Ok, enough jibberdy jabber. I’m working on my story.
My OS Situation throughline is Progress, Future, Past, Present.
This is how I’m thinking through it. I’m planning on taking as long as a week to get this part right, in the hopes that it will speed me along. I need all the advice I can get.
First step was get all this on paper, including the PSR analysis. Then I translated it into the simpler definitions so I could see that, and some initial looking at the imbalance, and the PSR variations as measuring sticks.
Recommendations about how to proceed, methodology, all welcome. I think next step is gists but want to be thinking about the parts the right way: concerns, issues, problems, inequities, etc.
At this stage, I would suggest to pencil in a short sentence or gist for the important story points, just to make sure you understand how it’s all working in your story. Make sure it looks like they all could be sources of conflict.
Just keep in mind you’re only pencilling in now; you’ll probably get better ideas for illustrations later (sometimes finding them in your scenes without realizing you put them there!).
Next, let go of Dramatica for a bit. Put your storyform etc. off to the side and work on your story the way any writer would. If you get stuck on motivations, use the storyform elements to help you figure out what’s driving your characters. If you need ideas for what happens next, look to the PSR to help come up with ideas and flavour.
What I like to do is write out a gist for everything in the throughline from Domain to Problem, including benchmarks and catalysts etc. I use these to describe the story as a whole. Then I write a gist for each signpost to describe the plot of that throughline. Then I go through each sign post and write a gist for the Issue and Problem. Since the Issue is a value judgment, I usually have this look like things characters will discuss, talk about, think about, things described in the narration of a novel, and usually addresses something related to the signpost. The Problem is what drives characters, so those look more like character actions or decisions, sometimes related to the Issue. Then I go to PSR with that info and start filling it out. A lot of the time I don’t really have to change anything as what I have already seems to fit. But I might have it all compressed into one small bit of storytelling, so I’ll use the PSR to help me expand the storytelling into a more proper scene. From there, I would use all of that as notes to have in front of me while i write.
Actually focus and direction are what drives them, while the audience sees the problem and solution. At the end of the story, the MC realizes what the real problem and solution are.
Kirk, Star Trek TOS, “Obsession” . He thinks the blood sucking cloud is the problem and it has his attention. He also thinks Lt. Galloway is too slow on the draw. But the real story problem is self condemnation is non-accurate, and as he tells Galloway the deaths of fellow crewmen weren’t his fault, Kirk realizes the deaths 11 years ago on the Farragut weren’t Ensign Kirk’s fault either. The solution is accurate. The audience and OS character McCoy see the Problem clearly but Kirk does not.
It’s clear in obsessive drive stories, where it is especially strong.
That depends on what you mean by “drive” and whether you see it as a character-oriented idea, or one of author-instantiated intent.
In posts on this forum, generally, drive means the “true drive” of the character, a.k.a., the Problem element, the author-instantiated view. The Focus does display as a character-perspective drive, though, as you rightly point out.
Per a look from outside the story, the inaccurate statement of blame would be the driving force, the source of conflict in this quote. That is, the Problem is the real drive here. That would not, of course, be what the character would claim, as you display. To the character, the problem is the cloud, and thus, that cloud as a problem is what drives them. The Focus is seen as a drive by the character.
In essence, the Problem is what truly drives the character, while the Focus is what the character would claim is driving them. The word “drive” used in the context on this forum generally refers to the former: The true source of their Problem, what is actually driving them. The minute the Solution is used, that very real, and very hidden (to the character), reason for their actions, that true drive, falls away.
On the other hand, I can see why that might be a dangerous term to use in certain contexts, due the very real possibility of the character-perspective interpretation of the word. Although, I must admit that this idea of “true drive” is what helped me find or understand the Problem in many stories. (I would often see the Focus as the problem, exactly as the characters in a story would.)
heh