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Inciting action. Rising action. Climax. Falling action. Resolution.
That's the way students are taught to see and write a story in school, and it's still the way most television dramas and movies structure their plot arcs. Problems are developed and solved in an hour, with film-makers and directors usually skipping the parts that are boring or less dramatic in favor of slam-bang conflict shots.
The one-hour fix is part of the reason it's sometimes so hard to switch off the television and go back to real life. After all, our problems rarely fit into such a convenient little package. On television, we can be sure a problem is on its way to resolution when the clock hits quarter-of. In real life, we can feel stuck in the rising action for days, weeks or months.
My senior prom started out with all of the prerequisites of a girl-meets-boy romantic comedy. I went stag but danced all night with a boy who came as the friend of a friend. My best friend stumbled on us on our next date to watch a musical in the park and wouldn't leave. Three hours later, they dropped me off at my house and continued on the date that was originally mine.
Talk about a plot complication!
A Hollywood plot would have a good answer for this. There'd be a hilarious revenge scene, or the boy would give a romantic apology with the aid of roses and a rock band. But life isn't like Hollywood, and I never saw the boy again. It also took me a long time before I was able to call my friend without getting angry. Not exactly the kind of story that's finished in an hour or two!
Imagine the Hollywood pitch session for that movie, with a skeptical producer inquiring where the "happy ending" was.
"Well, she learned a lot about self-worth and forgiveness," says the enthusiastic screenwriter - a great lesson, unless you're a Hollywood producer looking for a boxed, mass-appeal resolution.
Groundlings once packed theaters to see William Shakespeare's comedies, including the aptly titled All's Well That Ends Well. The jokes in our movie comedies are different today, but our yearning for a happy ending is the same: We want to see the right couples end up together, the right things happen to the right people and for everyone to go home happy. We want to see the villain get his due.
But that's not always what happens.
The stories of our lives are too complicated for Hollywood. Our days are not comedies or tragedies but something that transcends categorical definition.
I plan on rising with the rising action, taking problems as they come and not worry that my life doesn't fit a certain genre. After all, we are the ones who write our own stories. We define our own happy endings. We get to choose where the plot goes next, instead of sitting back in cushy theater seats watching Hollywood do it for us.
We get to produce, direct and write the movie of our lives, and all-day, year-round tickets are free. Is that a great deal or what?
Karen Osborne is a syndicated columnist for Catholic News Service.
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