What is it that makes a story resonate with the reader the most? It is not action, otherwise slice of life style stories would not do as well as they do. In fact, sometimes those slice of life stories do even better and are more loved than an action thriller. However, if you ask most people, they will tell you that the thrill and the action appeals to them as well. The world of fiction would just be boring without these epic adventures.

 

If you just stop to think a little, there is a clue in the popularity of slice of life stories that reveals exactly what it is that draws people’s interest, especially once you consider that action stories that do the best are those that have some light slice of life elements worked into them. It is something that is popular and attractive to readers regardless of the primary genre. It is quite simple. Readers are drawn toward authenticity. The reader likes being able to identify with the characters and their situation, they want to feel like their characters are human and in a situation that is realistic. They want to feel like what they are reading is exactly what real people would do if exposed to the extreme situations presented in the story even if they are not actually things likely to happen in the real world (such as magic, paranormal activity, or just some way out-there "what if" scenarios.)

 

Authenticity is the single most important thing for a writer to capture. And, to capture authenticity, there are two main levels that you can consider. The first is to simply build strong and believable human characters. Just do some people watching some time and get accustomed to how people in the real world act in response to various situations, and try your best to understand and capture and reproduce those very human behaviors. This is usually embodied in the individual interactions between your characters, and is an essential part of your characterization and the way conflicts start and are also resolved.

 

The second is to try and capture an axiom. Axiomatic writing is something that pulls in a truth about humanity, and it is normally more a part of the over-arching themes of your story as a whole. Axiomatic writing tends to be very subtle, but also very powerful. Ancient hero stories such as the story of Hercules, Gilgamesh, and even the Bible heavily rely on Axioms, as do all of the best known sacred religious texts from throughout history. Studying these texts from the perspective of a writer instead of a religious scholar can yield a great benefit to your writing.

 

 

A study of Axioms

 

An Axiom is something subtle but powerful. Rather than being told to the reader, it is something that is felt and discovered, something for which the reader is not beaten over the head but it catches up at them and gnaws at the back of their mind as they read the story. One example of an Axiom seen throughout many writings is the idea that there was always someone who came before you, that has done it all before. And, once you are gone, someone else will appear after you. This is seen most distinctly in Norse Mythology with the Jotun (Pronunciation: yo-ten) and Ragnarok.

 

The Jotun were the gods of the previous generation, before Odin, Thor, Loki, and the rest of the more popularly known cast of gods in the Norse mythos. And then, Ragnarok is the apocalypse of the Norse mythos. The end of the world as we know it, and the end of all life. But, during the battle of Ragnarok, two humans are hidden away to repopulate the world after they are gone, and there are those among the gods who survive to become the equivalent of the Jotun for the next generation.

 

This theme of great civilizations that came before echos also in the story of Atlantis, and it is the appeal of this axiom that gives the story about the lost city such a great appeal. It is the reason that, today, the story of Atlantis has captured the imagination and become mythologized so much to the point where the version we have of the lost city now an the amazing and sometimes magical technologies they are now said to possess far exceeds what was told of in Plato's works. This is also seen in several works of modern day fiction as the lost civilizations somehow always have technology that surpasses the technology of the (in world) modern day (normally a medieval setting, with the ancient civilization having technology closer to real world modern day or possibly more advanced.) The generation to come is also seen these days in the post-apocalyptic genre in games like Fallout.

 

This is the power and tenor of an Axiom. A simple concept like “there was always someone before and there will be someone after” seems like such a basic “of course” concept, one that you don’t even really think about in your daily life, and it is so indisputable that you are not even going to try and argue with it. It is just a truth of the world that is obvious on its face and so mundane that you would think it is inconsequential. However, these themes have a real power when they are worked into the fabric of a story, and this power can cause the story to resonate with a reader whether they are consciously aware of this theme or not.

