Detailed Novel Outline

Your Novel
Outliner
Created: Saturday, March 14, 2015 12:53:30 AM
Modified: Saturday, March 14, 2015 1:00:53 AM
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
WARNING/CAUTION copy
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
This is a VERY LARGE outline template! A quick reminder and guide about
this scriv. temp if used.
READ THIS FIRST!
Notes
This is a VERY LARGE outline template! A quick reminder about
this scriv. temp if used.
READ THIS FIRST!
Text
WARNING/CAUTION
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Your Novel
This is a VERY LARGE outline template! It is VERY IMPORTANT to read and
follow the steps below to prevent numerous errors and confusion etc.:
1. There should be very few or zero other programs open at the moment.
Having other programs open can increase the chance of Scrivener
freezing and/or become unresponsive. Including the internet and other
projects in Scriv. open. DON’T RISK IT!
Sometimes creating, editing, and/or duplicating a table/chart can
cause Scrivener to freeze/not respond. Always save before doing any of
those actions. DON’T RISK IT!
2. Check your settings to make sure it will auto save every few minutes or less.
Ctrl+S often yourself just in case!
Tools>Options>General (Tab)
This includes creating a backup copy of your material/scriv. folder
(compiling, external hard drive, flash drive, online, email, print, cloud
storages etc.). I recommend at least once a month.
3. If you have internet/cloud access, auto sync if possible!
Even if the other computer does not have Scrivener, the files are
saved as Rich Text Files (RTF) and are stored in a regular folder. Meaning
the files and the folder itself can be opened by any text editor/program and
computer. This is void if the operating system(s) are completely different,
then the files may or may not open. Example, opening Mac files on a
Windows computer; they may or may not open. Also, the RTFs will not be
named or titled as shown in Scrivener. Locating the wanted files might be
difficult, unless you have a search engine that can search inside of files for
keywords and/or phrases. In addition, the format may change if/when you
reopen the file in Scrivener again.
4. Learn some keyboard shortcuts! Makes Scrivener very easy to navigate if
you learn them!
Tools>Options>Keyboard (Tab)
5. The point of the outliners is to write/jolt down ideas and so on for a well
thought out novel/book etc., not to be distracted. If you find yourself
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5.
thought out novel/book etc., not to be distracted. If you find yourself
Your Novel
distracted or overwhelmed, first try full screen mode (F11 or View>Enter
Full Screen). Secondly, know that you do not need to use or fulfill every
outline/to do list presented here. Think of every file and guide here as
‘guidelines’. Although, it does not hurt to skim them at least to see if there is
anything of interest that you can use or want to read. Do not be surprised if a
few question etc. are similar or the same. Finally, if you are still stuck, feel
free to go straight to one of the following:
‘PANTSERS’ PLACE’, where you can write random ideas/thoughts
‘THEMES / IDEAS’ for ideas and so on to use, story related or not.
Includes a few prompts
‘WORLDBUILDER’, has tons of questions to answer to help refine
your world more, be on Earth or a completely made up planet, or something
much smaller
‘Detailed Character Profile’ or ‘Quick Character Sketch’ and/or
‘Main Character’ (They are under ‘Template Sheets’, make a duplicate of
the sheet/profile first!; Project>New From Template) to answer in-depth
questions about a already created character to refine them or to help create
another/more character(s) and to improve their goals (etc.) in the novel,
depending on which is used.
101 Tips to Writer’s Block is exactly as it reads. Tips on how to
overcome writer’s block. Try not to spend too much time online though
6. You can always use the ‘Scratch Pad’ (Tools>Scratch Pad or Ctrl+Shift+0),
which can be used outside of Scriv. too! Like OneNotes side notes!
If you do not save the note(s), AKA send it to Scrivener, it can be
lost. The notes cannot be recovered or found if Scrivener freezes/shuts
down. If the notes are important, always send a copy of it somewhere on
Scrivener, so it can auto-save it at least. You can always organize it later.
7. You can always rename the ‘Outliner’ to a specific outliner, the name of the
book/novel you are working on for instance. Just create a duplicate just in
case you need another. Although, most information would still be useful for
a series or a MC that has many appearances.
8. Don’t forget about the ‘Snapshots’ tool! Can be useful for backups and so
on!
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Your Novel
9. If you find yourself researching online more then writing, use the import
feature (File>Import>Web Page…) or start elsewhere as a ‘starting point’ in
the outliner. See #5.
10. Pace yourself! Have a goal or more to reach.
11. Remember to read the directions on how to use this template and about
compiling. The attached manual (Help>Scrivener Manual) too if need be.
12. Want everything or almost everything compiled as a PDF for example?
Maybe to share, print, or to have ‘on the go’? Well, this is very possible to
do! There are two ways to do it. First method is easiest. Select the
files/folders etc. that you want or need. Finally, go to File > Export >
Files… A pop up appears, and you have the option to change the type etc. If
that method does not work for some odd reason, try the second method.
While it is longer, it can be done. You:
I. First, create a folder inside of ‘Manuscripts’. Name the folder
whatever you want.
II. Second, duplicate everything that you can or want that is outside of
‘Manuscripts’ and drag them into the new folder you created a few
minutes ago.
III. Third, follow the directions about compiling (See #11), but only
compile everything that is inside of that folder. This may take a few
minutes or more. Depends on the speed of your computer.
IV. Finally, review the compiled file that is now saved on your computer
to see if it is to your liking. You can always redo it again if need be.
NOTE: If you compile the files as a PDF, bookmarks/a table of
contents is NOT created (same can be said for other formats). You would
have to do that by hand inside of a PDF/document editor. Also, only text
files can be copied into the folder under ‘Manuscripts’. Finally, as a test I
conducted, a PDF file will be at least 2MB in size with up to 450 pages
total.
13. Take breaks when needed and HAVE FUN!
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Your Novel
Novel Format copy

Status: No Status
Label: Notes
NOVEL WITH PARTS
About This Template

By default, when compiled (File > Compile), this project will generate a document in the
standard manuscript format for novels. The necessary settings are also provided to
make it easy to compile to a paperback-style PDF for self-publishing or an EPUB or
Kindle e-book.
How To Use This Template

• Create a new folder for each part of your novel as direct subdocuments of the
Manuscript folder. Two folders have already been created at this level for you,
with the placeholder title “Part”. You should rename these with the titles of the
parts of your novel. For instance, Milan Kundera’s The Unbearable Lightness of
Being’s first part is entitled “PART ONE: Lightness and Weight”. In that example,
you would name the part, “Lightness and Weight” (the “Part One” will be added
during Compile). You can choose not to include these titles during the Compile
process.
• Create a new folder for each chapter inside the relevant “Part” folder and title
each folder with the name of the chapter. If you don’t intend to use chapter
names, just use something descriptive that tells you what the chapter is about.
(You do not need to title the folders “Chapter One” and so on, as chapter
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•
(You do not need to title the folders “Chapter One” and so on, Your Novel
as chapter
numbering will be taken care of automatically during the Compile process.) Some
chapter folders have been created for you with the placeholder title “Chapter”.
• Create a new text document for each scene inside the chapter folders. (Upon
export, scenes will be separated with the “#” character for standard manuscript
format, or with a blank line for other formats.)
• Information about characters can be placed in the “Characters” folder, and
information about locations can be placed in the “Places” folder. (These are just
regular folders that have had custom icons assigned to them using the
Documents > Change Icon feature.)
• Character and setting sketch sheets have been provided which can be used for
filling out information about the people and places in your novel. These are
located in the “Template Sheets” folder. You should not edit the documents in the
“Template Sheets” folder directly unless you wish to change the templates (which
you are free to do - you may wish to customise the sketch sheets or get rid of
them entirely). Instead, to create a new character sheet, click on the Characters
folder (or wherever you want to create your new character sheet) and from the
Project menu, select New From Template > Character Sketch. This creates a
new character sketch document for you to edit and fill in with your character
details. You can create setting sketch sheets in the same way. Alternatively, you
can just click “Add”, or hit cmd-N, with the Characters or Places folders selected.
Compiling
• Title pages and front matter are all provided in the “Front Matter” folder (between
the “Places” and “Research” folders). You will choose different front matter
depending on the format to which you are compiling.
• Scrivener remembers your compile settings, so you only need to follow the
instructions below when you want to compile to a different format. After that, you
can just go to File > Compile… and click the “Compile” button straight away.
• Note that if you cannot find any of the presets mentioned below in the “Format
As” menu in the Compile panel, please select “Manage Compile Format
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•
As” menu in the Compile panel, please select “Manage Compile Format
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Presets…” from the bottom of the “Format As” menu. This will bring up a panel
that allows you to add more formats to the menu.
• Tip: You can open this document in a QuickReference panel and have it open
alongside the Compile panel if you need to refer to these instructions while
compiling.
• To compile to standard manuscript format:

◦ Edit the “Title Page” document inside the Front Matter/Manuscript Format
folder to ensure that it contains the correct information (note that it will
have been filled in by default with information from Address Book).
◦ Go to File > Compile…
◦ Select “Standard Manuscript Format (with Parts)” from the “Format As”
pop-up button if it is not already selected. (If “Novel (with Parts)” is
selected, that’s fine too - that’s just the default format for this particular
template, which is the same as standard manuscript format.)
◦ Ensure that the “Summary” tab is selected at the top of the Compile panel.
(This isn’t strictly necessary—the below options can also be found in the
“Contents” pane of the “All Options” tab.)
◦ Ensure that the “Add front matter” button is ticked and select the
“Manuscript Format” folder from the pop-up button next to it (this is already
selected by default).
◦ Click on “Compile”.
• To compile to paperback PDF format:

◦ Edit the front matter pages contained inside the Front Matter/Paperback
Novel folder.
◦ Select “Paperback Novel (with Parts)” from the “Format As” pop-up button
if it is not already selected.
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◦
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“Contents” pane of the “All Options” tab.)
◦ Ensure that the “Add front matter” button is ticked and select the
“Paperback Novel” folder from the pop-up button next to it if it is not
already selected.
• To compile to e-book format:

◦ Edit or remove the dedication page contained inside the Front Matter/E-
Book folder. Feel free to add any other front matter documents as
required.
◦ Import a cover image (the recommended size is 600x800 pixels,
preferably in JPG or PNG format). You can store this anywhere, but it
makes sense to place it in the “E-Book” front matter folder. A placeholder
cover image is already provided - you will want to delete that once you
have imported your own.
◦ Select “E-book (with Parts)” from the “Format As” pop-up button if it is not
already selected.
“Contents”, “Cover” and “Layout” panes of the “All Options” tab.)
◦ If you have front matter documents other than the cover image, ensure
that the “Add front matter” button is ticked and select the “E-Book” folder
from the pop-up button next to it if it is not already selected. If you don’t
have any front matter documents, you can un-tick “Add front matter”. (Un-
ticking this does not affect the cover image.)
◦ If you have imported your own cover image, be sure to select it from the
“Cover image” pop-up button.
◦ If you don’t want an HTML table of contents included, un-tick “Generate
HTML table of contents”. This must be ticked when exporting to Kindle
format but is less necessary when exporting to EPUB format, because
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◦
Yourbecause
format but is less necessary when exporting to EPUB format, Novel
most EPUB readers generate their own table of contents anyway.
◦ From the “Compile for” pop-up button, choose whether to export to EPUB
or Kindle format.
Making Changes
There are various minor changes you can make to the settings to tweak this template so
that it better suits your needs, as follows:
• Project and author name: The default book title and author name used in
headers and elsewhere can be customised by going to Project > Meta-Data
Settings… and choosing the “Project Properties” tab.
• Part subtitles: If you don’t want to include the titles of your “Part” folders in your
compiled manuscript, go to the “Formatting” pane in the Compile sheet and
deselect “Title” for the “Level 1” folder item. Then click on “Section Layout…” and
remove the colon and space at the end of the title prefix (“Part <$t:part>”).
• Chapter subtitles: If you don’t want to include the names of your chapter folders
below the chapter numbering text in the compiled document, go to the
“Formatting” pane in the Compile sheet and deselect “Title” for the “Level 2+”
folder item and the “Level 1” and “Level 2” text items. (Conversely, if you do want
to include chapter titles for formats that don’t include them by default, tick these
items.)
• Page header and footer: You can edit the page header in the “Page Settings”
pane of the Compile sheet (under “All Options”).
• Page size: The “Paperback Novel (with Parts)” format is set to export to a page
size of 5.06” x 7.81”, which is one of the formats you can use with CreateSpace.
You can customise this by clicking on the “Page Setup…” button in the “Page
Settings” pane of Compile.
• Font: You can use “Quick Font Override” in Compile to change the font used
throughout the final document (this is available from both the “Summary” and “All
Options” tabs). Note that fonts are not included in e-books, however—e-readers
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•
Options” tabs). Note that fonts are not included in e-books, however—e-readers
Your Novel
choose their own fonts (and you would need to pay a hefty fee for a licence to
embed a particular font in an e-book).
• Making your own special folders: The “Characters” and “Places” folders are
really just regular folders that have been set up in a particular way, and you are
free to create other folders that work in a similar manner.
1. To create a folder with a custom icon, add a new folder, place it where you
want it, ensure it is selected, and then go to Documents > Change Icon to
choose a different icon.
2. To create your own template sheets, simply create a new document inside
the “Template Sheets” folder and set it up however you want (whether by
adding text, changing the title, setting default meta-data, or whatever).
Now this document will be available as the basis of new documents from
the New From Template menu. (You can add a custom icon to this if you
so wish, too.)
3. To set things up so that when the special folder created in (1) is selected
and you hit “Add”, a new document based on the one you set up in (2) is
created, select the folder and go to Documents > Default New
Subdocument Type and select the special template document you
created.
• Working with chapters instead of scenes: By default, this project is set up so
that you write each scene as a separate text document. If you don’t like to break
things up quite that much and would prefer to write an entire chapter in each text
document, make the following changes:
1. Rename the “Scene” documents to use your chapter titles and move them
so that they are contained directly inside the “Part” folders (that is, at the
same level as the current “Chapter” folders).
2. Move the chapter folders to the Trash.
3. Create a new text document for each chapter.
4. In the “Separators” pane of the Compile sheet, change the “Text
separator” setting to “Page break”.
5. If your scene separators are centred (for instance if you are using “#” as
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Your Novel
5. If your scene separators are centred (for instance if you are using “#” as
the scene separator) and you want them to appear centred in the compiled
document, too, choose the “Formatting” pane of Compile, click on
“Options…” and tick “Preserve alignment” and “Centered text only”.
Sample Documents
The “Sample Output” folder inside the Research folder contains examples of documents
that have been created by compiling from this template. “Standard Manuscript” shows
the results when compiling to “Standard Manuscript Format (with Parts)”; “Paperback
Novel” shows the results when compiling to “Paperback Novel (with Parts)” format; and
“iBooks E-book” shows the results when compiling to “E-book (with Parts)” format and
opening the resulting EPUB file in iBooks on the iPad.
Final Note
Scrivener project templates are flexible and are not intended to restrict you to a
particular workflow. You can change, delete or move the files and folders contained in
the template, and you can create your own templates by setting up a skeletal project
with the files, folders and settings you would like to use for new projects and using File >
Save As Template.
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Your Novel
Diary copy
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
A place for doubts, diary notes, rants, word counts and anything else that
pertains to your writing material.
Notes
This is basically a private diary, a timeline, to list whatever is on your mind that has to do
with your material/writing skills etc.
The Confidentiality info/jargon was found from various sources online and modified
slightly (or ‘a lot’) by me.
Text
This is a running diary of the material you are working on as it progresses
(for one or more). A place for doubts, diary notes, rants, word counts and anything
else that pertains to your writing material. You can make this as simple or as
detailed as you want. Examples are at the bottom.
If you are afraid that someone might find this and/or share and/or read it
without your permission, here is an example of a CONFIDENTIALITY notice.
Feel free to use it and/or edit it to your liking. If you plan to use it, make sure you
insert your name in the correct areas.
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Your Novel
CONFIDENTIALITY
This diary and any other documents pertaining/attached to it are intended for the
personal and confidential use of INSERT YOUR NAME HERE and certain
designated recipient(s) also named above. This document may contain confidential
data or information and as such is privileged and confidential.
If this document was given to you by its creator, INSERT YOUR NAME HERE,
it is understood and agreed to that all information contained within must be kept
confidential. To ensure the protection of such information, and to preserve any
confidentiality necessary under any applicable laws, it is agreed:
I. That you, the recipient, agree not to disclose the confidential information
obtained from the discloser to anyone unless required to do so by law.
II. That you will sign an Agreement which states/implies the entire agreement
between the parties concerning the disclosure of the confidential
information within this document. Any addition or modification to this
document by another individual, excluding the owner INSERT YOUR
NAME HERE, and/or the Agreement must be made in writing and signed
by the parties.
III. If any of the provisions of the Agreement are found to be unenforceable, the
remainder shall be enforced as fully as possible and the unenforceable
provision(s) shall be deemed modified to the limited extent required to
permit enforcement of the Agreement as a whole.
IV. None of the information, details, ideas, thoughts, evidence, and plans
(future, present, and past) may be reproduced without written consent with
signed signature from all parties.
V. If you are not the creator of this document or an intended recipient, you are
hereby notified that you have received this document and any attached
documents in error, that any review, dissemination/disclosure, copying,
distribution, or taking of any action in reliance on the contents of this
information is strictly prohibited. If you have received the original
document in error, please notify the creator of this document immediately. If
13
document in error, please notify the creator of this document immediately.
Your NovelIf
you received a copy of this document please return to the creator or
destroy/shred the document copy.
Thank you for your cooperation.
July 21. First week. Establishing opening scenes. Close on 5669 words.
MONTH DATE. Blah.
14
Your Novel
Outliner copy
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Notes
This Outliner was created by Caroline Norrington, except where
attributed to other sources, and is a work in progress.
This is version 2.0.
Please feel free to share it, but if you do please link back to my
website (www.carolinenorrington.com). I will notify of any updates via
the blog on that website.
I’d also love to have any feedback or suggestions!
Acknowledgements
Thank you particularly to Belinda Crawford for her input on version 1.0. I
still cannot improve on her template for tracking basic physical and cultural
details, which appears as the ‘Quick Character Sketch’ and as the ‘laundry
list’ in the detailed ‘Main Character’ folder template. And her ’31-day
method’ is a great writing tasklist. Go to her website for more Scrivener
info and updates: www.belindacrawford.com/newsletter
What’s new in 2.0
Better look:
• Improvements to the visual look of the pages. I’ve (hopefully) made
15
• Improvements to the visual look of the pages. I’ve (hopefully)
Yourmade
Novel
better use of blocks of colour and white space to give the pages a
cleaner look.
• I’ve fiddled with the way things are ordered and displayed in the
binder, so hopefully now it is clearer at glance which sections relate
to what. Everything is now ordered under the following main
headings: Structure/Plot, Scenes, Characters, Themes/Ideas,
Pantsers’ Place, Worldbuilder, and Writing Advice.
New Worksheets:
• A ‘Subplots’ development sheet has been added to the 3 Act
Structure planner.
• A ‘Scene Planner’ template for use in the Scene List folder. In
version 1.0 I had envisioned you could display your scenes in outline
mode, and then add notes to quickly see whether the scene was an
action (scene) or reaction (sequel), and some other general points.
But this seemed very clunky to use, and there can be so many
actions and reactions within a scene, that I found I wasn’t using this
method at all. Plus I thought there should be more prompts for
planning a scene.
Character Development:
• The main character questions have been rejigged and reformatted as
a template ‘folder’ that can be selected, which makes it easy to insert
one of these for each main character.
• The main character folder now has a worksheet for developing
character voice.
• The character folder is better organised and there are now some
prompts for developing antagonists.
Writing Tips:
• There is now a Glossary. It’s a work in progress!
• Advice on how to use all the worksheets / templates still appears in
the yellow Document Notes to the right, but general writing advice
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•
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including a glossary now has its own folder. I have tried to cross-ref
to the glossary with hyperlinks. So now, when you see the word
‘POV’, for example, you can click on it and a window should pop up
with the explanation from the Glossary.
How to Use this Outliner

Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
Overview, introduction, FAQ
Notes
Yep, you’ve found the right bit. Keep this open because it’s where you’ll find all the
explanations and examples.
More Hot Tips!
* View a folder as cards on a corkboard and see at a glance what your options are
within the folder - like a table of contents for that section.
Text
Hot Tips
Display the yellow ‘Document Notes’ on the right-hand side as you work
through this Outliner. To display click the image of a spiral-bound notebook
in the lower right hand side of Scrivener. I minimise the Synopsis and
General sections above by clicking on their triangles too.
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Your Novel
How to Use This Outliner
The Outliner is set up like a virtual workbook to help you develop and refine
your story. You don’t have to work through it in order, although the
order presented is logical. You can start with the basic plot structure /
situation. You can start with the main character. Or you can start with the
themes, ideas, and inspirational nuggets. You can even just start by
pantsing it.
The Outliner’s presumes you are working on a novel. It could be easily

used for a full-length screenplay, but it is not a good fit for developing a
short piece. Maybe I’ll develop a short story outliner at some point, but
that’s a project for another day.
Background
A couple of years ago I decided that my go-to method of simply sitting

down and starting to write was resulting in a lot of stories that petered out
around the 15k to 30k mark as I simply didn’t know where I was going and
what I was doing. I also had a child and discovered that large blocks of
time to write, mull over writing, and immerse myself in the story were a
thing of the past.
So I made a big shift to outlining my stories before I wrote. At first, my

outline was a simple 5 page synopsis. It had a beginning, middle and end.
The problem was that when I started to write I found it was filled with
dramatic gaps, or places where the characters baulked at following the
outline. If I insisted they follow it, they read as pawns pushed around by
my authorial hand rather than interesting persons who drive the story
themselves. I would write things like ‘Jane discovers the Holy Grail is really
in the Bermuda Triangle’, and then find this was worse than useless when I
had to actually write about how Jane discovers this information. I would
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had to actually write about how Jane discovers this information. IYour
would
Novel
end up stuck, and my improvised solutions had a tendency to lower
credibility or de-rail the plot.
So my new objective was to learn how to write a better outline. No outline

can be perfect, but I figured there had to be methods of minimising the
pitfalls. This Outliner is the result of my seeking advice, testing out various
techniques, finding useful tools, and thinking about how to troubleshoot
problems I encountered along the way. I read books, Googled, participated
in writing groups, and tried various software packages that promised to
help you do the prep for a story.
For the most part, writing software is nothing more than a series of
worksheets displayed on the screen with fields for you to type and pop-up
boxes for clarification, with some bonus abilities to format your manuscript.
I’m afraid I did not come across one that I thought provided even 1/3 of the
guidance I needed. Character templates were particularly poor, and some
even prompted you for little more than ‘name’, ‘hair colour’, and ‘eye
colour’. But the real problem was that simple, useful, flexible guidance
wasn’t there for linking ideas to character development, developing a
character that would drive the plot, developing a plot that expressed the
ideas in a way that made them a coherent whole.
So, instead of these prescriptive programs, I have customised Scrivener,

which is a flexible content management tool specifically aimed at writers.
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Your Novel
About
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
This Outliner was created by Caroline Norrington, except where

attributed to other sources, and is a work in progress.
This is version 2.0. - Completed 23/9/13.
Please feel free to share it, but if you do please link back to my
website (www.carolinenorrington.com). I will notify of any updates via
the blog on that website.
I’d also love to have any feedback or suggestions!
Acknowledgements
Thank you particularly to Belinda Crawford for her input on version 1.0. I
still cannot improve on her template for tracking basic physical and cultural
details, which appears as the ‘Quick Character Sketch’ and as the ‘laundry
list’ in the detailed ‘Main Character’ folder template. And her ’31-day
method’ is a great writing tasklist. Go to her website for more Scrivener
info and updates: www.belindacrawford.com/newsletter
What’s new in 2.0
Better look:
• Improvements to the visual look of the pages. I’ve (hopefully) made
better use of blocks of colour and white space to give the pages a
cleaner look.
20
Your Novel
• I’ve fiddled with the way things are ordered and displayed in the
binder, so hopefully now it is clearer at glance which sections relate
to what. Everything is now ordered under the following main
headings: Structure/Plot, Scenes, Characters, Themes/Ideas,
Pantsers’ Place, Worldbuilder, and Writing Advice.
New Worksheets:
• A ‘Subplots’ development sheet has been added to the 3 Act
Structure planner.
• A ‘Scene Planner’ template for use in the Scene List folder. In
version 1.0 I had envisioned you could display your scenes in outline
mode, and then add notes to quickly see whether the scene was an
action (scene) or reaction (sequel), and some other general points.
But this seemed very clunky to use, and there can be so many
actions and reactions within a scene, that I found I wasn’t using this
method at all. Plus I thought there should be more prompts for
planning a scene.
Character Development:
• The main character questions have been rejigged and reformatted as
a template ‘folder’ that can be selected, which makes it easy to insert
one of these for each main character.
• The main character folder now has a worksheet for developing
character voice.
• The character folder is better organised and there are now some
prompts for developing antagonists.
Writing Tips:
• There is now a Glossary. It’s a work in progress!
• Advice on how to use all the worksheets / templates still appears in
including a glossary now has its own folder. I have tried to cross-ref
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‘POV’, for example, you can click on it and a window should pop up
with the explanation from the Glossary.
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Acknowledgments (World Building)

Status: N/A
Label: No Label
This template was created from, and inspired by, the wonderful work of the
following people.
A copy of these acknowledgments can also be found in Project -> Project Notes
-> Acknowledgments, in case you’d like to reference them later.
The World-Building Leviathan questionnaire

• by Kitty from KittysSpace.org
• (http://kittyspace.org/tool-index.html)
•
Template sheets
• 5 Tips: World-Building Template by Droemar from DeviantArt.com
(http://droemar.deviantart.com/journal/5-Tips-World-Building-
Template-224630229)
•
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Template notes
Status: N/A
Label: No Label
Template notes
Version 0.5 – Last updated 4 August 2013
This is a work-in-progress. If you’re interested in future updates, you can keep
an eye on my blog or join my mailing list (www.belindacrawford.com).
FYI
• A number of the template sheets have document references. Follow these
links for information about things like systems of government and
planetary classifications.
• In Project References (View -> Inspect -> References and use cmd+6 to
toggle between document and project refs) you will find links to:
writing military science fiction
world-building
a comprehensive bestiary of the creatures, races and beings.
Coming, at some point…

• Tasks
Developing a space-faring military
• Template sheets
City
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Updated Location sheet
Guild/company
Religious group
And finally…
…if you have any great ideas, or know of any excellent templates, please let me
know! I love templates (and organising and chocolate-coated peanuts :))
( www.belindacrawford.com | belinda@belindacrawford.com | twitter
@belindacrawford )
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Your Novel
STRUCTURE / PLOT
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
Develop the basic plot or framework of your story.
Notes
Use the tools in this section to develop your plot. There are processes for developing
your basic structure, subplots, and a scene-by-scene outline.
Where to start?
The one sentence summary.
That’s not working for you?
Skip this section and try developing a main character instead, or brainstorm themes and
concepts.
Or just start writing.
One Sentence Summary

Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
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Your Novel
Your novel’s dramatic question in a nutshell. A good place to start.
Notes
Explanation:
The one sentence summary is your novel’s dramatic question in a

nutshell. If you develop your story through the ‘snowflake method’ it is the
starting point, but it is also a useful tool for writing your synopsis, query
letters, and pitching to agents. Plus, it’s just not a bad idea to give you
something to focus your plot development around. It crystallises your story
in a way that just throwing together some key concepts does not.
There are four key ingredients your sentence summary should contain:
- Your main character(s)

- In a particular setting
- Has a problem / challenge
- And does something as a result.
Putting these elements together should hint at the scope of your story.
The action your main character takes does not have to explain how the
story resolves, but should rather focus on the kind of activity that will form
the bulk of your story. Note that your main character is not described by
name, but rather in terms of a key characteristic.
Examples:
• As revolution unfolds in a Dickensian city, a young woman with

extraordinary mathematical abilities must protect those she loves and
so becomes a spy, then a double agent.
• A philandering geologist and his wife struggle to survive a Siberian
winter night when their car breaks down in the middle of nowhere.
• A group of teenage nerds challenge themselves to lose their virginity
before the end of High School and take awkward but hilarious steps
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•
Your
before the end of High School and take awkward but hilarious Novel
steps
to do so.
If you are staring at the page thinking you have no idea where to begin,
perhaps start by developing your key concepts and inspiration.
***This webpage has more detail on creating a logline / one sentence

summary.
***The author/owner, Dr. Carolyn Kaufman, of that website died in 2014
from a brain aneurysm. The website was apparently taken down too, at
some point. However, her blog and other sources are still avaliable on the
web. Search there for what you need. Many of her articles etc. can be
found here.
Text
My One Sentence Summary Is:
BRAINSTORM!
Main Setting Problem/Challe

Action
Character(s) nge
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3 Act Structure
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
A summary of how your story fits into the traditional 3 Act structure, and a
step-by-step guide to developing a story that fits the 3 Act structure.
Notes
Explanation:
The 3-Act structure is standard in screenwriting and common in novels.

You are by no means obliged to stick to the 3-Act structure, but it is a very
good starting point. Using a 3-Act structure really just reminds you to
answer your dramatic question, create some twists and turns, and some
ups and downs for your character, and do this in a way that momentum
builds over the course of the story which will assist you to carry the reader
along for the ride.
The sub-pages under this ‘3 Act Structure’ page will step you through
the process of developing a 3 Act Structure.
Useful Overviews of the 3-Act Structure:
Three Act Structure: A Pair of Spanx for Your Novel by Sheryl

Scarborough http://ingridsnotes.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/act-3.jpg
[https://ingridsnotes.wordpress.com/2013/03/29/three-act-structure-a-
pair-of-spanx-for-your-novel/ ; can be found here too.]
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Conflict and Character within Story Structure: The Basic Three Act
Structure by Peder Hill
http://www.musik-therapie.at/PederHill/Structure&Plot.htm [Found here
too]
Critiques and Alternatives to the 3-Act Structure:
What’s Wrong With The Three Act Structure by James Bonnet

http://www.writersstore.com/whats-wrong-with-the-3-act-structure/
[Found here too]
Text
My Three Act Structure:
Tip: Work through the worksheets on the subpages then come back and fill in
this table with the key points.
ACT ONE
Initial situation:
Inciting incident:
Journey to commitment:
Commitment:
ACT TWO (First Half)

How the character pursues their
agenda:
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Midpoint:
ACT TWO (Second Half)

How the character pursues their
agenda:
Darkest moment:
ACT THREE
Climax:
Surprise:
Final situation:
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Initial vs Final Situation

Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Notes
Explanation
At the start of your story, your main character (or characters, or world)
are in a particular situation. Then a bunch of stuff happens (namely, your
story), and the result is that your main character (or characters, or world) is
in a different situation.
Examples:
• At the start of Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth Bennett is single (her

initial situation). Then the story happens. Then at the end she is
happily married to a wealthy, intelligent man with integrity who she
truly loves (her final situation).
• At the start of Titanic, Rose is in an unhappy engagement and tightly
bound by social expectations (her initial situation). Then the story
happens. Then at the end she has escaped her fiance and is free to
pursue her own dreams (her final situation).
• At the start of Lord of the Rings, an evil force is creeping over the
land (initial situation). Then the story happens. Then at the end the
evil force has been destroyed, albeit at a cost (final situation).
• At the start of 1984, Winston is dissatisfied with his life in a dystopian
society (initial situation). Then the story happens. Then at the end,
disturbingly, Winston truly embraces the dystopian society (final
situation).
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What you should note about these examples is that they don’t tell you
HOW the change happened. They set the goal posts, but not the strategy
for getting there. The ‘final situation’ is not the climax or dramatic
showdown. It’s not the Titanic sinking, or Frodo chucking the ring into
Mount Doom. Rather, it’s the status of your character (or characters, or
world) when reading the last word of your story. Conversely, the initial
situation is the status of your character (or characters, or world) on the very
first page (excluding any prologues - eg. In Titanic Rose’s story is
bracketed by an expedition to the Titanic wreck, but that is akin to a
prologue).
Your description of the initial and final situation should show some kind of
shift / change. The character’s external situation doesn’t necessarily have
to change - it might be that their situation is the same but their perspective
on it has changed. The change doesn’t have to be monumental - in some
stories the change is almost a formality - initial situation: start of final year
of highschool; end situation: highschool graduate. Nothing more. In a
very plot-driven adventure thriller, it may be that the change is not about the
character - that the character has their mettle tested but doesn’t really
change as a result, rather they improve the world around them. In that
situation your primary story is not a character journey, it might be (initial
situation: Terrorists are planning an attack; final situation: attack has been
thwarted and all is now safe). In a genre romance, you are required to
have your character single in the initial situation, and coupled-up in the final
situation.
Text
My Initial vs Final Situation:
Initial Situation:
Final Situation:
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BRAINSTORM!!
What initial situations could you pair with final situations. Try changes of
situation, changes of status, changes to the world, changes of perspective:
Initial Situation Final Situation
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Climax
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Notes
Explanation
How do you plan to ultimately move your character from the initial
situation to the final situation? This is the bit missing from your one
sentence summary and it is what happens in the climax of your novel. If
you have developed a one sentence summary, it will give you valuable
context about the kind of solution you might be looking for. If not, you’re
free to come up with any solution, but then bear in mind you’re going to
have to develop contextual detail that fits.
Example - Pride and Prejudice:
• Initial vs Final: Initial situation: Elizabeth Bennett is single. Final

situation: she is happily married to a wealthy, intelligent man with
integrity who she truly loves.
• One Sentence Summary: In Georgian England, a smart-mouthed
young woman struggles to look after her four sisters and resist
pressure to marry a man she does not love.
Without the one sentence summary, this could have been about a
contemporary college student who participates in creepy bondage romance
ala 50 Shades of Grey. So, you know, that one sentence summary
changes a lot. If you don’t have one, just brainstorm the context below, but
if you find that too difficult maybe go back and figure out a one sentence
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if you find that too difficult maybe go back and figure out a one sentence
summary.
Anyhoo, how does Elizabeth end up with this fabulous marriage? Thus
far we have no idea.
Question: What would make the main character(s) / world shift to

the end state?
Here the end state for Elizabeth is being in love and married. Which
means that she has to fall in love, and get a marriage proposal. What kind
of things might the bloke do to make her fall in love with him? You might
brainstorm:
• Writes her fantastic poetry

• Is great in bed
• Does something so selfless and decent she can’t help herself
• Austen went with no 3. But what selfless and decent thing might he
do? Hmmm… Perhaps Elizabeth’s youngest sister could run off with
some dissolute man, thus jeopardising the reputation and marriage
prospects of Elizabeth and all her sisters. Despite Elizabeth having
already rejected him, and despite all the issues with Elizabeth’s crazy
family, he hunts down the bloke, forces him to marry the sister and
pays his debts. Then, despite the fact Elizabeth is far below his
station, he still wants to marry her.
Question: How does this climactic event fix the character’s

problems / mean they obtain their goals?
•
What is good about this solution is that it ties in with Elizabeth’s original
goal to look after her four sisters and resist pressure to marry a man she
does not love. They become a team which enables her to better look after
her sisters, and marrying a man she loves removes the pressure marry a
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her sisters, and marrying a man she loves removes the pressure Your
marryNovel
a
man she does not love.
Question: How is the climactic event surprising?
In Pride and Prejudice the surprise is that until this point Elizabeth (and
the reader) thinks the dissolute man who’s now run off with her sister is a
decent bloke who might even marry her. Conversely, she thinks her future
husband is a jerk. But it turns out her future husband is just awkward in
his manner and said some things he regrets, but is really a thoroughly
decent bloke. This means that while the climax is not unexpected (it’s a
romance and we anticipate the happily ever after), the reader has no idea
how it will be achieved before it happens.
If you can’t think of a surprise, perhaps go on to working out the darkest
moment, then figure out what surprising event could turn around the
darkest moment and save the day. Don’t worry if it seems to come out of
nowhere and seems fortuitous, because you are going to build good
reasons for it into the earlier parts of the book. Right now, you can pluck
anything out of the air.
Example - Lord of the Rings
What is the initial vs final situation?

• An evil force is creeping over the land (initial situation). The evil
force has been destroyed, albeit at a cost (final situation).
What is your one sentence summary (or alternatively, give the

situation some context - where, when, who?)
In an imaginary medievalish world, Frodo, a small comfort-loving
creature inherits a dangerous and magical ring, and embarks on a
journey to destroy the ring pursued by evil forces who want to capture
it to restore their evil overlord to his full power.
Bearing in mind the context, what would make the main character(s) /
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world shift to the end state?
Frodo throws the ring into a fiery volcano known as the Pit of Doom,
destroying it. However, the partial corruption of the ring means that
he continues to suffer pain, and battle preparations for the war
against evil forces have destroyed the innocence of his homeland.
How does this climactic event fix the character’s problems / mean
they obtain their goals? What kind of problem might it fix?
At the start his goal was to escape the evil forces and destroy the ring
stop the evil overlord from rising to power. This is achieved.
How is the climactic event surprising?

The corruption of the ring which is supposed to make Frodo covet the
ring (and hence be unable to destroy it), works against Frodo but also
against itself, as another ringbearer, a wretched creature named Gollum
who has seemed useless and evil, tries seizes the ring from Frodo at the
last moment, and in his exultation Gollum overbalances and falls with the
ring into the Pit of Doom. The cost of the victory also adds an unexpected
bittersweet quality to the ending.
Note that in a tragedy, there is still a climax which achieves the

objectives set out at the beginning of the story - it just does so at a terrible
cost. Hence at the end of Romeo & Juliet the two families have made
peace - it just took the deaths of their two children to achieve it. In Titanic,
Rose finds freedom - but it took a lot of deaths, including the death of her
lover, to achieve this. Note that in a tragedy, the terrible cost can be laid at
the feet of ‘the bad guys’, not any surviving protagonist. Also, in a tragedy,
there is no surprise to bail the characters out - from the midpoint we will be
heading inexorably towards disaster.
The bad guys usually die in a tragedy, but they take some or all of the
good guys down with them. If Rose massacred a bunch of innocent people
on the ship in order to find freedom, that wouldn’t be a tragedy, that would
39
on the ship in order to find freedom, that wouldn’t be a tragedy, that would
Your Novel
be horror. Horror may or may not end with the evil force being destroyed
completely. A common horror climax means that the evil force has been
escaped, but one day it may strike again.
Text
The climax of my story is:
Climax:
Surprise:
QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER
What is the initial vs final situation?
What is your one sentence summary (or alternatively, give the situation
some context - where, when, who?)
world shift to the end state?
How does this climactic event fix the character’s problems / mean they
obtain their goals? What kind of problem might it fix?
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How is the climactic event surprising?
Further notes:
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Darkest Moment
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Notes
Explanation
You want to draw a picture of a light? You create an impression of

brightness by darkly shading the space on your paper around the light.
Likewise, in a novel, the relief of the climax is achieved by preceding it with
a situation of despair.
You start by asking what your character’s / story’s key objective is?
Then you ask what it would look like if things went horribly wrong, and far
from achieving this objective, the character / world’s worst fears come to
pass. Darkness is achieved by making that dreadful outcome look all but
inevitable. The reader knows the story is not supposed to end this way,
and this creates a dissonance that makes the final climactic resolution a
cartharsis.
You then use a surprise to save your character / world as per the climax.
Example - Pride and Prejudice:
Climax: Darcy fixes up the situation with Elizabeth’s sister and asks her
to marry him.
Darkest Moment: Elizabeth’s sister has shamed the family. The man
she ran off with is not only broke and of dubious morals, but Elizabeth had
previously thought he was a decent man who she might marry. Now she
has no marriage prospects and it looks like she has thrown away financial
42
has no marriage prospects and it looks like she has thrown away Your Novel
financial
security for an illusion of love - now she might get neither love nor financial
security. She will live alone, in poverty.
Surprise: Darcy is secretly a good guy and genuinely loves her, and
bails her sister out and then proposes to Elizabeth (again).
Example - Lord of the Rings:
Climax: Frodo, via Gollum, destroys the ring in the Pit of Doom.
Darkest Moment: After a dark and difficult journey through enemy
heartland to get to the Pit of Doom, Frodo finally gives in to the corruption
of the ring and is clearly going to be unable to destroy it. Elsewhere, the
forces of evil are waging battle against half the world, and unless the ring is
destroyed the rest of the world is likely to be lost.
Surprise: Gollum bites the ring from Frodo’s finger and in his own evil
exultation falls into the Pit of Doom, thereby destroying the ring.
The common thread in these examples is that it LOOKS like all is lost
but, thanks to the surprise in the climax, there is some additional factor
we’re not taking into account that will save the day. If you hadn’t worked
out the surprise in the climax, then now is the time to figure out what
surprising event or hidden fact could allow the character to achieve their
goal and avoid what would otherwise be disaster.
Text
The darkest moment of my story is:
Darkest moment:
Surprise:
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BRAINSTORM!!
What’s the worst thing that could possibly happen to this character / world,
given their objectives?
What is the surprise that saves your character / world?
Further notes:
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Midpoint
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Notes
Explanation
The midpoint changes everything. It’s startling. It’s a new door opening.
And it opens up a crucial possibility that will be exploited in your finale.
• Pride and Prejudice - Out of the blue, Darcy proposes to Elizabeth.

