If an author who is mainly a Linear problem solver tries to tackle a story with a Holistic problem solver MC, will the act order necessarily make the exploration of the problem feel Holistic to an audience, even if the author has trouble coming up with a solution that feels Holistic in itself?
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How would the Solution be Holistic? I believe the Problem-Solving Style sets Act Order and Unique Abilities and Critical Flaws. I donāt believe it has an effect on anything else. (maybe Benchmark)
Poor choice of words, perhaps. Rather than saying āsolutionā, I should have referred to the problem-solving process. And maybe itās a question that just doesnāt make sense.
What Iām trying to get at, I guess, is does the storyform alone dictate what the problem-solving style looks like to an audience? If a linear author can only come up with what feels to him like a linear process, but he encodes the right act order, UA, and CF, will the story work? Or will a linear author who can only problem solve linearly only create what feels like a broken story if he canāt figure out a holistic problem solving process?
For example, in The Sixth Sense Malcome Crowe learned valuable information about Cole Sears by telling him they were playing a game wherein he made statements about Coleās watch and his father. If instead he had simply said, āCole, tell me about yourselfā he would have acted much more linearly. But if the scene otherwise still hits the appreciations for a holistic act order, and he still has the same UA and CF would you still say he feels like a holistic problem solver? Or would you say it feels like the problem solving style is broken?
I tested it in the engineā¦
TL;DR Therefore, the scenes are definitely going to change depending on Logical versus Holistic selection. And therefore, I think that even a logical writer would be forced to write a very different story depending on the Problem Solving Style selected.
Explanation: If you leave the Problem Solving Style open and narrow down towards a single story formā¦ you end up with MCās Unique Ability, Flaw and Benchmark unselected, as well as the ICās Unique Ability, Flaw and Benchmark unselected. They each are narrowed down to two possibilities, everything else is locked in. Other aspects of the story narrow down these 6 remaining aspects, but only down to two possibilitiesā¦ the problem solving style locks it in completelyā¦ or the signposts, as you will see.
At this point, the 16 Signposts are only partially decided. 5 of the 16 signposts will already be filled in. Which 5 depends on which Throughlines you selected for the OS and MC. Either the OS or the MC signposts will already be decided depending on the throughline selection. I think this makes sense from an External versus Internal problem.
When you then choose Logical, the 6 MC and IC traits lock in, as well as the remaining Signposts.
When you then switch to Holistic/Intuitive, the 6 traits flip/toggle to the other 6 possibilities, and the Signposts change/toggle as well. Radically changing the throughline flow for 3 out of 4 throughlines.
Therefore, the scenes are definitely going to change depending on Logical versus Holistic selection. And therefore, I think that even a logical writer would be forced to write a very different story depending on the Problem Solving Style selected. Though either the OS or MC signposts will stay the same, so depending on the throughlines chosen, those Journey and Signpost scenes might not change much.
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Just to be clear, are you saying that, because of the number of structural changes, a linear problem-solving process in a scene in a story that otherwise follows a holistic storyform (as in the hypothetical Sixth Sense example above)would fail to appear as a holistic MC or perhaps even break the storyform?
I know Iām probably harping too much on something I shouldnāt worry about. What Iām looking at behind the question, though, is that itās said that Holistic Problem-Solvers see Linear Problem-Solving as valid. So it would seem to me that a Linear author should be able to write individually Linear scenes, but in a Holistic act order and the story still make sense as having a holistic MC. I may be missing something though. The UA and CF being different may prevent this.
@Gregolas From my analysis of the story form engine and without hardly any understanding of actually using Dramatica to writeā¦ I would say that even a highly linear thinking author would still write a very different story if they choose a Holistic MC versus a Linear MC. The story form changes dramatically simply from that one choice, as it probably changes from several other single choices within the engine. Even if an authorās linear thinking and writing style were applied to the Holistic MC I think it would still appear holistic to the audience, as the signposts have changed (perhaps) to a non-linear pattern. So it might be like a linear process(authorās mind) within a non-linear process(story mind).
I think of holistic as non-linear, though Iām not sure what Dramatica theory actually says about that.
Four āauthorās mind versus story mindā concepts, the numbers just represent the story flow:
A) Linear author writing Linear MC - 123 456 789 (linear within linear)
B) Linear author writing Holistic MC - 1 56 89 23 4 7 (linear within holistic)
C) Non-Linear author writing Linear MC - 132 564 987 (non-linear within linear)
D) Non-Linear author writing Holistic MC - 34 8 7 05 26 1 (non-linear within non-linear)
I bet to an audience, that A and C feel the same, just as B and D feel the same. Assuming Dramatica was used.
I also bet that linear authors that are not using Dramatica write linear characters and scenes all the time no matter what they think they are doing. Which explains why most mainstream films and tv are so predictable.
As to worry, I think the thing Iāve learned here the most in the past month is that worrying about the theory isnāt getting anyone anywhere. In Dramatica We Trust. It will be better than not using it. Time to write.
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Reprinted because it needs to be. Thanks!