A Tale of Two Story Forms

We’re celebrating the release of Anita Mae Draper’s short story “Here We Come A-Wassailing,” available as part of Guidepost Books’ A Cup ofChristmas Cheer collection. Despite its compact size, HWCA-W packs two story forms into its pages: the road story (or road trip story) with the cabin (often called “closed circle” in mysteries) story. In honor of Anita’s new story, I thought I’d look at the structure of these two fiction types.

Road stories chronicle a character’s journey from one point to another. It sounds simple enough, but in true story fashion, there are obstacles along the way that impede the journey. Fortunately the character will frequently gather allies who assist him (or her) in overcoming the obstacles. These allies and obstacles cause the main character to grow, so that the character has changed in some fundamental way by the time he reaches his destination.

Take for example, The Wizard of Oz. Protagonist Dorothy  (along with her dog Toto) lives a rather dull and boring life on her aunt and uncle’s Kansas farm. But when she is suddenly whisked away to the magical land of Oz, she needs to figure out how to travel home. The journey is both concrete (Dorothy has to physically walk down the yellow brick road) and symbolic (Dorothy is also on a journey of self-discovery). She makes allies (Lion, Scarecrow, Tin Man) and encounters obstacles (the Wicked Witch of the West and a wizard who isn’t really a wizard). The story ends when Dorothy returns to Kansas, newly appreciative of her life and family.

Some other famous road stories are Voyage of the Dawn Treader (C.S. Lewis), Journey to the Center of the Earth (Jules Verne), and Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, and Dorothy Lamour starred in a series of road story movies, conveniently named Road to ___. (In short, if the book or movie has “voyage,” or “journey,” or “road” in the title, there’s a good chance it’s a road story!)

The cabin or closed circle story seems to be the opposite of a road story. Two or more people find themselves trapped together by circumstances. They may be detained in a hotel during a storm or trapped on a deserted island without a way of returning to civilization. While the setting of a road story is ever-changing, these cabin/closed circle stories take place in a single setting. The fun (or danger) comes from the unlikely combination of characters.

For instance, the famous TV show Gilligan’s Island has seven very different people stuck on an island together: the bossy Skipper, goofy Gilligan, rich and aloof Mr. and Mrs. Howell, elegant Ginger, brainy Professor and girl-next-doorish Mary Ann. Despite their disparate backgrounds and personalities, they have to find ways to work together.

What happens in the cabin (or hotel or country house or train or space ship) depends on who is stranded there. When the story is a closed circle mystery, it’s quite possible one of the characters is a murderer. The other characters need to figure out the identity of the murderer before they, too, fall victim. In a cabin romance, the forced proximity offers an unlikely couple the chance to get to know each other. Many survival movies (and countless Star Trek episodes) also utilize the concept of people (or people and aliens) stranded in a single location where they are forced to work together in order to survive.

For example, Beauty and the Beast is at heart a cabin romance. The beast confines himself to the castle because of his hideous appearance and Belle is trapped because of her promise to remain. Alone with only singing household furnishings for company, a peculiar pair forms a unique bond. Some other examples of this type of story are Murder on the Orient Express (set on a train), Key Largo (set on the island of Key Largo during a hurricane), and Apollo 13 (set in a space ship).

(Since we're beginning our Christmas celebrations early here on Inkwell, I suppose I might as well confess that after years and years of annual It's a Wonderful Life watching, I have trouble picturing Lionel Barrymore as anyone other than the meanest, richest man in Bedford Falls.)

As to how Anita’s story combines elements of both these story forms…well, for that, you’ll have to read it yourself. Just leave a comment with a “safe” version of your email addy (i.e., name at provider dot com/net) by 11:59 Monday, October 20 for your chance to win a free copy.

And be sure to share your favorite road stories, cabin romances, or closed circle mysteries.

After leaving the corporate world to stay home with her children, C.J. Chase quickly learned she did not possess the housekeeping gene. She decided writing might provide the perfect excuse for letting the dust bunnies accumulate under the furniture. Her procrastination, er, hard work paid off in 2010 when she won the Golden Heart for Best Inspirational Manuscript and sold the novel to Love Inspired Historicals. You can visit C.J.'s cyber-home (where the floors are always clean) at www.cjchasebooks.com

  

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

A year ago (almost this week) hubby and I saw WICKED on Broadway. We bought the cast recording and listened to it over and over again during the drive from New York to Oklahoma. On the first listen, our kids were "huh?" By the time we reached home, they were begging to see the musical. They did. In OKC a couple months later. In June we took them to see it again in Tulsa. We are WICKED fanatics.

I keep waiting for someone to ask, "But did you read the book?" Umm, no, but my oldest daughter has. "Have you read the original, the one that stated it all?" Umm, well, I read the first four chapters when I was writing my next Heartsong release, THE MARSHAL'S PURSUIT.

Last month I put other things aside and finally read L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (written in 1900). Don't think you know the story. Read it.

  

AN INVITATION TO LEAVE THE KNOWN

As she travels to Oz, Dorothy meets three others who are also desperate to find the "one thing" they think they need so very badly. 

"Did you speak?" asked the girl, in wonder.

"Certainly," answered the Scarecrow. "How do you do?"