This is startling because everything we have seen of them to date
suggests that he holds Elizabeth in contempt. She rejects him
because he appears to be an arse and so arrogant he seems
incapable of love, but the dynamic changes. Something else is going
on - he wants to marry her, which will be relevant in the finale. Still,
it’s hard to see how this will help Elizabeth given that if she accepts
his proposal, she would be sacrificing her values.
• Lord of the Rings - Frodo and Sam leave the Fellowship and are
joined by the strange and dangerous creature Gollum. Despite his
track record of murder and his desire to get the Ring, they need him
as a guide to help them complete their mission. The dynamic
changes. Gollum’s villainous desire for the ring will eventually be
crucial to victory. It’s hard to see how this will help save the world.
• Star Wars - the good guys accidentally end up near the moons-sized
enemy battleship, the Death Star, and get sucked into it with a tractor
beam. It’s hard to see how this will help, but it’s going to lead to
obtaining information and skills that will allow Luke to ultimately
destroy the Death Star.
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In most novels, the midpoint is your carefully disguised foreshadowing of

your eventual surprise solution that shifts your darkest moment to climactic
victory.
In a tragedy, the midpoint is typically a point of no return, a commitment
by the characters to confronting evil, but since mere mortals are not made
to contend with such forces of darkness, it’s going to destroy them even
while they achieve their objectives.
• Titanic - they hit an iceberg. A clock starts ticking. But this tragic turn
of events is eventually what leads to Rose’s freedom.
• Romeo & Juliet - Romeo and Juliet defy their families and marry.
Their desperate love for each other and their attempts to keep it
hidden results in their deaths, but ultimately it is also cause for their
families to put aside their enmity.
•
•
Text
The startling midpoint of my story is:
Midpoint:
Surprise:
BRAINSTORM!!
What key detail do you need to foreshadow to make the surprise in your
climax credible?
What might happen at the midpoint that reveals this key detail, but in a
way that prevents the reader from seeing how it could be used to achieve
46
way that prevents the reader from seeing how it could be used to achieve
Your Novel
the character(s) / world’s objective?
Further notes:
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Commitment
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Notes
Explanation
Not too far into your story, somewhere between the start and the
midpoint, your main character does something which commits them to
driving towards the climax at the end of the novel. Sometimes this is called
the ‘Turning Point 1’. Until this point the character have may have been
wishy-washy, or only committed to the climax in a vague way, or had other
ideas about what they will do with their life, but something happens which
makes the character commit to a very specific goal.
• Lord of the Rings - Frodo agrees to take the Ring to Mordor to

destroy and sets out with the Fellowship. He is committed to the
quest.
• Pride and Prejudice - Elizabeth publicly makes her contempt for
Darcy clear, showing her commitment to marrying for love.
• Titanic - Rose gets Jack to draw her naked and leaves the picture for
her fiance. Then she sleeps with Jack. She is committed to leaving
the engagement and breaking social conventions.
• Romeo & Juliet - Romeo and Juliet go ahead with their romance,
even after knowing that the other is from an enemy family. They are
committed to putting their love first.
Note that in Titanic, the commitment event is actually very close to the
midpoint. In Pride and Prejudice, the commitment event occurs very early.
48
Yourearly.
midpoint. In Pride and Prejudice, the commitment event occurs very Novel
There is no rule that the commitment event has to take place at the 25%
mark, even though some guides on the 3 Act structure will suggest this.
One dramatic event may cause your character to commit quickly, or a
series of events may be necessary to give your character the courage
and/or reason to commit.
Sometimes your character ultimately achieves a different goal to the one

they’re aiming for. For example, Sally aims to be the most popular girl in
school, but in the end she realises she’s happy just being her. In that case,
your character should commit to their stated goal, namely, to be the most
popular girl in school. The reader is smart enough to realise that
addressing the underlying problem (doubt about her self-worth) will be
another way of resolving the scenario without you needing to spell it out.
Text
The commitment moment of my story is:
Commitment:
Surprise:
BRAINSTORM!!
What goal is your character aiming for?
What happens to cause your character to mentally commit to these aims?
What does your character do that all-but-irrevocably commits them to

these aims?
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Further notes:
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Inciting Incident
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Notes
Explanation
The inciting incident happens right at the start of your story, and it jolts
your character on the path to commitment. In some stories, the inciting
incident and the commitment can almost role into one - eg. A cop comes
home to find his entire family murdered (inciting incident). He immediately
swears revenge and sends the murderers a message that he is coming
after them (commitment). In other stories, the inciting incident is merely the
first step on a journey that leads eventually to commitment.
Either way, the inciting incident raises a dramatic question for the
reader: What’s going on? Who is the murderer? Will the rich men at the
dance be suitable marriage prospects? Will Romeo and Juliet pursue one
another despite their family hostility (and how will this turn out)? What was
the experience of being on the Titanic like? Will Rose find a way to be
happy?
• Lord of the Rings - Bilbo acts like a demon-possessed crazy person,

tipping off Gandalf that his Ring may be more than what it appears.
(Long journey to commitment, where a series of events gradually
convince Frodo he has no choice but to be the one to take the Ring
to Mordor).
• Pride and Prejudice - There are some new rich men in the area and
Elizabeth and her sisters are to meet them at a dance. (Relatively
short series of events before commitment. They go to the dance.
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•
Your Novel
short series of events before commitment. They go to the dance.
Darcy insults Elizabeth. She makes coolly cutting remarks in return
and declares her dislike.)
• Titanic - Rose boards the Titanic. (Long journey to commitment, as
Rose gradually realises what a tosser her fiance is and becomes
drawn into a romance with Jack.)
• Romeo & Juliet - Romeo and Juliet meet. (Relatively short series of
events before commitment - pretty much in the next scene they are
shagging and declaring they’ll marry, regardless of what their families
might think.)
How close to the beginning does the inciting incident have to be? It
depends, but I suggest that the current trend is to get it into the first
chapter. Leisurely beginnings devoted to setting the scene are a bit out of
fashion.
Text
The inciting incident is:
Inciting incident:
Surprise:
BRAINSTORM!!
How are you going to move your character towards the commitment
moment?
What is the first interesting thing that steers your character towards
commitment?
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What dramatic questions does this incident raise for your reader?
Further notes:
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The Other Stuff

Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Notes
Explanation
Now you have all the key points of a 3-Act structure. You still have to
come up with a lot of the detail, but the framework of your house is there.
So what goes in the rest of it?
In a nutshell, your main character strives to reach their goal and you
keep putting obstacles in their way. Their best laid plans should go awry
and even make their situation worse. Throw in unexpected events which
send the character on detours (that may unexpectedly lead them where
they needed to go). When things look really bad, unexpectedly give them a
stroke of good fortune. Raise the stakes. Make your characters struggle
towards their goal and slap them down for it. Make your character EARN
their clues and rewards with blood, sweat and tears. Place the obstacles in
front of your characters in order of increasing difficulty. But through all
these challenges, build your character’s skills and knowledge to move them
to a place / headspace where they will be able to rise to the challenge
posed by the Darkest Moment / Climax.
If your story has a Journey to Commitment then your character faces

challenges, conflict, and unexpected events which challenge what they
believe until they are in a place to commit. You will establish the setting,
the personalities of the key characters, and information about how
important stuff works.
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If your story has a section where a character pursues their agenda

between the Commitment and the Midpoint, this is the place where your
character’s trying their hardest, but lacks knowledge / resources / insight to
truly fix the problem. Your main character may be surrounded by friends or
mentors, who guide and buffer them.
Following the Midpoint, your characters must step up to a new level of

challenges, and the price of failure must be higher. Get rid of their safety
net. Kill off the mentor. Send them into enemy territory. Keep their friends
away (give the friend something else to deal with or a disagreement withe
the protagonist). Put the main character under pressure.
Don’t worry if you don’t have all the answers. You will be limited in what
you can come up with if haven’t done all the character development and
other background tasks. Creating a fixed series of events here before you
do this background work is likely to result in a story where the plot seems
to push the characters around rather than the characters driving the plot.
But don’t let that stop you jotting down ideas you have and brainstorming
away!
Text
The Other Stuff:
Commitment to Midpoint:
Midpoint to Darkest Moment:
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The B Plot
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Notes
Explanation
There can be many subplots in a novel, but the first place to start with
thinking about subplots is those that will challenge what your characters
want and show them instead what they really need.
In screenwriting, the sequence of events that express the MC’s inner

journey to (or away) from insight / fulfilment is known as the B Plot. The B
Plot is what gives your story emotional resonance.
What kind of deeper need do you mean?
Typically, your character wants something quite specific - ‘I want to win the
spelling bee’, whereas the need is something much more fundamental ‘I
want my family to love and accept me’. Here are a bunch of examples.
The kind of needs that are fundamental needs are well set out in Maslow’s
Hierarchy of Needs, summarised in the following diagram from Wikipedia:
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Another approach is for your character to gain wisdom. Loevinger’s stages

of ego development can provide some triggers for thinking about how your
character’s understanding of a problem / the world could mature.
What if my character’s already a selfless, moral beacon?
Your character is Superman. He’s moral, great at solving problems,

confident, values friendship and love, and pretty insightful. Or your
character is Luke Skywalker after training with Yoda - he’s already zen,
selflessly committed to fighting the evil Emperor, and it’s only halfway
through the movie. Their needs are basically in harmony with their selfless
wants. What are you going to do for a B Plot then?
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The answer is that you challenge their integrity with temptation or a nasty
moral dilemma. What if Superman must choose between love with Lois
Lane or saving the city? What if the man Luke believes killed his father is
his father? What if Luke’s personal need for vengeance can only be
achieved by turning to the dark side?
What if my character’s supposed to be a shallow bastard whose stays like

that / deteriorates into an amoral bastard?
Then your story is horror or comedy. In The Shining, we follow the main
character’s descent into madness and violence. In 1984, the main
character strives for insight but is tortured into mindless obedience. At the
start of a Mr Bean movie, Mr Bean is exactly as silly and moronic as at the
end.
What about tragedies?
In a tragedy the main character gains insight too late or the price is too
high, or gains insight near the start but this puts them out of step with large
forces, and this drives the tragedy.
Text
The B Plot / Inner Journey
Summary:
Surprise:
BRAINSTORM!!
What does your character want?
What deeper need is your character really seeking to address and how is
this different from what they want?
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What kind of things might happen to get your character to recognise what
it is they really need?
How will they obtain what they really need? (Or will they realise too late?)
What kind of events could obstruct what your character wants and needs?
Further notes:
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Subplots
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Notes
Explanation
There can be many subplots in a novel. They tend to fall into a couple of
main categories:
• The B Plot - discovering one’s inner need subplot
• Complications for the MC - if your main plot is that your MC must

solve a mystery, then a classic subplot requires them to do it while
solving a different kind of problem (eg. finding love, saving their
marriage, reconciling with their grandchild etc.) If the main plot is
about family, maybe the subplot is about politics. Look at your
themes, ideas, and messages. Could a subplot help you flesh out an
idea or add shades of grey?
• Haunted by the past - along the way, your character is going to

unearth a mystery from the past as well as the present. What
happened to that dead sister, really? What was his father like in his
youth? Did the aliens really build the pyramids?
• Two other characters - one of the supporting characters and/or the

antagonist has their own reason for being involved in this story. They
have their own problems, and the actions they take in the story cause
them problems. What might these problems be and how do they play
out?
Process
First, brainstorm subplot ideas. You will probably come up with more than
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First, brainstorm subplot ideas. You will probably come up with more Novel
you need.
Secondly, consider which of these subplot ideas could generate interesting

scenes that fit with your main plot.
Thirdly, think of your subplot as its own, self-contained story and add notes
to each idea about how they could involve a try/fail cycle. A major subplot
might have a full 3 Act structure of its own.
Fourthly, see how closely you can weave your subplot ideas into your main
plot. You may just think of key scenes or key ways that the subplot may
impact the main plot, and hinder or help your MC. You can weave this in
more fully when you’re creating your scenes in the scene list.
Text
Subplots
Subplot 1:
Subplot 2:
Subplot 3:
Subplot 4:
Subplot 5:
Surprise:
BRAINSTORM!!
What else does your main character need to take care of?
What mysteries from the past might your character confront / stumble
upon?
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What challenges is the antagonist facing during this story? What problems
does s/he have to solve?
What challenges are the supporting characters facing during this story?
What problems does s/he have to solve?
Can any of these subplot ideas impact the main plot in interesting ways?
Further notes:
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Twists, Reveals and Shocks

Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Notes
Explanation
A twist is where you surprise the reader with unexpected information. You
execute a twist by withholding information, and showing events in such a
way that the reader thinks one thing is happening, when really something
else is happening. A good twist should be surprising, and yet make
complete sense when you think about it.
Classic twists (NOTE: SPOILERS AHEAD – YOU HAVE BEEN

WARNED!):
•- One person is really another person:
The Empire Strikes Back: Poor Luke Skywalker wants to kill evil Darth
Vader who is the general crushing the well-meaning rebels and who he
has been told killed his father. Only to have Vader tell him, “Luke, I am
your father.” Dah, dah, DAH!
Fight Club: The nameless protagonist is lured into a world of

underground fight clubs by a man he meets on a plane, Tyler Durden.
He initially idolises Tyler, who is so much more charismatic than he is,
but gradually comes to resent him as he thinks Tyler has taken
operation of the clubs they started together and stolen his girlfriend.
Only it turns out he is Tyler who is a secondary personality he has
created and adopts, and who we only see as a separate person through
his unreliable narration.
The Usual Suspects: We think Kevin Spacey is the narrator who has got
caught up in trouble over his head, and the police are giving him an
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Your
caught up in trouble over his head, and the police are giving him anNovel
unreasonably hard time, but it turns out he is the criminal mastermind
the police are trying to catch.
•- The good guy is really the bad guy and vice versa – the
double-cross:
Double Jeopardy: Hot-shot lawyer defends a poor, mentally disabled

crim who will otherwise fall through the cracks of the justice system, only
to learn after it’s too late that the crim was pretending his mental illness
to escape justice.
Harry Potter: After 6 books where it’s not really clear whose side Snape
is on, he proves he is a bad guy by murdering undoubted good guy
Dumbledore. Only it turns out that Snape is in fact in deep, deep cover
and working to pull down bad guy Voldemort, due to unrequited love for
Harry’s mother and genuine strength of character.
Pride and Prejudice: Cold, arrogant Mr Darcy is in fact the person who
has secretly taken care of Elizabeth’s impetuous younger sister, who
has run off and had a fling with a soldier of few morals, putting helping
Elizabeth’s family before his own potential loss of status for getting
involved. Meanwhile the soldier, whom Elizabeth thought was a lovely
fellow, turns out to be a selfish arse.
•- Your fundamental belief about reality is wrong:
The Matrix: Neo lives a boring life as a cubicle worker, convinced that
there must be something more to life, and hunting some elusive guy
known in the hacker world as ‘Morpheus’. It turns out that Neo’s
fundamental belief in the nature of reality is wrong: the ‘world’ he knows
is actually an elaborate virtual reality construct, while in the real world
his body is kept enslaved by machines who breed and harvest humans
as fuel.
1984: Winston seeks to secretly rebel against the all-powerful Party and
Big Brother who control his world with totalitarian force. He seems to be
making progress. But it turns out that the Party was onto him all along.
Furthermore, it turns out that no one is in charge of the Party, that it is
an elaborate political construct designed to keep humans enforcing their
own oppression through division and fear and from which there is no
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own oppression through division and fear and from which thereYour
is noNovel
escape.
The Sixth Sense: Bruce Willis is a psychologist helping a young kid who
sees ghosts. Only it turns out the young kid is helping him because he
actually IS a ghost and through seeing the kid it is he who is coming to
terms with his own death.
Note that it’s not a twist unless the audience believes the misinformation
along with the character.
The alternative, where the audience knows the truth but key characters do
not, creates a situation of tension. If and when the truth is ever revealed to
the characters, that is a reveal. A reveal can be dramatic because the
character’s reaction is interesting and the story is propelled in a new
direction, but it is anticipation of the reveal that works best. Powerful
anticipation can be created through promising / threatening a reveal that
would be earth-shattering for a character and send a relationship into a
spin. For example:
Clark Kent is Superman: We as the audience are privy to this

information from the start. Dramatic tension is generated from Clark
Kent trying to hide this information from other people – eg. Lois Lane,
Lex Luthor. A scene where any key character discovers that Clark
Kent is superman is a reveal.
The Truth IS out there: The X-Files strung out audiences for
numerous seasons on the possibility that the ever-skeptic Scully
would finally discover irrefutable proof of Mulder’s aliens. Somehow
she always managed to be unconscious or explain the evidence
away…
The Truman Show: We as the audience see that Jim Carrey’s life is a
constructed reality show, but he doesn’t realise. Anticipation is
created as he starts to uncover the clues, and tension is there as the
producers struggle to keep the truth from him.
The tension of anticipating the reveal so powerfully what drives some

stories that they have generally floundered after the reveal to work out a
replacement tension. Nevertheless, in a novel a reveal can be an
important way of shifting the characters forward to the next stage of their
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important way of shifting the characters forward to the next stage Your
of their
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journey. In the recent version of Battlestar Galactica, the information about
which of the apparently human characters were actually cylon robots was
used both for twists and reveals. A character might realise they were a
cylon in a twist scene, and then be forced into a tense undercover situation
where tension was created through anticipation of the reveal (which would
see them treated as the enemy by their fellow crewmates), to the actual
reveals and aftermath of how that would be dealt with. This often happens
in longer stories where one character discovers information (a twist), but
the information is withheld from other characters until a later point to create
tension.
As a general rule, consider doing a reveal where keeping the truth from a
character creates problems for a character of keeping a secret, and the
reveal promises conflict / betrayal / really shaking up the character who
learns the information. Consider a twist when you’re revealing conceptual
information that changes how the reader would see the story in an
interesting way.
To construct a twist or reveal, you start by working out what is really going
on, then thinking of how you would get the character or audience to believe
something else.
Example:
Mary’s ex-boyfriend is in fact a corrupt cop who has been ordered to

kill her.
Twist: We think he’s helping her, only to have him betray her
later in the story. (Just take care that he would credibly appear
to be helping her, and we’re not left wondering why he didn’t
just shoot her and dump the body.)
Reveal: We see a scene where he’s ordered to ‘deal with her –

quietly so no evidence falls back to us’. Then when he assists
her to escape there is always the tension that he is setting up to
kill her. (This could either go to a reveal where she discovers
just in time his plot and has to escape, or it could be a reveal
where he confesses but switches sides to help her, or it could
be a reveal when she has finally fallen in love with him again
and they are both captured and the bad guys are being
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and they are both captured and the bad guys are being
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malicious.)
Example:
The election is being rigged by all parties – the losers are just paid off
and the status quo remains.
Twist: We think that one party is there to fight for justice, and
Mary spends all her time trying to reach this party to tell them
what is really going on, only to discover that they are in on it
and won’t let her or the information see the light of day.
There is a further kind of surprise – the shock. A shock does not involve
withholding information, it involves a startling event. Startling events can
be either good or bad, but good shocks (eg. your character suddenly wins
the lottery) tend to have people rolling their eyes and saying – oh come on,
like that would ever happen! – whereas bad shocks (eg. someone dies
unexpectedly) can be effective ways to grab the reader and make them pay
attention.
A key character unexpectedly dying is a classic shock. But any startling

development can be a shock.
Example:
A character walks into work only to have none of her colleagues

recognise her, treat her as a stranger, and see security throw her out
of the building.
Example:
A character discovers his much-loved spouse in the arms of

another.
Example:
A conservative, Christian mother discovers her teenage

daughter is pregnant.
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Text
I have the following twists, reveals, and shocks in store for the
reader…
Twist:
Reveal:
Twist:
Shock:
Surprise:
DEVELOPMENT QUESTIONS
Who in your story could secretly be the opposite of what they appear?
Which is the true identity - the one currently in your plot or the one you are
making up now? How and why do they achieve this dual identity?
What assumptions does the reader or your characters have about reality?
How could they be wrong?
Would it be more interesting to see some characters trying to keep the

information secret from the others (reveal)? Or would it be more exciting
to surprise the reader witht he information (twist)?
What unexpected dramatic changes of luck might your characters have?
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Further notes:
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Semi-Structured Plotting
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
A semi-structured / semi-organic plot development process shown by
example, if the 3 Act process is too confusing or leaves you cold. You could
also consider the Snowflake Method under ‘Writing Tasklists’
Notes
This process is aimed at people who feel the 3 Act structure is too
rigid, but would still like some structural prompts for developing
a blank page / vague idea into a novel. The text below gives
you explanations of what each heading might be used for.
Outlining – Where to Start
Jot down the nub of your idea, or the kind of story you want to
write. For example:
• - I want to write a story with a kick-arse heroine

• - A garden that’s a metaphor for a relationship
• - I’d like to write a murder mystery.
• - What will it look like when global warming starts displacing
people?
Brainstorm
Ask who/what/where questions to try and shake loose some

possibilities for your story. Try to give at least four answers for
each question you ask. Ridiculous answers are fine – it’s just
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each question you ask. Ridiculous answers are fine –Your
it’s just
Novel
brainstorming, and who knows, the most ridiculous ideas can
turn out to be unexpectedly cool once you finesse them. I try to
leave ‘why’ alone to begin with, because ‘why’ answers can be
hard to force, whereas possibilities naturally arise if you start
generating possibilities for the setting and characters.
Example:
Nub: I want to write a story with a kick-arse heroine
Who is the heroine?

• - A private detective
• - A fire-fighter
• - A single mother
• - A politician
What makes her kick-arse?

• - A black belt in karate
• - She always puts her kids first
• - She doesn’t take crap from anyone
• - Magical powers
Where is she located?

• - In a white, middle-class suburb full of pretensions
• - In a ghetto, in the future
• - On a farm during the gold-rush
• - At a poor high-school for troubled kids
Example:
Nub: A garden that’s a metaphor for a relationship
What kind of garden is it?

• - A tropical garden, rambling and fertile
• - A carefully manicured garden with every branch pruned with
precision
• - A desert that had once been a beautiful garden
• - A bonsai garden
Who has created the garden?

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• - An old woman over many years, creating aspects of the
garden during important life events;
• - A retired surgeon, barred from work due to medical
mispractice
• - It just grew that way, my characters discover it
• - Magical guardian angels
• - A secret government lab
How does the garden connect to the relationship?

• - Perhaps different varieties of roses represent different traits in
his lover
• - The garden is being overrun by aphids, just as the relationship
is being overrun by self-doubt
• - The garden is an aesthetic indulgence, in a world that has no
more time for aesthetics or human relationships
• - Each year the couple planted a tree in memory of their year
together, and so can walk backwards in time. Literally?
Expand Your Preferred Ideas
The brainstorming process will have triggered some interesting

possibilities for your story. Pick the ideas that most grab you
and work them together into a paragraph, explaining how could
fit together. I usually use inane character names like Bob and
Mary as placeholders if I can’t think of anything better.
You may want to do more than one and see which grabs you the
most. Even if you don’t use it now, you can build up a stockpile
of these ideas to use in the future.
Example:
Mary is a single mother with a black belt in karate who works as a

security guard at the Palace Casino. One day she overhears
something she shouldn’t and goons are hired to take her out
before she can reveal it. She rushes home, grabs the kids, and
they set out on a wild cross-country adventure.
Example:
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Things haven’t been right between Bob and Mary for years. He
increasingly finds his job a bore, and in between selling
Tupperware she fills her days with online shopping and eating
junk food. They decide to divorce and to get the house ready
for sale, but the process of fixing up the garden leads through
so many memories that they work out where they went right
and how they went wrong. Can they figure out how to make it
work again?
Example:
Quirky erotic short piece about Mary and her three lovers, each
remembered as she tends the garden. One was needy like a
delicate flower, one was all thorns and brambles, and one – the
one waiting for her inside the house – overran her garden like a
weed and swept her away, and she’s never been happier.
Idea vs Plot
What you have so far may be a self-contained idea for a short
story (such as the piece about Mary and her three lovers), or
more likely, a scenario and the start of a longer story. Karate-
kicking Mary on the run with the kids is off to a good start but
you don’t know where she’s going. Unhappy Bob and Mary
have a dilemma, but you don’t really know what got them into
the dilemma or whether they can get out of it.
How do you turn these story ideas into complete plots?
Well, the first thing they need is an ending.
Generate Your Ending
Endings are easier than you think. It’s all the stuff in the middle
that’s hard.
It’s a simple formula. Start: You have a problem? End: Problem

solved! Don’t worry about the pesky details of how the problem
gets solved. Just tell us that it got solved and the gist of the
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gets solved. Just tell us that it got solved and the gistYour
of the
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outcome.
Example:
Start: Aliens attack the world. End: Aliens have been defeated and
humans are safe.
Example:
Start: Bob and Mary are getting divorced. End: Bob and Mary
renew their vows.
Example:
Start: Mary is on the run from goons. End: The goons are all dead
and Mary receives a medal for heroic valour.
Example:
Start: Mary is on the run from goons. End: It is all just a terrible
misunderstanding and Mary didn’t hear anything of
consequence after all. Threat averted.
Of course, you don’t have to have a happy ending. You could

have:
Example:
Start: Aliens attack the world. End: Humans are destroyed. Aliens
triumph.
Example:
Start: Bob and Mary are getting divorced. End: Bob kills Mary in
murder suicide.
Example:
Start: Mary is on the run from goons. End: Mary gets her kids to
safety then goes into their headquarters and blows up goons
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safety then goes into their headquarters and blows upYour
goons
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with a bomb strapped to her body.
You will have work to do to sell us that the aliens triumphing or the
murder suicide is a resolution, but it can be done. A tragedy is
a type of a story.
If you decide not to resolve the problem at all, beware that it will
take skill to offset the reader’s frustration at the lack of
resolution, or to create a sense of resolution.
Example:
Start: Aliens invade earth. End: The invasion has created lasting
changes in human society. (This example requires that you
have something interesting to say about how and why the
invasion changes human society, and maybe about human
nature.)
Example:
Start: Mary is on the run from goons. End: Mary is still running. It
will never stop. (Maybe this is almost a poetry piece, a
collection of beautiful vignettes, vivid characters, and intriguing
locations.)
Of course, sometimes the external goal is not solved, but a sense

of resolution is created through the resolution of a character
arc. Mary might be physically running but perhaps through the
journey she has reconnected with her children in a way she
never did before. Thelma and Louise drive off a cliff – they
don’t go back and sort out Thelma’s husband - but their journey
is from constraint to freedom, and that provides the resolution.
Certain genre fiction promises certain endings:
Crime: Start: There is a crime. End: The

crime has been solved.
Romance: Start: There are two singles. End: There is a
couple.
Epic Fantasy: Start: The world is in peril. End: The world has
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Epic Fantasy: Start: The world is in peril. End: The world
Yourhas
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been saved (eventually, after several books).
Horror: Start: Certain characters are in peril. End: The
characters are either dead/escaped and the peril has been
neutralised… for now.
Stated like this, endings can seem boring, obvious, and

predictable. Well, newsflash for you, 99% of fiction has a
boring, obvious or predictable ending. Hamlet is predictable.
Pride and Prejudice – soooo predictable. The greatness of a
work of fiction does not rest on whether the ending is
predictable.
What about a good twist? Twists belong in the middle and in the
telling. In Fight Club, a bored office worker feels his life is
empty and meaningless, and at the end he has discovered
what it is he really values. That’s the beginning and end – the
notion of the fight club, its development into a network of almost
terrorist cells, and the ultimate twist are all details in the telling.
In The Usual Suspects, the problem is identifying criminal
mastermind Keyser Soze, and the ending is that Soze is
identified. The twist (Soze is someone unexpected) is the
result of a red herring held up to distract along the way, then
pulled away at the last moment. A twist is not your ending, it is
a flashy trick on the way to your ending. We’ll come to twists
later. Your ending is about creating a feeling of resolution.
Connect the Problem to a Character Change
Ok, so you have a beginning and an end:
Example:

security guard at the Palace Casino. One day she overhears
something she shouldn’t and goons are hired to take her out
before she can reveal it. She rushes home, grabs the kids, and
they set out on a wild cross-country adventure.
Start: Mary is on the run from goons. End: The goons are all dead
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Start: Mary is on the run from goons. End: The goons are all Novel
Your dead
and Mary receives a medal for heroic valour.
The next question you ask is: What is the change for my main
character?
In this example, at the start Mary is a single mother security guard.

At the end she is a single mother security guard… plus a
medal. This is not much of a change, unless that medal is
pretty damn important to her. You want to make your
character’s change important. Here are two ways you could do
that here:
Example:
At the start Mary is struggling to make ends meet, but during the
course of neutralising the goons, she stumbles across a
fortune. At the end, she can afford a good house, special
needs measures for her disabled son, and the designer shoes
she always wanted.
Example:
At the start Mary struggles with anxiety, and lives always in the
shadow of her father, a soldier who won a medal for valour.
During her adventures she is forced to step up and be brave to
look after her kids, and at the end her bravery is recognised
with a medal for heroic valour.
In the first example, I went with a different change for Mary – from
rags to riches – and scrapped the idea of the medal. In the
second example, I added background to make the change that
was hinted at important – the medal is now the outward
acknowledgement of the change in Mary from scared to brave.
The change can be internal or external. It can be both. You
could smoosh the two ideas together and have anxious Mary
who is struggling to make ends meet discover a fortune and her
own bravery.
For the sake of the exercise, I’m going to assume I like the
combined version. Now I have something like this:
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security guard at the Palace Casino. She is struggling to make
ends meet, particularly to provide the help her disabled son
needs. She also suffers from anxiety and takes medication to
overcome it. She feels like a failure because her father always
told her so, and he was a soldier who won a medal for valour.
One day she overhears something she shouldn’t and goons are
hired to take her out before she can reveal it. She rushes
home, grabs the kids, and they set out on a wild cross-country
adventure.
Along the way, she is required to overcome her anxiety to look

after herself and her children. She discovers the goons have
acquired a fortune, and when she ultimately kills the goons she
is able to take this money herself.
Ultimately, the goons are killed and Mary is given a civilian medal
for bravery. She is finally able to put the critical voice of her
father to rest, and she has the money to provide for her family,
and get that pair of designer heels she always wanted.
This is about 180 words, and it is most of the way there for the
short synopsis you will need to pitch your novel, which should
be max 300 words.
What are we fighting about, really?
Even though the summary above suggests a complete story, it is

missing a fairly crucial detail. What’s it all about? What has
Mary overheard? Why is this a problem for the goons (or
whoever hires them)?
This calls for some more brainstorming:
Example:
• The Casino bosses have a shipment of drugs coming in.

• The Casino is run by alien body-snatchers.
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• Some high profile people are having an affair.
• The Casino is using its technology to assist a political candidate
to rig an election.
• The Casino is masking a paedophile ring.
• Someone is developing a bio-weapon that will be deployed
soon.
• The Casino is a portal to an alternate dimension where cartoon
characters come to life and it is leaking through into this
dimension.
Go to town with the ideas. Be aware that some ideas pose bigger
story problems than others. If she’s overheard that some high
profile people are having an affair, you aren’t necessarily
adding much material to the story. On the other hand, if the
Casino is run by alien body-snatchers, you have added the
additional problem of dealing with the alien body-snatchers. If
you are going to have cartoon characters coming to life, you
can expect that the audience will want to see this happening
and explore the consequences – this adds a whole layer of
complication to your story. The election rigging may
necessitate more exploration of the candidates and the politics
– why does this matter? Who will it affect?
Think about the possible scenes you would get to write with the
different ideas and then pick what most appeals to you. Does it
just sound like too much fun to explode aliens with rayguns,
and have alien goo going everywhere? Or are you fascinated
by political intrigue, have a good handle of the kind of
personalities and dilemmas you face in politics, and the election
rigging story will give you a good chance to bring this out?
Would you prefer to write a gritty, heart-wrenching story about
child sexual abuse and bring out a theme of how adults relate
to children?
I’m going to rewrite my example to incorporate the election rigging

idea:
Example:
One day she overhears a senior Casino official offering his

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One day she overhears a senior Casino official offering his
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services to a local political candidate to rig the upcoming
election. When she is discovered, Casino security tries to kill
her and she barely escapes. She rushes home, grabs the kids,
and they set out on a wild cross-country adventure.
I’m also pinning down who the goons are. They’re Casino
security. She’s Casino security – that creates an interesting
overlap. Perhaps they know her and one of them can decide to
help her. Or perhaps she just knows their methods, weapons,
weaknesses…
I am not sure yet whether Mary must do something to stop the

rigging of the upcoming election (eg. sabotaging the rigged
machines) or whether she merely has to communicate the
information to someone. Which raises the question: will she
need proof? All of this is worth mulling over, but don’t solve
Mary’s problem just yet, because otherwise you’ll be selling
yourself short.
Identify Your Inciting Event
The inciting event is the one that kicks off the story and gets things
moving. It presents the immediate objective / problem. Here
the inciting event is: ‘Mary overhears about the election rigging’
or (depending on how you want to do it) ‘Mary overhears about
the election rigging and is pursued with deadly force as a
result’.
If there is a pre-existing problem (eg. your character is broke) then

the inciting event sharpens the problem (eg. the debt collectors
turn up to repossess the house). An inciting event can be a
challenge rather than a problem (eg. a great promotion is being
announced and your character is one of three competing for it,
there is lost treasure that is going to be found). Challenge
events are good for lighter tales, such as comedies. Tales
aiming for chills and thrills will want to make the price of failure
higher.
Have your character come up with some solutions
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In order to have a solution, you need to define the problem, and
here you can break down Mary’s problem into several sub-
problems and come up with solutions:
• - The problem of how to get out of the Casino grounds without

dying.
• Solution: climb over the roof.
• - The problem of how to reach her children safely.
• Solution: steal a car and drive like a maniac.
• Solution: ring the babysitter and tell them to get the hell out of
the house and go to a rendezvous location.
• - The problem of longer-term survival for her and her family.
• Solution: fight and kill the goons.
Now you’re starting to see something that looks a bit more like a
plot. But it’s not a very good plot yet because it’s all too easy.
Mary needs to fail a bit more. Most of these solutions need to
go wrong:
• - The problem of how to get out of the Casino grounds without

dying.
• Solution: climb over the roof.
• ♣ BUT the roof is unstable and she falls through into the
gaming tables:
• Solution: and just manages to fight her way free in the resulting
confusion.
• - The problem of how to reach her children safely.
• Solution: get to her car.
• ♣ BUT it is being guarded by goons.
• • Solution: steal a car
• ♣ BUT they see her and give chase.
• Solution: drive like a maniac and call the babysitter and tell her
to get the hell out of the house and get the kids to a rendezvous
location
• ♣ BUT a police car sees her and gives chase. She is pulled
over, it shakes the goons but now she is arrested and her kids
are still not with her.
• Solution: ask her ex-boyfriend cop to pick them up.
• - The problem of longer-term survival for her and her family.
• Solution: Ex-boyfriend cop promises to put them in witness
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• Solution: Ex-boyfriend cop promises to put them in witness
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protection,
• ♣ BUT then it turns out the corruption extends into the police
force.
• • Solution: Ex-boyfriend cop helps them escape and ends up on
the run with them.
• ♣ BUT this is not a long-term solution. They need to get to
someone higher-up to deal with the corruption:
• Solution: etc.
Don’t worry yet that this is not a complete plot outline, or if you get
stuck. The important thing is that you’re generating ideas of
how your story might unfold, and the kind of issues and
dilemmas your protagonist might face. It will trigger more ideas
for you – maybe the ex-boyfriend is going to be a love interest,
or maybe he’s going to die and emphasise just how dangerous
their situation is, or maybe he’ll just be a good friend and
confirm for Mary that she’s happy being single.
It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better
In Fight Club, an office worker decides to deal with his boredom

and insomnia through the creation of an underground ‘fight
club’, where men can come along and pummel each other to
get their adrenaline pumping and feel alive. Problem solved?
Not quite. The idea catches on, and more fight clubs spring up,
and they start evolving into something almost like terrorist cells,
aimed at targets embodying corporate greed. Now the main
character has bigger problems than boredom and insomnia.
In Lord of the Rings, the main character is being hunted by

terrifying ‘black riders’, and must race to get himself and the
creepily seductive piece of jewellery he carries to a safe haven
known as Rivendell. Only when he gets there, it turns out that
Rivendell will not ultimately be safe enough and the ring must
be destroyed, and the only way to do this is to physically carry it
into enemy heartland, and as he is already bonded to the ring,
he’s the unlucky sucker who has to do it.
So the question is: Do you have a whole story in your concept, or

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So the question is: Do you have a whole story in your concept, or
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do you just have the first part?
Brainstorm idea of what would happen if you added ‘but it turns

out’ to the end of your current plot summary:
Example:
• - Mary kills the goons but it turns out they are body-snatching
aliens and the forerunners of an alien invasion, which will be
starting any day now.
• - Mary kills the goons but it turns out the rigged election
machines have already been distributed, and a corrupt
government will be brought in unless she does something to
stop it.
In the first example, the ‘but it turns out’ is either huge or will be
dealt with completely apart from Mary. An invasion unfolding is
a big deal, and it’s not really clear how she as a protagonist
would have a key role. This is either another story or it doesn’t
belong here. It might be possible for Mary to provide info to,
say, a government body which says ‘Aha! You have provided us
with the last piece of the puzzle by locating the aliens. They
are just a scouting party and we will destroy them before they
can spread. There is no other immediate threat.’ and then have
Mary help them get the weaponry in order with her knowledge
of Casino security.
In the second example, killing the goons does remove a big part of
the threat, so probably the drama with the rigged election
machines is just going to be the last act. Maybe Mary has to go
back to the Casino to get the proof of the rigging, then get this
to the media. That would provide for a tense and climactic
ending.
Text
Semi-Structured Plotting Process
Nub
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I want to write a story that…
Brainstorm
How does…
•- ?
Expand Your Preferred Ideas
Type here
Generate Your Ending
Type here
Connect the Problem to a Character Change
Type here
What are we fighting about, really?
Type here
Identify Your Inciting Event
Type here
Have your character come up with some solutions
Type here
How does it get much worse?
Type here
How does it ultimately get better?
Type here
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SCENES
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Synopsis
Develop a scene by scene outline.
Notes
If the 3 Act Structure is the framework of your story, then scenes are the
bricks. Thinking about your story at a scene level is still structural, but at a
much greater level of detail. In a genre novel, scene structure is your
major tool in controlling the pace of your story and whether the reader feels
compelled to turn the page.
At the scene level you have to make decisions about the novel’s overall
POV. You try to incorporate ‘hooks’ into the end of scenes to encourage
the reader to keep reading. You iron out the logistics and credibility issues.
You figure out HOW the hero and heroine first meet, or HOW specific clues
to the murder will be revealed. You work out WHAT happens, WHERE it
happens, and WHY the characters act and react in the ways they do.
For pantsers who hate plotting, this is a good way to outline. For those
who have developed a 3 Act structure, a well thought out scene list is a
crucial step in converting that structure into a novel that doesn’t de-rail as
soon as you start to write it.
Scene List
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Synopsis
Create virtual cards with each of your scenes and then arrange them in a free
form structure, or within the 3 Act structure you’re developing. And when
you’re done, you have scene cards ready to write!
Notes
The Scene List is a place for you to take advantage of Scrivener’s functionality and
create a card for each separate scene, which you will then be able to reorder on a
pinboard or in an outline.
The scene list uses subfolders with align with a 3 Act structure. Use or delete them as
you prefer.
Tip: View the ‘Scene List’ folder in outline mode to see your scenes in a table.
To add scenes
1) Click on the folder where you want to add the scene.

2) Click on the green circle with the plus sign to add a completely blank scene card.
3) To add a scene card which includes questions and prompts for scene development,
click and hold the green circle with the plus sign. Choose ‘Scene Planner’.
Four places to type:
• You can change the name of the scene by typing in the Binder, or in the scene
title above the text, or in the top line of the Synopsis.
• You can type in the ‘Synopsis’ tab above. This is a handy place for a quick and
dirty scene summary, because this is what will display when you view your
scenes in outline mode or on index cards.
• You can type in the white space for text / manuscript to the left.
• You can type here in the yellow document notes.
Tip: If you use the Scene Planner, work in the white text where you have greater room
and formatting capabilities. When you are done planning it will be easy to print out a
summary of your manuscript in terms of scene plans. When you are ready to start
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summary of your manuscript in terms of scene plans. When you are ready toYour startNovel
writing, you may want to copy and paste all your draft scenes into the ‘Manuscript’
folder, then copy and paste the planning notes for each scene into this yellow
documents space. Then you can draft your actual scene in the white text space.
1 First Pages
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Scene 1
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Notes
EXPLANATION
You can start writing anywhere on this sheet. Maybe you are
experimenting by chucking two characters together in a setting and seeing
what happens, in which case you might note the characters and setting
first. Or you might pose your character an interesting problem with a plot
event (an action), to see how they react, and then make it up from there.
Or perhaps you know that certain information is to be revealed in this
scene, but you don’t know how it’s going to happen - jot down what’s
supposed to be revealed, then play with the settings and the dramatic
beats.
Dramatic Beats:
This is where you specify what happens and how it happens. If you write in
multiple POVs, I suggest you also note the POV observing various parts of
the scene in this section.
The dramatic beats map the actions and emotional reactions which will
drive the dramatic structure of the scene. The action is what happens to
your character, and the reaction is how your characters first emotionally
react and then choose their next action. Focus on your protagonist or POV
character to start with, but then create greater depth and complexity by
considering actions and reactions of all the characters to each other.
Ending a scene with a hook is optional but recommended, particularly if the

scene ends a chapter. A hook creates a promise to the reader that
something interesting is about to happen. A hook leaves the character with
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an actual or metaphorical gun to their head and the reader wondering how
the character is going to solve this problem or frantically trying to fit
together a new piece of the puzzle.
Example:
Action: Jane’s POV, close 3rd person. Jane's cat is run over.
Reaction: Jane is horrified. She's had her cat for 10 years.
Who has done it?
Action: Jane asks passers by if they saw anything? They have
not.
Reaction: Devastated at the injustice, Jane vows to discover the
killer and wreak revenge.
Hook: Change to killer's POV, watching Jane from a window and
thinking his plan is coming along nicely.
Action / reaction is sometimes known as scene and sequel.
Wondering what kind of reaction your character should have? Your

character’s personality, their present needs and situation, and your own gut
feelings are a good start. But here are some reaction options your
character could do (or attempt to do):
• Reframe the problem (it’s not a disaster, it’s an opportunity);

• Unbalance the other character through jokes / wit / unexpected
behaviour;
• Sarcasm;
• Appeal to fairness and moral principles;
• Manipulate the situation behind the scenes;
• Research and plan ahead;
• Bully / coerce / blackmail / bribe;
• Use physical force;
• Negative emotional manipulation or other passive/aggressive
techniques;
• Positive emotional manipulation (create positive relationship to make it
harder for other character to upset main character).
• Break the rules (who cares? Or so long as it doesn’t hurt anyone? or so
long as I don’t get caught?);
• Find a loophole in the rules;
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• Cite rules or laws;
• Ask a superior to intervene;
• Appeal to group loyalty;
• Be quiet and hope for the best;
• Be steadfast and trust to deity / moral principles to achieve objectives;
• Compromise;
• Offer a quid-pro-quo favour exchange;
• Provide logical argument, backed up by data / research / expert
experience;
• Appeal to social norms;
• Plead / beg;
• Don’t try to change the other character - rather try to accept and come
to terms with the other character’s behaviour.
• Pull rank (status / age / education / greater experience etc.)
Cross-Referencing:
One useful idea is to cross-reference your scene notes on setting /

character / culture etc with your world building notes. You can do this by
copying and pasting, or via hyperlinks.
To create a hyperlink:
• select a word in your document;

• right click or ctrl+click to get a pop-up menu;
• select ‘Scrivener Link’;
• choose to link to an existing card, or choose a ‘new card’.
•
•
Text
Scene Title Here
Dramatic Beats
Action
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Reaction
Action
Reaction
Hook
Setting
Where is this scene set?
Have you researched or developed the cultural background to this

setting? What key aspects of your culture does this scene reveal?
What mundane details of daily life will you need to know?
What details do you still need to research / create?

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What would you observe with your five senses about this setting in
this scene? (Shut your eyes and imagine you’re there. Interact with
things. Listen. Smell. Touch. Describe.)
Characters
Which characters appear in this scene?
What physical / emotional / mental situation are your characters in at

the start of this scene and why?
How do your characters present in this scene? What are they

wearing? What state are they in?
What objects / props might your character have in this scene?
Information Revealed
What key information / clues / pieces of the puzzle will you reveal in
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this scene?
What precisely is the information the character / reader understand in

this scene? Is there a misunderstanding or incomplete
understanding?
If the information is important to the character reaching their goal,

what is the price of this information? (Your character may have
already paid it - maybe they had to earn this information? Or maybe
the information itself causes / reveals problems.)
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2 Inciting Incident
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3 Journey to Commitment
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4 Commitment
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5 Pursues Committed Goal 1

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6 Midpoint
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7 Pursues Committed Goal 2

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8 Darkest Moment
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9 Climax
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10 Denoument
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Printable Scene Lists

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Synopsis
Want to work with pen and ink away from the computer, or use a method
which involves less mucking around with Scrivener.
Notes
If you want a printable worksheet, or you just prefer working within tables to creating
actual Scrivener cards, here are two printable scene lists you could use - one set up to
work with a 3 Act Structure, and one that’s free-form.
• For each scene concept

•
• The first column is for you to detail the scene concept, explaining the
situation. If you know it, explain the conflict, how the scene makes
the situation better or worse for the main character, and what hook it
might end on. Note the POV.
•
• The remaining 4 columns are to provide a quick visual reference as
to whether your scenes are dramatically solid. The idea is to use
them as a checklist.
•
• Note whether it is an action [A] scene or a reaction [R] scene or an
action and reaction scene rolled into one [AR]. For more information
about an action/reaction structure, also known as scene/sequel, look
here. But roughly speaking, you should be alternative action scenes
with reaction scenes. If you have a lot of A’s in a row, you may have
some scenes missing and/or a very passive protagonist.
•
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• Note whether there is conflict, whether the scene makes the MC’s
situation better or worse, and whether there is an end hook. You
might do this as a numerical rating out of 10 for the seriousness of
the conflict, because you want a bit of ebb and flow and a gradual
increase in tension.
•
• Note whether the scene changes the MC’s situation for the better or
worse. Judge this by the knowledge the reader would have at the
time of first reading the scene. Note ‘better’ or ‘worse’. If not much
changes or your character’s situation steadily improves without any
backward steps, your story is going to be missing tension.
•
• Note whether your scene ends on a hook. Not every scene has to
end on a hook, but throwing them in fairly regularly will allow you to
structure your chapters in places that keep the reader reading.
Scene List (3 Act)

Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Notes
Explanation
A scene list template for fleshing out a three-act structure. Click on the
‘Table’ option under the ‘Format menu’ to be able to add more rows to a
table.
There are a couple of general observations that can be made about what
makes a good scene structurally. Here is a checklist:
•• Something changes which moves the plot forward in a way

relevant to the central characters (in this case it must be relevant to
A, G, and Z).
•• Contains conflict (can be internal / external, can be implied or
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•• Contains conflict (can be internal / external, can be Your Novel
implied or
explicit).
•• Ends with a hook that leaves the reader with a dramatic
question they really need answered NOW! (The most obvious option
is to end the scene with your characters in mortal peril, but anything
that creates an impression that something interesting is about to
happen in just around the corner works.)
•
• A good sequence of scenes is guided by:
•
• * The notion of scene/sequel (or action/reaction);
• * Gradually rising tension;
• * Fitting into a sound overall structure.
• * Incorporates try/fail cycles where the characters fail before they
succed.
• * Incorporates unexpected changes of fortune.
• * Keeps harmony with the reader’s assumptions by skipping what
would be assumed and illustrating where events may be different
from assumptions.
•
•
•
•
•
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•

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•
•
•
Text
Scene List
First scenes / prologue (if any):

Scene A/R/ Conflict Makes MC’s
Concep AR situation End hook
t better/worse?
Inciting incident:
t better/worse?
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t better/worse?
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Commitment:
t better/worse?
Pursues committed goal:

t better/worse?
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Midpoint:
t better/worse?
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Pursues committed goal:

t better/worse?
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Darkest moment:
t better/worse?
Climax & Surprise:

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t better/worse?
Denoument:
t better/worse?
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Scene List (Unstructured)

Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Notes
Explanation
A free-form scene list template if you’re not working to a three-act structure.
Click on the ‘Table’ option under the ‘Format menu’ to be able to add more
rows to a table.
There are a couple of general observations that can be made about what
makes a good scene structurally. Here is a checklist:
•• Something changes which moves the plot forward in a way

relevant to the central characters (in this case it must be relevant to
A, G, and Z).
•• Contains conflict (can be internal / external, can be implied or
explicit).
•• Ends with a hook that leaves the reader with a dramatic
question they really need answered NOW! (The most obvious option
is to end the scene with your characters in mortal peril, but anything
that creates an impression that something interesting is about to
happen in just around the corner works.)
•
• A good sequence of scenes is guided by:
•
• * The notion of scene/sequel (or action/reaction);
• * Gradually rising tension;
• * Fitting into a sound overall structure.
• * Incorporates try/fail cycles where the characters fail before they
succed.
• * Incorporates unexpected changes of fortune.
• * Keeps harmony with the reader’s assumptions by skipping what
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• * Keeps harmony with the reader’s assumptions by skipping Your Novel
what
would be assumed and illustrating where events may be different
from assumptions.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Text
Scene List
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MY NOVEL TITLE
t better/worse?
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CHARACTERS
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
Develop your characters and how they will fit into your plot.
Notes
QUICK NOTE: Need a place to store your characters online real ‘quick’ and/or for
others to see them as you are developing? Try charahub.com. You can store up to 100
characters, group/ungroup and organize them, for free on your account, and it asks a few
random/relevant questions about your characters too. Images can be included as well.
You can always create a weebly or wix website too (personal or public) if you want more
flexibility. It is a great way to have others see your characters and get comments etc. on
them too (if you share them enough). You can look at others characters as well! As a
reminder, please take the time to read their rules/ToS before posting characters/images, as
not all types of content are allowed.
The tools in this section will help you to develop your characters.
Where to start?
Under the ‘Main Characters’ folder, you will want to create and name a
main character template for each main character.
To do this:
1. Select the Main Character(s) folder in the Binder

2. Hold down the green circle with the plus sign at the top of the window
and choose ‘Main Character’.
3. Rename the folder that you’ve inserted with your character’s name.
4. Fill in as much detail within the worksheets for that character as is
helpful to you.
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Add as many main characters as you like!
*Don’t forget the other detailed chracter profile sheets. You can use one or
more of them if needed too.
Main Character(s)
Status: No Status
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Synopsis
Develop your protagonist in a way that factors in their role in the story.
Notes
Where to start?
Under the ‘Main Characters’ folder, you will want to create and name a
main character template for each main character.
To do this, hold down the green circle with the plus sign at the top of the
window and choose ‘Main Character’. Rename the folder that you’ve
inserted with your character’s name.
Explanation
Most stories have a protagonist, a central character who drives the story
through their actions and reactions, and who the author uses as a tool to
allow us to experience the story vicariously. Usually we are encouraged to
understand, empathise with, and even like this character. Other characters
are secondary.
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Conventional romances have two protagonists—a hero and a heroine.
Some stories are also structured to spend time equally between a couple of
different protagonists, each with their own stories that somehow relate to
each other.
Usually we see the world through the protagonist’s eyes (regardless of

whether in first person or third person), although sometimes we see the
protagonist’s journey through the eyes of a narrator. A character whose
role is to observe the journey of another character while having to make
few important decisions is not a protagonist. The protagonist is the person
the story focuses on.
Allies & Opponents

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Synopsis
Prompts to help you map out the MC’s teams, friends, mentors, useful
associates etc., and the people who stand in their way!
Notes
Isolated MC’s do exist. Who can forget Tom Hanks communing with
Wilson? But hermit MCs are the exception, not the norm. More likely, your
character is going to encounter and have relationships with other people.
This folder is designed to map out how your characters may work
together in relation to the story goal.
Allies
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Most MC’s have a friend if only for moral support. Some MC’s have
partners, sidekicks, mentors, minions, or whole teams who are actively
working with them to pursue a key plot goal.
A team that sets out to achieve a common goal is a bit different from a
bunch of friends, so I have differentiated the questions depending on
whether you are putting together a network of friends or a team. A close-
knit team - such as a family or a small workplace - may be both.
Opponents
Characters will also exist which hinder your MC. Sometimes, the same
character which is an ally in one respect is an obstacle in another respect.
Developing a Team
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Synopsis
Use when developing a bunch of characters that must work together to
complete tasks: colleagues, flatmates, superhero alliances...
Notes
Build Your Team!
A good starting point for building a team is to consider the Belbin Team
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A good starting point for building a team is to consider the Belbin Novel
Team
Roles [PDF]. This offers a framework for thinking about what different
personalities could bring to a team, and the corresponding weaknesses
your team may then have to deal with.
Outline the role of each team member including the MC, and the
positives and negatives of that role for the team. Note that one person may
fulfil multiple roles, and one role may be fulfilled by multiple persons. Ask:
What are the relevant parts of your character’s resume for the purpose of
your plot?
How skilled are your characters at carrying out their assigned roles?
This is where you detail their contribution to the team’s technical expertise,
ability to communicate, obtain resources and information, resolve
disagreements etc.
Now consider how functional your team is. Are team members capable
of resolving their differences? Does competition / rivalry between team
members interfere with pursuing team goals? Do group members feel safe
to open up / express emotion / express disagreement? How well do group
communication styles gel? Are there sub-groups within the group and are
these an issue? (A useful list of team-building behaviours and sabotaging
behaviours can be found here [PDF].)
Text
Develop the MC’s team:
What is the goal of your team and/or what is their common purpose?
Does the team recognise it is a team?
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What personalities fill your team and what role do they play in the team?
What skills do your team members bring to the table?
Does your team have any skill gaps?
How functional is your team?
Who in your group performs team-building tasks?
Does anyone sabotage? How and why?
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Developing Friends
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Synopsis
Use when developing friends that will support and challenge the MC in
interesting ways.
Notes
Explanation
This Wiki on friendship as an excellent list of different types of

friendships at the bottom.
In his book Vital Friends, Tom Rath proposes the following positive
friendship roles:
Text
Develop the MC’s friends
What kind of personalities would challenge or counterbalance the MC?

