A Vague Sense of Unease
- realityskimming
- Jun 16
- 10 min read
Updated: Jun 29
by Andrew Burton
About the Story Thing (2025) - 02
---------------
"About the Story Things" is a thematic series of articles, sponsored by Reality Skimming Press. Pieces will appear every other Monday Jun 2 through to the end of 2025. Query us about contributing at https://facebook.com/relskim
---------------
Imagine the experience of Murasaki Shikibu, a thousand years ago, placing the first words of the first novel, The Tale of Genji, on a scroll in the great house of her family. This first work of fiction predated the printing press by centuries, copies were created by hand, dedicated scribes transcribing words, designs and poetry for an elite and powerful readership. It appears that the demand for Murasaki’s creative storytelling attracted wealthy and influential women intrigued by the pursuit of power in the halls of nobility, as well as the romance and sexuality of Genji, a minor member of the nobility building a sphere of influence to advance his personal place among the aristocracy (Japan Society of Boston, 2024). A part of that story involved Genji carrying on multiple affairs with women, often to gain advantage through their influence at court. Some of Genji’s adventures result in conflict with the powers that be, leading to him being held in disgrace and banished from court for a time. Such a storyline could capture an audience today, yet it was set down by a Japanese noble woman, writing in Chinese, at a time when political and economic power was held exclusively by male leaders. Murasaki’s work made her famous and influential, giving her access to the corridors of power.
Does the subject matter and story elements of The Tale of Genji seem familiar? Could the adventures and dalliances of Genji fit in well with something far reaching in modern day? Clear parallels could be found in successful literature of this century, such as Game of Thrones. Themes of sexuality, relationships both as expressions of love and as clandestine moves in the search for power and influence reach a broad and committed audience today. What is it about these themes that captures the imagination of so many over the span of ten centuries?
The draw of these stories exists within a common experience of human beings, an experience that finds something in such fictional constructs that meets a deeply rooted need within our common human circumstances. We read for many reasons. We seek information. We want to learn how to do things. We want to explore the past, both in terms of human history and the changes that have occurred in our planet and the life it supports. We read as a form of speculation about the future and as a means of sharing ideas and opinions on the direction of our culture and the news of the day. Perhaps more than anything else, we read for entertainment. As a writer we are faced with some changes that, on the surface, seem to threaten our ability to write, our ability to make our work available to the populace, to advertise and market our work and the ability to make a living doing what we do.
What is going on in the world of print is often hard to assess in meaningful ways. Recent stats from the Association of American Publishers suggest that the industry is doing well. In March of 2025, AAP reported:
“Trade (Consumer Books) revenues were up 4.4% in March at $714.8 million. In terms of physical paper format revenues during the month of March, in the Trade (Consumer Books) category, Hardback revenues were up 19.8%, coming in at $270.0 million; Paperbacks were down 3.5%, with $249.3 million in revenue; Mass Market was down 55.4% to $3.5 million; and Special Bindings were down 24.6%, with $11.3 million in revenue” (Association of American Publishers, 2025)."
This seems to suggest that all is good with the publishing world. However, writers will point out that the relationship between the creative voices and the business of publishing has changed. Publishers want consistent, marketable product to justify the cost of production and keep their readership coming back for more. This need to “feed the beast” for the purpose of maintaining and expanding market share pushes formulaic stories and niche writing. Name recognition creates a reality where someone famous for something can be sought out for a “book deal” because they are famous. The book they produce may sell well on the strength of how well know the person is and how much exposure they are getting in media. Many pieces published in such a fashion are “ghosted” with the person whose name appears on the cover doing little of the actual writing.
The Art of the Deal greatly enhanced the reputation of Donald Trump, contributing to his success in politics. In fact, the book was written by Tony Schwartz. Having Trump’s name on the cover as an author guaranteed huge sales (Mayer, 2016).
