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StoryWeaving In this issue: SAVE BIG with Our Quick Tips for Beginners Featured Writing Tip Writing Class in Streaming Video Classic Writing Tip Dramatica Software Tip (Streaming
Video) Writing Class Scroll down to see a free "Characters" Own the 121 Minute DVD - just $9.95! or buy
the entire 20 Hour Writing Course Topics covered include: Hero is a Four Letter Word, Characters vs. Players, Characters in To Kill a Mockingbird, The 8 Archetypal Characters, Objective and Subjective Characters, Character "Hand-Offs", Protagonist & Antagonist, Reason & Emotion Archetypes, Sidekick & Skeptic Archetypes, Guardian & Contagonist Archetypes, Uses of Archetypal Characters, Archetypes in Star Wars, Complex Characters in Wizard of Oz, Four Dimensional Characters, Character Relationships, and much MUCH more! (View below or click here)
ABOUT THE "Characters" DVD BRAND NEW DIGITAL TRANSFER! We are pleased to announce the second DVD in a series drawn from the best-selling "20 Hour Writing Course." Back in 1999, co-creator of the Dramatica theory (Melanie Anne Phillips) presented a series of live webcasts covering the entire theory and how to use it. Fortunately, these were recorded as well and released as the "20 Hour Writing Course" - twenty hours of video compressed onto a single CD ROM. This original version is still available for just $19.95, but technology has improved quite a bit since then. So, we have prepared this special "Anniversary Edition" capturing the very best segments from the original tapes in new, all-digital transfers for the very best picture and sound quality possible. Take the Audience View Too often we consider the stories we are writing solely from an author's point of view. Because we know where we are headed with a story, we tend to miss holes or to treat story points with less attention to detail than an audience or reader would require. They don't know where the story is headed. They have no idea what will happen next. They are presented information in a certain order and degree of detail and try to follow what you are saying so they can start to build a vision of the big picture. If you have left holes or unanswered questions, your audience/reader will eventually tire of the threadbare fabric of your story or the unsatisfying feeling of wanting more information about certain characters or story points only to have their questions go unanswered. To avoid this problem, take time every once in a while to step back from your story and examine it from the audience or reader point of view. Rather than thinking of your story as the complete "work" you know it to be, consider it point by point as an audience/reader would as the story unfolds before them. If you see a hole, ask (as they would), "What about X?" or "I wonder what Y's reaction to that was?" Then, make a list of all the possible alternatives you can think of that would fill that hole and still work within the framework of your story. Don't limit yourself to the expected. In addition to the "pat" answers, come up with some more free-wheeling alternatives and see if they lead you anywhere creatively. For example, suppose you have two characters get really mad at each other. Then your story follows with a few scenes about other characters and events and when you return to the first characters, they are now working together begrudgingly. To you, the author, this makes perfect sense since it follows a natural progression and also gets your characters in the mood you need them for things you know will be following down the line in the plot. But to an audience, it seems like an argument that went nowhere, a story point you went out of your way to bring up only to let it peter out into nothing more than a bad mood. Sure, the audience/reader understands that the characters must have worked out some uneasy truce while they were away watching your other scenes, yet that is just an assumption, since you never showed it to them directly. And this leaves them feeling unsatisfied. In such a situation (which you can only see by looking at your story from an audience/reader point of view as the story unfolds) you realize you need to describe how it is that these two angry characters worked it out between them. Rather than being a problem, this gives you an opportunity to enrich both characters and perhaps even add some depth to you plot as well. First come up with all the different ways they might have come to terms with each other, cliché story ways, real-people ways, off-the-wall ways. Briefly sketch each alterative in words and see how they hang. Then, pick the one or two that you find would most enhance your story overall and give 'em a whirl to see which works best.. In this particular example, the two characters might find they went to the same college or belong to the same secret club. They might form an uneasy truce because one of them suggests that although they can't stand each other, they both need for their group's effort to succeed (albeit for different reasons) and will put their beef on hold until the goal is achieved. Maybe you go sophisticated, as might happen if you had a chauvinist guy and a pushy gal get into an argument. She might get red-hot mad and screw up her face in some contorted expression of anger. But the guy stops arguing like he hit a wall, drops his voice and says, "What are you doing?" She - (still angry) "What do you mean, what am I doing?!" He - "With your face...." She - (angry but now perplexed) "What's wrong with my face?" He - "Nothings wrong with it... it's just that expression..." She - "Be careful what you say next...." He - "No... I