Characters and Characteristics

[Lakis]

Oh man. Sorry!

@Hunter

So, if that’s unavailable the best tools are to pull things out from Dramatica and use whatever writing tool one finds easiest and/or export things into Subtext.

Yes, this.

You can use an outlining tool or Scrivener, etc.

[rallen]

@Greg

Not exactly. All four sign posts act as an exploration of a single problem, but all four are needed to fully explore the problem because each only gives a view of one fourth of the problem. So the characters might ‘solve’ or ‘fail’ any sign post, but all four together as a single unit will either solve or fail the problem as a whole.

I’m not sure if that makes sense reading it, but for an example, watch the first 1/4 of A Beautiful Mind. John Nash doesn’t solve the larger story problem of dealing with John Nash, but he does solve the Conceiving Sign Post problem of coming up with an original idea.

This makes sense, insofar as the problem is addressed in each Act. So can each Act or Signpost been seen as a success or a failure, e.g. fail, succeed, fail, fail for SP1, SP2, SP3, SP4??

[Hunter]

@rallen

So can each Act or Signpost been seen as a success or a failure, e.g. fail, succeed, fail, fail for SP1, SP2, SP3, SP4??

Technically, yes, but you’ll probably miss the mark if you try to view them this way. Instead, you should see each Signpost as the source of conflict for that act of that throughline. Looking at them as a goal might be valid for some stories, but not every story will be amenable to this lens.

For example, if your story has an Objective/Overall Story Signpost #1 of Becoming, then the characters might have a goal of transformation. However, it might also mean that the characters are suddenly and randomly turning into creatures of the night (werewolves, vampires, etc…), causing them to blame someone or fight others because of it. For some, maybe it makes it more difficult to find a job, others perhaps are no longer able to get a girlfriend. The important part is that these issues trace back to their Becoming, and that it is this transformation that leads to their conflict or turmoil.

Now, I suspect that one could hardly say that “suddenly and randomly turning into creatures of the night” would be a goal, but that is meant to be the source of conflict in the paragraph above.

[Greg]

@rallen

fail, succeed, fail, fail for SP1, SP2, SP3, SP4??

I suppose, but again, keep in mind that you’re only ‘solving’ the problem from one perspective. So if the Goal is Conceiving, and a given Sign Post is Being, that Sign Post is only dealing with-or trying to ‘solve’-a Being perspective of Conceiving.