It is important to consider the power of name recognition in publishing. Some writers have made a name for themselves by exploring related forms of art that complement their writing. Leonard Cohen, for example was far more successful as a musician than as a poet but his success on stage supported his poetry and other artistry. People were drawn to “Famous Blue Raincoat”, or “Hallelujah”, and along the way discovered his poetry and his novels. As writers in a changing world it may serve us well to consider ways to build name recognition and to explore alternative means of creative expression.
In today’s world there is a lot of concern about the rise of artificial intelligence, and the possibility of AI producing marketable stories.
There are also concerns regarding alternative media changing the writing landscape and the publishing process. Such changes have been going on for a long time. Public appetites for novels, short stories and the like have fluctuated broadly over time, as have the availability of markets available to “get your foot in the door”. A hundred years ago many authors saw their work serialized in newspapers and magazines. Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories were initially published in installments by The Strand magazine before being collected for publishing in book form. Such opportunities to get into print are few and far between today. In print media, newspapers and magazines are increasingly falling on hard times. The cost of production and falling advertising revenues have forced many papers and publications to abandon print in favour of on-line formats. It can be challenging to move into such markets but they are there. At the same time, there are opportunities to promote your own work. Social media and self publishing are ways to promote your work and yourself. There are also opportunities to spread out into new forms of writing. The expectation of a book in print read all over the world can be a hard hill to climb. Taking every opportunity to have your words, thoughts ideas and creative works seen, heard or read should be taken as an opportunity to develop your art, and as a win.
New forms of writing can be blogging, on line journalism, custom writing, graphic novels, screen writing, fan fiction, reviews, non fiction and a host of other fields of practice. There is a point of view which suggests that a true artist needs to “suffer for their art” and “remain true to their vision”. There is some very small truth to that but consider that living on Kraft dinner will not make you a better writer, while pursuing and practicing every opportunity to write probably will.
I believe that there is a value in writing that allows us to express ourselves, to engage with an audience, with a readership, in ways that can support a better world. We can as writers call upon and celebrate our better natures. The dark side exists in that “success” may not be in a book deal, or in the credits of a feature film. It is incumbent upon us to recognize that if we are able to reach a broad readership, we can have influence on that readership. There is a responsibility in that. If we are to achieve and exert that influence we must do so ethically and honorably, for the people we are able to reach but for ourselves as well.
There is pressure for writers to adhere to formulas and hooks to build audience interest and to drive storylines. The use of formula writing is often found in scriptwriting. This may be a function of the pressure to write a great deal very quickly such as the demands for a season of 25 to 30 shows. It can also be a function of audience retention. Audiences become accustomed to a style and format of storytelling, becoming comfortable with it. Their comfort level keeps them coming back. In screen writing, there a lot of formulas that have become almost standards.
In the parlance of modern writing there is often mention of the importance of “jeopardies”. In the mid 1990s I attended some courses in Los Angeles. While there I took in some lectures by some leading lights of movies and television. Among them was a talk by producer/writer /director Aaron Spelling, at the time riding high on the success of Beverly Hills 90210. An element that I found interesting was his assertion that a script for a 48 minute piece (one hour when commercials are added in) needed to have seven jeopardies. A jeopardy is a point in the story where a character is at risk of injury or loss. According to Spelling, if there are less than seven jeopardies viewers get bored and change the channel. If there are more than seven, they get confused or frustrated and, again, change the channel. (I actually tested this, watching some highly rated one-hour TV dramas and counted the jeopardies, all seven.) The idea of jeopardy as a consistent part of storytelling to maintain an audience or a readership has become ubiquitous in the writing world. It also appears that the importance of such story elements has been around for a thousand years. Why is this so?
What happens when a person is at risk of serious harm? Imagine walking along the shore of Hudson Bay in early fall. It would not be uncommon to encounter a polar bear, an occurrence that could definitely end badly for you. In such a moment survival instincts and processes take over. Muscles tighten, the flow of blood changes concentrating blood in the core. Attention, vision and hearing become focused on the perceived threat. The body produces adrenaline to provide the energy to run away or, if need be, to try to fight off the bear. Along with adrenaline the body produces endorphins so that if injured you will feel less pain and won’t freeze up, and coagulants so that, if cut you will be less likely to bleed to death.
