The Difference Between Style and Substance in Story

Reading is marvellous. Just think of it: When we read a book, we not only take in a wide array of characters we haven’t known before and affairs we might not even have dreamt about; we also take in the way these things are presented to us. Each word, each syllable, each sound.

You might think I’m a bit esoteric, but that’s what I believe. Writing stories, to me, is a somewhat less condensed version of poetry. The focus might be on the characters and their adventures. But we still get to decide how this story should be told by our narrator: Short and angry phrases with many hard, plosive sounds to scare us away? Or rather colloquial and charming? Maybe even meandering sentences that bury themselves into our mind and create a unique atmosphere? – The choice is ours.

And while readers might not pick up on every little choice we have made over the writing of our story, it is still our duty as writers to choose. In good books, readers will feel that each word is used because it absolutely has to. Because any alternative would be ever so slightly wrong.

And still – that’s truly the pain of being a writer – readers mustn’t ever tell how much thought has been put into a carefully crafted story. Or else they won’t be able to immerse themselves into the story. They’ll only appreciate the style.

And that’s why it is so important to study both the inner and outer workings of story. To understand that in writing we create more than one plane on which everything unfolds, but several. There is content, and then there is form.

Content: The WHAT? of Story

(Please note that most of this and the following section is heavily influenced by “Einführung in die Erzähltheorie” by Matías Martínez and Michael Scheffel. I don’t claim anything as my own original thought. I just want to bring the concept closer to you.)

Content is simply put everything that happens in a story. It’s not only plot, it is about everything that goes on – the narrated world, the narrated characters and their narrated actions: In Lord of the Rings, content isn’t only about Frodo’s quest to destroy the ring; it’s also the songs, and the history and the landscape. It is all the information a story presents – plot or not.

Here’s a more detailled look at it:

Let me try to explain it with an example. The Hunger Games seem adequate because if you’re like most of the world you’ll know its contents.

A beat is something that happens inside the world the story tells without any impact: It’s Katniss going to the market, or Haymitch throwing up during preparations. These moments add to exposition, characterisation and atmosphere. But they don’t create change.

An event, however, must create change: When Katniss volunteers herself for the games, she changes from inactive to active. She hears her sister’s name, realises she cannot let her endure the injustice of the world the way she did and begins to stand up to the Panem government by volunteering. Events are what drive a story forward.

Now, history is the mere mass of events and beats neatly ordered chronologically. There is a revolt in District 13. Katniss takes part in the Hunger Games. President Coin dies. These things happen one after the other, but without being connected, they’re still simply history.

This changes, when we connect the dots. Because of the revolt, the Hunger Games are instated. That’s why Katniss has to take part in them (to save her sister.) Her participation leads to a revolution, which in the end costs President Coin her life. What was only history becomes plot, as soon as one event leads into the next.

The last thing to talk about is structure: Structure is the bigger picture. It ranges from such global things as inciting incidents, acts and character arcs to tropes and genre. When we talk about structure, we don’t talk about events or plot points – we talk about a story as a whole.

Here, I’ve tried to visualise things for you, before we move on:

Form: The HOW? of Story

Once you have figured out what to write, you need to decide on how you want to write it. Which events do you want to simply talk about? Which do you want to showcase? And which will you completely ignore in your book?

Form includes the whole literary presentation: the order and pacing of the plot, the literary voice and style and so much more. It can be split into these two groups:

Let’s return to good old The Hunger Games for clarification:

Story is the plot in the order the narrator chooses to tell it. In The Hunger Games’ case, the story follows the game closely, every now and then flashing to the past by way of memory and stories told by other characters. Which sounds easy, but must be carefully done. Good story is masterfully paced and structured to create the ultimate reading experience.

Narration might be called the embellishment of stories. The word choice, the sentence structure, the tone. For The Hunger Games, that’s Suzanne Collin’s simple prose and dry tone, that gradually grows even colder over the series. Good narration is like a bridge built between story and reader – a bridge that allows the emotions to pass from one to the other.

Content Dictates Form

The most valuable lesson I have ever learned for my writing is this: Content dictates form. – It may sound simple, but it’s a powerful thought to help you power through your writing.

In its most basic form, it tells you to choose the writing style and voice that fits your story and narrator. Analytical minds, such as detectives, might narrate in a more structured way. Whereas someone escaping from an asylum might ramble on. In short, your narration characterises your narrator. Therefore it should stem from the narrator’s character.

But it will also help you decide much more: Say you’ve decided on a plot to tell. How will you tell it? If you listen to the plot’s theme and core elements, you’ll learn in which order to put everything, what narrator to choose and which metaphors to use.

Once Suzanne Collins decided to tell Katniss’s plot, she knew that to create the suspense inherent in her story, she would have to start at the day Katniss volunteered for the games and end at the day that she killed the despot. She knew she had to start heavy and grow even heavier, because the content started heavy and grew even heavier, and the characters did so, too. The Hunger Games is a satisfying book series because its content dictated its form in every detail.

What Can We Learn From This?

Once again, I have written a lot, most of it hopefully useful. But I think it’s only fair to you to summarise what you can take away from this for your own writing.

1. Good plot doesn’t mean good story. It needs good narration as well. Keep that in mind as you write.
2. Your narrators are characters in your story. Use their voice to define them, just as you would dialogue for others.
3. Plot means that things change and inescapably lead to one another. If you want to write a compelling plot, make sure every action motivates the next and results in change.
4. Content dictates form. Don’t force your story into a corset it doesn’t belong into. Tailor the narration to perfectly fit its style, themes and overall tone.

Happy writing,
F.G.

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