Choosing right domain for construction deficiencies and defects

writing
#1

I am working on a new story idea and have problems choosing the right domain for construction deficiencies and defects

The (OS) story idea:

A skyscraper with construction deficiencies and defects leads to complication for everyone involved. The real estate agent argues with properties owners whether defects should be fixed, fixes should be paid by the agent or the owner or whether a defect is a defect at all.

I have tried Deficiency as OS Issue but it doesn’t feels right as a defect is an external and not an internal problem.

What is the right domain?

Just tried each domain separately:
Situation - Issue? - construction defects creating problems for everyone
Activity - Issue? - the effort it takes for everyone to solve (or not) defects
Mind - Openness - everyone is un-willingness to reevaluate
Manipulation - Rationalization - everyone is trying to find alternative explanation for

I am “seeing” a RomCom/Comedy story of activities where people argue the defects. But so far it didn’t really “click” yet as far as the OS domain is concerned.

Thanks in advance for your help.

#2

I think any OS Domain could be used in a story about construction deficiencies and defects. So as the Author, you’re the only one who can really decide where the focus will be, what the root of the difficulties is in the story.

Imagine you have your story world with all these argumentative characters fussing about the defects. Suddenly, someone waves a magic wand and all the defects are gone. There is nothing wrong externally anymore. Do they still have a problem? i.e. are they still argumentative people that are having trouble agreeing and maybe are still manipulating each other, or stuck in fixed mindsets?

Your gut feel on that might help you figure out the domain. (You could also try the magic wand the other way – it makes everyone into perfectly reasonable, agreeable people without any hang-ups; is there still a problem?)

Your idea of RomCom, and some of your summary stuff, makes me guess Manipulation, but it’s a total guess. (Rationalization does sound pretty good too, and the Consider/Reconsider/Support/Oppose quad would definitely fit some of what you’ve got. But, first you should look at the Concern level and whether Becoming would fit as the Story Goal and everyone’s Concern.)

P.S. Openness is under Situation/Future, not Mind; I think maybe you forgot to finish that section of your post :).
P.P.S. Whatever you decide, just “pencil it in” until you figure out your MC and IC domains, as those may influence your thinking or your whole story idea.

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#3

Hi @Gernot, I’m no expert, but I ran it through the story engine… I would think the OS is Activity as everyone is involved in the activity of building. And an OS issue of Prerequisites seems to bring out some interesting aspects.

Have you seen The Money Pit. The original and the newer version are both good. The old version is called “George Washington Slept Here”

EDIT: If the building was already finished, then I think the OS would be Situation, but if it was still in process then it would be Activity. I could imagine some type of allegory to get Psychology or Mind, but that doesn’t seem likely for a Rom/Com.

#4

I was going to make pretty much the same point as @mlucas. You can put it anywhere you want depending on the context in which you see the problem.

“Skyscraper with construction defects” sounds at first like a problematic Situation, but that is IF the defects are the source of the problem.

If the OS story is less about the defects in construction causing problems and more about the lawsuit that will determine who is responsible for fixing the defects, or how everyone is trying to determine how the defects came to be, or how everyone has an opinion on the safety of the building as is, then the OS could fall into any of the other Domains.

Do you have a sense of what the OS Goal should be? For instance, would the goal be to fix the building, or maybe to secure funding? Or would it be more about determining who is at fault or assigning blame? Knowing the goal should help provide some of the context we need.

#5

Also keep in mind that the Dramatica terminology is referring to human problems, so Deficiency would be referring to issues with the characters in your story. Unless the building itself is a character, I wouldn’t try to use “construction deficiencies” to mean the same as Deficiency on the Dramatica chart.

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#6

Thanks for the feedback which helped me to change my point of view. I like “how everyone is trying to determine how the defects came to be” and will encode it with DOING/EXPERIENCE. OS issue of PREREQUISITES seems also a good start.

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#7

Interesting choice. I thought “Determining” without context would sound like Gathering Info or Understanding. Care to discuss what problems your characters will have from Doing?

And please don’t take the question above to mean that I think you should choose Gathering Info or Understanding. Activity and Doing are two separate levels and I feel like Doing can work under an Activity of “determine how the defects came to be” but curious about your process and context.

#8

My thinking was Doing in terms having (not) enough skills and experience to judge wether something is a defect or not and have the wisdom to solve the issues (either by pushing it away - the sales agent, or forcing to get it fixed, the property owners). In the story I have in mind its plain clear that there are defects but the sales agent is under pressure (cost savings, …) to “sale” there are no defects or the fix of defects is not included int the price. So everybody is doing everything to either get the defects solved by fixing it or by convincing the other party that are no defects.

#9

Got it. So it sounds maybe more like an Activity of dealing with this defective building and a Concern of Doing something with it. Sale it, fix it, whatever. I can see that. And maybe the issue is looking at experience with defective buildings vs maybe the skill to fix the problems, or to hide them? And then that should go great with the quad of Accurate, Non-Accurate, Determination, and Expectation.

I don’t know which one you want to use for the Problem, but I can immediately see Accurate and Non-Accurate as being about accurate construction procedures and cutting corners, or maybe about selling the building with integrity versus lying to hide the damage or something along those lines. And then Expectation and Determination might be about expectations of safety versus a determination to get rid of the building, or maybe being expected to get rid of the problem (by fixing the building cheaply or selling it) versus a determination to do it right (by not cutting corners or not lying to hide the defects).

I love seeing the different perspectives on how a story idea might unfold. I don’t mean to try to steer your story with any of the above suggestions, but just sharing my own perspective.

#10

The problem I still need to figure out. I am still at the beginning with my basic idea in my head (confident but discontented sales rep needs to sell-off all remaining apartments before the end of the year and before he can go on a bike trip) and was stuck with the question how to encode the OS and the construction defects.

“lying to hide the damage” feels the direction to go for my story as this connects nicely with the discontent of my main character. As he is lying to the property owners he is lying at the same time to himself …

#11

Do you have any ideas about the MC and IC issues in this story (sounds like the sales agent is the MC) and perhaps what their relationship is?

I wonder if you should also try a similar storyform with the OS in Manipulation (possibly Playing a Role) since all the stuff about lying, convincing people that there are no defects, etc. sounds more like that to me. As would your RomCom feeling.

But I guess it really depends what part is the OS, and what is the RS.

#12

I see a lot of Manipation in that too, but didn’t want to say it. afterall, the advice was that it could really go anywhere depending on the authors intent. And I still think Activity can work just fine. Maybe the lying and hiding is in the RS. Or maybe those things are so far down on the Dramatica chart that things have gone back around from the problem level to the domain level (that probably doesn’t make sense, but there’s an article about it).

#13

My first thought is problem of reconsider under obtaining. “Failure to reconsider” defects is similar to an example in the software for an OS problem of reconsider. I think of it is a poorly done activity that leads to problems when the effects of it leads to activities that are problematic (e.g. discoveries/learning, getting to the root cause/understanding, repairs/renovations/doing, accidents/obtaining meaning losses like damages & things start falling down & worst case loss of life).