Figuring out if a particular illustration is "appropriate"

questions
#1

Hi everyone.

A question: how do you know if a particular illustration is appropriate for the story point you’re putting it into?

Example: yesterday I started working with @jhull’s gist playground exercises (amazing, so much material, I wish I had done it sooner!) and I have an OS Signpost 1 story point of “The Minister Advancing”. So I started writing, “The Minister of Defense stages a coup, and takes control of the government.” But then my immediate thought was, that sounds a lot like Obtaining, when the throughline should be in Situation (specifically Progress/How Things Are Changing for Signpost 1).

So is “seizing control of the government” an inappropriate illustration of How Things Are Changing? Is it something I would need to give thought to in the the storytelling phase (ie how to represent it more as “Progress” than as “Obtaining”)? Or can I just trust if I have all the other pieces in place the illustration will “mean” what it’s supposed to in context?

#2

Instead of thinking about whether or not the coup will succeed try thinking about how this attempted coup will cause things to change. What do people think this new regime will be like compared to the current regime? Is this coup a sign to the current administration that people are no longer willing to accept their awful self-serving policies? Is war about to break out? What will the new policies mean for daily life?

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#3

By writing “The Minister of Defense stages a coup, and takes control of the government.” you haven’t quite got to the heart of the Signpost 1 conflict yet.

You want there to be conflict coming from the progressive nature of the Minister’s advance. So you could have him slowly taking control of the government, and conflict coming from that. Or you could still have a coup, but have conflict coming from how things are changing in the government afterwards. Perhaps the Minister could put a stop to all “progress” that was really important to the characters (maybe something was being built they cared about).

Things might fall into place even if you don’t worry about this now, (and leave it seeming more like Obtaining as you said). But I think you’d be better off tweaking your illustration to focus on Progress.

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#4

Thanks @Gregolas and @mlucas. That’s helpful. It sounds like you’re both saying similar things – I guess it’s all about the focus and zeroing in.

So given that this is a Signpost illustration, it could work (for example) to have the actual “seizing” be something that happens at the Act 1 turn, but have the most of the act before that be ratcheting up of tension among the characters as we see the pieces of this regime change progressively falling into place … okay I think I’m getting it now.

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#5

My take is that the seizing of the government could take place at the beginning of the act, end, In between, or not at all. You just need to focus on the change/progress instead of whether or not they obtain. You could focus on the progress of the coup itself (are they about to succeed? Are they not making any progress at all?) or how the law will change with new leadership or whatever. You can have them succeed in their attempt, but need to explore change/progress rather than Obtaining.

This is something I was thinking about the other day. It’s probably goofy, but seems to apply here so I’ll share it. i was wondering what someone being murdered in an OS story might say in different throughlines.

In an OS Activity they might say “please don’t kill me” because killing is an activity.

In an OS Situation they might say “I don’t want to die” because being dead is a situation. They might say the same thing if the story is about Chamging Ones Nature.

If they say “please don’t hurt me” they could fit into Activity or Situation. The character in Activity is probably looking at the act of being hurt and means “please don’t stab me”. The character in Situation, though, may be looking at the situation and would mean “please don’t leave me in a state of suffering by stabbing me.”

So I think you can sort of hint at what you’re exploring like this. So let’s say you’ve written about your coup. Maybe the first line is a character saying to a crowd “We’ve taken the throne!” With no other context, I think this feels like Obtaining. But if that character instead says “I am your king now” it suddenly feels like Changing/Progress.

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#6

This is partly what I’m talking about. But I’d say you also need to make sure the source of the conflict is coming from Progress/Change in order to properly illustrate it. There might be things that look like Obtaining as they try to take the gov’t, but those don’t need to be the primary source of conflict.

#7

You have simultaneously enlightened me and blown my mind (not sure where that last one fits into Dramatica). I think I’m getting it though. Thanks. :slight_smile:

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