“Sweet Spots” in Time

Got a new kitten two days ago. Vet said that it needed two vaccinations – Distemper and Leukemia. The used to give them two weeks apart so they wouldn’t interfere with each other. But, they discovered they also didn’t interfere if you gave them both at the same time. But if they were given at different times closer than two weeks together, they’d interfere.

Imagine that! Two processes, one for the Distemper vaccination reaction and the other for Leukemia. Two processes that need to be separated or simultaneous or they interfere…. Nodal points in time the same way we get standing waves in space. Peaks and valleys and slopes of different steepness all around.

Consider harmonics in music or in vibrations. Two different frequencies and combine as fractional harmonics at different points – sevenths, fifths, thirds, and others can create resonance or dissonance. It is why music can pass through discordant moments on the way to another conjunction that satisfies, or why a song that ends discordantly creates an unsettled mood.

Think of dramatics – rising tension, trials one must overcome, tragic endings vs. triumphant ones. Embrace the chemistry of characters as processes that mesh in repetitive undulations or clash in perpetual static.

In the real world, such oscillations can lead to bridges that shimmy until they collapse. In electronics, the relationship between the components of a circuit and the metal box that holds them can create a phantom capacitor between the two, which in turn becomes part of the circuit and even appears in the schematic as such.

Now, consider that just as a tennis racket (a spatial construct) have a sweet spot, so too can a narrative (a temporal construct) have a sweet spot. Sweet spots in time… what would they be?

They would be story points. Specifically, dynamic story points.

In Dramatica, story points (such as Goal, Main Character Problem, and Benchmark) are all spatial story points – sweet spots in space that represent the harmonic conjunction of point of view and item being observed. Consider – the Dramatica chart is a periodic table of story elements, but not story points. Each element is an item that might be examined, such as Memory or Hope or Conscience.

These elements are not objects but processes. For example, “Hope” is not really a thing but rather the process of “Hoping.” And so we see that the Dramatica chart categorizes these processes of the mind into families and sub-families, just like the periodic table of elements in Chemistry or Physics.

But when one of these items is seen as a Goal (such as a Goal of Memory, which might be trying to remember or trying to forget) suddenly we are looking at it from a particular point of view – as the story’s Goal. This contextualizes the process element by combining its nature with how it is being perceived. This blending of object and observer, item under study and pint of view – this creates perspective. And perspective is a nodal point – a spatial sweet spot.

Think now of Dramatica’s story dynamics – Change or Steadfast, Linear or Holistic, Start or Stop, Action or Decision to name a few. These are nodal points in the temporal flow: sweet spots in time. Each represents a point at which the processes and forces in the progression of a narrative combine in conjunction and define the nature and direction of the resultant vector of the dramatics. Each define a wave form and together define the complex wave form of a narrative’s dynamic fabric.

Now turn to Dramatica’s Signposts and Journeys – these are the nodal points between space and time. In other words, these are the sweet spots between structure and dynamics, between structural and dynamic story points – between spatial and temporal narrative sweet spots.

Looking forward – we know that there must be as many temporal or dynamic story points as there are spatial or structural story points. We just haven’t identified them all yet, save the eight that are currently in the Dramatica model. (Eight are the minimum requirement to align structure and dynamics so that the spatial structure and temporal progression of a story can be tied to one another – meaning tied to the order of events – change the order of events and the meaning changes, change the meaning and the order of events must change, just like a given pattern of a Rubik’s Cube require a certain sequence of moves to achieve it.

Therefore, these dynamic or temporal story points – these nodal points in the confluence of processes – these nexuses of convergent waveforms – these sweet spots in time – are out there, waiting to be discovered. This is part and parcel of my ongoing work in identifying and documenting the process elements in a model of narrative dynamics – the other side of the Dramatica coin – the side that represents the passion of story, rather than its logic, the ebb and flow of dramatics, rather than their structure – the waves to Dramatica’s particles, with the entire combined model forming the predictive interface between the two.

