Choosing the right concerns

writing
#1

Usually I find it hard to choose the right concerns when writing a story (same with the throughlines from time to time). So I try to brainstorm the “feel” of this story to see which quad of concerns would be better for what I intend to create. If it can be of use, or if you want to put your opinion out there… Here goes !

Past - Understanding - Conceptualizing - Memory : stories about burdens. Guilt and obsession, finding relief and moving on or getting consummed by one’s demons. Skeletons in the closet ; shining the light on something from the past, figuring how things fit together, finding the truth or entertaining a lie.

Present - Learning - Conceiving - Conscious : stories about survival. Finding ways to get by or getting swallowed whole, abilities against limitations. Observing, deliberating, innovating and reinventing. Bettering or worsening current situations through action or inaction.

Progress - Doing - Being - Preconscious : stories about evolution. Moving forward, backward, or being plain stuck ; finding a new direction is enough (=/= price). Battling forth against others and oneself, action without rest, effectiveness over results, impulses. Having control, struggling to keep it or completely losing it.

Future - Obtaining - Becoming - Subconscious : stories about loss and gains. Tangible thing at the end of the road (=/= direction). Construction or destruction, opportunities to seize. Deep desires / fears and complete transformation of world and characters. Life-changing, inability to go back.

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Flavor of top left prerequisites, requirements, forewarnings, preconditions
Contextual Subgenres
Starting a storyform before answering 12 essential questions
How do these throughlines look?
Flavor of top left prerequisites, requirements, forewarnings, preconditions
A noob stuck with trying to find a storyform
Contextual Subgenres
#2

Incredible collection!! Thanks for sharing.

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#3

This is really awesome and I’d love to see more!

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#4

This is fantastic. Extremely useful!

Bookmarked!

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#5

You have to keep going with this.

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#6

My cynical guide:
Past, etc - Every supernatural horror movie (or movie about unresolved grief).
Present, etc - Every movie that wins awards from the 1950s or 2000s.
Progress, etc - Every movie with a boy, man-child, or competition on the poster.
Future, etc - Every movie that makes money.

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#7

oh go back to climbing that building.

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#8

Wow, this is amazing! I’ll be coming back to this post often.

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#9

Wow this is great! Thanks Rachel.

Here is a list I made a while back of how the concern quadrants “feel”. Not sure how much of this feeling is personal and would differ between people, so YMMV.

  • Bottom-left: “powerful”
  • Bottom-right: “golden” / “inner light”
  • Top-right: “light-hearted” / “playful” (I’m still working on this)
  • Top-left: “heavy”

Does anyone else have a way to describe these commonalities of feeling? They’re almost like a colour you can see in your mind when you think of the story.

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Upper Right "lighthearted"?
#11 
•	Bottom-left:  BASIC
•	Bottom-right:  IN SYNC
•	Top-right: WARM FUZZY
•	Top-left:  BAGGAGE
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#12

@mlucas and @Prish You started making me question my (pretty dark) top-right story with your “light-hearted/playful/warm fuzzy” metaphors but then I realized that Silence of the Lambs is a top-right story – am I misunderstanding which quad is where? (Or am I just reading into it too much?)

#13

That’s a beautiful way of saying it. I definitely think of it as though the story is tinted a certain way. I think they’re probably different for everyone, too. For me:

Obtaining, etc.: I struggle to describe this one. I have a clear feeling for it, but I can’t think of a word that fits.
Doing, etc.: bubbly (this one always has an indie movie vibe to it in my brain)
Learning, etc.: cerebral
Understanding, etc.: reflective

Worth noting, I don’t write much drama. I stay in the lighter end of things, so mostly work with the obtaining/doing areas. Didn’t think about that until now. Interesting.

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#16

Definitely! Consider this improv…no science just fun flow.

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#17

No, I was finding the top-right the hardest to pin down in words and still working at it. I was trying to find a commonality of feeling between Star Wars, Breaking Away, Iron Giant and Being John Malkovich. Didn’t consider Silence of the Lambs, it’s been a super long time since I saw that. Maybe there is some playful vibe in how it treats such a dark subject? Don’t recall that though.

I agree with Prish though, these are only generalities, and maybe don’t fit so well in every case.

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#18

Hm, interesting - there is something playfully twisted maybe in the way Lecter and Clarisse interact in that movie. A dark comic vibe. But anyway it’s s weird one because it’s an OS Universe story.

#19

“Past - Understanding - Conceptualizing - Memory : stories about burdens. Guilt and obsession, finding relief and moving on or getting consummed by one’s demons. Skeletons in the closet ; shining the light on something from the past, figuring how things fit together, finding the truth or entertaining a lie.”

Rachel, please, p!ease me, yeah, and post some more! For a fledgling like me, this is priceless help. I’m a kinesthetic too, so diagrams and visual aides added is a bonus. Thanx. Emm.

3 Likes
#20

“moving on” would that be “Undersatanding?” and if so, would this apply to a character trying to overcome a dependancy?

#21

“Moving on” would be in regards to something that happened before - the death of a loved one, a mistake creating guilt… Which, for a MC, would be a concern of the Past usually. Take Cobb from Inception, for example.

A character overcoming a dependancy would probably be in Psychology (the change in attitude and psychological damage), in Mind (being stuck in the same old habit/pattern) or even Universe (being physically dependant on something, although I doubt it was your intent). It would be harder to fit into Physics.

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#22

Thank you Rachel! So, then, if the OS were one of dependency (where all of the characters are trying to either feed a dependency or overcome one) would that, then, make the OS Domain one of Psychology?

#23

Thank you Rachel! So, then, if the OS were one of dependency (where all of
the characters are trying to either feed a dependency or overcome one)
would that, then, make the OS Domain one of Psychology?