Save those PSRs

writing
#1

Had a rotten afternoon. Just realized my entire structure I’ve set up doesn’t correspond with the storyform I chose. Somehow I got mixed up, and I can’t recreate it so that my storyform and PSR match up again.

And I’ve just spent two weeks generating material from it.

Well, you know what? That’s it. It is what it is. I’ll be persnickered if I’m going to go back and redo it. I’ll improvise. I just don’t care.

Always save your PSRs. Always save your PSRs. Always always always always save your PSRs.

I took screenshots of progreession and story engine and it wasn’t enough to safeguard me. ALWAYS SAVE YOUR PSRs.

Always save your PSRs.

This has been a public service announcement.

And always save your gosh blessed PSRs.

#2

I’m not sure I follow.

1 Like
#3

Hi @GetSchwifty if you have a story engine screenshot that will correspond to a single Signpost and PSR configuration.

All you need is enough story points to get down to 1 storyform and you will have the PSR. It doesn’t take many – I think as few as 7 story points depending on which ones.

The only thing I can think of is that you had generated your PSR report from one storyform, then were using a different storyform as your structure. You’re right that in that case, if you didn’t save the first storyform, it may be hard to figure out that storyform based just on the PSR. (Did you ever upload it to Subtext?)

But note that the PSR is really secondary to the actual structure / storyform. So your structure one is probably the right one to use.

(I tend to be very skeptical of the PSR until I’m sure I’ve got the right storyform that matches my ideas.)

2 Likes
#4

Oh, boy, this! I finally found the exact right story form for my story, and filled in the Signposts. As I fleshed out the outline to better determine the scenes, I accidentally (read subconsciously) filled in the PSR!!!

In other words, I agree. The PSR really is secondary to the larger structure.

2 Likes
#5

thanks for the moral support, guys. that’s good news and useful.

i am still annoyed with myself but tomorrow is another day and I’ll never be hungry again!

2 Likes
#6

By the way - yeah, that’s my problem. I have a screenshot of my signposts and story engine, and they are nothing like the way I have my omnigraffle sheet set out. I must have swapped for an old one at a critical moment, I shot out about a hundred of them trying to find my form and when I am in that mode, orderly doesn’t figure into it.

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#7

thanks again everyone, I came home and found, if not the thing itself, the things first cousin. It is unbelievably close on the story engine to the ones at work, but produced different PSR results. I’m going to examine them and think on them a bit. I’m really interested in the subtleties that made them so different. I’ll make a thread of it tomorrow, it might be interesting for the group.