The storyform of a narrative is a specific collection of seventy-five story points that function as a carrier wave, transmitting Author's Intent to an Audience.
The Difference Between Neo and Luke Skywalker is the storyform. Splitting narrative hairs to be sure, but when trimming a story of the useless and contradictory fat and fluff competency demands accuracy. One looks to certainty without proof, the other to experience without checking validity.
Dramatica defines Faith as accepting something as certain without proof, Trust as an acceptance of knowledge as proven without first trusting its validity. While sounding reasonably similar, Faith and Trust inject different motivations into a narrative. Luke doesn't possess a problem with faith, and Neo doesn't maintain an issue with trust. Many believe The Matrix and Star Wars to be the same story Luke Skywalker and Neo are interchangeable. It's seeing the Virgin Mary in a potato chip. Refusing the call to grab the sword from the belly of the beast to return with the transformative elixir is not story structure.
When speaking of similar story structures, we refer to the underlying storyform of the respective narratives, not some heroic journey steeped in the cultural mythos. What do Jamie Foxx and Marlin have in common?īoth Collateral and Finding Nemo tell the same exact story. With shared intent comes a shared structural foundation. While many point to a familiar sequence of beats seemingly inherited from one generation to the next, the reality is the similarity lies in a like-minded purpose. Many recognize the similarities in the structure of different narratives.