For Speculative fiction, I'm throwing in some stuff on genre theorists. Propp is being used by almost everyone doing Spec Fic at my school. I'm also throwing in Aristotle and Chris Vogler. Vogler is like a modern Propp in terms of his theory.
Aristotlean Story Form
-beginning, middle, and end
-a “well-made” story has a sense of closure
Propp broke down complex tales into smaller components which he called "moves". These moves contained lists of functions and were used for examining the tale as a whole. The move is not a fixed reference point, it could occur in different places in different tales.
Propp's 8 Characters
-The hero or victim/ seeker hero, reacts to the donor, weds the princess
-The villain (struggles against the hero)
-The donor (prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object)
-The (magical) helper (helps the hero in the quest)
-The princess (person the hero marries, often sought for during the narrative)
-Her father
-The dispatcher (character who makes the lack known and sends the hero off)
-The false hero/ anti-hero/ usurper - (takes credit for the hero’s actions/ tries to marry the princess)
These characters are not exclusive - for instance, the false hero can also be the villain in disguise; the dispatcher can also be the donor
