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Illustrating Justification Levels

Posted: May 25, 2014 9:35 am
by Geoff1975
My question concerns the Levels of Justification. These seem like a clear way to show my MC and IC resolves developing. I like the way it's described as one per Act.

Melanie presents one series of levels in her article here:

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http://dramaticapedia.com/2012/10/03/dramaticapedia-ability-2/ article about the levels of justification


which matches what she and Chris described in a 1991 tape immediately recording their breakthrough before it might've been forgotten. So I'm thinking it's still valid, but perhaps hidden in the PSR or signpost order or somewhere.

There's a different list of levels presented by them in this audio lecture:

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http://storymind.com/content/dramatica/Dramatica%20Audio%20Tapes/Volume%20Three/Plot%20Part%204.mp3


Question: I'm guessing both lists could be incorporated in, or they already are reflecting the same thing, just phrased somewhere in the reports, maybe the PSR or signpost order, just in different contexts.

That lecture mentions the character looks to the universe in level one then himself in level two. Is this the same order regardless of Doer or Beer?

Also, in my story, I'd suspect the IC would also undergo justification levels in order to come across as thinking, too. It's just that my change MC would go backward in the levels and my steadfast IC would go forward. I'd be sure to keep the IC's thinking process only witnessed and not personally followed by the viewer. Question: Would this feel okay to a viewer or be consistent with Dramatica, etc.?

Sorry, these are quite a few questions for one post, but they inter-relate.

Re: Illustrating Justification Levels

Posted: May 25, 2014 10:33 am
by Geoff1975
Of course, it's tricky to see how the IC could undergo justification levels unless you treat the IC as experiencing his own growth AND having this same influence on the MC.

Re: Illustrating Justification Levels

Posted: May 26, 2014 3:13 pm
by Chris Huntley
Generally speaking, the signpost orders indicate the growth process for the two subjective characters -- the Main Character and the Influence Character. One will be tearing down justifications while the other is building them up (under traditional conventions where the MC is Change and the IC is Steadfast).

This is different than what happens in the backstory that builds up justifications and creates blind spots for characters. Clarification: The processes may be similar but backstories are not pertinent to the main story except to give an audience a broader context and understanding of how a character got to where it is at the beginning of a story.