The Adversity Cycle: The Origins of Story

The adversity cycle vs. the Hero’s Journey

by Stefan Edmunds

1. A Fresh Definition of Story

I imagine that in the earliest days of storytelling, people took real-life adventures, like raiding a village, surviving a storm, or abducting a woman of another clan, and told the tale at the campfire. Over time, storytellers gilded real-life adventures with dramatic devices and storytelling became an art.

Joseph Campbell analyzed hundreds of stories, extracted dramatic devices, categorized them, and put them in a sequence. That became the Hero’s Journey. But since the Hero’s Journey looks at stories through the lens of art, it does not explain what a story really is, neither does it reveal story dynamics.

If we want to understand what makes stories tick, we need to take a wide step back and examine the origin of storytelling, which is rooted in real life.

Life is a continuous stream of experiences – the experience of good and bad times. Stories are virtual experiences presented in a string of scenes. Not all experiences can turn into stories, stories need adversity. Stories without adversity are just anecdotes. Stories need to be adventures — inspiring struggles with adversity. With this, we arrived at a fresh definition of story:

Stories are dramatized virtual adventures.

2. The Adversity Cycle

If we want to write stories with a real-to-life feel, we need to emulate the way people deal with adversity in real life. Turns out, there is something like an adversity cycle:

1. An adversity arises and produces symptoms
2. We notice the symptoms. This produces a crisis: Shall we deal with the symptoms or not?
3. We are busy or lazy and ignore the symptoms.
4. When the symptoms become annoying, we apply a workaround to suppress the symptoms. We do that because we lack the ability to deal with the cause.
5. When the symptoms worsen and put something at stake, the crisis of whether to engage with adversity escalates.
6. If we decide to engage, we shift from a subjective reaction to symptoms to an objective analysis of the cause of adversity.
7. We analyze what tool or ability we need to remove the cause.
8. We acquire the ability or get the tool and apply it.
9. And we fail or succeed.

Example:

Robert is a nerdy programmer who neglects apartment maintenance. One day, he notices that the pipe below the kitchen sink is dripping (symptom).

But Robert is busy finalizing a program and ignores it. Next day, the pipe leaks (annoyance).

Robert tapes the pipe and slows the leaking (workaround).

The leaking worsens. Water breaks through the tape and floods the kitchen floor. Now, something is at stake: the kitchen floor and the ceiling of the apartments beneath Robert’s. Robert watches a couple of plumbing videos on YouTube (key ability).

He closes the main water valve and takes the pipe apart. Turns out, the culprit is a worn-out rubber ring. Robert buys a new rubber ring and replaces the old one. Not only did Robert find a solution to the cause, he knows now how to plumb and next time a water pipe breaks, he’ll fix it in no time, and it won’t be an adventure anymore.

The adversity cycle is nothing new.

I learned it when I was working in the IT industry. When IT systems fail it is common to apply workarounds first and solutions later. Also, medical and psychological procedures distinguish between workarounds and solutions.

Have you heard of the Kübler-Ross model? It models people’s internal reactions to adversity: shock → denial → anger → bargaining → depression → acceptance.

The Kübler-Ross phases kick in after the stake phase of the adversity cycle: symptoms → neglect → annoyance → workaround → stakes → shock → denial → anger → bargaining → depression → acceptance → objective analysis of adversity → key ability → solution.

3. The Adversity Cycle and the Story Cycle

How to get from the adversity cycle to the story cycle? By turning the phases of the adversity cycle into dramatic devices and adding a couple:

Adversity Cycle ↔︎ Story Cycle

Real-life adversity «︎ Story adversity

Real-life adventurer «︎ Protagonist

NA1 «︎ Antagonist

Symptoms «︎ Inciting incident

Ignoring symptoms «︎ Refusal of the call2

Annoyance «︎ Forced call to adventure2

Workaround «︎ Story goal & its pursuit

Stakes «︎ Stakes

Analysis «︎ Midpoint

Key ability «︎ Key ability

NA1 «︎ All-is-lost moment

Application of the key ability «︎ Climax

NA1 «︎ Conclusion

¹ At least super rare in real life

² A minor dramatic device

3.1 Adversity

Usually, stories don’t show the rise of adversity. Kung Fu Panda 3 does: Kai rising from the spirit realm.

A good story adversity is forceful, meaning, if nobody opposes it, it would fully unfold and take over everything it wants to take over. The protagonist opposes adversity.

