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1. Narrative Theory
Theory:
Propp’s Character Types
I will first be looking at the different character types that were laid out by Vladimir Propp and
making links form them to the characters in my children’s book.
The first character type I will look at is the hero, which in my story is the George who is the boy
given the task of defeating the villain. As the theory states the hero is the person the story
revolves around, this is the case in my story as the story begins with George, ends with George
and he is never absent from any pages. The second aspect of the theory states that the hero is in
search of something and or completing a quest, the quest in my case it is the defeat of the Fun-
Taker and the returning home. My story is very lenient toward the theory being factually
accurate however there are other works that would say otherwise such as, My Little Pony:
Friendship is Magic whose protagonist is Twilight Sparkle however her life is only followed in
certain episodes as in the majority of the other episodes the stories of the other ponies are told
without Twilight.
The second character I will look at is the
villain, which in my case is the Fun-Taker
who summons children to Candle Cove
with no means of return. In terms of
Propp’s theory the Fun-Taker fits the
description: Struggles against the hero, this
can be seen in the page to the right in which
George and the Fun-Taker battle it out on
the ship, which leads to the Fun-Taker’s
failure. The next description of a villain is
him/her/it doing morally wrong acts such
as lying, stealing, cheating, etc. This is
arguably present in the Fun-Taker as he technically “steals” children from their homes to bring
them to Candle Cove. The Fun-Taker also needs to succeed in order to carry on his “work”, the
story states that many have tried to defeat the Fun-Taker but all have failed so this fits the
struggle and lust for success. My villain, like the hero, matches the description of Propp’s theory.
Propp also stated that there is also a Princess/Prize that is the goal of the characters, it is
sometimes inanimate e.g. The Master sword and defeat of the villain in the Legend of Zelda. The
princess/prize is often quite literally a princess/damsel in distress for instance in Rapunzel the
price is of course Rapunzel. In my story there are two prize both are technically inanimate, the
first being the defeat of the Fun-Taker and the second being the returning home from Candle
Cove, George’s home only appears in three pages out of the books twelve, two at the start and one
at the end, which also links to Propp’s idea of the prize hardly appearing until found.
The donor was another one of Propp’s character ideas and it was stated that the donor is the
character that spurs on the hero be it physically or mentally in Candle Cove it is Percival who
gives George the sword that he takes on to defeat the Fun-Taker, this type of character is present
in a lot of children’s media, returning back to My Little Pony the donor in the story is Princess
Celestia who offers Twilight metal assurance when she is in times of trouble.
The next character type is the helper, and according to Propp the helper is unusually a sidekick of
some sort to help the hero along the way, the helper often has some limitations in order to show
off the positive qualities of the hero. In my story the description best fits the Laughingstock Crew
as they are more or less George’s mentors of the situation in Candle Cove and tell him exactly
what he must do to return home, they also stick with him throughout every page (except the
pages in George’s home and the battle). The limit of the Laughingstock crew is the fact they are
unable to defeat the Fun-Taker, to which George does later in the book.

2. Propp thought out briefly the next character, which is the Princess’ Father, Propp’s characters,
were based around traditional fairy tales so this character does not necessarily apply to my story,
Propp said that the Princess’ Father was the one who often gave the hero the quest (in the
traditional fairy tales the princess being taken was a very common premise) so this character
was quite literally the Father of the Princess, Propp himself was not too sure of this character
type.
The false hero is another of Propp’s characters and the characteristics of the false hero is that
they are often the plot twist in the story, Candle Cove does not involve a false hero as the story is
for a children’s book and this could be very confusing for my target age group, ages 4-7, if a
character is painted as something else that suddenly changes at the last minute. A popular
example of a false hero is Prince Hans in Frozen who is originally shown as the perfect match for
Anna through musical numbers, word choice, representation etc. However at the very end he
admits he only agreed to marry Anna to get a hold of the throne, this is foreshadowed throughout
with people’s confusion of marrying somebody you have just met. Propp theorized that the true
hero thus becoming the villain then defeats the false hero and returning to Frozen this is exactly
the case as Kristoff returns, defeats Hans and then comes the stereotypical happy ending which
supports Propp’s false hero.
