The TheoryPropps theory states that in the majority of folktales there are only 31 different plot functions getting the characters through the story and there are only eight different types of character in the stories these are:

The Hero The Villain The Helper The Princess/Prize Her Father The Donor The False Hero The Dispatcher

My book features a whole host of characters and there is more than enough for at least one to fall into every character but that isn’t the case. In the entirety of the book I think there is about four of the different character types that prominently show.

Perseus is the Hero of story with his name on the cover and the only character to be mentioned if not physically shown on every page in the book. He is on a quest if you like, to slay the gorgon Medusa to free his mother from a forced marriage with King Polydectes.

There are possibly two villains in the story. The first being King Polydectes who in a way doubles as the Dispatcher. Upon arriving in Argos Danae and Perseus live happily in a house somewhere in the city until she catches unwanted attention from King Polydectes, he then moves them into the castle and forces her to marry him, she doesn’t want to and Perseus challenges Polydectes, he says if he can slay the gorgon he will let his mother go. The second villain being Medusa herself, where, in the story she is more of Pseudo-Villain than an actual villain in the way that she doesn’t try to stop the hero but is dragged into the story by King Polydectes however when antagonized by Perseus she turns into a secondary villain.

Danae falls into the category of being the story’s prize due to the fact that King Polydectes wants her to marry him but Perseus wants her to be free thus causing the conflict between the hero and the villain in the first place.

The story has a fair amount of Donor type characters in it. The first being Athena the goddess who appears before Perseus and gives him the polished bronze shield to help in the fight against Medusa. The second being Hermes the god that appears to give him Zeus’ Sword and Flying Sandals which will help him in the story further down the line. Finally the third god to appear in the story, Hades, is the third and final Donor in story giving him the Helmet of Darkness and the magical bag to complete Perseus’ inventory to then go on and defeat Medusa.

And that is all the different character types in my book. The book doesn’t have anyone to fulfill the roles of The Helper, The Princess’ Father or The False Hero. Perseus travels alone on the quest and therefore doesn’t have a helper. However in the beginning of the story there is a small character called Dictys the fisherman, he saves Perseus and Danae and takes them to Argos but other than that he ceases to exist after this. The Princess, Danae, doesn’t have a father in the story as such, we know there is one but they run away from him and that starts this story. Finally there is no False Hero because there is nothing for them as a character to gain from stealing Perseus’ thunder if you like.

The whole thing about equilibrium comes in two kinds. One is a three-stage Equilibrium in that one event is equilibrium where life is normal and nothing is wrong, something then happens to cause disequilibrium and then equilibrium is restored. The other is a five-stage equilibrium, which is relatively the same but disequilibrium is split into three individual stages. So you have a state of equilibrium, a disruption causing disequilibrium, a character will realize that something is wrong, they attempt to fix the equilibrium and the return to equilibrium. In this story the Equilibrium is a better fit for a three-stage pattern. For example story starts in equilibrium and this lasts until page three where King Polydectes forces Danae to marry him. This then turns the story into the disequilibrium stage where Perseus has to go off and kill medusa to set his mother free. The new equilibrium is established once the king has been turned to stone and the two are living peacefully again.

The binary opposites in this story are relatively straightforward in that the opposing forces are Good vs. Evil. In a way you can make it a little more complex by saying it’s a case of Oppressed vs. Oppressor

due to the fact that the two of them, Perseus and Danae, are living happily until King Polydectes tries to push Perseus out.

There are many different types of structure for authors to choose and write to however they generally only come in pairs of options. My story follows the following structural paths.

It is a closed narrative due to the fact that story has a definite start and end point and isn’t left open to a further story. A comparable example would be the way that the film Armageddon ends it shows the characters in the new equilibrium and that their lives go on but the story of Armageddon is over.

It is a single strand narrative as the book has one storyline following the adventures of Perseus and all of his exploits. The story doesn’t switch to an alternative character’s storyline, similar to how the very hungry caterpillar focuses specifically on the caterpillar and its adventure to eat everything.

The story is a linear narrative as it starts at the beginning of the story (Perseus and Danae lost at sea) and then continues right through to the end without any form of flash back or events out of order. A similar example of this kind of narrative would be the story of the film Titanic where the ship sets off and sinks in that order. The story doesn’t flick backwards and forwards.

It is an Anti-realist piece of writing as although it’s highly likely that a Greek named Perseus did exist and the first parts of the story are likely to happen but the apparition of the gods and the fact that Gorgons exist means that this is a fantasy piece of writing. Highly comparable in this department would be the film Clash of the Titans that essentially is the same story just on steroids if you like.