Fibbin’ Archie as an experiment
I have wondered for some time about the presence of the Golden Segment in literature. Those of us who like literature certainly recognise that stories presented in literary form have a shape that includes a beginning, a middle that follows certain conventions, but not too strictly, and an end. If these are out of balance we notice. But is this a learned response or is it natural?
The presence of the Fibonacci series in nature tends to suggest that we are dealing with something natural here. This series of numbers can be traced in the patterns of sunflower seeds, in rabbits breeding and in branch formation in plants and trees, to give just a handful of examples. In this experiment I have set out to work with this series. One might sub-title this novel “Writing by Numbers”. The first chapter is one word long, the final one is 28,657. I have labelled each chapter simply by the number in the series it represents.
In doing this I’ve not completely ruled out my normal way of planning fiction. Distilled from various story theories I find work for me, and in particular that of Robert McKee, the shape I favour is:
Inciting incident
Growing complexities (usually three)
Crisis
Climax (This is actually the gap between the crisis and the resolution and generally where all the excitement is. From this point onwards life can never be quite the same again for the protagonist, however the story resolves. Everything up to now was a rehearsal for this big moment.)
Resolution
A more complex novel – and Fibbin’ Archie is complex – will have sub plots. How sub plots relate to the main plot is also to do with the Golden Segment. Andrew Melrose identifies a plot pyramid in Write For Children and I build upon that work in Writing for Young Adults.
The Fibonacci series anyway produces the Golden Segment. We see this in the ratio of any two adjacent numbers in the series to their sum. That is there in the formula described above. There are echoes of it in the three act structure and the five act structure from the world of film and television and the slightly different version of this in stage play.
This is how I worked the mathematics out for Archie.
|
1,597 |
4,180 |
Inciting incident |
|||
|
2,584 |
6,764 |
||||
|
4,181 |
10,945 |
1 |
|||
|
6,765 |
17,710 |
2 |
|||
|
10,946 |
28,656 |
3 |
|||
|
17,711 |
46,367 |
60019 crisis |
|||
|
28,657 |
75,024 |
End |
Note that the crisis point happens at about word 60019. So there is a build up to it and then we come back down to the resolution. Once I reached word 46,368 I knew I had to make the stakes higher.
Christopher Vogler suggests that sometimes we can follow a formula too rigidly. He identified what works for the film industry and based his suggestions for story on Joseph Campbell’s work. Vogler suggests that it is often more satisfying for the consumer when that formula is skewed slightly. The formula is skewed slightly in Archie. Content spills round the edges of word count. It could be, perhaps that numbers aren’t accurate enough to pinpoint exactly when events need to occur. What I have stuck to rigidly here is the word count per section, and then shaped the content to the section.
At the end of the book I’ll be giving you some more information about what it was like writing this way. I welcome commentary on this project and for once this is a book I don’t mind you giving away for free; the more people who read it the better. By all means put the usual reviews on Amazon and Good reads, good or bad. I’d also welcome direct commentary which I’ll like to publish verbatim or collated in summary if there is a huge response. Please send your comments to g.james1@slaford.ac.uk.
Thank you for taking the time to read Fibbin’ Archie.
You must have noticed the pun by now. It is, of course, deliberate.
233
Archie’s mobile rang. My Old Man’s a Dustman. Red.
“Hi,” said Archie.
“Done the deed?”
“Yep.”
“Man, you don’t sound convinced.”
Archie swallowed. “I told her Grandma was sick.”
“What, your Grandma? Sick? Never!”
“That’s the trouble. And she might bump into her at the shopping centre. It’s Grandma’s day for shopping.”
“Oh, and of course. What do girls do when they’ve nothing else to do? They go shopping. Plonker, or what?”
“I know.”
“What did she say when you told her?”
“Well, she looked all worried. Then she said we should take her some flowers. So I said she was too sick. Then she said we should visit her when she’s a bit better.”
“And what did you say to that?”
“I said it might be a nice idea.”
“You didn’t! You’re worse than a plonker. You’re mental, you.”
“I know. I tell you, they’re not worth the bother, women.”
“You’re fibbin’ again Archie. You know you think she’s worth the bother.”
“I know. But.” Archie noticed another call coming in. “Ollie’s calling.”
“Well, get it then. Tell him to meet us at the corner of Canal Street. In twenty. See ya!”
Archie hoped Red wasn’t going to interrogate him as well. He needn’t have worried. Ollie was more concerned about Red’s daftness than Archie’s.
“Canal Street? What’s he want to do then? Throw stones at the ducks? Man, it’s freezing out.”
377
Archie grabbed his coat. Ollie was right. It was flipping cold out there and what could they do meeting at the corner of Canal Street? He’d better get a move on if he was going to get there in twenty minutes. There were two main roads to cross. You always had to wait for the green man. He’d better step on it.
It was even colder than he thought. A couple of times he slipped on the ice.
“You want to take more water with it,” shouted Foxy Burnett as he came out of the betting shop of the corner of Glastonbury Road and Bristol Avenue. “You going to your Grandma’s?”
Archie had just almost crashed into a car half parked on the pavement. Sneaky old pervert, he thought as he saw Foxy’s eyes lit up. “She’s probably gone shopping,” he said.
“Oh, well give her my regards when you see her,” said Foxy. “And tell her me offer still stands. If she’ll have me.”
Gross, thought Archie. He fancies her. Archie felt slightly sick. Foxy was a dirty old beggar and he smelt awful. No chance for him with Grandma. She was much too particular. Thank goodness.
“Well, you will, won’t you?” said Foxy.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” said Archie. “Get out of my way, will you? I’m in a hurry.”
“Where’ve you got to get to then? In such a tearing hurry? ”
“Corner of Canal Street. Move, then.”
“Which one?”
Ah. Foxy had a point. Red had not said which corner. And Canal Street was half a mile long. The nearest bit was at least twenty minutes away. Now Foxy had held him up. He’d never make it.
Archie found Red’s number in his phone. Darn! It was engaged. But at last Foxy had moved out of the way now.
Archie tried Ollie.
Ollie answered. “Hiya. What’s keeping you?”
“Which corner?”
“Bottom Row. Where do you think? Durr! You wouldn’t imagine he’d want to move far from home, would you?”
“Okay. See you soon.”
“Move it, man. He’s nearly finished talking to his new girlfriend. He’ll get stroppy if you’re not here in five.”
“I’m doing my best, man.”
Ollie finished the call.
Red had a girlfriend. When did that happen?
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