You ALL Share My Story: Difference between revisions

Line 2:

"We are all connected" isn't just hippie-dippie jargon; in Fictionland it's a universal constant like gravity, electromagnetism, and the weak and strong nuclear forces. In a narrative with [[Loads and Loads of Characters]] (or even as few as two), these will [[How to Gather Characters|invariably be drawn together]] no matter how far away or distinct the characters and their troubles are. They probably won't stick together as strongly as the [[Character-Magnetic Team]], but what ends up happening is that everyone meets at least once and they build at least a working relationship. Essentially, every character works on a different aspect of the plot; while one tracks down the [[Angel Unaware|mysterious]] [[Woman in White]], another fights the [[The Killer Was Left-Handed|left handed killer]] after her, and a third is trying to find out where the killer gets his orders from.

This can culminate in [[Season Finale~~|Season Finales~~]] where the characters (either by their own plans or serendipity) come together to beat the [[Big Bad]]. Otherwise, expect to see a lot of [[Right Hand Versus Left Hand]] struggles as the decentralized cast often struggles against each other as with the villains.

This can culminate in [[Season Finale]]s where the characters (either by their own plans or serendipity) come together to beat the [[Big Bad]]. Otherwise, expect to see a lot of [[Right Hand Versus Left Hand]] struggles as the decentralized cast often struggles against each other as with the villains.

The series might justify this with these characters having an interwoven "fate", or their alikeness (super powers, being supernaturals, street fighters, card duelists or what have you) naturally draw them to each other. Now, if it turns out they're all significant to each other ''before'' the story starts, you're looking at [[One Degree of Separation]]. If they all stick together after meeting, then they form a [[Character-Magnetic Team]]. Related to the [[Law of Conservation of Detail]], in that if they weren't part of the story the author wanted to tell, they wouldn't have been included in the work. Sometimes occurs because [[Everyone Is Related]], other times everyone shared a [[Mass Super-Empowering Event]]. See also [[Hyperlink Story]] and [[Debut Queue]].

Line 42:

* Effectively averted by [[Harry Turtledove]] in his series.

* Lampshaded and played straight during Robert Jordan's ''[[The Wheel of Time]]'': Rand al'Thor tends to bring in other ''[[The Chosen One|ta'veren]]'' around him just by existing.

** To elaborate, "ta'veren" is the in-world term for people around whom destiny works. Destiny exists in the world, but so do free will and random chance, and the way it's possible for all three to be real is that destiny doesn't actively push anything around unless a ''ta'veren'' is nearby, at which point people will make crazily impulsive major decisions out of the blue and freakishly lucky (or unlucky) flukes of chance will happen regularly. ''Three'' of the main characters are ''ta'veren''. The book begins in their home village, along with two of their peers (special in another way) and a visiting magic-user. Those six people get broken up partway through the first book and reunited near the end in a justified way (the magic-user was looking for the rest), then broken up again early in the second book and reunited in a very [[You ALL Share My Story]] way at the end of the third. Only two of them at most have been together at any time since early in the fourth book. It's now on book 12 and there are hundreds of characters, most of whom have met two or three of the main characters even if they don't know it.

** To elaborate, "ta'veren" is the in-world term for people around whom destiny works. Destiny exists in the world, but so do free will and random chance, and the way it's possible for all three to be real is that destiny doesn't actively push anything around unless a ''ta'veren'' is nearby, at which point people will make crazily impulsive major decisions out of the blue and freakishly lucky (or unlucky) flukes of chance will happen regularly. ''Three'' of the main characters are ''ta'veren''. The book begins in their home village, along with two of their peers (special in another way) and a visiting magic-user. Those six people get broken up partway through the first book and reunited near the end in a justified way (the magic-user was looking for the rest), then broken up again early in the second book and reunited in a very You ALL Share My Story way at the end of the third. Only two of them at most have been together at any time since early in the fourth book. It's now on book 12 and there are hundreds of characters, most of whom have met two or three of the main characters even if they don't know it.

* Some of the characters in the ''[[Ender's Game|Ender]]'' series

* [[Charles Dickens]] loves this trope. ''[[Bleak House]]'' is the crowning example: there are over eighty characters, all of whom turn out to be essential to the denouement. ''[[Oliver Twist]]'', ''[[Little Dorrit]]'', etc. also heavily participate in this structure.

Line 59:

== [[Live Action TV]] ==

* ''[[Lost]].'' One of the [[DVD~~|DVDs~~]] even has a chart keeping score of the character interactions pre-island.

* ''[[Lost]].'' One of the [[DVD]]s even has a chart keeping score of the character interactions pre-island.

* The first season of ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' had this as a major theme, with all the divergent characters slowly coming together over the course of the story, culminating with all the characters' paths lead them to converge at Kirby Plaza for the final showdown to save the world from Sylar. Unfortunately, the later seasons seem to be trying way too hard to ''resist'' this trope, with increasingly illogical results. After coming together through S1, by S2 they're all scattered and many of them seem to have forgotten they know each other (literally in Peter's case) and from there on in they're always encountering problems they could solve if they just called in someone they know, and nine times out of ten they don't.

** In Season 1, Mohinder (and [[Future Badass|Future!Hiro]]) both hypothesized that this is an implied side effect of having a superpower.

Line 65:

* ''Love Soup's'' premise is based on the exact opposite. We have Alice and Gil, two Londoners who would be perfect for each other - if they knew they other existed. In the final episode you can see them sitting in the same theater without noticing each other - even though they are the only ones not laughing.

* ''[[Doctor Who]]'': [[Lampshaded]] by the Doctor in "The End Of Time Part 1"; he has just realised that {{spoiler|[[The Master]] has come [[Back From the Dead]]}} and is amazed that Wilf has been able to find him in the space of a day, where some people can spend years searching for him. Also happens with Donna in "Partners in Crime", so that the Doctor suspects that the Noble family have a very important role to play in events to come.

* Pretty common in all [[Soap Opera~~|Soap Operas~~]].

* Pretty common in all [[Soap Opera]]s.

== [[Theatre]] ==

Line 74:

== [[Video Games]] ==

* ''[[Final Fantasy VIII]]'', where it's revealed that {{spoiler|all the player characters were at the same orphanage when they were little kids and have all forgotten about it.}} Well, except ~~Irvine--that~~'s how they figured it out in the first place.

* ''[[Final Fantasy VIII]]'', where it's revealed that {{spoiler|all the player characters were at the same orphanage when they were little kids and have all forgotten about it.}} Well, except Irvine—that's how they figured it out in the first place.

** IIRC, {{spoiler|Rinoa wasn't from the orphanage, but she did have an affair with Seifer, who ''was'' from there.}}

** And in ''[[Final Fantasy XIII]]'', as everyone is drawn to the same place through half a dozen different motivations.

Line 95:

* The cast of ''[[Dept Heaven Apocrypha]]'' has developed a tendency to become either distantly or directly involved in each others problems. Characters whose plots haven't fully begun yet like Monica and Meria are especially prone to this.

* A standard in [[Live Action Roleplaying Game~~|Live Action Roleplaying Games~~]], as otherwise the characters would have little reason to interact with each other.

* A standard in [[Live Action Roleplaying Game]]s, as otherwise the characters would have little reason to interact with each other.

== Western Animation ==