Melanie Anne Phillips

Recently, a writer asked me about how to best use StoryWeaver. Read my complete reply at : How to Use StoryWeaver Story Development Software

Narrative Space in the Real World

Narrative Space “Narrative Space” describes the complete breadth and depth of subject matter in which you seek to define a story. Simply put, most authors don’t come to a story with a complete structure immediately in mind. Rather, they are attracted to the subject matter, which may include setting, time period, activities and events, personalities, snippets of dialog, situations and anything else that is not inherently part of the argument of a narrative. For example, take Santa Claus. You can have him be the main character or a victim or a villain. You can make him a spirit or a man. You can have him involved in a western, a science fiction, a romance, a buddy picture or a tragedy. In and of itself, subject matter is not part of a structure but just the raw material from which a structure is formed. That is part of the reason that in Dramatica theory we named a story’s structure the storyform as it brings form to story. Think of subject matter as the interstellar gas and ...

Novels Aren’t Stories A novel can be extremely free form. Some are simply narratives about a fictional experience. Others are a collection of several stories that may or may not be intertwined. Jerzy N. Kosinski (the author of “Being There”) wrote another novel called “Steps.” It contains a series of story fragments. Sometimes you get the middle of a short story, but no middle or end. Sometimes, just the end, and sometimes just the middle. Each fragment is wholly involving, and leaves you wanting to know the rest of the tale, but they are not to be found. In fact, there is not (that I could find) any connection among the stories, nor any reason they are in that particular order. And yet, they are so passionately told that it was one of the best reads I ever enjoyed. The point is, don’t feel confined to tell a single story, straight through, beginning to end. Rather than think of writing a novel, think about writing a book. Consider that a book can be exclusively po...

The 12 Essential QuestionsEvery Writer Should Answer 11. Overall Story Issue An author must not only choose the nature of the problem in his story, but also in what light he wishes to present it. The choice of Issue focuses the audience's attention on a particular issue affecting all the characters in the story. Overall Story Issue: The thematic interpretation of the scenario against which a story takes place. In stories, it is not only important what you wish the audience to look at but also in what light you want them to see it. The point of view from which the audience evaluates the meaning of the story is crucial to supporting the conclusion to a given argument. Issue helps select a filter through which the author can control the shading of the events that unfold. In a sense, Issue provides the audience with a yardstick and tells them, "measure what you see by this scale." Examples of Overall Story Issues:

The 12 Essential QuestionsEvery Writer Should Answer 10. Overall Story Concern Within the scenario against which your story takes place, there is an area of shared importance to all the characters in your story. Select the item(s) that best describes this Concern. Overall Story Concern: the purposes or interests sought after by the Overall Characters. Problems can manifest themselves in several ways. Therefore, simply defining the nature of a Problem does not necessarily predict its effect. For example, if the Problem is that there is not enough money to pay the rent, it might motivate one person to take to drink but another to take a second job. The effects of a Problem are not necessarily bad things, but simply things that would not have happened quite that way without the existence of the Problem. So it is with Concerns. The choice of Concern determines the principal area affected by the story's Problem and serves as a broad indicator of what the story is about. The Concern of a...

The 12 Essential QuestionsEvery Writer Should Answer 8. Main Character Judgment: Good or Bad? As an author, you can temper the story's Outcome by providing a Judgment as to whether the Main Character resolves his personal angst or not. Regardless of Success or Failure in the effort to achieve the goal, is your Main Character able to resolve his personal angst? If so, choose Good, and if not, choose Bad. The notion that the good guys win and the bad guys lose is not always true. In stories, as in life, we often see very bad people doing very well for themselves (if not for others). And even more often, we see very good people striking out. If we only judged results by success and failure, it wouldn't matter if the outcome was Good or Bad as long as it was accomplished. The choice of Good or Bad tempers the story's success or failure by showing whether the Main Character resolves his personal problems or not. The Story Judgment provides you with an opportunity to address good...

The 12 Essential QuestionsEvery Writer Should Answer 7. Story Outcome: Success or Failure? Success or failure is solely determined by whether or not the story goal is achieved, regardless of how your characters feel about it. If you want the Goal to be reached in your story, choose Success. If you want a story in which your characters do not reach the Goal, then choose Failure. Although it can be tempered by degree, Success or Failure is easily determined by seeing if the characters (in general) have achieved what they set out to achieve at the beginning of the story. Certainly, the characters may learn they really don't want what they thought they did and choose not to pursue it any longer. Even though they have grown, this is considered a failure because they did not accomplish their original intention. Similarly, they may actually achieve what they wanted, and even though they find it unfulfilling or unsatisfying, it must be said they succeeded. The point here is not to pass a...

The 12 Essential Questions Every Writer Should Answer 6. Story Limit: Timelock or Optionlock? In order to create tension in your audience, you will want to establish a limit to the story. This limit will indicate to the audience what will bring the story to a moment of truth, either running out of time or running out of options. If you want tension to increase as your characters run out of time, choose Timelock. If you want tension to increase as your characters run out of options, then choose Optionlock. Every argument must come to an end or no point can be made. The same is true for stories. For an author to explore an issue, a limit to the scope of the argument must be established. To establish how much ground the argument will cover, authors limit the story by length or by size. Timelocks create an argument in which "anything goes" within the allotted time constraints. Optionlocks create an argument that will extend as long as necessary to provide that every specified iss...

