As my daughter Kate and I drove home from our shopping trip today, we were trying desperately to keep her twins, Peanut and Punkin, from falling asleep in the car and thus spoiling their naps. We went through the animal sounds until even Punkin got tired of mooing and hoo-hooing and singing the alphabet. Her protests were getting increasingly energetic.
I started to sing one of their favorite songs from a book in their toy box at our house. “Itsy Bitsy Spider.” They listened and asked me to sing it again, and again, and again.
The third time through (or maybe the sixth?), an epiphany struck!
“Kate,” I practically shouted, “every author should sing “Itsy Bitsy Spider!”
It’s the very compact, drilled-down, essence of a successful story called GMC, goal, motivation, and conflict.
GOAL: Itsy Bitsy Spider wants to crawl up the waterspout.
MOTIVATION: Variable. Maybe Spider wants to escape a predator wasp. Perhaps Itsy Bitsy Spider is on her way to check out dinner in her web. Maybe Itsy Bitsy Spider is on her way to meet an attractive spider for a rooftop rendezvous. The song doesn’t limit the author’s imagination.
CONFLICT: The Rain. Down comes the rain and Itsy Bitsy Spider’s goal is in peril. Rain rushes down ruining Itsy Bitsy Spider’s one wish and her desperate attempt to achieve it. She’s washed down to the bottom of the spout (Dark Night of the Soul) Rain is the antagonist, but remember, Rain is the hero of her own story so she can’t be all bad.
DENOUMENT:
So how does the story end?
If the author is writing literary fiction, the spider must understand the top of the spout, the roof, her goal was not meant to be. While this is not the happy ending we all hoped for, Itsy Bitsy Spider has reached enlightenment and is stronger for it. Provided the wasp doesn’t reappear.
If the author is writing romance, Itsy Bitsy Spider must reach the roof and find love and happily ever after (HEA). How much the reader is privy to this tryst depends on the heat level the author writes in. “Behind Closed Doors” will end when Itsy Bitsy Spider’s gaze meets that of her love interest. “Sensual” will see the spiders meet, kiss, and possibly fondle which will take a lot of description considering they each have eight arms. In “Dark Romance” Itsy Bitsy Spider is a black widow spider and consummation holds a dual meaning.
But back to the version I read my granddaughters. The Sun is an ally. The Sun breaks forth, extinguishes Rain, and Itsy Bitsy Spider crawls back up the spout to her destiny.
What a satisfying story. One every author might hum as she types. As I am doing right now.
The twins stayed awake all the way home, and I’m sure are sleeping soundly right now, dreaming of lovely stories about arachnids.
Which would wake me up scratching all over.
This adorable soft book with crinkle pages is available at https://www.ebbagift.com/
I actually used this song with my first graders to teach the concept of beginning, middle, and end of a story! But, as you point out, it also teaching the middle elementary concepts of goal, motivation, and conflict. Nice post!