Finally we look at the dispatcher who according to Propp
is the one who fills in the hero on the information on the
task then sends the hero off (a slight clash with the
Princess’ Father). In Candle Cove there are arguably two
separate
dispatchers,
Captain Silver
and Percival.
Firstly Captain
Silver is a
dispatcher as he explains the entire situation to George
and what he must do (Right) however Percival actually
supplies George with the sword that he needs to defeat
the Fun-Taker (Left) as Silver only “armed” George with
the information.
Todorov’s Narrative Theory
Tzvetan Todorov comprised the theory that every story follows the same base for their stories, at
first it was three steps, Todorov later refined this to 5 different steps.
Todorov’s first three steps are:
Equilibrium – This is the beginning of the story that follows life as usual e.g. a daily routine. My
story follows the equilibrium theory as it begins with George watching his favourite programme
in his room which he does every day “Ready for a new episode of his favourite programme”. This
theory is present in almost every form of fictitious media; a separate example is in the web series
Red VS Blue, in the first episode of season one, Why Are We Here?, it sets the whole concept of
Red against Blue as it shows activities on both bases all of which is dialogue driven as a setup of
the equilibrium
Disequilibrium – This is the event, be it major or minor, which sets the plot in motion thus giving
the hero a purpose causing the viewer’s interest in the story. In my story the disequilibrium is
George waking up in Candle Cove which at first does not make any sense until the viewer reads
on and finds out it was due to the Fun-Taker which in turn sets the plot in motion. My
disequilibrium is similar to the one in the series RWBY in which it is Ruby fighting Torchwick to
which he escapes and Glynda defends Ruby, which is similar to my disequilibrium of the
Laughingstock Crew “saving” George from Candle Cove and the Fun-Taker by supplying him (as
mentioned before).

3. New Equilibrium – This is the final section of the story
in which the state of things is revealed be it a person, a
group of people or even an inanimate object it shows
how life will be after the events which previously
unfolded be it for the best or worst. My new equilibrium
has a positive outcome with George returning home safe
and Candle Cove being safe once again I chose this
because it is a children’s book and children’s media
typically needs a happy ending as appose to a sad one
because this will confuse and or upset the child which is
the opposite of what children’s books are for, proof of
this can be seen by studying many different children’s books a few notable examples are the Rold
Dahl books which mainly have happy endings: Charlie getting the chocolate factory, James living
in his own house with many friends etc.
Binary Opposition
Claude Levi Strauss came up with the theory that can be heavily disputed which is that a story
can only be successful when two opposing sides clash be it good against evil, police against
criminals, old against young etc. As this is most of the time the cause of the disequilibrium,
however this is not always the case as in my story the Laughingstock crew are a crew of pirates ,
which are stereotypically associated with evil in stories such as Peter Pan against a separate
pirate known as the Fun-Taker (see page below, both have pirate ships) so in my case Strauss’
theory is incorrect the only brief link that
can be made is with George being a normal
boy then meeting with pirates, however
this is not the primary disequilibrium
because without the Fun-Taker there
would be nothing that George could do.
Strauss’ theory does however apply to the
majority of media; The Breakfast Club
(1985 film) is the perfect example of this
with five separate school stereotypes
clashing then coming together to become
one for this brief instance so in some cases
Strauss’ theory is applicable but it is not
correct 100% of the time.
Narrative Structure
There are 8 separate forms of narrative structure all of which are crucial in defining what your
work is, be it a sequel a beginning etc.
Open Narrative – An open narrative does not reach a conclusion, this often used in episodic
content in order to keep the viewer coming back for more as well as in
the film industry for instance in Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back the
film ends with multiple plot holes, Luke finding that Darth Vader is his
father, R2D2 and C3PO awaiting their contract etc. These plot holes then
justify the release of a sequel. I did not use an open narrative as my age
group will expect a beginning and ending due to their young age and
would rather know as appose to thinking about what will happen.