Explain how.
How would these personalities support the MC?
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Who are the MC’s friends and in what circumstances do they see each
other?
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Antagonists
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Develop the MC’s Opponents:
Who is in competition with the MC? How and why?
Who or what organisations are ideologically opposed to what the MC is /

believes / stands for? What is the reason for their opposition?
Who has the MC hurt?
Further notes:
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Other Characters
Status: No Status
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Synopsis
For all other characters.
Notes
Explanation:
A place to track all other characters.
Under the ‘Other Characters’ folder, you will want to create and name a
template for each character that is not a main character.
To do this:
1. Select the Other Characters folder in the Binder

2. Hold down the green circle with the plus sign at the top of the window
and choose ‘Quick Character Sketch’.
3. Rename the folder that you’ve inserted with your character’s name.
4. Fill in as much detail within the worksheet for that character as is helpful
to you.
5. Add pictures to the Gallery folder for that character.
Add as many characters as you like. As you collect characters it may be

useful to create subfolders to keep them in some kind of order.
Tip: Scrivener has a nifty ‘name generator’ function. Go to the ‘Edit’ menu,
then hover over ‘Writing Tools’, then select the ‘Name Generator’.
136
Your Novel
THEMES / IDEAS
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
Why are you writing this novel? What is it you want to say? Develop your
themes and how these themes can be illustrated by your story. A few random
prompts and themes are included.
Notes
Links to various generators is here.
Key Concepts
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
What are the few key themes, ideas, images or motifs that this book will
focus on?
Notes
Explanation:
137
Your Novel
When writing a novel, it is useful to have a small number of key guiding
concepts. These might help guide the story in writing or editing and give it
coherence, or it might just be a useful springboard for ideas when
developing the story. A key concept might be a theme, a motif, an image,
an idea, or a core character trait. It does not have to be a fully developed
story. It’s about what grabs you and what sparks your imagination.
Examples:
Love triumphing over all odds
A holiday to Florence
What if dinosaurs came back to life?
Truth vs Friendship
A social climber with a heart of gold
A Professor develops Alzheimers
Divorce as unravelling
Return to old-fashioned values
Abortion
A world where children rule adults
The cowboy and the photographer
A moment of betrayal
If you’re not sure what your key concepts are, use the table to
brainstorm. Find key concepts that grab you, then put one or more at the
top of this page.
Text
My Key Concepts Are:
1) blah
2) blah
3) blah
138
Your Novel
BRAINSTORM!
Themes / Ideas Situations / Character / Object

Conflict / Location
139
Your Novel
Dramatisation
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
Turn your abstract ideas and themes into story.
Notes
Explanation
There is a reason people pick up fiction, and it’s not too be lectured by the reader in
page after page of exposition. Novels are allowed to be long because they offer an
experience rather than the dry facts.
Any themes, concepts, and crucial plot points need to be dramatised, they cannot just
be left to a character mentioning them in passing.
Let’s take a story where the main character is allergic to a certain substances. You
could show this by:
- showing the main character exposed to the substance and have a reaction;
- showing the main character taking precautions to avoid the substance;
- showing a medicine cabinet full of anti-allergy medication;
Separately or together, these scenes would ensure the reader grasps that the main
character has this allergy.
One thing dramatisation is NOT is having two characters say the exposition in their
dialogue, even if it’s during an argument. That’s still lecturing the reader, albeit in
dialogue form. Dialogue can be involved in dramatisation, but what’s important is that
the dialogue is part of an action / reaction to the relevant information.
Dramatisation:
“Have you taken your allergy medication?” Mary asked.
140
Your Novel
Joe shook his head irritably. He hated the stuff, but Mary seemed hellbent on making
him take it. He resisted the urge to rub itchy eyes. He hated being reliant on anything.
Not a friend, not prescription medication, and definitely not Mary.
“Joe, you promised me you’d take this seriously!”
Grumbling, he set his newspaper aside and plodded over to the fridge.
Exposition:
“You remember Jane?”
“No, I haven’t seen her since… oh, last June in the doctor’s surgery. You know, when I
was diagnosed with that allergy thing.”
Both are conversations, but in one we see Joe and Mary reacting to the presence of
Joe’s allergy. We see it influencing their behaviour. He has feelings about it and hates
taking it. His eyes are itching. She worries that he doesn’t take it. Joe’s allergy means
something to these people. In the other example, you could replace the information
about the allergy with any random detail and it would still make sense (‘when I was
diagnosed with that allergy thing’, ‘when my dog died’, ‘when it rained a lot’, ‘when I had
to watch paint dry’.)
Even more direct dramatisation would be to show Joe having an allergy attack to the
substance, or taking pains to avoid the trigger even when this disadvantages him.
Maybe he uses it as an excuse to avoid his mother in law.
Occasional exposition of information or a theme is fine, but the reader will lose these
kind of details in the midst of all the goings on of your story. Not to mention too much
exposition becomes boring.
If you want ideas to be the highlight of this novel, and you want the readers to pay
attention to those ideas, then you will get much further with this objective if you
dramatise your ideas. It might also be worth flipping the question round in reverse and
looking at what ideas you have dramatised. What messages and values would the
reader take away from what you have dramatised?
Text
My ideas for situations, characters, and settings to dramatise my
concepts and themes:
Theme / Concept 1:
Describe concept 1
141
Your Novel
Situations:
•d
Characters:
•D
Settings:
•d
Theme / Concept 2:
Describe concept 2
Situations:
•d
Characters:
•D
Settings:
•d
•
Theme / Concept 3:
Describe concept 3
Situations:
•d
Characters:
•D
142
Your Novel
Settings:
•d
•
143
Your Novel
Inspiration
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
This folder is for you to collect pictures and quotes which grab your or
inspire you. If you keep a journal or a Pinterest account, you might collect
those that grab your most, or which you think express something about the
themes and situations of your story.
Quotes
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
Copy and paste quotes that grab you, or seem to capture something about
the story you want to write.
Notes
Seen an interesting quote which seems relevant to your story. Copy and
paste it here.
144
Your Novel
Text
Interesting / Inspiring Quotes:
145
Your Novel
Links
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
Seen an interesting article on the internet which seems relevant to your
story. Copy and paste the link here:
Notes
Seen an interesting article on the internet which seems relevant to your
story. Copy and paste the link here.
Text
Interesting / Inspiring Links:
146
Your Novel
Vocabulary Words
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
Copy and paste vocabulary words that grab you, that you want to try to add
to your story.
Text
Interesting Vocabulary Words:
147
Your Novel
Themes/Words
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
Each theme will list 100 words to use. Create a drabble/short story/novel
etc. with the word(s) as a theme. Some might be repeats. Link to each
complete word(s).
Notes
Write the material, if short or warm up, at the following
locations:
- PANTSERS’ PLACE
- Drabbles
- Flash Fiction
- Short Stories
Theme 1
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
1 to 100 Words
Text
148
Your Novel
THEME 1
1. Introduction
2. Love
3. Light
4. Dark
5. Seeking Solace
6. Break Away
7. Heaven
8. Innocence
9. Drive
10. Breathe Again
11. Memory
12. Insanity
13. Misfortune
14. Smile
15. Silence
16. Questioning
17. Blood
18. Rainbow
19. Gray
20. Cookies
21. Vacation
22. Mother Nature
23. Cat
24. Orly?
25. Trouble Lurking
26. Tears
27. Foreign
28. Sorrow
29. Happiness
30. Under the Rain
31. Flowers
32. Night
33. Expectations
34. Stars
35. Hold My Hand
36. Precious Treasure
37. Eyes
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Your Novel
38. Abandoned
39. Dreams
40. Rated
41. Teamwork
42. Standing Still
43. Dying
44. Two Roads
45. Illusion
46. Family
47. Creation
48. Childhood
49. Stripes
50. Breaking the Rules
51. Sport
52. Deep in Thought
53. Keeping a Secret
54. Tower
55. Waiting
56. Danger Ahead
57. Sacrifice
58. Kick in the Head
59. No Way Out
60. Rejection
61. Fairy Tale
62. Magic
63. Do Not Disturb
64. Multitasking
65. Horror
66. Traps
67. Playing the Melody
68. Hero
69. Annoyance
70. 67%
71. Obsession
72. Mischief Managed
73. I Can't
74. Are You Challenging Me?
75. Mirror
76. Broken Pieces
77. Test
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Your Novel
78. Drink
79. Starvation
80. Words
81. Pen and Paper
82. Can You Hear Me?
83. Heal
84. Out Cold
85. Spiral
86. Seeing Red
87. Food
88. Pain
89. Through the Fire
90. Triangle
91. Drowning
92. All That I Have
93. Give Up
94. Last Hope
95. Advertisement
96. In the Storm
97. Safety First
98. Puzzle
99. Solitude
100. Relaxation
QUICK NOTES:
151
Your Novel
Theme 2
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
101 to 200 Words
Text
THEME 2
1. Name
2. Family
3. Rival
4. Friend
5. Betrayal
6. Cat
7. Sky
8. New
9. Cold
10. Gone
11. Welcome
12. Heat
13. Luck
14. Hate
15. Love
16. Addiction
17. Color
18. Secret
19. Star
20. Planet
21. Voice
152
Your Novel
22. Reflection
23. Rainbow
24. School
25. Memory
26. Joy
27. Pain
28. Soda
29. Dog
30. Robot
31. Moonlight
32. Goodbye
33. Passion
34. Candle
35. City
36. Lost
37. Discovery
38. Found
39. Complete
40. Storm
41. Leader
42. Game
43. Peace
44. Music
45. Bee
46. Meat
47. Rain
48. Light
49. Blood
50. Forget
51. Fear
52. Noise
53. Lie
54. Night
55. Sunset
56. Together
57. Time
58. Shower
59. Computer
60. Plan
61. Doll
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Your Novel
62. Universe
63. Believe
64. Confidence
65. Success
66. Close
67. Conflict
68. Kiss
69. Submission
70. Waffle
71. Rose
72. Paranormal
73. Disgusting
74. Smile
75. Scream
76. Acceptance
77. Power
78. Unknown
79. Emotion
80. Drink
81. Within
82. Food
83. Drown
84. Prisoner
85. Look
86. Home
87. Dream
88. Gift
89. Fireworks
90. Hunt
91. Organs
92. Touch
93. Life
94. Run
95. Burn
96. Existence
97. Moment
98. Photograph
99. Almost
100. Sorry
154
Your Novel
QUICK NOTES:
155
Your Novel
Theme 3
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
201 to 300 Words
Text
THEME 3
1. Twisted Identity
2. Wishes
3. Loss
4. Heroes and Zeroes
5. Loser Like Me
6. Secrecy
7. Memories
8. Love
9. Promises
10. Sunshine
11. Eternity With You
12. Toxic
13. Lullaby and Goodnight
14. Broken Record
15. Hello
16. Possession
17. Fever
18. Terrified
19. Double or Nothing
20. To The End
21. Ribbons
156
Your Novel
22. Senses
23. Dying Light
24. Playing God
25. Spiders web
26. Home
27. Greed
28. Friendship
29. Enemies
30. Smiles
31. Family
32. Toying with Fate
33. So Pretty
34. Magician
35. Experiments
36. Off With Their Heads
37. In Wonderland
38. Ravens and Writing Desks
39. Doctors Orders
40. Don't See
41. Don't Speak
42. Don't Hear
43. Broken
44. Dolls
45. Diamonds
46. Creeping Your Way
47. Below The Belt
48. Bite Me
49. Do You Want To Be Me?
50. When I Grow Up
51. Call My Name
52. Riddles
53. Oath
54. Emotions
55. Kings and Queens
56. Insanity
57. Danger Ahead
58. Tea
59. Devil In Disguise
60. Fallen Down
61. Something in the Air
157
Your Novel
62. Poison
63. Don't Birds Eat Bugs?
64. Dressed to Impress
65. Seeing Red
66. Wine Glass
67. Roses
68. Blood
69. Connotations
70. Shakes of the Coffin
71. Give Me A Sign
72. Under the Rain
73. Screaming
74. So Sick
75. Dance Dance
76. Shooting Star
77. Knock Me Down
78. Ominous
79. Thief
80. What Have We Here?
81. Birthday Cake
82. Jam
83. Misery Loves Company
84. Cuts To My Heart
85. Pocket Watch
86. Time Travel
87. Abuse
88. Betrayal
89. All My Trust
90. Apprentice
91. Master and Servant
92. Contract
93. Contrast
94. Game of Chance
95. Accidents
96. Jump
97. Forgotten
98. Music Box
99. I'll Be Yours
100. Famous Last Words
158
Your Novel
QUICK NOTES:
159
Your Novel
Theme 4
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
301 to 400 Words
Text
THEME 4
1. Beginnings
2. Humor
3. Drama
4. Scary
5. Light
6. Dark
7. Happiness
8. Sadness
9. Balance
10. Anger
11. Murder
12. Medicine
13. Ancient
14. Modern
15. Futuristic
16. Good
17. Evil
18. Naughty
19. Honesty
20. Trickery
21. Creation
160
Your Novel
22. Destruction
23. War
24. Peace
25. Tribal
26. Asian
27. American
28. Rich
29. Poor
30. Water
31. Fire
32. Earth
33. Air
34. Tropical
35. Arctic
36. Birth
37. Death
38. Nice
39. Cruel
40. Shallow
41. Deep
42. Fashion
43. Vanity
44. Gluttony
45. Sloth
46. Pride
47. Spring
48. Summer
49. Autumn
50. Winter
51. School
52. Forest
53. Farm
54. Religion
55. Angels
56. Demons
57. City
58. Flight
59. Bird
60. Beast
61. Fish
161
Your Novel
62. Legend
63. Resurrection
64. Power
65. Storm
66. Rain
67. Love
68. Hatred
69. Wisdom
70. Insanity
71. Friendship
72. Enemy
73. Unknown
74. Known
75. Science
76. Magic
77. Technology
78. Mountains
79. Flatlands
80. Temple
81. Pagan
82. Adventure
83. Home
84. Deity
85. Animals
86. Human
87. Clouds
88. Sky
89. Stars
90. Space
91. Afterlife
92. Family
93. Passion
94. Success
95. Failure
96. Superiority
97. Mediocrity
98. Music
99. Virus
100. Endings
162
Your Novel
QUICK NOTES:
163
Your Novel
Theme 5
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
401 to 500 Words
Text
THEME 5
1. Christmas
2. Pirate
3. Bows
4. Nature
5. Paradise
6. Summer
7. Rock Star
8. Bubble
9. Random
10. Winter
11. Fire
12. Upside-down
13. Crystal
14. Royalty
15. Spring
16. Underwater
17. Snow
18. Magical Girl
19. Flirt
20. Carousel
21. Myths
164
Your Novel
22. Laser
23. Doctor Who
24. Mushroom
25. Cats
26. Military
27. Chocolate
28. Halloween
29. Pinup
30. Fear
31. Skin
32. Neon
33. Emotion
34. Holiday
35. Lace
36. Garden
37. Sparkle
38. Cherry Blossom
39. Carnival
40. Thigh Boots
41. Candy
42. Tropical Birds
43. Belly Button
44. Stars
45. Sin
46. Warrior
47. festival
48. Fast Food
49. Disney
50. Fireworks
51. Flowers
52. Patriot
53. Demonic
54. Cupcake
55. Jedi
56. Gemstones
57. Autumn/Fall
58. Cirque du Soleil
59. Space
60. Working Girl
61. Silhouette
165
Your Novel
62. Peasant
63. Ice Cream
64. Burlesque
65. History
66. Fruit
67. Sephiroth
68. Superhero
69. Rainbows
70. Tropical Island
71. Dance
72. .Peacock
73. Mocha
74. Tea
75. Plaid
76. Ultimecia
77. Red Carpet
78. Monochrome
79. Cardboard
80. Kingdom Hearts
81. School
82. Fire and Ice
83. Fantasy
84. Leather
85. Colour
86. Futuristic
87. Butterflies
88. Childhood
89. Jem
90. Bad Girl
91. Hearts
92. Illusion
93. Luxury
94. Spy
95. Undead
96. Desert
97. TRON
98. Soda
99. Love
100. Grand Finale
166
Your Novel
QUICK NOTES:
167
Your Novel
Theme 6
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
501 to 600 Words
Text
THEME 6
1. Birth
2. Enthusiasm
3. Love
4. Hate
5. Triumph
6. Feel
7. Wrecked
8. Soft
9. Cold
10. Without
11. Inspiration
12. You
13. Confused
14. Affection
15. Joy
16. Horror
17. Acceptance
18. Sympathy
19. Holding
20. Defeated
21. Pride
168
Your Novel
22. Knife
23. Overwhelmed
24. Depressed
25. Adoration
26. Worship
27. Zeal
28. Light
29. Exhaustion
30. Obsession
31. Rage
32. Empty
33. Anger
34. Fury
35. Delight
36. Submission
37. Infatuation
38. Anticipation
39. Pessimistic
40. Jolly
41. Grasping
42. Agitation
43. Calm
44. Astonished
45. Loneliness
46. Lust
47. Longing
48. Tender
49. Hard
50. Rebirth
51. Amused
52. Broken
53. Abused
54. Tranquil
55. Composed
56. Glad
57. Stress
58. Serenity
59. Colorful
60. Coping
61. Boisterous
169
Your Novel
62. Placid
63. Tired
64. Bliss
65. Neglect
66. Fine
67. Question
68. Energetic
69. Noble
70. Disgust
71. Lively
72. Power
73. Pity
74. Humiliation
75. Satisfied
76. Thankful
77. Hyper
78. Goosebumps
79. Worthless
80. Remorse
81. Degraded
82. Revenge
83. Fulfilled
84. Shame
85. Graceful
86. Shining
87. Content
88. Feelings
89. Pleased
90. Relief
91. I
92. Zest
93. Tears
94. Building
95. Optimistic
96. Thrilled
97. Dealing
98. Reflect
99. Embarrassment
100. Death
170
Your Novel
QUICK NOTES:
171
Your Novel
Theme 7
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
601 to 700 Words
Text
THEME 7
1. Laziness
2. Sleep
3. Love
4. Pride
5. Loneliness
6. Tears
7. Flower
8. Rain
9. Smile
10. Blank
11. Darkness
12. Insanity
13. Mother's love
14. Forest
15. Phone Call
16. Writing
17. Memory
18. Rage
19. Sweets
20. Addicted
21. Pillow
172
Your Novel
22. Butterfly
23. Rainbow
24. Water Nymph
25. Bad Priest
26. Kill
27. Happiness
28. Sister
29. Door
30. Blanket
31. Black Board
32. Long dress
33. Chalk
34. Creamy Wash[ It's facial foam that will turn into a creamy thing when used.
If you have no facial foam like this in your place/city/country, just change it
to regular facial foam.]
35. Handbag
36. Daydream
37. Crimson
38. Little girl
39. Sea
40. Lies
41. Work
42. Hairpin
43. Together
44. Draw
45. Star
46. Angel of Aurora
47. Procrastinator
48. Sin
49. Pray
50. Twins
51. Lamp
52. Slap
53. Love in the air
54. Headache
55. Hide
56. Connection
57. Freak
58. Words
59. Lettters
173
Your Novel
60. Pencil
61. Moonlight
62. Soul
63. Music
64. Crowd
65. Envy
66. Jealousy
67. Beautiful
68. Yawns
69. Sakura
70. Revenge
71. Ninja
72. Sword
73. Pudding
74. Chocolate
75. Sick
76. I'm okay
77. Picture
78. Help
79. Apologize
80. Princess
81. Apple
82. Sunny day
83. Tired
84. Friendship
85. Sparkle
86. Ice cream
87. Itchy
88. Injured
89. Cold Personality
90. Kindness
91. Lucky
92. Oriental
93. Sweat dropped
94. Crystal
95. Freedom
96. Hat
97. Breeze
98. Snow
99. Protect the world
174
Your Novel
100. Utopia/The Perfect World
QUICK NOTES:
175
Your Novel
Theme 8
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
701 to 800 Words
Text
THEME 8
1. Names
2. Hardship
3. School
4. Opinion
5. Break Up
6. New Love
7. Alley
8. Riddle
9. You and Me
10. I Do
11. Secret
12. DO NOT ENTER
13. Colors
14. Cruel
15. Kings, Queens, and Jokers
16. Run Free
17. Where are the Crackers?
18. Life
19. R is for Revenge
20. Burning
21. Do You Want To Know?
176
Your Novel
22. Discovery
23. Birthday
24. Rocks Aren't the Same
25. Shadow
26. Fate
27. Freedom Isn't Free
28. Wildflowers
29. Energy
30. Notes
31. Numbers
32. Dying Fire
33. Breaking Point
34. Fish
35. Trapped
36. Dancing
37. Don't Go
38. Alone
39. Betrayal
40. Due Date
41. Sealed in Blood
42. Impossible
43. Party
44. Sparkle
45. Be a Man
46. Go For a Swim
47. Am I Dreaming?
48. Too Good To Be True
49. BAD
50. %
51. Elemental Tempest
52. Too Late
53. But I DIDN'T Do It
54. Hot
55. Optimism
56. Lucky
57. I'm In
58. Slightly Disturbed
59. Loathing
60. Worse
61. Speak
177
Your Novel
62. Toys
63. Ocean
64. Deceived
65. Black and White
66. Whatever
67. Death
68. Jump
69. Broken Promise
70. All the Little Things
71. Six Feet Underground
72. Bug
73. Alibi
74. On Holiday
75. No News
76. Under the Stars
77. Running Away
78. Window
79. Make Me Happy
80. Villain
81. Masquerade
82. Don't Make a Sound
83. Cold
84. Umbrella
85. Please
86. To and From
87. Say When
88. On Top of the World
89. Forgiveness
90. MrMom
91. Doomsday Clock
92. Gold
93. Unstoppable
94. Race
95. Time is Running Short
96. Not Over Yet
97. This is Home
98. Almost
99. Tranquil
100. Peace at Last
178
Your Novel
QUICK NOTES:
179
Your Novel
Theme 9
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
801 to 900 Words
Text
THEME 9
1. Challenge accepted
2. Hold together
3. Love
4. Hate
5. Eager
6. Hungry
7. Potty emergency
8. Hellooooo sexy girl/boy
9. Nice to meet you
10. Pouting
11. Sulking
12. I'm gonna kill you
13. You're the best!
14. Epic fail
15. I win!
16. Taaaag!
17. That's my little sister
18. Embarrassing moment
19. [Insert Fandom/Other Character[ It means what it reads. Imagine a character from
a book/anime/movie/manga/cartoon or one of your other original characters meeting
yours.]] meeting your OC/MC
180
Your Novel
20. Slap!
21. Misfortune
22. Bleeding
23. Silence
24. Bath
25. Voice actor
26. Busted!
27. Relaxing
28. New special friend
29. Singing
30. Cat
31. Dog
32. Bird/Fish (choose one)
33. Baby
34. Crying
35. Fanatic fan
36. Glomp
37. Escape
38. You're my pet now
39. I'm fat
40. Fluffy
41. Naughty
42. Where are my clothes?!
43. Thief
44. Gotcha!
45. Unlucky day
46. Busy
47. Drawing
48. Under the rain
49. Eyes
50. Blind
51. Kiss
52. Blushing
53. Memories
54. Childhood
55. Teamwork
56. Breaking the rules
57. Like a superhero
58. I love you
59. Related
181
Your Novel
60. Friendship
61. Silly
62. Danger
63. In a fairy tale
64. Trap
65. Obsessed
66. Almost
67. How could you?!
68. Mine!
69. Curious
70. Original
71. Listening music
72. Leave it to me
73. Secret
74. Couple
75. Upside down
76. Nightmare
77. Fear
78. Under wear
79. Sexy
80. Devastated
81. Live
82. Locked up
83. Boredom
84. School
85. Free time
86. Drunk
87. Cigarette
88. I can't
89. Food
90. Pain
91. Steal
92. Asleep
93. Parodying
94. Pirate
95. Labyrinth
96. Friends
97. Enemy
98. It's time for...
99. Maniacs
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100. Good idea, bad idea
QUICK NOTES:
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Theme 10
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
901 to 1,000 Words
Text
THEME 10
1. Teddy Bear
2. Evil
3. Cat
4. Ninja
5. Honey
6. Cubed
7. Hunger
8. Bird
9. Spring
10. Smile
11. Friends
12. Canine
13. Depression
14. Big Ears
15. Birthday
16. Dead
17. Dress-Up
18. Game
19. Blind
20. Rawr!
21. Hat
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22. Fish
23. Beast
24. Bob
25. Upside Down
26. Strawberry
27. Fluffy
28. Family
29. Alien
30. Monster
31. Summer
32. Cake
33. Stripes
34. Nightmare
35. Monkey
36. Fantastical
37. Elderly
38. Devilish
39. Rain
40. Purple
41. Triangular
42. Bug
43. Legend
44. Emo
45. Time
46. Black & White
47. Pirate
48. Robot
49. Autumn
50. Spooky
51. Sea Creature
52. Skinny
53. Orange
54. Scar
55. Sleepy
56. Music
57. Magic
58. Doll
59. Plant
60. Food
61. Insane
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62. Bunny
63. Black
64. Sunny
65. Wings
66. Shiny
67. Llama
68. Get Well Soon
69. Love
70. Round
71. Scary
72. Zombie
73. Rainbow
74. Butterfly
75. Famous
76. Cute
77. Blue
78. Anger
79. Cookie!
80. Gift
81. Human
82. Winter
83. Grey
84. Twins
85. Angelic
86. Tears
87. Superhero
88. Fruity
89. Royalty
90. Fire
91. Eyes
92. Patches
93. Baby
94. Veggy
95. Flower
96. Tiny
97. Virus
98. Tropical
99. Funny
100. Supersize
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QUICK NOTES:
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Prompts
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
Each page will list 10 prompts to use/explore. Create a drabble/short
story/novel etc. with the prompt. Some might be repeats. Link to each
complete prompt(s).
Notes
Write the material, if short or warm up, at the following locations:
- PANTSERS’ PLACE
- Drabbles
- Flash Fiction
- Short Stories
Some places for writing prompts:

* Seventh Sanctum TM
* creativewritingprompts.com
* The Journal
* writingprompts.tumblr.com
* Daily Writing Prompts (for really detailed prompts, not all fiction)
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Prompt 1
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Notes
From http://www.yayeahyeah.com/2012/10/nanowrimo-writing-
prompts.html
Text
1. Write a flashback scene to the week before your novel starts.
2. Write a scene where two of your characters who AREN'T in a relationship
kiss.
3. Write a scene where your main character argues with his or her best friend.
4. Write a scene which has less than six lines of dialogue.
5. Write a scene set in a hot-air balloon.
6. Play a random song (using your iPod, Spotify, or whatever) and write a
scene inspired by it.
7. Open the nearest book to you at a random page, read the first full line of
dialogue, write something in response to it and build a scene around your
response.
8. Write a scene where a character loses an item of clothing.
9. Write a scene in which a character talks to their pet.
10. Write a scene in which your character recites a poem. (But don't just choose
an epic poem and use it to pad out your word count!)
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Prompt 2
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Notes
prompts.html
Text
1. Write a scene in which 2 characters converse only in song lyrics.
2. Write a scene when your main character is being told off by one of their
parents.
3. Write your main character's profile for an online dating site.
4. Write a conversation between your main character and their favourite
celebrity. (Either an actual encounter or something they imagine.)
5. Write a monologue in which your main character tries to convince someone
else that their 'guilty pleasure' TV series is worth watching.
6. Write a scene in which your main character becomes a superhero.
7. Write a scene in which your main character dances.
8. Write a scene in which your main character talks to someone on Facebook
chat.
9. Write a conversation between two of your characters on Twitter.
10. Write a scene from the POV of a character who ISN'T your narrator.
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Prompt 3
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Notes
prompts.html
Text
1. Use this line to start a scene. “Do you have any idea how to fix this?”
2. Write a sentence which includes the titles of three different novels in it.
3. Write an epilogue showing your main characters five or ten years after the
book ends.
4. Start a scene with the worst first line you can possibly create.
5. Write a scene in the style of a classic novel.
6. Write a scene in which your main character sees a spider in his or her
bedroom.
7. Write a scene involving at least one drunk person.
8. Write a scene in which two or more of your characters watch a sporting
event. (Either live or on TV)
9. Write a scene in which your character wins a bet.
10. Write a scene which starts and ends with the same sentence. (Repeated,
rather than just a one-sentence scene!)
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Your Messages
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
Intentionally or unintentionally, the creative choices in your novel will say
something about your values, how you see the world, and how you think the
world ought to be seen. These world views will attract or repel readers, so
it’s worth thinking about what you’re saying and the force and
reasonableness with which you’re saying it.
Text
How sophisticated is your approach to moral dilemmas?
There is moral reasoning that is considered more sophisticated and less

sophisticated, and there are psychologists who have set out to define and
measure the sophistication of moral reasoning.
Frameworks for measuring moral reasoning include Kohlberg’s moral
stages[1] [2] [3]. This provides a useful discussion of a range of different
approaches to a moral dilemma. You may or may not agree that
Kohlberg’s got the order right and some of these are better and some are
worse, but it is good food for thought. If your novel compassionately
recognises of a range of competing perspectives about an issue, this will
most likely embrace more readers and offer more insights than a black and
white presentation.
Of course, there are places for black and white. Younger children may
find it difficult to understand or dislike some complex moral reasoning. If
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find it difficult to understand or dislike some complex moral reasoning. If
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you decide to go into shades of grey, you will need to do more to bring the
reader with you. Older children and adults too do not always pick up books
to meditate on complex ethical questions - often they turn to fiction craving
the simplicity and certainty of good guys and bad guys. They want
something that is fun, playful, and relieves stress. There is room for some
middle ground too, where you have nods to the fact a situation is morally
complex, but don’t dwell on it.
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Reader Expectations...
Created: Friday, July 24, 2015 12:40:11 AM
Modified: Friday, July 24, 2015 12:42:04 AM
Status: First Draft
Label: Ideas
Synopsis
What, can we assume the average reader will consider occurs in the story?
List of every conceivable occurrence the average reader might be expecting,

then turn each expectation on its head, inserting the unexpected wherever
possible. Another facet for mining ideas.
Notes
This doc is based on the books, Outlining Your Novel: Map Your Way to Success,
and Structuring Your Novel: Essential Keys for Writing an Outstanding Story both
by KM Weiland.
Text
What’s unexpected?
1) That someone isn’t who he seems.
2) That someone is unexpectedly alive.
3) That someone is unexpectedly dead, and someone is working hard to make it seem as if he is
alive.
Once you’ve selected a few ideas that might work, start looking for tangents: If such and such
happened, then what if this happened? Or what if this happened instead? The possibilities are
endless.
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1a - Expectation
1b - Alternative outcome
2a - Expectation
3a - Expectation
4a - Expectation
5a - Expectation
2
What if…
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6a - Expectation
3
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PANTSERS' PLACE
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
Hate outlining? Have outlined as much as you can and are now stuck? Do
you figure it out by writing it? Here’s the place where you can just start
writing… with a few suggestions.
Notes
Explanation
Just write. Start from the beginning or start anywhere. (Anything that doens’t fit can be
chucked in the ‘scene fragments’ folder.) Sometimes this is what you need to get your
creative juices flowing.
No idea what to write about?
- Pick a writing prompt. Write stream of consciousness if that works. Some places for
writing prompts:
* Themes/Words
* Prompts
* The Journal
Having trouble shutting up your inner editor and just writing?
- Set a timer for 10 minutes (or longer) and challenge yourself to get down the most
words.
- Race another writer to get the most words down (known in NaNoWriMo as a ‘word
war’)
- Try writeordie.com free web app (starts annoying you if you don’t keep writing)
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- Try Written? Kitten! (rewards you with adorable pictures of kittens when you reach a
certian number of words)
- Get up at 5am and start writing before you are fully awake. Write whatever comes to
mind.
Start Writing Here

Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Notes
Explanation
writing prompts:
* Themes/Words
* Prompts
* The Journal
words.
war’)
195
- Try Written? Kitten! (rewards you with adorable pictures of kittens when you reach
Your a
Novel
mind.
Done? Rename this card and drop into scene fragments or wherever you like!
You can pull up another card with these notes by using the ‘Start Writing Here’
template.
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Scene Fragments
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
This folder is for you to collect ideas for scenes, or chunks of writing you
might want to use for scenes. They might be summaries, a few lines of
dialogue, or even whole scenes that may or may not fit precisely in the plot
but which relate to the novel somehow.
Notes
Explanation
Create cards to store ideas for scenes and scene fragments before you know where
exactly they will fit into your novel.
WORLDBUILDER
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
Most obviously useful for spec fic and historical fiction, but not without
value for contemporaries. In any novel, your character still interacts with
their setting, cultures, and subcultures. This is a very detailed/thorough
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their setting, cultures, and subcultures. This is a very detailed/thorough
worldbuilder 'maker'. Includes the questions from the SFWA's worldbuilder
and belindacrawford's worldbuilder scriv.
Notes
If you are writing spec fic, you can’t go past the SFWA’s worldbuilding questions (which
are already included here)
The World/Planet
Status: No Status
Label: Locations
Synopsis
About the planet itself.
Notes
Adapted from Droemar’s article “5 Tips: World-Building Template”.
http://droemar.deviantart.com/journal/5-Tips-World-Building-Template-224630229
All comments in brackets are Droemar’s.
Text
Planet/satelite
System, Sector/quadrant
Controlling party/faction
Class Type Satellites Native

Population
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Native
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Population
species
Moons, etc.
Capital city Colours Symbol Government Affiliation(s)
Feudal, caste,
democracy,
etc
Major cities
City (continent/region)
Description
Population
Races
(The races that inhabit the area, whether or not they’re native.)
Predominant religion(s)
(Monotheism? Pantheism? Atheism? Name and describe them as needed.)
Common physical characteristics

(Common physical characteristics of long-term inhabitants and native peoples:
skin colour, hair colour, build, dress)
Culture
Mannerisms
(The likely way someone behaves if they’re from this place. Because believe me,
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a fur-wrapped barbarian behaves in a very different way than a Greek
statesman.)
Cuisine
(What do people from this country eat every day? On festival days? As
delicacies? Taboo?)
Leisure
(What do people here do in their spare time? For fun?)
Greetings
(What is considered an acceptable greeting? In formal setting? Among friends?
Family?)
Customs
(The habits of a people that make them unique. Google it if you’re confused.)
Superstitions
(Knowing the power irrational explanations have over a populace can sometimes
be good story material.)
Beliefs
(Do I really have to explain this one? This alone can be your story.)
Rituals
(Birth? Coming-of-age? Marriage? Death? Justice?)
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Festivals
(What do people celebrate? What are considered holidays? Why?)
Transport
(How do people move things? Armies? Crowds? Goods? Animals?)
Weather patterns
(Tropical? Stormy? Cold? Earthquakes? Climate in general?)
Resources
(What does the planet export? Import? Make? Is famous for?)
History
(Everyone comes from somewhere. People just don’t up and appear on islands
and such. I mean, even Native Americans walked across a land bridge way back
in the day. Europeans came from Romans and Greeks and Celts and Gauls and
more. Very few people bother to look at this aspect of world-building, and they
really should. Even if a civilization has been around for two thousand years and
are elven dragon riders, they came from somewhere. Even if their mythology
says they crawled out of the earth: they came from somewhere. Examine it!)
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Planetary classifications
Status: N/A
Label: No Label
Notes
This is a fictional planetary classification system, used in the Star Trek franchise.
There doesn’t appear to be a real world version.
Text
Planetary classifications
Class A, B and C
Typically small, young planets whose class depends on their age and solidity of their
cores.
Class D
Class D objects are planetoids like asteroids and some moons. Regula, the site of the
underground second stage of the Genesis experiment in Star Trek II: The Wrath of
Khan, is a Class D planetoid. The USS Voyager also encountered Class D planets in the
Delta Quadrant, one in the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Gravity" and one in the episode
"Emanations".
Class E, F and G
Typically, Proto-Earth-sized planets whose class depends on their age and solidity of
their cores.
Class H
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Class H planets appear in the series as harsh desert worlds. The planet Tau Cygna V
visited by the USS Enterprise-D in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The
Ensigns of Command" was designated as a Class H world.
Class I
Class of gas giant, larger than Class J, and smaller than Class S and T.
Class J and T
Class J and Class T planets are gas giants. Class J are smaller than Class T which are
considered "super", or "ultra", gas giants. In the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode
"Starship Down", the USS Defiant enters the atmosphere of a Class J gas giant to
rescue the crew of a Karemman ship attacked by the Jem'Hadar. The USS Voyager
encounters a Class T Super-Giant in the Delta Quadrant with "radiogenic" rings in the
Voyager episode "Good Shepherd".
Class K
Class K planets are barren worlds with no native life. However, through terraforming,
they can be made into Class M worlds. In the original Star Trek series episode "I,
Mudd", the planet Mudd was designated in dialogue as Class K.
Class L
Class L planets are barely habitable worlds with primitive ecosystems. In "The Chase",
the planet Indri VIII is indicated in dialogue as Class L. In "The 37s", the planet on
which Amelia Earhart and others are stranded is a Class L planet with an oxygen–argon
atmosphere. In "Muse", the planet on which B'Elanna Torres' shuttle crash lands is
described as a Class L planet, which also supports Bronze Age humanoid life. In
"Timeless", the USS Voyager' crashes into a Class L planet with an arctic climate. In
"The Ascent", Quark and Odo crash-land on a desolate Class L planet.
Class N
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Class N planets have a reducing environment and are barren and rocky with extremely
high surface temperatures caused by thick atmospheres containing carbon dioxide and
corrosive sulfides. In "Night Terrors", Class N environments were mentioned as the ideal
places to use oxidizer-free explosives. The Tholian are said to have come from an N
Class planet in the Star Trek: The Lost Era book The Sundred. The game Star Trek: The
Next Generation - A Final Unity mentions that Class N planets are more related to Class
M with the key difference being a higher ratio of water to land.
Class O and P
Planets covered almost completely with water (class O), or water–ice (Class P).
Class Q
Planets with continually changing environments caused by peculiar orbits, an orbit
around a variable output star, or some other factor which causes conditions to
drastically change over time.
Class R
A rogue planetary body, which is one that does not orbit a star but drifts freely in
space. However, not all rogue planets are classified as Class R; for instance, in Star
Trek: Deep Space 9 episode "The Search", the Founders homeworld in the Omarion
Nebula is referred to as a "rogue" Class M planet. But this is probably a rare situation as
most planets that don't belong to a star system would not be able to support life.
Class S
Class of gas giant smaller than Class T and the next larger size up from Class I.
Class T
The largest class of gas giant. Smaller gas giants are, in order of decreasing size, Class
S, I, and finally J.
Class Y
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Class Y planets are referred to as "Demon" worlds, where surface conditions do not fall
into any other recognized category. Such worlds are usually hostile and lethal to
humanoid life. If life develops on these worlds they usually take on many bizarre forms,
like living crystal or rock, liquid or gaseous physical states, or incorporeal, dimensional,
or energy-based states. In the series, examples of Class Y "Demon" planets include
Tholia, the "Silver Blood" planet discovered by the USS Voyager in the Delta Quadrant
in the episode "Demon" and later mentioned in "Course: Oblivion", and the home world
of the incorporeal Medusans.
Class X and Z
Reserved for other designations of "demon" planets.
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Basics
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
● Are the laws of nature and physics actually different in this world, or are
they the same as in real life? How does magic fit in? How do magical beasts
fit in?
ANSWER
● Is this generally an earthlike world? Is it an “alternate Earth”?

ANSWER
● Are there different human races, whether or not there are nonhumans
like elves or dwarves?
ANSWER
● How does the cultural and ethnic diversity of this world compare to the real
world?
ANSWER
● How long have there been people on this world? Did they evolve, or did
they migrate from somewhere/when else?
ANSWER
● How many people are there in this country? How does this compare with
world population?
ANSWER
● What is considered a small town/large town/city in terms of number of
people?
ANSWER
● Where does magic power come from: the gods, the “mana” of the world (as
in Larry Niven’s “Warlock” stories), the personal willpower or life force of
the magician, somewhere else? Is magic an exhaustible resource? If a
206
●
the magician, somewhere else? Is magic an exhaustible resource? If a

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magician must feed his spells with his own willpower, lifeforce, or sanity,
what longterm effects will this have on the health and/or stability of the
magician? Do different races/species have different sources for their magic,
or does everybody use the same one?
ANSWER
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Alternate Earth
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
● Are there nonhuman inhabitants of this planet (elves, dwarves, aliens)? If

so, how numerous? How openly present? What areas do they occupy
(examples: dwarves in mountains or caves, elves in forests, etc.)?
ANSWER
● How similar are the history and culture of the alternate earth to real history
and culture? Why is it so similar/different?
ANSWER
● Is there a specific historical point where this world split off from ours (e.g.,
Napoleon won at Waterloo)? If so, what was it? How long ago was it? How
much has changed and will continue to change as a result? Is the split in
history a result of the presence of magic, or is the change the thing that
made workable magic a possibility?
ANSWER
● If there is no specific point of divergence, what are the differences between
this imaginary world and the real one? How obvious are they in everyday
life? If magic exists but history is more or less the same, why has it had no
effect? If magic works, elves exist, etc., but most people don’t know it, how
and why has this been kept secret?
ANSWER
● If magic is known to exist, which historical events have changed and which
are the same? How have organized religions reacted? Governments?
Ordinary people? What laws and/or professions are different? What effect
will the general and specific differences have on the social questions below?
ANSWER
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Not Earth at All

Status: No Status
Label: No Label
● How does this world differ physically from earth? Is it the same size (same
density, same gravity), same ratio of land/water, same atmosphere, etc.?
Does it have more than one sun or moon? Rings? Are there spectacular
constellations/comets, etc. visible at night or by day?
●
ANSWER
● Are there nonhuman inhabitants of this planet (elves, dwarves, aliens)? If
so, how numerous? How openly present? What areas do they occupy?
●
ANSWER
● How are the continents laid out? If there is more than one moon/sun, how
does this affect winds, tides, and weather generally?
●
ANSWER
● How much land is there, and how much of it is habitable?
●
ANSWER
● Is the axial tilt and orbit the same — i.e., does the world have the same
seasons and same length of year as Earth?
●
ANSWER
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Geography
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
A folder to keep maps, descriptions of places, and geographical data.
Documents are of Physical and Historical Features.
Notes
See ‘Image Synopsis’ for help on creating a fantasy map/world.
General
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
● In which geographical areas will the story take place? How much ground
will the story cover? What are the most striking features of landscape,
climate, animals, etc. in thisarea? How will these features affect travel time,
communication, etc.?
●
ANSWER
● If there are nonhuman inhabitants, are there any areas they particularly
claim as their own (e.g., dwarves traditionally live underground, usually in
mountains)?
●
ANSWER
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Climate and Geography

Status: No Status
Label: No Label
● Have human activities affected climate, landscape, etc. in various regions?

