Story

Spirit of Adventure; The Cave of the Crystal Skull by Sally Landaker

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What would you do if your consciousness were suddenly and truly expanded, and you could perceive beings and visions from a parallel universe? What would you do with this dangerous knowledge?

The prospect sounds exciting and dreadful all at once—the essence of adventure. 

caveSally Landaker’s The Cave of the Crystal Skull is an adventure written for middle grade readers that explores consciousness and parallel realms. While a quest involves a search for something of great value as its mainspring, adventures turn on the undertaking of a hazardous enterprise, one whose outcome is doubtful.

Adventures usually begin in happenstance, a happy coincidence or unhappy accident that leads to a situation so hazardous, the main character is tempted to turn away.  Only the concern and care for others is enough to motivate the character to go forward. 

Cousins Sonia and Eric stumble on a cave while exploring Black Mountain. When they encounter “a mystifying crystal skull” and “a menacing pool of bubbling mud,” the cousins recognize they are in danger. Still they vow to continue exploring the cave but to keep it a secret.

However, the powers that lie hidden in the cave don’t intend to stay hidden.

Eric does not question his sudden focus and confidence in his soccer game. Sonia, however, experiences a shift in consciousness so profound, she grows increasingly uncomfortable as she is transported to neighboring realms and begins to question her everyday world. 

Sonia becomes more obsessed and defiant, unable to resist the lure of the cave even as she realizes the risk.  Each time she exits the cave, she experiences a shift in consciousness that expands the boundaries of her known self. She begins to believe the crystal skull might have healing power and when a younger cousin becomes ill, Sonia engineers a plot to test her theory.

While on a quest, the hero must defeat the guardian of the treasure in order to bring the valuables home. In an adventure, there are no “others” who have to be destroyed. That’s part of what makes Huck Finn, Gulliver, and Robinson Crusoe so eternally refreshing. 

As one enthusiastic, middle-grade reviewer noted, there are “no bad guys” in this story. They aren’t needed. Adventures tell a different kind of story, one that reveals the character’s growing consciousness as she encounters her marvelous world. 

Sally Landaker’s The Cave of the Crystal Skull  is available in Kindle and Print at amazon.com

On Beginning Stories

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In Chapter 1 of her book Wired for Story, author Lisa Cron discusses “How to Hook the Reader.” She analyzes the elements of story openings from the view of neuroscience, using what we know about the cognitive unconscious and its need to know in order to help writers understand how stories work.

WiredAccording to neuroscientists, the brain is overloaded with incoming data, and it sorts information, storing what is most important just below the level of consciousness where it is easy to access as needed by the conscious mind. Stories evolved to relay important information to help us survive.

“We think in story,” Cron claims. “It’s hardwired in our brain. It’s how we make strategic sense of the otherwise overwhelming world around us.”  As a result, Cron argues that we crave stories. We inhabit stories, living and learning vicariously from them.

In order for a story to be satisfying, a character must be placed in a challenging situation and confront a problem from the beginning pages: Will the boy win the heart of the girl? Will the hero be able to save the world? Will the woman get the career promotion she wants? The opening situation makes the reader wonder what will happen next, and this curiosity keeps the reader turning the pages and puts books on the bestseller lists.

While I agree with Cron about the importance of story problem in the opening, this chapter should come with a warning–Writers Beware. Don’t oversimplify this.

Too many beginning writers will carry this information to its extreme, placing characters in such overwhelming conflicts at the beginning that it becomes impossible to sustain the level of excitement for the reader.

jamesPattersonIf the writer opens with his female detective attacked by a gunman while she is naked and showering at the gym, even if he successfully extricates her from the danger, it’s nearly impossible for the reader to follow into the next scene which shows the detective relaxing at home with her cat and a glass of wine.

Author James Patterson might be able to get away with an opening scene in which the serial killer is contemplating how to murder the detective Alex Cross’s family, but Patterson is a master of sustaining the excitement.

If you’re not prepared to write a potboiler, you’ll want to begin with greater subtlety. Dostoyevsky begins Crime and Punishment with a hypochondriac avoiding his landlady because he can’t pay the rent. Carson McCullers begins The Member of the Wedding with a child’s loneliness and uncertainty.

grapes-of-wrath-lcAnd John Steinbeck famously begins The Grapes of Wrath with a lengthy description of the weather.

All of these writers tap into the emotional heart of their stories, engaging the readers’ imagination and empathy—topics that Cron addresses later in her book.