The 28 "Magic" Scenes vs. Blake Snyder's B-Story

writing
#1

I’m a bit confused by what Melanie Anne Phillips tells on her video The 28 “Magic” Scenes. She stated that the first signposts and first journeys of all of the throughlines should happen in Act 1. But I plan to introduce my IC in Act 2, so my first IC signpost can not be in the first act (and I plan to reveal RS signpost 1 in Act 3; while chronologically it happened much earlier).

My IC happens to be my MC’s Guardian & Love Interest. And according to Blake Snyder’s beat sheet, it is a good idea to introduce the B-Story somewhere in the beginning of Act 2, which he calls “Fun & Games”.

Now don’t get me wrong; I know the difference between story Storyforming and Storyweaving. The first is unique to Dramatica and concentrates more on why it all happens, while there are several people who have a theory on “how to tell it”, or what we call ‘Storyweaving’, among whom Blake Snyder is one of the more popular ones.

My confusion is that Melanie Anne Phillips seems to mix both concepts in that video. I consider “Signpost 1” to be Storyforming, while “Act 1” is definitely Storyweaving.

What am I getting wrong?

#2

I think that the Dramatica theory simply uses a different definition of acts. Dramatica Acts describe the Progression during storyforming while regular acts describe it during storyweaving. If you asked a Save-the-Cat guru where the first act of memento was, they would probably point towards the first third of the story. Its Dramatica Act 1 happens later though. An article by Jim Hull

Look at this “official” beat sheet of Star Wars. Especially “B Story” and “Break into Two”. There are 12 minutes and “Debate” between those two, and “Break into Two” comes after “B story”. Later on they say that their Act 1 doesn’t really start until Luke is introduced, 17 minutes in.

And I notice with other Beat Sheets, that what they consider the B Story is not necessarily about the influence character or the relationship story, but simply a subplot that has to be dealt with. And sometimes they just say that the B story starts after Act 2 started even if everything was introduced in Act 1. Sometimes they treat the first driver as the Act break between 1 and 2.

Point being, if you really want to use Snyder’s beat sheet, just call Dramatica Acts something else, like “Dracts” and put the Beat sheet on top of it. It’s not going to align, but maybe it’s still useful to you.

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#3

Hi Terry, regarding the question of IC Signpost 1 … you shared some info on your story privately with me so I hope you don’t mind me using that inside knowledge.

I’m wondering if you have an IC Signpost 1 of Memories in there already – the very first sentence of your synopsis! I think you said something like, your protagonist-MC becomes involved in something problematic specifically because of his vague memories of the IC. That certainly sounds like the IC is having an impact on Memories in other character(s) and that impact is driving some conflict.

So, maybe your IC’s impact is being felt even though she is not physically present in those Act 1 scenes…

#4

@bobRaskoph and @mlucas are pushing you in the right direction.

Dramatica’s Acts are part of the storyform. They are not necessarily the order that you watch a movie or read a book.

It’s important to remember that Snyder is talking about screenplays and Dramatica is talking about stories. Screenplays start on page one and go until they are finished, about 110 pages. Stories start when an inequity becomes problematic and ends when things are put back into balance. Stories are not confined to a physical form, they are a mental construct.

That’s a fancy way of saying that Snyder (et al.) are talking about how a story is laid out. Dramatica is talking about something entirely different, which is something like “how does this problem look from this perspective?” (For example, “How does my Situation of being blind look if I consider it from the perspective of The Future?”)

Most of the time, the locations of Snyder’s Acts and Dramatica’s Acts overlap, but they are not the same. Melanie is not talking about Snyder’s Acts.

Also, “Signpost 1” is a moment in, or bias towards some perspective inside “Act 1.” You may be thinking that Signpost 1 is Act 1, but they’re not the same.

Also, about when you introduce your IC. It is easiest to think of the IC as the actual character, or actor, playing the IC. But the IC is really the impact of that character. Which is why thinking about that character, or talking to a friend about the IC and remembering her fondly, is the IC.

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#5

I love “Dracts”.

Snyder was wrong to say that the “B story” (his blended version of the Relationship Throughline and Influence Character Throughline) starts at the beginning of Act 2. You have to have elements of both in Act 1, otherwise everything gets out of phase with each other.

This is so good:

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#6

Not the same type of acts. Got it. Thank you all for clearing this up.