#antitheses

Life, as it turned out, became the greatest creator of all. She shared everything with her brother Death, of course, but over the course of her growth she created creations unthinkable to even Light and the Dark, the mother and father of our world. She worked with Air to make creatures that flew to the skies and with Earth to make organisms that buried themselves in him. She worked with Water and with Fire, although the latter proved less inclined. She worked with Warmth and the Cold as well, who had both settled in respective corners of Earth’s surface, and wanted different creatures each. She worked hard.

Soon Earth was decorated and beautiful, and Air loved her brother even more; so much so that she vowed to protect his creations with Life and always be there for them.

But Life was still not satisfied; her insatiable appetite for creation rivaled that of Light and the Dark, who then decided to assist her in one final, glorious creation. So the three of them vowed to bring something so wonderful to the world that it would only serve to make all of them, Light and the Dark, Fire and Water, Warmth and the Cold, Earth and Air, Life and Death, better.

And they did just that when they created us.

The second-youngest of these eight siblings ended up being the most powerful of all, but her brother Death was a close rival. Fire and Water did not care about power; they were concerned with enabling Warmth and the Cold to assist us. Earth was busy growing all of his magical organisms, and Air, as always, sat in admiration of her brother. Life and Death are the most powerful simply because they work the hardest. That is not to say that the others do not work; Light and the Dark, as we know already, are constantly at battle with each other. But it is a playful one, and every so often Light lets the Dark win. He repays this by letting her win, and they take turns like this: every day. And every day, every year, for forever, Life and Death are in a constant battle over her creations. Death wants what he cannot have, until Life decides she is done with it.

And this is what the Mhyrrs have come to discover: Life is reckless. Life was the Dark’ creation, and in so she took after him in mystery and curiosity. She creates, and she throws away. Death is always there to pick up what she tosses, and brings them to his mother Light. Life is intelligent and beautiful and a master at her craft. Death, on the other hand, is kind.

The Mhyrrs soon became prominent on Earth’s surface, and he agreed with all of his siblings to help us in the best way he could. Hence we get satisfaction from the Warmth of Fire and the Cold of Water; from the Air we breathe and the Earth we sow. To these eight siblings and their parents, we are their proudest creation, the proof that Light and the Dark can reside inside one being, together, aided by Life.

Death was wary, though. He did not know whether the creation of the Mhyrrs was a good thing for him and his siblings, or not. He did not want to see us rip all of Earth’s magical organisms from the ground; to see Water and Air choked and dying because of us. He did not know whether Fire could hold back her temper, and did not want to see her rage through the worlds that the Mhyrrs had started building. He did not want Warmth or the Cold to fight over the Mhyrrs. And above all, he did not want to see Life toss us to the side in favor of another creation, leaving us abandoned.

In the beginning, before the Mhyrr men and women of this earth roamed, there were but two: the Dark and Light.

She was the stars in the sky, the suns that burned with fire and desire, and he was the blackness between, the depth and the mystery abound. And from them, all things come and all things will end.

Their first creation together was that of Fire; a creation that mainly held the whims and wishes of Light. Fire roared, plundered, destroyed, and the Dark and Light needed something to calm her. Hence the Dark had a more of a hand in their second creation, that of Water. At first Water did not match up to Fire’s wrath; he hissed when he touched his sister, fleeing back to the Dark’s safe arms, but soon they began to tolerate one another. And thus from the antitheses Light and the Dark come our first pair of children of the world: the antitheses Fire and Water.

Light and the Dark were not finished yet, however. They wanted to create more children of the world, and vowed this time to work together. Their next creation was one that they simply titled Earth, and he took the form of a large round planet, floating in the Dark, until Light took a piece of herself to warm it. And hence with the creation of Earth, there was the creation of Warmth as well.

But Warmth was lonely. He did not feel as loved by his father the Dark as he did by his mother Light, and so the Dark created a companion for him: the Cold. Together they lived, the second pair of children of the world, the antithesis of Warmth and the Cold. And since Earth begged his mother for a companion as well, she gave him a little sister to play with. And when Air met her older brother, she draped herself around him and never let go. Our third pair of children of the world are these siblings, inseparable ever since.

Warmth and the Cold found homes on Earth as well, and so did Fire and Water. He was happy to host his mother and father’s other creations, as long as they themselves remained alongside their children as well. They happily sufficed, and thought of what else they could give their children. The Dark asked his eldest son for assistance, and soon he and Water had come up with something new, something that could use, feel, see, love every creation as well as the mother and father themselves. Hence, Life was created, on Earth, in Water. Soon she crawled close to Fire, and relished in her Warmth, and basked in the Coldness of Air’s breaths.

But when Light moved closer to see what the Dark had created, Life became scared, and she retreated into herself. Hence when Light finally caught a glimpse of the newest creation, she had twisted herself so fiercely that she became something else.

Thus we see that Darkness created Life, and Light will end it. Death is not to be feared, however; he is simply the antithesis of Life. All Death comes from Life, and all Death comes from fear itself. Only if one fears Death during their Life, in the way that Life feared Light, will they twist and retreat and lose their sense of self. Life soon learned that Light was not to be feared, but the deed was done and her brother Death had been created. The two were able to coexist, though, with the promise that what Life has first, Death will eventually acquire as well.

Writing Prompt: What’s the Protagonist’s Story Argument?

In Ancient Greek philosophy there was a line of thought known as Dialectics “that stresses development (of thought) through a back and forth movement between opposing propositions (opinions),” New World Encyclopedia, http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Dialectic. The first or original opinions, known as the “theses,” were where the arguments began.

In the world of storytelling theses are…

Reviving Kurt Vonnegut’s “Shapes of Stories”

This weekend I was tooling around on the internet and found this video of Kurt Vonnegut drawing out what he called the “Shapes of Stories.” It’s a funny little piece that you should watch–after you read my blog of course. But it got me thinking about the shapes of stories in general and if one chart could be developed that incorporate all the story theories I teach. To make sure I wasn’t wasting…