THE SIMPSONS NEWS

Stayed late this week working on getting LAST week’s assignment done.  Stressful week so far. I’m hoping that by Friday, things will be under control and everything gets done on time. That’s my goal.

In other news, Director, Lance Kramer came by and gave a me a Christmas card for this year.  He draws one every year. I got quite a few of them now and they’re always nice to get.  Here’s his card for this year:

MY WEEK

Besides staying late in order to get my work done, I’ve also been working hard at structuring my story out for my personal project. I’ve been using any extra time I have to try to work the story out using the DRAMATICA system.  It’s such a pain in the neck attempting wrap my head around all the definitions and theories, but I think that my story will be better off for it.

Last week, I attempted to semi explain what I’m doing but I’m so limited in the amount of time I have to explain it all.  I must have really bored people. Either that or the very idea or presentation of the information must have been something almost no one was interested in. Why do I say that? My hit count really went down last week.  Usually I stay at an average to above average consistent hit count, but last week, WOW, nobody seemed to really care. It also didn’t help that I made a mistake, explaining part of the theory (more on the in below under WRITING).

The worst part is that it’s such a necessary part of my process I kinda need to show it.  I need to show the good and bad parts. To me, this isn’t really a bad part. I like doing it.  I like thinking about structure.

Unfortunately, since it’s all about structure, there isn’t any colorful writing involved. It also takes up all the time I usually use to draw. This means I haven’t got anything visual to show. Just story structure.

Well, in spite of the fact that I failed to write my process in a more entertaining way, I’ve got to continue writing it, for the sake of completion.  Below is some of what I did this week.  I’m sorry if this isn’t very entertaining. I’ll try to find more entertaining things to do on the blog as I get the writing process finished. I’m trying hard to be clear about my process at this point, but there’s only so much I can do without writing a book on the theory I’m using, which I don’t need to do, since there’s a free book online already.

WRITING

(For those of you coming in late to these posts, if you want to read what my project is about, CLICK HERE to learn about the general world the story takes place in, and CLICK HERE if you want to know the story itself.)

Below is an excerpt of what I wrote last week, as set up for what I’m writing about THIS week, in case you’re interested in following along with more depth:

Right now, the theory of story that I like to use to flesh out my plot is the DRAMATICA theory.  Unfortunately the DRAMATICA theory is so complicated and convoluted, that I can’t really sum it up in a nut shell. If you want to get an idea of what DRAMATICA is all about, click the link below:

What is DRAMATICA?

In order for you to be able to understand it fully, you would need to download and read the FREE book on pdf. Click the link below:

Free DRAMATICA pdf book

or listen to the FREE audio book podcasts by clicking the link below:

Free DRAMATICA audio book

or read the FREE text of the book directly from  their site by clicking the link below:

The DRAMATICA book readable on the net for free.

As I did last week, I’ll put up the DRAMATICA Table of Story Elements in order for you to understand what I’m talking about and so you can follow along.   For a clearer pdf version of the chart (download chart now):

Last week I made a bit of a mistake about the way I added the “Areas of Conflict” to the four “Viewpoints”.  (If you’re having trouble following the terminology, you can download the DRAMATICA dictionary on this page HERE. Sorry for all the extra work). According to DRAMATICA the MAIN Character  and the IMPACT Character are treated like a “couple”, while the OVERALL Story and the MAIN vs. IMPACT Story, are also treated like a “couple”. What this means, is that if I choose an “Area of Conflict” for one, it’s couple automatically gets assigned it’s “Dynamic Pair”.  A Dynamic Pair is the quad found diagonally to the conflict I picked (as is explain in the lower right hand side of the table above). So in my case when I chose,  FIXED ATTITUDE as my “OVERALL Story throughline”, it’s pair, “MAIN vs. IMPACT Story” should have automatically been assigned SITUATION as it’s conflict.

