Day 378: Paradigm Shift

If you search for 'types of plot,' you'll probably get a list that looks something like this:

1. Overcoming the Monster · 2. Rags to Riches · 3. Quest · 4. Voyage and Return · 5. Comedy · 6. Tragedy · 7. Rebirth.

In previous posts, I've talked about how I think this is a limited view of what's possible in fiction, but nevertheless acknowledged the usefulness of recognizing certain patterns as well. Basing a story on a formula, picking pieces from these archetypes, or using them as a guide can ease the incredibly difficult process of crafting a story. Another huge benefit is that identifying these traits in stories can allow a writer to more closely mimic the style of another author. If there's ever been a book that just made you want to write that way, figuring out which elements to include in your own story is a lot easier if you start with one of those plot types up there. Unfortunately, that list doesn't even begin to cover the wide scope of possibilities present. Mislabeling a story can lead you astray, resulting in a weird half-breed story that doesn't read quite the way you want it to. The best way to identify a plot is to put your own labels on them and internalize the elements that make them what they are. That's why today I'd like to try and add a plot type to the list, one I've picked up on more and more often lately in a lot of my favorite books. Heinlein, Greg Bear, Michael Crichton, and Isaac Asimov are just a few authors who use many similar elements in many of their plots that I'm going to group under one name: the paradigm shift.

(Disclaimer: I wouldn't be surprised if someone already wrote down something similar, ok?)

The plot begins with something groundbreaking. A new science, a new development, a whole new way to do things. It could be a device that predicts when you will die as in Heinlein's 'Life-Line,' or a theme park full of cloned dinosaurs that will make every other park in the world obsolete. This the heart of the paradigm shift plot arc, and the whole story will center around that crucial development and its implications. The main character or characters usually includes an expert in the field. Dr. Grant and Ellie Satler are renowned paleontologists, summoned to give their blessing to Jurassic Park. In 'Ex Machina,' Caleb Smith is chosen by his genius boss for his expertise to test out a new AI that he's developed, although this story plays with the 'expert' role in an unexpected way. Sometimes the main character is actually the person who created the paradigm shift, as in Ramez Naam's 'Nexus' series, or Greg Bear's 'Blood Music.' If there are multiple characters, often there is also a lay person that the author can use to explain the shift in more detail, though some authors can get away without using this kind of foil. The characters are introduced by their relationship to the paradigm shift as experts, bystanders, victims of the social or technological change, or even beneficiaries who profit from the new cutting edge. In a paradigm shift plot, all the characters must be related to the central shift somehow.

From there, the plot can take a few different directions. Most that I've read go the way of disaster. Something goes terribly wrong, and now the consequences of the paradigm shift will be felt. In 'Jurassic Park,' a storm hits the island and life, uh, finds a way. In 'Blood Music,' genetically enhanced, intelligent microbes begin to take over their creator's body. In 'Frankenstein,' the monster learns to hate, and decides to take revenge on his creator.

The central conflict lies in how the characters will deal with these consequences, usually with fatal or even catastrophic stakes at play. Each character ends up redefining their relationship to the paradigm shift as they grow throughout the story. The experts come to realize they have a lot to learn. The bystanders and victims have to accept their new reality, or fail to grapple with it and likely perish. Beneficiaries might get their payoff initially, but usually for the sake of some satisfying just desserts, they end up dead at the hands of their own creation. Characters can play multiple of these roles too.

In the end, no matter what happens to the characters, the paradigm shift is usually impossible to stop. Like a force of nature, the shift is treated by the author as an inevitability for the characters to struggle against. Even when it seems like they've won, it's too late once things are in motion. It either changes everything, or will eventually change everything, and the characters (should they survive) are all left to grapple with the new world they witnessed the birth of.

Those are just the common patterns I've seen. There are probably many more I'm missing. Here are some strengths and weaknesses I've noticed too.

For one thing, these stories are extremely relatable, even if all the characters end up being experts. We live in a wild time of rapid technological and social evolution. All our lives are essentially one paradigm shift plot after another. Before the renaissance, human life hadn't really changed all that much for thousands of years. The technology and social standards when people were born was probably pretty similar to what they were when they died. Now though, a person alive today may have been born in a time when the entire world was at war, then lived through a period where nuclear disaster was an imminent threat, at the same time we went to space, at the same time the civil rights movement took place, at the same time digital computing was born. Then they would have watched computers go from something the military kept in their basements, to covering almost every inch of the world, sci-fi technology that suddenly, somehow, everyone will judge you as luddite if you don't understand. All along, the pace has only been increasing. Paradigm shift stories reflect our reality, emulating the dual sense of excitement and peril that comes with rapid change. It's no wonder so many science fiction authors have used the type of plot, even if the name may not have been cemented.

There are some downsides though. With so much ground to cover in the way the world is changing, some of the time spent developing characters may have to be sacrificed. A good writer can limit this by developing characters and the world at the same time, but it can't be completely circumvented. Another problem is the issue of predictability. The reader knows for sure that the world will change, just not how, or by how much. If the results are too easy to see coming, it might get boring. Another problem that a good writer can mostly avoid. Finally, I think the paradigm shift plot is a bit limited in genre. It works best with science fiction, and I don't think I've seen it outside of science fiction much. It just isn't as suited to literary fiction which tends to focus on the opposite question: how do people cope with every day life? It can work in fantasy, but when writing fantasy as a paradigm shift, it tends to read more like science fiction. I'm not sure if the chicken or the egg came first there.

Have you noticed this kind of plot used often? Are there any other plots that come up a lot that nobody seems to have named? Let me know in the comments!

Thank you for reading,

Benjamin Hawley