Starting from a ‘clear storyform’, if I choose Psychology as the Genre, that will give me CONCEPTUALISING, BEING, BECOMING, and CONCEIVING for Plot, yes?
If I choose BECOMING for Plot, that will give me RATIONALISATION, COMMITMENT, RESPONSIBILITY and OBLIGATION for Theme, yes?
If I choose OBLIGATION for Theme, that will give me, what?
a) Just the four elements in the quad under OBLIGATION for PROBLEM, yes?
or
b) Any of the 64 elements on the table?
That would give you the four Elements under Obligation. One diagonal pair would be the Problem and Solution. The other diagonal pair would be Symptom (aka “Focus”) and Response (aka “Treatment” or “Direction”).
If you’re dealing with the Elements in the domain you’ve selected to be the Objective Story, the Problem and Solution labels are the same as those of the Subjective Story’s character (either Main Character or Influence/Impact Character) who changes in terms of outlook on identifying his problem. The other Subjective Story character will match the Objective Story’s Symptom and Response.
It’s been my experience watching film that the Symptom and Response are more noticeable, more prominent in dialogue and interaction. In the Objective Story characters will trade off in terms of which character exhibits the symptom or response. In other words, Character A will exhibit the Objective Story Symptom at some point while another will exhibit the Response. Then, at another time Character A will exhibit the Response.
This is different from the roles the characters consistently play with respect to the Story Goal. Each quad of the diagram at the extremely large level represents a set of either Motivation, Purpose, Methodology, or Evaluation Elements. There’s the character pursuing the goal, the character giving conscience arguments, etc.
I’ve read or heard the same psychological interpretation by the audience that occurs in the other levels (the Type, Class, and Variation) happen at the Element level. There should be quadruple the number of Elements as you see. This is because Pursue, for example, in the context of Activity is slightly different than Pursue in the context of Fixed Attitude. The English language, however, is not as nuanced to label these Elements in a chart with that accuracy. It’s been said the audience can interpret the nuance on its own.
This is correct, so long as we’re talking about Main Character or Overall Story.
The current TKAD model is biased toward MC and OS. If you’re trying to drill down to the elements of the Influence or Relationship Throughlines, it’s trickier, as the table twists and shifts based on other story points (i.e. it may not be the four right under your IC’s Theme).
If you have a basic knowledge of how to use the table you can figure out MC and OS on your own, but for IC and RS, I’d stick to the software.
Questions like this are fine…to a certain point. When you’re asking to this level of detail, it really becomes a question as to why you don’t simply buy the software.
For $100, you skip decades of trial and error in constructing a concrete narrative.
As someone who knows the entire model by heart, I can tell you that whenever I can, I turn to Dramatica Story Expert to quickly and effectively make all the connections and answer all the questions you’re looking to have answered.
In other words, it’s the worth the $100 I spent in 1994.
Actually, I think I probably spent close to $200 then…which means I’ve spent $10/year or less than a $1/month.
That’s crazy.
When I put that up against the income I’ve received because my original investment, the film I sold to Dreamworks, the various films and television series in current production, and of course, my own business, that $1/month fee is ridiculously low and beyond worth it.
To be clear, questions or revelations about why a Story Consequence is the same thing as the Relationship Story Concern, or why Influence Character and Relationship Story Problems and Solutions are sometimes in strange places are totally legit here–because you’re discussing theory and the thinking behind it and why it all works out so well.
Questions like the one above border on simply talking your way through the application software and therefore cross the line when it comes to utility and supporting those who make it possible for something as revolutionary as Dramatica to exist.