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littlemanpoet · 12-10-2004, 10:17 PM

I keep on getting in trouble whenever I mention this, but this thread is uniquely suited to it. Orson Scott Card detailed in his book, Characters and Viewpoint, that any story, no matter the type, is going to have four basic elements:

Milieu - the setting
Idea - the "what-if" question (for example)
Character - self-explanatory
Event - the plot

Thus, the handy acronym, MICE.

But what he said next, speaks to some points Fordim has raised: ONE of these four story elements is going to serve as the centerpiece on which the other three hang. He goes on to assert, specifically, that LotR is a Milieu story; its centerpiece is Middle Earth at the end of the Third Age. The destruction of the Ring is that which will bring the Third Age to an end. This ending is both needed and regretted (or at least mourned) especially by the Elves, who nonetheless deem it necessary.

This milieu centerpiece aspect of LotR take nothing away from the great characters, great plot, or the scope of the idea; something had to serve as the centerpiece.

This explains why there needed to be a scouring of the Shire; the story of Third Age Middle Earth coming to an end was not finished being told until after the story of how Sharkey is defeated in the Shire; indeed, the story is not finished being told until all the characters whose lives were all about the now-destroyed Ring, had passed over sea or (in the case of Sam) resolved at least for the time being.

The episodic nature serves not as a weakness of the story, but as a structural tool. Music has a similar counterpoint in "theme and variations".

Just off hand, it seems to me that such a Milieu story could not have been written before the advent of whole world awareness that arrived with the 20th century and its world wars. All parts of Middle Earth are included in the tale, at least as far as they affect the story of the Middel Earth at the end of the Third Age, which is all about the destruction of the Ring.

Okay, I've laid it out. Now you may protest, reproach, or whatever. *ducks*

(I really don't know why people find this such an offensive - or impossible - explanation).

LMP

12-10-2004, 10:17 PM	#11
littlemanpoet Itinerant Songster Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: The Edge of Faerie Posts: 7,066	A suggested structural lynchpin... I keep on getting in trouble whenever I mention this, but this thread is uniquely suited to it. Orson Scott Card detailed in his book, Characters and Viewpoint, that any story, no matter the type, is going to have four basic elements: Milieu - the setting Idea - the "what-if" question (for example) Character - self-explanatory Event - the plot Thus, the handy acronym, MICE. But what he said next, speaks to some points Fordim has raised: ONE of these four story elements is going to serve as the centerpiece on which the other three hang. He goes on to assert, specifically, that LotR is a Milieu story; its centerpiece is Middle Earth at the end of the Third Age. The destruction of the Ring is that which will bring the Third Age to an end. This ending is both needed and regretted (or at least mourned) especially by the Elves, who nonetheless deem it necessary. This milieu centerpiece aspect of LotR take nothing away from the great characters, great plot, or the scope of the idea; something had to serve as the centerpiece. This explains why there needed to be a scouring of the Shire; the story of Third Age Middle Earth coming to an end was not finished being told until after the story of how Sharkey is defeated in the Shire; indeed, the story is not finished being told until all the characters whose lives were all about the now-destroyed Ring, had passed over sea or (in the case of Sam) resolved at least for the time being. The episodic nature serves not as a weakness of the story, but as a structural tool. Music has a similar counterpoint in "theme and variations". Just off hand, it seems to me that such a Milieu story could not have been written before the advent of whole world awareness that arrived with the 20th century and its world wars. All parts of Middle Earth are included in the tale, at least as far as they affect the story of the Middel Earth at the end of the Third Age, which is all about the destruction of the Ring. Okay, I've laid it out. Now you may protest, reproach, or whatever. ducks (I really don't know why people find this such an offensive - or impossible - explanation). LMP