How? (Example: Sahara Desert growth has been increased by overfarming.)
If this is an alternate earth, will the “alternate” part change existing effects?
(If there are no people in N. Africa, desert growth is probably slower.)
●
ANSWER
● How do differences from Earth (multiple suns, moons, etc.) affect the
climate in various areas?
●
ANSWER
● How much land is in each of the equatorial, temperate, and polar zones?
Note: climate affects landscape through erosion and weathering; the distribution
of plants and animals, and formation of soil. As a result, it determines what crops
can and can’t be grown, what animals can and can’t live in an area, what clothes
must be worn to cope with the weather, and how houses are built. Winter freezing
and thawing may change travel patterns, as waterways freeze or flood and passes
close. Weather also affects available sports, like skiing. Are all these things
consistent with what you say the climate is like in particular areas?
●
ANSWER
● Where are major mountain ranges? Rivers and lakes? Deserts? Forests,
tropical and otherwise? Grasslands and plains?
●
ANSWER
● If there are imaginary animals (dragons, unicorns, etc.), how do they fit into
the ecology? What do they eat? How much habitat do they require? Can
they live anywhere, or do they prefer or need specific kinds of climate or
terrain? Are they intelligent and/or capable of working spells, talking, etc.?
●
ANSWER
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Natural Resources
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
● Which areas are the most fertile farmland? Where are mineral resources
located?
●
ANSWER
● Which animals, birds, fish, and other wildlife are commonly found in which
areas? If there are imaginary animals such as dragons, where do they live?
●
ANSWER
● Which natural resources, if any, have been depleted in which areas over
time?
●
ANSWER
● Which resources (e.g., coal, oil, iron ore, gold, diamonds, limestone, etc.)
are particularly abundant, and in which areas? Which are scarce? Are there
places where there are rich deposits that haven’t been discovered yet, or
where they haven’t been fully exploited?
●
ANSWER
● How much conflict has been or might be caused by these imbalances in
resources? How much active, peaceful trade?
●
ANSWER
● What water resources available, and for what uses (a mill wheel requires
flowing water, i.e., river or stream; irrigation needs a large, dependable
water source like a lake or large river; etc.)?
●
ANSWER
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World History
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
● How far back are there records or tales of historical events? How widely
known are these stories?
●
ANSWER
● Do average people believe old tales, or do they dismiss some that have a
basis in fact (e.g., Troy)?
●
ANSWER
● How long have there been people on this world? Did they evolve, were they
created by the gods, or did they migrate from somewhere else? If there are
nonhumans, how long have they been around and where did they come
from?
●
ANSWER
● How similar is the history and culture of an alternate earth to real history
and culture? Why is it similar/different?
●
ANSWER
● Where did civilization begin? What directions did it spread? How was its
development affected by the presence of magic? The presence of nonhuman
races, if any? The actions or direct interventions of the gods?
●
ANSWER
● Which peoples/countries/races have traditionally fought, allied, traded, or
been rivals? Where are there still hard feelings about old events?
●
ANSWER
● Which peoples/countries/races have been in conflict in the recent past?
Why? When and why was the most recent war? Who won?
●
ANSWER
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● Which peoples/etc. are considered the most civilized? Which are most
technologically advanced? Which are most magically advanced? Least
advanced? Why?
●
ANSWER
● Is there a single, generally accepted calendar (including time
measurements), or do different countries or peoples or races have different
ones?
●
ANSWER
● How many languages are there? Which ones are related (e.g., the Romance
languages) and why? Which languages borrow words or phrases from other
languages? Which is likely to be most widely spoken?
●
ANSWER
● Is there a “trade language” that facilitates commerce between countries that
don’t speak the same tongue? Is there a “universal language” spoken by
educated or noble persons, as Latin was in the Middle Ages?
●
ANSWER
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Specific Country(s) History

Status: No Status
Label: No Label
● How accessible is this area? What natural features mark the borders? Who
are the neighboring countries/peoples and what are they like?
●
ANSWER
● Why did people settle in this country in the first place — strategic location,
trade route, water transport, minerals, good farming, etc.? Have things
changed much since, or do they still depend on whatever brought them in
the first place?
●
ANSWER
How do the weapons of this country compare with those of surrounding
cities and countries? Have there been recent innovations that may upset the
balance of power, or is everyone more or less equal?
●
ANSWER
● Who are the rivals or enemies of this country? How close are they
physically? How powerful?
●
ANSWER
● Who are the heroes and villains of each country’s history (e.g., Washington
and Lincoln in the U.S.; Henry V in England, etc.)? Why are they
heroes/villains and what do this say about the country and the people who
admire them?
●
ANSWER
world population? What is considered a small town/large town/city in terms
of number of people?
●
ANSWER
● How diverse is the population of this country — how many different races
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(human or nonhuman), creeds, etc. normally live in various cities and towns
in this country? In what percentages?
●
ANSWER
● Is population shifting from rural to urban, south to north, mountains to
coast, etc.? Why — invasion, plague, gold rush, etc.? What effects has this
had on the places being left? The places gaining people?
●
ANSWER
● Is magic legal here? All magic, or only some types? Do laws vary widely
from country to country, or is the attitude generally similar?
●
ANSWER
● What does this country import? Export? How important is trade to the
economy? How is currency exchange handled, and by whom? What is the
system of coinage, and who mints it?
●
ANSWER
Why? When and why was the most recent war? Who won?
●
ANSWER
● Which peoples/countries/races fought, allied, traded, or were traditional
rivals? Where are there still hard feelings about old events?
●
ANSWER
● How much of the country is farmland? Forest? Desert? Mountains? Plains?
●
ANSWER
● What are the primary crops (e.g., potatoes, cotton, tobacco, coffee, rice,
peanuts, wheat, sugarcane, etc.)? Are any grown mainly for export? What
crops can not be grown here because of the soil, climate, or for other
reasons?
●
ANSWER
● What water resources available, and for what uses (a mill wheel requires
flowing water, i.e., river or stream; irrigation needs a large, dependable
water source like a lake or large river: etc.)?
●
ANSWER
● What wild animals, actual or imaginary, live in this area? Are any of them
216
● What wild animals, actual or imaginary, live in this area? Are anyYourofNovel
them
potentially useful — e.g., for fur, whale oil, hides, magical ingredients, hat
feathers?
●
ANSWER
● Which animals, actual or imaginary, are commonly domesticated in this
area? Which aren’t here, but are elsewhere? (Example: water buffalo in
India vs. oxen in Europe vs. camels in desert areas.)
●
ANSWER
● How do most of the citizens make their living — farming, fishing, trade,
manufacturing? Do nonhumans tend to take up different trades from
humans? Are they legally limited to certain trades?
●
ANSWER
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Cultures
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
A folder to keep details of the cultures and subcultures of your characters.
Mostly magic stuff.
Notes
If you are writing spec fic, you can’t go past the SFWA’s worldbuilding questions
Quick Tips about Fantasy Culture

Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Read the PDF file titled, On Dothraki and House Elves: Developing
Fantasy Cultures, provided here.
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(Basic) Magic Systems

Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
W.B. 101 - Making Magic article is included. With the questions and all.
Answering them can take place on the same page or create another to
answer them seperately.
Includes:
- Rules for Magic System

- Types of Magic
- Consquences of Magic
Notes
Check out this useful article
http://clwilson.com/2008/03/01/worldbuilding-101-making-magic/ (included already, this

is it)
Text
Worldbuilding 101 –
Making Magic
Posted by CL Wilson as Magic, Magical Systems, Worldbuilding
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Double, double, toil and trouble. Fire burn and cauldron bubble…
~ Shakespeare’s MacBeth
In this long-delayed (and for that I do so apologize. Deadlines, you know)

continuation of my Worldbuilding 101 series, we’re going to talk about creating
credible magical systems for your world.
Because magic is by definition the most fantastic element of your created

world, creating the specifics of your magic system can either fascinate readers or
destroy all suspension of disbelief. That’s why it’s imperative you devote
appropriate time, attention, and detail to the creation of a plausible and well-
defined magic system.
I’m big on “discover as you go” but the basics of the magic are the one
concrete foundation I absolutely MUST establish from the get go. Don’t do this,
and woe betide you.
The Magic Must Make Sense

The number one rule when creating magic is this: create your rules, then
follow them.
It doesn’t so much matter how your magic works but that it works the same
way, every time. In other words, be consistent.
This does not mean you cannot have surprises or have your characters learn
new magical techniques. But don’t have “The Door That Cannot Be Opened”
suddenly be opened at will, without effort or struggle or some logical explanation.
Here are a few questions you can ask yourself to begin building rules for
your magic system:
● What can your magic do?

■ ANSWER: b
● What can your magic not do? As always, limitations are just as important as
capabilities.
■ ANSWER: b
■ Does your magic require totems, wands, potions, or other paraphenalia, or

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■ Does your magic require totems, wands, potions, or other paraphenalia, or
can your conjurers work their magic at will, without accoutrements?
■ ANSWER: b
● Is there a limit to how much magic someone can wield? A physical, mental,
or other price to using the magic (or particular types of magic)?
■ ANSWER: b
■ Where does the magic of your world come from? Is is inherent in all living
things? Is it a gift from the gods (or devils?)? Is it a byproduct of some other
activity? Is it passed genetically?
■ ANSWER: b
● Who can wield magic and how do they get it? Is it a genetic trait or
something that is studied? Do they use it instinctively? Must they train to
use it? Do different races wield different kinds of magic?
■ ANSWER: b
● Can a person lose his / her magic? How? Once lost, can the magic be
regained?
■ ANSWER: b
● Can magic be counteracted? Spells be broken? Often times, particular

environmental / physical “nullifiers” cause particular magics not to work.
■ ANSWER: b
● Are there specific dangers / vulnerabilities magic wielders possess? Think

the evil witch in Wizard of Oz who melted when water was thrown on her.
Garlic holds off vampires; silver bullets kill werewolves. What are the
threats to your magic wielders?
■ ANSWER: b
One trap to watch out for (and it can be easy to fall into) is the lure of
creating “all powerful” beings. Do not! Be sure even the most powerful magic
wielders in your world have a vulnerability. (Remember from my earlier post:
Bambi v. Godzilla. No contest.) Your magic wielders should not be gods — unless,
of course, you’re writing a story about gods (but in those cases, the antagonists are
not likely to be mere mortal).
Types of Magic
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There are many different types of magic. when you are choose what type of
magic system to use, consider what your story is about, consider the theme of your
story, and chose a magic system that will help you illustrate that theme. If all you
do is throw cool magic into your book, you’re missing half the value and purpose
of using it!
Many vampire novels, for instance, are really books that explore the themes
of humanity and godhood, sin and salvation, redemption and damnation, life and
death, light and dark. For that reason, most vampire magic throws those themes
into conflict. Vampires have eternal life, but in a dead body.
Here are a few ideas for types of magic:
Elemental Magic: Earth, Water, Fire, Air. This could be the ability to
manipulate nature (ie., control an existing fire, make a river suddenly roar up like a
herd of racing horses, etc.) or it could be the ability to use the elements and
“create” something that doesn’t exist (make water fountain in the desert, raise
mountains, start fires, etc.).
Demon / Djinn Magic: Magic worked by summoning demons or djinns.

Ofetn involves knowing “names” of demons/djinns and using some sort of
summoning spell to enslave them. The demon/djinn is often collared or cuffed
(with magical enslavement manacles) and often tied to some physical device.
Witchcraft/Wizardry: Usually involves spells, potions, wands etc.

Typically considered a “craft” in that study improves abilities, but most
witches/wizards are born with magical ability.
Psy Talents: “Magic” worked through mental powers. Includes telepathy,

telekensis, teleportation, precognition, etc. Genetic manipulation, some sort of
“awakening event” (ie, near death experience, radiation, etc.) or hereditary
influence are three common causes for psy talents.
Weather Magic: Ability to control or manipulate wind, storms, rain,

lightning, etc.
Beast Magic: Often involves communication or control of animals, birds,

and/or fishes. Sometimes includes shapeshifting. Sometimes merely allows the
user to see through the eyes and senses of animals. Some forms of “beast magic”
222
user to see through the eyes and senses of animals. Some forms of “beast magic”
Your Novel
take the form of “totem animals” where a particular beast spirit guides the magic-
wielder or has some sort of psychic connection to him or becomes the type of
animal a magic-wielder can shift into.
Rock/Crystal Magic: Ability to wield magical powers using crystals. Often

used for healing, scrying, etc.
Metallurgical Magic: Magic tied to specific types of metal objects (often

swords, mail, sheilds, etc have special magical properties. Typically, metallurgical
magic is embued by special forging / smelting techniques. (Dwarven axes, Elvish
swords, etc.
Astrological/Planetary Magic: Magic tied to the movement of the stars,

moons and planets in the heavens. Often used for precognitive events and for
“special days” where certain magical events can only happen during specific
planetary/solar/universal alignment events.
Blood Magic: Blood is frequently used as a vital component in performing

magical rituals. As, literally, the liquid of life, blood frequently has inherent
magical abilities. Often used for “sacrificial” magical spells.
Necromancy: Magic associated with the ghosts and spirits of the dead.
Bone/Relic Magic: Runes are frequently etched on the bones of animals,

witches, saints and used to fortel the future. Holy relics collected and presumed to
have “holy” magical abilites were bones of saints, bits of cloth from clothes they
wore, splinters from the cross, etc.
Creature Magic: Magical creatures often can transfer certain of their

magical powers to individuals who have/use part of the creature. Dragon scales,
for instance, could be used for an unbreakable shield, Dragon’s teeth for a
poisonous sword or dagger, the pelt of a griffin might be impervious to flame, for
instance. Creatures can also have special magical powers of their own that
characters can use/covet. Unicorns horn is said to purify waters, for instance, and
as we all saw in Harry Potter, phoenix tears have death-defying healing powers.
Divine Magic: Gods can impart gifts to their favorites. Such gifts, however,
usually come with a high price. Prayers/miracles and direct diety-intervention are
also possible forms of magic.
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Mirror Magic: Mirrors have long been considered as having magical

properties. They could be windows to the past or future, scrying devices, even
portals to another world
Time Magic: The ability to manipulate time, time travel, etc.
As you can tell by just the (actually very SMALL!) list above, the types of
magic are limited only by your imagination.
Consequences of Magic
If there is magic in your world, there are consequences of that magic.
Because necessity is the motherhood of invention, technology (science) is far less
likely to thrive in a society where magic is prevalent. Why invent a computer when
a wizard can create magical implements that do the same thing? Why worry about
telegraphs when psychics can just send thoughts zooming at light speed?
Now, if magic is not ubiquitous, its perfectly reasonable to expect that non-
magical beings will turn to science as a counterbalance and as a form of self-
defense (or find some other way to “control” the magical ones. Ooh…loads of
opportunity for conflict there!).
This is not to say it’s impossible to create worlds where science and magic
blend. Star Wars (laser guns vs. light sabers and “The Force”) did it quite nicely,
and Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern series combine the magic of dragons
(telepathy, teleportation) with science as well. (Though in her books, the more
advanced society lost a vast amount of their scientific advances and reverted to a
more “medieval” society before engaging in a renaissance of scientific discovery
and exploration.)
Whatever your magic, you should consider how it fits in (1) the context of
your story and story themes and (2) the context of your world. And don’t forget:
take your time to create thorough, well-thought out rules for your magic, and be
sure to follow them!
Happy writing!
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Rules of Magic
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
● What things can magic not do? What are the limits to magical power? How
do magicians try to get around these limits?
●
ANSWER
● What is the price magicians must pay in order to be magicians — years of
study, permanent celibacy, using up bits of their life or memory with each
spell, etc.? Does anyone ever try to get around the price of magic?
●
ANSWER
● Is there a difference between miracles and magic? If so, how are they
distinguished?
●
ANSWER
● Where does magic power come from: the gods, the “mana” of the world, the
personal willpower of the magician? Is magic an exhaustible resource? If a
magician must feed his spells with his own willpower, lifeforce, or sanity,
what longterm effects will this have on the health and/or stability of the
●
ANSWER
● How does a magician tap his/her magic power? Does becoming a magician
require some rite of passage (investing one’s power in an object, being
chosen by the gods, constructing or being given a permanent link to the
source of power) or does it just happen naturally, as a gradual result of much
study or as a part of growing up?
●
ANSWER
● What do you need to do to cast a spell — design an elaborate ritual, recite
poetry, mix the right ingredients in a pot? Are there things like a staff, a
wand, a familiar, a crystal ball, that are necessary to have before casting
225
●
Yourcasting
wand, a familiar, a crystal ball, that are necessary to have before Novel
spells? If so, where and how do new wizards get these things? Do they make
them, buy them from craftsmen, inherit them from their teachers, or order
them from Wizardry Supplies, Inc.?
●
ANSWER
● Is there a numerical limit to the number of wizards in the world? What is it?
Why?
●
ANSWER
● How long does it take to cast a spell? Can spells be stored for later, instant
use? Does working spells take lots of long ritual, or is magic a “point and
shoot” affair?
●
ANSWER
● Can two or more wizards combine their power to cast a stronger spell, or is
magic done only by individuals? What makes one wizard more powerful
than another — knowledge of more spells, ability to handle greater levels of
power, having a more powerful god as patron, etc.?
●
ANSWER
● Does practicing magic have any detrimental effect on the magician (such as
becoming addictive, fomenting insanity, or shortening life-span)? If so, is
there any way to prevent these effects? Are the effects inevitable to all
magicians, or do they affect only those with some sort of predisposition? Do
they progress at the same rate in everyone? Are they universal in all species,
or are some races (dwarves, elves, whoever) immune to these detrimental
effects?
●
ANSWER
● How much is known about the laws of nature, physics, and magic? How
much of what is commonly known is wrong (e.g., Aristotle’s ideas about
human anatomy, which were wrong but accepted for centuries)?
●
ANSWER
● What general varieties of magic are practiced (e.g., herbal potions, ritual
magic, alchemical magic, demonology, necromancy, etc.)? Do any work
better than others, or does only one variety actually work?
●
ANSWER
● Are certain kinds of magic practiced solely or chiefly by one sex or the
other? By one race or another? Is this because of inborn ability, natural
226
●
Yournatural
other? By one race or another? Is this because of inborn ability, Novel
preferences, or legislation?
●
ANSWER
● Does a magician’s magical ability or power change over time — e.g.,
growing stronger or weaker during puberty, or with increasing age? Can a
magician “use up” all of his/her magic, thus ceasing to be a magician? If this
happens, what does the ex-magician do — die, retire, take up teaching, go
into a second career, start a freelance consulting business?
●
ANSWER
● Can the ability to do magic be lost? If so, how — overdoing it, “burning
out,” brain damage due to fever or a blow, etc.?
●
ANSWER
● Can the ability to work magic be taken away? If so, how and by whom?
(Traditional example: certain spells that can only be worked by virgins;
raping such a witch robbed her of her powers.)
●
ANSWER
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Your Novel
Wizards
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
● Does practicing magic have any detrimental effect on the magician (such as
becoming addictive, fomenting insanity, or shortening life-span)? If so, is
there any way to prevent these effects? Are the effects inevitable to all
magicians, or do they affect only those with some sort of predisposition? Do
they progress at the same rate in everyone? Are they universal in all species,
or are some races (dwarves, elves, whoever) immune to these detrimental
effects?
●
ANSWER
● What is the price magicians must pay in order to be magicians — years of
study, permanent celibacy, using up bits of their life or memory with each
spell, etc.? Does anyone ever try to get around the price of magic?
●
ANSWER
● How do various religions,if any, view magic? Do any forbid it? Why or why
not? Do any require priests/priestesses to be magicians? Do any forbid
magicians from holding some or all religious offices?
●
ANSWER
● How long does it take to learn magic?
●
ANSWER
● Is magic a profession, an art, or just a job? What is the status accorded to
magicians in this society? Are they the equivalent of shyster lawyers,
politicians, and used car salesmen, or are they considered average working
stiffs, or are they looked up to and admired?
●
ANSWER
● Are wizards organized? How? What hierarchy, if any, do they recognize?
What happens if the person/people at the top get killed? Who takes over?
How soon?
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Your Novel
●
ANSWER
● Can anyone become a wizard, or does one need to be born with some
special talent or gift?
●
ANSWER
● Are different races/intelligent species good at different types of magic? If
so, what types are associated with what races/species? Are there species that
use magic more or less unconsciously — for instance, dragons using magic
to fly without being consciously aware of it, or werewolves using magic to
change?
●
ANSWER
● Can you make a living practicing magic, or do you have to have
independent means? If you can make a living, what are you doing —
making magic swords, or making it rain for local farmers? What’s a wizard’s
job market like? What’s a wizard’s average income, relative to the rest of
society?
●
ANSWER
● Are magicians a force in politics, or are they above it? Are there national
politics that revolve around magic/wizards (i.e., trying to outlaw, protect, or
promote certain kinds of magic, trying to draft wizards into a ruler’s army,
licensing of magicians, etc.)? Do wizards have a lobby? Do they need one?
●
ANSWER
● Does it require a license to be a wizard? If so, is it more like a driver’s
license (something nearly everyone in our culture gets upon coming of age)
or like a doctor’s license (something only a small percentage of the
population will ever get)? Who certifies wizards: government, wizard’s
guild/AMA, local priests?
●
ANSWER
● How do local people view wizards? Are they good guys, bad guys, Clint
Eastwood (call in only to get rid of dragons), regular working stiffs, ivory-
tower academics, nuisances who make it rain when you’re plowing,
dangerous folks to stay away from?
●
ANSWER
● How do you get to be a wizard/magician? Does it require inborn talent,
study and hard work, practice, or all of the above?
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Your Novel
●
ANSWER
● Are wizards barred from certain kinds of government jobs or offices? Do
some government jobs require that their holder be a wizard?
●
ANSWER
● If magic requires study, where do you go to learn about it? How do people
fund their training? Is there an apprenticeship system, or are there wizard
schools, or is it one-on-one tutoring/mentoring? Is an untrained wizard
dangerous, or just an ordinary person?
●
ANSWER
● Do wizards have a special language that is used for magic? If so, where do
they learn it? Is it safe to chat in this language, or is everything said in it
automatically a spell? If so, how can it safely be taught to new students?
●
ANSWER
● Is magic considered a science, or are scientists and wizards enemies or
rivals? Are magic and science compatible? To what degree does the
presence of magic, magical objects, and wizards replace technology (for
example, a chest that is enchanted to keep its contents cold could replace the
refrigerator)? Duplicate technology? Supplement technology?
●
ANSWER
● Are wizards above or below the law — I.e., do they have full rights as
citizens, no rights, or can they do as they like without regard to anyone
else’s rights?
●
ANSWER
● Is the relative power of a country or ruler usually measured by the size of
the army, the number and ability of his wizards, or the amount of money at
his disposal?
●
ANSWER
● Can two or more wizards combine their power to cast a stronger spell, or is
magic done only by individuals? What makes a powerful magician?
●
ANSWER
● What do you need to do to cast a spell — design an elaborate ritual, recite
poetry, mix the right ingredients in a pot? Are there things like a staff, a
wand, a familiar, a crystal ball, that are necessary to have before casting
230
●
wand, a familiar, a crystal ball, that are necessary to have before

Yourcasting
Novel
spells? If so, where and how do new wizards get these things? Do they make
them, buy them from craftsmen, inherit them from their teachers, or order
them from Wizardry Supplies, Inc.?
●
ANSWER
● Where does magic power come from: the gods, the “mana” of the world, the
personal willpower of the magician? Is magic an exhaustible resource? If a
magician must feed his spells with his own willpower, life-force, or sanity,
what long-term effects will this have on the health and/or stability of the
●
ANSWER
● How does a magician tap his/her magic power? Does becoming a magician
require some rite of passage (investing one’s power in an object, being
chosen by the gods, constructing or being given a permanent link to the
source of power) or does it just happen naturally as part of growing up, like
puberty?
●
ANSWER
● Does a magician’s magical ability or power change over time — e.g.,
growing stronger or weaker during puberty, or with increasing age? Can a
magician “use up” all of his/her magic, thus ceasing to be a magician? If this
happens, what does the ex-magician do — die, retire, take up teaching, go
into a second career, start a freelance consulting business?
●
ANSWER
● Is a magician’s lifetime normally longer or shorter than average? Why?
Does this vary for different races/species? Are there races/species all of
whose members are magicians?
●
ANSWER
● Are there fashions/fads in magic — are herbal spells “in” this year and ritual
spells “out,” or vice versa?
●
ANSWER
● Are certain spells (as opposed to magic generally) illegal? Why — because
of the effect of the spell, or because of the ingredients or procedures needed
to cast it, or what? If so, how would a criminal magician be detected?
Apprehended? Punished? Is catching and punishing illegal magicians the
responsibility of the magician’s guild, or do the ordinary courts have to
231
●
Yourhave
responsibility of the magician’s guild, or do the ordinary courts Novel
to
handle it?
●
ANSWER
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Magic and Technology

Status: No Status
Label: No Label
● Are there magical means of transportation (teleport spells, magic carpets,

dragon-riding)? How do they compare in speed, safety and expense to non-
magical means? Are there any drawbacks to magical travel (for example,
teleport sickness)? How commonly are they used, and for what purposes
(industrial shipping vs. travel for fun)?
●
ANSWER
● Are there magical means of rapid communication? How commonly are they
used? For what purposes?
●
ANSWER
● Are magical weapons available? Can magic be used in warfare? In what
ways? Are spells fast enough to be useful in hand-to-hand combat, or is
magic more of a siege weapon, used only for long, slow things?
●
ANSWER
● How has the presence of magic affected weapons technology? Can magic
make weapons more effective? Do you have to do anything special to walls,
armor, or weapons to make them better able to resist enemy spells?
●
ANSWER
● How has the presence of magic affected weapons technology? Can an
ordinary, non-weapon-type object be enchanted to make it extremely lethal
(the Frying Pan of Death) or will this work properly only on things that are
already weapons? Can ordinary objects be enchanted to make them (or their
user) supremely good at something (the Frying Pan of Ultimate Gourmet
Cooking, the Comb of No Bad Hair Days Ever)? How common and useful
are such enchantments?
●
ANSWER
● To what degree does the presence of magic, magical objects, and wizards
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Yourwizards
● To what degree does the presence of magic, magical objects, and Novel
replace technology (for example, a chest that is enchanted to keep its
contents cold could replace the refrigerator)? Duplicate technology?
Supplement technology?
●
ANSWER
● Can spells and/or magical items be mass-produced? Are there magic carpet
factories and boutiques selling magic rings?
●
ANSWER
● Can spells and/or magical items be used to increase the efficiency of
manufacturing or mass production? Do businesses keep a wizard on retainer,
as modern businesses might keep a lawyer or efficiency expert? What,
exactly, are they paying for?
●
ANSWER
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Misc. Magic Questions

Status: No Status
Label: No Label
● Are the laws of nature and physics actually different in this world (to
accommodate magic), or are they the same as in real life? How does magic
fit in? How do magical beasts fit in?
●
ANSWER
● If there are imaginary animals (dragons, unicorns, etc.), how do they fit into
the ecology? What do they eat? How much habitat do they require? Are they
intelligent and/or capable of working spells, talking, etc.?
●
ANSWER
● Where did civilization begin? What directions did it spread? How was its
development affected by the presence of magic? The presence of non-
human races, if any? The direct or indirect action of the gods?
●
ANSWER
● In what ways can magic or spells be abused? How often does this happen?
●
ANSWER
● Which peoples/races/cultures are considered the most civilized? Which are
most technologically advanced? Which are most magically advanced? Least
advanced?
●
ANSWER
● Is magic legal? All magic, or only some types? Do laws vary widely from
country to country, or is the attitude generally similar?
●
ANSWER
● What wild animals, actual or imaginary, live in this area? Are any of them
potentially useful — e.g., for fur, whale oil, hides, magical ingredients, hat
feathers?
●
ANSWER
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Your Novel
● Are there magical beasts, like dragons and unicorns? If so, which ones?
How many? Are they common, or are some endangered species? Have any
been domesticated?
●
ANSWER
● Are there magical artifacts (rings, swords, etc.)? If so, who makes them and
how? Are the spells permanent, or do they wear off after a while?
●
ANSWER
● Where is scientific and/or magical research done — universities, private
labs, under the auspices of the ruler/government, etc.?
●
ANSWER
● Given the magical/technological level of this society, what is an appropriate
ration of farmers or food producers to urban residents? If farm production is
based on magic, how many urban residents are going to starve if the spells
supporting farming (weather, land fertility, etc.) fail suddenly?
●
ANSWER
● What are the major political factions at present? How long have they been
around? Which factions are allies, which enemies? Are there any potential
new forces on the political scene (e.g., a rising middle class, a university
gaining unexpected power because of certain magical discoveries, etc.)
●
ANSWER
●
ANSWER
● How much has the presence of magic affected strategy and tactics in
general? Is magic used primarily for intelligence gathering (spells of
invisibility, scrying, etc.), or are there spells that are of use on the battlefield
(summoning a demon to attack the enemy, casting fire storms at them, etc.)?
If battlefield magic is possible, how can it be defended against?
●
ANSWER
● Is healing generally a magical process? If so, how does the magical healing
talent work? Does a magical healer have to consciously direct the healing
236
●
talent work? Does a magical healer have to consciously direct Your
the healing
Novel
process (meaning that lots of knowledge of anatomy, etc., would be
required), or does magical healing simply speed up the normal, unconscious
healing process in the patient? Is there more than one kind of magical healer
(as there are surgeons, eye doctors, etc.)? Are there both magical and non-
magical healers, and if so, are they rivals or simply different specialties?
●
ANSWER
● What level is medicine at? Who are the healers? Do you have to have a
talent to heal, or just training? Who trains healers, herbalists, apothecaries,
surgeons, magical vs. nonmagical healers, etc.?
●
ANSWER
● Is forensic magic possible? Commonly used? Used only for certain types of
crimes (and if so, what)? Are the results of forensic spells admissible in
court as evidence? Is it something any wizard can do, or do you have to
specialize?
●
ANSWER
● Are there separate civil and criminal courts? Human and non-human courts?
Is there a separate court or procedure for magical crimes? What is different
about each type of court? Are judges or other court officials
required/forbidden to know magic? Is evidence obtained by magic
acceptable in court? Is evidence obtained by magic considered more reliable
or less reliable than physical evidence or eyewitness accounts?
●
ANSWER
● Can magic be used in the arts, and if so, how — paint that glows, pictures
that move, flutes that play themselves, etc.? How do “normal” artists feel
about this? Is there a separate branch of purely magical art, such as illusion?
●
ANSWER
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Art
Status: N/A
Label: No Label
Entertainment
Status: N/A
Label: No Label
Diversity
Status: N/A
Label: No Label
Point 01
Status: N/A
Label: No Label
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People and Customs

Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
Includes general and everyday life/things. Eating, gestures, the language etc.
General and Customs

Status: No Status
Label: No Label
● Do average people believe old tales, or do they dismiss some that have a
basis in fact (e.g., Troy)?
●
ANSWER
● Do wild and rebellious young people dress any differently from anyone
else? Are they allowed to?
●
ANSWER
● How do most people make a living here?
●
ANSWER
● Does the weather or climate contribute any habits or customs, such as the
mid-afternoon siesta in hot countries?
●
ANSWER
● What is considered a normal family unit? How extended is an extended
family? How important are family connections and responsibilities?
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●
ANSWER
● What are the rites of passage in this culture? Are they formalized rituals,
such as being dubbed a knight, or are they informal? Are they different for
men and women? For nobility and peasants?
●
ANSWER
● What customs surround a birth and the introduction of a new child to the
family? Is the mother sequestered for some period? Is the child? Is there a
formal presentation of the new child to parents, grandparents, overlord,
priest? Is a feast and celebration declared, or does everyone keep a low
profile to keep from attracting demons or bad luck?
●
ANSWER
● Who is normally present for births? Is it strictly a matter for women, or are
men involved, or is the only woman present the expectant mother?
●
ANSWER
● Who raises the children? At what age do they begin to be educated or
trained? By whom? Are they considered mini-adults? Do they dress
differently from adults? If so, when do they change to adult dress?
●
ANSWER
● What customs surround death and burial? Is there a special class of people
(doctors, priests, funeral directors, untouchables) who deal with dead
bodies? What things must be done and why (burn hair to free spirit, burn
body to prevent necromancy, coins on eyes for ferryman, etc.)? Are the dead
feared, revered, or ignored?
●
ANSWER
● What personal weapons are available to anyone who can afford them? Are
some considered “for nobles only” either by custom or by law? Are there
laws forbidding certain classes from being armed at all?
●
ANSWER
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Eating
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
● Do men and women, parents and children, servants and master, eat
separately, or does everyone eat together? How is status displayed at the
table (seating above or below the salt, near or far from the head, etc.)?
●
ANSWER
● What dishes are considered holiday food? What foods/drinks are associated
with particular holidays, events (e.g., funerals, weddings) or times of the
year?
●
ANSWER
● What distinguishes a formal, high-court dinner from an ordinary meal,
besides quantity and variety of food? How do high-court manners differ
from everyday ones?
●
ANSWER
● What eating utensils are used, if any? Forks, eating knife, spoons,
chopsticks?
●
ANSWER
● What is the order of a typical upper-class meal — do they start with wine,
then a sweet, then a stew, then a salad, or do they bring everything in at
once?
●
ANSWER
● Are special arrangements necessary for entertaining guests of different
races/species — taller chairs for dwarves, raw meat for werewolves, perches
for harpies, etc.? How do the eating customs of different races reflect their
cultures and biology? How difficult does this make social interaction among
the races?
●
ANSWER
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● Is sanitation good enough for untreated water to be safe to drink? If not,
what do people drink instead?
●
ANSWER
● What shapes are tables/eating areas (round, oblong, square, rectangular,
etc.)? Where is the “place of honor” for a guest? Where do the important
members of the household sit/recline/whatever?
●
ANSWER
● What things, while edible, are never eaten (what’s not kosher)? Why? Are
some common human foods poisonous to dwarves or elves (or vice versa)?
●
ANSWER
● What types of food or seasoning are characteristic of different races?
Different cultures? Different countries?
●
ANSWER
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Greeting and Meeting

Status: No Status
Label: No Label
● When meeting someone, how are they greeted — wave, handshake, bow,
some other gesture? How did the greeting gesture originate (example:
shaking hands to prove one’s weapon hand was empty)? Is there a special I-
am-not-armed gesture for wizards?
●
ANSWER
● Is there a difference between the greeting offered to an equal and that
offered to a superior or inferior? Is there a difference between the greeting
offered a man or a woman? Human/non-human?
●
ANSWER
● Is there a way of changing a greeting gesture to make it insulting?
●
ANSWER
● How are two people who have never met normally introduced to each other?
What is the order of precedence when there are several people of differing
sex or social status present, all of whom need to be introduced to each
other?
●
ANSWER
● Are there classes of people/beings who are never introduced to other classes
of people/beings? Are “true names” significant, and if so, under what
circumstances would someone be given another person/being’s true name?
●
ANSWER
● Are there customs involving the way in which someone is named when
being introduced (for example: giving all of a person’s names and titles at
the first meeting, but never repeating them afterward, so that he’s always
referred to as “George” even though he’s introduced as the Duke George
Edward Canterbury Gorden de la Suis-Foule, Marquis of Horsham,
Whitewater and Framingham, Earl of St. Peter’s Close, and Vicount of
243
Whitewater and Framingham, Earl of St. Peter’s Close, and Your Novel
Vicount of
Abernathy)?
●
ANSWER
● Is there any difference in the way you greet someone you already know,
compared to greeting a stranger (or does everybody just always hug or shake
hands or whatever)? How does someone acknowledge seeing an
acquaintance at a distance (passing on the other side of the street) — by a
nod, tipping the hat, wave, smile, or not at all?
●
ANSWER
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Gestures
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
● When meeting someone, how are they greeted — wave, handshake, bow,
some other gesture? How did the greeting gesture originate (example:
shaking hands to prove one’s weapon hand was empty)?
●
ANSWER
● Are gestures and body language in this society generally subtle or not? Do
people talk with their hands, or is that considered vulgar?
●
ANSWER
● Is there a way of changing a greeting gesture to make it insulting?
●
ANSWER
● What is a comfortable and polite speaking distance for people in this
culture? Other cultures/countries/races? How aware are people of these
differences?
●
ANSWER
● What gestures are insulting? What do they mean? Do some gestures differ in
meaning depending on the culture, race, or time (example: the American
“V”-for-victory sign, which became the peace sign, and which is/was highly
insulting in Europe)?
●
ANSWER
● How do gestures and body language differ between countries? Between
species? Are there things that don’t matter in one area that are mortal insults
in another (eating with the left hand, etc.)?
●
ANSWER
● What are the ways of showing respect (bowing, saluting, etc.)? To whom is
one expected to show such respect — one’s elders, superiors in rank,
teachers, priests, etc.?
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●
ANSWER
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Visits
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
● Are there questions that must be asked or avoided (how’s the family, how’s
the business, never talk politics or religion, etc.)? Are there topics that can
only be raised by the host? The guest?
●
ANSWER
● How seriously does the culture take the responsibilities of host and guest?
What rules define when someone becomes a host or guest (e.g., in mid-
eastern countries, giving bread and salt to someone makes the person your
guest; giving a 5-course meal without bread or salt doesn’t)?
●
ANSWER
● What things are considered courteous to offer a guest: food, reading
material, personal guards or attendants, music/entertainment, a person of the
opposite sex to sleep with?
●
ANSWER
● What is considered a courteous response to a host’s offer? Are there things it
is considered rude to accept? Rude to turn down? Rude to ask for? Rude not
to ask for?
●
ANSWER
● When a guest arrives, is food or drink offered immediately, after an interval,
or only on request? Is there a particular food or drink that is customary to
offer a newly arrived guest?
●
ANSWER
● How do different eating customs of the various cultures and races interact
and conflict? Example: a person from a culture that considers it impolite to
refuse an offer of food being the guest of someone whose culture considers
it impolite to stop offering food until the guest says “when.”
●
ANSWER
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Language
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
Includes an indepth guide on creating your own language.
Text
●
ANSWER
● Are some or all people bilingual? Is there a common second language many
people know?
●
ANSWER
● Are there “secret” languages or codes known only by priests, soldiers,
wizards, guild members, etc.? Why were they developed?
●
ANSWER
● What are the variations in speech patterns, syntax, and slang from one social
class to another? One occupation to another? One region to another? One
race to another?
●
ANSWER
● What areas do local slang phrases come out of? (Example: in a fishing town,
referring to good luck as “a good catch,” while people in a farming town
refer to it as “an unexpected harvest”.) What kinds of colorful turns of
phrase do people use?
●
ANSWER
● What things in this culture would their language have many specific words
249
● What things in this culture would their language have many specific words
Your Novel
for (e.g., Inuit languages that have 14+ words for different kinds of snow)?
What do the people in this culture consider important enough to name?
What does this say about the way they look at the world?
●
ANSWER
● What things would the people of this culture not have a name for, or have
one word that covers numerous variations? What do they consider too
unimportant to name? How does this affect the way they see the world?
●
ANSWER
● Are there words that must never be spoken except at particular times, in
ceremonies, or under particular circumstances? Are there words that must
not be spoken in polite company? Do these words differ from culture to
culture or race to race?
●
ANSWER
● What will people swear a binding oath by? What do people use as curse
words?
●
ANSWER
● How many languages are there? Which ones are related (e.g., the Romance
languages) and why? Which languages borrow words or phrases from other
languages? Which is likely to be most widely spoken?
●
ANSWER
● Are there different languages for different races (dwarves, elves, etc.), or is
language based more on geography than race/species? Is there a special
language you need to learn in order to talk to dragons or other magical
beasts?
●
ANSWER
●
ANSWER
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Indepth Guide to Linguistics

Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
A guide (quick?) on how to create or form your own language(s) correctly.
Notes
From http://www.zompist.com/kit.html
Text
The guide was too epic to simply copy and paste the guide into this outliner.
But fear not! A link to it can be found here in PDF form. Contents follow as
such:
1. The Basics
2. Grammar
3. Writing/Writing it Down
There are links in the PDF file. It would be best to visit/click them, or the site if
the links are not clickable in the PDF file.
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Ethics and Values

Status: No Status
Label: No Label
● What will people swear a binding oath by? What do people use as curse
words?
●
ANSWER
● What is the most desired/most valuable stuff in this society — gold, jewels,
drugs, money, furs, reindeer, etc.? Why is it desired/valued? Do different
races value different things? Is there a race/culture for whom non-material
things (information, time) are the most valuable things? How did they get
that way?
●
ANSWER
● What things are considered normal and acceptable in this society that would
not be considered normal or acceptable in yours? (Examples: dueling, drugs,
open homosexuality, polygamy, infanticide.)
●
ANSWER
● What things are considered shocking in this society that are not considered
shocking in yours — e.g., showing a woman’s ankles, eating left-handed,
reading in public? What would be the reaction of an ordinary person who
sees someone doing one of these things — to turn away, call the cops, draw
a sword and challenge the offender to a duel, etc.?
●
ANSWER
● What are the acceptable limits to honor and/or honesty in this society? Are
“white lies” acceptable socially, or is lying in any form considered beyond
the pall? Is thievery an accepted, if disreputable, occupation, or is it a
crime?
●
ANSWER
● Is a binding oath unbreakable no matter what, or can you get out of it if the
other party turns out to be evil scum or if you weren’t fully informed? What
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●
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other party turns out to be evil scum or if you weren’t fully informed? What
is considered the right thing to do if two oaths come into conflict — do you
have to decide as best you can, hold to the most recent oath, hold to the oath
to the most/least powerful person, commit suicide?
●
ANSWER
● What are attitudes toward ownership? What constitutes “theft” and what can
be stolen — gems, gold, someone’s good name or reputation? Are thieves
independent criminals, members of an illegal guild, business people licensed
by law, or what?
●
ANSWER
● Who is considered a citizen, with the rights and privileges thereof? What are
those rights and privileges (voting, protection from thieves, the right to a
hearing in Rome) and what responsibilities go along with them (jury duty,
providing funds or knights for the lord’s army?
●
ANSWER
● Are there certain classes of people (wizards, foreigners, children, peasants,
women) who have fewer legal rights or less recourse than full citizens?
Why? Are they considered mentally or morally deficient, a danger to the
state, or is there some other rationale?
●
ANSWER
● Is there a group of people who do not have full rights in this culture? Why
not? Are they considered mentally or morally deficient, a danger to the state,
or is there some other rational?
●
ANSWER
● What are the controversial subjects in this culture? What things can you
start a friendly argument about in any bar? What things will automatically
start an unfriendly argument?
●
ANSWER
● What are the social taboos — what things are “not done,” like wearing a
bathing suit to the office? What things are not talked about? What would
happen if someone did? How do these taboos vary among the different
races?
●
ANSWER
● What are the biggest social faux pas — burping loudly at a formal banquet,
drawing steel in the presence of a queen/noble, asking a dwarf whether it’s
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●
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drawing steel in the presence of a queen/noble, asking a dwarf whether it’s
male or female? What subjects or actions cause embarrassment or
discomfort?
●
ANSWER
● What are the society’s mores regarding courtship, marriage and family? Is
marriage primarily a civil or a religious institution?
●
ANSWER
● Who are the persons or groups to which one automatically has a duty simply
by being born — one’s family, one’s town/city, one’s country, one’s
ruler/president, the gods? What is the hierarchy of duty among them — is it
considered more noble to follow your mother’s teaching or to follow your
emperor’s orders?
●
ANSWER
● What are the standards of beauty for people? Paintings and sculpture?
Clothes and furniture? How do they differ from the standards in your culture
(example: a country which considers fatness a highly desirable beauty trait)?
How do standard of beauty reflect the physical traits of the various races
(examples: dwarves might consider excessive height unattractive;
werewolves might be attracted by long teeth or a particular scent)?
●
ANSWER
● Who are this culture’s historic heroes and villains (e.g., Washington and
Lincoln in the U.S.; Henry V in England, etc.)? Why are they admired as
heroes/villains and what does this say about the people who admire them?
●
ANSWER
● What is the ideal life that people aspire to? Do people mostly want to retire
to a little house in the country, buy the most “toys,” serve in the army/navy?
●
ANSWER
● What kinds of people are the rebels and outcasts of this society? How does
society deal with them? What actions or ideas will get you made an official
outcast/exile? What happens to people who don’t fit the accepted social
order — do they have their own sections of town, or are they invisible (“in
the closet”), or do they get kicked out of the country altogether?
●
ANSWER
● Who are the arbiters of ethics (as opposed to law)? How did they get to be
arbiters? Who are the social arbiters? Ditto, ditto.
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●
ANSWER
● Which ethical/moral decisions are considered the province of religion, and
which are not?
●
ANSWER
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Religion and Gods

Status: No Status
Label: No Label
● How do various religions, if any, view magic? Do any forbid it? Why or
why not? Do any require priests/priestesses to be magicians? Do any forbid
it?
●
ANSWER
● Are there actual gods/godlike beings? If so, do they take an active role in a)
the temples, churches, and religions that worship them, or b) the lives of
everyday people? Why or why not? How many gods are there, and is there a
hierarchy among them? Which ones are good or evil, or is this meaningless
when speaking of gods?
●
ANSWER
● How do various religions view non-believers? Foreigners? Non-humans?
Which support the state/ruler/government, and which are interested mainly
in ordinary people?
●
ANSWER
● What customs surround a birth and the introduction of a new child to the
family? Is the mother sequestered for some period? Is the child? Is there a
formal presentation of the new child to parents, grandparents, overlord,
priest, the gods? Is a feast and celebration declared, or does everyone keep a
low profile to keep from attracting demons or bad luck?
●
ANSWER
●
ANSWER
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● Is there a difference between miracles and magic? If so, how are they
distinguished?
●
ANSWER
● Is there tension, rivalry, or outright hostility between any of the actual gods?
How does this affect church politics? People’s everyday lives?
●
ANSWER
● Where does religion fit into this society? Is there a state church? Is freedom
of religion the norm? Do people generally think of the temples/churches as
parasites or as a useful part of society?
●
ANSWER
● Which ethical/moral decisions are considered the province of religion, and
which are not? Do the gods care how people behave? Why or why not?
●
ANSWER
● If there are actual, demonstrable gods, what part does faith play in their
worship? What are their various rites like, and why? What offerings are
considered good, better, best? Are people supposed to pick one or more gods
to worship and ignore the others, or does everybody officially worship
everyone? How do people decide whom to worship? How do they decide
which temple to be affiliated with?
●
ANSWER
● How much of a part do various religions and philosophies play in public and
private life? Are philosophers and theologians considered ivory-tower
academics, or do they debate in the marketplace, like Socrates? How much
influence do their theories have on the way people actually behave?
●
ANSWER
● Are priests and philosophers full-time workers, or do they need day jobs? If
they are full-time, who supports them — the congregation, a wealthy patron,
the temple’s investment fund, the god they serve?
●
ANSWER
● Why are the gods interested in people? Are they like the Greek pantheon
(quarrelsome, larger-than-life humans), or are they transcendent and
incomprehensible? Do the gods have limits to what they can do? To what
they will do? Can the gods make mistakes?
●
ANSWER
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● How do the various temples and philosophies explain the classic “problem
of evil”? Do they think bad things are always a just punishment for some
transgression, a character-building exercise, the result of an evil antagonist
(Satan, Loki) or just something the gods can’t prevent?
●
ANSWER
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Population
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
●
ANSWER
(human or non-human), creeds, etc. normally live in various cities and
towns in this country? In what percentages?
●
ANSWER
coast, etc.? Why — invasion, plague, gold rush, job opportunities, etc.?
What effects has this had on the places being left? The places gaining
people?
●
ANSWER
●
ANSWER
● Is there much immigration into or out of various countries? Why? To or
from what other areas?
●
ANSWER
● Which geographical areas are most heavily populated? Least? Are certain
areas or terrains more popular with certain races that with others? Why?
●
ANSWER
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Commerce, Trade, and Public Life

Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
The parts that make a society run 'smoothly'; health (Medicine),
Entertainment etc.
General
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
● Which peoples/countries/races fought, allied, traded, or were traditional

rivals? Where are there still hard feelings about old events?
●
ANSWER
●
ANSWER
● What does this country import? Export? How important is trade to the
economy? How is currency exchange handled, and by whom?
●
ANSWER
● Why did people settle in this country in the first place — strategic location,
trade route, water transport, minerals, good farming, etc.?
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●
ANSWER
● Have things changed much since, or do they still depend on whatever
brought them in the first place?
●
ANSWER
● How much do official attitudes toward other countries affect commerce and
trade? Do merchants pretty much ignore tensions between government as
long as they can make a profit, or will this get them into trouble? Are there
Customs inspectors or their equivalents at border crossings? Is the
export/import of some technologies/magics/commodities regulated by the
government, or by non-governmental cartels? How does this affect political
relationships between countries?
●
ANSWER
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Business and Industry

Status: No Status
Label: No Label
● How is business organized? Are there trade unions? Guild structures? Multi-
state corporations? International cartels?
●
ANSWER
● Are people able to cross-craft, I.e., learn or perform different trades? Does
cross-crafting require guild permission, a write from an overlord, or is it
automatically guaranteed by law? How strict are craft restrictions — are
carpenters the only people allowed to build houses?
●
ANSWER
● What types of trades would be represented in a small town? A middle-sized
town? A large city?
●
ANSWER
● Is currency and coinage standardized, or is there a system of exchange?
What are typical denominations? What types of currency is a traveler or
merchant likely to carry on a trip? What are different coins called, and what
are they worth?
●
ANSWER
● Are industrial processes (e.g., swordmaking, weaving, etc.) considered
“trade secrets,” or are they common knowledge?
●
ANSWER
● What is the process a young person goes through to enter a craft or trade?
An apprenticeship? Four years of college? Are the craft requirements for
various skill ranks (such as apprentice, journeyman, master, or med student,
intern, doctor, specialist) standardized, or does rank depend more on the
good favor of a master craftsman than it does on skill?
●
ANSWER
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● Do different regions/cities specialize in specific crafts, processes, or
products (examples: Damascus steel, Bordeaux wines, Chinese silk,
Wisconsin cheese)? Do different races specialize?
●
ANSWER
● What regulations, if any, has the government/ruler placed on business
practices? Are there antimonopoly laws? Anti-pollution? Are there
standardized systems of weights and measures, or does a merchant have to
specify “a London bushel” of grain rather than “a York bushel”? How do
differing systems affect shipping and trade?
●
ANSWER
● Are any new industries developing? Which old ones do they compete with
or make obsolete?
●
ANSWER
● How are records kept — tally sticks, parchment, clay tablets, beads?
●
ANSWER
● Is there a merchant class? Where do they fit in society? Are there trading
guilds? If so, how are they organized? How much power do they have to
control trade? How much infighting is there among them?
●
ANSWER
● Are there trading organizations that transcend countries (like the Hanseatic
League)? How large a presence do they have locally?
●
ANSWER
● Is this a money-based economy, or mostly barter?
●
ANSWER
● What goods are commonly available in small town markets? In large towns?
In cities? How do goods get to market?
●
ANSWER
● What industries — mining, fishing, shipbuilding, lumber, farming,
manufacturing, etc. — are important, and in which areas? Which depend on
materials from other areas (as shipbuilding on wood, or weaving on wool)?
What happens if supplies are disrupted?
●
ANSWER
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● Who is responsible for coinage: the ruler, local barons, someone else
(merchant guilds)? Are there generally acceptable standards? How
easy/common is counterfeiting?
●
ANSWER
● How much smuggling is there? Of what, from or to where?
●
ANSWER
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Transportation and Communication

Status: No Status
Label: No Label
● What are the common domesticated animals used for transportation at

various levels of society — e.g., oxen, horses, donkeys, camels, etc.?
●
ANSWER
● Are there magical means of transportation (teleport spells, magic carpets,
dragon-riding)? How do they compare in speed, safety and expense to non-
magical means? Are there any drawbacks to magical travel (for example,
teleport sickness)? How commonly are they used, and for what purposes
(industrial shipping vs. travel for fun)?
●
ANSWER
● For traveling short distances within a city, what are the alternatives? Can
people hire a cab, a litter, a rickshaw, or do they have to walk or rely on
their own servants or horses?
●
ANSWER
● How are messages sent when necessary? Is there a public/private postal
system, or does everyone of importance have to send messengers? How fast
can news get from A to B?
●
ANSWER
● How available is water transportation? How reliable? How dangerous? How
expensive?
●
ANSWER
● How common is travel (for any reason)? Does the concept of travel “to see
the world” or for fun, even exist? How dangerous is travel? How large a
group is considered safe? How much traffic is there inside and outside the
main cities? Which areas are best/worst?
●
ANSWER
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● What is the fastest means of traveling long distances over land? Over water?
Which methods are safest?
●
ANSWER
● What is transportation like? Are there good roads? Who built them? Who is
responsible for maintaining them?
●
ANSWER
● Where would a traveler stay at night? Are there enough travelers to support
inns, or do people have to stay at some equivalent of medieval monasteries?
●
ANSWER
● Are some classes of people (slaves, peasants) not expected to travel at all?
Are some (heralds, messengers) expected to travel constantly?
●
ANSWER
● How do people find out what is happening in the world — rumor, town
crier, newspapers, TV and radio? How slanted is the news they get this way,
and in what direction? Is there freedom of the press? If not, who
controls/censors it and by what means?
●
ANSWER
● How are books produced? Are they common (has the printing press been
invented) or are they rare, valuable, expensive, hand-written objects? If the
latter, who has the time and skill to produce them?
●
ANSWER
● Where are the great libraries or collections of books/scrolls/manuscripts?
How accessible are they to scholars, wizards, the general public? Who
supports them?
●
ANSWER
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Science and Technology

Status: No Status
Label: No Label
● Is the level of technology in this society comparable to that of ancient

Rome, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Industrial Revolution, what?
●
ANSWER
● What important inventions or advances have been made (the wheel,
gunpowder, printing, flush toilets)? Have any of them reached the point of
affecting the daily life of the average person, or are flush toilets a luxury for
the nobility only?
●
ANSWER
● What inventions or advances have not been made that you would normally
expect to see at this stage of technological development? Which ones are
about to be made?
●
ANSWER
● How much is known about the laws of nature, physics, and magic? How
much of what is commonly known is wrong (e.g., Aristotle’s ideas about
human anatomy, which were wrong but accepted for centuries)?
●
ANSWER
● Are the laws of nature and physics actually different in this world, or are
they the same as in real life? How does magic fit in? How do magical beasts
fit in?
●
ANSWER
●
ANSWER
● In what areas might magic replace technology, and thus suppress its
development (example: if a spell to keep food cold is easy and cheap, there’s
267
●
development (example: if a spell to keep food cold is easy and cheap,
Yourthere’s
Novel
no need to invent refrigerators)? In what areas might magic cause more
rapid technological or scientific development (example: common use of
crystal balls might lead someone to think of inventing the lens or the
telescope sooner)?
●
ANSWER
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Medicine
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
●
ANSWER
● How accurate is the diagnostic process? Do healers have ways of telling two
diseases with similar symptoms apart? Do they depend on standard physical
medical tests — reflexes, temperature, contracted pupils — or do they
normally use spells for diagnosis?
●
ANSWER
● How expensive is a healer? How available are such services to ordinary
people?
●
ANSWER
● How much is known about anatomy, physiology, pathology, etc.? Are
treatments based on purely practical experience (“We know this works but
we don’t know why”), or do healers understand at least some of what they
are doing?
●
ANSWER
● How much training does a healer normally get? Where? From whom?
●
ANSWER
● Is healing generally a magical process? If so, how does the magical healing
talent work? Does a magical healer have to consciously direct the healing
process (meaning that lots of knowledge of anatomy, etc., would be
required), or does magical healing simply speed up the normal, unconscious
healing process in the patient? Is there more than one kind of magical healer
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Your healer
healing process in the patient? Is there more than one kind of magical Novel
(as there are surgeons, eye doctors, etc.)? Are there both magical and non-
magical healers, and if so, are they rivals or simply different specialties?
●
ANSWER
● Is there a reliable method of birth control? Who normally handles births —
midwives or doctors? What is the mortality rate for pregnant ladies, new
mothers, and children?
●
ANSWER
● What level is medicine at? Who are the healers? Do you have to have a
talent to heal, or just training? Who trains healers, herbalists, apothecaries,
surgeons, magical vs. nonmagical healers, etc.?
●
ANSWER
● How much need is there for healers — how much sickness, plague, injury,
etc. is there in this society? Are there enough healers to meet this need?
●
ANSWER
● What kinds of treatments are available — herbal brews, vaccinations,
acupuncture, spells, etc.? How effective are they?
●
ANSWER
● Is it possible to resurrect/resuscitate someone who has died? If so, how long
does it take before this becomes impossible? Before serious brain damage
sets in?
●
ANSWER
● How is insanity treated? Are there asylums or treatment centers, or is it
handled case-by-case? How effective are treatments for insanity?
●
ANSWER
● How much do the physical differences between humans and non-humans
affect their medical treatment? Are there diseases that only affect non-
humans, or only humans? Are there diseases that affect everybody, but with
different degrees of severity — a mild cold in a human is galloping
pneumonia in a dwarf? Are some treatments lethal to one species but
effective for others? Do doctors or healers have to specialize to do a good
job of treating non-human patients?
●
ANSWER
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Arts and Entertainment

Status: No Status
Label: No Label
● What is the status of the arts (dance, music, theater, etc.) in this society? Are
artists revered or mistrusted? Are they considered noble or immoral? Who
supports the arts? Which arts are most highly valued and why?
●
ANSWER
● Are there permanent theaters or concert halls for the performing arts? If so,
who owns and runs them? Are they profitable? Are there also traveling
troupes of players/musicians/dancers? How do their performances differ?
●
ANSWER
● What do people at various levels of society do for fun?
●
ANSWER
● Can magic be used in the arts, and if so, how — paint that glows, pictures
that move, flutes that play themselves, etc.? How do “normal” artists feel
about this? Is there a separate branch of purely magical art, such as illusion?
●
ANSWER
● What sports or pastimes are common (hawking, hunting, skiing, baseball)?
Which ones take skill, money, and/or leisure time?
●
ANSWER
magicians in this society?
●
ANSWER
● What games are commonly known — chess, dice, poker? Which are
common among everyone, and which are limited to the peasantry or
nobility? Are certain countries/cities known for a passion/expertise for
particular games or pastimes?
●
ANSWER
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● Have paper-making and the printing press been invented, or are books and
scrolls rare, expensive, handwritten items?
●
ANSWER
● What things are considered appropriate subjects for representational arts
such as painting and sculpture? Which are not? (Examples: some
cultures/religions forbid the painting or sculpture of the human figure, and
have abstract art; some have limited painters to doing only “uplifting”
religious works, etc.)
●
ANSWER
● Are there non-human races who tend to be naturally talented painters,
dancers, etc.? How does this affect human practitioners of these arts?
●
ANSWER
● Do non-human races have their own games and leisure pastimes? How do
they differ from human games? How do they reflect the physiology and/or
particular magical talents of the various non-human races?
●
ANSWER
● Are certain races/cultures considered better at some arts than other
races/cultures? Where do the best dancers, painters, musicians, actors, etc.
come from?
●
ANSWER
●
ANSWER
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Architecture
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
● What is the most common building material? Why is it used (availability,

cheapness, legal requirement)? Does it have any major drawbacks (e.g., the
Great Fire of London)?
●
ANSWER
● How tall a building can be constructed at a reasonable cost and in a
reasonable time?
●
ANSWER
● What are typical floor plans like — can people afford to waste space on
hallways, or do they just have a series of rooms opening into other rooms?
Are buildings normally built square, triangular, domed, what?
●
ANSWER
● How many people usually live in a typical house? How large is a typical
house?
●
ANSWER
● What are the differences in materials and appearance between a lower-class,
middle-class, and upper-class type house? How do people decorate
buildings (e.g., carvings vs. paint vs. patterns resulting from the use of
different building materials)? Are there differences in ornamentation
depending on the purpose of the building (e.g., gargoyles and carvings of
saints used mainly on cathedrals)?
●
ANSWER
● Has technology or magic progressed to the point of making window-glass?
If so, how expensive is it? If not, what do people use to cover windows
necessary for ventilation and light?
●
ANSWER
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● How are living quarters arranged? Are bedrooms on the top floors for
privacy or on the ground floor for convenience? Are parlors or libraries
common? How are houses heated/cooled?
●
ANSWER
● Are wars and insurrections common enough that castles and cities are built
with an eye to military defense first and appearance later, or are palaces and
wall-less towns the rule?
●
ANSWER
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Urban Factors
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
●
ANSWER
●
ANSWER
● Does city layout reflect some philosophy (religious or otherwise), such as
that the “head” of the city must be at the center or at the highest point or at
the most strategic location? Or were layout considerations mainly practical?
Or did most cities “just grow”?
●
ANSWER
● Are there public or private parks in most/any cities?
●
ANSWER
● Are cities generally laid out on a square-grid system of streets, or do they
just grow? How wide are the streets and alleys?
●
ANSWER
● What are the landmarks in each city? Where are the interesting
neighborhoods, like Chinatown or the dwarvish section, and what gives
each its special character? Do the neighborhoods have names?
●
ANSWER
● Where do people go to shop? To eat? To have fun? To do “touristy” things?
What sorts of goods/food/entertainment are available in large cities that are
not available in the country?
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●
ANSWER
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Rural Factors
Status: No Status
Label: No Label

●
ANSWER
●
ANSWER
● Are peasants/farmers/yeomen/serfs tied to their land by law or custom, or
can they move to town if they feel like it? Can they own their farms and
property, or is it all “common land,” or is it rented from a lord or
landholder?
●
ANSWER
● Given the state of roads and transportation, how much food is it possible to
ship to a given location before it spoils? (This limits the size of cities.)
●
ANSWER
● Are rural areas primarily farms, forests, fields for grazing, or “waste land”?
In outlying areas where there aren’t many people, how many roads are there,
who builds them, and who maintains them?
●
ANSWER
● How reliable is the weather from year to year — is crop production
relatively dependable, or do people have to cope with regular famines due to
drought or floods?
●
ANSWER
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● What kinds of catastrophic weather are common — tornadoes, hurricanes,
blizzards, waterspouts, dust storms? How do people cope? How do non-
humans cope?
●
ANSWER
● How are farming/food-producing areas divided up between
humans/nonhumans? What kinds of conflicts are likely to result? (Example:
Expanding human farms encroaching on a forest that dragons or werewolves
use for hunting.)
●
ANSWER
● Can peasants/yeomen own their own land, or does it all belong to the lord?
What kinds of rights over land, crops, game, etc. does a lord/landowner
have? Is poaching a problem?
●
ANSWER
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Resources
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
Technology and Economics (not natural resources)
Technology summary
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
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Ecomonic background
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Least resouces
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
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Lower class
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
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Middle class
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
282
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etc
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
283
Your Novel
Social, Groups & Factions

Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
Political parties, corporations, religious organisations, nation states and any
other group with an agenda that affects, or is effected by, the story.
Nation
Status: To Do
Label: Character
Synopsis
Non-spacefaring kingdom, empire, country, etc.
Notes
All comments in brackets are theirs.
Text
Nation
284
Your Novel
AKA
Continent, country
Summary
Goals, motivations, who they’re at war with, etc.
Basics
Home Colours Symbol Currency Official

country language(s)
Government Current Current Military Affiliation(s)

type governing head of
body state
Feudal, caste, Party name. What’s it

democracy, called?
etc
Number of
territories
Social Structure
Who holds power, and how does it affect the way the society works? Is there an
aristocracy? If so, how are its ranks structured?
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Your Novel
Government
Structure and general procedures
Taxation
A brief overview of how the people are taxed, and where that money goes.
Currency
What is the currency? What are its sub-denominations?
Population
Races

Culture
Mannerisms
statesman.)
Greetings
286
Your Novel
Family?)
Customs
Superstitions
Beliefs
Rituals
Festivals
Language
(This is kind of a big one for me, because I’m always very careful to point how
and why my characters can understand each other, especially if they are from
different countries. Language in the real world is a hell of a barrier, but even if
you have a Chinese dragon, an Arabian unicorn, a French knight, a Mayan
princess, and a Japanese ninja, they can all talk to and understand each other
without explanation. Double I-call-BS-points for someone from another world or
time! Anyone who has ever toured Europe can tell you why this is complete
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Your Novel
bull. Take a closer look, especially if you’re modeling anything after medieval
Europe; only the Church had a universal language: Latin.)
Education
(How are children taught? Skilled workers, like architects or brewers? Is there
public education? Higher education?)
Transport
Military
(What is their military like? What real world military is/can it be based upon?
What’s it’s structure?)
Major territories and cities

Territory
• City
Description
History
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Your Novel
Interstellar nation
Status: To Do
Label: Character
Synopsis
Spacefaring kingdom, empire, country, etc.
Notes
Text
Interstellar nation
AKA
Galactic cluster/quadrant
Summary
Basics
Home world Colours Symbol Currency Official

language(s)
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Your Novel
Government Current Current head Military Affiliation(s)

type governing of state
body

democracy, etc called?
Number of
systems
Social Structure
Government
Taxation
Currency
Population
Races
290
Your Novel
(Common physical characteristics of long-term inhabitants and native peoples: skin
colour, hair colour, build, dress)
Culture
Mannerisms
(The likely way someone behaves if they’re from this place. Because believe me, a fur-
wrapped barbarian behaves in a very different way than a Greek statesman.)
Greetings
Family?)
Customs
Superstitions
(Knowing the power irrational explanations have over a populace can sometimes be
good story material.)
Beliefs
Rituals
Festivals
Language
(This is kind of a big one for me, because I’m always very careful to point how and why
my characters can understand each other, especially if they are from different countries.
291
Your Novel
Language in the real world is a hell of a barrier, but even if you have a Chinese dragon,
an Arabian unicorn, a French knight, a Mayan princess, and a Japanese ninja, they can
all talk to and understand each other without explanation. Double I-call-BS-points for
someone from another world or time! Anyone who has ever toured Europe can tell you
why this is complete bull. Take a closer look, especially if you’re modeling anything
after medieval Europe; only the Church had a universal language: Latin.)
Education
(How are children taught? Skilled workers, like architects or brewers? Is there public
education? Higher education?)
Transport
Military
(What is their military like? What real world military is/can it be based upon? What’s it’s
structure?)
Major sectors and systems

Sector, quadrant
• System
Description
History
(Everyone comes from somewhere. People just don’t up and appear on islands and
such. I mean, even Native Americans walked across a land bridge way back in the day.
Europeans came from Romans and Greeks and Celts and Gauls and more. Very few
people bother to look at this aspect of world-building, and they really should. Even if a
civilization has been around for two thousand years and are elven dragon riders, they
came from somewhere. Even if their mythology says they crawled out of the earth: they
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Your Novel
came from somewhere. Examine it!)
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General
Status: No Status
Label: No Label

●
ANSWER
● Does it require a license to be a wizard? If so, is it more like a driver’s
license (something nearly everyone in our culture gets upon coming of age)
or like a doctor’s license (something only a small percentage of the
population will ever get)? Who certifies wizards: government, wizard’s
guild/AMA, local priests?
●
ANSWER
● What are the various ranks and titles and proper forms of address for the
aristocracy/nobility? Is everybody “my lord” and “my lady,” or are there
more distinctions (your grace, your highness, your majesty, your holiness)?
●
ANSWER
● What occupations are respected? Looked down on? Why?
●
ANSWER
● How many levels are there in this society: peasant, bourgeoisie, warrior,
noble? How difficult is it to rise or fall from one social level to another?
How firm are the divisions between social classes — is it disgraceful for a
noble to engage in trade or for a warrior to help with the harvest?
●
ANSWER
● How difficult is it to rise or fall from one social level to another? How much
social mobility is there? How much do people think there is?
●
ANSWER
294
●
Clothes and furniture? How do they differ from the standards in your
Yourculture
Novel
●
ANSWER
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Government
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
● How has the presence of magic and magicians affected law and
government? Are wizards barred from certain kinds of government jobs or
offices? Do some government jobs require that their holder be a wizard?
●
ANSWER
● What is the basic style of government: feudal, aristocratic, oligarchy,
absolute ruler, democracy, what? What forms are used in neighboring
countries, and why are they the same or different?
●
ANSWER
● What services does the government or head of state provide: schools, wells,
courts, an army to protect people from the Vikings? What services are
provided locally or privately?
●
ANSWER
● Who has the right to levy taxes? For what? On what or whom? Can taxes be
paid in kind, or do certain things require money?
●
ANSWER
● Who provides support services for the head of state? What are they called:
King’s Counselors, Cabinet Ministers, Secretary of State, Good Ol’ Girls?
Are they hereditary offices, civil servants, appointees, military, elected?
●
ANSWER
● Is the relative power of a country or ruler usually measured by the size of its
army, the number and ability of its wizards, or the amount of money/trade
flowing through it?
●
ANSWER
● Who is considered a citizen, with the rights and privileges thereof? What are
those rights and privileges (voting, protection from thieves, the right to a
296
●
those rights and privileges (voting, protection from thieves, theYour
rightNovel
to a
hearing in Rome) and what responsibilities go along with them (jury duty,
providing funds or knights for the lord’s army?
●
ANSWER
● Are there certain classes of people (wizards, foreigners, children, peasants,
women) who have fewer legal rights or less recourse than full citizens?
Why? Are they considered mentally or morally deficient, a danger to the
state, or is there some other rationale?
●
ANSWER
● What are the easiest/most common ways to advance in status — amass more
money, marry well, get the ruler’s eye, etc.? How much resistance is there to
someone advancing in social status?
●
ANSWER
● Who will take over running the government if the current head of state is
incapacitated? How is this determined? Is there an heir apparent (either
actual or political)? What happens if the heir is a minor? Who gives orders?
How are they picked?
●
ANSWER
● Who is responsible for protecting the head of state? His personal guard, the
Secret Service, an elite group affiliated with the regular military? What
safeguards have they got against assassins, poisoning, direct assault,
magical attack?
●
ANSWER
● Who can give orders (to military, to tax collectors, to servants, to ordinary
folks on the street)? How are such people chosen?
●
ANSWER
● Who is responsible for coinage: the ruler, local barons, someone else
(merchant guilds)? Are there generally acceptable standards? How
easy/common is counterfeiting?
●
ANSWER
● Is there an organized system of education? If so, who provides it:
government, churches, private persons? How is it supported?
●
ANSWER
● Who can call up men for an army, and how? Does the ruler ask the nobility
297
● Who can call up men for an army, and how? Does the ruler ask the
Yournobility
Novel
for men, who in turn draft their peasants, or can the ruler go straight to the
bottom?
●
ANSWER
● How much formal spying and intelligence gathering is normally done by
governments? The military? Merchant guilds and wealthy tradesmen? Are
there actual organizations, or is spying done by diplomats and/or freelance
agents? How effective is it currently?
●
ANSWER
● Do relations between countries depend mainly on the relations between the
heads of state, or can two rulers hate each other’s guts without being able to
just declare war and drag their countries into it?
●
ANSWER
● Are there times when people are expected to fast, or feast (e.g., before
solstice, after the birth of a child, during Lent or Ramadan, after the death of
a ruler, etc.)? Are there occasions when the ruler is expected to provide a
celebration or spectacle for the people to enjoy, (e.g., the Roman gladiatorial
games)?
●
ANSWER
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Your Novel
Politics
Status: No Status
Label: No Label

magicians in this society? Are they forbidden overt political action, or are
wizards and the wizard’s guild knee-deep in court intrigue?
●
ANSWER
●
ANSWER
● Is there tension, rivalry, or outright hostility between any of the actual gods?
How does this affect church politics? People’s everyday lives?
●
ANSWER
● Does the level of technological advancement match the level of social and
political advancement?
●
ANSWER
● Is the relative power of a country or ruler usually measured by the size of its
army, the number and ability of its wizards, or the amount of money/trade
flowing through it?
●
ANSWER
● What are the easiest/most common ways to advance in status — amass more
money, marry well, get the ruler’s eye, etc.? How much resistance is there to
someone advancing in social status?
●
ANSWER
● What are the major political factions at present? How long have they been
299
●
Your Novel
new forces on the political scene (e.g., a rising middle class, a university
gaining unexpected power because of certain magical discoveries, etc.)
●
ANSWER
● What are the controversial political issues of this day/time/country? What
positions on these issues are considered conservative? Liberal?
Unthinkable?
●
ANSWER
● How much influence do “special interest groups” such as merchants,
wizards, or various religions, have on court politics? How do they exercise
their influence — indirectly (by talking nobility or council members into
taking their sides) or directly (by bribery, coercion, having their own
representatives on the council)?
●
ANSWER
● Are there any shaky political alliances between disparate groups? Why were
they formed? How long is it likely to be before they fall apart? When they
do, what will the effects be?
●
ANSWER
● What ancient rivalries and hatreds still affect current attitudes and political
positions (examples: Scottish and Welsh separatist groups; Catholics vs.
Protestants vs. Muslims; dwarves vs. elves; Hatfields vs. McCoys)?
●
ANSWER
● What kinds of people are likely to face prejudice: dwarves, werewolves,
merchants, women, undertakers? Is this institutionalized (i.e., a matter of
law) or is it mostly a matter of public attitude? Is the ruler powerful enough
to defy this prejudice and appoint a dwarf as Chief Councilor or Secretary
of Defense and make it work?
●
ANSWER
● Who will take over running the government if the current head of state is
incapacitated? How is this determined? Is there an heir apparent (either
actual or political)? What happens if the heir is a minor?
●
ANSWER
● Are there people who have great influence on government/politics, but who
do not hold any official position? Who are they? Why do they have
influence? Is this considered a normal thing, or a bad thing?
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●
ANSWER
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Crime and Legal System

Status: No Status
Label: No Label
● How has the presence of magic and magicians affected law and
government? Are wizards barred from certain kinds of government jobs or
offices (judge, jury, police)? Do some government jobs require that their
holder be a wizard?
●
ANSWER
● What are considered normal and legal ways of gathering evidence and
determining guilt? Is torture allowed? Are arbitrary judgments by the lord or
landowner allowed, or is there an independent standard of justice?
●
ANSWER
laws forbidding certain classes from being armed at all? Are there laws
requiring certain classes to learn particular weapon skills, as England for
some centuries required yeomen to be proficient with the longbow?
●
ANSWER
● Is forensic magic possible? Commonly used? Used only for certain types of
crimes (and if so, what)? Are the results of forensic spells admissible in
court as evidence? Is it something any wizard can do, or do you have to
specialize?
●
ANSWER
● Are certain spells (as opposed to magic generally) illegal? Why — because
of the effect of the spell, or because of the ingredients or procedures needed
to cast it, or what? If so, how would a criminal magician be detected?
Apprehended? Punished? Is catching and punishing illegal magicians the
responsibility of the magician’s guild, or do the ordinary courts have to
handle it?
●
ANSWER
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● Are there separate civil and criminal courts? Human and non-human courts?
Is there a separate court or procedure for magical crimes? What is different
about each type of court? Are judges or other court officials
required/forbidden to know magic? Is evidence obtained by magic
acceptable in court? Is evidence obtained by magic considered more reliable
or less reliable than physical evidence or eyewitness accounts?
●
ANSWER
● What things are considered truly serious crimes and why? (E.g., in a trade-
oriented culture, counterfeiting might be a death-penalty crime, while in a
place where life is cheap, murder might be something you pay a small fine
for.)
●
ANSWER
● What are the normal punishments for serious vs. minor crimes? Are there
prisons, or are people punished and released? Are there degrees of
punishment — branding vs. cutting off ears vs. cutting off a hand vs.
decapitation — or do they just hang everybody?
●
ANSWER
● Who is responsible for catching criminals? Who pays the crook-catchers —
the ruler, the city government, a consortium of merchants, somebody else?
How are they organized — into independent police precincts, or into
overlapping districts, or just according to whoever wants to hire them? Are
they full-time, part-time, or volunteers? Private or public? What sort of
facilities do they have? What arms are the allowed to carry?
●
ANSWER
● Are there lawyers or advocates? Who can afford them? Who trains/certifies
them?
●
ANSWER
● Are people guilty until proven innocent, innocent until proven guilty, or
does it depend on the mood the lord is in when they bring the case before
him?
●
ANSWER
● Are there judges other than the ruler, lord, or landowner? If so, how are they
chosen, how are they paid, and who pays them? Are appeals possible, and if
so, to whom? How often are outlying areas likely to see a judge? Is “mob
303
●
so, to whom? How often are outlying areas likely to see a judge? Is Novel
Your “mob
justice” common or uncommon? Approved of or disapproved of?
●
ANSWER
● Are there sumptuary laws regulating what different classes/races may wear?
Do judges and lawyers wear special clothes (robes, wigs) to indicate their
calling?
●
ANSWER
● Are wizards above or below the law — i.e., do they have full rights as
citizens, no rights, or can they do as they like without regard to anyone
else’s rights?
●
ANSWER
● Are highwaymen, muggers, and pirates common or rare? What sorts of
crimes is the average citizen likely to run across during his/her lifetime?
●
ANSWER
● Who can make or repeal laws — a group (an elected Senate, an appointed
Council, or an hereditary House of Lords), or only the ruler or head of state?
How much can the nobility, middle class tradesmen, etc. influence the laws
that are made?
●
ANSWER
● How are alleged criminals treated before and after their convictions? Do the
police/military/city guard make a practice of roughing up suspects, or is this
frowned upon?
●
ANSWER
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Foreign Relations
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
● Does this country have formal relationships with other countries? If so, who
can be an ambassador? Are there standing embassies and consulates, or are
special envoys sent only when something comes up?
●
ANSWER
● How are treaties arranged? Are there any significant ones currently in force
or coming up for signing?
●
ANSWER
● How much do official attitudes toward other countries affect commerce and
trade? Do merchants pretty much ignore tensions between government as
long as they can make a profit, or will this get them into trouble? Are there
Customs inspectors or their equivalents at border crossings? Is the
export/import of some technologies/magics/commodities regulated by the
government, or by non-governmental cartels? How does this affect political
relationships between countries?
●
ANSWER
● How much formal spying and intelligence gathering is normally done by
governments? The military? Merchant guilds and wealthy tradesmen? Are
there actual organizations, or is spying done by diplomats and/or freelance
agents? How effective is it currently?
●
ANSWER
● Which countries/races are traditional allies? Which are traditional rivals?
How do these traditions affect present-day relations between countries and
races?
●
ANSWER
● Which heads of state are related by blood or marriage, and how important is
this in determining foreign policy?
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●
ANSWER
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Waging War
Status: No Status
Label: No Label

Why? When and why was the most recent war? Who won? Who is still mad
about that?
●
ANSWER
● What major weapons of war are available (e.g., siege towers, catapults,
cannon, A-bombs)?
●
ANSWER
general? Do army commanders have unusual formations or techniques to
deal with various magical attacks? How can magic be used as part of a
battle plan, given various levels of technology (example: getting a weather
magician to make it rain so that enemy cannons will be harder to maneuver
in the mud)?
●
ANSWER
● Is magic used primarily for intelligence gathering (spells of invisibility,
scrying, etc.), or are there spells that are of use on the battlefield
●
ANSWER
● How are armies usually structured? Is there a formal, independent command
structure, or is everybody officially under the command of whoever brought
them to join the ruler’s army, or what? If there is a formal structure, what are
the various ranks and titles used?
●
ANSWER
● Is weapon usage restricted according to social class, such as only knights
being allowed to use sword and armor, yeomen using bows and staffs,
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●
being allowed to use sword and armor, yeomen using bows Your and Novel
staffs,
peasants using whatever scythes, hammers, etc. are available? Are there
restrictions, either legal, customary, or biological, on the types of weapons
different races or magical beings can use (e.g., elves not being able to wield
weapons made of cold iron)?
●
ANSWER
● Are battlefield commissions or knighthoods possible during wartime, or
must such promotions wait on formal ceremonies? Do normal social
restrictions apply during times of war, or is everyone equal on the
battlefield?
●
ANSWER
● Who can call up men for an army, and how? Does the ruler ask the nobility
for men, who in turn draft their peasants, or can the ruler go straight to the
bottom?
●
ANSWER
● Are there professional soldiers/mercenaries? Is a career in the army possible,
or would you have to become a mercenary or sell-sword in order to make a
living as a soldier? Does the army accept volunteers, or only draftees? Can
you rise to officer level by displaying courage and merit on the battlefield,
or are officer positions reserved for a particular type of person only —
people who bought commissions, people who graduated from military
school, sons of famous warriors, etc.?
●
ANSWER
● How large is a typical army? What percentage of the soldiers in it will be
trained (knights, professional soldiers, guards, mercenaries) and what
percentage will be untrained recruits? Are recruits given training, or are they
expected to learn on the job (i.e., in battle)?
●
ANSWER
● How is the army supplied? Are soldiers allowed to live off the peasantry, or
do they pay for what they take? What happens if the supply caravan gets
lost or captured? How are supplies handled during long campaigns? How
many days’ worth of supplies can the army haul along with them? (Ref.
Alexander the Great and the Logistics of the Macedonian Army for the math
on how much a horse can carry, how much it needs to eat, etc.)
●
ANSWER
● What are the accepted conventions of making war (e.g., only fight in winter
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● What are the accepted conventions of making war (e.g., only fight Your Novel
in winter
when nobody is busy with crops; don’t make war on civilians; only certain
kinds of weapons are available, etc.)? Do they differ from race to race?
●
ANSWER
● How does the presence of non-humans (dwarves, vampires, etc.) affect
strategy, tactics, and battles generally? Are special weapons required if an
army is facing certain kinds of non-human armies? How could non-human
soldiers turn their physical differences from humans to their advantage?
●
ANSWER
● Are particular non-human races traditionally better with certain weapons
(e.g., dwarves with axes, elves with bows)? Why — because they have
greater strength, better eyesight, more manual dexterity, etc.?
●
ANSWER
● Do relations between countries depend mainly on the relations between the
heads of state, or can two rulers hate each other’s guts without being able to
just declare war and drag their countries into it?
●
ANSWER
● If there’s a long-term war in progress, how has the home front been
affected? Are people being drafted much younger/older than they used to
be? Have people been forced to step into nontraditional roles — peasants
managing a business, women shoeing horses, children making bullets, etc.?
How have these changes affected society? How will they affect relationships
between races/clans/sexes/social classes when the war is over?
●
ANSWER
● Is the army integrated (i.e., men, women, elves, dwarves, purple people, and
green ones, all serving together)? How does this affect battle formations?
Strategies? Are certain races or groups isolated in particular units? If so, are
those units considered elite troops or the most expendable soldiers on the
battlefield? How do these attitudes affect strategy?
●
ANSWER
● Has science or magic been advanced in general by specific developments in
the fields of weaponry, tactics, or strategy?
●
ANSWER
● Are there natural or imposed limitations prohibiting the development or use
of certain types of weapons (e.g., only muscle-powered weapons because
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●
Yourbecause
of certain types of weapons (e.g., only muscle-powered weapons Novel
the “laws of physics” in this world don’t allow the combustion of
gunpowder)?
●
ANSWER
● To what degree has technology changed the face of war? Are there internal
combustion engines useable for large troop movements, or steam powered
ships?
●
ANSWER
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Weapons
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Also use/see this sheet for more organization/indepth info for

weapons.
● How do the weapons of this country compare with those of surrounding
cities and countries? Have there been recent innovations that may upset the
balance of power, or is everyone more or less equal?
●
ANSWER
● Are magical weapons available? Can magic be used in warfare? In what
ways? Are spells fast enough to be useful in hand-to-hand combat, or is
magic more of a siege weapon, used only for long, slow things?
●
ANSWER
● How has the presence of magic affected weapons technology? Can magic
make weapons more effective? Do you have to do anything special to walls,
armor, or weapons to make them better able to resist enemy spells?
●
ANSWER
general? Is magic used primarily for intelligence gathering (spells of
invisibility, scrying, etc.), or are there spells that are of use on the battlefield
●
ANSWER
● How has the presence of magic affected weapons technology? Can an
ordinary, non-weapon-type object be enchanted to make it extremely lethal
(the Frying Pan of Death) or will this work properly only on things that are
already weapons? Can ordinary objects be enchanted to make them (or their
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Your Novel
Cooking, the Comb of No Bad Hair Days Ever)? How common and useful
are such enchantments?
●
ANSWER
laws forbidding certain classes from being armed at all?
●
ANSWER
● What is the level of weapons technology? Are there guns, and if so, how
sophisticated (flintlock, matchlock, rifle, Uzi)?
●
ANSWER
● What major weapons of war are available (e.g., siege towers, catapults,
cannon, A-bombs)?
●
ANSWER
● What weapons and armor are standard for armies? Mercenaries? Nobility?
Your average peasant trying to defend his/her home?
●
ANSWER
● Are weapons, such as swords or pistols, a standard part of dress for any/all
segments of society?
●
ANSWER
● What are the accepted conventions of making war (e.g., only fight in winter
when nobody is busy with crops; don’t make war on civilians; only certain
kinds of weapons are available, etc.)?
●
ANSWER
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Your Novel
Daily Life
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
Daily life, something you see or have to do in life; education etc.
General
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
● How do ordinary people feel about foreigners? Non-humans? How ready are
they to accept different ideas? How cosmopolitan are they?
●
ANSWER
● How much social mobility is there? Is it easy or hard for a person born a
peasant to advance to the middle class, or a middle class person to the upper
class or nobility? How much resistance would there be? Would such a
person ever be accepted socially?
●
ANSWER
● What items or foods or materials are luxuries — chocolate, coffee, silk,
spices, flush toilets? Why?
●
ANSWER
● What do people generally look like? Would a blonde (redhead, brunette)
stand out in a crowd? Someone 5′ 10″ tall? Do non-humans stand out in a
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●
stand out in a crowd? Someone 5′ 10″ tall? Do non-humans stand out in a
Your Novel
crowd, or are there enough of them around that they’re considered ordinary?
●
ANSWER
● What are accepted norms of personal hygiene? Do most people bathe
regularly, or is bathing considered a health hazard?
●
ANSWER
● How is garbage and other waste material disposed of?
●
ANSWER
● What is furniture like — big and blocky, delicate, simple, elaborately
carved, painted? What is it mostly made of — cloth, wood, stone? Are
certain things (like chairs with arms) reserved for high-status individuals?
●
ANSWER
● In what ways does furniture design reflect the customs and lifestyle of the
people (example: beds with bed-curtains for privacy in medieval homes
where servants wandered through rooms without warning; futons that can be
rolled up and put away instead of beds in a country with little house-space)?
●
ANSWER
● What are the plumbing and sanitary systems like? Who builds and maintains
them? How reliable are they, and who do you call when the drains back up?
How do they differ from city to farm?
●
ANSWER
● How do people cope with various disasters — fire, floods, tornadoes or
hurricanes, blizzards, plague, etc.? How common are such disasters?
●
ANSWER
● How early do people get up in the morning in the city? Country? Are clocks
common, or do people tell time by the sun or by listening for church bells?
●
ANSWER
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Fashion and Dress

Status: No Status
Label: No Label
● What do people wear? How expensive is it? Can the material be produced
locally, or must some or all of it be imported?
●
ANSWER
● Are weapons a standard part of dress for any/all segments of society?
●
ANSWER
● Are certain clothes customary for certain occupations — e.g., military
uniforms, judges robes/wigs, sports teams uniforms, etc.? How much
variation is allowed — could a scholar wear a day-glow green robe as long
as the cut is right, or would that be too much? Is it color or style that is most
important?
●
ANSWER
● Are the dyes for certain colors — purple, indigo, etc. — rare, making cloth
of that color more expensive and/or reserved for nobility or other high-status
people?
●
ANSWER
● Are there sumptuary laws, defining who can wear what? What are the
penalties? Who decides when changes are needed? How often are they
adjusted?
●
ANSWER
● Are there fashions/fads in things besides clothes — styles of carriages,
furniture, etc.?
●
ANSWER
● Are there fashions/fads in magic — are herbal spells “in” this year and ritual
spells “out,” or vice versa?
●
ANSWER
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Your Novel
● How many changes of clothes can a normal person afford? A noble person?
A peasant?
●
ANSWER
● What is the current fashion in clothes? Hats? Jewelry? Shoes? Do such
fashions differ for humans/non-humans? Between city and country?
●
ANSWER
● What materials are appropriate to the climate? What materials must be
imported, and are therefore for expensive upper-class clothes only?
●
ANSWER
● What things are considered tacky and vulgar, and what things are stylish?
●
ANSWER
● What types of decorations and accessories are common? What colors and
combinations of colors are thought to look well or to clash? Do opinions on
this vary from race to race?
●
ANSWER
● What physical types and characteristics are currently fashionable — tan vs.
pale skin, the “consumptive look” vs. robust good health, fat vs. thin, blonde
vs. brunette, muscles vs. “dead poet”, etc.?
●
ANSWER
● How do non-human fashions reflect their physiology? Do dragons dress for
dinner? Do mermaids have a nudity taboo?
●
ANSWER
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Your Novel
Manners
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
● What distinguishes a formal, high-court dinner from an ordinary meal

from everyday ones?
●
ANSWER
● What are the rules of precedence — who gets to go through doors first?
Who gets introduced first?
●
ANSWER
● Is there a distinction between “formal” or high court good manners and
informal, everyday good manners? When and where are people supposed to
be on their best behavior?
●
ANSWER
● How important are “good manners” in this society? What constitutes
everyday good manners? How do “good manners” differ from race to race?
How do people/dwarves/elves/dragons react when someone has just been,
by their standards, unspeakably rude?
●
ANSWER
offer a newly arrived guest?
●
ANSWER
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Your Novel
Diet
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
● What dishes are considered holiday food? What foods/drinks are associated
with particular holidays, events (e.g., funerals, weddings) or times of the
year?
●
ANSWER
● What distinguishes a formal, high-court dinner from an ordinary meal,
from everyday ones?
●
ANSWER
offer a newly arrived guest? A guest who is just departing (stirrup cup)?
●
ANSWER
● Is sanitation good enough for untreated water to be safe to drink? If not,
what do people drink instead?
●
ANSWER
● What things, while edible, are never eaten (what’s not kosher)? Why? Are
some common human foods poisonous to dwarves or elves (or vice versa)?
●
ANSWER
●
ANSWER
● How many meals are considered normal in a day? When are they served?
Which are substantial and which are smaller? Are certain foods (e.g., eggs
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●
Which are substantial and which are smaller? Are certain foodsYour
(e.g.,Novel
eggs
and bacon) reserved mainly for a particular meal?
●
ANSWER
● What dishes or seasonings would be considered typical of this area? What
wines or beers?
●
ANSWER
● What foods are considered peasant food? What foods are staples, commonly
eaten every day? What foods are rare? What foods are normally eaten
cooked/raw?
●
ANSWER
● What is the food like? What herbs and spices are readily available, and what
must be imported? How common/expensive are imported foods and spices?
●
ANSWER
● What spices and herbs are produced locally, and which are rare and
expensive? Which are most commonly used? Do people tend to like highly
spiced food or not?
●
ANSWER
● How is food preserved for use during the off-season — smoking, canning,
salting, drying, etc.? How reliable are the methods used — how often does
“preserved” food spoil?
●
ANSWER
● When food is in limited supply, who gets first crack? The laborers and
farmers who have to work to produce more, or the children who are the next
generation, or the wise and revered elders, or the nobility?
●
ANSWER
● What foods and seasonings do non-humans like, and how do these differ
from those favored by humans? Are some foods poisonous or distasteful to
one species that are delicacies or necessary to another?
●
ANSWER
● Are there times when people are expected to fast (e.g., before solstice, after
the birth of a child, during Lent or Ramadan, after the death of a ruler, etc.)?
●
ANSWER
● Given the state of roads and transportation, how much food is it possible to
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● Given the state of roads and transportation, how much food is it Your
possible to
Novel
ship to a given location before it spoils? (This limits the size of cities.)
●
ANSWER
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Your Novel
Education
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
● How much does it cost to get various levels of education?