3.2 The Protagonist

In the context of story outline, the protagonist is a dramatic device. The protagonist embodies the resistance against the unfolding adversity.

3.3 The Antagonist

In the context of story outline, the antagonist is a dramatic device. The antagonist catalyzes adversity because she profits from it.

3.4 The Inciting Incident

The inciting incident is the moment adversity arrives in the protagonist’s life and produces symptoms.

In War of the Worlds, adversity arrived on Planet Earth in the form of aliens who dug war machines into the ground, but the movie begins with the war machines popping out, which is the inciting incident.

The inciting incident throws the protagonist’s life out of balance and sets a chain of events into motion that will tempt or force her to go on an adventure.

That inciting incidents put something at stake is not real-to-life and causes a story outline problem: Writers need to keep raising the stakes to keep readers engaged.

3.5 Stakes

The inciting incident reveals the story stakes. The stakes depend on the story’s genre, for example, life/death or damnation/salvation.

3.6 The Story Goal

The protagonist reacts to the inciting incident by formulating the story goal. She believes that once she achieves the story goal, her life will return to normal.

3.7 Escalation of Stakes

With the story goal in mind, the protagonist embarks on her adventure. She enters a phase of trial-and-error during which she applies workarounds to suppress adverse symptoms.

Since she lacks the key ability to solve the adversity in question, she fails and the stakes escalate further.

3.8 The Midpoint

Escalating stakes force the protagonist to contemplate the nature of adversity and look for the key ability.

3.9 The Key Ability

What happens if a pipe breaks in the kitchen of a plumber? He’d fix it in no time and nobody wouldn’t consider that an adventure. The key ability must be missing at the beginning of the story.

In the case of stories that only have external stakes, the key ability usually turns out a thing, tool, or weapon. For example, Harry Potter finds the Stone of the Wise in his pocket.

If you want your story to be more true to life, the key ability should be an internal ability, like courage or love. In the case of Star Wars, it’s a bit of a mix: the key ability is the Force, which is inside but effects external circumstances.

3.10 The All-is-lost Moment

The protagonist comes out of her introspection with an adapted story goal that takes the key ability into consideration.

She applies it and — for purely dramatic reasons — fails again. And, for purely dramatic reasons, adversity crushes her and all seems lost.

3.11 The Climax

The protagonist rebounds from the all-is-lost moment and challenges adversity with the key ability and an additional edge in a final, climactic standoff.

3.12 The Conclusion

The protagonist succeeds or fails. The writer sums up her success or failure in a dramatic way and concludes the story.

3.13 The Difference Between Adversity and the Antagonist

In real life, adversity and antagonists are two different affairs. For example, war is an adversity that knows no protagonists. On both sides, soldiers want to stay alive, protect the lives of their comrades, and get home in one piece.

Few stories distinguish between adversity and antagonist. Mission Impossible Fallout does. In this case, adversity is overpopulation. The antagonist wants to solve overpopulation by launching a nuke. We don’t know the protagonist’s plans to address overpopulation, we only know that he disagrees with the antagonist’s plan.

In the case of Lord of the Rings, it’s a blur. Dark Lord Sauron represents the story adversity but is only a half-blown antagonist. Half-blown because he is a psychic force that spawns and directs enemies but can’t oppose the protagonist directly.

3.14 The Difference Between the Protagonist and the Antagonist

In stories, the difference between the protagonist and antagonist boils down to attitude.

The attitude of the antagonist: the end justifies the means, hence, he takes advantage of adversity.

The attitude of the protagonist: Let’s help each other get through this, whatever this is.

The protagonist is social, the antagonist is selfish. The protagonist evolves and overcomes her weakness, the antagonist doesn’t.

On a side note, you can take protagonists and antagonists a step further and turn them into heroines and villains. A protagonist turns into a heroine if she sacrifices something or herself. An antagonist turns into a villain if she realizes her goal at the expense of others.

4. The Story Cycle Graph

For the sake of simplicity, let’s assume that the curiosity and tension curve mirror each other. This is not true to life, since curiosity is binary (questions and answers). Projecting the story cycle over a time-line, we get the following graph:

 

5. The Benefits of the Adversity Cycle

The adversity cycle has the following benefits:

• If you don’t like to spend much time on story structure, you can use the adversity cycle to outline your story. The phases of the adversity cycle (symptoms, annoyance, workarounds, stakes, etc.) and the obligatory scenes of your genre will become your skeleton scenes.
• The adversity cycle helps to distinguish between what is real-to-life and what is drama.
• If the arc of your story feels unnatural, you can use the adversity cycle to analyze what went wrong.
• You can use the adversity cycle to understand and test story outline variations (see below).
• The adversity cycle helps to manage genre-specific story outlines (see below).

