Progression Technique ; set first and last Signposts

theory
#1

I’m getting what I think are good results by focussing on first and last signposts first, to get my ‘cycle’ for the story, like this:

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(Owen used to be Peter’s Mentee, and now the roles are reversed as Peter comes back from a fall).

Just seems like I can feel the ‘swing’ of the story this way.

I just reset my story form. Seemed like RS-Activities just wasn’t right unless I was going to have the two of them pull off a caper, or invent a cure of cancer, or found Apple computer, and it’s not that kind of story. It’s a story of possible manipulation and deception, so manipulation is the right Domain for RS here.

Also noticed, I’m getting a much better feel for the story engine, learned that picking that key Domain helps a lot, and then picking the Overall Story problem also helps ‘set’ much of the rest of the story.

Not all the fields in the story engine are created equal. The neutrality of the presentation is a bit misleading.

Picking the Character and Plot Dynamics are seeds, they don’t exist as elements.
Picking Static Plot Points is picking Types that appear in the progression Signposts.
Picking Dynamic Story Points, you’re picking the Class, Type, Variation, (Domain, Concern, Issue), and then you’re dealing with three pairs to compare the issue with. And then the benchmark is a final Type.

so you just designed the end of your story–where you want to get to.

and in the meanwhile, under the hood Dramatica has woooooooounnnnnnd up the story and now you can go back and look at the PSR and find the beginning of the story. Ditto the Progression screen using the Signposts.

Liked Jim noting in an article or talk in NarrativeFirst that Focus and Direction are kind of better names than Symptom and Response, keep them both in mind.

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#2

Do you mean the whole story is one of manipulation and deception? Or just their relationship is about that?

#3

I started to look at it and now am wondering. Hmm. But If I pick manipulation for the OS I’m back to Activity for the RS and that isn’t right. The OS story is about a man putting back together a life he lost, but the final twist reveals a shocking revelation about what the actual deception was, with a lot of pathos. Activity is right for most of the OS because Peter is uncovering the past, meaning, mysteries.

#4

Okay. Just make sure you aren’t dismissing RS Activity (Physics) out of hand. A lot of romance relationships have RS in Physics, for example. Going on dates, kissing, etc. are all physical activities. Similarly, a past mentor coming back could be about the things they do to rekindle their relationship.

That said, it does sound like your story could be in Physics and Understanding. “a man putting back together a life he lost” has a kind of heavy feel to it, which points to the top-left Concerns, anyway. (Think of how Arrival feels. Heavy.)

And Psychology and Conceptualizing could very well fit a past mentor relationship with its roles now reversed, as you said. Conflict might arise from how they try to figure out (conceptualize) this new relationship.

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#5

wonderful. I love this forum. Thank you. New tools to think about this story.

This thing has an odd feel to it. Some of it is quite funny, because the MC is more than a little off and antisocial, but with core acts of goodness that redeem him. I want a melancholy plot structure that, in the storytelling, resists that pull.

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#6

Two things:

  1. Original terminology > newer terminology

  2. Thinking of the “cycle” of the Throughline is exactly what I do. When encoding Signposts I’m always looking to the beginning and end, and then the surrounding Signposts to get an idea of the flow of the story being told.

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#7

Noted on older terms. I do like Situation better than Universe, but overall, they seem sharper blades.

#8

Everything is a Situation.

It will always get you into trouble.

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