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Dramatica Unplugged
by Melanie Anne Phillips
creator StoryWeaver,
co-creator Dramatica
Section 2
- Characters
2.1 Introduction
to Characters
Don’t get me started on characters: I could write about them forever.
Not surprising, really, since characters are where story structure and
humanity converge. It is the
magical interface where mind and matter transmute from one to the other as
things sometimes become people, and people sometimes become things.
But what really is a character? Well,
like most dramatic elements in the world of story structure, it depends on who
you ask. Some say characters are
just ordinary people in extraordinary situations.
Others say characters represent personality types.
And, there are those who see characters as archetypes, personifying human
ideals or exemplifying quintessential human qualities.
As usual, Dramatica see things a bit differently.
First and foremost Dramatica always seeks to separate story structure
from storytelling. We can actually
separate characters into those two parts:
1. Those that have structural functions
2. Those that do not
To have a structural function, a character must have some impact on the
flow of the plot or the growth of another character or even, perhaps, at least
contribute to the thematic message.
If you were to take all of those functional characters out of a story,
you’d still have a lot of people in it. In
movies, they call them “extras”. In
television series they are referred to as walk-ons.
In books, they are “color”. But
mostly they are just “window dressing” to make the story more interesting.
Each of these non-structural characters isn’t really a character at all
– not as we define characters in Dramatica.
Rather, we refer to them as players.
In truth, every player in a story, be it person, place or thing, is
capable of becoming a character. All
it needs is a job to do that in some way changes the course of the story.
Some may have a small impact, others a huge impact.
Either way, if the player contributes in any way to the direction the
story will take, it has graduated to become a Character.
So in a more refined sense, a character really isn’t a player at all,
but rather occupies a player, much as
a spirit might possess a body. The
body (or tree or car) is simply a host
in which the character resides.
That, of course, then raises the question, “If a character isn’t the
physical host, what is it?” I’ll
tell you.
In a conceptual sense, every story has a mind of its own, as if it were a
single person, not an ensemble. This
story mind’s psychology is represented as the story’s structure while its
personality is presented in the storytelling.
Just as with characters, there is a structural side to stories and a
storytelling side. Characters are
found in the structure, players are found in the storytelling.
And the combination of character with player creates that almost
metaphysical marriage of substance and spirit.
Now, if characters are spirits, how can one every hope to define them?
Fortunately, it’s not as ethereal as all that.
In the story mind, character represent different facets
of a single mind’s psychology.
Why this is so is covered way back in the first chapter of this book
called, no surprisingly nor inappropriately, “The Story Mind.”
In a nutshell (for those of you who skipped ahead to this chapter on
characters as many are wont to do), in the course of hundreds of years of
storytelling, the very process of communication between author and audience
created a framework upon which to hang the ideas and feelings to be shared.
This framework, as a by product of this communion, established
conventions upon forms and organizations that served to facilitate an accurate
transmission of meaning between the two parties.
And these conventions, as it turns out, are a picture of the very fabric
of the common psychological elements of our shared humanity.
Hey, I know it sounds both flowery and scientific at the same time, but
that’s because it is describing both story structure and storytelling.
Characters, then, appear in the structure and represent facets of our own
psychology – facets we all have, though we all employ them in differing
degrees and combinations. The
Protagonist, for example, represents our initiative, and that is why the
Protagonist is the prime mover of the effort to achieve the story’s goal.
The reason stories hold such universal appeal (beyond the simple thrill
of the storytelling) is that we see ourselves in them.
We see the aspects and processes of our own minds made tangible,
incarnate, and can therefore look into ourselves from the outside and gain a
much more objective sense of how we should feel and act in the situations
explored by the story.
That characters are common facets of each of our own minds is the quality
of story structure that gave rise to the concept of archetypes.
But prior to Dramatica, story structure was generally not separated from
storytelling and so each of the well-known archetypes (such as those proposed by
Jung and later Campbell) are part facet and part expression of that facet; part
character and part player.
When we split a character's function apart from its personality, we
can far more clearly see what each part contains and how each works.
And so, armed with this basic understanding of the nature of the beast,
we are ready to divide some common archetypes into their component parts to
learn what makes them tick.
Based
on the Dramatica Unplugged Video Program (click for details)
$149.95
$29.95
*Try either or both for 90 days. Not working for you?
Return for a full refund of your purchase price!
About Dramatica and
StoryWeaver
What They Do
Dramatica is a tool to help you
build a perfect story structure. StoryWeaver is a tool to help you build
your story's world.
Dramatica focuses on the underlying logic of your
story, making sure there are no holes or inconsistencies.
StoryWeaver
focuses on the creative process, boosting your inspiration and guiding it to add
depth, detail and passion to your story.
How They Do It
Dramatica has the world's only
patented interactive Story Engine™ which cross-references your answers to
questions about your dramatic intent, then finds any weaknesses in your
structure and even suggests the best ways to strengthen them.
StoryWeaver uses a revolutionary new
creative format as you follow more than 200 Story Cards™ step by step through
the story development process. You'll design the people who'll inhabit
your story's world, what happens to them, and what it all means.
How They Work Alone
By itself Dramatica appeals to
structural writers who like to work out all the details of their stories
logically before they write a word.
By itself, StoryWeaver appeals to
intuitive writers who like to follow their Muse and develop their stories as
they go.
How They Work
Together
But, the finished work of a
structural writer can often lack passion, which is where StoryWeaver can help.
And the finished work of an intuitive writer can often lack direction, which is
where Dramatica can help.
So, while each kind of writer will
find one program or the other the most initially appealing, both kinds of
writers can benefit from both programs.
Try Either Program
Risk Free!
We have a 90
Day Return Policy here at Storymind. Try either or both of these
products and if you aren't completely satisfied we'll cheerfully refund your
purchase price.
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