Can we have a discussion about Fear?
What is encoded as fear? If a MC fears something, what is behind that fear? Is it always the same process or is it a result of many or any different processes?
I hope this is of interest. A conversation is needed. 
A proper answer can be found in Daniel Goldmanâs âVital Lies, Simple Truths: the Psychology of Self-Deception,â part one, Pain and Attention, page 47, âThreat is where you see it.â
I honestly think youâre going to have to do some digging on your own with this one, but the short answer is the process involves an event --> orienting response (which in turn arouses attention and signals a mild stress alert) --> âthreatâ appraisal, is the event construed as threatening? --> Stress Response, where attention focuses (and blind spots can occur) and âfight or flightâ becomes a factor (along with numerous other physiological responses.)
The key is âthreat appraisalâ and that can be based on numerous things. Something innocuous could suddenly cause real fear and panic under the right circumstances (set-up, pay-off) - but again, I think youâre best bet is to pick up a psychology book and explore it from that angle as to how how it works vs. how it works in narrative form which becomes dependent on so many other things.
Thanks!
âThreat appraisalâ as part of the overall problem-solving response of the psychology, so anything within the entire chart as the source of that threat is what you are saying? The thematic exploration of Threat vs Security is not the location of âFear,â but one lens on a thematic argument about the relative value of Threat vs Security, but the âFearâ is physiological response to a threat and that is determined by homeostasis at various levels of formed psychology⌠is that about the gist of it? Narrative being based on the interaction of problem-solving lens, mc approach, story driver, story limit, and these determine how character resolve and character growth are related to story outcome and judgment? Am I close?
Observation --> Filtering Lens --> Attention --> Appraisal --> Stress Response = Focus, limiting where the mind can see. Breathe. Just breathe. Seriously, the body needs oxygen - you are saturating it with carbon dioxide and your mind is panicking. Youâll be fine⌠unless itâs a bear, then try not to wet yourself. 
So any one of the 64 elements viewed from any one of the four perspectives can be the source of a âfearâ and if that is what we want to explore in our story, then we try to take that source and determine which lens to use when exploring it and which tensions to put on it. This views fear as a physiological response underlying all other responses - so fear can be what causes us to be inactive and the solution is proactive, etc? Is that the nutshell?
What if we take an element and have a conversation about encoding it as the source of Fear?
What if Fear were the solution?
Innermost Desires can also be seen as Innermost Fears.
I think Fear can be seen the same way Dramatica looks at LOVE. People say every story can be boiled down to love? but what about love, what kind of love?
Obsessive love can be found in the Fixed Attitude Domaine. pursuing a love could be in activity. Some say love is a verb. So instead of Obtaining it could be in the DOING. What if someone were stuck in the Past pining for a love who is long gone. Most Romantic Relationship through lines are in the Psychology domain.
Pick out a random storyform and lets make up some things based on it. First the Overall Story is about Fear, Then we could do MC, IC, and Relationship Story. Just an idea.
Letâs just see what happens. I should let the more experienced storytellers start us off here. But I wanted to get a sense from the random storyform what you might mean by âThe Overall Story is about Fearâ, so I placed this working title. Have at it.
Also, I would like to filter the ideas in conversation since this is a learning process. So, Iâll fill in this same post through edits as different ideas are permanently attached to the Storyform. Thanks.
TITLE: A TIME TO FEAR
STORYFORM:
Change, Start, DO-er, Intuitive, Action, OptionLock, Success, Good, Manipulation, Conceiving an Idea, Expediency, Reduction
[Edited to truncate it so it wouldnât be confusing, I hope that helps]
Note: Donât worry about Genre for this right now. Letâs let that grow organically from the ideas from the storyform as it grows. (Edit: I am finding this storyform very interesting as I work through the relationships, I hope we can have fun with it.)
Cheers
The way this is laid out it is a little confusing to me but I think I can figure it out. Let me know if I am off base.
Freedonia is on the verge of Fascism. The Antagonist is moving Freedonia toward fascism and the Protagonist is fighting to save Freedonia from fascism.
I love these Storyforms, they are like thought puzzles with many pieces.
(Sorry about the layout. This is what I do with the reports: Storyform + Plot Sequence)
The Land of Freedonia being on the verge of Fascism establishes a setting, but nothing else? If the Protagonist is fighting to save Freedonia from fascism, that establishes the Story Goal, which is coming up with an idea and I am having trouble seeing that. If the Antagonist is to stop the Protagonist from coming up with an idea to save Freedonia from Fascism, then how would stopping the Protagonist from coming up with that idea work? These kinds of interactions seem so varied that it could go anywhere and that is where I get lost.
If we use Archetypal characters (not that we have to, but it is a starting place), then the MC is Guarding and IC Contagonist. We were trying to have a story âabout fearâ and it was mentioned that fear would be the solution, and A Time to Fear is supposed to be a feel good story with a triumphal ending and a willing MC who female audiences will tend to empathize with. I love a challenge, but have no idea what this would take to make it work.
So, I kept seeing the MC and IC working in the same direction until the IC brought the MC to change and that started the MC fearing.
