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Modern storytelling might be summed up as all bones and no meat. We fail to realize the reasons types of stories originated and are content to reproduce shells in long want of souls. We imitate mistakes for nostalgia's sake, but the time has come to stop and think about what we're not doing.

The first step is to distinguish between different aspects of our stories, which are frequently blurred together and put under blanket terms. For instance when we describe a story as sarcastic we might be attributing that adjective to any aspect of the story, and not all sarcastic stories are the same. There's a difference between a story that has sarcastic characters and a story with characters that speak sarcastically. For example:

Over The Garden Wall is a serious cartoon with characters that speak sarcastically about their situations.

SpongeBob is a sarcastic cartoon with characters that speak seriously about their situations.

Interestingly, you can infer the attitudes of these cartoons just by listening to the music they choose to play in the background. Compare SpongeBob's "Tomfoolery" with Over The Garden Wall's "Where Are We." The differences are significant, but that's another essay.

Knowing how to distinguish between aspects of your story helps you have a sense of what you're trying to do, so you don't flounder awkwardly the way modern cartoons and Young Adult books do. Are they cynical or are they sappy? How does Lincoln Loud have the audacity to try and be taken seriously when it comes time for the canned moral of the story? Do the deaths in Percy Jackson have as big of an impact as books not narrated in an overbearing snide voice? You can't have it all ways. You must pick a way, and follow it.

First we must admit there are ways. Next we have to avoid thinking we're going a certain way when we're not.

Take poetry. One of the biggest mistakes of beginner poets is trying to make poems deeper by writing about more serious topics. In reality, poetry isn't about what you say, but how you say it. The best poets can make a masterpiece simply talking about cake or fish. Similarly, comedies aren't inherently funny because they're about witty quips. It's funny when it's made up inherently of witty and ironic situations despite the characters' acknowledgment. Too often acknowledgment of absurdity is counted as comedy instead of actual absurdity.

It goes back to what Aristotle said in his Poetics, essentially, the mere idea of the situation should lead us to tears or laughter, not the presentation of the situation (or spectacle). But we live in a society of spectacles where reactions are preferred to actions and sentiment to substance. Few things are genuine in storytelling and we must work to understand what has been lost.

Fantasy is one of the genres that has been the most abused. The mere presence of one element (magic) is too broad a classification to be useful. Some argue that fantasy ought to have a specific feel (I recommend Ursula Le Guin's essay "From Elfland to Poughkeepsie" or C. S. Lewis' "On Other Worlds"). It's another case of blurring aspects. When we make copy and after copy of something without knowing the reason we lose the spirit of the thing and tradition becomes meaningless parody.

Here's a list of stories and characters some of which are authentic and some are not:

Percy Jackson is a character who speaks sarcastically.
Gilderoy Lockhart is a character who is sarcastic.
The Lorax is a wacky book.
The Lorax movie is about sarcastic characters.
Lord of the Rings is a mysterious book series.
Death Note is a cartoon with characters that speak mysteriously.
The Grinch is a random character.
Mabel Pines is a character who is treated by other characters as if she is random.
Remus Lupin is a good character.
A Mary Sue is a character who is treated by other characters as if she is good.
Gandalf is an intelligent character.
Artemis Fowl is a character who speaks intelligently.
And so on, and so forth.

We need to get back to real storytelling. However this can only happen if we remember it's not about the presentation of a thing but the thing itself.

Description
body div#devskin0 hr { }

Modern storytelling might be summed up as all bones and no meat. We fail to realize the reasons types of stories originated and are content to reproduce shells in long want of souls. We imitate mistakes for nostalgia's sake, but the time has come to stop and think about what we're not doing.

The first step is to distinguish between different aspects of our stories, which are frequently blurred together and put under blanket terms. For instance when we describe a story as sarcastic we might be attributing that adjective to any aspect of the story, and not all sarcastic stories are the same. There's a difference between a story that has sarcastic characters and a story with characters that speak sarcastically. For example:

Over The Garden Wall is a serious cartoon with characters that speak sarcastically about their situations.

SpongeBob is a sarcastic cartoon with characters that speak seriously about their situations.

Interestingly, you can infer the attitudes of these cartoons just by listening to the music they choose to play in the background. Compare SpongeBob's "Tomfoolery" with Over The Garden Wall's "Where Are We." The differences are significant, but that's another essay.

Knowing how to distinguish between aspects of your story helps you have a sense of what you're trying to do, so you don't flounder awkwardly the way modern cartoons and Young Adult books do. Are they cynical or are they sappy? How does Lincoln Loud have the audacity to try and be taken seriously when it comes time for the canned moral of the story? Do the deaths in Percy Jackson have as big of an impact as books not narrated in an overbearing snide voice? You can't have it all ways. You must pick a way, and follow it.

First we must admit there are ways. Next we have to avoid thinking we're going a certain way when we're not.

Take poetry. One of the biggest mistakes of beginner poets is trying to make poems deeper by writing about more serious topics. In reality, poetry isn't about what you say, but how you say it. The best poets can make a masterpiece simply talking about cake or fish. Similarly, comedies aren't inherently funny because they're about witty quips. It's funny when it's made up inherently of witty and ironic situations despite the characters' acknowledgment. Too often acknowledgment of absurdity is counted as comedy instead of actual absurdity.

It goes back to what Aristotle said in his Poetics, essentially, the mere idea of the situation should lead us to tears or laughter, not the presentation of the situation (or spectacle). But we live in a society of spectacles where reactions are preferred to actions and sentiment to substance. Few things are genuine in storytelling and we must work to understand what has been lost.

Fantasy is one of the genres that has been the most abused. The mere presence of one element (magic) is too broad a classification to be useful. Some argue that fantasy ought to have a specific feel (I recommend Ursula Le Guin's essay "From Elfland to Poughkeepsie" or C. S. Lewis' "On Other Worlds"). It's another case of blurring aspects. When we make copy and after copy of something without knowing the reason we lose the spirit of the thing and tradition becomes meaningless parody.

Here's a list of stories and characters some of which are authentic and some are not:

Percy Jackson is a character who speaks sarcastically.
Gilderoy Lockhart is a character who is sarcastic.
The Lorax is a wacky book.
The Lorax movie is about sarcastic characters.
Lord of the Rings is a mysterious book series.
Death Note is a cartoon with characters that speak mysteriously.
The Grinch is a random character.
Mabel Pines is a character who is treated by other characters as if she is random.
Remus Lupin is a good character.
A Mary Sue is a character who is treated by other characters as if she is good.
Gandalf is an intelligent character.
Artemis Fowl is a character who speaks intelligently.
And so on, and so forth.

We need to get back to real storytelling. However this can only happen if we remember it's not about the presentation of a thing but the thing itself.