These biochemical changes have an effect on the subjective experience of the person experiencing it. In the mist of these biochemical responses to a threat the person feels very focused and alert, as well as invulnerable to injury, functions of the adrenaline and endorphins. In our distant past this process, now known as a “fight or flight response” kept our ancestors alive and because it did, these processes were passed down to us.
The thing is, most people in today’s world do not face physical existential threats all that often. However, when we are faced with what feels like a threat, we still experience the response. That response could be reacting to bad experiences in the workplace, in a school or in family challenges. The response to those challenges will often be the experience of fight or flight. The subjective experience of the response is to feel strong, alert, focused and in control. It feels good. It especially feels good if, most of the time our lives seem to be beyond our control. Stories, written, produced as works of fiction in print of dramatized on film or television can engage us in ways that stimulate the response as if the threat is real and directed at us. Fiction, in its many forms can produce the good feelings that fill a need when our lives appear to be beyond our capability to manage.
That perception of the self as unable to manage the challenges of life is a social construct. It is not something real. It is a belief regarding the world and the challenges it presents concurrent with a belief about the self as capable, (or not) of managing those challenges, as able to plan for and achieve a meaningful future and as being worthy of meaningful connections with others (Branden, 1994). Our connection with media provides scenarios that encourage and feed the fight or flight response that we experience as affirming and positive. The trouble is, the strength of the response is dependent on the intensity of the stimulus and on the sense of self of the person consuming the media.
The more a person feels helpless, hopeless and worthless, the more they will be drawn to stories built around jeopardies, and the more those jeopardies will be tilted toward the extreme. It is in the financial interests of the media complex for people to see their lives as beyond their control, as themselves as hopeless, helpless and worthless. In such a scenario, the people who are, in the parlance of the media industry, their consumers, become dependent on a system that reinforces feelings of helplessness though storylines and continuous characterizations of people and circumstances as challenging and unmanageable. Their dependence is reinforced by the media, also providing the stimulus to the fight or flight response that produces a false sense of power and control.
For a writer, the reality of an industry that builds on the use of formula storytelling to manipulate the emotions and sense of self of their audience in order to cement a viewership that returns again and again creates a moral and ethical challenge. As a writer, you may choose to follow the formula. Are you going to do that? It is possible to follow the formula and achieve an appearance of success. Beneath that appearance of success there will be an awareness of what was done to achieve it.
-------
Andrew Burton is a Canada-based poet, playwright, and creative arts social worker, resident in Prince George, British Columbia, since the mid-1990s. He founded and served for many years as Artistic Director of Street Spirits Theatre, a socially-engaged theatre company that received a citation from Canada's Solicitor General, the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal and the Otto Award. An award-winning writer across genres: poetry, short stories, articles, and plays, Burton has appeared in literary outlets such as Ellery Queen, Minstrel, Dreamland, CaNon, Dateline Arts, Parent Connection, Thimbleberry, and Biker magazines.
---------------
References
Aaron Spelling. (2025, Apr 24). Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Aaron_Spelling&oldid=1287127800
Association of American Publishers (AAP). (2025, May 20). Overall Publishing Industry Up 7.3% for Month of March, and Up 1.0% Year-To-Date. https://publishers.org/news/aap-march-2025
Branden, N. (1994). The six pillars of self esteem. Bantam. New York.
Japan Society of Boston. (2024, Apr 5). Murasaki Shikibu.
Mayer, J. (2016, Jul 18). Donald Trump’s Ghostwriter Tells All. The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/07/25/donald-trumps-ghostwriter-tells-all
Image Credits
Ryūjo (Tatsujo). 1594. Illustrated Handscrolls of The Tale of Genji. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Illustrated_Handscrolls_of_The_Tale_of_Genji_MET_DP-19671-043_crd.jpg
Comments