Iâm just trying to participate in the process. Thanks for sharing with me.
Fear doesnât have to be the solution (if it were it would have something to do with Production, right?) I was just trying to be provocative , suggesting that fear could be a good thing, âit was given to us for survival.â That being said if you want it to be thatâs cool. I was thinking that Fear is used to control the people which leads to fascism.
Could the leader of Feedonia whom the antagonist is trying to remove from power be named Rufus T. Firefly?
Yeah, this storyform is a specific story psychology which is not my psychology, so it is like trying to read another personâs mind.
But, that is fun and cool. My mind is boring (Iâm with it all the time).
âFear Controlling the Peopleâ would be an interesting way to approach it, but my mind has been wrestling with A Time to Fear as a positive thing with a Guardian MC and Contagonist IC who are friends and how fear will lead to a resolution of the goal from that perspective with (yes) Production the solution and Reduction being the element that the MC stands on, which the IC chips away at through the story. But the MC being a Guardian DO-ER in an ACTION driven story is proving interesting as well from that perspective. But that is all getting way ahead of us I guess (not a lot of experience with collaborative stories, you see?).
If the leader of Freedonia is Rufus T. Firefly and the Protagonist is trying to remove him from power, then the Protagonist sounds like an Activist. Maybe a well liked activist?
Plus the story requirement is implementing an idea to come up with an idea that is the goal and resolves the story. Iâm not a writer, so Iâm only concerned about encoding right now, since illustrating is an artform. (just saying)
Talk amongst yourselves â I have to take off. And thanks for participating.
Okay lets go with ââŚhow fear will lead to a resolution of the goalâŚâ and I did suggest ANTAGonist as the one trying to unseat Rufus T. Firefly but I do not have any emotional tie to this project (as of now) so I will go with whatever you want.
My initial thought was just to do a quick view of each. Overall story is about Manipulation of the people of Freedonia. The overall concern/goal is for the people to conceive of the idea that the Antagonist and their cronies are trying to manipulate us through the steps to fascism. Through out the story the Antagonist party is Protecting the people from the current administration by reporting how everything the Supreme Leader (Firefly) does is trying to take away their freedom. In act One the Guardian Conceives the idea of what the Antagonist Party is up to.
The Supreme leaderâs idea is to just ignore them and not be riled by them. (inaction)
In Act Two Everyone is Playing a Role (as politicians do) I am not sure of the specifics here unless one of them is for the Guardian to play a role among the Antagonist Party to gather information.
meanwhile all along through the manipulations of the Antagonist Party the people are using Reduction to get angry at the Firefly administration. Even though there is not enough information to fully deduce the ultimate truth in the matter. The Antagonist Party has manipulated the information to narrow the field of possibilities and potentialities so the people are arriving at the conclusion Firefly wants to take away their freedoms and create a Marxist Brothers regime. Of course, dealing with the incomplete data is a day at the races, where this most unlikely explanation surges ahead and the people accept it as fact. Freedonia becomes a boiling pot of duck soup.
Maybe you are right. maybe the MCâs situation is he is Stuck in the Antagonist Party. He wanted to unseat Firefly but he wanted to do it honestly, as honestly as James Stewart in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. When in Act One he Conceives the idea that his partyâs tactics are to Manipulate the people he (1. How things are changing) sees the vector of his party and he doesnât like itâs direction.
Does he still want to unseat Firefly or will he come to the other side and switch parties. Stay tuned.
this is interesting. Some ideas running through my mind seam a little cliche but exciting.
Is the MC a man or a woman. Is the IC a man or a woman. (talk about cliche⌠I just outed myself as hetro-centric) It doesnât matter there could be a romantic relationship RS no matter what or there doesnât have to be a Romantic relationship at all.
The IC (FIXED ATTITUDE) has a concern of Appraisal and is really concerned with the peoples lack of Re-appraisal. They are using their limited assessments of the Antagonist Partyâs propaganda to decide their response to the Firefly administration. IC knows people are strongly influenced by these first impressions.
In Act One IC the Contagonist is invoking memories in the MC of how things use to be in Freedonia politics. The parties may have disagreed but they liked and respected each other. Differences were settled with a true spirit of unity and a common goal. The good of Freedonia and the Freedonian people. There was always a third alternative.
Iâm having trouble processing.
I see the OS has a symptom of Protection and a Response of Inaction - so all of the characters are focused on efforts to prevent interference with their concerns and their concerns relate to coming up with an idea (that they will have to come up with a way to implement that idea until options run out and they find the implementation, which leads to conceiving an idea that resolves the story). The direction all of the characters take this is inaction.
We need other ideas from other people who have completely different ideas about the OS of this Storyform to chime in for comparison. If my brain is simply not accustomed to Encoding (which I can tell you it is not), then maybe this was not the best route to take for me to explore this. Maybe it was better to just take the Problem/Solution element and consider how fear would be encoded if just the problem/solution were considered. Or as relates to the idea to begin with that fear is âthreat assessmentâ and in this case we have a Right Mind Problem-Solving Lens with a Do-er Problem-Solving Response. Is that going to give us enough information to explore fear as a solution from just that small focus of one quad??