mean... my sister used to make that expression when we were kids. It was just so damn funny I couldn't stay mad at her." She - "Oh, so I'm funny now, am I?!" He - (irritated that he let his guard down) "Ah, give it a rest!" He turns and goes back to working. She goes back to work as well, but we see a secret smile on her lips. Such an enhancement to an area the audience/reader felt was under developed would greatly increase the shadings and nuance of your characters as well as provide additional backstory that may later come into play as well. This same approach can be applied to your plot, theme, and genre as well. Use it to test your pacing, exposition, and the rise and fall of your story's tension line. But to enable all of these advantages, always remember to step back every once in a while, stop being an author, and look at your story from the audience point of view. Download
the entire 170 page Storyweaving Tips Book This Issue's Featured Writing Tip A segment from an upcoming book entitled, Dramatica Unplugged - The Dramatica Chart At the heart of the story engine is a matrix of story points: The Dramatica Chart of Story Elements (which is not unlike the Periodic Table of Elements in chemistry). You can use it to create the chemistry of your characters, plot, theme, and genre. The Dramatica chart contains all the psychological processes that must exist in a Story Mind. In fact, every human mind shares all of these processes. What makes one mind different from another is not the kinds of mental activities in each, but rather how the activities are interconnected. Just as in chemistry, various elements might be combined to create an infinite number of compounds, so too the dramatic elements of the Dramatica Chart can be combined to create virtually all valid psychological structures for stories. At its most simple level, the chart can be seen as having four principal areas (called classes): Universe, Physics, Mind, and Psychology. These represent the only four fundamental kinds of problems that might exist in stories (or in life!) Universe is an external state Physics, an external process Mind is an internal state Psychology, an internal process. Essentially, any problem you might confront can be classed as either an external or internal state or process. Universe then is our external environment. Anything that is a problematic fixed situation falls into this category. For example, being stuck in a well, held captive, or missing a leg are all situational "Universe Class" problems. Physics is about activities that cause us difficulty. Honey bees dying off across the country, the growth of a militant organization, and cancer are all "Physics Class" problems. (Note that if having cancer is a problem - such as people being prejudiced against you because you are cancerous - that is a situation or Universe problem because it is a steady or fixed state: a condition. But if it is the spread of the disease that we see as a problem, then it is a Physics-style activity problem. It is important not to assume content in a story falls into a particular class until you determine how that content is actually problematic.) Mind is the internal equivalent of Universe - a fixed internal state. So, a prejudice, bias, fixation, or fixed attitude would be the source of problems in a "Mind Class" story. Psychology is the Physics of the mind - an internal process. A "Psychology Class" problem would be someone who makes a series of assumptions leading to difficulties, or someone whose self-image and confidence are eroding. (Again, note that having a negative self-image is a state of "Mind" whereas the erosion of one's self-image is a process that must be stopped or even reversed, and would therefore be a Psychology problem.) In stories, as in real life, we cannot solve a problem until we can accurately define it. So, the first value of the Dramatica Chart is to present us with a tool for determining into which of the four fundamental categories of problems our particular issue falls. Now you may think that the terms, Universe, Physics, Mind, and Psychology, are a little antiseptic, perhaps a bit scientific to be applying to something as intuitive as the writing of stories. Back when we were naming the concepts in the Dramatica Theory, we were faced with a choice - to either use extremely accurate words that might be a bit off-putting or to use easily accessible words that weren't quite on the mark. Ultimately we decided that the whole point of the theory was to provide an accurate way of predicting the necessary components of a sound story structure. Therefore, we elected to use the terms that were more accurate, even if they required a little study, rather than to employ a less accurate terminology that could be grasped right away. Returning to the chart itself, it appears as four towers, each representing one of the four classes and each class having four levels. As we go down the levels from top to bottom we subdivide each kind of problem into smaller and smaller components, thereby refining our understanding of the very particular kind of problem at the core of any given story. The top level, being the most broad, describes the structural aspects of genre. Genre (in the traditional sense) is largely a storytelling or content-driven realm. But genre is not immune to structure. In fact, as we shall see down the line genre must be built upon a solid structural foundation or it will flounder. The second level, slightly more refined, deals with the dramatic components that are most associated with plot, especially at act resolution. That's an odd term, so let's define it. An act is the largest building