Bambi Vs. Godzilla: A Lesson in Creative Writing

The other day I was remembering a documentary on the making of the movie Bambi. This particular documentary touched on an animated short titled Bambi Meets Godzilla. The story opens with a deer, Bambi, grazing in a tranquil meadow.  Credits are rolling and a pleasant soundtrack is playing in the background.  Then suddenly, out of nowhere, a huge reptile-like foot comes down from above and smashes poor Bambi. The end.

After having a good laugh, I was hit with the realization that this story left me a bit dissatisfied, even though it had been amusing.  I began to feel bad about the fact that Bambi really didn’t have a chance. It wasn’t a fair fight.

Likewise make sure your story’s conflict isn’t so lopsided that your protagonist (leading character) becomes an eternal victim without a chance. The reader needs to believe that your character has a good chance of winning the fight even though the odds are stacked against him or her. 

Kids would have been pretty disappointed if Nemo’s dad in Finding Nemo had been gobbled up by a bigger fish before finding his son. Realistic, but incredibly dissatisfying. Even though most people know that a clown fish in the open ocean has the chance of a piece of cheese in a room full of mice, the writer was able to make the audience believe that it was truly possible for Nemo’s dad to find him across the ocean’s great expanse.

Word to the creative writing wise, be careful with the story that does not end well.  If your story has a tragic ending, make sure the reader will at least enjoy the conflict along the way. The conflict should be intriguing enough to keep the reader hooked until the very end, regardless of how sad or tragic that end may be.

Shakespeare did it in Romeo and Juliet.  Herman Melville did it in Moby Dick. Nevertheless, stories such as these can leave some readers feeling disappointed. 

The important thing is to ask yourself how you want your reader to feel after reading the last page. Only then can you successfully chart the course for your short story or novel.