Aw, great stories. Tales as old as time. Legends, parables, myths, histories, mysteries. All different types of stories. If you strip it all away, what are the basics of a story? What's required for good entertainment? Well, we're diving into all of it today, and it's turning out to be a history episode of Hello from the Van. Before we begin today, we need to lay the groundwork with new words. Today we have three new words. The first is plot. Plot is just a fancy word for what happens in a story. When someone says, hey, that looks like a good movie, I wonder what that's about, and then you tell them what happens, you are explaining the plot. Our next word is protagonist. Protagonist. Protagonist is the main character of the story. They drive the story forward with their actions, and the story centers around them and their decisions. How do you know someone is the protagonist? Well, in kid shows, it's normally the first person we are introduced to and whose journey we follow throughout the story. A lot of times it also is who the story is named after. Think Goldilocks, the three little pigs, Cinderella, finding Nemo. Nemo is the protagonist, he's the main character. Little Red Riding Hood, she's the protagonist, she's the main character. And the list goes on and on. And for our final new word of the day, the word is antagonist. This is the person who fights against the protagonist. In kids' stories, this is normally the bad guy. To antagonize means to provoke or to anger. So the antagonist is the person who fights against the hero or the protagonist. And where do these names and ideas come from? Well, it's from one man, he's very old, a Greek philosopher and playwright named Aristotle. Aristotle lived well over 2,000 years ago, but his impact on the way that we tell stories and watch movies and consume media is felt every single day. You see, Aristotle was not just a playwright, he was a philosopher and a scientist. He was a student of another philosopher named Plato. Aristotle's works on philosophy, physics, ethics, biology, logic, and everything else have an enduring impact on many fields of study. Okay, okay, we get it. So some dead guy from over 2,000 years ago wrote a lot about a lot of things. How does that impact us today? Well, the answer is about one very specific set of essays called the Poetics. The Poetics are a group of writings that defined what makes good entertainment. In Aristotle's day, he was talking specifically about stories and plays, but today we apply his framework to everything, all sorts of media, from YouTube videos to blockbuster superhero films that we see at the movies. All are impacted by Aristotle's poetics and his guidelines for what creates a good story and entertainment. There are a lot of different story types, and all of them are connected to Aristotle. As part of the poetics, Aristotle talked a lot about what you need for something to be truly entertaining. We're going to talk about that in a later podcast because today we are going to focus on only one part of the poetics, and that is the plot. Plot or story is what Aristotle deemed the most important of all of the aspects of entertainment. The foundation of good and lasting entertainment is the story. Aristotle even goes as far as to define what that means. Here's what he broke down all of those thousands of years ago. Every great story has three basic parts: a beginning, a middle, and an end. I know, I know it seems super obvious, but as someone who spent decades of her life and multiple degrees and thousands of dollars studying storytelling, trust me, it has not always been obvious that all stories need a beginning, a middle, and an end. Today, especially in movies and online media, we call this type of structure the three-act structure. I'm going to use the classic tale of the three little pigs to help explain this to you. The first act, or the beginning of every story, is the setup. The big word for setup is exposition. Say it with me. Exposition. This is where all of the main characters and their basic situations are introduced. It's also where we get the setting, the who, what, where, when, and why of every story. For the story of the three little pigs, this would be an introduction into the three pigs and that they each build a house of their own making. We learn who the pigs are and about each of their personalities. One is lazy and builds a house of straw because he just wants to be done. One is moderately effective in his house building and builds a house of sticks. And the last pig is a hardworking engineer that designs a home built to last. Through their actions, we learn about who they are. This is exposition. We are learning about our protagonists. But how do we get from exposition or act one where we learn about our characters into act two or the middle of the story where the action happens? Well, Aristotle talks about our protagonist going through what's called an inciting incident or a catalyst. Basically, something happens that disrupts our hero's story and forces the hero to act. In finding Nemo, Nemo gets lost. In the story of the three little pigs, the inciting incident is that the wolf shows up. In Beauty and the Beast, Belle's dad goes missing. In Cinderella, her father passes away. Basically, something happens that forces our protagonist to change course. An inciting incident. This turning point or catalyst also normally introduces a question for the hero. A question that they then will spend the rest of the story trying to answer. Let me give you an example. Will Belle see her father again? Will Cinderella fall in love? Will the three pigs survive