block of plot. Each act has a particular kinds of concern that defines all the action that goes on in that act. For example, one act may deal with looking for a lost object, the next act with trying to obtain it, and the last act with bringing it back against steep odds. "Resolution" is a term we use in Dramatica to describe how big a dramatic component is. The Genre "classes" cover the whole story since each story falls within a particular genre. But the acts change over the course of the story, shifting from one concern in a given act to another in the next. Therefore, we say that the components of the Dramatica Chart in the second or act level, are of a smaller resolution. Just as the genre level components are called "classes," the act level components are referred to as "types." So, we have classes of genres and types of acts. The third level has the greatest structural impact on a story's theme. Each of these components is called a Variation, as in "variations of a theme." The Variations are of an even smaller resolution, and therefore provide more detailed information about the story's problem. A story's thematic conflicts can be mapped in the Variation level. Story-wise, variations are sequence sized. "Sequences" are smaller than acts and are usually comprised of a number of scenes that deal with a particular moral issue or ethical topic. The fourth and lowest level of the chart provides the greatest resolution on a story's problem. It is comprised of components called Elements (in reference to their indivisible nature) and has the greatest structural impact on characters. It is here in the Element Level that we find the plethora of human traits that make up our motivations or drives. It is the interaction among characters representing these various drives that constitute the scenes of our story. So, we say that the Element Level is at scene resolution. So, like nested dolls, scenes fall within sequences within acts within a genre. In this manner, the structure of a story can be understood not as a simple sequence as one would find in a tale, but rather as a complex mechanism built of wheels within wheels. I'll provide a full description of the chart and its workings later on, but for now, picture it as a cross between a three dimensional chess set, a Rubik's Cube, and the Periodic Table of Elements, which can be used to build perfect story structures. Get the 400 page book Scroll down to see a free segment from the Dramatica Software Companion CD, entitled "Character Conflict" Own the 4 1/2 Hour CD ROM - just $19.95! ~or~ View
the entire 4 Hour Program Online View it below or Click Here
For our newer readers, each issue we reprint a classic writing tip from a previous newsletter. Finding your "Creative Time" You sit in your favorite writing chair, by the window, on the porch, or in the study. You wear your favorite tweed jacket with the leather elbow patches, or your blue jeans, or your "creative shoes." You look around at the carefully crafted environment you spent months arranging to trigger your inspiration. Reaching eagerly forward you place your hands on the keyboard or grasp the pen or pencil, and... Nothing happens. You look around the room again, out the window, sip your coffee, cross or uncross your legs, finger your lucky charm, reach forward and... Still nothing What in blazes is wrong? You know you are full of inspiration; you can feel it! Why the ideas were flowing like a deluge just this morning, last night, or yesterday. Frustrated, yet determined, you try several more times to get the words to flow, but to no avail. "Good pen name, " you think," Noah Vale." So what's the problem? How can you feel all primed to write, sit in your favorite environment with everything just perfect and still nothing comes? Perhaps the problem is not where you are trying to write, but when! Each of us has a creative time of day and a logistic time of day. Never heard of this? I didn't discover it until quite recently myself. As a writer, I always thought creativity came and went with the Muse, sometimes bringing inspiration, sometimes spiriting it away. Like most writers, I had found that creating a quiet refuge, a creative sanctuary, increased the frequency and intensity of visits from the Muse. What I didn't know was that the Muse keeps a schedule: she comes and goes like clockwork. Here's my scenario and see how it might apply to you... I've always felt guilty when I write - guilty that I'm not out cleaning something, building something, visiting someone, or even just getting out in the real world and living a little. But writing always draws me back. I find it therapeutic, cathartic, invigorating, stimulating, and, well, just plain fun. Sometimes... no, make that ALL the time, it's as good as... no, make that BETTER THAN sex! And food! And earning a living! I often feel (when writing) like that rat with the wire connected to his pleasure center who kept pushing the stimulation button until it starved to death because it forgot to eat! Well, the urge to write is there all the time. But, because I feel guilty I try to get all of my chores done I the morning, clearing the way to spend the afternoon or evening writing guilt free. But then I sit there watching the sun go down, full of the desire to write but completely unable to do so. Recently, however, I had the good fortune of actually finishing all my chores the night before. I found myself with the whole morning free and guilt-free as well! At first, I was just going to goof off, do some reading, watch some TV, but then that old Writing Bug took a nip of my soul and off I was to my study to pound the keys. And you know what? The