Closed Narrative – This is the opposite of an open narrative meaning it is a story with a
conclusion that does not necessarily require carrying on. This is more common in younger
children’s media to give them a complete story that they can enjoy as appose to guess at,
however it is not always the case as in children’s TV an open narrative is often used My Little
Pony: Friendship is Magic is an example of this as at the end of each season there will be a two
part special whereas throughout the series each episode uses a closed narrative to teach the
children morality lessons.

4. Single Strand – A single strand narrative is one where a story follows only one story with no
following of any side stories, however this does not mean there is no potential for them they are
just not canon. My story follows this method to keep in the theme of
simplicity of children’s books, my story only follows George’s adventure
with the Laughingstock Crew as appose to focusing on anyone else in the
story. A well-known example of a single strand narrative is the original
90s Sailor Moon series which revolves solely around the story of Usagi,
even when introducing a new character the backstory is learnt by Usagi
also when showing a separate character in the same episode their
activities are inevitably linked back to Usagi as appose to a completely
separate story, much like my story which only follows George and has the
story of Candle Cove happen with him.
Multi Strand – A multi strand narrative is the opposite of single strand as it follows multiple
stories that eventually intertwine, my story has the potential to be multi -strand for instance
following the story of the Laughingstock Crew before George appears, but I chose not to use
multi-strand as a leap from a bedroom to a ship and back again would be very confusing on a
younger child visually due to the massive change in scenery. Many forms of media do use multi-strand
narratives, an example of this is South
Park, in one of the latest episodes titled “The
Cissy” the main concept is the confusion of being
transgender which mainly follows Cartman
campaigning on a separate toilet, where as later
on in the episode we learn about Randy Marsh
being Lorde and then we get a small segment
around this which is largely irrelevant in terms of
the stories concept however it is added for
comedic effect but without it the episode would
still flow from start to finish with no confusion.
Linear – A linear story is one that uses the traditional means of storytelling, a straight line,
meaning that the story runs from beginning to middle to end this is a very common device used
in fairytales and children’s media e.g. Red Riding Hood, Humpty Dumpty etc. as it is simple
enough for younger minds to understand due to it’s simple and traditional concept. My book has
adopted this method for the same reason mentioned above, as well as the fact that books for my
age groups tend to be very short and I believe that 12 pages is ideal to tell a story for a younger
audience.
Non-Linear – The opposite of linear, a non-linear story is a more interesting method of
storytelling because it does not stick to traditional means and plays around with the format, it is
mainly used in media for older audiences as it is easier to understand for them as appose to the
younger audience. The concept of a non-linear story is often portrayed through flashbacks as
well as flash forwards to either foreshadow incidents or make it more of a payoff when it comes.
An instance of this is Breaking Bad, which has both flash
forwards and flash backs at seemingly random intervals
that then go forward to have meaning for instance
throughout season 2 we get minor flash forwards,
starting with a teddy bear (right) in a pool to then dead
bodies being removed from Walt’s house which is then
revealed to be a plane crash which is witnessed in the
season finale making them all make sense.
Realist – A realist storyline is one that could potentially happen to somebody in real life or i s a
representation of real life. Realist stories are possible but are often a heightened state of reality
for instance all sorts of negativity happening far too occasional ly, too much positivity, etc. Candle
Cove is not a realist story as it involves a modern boy being teleported to a separate world ruled
by pirates as well as a moving functioning skeleton. Realist narratives often appear in TV
dramas/soaps for instance CSI follows different crime cases being solved, mainly murder, all of

5. which are possible to happen but crimes as elaborate as these in CSI would most probably not
occur every single week which is the aspect of heightened reality.
Anti-Realist – This is clearly the opposite of a realist narrative, being a
narrative that follows impossible events that have/will never happen.
My story is an anti-realist narrative due to its premise of a boy waking
up in a separate world as well as numerous other themes. This theme
is present in most if not all children’s media as it adds a sense of
imagination as it takes things children have seen normally and
breathes life into them for instance My Little Pony is a programme
which focuses on talking ponies with hyper realistic appearances
(when compared to the real world) in their own separate universe,
this can never happen in the real world.