Cause and Effect – Free Storytelling Course

Hello friends!

Continuing our Free Storytelling Course, today we are going to talk about one more important aspect in any and all stories, which is the relationship between causes and effects. While stories capture our curiosity for emotion, our rational nature also demands that the narrative be logical.

We are not going to enter here into a philosophical discussion about logic, about causes and effects, as this is not our intention. For our purposes, it is enough to know that a story, basically, is a concatenation of internal and external events. For this concatenation to arouse our interest, it has to be coherent, it has to have an order that makes sense.

So that we don’t have to go deeper into questions of knowledge, philosophy and psychology about how causal relationships occur, let’s describe cause and effect relationships as follows:

1) If

2) So

3) Therefore

These three words help us to create and verify whether the conduct of the narrative makes sense, coherence and logic. We can start with a completely illogical narrative, as we say around here, “without head or tail”:

1) If I go to the United States

2) Then I will meet aliens

3) Therefore, I should not go to the supermarket

As we can easily see, these three sentences – together, united – make no sense at all. Of course this is a bizarre and extreme example of the lack of coherence. However, in some narratives, we may encounter some problems in this aspect of the story. Less serious problems, it is true, but the difference is only one of degree.

At the other extreme, we can find a relationship that makes sense, that has a connection between the three sentences and that are intelligible:

1) If I go to the United States

2) Then I will find people who speak English

3) Therefore, I must study English to be able to talk to them

Makes a lot more sense, doesn’t it?

An interesting point to be noted is that cause and effect relationships continue to be valid even in fantastic, science fiction, futuristic, and cartoon stories. That is, a story, in a movie or novel, does not have to be realistic to have logic.

A golden rule for those who are taking our Course also to create stories is that of Jorge Luis Borges. The great author of fantastic realism said that a good fantastic story had to have just one fantastic element. The rest should be normal.

For example, in the wonderful storybook Aleph, we have two magnificent stories. The Aleph tells the story of a point in space that people could see all space, that is, looking through it, the whole universe became visible. In another tale, Immortais, the protagonist seeks and finds the source of immortality and the immortals, beings with all time.

There are two stories, each with a touch of the fantastic. That is, he did not create a story that united a point through which all space was there and, at the same time, immortal beings existed. His rule is that each story should only have one fantasy die in addition to the reality.

And, therefore, in each of Borges’ stories we can see how this unusual element joins a coherent narrative, with meticulous details that instigate us to continue reading and find out what will happen.

In other words, we can go to the cinema to see a movie about aliens. The fact that the film has the presence of aliens does not mean that the film does not have to have logic. Some aspects may remain unexplained (such as the fact that the aliens speak our language), but with regard to the construction of the story, the author will have to make bridges between the three elements:

1) If aliens are among us and are hiding

2) So, it’s up to the protagonists to find the bad guys and punish them

3) Therefore, all mankind will be safe

What is important to note here is that, although it is surreal and even bizarre, there is a logic between the sentences. We can see all the other content we worked on in previous lessons: purpose of the characters, specific details, protagonists and antagonists, and so on.

Causes and effects – Inside and outside

We can find the cause and effect relationships in two dimensions: the internal dimension and the external dimension. As we already studied in the lesson on internal and external objectives, it is necessary to understand that what has more weight to arrest the curiosity of the reader or listener are the cause and effect relationships. internal. But let’s go by parts.

First, we need to describe exactly what is an inside or internal cause and what is an outside or external cause.

An external cause and effect is the what happens in the world or through connection with the other characters, while an internal cause and effect is the why what happens externally matters.

For example:

In one scene, we see the passionate wife waiting for her husband. However, the minutes, the hours go by and nothing from him arrives. Then, she starts to get worried and nervous. Therefore, she calls all her acquaintances for news. (this is the what happens externally).

Our protagonist, the husband, however, could not have arrived for a series of reasons, right?

If he encounters a major accident on the way home, involving a truck and a school bus, then he stops whatever he is doing and tries to help as much as he can. So with the tragic situation he forgets to call home.

Another possibility might be less noble.

If he meets his lover when stopping to buy some things at the supermarket, then he feels desire and goes to her house. Therefore, he does not call his wife, and on the way back he thinks of a reasonable excuse.

Both alternatives are logical, coherent. However, what happens externally is less important than why it happens.

And, to conclude, we also have to consider that when we tell a story or create a completely new one, we have to analyze whether the cause and effect relationships that are present are important, relevant, valuable for the continuity of the story.

Otherwise, by inserting cause and effect relationships without needing to, we will be going into digressions. To check whether or not we are entering a digression, just ask:

And?

Does this affect the continuity of the story?

Does the reader or listener need to know this?

If I cut this part, will it make a difference?

In the next text, we will talk about “what can go wrong, ends up doing”.

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