words just spilled out like secrets from the town gossip! This was wonderful! What an experience! I was pelting out the thoughts without the least guilt and without the slightest hesitation. I was flying through my own mind and playing it out on the keys! It felt very much like when I play music. But why was this happening? I was truly afraid the feeling would go as quickly as it came and I would be lost in the creative doldrums again. In fact, it did fade with time - not abruptly, but gradually... slipping away until it was no more. But it did not leave a vacuum. In its place was a rising motivation to clean something, build something, visit someone, or get out in the real world and live! Then, it hit me... Perhaps my creativity does not spring from where I write, but when! Perhaps the morning is my creative time and the afternoon, my practical time! I experimented. Try to write in the afternoon, the evening, at night, the morning. Quickly I discovered that if I felt free from the guilt of non-practical activity, I could write in the morning as if I were designed to do nothing else! But no matter how many chores I might accomplish in the morning, by the time the sun dropped below the horizon, my inspiration dropped away as well. In fact, my creative time seems tied to the sun. For me, it brightens in the morning, peaks around noon, and fades away to nothing at dusk. Interestingly, I recently moved to the mountains and dusk comes early hear in the canyon this time of year - far earlier than when I lived down in the flatlands of the city. Looking back over the years, I could see that my daily creative cycle depended upon the direct rays of the sun, not the time of day. And all those years I tried to get the practical stuff done in the morning to avoid guilt didn't help my creativity but hindered it! Lately, I just know that when the sun goes down it's time to get practical. As a result, I know in the morning that I'll accomplish real world logistic things later in the day. That eliminates guilt because the work part is already scheduled. And, that frees my mind to play with words all morning long. When is your creative time? Just being a "morning person" or a "night person" isn't enough because that only determines when you have your most energy. But what KIND of energy? Perhaps you are more energetic when you are working on the practical, so you think that just because you get your greatest energy at night you are a night person. This is not necessarily so! Suppose your creative side is NEVER the most energetic part of you, but is strongest in the morning. Then you are a Practical night person and a Creative morning person. Your Creative Time might be any span of hours in the day. Or, it might even be more than one time. For example, you might be most inspired from mid-morning until noon and again from mid-afternoon to dusk. Everyone is a bit different. The key is to find your Creative Time and then adjust your daily schedule to fit it. It is important to remember to avoid guilt feelings while trying to determine your Creative Time. To do this, don't just focus on when you are going to try writing, but make sure to also schedule other time to concentrate on chores. This way your "reading" of the level of your creativity will not be tainted by negative feelings of guilt, and you should arrive at more accurate appraisals. After a week or so of trying different combinations, you should be able to determine the best creative and most practical times of the day. From that point forward, you will almost certainly find inspiration is present more than it is absent, and writing becomes far more joyful a process and less like work. But there is a little bit more... Our lives are not just creative or practical. In fact, there are four principal emotionally driven aspects to our days: Creative, Practical, Reflective, and Social. We need our Reflective time to be alone, to mull the events of our life over our minds eye, to let our thoughts wander where they will: to daydream. We need our Social time to recharge our batteries in the company of others, to express ourselves to our friends, to de-focus from our own subjective view by standing in the shoes of those around us. I've found for myself that Saturday is a Social day for me, and that Sunday a Reflective day. I don't do much of either on the weekdays at all. Whether this is nurture, nature, or something else altogether I can't say, and to be truthful, it doesn't really matter. What matters is that I have come to recognize it. When is your Reflective time? Do you have some every day, just on weekdays, only on weekends, or some combination of these? How about your Social time? Do you ever feel guilty wanting to be alone? Do you ever feel deprived because you ARE alone? Part of these feelings may come from trying to do each of these activities in times that (for your) are actually geared toward the other. Once you have mapped our your Creative, Practical, Reflective, and Social cycles, you'll find that you get so much more accomplished, and with so much more fulfillment. All four aspects of your life will improve, and the improvement in each will remove emotional burdens and therefore increase the energy in each of the other three! In short, you can be in phase with your emotional cycles, or out of phase. The more you schedule your activities to match the flow of your feelings, the more your life experience will buoy itself higher and higher with less and less effort. And best of all, the more inspiration you will find when you sit in your tweed jacket and reach for the keyboard. Download
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