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Forgiveness

Posted: Dec 12, 2010 9:51 pm
by petertn
Hello,

I am wanting to develop a story that is concerned with forgiveness. Because forgiveness doesn't appear in the program - I'm not sure how to begin.

Kind regards,

Peter

Re: Forgiveness

Posted: Dec 13, 2010 6:40 am
by phillybudd
Hi Peter,

I think Chris would tell you, as he did me in this post from a while back:

http://forums.screenplay.com/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=1958

that "forgiveness" is a thematic subject, and can be approached from any of the thousands of storyforms in the way that best suits your purpose. Since Dramatica does not force you to approach your storyform from the top down (i.e., the high level themes, goals, etc), I often start answering questions at lower levels or in other areas, such as getting some of the elements of my MC and IC defined. Those may change down the road, but as you define these things the software will also begin to whittle down the list of high level choices, which may help you focus in on the right ones.

One thing you may want to do to get the higher level ball rolling, however, is to pick a single item: Concern, which will also narrow your choices at the lower levels. An obvious Concern for a story dealing with forgiveness, for example, would be "The Past". But it could also be "The Present" (how is a lack of forgiveness [either giving or getting] affecting us now?) or "The Future" (how will forgiveness affect us down the road?) or "Changing One's Nature" (movement from being unforgiving toward being forgiving, or vice versa), or Memories, or Obtaining, or in fact any of the Concern items available.

Which of these you choose will "weight" the storyform that emerges in that direction.

Jeff

Re: Forgiveness

Posted: Dec 13, 2010 2:38 pm
by petertn
Thanks Jeff,

I appreciate you taking the time out to reply.

You have helped clear most of the fog away...

Just need to get the rusty gears in my head working.

Peter

Re: Forgiveness

Posted: Dec 13, 2010 9:08 pm
by phillybudd
You're welcome, hope it helps.

By the way, a good place to just play and experiment with this idea is the Story Engine screen. And of course the questions I posed for each Concern were just examples of a thousand different ways to address that Concern, again, it just depends on what matters to you within the Concern you choose.

Jeff