I think I will retract this indefinitely until I speak the language better.
Welcome to the forum @museful! I assume you haven’t had a chance to check out the Theory Book or the Dramatica Definition of Being. When you do, it would be great if you returned to explain your understanding of being within the context of Dramatica–I have a feeling you have something interesting to add to the conversation.
If you look at the Gists in Dramatica Story Expert – for those on the Mac – the wide variety of possible examples are much clearer. Here are some simple, non-playing a role examples:
- Being proud
- Being obnoxious
- Being angry
- Being in love
Each of these can be seen as temporary conditions – kind of like the internal equivalent of Doing.
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I’m confused. Those gists are under the larger umbrella of Manipulation/Psychology, but if you narrow down the selection to Being, only two gists mention the word “being” in them (“Being Played” and “Being an Actor”). So, a mood or behavior could count as Being? Or is a behavior too much of a Doing thing?
Does a goal of better self-esteem count as Being?
My intent wasn’t to quote the gists in the software (I did not reference them when I wrote the above), but to look to them for a broader understanding of alternatives to “Playing a Role,” which was the original question.
Since much of human psychology is expressed through behavior, it’s senseless to try to divorce one from the other. The question is, “Does the problem grow from an internal form of being, or from an external form of doing?” Even though we’re looking at “Playing a Role.” it must ALWAYS be considered in the context of problematic Psychology/Manipulation, just as “Doing” must ALWAYS be considered in the context of problematic Activities. That’s how you differentiate between the internal and the external – CONTEXT.
Yes, if the Story Goal was “Playing a Role”/Being, “Better Self-Esteem” could count as being, so long as it is transitive and not transformative (Becoming/Changing One’s Nature).
Would Being’s version of self-esteem be feeling good about oneself briefly (like a team is in a good mood after winning a game that they really worked hard to win) whereas learning self-acceptance (“Hey, I’m good enough after all”) would be Becoming?
If those gists were also included under Being in the program, it’d clarify its scope.
Yes.
I would suggest that something like, “Accepting one’s true nature” might be a slightly more accurate “Becoming” version.
Instead of looking at Dramatica’s simplified labels, e.g. Playing a Role or Being, I recommend using the definitions to get the best sense of depth and breadth of a Dramatica term. Gists, on the other hand, are slices of the terms meaning coupled with storytelling – simplified (and digestible) instances of the complex ideas behind the Dramatica labels.
I always remind myself by reading the definitions carefully, but “For purposes of story, Being is meant to describe the condition of existing in a certain manner,” and “temporarily adopting a lifestyle” sounded like it was more about roles, so I didn’t think it included emotions.
I tried the advice of writing my ideas in plain English and used the format of the 30-sec Dramatica exercise to try clarifying my message so I can refine my years-long backlog of storytelling material for it into something cohesive. I think I made progress, but if you’re thinking that “regret” is the Consequence and therefore it’s opposite, “contentment,” must be the Goal, well, one of those needs to be converted to an external Concern and I’m not sure which.
What I want to say is: “Letting fear hold you back leads to regret,” or more specifically, I’d say that letting fear hold you back leads to more regret than trying and failing because at least you’ll know what would happen rather than being stuck wondering what could’ve been. MC has anxiety problems and fears the worst happening, hence Issue of Worry. Threat is good for IC since his sometimes reckless actions make MC reconsider what he considers a threat. In the end, MC does something courageous (Action driver) and it helps everyone feels better.
I currently have Being as Goal and Doing as Consequence (they do the same unfulfilling stuff they always have). If I flipped the pair, I suppose a Goal of Doing could look like the characters regularly taking actions to pursue their desires and a Consequence about feeling regret, but I don’t know if that works. Not taking action is more of MC’s problem.
It sounds like you’re ready to write!
I don’t think the Consequence Type has to be so perfectly boiled into your single-sentence argument. A consequence like you said – they do the same unfulfilling stuff they’ve always done, or perhaps more importantly, they’re NOT doing what they dream of doing, and never will – works great.
I think you should go with Being as your Goal / OS Concern Type … stick with it for now so you don’t have to worry about it. You can always adjust later if you need, but you won’t know until you’re well into your story.
I’m not sure how a Goal of contentment is supposed to fix Doing the same stuff (unless I rewrote it that they hurt themselves because they’re unhappy) or prevent not fulfilling dreams. Isn’t trying to avoid Doing unfulfilling things really about avoiding misery-- something internal?
A Goal of Doing-- like pursuing dreams and new experiences could stop a Consequence of Being regretful, but I don’t know if that’s more a Fixed Attitude thing.
No matter what I do, something feels off, but I can’t trust that feeling. I can’t write without clarifying a structure to help me figure out what to keep or drop since I have all this material I’ve written.
I don’t think you need to worry about that so much, as long as there is a way you can see the Consequence involving doing or not doing some physical activities. If the ones discussed don’t sound right to you, definitely change them – it’s your story so it needs to feel right to you.
Still, I think if one of the characters said “I wish I could be acting instead of waiting tables” that fits a Consequence of Doing fine. It’s just that Dramatica is telling you to focus more on the activity rather than the wishing – like think of a sports player who can no longer play his sport. You could say that’s an internal thing (his desire for the sport) but if the consequence is Doing, it’s really about the lack of playing itself that’s the true consequence.
Maybe take a look at the illustrated Consequences here and see if anything sounds close:
http://dramatica.com/analysis/examine/os-concern/being
Just commenting on the stuff you added in your edit. I hope it’s helpful; I really would like to see you get unstuck!