Much like signposts and journeys enable the translation of narrative meaning to narrative sequence, such a model would hold insight into the relationship between time and space, the smallest sub-atomic particles and the world of quantum theory across that bridge from matter to probability.

All made possible because of a new kitten in conjunction with a random bit of information about the functioning of vaccinations.

And that, children, is how new theory is created.

Melanie Anne Phillips
Co-creator, Dramatica

Protagonist and Antagonist

Protagonist drives the plot forward.

Antagonist tries to stop him.

Now before we get into more detail, the Protagonist is not a Hero or even the Main Character.  And the Antagonist is not a Villain or the Influence Character who tries to get the Main Character to change his ways or values.

The Protagonist is the Prime Mover of the effort to achieve the Story’s Goal – that and nothing more. The Antagonist is the Chief Obstacle to that effort.  In a sense, Protagonist is the irresistible force and Antagonist is the immovable object.

Protagonist and Antagonist are archetypal characters.  That means they have a dramatic function in the story:

Hero is a combination character who is a Protagonist who is ALSO a Main Character (the one we identify with) and also a good guy (with good will toward others).

Villain is another combination character who is an Antagonist who is ALSO the Influence character (trying to change the Main Character’s heart and mind) and also a bad guy (with ill will toward others).

In this article, we’re going to put aside those other aspects and focus solely on  the archetypal function of these two essential archetypal characters.

Where do the Protagonist and Antagonist come from?  When people come together in groups for a common purpose, one emerges as the voice of change and another as the voice of the status quo.

The character who wishes to affect change is the Protagonist and the one who wants to maintain or return to the status quo is the Antagonist.  Over hundreds of generations, storytellers documented these two archetypes (and others) because it is what they saw in real life.  And so, eventually, the archetypal characters became part of the conventions of story structure.

But why do these two characters emerge in groups in the real world?

When we try to solve problems in our individual lives, we use all our faculties – reason, skepticism, etc.  When we gather in groups to solve common problems, we get a lot more done if we specialize so that one person becomes the voice of reason and another the resident skeptic.  This way, each of the specialists can give his or her full attention to the problem from his perspective, and as a whole, the group gets a deeper dive into the issues that if we all tried to do all the jobs ourselves.

So, in a sense, the functions that emerge in a group, represent the same traits we have in our own minds as individuals.  For example, in our own minds, we survey our environment and consider whether or not we could improve things by taking action to change them. The struggle between the drive to change things and the drive to leave them be is the same struggle represented by the Protagonist and Antagonist in a story.

So, in a word, the Protagonist represents our Initiative, the motivation to change the status quo. The Antagonist embodies our Reticence to change the status quo. These are perhaps our two most obvious human traits – the drive to alter our environment and the drive to keep things the way they are. That is likely why the Archetypes that represent them are usually the two most visible in a story.

Functionally, the character you choose as your Protagonist will exhibit unswerving drive. No matter what the obstacles, no matter what the price, the Protagonist will charge forward and try to convince everyone else to follow.

Without a Protagonist, your story would have no directed drive. It would likely meander through a series of events without any sense of compelling inevitability. When the climax arrives, it would likely be weak, not seen as the culmination and moment of truth so much as simply the end.

This is not to say that the Protagonist won’t be misled or even temporarily convinced to stop trying, but like a smoldering fire the Protagonist is a self-starter. Eventually, he or she will ignite again and once more resume the drive toward the goal.

 

What, now, of the Antagonist? We have all heard the idioms, Let sleeping dogs lie, Leave well enough alone, and If it works – don’t fix it. All of these express that very same human quality embodied by the Antagonist: Reticence.

To be clear, Reticence does not mean that the Antagonist is afraid of change. While that may be true, it may instead be that the Antagonist is simply comfortable with the way things are or may even be ecstatic about them. Or, he or she may not care about the way things are but hate the way they would become if the goal were achieved.

