Which issue for a shocking discovery? Fate?

writing
#1

I have a idea for a short story …

A young couple on their honeymoon trip makes a shocking discovery at the train station. In a locker, where they want to leave their shopping bags to visit a nearby concert, they find a dead baby. This experience changes everything and leads finally to a break up of their trip and later to their relationship.

For me the discovery of the dead baby is Fate. This event has also a huge impact on the relationship and the first step to their final destiny.

But the point I am not sure about…
What issue would describe best: The scene where the couple discovers the dead baby in the locker?

At the beginning of this Scene they are happy, at the end they are shocked - because they found a dead baby.

Does this describe problems with Fate? Or should Fate be used in a later Scene to show how bad they are dealing with it, like in “Being Caught in an Inevitable Event”?

Thanks for clarification.

#2

Interesting (and dark!).

I wonder what the couple’s past together is? Like, are they a couple who think they should be together, but all kinds of things keep pulling them apart… and now, finally, they are married and on their honeymoon and this happens (e.g., they can’t escape their fate)?

But I guess the other question might be, what is the process that drives them apart after their horrible discovery? I mean, a couple could have any number of reactions to such a thing. It could make them feel grateful for what they have, draw them closer together … etc. So how does this discovery cause a problem for their relationship and drive them apart?

I feel like fate is something that has to be seen ahead of time somehow, something predicted or intuited that can or can’t be escaped, and that its the attempt to escape it (or not) that causes conflict. But I’m sure there are other ways of looking at it.

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#3

This would work IF there was something in the Past that somehow pointed to this event as being particularly strangely Fateful. Fate in Dramatica isn’t simply some twist of fate in the usual sense, it’s the sense–or knowledge–that the Past is somehow responsible for that twist of fate.

If you can define that Past and tie it to their experience today, then you’ll be on the right track.

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#4

This is what I more felt than thought that something is missing. I didn’t really work on the characters yet but I can see something in their past what breaks them apart. The event is just the catalysator for it. Finally they start arguing about thinks they subconsciously avoided until they got married.

But under which Issue could be the scene where they discover the baby? What about Conceptualizing/Situation… like they plan to go to a concert but stopped as …

Adding: The Baby for me represents chaos as it changes everything suddenly. So the scene could be in:

  • Interpretatation, they learn to understand what it all means
  • Situaion, while doing something, something else happens and changes their plan …
  • Suspicious, there is something in the locker which the think is, but is not
  • Fate, … this doesn’t really work for the scene (?)
#5

I’m a bit confused as to what you’re doing here. Are you trying to find the storyform for this short story idea? Are you thinking it’s a full storyform, or a subset? Or just one quad?

It’s tough (maybe impossible) to take one event and assign a Dramatica element to it. I find when doing short stories (say around 1500 words or less, which are usually well represented by a single PRCO quad) that I can’t figure out the quad until I’ve included at least two or three elements.

(Note I’m using lower-case element there, i.e. could be a Variation or Element quad, or I suppose even Type)

#6

How do you tell the difference between a dead baby and a live baby?
With a pitchfork.

Dead baby.
Dead baby.
llliivvvveeee bbbbaabbbyyyyy…

(joke from when I was in high school)

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#7

I am looking for a Issue quad with 4 Elements only for this particular scene - which is basically a short short story.

I have written a first draft today of the scene: Its less than 800 words right now. I am not sure yet which quad could it be.

I don’t want to make a grand argument (by now) but follow (as in my scenes usually) the PRCO structure as: Setup, Complication, Crises, Solution

I have a couple of ultra-short stories written before, only 100 words each. Its always a fun exercise for me and gives me a better grip on the meaning of Elements and Issues.

According to the Dramatica book for my ultra-short stories I use at least “four dramatic units in a quad”

Where I also want to use the ultra-short stories format is on my Website, where I am working on a “Theme, Character, Plot Thesaurus” blended with some Dramatica Theory. The “blending” is not easy as the Website is in German and Dramatica Software and Theory is only in Englisch. But anyhow, I try.

The thesaurus is of course heavily influenced from my experience with Dramatica. A part of each article is linked to Dramatica Theory where I use a Ultra-Short-Story to “show” how Issue and Elements function. I don’t explain (yet) a lot of Theory, just like “take this four elements if you want to write a ultra short story about Issue xwz”.

Its only in German, but you can look at it here: plotland.de

I am confused myself know, do you mean by “confused” …this is going in the wrong direction?

#8

No not all, just that I didn’t understand why you wanted to assign an issue to this baby-discovery scene.

But now it makes total sense! And very similar to how I would approach it actually.

Is it possible the quad is at a different level than you’re expecting? I’ve written at least one short story that used a Variation quad (it was about a terrorist who changed his mind about detonating his bomb, the quad was Confidence/Worry/Worth/Value, and the whole thing fit well under Mind/Preconscious).

#9

Different level? Right, I was hesitating to think about it, as it is “only” a very short scene. But word count doesn’t really matter. Its up to me how much I will weave into my scene as long as all elements are somehow there. Thanks, will dig into that direction for now. Funny, sometimes you really don’t see the forest for the trees.

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#10

You can deal with a Variation quad without going into the Elements below it. (e.g. my terrorist story was only 500 words)

#11

Just for the records, if someone in the future might come here with a similar question: I have found a possible solution for my question, which quad to use for the story. After I have written another version the quad fits best is Preconscious. The character I describe „a reacts without thinking“