Mr. Tumblebuddy Flipet and the Creation of the Adventure
Story Structure
The magical Mr. Tumblebuddy Flipet is a writer. He writes various stories and fairy tales. He enjoys weaving pictures, facts and imagination together with words. Most of all, he’s keen on writing adventure stories. Do you know how he writes them? But, of course, through tumbling and flipping!
Mr. Tumblebuddy Flipet has got two faces; one of them on the front, as everyone, and the other one on his back side. One of his faces is a happy and smiling face – that’s “Lucky Leo” (= “Luckily - Oh!”). His other face is a sad-looking face – that’s “Unlucky Leo” (= “Unluckily - Oh!”).
Unlucky Leo always talks about the bad things that happen in the story that Mr. Tumblebuddy’s writing, and literally creates them: bad circumstances, inconvenient situations and misfortune, roadblocks and difficulties, dangers, trouble and problems that come up.
Lucky Leo is the one who talks about all the good things in the story and offers a helping hand for them to happen: good luck for the hero, ways to overcome roadblocks and difficulties, ways to keep the hero away from danger and trouble, solutions to the hero’s problems.
When Mr. Tumblebuddy Flipet decides to write an adventure story, he prefers to allow Lucky Leo to craft the beginning. However, there are times when Unlucky Leo catches up with him and crafts his own sad and unlucky beginning - that’s why some stories for adults start with a misfortunate event. Usually, Mr. Tumblebuddy Flipet allows Lucky Leo to pick the ending of the adventure story too – it is his responsibility, so it could be pleasant for the readers. That’s because Mr. Tumblebuddy knows that people prefer stories with a happy ending. But Unlucky Leo, who is a troublemaker and enjoys fights, would sometimes, more rarely though, give the story an unhappy ending. Mr. Tumblebuddy Flipet has to act as a guard when the story reaches its end, to keep Unlucky Leo from being naughty.
As you understand, as the two faces of Mr. Tumblebuddy Flipet, Lucky Leo and Unlucky Leo, never agree on anything their fight is endless. These two faces take turns in coming forth to build the story; first, it’s Unlucky Leo who tells us what bad fortune the hero has had and then it’s Lucky Leo who tells us how the hero’s bad fortune was turned into good fortune.
One competes with and talks back to the other. All this disagreement and fighting between them makes Mr. Tumblebuddy flip and/or tumble lots of times, in order to write his adventure story and/or fairy tale.
It is this tumbling and flipping that brings about changes in the story’s plot. This is how action and tension are created. Change, action and tension make the story interesting and push the plot forward. The more disagreements and fights take place between Unlucky Leo and Lucky Leo, and the more flipping from good to bad circumstances or tough situations (and vice versa), the more challenging the hero’s quest and his adventure becomes.
For the sake of his peace and quiet, Mr. Tumblebuddy Flipet had them agree that it is fair to take turns on deciding what’s to happen next in the story. However, Unlucky Leo and Lucky Leo don’t always stick to their agreement, they are sometimes naughty monkeys and cheat. That’s why, in some of the adventure stories that Mr. Tumblebuddy Flipet writes, when Unlucky Leo would hold on to the story plot stubbornly, not allowing Lucky Leo to take over, the reader is presented with two or three bad events, difficulties or problems, occurring one after the other in the hero’s journey. This rises tension, of course, but a lot of misfortune and unhappiness often results in a “heavy stuff” read. Creating a feeling of frustration may discourage the reader from reading the rest of the story, as it unfolds without any joy and hope for the hero. On the other hand, when Lucky Leo is the one who would hold on to the story plot stubbornly, not allowing Unlucky Leo to take over, the reader loses all interest in the story - it is all good luck with no challenges and it becomes boring. Bottom line: If there are only good and pleasant things or only bad and unpleasant things happening in a story, it is meaningless to tell that story.
Mr. Tumblebuddy Flipet writes stories that become a great success (best sellers) when Unlucky Leo and Lucky Leo follow their agreement, stick to the rules and don’t do any cheating. However, a story cannot go on for ever. Mr. Tumblebuddy Flipet knows this. That is why when Unlucky Leo decides to throw the biggest problem, obstacle or danger on the hero’s path, to block his journey to success and happiness, Mr. Tumblebuddy flips and tumbles once more, for the big “finale”, to help Lucky Leo come forth and remain forth. Lucky Leo is the one who chooses the hero’s final victory. That is where the story ends. And that is also the end of all the fighting and the disagreement between Mr. Tumblebuddy’s two faces, who have built the adventure story.
Mr. Tumblebuddy Flipet is an admirer of the ancient Greeks, who believed that the story needs to end with “the solution of the drama”, meaning a happy ending, so that the young reader is left peaceful, satisfied and joyful after all the tension and suffering he was put under while reading the adventure story. The magical Mr. Tubmblebuddy writes his stories according to Aristotle’s prototype plot structure. The 3 parts of a well-written ancient tragedy are: the “prologue” (the setup), the “episode” (the confrontation) and the “exit or choral” (the resolution).
Respectively, in a modern story these 3 parts are: The beginning, the middle and the end.
Have you realized why I call Mr. Tumblebuddy “magical”?
It’s for the following reasons:
a) Because he writes his stories by tumbling and flipping
b) Because he’s got two faces and
c) Because he could change into different forms (or appearances), depending on how we choose to craft him each time (see pages 17-18).
Note for Educators and Parents
It would be a good idea to give kids, aged 8-11, notes or photocopies from pages 11-13 so they would remember how Mr. Tumblebuddy Flipet creates the plot structure of his adventure stories and use these notes (as guiding reference) whenever they are asked to write a story of their own.
What I am introducing here is the use of a new tool, for all your “Fortunately - Unfortunately” (Remy Charlip) type of stories. The focus is on the fun and easy to handle way this simple teaching prop interacts with the technique, the process, and the writers (the children), to produce amazing results. For it is the tool that goes deeper and reaches farther, thus stretching the technique. And this is what makes my proposed approach to creative writing a fresh one.
A lot of the activities presented in this book are created by me but there are also some adaptations from old, well-known activities.