●
ANSWER
● Is there an organized system of education? If so, who provides it:
government, churches, private persons? How is it supported? Is magic
considered part of the general college curriculum, or do you have to study it
privately?
●
ANSWER
● What sort of education is available, and where? Are there schoolhouses in
every town, or do ordinary people have to travel if they want to be
educated? Are there universities? Private tutors?
●
ANSWER
● What is the level of literacy in the general population? Is literacy considered
a useful/necessary skill for nobility, or something only
scribes/clerks/wimps/bourgeoisie need? How common are books? How are
they produced?
●
ANSWER
● Who are the teachers? How are they trained? Who pays them?
●
ANSWER
● How much education is considered usual at each of the various levels or
classes of society? What things are considered absolutely necessary for a
gentleman/noble to know? A tradesman?
●
ANSWER
● What things are considered absolutely necessary knowledge for a courtier
(poetry, languages, skill at arms, etc.)? Which are nice but not necessary?
Which would be highly embarrassing if anybody found out about them (a
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●
Which would be highly embarrassing if anybody found out about

Yourthem (a
Novel
passion for comic books, etc.)?
●
ANSWER
● How respected are teachers and scholars? Who supports them?
●
ANSWER
● If magic requires study, where do you go to learn about it? How do people
fund their training? Is there an apprenticeship system, or are there wizard
schools, or is it one-on-one tutoring/mentoring? Is an untrained wizard
dangerous, or just an ordinary person?
●
ANSWER
●
ANSWER
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Your Novel
Calendar
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
● Is there a single, generally accepted calendar (including time

measurements), or do different countries or peoples or races have different
ones?
●
ANSWER
● How is the day divided into smaller time units? What are they (Hour of the
Lark, Sunrise Bell, Nones, etc.)? Are the names relevant to anything? Is the
length of an hour fixed, or does it vary depending on changes in the length
of the day as the seasons change?
●
ANSWER
● What are the names of months, and how many days in each? How many
days in a week? Months in a year? Are there leap years? If so, who keeps
track?
●
ANSWER
● Which days are general holidays or festival times? What do they celebrate?
Are there any that are only celebrated in particular countries, cities, or
regions?
●
ANSWER
● What event(s) do people use to date years? Do they use a single event (the
creation of the world, the end of the Great War, the invention of atomic
power, etc.) or are events dated based on recurring things (the 12th year of
Tiberius’ reign, the 301st year of the Han Dynasty)?
●
ANSWER
● How do people tell what time it is? Are there clocks, watches, sundials, etc.,
or do people have to just listen for bells from the castle or church, or just
eyeball the sun?
●
ANSWER
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Your Novel
● Are there any days that are considered “outside the year,” like Mardi Gras or
the Feast of Fools? How are these days customarily observed? How did they
originate?
●
ANSWER
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Your Novel
Locations
Status: No Status
Label: Locations
Synopsis
Planets, countries, cities, bars, taxis and fast food joints; anywhere that a
scene may take place.
Location (General)
Status: To Do
Label: Locations
Name of setting
Type of setting (e.g. Workplace, home)
Characters living/working in this setting

• Character name
Summary
Location summary
Basics
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Your Novel
Year/time Season City/town State Country

period
Population
Setting Detail
Overall feeling
Sights
Sounds
Smells
Miscellaneous notes
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Your Novel
Location (Specific)
Status: To Do
Label: Locations
Name of setting

• Character name
Summary
Location summary
Basics
Building type Levels
City/town Suburb/district Street &

number
Neighbourhood
Description
Description of neighbourhood. Include what it feels like to live there. Are they
gangs/thugs? Are the streetlights always blown out? Is it full of expensive cars and
McMansions?
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Your Novel
Neighbours
Description of neighbours, if appropriate. What are they like? What do they do? Would
you go out with them?
Setting Detail
Overall feeling
Sights
Sounds
Smells
Miscellaneous notes
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Your Novel
Other
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
Includes the 'smaller' things. Such as diseases, species, weapons etc.
Disease
Status: To Do
Label: No Label
Notes
Text
Name of disease
Scientific name
Other common names
Summary
A summary of information important to your story.
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Your Novel
Basics
Place of Type of Resistances Method of

origin disease transmission
Country, Virus, Is it resistant Insects,

planet, bacteria, to anything? rodents,
species, etc. parasite, Temperature, water, air,
genetic, etc? drugs, bodily fluids,
nanites, etc. etc.
Lethality Infectivity Visibility Cure Vaccine
How lethal is How Does it cause Is there a Is there a

it? infectious is visible cure? What’s vaccine?
it? physical it called? What’s it
symptoms? called?
Symptoms
Common
•
Uncommon
•
Rare
•
Cause
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Your Novel
If known, what is the cause of the disease?
Short-term effects
What are the short-term effects of the disease?
Long-term effects
What are the long-term effects of the disease if it’s cured? What are the effects
if it’s not cured?
Treatment
What is the usual treatment plan for this disease? What sort of drugs are
commonly used, etc.
Social Impact
What sort of impact, if any, does this disease have on society? Does it cause
panic or debate? Are people shunned because of it?
History
What is the history of the disease? Has it mutated from another strain? Was it
an alien flu introduced by interstellar travellers?
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Your Novel
Species
Status: To Do
Label: No Label
Notes
Adapted from Tinsky’s article “Template for Creating and Building a New Fantasy Race
for your Fictional World”.
http://tinsky.hubpages.com/hub/Creating-a-New-Fantasy-Race
Text
Name
Scientific name
Other common names or nicknames
Summary
A summary of the species and how it is important to the story.
Basics
Homeland Hierarchy Political Religious Social

system system system
Matriarchal, Aristocracy,
patriarchal, caste, etc.
etc?
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Your Novel
Locomotion Diet Type of life- Synthetic or Special

form organic? abilities
Bipedal, Carnivorous, Carbon- Was this Does this

quadrapedal, herbivore, based, silicon- species species have
avian, etc. etc. based, etc. created in a special
lab abilities such
(synthetic) or as telepathy,
did it evolve enhanced
naturally intelligence,
(organic)? etc.
Technological Level of
level intelligence
Super
Stone age,
intelligent,
advanced, etc.
primitive, etc.
Common personality traits

Shared personality traits of a species are usually generalisations. Personality
traits could develop as result of environmental factors or through genetics. If
your species is separated into distinct groups geographically, this may result in
clans or tribes having different personality traits depending on experience,
interaction with local ecosystems and other environmental influences.
Physical characteristics
This characteristic is often best visualised through graphic art but not all writers
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Your Novel
can draw. The written physical description you provide for your species should
include the shared characteristics between all clans or tribes no matter the
location. If your species is subject to a varied physical form depending on
genetics or environmental factors, you may want to create a list of the different
physical attributes and the reasons. Consider including a traditional dress or
ceremonial dress as part of the physical description.
Subspecies
Clans and tribes are usually differentiated by location. Each location will have
different environmental factors that could trigger inter-racial differences:
physical, emotional and intelligent. Consider how your clans and tribes
communicate, have there been any racial customs that may have been adopted
by other clans of the same species through marriage, trade relations or
invasion? What are the cultural or physical differences between each clan or
tribe?
Alignment
The alignment characteristic has its origins in role-play games. It helps to define
the general demeanour of a species as good, bad or indifferent. Looking at the
history of your species and its accomplishments can help to determine its
general alignment.
Relations & allegiances with other species

How does the species view and interact with, other species. What relationships
do they have with other sentient or sapient lifeforms? How has this effected
their society?
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Your Novel
Social customs
What social customs do they have?
Homeland
What does their homeland look like? What are its characteristics? If you species
has migrated across your fantasy world, consider showing the origins of your
species on your world map. You may want to include the path(s) of migration as
well as the current civilisations.
Religion
What are the core beliefs and values of your species? Are there divisions in your
species based on religion or is the racial culture unified in its belief on origin and
spirituality? Does your species worship a single Deity? Religion can have a large
effect on social relations, technological advancement and social values and
norms, as well as shared personality traits.
Languages
If your species is the only sentient or sapient species upon your fantasy world
and it is divided into clans or tribes in different geographic regions it may have
quite a diverse linguistic culture. In fantasy settings and especially in role-play
games a common language shared by multiple species who co-exist together is
a common characteristic. Each species may still has its own language and
characters are often able to speak more than one language depending on their
experience.
Common First Names

If you have constructed a Conlang for your species, you might draw common
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Your Novel
first names and surnames from its dictionary especially names that pertain to
fauna and flora which could be adopted for characters. Your species religion(s)
can also provide a source for first names as too can the history of your fantasy
world. Popular first names may change over the course of time. Using a first
name in a repetitive fashion for characters of a certain generation would mirror
the use of first names in our own human culture however, it may make the story
harder to convey and your readers might get confused.
Common Family Names

The origin of family names in our own societies are often derived from a position
or role that a family may have within a community. The surname "Wells" for
instance is thought to have been provided to families who were well diggers by
trade. Surnames are not necessarily required in small populations but as a
population grows it may become a requirement so that people can be told part.
Sometimes a surname may also originate from the description of where a person
hailed from, for instance, Alex Von Appleston might have been used to describe
Alex who came from the small hamlet name Appleston.
Adventures
How adventurous are your species? Do they like to travel to find battles to fight
or do thy prefer to learn new experiences? Are there religious pilgrimages that
your species embarks upon or quests for the youth to take in order to enter the
world as an adult?
Physical attributes
If your story or geofiction contains combat or use of physical strength then it is
important to keep a note of your species's limitations. How fast can they move /
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run? How high can they jump? How much weight can they lift? You may want to
include two sets of figures, one for averages and the other for extreme abilities.
Favoured Occupations
List the particular occupations that your species may be suited to holding within
your fantasy world's society. Why is the species suited to perform the tasks
associated with the position? Are there physical, mental or spiritual attributes of
your species that are ideally suited to an occupation? Are the choices for the
favoured occupations based on social interactions and hierarchies with other
species?
Level of Advancement
A species could advance to become a super species only if the physical, spiritual
and mental capabilities of your species allow it. A species without magical
powers may find it difficult to advance in experience or better themselves if the
world around them required the use of magical abilities. The degree of racial
intelligence are also factors limiting advancement.
Civilisations
What civilisations is your species responsible for nurturing or helping to build up?
What part did the species play in the civilisations creation, growth and demise?
Are there any significant cultural advances that your species has helped to
create?
Magical/special abilities
Not all specials will have magical/special abilities. These abilities do not have to
be magical/supernatural in origin, but may be the result of scientific intervention
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or breeding. These abilities may have a positive or negative effect on a species.
It can build them up to become powerful both politically and physically or it can
cause them to become outcast. Keep a detailed list of the abilities of your
species if you decide to include them. Does everyone inherit the same special
abilities or are only a selection of powers inherited through genes? Do the
number or strength of special abilities increase or decrease with experience and
age? You might choose to restrict abilities to people who are in a certain
profession or who worship a particular deity.
Famous persons
Are there any notable famous people in your species? Famous characters could
be heroes or heroines of ages past or they could be influential people from the
present time period, such as a politicians, magicians, teachers or bards. Famous
characters don't have to be the characters that you are pivotal to your story, but
their actions may have had a lasting influence on your species and its
development.
Population statistics
Include the population statistics on your map for your fantasy species. The size
of the population and ability to socially network with other species can influence
the diversity of the culture and sub-cultures of your species.
History
The history of your species may begin prior to the your fantasy world if the
species has migrated from another world or it may have begun many billions of
years after your world came into existence. When you first begin fleshing out
this section of your template, jotting ideas down in bullet points is good start.
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You can later develop these ideas as part of your world building or story.
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Weapon
Status: To Do
Label: No Label
Notes
Text
Name of weapon
AKA
Make – Year
Summary
Basics
Length Width Height Weight Type of

weapon
Gun, bomb,
bladed, etc.
Ease of use Commonly Also used Ammunition

used by/for by/for
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Area of
Range
effect
Operation
How does the weapon work? How is it operated? What effect does it have?
Ammunition
Specifics regarding ammunition.
Special effects
Are there any special/magical properties about the weapon? What are they and
how do they work?
Portability
How easy is it to carry or move? Does it need to be mounted on a car, ship or
plane? Can you strap it to your back? Does it need to be disassembled for
transport? If it requires mounting, can it be dismounted? How hard is it to
dismount?
Restrictions on use/ownership
Do you need a license to own or use it? Does it require membership in an
organisation? Is it very, very expensive? How easy is it to acquire?
Training
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What training, if any, is required to use the weapon? If training is required, how
effectively can the weapon be used by someone without training?
History
What is the history of the weapon? When was it first created? Who created it?
When was it bought or passed on? Are there legends or stories told about it?
What sort of reaction do most people have to the weapon?
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Vehicle
Status: To Do
Label: No Label
Notes
Text
Name of vehicle (e.g. Serenity)
Make – Model name – Year
Type of vehicle
Summary
Basics

engine
Jet, steam,
electric, FTL,
etc.
Exterior Identifying Usage Where does Top speed

colour marks it travel?
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Stripes, logos, Personal, Air, sea, land,

etc. military, space, etc.
industrial, etc.
Specs
Car
No. of seats. Seat type Interior Cup-holders Window
options controls
Airbags Heating/cooling Security Other

system devices
Spaceship
Decks Crew Propulsion
complement
Weapons
What weapons does it have? How many?
Defences
What are it’s defences?
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Auxiliary craft
Does it have any auxiliary craft? What are they? How many are there?
Interior layout
What is the layout of the vehicle?
History
What is the history of the vehicle? Was it bought second-hand or new? Has it been in
any accidents?
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Chronology
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
Are there key events referred to in your novel, put them on cards and in a
chronology (eg. historical notes, major plot events etc.)
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Major event
Status: To Do
Label: Event
Synopsis
Notes regarding events that have, or will at some point, affect the story.
Also, notes on scenes/events in the current manuscript.
Text
Major event
Place
Time
Summary
A summary of information important to your story. How does this event effect
your story?
Participants
Who was involved? How were they involved?
What happened
What happened at the event? Why is/was it important?
Lead-up to the event

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What happened to cause the event?
Fall-out from the event

What happened immediately after the event? What, if anything, changed? Did it
go on to cause other major events?
Social impact
Where there any lasting social changes from this event?
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Research
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
Need a place to shove the background research for your story? Shove it
here. Mostly for quick notes/thoughts. Images etc. should go in the normal
'Research' folder.
WRITING ADVICE
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
A place to collect writing advice that you may want to refer back to.
Critiquing is under the ‘Reviews/Comments’. Including how to deal with
it/them.
Notes
This is a place to collect writing advice that you may want to refer back to. This section
is mostly blank at this stage. I hope to add more content in future versions. Critiquing is
under the ‘Reviews/Comments’ section if you prefer to see that. Which should be
viewed for various reasons.
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Literature Review
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
Use this template to analyze a article/journal. This is mostly useful for those
that are planning to write a crime/mystery novel. As there might be times
you will need to research about certain topics and use some of the
terms/methods etc. that are mentioned to make the science portions more
'real'. Although it could be used for other genres. Not really the best format
to use when reviewing a book that is meant to be read for entertainment
purposes, but can be a starting point on what to think about etc.
Text
[Title]
[Submitted by]
[Institution]
[Course]
[Date]
Literature Review: [Topic]

Ready to get started? The approach you take to your literature review is likely to differ quite a bit by your area of
study. But since a literature review is generally an analysis of the existing content available on a topic, it’s a good
idea to start by outlining the works you plan to include in your review.
Outline of Existing Works

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Use the table that follows to organize the list of sources you plan to cover in your review.
Category (such as time period or premise) Title of Work, Author Name
Overview
This is a good place to present the theme of your review and to summarize the types and relative value of the
available literature as it relates to your theme. Remember that a literature review is not a book review—it’s a critical
analysis of the literature available on the topic.
Comparative Review
Most literature reviews explore the comparative value of the available works on the subject as they relate to your
topic or theme.
Gaps in Available Research

Are there areas of the topic that existing resources miss? For example, are there clear gaps that can benefit from new
works on the topic, or gaps that expose weaknesses in a given argument?
Contrasting Opinions
Did you include works that provide contrasting perspectives to your own? You can add to the critical value of your
review by taking a look at your own objectivity.
Conclusions
The sections included here are just examples to help you get started. You might need more or different sections and
might want to organize some parts of the review outline shown here into multiple sub-sections (such as to break out
the comparative review for more detailed analysis).
References
If applicable, include your list of references on its own page here.
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Book Review
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
Use this template to analyze/review a book. This is useful for making
comparisons and making notes on what you enjoyed/did not enjoy. This
section can also be useful to see what reviews others have left on the book.
The reviews can be used to your advantage and you can think about adding
or not adding certain events in your own novel etc. It could be used for
almost any genre, depending on what the novel etc. will contain. Not really
the best format to use when reviewing a book that is meant to be read for
entertainment purposes only, but can be a starting point on what to think
about etc. This review can technically be used for other types of media's too
(play, script, movies etc.). Feel free to use it as such. How to critique a
fictional book is in the Reviews-Comments area.
Text
[Title]
[Author's Name]
[Publishing Company]
[Date Read/Finished]
[Star Rating (1 out of 10 or 5 etc.)]
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Book Review: [Topic, if wanted]
Here will be 'general' questions concerning the book.
1. Make a short summary on what you thought of the book overall.
2. Were the characters interesting? Why or why not?
3. Was the plot (and subplots if any) were interesting? Why or why not?
4. Was the ending satisfying? Why or why not?
5. Did the beginning really grab your attention, or did you read on to 'give it a chance' or for some other
reason(s)?
6. Can you think of any memorable events/quotes from the book itself? If not, why wasn't there anything that
caught your attention?
Comparisons
Use the table below to make the comparisons. Each cell will be blank, but can be used to put your answer/reply in.
Before the table will be a list of questions for certain categories/areas. While filling out the table, think about the
question(s) you are reading. Put the answers in the appropriate area/place. As a note, use tags to put them in certain
categories and/or organize them.
CHARACTERS:
1. Did any of the characters within the book remind you of your own? How and why? What makes them
different?
2. Would your own evolve or develop in a similar way in the end/beginning?
3. Would you introduce your characters in a similar way? Why or why not?
4. By reading this book, what do you plan to have your characters not do or do if they were in such a
situation(s)? Why or why not?
5. Pick one event/area within the book that involved one character, would you have planned it out differently?
Why or why not?
6. What have you learned from a character(s) within the book that you might want to apply to your own?
7. What is one quality that you did not like for one character? Why? Do any of your characters have the same
quality? Why?
8. What is one quality that you liked for one character? Why? Do any of your characters have the same
quality? Why?
PLOT:
1. Break the plot down to be as basic as possible. Example, 'boy meets girl'. Can your own be broken down in
a similar way? If not, why?
2. Write down a short paragraph about the main plot. If your own characters had to deal with the same
issue(s), would it have ended in a similar manner? Why or why not?
3. Do you feel that your plot is similar to the material? Why or why not? If it is similar, what will you do to
make it different? Do you feel others would honestly think the same if they read your material?
4. Did the ending make sense/ended with the plot/main issue solved? Why or why not? Will your own end in
such a way? Why or why not?
5. Were there too many sub plots, or not enough? How many sub plots do you have in your own?
SETTING:
1. Was there anything 'unique'/special about the settings/areas where the plot(s) took place? Will your own be
'unique'/special? Why or why not?
2. Was the setting(s) easy to imagine? If not, what would you have changed? If yes, do you feel you need to
change/improve upon your own? How and why?
Feel free to add your own questions if the above was not enough.
In the Book Your Own
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Overview
This is a good place to present the theme of the book. A quick overview of the book overall. This section should be
longer than the summary you wrote before concerning your thoughts about the book.
Comparative Review
Did this book remind you of another? If yes, list them and briefly write why for each. If not, what made it unique?
The Gaps
Anything you feel the author missed/did not mention ever again? Why do you think so? Should the author have
focused on that/those issues?
Opinions/Reviews
Use this area to put in reviews/critiques that caught your attention concerning the material. Feel free to add
comments etc. to them under it. Think about why you chose it/them, and how you can apply it to your own.
Extra
Use this section to put any extra thoughts, notes, and so on concerning the material.
References
If applicable, include a list of references that you might want to look up/use. Either for your own material or for the
novel. Such as certain vocabulary words, 'true' events etc.
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Speculative Fiction
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Spec Fic Overview

Status: No Status
Label: No Label
SPECULATIVE FICTION
Speculation fiction (spec fic) is an umbrella term for science fiction,

fantasy, horror, alternative history, paranormal, magic realism, fairytale,
myth etc.
The Turkey City Lexicon is a useful document that helps identify

common issues in spec fic writing:
http://www.sfwa.org/2009/06/turkey-city-lexicon-a-primer-for-sf-
workshops/ [See the next document for the article.]
There are two PDF files that have other tips for spec fic writers as well.
Contains numerous articles/blog posts by Dan Koboldt and others where
noted. From the blog itself:
Science in Sci-Fi, Fact in Fantasy is a blog series for authors and fans
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Science in Sci-Fi, Fact in Fantasy is a blog series for authors and
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of speculative fiction. Just as science fiction often has roots in hard
sciences – physics, astronomy, genetic engineering, microbiology —
fantasy world-building relies on everything from economics to military
strategy to animal husbandry.
Every week, we discuss elements of sci-fi or fantasy with an expert in a

relevant topic area. We debunk the myths, correct the misconceptions, and
offer advice on getting the details right.
- From http://dankoboldt.com/science-in-scifi/
PDF File#1
PDF File #2
You may wish to collect links to writing advice under the following
subheadings.
Fantasy
● Fantasy Writing Tips by Daniel Arenson
● 20 Writing Tips from Fiction Author
● Tips on planning a fantasy novel
● General Writing Advice
Science Fiction
● Science Fiction and Fantasy Writing
● How to Write a Great Science Fiction Novel in 7 Easy Steps [10
Steps here]
● How to Write, by Robert J. Sawyer (for both Sci-fi & Fantasy)
Urban Fantasy
Paranormal
Alternative History
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Fairytale
Cyberpunk
Biopunk
Steampunk / Dieselpunk / Clockpunk
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The Turkey City Lexicon

Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Turkey City Lexicon – A Primer for SF Workshops

Edited by Lewis Shiner
Second Edition by Bruce Sterling
NOT COPYRIGHTED
Introduction by Lewis Shiner

This manual is intended to focus on the special needs of the science fiction
workshop. Having an accurate and descriptive critical term for a common SF
problem makes it easier to recognize and discuss. This guide is intended to save
workshop participants from having to “reinvent the wheel” (see section 3) at every
session.
The terms here were generally developed over a period of many years in many
workshops. Those identified with a particular writer are acknowledged in
parentheses at the end of the entry. Particular help for this project was provided by
Bruce Sterling and the other regulars of the Turkey City Workshop in Austin,
Texas.
Introduction (II) by Bruce Sterling

People often ask where science fiction writers get their ideas. They rarely ask
where society gets its science fiction writers. In many cases the answer is science
fiction workshops.
Workshops come in many varieties — regional and national, amateur and
professional, formal and frazzled. In science fiction’s best-known workshop,
Clarion, would-be writers are wrenched from home and hearth and pitilessly
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Clarion, would-be writers are wrenched from home and hearth and pitilessly
blitzed for six weeks by professional SF writers, who serve as creative-writing
gurus. Thanks to the seminal efforts of Robin Wilson, would-be sf writers can
receive actual academic credit for this experience.
But the workshopping experience does not require any shepherding by experts.
Like a bad rock band, an SF-writer’s workshop can be set up in any vacant garage
by any group of spotty enthusiasts with nothing
better to occupy their time. No one has a Copyright on talent, desire, or
enthusiasm.
The general course of action in the modern SF workshop (known as the “Milford
system”) goes as follows. Attendees bring short manuscripts, with enough copies
for everyone present. No one can attend or comment who does not bring a story.
The contributors read and annotate all the stories. When that’s done, everyone
forms a circle, a story is picked at random, and the person to the writer’s right
begins the critique. (Large groups may require deliberate scheduling.)
Following the circle in order, with a minimum of cross-talk or interruptions, each
person emits his/her considered opinions of the story’s merits and/or demerits. The
author is strictly required, by rigid law and custom, to make no outcries, no matter
how he or she may squirm. When the circle is done and the last reader has vented
his or her opinion, the silently suffering author is allowed an extended reply,
which, it is hoped, will not exceed half an hour or so, and will avoid gratuitously
personal ripostes. This harrowing process continues, with possible breaks for food,
until all the stories are done, whereupon everyone tries to repair ruptured
relationships in an orgy of drink and gossip.
No doubt a very interesting book could be written about science fiction in which
the writing itself played no part. This phantom history could detail the social
demimonde of workshops and their associated cliques: Milford, the Futurians,
Milwaukee Fictioneers, Turkey City, New Wave, Hydra Club, Jules Verne’s Eleven
Without Women, and year after year after year of Clarion — a thousand SF groups
around the world, known and unknown.
Anyone can play. I’ve noticed that workshops have a particularly crucial role in
non-Anglophone societies, where fans, writers, and publishers are often closely
united in the same handful of zealots.
This kind of fellow-feeling may be the true hearts-blood of the genre.
We now come to the core of this piece, the SF Workshop Lexicon. This lexicon
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We now come to the core of this piece, the SF Workshop Lexicon. This Your
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was compiled by Mr Lewis Shiner and myself from the work of many writers and
critics over many years of genre history, and it contains buzzwords, notions and
critical terms of direct use to SF workshops.
The first version, known as the “Turkey City Lexicon” after the Austin, Texas
writers’ workshop that was a cradle of cyberpunk, appeared in 1988. In proper
ideologically-correct cyberpunk fashion, the Turkey City Lexicon was distributed
unCopyrighted and free-of-charge: a decommodified, photocopied chunk of free
literary software. Lewis Shiner still thinks that this was the best deployment of an
effort of this sort, and thinks I should stop fooling around with this fait accompli.
After all, the original Lexicon remains unCopyrighted, and it has been floating
around in fanzines, prozines and computer networks for seven years now. I respect
Lew’s opinion, and in fact I kind of agree with him. But I’m an ideologue,
congenitally unable to leave well-enough alone.
In September 1990 I re-wrote the Lexicon as an installment in my critical column
for the British magazine INTERZONE. When Robin Wilson asked me to refurbish
the Lexicon yet again for PARAGONS, I couldn’t resist the temptation. I’m
always open to improvements and amendments for the Lexicon. It seems to me
that if a document of this sort fails to grow it will surely become a literary
monument, and, well, heaven forbid. For what it’s worth, I plan to re-release this
latest edition to the Internet at the first opportunity. You can email me about it: I’m
“mailto:bruces@well.com”.
Some Lexicon terms are attributed to their originators, when I could find them;
others are not, and I apologize for my ignorance.
Science fiction boasts many specialized critical terms. You can find a passel of
these in Gary K Wolfe’s CRITICAL TERMS FOR SCIENCE FICTION AND
FANTASY: A GLOSSARY AND GUIDE TO SCHOLARSHIP (Greenwood Press,
1986). But you won’t find them in here. This lexicon is not a guide to scholarship.
The Workshop Lexicon is a guide (of sorts) for down-and-dirty hairy-knuckled sci-
fi writers, the kind of ambitious subliterate guttersnipes who actually write and sell
professional genre material. It’s rough, rollicking, rule-of-thumb stuff suitable for
shouting aloud while pounding the table.
Part One: Words and Sentences

● Brenda Starr dialogue
Long sections of talk with no physical background or description of the characters.
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Such dialogue, detached from the story’s setting, tends to echo hollowly, as if
suspended in mid-air. Named for the American comic-strip in which dialogue
balloons were often seen emerging from the Manhattan skyline.
● “Burly Detective” Syndrome
This useful term is taken from SF’s cousin-genre, the detective-pulp. The hack
writers of the Mike Shayne series showed an odd reluctance to use Shayne’s
proper name, preferring such euphemisms as “the burly detective” or “the red-
headed sleuth.” This syndrome arises from a wrong-headed conviction that the
same word should not be used twice in close succession. This is only true of
particularly strong and visible words, such as “vertiginous.” Better to re-use a
simple tag or phrase than to contrive cumbersome methods of avoiding it.
● Brand Name Fever
Use of brand name alone, without accompanying visual detail, to create false
verisimilitude. You can stock a future with Hondas and Sonys and IBM’s and still
have no idea with it looks like.
● “Call a Rabbit a Smeerp“
A cheap technique for false exoticism, in which common elements of the real
world are re-named for a fantastic milieu without any real alteration in their basic
nature or behavior. “Smeerps” are especially common in fantasy worlds, where
people often ride exotic steeds that look and act just like horses. (Attributed to
James Blish.)
● Gingerbread
Useless ornament in prose, such as fancy sesquipedalian Latinate words where
short clear English ones will do. Novice authors sometimes use “gingerbread” in
the hope of disguising faults and conveying an air of refinement. (Attr. Damon
Knight)
● Not Simultaneous
The mis-use of the present participle is a common structural sentence-fault for
beginning writers. “Putting his key in the door, he leapt up the stairs and got his
revolver out of the bureau.” Alas, our hero couldn’t do this even if his arms were
forty feet long. This fault shades into “Ing Disease,” the tendency to pepper
sentences with words ending in “-ing,” a grammatical construction which tends to
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sentences with words ending in “-ing,” a grammatical construction which tends
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confuse the proper sequence of events. (Attr. Damon Knight)
● Pushbutton Words
Words used to evoke a cheap emotional response without engaging the intellect or
the critical faculties. Commonly found in story titles, they include such bits of
bogus lyricism as “star,” “dance,” “dream,” “song,” “tears” and “poet,” cliches
calculated to render the SF audience misty-eyed and tender-hearted.
● Roget’s Disease
The ludicrous overuse of far-fetched adjectives, piled into a festering, fungal,
tenebrous, troglodytic, ichorous, leprous, synonymic heap. (Attr. John W.
Campbell)
● “Said” Bookism
An artificial verb used to avoid the word “said.” “Said” is one of the few invisible
words in the English language and is almost impossible to overuse. It is much less
distracting than “he retorted,” “she inquired,” “he ejaculated,” and other oddities.
The term “said-book” comes from certain pamphlets, containing hundreds
of purple-prose synonyms for the word “said,” which were sold to aspiring authors
from tiny ads in American magazines of the pre-WWII era.
● Tom Swifty
An unseemly compulsion to follow the word “said” with a colorful adverb, as in
“‘We’d better hurry,’ Tom said swiftly.” This was a standard mannerism of the old
Tom Swift adventure dime-novels. Good dialogue can stand on its own without a
clutter of adverbial props.
Part Two: Paragraphs and Prose Structure

● Bathos
A sudden, alarming change in the level of diction. “There will be bloody riots and
savage insurrections leading to a violent popular uprising unless the regime starts
being lots nicer about stuff.”
● Countersinking
A form of expositional redundancy in which the action clearly implied in dialogue
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is made explicit. “‘Let’s get out of here,’ he said, urging her to leave.”
● Dischism
The unwitting intrusion of the author’s physical surroundings, or the author’s own
mental state, into the text of the story. Authors who smoke or drink while writing
often drown or choke their characters with an endless supply of booze and cigs. In
subtler forms of the Dischism, the characters complain of their confusion and
indecision — when this is actually the author’s condition at the moment of writing,
not theirs within the story. “Dischism” is named after the critic who diagnosed this
syndrome. (Attr. Thomas M. Disch)
● False Humanity
An ailment endemic to genre writing, in which soap-opera elements of purported
human interest are stuffed into the story willy-nilly, whether or not they advance
the plot or contribute to the point of the story. The actions of such characters
convey an itchy sense of irrelevance, for the author has invented their problems
out of whole cloth, so as to have something to emote about.
● False Interiorization
A cheap labor-saving technique in which the author, too lazy to describe the
surroundings, afflicts the viewpoint-character with a blindfold, an attack of space-
sickness, the urge to play marathon whist-games in the smoking-room, etc.
● Fuzz
An element of motivation the author was too lazy to supply. The word “somehow”
is a useful tip-off to fuzzy areas of a story. “Somehow she had forgotten to bring
her gun.”
● Hand Waving
An attempt to distract the reader with dazzling prose or other verbal fireworks, so
as to divert attention from a severe logical flaw. (Attr. Stewart Brand)
● Laughtrack
Characters grandstand and tug the reader’s sleeve in an effort to force a specific
emotional reaction. They laugh wildly at their own jokes, cry loudly at their own
pain, and rob the reader of any real chance of attaining genuine emotion.
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● Show, not Tell
A cardinal principle of effective writing. The reader should be allowed to react
naturally to the evidence presented in the story, not instructed in how to react by
the author. Specific incidents and carefully observed details will render auctorial
lectures unnecessary. For instance, instead of telling the reader “She had a bad
childhood, an unhappy childhood,” a specific incident — involving, say, a locked
closet and two jars of honey — should be shown.
Rigid adherence to show-don’t-tell can become absurd. Minor matters are
sometimes best gotten out of the way in a swift, straightforward fashion.
● Signal from Fred
A comic form of the “Dischism” in which the author’s subconscious, alarmed by
the poor quality of the work, makes unwitting critical comments: “This doesn’t
make sense.” “This is really boring.” “This sounds like a bad movie.” (Attr.
Damon Knight)
● Squid in the Mouth
The failure of an author to realize that his/her own weird assumptions and personal
in-jokes are simply not shared by the world-at-large. Instead of applauding the wit
or insight of the author’s remarks, the world-at-large will stare in vague shock and
alarm at such a writer, as if he or she had a live squid in the mouth.
Since SF writers as a breed are generally quite loony, and in fact make this a stock
in trade, “squid in the mouth” doubles as a term of grudging praise, describing the
essential, irreducible, divinely unpredictable lunacy of the true SF writer. (Attr.
James P Blaylock)
● Squid on the Mantelpiece
Chekhov said that if there are dueling pistols over the mantelpiece in the first act,
they should be fired in the third. In other words, a plot element should be deployed
in a timely fashion and with proper dramatic emphasis. However, in SF plotting
the MacGuffins are often so overwhelming that they cause conventional plot
structures to collapse. It’s hard to properly dramatize, say, the domestic effects of
Dad’s bank overdraft when a giant writhing kraken is levelling the city. This
mismatch between the conventional dramatic proprieties and SF’s extreme,
grotesque, or visionary thematics is known as the “squid on the mantelpiece.”
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● White Room Syndrome
A clear and common sign of the failure of the author’s imagination, most often
seen at the beginning of a story, before the setting, background, or characters have
gelled. “She awoke in a white room.” The ‘white room’ is a featureless set for
which details have yet to be invented — a failure of invention by the author. The
character’wakes’ in order to begin a fresh train of thought — again, just like the
author. This ‘white room’ opening is generally followed by much earnest
pondering of circumstances and useless exposition; all of which can be cut,
painlessly.
It remains to be seen whether the “white room” cliche’ will fade from use now that
most authors confront glowing screens rather than blank white paper.
● Wiring Diagram Fiction
A genre ailment related to “False Humanity,” “Wiring Diagram Fiction” involves
“characters” who show no convincing emotional reactions at all, since they are
overwhelmed by the author’s fascination with gadgetry or didactic lectures.
● You Can’t Fire Me, I Quit
An attempt to defuse the reader’s incredulity with a pre-emptive strike — as if by
anticipating the reader’s objections, the author had somehow answered them. “I
would never have believed it, if I hadn’t seen it myself!” “It was one of those
amazing coincidences that can only take place in real life!” “It’s a one-in-a-
million chance, but it’s so crazy it just might work!” Surprisingly common,
especially in SF. (Attr. John Kessel)
Part Three: Common Workshop Story Types

● Adam and Eve Story
Nauseatingly common subset of the “Shaggy God Story” in which a terrible
apocalypse, spaceship crash, etc., leaves two survivors, man and woman, who turn
out to be Adam and Eve, parents of the human race!!
● The Cozy Catastrophe
Story in which horrific events are overwhelming the entirety of human civilization,
but the action concentrates on a small group of tidy, middle-class, white Anglo-
Saxon protagonists. The essence of the cozy catastrophe is that the hero should
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have a pretty good time (a girl, free suites at the Savoy, automobiles for the taking)
while everyone else is dying off. (Attr. Brian Aldiss)
● Dennis Hopper Syndrome
A story based on some arcane bit of science or folklore, which noodles around
producing random weirdness. Then a loony character-actor (usually best played by
Dennis Hopper) barges into the story and baldly tells the protagonist what’s going
on by explaining the underlying mystery in a long bug-eyed rant. (Attr. Howard
Waldrop)
● Deus ex Machina or “God in the Box”
Story featuring a miraculous solution to the story’s conflict, which comes out of
nowhere and renders the plot struggles irelevant. H G Wells warned against SF’s
love for the deus ex machina when he coined the famous dictum that “If anything
is possible, then nothing is interesting.” Science fiction, which specializes in
making the impossible seem plausible, is always deeply intrigued by godlike
powers in the handy pocket size. Artificial Intelligence, virtual realities and
nanotechnology are three contemporary SF MacGuffins that are cheap portable
sources of limitless miracle.
● The Grubby Apartment Story
Similar to the “poor me” story, this autobiographical effort features a miserably
quasi-bohemian writer, living in urban angst in a grubby apartment. The story
commonly stars the author’s friends in thin disguises — friends who may also be
the author’s workshop companions, to their considerable alarm.
● The Jar of Tang
“For you see, we are all living in a jar of Tang!” or “For you see, I am a dog!” A
story contrived so that the author can spring a silly surprise about its setting.
Mainstay of the old Twilight Zone TV show. An entire pointless story contrived so
the author can cry “Fooled you!” For instance, the story takes place in a desert of
coarse orange sand surrounded by an impenetrable vitrine barrier; surprise! our
heroes are microbes in a jar of Tang powdered orange drink.
This is a classic case of the difference between a conceit and an idea. “What if we
all lived in a jar of Tang?” is an example of the former; “What if the
revolutionaries from the sixties had been allowed to set up their own society?” is
an example of the latter. Good SF requires ideas, not conceits. (Attr. Stephen P.
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an example of the latter. Good SF requires ideas, not conceits. (Attr. Stephen P.
Brown)
When done with serious intent rather than as a passing conceit, this type of story
can be dignified by the term “Concealed Environment.” (Attr. Christopher Priest)
● Just-Like Fallacy
SF story which thinly adapts the trappings of a standard pulp adventure setting.
The spaceship is “just like” an Atlantic steamer, down to the Scottish engineer in
the hold. A colony planet is “just like” Arizona except for two moons in the sky.
“Space Westerns” and futuristic hard-boiled detective stories have been especially
common versions.
● The Kitchen-Sink Story
A story overwhelmed by the inclusion of any and every new idea that occurs to the
author in the process of writing it. (Attr. Damon Knight)
● The Motherhood Statement
SF story which posits some profoundly unsettling threat to the human condition,
explores the implications briefly, then hastily retreats to affirm the conventional
social and humanistic pieties, ie apple pie and motherhood. Greg Egan once stated
that the secret of truly effective SF was to deliberately “burn the motherhood
statement.” (Attr. Greg Egan)
● The “Poor Me” Story
Autobiographical piece in which the male viewpoint character complains that he is
ugly and can’t get laid. (Attr. Kate Wilhelm)
● Re-Inventing the Wheel
A novice author goes to enormous lengths to create a science-fictional situation
already tiresomely familiar to the experienced reader. Reinventing the Wheel was
traditionally typical of mainstream writers venturing into SF. It is now often seen
in writers who lack experience in genre history because they were attracted to
written SF via SF movies, SF television series, SF role-playing games, SF comics
or SF computer gaming.
● The Rembrandt Comic Book
A story in which incredible craftsmanship has been lavished on a theme or idea
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which is basically trivial or subliterary, and which simply cannot bear the weight
of such deadly-serious artistic portent.
● The Shaggy God Story
A piece which mechanically adopts a Biblical or other mythological tale and
provides flat science-fictional “explanations” for the theological events. (Brian
Aldiss)
● The Slipstream Story
Non-SF story which is so ontologically distorted or related in such a bizarrely non-
realist fashion that it cannot pass muster as commercial mainstream fiction and
therefore seeks shelter in the SF or fantasy genre. Postmodern critique and
technique are particularly fruitful in creating slipstream stories.
● The Steam-Grommet Factory
Didactic SF story which consists entirely of a guided tour of a large and elaborate
gimmick. A common technique of SF utopias and dystopias. (Attr. Gardner
Dozois)
● The Tabloid Weird
Story produced by a confusion of SF and Fantasy tropes — or rather, by a
confusion of basic world-views. Tabloid Weird is usually produced by the author’s
own inability to distinguish between a rational, Newtonian-Einsteinian, cause-and-
effect universe and an irrational, supernatural, fantastic universe. Either the FBI is
hunting the escaped mutant from the genetics lab, or the drill-bit has bored straight
into Hell — but not both at once in the very same piece of fiction. Even fantasy
worlds need an internal consistency of sorts, so that a Sasquatch Deal-with-the-
Devil story is also “Tabloid Weird.” Sasquatch crypto-zoology and Christian folk
superstition simply don’t mix well, even for comic effect. (Attr. Howard Waldrop)
● The Whistling Dog
A story related in such an elaborate, arcane, or convoluted manner that it impresses
by its sheer narrative ingenuity, but which, as a story, is basically not worth the
candle. Like the whistling dog, it’s astonishing that the thing can whistle — but it
doesn’t actually whistle very well. (Attr. Harlan Ellison)
Part Four: Plots

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● Abbess Phone Home
Takes its name from a mainstream story about a medieval cloister which was sold
as SF because of the serendipitous arrival of a UFO at the end. By extension, any
mainstream story with a gratuitous SF or fantasy element tacked on so it could be
sold.
● And plot
Picaresque plot in which this happens, and then that happens, and then something
else happens, and it all adds up to nothing in particular.
● Bogus Alternatives
List of actions a character could have taken, but didn’t. Frequently includes all the
reasons why. In this nervous mannerism, the author stops the action dead to work
out complicated plot problems at the reader’s expense. “If I’d gone along with the
cops they would have found the gun in my purse. And anyway, I didn’t want to
spend the night in jail. I suppose I could have just run instead of stealing their car,
but then … ” etc. Best dispensed with entirely.
● Card Tricks in the Dark
Elaborately contrived plot which arrives at (a) the punchline of a private joke no
reader will get or (b) the display of some bit of learned trivia relevant only to the
author. This stunt may be intensely ingenious, and very gratifying to the author,
but it serves no visible fictional purpose. (Attr. Tim Powers)
● Idiot Plot
A plot which functions only because all the characters involved are idiots. They
behave in a way that suits the author’s convenience, rather than through any
rational motivation of their own. (Attr. James Blish)
● Kudzu plot
Plot which weaves and curls and writhes in weedy organic profusion, smothering
everything in its path.
● Plot Coupons
The basic building blocks of the quest-type fantasy plot. The “hero” collects
sufficient plot coupons (magic sword, magic book, magic cat) to send off to the
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author for the ending. Note that “the author” can be substituted for “the Gods” in
such a work: “The Gods decreed he would pursue this quest.” Right, mate. The
author decreed he would pursue this quest until sufficient pages were filled to
procure an advance. (Nick Lowe)
● Second-order Idiot Plot
A plot involving an entire invented SF society which functions only because every
single person in it is necessarily an idiot. (Attr. Damon Knight)
Part Five: Background

● “As You Know Bob”
A pernicious form of info-dump through dialogue, in which characters tell each
other things they already know, for the sake of getting the reader up-to-speed. This
very common technique is also known as “Rod
and Don dialogue” (attr. Damon Knight) or “maid and butler dialogue” (attr Algis
Budrys).
● The Edges of Ideas
The solution to the “Info-Dump” problem (how to fill in the background). The
theory is that, as above, the mechanics of an interstellar drive (the center of the
idea) is not important: all that matters is the impact on your characters: they can
get to other planets in a few months, and, oh yeah, it gives them hallucinations
about past lives. Or, more radically: the physics of TV transmission is the center of
an idea; on the edges of it we find people turning into couch potatoes because they
no longer have to leave home for entertainment. Or, more bluntly: we don’t need
info dump at all. We just need a clear picture of how people’s lives have been
affected by their background. This is also known as “carrying extrapolation into
the fabric of daily life.”
● Eyeball Kick
Vivid, telling details that create a kaleidoscopic effect of swarming visual imagery
against a baroquely elaborate SF background. One ideal of cyberpunk SF was to
create a “crammed prose” full of “eyeball kicks.” (Attr. Rudy Rucker)
● Frontloading
Piling too much exposition into the beginning of the story, so that it becomes so
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dense and dry that it is almost impossible to read. (Attr. Connie Willis)
● Infodump
Large chunk of indigestible expository matter intended to explain the background
situation. Info-dumps can be covert, as in fake newspaper or “Encyclopedia
Galactica” articles, or overt, in which all action stops as the author assumes center
stage and lectures. Info-dumps are also known as “expository lumps.” The use of
brief, deft, inoffensive info-dumps is known as “kuttnering,” after Henry Kuttner.
When information is worked unobtrusively into the story’s basic structure, this is
known as “heinleining.”
● “I’ve suffered for my Art” (and now it’s your turn)
A form of info-dump in which the author inflicts upon the reader hard-won, but
irrelevant bits of data acquired while researching the story. As Algis Budrys once
pointed out, homework exists to make the difficult look easy.
● Nowhere Nowhen Story
Putting too little exposition into the story’s beginning, so that the story, while
physically readable, seems to take place in a vacuum and fails to engage any
readerly interest. (Attr. L. Sprague de Camp)
● Ontological riff
Passage in an SF story which suggests that our deepest and most basic convictions
about the nature of reality, space-time, or consciousness have been violated,
technologically transformed, or at least rendered thoroughly dubious. The works
of H. P. Lovecraft, Barrington Bayley, and Philip K *** abound in “ontological
riffs.”
● Space Western
The most pernicious suite of “Used Furniture”. The grizzled space captain
swaggering into the spacer bar and slugging down a Jovian brandy, then laying
down a few credits for a space hooker to give him a Galactic Rim Job.
● Stapeldon
Name assigned to the voice which takes center stage to lecture. Actually a
common noun, as: “You have a Stapledon come on to answer this problem instead
of showing the characters resolve it.”
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● Used Furniture
Use of a background out of Central Casting. Rather than invent a background and
have to explain it, or risk re-inventing the wheel, let’s just steal one. We’ll set it in
the Star Trek Universe, only we’ll call it the Empire instead of the Federation.
Part Six: Character and Viewpoint

● Funny-hat characterization
A character distinguished by a single identifying tag, such as odd headgear, a limp,
a lisp, a parrot on his shoulder, etc.
● Mrs. Brown
The small, downtrodden, eminently common, everyday little person who
nevertheless encapsulates something vital and important about the human
condition. “Mrs. Brown” is a rare personage in the SF genre, being generally
overshadowed by swaggering submyth types made of the finest gold-plated
cardboard. In a famous essay, “Science Fiction and Mrs. Brown,” Ursula K. Le
Guin decried Mrs. Brown’s absence from the SF field. (Attr: Virginia Woolf)
● Submyth
Classic character-types in SF which aspire to the condition of archetype but don’t
quite make it, such as the mad scientist, the crazed supercomputer, the emotionless
super-rational alien, the vindictive mutant child, etc. (Attr. Ursula K. Le Guin)
● Viewpoint glitch
The author loses track of point-of-view, switches point-of-view for no good
reason, or relates something that the viewpoint character could not possibly know.
Part Seven: Miscellaneous

● AM/FM
Engineer’s term distinguishing the inevitable clunky real-world faultiness of
“Actual Machines” from the power-fantasy techno-dreams of “Fucking Magic.”
● Consensus Reality
Useful term for the purported world in which the majority of modern sane people
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generally agree that they live — as opposed to the worlds of, say, Forteans,
semioticians or quantum physicists.
● Intellectual sexiness
The intoxicating glamor of a novel scientific idea, as distinguished from any actual
intellectual merit that it may someday prove to possess.
● The Ol’ Baloney Factory
“Science Fiction” as a publishing and promotional entity in the world of
commerce.
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Other Genres
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Romance
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Crime / Mystery
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Thriller
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Glossary
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MC
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Main Character (MC)
MC is a common abbreviation for main character when you are

discussing your novel. The MC is usually but not always the protagonist.
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POV
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POINT OF VIEW (POV)
We instinctively understand that a story has an author. That author can be:
1st Person - the character themselves (‘I went’, ‘I see’)

