Storytelling Through Shapes
Which do you remember better - a person's story or their résumé? Stories stick. Facts fade. According to Kurt Vonnegut, every compelling story follows one of eight emotional arcs. Let's explore each shape with examples and illustrations.
1. Man in the hole: Everything is normal, then things get worse, then better. Here are stories that depict "Man in the hole":
Fortune
↑
|
| Normal Life Resolution
| •─────────╮ ╭─────────•
| ╰─╮ ╭─╯
| ╰─╮ ╭─╯
| ╰─╮ ╭─╯
| ╰─╯
| The Hole
| •
|
└────────────────────────────────────────────────→ Time
Examples:
Cast Away - Flat: Normal life → Fall: Plane crash on island → Rise: Escapes and returns
Free Guy - Flat: Happy NPC → Fall: Discovers he's about to be deleted → Rise: Becomes self-aware and earns freedom
Everything Everywhere All at Once - Flat: Normal life doing taxes → Fall: Multiverse chaos → Rise: Saves multiverse and reconnects with family
2. Boy Meets Girl: Things get better, worse, then better. Here are the stories that depict "boy meets girl".
Fortune
↑
| •
| ╭─╯
| ╭─────╮ ╭─╯
| ╭─╯ ╰╮ ╭─╯
| ╭─╯ ╰╮ ╭─╯
| ╭─╯ ╰─╯
| •─────╯ Breakup
|
└────────────────────────────────────────────────→ Time
Start Meet Happy Conflict Back Best
Together Together
Examples:
Anyone But You - Rise: Meet at wedding and hook up → Fall: Big fight and humiliation → Rise Higher: Realize they actually love each other
Mamma Mia! - Rise: Sam arrives after 20 years, old chemistry returns → Fall: Painful memories resurface, resistance and anger → Rise Higher: Reconcile at wedding, finally together
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse - Rise: Miles reconnects with Gwen, team-up goes great → Fall: Miguel and Spider-Society turn against him, Gwen betrays him → Rise Higher: Gwen's team rescues him, stronger bond formed
3. Cinderella: Rags to riches. Starts low, rises, falls back down, then rises even higher than before. Bad situation → things improve → setback/crisis → ultimate triumph
Fortune
↑
| •
| ╭─╯ Ultimate
| ╭─╯ Triumph
| ╭─╯
| ╭────╮ ╭─╯
| ╭─╯ ╰╮ ╭─╯
| ╭─╯ ╰─╯
| ╭─╯ Crisis/
| •─────╯ Setback
| Bad
| Start
|
└────────────────────────────────────────────────→ Time
Poor Things Ball/ Midnight/ Found/ Royalty
Improve Magic Loses It Slipper
Examples:
Tetris - Start Low: Henk Rogers struggling game designer in debt → Rise: Discovers Tetris, starts licensing deals → Fall: Soviet bureaucracy blocks him, Nintendo deal collapses, facing legal battles → Rise Higher: Secures worldwide rights, Tetris becomes global phenomenon
The Founder - Start Low: Ray Kroc failing milkshake machine salesman → Rise: Partners with McDonald brothers, starts franchising → Fall: Brothers resist expansion, relationship deteriorates → Rise Higher: Buys them out, builds McDonald's empire
Moneyball - Start Low: Oakland A's underfunded, losing star players → Rise: Billy Beane uses data analytics, 20-game winning streak → Fall: Playoff collapse, traditional scouts mock approach → Rise Higher: Analytics revolutionizes baseball forever, approach adopted league-wide
4. Tragedy: A steady decline where things just keep getting worse. A straight line where things keep down and ends badly.
Fortune
↑
| •
| Start
| ╰╮
| ╰╮
| ╰╮
| ╰╮
| ╰╮
| ╰╮
| ╰╮
| ╰╮
| ╰╮
| ╰╮
| ╰─•
| Ruin
|
└────────────────────────────────────────────────→ Time
Examples:
- Uncut Gems - Start: Howard has jewelry business, manageable debts → Fall: Debts spiral, family leaves → Fall Continues: Every gamble makes it worse → End Low: Shot and killed
- Requiem for a Dream - Start: Characters have normal lives with small vices → Fall: Drug addiction deepens → Fall Continues: Lives completely deteriorate → End Low: Hospitalization, imprisonment, psychosis
- Margin Call - Start: Financial firm seems stable → Fall: Junior analyst discovers fatal portfolio problem → Fall Continues: Panic selling destroys company reputation → End Low: Firm damaged, careers ruined
5. Icarus: Things keep getting better and better, then crash. Opposite of man in the hole. A straight line where things keep going up and ends badly.
Fortune
↑
| • Peak
| ╭─╯╰╮
| ╭─╯ ╰╮
| ╭─╯ ╰╮
| ╭─╯ ╰╮
| ╭─╯ ╰╮
| ╭─╯ ╰╮
| •─╯ ╰─•
| Start Crash
|
└────────────────────────────────────────────────→ Time
Examples:
- The Social Network - Rise: Mark creates Facebook, explosive growth → Rise Continues: Becomes billionaire, platform dominates → Fall: Lawsuits from Eduardo and Winklevoss twins, loses all friendships, sits alone refreshing ex-girlfriend's profile
- Wolf of Wall Street - Rise: Jordan Belfort starts brokerage, making millions → Rise Continues: Massive wealth, excess, living like a king → Fall: FBI investigation, arrested, loses everything, prison
- Steve Jobs - Rise: Builds Apple, revolutionary products → Rise Continues: iPhone success, becomes tech icon → Fall: Health deteriorates, dies young despite all his success and wealth
6. Oedipus: Things start okay/good, get bad, improve, then end even worse. A line that falls, rise, flat, ultimate downward.