Below is the updated version of the way my story is broken down into it’s four “Viewpoints”:

• MAIN Character (Rob) – ACTIVITY: This basically means Rob’s personal point of view will be about dealing with all the crazy things that are going on around him.

• IMPACT Character (Lead Sorcerer) – MANIPULATION: This basically means that the lead Sorcerer’s point of the view will be his attempt to manipulate the MAIN Character (Rob) in some way.

• OVERALL Story (Sorcerer’s attempt to kill Rob) – FIXED ATTITUDE: This basically means that the plot of the story, the structure of the story itself, is dealing with the effects of bias and prejudice and whether things can change in regards to it.

• MAIN vs. IMPACT Story (Rob’s attempt to convince the Sorcerers they’ve got the wrong idea about him) – SITUATION: This basically means  that the relationship in this story between The MAIN Character (Rob) and The IMPACT Character (lead Sorcerer) will be explored from the history of the situation they find themselves in.

Last week, I broke up the Acts a certain way when I finished the step above. Because I didn’t change the OVERALL Story throughline from last week,  I broke up the Acts like this:

• Act 1 – Memories
• Act 2 – Impulsive Responses
• Act 3 – Contemplation
• Act 4 – Innermost Desires

The thing is, recently I rediscovered that, my wife Alesha, had bought the DRAMATICA software years ago. I thought it would make things easier, so I installed it and plugged my decisions into it, only to discover it didn’t let me.  Instead it forced me to pick this configuration.

• Act 1 – Memories
• Act 2 – Impulsive Responses
• Act 3 – Innermost Desires
• Act 4 – Contemplation

Switching the Act 3 and 4 “Types”. At first I was angry, until I realized that it worked better with what I had in mind, so I let it go.

The next step, is to break up ALL the other throughlines into four Act. This means that, not only the OVERALL Story needs to be broken down, but also the MAIN Character story, the IMPACT Character story, and the MAIN vs. IMPACT character story. We do this by doing the same thing we did with the OVERALL Story throughline. We look at the “Types”  (the dark gray quads) under each “throughline” and assign it an Act.

Okay so this is what I did:

MAIN Character story throughline:

• Act 1 – Doing
• Act 2 –Gathering information
• Act 3 – Understanding
• Act 4 – Obtaining

Once again I plugged this into the DRAMATICA software and it changed it to this:

• Act 1 – Obtaining
• Act 2 –Gathering information
• Act 3 – Doing
• Act 4 – Understanding

Which turns out, that it works better than I thought it would. Since the program kept changing my decision because of whatever algorithm it had in it’s programing, I just gave in and let the program tell me what to put where. So this is how the rest of the “throughlines” ended up, according to the what the software decided:

IMPACT Character story throughline:

• Act 1 – Conceiving an Idea
• Act 2 – Developing a Plan
• Act 3 – Playing a Role
• Act 4 – Changing one’s Nature

MAIN vs. IMPACT Story throughline:

• Act 1 – Past
• Act 2 – How things are Changing
• Act 3 – Future
• Act 4 – Present

I had other ideas but the more I thought about it, the more I thought this might work better.

Now that I got done with that part, I moved onto writing out the Act throughlines, using the “Types” as a “signpost” to what happens in each Act and the bridge between each “signpost”, called the “Journey”, will flesh out the content of  each Act. Here’s what I mean, using the  OVERALL Story throughline. I decided to add the definition of each “Type” I was working with, so that you could understand where I was coming from, when thinking about each Act:

ACT 1

Signpost #1

Type 1. Memories

(Memories Definition: The Past is an objective look at what has happened.  In contrast, Memories is a subjective look at what has happened.  Therefore, Memories of the same events varies among individuals creating many different and possibly conflicting recollections.  Often one’s current feelings come from memories, both pleasant and unpleasant.  Many a taut story revolves around a character’s effort to resolve open issues from her memories by recalling or forgetting them.)

• The main character, remembering how good the hot dogs at a certain hot dog vendor are, uses the money he struggled to get, to buy one.  While always being cautious of the memories of all the times he’s been attacked by the Sorcerers that are after him.