2nd Person - (uncommon) the author telling you as a reader what you
did (‘You did’, ‘you saw’)
3rd Person - the author (‘He went’, ‘He saw’)
Point of view can also be close or distant.
Close - we feel, see, experience the world as though we are in the

character’s body (‘There was a whirring noise, then pain, overwhelming
and sudden.’) The advantage to close POV is that it draws you in and
lets you live the scene with the character.
Limited - we are limited to what the POV character can see and know,
but the description is more reflective and intellectualised and less ‘in the
moment’ than a close POV, perhaps because the character is describing
past events (‘That was when the blow came and my head felt like it
exploded. Have you even been hit over the head with a shovel? Let me
tell you, it’s not an experience you want to repeat.’). The advantage to
more arms-length POV is that you can be wittier and chattier, more
profound, or sometimes just move the plot along without getting bogged
down in the detail.
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Omniscient - we can see / hear / feel what any and all characters
experience and other things too that no character observes. There may
or may not be a sense of the author’s personality in the voice.
Omniscient POV is still popular in satire, but is generally out of fashion,
as it can feel to a reader that they are being lectured by the author.
While some scenes can be played effectively from multiple points of view
(POVs), the POV of a scene will usually fundamentally change the
experience and information of the reader. Hence, for most scenes you will
need to consider the POV. At this point, it doesn’t really matter if you will
be writing in 1st or close 3rd person, present or past tense - that’s an issue
of style. But it is important to nominate whose eyes you will be seeing
each scene through.
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Try/Fail Cycle
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Try/fail cycle
A character must earn his or her goals. One way to accomplish this is to
have the character fail before he or she succeeds.
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General Fiction and Fanfiction Terms

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From:
http://www.lunaescence.com/fics/viewstory.php?sid=26758&textsize
=0&chapter=2
Text
Author's Note — A note written by the author directly addressing the readers
outside of the story, typically found at the beginning of a chapter. Sometimes
abbreviated “A/N.”
Beta Reader — A beta tester for stories. Similar to an editor but with a less
formal arrangement. Beta readers find grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors as
well as plot holes, continuity errors, and out of canon points. They can also help
with the general sense and feel of a story or bounce ideas around with you to
determine what should or shouldn't be in a story.
Canon - The established, official source material that the fandom is based
on.
Chekhov's Gun — Like a deus ex machina, but it was there all along. (If
there's a gun hanging over the fireplace, it will eventually be fired in the course of
the plot.) These are more realistic than the deus ex machina because there's a
setup. This is a reference to the Russian author, not the Star Trek character.
CIS — Abbreviation of “Character Information Sheet.” These are used both

in role-playing and in fiction and give basic information about a character.
Generally, in text-based role-playing these are displayed so that the leader can
ensure that the characters stay equal. A lot of authors frown upon posting character
sheets in stories or showing them to other people, as they're more of a consistency
reference sheet in fiction.
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Claim — When someone adopts a canon character in a role-play, they claim

them. This is generally fine. However, to “claim a character” can also mean when
a fan says that a character belongs to them, either because they want to be that
character or have a relationship with that character. This is generally frowned upon
because it causes friction with other fans. This can sometimes, though not always,
indicate a fan that is actually psychotic actually does believe that they can have a
sexual relationship with or control a fictional character.
Cliché — An over-used phrase, expression, theme, characterization, word,

etc.
Coda — A short piece that offers a conclusion to a storyline, sometimes as

an alternative ending or to resolve a cliff-hanger in the canon.
Collaboration — A story written by more than one author, sometimes with

different authors for different chapters or different subplots and sometimes with
different authors working directly together on the entire work. One author
typically keeps the master copy. Sometimes shortened to “collab.”
Cosplay — To dress up as a character, often for a convention or photo shoot.
Critique — A comment that can be negative but is generally polite and

offers constructive criticism of a piece.
CRS - Abbreviation of “Character Reference Sheet.” Basically, the same

thing as CIS.
CYOA — Abbreviation for “Choose Your Own Adventure.” These are

stories where a reader chooses one of two or more endings at the end of each
chapter and is directed to a different place in the story. They typically have several
endings and can be read more than once to different results based on what the
reader chooses. This term cannot be used interchangeably with RI, but a story can
be both CYOA and RI.
Deus ex Machina — This is a plot device that is used to move the story
forward, solve a large problem, save everyone, etc. It refers to the machinery
hidden above the stage in an ancientGreek theater, from which an actor playing
one of the gods would dangle down and save the day. (Literally, “God from the
Machine.”) This term is typically used when the agent of the solution isn't
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Machine.”) This term is typically used when the agent of the solution isn't
previously mentioned and an unbelievable plot twist occurs as a result.
Drabble — A very short piece, typically 100 words. These are often
collected in drabble books.
Epilogue — An ending section to a written or performed work.
Fanart — Visual media created by fans of a particular piece, not by the

original creators.
Fandom - This can be used as a synonym for "canon," but it's also the
collection of fanfiction stories written about that canon, the authors who write
them, the fanlistings, etc.
Fanfiction — Stories written by fans of a particular piece, not by the

original creators.
Fanon - A non-canon, widely accpted idea in fanfiction.
Fansite — A non-official website dedicated to a particular piece, made by

one or more fans.
Ficlet — A short story, usually less than 1000 words.
Flame — An insulting comment. This is not a critique. This is just rude.
Footnote — Though largely replaced by parenthetical notation, a footnote is

a brief explanation or reference credit placed at the bottom of the page and
denoted in the text by an asterisk or superscript number.
Fourth Wall — If you picture a stage as a room, it has three walls shown.
The fourth wall is the one that the audience can see through. A fourth wall
violation occurs when a character directly addresses the audience in an aside or
directly addresses that he/she is fictional.
Gary Stu - A male Mary Sue. Interchangeable with “Lary Stu” and “Marty
Stu.”
In Character — A story in which the characters behave as they do in the

canon, often shortened to “IC.”
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Larry Stu - A male Mary Sue. Interchangeable with “Gary Stu” and “Marty
Stu.”
Litmus Test — In chemistry, this is something that tells you the pH of a

liquid. In writing, this is a general sheet of questions to tell if your character is a
Mary Sue or not.
Marty Stu — A male Mary Sue. Interchangeable with “Gary Stu” and “Larry
Stu.”
Mary Sue - A female character who is unbelievably perfect. Mary Sues often
take the role of a hero and usually lack a believable ratio of good traits and flaws.
Name Smooshing — A portmanteau of two characters' names or parts of two

characters' names to note a romantic pairing. (John + Emily = Jemily)
Novel — A multi-chapter story.
Novella — A short novel.
One Shot - A single-chapter fanfiction. Also spelled “oneshot.”
Original Character — A character created by a fan author, as opposed to a

character that appeared in the canon work. These are sometimes main characters
and sometimes characters filling necessary, minor roles like waitresses, pizza
delivery boys, and cashiers. This is often shortened to “OC.” “OMC” and “OFC”
stand for “Original Male Character” and “Original Female Character,”
respectively. (Not to be confused with OOC.)
Original Fan Fiction — This is a type of fanfiction that borrows only the
world (including settings, norms, magical properties, etc.) from a fandom but uses
all original characters.
Original Fiction — Story for which the author came up with all of the
characters and either built the world of the story or based it in the real world, not
an existing fan canon.
Out of Character — In text-based role-playing, these are notes made by a

player to other players as an aside to the in-character role-playing chat, such as
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player to other players as an aside to the in-character role-playing chat, such Novel
that someone needs a bathroom break, has to make dinner, etc. In fanfiction, this
refers to a character who behaves differently in the story than they do in the
established canon. This is often abbreviated “OOC.” (Not to be confused with
OC.)
Out of Continuation — This can also be abbreviated “OOC.” It refers to a

story that fills in the gaps of an existing fandom.
Pairing — This refers to a particular couple and is usually writen

“CharacterAxCharacterB” or “CharacterA/CharacterB”
Plagiarism — A piece that's been created by Author A and copied by

Plagiarist B, who claims it as his/her own. This can be a whole work, a work with
the names changed, a specific plot (not a general plot, as there are only a certain
number of plot archetypes), significant element, a research paper, or any specific
or significant section of a work.
Point of View — This is the perspective in which a story is written. Third-

person is most common in published fiction, followed by first person. Second
person is seldom used outside of reader insert fanfiction. This is often abbreviated
“PoV” or “POV.”
Prequel — A story that's written after the original story line but takes place
chronologically before it.
Prologue — An introduction to a written or performed work.
R&R — This stands for “Read and Review” or “Rate and Review.” These
can also be abbreviated “R'n'R.” Rarely, “C&C,” which stands for “Critique and
Comment” is also used. Many authors put this in an author's note or summary, but
many other authors and readers find this to be a rude behavior.
Reader-Insert — A story where the reader is a character, written in the

second person with blanks for name, eye color, etc. This term cannot be used
interchangeably with CYOA, but a story can be both CYOA and RI.
Rec — Also known as “Recpage” or “Reclist,” these are pages of links to

fanfics that an author recommends to his/her readers.
Review — An opinion about a particular piece, typically left as a comment

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for public viewing. One who reviews is a “reviewer.” These may be positive or
negative.
Round Robin — A story written by multiple authors in rounds. This is a type

of collaboration in which Author A writes Chapter 1, Author B writes Chapter 2,
etc.
RPG — Abbreviation of “Role Playing Game.” These can be text-based,

multi-player videogames, single-player videogames, or a type of board game.
Script — A format of story with the format of a character's name and

dialogue with very little description other than general directions for movement
and emotion.
Self-Insert — A story where the author is a character. The term is associated

with, but not synonymous with, “Mary Sue,” as Mary Sue characters are
sometimes idealized self-inserts, though a character can be a Mary Sue without
being a self-insert or a self-insert without being a Mary Sue.
Sequel — A story written after the first story in a series that takes place
chronologically after that story.
Ship — This is a short form of “relationship,” and references a specific

pairing. The authors who write for a specific pairing are known as “shippers.”
Spoiler — This is when you give away part of the canon plot, whether in a
discussion, summary, or fanfiction. It's generally frowned-upon to give away the
canon plot in a summary. Warnings should be used if the discussion or body of a
fanfiction will give away spoilers for current or recently-released canons.
Summary — A paragraph explaining the basic plot of a piece.
Teaser — A small sentence given to lure readers or viewers into reading or

watching something, not a full summary.
Vignette — A very short piece, such as a ficlet or drabble, usually describing

a single event or scene. This can also be used within a larger story.
WIP — Stands for “Work in Progress,” a piece that is being posted in

sections and is currently incomplete.
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Genres and Warnings

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Action-Adventure — A genre that centers around a mission and an exotic
location.
Alcohol Abuse - What it says on the tin. Heavy use of alcohol and use of
alcohol in otherwise irresponsible or inappropriate situations, such as drunk
driving.
All Human — A story in which characters that are supernatural beings in the
canon are portrayed as human.
Alternate Reality — A story where the canon world is preserved but major
facts are changed, such as characters who are dead in canon being alive or
characters who are alive in canon dying. Can be used interchangeably with
“alternate universe.”
Alternate Timeline — A story that takes the characters from the fandom and
puts them at another point in history, including time travel.
Alternate Universe — A story written in a different world, such as characters

from a world in which magic exists being put in the real world or characters from a
relatively normal world being given magical powers out of canon. Can be used
interchangeably with “alternate reality.”
Angst — Stories about emotional pain.

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Anthro — Short for “Anthropomorphic,” this genre typically involves

animals given human characteristics, as seen in many children's movies. Partial-
human, partial-animal characters are also considered anthropomorphic, as are
inanimate objects given life and abstract ideas made into people, such as the grim
reaper or a talking clock.
BDSM — This is short for “Bondage and Sadomasochism” or “Bondage,

Dominance, Sadism, Masochism.” It's a type of fetish involving restraint and pain.
Bondage — A sexual fetish involving restraints.
Comedy — A genre focusing on humorous dialogue, events, and situations.

Comedies generally have happy endings.
Crackfic — A story with a very illogical, nonsensical, or random plot, often

humorous. The name comes from the drug crack cocaine. Also written as
“Crack!fic” or simply “crack.”
Crime — A story that depicts crime from the perspective of the criminal,
opposite of the detective story.
Crossover — This is when characters from two or more canons interact.
Cyberpunk — A type of Science Fiction involving cyborgs, robots, and

computers.
CYOA — Abbreviation for “Choose Your Own Adventure.” These are

stories where a reader chooses one of two or more endings at the end of each
chapter and is directed to a different place in the story. They typically have several
endings and can be read more than once to different results based on what the
reader chooses. This term cannot be used interchangeably with RI, but a story can
be both CYOA and RI.
Dark Fantasy — A genre between Fantasy and Horror that typically deals
with dark themes and supernatural things.
Deathfic — A story where a major character, sometimes a canon character

and sometimes a major original character, dies.
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Detective — A story about a crime shown from the perspective of the
detective, whether a police detective or a private investigator.
Divergence — A story that starts in but then turns away from the canon plot.
This is also used for stories that are meant to be side-stories to the canon or to a
larger series.
Drabble — A very short piece, typically 100 words. These are often
collected in drabble books.
Drama — A type of story that focuses on emotional or tense situations,

generally isn't humorous, and generally has a mixed or sad ending.
Dub-con — Short for “dubiously consensual,” dub-con stories do not

include oughtright rape but the issue of consent is left ambiguous.
Emotional Abuse - Verbal abuse, coersion, shaming, or manipulation of

someone close to the abuser, such as a child, sibling, partner, student, etc.
Erotica — Deals with sexual love, may or may not be extremely explicit.
F/F — Indicates a female/female (homosexual) pairing.
Fable — A short tail told to children to teach a moral lesson, often with
anthropomorphic characters. Also, a story about an extraordinary hero.
Fairy Tail — A story, usually short and written for children, about magical
creatures.
Family — A story focusing on family relationships, often appropriate for

younger readers.
Fantasy — A genre in which uses invented worlds, mythological or magical

creatures, and often magic.
Femslash — Slash with a female/female pairing, also spelled “femmeslash.”
Fetish and Parahilia - A fetish is a sexual attraction toward a nonliving

object, such as shoes. A paraphilia is an abnormal sexual desire toward something
specific, such as amputees or the dead.
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Fix Fic — This is a genre where the fan author brings characters back to life
or otherwise undoes events that happened in the canon that he or she doesn't like.
This can also be an elaborate explanation of the latest installment in order to make
everything better.
Fluff — Also known as “schmoop” and “WAFF” (“warm and fuffy feeling”
or “warm and fuzzy feeling”), these are stories and chapters written to give readers
a heartwarming feeling.
Friendship — A story about friends and friendship.
Furry — An often derogatory term for art and fiction based on

anthropomorphic animal characters and the fans of the genre. This is also a
subculture where people identify themselves with a particular animal.
Gay Romance — A romance story focusing on a homosexual pairing.
General — A story without a romantic focus set in the real world.
Gore — Blood, entrails, etc., typically seen in a violent or surgical situation,
Gothic — A literary style related to horror and romance that focuses on

morbid situations, supernatural beings, and the darkness of human nature.
Hermaphrodite — A character who is both male and female at the same

time.
Het — A story with a heterosexual romantic pairing.
Historical Fantasy — A story set in real historical times with fantasy

elements such as magic and dragons.
Historical Fiction — A fictional story based around a real historical event or

people or simply set at some point in history.
Horror — A genre meant to scare people.
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Humor — A story focusing on comedic situations and dialogue.
Hurt/Comfort — A type of story where the focus of the plot is on a character

or set of characters in pain, often emotional, sometimes physical, and the other
characters try to comfort him/her/them.
Incest — A romantic and/or sexual relationship between close family

members.
Lemon - An explicitly sexual story.
Lime — A story with sexual themes that aren't necessarily explicit.
M/F — Indicates a male/female (heterosexual) pairing.
M/M — Indicates a male/male (homosexual) pairing.
Magical Girl - A genre in which the female character gains magical powers.
Martial Arts — A story focusing on fighting in one or more of the martial

arts schools.
Mecha — A type of Science Fiction involving gigantic robots and weapons.
Mpreg — Short for “Male Pregnancy,” this is a genre where men have
babies, through some means or another, sometimes explained, sometimes not.
Common methods involve alien probing, medical implantation, and unexplained
homosexual male pregnancy. This is very, very uncommon outside of the
fanfiction community, though there are a couple of examples.
MST — A form of story mocking another story with comedy written in

between lines of the work that is being mocked, done in the style of the show
Mystery Science Theater 3000. Many fans consider these rude, so it's generally a
good idea to refrain from writing these without an author's consent. Often called
“MST3K” or “MST3000.”
Multiple Partners - This warning is for stories that involve a character who
has more than one sexual partner, either as a polygamist or in a threesome,
foursome, etc. This is not for stories involving more than one couple or stories that
simply involve an affair.
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Mystery — A story about a crime or other event in which the ending is

ambiguous until the climax.
Mysticism — A story focused on the occult, prophesy, etc.
Mythology — A story about supernatural creatures and pantheons of gods.
NG — Short for “Next Generation.” These are stories based in the world of
a fandom, usually about the children of the original cast. It can also refer to a story
in the fandom that uses completely new characters. (Not to be confused with Star
Trek: The Next Generation.)
Ninja — A story based in the tradition and fighting style of ninjas.
Non-Con — Short for “non-consensual,” non-con stories depict rape or

sexual assault.
Occult — A story focusing on magic, ghosts, etc.
One True Pairing — This is a term used by authors who believe two specific
characters belong in a relationship and is used to find other authors and readers
with the same taste, though people can have more than one “one true pairing”
involving a specific character, as well as many sets of pairings within the same
fandom or from different fandoms that they consider to be a “one true pairing.”
This is often abbreviated as “OTP.”
One True Threesome — This is basically the same thing as OTP, but it
involves three characters instead of two. One True Foursome, One True Fivesome,
etc. exist as well, but they are typically parodies. “One True Threesome” is often
abbreviated as “OTT” or “OT3.”
Original Fan Fiction — This is a type of fanfiction that borrows only the
world (including settings, norms, magical properties, etc.) from a fandom but uses
all original characters.
Original Fiction — Story for which the author came up with all of the
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an existing fan canon.
Paranormal — A story involving supernatural creatures.
Paranormal Romance — A romantic story where at least one partner is a

supernatural creature of some sort.
Physical Abuse - Violent actions done to someone close to the abuser, such
as a child, sibling, partner, student, etc.
Police — A story about law enforcement officials.
Post-Apocalyptic — A type of Science Fiction and/or Horror where the plot

occurs after some sort of disaster that ends normal society, such as a zombie
attack, pandemic, nuclear holocaust, etc.
Psychological — A story focusing on thoughts and interior monologues.
PWP — This stands for “Porn Without Plot,” “Poorly Written Porn,” or
“Plot? What Plot?” It is basicaly a story with very little plot that exists mostly to
host a large number of pornographic scenes.
Pyro — A character who is a fire element, has fire-based powers, or is a

pyromaniac, which is someone who likes to burn things.
Reader-Insert — A story where the reader is a character, written in the

second person with blanks for name, eye color, etc. This term cannot be used
interchangeably with CYOA, but a story can be both CYOA and RI.
Real Person Fiction — Fanfiction written about real-life celebrities.

Historical figures generally do not count as Real Person Fiction and are placed in
the Historical Fiction genre instead. “Real Person Fiction” is often abbreviated
“RPF.”
Religious — A story based on an established religion which may or may not

contain allusions or direct references to religious texts, strong personal religious
beliefs, etc.
Romance — A genre based on love, attraction, and sometimes, though not

always, sexuality.
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S&M — Short for “sadomasochism,” a sexual fetish involving inflicting

and/or incurring abuse.
Saffic — A portmanteau of “sapphic” and “fiction,” saffic is a synonym for

“femslash.”
Samurai — A story based in the tradition and combat style of the samurai.
Satire — An often sarcastic humorous story that mocks something in a

lighthearted manner.
Schmoop — The same as fluff. Some fandoms tend to use one over the
other.
Science Fantasy — A genre combining Science Fiction and Fantasy.
Science Fiction — A genre that focuses on scientific, often futuristic
Self-Harm - Intentional injury to oneself, either through deliberate actions

(cutting, starvation, insertion, mutilation, etc.) or through deliberately risky
behaviors (drug use, promiscuous sexual behavior, dangerous thrill-seeking or
attention-seeking behaviors, etc.) with the purpose of punishing oneself, releasing
anxiety, etc. This is not the same as suicide, but the two warnings can be used
together if both apply.
Self-Insert — A story where the author is a character. The term is associated

with, but not synonymous with, “Mary Sue,” as Mary Sue characters are
sometimes idealized self-inserts, though a character can be a Mary Sue without
being a self-insert or a self-insert without being a Mary Sue.
Sexual Abuse - Unwanted sexual advances, often systematic, often to

someone close to the abuser, such as a child, sibling, partner, student, etc. Can be
used with rape warning.
Shonen-ai — “Boy love,” refers to two young men falling in love.
Shoujo-ai - “Girl love,” refers to two girls falling in love.
Slash — Typically, a story with a male/male romantic pairing.

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Songfic — A story, often a one-shot, that uses lyrics in the text or uses lyrics
to generate the theme and/or plot of the text.
Space Opera — A type of science fiction that focuses on adventure,

characters, alien races, and worlds.
Speculative Fiction — This is a catch-all term for the genres of fiction that
aren't plausible in the real world, such as Fantasy, Science Fiction, Steampunk, etc.
Spiritual — A story of a religious nature that may or may not actually

reference a specific religion or religious text.
Squick — Situations which might cause a reaction of disgust in the reader,

usually a story dealing with taboo themes.
Steampunk — A story where steam is used as a source of power including

technology like computers re-imagined, vaguely based in the Victorian era.
Strong Political Views - extreme, unorthodox, or strongly-defended views,

often forced upon others, including modern supremacist (KKK) and fascist (neo-
nazi) groups.
Strong Religious Views - extreme, unorthodox, or strongly-defended views,

sometimes forced upon others, including churches practicing hate speech
(Westboro Baptist), religious or political terrorist organizations (Al Qaeda), cults
(Manson family, Jonestown), historical religious mania (witch burnings, Spanish
Inquisition), etc.
Suicide — This warning should be used for any story that includes a
depiction or allusion to someone killing himself or herself or attempting to do so.
Supernatural — A story dealing with paranormal beings, powers, etc.
Suspense — A story with stressful situations for the characters and an

ending that is kept unsure and revealed very late in the plot, often dramatically.
Thriller — A story with suspenseful or terrifying action sequences and

sometimes a mystery.
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Time Travel — A type of Alternative Timeline where the characters have an
explained or established method of time travel and go to a specific era for the
purpose of plot.
Torture — This warning should be used for any story that includes a
character being the victim of extreme violence, particularly sexual violence or
violence in an interrogation.
Tragedy — A story focusing on drama, typically with a sad ending.
Twincest — A romantic and/or sexual relationship between twins.
TWT — Short for “Time? What Time?” This is a story where the author
doesn't specify the time line.
Violence — This warning should be used for any story including

significantly violent content, including war stories, sexually violent stories,
superhero stories, and fistfighting.
War — A story involving the military or civilians during a war.
Western — Stories set in the American West between the Civil War and
World War One.
Whumpage — A story with the plot focuses on doing damage, usually

physical, sometimes emotional, to the main character or characters. Also spelled
“whump.”
Yaoi — Acronym for “yama-nashi, ochi-nashi, “imi-nashi,” meaning

“without climax, without a conclusion, and without content.” This refers to
romantic stories dealing with male homosexual love and sex.
Young Adult — Refers to stories that are meant for preteen and teenaged
readers, as opposed to stories written specifically for adults or young children.
Yuri — Believed to drive from the name “Yuri,” this refers to romantic
stories dealing with female homosexual love and sex.
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Types of Mary Sue

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Mary Sue - A female character who is unbelievably perfect. Mary Sues often
take the role of a hero and usually lack a believable ratio of good traits and flaws.
THE SUB-TYPES
Angry Sue — This type has a score to settle and something to prove, but
she's guaranteed to succeed and look good doing it.
Angst Sue — She has problems. Lots and lots of problems. She storms
about and mopes and is adorable doing it.
Anti Sue — This is the opposite of a Mary Sue, so much so that she's a
Mary Sue herself.
Avenger Sue — This type has a tragic past that she must avenge.
Babies R' Us Sue — This type marries a canon character and has a ton of
babies, but she still has free time to party, despite having no obvious source of
income, and keeps a perfect figure between pregnancies.
Baby Sue — This type is younger than most Mary Sues. She's typically a
pre-teen or very young teenager. This can also be an older Mary Sue that acts very,
very immaturely.
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Black Hole Sue — This is the type who makes everything about her and will
do anything for attention.
Canon Sue — This is a Mary Sue that appears in the actual, official canon
and is not a fan creation.
Clone Sue — This is a character whose attributes are entirely or almost

entirely ripped from a canon character.
Combo Sue — This is a character who is a combination of two canon

characters from the fandom.
Copycat Sue — This can be the same thing as a Clone Sue, or it can be a
regular Mary Sue who copies a canon character. (Kind of like when the little sister
puts on her big sister's high heels and makeup and stomps around the house
mimicking her.)
Depressed Sue — This is a Mary Sue with emotional issues, sometimes

unfounded.
Einstein Sue — This is the smart Mary Sue.
Evil Sue — This is a Mary Sue who may or may not be a villain. She is
sometimes an anti-hero aligned with the protagonists. The difference between her
and a regular Mary Sue is that she's not nice.
Fiery Sue — This is another type of Mary Sue who isn't as sweet as pie.
This one can be a feminist type or an Avenger Sue, an Angry Sue, or an Evil Sue.
She's got attitude and/or attitude problems.
Fixer Sue — She's a deus ex machina that shows up and saves the day, no
matter what.
Furry Sue — Take a regular Mary Sue, just add fur. These are often cat-girls
or wolf-girls but can also sometimes be some other type of human-animal
combination, such as a centaur.
Gary Stu - A male Mary Sue. Interchangeable with “Lary Stu” and “Marty
Stu.”
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Gimp Sue — She has some form of physical deformity or significant
impairment, often blindness, but she's pretty, and nobody wants to see a pretty girl
cry, so everybody loves her.
God Mode Sue — This type is a strong, self-sufficient heroine who gets
magical powers as needed and saves everybody.
Goth Sue — Take a regular Mary Sue, dress her all in black, dye her hair
black, and paint her nails black.
Helpful Sue — She's helpful...too helpful. She always wants to help because
she's perfect...too perfect.
Jerk Sue — She's awful to everyone around her, but she's pretty and
talented, so everybody loves her.
Larry Stu - A male Mary Sue. Interchangeable with “Gary Stu” and “Marty
Stu.”
Lemon Stu — This is a male variant that has a lot of sexual encounters.
Mage Sue — She has magical powers.
Marty Stu — A male Mary Sue. Interchangeable with “Gary Stu” and “Larry
Stu.”
Misfit Sue — Take Mary Sue, just add instant angst and whatever clothes
the author thinks are cool, and you get the Anti Sue type known as a Misfit Sue.
Nonconformist Sue — Very similar to a Misfit Sue, this is a type who does
whatever she pleases, regardless of what others think, only they end up liking her
anyway.
Parody Sue — This is a Mary Sue written entirely as a joke about Mary
Sues. Surreal.
Possession Sue — This is typically the author's favorite character with a

personality and possibly cosmetic makeover, just to make them more perfect.
Princess Sue — She's a magical fairy princess, and everybody has to do

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Princess Sue — She's a magical fairy princess, and everybody hasYour
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exactly what she wants because she's a princess, but she needs a prince to inherit
the kingdom because she was orphaned when a dragon killed her parents, and she's
perfect in absolutely every way and gorgeous too, and- and- and- Gag me.
Punk Sue — Add plaid, chains, fishnets, hair dye, and attitude, do not wash
frequently, and you have the punk sue.
Purity Sue — She's obsessed with being pure and noble and keeping her
virginity.
Rapist Sue — She's the opposite of the Purity Sue. She will have every
character she wants exactly when she wants them, and if she has to tie them down
and take it by force, she will with no qualms, but they'll love her for it anyway
because they secretly wanted her the whole time.
Relationship Sue — Exists purely for the purpose of being the perfect
girlfriend of a canon character.
Self Sue — A self-insert Mary Sue.
Spokes Sue — A spokesperson who should be entertaining people but

instead makes them want to gag because of the ultra-perfectness of his/her stage
persona.
Sympathetic Sue — She wants your sympathy. She may or may not have a
tragic backstory or a malady, but it's more than likely she has one or the other or
both. The thing is, if she cuts herself, she gets sympathy. If she cries, she gets
sympathy. If she takes drugs, it's OK because everybody understands it's because
of her tragic past. There are no more negative consequences for her. She's excused
from everything, and she looks good being pathetic because she's pretty, and,
again, nobody wants to see a pretty girl cry. (Also called Sympathy Sue.)
Teen Sue — This is typically a Mary Sue on the slightly younger side. Not
as young as the Baby Sue but still younger and less mature than a regular Mary
Sue, she falls somewhere in the middle. Teen Sues are often Purity Sues or Angst
Sues.
Tsundere Sue — She's shy and cold, but everybody really thinks she's pretty,
and she secretly likes them too.
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Ugly Sue — This is an Anti Sue type. She's overweight, has no fashion
sense, and often little to no talent. (Sometimes there is an Ugly Sue whose talents
make up for her lack of looks, but usually, she's talentless.) Nobody likes her
because she's not one of the beautiful people. She wants sympathy and doesn't get
it because nobody cares if an ugly girl cries.
Victim Sue — She has a tragic past. She's basically a Sympathetic or Gimp
Sue. She always has to be the victim and therefore the center of attention.
Villain Sue — She's an Evil Sue who is not an anti-hero. She's most
definitely aligned with the side of evil. Oh, and she's often invincible.
Warrior Sue — This is a Mary Sue who can fight. She's typically a heroine
but could also be a villain. She's pretty and perfect, and she doesn't break a sweat,
even when she's been in combat for hours. So everybody loves her, naturally.
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Japanese Terms
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Much thanks to DG for all her help with this chapter. Please, if you're going
to use Japanese in a story beyond very basic phrases and don't speak the language
with any fluency yourself, refer to the forum thread on translation help.
As stated in the author's note: Please, if you're going to use Japanese in a
story beyond very basic phrases and don't speak the language with any fluency
yourself, refer to the forum thread on translation help.
GENERAL TERMS
Biseinen — Beautiful young adult (male).
Bishoujo — Beautiful girl.
Bishounen — Handsome youth (male).
Ecchi — “Pervert” or “lewd” but in a milder sense than “hentai.”
Geisha — Literally translates as “artisan.” These are traditional entertainers,

not prostitutes, which were a different class entirely.
Hentai — Pornographic anime. (Lit. “pervert.”)
Kabuki — Traditional dance-drama theater, characterized by very elaborate

makeup. Very early kabuki was all-female, but modern kabuki, which developed in
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makeup. Very early kabuki was all-female, but modern kabuki, which developed in
the mid-1600s, is all-male.
Loli-con — A sexual fascination with underage girls.
Mahou Shoujo — “Magical Girl,” a genre in which the female character

gains magical powers.
Noh — One of the traditional theater styles. Traditionally, actors only

rehears together once before the performance, and the performance lasts all day
with five plays being performed. Noh features masks, typically only for one or two
lead actors and those playing certain character types, such as elderly men, as
opposed to the makeup tradition of kabuki. All Noh performers carry fans.
Sakura — Cherry blossoms.
Seme — The dominant partner in a pairing.
Sensei — A teacher or mentor.
Sentai — Literally, “squadron” or “fleet,” but for those of you writing non-
naval stories, this is a term for the genre of anime based around fighting or the
hero team.
Shonen — “Boys” or “juveniles,” refers to a genre of anime and manga

intended for young boys.
Shota-con — A sexual fascination with underage boys.
Shoujo - “Maiden” or “young girl,” refers to a genre of anime and manga

intended for young girls.
Tsundere — Someone who is cold on the outside and warm on the inside.
Uke — The passive partner in a pairing.
Yandere — Someone who is seemingly normal but has a propensity to

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Yandere — Someone who is seemingly normal but has a propensity to Novel
violently snap with a certain trigger or in a certain situation.
Yaoi — Acronym for “yama-nashi, ochi-nashi, “imi-nashi,” meaning

“without climax, without a conclusion, and without content.” This refers to
romantic stories dealing with male homosexual love and sex.
Yuri — Believed to drive from the name “Yuri,” this refers to romantic
stories dealing with female homosexual love and sex.
WEAPONS
chijiriki — A spear with a weighted chain on one end.
Dachi — Stance in karate. Also a general word for “sword.”
Daikyu — A longbow.
Hankyuu — A small compound bow
Jutte — a pointed metal pole with a bent bar attached to it used to show law
enforcement office as well as to strike large muscle groups or trap and break
hands. Also spelled “jitte.”
Kama — A small sickle or scythe.
Katana — A longsword, also used as a general word for “sword.”
Kunai — Throwing knives.
Kusari-gama — A kama with a chain attached.
Kyudo — The Japanese archery style.
Manriki gusari — a chain with weights on either end.
Naginata — A single-edged, bladed staff similar to a halberd.
Neko-te — Iron claws or spikes, often dipped in poison, put on metal bands
or crafted with ring holes to fit around the fingers and scratch the opponent.
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Nekode — Clawed brass knuckles also used for scaling walls.
No-Dachi — A very large longsword.
Nunchucks — A short chain with two pieces of wood or metal.
O-No — An axe or battle axe.
Sai — A trident-shaped weapon used to trap weapons (sword or staff) and to

trap and break fingers.
Shuriken — A small throwing knife, dagger, or throwing star.
Tachi — A mid-sized longsword.
Tanto — A dagger often carried along with a katana.
Tessen — Fighting fan.
Wakizashi — A short sword.
Yari — A spear.
Yumi — A bow.
HONORIFICS
-chan — You use this with members of your immediate family, girls you're
familiar with (female classmates and friends), and young children
-kun — You use this with boys you're familiar (male classmates and friends)
with and people who rank below you, for example, employees and children several
grades below you in school. This is typically only used for men and boys, though
it can, occasionally, be used for women and girls.
-sama — You use this in very, very formal situations only, for example, for a
religious leader, noble, president, prime minister, etc. Regular people don't really
use this one very often.
-san — You use this with more or less every adult you're not extremely
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-san — You use this with more or less every adult you're not extremely
familiar with, as it's the equivalent of Mr./Mrs./Ms./Miss.
-sensei — You use this with teachers, doctors, and other well-regarded
professionals.
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American and British Spelling Variations

Status: No Status
Label: No Label
The Internet is a worldwide medium, and to our pleasure, surfers from around the
globe access our pages daily. Often, they find the same word is spelled differently
throughout this site. The same word can even be spelled differently on the same
page! Some users become upset about our spelling. They ask us why we spell the
words on our pages the way we do.
Our answer is this. When preparing entries for our pages, we use the spelling of
words that each individual contributor uses. That's because people spell the same
word differently in different parts of the world. We do hope you find this a
reasonable explanation. We do not intend to offend anyone's sensibilities over this
point.
When this page was originally published, it contained about 200 words. Most of
the words were about work and organizations. Over time, our spelling word list
has been expanded to include words from many sources. People refer to our word
list to help themselves with spelling difficulties of all kinds, not just labour related
word problems.
Below, we present a list of spelling variations that appear in the English language.
There are nearly 1,200 pairs in this listing. Looking at the pairs of words will you
give an idea of the same word spellings in use. Other sites present web pages that
contain a list of rules, variants, exceptions and the like to help writers to remember
how to spell a particular word. Other pages provide guidelines about how to spell
in an American style and how to spell in a British style. This list is simply a
column of word pairs and we've found it easier just to look up the spelling
variations.
The list is here.

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Writing Tips
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Label: No Label
Synopsis
Tips on how to create good scenes and good sequences of scenes.
101 Tips for Writer's Block

Status: No Status
Label: No Label
101 Tips for Writer's Block

NOTE: Some of the links may not work! Either they are very old, they did not
paste correctly (check the URL and fix it), or the site does not exist anymore.
1. Read and write often.

2. Make PROCRASTINATION your biggest enemy.
3. Your draft, visual sketches, videos, initial framework are your best friends.
Always refer to them again if you’re stuck.
4. Draw! yes, draw. By drawing, you’re expressing yourself in a different way
/ through a different channel (not in words). This might help to picture out
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4.
/ through a different channel (not in words). This might help to picture out
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what you couldn’t put in words in the first place. In fact drawing is very
similar to writing as it exercises the right creative side of your brain.
5. Simplicity – For some, style of writing, strong words, flowery phrases, etc.
are their main priorities. Don’t worry too much on those matters, go simple
and focus on wording out the flow of your ideas, then focus on the
beautification process.
6. Find your golden hour, what time are you at your optimum efficiency level.
Are you a morning person? A night owl?
7. Change your surroundings. Focus on getting to a location which is
comfortable for you. If you prefer a busy place with crowd and a lot of
noises, find one. If you prefer a quite place, find a library, etc.
8. Get your blood moving – exercise, move around, swim. Go for a short road
trip.
9. Try aromatherapy.
10. Play some games. It doesn’t matter whether it’s from your Iphone, or from
your computer. Good games with some engaging story lines can trigger new
ideas and strategies on how to write.
11. Get involved with anagrams.
12. Creative writing games.
13. Play Pictionary – By observing on how different players draw out their
words / phrases, you can try to practice new ways of outlining your
storyline. Or just have fun while you’re taking your short breaks.
14. Play typing games – Those random generated sentences that you have to
type as fast as you can, may represent great source of ideas.
15. Play around with your emotions (at least not intentionally) and take
advantage of it . Certain emotions might prepare yourself to write differently
and provide you with the variety you need.
16. Be an adrenaline junkie, jump on the roller coaster, go for bungee jumping,
etc. Try experiencing something you’ve never done before. For some, this
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16.
etc. Try experiencing something you’ve never done before. For some,
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triggers a new set of feelings which you can apply it on your writing.
17. Get rid of any negative emotions. When you’re bothered, your mind is
confused. Fix your problems, run your errands, solve everything that you
can think of, and let your mind to focus on one and only one thing – your
writing.
18. Brainwash yourself to erase terms such as writer’s block from your mind.
For all you know it’s just laziness. (Refer to point no 2).
19. Eat healthy food, and eat well. Your mind does not function well on an
empty stomach.
20. Being equipped with information is the key to a smooth free flow of ideas.
Keep a writers journal, keep receipts, items, pictures, souvenirs, presents or
any items that can aid you in your writing.
21. Go to places which you think will give you ideas (closely related to the
story you’re writing). Don’t forget to bring a paper and a pen, or anything
that you write them on (iPhone, digital notebook, iPad, etc.). The last thing
you want happening to you is knocking yourself on the head for not being
able to remember.
22. When you’re not progressing in your writing, write / note down everything
you can think of, even if it’s bad. Lower your standards and keep writing.
You can refer to them later and might conveniently construct a new idea. In
other words, don’t be a perfectionist at this point of time, just write what
you can think of, as you can always edit it later. Even if it’s not related to
what you’re currently writing, write it down. It might come in handy in your
next projects. Abandon nothing when it comes to writing ideas.
23. Research, research, research. Do your homework.
24. Instead of following the normal flow of things – research and then write,
rehearse what you’re about to write before going out on the field to cover
your story.
25. Unplug the internet, don’t check your emails, don’t log in to your IM.
Basically, wipe out all the common distractions.
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26. Or if you happen to work very well with distractions, listen to some music,
podcasts, audiobooks, etc. while or when you’re not writing. Alternatively,
visit crowded places. Humans are complex beings, some need minor and
indirect distractions to be able to function.
27. Tackle / overcome the most difficult part when you’re fresh (early in the
morning, after your run, etc). In the evening if you’re a writing over the
graveyard shift.
28. Coffee, tea or any energy drink – caffeine is a great boost and will stir your
mind. Focus and alertness is your priority.
29. Get sufficient amount of sleep. There’s no point slogging yourself
throughout the night, cracking your brain, when nothing is coming out.
30. Your brain needs some rest as well. Exhaustion is not an option – take a
break. Perhaps a short nap could help a great deal in thinking department.
For those who are gifted enough to remember their own dreams, this is
another platform where you can extract ideas from. Our brain is by far the
best story generator and movie director one can ever find.
31. Alcohol, not in excessive amount though.
32. Talk to your writer friends / close friends, get their opinions, what they have
in mind, etc. Go for constructive suggestions, balance out between
compliments and unpleasant remarks.
33. Set a personal dateline – some authors work better under pressure, some
don’t. Change your dateline according to your comfort level.
34. Time is a very important factor, regardless you’re within a dateline or not.
Always start early, prepare yourself sufficiently and this should minimize
any obstacles you may find.
35. Commit yourself to achieving a word count, not writing for a certain amount
of time. Aim for your optimum number of words, double it if you feel good.
Otherwise, just aim for your minimum.
36. If you have published a few books before, read your readers’ comments.
Their comments and suggestions might give you some idea on how to
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36.
Their comments and suggestions might give you some idea on how to Novel
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proceed and improve.
37. Start of the end. Instead of writing from start to end, write from end to start.
Formulate an ending and figure out how it starts and how it flows. Or you
can even start in the middle. Start with a few short stories if you think it will
help your readers to understand better. Throw in poems, historical facts, etc.
38. Reward yourself – if you manage to conquer a difficult part of your writer’s
block, reward yourself to a good weekend with your friends and family, etc.
An unhealthy sinful food you’ve always been craving for. When you’re
emotionally contented, things might come in more naturally in the next
stages of writing.
39. Talk to yourself. Some might think you’re crazy, but saying it out loud is a
brilliant way of bringing clarity and to explore the different options that
might come. Speak. Shout. Get a tape recorder, a microphone perhaps? etc.
Sometimes ideas travel faster from the brain to the mouth than from the
brain to the hand.
40. Question yourself continuously and consistently. Perhaps religiously? You
never know what kind of answers you might come up yourself. Instead of
plotting what to write next, write down questions instead. Then move on.
41. Handwrite instead of typing it in your computer.
42. Try to distract yourself with meaningless activities like copying a paragraph
of your story into Google translate, translate it into another language and
change it back to the original. Inspirations might be nonexistent from this
method, but at least you can have a good laugh from the results. The
“modifications” from the translations could be a reward in disguise – a new
writing style perhaps?
43. Typing in phrases into search engines and look at how are these phrases are
written. You may discover new building blocks you may keep for later
reference.
44. Don’t be afraid to experiment, people tend to learn faster and better when
they do mistakes.
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45. Work on more than one project at a time. It helps to minimize fear,
monotony, and boredom. It seems to prevent writer’s block for many people.
46. Get counseling, many therapists specialize in helping artists and writers
reconnect with their creativity.
47. Motivation – Who are you writing this book for? Why are you writing this
book? If you can focus on questions like these and enhance them by
visualizing them constantly, they should aid you in your writing process.
Don’t underestimate the drive that can be derived from motivation and
results. Imagine the rewards you’ll gain from consistent visits to the gym.
Similarly, you’ll write more and more often, whenever you start noticing
that you’re writing much more efficiently. Improvements = results. (Refer to
point no 1).
48. Try writing exercises – loosen up the mind and get you to write things you
would never write otherwise.
49. Read quotes by famous authors on writer’s block.
50. It’s not the words, but your vision, try to narrow down on the topic. Starting
from a Country > Town > Street > Shops > People > Walls > Bricks, etc.
Start with the favorite object in the story, use an object as a topic of
discussion.
51. Think differently and find connections between seemingly unrelated
concepts and items. E.g. Try connecting the dot between a car and a piece of
rubber band. This might stimulate some unused sections of your thinking
cap, and trigger some brand new ideas.
52. Imagine / put yourself in the shoes of different characters and objects. Think
the impossible – try to imagine yourself as a 100 year old tree, being a
grizzly bear’s claw sharpener. How would you feel and do? Attack different
scenarios from a different standpoint.
53. Ask yourself why and where are you getting stuck? Focus on the issue and
do a research on all possible scenarios involving that particular topic that
you’re not able to continue. How if, What if, etc.
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54. Set your priorities, your main focus.
55. Stop being a perfectionist throughout your writing process.
56. Don’t rewrite until you’re done. Focus on your structure, flow and ideas.
Corrections and beautifications can come later. Learn how to prioritize your
time between composing and editing.
57. If you can’t find the proper phrase, write down whatever comes into your
mind, highlight it / bracket it, and then come back later if you’ve found out
the proper phrase to use.
58. Prepare yourself a set of phrases that can be used as your building blocks,
e.g. due to the fact that, it is imperative that, etc. You can also utilize
different words and sentences.
59. Your goal is not to write the greatest article or poem for how-to guide or
epic novel ever created. Your goal is to satisfy yourself.
60. Perform interviews, distribute questionnaire and run surveys.
61. Pretend somebody important to be your fan. Your former English teacher?
JK Rowling? Imagine yourself writing for someone else who is interested in
your topic of writing. The urge to impress motivates one beautifully.
62. Ensure writing is your passion. There’s nothing wrong writing when you
spend your whole life climbing rocks. It’s just easier to accomplish
something when passion is the main pillar of support.
63. Don’t feel down or demotivated when you’re going nowhere, it happens
even to the best and most experienced writers. The last thing you want to
worry is about false impressions that you’re incapable of writing. You are a
great writer.
64. Join a writers group. Get together, throw out your notebook or iPad,
whichever you’re comfortable with and start writing. The presence of
individuals with similar objectives and obstacles could push you forward,
unknowingly.
65. Try to think like a chatterbox (or observe one). On how they can present a
topic and then move on gracefully to another subject which has no relation
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topic and then move on gracefully to another subject which has noYour Novel
relation
whatsoever with the main topic of conversation, should give you some
strategies on how you can approach your own story progressions. And it’s
not that difficult to find one these days, if you’re not one of them.
66. Make use of the thesaurus. List down a list of words, run them through
thesaurus and see what you can find. Their meanings and usage can open a
door to brand new ideas and writing styles. Explore the synonyms and
antonyms as well.
67. Vary your writing styles & approaches:-
Describing people, places & things
Narrating events
Explaining a process step by step (Instructional)
Clarification & Explanation
Comparing & Contrasting
Classifying & Dividing
Examining Causes & Effects
Arguing & Persuading
Reviews & Predictions
Lists
Case Studies
Problems & Solutions
Rantings
Inspirational
Research
Debate
Hypothetical
Satirical
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68. Dig back your old writing materials. Still keeping your old writing
assignments? You might get lucky and find some great ideas you’ve kept
aside long time ago.
69. Dig into your email account and re-visit the conversations you had with
your contacts, the ideas you shared and the things you discussed.
70. If you’re a travel writer, even a small item like a used cigarette butt can
generate / trigger new ideas. Keep all the items and capture all information
that you’ve encountered during your journey. Take pictures, videos, audio
recordings, etc.
71. Read other books (bookshop or any other books you already have). Read
online to experience a variety of new storytelling forms. Go with topics
outside your discipline, such as architecture, astronomy, economics or
photography.
72. Read books that help you to write.
73. Search through free eBook sites:-
GetFreeEbooks
Gutenberg
ManyBooks
Feedbooks
Smashwords
Booktrope
74. Start with a prompt (10 Reasons Why You Should Use Writing Prompts)
JC-Schools – Prompt Generator
Gkbledsoe – Writing Prompt Generator
Seventh Sanctum Writing Challenge Generator
Adam Maxwell Writing Prompts Generator
75. Start with a hook sentence.
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76. Write using the Snowflake method.
77. Try Asemic writing.
78. Contribute to a collaborative story. Free your mind and at the same time, test
your creativity and absorb a lot of great ideas from the community.
Folding Story
Novlet
Story Mash
Protagonize
79. Browse “minimalistic” one sentence / one word story hubs.
One Sentence
One Word
Six Word Stories
80. Join a writing contest or submit your short stories. Just a small one to pull
you out of your “routine”. Your new writing task and your sense of
accomplishment after submitting your entry, hopefully, will clear off some
of the obstacles blocking your ideas to flow.
Name Your Tale
Espresso Stories
81. Engage an online generator, e.g. Character name generator, poetry generator,
random line generator, Title-o-Matic, etc.
Seventh Sanctum
82. Use Inspiro – An idea generator / Imagination stimulator (Iphone, Ipad, Ipod
Touch App) – $2.99.
83. Browse through newspaper archives online.
Wikipedia – List of Online Newspaper Archives
Green Free Library Newspaper Archive
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84. Studying the lives of other writers can also provide insight into why you’re
blocked.
85. Read all the latest news in one place – PopURLs.com
86. Go and catch a movie, incidents happening in the storyline might help. Or if
you’re busy, watch online movies
(Youtube, Metacafe, Dailymotion, Vimeo & VideoJug).
87. Listen to music lyrics and read movie quotes (IMDB)
88. Search new ideas and information from blogs – Google Blog Search
89. Browse through popular online article directories.
EzineArticles
GoArticles
Articlesbase.com
90. Search and read online news.
91. Search forums related to your topic:-
BoardReader
BoardTracker
Omgili
92. Take advantage of the keyword tools out there. You’ll be amazed what can
be derived from just a single word. Use this tool and expand your ideas.
– Google Keyword Tool
93. Find questions and answers from the community :-
Yahoo! Answers
Wiki Answers
Answer Bag
94. People say an image is worth a thousand words.
Yahoo! Flickr
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DeviantArt
Google Picasa
95. Browse through postcards from your nearest bookstore and absorb the ideas
from them.
96. Go to social bookmarking sites and find items based no your topic.
Digg
Stumbleupon
Reddit
97. Searches through social networking sites could provide some interesting
results as well.
Twitter
Facebook (Browse Pages | Foupas or YourOpenBook – Facebook Search Engines),
or you can basically search for anything when you’re logged in.
98. Get a proper writing software, or something that you’re comfortable with.
Getting rid of small annoyances (lack of certain functionality, no auto save /
backup feature, etc.) such as this can free up more room for effective
thinking. We would recommend Evernote.
99. Charts, diagrams and Mindmapping.
(Mindmapping) – FreeMind
(Mindmapping) – MindMeister
(Mindmapping) – Xmind
100. Grab some chocolate and surrender to your libido. Some de-stressing should
do the trick.
101. Finally, if everything still fails, repeat steps 1 to 100. Happy writing!
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Subplot Advice
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Some good advice on developing subplots from the friendly

internet:
http://www.crackingyarns.com.au/2011/01/26/the-secret-to-subplots-half-
revealed/
http://www.crackingyarns.com.au/2011/01/30/the-one-subplot-you-really-
need/
http://www.movieoutline.com/articles/writing-subplots-and-multiple-plot-
lines-in-your-screenplay.html
http://www.scriptmag.com/features/ask-script-qa/ask-the-expert-making-
sure-your-subplots-arent-sub-par
http://www.writersdigest.com/online-editor/7-ways-to-add-great-subplots-
to-your-novel
http://writingright-martin.blogspot.com.au/2009/07/outline-4-developing-
subplot-arcs.html
http://guelphwritenow.com/2013/07/17/creating-subplots-that-work/
http://writing-poetry.knoji.com/three-steps-to-developing-a-romance-
subplot-in-fiction/
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Scene Sequel
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Action / reaction, Scene / Sequel
Build in emotional reaction to events that impact on the plot.
1. 1) Jenny discovers she’s adopted.