Functionally, your Antagonist will try anything and everything to prevent the goal from being achieved. No matter what the cost, any price would not seem as bad to this character as the conditions he or she would endure if the goal comes to be. The Antagonist will never cease in its efforts, and will marshal every resource (human and material) to see that the Protagonist fails in his efforts.

Without an Antagonist, your story would have no concerted force directed against the Protagonist. Obstacles would seem arbitrary and inconsequential. When the climax arrives, it would likely seem insignificant, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

As with the Protagonist, don’t be trapped into building an Antagonist with a mean personality. There are many stories with Antagonist’s who are actually right in trying to stop the goal.

Think of James Bond for a moment.  The “Bond Villain” is almost always the Protagonist – starting some new scheme with a goal to change the world.  Bond himself is the Antagonist, as strange as it may seem, for his job is to prevent the change and/or put things back the way they were.  So, as described earlier, it may well be that the Protagonist is the Bad Guy and the Antagonist is the Good Guy. Or, in fact both may be Good or both Bad, as often happens in more sophisticated stories.

The important thing is that the Antagonist must be in a position in the plot to place obstacles in the path of the Protagonist, not just to make the quest more difficult (another archetype does that), but to actually try to prevent the Protagonist from succeeding.

Now that you know a bit more about who the Protagonist and Antagonist really are, see if you can’t refine their dramatic functions in your next story or even the one you may currently have in development

—Melanie Anne Phillips

Learn more about Archetypal Characters

Dramatica Unplugged (Part 9) – The Story Mind Revisited

In this episode of our 113 part video program on story structure, we return to the Story Mind concept to learn how we can apply the concept of seeing a story’s structure as a model of the mind’s problem solving process toward practical story development.

(Click here to purchase your own copy of the entire twelve hour series)

Dramatica Unplugged (Part 86) – Progressisve Plot Points

In this episode of our 113 part video course on story structure we discuss how plot is made up of Static plot points and Progressive plot points. Static points, as the name implies, are those elements of plot that do not changes over the course of the story, such as the Goal, the Requirments to achieve the Goal and the Consequences if the Goal is not achieved. Progressive points, on the other hand, describe the linear sequences of a story – the order of events, the key points in a character arc, the step by step development of a thematic message, as examples.

These paths or threads are divided in milestones or stages, which we see in stories as Acts, Sequences, Scenes, and Beats. In this episode we’ll explore the nature of Progressive Plot Points and how to use them to ensure a sound sequential structure for your story.

Dramatica Unplugged (Part 8) – Writing Remakes & Adaptations

In this episode of the 113 part videos series, we explore how remakes and adaptations can go awry, and how to prevent it. Perhaps the biggest mistake made when remaking or adapting an earlier work or one in a different medium is to make changes to the story without considering whether those alterations are to just the subject matter, just the story structure, or both.

If subject matter, setting, timeframe and so on are all that is changed, then anything goes, as long as it works for both author and audience. But if an underlying structural item is change and the rest of the structure is not altered to support that different dramatic force, then what was a sound structure in the original will became a flawed structure in the new work.

StoryWeaver Fix – Why Files Don’t Seem to Save

Here’s an answer to writer with a common problem of not seeing their saved work when they open StoryWeaver after saving a file.

Hi, Sue

This is Melanie, creator of StoryWeaver.

Here’s how it works. StoryWeaver saves in a proprietary compressed file format to save space on the hard drive. So, if you try to open it directly in another program like Word, all you’ll see are strange symbols because it is not a text document.

Every StoryWeaver saved file has all the questions and information, the question tree layout of the nested folders that show up on the left, and all the work you have entered. All these things are contained in every file, so when you save, you save everything, including the questions and the tree view. All a file needs is to be opened in StoryWeaver and all that material shows up.

When StoryWeaver opens, it is always with a blank file, just like Microsoft Word which opens to a blank page. In StoryWeaver’s case, a blank file has all the question text and the tree-view with all the folders and cards on the left, but no text of yours. Then, you enter your answers to the questions and save the file. If it is not working with the disc icon, try going to the File menu and selecting Save from there.

