FOLKLORE
...is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people or culture. The stories are traditionally passed down through a group of people, often orally, across generations
In this article we'll be talking about stories inspired by folklore, since folklore itself doesn't have one defined author.
A folktale should be kept short and easy to remember. It should also have those four elements:
1. virtue - something people agreed to be a good trait to possess
2. flaw the character has (in the place of the virtue)
3. challenge testing the flaw
4. challenger who proposes or executes the challenge
Folklore is an exceptional genre which breaks a lot of standart fiction writing rules.
For example, characters usually lack depth and aren't studied psychologically. Often they're reduced to archetypes.
It also often tells instead of showing. For example we're being told something is good or bad and we have to go with that.
Magic is normalized, characters accept whatever happens as a part of their world.
And so on...
Folktale usually has this structure:
1. giving context
2. introducing a conflict
3. character faces tests
4. facing the main conflict
5. conflict is solved
6. there's a lesson for readers stated
Many folktales use easy-to-remember phrases like "once upon a time" or "in a land far, far away." You can play with this repetitiveness in your own story.
Folklore genres include:
BALLADS - songs that tell stories and have been passed down orally through generations, without a single known author
FAIRY TALE - short story featuring magical elements, supernatural beings (like fairies, giants, or talking animals), and often a clear good-versus-evil conflict
GHOSTLORE - stories based on traditional beliefs about ghosts and the supernatural
LEGENDS - narratives about historical people, places, or events that are presented as factual but are often exaggerated or embellished
MYTHS - stories involving gods and goddesses, explaining natural phenomena, the origins of the world, or the fundamental nature of humanity
FABLE
A short story, built around a single moral stated at the end, featuring anthropomorphized characters.
The moral can be conveyed by...
1. character's punishment for their wrongdoings
2. rewarding the character for good deeds
3. giving two or more perspectives on the same issue, then showing or telling which is correct
"If a fable, on top of its moral, deals with a topic that is considered important by its culture, then it is also a myth or a fairy tale"
TROPES
The Power of Three: the number three often appears in folktales, such as three brothers, three trials, or repeated actions
Animal lover: the protagonist is often rewarded for being kind to animals
Because you were nice to me: by receiving an act of kindness performed by the hero or heroine, an animal or a talking object will help them later in the story
Cosmic motifs: characters in fairy tales may be identified as special or magical by an astral birthmark, such as the Sun, the moon or a star on their foreheads
Fantastic fruits and vegetables: fruits in fairy tales possess magical qualities
horror • romance • adventure • fantasy • science-fiction • slice of life • historical fiction • inspirational • western • thriller
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