the wolf? Find out on tomorrow's episode. Blah blah blah blah. You know how it goes. These are the questions that are normally posed in advertisements. When this question is answered, the story is normally over. It's complete. And with the introduction of the question, we begin our second act, or the middle of the story. This again is where the bulk of the action happens. This is called rising action. This is where our hero learns about themselves, where we as an audience learn their values, their personalities, and we watch them fight to answer the question that was introduced during the inciting incident. Let's go back to our example story of the three little pigs. In the three little pigs, the rising action would be the wolf going to each of the houses and attempting to destroy them. With each action, the stakes are raised and the story gets more intense. The wolf starts at the house made of straw. He destroys it and the first pig runs to the second pig for help, fighting for his life. The wolf then goes to the second house made of sticks. He blows that one down and the action intensifies. This is now a life or death situation. The first two pigs run to the house made of bricks. There's nowhere else for the pigs to run. If the wolf blows down this house, then it is all over for our hero protagonists, the three little pigs. And this begins the third act of our story. This is called the climax. A climax is a height of the story. It's many emotions. It's when something happens that's really intense and you don't know what's going to happen or who's going to come out on top. This is where our overarching question is answered. Does Cinderella find love? Did Belle find her dad? Did the pigs survive the attacks of the wolf? This third act is when the problem in the story boils over, forcing the characters to confront the antagonist, allowing all of the elements to come together and leading to what's called a resolution. This is also again when our dramatic question is answered, being hand in hand with the end of the story and our conflict. In our story of the three little pigs, the pigs can't run from the wolf anymore. They must confront him. And with that confrontation comes a false ending. Almost every good story has a false ending, or what's called a first climax. In the story of the three little pigs, the wolf huffs and he puffs, and he can't blow down that third house made of bricks. You, the audience member, think, oh good, they're safe. It's all good. The battle is over. The wolf will just leave. You're basically given a false sense of security. But then comes the epic finish. This is normally when our protagonist must defend themselves to answer their essential question. In the story of the three little pigs, the wolf, when he's unable to blow down the brick house, climbs onto the roof to enter through the chimney. The third pig, anticipating the wolf would then come down the chimney, places a large pot of boiling water over the fire, and this results in the wolf falling into the pot and dying. It's a harsh ending, but a lot of children's stories end this way. The hero must slay the foe. Good must conquer evil, and our protagonist needs to win. In the case of the three little pigs, it's our incredible last little pig who defends his home and learns how to protect his family. If you think about just about any children's story, they almost all end this way, with the hero protagonist defeating the antagonist. The three little pigs defeat the wolf. Nemo gets away from the evil dentist. Cinderella gets away from her evil stepmother and finds true love with the prince. Little Red Riding Hood defeats the wolf and saves her grandma. And in just about every single princess-centered fairy tale, the evil witch is defeated and the princess finds love. So that's how a story is made. Act one, the beginning, called an exposition. This is where we learn about our characters and we are introduced to our protagonist. Act two, rising action. This is the conflict. This is when our hero goes on their epic journey. And finally, act three. This includes our climax and what's called a resolution. The resolution is normally the happily ever after. In Aristotle's time, this was called a denouement. It's basically where everyone gets what they have coming to them, either good or bad. And with this story structure in mind, this leads us to an amazing announcement and call to action for all of you incredible listeners and storytellers out there. We are going to hold a summer story writing contest. We will have three H categories, and the winners of each category will receive a $15 Amazon gift card. Here's the deal submissions need to be handwritten. Absolutely no AI is allowed for this contest. Not even as a reference. This is an AI free zone. The stories also need to follow Aristotle's plot structure, which means beginning, middle, end. And each protagonist or hero needs to answer some sort of question. What is your hero's dilemma? All stories are due by Thursday, June 18th. So you have one month from today to work on your characters, your plot, and your big question. I cannot wait to see what you all send in. Parents, sending in your child's submission is very easy. For more information on our story writing contest and contest guidelines, check out the pin post on our Facebook page, Hello from the Van. Oh, and did I mention we are going to be reading a lot of the stories for one of our episodes. So by sending in your story, you have a chance to have it read here on the podcast. And with that, I hope you little storytellers get writing. I'm Mimi Fotz, and this has been Hello from the Van.