Journey #1

Type 1. Memories ======> Type 2. Impulsive Responses

• Not realizing that those very Sorcerers have spotted him and remember what he has done to their fellow Sorcerers. The Sorcerers confront the main character who knows what’s coming from the memory of his past experience. They’re hatred of him cause such anger inside them that they impulsively attack him.

ACT 2

Signpost #2

Type 2. Impulsive Responses

(Impulsive Responses Definition: Built into the mind is an instinctual base of reactions and attitudes that cannot be altered but merely compensated for.  When a story’s problem revolves around the unsuitability of someone’s essential nature to a given situation or environment, the central issue is Impulsive Responses.  The solution lies in the character conditioning herself to either hold her tendencies in check or develop methods of enhancing areas in which she is naturally weak in reason, ability, emotion, or intellect.)

• The Sorcerers continue their attack. The main characters defends himself and his lunch with all the instincts and training at his disposal.

Journey #2

Type 2. Impulsive Responses ======> Type 3. Innermost Desires

• All the fighting leads to the main character being trapped and vulnerable.  The very thing that the Sorcerers desire. Meanwhile the main character’s hot dog (which is a symbol of the peace he so desires) manages to end up a few feet away from him, still safely on it’s plate.

ACT 3

Signpost #3

Type 3. Innermost Desires

(Innermost Desires Definition: Innermost Desires describes the essential feelings that form the foundation of character.  These feelings are so basic that a character is often not aware of what they truly are.  When Innermost Desires is involved, a character is moved right to the fiber of her personality.  Contrast with Impulsive Responses, Innermost Desires deals with the sum total of a character’s experiences that determine what attracts and repels her, where Impulsive Responses describes the innate responses which are not dependent on experience. )

• The Lead Sorcerer stomps on the Hot Dog the main character so desired thereby demoralizing him. The Main Character sees his hot dog as a representation of the peace he longs for. Seeing this, the Sorcerers rejoice in the fact that they have can potentially attained the one thing no other Sorcerer so far have been able to do. Namely, kill the Main Character. They relish in the anticipation of the glory they so desire.

Journey #3

Type 3. Innermost Desires ======> Type 4. Contemplation

• Having lost his Hot Dog and having nothing left to lose, the Main Character truly fights back. Giving into his desire to get revenge for the peace that was taken from him. He beats the Sorcerers senseless.  This causes the Sorcerers to realize their mistaken impression of themselves.

CONCLUSION

Signpost #4

Type 4. Contemplation

(Contemplation Definition: When one has all the facts, knows all the impact – both positive and negative; when one is fully aware of detrimental consequences and still decides on the poor course of action, there is something wrong with the way one arrives at conclusions.  This is the subject of stories focusing on Contemplation.  The key here is not to redefine who a character is, but to lead her to relearn how to weigh an issue so that her conclusions are less destructive to herself and/or others.)

•  A moment at the end there where the Main Character could have taken the Lead Sorcerer’s life but didn’t, makes the Sorcerer rethink who he is, what he does, and what all the other Sorcerer’s say about the Main Character. This leads to a generous act on the part of the Lead Sorcerer, who buys the Main Character two Hot Dogs to replace the one he destroyed. This makes the Main Character thinks that there still might be some hope for peace left.

Does that make any sense at all so far? I hope so.

My next step is to do the same with all three throughlines I have left. I’ll save that for next week. I hope this clarifies things. If it’s confusing, please let me know (which you won’t, since I don’t believe you’ve read this at all).

VIDEO

…and now for something totally different:

For more comic and stories written by me, CLICK HERE.

If you like what you read, please consider signing up to my rss feed.

Comments are appreciated as well.

I also have a store. Click Here and check it out.

If you would like to have a text ad on my site, click on the red BUY LINKS button under the Archives list.

And while you’re at it, please Digg me too.

Writing this blog is almost a part time job for me. Tips are most welcome.