Fortune
↑
| •
| Start
| ╰╮ ╭─•
| ╰╮ ╭─╯ Brief
| ╰╮ ╭─╯ Recovery
| ╰╯ ╰╮
| Valley ╰╮
| ╰╮
| ╰─•
| Final
| Ruin
|
└────────────────────────────────────────────────→ Time
Examples:
- Breaking Bad - Start: Walter has cancer diagnosis → Fall: Enters meth business, violence escalates → Rise: Empire built, money secured → Fall Worse: Family destroyed, dies alone, everything lost
- The Irishman - Start: Frank working as truck driver → Fall: Becomes mob hitman, kills friend Hoffa → Rise: Protected by mob, living comfortably → Fall Worse: Everyone dead or in prison, dies alone with regrets
- Nightcrawler - Start: Lou struggling for work → Fall: Enters unethical crime journalism → Rise: Business grows, getting what he wants → Fall Worse: Becomes complete sociopath, accomplice dead, humanity lost
7. Creation Story: Things keep getting better and better. A steady rise. A straight line going up.
Fortune
↑
| •
| ╭─╯ Success
| ╭─╯
| ╭─╯
| ╭─╯
| ╭─╯
| ╭─╯
| ╭─╯
| ╭─╯
| ╭─╯
| •───────────╯
| Start
|
└────────────────────────────────────────────────→ Time
Examples:
- Erin Brockovich - Start: Single mom struggling financially → Rise: Gets clerk job → Rise Continues: Uncovers water contamination → Rise Higher: Wins $333M case, becomes hero
- Hidden Figures - Start: Black women computers at NASA facing discrimination → Rise: Katherine proves her math skills → Rise Continues: Overcomes segregation barriers → Rise Higher: Critical to space program success
- The Pursuit of Happyness - Start: Chris homeless with son → Rise: Gets unpaid internship → Rise Continues: Works harder than everyone → Rise Higher: Gets the job, builds better life
8. Which Way is Up(Kafka) There are rise and falls - but unclear outcome. A line that goes up and down and no clear end.
Fortune
↑
| ╭─╮ ╭╮ ╭─╮
| ╭─╯ ╰─╮╭─╯╰─╮╭─╯ ╰─╮
| •──╯ ╰╯ ╰╯ ╰──•
|
| Good or Bad? Uncertain
|
└────────────────────────────────────────────────→ Time
Examples:
- Wicked - Start Low: Elphaba arrives as outcast → Rise: Befriends Glinda, gains acceptance, goes to Oz → Fall: Discovers Wizard's corruption, branded "Wicked Witch," becomes fugitive → Unclear: Is she worse off (hunted, vilified) or better off (integrity, truth, real identity)?
- The Lobster - Start: David must find love or become animal → Ambiguous: Escapes to loners, situation unclear if better → Rise?: Develops relationship → Unclear End: Does he blind himself? What happens? No resolution
- Inception - Start: Cobb wants to get home to kids → Rise: Mission progressing through dream layers → Ambiguous: Reality vs dreams constantly blurred → Unclear End: Is the top still spinning? Is he home or dreaming? No answer
9. Scapegoat and Resurrection (New Testament): Part of the community, becomes the scapegoat and cast out, then vindicated and rises. The line starts flat, falls(scapegoat), rise(vindication/ressurection)
Fortune
↑
| ╭────•
| ╭─╯ Vindication/
| ╭─╯ Resurrection
| •─────╮ ╭─╯
| Start ╰╮ ╭─╯
| ╰╮ ╭─╯
| ╰╮ ╭─╯
| ╰╮ ╭─╯
| ╰─•
| Cast Out/
| Scapegoated
|
└────────────────────────────────────────────────→ Time
Examples:
- Steve Jobs - Start: Co-founded Apple, successful → Fall: Cast out by his own board, exiled from company → Nadir: Running NeXT, considered a failure → Rise: Returns to Apple, saves company, becomes icon
- The Big Short - Start: Michael Burry working hedge fund manager → Fall: Investors think he's insane betting against housing market, revolt against him → Nadir: Losing massive money, being sued → Rise: Market crashes, proven spectacularly right, makes fortune
- Oppenheimer - Start: Leading Manhattan Project, hero → Fall: Security clearance revoked, accused of disloyalty, public humiliation → Nadir: Discredited, blacklisted → Rise: Vindicated decades later, recognized for warning about nuclear dangers
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A Note on Pattern #9:
You might notice that "Scapegoat and Resurrection" has the same shape as "Man in the Hole" - both follow a Start → Fall → Rise pattern. So why include it separately?
The difference isn't in the shape, but in the mechanism and meaning. While Man in the Hole involves circumstantial falls (plane crashes, external crises), the Scapegoat pattern specifically involves social expulsion and vindication. As Peter Thiel and René Girard point out, this is one of the most powerful narratives in human culture - someone is blamed, cast out, then proven right.
For founders and tech people especially, this pattern resonates deeply: the contrarian who's mocked then vindicated, the whistleblower who's fired then proven right, the ousted founder who returns to save the company. The scapegoat mechanism is so prevalent in Silicon Valley culture that it deserves recognition as its own narrative, even if the underlying arc is structurally similar.
Think of it as Man in the Hole with a specific social context that makes it particularly relevant to understanding tech and startup stories.