5.1 Adversity in Protagonistic and Antagonistic Stories

In the case of antagonistic stories, adversity arrives as an overwhelming force and unravels in the protagonist’s world. If nothing opposed it, it would take over everything it has its heart set on. The protagonist opposes adversity, and the main story engager is tension. Genre examples: action, thriller, and horror.

Adversity drives antagonistic stories all the way to the climax. It causes the inciting incident that throws the protagonist’s life out of balance, drives her into the midpoint introspection, crushes her in the all-is-lost moment, and infuriates her so much that she will attempt a second, winner-takes-all battle against all odds.

In protagonistic stories, protagonistic forces dominate. Genre examples: romances and adventure stories. In protagonistic stories, the antagonist’s efforts don’t amount to more than opposition and threats, and the main engager is excitement.

Adversity makes itself felt after the protagonist embarked on her adventure. In the case of romance, it looks something like this: inciting incident (lovers meet/the temptation) ® the protagonist plunges into her romantic adventure  ® symptoms of clashing character traits ® the protagonist ignores the symptoms ® symptoms annoy ® workarounds ® symptoms worsen ® stakes (fights and the threat of breaking up) ® midpoint ® key ability ® all-is-lost moment (the lovers break up) ® climax (reunion) ® the Happy Ever After.

5.2 The Adversity Cycle and Action Stories

Action stories launch right into the stake phase and put someone’s life in danger. This causes a story outline challenge. Writers need to raise the stakes at least two more times to keep up the tension.

The thing is, authors have few options for raising the stakes further. Example: Putting the life of a victim at stake ® putting the protagonist’s life at stake ® putting the life of a loved one at stake ® putting the existence of a group or nation at stake ® putting the existence of the world at stake. This lack of options is the reason many action stories end up putting the world at stake.

5.3 The Adversity Cycle and Disaster and Horror Stories

Disaster and horror stories begin by revealing symptoms here and there, which different characters observe. Examples: Alien, Dante’s Peak, and Stranger Things.

Horror writers like to keep the adversity cycle close. They need a story outline that gives their scary fairytales a real-to-life feel.

5.4 The Adversity Cycle and Superhero Stories

Superhero stories reverse the adversity cycle. In real life, adversity comes first and compels us to look for the key ability. In superhero stories, the key ability falls into the lap of the protagonist at the beginning of the story (the inciting incident). He then looks for an antagonist to try it on.

5.5 A Hero’s Journey With a Realistic Feel

In case you choose a call to adventure that produces adverse symptoms and doesn’t jump right into the stake phase, the Hero’s Journey conforms to the adversity cycle up to the midpoint:

Adversity Cycle « Hero’s Journey

Adversity « Story adversity

Real-life adventurer « Hero

NA « Villain

Symptoms « Call to adventure

Ignoring the symptoms « Refusal of the call

Annoyance « Forced call to adventure

Accepting the challenge « Crossing the threshold

Workaround « Test & trials

Stakes « Stakes

Need for key ability « Approaching the cave

Analysis « Ordeal in the cave

Key ability « Seizing the sword

After that, the Hero’s Journey gets muddy. You can carry on by taking the protagonist through the all-is-lost moment, her rebound, transformation, and the climax.

by Stefan Edmunds March 20, 2022

What about you, scriveners? Have you heard of the Adversity Cycle? Will you find this info helpful when editing your WIP? Do you try to follow the “Hero’s Journey” format when planning your fiction? 

Stefan Edmunds

Stefan Emunds is the author of the Eight Crafts of Writing. He writes inspirational non-fiction and visionary fiction stories and runs an online inspiration and enlightenment workshop. Stefan was born in Germany and enjoyed two years backpacking in Australia, New Zealand, and South-East Asia in his early twenties.

Prior to becoming a writer, he has worked as a business development manager in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. At the moment, he lives with his son in the Philippines.

Find Stefan at his website or his book page.

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Featured Image: “The Courage to Stand” Licensed by Creative Commons. Image by Blxxrose