Story Driver Confusion
Posted: Aug 09, 2013 6:10 pm
Hello all,
Rod Jones here, from the old and now defunct Dramatica Mailing List.
It's good to see a familiar name or two around here!
Anyway, my Dramatica woes have reduced over the years, but every once in a while I study one particular Dramatica term or story element far too in depth, and I get lost, lol..
My current dilemma is with the Story Driver.
I'm writing an activist article, hoping to inspire my readers to take action against a certain injustice. In this particular case I've made my readers the MC, and I am acting as the IC.
I've identified the readers I'd most like to inspire, as "Be-ers." I see them as people unwilling to act against the injustice, even though they are the actual victims of it. I want to create a grand argument in the hopes that I can open at least a few sets of eyes and hopefully show them that there are things they can do about their predicament.
So, if I'm correct and the people I wish to inspire are "Be-ers" my selection of story driver becomes somewhat important (at least to me). Dramatica says that be-ers are more comfortable making decisions than taking actions. The opposite is true for do-ers. But selecting the appropriate Story Driver in this case has me a bit confused.
If I select Action, it means that, in my article, actions tend to compel decisions. Yet, if I choose Action as the Driver for a Be-er MC, Dramatica says the MC is "Unwilling." I don't necessarily understand this, since be-ers are more comfortable making decisions. One would think that they would be more "unwilling" in a story where Decision was compelling them to act (Decision Driver). Why would a Be-er who prefers making decisions be uncomfortable when asked to make one?
I guess what I need is an easier way to look at it than simply boiling it down to actions forcing decisions or vice versa. I feel that my audience are primarily unwilling to act, and are more comfortable making decisions. I guess that doesn't mean they can't be inspired to act, but I'm hung up on what to choose in Dramatica so that my efforts to inspire action are the most effective. For some strange reason, it's hard enough convincing people to get up off their duffs to go do something that would improve their lives, so I'd like to make my article exactly what it needs to be to help in that regard.
So hopefully someone can lead me in the right direction, or perhaps someone can see where I've gotten lost, and lead me back to the light. I can't see why a be-er is identified as unwilling when be-er style responses is what an Action driver asks of them.
Rod Jones here, from the old and now defunct Dramatica Mailing List.
It's good to see a familiar name or two around here!
Anyway, my Dramatica woes have reduced over the years, but every once in a while I study one particular Dramatica term or story element far too in depth, and I get lost, lol..
My current dilemma is with the Story Driver.
I'm writing an activist article, hoping to inspire my readers to take action against a certain injustice. In this particular case I've made my readers the MC, and I am acting as the IC.
I've identified the readers I'd most like to inspire, as "Be-ers." I see them as people unwilling to act against the injustice, even though they are the actual victims of it. I want to create a grand argument in the hopes that I can open at least a few sets of eyes and hopefully show them that there are things they can do about their predicament.
So, if I'm correct and the people I wish to inspire are "Be-ers" my selection of story driver becomes somewhat important (at least to me). Dramatica says that be-ers are more comfortable making decisions than taking actions. The opposite is true for do-ers. But selecting the appropriate Story Driver in this case has me a bit confused.
If I select Action, it means that, in my article, actions tend to compel decisions. Yet, if I choose Action as the Driver for a Be-er MC, Dramatica says the MC is "Unwilling." I don't necessarily understand this, since be-ers are more comfortable making decisions. One would think that they would be more "unwilling" in a story where Decision was compelling them to act (Decision Driver). Why would a Be-er who prefers making decisions be uncomfortable when asked to make one?
I guess what I need is an easier way to look at it than simply boiling it down to actions forcing decisions or vice versa. I feel that my audience are primarily unwilling to act, and are more comfortable making decisions. I guess that doesn't mean they can't be inspired to act, but I'm hung up on what to choose in Dramatica so that my efforts to inspire action are the most effective. For some strange reason, it's hard enough convincing people to get up off their duffs to go do something that would improve their lives, so I'd like to make my article exactly what it needs to be to help in that regard.
So hopefully someone can lead me in the right direction, or perhaps someone can see where I've gotten lost, and lead me back to the light. I can't see why a be-er is identified as unwilling when be-er style responses is what an Action driver asks of them.