The 12 Essential QuestionsEvery Writer Should Answer 5. Story Driver: Action or Decision? Some stories are driven by actions. Others are forced along by decisions. All stories have some degree of both. This question determines which one "triggers" the other, but does not determine the ratio between the two. If actions that occur in your story determine the types of decisions that need to be made, choose Action. If decisions or deliberations that happen in your story precipitate the actions that follow, choose Decision. Story Driver: The mechanism by which the plot is moved forward. Action or Decision describes how the story is driven forward. The question is: Do Actions precipitate Decisions or vice versa? Every story revolves around a central issue, but that central issue only becomes a problem when an action or a decision sets events into motion. If an action gets things going, then many decisions may follow in response. If a decision kicks things off, then many actions may...

The 12 Essential QuestionsEvery Writer Should Answer 4. Main Character Problem-Solving Style: Logical or Intuitive? Every Main Character should have a Problem-Solving Style. Whether your Main Character is a horse, a house, a person, or an alien, the audience will not be able to empathize with it unless that character possesses a Logical or Intuitive mind. If you want your Main Character to tend to look for linear solutions to his problems, choose Logical Problem-Solving Style. If you want your Main Character to tend to look for holistic solutions to his problems, choose Intuitive problem-solving style. NOTE: A character's Problem-Solving Style need not match its Gender. Problem-Solving Style: A differentiation between logical and intuitive problem-solving techniques. Much of what we are as individuals is learned behavior. Yet, the basic operating system of the mind is cast biologically before birth as being more sensitive to space or time. We all have a sense of how things are arra...

The 12 Essential QuestionsEvery Writer Should Answer 3. Main Character Approach: Do-er or Be-er? Some of the characters you create as an author will be Do-ers who try to accomplish their purposes through activities (by doing things). Other characters are Be-ers who try to accomplish their purposes by working it out internally (by being a certain way). When it comes to the Main Character, this choice of Do-er or Be-er will have a large impact on how he approaches the Story's problem. If you want your Main Character to prefer to solve problems externally, choose Do-er. If you want your Main Character to prefer to solve problems through internal work, choose Be-er. Approach: the kind of techniques a character uses to solve problems, which favor either mental or physical effort. By temperament, Main Characters (like each of us) have a preferential method of approaching Problems. Some would rather adapt their environment to themselves through action, others would rather adapt their envi...

The 12 Essential QuestionsEvery Writer Should Answer 2. Main Character Growth: Stop or Start? Over the course of your story, the Main Character will either grow out of something or grow into something. Authors show their audiences how to view this development of a Main Character by indicating the direction of Growth by the Main Character. If the story concerns a Main Character who Changes, he will come to believe he is the cause of his own problems (that's why he eventually changes). If he grows out of an old attitude or approach (e.g. loses the chip on his shoulder), then he is a Stop character. If he grows into a new way of being (e.g. fills a hole in his heart), then he is a Start character. If the story concerns a Main Character who Remains Steadfast, something in the world around him will appear to be the cause of his troubles. If he tries to hold out long enough for something to stop bothering him, then he is a Stop character. If he tries to hold out long enough for something...

The 12 Essential QuestionsEvery Writer Should Answer 1. Main Character Resolve: Change or Steadfast? The Main Character represents the audience's position in the story. Therefore, whether he changes or not has a huge impact on the audience's story experience and the message you are sending to it. Some Main Characters grow to the point of changing their nature or attitude regarding a central personal issue like Scrooge in A Christmas Carol. Others grow in their resolve, holding onto their nature or attitude against all obstacles like Dr. Richard Kimble in The Fugitive. Change can be good if the character is on the wrong track to begin with. It can also be bad if the character was on the right track. Similarly, remaining Steadfast is good if the character is on the right track, but bad if he is misguided or mistaken. Think about the message you want to send to your audience, and whether the Main Character's path should represent the proper or improper way of dealing with the ...

StoryWeavingWriting Tips Newsletter Issue 76 How to Draw Your Readers into Your Story By Teresa Darnold Have you ever read a story that pulls you right into it without you even noticing? This doesn’t happen by accident. Rather, some very specific methods are employed. Read the following story segment, see if it pulls you in, and then I’ll describe all the techniques I used to craft it. “When somebody's "fixin'" to do something, it won't be long.” “Go outside and tell your brother that I won’t be long…” Kate knew that tone of voice; her dad was impatient at having been interrupted while doing something he felt to be important – whatever that might be at that moment. This time, he had worked an all-nighter at the plant, got home late, and was trying to unwind a bit before he had to take his son to the game. Trouble was, he was making everyone late in the process of waitin’ for him to unwind. Kate went outside. She knew her brother wouldn’t like the answer; he was ...

Download the entire 16 minute program for free in MP3 format: " Be a Story Weaver - NOT a Story Mechanic! "

Here's an 18 minute mp3 recording of some basic Dramatica character concepts for a program I never got around to completing. Thought I might as well share it with y'all. Hope you find it useful. Characters, Dramatica Style (Click to listen, right click to download)