I’ve written before about the importance of failure as an integral part of discovery, creativity, and growth. Today, I want to consider the importance of failure within a story. So often when my students write a first draft, their protagonists are too successful. I point out to them that without the tension and suspense of setbacks and at least the possibility of failure, what one has is wish fulfillment not a good story. If Luke Skywalker and the rebels went from success to success, Star Wars would have been boring as all get out. For me, that was the problem with the first Aquaman movie. Beautifully shot, but Aquaman so outmatched his enemies at every turn, there was no tension about the outcomes whether he was battling human pirates or underseas armies.
But even knowing all this, I find this is something I need to keep aware of as I write. At times I have a trajectory in mind for my character(s). There’s a goal they need to reach, a place they need to get to, something they need to learn or acquire. As I plot them along their way, with this end-goal focus, I sometimes forget to trip them up, or rather to focus on the trip. In fiction, as in life, the journey is the destination. (Theoretically from Ralph Waldo Emerson as “Life is a journey, not a destination” though I couldn’t find an actual source for that; comparable to Alan Watts “Life and Music”).
When I lose sight of this, I find myself having to rewrite in a serious fashion (something that occurred more than one during NaNoWriMo, perhaps because that’s a very goal oriented month). One can’t just toss in obstacles and come up with meaningful change. It’s not just the tension and suspense, but also the consequences for the characters and their growth.
This all brings to mind the classics battle narrative sequence, the aristeia. While used of Homeric battles (and on down), it can be used for a competition. The core of the pattern is the setback, inspiration, and renewal of action. The basic pattern in Homer is:
arming scene (brilliance of armor/hero)
<exhortation to followers> (= encouragement, halftime coach’s speech; most mobile of steps in terms of when it occurs within the pattern; even omitted if hero is solo)
initial exploits
setback (wounding)
(divine) inspiration
renewed exploits (somehow, these will be a step up or more intense the initial exploits)
double simile
the kill (while a lot of folks have probably been killed by this point, this is the big one, the person who has made themselves so hateful we cheer at their downfall)
taunting the victim (you can taunt the victim before or after the kill)
This is the pattern for individual heroism, but whole armies follow the same pattern. You can see this pattern in various forms in many books and movies, though modern books (and certainly movies) may omit the similes. I often use a scene from Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Commando when teaching this. It gives us other things to talk about, such as the ritualized violence without consequence (and the racist dehumanizing of the victims of the violence) vs. the violence in Homer where we know the cost, whichever side the victim was on.
Commando, however, really exemplifies the renewal at a higher level. Before being wounded, Arnold is fighting mostly with distance weapons (guns, a grenade launcher). After the wounding, the combat becomes hand to hand, using improvised weapons from a tool shed. So I consider how to step up the stakes or action after the set back.
Which brings us back from fiction to life. Setbacks (or failures), as I said at the start are necessary elements for discovery, creativity, and growth. It’s not just a matter of picking yourself up and dusting yourself off, but learning from them so you can step up your game as you go forward.
I’ve been trying to find an old story that I heard years ago on NPR, but haven’t been able to. I even resorted to Chat GPT (as I have heard it’s good at identifying vaguely recalled books and movies), but apparently while AI will scrape copyrighted fiction without the author’s knowledge and consent, it can’t help with NPR:
I’m sorry, but I don’t have access to specific NPR stories or their archives. Additionally, my knowledge is based on information available up until September 2021, and I don’t have access to the internet to browse for recent articles or stories.
But here goes my general memory of it (showing that my failure to find it is ironic):
Before the days of calculators and computers, there was a large number that was theorized to be prime. At a mathematics conference, one of the speakers walked up to a blackboard at the front of the room and, without saying anything, wrote out this number. And then wrote a number below it. And then began to divide the top by the bottom number.
Everyone knew what he was going for. His silent work was dramatic and exciting (for the audience of mathematicians). Audience members worked along with him on their own paper, checking his work as he went. When he was done and had a whole number product of the equation, thus proving that the number was not a prime, he got a standing ovation.
The storyteller went on to say the presenter was asked afterwards how long it had taken to figure it out. He said that he had worked on it every Sunday for three years (I think – I can’t clearly remember) and thus for well over a hundred Sundays, basically he had done nothing but fail to prove what he was trying to prove.
The moral of the story was that failure is an integral part of discovery.
Similarly, I recall the words of a tennis coach I worked with: you can be a good tennis player without making any mistakes, but you can’t be a great one.
