Structure

    The nature of a story's structure, in my mind, is a topic in which quite possibly every possibility has already been exhausted. Through the ages, every different structural style has been attempted. But that doesn't mean that every story is the same. 

   There are only so many sequences that the ocean can crash upon its shore. There are only so many ways that a story can go up and down. And no one wants to read a story without any waves.

    The real soul of a narrative is held within the individuals portrayed in them, in the small moments, and even in the somewhat obvious details. Like Godzilla is clearly not Beowulf. Tokyo is not Scandinavia. These facts don't change the base plot that they share but I still wouldn't qualify them as the same story. They're retellings with the same plotline but have clear distinctions in the more intricate details of the plot. Like does the scientist find a different monster and die to it after defeating Godzilla? Not to my knowledge but the Godzilla canon is interesting to say the least. Facts like these are what differentiate stories from each other despite their only being a certain few patterns by which an interesting plot can be written.

    Sometimes it's the gurgle of foam on the sand. Other times it's the long lasting whitecaps. Many times it's a difference in the amount of sand dampened. The impact of the sea upon our beaches is always similar but never the same. You wouldn't call a wave you saw today the same as a similar one from years ago. I didn't think so.

     And surely all stories aren't the same because we determined that there we six distinct arcs of storytelling the other day. I'm just saying.