P4: Research task 4.3 Story structures

Learning about Nigel Watt's Eight Point Arc Structure for constructing an interesting narrative was really eye opening to me and will be a very useful tool for my future illustrations.

Having written my own children's book before and having a basic knowledge of story writing, learning about this way of constructing a story is so useful for future works. I think it will help me to create a more engaging story of more depth and interest.

Thinking about other stories that use this type of structure I immediately thought of Raymond Briggs stories, specifically 'The Bear', where a beautiful big bear comes to stay, that can hardly fit in the house. You would think such a thing would be very scary for a little girl but she takes care of the bear, even cleaning up his mess and bathing him. The little girl gets so used to the bear staying with her but the bear is yearning for home. He soon leaves and the little girl is sad. Consoled by her Father, the little girl has to return to playing with her toy bear, whilst the real bear goes back to enjoying his natural habitat.

Briggs, R. (1996). The bear. London: Red Fox.

Now I know about this plot structure it will be fun to use it for my own illustrations to help me to create more engaging work and to really go deep into story. I will keep the simplified breakdown to hand so that I can remember to use it in the future.