An ever growing collection of writing tips & tools!
|
|
|
|
by Melanie Anne Phillips A writer asks: On the FAQ's of the dramatica website, it explains short stories as (condensed): Short stories typically do not go to the depth of a full story and epics usually have one "main" story embellished with lots of short sub stories There are basically two different approaches to using Dramatica with "short form" works: My question is: When you say "limit the scope" do you mean limit the amount of "story points that you explore" ? I guess that is how I am taking it ... as being the opposite of #1 where you cover all the points but with less detail (quickly) thanks Kyle
My reply: Hi, Kyle. Limiting the scope is what we call "slicing and dicing" the Dramatica model. Are you familiar with the "3-D" tower version of the Dramatica Structural chart? It looks like a cross between a Rubik's Cube and a 3-D chess set. It has four levels, split into four separate "towers." Well, the four vertical levels provide depth to a story and the four individual areas covered by the towers provide breadth. So, you can "limit" a story to keep it short by either cutting it down to two or even one tower (like having just a Main and Impact character, but no overall story or subjective personal story, or vice versa), or you can cut it short by limiting the depth (such as having a plot and characters, but no thematic issues.) The important thing to remember is that if you limit a story, don't step out of those limits, even a little bit. The minute you move into a larger or deeper area, the audience will assume your message is bigger and expect your argument to cover all that ground. If you only dabble with a few story points in that area, then it will look as if you are failing to make a complete argument, rather than just adding a little extra breadth or depth. It is much more powerful to make a complete argument within the scope you have outlined for your story, than to appear to make an incomplete argument with a larger scope. Hope this helps.
|
Highlights from Dramaticapedia Books:
Videos:
Audios:
Collections: Topics: Subjects:
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Copyright Melanie Anne Phillips - Owner, Storymind.com, Creator Storyweaver, Co-creator Dramatica |
