Elements and PRCO, TKAD, SRCA and PASS

Hey there, @Leah!

You can find most of these answers on this forum (the search bar almost never fails) or by visiting https://narrativefirst.com/ for articles on these topics.

Here’s an article that will help you on your quest:

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This is very helpful, thanks.

So, am I understanding correctly that the PRCO are the 4 Objective Issues under a signpost concern and it is up to the author to determine which issue is the potential, resistance, current, and outcome from this list (they are not defined for you like the SRCA are)?

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Actually (unless I’m misunderstanding you), SRCA (and all of these scene modalities) happens at the level below the PSR report – within the scene. So if each Element in the PSR is a “scene”, these modalities tell you how to structure that scene.

It wasn’t included in the software I believe because there was some thinking that it was too fine a resolution to be useful to writers (forest for the trees etc.). But Jim has been using it with some of his clients to useful effect.

TKAD is Thought, Knowledge, Ability and Desire, which, at some level, is what every quad in Dramatica boils down to. In this context, TKAD is used interchangeably with the top of the model – the Domain level - [EDIT- thanks @mlucas :slight_smile: ] Situation (Universe), Activities (Physics), Manner of Thinking (Psychology) and Attitude (Mind). So each scene will have each of these elements in it.

BTW out of the four, this is the mode that @mlucas and Jim say is the most useful for scene construction.

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So, the scenes have a particular order in the signpost based on the PSR report, and then within the scene (issue level) there is an order too (at the problem level)? How do you determine that order?

And is it like the subjective elements defined by the PSR in that they might be in a different quad entirely than the objective elements under that signpost concern (but in this case scene issue)? How on earth do you figure out what they should be?

Jim’s article that aokcthunderx linked to above cautions us about getting too deep in the woods and I think that maybe I am there! I realize this is all optional at this level. I don’t think I’m ready for this yet! :joy:

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I didn’t understand it at all at at first. I read about it on Jim’s site more than a year ago and only circled back recently. I think it could be very useful but at this point the other levels are much more practical for me.

Oops! Typo – you meant Manner of Thinking (aka Psychology) and Attitude (aka Mind).

At the scene level I find the Manner of Thinking part is often a manipulation (someone trying to convince or trick someone), but sometimes it’s a more broad psychology thing like someone acting crazy or being suicidal or whatever.

Anyway @Leah, here is one post where I described how I use these things (TKAD and PRCO) at the scene level:

Hopefully if you read Jim’s Narrative First articles, you will get some context as to what I’m talking about. But feel free to ask questions!

On the other hand, feel free to not use any of this stuff. For at least half the scenes I write, I end up skipping most of it and just going by feel anyway.

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But if you make a hot key, how will I practice explaining Dramatica? :slight_smile:

Seriously though maybe we (on this board, not you Jim) should figure out how to crowdsource a FAQ with links to relevant discussions. I know there’s a Q&A page on the Dramatica site, but I’m thinking of something more wiki-like that references more recent discussions on theses boards.

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Great idea!

And thanks for volunteering :laughing:

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