To quote Natasha Bedingfield,
Sometimes my tries are outside the lines We’ve been conditioned to not make mistakes But I can’t live that way.
Unwritten, the song which is source of the quote above
I tell my students this sort of thing all the time. Making mistakes is part of discovering, part of creating, part of growing. Resilience, of course, has to go hand in hand with this. When I say I’m pro-failure, I’m not suggesting stopping in the morass of failure. Rather I am encouraging the intellectual courage to take chances, get things wrong, and learn from them.
Back in spring, 2005, I was in my final semester of NC State’s creative writing MFA program. I took a novel-writing workshop in which several spots were also made available to non-degree-seeking students. One of those spots was filled by a woman named Sharon Kurtzman. Like me, she was an aspiring novelist. Unlike me, she wouldn’t have as easy a time getting her foot in the door. To cut straight to the chase: over the next 18 years, she would complete six novels and endure scores of agent rejections for several of those; then, after gaining an agent, endure a dozen or more editor/publisher rejections; she would lose two agents in that lengthy process; then she’d gain a third agent and, as of early this year, celebrate the sale of her debut novel to none other than Pam Dorman of Pamela Dorman Books. A person might be tempted to say Sharon spent 18 years failing. She says she spent 18 years learning.
That was a tangent to Fowler’s own story about going from a failed novel to her best-selling Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald. Her path included ignoring advice given to her and taking risks. And Fowler says,
At the time, I didn’t know whether I was saving my career or killing it. What I did know was that I’d recovered my joy in the act of creating, and because of that, I regained my optimism that somehow it would work out for the better. It did.
That really touched me. Frank Herbert would say, “Fear is the mind-killer” but fear is also the joy-killer. Hemming in your creativity in an attempt not to fail, sticking to familiar, safe paths to avoid potential pitfalls of the unknown – these will kill your joy. Your focus will always be on limitations, on what could go wrong. Avoiding the small pains of getting things wrong will cause to you miss out on the greater joys that could await you on the path not yet trodden. When Fowler refused to let her previous failure hem her in, she “recovered [her] joy in the act of creating.”
In a similar vein of all this, I’m now thinking of one time when I was describing an assessment to my students. I said the essay prompt would be of the sort they tended to dislike because there was no clear, right answer. Rather, they’ be assessed on how well they argued their point and how well they grounded that answer in the text. One student asked, “If you know we dislike it, why do you give us such questions?” I said, “Because growth doesn’t come in your comfort zone. Growth comes when you stretch yourself.” The stretch zone moves you beyond comfort but not into an unproductive, deer-in-the headlights, anxiety-filled situation. There’s a nice discussion of it here on this “forest bathing therapy” site. As that say sites, working in your stretch zone also builds your confidence and self-efficacy:
Self-efficacy is a kind of self-belief that usually refers to the confidence that you have in your ability to achieve things.
So when I recommend you take chances, I’m talking reasonable risk – putting yourself in your stretch zone, not just jumping off a cliff -unless it’s merited; and now I’m thinking about that wonderful cartoon from xkcd about bridge-jumping:
If you are ready to try stepping further outside of your Comfort Zone and into your Stretch Zone, here are some tips to help you get started:
Start Small Begin with small challenges that push you just slightly out of your Comfort Zone. For example, if you are afraid of public speaking, start by speaking in front of a small group of friends or colleagues before moving on to larger audiences.
Set Goals Identify specific goals you want to achieve and create a plan to achieve them. Write them down and track your progress. This will help you stay motivated and focused.
Take Calculated Risks Taking risks is essential for growth, but it’s important to do so in a calculated way. Evaluate the potential risks and benefits before taking action.
Embrace Failure Failure is a natural part of growth and learning. Don’t be afraid to fail or make mistakes. Instead, use them as opportunities to learn and improve.
Surround Yourself with Supportive People Seek out people who encourage and support your growth. Avoid negative people who discourage you or hold you back.
Practice Self-Compassion Stepping out of your comfort zone can be challenging and uncomfortable. Be kind to yourself and practice self-compassion. Treat yourself with the same kindness and understanding you would offer a friend.
Celebrate Your Successes When you achieve a goal or overcome a challenge, take time to celebrate your success. This will help you stay motivated and confident as you continue to push yourself outside of your comfort zone.
Remember, stepping outside of your Comfort Zone is a process that takes time and practice. Be patient with yourself and don’t give up. With persistence and determination, you can expand your Comfort Zone, achieve your goals, and experience personal growth and development.
Ramblings 