For my shape of stories I chose Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by JK Rowling.  According to Vonnegut Harry Potter would probably be considered a Cinderella kind of story.  I think most people have heard of the Harry Potter series but if you haven’t I’ll give you a brief summary of the first book.  Harry Potter is an 11-year-old boy who lives with his mean Aunt and Uncle and cousin because he believes that his parents died in a car crash.  On his 11th birthday he finds that he is actually a wizard and will be going to the school of Hogwarts and he finds the truth of what happened to his parents. When Harry goes to Hogwarts he makes good friends, Ron and Hermione, and faces challenges any other 11-year-old would face.  This is also about good versus evil because the evil character Voldemort wants to kill him because he failed to kill him as a baby.  So the series is about him trying to defeat Voldemort as well as face the ups and downs and challenges of being at school.  That’s a brief summary of the whole Harry Potter series.  I didn’t want to give too much away if you haven’t read the books or seen the movies.

In paint I drew a picture of the story shape I believe Vonnegut would use for this picture:

It starts out low because Harry doesn’t think anything good will ever happen in his life and then there are the steps it takes to get good fortune (such as going to Hogwarts).  Then there is a time when every was so good at first that went downhill.  Then things get better again and go to the end of the story.