Effective stories grant an audience several different points-of-view on the problem at hand. But due to the inherent “warping” effect different perspectives can have on a subject, it is also essential that a story take into account all the different permutations a story can take. One theory of story provides an Author with the tools necessary to complete this task.
For the longest time, the world’s population believed the Earth was flat. They also believed that we sat at the center of the Universe. What was fundamental to their ignorance? A lack of proper context. This same deficiency permeates the world of story structure. However instead of the Flat-Earth Society, fans of meaningful stories find themselves facing off against the Protagonist-Centrist Society.
Characters need to have goals, right? If they don’t the Audience won’t know what the character is all about. At least, that is the common perception. Unfortunately, giving a character a goal without fully integrating it into the structure of a story leads a work of narrative fiction open to all sorts of tragic issues.
Why is it many can be so quick to brush off a particular understanding of story structure? Having their trust so completely eroded by those who came before, those who tried and failed to explain the real purpose of story, many would rather stick their head in the sand than experience further disappointment. The time may have come for those individuals to dip their toes in the water once again.