The (Story) Purpose of Schools

Ok I’ll admit. I finally get school.

So I had an idea the other day I thought, “what the heck, I’ll try making this into a light novel” (artist slot is open if anyone is interested). To that end, it involves older teen/young adults.

Now with my process, I have the ending/climax pretty much done, and I’ve got a draft of the beginning done, now I’m in the hard part of Act 2. I will freely admit as a writer Act 2 is always my hardest struggle. That’s why it’s real obvious to me when I’m reading/watching someone if they have the same struggles with weak middles.

It also happens during this period I’ve been amusing myself with youtube videos about cringey kids’ movies – the kind that fill Disney Channel and Nickelodeon. Some of my amusement draws from the fact that these films always have a high school in them – even if a “high school” educational structure makes absolutely no sense in the worldbuilding of the story.

Now I get the obvious reason why this is: it’s a modern show for modern kids so you use things in it the kids will recognize/be familiar with. Duh. It was in working through the writer’s block of Act 2 I couldn’t help but think, “boy I wish I had a school.”

Now in my world building, while I’m not going Tolkien with it (we are talking about a light novel after all), I was trying for a bit of realism. (They aren’t just avoiding the Prussian model of schooling because there’s no Prussia – but because there’s no need for it.) Still now I can’t help but notice that schools are an incredibly useful plot tool.

  • Need your heroes out of the way for a period of time so the villain can advance their scheme? Lock them up in a building for 8 hours a day in the name of education!
  • Need to drop a bit of worldbuilding or set up for an important plot point? Show a scene in a classroom where the teacher delivers exactly that to the protagonists!
  • Need your heroes to gather together and plan something without making adults suspicious? Recess! Lunch Break! After school activities! BONUS: All of these have a strict time limit so you have a ready-made ticking clock to stick your heroes under.
  • Need an important event to occur for maximum dramatic impact? You’ve got homecoming, prom, graduation, and any number of plays or recitals.
  • Need to delay or cause an obstacle for your protagonists? Detention! (this can also work for antagonists that go to school)
  • Finally, once everything is in place and you’re ready for the climax of the story? You can have your protagonists skip school and head straight to the destination.

Remember storytelling is like a magic show: you don’t want the audience to see the wires. In this case, you want the audience to be as unaware of you, the storyteller, as possible. To that end, you want your plots and outcomes to feel as organic as possible – like they happen logically without any involvement from you at all.

To that end, I have to admit schools are a mighty useful tool.

9 thoughts on “The (Story) Purpose of Schools

  1. Schools also force together large groups of peers and near peers, with the difference in grade/age being really apparent in school. A 6th grader and an 8th grader might as well be different animals. You also have all the cliques and clusters for free drama. And then there’s hormones…
    Mind you, the only book I ever wrote with a school aged kid took place in a pre-Classical world so kids…worked or avoided work.

    • Exactly. And why obviously a lot of stories like to use school as setting.

      Though IIRC, didn’t the “one-room schoolhouses” back in the day stuff kids of all ages into the classroom? Now I wonder how those worked out practically if the older kids were supposed to be learning something too advanced for the younger ones.

      Mind you, the only book I ever wrote with a school aged kid took place in a pre-Classical world so kids…worked or avoided work.

      What I’m struggling with now. 😉 Though now that you mention it, you could maybe accomplish something similar with jobs… but there are more tricks and complications with that than school.

      • My Mom first started in a one-room schoolhouse. From what I understand, kids more or less learned at their own pace, meaning some got ignored. The young ones were “taught” basic things by rote or reading aloud, while the older kids were not being taught anything very advanced. No calculus or anything like that.

        The ‘saggy middle’ is where you can stick your complications and escalations. Think Shakespeare’s 5 act structure more than the modern 3 act model. Always ask ‘what can go wrong’ and see if that helps.

        Keep at it!

      • The ‘saggy middle’ is where you can stick your complications and escalations.

        Oh absolutely, it’s always a question of what is going to complicate and escalate things. Sure I can write, ‘and then the mongols invaded’ but that’s not always appropriate. It’s trying to find the appropriate needle in the haystack that’s my challenge. 😉

  2. Hiya Nate, sorry to bother you here, but not sure how else to contact anyone safely, but looks like WFB site may have been hacked. I don’t know if Alice is aware, but there’s a Go Daddy redirect on its domain name. I figured best let you know so you can pass on to Alice. Cheers.

      • Thanks Nate. Yeah, seems fine now. Me and my partner in captioneering, Allycat, couldn’t get in first thing this morning and we both had the same weird message, though we are most definitely not on same server. Ghosts in the machine, I guess… or a Trickster 🤣

        Anyway, thanks so much for checking, as always , you’re a star!

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