First, I wouldn’t focus on the additional points (like Consequence) right now … that’s for later. For now, ONLY worry about the true source of conflict in the overall story. (I think you’ve got the MC and IC nailed.) Domain & Concern, Issue & Problem.
What’s an example of something you would keep or remove if you became certain the Goal was Being? What about for Doing?
For the story I’m writing now, when I started the first draft I was seriously considering that the MC Domain might be Physics and the OS Situation. That seems crazy to me now; the MC in Mind and the OS Psychology fit perfectly (as do the other throughlines). But it just shows how poorly you see your story until you’re actually writing it.
I feel like you might be doing it sort of backwards – you need to decide what stuff you care about most, and base the structure off that. If you’re not sure, the best way to figure out what you care about most is to actually write the thing.
I get the sense that you are looking at Dramatica terms as “exclusive”. Like, having regrets fits under Fixed Attitude (Mind) so it can’t fit under Being. That’s not true at all. Dramatica differentiates between longing-regret and behaving-regret and doing-regret etc., but sometimes we authors have trouble seeing the difference. Especially when developing our stories, when they’re still fluid. So you have to really keep an open mind to all the terms and think, okay this could fit, let me look for other examples that would back that up…
I don’t understand these different regrets-- I’ve only ever heard of just plain “regret,” unless by doing-regret, you mean doing something having caused the regret or doing something because of regret.
I don’t know, but there are chunks of story I’m not sure I feel like using anymore, or worse, stuff that’s cool but I don’t know if it undermines my message. Like if I make a personification of the fearful mind run away and grow into a giant rampaging monster (maybe grabbing people to protect them) that MC must stop, doesn’t that undermine the metaphor since an anxiety disorder involves mostly unfounded fears, but a giant monster running around a city would present a real danger? I suppose I could have this metaphor remain a small unruly pet, but that doesn’t seem as awesome as traveling through a dreamscape to tame the mind of a giant monster at the climax.
Originally, I thought the goal would be two characters being reunited to maybe solve some problems, but then I had the idea that there could be a lot more dramatic potential if it happened earlier in the story, but didn’t go well as MC imagined and they struggle with trying to make it work. So, leaving that open means coming up with ways to justify this (if I can… my only good ideas were show-biz and acting related) and a different Goal.
That’s exactly what I meant. Regret where the source of the trouble is doing or not doing something. If you watch the film Breaking Away, I think there’s a part where the MC gives up his biking and he experiences sadness from that, and maybe some regret. That would be an example of what I was calling doing-sadness and doing-regret. (Those terms aren’t meant to be precise or anything, I just threw them out there.)
All I’m trying to say is that just because you see regret in a story (whether on screen or in your own ideas), doesn’t mean the regret is necessarily the source of trouble. So for example, if you were pretty sure your Goal was Doing and you thought the Consequence was something like “being regretful” or “living with regret” – that’s absolutely prefect. You don’t need to doubt or second-guess that.
I think you should always go with what you like and what you think is cool. Your message might not be what you think it is. Or those things might fit your message better than you think, perhaps adding subtle layers to it.
I thought that if regret was eliminated (in the case of a Consequence of Doing the same stuff over and over), there wouldn’t be a problem. If the Doing was, however, hurting others, then eliminating regret would still leave a problem (at least to other characters). Then again, not Doing is what causes the problem of the regret, so I suppose getting rid of one of the other solves the problem, which doesn’t help.
Maybe the problem is with Being Envious, but it still feels a bit off since I don’t picture my characters sabotaging others like villains and only one is the type to lose motivation and sulk because of envy. Maybe they just make bad decisions because of it. Fits with an ending of collaboration and everyone having contributions to make.
I like the Being Envious and making bad decisions because of that. Sounds perfect!
I still don’t know what the goal of Being should look like and that’s really important to know. If the initial Driver is that MC sees IC and regrets life choices and tries to scare IC off, ironically attracting his attention, I don’t see how that causes a problem for IC… unless the “initial inequity” isn’t a problem per se. It does start the story. Can this rightfully be the initial inequity that Being is supposed to solve or is it just part of MC and the inequity is supposed to be something else?
Your story world is probably a “balanced inequity” before the initial Driver upsets the balance. Things kind of suck, but nothing’s changing because everyone’s living with it, until that Driver comes along.
So it’s not that the Driver created an inequity from scratch, it just exposed the pre-existing problems. Your story can then deal with those pre-existing problems, trying to fix them properly (or not).
Don’t worry too much about how it causes a problem for the IC – as long as there is some kind of drive for the IC to influence the MC. That’s the kind of “conflict” the IC throughline requires.
Are you still considering Doing as the OS Concern & Goal? Do you have a sense of whether the MC has a hole in his heart vs. a chip on his shoulder? That can be a tough question so just go with your initial reaction. (I assume this will be a Changed MC)
I think you have a few options now:
- Just start writing now even though you don’t have the storyform pinned down
- Try to pin the storyform down to the Concern or Issue level, and then start writing (knowing it’s never written in stone)
- Try to pin down a full storyform before you start writing (again knowing it’s never written in stone)
If you really think #3 will help you get started that’s cool, and I’d be happy to help. But you need to take advantage of the “not written in stone” aspect to get past your doubts – you kind of just pick the best option and move on. Nothing will feel perfect until you start writing and have something real to compare it to.
Most likely you’ve thought of this, but have you tried reversing the appreciation (i.e. the goal is to stop Being something)? Or since this is the OS, maybe put the “Being” somewhere more group-focused?
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