 

Keeping this in mind, there are several other axioms and themes that are in the fabric of other ancient and classic stories from mythologies of old. For instance, the ways in which power corrupts a person that kicks off the events of the epic of Gilgamesh, and then the power of humility and humbling experiences that can temper those same corrupting influences seen in the 12 labors of Hercules.

 

 

-Gilgamesh and Hercules

 

“The Twelve Labors of Hercules” tells the story of a half-god man who was promised and then denied the rights to the throne, and then tormented in his young life by the wrath of the goddess Harah who was spiteful against her husband Zeus who had an affair with a human woman resulting in Hercules’ birth. She showed her spite toward the child of this adulterous union, and caused him great suffering for the sins of his father, and nothing he had done on his own.

 

His story is one of redemption in which he seeks redemption and humbles himself working for the very king who stole his birthright, and in the process of this hard work he gains the love of the people and rises to popularity, eventually gaining the approval of the gods and the rights to the throne he was denied.

 

It is a story of having to work laboriously for the keys to power rather than just having them handed to you from your birth, and it is a story that has a keen resonance with the reader on its own. However, the most striking thing about “The Twelve Labors of Hercules” does not truly shine until you contrast it to the dramatically night-and-day difference you see when you read “The Epic of Gilgamesh.”

 

When you stop to think about it, Hercules and Gilgamesh are two characters with almost identical births. They are both mortal men who have a divine parent and great superhuman power as a result. They are also both promised the throne upon their birth. However, unlike Hercules, in “The Epic of Gilgamesh,” the title character actually gets everything he is promised without having to work for it. He is born the king from godly parents and has strength that surpasses any human. Nothing can oppose him and no one can fight him or oppose his power, and so he becomes a tyrant.

 

The majority of “The Epic of Gilgamesh” is about how the tyrant king Gilgamesh has to be humbled after the fact, after he has become such a monster. In order to do this, the gods have to create another god-born mortal who is the polar opposite of Gilgamesh by the name of Enkidu. Enkidu is born in the wild as a savage, and it was the gods’ hope that Enkidu would gain the strength to fight and get rid of the tyrant Gilgamesh that they themselves created. In the end, instead of fighting and killing Gilgamesh, Enkidu becomes his friend. However, Enkidu also ultimately managed over the years to humble and calm Gilgamesh’s tyrannical ways.

 

It is a story of how showing a person friendship can change a person. But, at it’s origins, it is also a story of how power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. These are two more axioms that have resonated through the public consciousness since as long as language existed.

 

The two stories have their lessons individually, but comparing the two stories back to back, showing a two figures who might as well have been born the same person but who lived completely different lives causing them to become two very different figures when they ascend the throne, one who labored for the throne through redemption for crimes of his own and also crimes of his father and gained the trust of the people, thus becoming a wise and loved king, Vs. one who was simply given power and the throne from birth and thus became a tyrant king, causes a deeper message in both stories to shine even more brightly due to the contrast.

 

Another interesting axiom in “The Twelve Labors of Hercules” though is the prospect of the importance of labor and suffering in generating humility, and the importance of humility in leading a good life. However, there is another ancient text every bit as well known as the name Hercules, and far more commonly studied and understood by the people today, and these messages of labor, humility, and the suffering are more than just touted as virtues. This text gets straight to the uncomfortable truth of the matter by making it a repeated theme throughout its length that these things are an inevitability of life, whether you choose them or not.

 

 

-The Bible, the Torah, the Koran.

 

By whatever name you call it, and whatever version you read, the holy texts of the Abrahamic faiths are a collection of stories that tell us the true meaning of life, and the true meaning that is written throughout these texts is that life is nothing but endless suffering and cruelty, and that hard work and a little bit of hope is about the only thing that can keep any of us going.

 

This is clear from Genesis 2. At the end of the second book of Genesis, man is cursed to work for their food, fighting back the thorns and weeds of the land in order to make the soil produce food for them. It is also worth noting that several sources state that the first book of Genesis was added much later than the rest of the stories in that book, meaning that Genesis 2 is, in actuality, actually the first book of the bible to be put to text.