"I'm pretty well, thank you," replied Dorothy politely. "How do you do?"

"I'm not feeling well," said the Scarecrow, with a smile, "for it is very tedious being perched up here night and day to scare away crows."

"Can't you get down?" asked Dorothy.

"No, for this pole is stuck up my back. If you will please take away the pole I shall be greatly obliged to you."

Dorothy reached up both arms and lifted the figure off the pole, for, being stuffed with straw, it was quite light.

After Dorothy attended to the Scarecrow's external bondage, she invited him on her journey to the person who had the answer to his internal need. She did the same with the Tin Man and Cowardly Lion. Each had the choice to accept Dorothy's offer of a the possibility of a better life, or to reject it. 

THE JOURNEY IS NOT EASY.

A friend once said to me: "I think I'm just feeling out of sorts, out of control. Things are not peaceful in my heart or my soul right now. I think God wants to work something in me, and I need to allow Him to, but it has been difficult. When the Bible calls it refiner's FIRE, it isn't whistling dixie."

The refiner's fire is hot and unpleasant. Forget going home to Kansas if it means enduring poppy fields, wicked witches, winged monkeys, fighting trees, hammer-heads, or giant spiders. Put me back on that pole. Yes, it scratched, but I was used to it. I knew what to expect. Hide my oil can. Doesn't help my complexion anyway. Let me posture in denial of my fears. Being a scardy cat keeps me out of the ER. Because even though I survived this calamity, I know--I KNOW--something bad will happen again.

Get me off this yellow brick road, Lord. I am tired of running this race. I am tired of fighting the good fight.

In Strong Women, Soft Hearts, Paula Rinehart puts it this way: "People often complain of such things during the season of life--like someone drilled a hole through their souls. While everything looks the same on the outside, they feel hollow and restless, bored in ways that make no sense."

"But that isn't right. The King of Beasts shouldn't be a coward," said the Scarecrow.

I know it," returned the Lion, wiping a tear from his eye with the tip of his tail. "It is my great sorrow, and makes my life very unhappy. But whenever there is danger, my heart begins to beat fast."

"Perhaps you have heart disease," said the Tin Woodman.

"It may be," said the Lion.

"If you have," continued the Tin Woodman, "you ought to be glad, for it proves you have a heart. For my part, I have no heart; so I cannot have heart disease."

"Perhaps," said the Lion thoughtfully, "if I had no heart I should not be a coward."

"Have you brains?" asked the Scarecrow.

"I suppose so. I've never looked to see," replied the Lion.

"I am going to the Great Oz to ask him to give me some," remarked the Scarecrow, "for my head is stuffed with straw."

"And I am going to ask him to give me a heart," said the Woodman.

"And I am going to ask him to send Toto and me back to Kansas," added Dorothy.

"Do you think Oz could give me courage?" asked the Cowardly Lion.

"Just as easily as he could give me brains," said the Scarecrow.

"Or give me a heart," said the Tin Woodman.

"Or send me back to Kansas," said Dorothy.

"Then, if you don't mind, I'll go with you," said the Lion, "for my life is simply unbearable without a bit of courage."

"You will be very welcome," answered Dorothy, "for you will help to keep away the other wild beasts. It seems to me they must be more cowardly than you are if they allow you to scare them so easily."

"They really are," said the Lion, "but that doesn't make me any braver, and as long as I know myself to be a coward I shall be unhappy."

Some of us need to reclaim our bodies, others need to reclaim their minds, and many more need to reclaim their hearts so that they may really live. In their book Sacred Romance, Brent Curtis and John Eldredge share: 

"In the end, it doesn't matter how well we have performed or what we have accomplished--a life without heart is not worth living. For out of this wellspring of our soul flow all true caring and all meaningful work, all real worship and all sacrifice."

God does not desire any of us to live in any form of bondage.

Jesus said, "The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give [you] a rich and satisfying life."

"Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good....Listen, that you may live." Isaiah 55:2, 3 (NAS)

I love how Rinehart writes, "What God asks of us is both simpler and more profound than adherence to a system of beliefs or following a set of rules. He asks us to walk in an honest pilgrimage where we let Him show us what real strength, and real love, are all about." That's one yellow brick road I want to travel. 

Dorothy stood up and found she was in her stocking-feet. For the Silver Shoes had fallen off in her flight through the air, and were lost forever in the desert.

Aunt Em had just come out of the house to water the cabbages when she looked up and saw Dorothy running toward her.

"My darling child!" she cried, folding the little girl in her arms and covering her face with kisses. "Where in the world did you come from?"

Well, Aunt Em, I was on this awful, amazing, scary hard adventure to find a way back home. Along the way I met some friends who, like me, decided we were tired of the life we had and knew we wanted to really live, so we followed a golden path to Someone who showed us how to reclaim our minds, hearts, bodies, and find our way home. 

I don't know what holds you in bondage, but I want you to know that you are not alone. A trained professional can be reached here or here or here.

Serious Question of the Day: Is there any one area of your life where you feel God is stirring in your heart to move you out of the stands and onto the playing field?

Non-Serious Question of the Day: Which character in The Wizard of Oz do you most relate to.