Romance, who cares?
– Heartbroken, he starts devoting time trying to surpass her in the grimdark fantasy genre too….
– Years later, he dies from a heart attack, and we get the Wikipedia article on his life
– The books he wrote are just a blip on the page, but after he died, people discovered the paintings he’d made as a hobby, and those are the contributions that his is ultimately remembered for.
And here’s an outline for that story framing the idea as positive:
– Mother is a very successful author of grimdark fantasy books, even named her son after the main character in her popular book series, but she encourages him to find his own path because he’s turning into a bit of a spoiled brat.
– The son: “Whenever I go anywhere, people raise their eyebrows at my name, and then when I tell them who my mom is, they basically give me whatever I want. For free, even!”
– The son is rejected from his mother’s alma mater, this is the first time he hasn’t gotten what he wanted because of who his mother was, and he throws a tantrum
– That is the last straw between them. The mother cuts off the son, finally kicks him out of the house and forces him to create his own life
– For the first time he has to work on his own, doing some crappy jobs, working at Starbucks, just barely making it
– But one day he draws a chalkboard drink advertisement and it’s beautiful. He starts pursuing art/painting adorable animals, but it doesn’t pay very well and it doesn’t look like he’s even going to be able to make rent until…
– A publisher contacts him, asking if he wants to illustrate some of their upcoming children’s books. He happily accepts… but then notices that it’s his mother’s publisher
– Thinking he only got the job from a connection, he asks the publisher if his mother told them to contact him, and they say:
– “Wait, you’re her kid? Your art style is so cute, not grimdark at all. Honestly I’d never suspect the relation. Your mom tried to turn in her own illustrations once and, honestly, they were so bad I laughed at them!”
– Years later, the mother dies peacefully in her sleep, and we get the Wikipedia article on her life
– It mentions her kid, their brief estrangement and the reconciliation, and how the covers he drew for the publisher were the beginning of his own illustrious art career
You can see how we got two very different stories just by thinking about how to frame the initial idea. If you’re ever having trouble trying to turn an idea into a full story, starting by thinking about how you want to “frame” that idea could be an excellent place to begin!
If you want to join us and help write a story by trolling in chat, or share your own writing for feedback, then we’d love to have you join us on Twitch.
And you missed the stream, you can still watch them on the YouTube channel or watch the full stream reruns.
Hope to see you next time, friend!
Featured image: Unsplash