I was finding the exercise exciting, but I think it is too much for me. I need to participate in the group analysis or group story weaving and see how to be in a collaborative effort like this.
Is that fair? I am trying to avoid frustration, but I am also trying to jump in both feet. Incompatible goals?
No. Do with it what ever you will. You may be right that everyone has to participate in the inaction. I was going with the will of the supreme leader causing inaction. I donât know if that works or not.
I wonder if fear could be at a higher level with the appreciations below it. I am guessing it can be wherever you want.
I do understand your feelings and want you to know that this is your experiment. I was just throwing out ideas. (a lot of ideas) I do know that I am not going to be able to do a long drawn out building of this story. I am participating in another story weaving and it is a good training for me in learning patients. I want to spew all my ideas at once there as well.
I am really curious how fear will manifest itself in a solution of production.
Thanks. I did go through what you wrote and had a few other thoughts, but wanted to either set it aside for a much smaller consideration (as we said Solution Production manifesting fear as a positive in a feel good story where everyone is pursuing the goal and the MC is willing and changes by starting Production instead of Reduction).
I think Fear can be the overall story where everyone is responding to threats particular to their elements (I suppose), but I am not sure how to make that a positive triumphal story. The thematic issue and inhibitor are the same (Expediency) and the counterpoint is Need and could be that the Need (as the Catalyst) is actually what drives the fear leading to the solution, but then I donât know really - that is a question for the experts.
For simplicity sake, using the same storyform, we could try to make it a cartoon for children (that would make it much, much simpler in terms of subject matter).
Let me think on it. If anyone has thoughts in that direction or for the direct discussion about fear above, please chime in. And thanks Sam for the encouragement.
Wow, you guys sure seem to like writing in long, run-on sentences and long paragraphs! (Not advised if you want to attract and keep more readersâ attentions⌠
Anyway, if youâre planning to make some version of âfearâ into the OS Solution, I suggest you have the Steadfast Impact Character advocate his/her values as âreasonable cautionâ rather than âfear.â
âReasonable cautionâ sounds like a much better Solution than âfear,â even if the Main Character calls it âfearâ through most of the story⌠until the right moment, when just in time to save the day, the MC comes to see the ICâs âfearâ really is just the âreasonable cautionâ that they should have been listening to all the way through.
And for an OS Solution of Production, Dramatica Story Expert gives one of the applicable Gists as âNoticing the Potential of Something.â Which you could easily use in this context:
The MC keeps supporting the rising political leader, while the IC keeps feeling some âreasonable cautionâ about a particular plank in that leaderâs platform. The IC is ânoticingâ this plankâs âpotentialâ to enable the installation of a hyper-fascist government with little or no warning.
Yet most of the populace (including the MC) doesnât see this negative potential, and calls the IC âparanoid,â a âscaredy-cat pessimist whoâs afraid of change and opposed to order.â
So when the MC finally sees clear evidence of the rising leaderâs fascist ruthlessness (perhaps the leader arrests and tortures the IC), the MC finally sees that the ICâs âparanoid fearâ was exactly what s/he should also have been feeling and listening to. So now the MC is motivated to feel and act on the same âreasonable fearâ that the IC had been advocating all along.
So thatâs one example.
âTurning an Accident into an International Incidentâ is another Gist for Production as the OS Solution. So in this context, the IC could have been trying to find some way to show the world how fascist and untrustworthy this rising leader actually is.
But itâs not until the leaderâs supporters accidentally misplace damning evidence, and the MC finally sees and pays attention to it, that the MC finally âgetsâ the ICâs point, rapidly wising up so s/he can take this evidence onto the global stage before the leader can permanently silence the IC.
And thatâs another example, which I hope brings a little clarity. Yet I think you probably still need to follow the wisdom of long-time Dramatica Story Embroiderers, and assign this story a genre (maybe thriller?) and a time and place either in history, the present or the future.
Hope you can get other contributors, too. It makes the creativity rise and the process move faster.
Thanks Key.
Iâll be away from this for awhile. Thanksgiving week is upon us!
If I come back and the entire thing has been usurped and running full speed in any direction⌠great!
I donât mind seeing it take flight without my input. Iâll try to keep track the best I can.
Whether that happens or not, no worries. Have a great Thanksgiving!
For a genre and period, Iâm going to suggest a thriller set in the near future (even though this story could as easily have taken place in any of the countries subsumed by fascism in the 1930s and '40s, or in many Two-Thirds World nations in the 1980-2000s).
Yet I believe itâs indubitable that fascism always lurks just beyond some nearby corner of human nature. So a fascism-on-the-rise thriller set in a âfreeâ country, but just a few years from now, could be quite timely, topical and thought-provoking to current-day audiences.
So when Thanksgiving is done (the holiday, not the daily practice), let me know what you think of this suggested genre and time period, okay?
I was going for a futuristic Marx Brothers comedy.
Hail Freedonia.
âŚbut thatâs the most ridiculous thing Iâve ever hoid.
but seriously folks, a near future thriller sounds good. (run on sentence that! why donât ya. )
with very best wishes,
Rufus T. Firefly