 

Through several other stories, from the story of Joseph who was sold into slavery by his brothers and worked his way up through the hierarchy in Egypt in a tale oddly reminiscent of Hercules in several ways without the divine origins or strength, to the story of Jobe who suffered at no fault of his own and who was one of God’s most faithful servants, the Bible is full of repeated stories of cruelty and suffering. And, in the Christian Bible, this all culminates with the story of Jesus who was sent by God to save humanity from their suffering, only to be killed by the very people he was sent to save.

 

If anyone has ever tried to really help someone who is ruining their own life, you will know that this reading of the Gospels, of Jesus being sent to save only to be crucified by the very people he was trying to help, resonates so uncomfortably close to the way it works in the real world that it is just poetic in its own way. There is a certain thing in people where they seem to decide they like their own suffering, and they don’t want to be fixed, and so if anyone tries to solve their problems and tell them to be a better person they react with anger instead of gratitude.

 

If you ask most Christians, they will point to the positive messages in the Bible, those are the messages of hope, those are the messages they prefer to believe. And, today in the relative luxury we live in by comparison to ages long past, this more rosy interpretation of the Bible has begun to become closer to the truth. However, throughout history, it was this much darker reading of the bible that truly resonated with people and truly sounded like the authentic message which described their own life.

 

So, from “The Epic of Gilgamesh” and “The Twelve Labors of Hercules,” we see the value of an inspirational story that gives hope while entertaining the audience. Meanwhile, from the Bible, we learn the value of an axiomatic story that strikes at the uncomfortable truths of the more uncomfortable truths of the world. It doesn’t just stop at pointing out the corrupting nature of power as “The Epic of Gilgamesh” does, it goes the extra mile to really bring the message home and cause it to echo in the minds of the readers.

 

(In my own writing, I have tried to capture at least a little of this aspect of a cruel truth of the world in the form of creating some fairly accurate conditions under which a riot would break out, and the kinds of inhuman actions a mob can execute that an individual never would.)

 

 

Authentic characterization

Axiomatic writing can be powerful, and it was very prevalent in classical works and religious texts. However, while axiomatic themes are less common nowadays, there is something else modern works do far better that almost seems absent in classical works to the extent that one is forced to wonder if the axiomatic themes in classic literature were used more as a crutch than anything due to the complete lack of this modern day technique that has been mastered by several great writers.

 

This powerful technique used in the modern day is the use of authentic behaviors and interactions among and between individual characters. Simply put, the characters in the story act in ways that resonate with the reader as something a real person would actually do in an identical situation. Stuff that makes them either say, “yeah, that’s exactly what I would do” or “yeah, I know people who are like that.”

 

Where Axiomatic writing is something related to the big stuff, the overarching messages of the story as a whole and something that can be easily relayed in a summary of the story, authentic characterization concerns the small stuff. It is tied up in small things having to do with exact word choice, the things the character chooses to talk about, the things that get a character upset.

 

The afore mentioned “slice of life” style of writing is entirely driven by this authenticity of character, but it can also make a very powerful addition to action-packed stories. Interpersonal interactions in terms of how characters pall around with one another, they way characters feel one another out to see if the other is trustworthy, the ways people just exchange gossip, can all be things that not only add to a story but can also help drive it and keep it moving forward.

 

For example, which of these two scenarios seem more interesting? 1. A heroic character steps forward and slays the dragon for the sake of glory. 2. A heroic character walks into town and sees the people scurrying into their homes, afraid to even poke their heads out the door. He is looking for a place to rest for the night. As he is speaking with the people, negotiating for a room, most people are distrustful. However, he eventually finds a place to rest after agreeing to chop wood for an old woman. After settling in, he asks the old woman what all the fear in the town is all about. She tells him that a vicious dragon has taken up roost in the mountain above the town, and the people are afraid to even come out of their houses. However, the king does not care one bit about the village’s troubles, and has cruelly been demanding taxes and sending in soldiers to harass the villagers. They had thought him one of the king’s men, and that is why everyone was avoiding him. Disturbed by the village’s plight, he ventures up the mountain to slay the dragon.

