Category Archives: Newest Additions

Notes on Two Sides of Drive

Some artists are driven by angst, others by desire.

Angst is the emotion of lack – that things are unfulfilled, unsatisfied, not as they should be. And the work of art driven by such feelings is designed to fill the hole, to satisfy the need, to put things right.

Desire is the emotion of eagerness – that opportunity exists, untapped, and holds promise. And the work of art driven by such feelings is designed to seize the moment, actualize the potential, and fulfill the promise.

Some say stories must be driven by a problem, and though this is one way to inject drive in a narrative, the alternative motivation of desire serves equally well to propel the story forward.

Either source of propulsion for a character creates a goal – that expected conclusion in which things are better than before. But regardless of whether the character tarries from angst or desire, the experience along the path to that goal may be a positive or negative one.

Overcoming obstacles and meeting requirements might be felt as progress toward that better future, or as a drain that threatens to outweigh the benefits that would be gained from achieving the goal.

These four factors – positive/negative drive and positive/negative experience create a quad – a group of four elements comprised of two bonded pairs with one pair pertaining to the sate of things and the other to the process.

This particular quad is represented in the Dramatica theory of narrative structure by Goal/Consequence and Dividends/Costs.

Goal is the desired end state, consequence is the angstful state that either currently exists or will come to exist if the goal is not met. Dividends are the positive byproducts or collateral benefits either obtained or enjoyed during the effort to achieve the goal (and avoid the consequence), whereas Costs are the negative byproducts or collateral detriments that become attached or must be experienced during that effort.

Narratives and real life. Each operates with the same dynamic system. The structures of fictional narratives provide guidelines to help us cope and prosper when faced with similar dynamics in our own worlds.

Lyell Glacier

Here’s a wider shot of that upper meadow below Lyell Glacier that shows the primeval feeling of the craggy rocks and tree-less landscape above the timberline. You can really do a lot of communing with your inner spiritual self in a place like this, and with spectacular vistas in every direction, it is a nature photographer’s dream.

Lyell Glacier (Yosemite)

Every time I reach this point along this section of the John Muir Trail, I stand in awe. I lover the Sierra, and of this range, Yosemite (and the Ansel Adams Wilderness) the most. Aside from perhaps the Alps, I know of no other place on earth that consistently provides such stunning views around nearly every turn.

This particular picture was taken on my first trip to this part of Yosemite in 2004, while hiking a section of the JMT with Teresa and our dear departed friend, Bob. Alas, I only had one of the early generations of a digital camera with resolution ranging from 500K to 1 megapixels. But, here in my online studio, that is still quite sufficient to hang here in my virtual gallery.

The Trail to Cathedral Peak

Came across this scene on our first backpacking trip in Yosemite in 2003. Teresa and I took a circle route up the Mist Trail and then around and down to Tuolumne Meadows. At this point in the path we left an open area and entered an almost mystical environment that quickly became more wooded as we set off for Cathedral Peak some miles out ahead. I recall stopping and in seeing the trail curve into the wilderness that we were finally not only leaving civilization behind, but any connection to it as well.