On the rare computer, the file won’t save because it things you are trying to save the actual template of questions that loads when StoryWeaver opens. It won’t allow saving changes to that template because you’ll need it pristine for future stories. So, you need to do a Save As, rather than just a Save the first time you want to save a file you are working on.

On most computers, you can just double click on the scroll file on your desktop or wherever you saved it and it will automatically open StoryWeaver and load that file. But on some computers, double-clicking directly on the file either doesn’t open StoryWeaver or in a few cases, tries to open another program instead.

That is why we suggested first opening StoryWeaver, then going to the File menu and choosing OPen to load the file from inside StoryWeaver, rather than directly by clicking on the file.

Now I had one fellow last week who had a similar problem, and out of the thousands of StoryWeavers we’ve sold, it was the first time I’d seen this particular problem. He could open files, but he couldn’t see the work he’d entered. He sent the file to me, but when I opened it, all his work was there. I sent him a screen shot so he could see for himself. He determined it was some setting on his computer.

He was running Windows 7 and so am I, so I don’t think it is the operating system in any way. Based on what you’ve said, I’m not sure if you are having the same kind of problem, but there is one thing another writer discovered. Sometimes, if you accidentally hold down the Control key or the Function key while typing, it can put an “illegal” but invisible character into the text you are writing, and that can prevent the text from being saved properly.

Other than that, I don’t know of anything that would solve your problem, but I hope this helps.

Melanie

Dramatica Unplugged (Part 7) – Story Structure vs. Storytelling

In this episode of the 113 part video series we explore one of the most useful, yet most difficult, tools an author can possess: the ability to tell the difference between story structure and storytelling. Typically, authors think of their stories in terms of the people in it, how they relate, what happens to them, and what it all means. But this is mixing storytelling with story structure because all subject matter is storytelling.

To see this, consider a Protagonist – a structural character. The Protagonist is the prime mover of the effort to achieve the story goal – a structural function. But, whether the Protagonist is man, woman, child, animal, or a cloud is all storytelling. Now consider that the the Protagonist is married, or has a relationship with his boss, or has one leg, or possesses special powers – all storytelling. None of this changes that the Protagonist is the prime mover of the effort to achieve the goal.

But, consider the Reason archetype. They provide the story with the logical point of view, so that the story does not seem lacking in exploring that perspective, for certainly every reader or audience member is using logic as one of the ways he or she is examining the story. The Reason archetype is another structural character. And it doesn’t matter if it is a man, woman, child, animal or cloud; it doesn’t matter if the Reason archetype is the Protagonist’s spouse or boss or has one leg or possesses special powers – the structural relationship between Protagonist and Reason is that the Protagonist provides the drive and the Reason archetype provides the logical perspective.

Structure ends there and any subject matter, personality traits, physical attributes, history, intelligence or real world relationships are all storytelling.

By being able to separate story structure from storytelling, an author can get down to the underlying mechanics that makes their story make sense and ring true. By possessing this ability, and author can tell whether a problem with a story is caused by what is being said or how it is being said. And most important of all, dividing story structure from storytelling enables an author to ensure the framework of their story – its foundation – has no holes or inconsistencies that weaken it.

Think of structure as a platter upon which your subject matter is served, and the manner in which you serve it is your style. Think of structure as a carrier wave upon which a song is transmitted over the radio, think of the music and lyrics as the subject matter and the performance as the style.

Clarifying this understanding in your mind will help focus your work without undermining the serendipity of your Muse.

Melanie Anne Phillips,
Co-creator, Dramatica

Dramatica Unplugged (Part 6) – Audience Reach

Men and Women generally respond to Main Characters differently. But, it is not a simple gender bias. Rather, all readers/audience members will sometimes empathize with the Main Character (stand in his or her shoes) and sometimes only sympathize with the Main Character (care about them but look over their shoulder rather than through their eyes). It is the factors that make each half of the audience empathize or sympathize that is the difference.