Narrowing Down Storyforms

[bobRaskoph]

Several rather open story ideas. Please tell me if you have any suggestions.

Story A. I've been reading some stories recently (two in particular) in which the main character solution seemed to be "asking for help" or "accepting help." It's not that they're finally helping someone else, but that they let others help them. Now, would that be a Solution of Help, Faith, Trust, Pursuit? Or maybe Acceptance? I can't really see these stories in the lower right or upper left types. I don't really see them as actively hindering anyone. These characters refuse help at first, because either (A) they've seen people who have helped them get killed or injured, don't want that to happen again and do everything by themselves, or (B) don't want anyone to get close, because they're afraid of losing them. Right now it seems more like they're running away from people / avoiding people with a solution of pursuit, but I'm not entirely sure. Does that make sense, though?

Story B. The Main Character is in Situation/Universe, the Influence Character is in Fixed Attitude/Mind, of that I'm sure. OS is probably Activities/Physics. The story is about communication, interpretation, expression, art and muses. The Influence Character is the Artist who has trouble being understood by people (including MC), expressing her thoughts/feelings and uses the MC as a muse. Now, while interpretation and such would fit nicely with a concern of Understanding etc, I don't really see anyone being concerned or having problems with past or memories. Do you think that Contemplations/Conscious for IC and Conceiving (an Idea) for SS works here?

Story C. This story is about Whitewashing (and maybe color-blind casting) in TV/Movie Adaptations (of fiction or non-fiction). I'm honestly not sure where I should start with this. I think the Overall Story should be in Fixed Attitude/Mind - different attitudes about whether people should be cast solely for their acting skills, whether making white people the main characters in primarily non-white casts to avoid "alienating white audiences" is okay, and so on. But then SS would be in Situation/Universe, and I'm not sure how that would work? Maybe have MC be the actual person the Movie is based on, and IC be the actor cast to play MC (or vice versa)? Would that make sense in the Situation Throughline?

[MWollaeger]

I find it difficult to even guess here. I don't have enough information. During the movie analyses, we have the whole movie and it still takes five of us an hour to figure it out.

[bobRaskoph]

It would already be helpful if you could say whether what I wrote makes sense. Like pursuing help instead of preventing it etc.

[mlucas]

Just wondering, are Story B and C ones that you're working on?

For Story B, do you see the source of the overall story's conflict as stemming from the activities all the characters are doing? Or is there some kind of manipulation or problematic way of thinking going on? If you have an antagonist character who's neither MC nor IC, it can help to look at what they're doing. Anyway I could definitely see the Relationship Story having a Concern of Conceiving ... if the RS is in Manipulation/Psychology.

For Story C, your ideas sound pretty spot on. Could you see the conflict in the relationship (or coming from the relationship) as being driven from the fact they are stuck in this situation together, "one guy playing the other in a movie"? Definitely seems like it could work.
Just remember that it's not what the story seems to be about that chooses the Domain, it's where the conflict is coming from. I've had to learn that lesson a few times. So if you took away the attitudes about avoiding alienating white audiences etc., would the story's problems go away? If so, Fixed Attitude is probably right.

For Story A it's really hard to say without more detail. I would find it easier to try and determine the Problem rather than Solution, so maybe your idea of Problem: Avoid is right. But maybe if you analyzed from the top (Domain & Concern) you would find the Problem quad is not in Motivations, but Methodologies (e.g. Acceptance like you said).

[bobRaskoph]

Just wondering, are Story B and C ones that you're working on?

Yes. Story A is more analytical at this point, though I want to work at this later on.

For Story B, do you see the source of the overall story's conflict as stemming from the activities all the characters are doing? Or is there some kind of manipulation or problematic way of thinking going on? If you have an antagonist character who's neither MC nor IC, it can help to look at what they're doing. Anyway I could definitely see the Relationship Story having a Concern of Conceiving ... if the RS is in Manipulation/Psychology.

The overall story is fairly open compared to the other throughlines, but as I said, it's probably in Activities. Unfortunately I don't have a clear antagonist yet, but I know that neither MC nor IC are that one. Right now, I'm thinking that IC would be the protagonist and that the overall story would be about creating art in some way or another.

For Story C, your ideas sound pretty spot on. Could you see the conflict in the relationship (or coming from the relationship) as being driven from the fact they are stuck in this situation together, "one guy playing the other in a movie"? Definitely seems like it could work.

That was the idea, yeah.

So if you took away the attitudes about avoiding alienating white audiences etc., would the story's problems go away? If so, Fixed Attitude is probably right.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. As in, the problem of the story is not that white actors are playing whitewashed characters, but the beliefs behind those decisions.

For Story A it's really hard to say without more detail. I would find it easier to try and determine the Problem rather than Solution, so maybe your idea of Problem: Avoid is right. But maybe if you analyzed from the top (Domain & Concern) you would find the Problem quad is not in Motivations, but Methodologies (e.g. Acceptance like you said).

As I said before, I don't see the story with the lower right types (Learning, Conceiving, etc). It's much more of a Obtaining/Doing story. MC is pushing people away and keeping them from helping. I can't go into too much detail, because the stories I've read don't share that many similiarities beyond this. One has a MC domain of Activities while the other is clearly Fixed Attitude, for example.

[MWollaeger]

I honestly can't really tell. My first thought is that (for A) you should focus on the Concerns and Issues, because those answers will light the way.

For B, I don't have enough info to know. It's an open book at this point. For example, in Story C, it's possible that Mind is right, but it's also possible that a studio afraid of a changing world (Situation/Progress) has become fearful of casting unknowns, or that it's a problem of a company structure that resists Learning (though that seems doubtful).

[bobRaskoph]

After some experimenting with STORY B, I found a storyform that I kinda like, but I'm not entirely sure works. (Change, Stop, Do-er, Linear, Action, Optionlock, Failure, Good, Physics, Learning, Preconditions, Nonacceptance)
See, the issue is with our Influence Character. While I'm pretty sure that the Main Character's source of conflict comes from his external situation (physical disability), I'm not sure if the Influence Character fits as Fixed Attitude. She has a particular way of thinking and her behavior seems strange to people. As said before, she has a hard time expressing herself through words, and what comes out puts off most people.
Still, here's what I came up with. Please tell me whether this makes sense:
IC Domain of Mind / Fixed Attitude: IC is fixated on her art, to the point where she believes that her brushes are her only friends, where she is only really her "true self" when she paints. She has opinions on things that are considered strange and off-putting by her peers, and she is blunt about it, too. She is not so much anti-social as she is asocial; she is indifferent the world around her, and comes off as apathetic.
IC Concern of Conscious / Contemplations: She often gets lost in thought and gives voice to abstract ideas about whatever comes to mind, confusing those around her. Those that are close to her struggle to keep up with her trains of thought, and sometimes get angry at her. Sometimes her contemplations are incredibly alien and unsettling. She is frustrated by her inability to convey her thoughts.
IC Issue of Appraisal: N/A
IC Motivator of Production: Is it fair to say that her motivation/drive is her creativity? Taking small thoughts and generating hundreds of possibilities out of that? Most of her art is abstract, leaving people to take their meaning out of it.
IC Demotivator of Reduction: She doesn't want to name her paintings because that would reduce what could be read into them.

I realize that STORY A and STORY C are still too vague in my mind to narrow anything down.

[MWollaeger]

That all seems to make sense to me.

[jhull]

5 posts were split to a new topic: What if the Situation Changes in a Situation Story?