Matrix related Subtext Article

questions
#1

I’m confused by something in this article:

It says that in the original story form, “Neo’s first thematic conversation appears as Fate, Prediction, Interdiction, Destiny.”

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However, I plugged in The Matrix points in Dramatica’s engine and this is what it gave me for MC Neo:

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MC begins with Knowledge, Ability, Desire, Thought in the Dramatica Storyform.

The signposts in Subtext and Dramatica PSR are the same, but the elements are completely different.

In the original Dramatica PSR, Fate, Prediction, Interdiction, Destiny was the IC line in the first Act. In the current storyform on Subtext, Fate, Prediction, Interdiction, Destiny is the RS line in the first Act. But in the article, it says it’s Neo’s line.

What happened? What is going on?

Anne

#2

From Jim when I asked him a similar question:

I’m experimenting with different ways of showing the sequence of events in Subtext. There’s a chance some Throughlines might not match up with what you find in Dramatica Story Expert or Dramatica Pro.

I’m not sure if you’re a subscriber or not, but I did explain some of the reasoning behind this in the latest Writers Room class: https://narrativefirst.com/courses/writers-room/explaining-the-holistic-mindset-behind-narrative-structure

This applies not only to the PSR but the signposts as well in some cases, as one can see in this article: Plot Points and the Inciting Incident - Articles - Narrative First

It seems like the dynamic dramatica stuff on narrativefirst/subtext may no longer completely align with what you’re getting from the dramatica software.

(I’m only answering for him because it seems like he is busy with his region being on fire right now)

#3

Ah, thanks @bobRaskoph. Got it.

I watched the S5 E4 class which talked about swapping the last two elements around if working with a Holistic storyform. That was simple enough. I haven’t watched the Class you mentioned here. Will fit that in tomorrow.

After your response here, I edited my first post to include:

“In the original Dramatica PSR, Fate, Prediction, Interdiction, Destiny was the IC line in the first Act. In the current storyform on Subtext, Fate, Prediction, Interdiction, Destiny is the RS line in the first Act. But in the article, it says it’s Neo’s line.”

I guess I’ll stick with the original Dramatica PSR in the meantime.

Thanks again!

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#4

If you have Subtext, you can use the Premise Builder to build the storyform that has Subtext’s signposts & PSR (aka Thematic Movements). It might be worth trying both to see which one fits better.

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#5

The article was based on the earlier version (January 2021), the new one is DEFINITELY better. I’ll have to go back and fix the article to account for that - thanks for pointing it out!

Note that ALL Storyforms in Subtext default to the Z-pattern whether its Linear or Holistic. I was doing something tricky where I would do the change automatically, but the new version of Subtext accounts for this within the Z-pattern…

All that to say, you should look to Subtext’s storyforms to see how a Linear mind would see the progression of justification, whether its a Holistic story or a Linear story.

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