 

Now, this was more an example of old-style axiomatic story telling, but that is what was needed to condense it down to a single paragraph. However, there are several examples in the second scenario that also grant opportunity to transform this paragraph long synopsis into a fully fleshed out short story simply by adding some proper characterization, and giving each villager some personality. In this case, it is the character interactions that drive the action of the dragon fight forward as it is the hero’s concern for the villagers that inspires him to move.

 

Another interesting point to consider, and something that can really move your writing up to the next level, is the prospect of combining axiomatic themes with authentic characterization. As was discussed in the beginning, a story can resonate enough with the reader so long as it has one or the other as a source of the authentic feel. However, a combination of both can spice up a classical work by introducing modern elements of characterization, or make a modern work with great characterization resonate more deeply with the reader.

 

There is also an interesting approach occasionally seen in the modern day, this is the borrowing of the spirit of classical works. An example that may be known by readers on this site would be the Fate series, a series denoted by the word “Fate//” (the two forward slashes being part of the title) followed by the remainder of the title. The lore of the series is that, in the middle ages, 3 powerful mage families who were masters of Summoning, Binding, and Homunculus creation respectively created a powerful ritual magic meant to create a fake holly grail that could replicate the power of the mythical original, giving it the ability to grant any wish.

 

Part of the ritual of the magic is that 7 mages are granted power, 3 of which are always members of the 3 original families who created the ritual. The seven mages then borrow the summoning power from the fake grail, that is already partially formed. This summoning power allows them to summon powerful servants from the classical works of mythology, bringing in Greek heroes such as Hercules, and legendary figures such as King Arthur. These heroes, as well as their summoners, then fight to the death in a battle royal, 6 of them becoming sacrifices to create the grail and then it is won by the seventh.

 

The fate series is written by a number of different authors. The author who wrote Fate//Stay Night, the original installment to the series, is not the same person who wrote the rest. However, regardless of who writes it, one of the appeals is that the writer always does their best to honor the summoned character, and this accurate recreation of the character pulls in the themes of the original work, and the axiomatic themes from their work tend to resonate with an accurately recreated character. At the same time, the mere act of reflecting the character accurately enough for the axioms of the original work to resonate also means the characterization itself is very deep.

 

(I will note, the writer of Fate//Zero, the unofficial prequel to Fate//Stay Night (unofficial because it is not written by the same author) is far better in this regard than any other installment to the series, including the original. Fate//Zero is a true masterwork worth studying, and I am especially impressed by the fact that a different author was able to make such a good derivative work that fits in with the original so well it looks as though it was always planned to be part of the story. I can tell you from experience that takes extreme skill.)

 

(Gilgamesh is actually a frequently recurring character in this series, often as a villain. As was discussed previously, as a tyrant king in his own story, he is a figure that is far better fit to the villain role, and his extreme arrogance actually makes him a really engaging character who you love to hate. Meanwhile, his self-absorbed nature and sense of entitlement make him an extremely crule character who is terrifying for the protagonists to face off against. (Of course, this is only made worse by the fact that his power is just overwhelming.))

 

 

In Conclusion

 

It would serve an aspiring author well to read the classics, or at the very least hear a very good summary. These days, you can easily find the classic works well summarized on Youtube, and most of them run only around 30 minutes long. It is a really low bar to learn these works nowdays, so there is very little holding you back from learning the classics.

 

While reading these works, keep an eye out for axiomatic themes and when you read newer works pay attention to the characterization, as well as how much of the story is character driven. When writing your own works, consider making use of both axioms and good characterization. It is a challenge that requires a lot of awareness by the author, but these things will really raise the quality of your work.

 

If you do not use both, you should at the very least use one (preferably characterization, unless you are writing a short story or are doing something stylistically different.) In order to write a work that really resonates with the reader, you will need something that rings with truth.