2. 2) Jenny tracks down someone who can tell her about her
parents.
3. 3) Jenny learns her mother’s identity – her mother is now a
politician who represents an ideology Jenny hates.
4. 4) Jenny decides to go to a party meeting of her mother’s party.
Pay attention to the kind of verb you’re using, because this will tell you
something important about the scene
ACTION: ‘tracks down’, ‘goes to’,

•- Question you should ask: How does the character physically
do this? What are the locations involved? Does the character have
the resources / capacity to do this? Does this physical activity
challenge the character in any way?
•- If the activity does NOT challenge the character in any way,
beware. Your scene is going to be passive description of a transition
rather than moving the plot forward. Likely it can be skipped or
abbreviated to a sentence or two.
•o Occasionally a character in a passive scene like
this can witness an event which is evidently an important
change or challenge for the story, in which case you’ll get away
with it, though you’ll want your character to be less passive
pretty quickly after.
•o Sometimes a passive scene can be an
opportunity to showcase character through their reactions to
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•
opportunity to showcase character through their reactions
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what they are observing. BUT these character reactions must
be building to some later change in the book. For example, in a
story where snobby rich girl Anne is going to fall in love with
garbage disposal man Billy, a scene where Anne simply
catches public transport and spends the whole trip feeling
superior to the people around her does much to set up her
character and illustrate how she will be conflicted when she
falls in love with Billy. Occasional scenes of this nature, or
scenes that are particularly well written will carry the reader
along, but too many of them will really bog down your pacing.
INFORMATION DISCOVERY: ‘discovers’, ‘learns’

•- Question you should ask: How does the character/reader
discovers this information? What precisely is the information the
character/reader understands? If the character/reader wants this
information: has this discovery been credibly earned by the character
by piecing together clues? If the character/reader was not looking for
this information: does the information immediately change something
for the character/reader? What is the atmosphere in which the
information is imparted?
•- If your plot outline says ‘Joe discovers the holy grail’ then you
are going to get to that scene and realise that there is a big difference
between that bare fact and having any idea what to put in the scene.
•o If neither Joe nor the reader was looking for the
holy grail, you may have an apparently aimless scene where
your main character comes across a fancy cup, which is pretty
boring because neither your character or the reader realises
there’s anything of significance.
•o If Joe knows he’s looking for the Holy Grail and
walks into the room and finds it, say, sitting on a laminex table,
so he puts it in his bag and leaves, then this is not a very
dramatic scene. I mean – this is the Holy Grail – it shouldn’t be
easy to obtain and there should convey some sense of gravitas
(unless you’re writing a comedy).
•o If the actual finding of the Grail is not going to be
interesting in its own right, then you need to find something else
interesting to make the scene about. Maybe there is something
or someone else in the room?
•- So, Jenny discovers she’s adopted could be:
•o Jenny finds an old chest of documents under the
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•o Jenny finds an old chest of documents under the
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bed in her parents spare room. In it is an old letter from
someone named ‘Bill’ asking how their adopted child Jenny is
getting along.
•- In other words, your discovery scene ought to be an action
scene in its own right. Convert it into an action scene, where the
discovery can be the thing that challenges the character.
REACTION: ‘decides’
•- A reaction scene is sometimes known as a ‘sequel’ and does
not always warrant a scene of its own. However, it is crucial that
most of your action or discovery scenes include a sequel or are
followed by a sequel scene. Why? Otherwise you are missing
important character development and your character will seem like a
random pawn being propelled by the plot rather than a real person
driving the plot.
•- A reaction or sequel scene should contain a decision by a
character and the emotional / intellectual reasons for that decision.
•- A reaction or sequel scene is a great way to illustrate
character. What options do they consider and how do they evaluate
them? How clever are these options and evaluation? Do they faff
around or are they decisive? What assumptions does the character
bring to the process? What does this reaction illustrate about the
character?
•- So let’s take our scene outline and add sequels:
a. 1) ACTION: Jenny discovers she’s adopted: Jenny finds an old

chest of documents under the bed in her parents spare room. In it
is an old letter from someone named ‘Bill’ asking how their
adopted child Jenny is getting along.
b. 2) REACTION: Jenny is in shock but it also gives her hope,
because her daughter Sarah has a rare medical condition that
requires donor blood, and maybe Jenny’s biological family could
give it to her. Jenny Googles for site on adopted children, and
from this decides to visit a genealogist to help her track down her
biological parents.
c. 3) ACTION: Jenny learns her mother’s identity: Jenny has an
appointment with a genealogist who tells her about her birth
parents. Her mother is now a politician who represents an
ideology Jenny hates.
d. 4) REACTION: Jenny is conflicted. On the one hand she has
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d. 4) REACTION: Jenny is conflicted. On the one hand she has
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been openly contemptuous of her mother’s party and does not
know she could bring herself to keep her mouth shut and pretend
to get along, but then her daughter’s life is on the line. She
watches the news and is appalled at her mother’s soundbites.
She looks up her political website and joins the mailing list. Jenny
meets up with a good friend and sounds out her feelings. She
gets an email from her mother’s supporters saying there is a party
fundraiser later in the week. Jenny decides to go to a party
fundraiser.
Now for each other character who appears, consider an action/reaction.

• - Genealogist tells Jenny what she’s found and is confronted by
Jenny’s shock. How does she react? Badly, because Jenny’s
rude? Does she have a cup of tea and tissues on hand
because shock can be pretty normal?
• - Jenny’s friend learns this information about Jenny, what kind
of reaction does s/he have? What does this say about him and
his relationship with Jenny? Good friend? Blunt or
understanding? Political views?
Incorporate this information into your outline. See how much more this
gives you key information to construct dramatic scenes which are character
driven when compared to the original outline?
Strategies:
• Reframe the problem;
behaviour;
techniques;
• Positive emotional manipulation (create positive relationship to
make it harder for other character to upset main character).
• Break the rules (who cares? Or so long as it doesn’t hurt anyone?
or so long as I don’t get caught?);
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• Be steadfast and trust to deity / moral principles to achieve
objectives;
• Compromise;
experience;
• Plead / beg;
• Don’t try to change the other character - rather try to accept and
come to terms with the other character’s behaviour.
•
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Scene Types
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
One way to get writing is to throw your characters into different kinds of
scenes. Here are some scene ideas:
• Two characters, who don’t get along, must work together to achieve
an objective in the scene.
• A fight scene.
• A sex scene.
• A chase scene.
• Power shift. (At the start of the scene, power is in the hands of one
character. At the end of the scene, power is in the hands of the
other.)
• A character gets the worst possible news they could possibly get.
•
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Story Types
Status: No Status
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Fiction is usually about one or more of the following things:
1. 1. Character arc – a character is challenged and either grows or

discovers clarity about who they are.
1. 2. Universal balance restored – something in the world is amiss

(eg. the aliens are invading, some bitchy girl is the Queen Bee at
highschool) and after much effort this problem is dealt and the world
becomes a better place.
1. 3. Exploration – the story looks at an idea/situation/location from

different angles and perspectives to allow the reader to gain new
insights. Comedy writing is mostly exploration – the opportunity for
funny situations and witty dialogue. Literary fiction is mostly
exploration, the opportunity for poetic writing and seeing the world
through new eyes. The structure of the exploration is to take you
from Point A to Point B (or sometimes back to Point A) along a scenic
route, surprising or delighting you along the way.
A work of fiction may have any of these structures or all three. It is

common for the world to be amiss in such a way that the main character is
responsible for fixing it. Fiction that is only structured through exploration
of an idea will be a hard sell in the popular market, because most people
pick up a novel to connect with a character or for the adrenaline created
through the suspense of driving towards a goal. On the other hand, fiction
that does not include some exploration will have all the depth of a
cardboard cut-out.
Example:
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Hamlet is primarily a story about restoring balance – something is rotten in
the heart of Denmark. Prince Hamlet’s father has been secretly killed by
his uncle, who has taken throne and married Hamlet’s mother. The main
structure of the story is the steps taken to expose this secret and remove
the wrongful King.
Hamlet is secondarily about exploration – the story wrestles with the ideas
of death, madness, and betrayal, and we see the fall-out of the wrongful
situation and Hamlet’s attempts to address it. The exploration here is
about philosophy and psychology, not touring the setting.
Hamlet grows very little in the play. At the start, he’s like an emo teenager
who’s obsessed with the wrong that’s been done, and at the end he’s pretty
much the same, then he dies. Along the way, he’s angry and bitter. It’s not
much of a character arc, more a character sketch of someone who would
pursue restoring balance.
Example:
Star Wars is equally a story about restoring balance and a character arc.
The world is out of balance because the Emperor is building a mega-evil

Death Star, a weapon which can annihilate planets, and it will use it to
suppress any dissent. At the end of the movie the Death Star is destroyed
and hence balance is restored.
Luke Skywalker, the protagonist, grows from a boy to… well, an older boy.
He goes from sheltered teen to a valued member of the rebel alliance. He
discovers his inner magic and learns to ‘trust the force’, which means
finding a kind of zen.
There is an element of exploration in the story, as we see glimpses of a

variety of locations and cultures. Seeing the insider of the Death Star,
seeing it annihilate a planet, seeing a seedy bar, a garbage disposal unit,
scavengers, Wookies, Imperial meetings etc. All these scenes are about
exploring the simulated scenario.
In Star Wars, Luke becomes responsible (with an ensemble cast to assist)

to restoring balance to the universe. Destroying the Death Star is his
character’s external objective.
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Example:
Titanic is equally a story about all three elements.
Character arc – It is the story of a repressed woman, Rose, trapped in a

loveless engagement, breaking free of social expectations and setting out
to find what makes her happy.
Universal balance – It is the story of hubris (‘this is the unsinkable ship’)

challenged and brought low (like, to the bottom of the North Atlantic), and
the culture thereby restored to a state of humility. It is the story of the
destruction of a society with unfair notions of class and gender.
Exploration – It is an elaborate simulation of the ship and historic event,

seen from every possible angle, from setting out to the disaster to rescue
of the survivors, to historic exploration of the wreck etc.
Compare to Star Wars: Rose is not responsible for restoring the balance or
even rescuing anyone. That is taken care of by the iceberg, a few nice
chaps, and the passage of time. Her external objective becomes survival
on a sinking ship.
Example:
Pride and Prejudice is a story of a character arc – proud Elizabeth learns

not to judge a book by its cover, and see past Darcy’s awkwardness and
arrogance and that he actually is a good egg.
Exploration – the story is hugely about capturing social dynamics of the

period and making witty observations. Elizabeth has four sisters and a
friend, just so we thoroughly cover a bunch of possible alternative paths a
woman in her situation might have taken.
Universal balance - True love triumphs – you can marry for love and
money, and if you stick to your values that unattainable jerk will turn out to
be a nice guy who’s just terribly misunderstood.
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Short Story Outliner copy

Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Notes
This outliner was created by Lester Dent’s Original “Master Fiction Plot”,
excluding any sources linked and/or provided/noted otherwise.
How To Use this Template

Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Notes
NOTICE: Know that this template works for pulp fiction type of short stories
and not others. Such as adventure, detective, western and war-air. However, it can
be used as an guideline for almost any type of short story. Pay attention to how
each section is split and what each section requires. If you combine that with some
portions from the other ‘Outliner’ (red book icon) and the tasklists (one or more),
you will be able to write an excellent short story anyway. Other things to use from
the other outliner:
● Settings/Worldbuilding: No matter what, the area the character(s) are in is
not going to be a vacuum most likely. If it is a different world, even your
own, you will still need this.
● Themes/Ideas: Useful either way
● Characters: A organized way to keep characters at bay etc.
● Writing Advice: Certain words etc. Will still apply for either.
● Semi-Structured Plotting (Under ‘Structure/Plot’): Since it is shorter, it
439
● Semi-Structured Plotting (Under ‘Structure/Plot’): Since it is shorter,
YouritNovel
should help with making a short story.
As always, create a duplicate of the template/sheet etc. if needed.
Text
This template is designed to be extremely easy to use.
First, read through Lester Dent’s Original “Master Fiction
Plot” article.
This article is then split up into the folders where you
can draft your story. The text field are blank to allow you to
type your story out section by section. The part of the Master
Fiction plot that applies to that portion of text is located
either in the Synopsis or Notes Field. To see these, open the
Inspector.
When your story has been drafted and edited, you can
compile it. Just select the text files between “Title” page and
“Template” that you want to be included. Do not include the
folders unless you want to keep them as chapter breaks.
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Master Plot
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
This is a formula, a master plot, for any 6000 word pulp story. It has worked on
adventure, detective, western and war-air. It tells exactly where to put everything. It
shows definitely just what must happen in each successive thousand words.
No yarn of mine written to the formula has yet failed to sell.
The business of building stories seems not much different from the business of building
anything else.
Here's how it starts:
1. A DIFFERENT MURDER METHOD FOR VILLAIN TO USE

2. A DIFFERENT THING FOR VILLAIN TO BE SEEKING
3. A DIFFERENT LOCALE
4. A MENACE WHICH IS TO HANG LIKE A CLOUD OVER HERO
One of these DIFFERENT things would be nice, two better, three swell. It may help if they
are fully in mind before tackling the rest.
A different murder method could be--different. Thinking of shooting, knifing, hydrocyanic,

garroting, poison needles, scorpions, a few others, and writing them on paper gets them
where they may suggest something. Scorpions and their poison bite? Maybe mosquitos or
flies treated with deadly germs?
If the victims are killed by ordinary methods, but found under strange and identical
circumstances each time, it might serve, the reader of course not knowing until the end,
that the method of murder is ordinary.
Scribes who have their villain's victims found with butterflies, spiders or bats stamped on
them could conceivably be flirting with this gag.
Probably it won't do a lot of good to be too odd, fanciful or grotesque with murder methods.
The different thing for the villain to be after might be something other than jewels, the
stolen bank loot, the pearls, or some other old ones.
Here, again one might get too bizarre.
Unique locale? Easy. Selecting one that fits in with the murder method and the treasure--
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Your Novel
Unique locale? Easy. Selecting one that fits in with the murder method and the treasure--
thing that villain wants--makes it simpler, and it's
also nice to use a familiar one, a place where you've lived or worked. So many pulpateers
don't. It sometimes saves embarrassment to know nearly as much about the locale as the
editor, or enough to fool him.
Here's a nifty much used in faking local color. For a story laid in Egypt, say, author finds a
book titled "Conversational Egyptian Easily Learned," or something like that. He wants a
character to ask in Egyptian, "What's the matter?" He looks in the book and finds, "El
khabar, eyh?" To keep the reader from getting dizzy, it's perhaps wise to make it clear in
some fashion, just what that means. Occasionally the text will tell this, or someone can
repeat it in English. But it's a doubtful move to stop and tell the reader in so many words
the English translation.
The writer learns they have palm trees in Egypt. He looks in the book, finds the Egyptian for
palm trees, and uses that. This kids editors and readers into thinking he knows something
about Egypt.
Here's the second installment of the master plot.
Divide the 6000 word yarn into four 1500 word parts. In each 1500 word part, put the
following:
FIRST 1500 WORDS
1--First line, or as near thereto as possible, introduce the hero and swat him with a fistful of
trouble. Hint at a mystery, a menace or a problem to be solved--something the hero has to
cope with.
2--The hero pitches in to cope with his fistful of trouble. (He tries to fathom the mystery,
defeat the menace, or solve the problem.)
3--Introduce ALL the other characters as soon as possible. Bring them on in action.
4--Hero's endevours land him in an actual physical conflict near the end of the first 1500
words.
5--Near the end of first 1500 words, there is a complete surprise twist in the plot
development.
SO FAR: Does it have SUSPENSE?

Is there a MENACE to the hero?
Does everything happen logically?
At this point, it might help to recall that action should do something besides advance the
hero over the scenery. Suppose the hero has learned the dastards of villains have seized
somebody named Eloise, who can explain the secret of what is behind all these sinister
events. The hero corners villains, they fight, and villains get away. Not so hot.
Hero should accomplish something with his tearing around, if only to rescue Eloise, and
surprise! Eloise is a ring-tailed monkey. The hero counts the rings on Eloise's tail, if nothing
better comes to mind.
They're not real. The rings are painted there. Why?
442
They're not real. The rings are painted there. Why? Your Novel
SECOND 1500 WORDS

1--Shovel more grief onto the hero.
2--Hero, being heroic, struggles, and his struggles lead up to:
3--Another physical conflict.
4--A surprising plot twist to end the 1500 words.
NOW: Does second part have SUSPENSE?

Does the MENACE grow like a black cloud?
Is the hero getting it in the neck?
Is the second part logical?
DON'T TELL ABOUT IT***Show how the thing looked. This is one of the secrets of writing;
never tell the reader--show him. (He trembles, roving eyes, slackened jaw, and such.) MAKE
THE READER SEE HIM.
When writing, it helps to get at least one minor surprise to the printed page. It is reasonable
to to expect these minor surprises to sort of inveigle the reader into keeping on. They need
not be such profound efforts. One method of accomplishing one now and then is to be
gently misleading. Hero is examining the murder room. The door behind him begins slowly
to open. He does not see it. He conducts his examination blissfully. Door eases open, wider
and wider, until--surprise! The glass pane falls out of the big window across the room. It
must have fallen slowly, and air blowing into the room caused the door to open. Then what
the heck made the pane fall so slowly? More mystery.
Characterizing a story actor consists of giving him some things which make him stick in the
reader's mind. TAG HIM.
BUILD YOUR PLOTS SO THAT ACTION CAN BE CONTINUOUS.
THIRD 1500 WORDS
1--Shovel the grief onto the hero.

2--Hero makes some headway, and corners the villain or somebody in:
3--A physical conflict.
4--A surprising plot twist, in which the hero preferably gets it in the neck bad, to end the
1500 words.
DOES: It still have SUSPENSE?

The MENACE getting blacker?
The hero finds himself in a hell of a fix?
It all happens logically?
These outlines or master formulas are only something to make you certain of inserting some
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Your Novel
These outlines or master formulas are only something to make you certain of inserting some
physical conflict, and some genuine plot twists, with a little suspense and menace thrown in.
Without them, there is no pulp story.
These physical conflicts in each part might be DIFFERENT, too. If one fight is with fists, that
can take care of the pugilism until next the next yarn. Same for poison gas and swords.
There may, naturally, be exceptions. A hero with a peculiar punch, or a quick draw, might
use it more than once.
The idea is to avoid monotony.

ACTION:
Vivid, swift, no words wasted. Create suspense, make the reader see and feel the action.
ATMOSPHERE:
Hear, smell, see, feel and taste.
DESCRIPTION:
Trees, wind, scenery and water.
THE SECRET OF ALL WRITING IS TO MAKE EVERY WORD COUNT.
FOURTH 1500 WORDS
1--Shovel the difficulties more thickly upon the hero.
2--Get the hero almost buried in his troubles. (Figuratively, the villain has him prisoner and
has him framed for a murder rap; the girl is presumably dead, everything is lost, and the
DIFFERENT murder method is about to dispose of the suffering protagonist.)
3--The hero extricates himself using HIS OWN SKILL, training or brawn.
4--The mysteries remaining--one big one held over to this point will help grip interest--are
cleared up in course of final conflict as hero takes
the situation in hand.
5--Final twist, a big surprise, (This can be the villain turning out to be the unexpected
person, having the "Treasure" be a dud, etc.)
6--The snapper, the punch line to end it.
HAS: The SUSPENSE held out to the last line?

The MENACE held out to the last?
Everything been explained?
It all happen logically?
Is the Punch Line enough to leave the reader with that WARM FEELING?
Did God kill the villain? Or the hero?
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Your Novel
How It Starts
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
One of these DIFFERENT things would be nice, two better, three swell. It
may help if they are fully in mind before tackling the rest.
Notes
This section is pretty much the sturcture of it. A few things you need to think
of/know before starting.
Murder Method
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
A Different MOD for the Villian to use
Notes
A different murder method could be--different. Thinking of shooting, knifing, hydrocyanic,
garroting, poison needles, scorpions, a few others, and writing them on paper gets them
445
Your Novel
flies treated with deadly germs? If the victims are killed by ordinary methods, but found
under strange and identical circumstances each time, it might serve, the reader of course
not knowing until the end, that the method of murder is ordinary. Scribes who have their
villain's victims found with butterflies, spiders or bats stamped on them could conceivably be
flirting with this gag. Probably it won't do a lot of good to be too odd, fanciful or grotesque
with murder methods.
446
Your Novel
MacGuffin
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
A Different THING for the Villian to be Seeking
Notes
The different thing for the villain to be after might be something other
than jewels, the stolen bank loot, the pearls, or some other old ones.
Here, again one might get too bizarre.
447
Your Novel
Locale
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
A Different LOCALE
Notes
Unique locale? Easy. Selecting one that fits in with the murder method
and the treasure--thing that villain wants--makes it simpler, and it's
also nice to use a familiar one, a place where you've lived or worked.
So many pulpateers don't. It sometimes saves embarrassment to
know nearly as much about the locale as the editor, or enough to fool
him. Here's a nifty much used in faking local color. For a story laid in
Egypt, say, author finds a book titled "Conversational Egyptian Easily
Learned," or something like that. He wants a character to ask in
Egyptian, "What's the matter?" He looks in the book and finds, "El
khabar, eyh?" To keep the reader from getting dizzy, it's perhaps wise
to make it clear in some fashion, just what that means.
Occasionally the text will tell this, or someone can repeat it in English.
But it's a doubtful move to stop and tell the reader in so many words
the English translation. The writer learns they have palm trees in
Egypt.
He looks in the book, finds the Egyptian for palm trees, and uses that.
This kids editors and readers into thinking he knows something about
Egypt.
448
Your Novel
Menacing Cloud
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
A MENACE which is to hang Like a Cloud over the Hero
449
Your Novel
Scenes
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Notes
The 1st and 2nd 1500 words are the first half of the story, and there should be
some sort of mid point when that portion is met. The 3rd and 4th 1500 words are
the other half and should answer all doubts and such.
1st 1500
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Title
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Title
by Author
Copyright Notice
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Your Novel
©(2013)Your Name. All rights reserved worldwide. No part of
this book may be reproduced or copied without the expressed
written permission of the Author.
This book is a work of fiction. Characters and events in

this novel are the product of the author’s imagination. Any
similarity to persons living or dead is purely coincidental.
451
Your Novel
First Line
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
First line, or as near thereto as possible, introduce the hero and swat him
with a fistful of trouble.
Notes
Watch opening paragraph. Copy from CC.
Solstice or Daylight Savings?
452
Your Novel
Hero Engaged
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
The hero pitches in to cope with his fistful of trouble. (He tries to fathom the
mystery, defeat the menace, or solve the problem.)
453
Your Novel
Cast Introduced?
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
Introduce ALL the other characters as soon as possible. Bring them on in
action.
Notes
SO FAR: Does it have SUSPENSE? Is there a MENACE to the
hero? Does everything happen logically?
454
Your Novel
2nd 1500
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Shovel of Grief
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
Shovel more grief onto the hero.
Notes
NOW: Does second part have SUSPENSE? Does the MENACE grow
like a black cloud? Is the hero getting it in the neck? Is the
second part logical?
Text
455
Your Novel
Hero Struggles
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
Hero, being heroic, struggles, and his struggles lead up to:
Notes
DON'T TELL ABOUT IT***Show how the thing looked. This is one
of the secrets of writing; never tell the reader--show him. (He
trembles, roving eyes, slackened jaw, and such.) MAKE THE
READER SEE HIM.
456
Your Novel
Physical Conflict
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
Another physical conflict.
Notes
Characterizing a story actor consists of giving him some things
which make him stick in the reader's mind. TAG HIM.
BUILD YOUR PLOTS SO THAT ACTION CAN BE CONTINUOUS.
457
Your Novel
Plot Twist
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Notes
When writing, it helps to get at least one minor surprise to the
printed page. It is reasonable to to expect these minor surprises
to sort of inveigle the reader into keeping on. They need not be
such profound efforts. One method of accomplishing one now and
then is to be gently misleading. Hero is examining the murder
room. The door behind him begins slowly to open. He does not
see it. He conducts his examination blissfully. Door eases open,
wider and wider, until--surprise! The glass pane falls out of the
big window across the room. It must have fallen slowly, and air
blowing into the room caused the door to open. Then what the
heck made the pane fall so slowly? More mystery.
458
Your Novel
3rd 1500
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Shovel of Grief
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
Shovel more grief onto the hero.
Notes
DOES: It still have SUSPENSE? The MENACE getting blacker? The
hero finds himself in a hell of a fix? It all happens logically?
459
Your Novel
Hero Headway
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
Hero makes some headway, and corners the villain or somebody in:
Notes
These outlines or master formulas are only something to make
you certain of inserting some physical conflict, and some genuine
plot twists, with a little suspense and menace thrown in. Without
them, there is no pulp story.
460
Your Novel
Physical Conflict
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Notes
These physical conflicts in each part might be DIFFERENT, too. If
one fight is with fists, that can take care of the pugilism until next
the next yarn. Same for poison gas and swords. There may,
naturally, be exceptions. A hero with a peculiar punch, or a quick
draw, might use it more than once. The idea is to avoid
monotony. ACTION: Vivid, swift, no words wasted. Create
suspense, make the reader see and feel the action.
ATMOSPHERE: Hear, smell, see, feel and taste. DESCRIPTION:
Trees, wind, scenery and water. THE SECRET OF ALL WRITING IS
TO MAKE EVERY WORD COUNT.
461
Your Novel
Twist
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
A surprising plot twist, in which the hero preferably gets it in the neck bad,
to end the 1500 words.
462
Your Novel
4th 1500
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Shovel of Grief
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
Shovel the difficulties more thickly upon the hero.
463
Your Novel
Hero Buried
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
Get the hero almost buried in his troubles. (Figuratively, the villain has him
prisoner and has him framed for a murder rap; the girl is presumably dead,
everything is lost, and the DIFFERENT murder method is about to dispose
of the suffering protagonist.)
Notes
These outlines or master formulas are only something to make
you certain of inserting some physical conflict, and some genuine
plot twists, with a little suspense and menace thrown in. Without
them, there is no pulp story.
464
Your Novel
Hero Escapes
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
The hero extricates himself using HIS OWN SKILL, training or brawn.
465
Your Novel
Mysteries Solved
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
The mysteries remaining--one big one held over to this point will help grip
interest--are cleared up in course of final conflict as hero takes
the situation in hand.
466
Your Novel
Final Twist
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
Final twist, a big surprise, (This can be the villain turning out to be the
unexpected person, having the "Treasure" be a dud, etc.)
467
Your Novel
The End
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
The snapper, the punch line to end it.
Notes
HAS: The SUSPENSE held out to the last line? The MENACE held
out to the last? Everything been explained? It all happen
logically? Is the Punch Line enough to leave the reader with that
WARM FEELING? Did God kill the villain? Or the hero?
468
Your Novel
WRITING TASKLISTS copy

Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Snowflake method
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
Created by Randy Ingermanson, the Snowflake method is a way of planning
and organising your novel from scratch. I’ve left if here, because I feel it’s a
good resource.
Read more
www.advancedfictionwriting.com/articles/snowflake-method/
01 - A Single sentence
Status: To Do
Label: Task
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Your Novel
Synopsis
Take an hour and write a one-sentence summary of your story.
Notes
Step 1) Take an hour and write a one-sentence summary of your
novel. Something like this: "A rogue physicist travels back in time to
kill the apostle Paul." (This is the summary for my first novel,
Transgression.) The sentence will serve you forever as a ten-second
selling tool. This is the big picture, the analog of that big starting
triangle in the snowflake picture.
When you later write your book proposal, this sentence should
appear very early in the proposal. It's the hook that will sell your book
to your editor, to your committee, to the sales force, to bookstore
owners, and ultimately to readers. So make the best one you can!
Some hints on what makes a good sentence:
• Shorter is better. Try for fewer than 15 words.
• No character names, please! Better to say "a handicapped trapeze
artist" than "Jane Doe".
• Tie together the big picture and the personal picture. Which
character has the most to lose in this story? Now tell me what he
or she wants to win.
• Read the one-line blurbs on the New York Times Bestseller list to
learn how to do this. Writing a one-sentence description is an art
form.
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Your Novel
02 - Synopsis
Status: To Do
Label: Task
Synopsis
Take another hour and expand that sentence to a full paragraph describing
the story setup, major disasters, and ending of the book.
Notes
Step 2) Take another hour and expand that sentence to a full
paragraph describing the story setup, major disasters, and ending of
the novel. This is the analog of the second stage of the snowflake. I
like to structure a story as "three disasters plus an ending". Each of
the disasters takes a quarter of the book to develop and the ending
takes the final quarter. I don't know if this is the ideal structure, it's
just my personal taste.
If you believe in the Three-Act structure, then the first disaster
corresponds to the end of Act 1. The second disaster is the mid-point
of Act 2. The third disaster is the end of Act 2, and forces Act 3 which
wraps things up. It is OK to have the first disaster be caused by
external circumstances, but I think that the second and third disasters
should be caused by the protagonist's attempts to "fix things". Things
just get worse and worse.
You can also use this paragraph in your proposal. Ideally, your
paragraph will have about five sentences. One sentence to give me
the backdrop and story setup. Then one sentence each for your three
disasters. Then one more sentence to tell the ending. If this sounds
suspiciously like back-cover copy, it's because . . . that's what it is
and that's where it's going to appear someday.
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Your Novel
03 - Characters
Status: To Do
Label: Task
Synopsis
For each of your major characters, take an hour and write a one-page
summary sheet that tells:
The character's name
A one-sentence summary of the character's storyline
The character's motivation (what does he/she want abstractly?)
The character's goal (what does he/she want concretely?)
The character's conflict (what prevents him/her from reaching this goal?)
The character's epiphany (what will he/she learn, how will he/she change?)
A one-paragraph summary of the character's storyline
Use the C...
Notes
Step 3) The above gives you a high-level view of your novel. Now
you need something similar for the storylines of each of your
characters. Characters are the most important part of any novel, and
the time you invest in designing them up front will pay off ten-fold
when you start writing. For each of your major characters, take an
hour and write a one-page summary sheet that tells:
• The character's name
• A one-sentence summary of the character's storyline
• The character's motivation (what does he/she want abstractly?)
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Your Novel
• The character's goal (what does he/she want concretely?)
• The character's conflict (what prevents him/her from reaching this
goal?)
• The character's epiphany (what will he/she learn, how will he/she
change?
• A one-paragraph summary of the character's storyline
An important point: You may find that you need to go back and
revise your one-sentence summary and/or your one-paragraph
summary. Go ahead! This is good--it means your characters are
teaching you things about your story. It's always okay at any stage of
the design process to go back and revise earlier stages. In fact, it's
not just okay--it's inevitable. And it's good. Any revisions you make
now are revisions you won't need to make later on to a clunky 400
page manuscript.
Another important point: It doesn't have to be perfect. The purpose
of each step in the design process is to advance you to the next step.
Keep your forward momentum! You can always come back later and
fix it when you understand the story better. You will do this too, unless
you're a lot smarter than I am.
Text
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Your Novel
04 - Expand the synopsis

Status: To Do
Label: Task
Synopsis
Take several hours and expand each sentence of your summary paragraph
into a full paragraph. All but the last paragraph should end in a disaster. The
final paragraph should tell how the book ends.
Notes
Step 4) By this stage, you should have a good idea of the large-scale
structure of your novel, and you have only spent a day or two. Well,
truthfully, you may have spent as much as a week, but it doesn't
matter. If the story is broken, you know it now, rather than after
investing 500 hours in a rambling first draft. So now just keep growing
the story. Take several hours and expand each sentence of your
summary paragraph into a full paragraph. All but the last paragraph
should end in a disaster. The final paragraph should tell how the book
ends.
This is a lot of fun, and at the end of the exercise, you have a pretty
decent one-page skeleton of your novel. It's okay if you can't get it all
onto one single-spaced page. What matters is that you are growing
the ideas that will go into your story. You are expanding the conflict.
You should now have a synopsis suitable for a proposal, although
there is a better alternative for proposals . . .
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Your Novel
05 - Character synopses
Status: To Do
Label: Task
Synopsis
Take a day or two and write up a one-page description of each major
character and a half-page description of the other important characters.
These "character synopses" should tell the story from the point of view of
each character.
Notes
Step 5) Take a day or two and write up a one-page description of
each major character and a half-page description of the other
important characters. These "character synopses" should tell the
story from the point of view of each character. As always, feel free to
cycle back to the earlier steps and make revisions as you learn cool
stuff about your characters. I usually enjoy this step the most and
lately, I have been putting the resulting "character synopses" into my
proposals instead of a plot-based synopsis. Editors love character
synopses, because editors love character-based fiction.
475
Your Novel
06 - Four-page synopsis
Status: To Do
Label: Task
Synopsis
By now, you have a solid story and several story-threads, one for each
character. Now take a week and expand the one-page plot synopsis of the
story to a four-page synopsis. Basically, you will again be expanding each
paragraph from step 4 into a full page.
Notes
Step 6) By now, you have a solid story and several story-threads,
one for each character. Now take a week and expand the one-page
plot synopsis of the novel to a four-page synopsis. Basically, you will
again be expanding each paragraph from step (4) into a full page.
This is a lot of fun, because you are figuring out the high-level logic of
the story and making strategic decisions. Here, you will definitely
want to cycle back and fix things in the earlier steps as you gain
insight into the story and new ideas whack you in the face.
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Your Novel
07 - Character charts
Status: To Do
Label: Task
Synopsis
Take another week and expand your character descriptions into full-fledged
character charts detailing everything there is to know about each character.
The standard stuff such as birthdate, description, history, motivation, goal,
etc. Most importantly, how will this character change by the end of the
story?
Notes
Step 7) Take another week and expand your character descriptions
into full-fledged character charts detailing everything there is to know
about each character. The standard stuff such as birthdate,
description, history, motivation, goal, etc. Most importantly, how will
this character change by the end of the novel? This is an expansion
of your work in step (3), and it will teach you a lot about your
characters. You will probably go back and revise steps (1-6) as your
characters become "real" to you and begin making petulant demands
on the story. This is good -- great fiction is character-driven. Take as
much time as you need to do this, because you're just saving time
downstream. When you have finished this process, (and it may take a
full month of solid effort to get here), you have most of what you need
to write a proposal. If you are a published novelist, then you can write
a proposal now and sell your novel before you write it. If you're not
yet published, then you'll need to write your entire novel first before
you can sell it. No, that's not fair, but life isn't fair and the world of
fiction writing is especially unfair.
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08 - Outline
Status: To Do
Label: Task
Synopsis
Make an outline detailing the scenes that emerge from your four-page plot
outline using the Scenes view to the left. Include the Point Of View
character for the scene in the notes.
Notes
Step 8) You may or may not take a hiatus here, waiting for the book
to sell. At some point, you've got to actually write the novel. Before
you do that, there are a couple of things you can do to make that
traumatic first draft easier. The first thing to do is to take that four-
page synopsis and make a list of all the scenes that you'll need to
turn the story into a novel. And the easiest way to make that list is . . .
with a spreadsheet.
For some reason, this is scary to a lot of writers. Oh the horror. Deal
with it. You learned to use a word-processor. Spreadsheets are
easier. You need to make a list of scenes, and spreadsheets were
invented for making lists. If you need some tutoring, buy a book.
There are a thousand out there, and one of them will work for you. It
should take you less than a day to learn the itty bit you need. It'll be
the most valuable day you ever spent. Do it.
Make a spreadsheet detailing the scenes that emerge from your four-
page plot outline. Make just one line for each scene. In one column,
list the POV character. In another (wide) column, tell what happens. If
you want to get fancy, add more columns that tell you how many
pages you expect to write for the scene. A spreadsheet is ideal,
because you can see the whole storyline at a glance, and it's easy to
move scenes around to reorder things.
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My spreadsheets usually wind up being over 100 lines long, one line
for each scene of the novel. As I develop the story, I make new
versions of my story spreadsheet. This is incredibly valuable for
analyzing a story. It can take a week to make a good spreadsheet.
When you are done, you can add a new column for chapter numbers
and assign a chapter to each scene.
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09 - Narrative description
Status: To Do
Label: Task
Synopsis
Take each item in your outline from step 8 and expand it to a multi-
paragraph description of the scene. Put in any cool lines of dialogue you
think of, and sketch out the essential conflict of that scene. If there's no
conflict, you'll know it here and you should either add conflict or scrub the
scene.
Notes
Step 9) (Optional. I don't do this step anymore.) Switch back to your
word processor and begin writing a narrative description of the story.
Take each line of the spreadsheet and expand it to a multi-paragraph
description of the scene. Put in any cool lines of dialogue you think
of, and sketch out the essential conflict of that scene. If there's no
conflict, you'll know it here and you should either add conflict or scrub
the scene.
I used to write either one or two pages per chapter, and I started each
chapter on a new page. Then I just printed it all out and put it in a
loose-leaf notebook, so I could easily swap chapters around later or
revise chapters without messing up the others. This process usually
took me a week and the end result was a massive 50-page printed
document that I would revise in red ink as I wrote the first draft. All my
good ideas when I woke up in the morning got hand-written in the
margins of this document. This, by the way, is a rather painless way
of writing that dreaded detailed synopsis that all writers seem to hate.
But it's actually fun to develop, if you have done steps (1) through (8)
first. When I did this step, I never showed this synopsis to anyone,
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first. When I did this step, I never showed this synopsis to anyone,
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least of all to an editor -- it was for me alone. I liked to think of it as
the prototype first draft. Imagine writing a first draft in a week! Yes,
you can do it and it's well worth the time. But I'll be honest, I don't feel
like I need this step anymore, so I don't do it now.
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10 - Write that good book!

Status: To Do
Label: Task
If you need a little inspiration, or just a fun read, check out
“Hello, I’m Your New PRO Columnist: Reflections on the Columns I’m Not
Going To Be Writing” by Jennifer Cruise
www.jennycrusie.com/for-writers/essays/hello-im-your-new-pro-columnist-
reflections-on-the-columns-im-not-going-to-be-writing/
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31-day method
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
Belinda Crawford’s proposed method of planning and outlining a novel in a
month.
Notes
This 31 Day planner by Belinda Crawford. I haven’t revised or adapted or worked
out where to fit this into my outliner.
The following words are Belinda’s:
My goal for this method of planning a novel, was to find a process that worked for me. It
is my hope, by publishing it on the internet, that it helps other writers find what works for
them.
That’s the important part of this message FIND WHAT WORKS FOR YOU.
Notes:
• So far, iI haven’t completed this process, let alone done it in 31 days, so don’t
feel like you’re bound by my count.
• Likewise, if there are some steps you don’t like, don’t use them.
Version 1.0
Last updated 4 July 2013
This is a work-in-progress. If you would like to be kept up-to-date with
changes to the template, you can sign up to the maling list on my website
www.belindacrawford.com/newsletter
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Note: Research list

Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
In the Worldbuilder folder, you will find a document called Research. Use
this to take note of items, topics, settings, etc that you need to research later
(if you have not already). This is great for maintaining focus and not losing
hours on the internet watching cute cat videos.
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Day 01 – Brainstorm
Status: To Do
Label: Task
Synopsis
Use this time to marshall your ideas before you start planning stuff. Else, if
you’re impatient, skip this step.
Notes
Do yourself a favour, keep this section loose and rough, and if the headings and dot
points don’t suit you, don’t use them.
Your ideas will change as your plans progress, but this should give you a base to start
from.
Text
What is it?
• Genre.
• Length (stand-alone, trilogy, etc).
• Style (literary, graphic novel, etc).
• POVs (multiple, single, first-person present tense, etc).
• etc.
The big story

• Dot points about the overarching plot. E.g. intergalactic war, zombie apocalypse,
etc.
The small story
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• Dot points about the character arc/journey. E.g. finding love, self-acceptance,
farm boy becomes a hero, etc.
The story idea

• The stuff that happens in the story, in dot points or whatever other fashion suits
you.
• How does the big story integrate with the small story, etc.
•
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Day 02 – Core plot

Status: To Do
Label: Task
Synopsis
Use the 7-point plot system to develop the core plot, action and main
character arc.
Notes
Don’t get tied up in making this perfect, for it too will change. A lot. All you should be
worried about is making what you have make sense.
I often find that the process of giving my ideas structure forces other ideas to the
surface, so don’t forget to take a copious notes.
The 7-point plot systems uses a spreadsheet. A template can be found here
http://www.belindacrawford.com/2013/01/revising-hero-pantsers-beat-sheet/ (or see the
PDF file here)
An explanation of how to use it is here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jD-T-
ku4ynk&feature=share&list=PL3JkHHN9Sqt8QTtNMCJkIVbhzEpsojPyL
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Day 03 – Expanded plot

Status: To Do
Label: Task
Synopsis
Using the 7-point plot system, revise the core plot and add sub-plots.
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Day 04 – Character sketches

Status: To Do
Label: Task
Synopsis
Using the template sheets, create sketches of the protagonist, antagonist and
major supporting characters. Include group/faction sketches if relevant.
Notes
You don’t need to complete the entire character sheet, that can come later (if at all) just
add the important stuff, or the stuff that pops into your head.
What I find really helpful here is the Snowflake method, step 3 – characters.
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Day 05 – Setting sketches

Status: To Do
Label: Task
Synopsis
Create sketches for the various settings in which your scenes may (or may
not) take place. Also, take time to revise character sketches and add minor
characters, if relevant.
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Day 06 – Item and other sketches

Status: To Do
Label: Task
Synopsis
Add any other sketches you feel are relevant, take some time to revise
previous sketches or skip altogether.
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Day 07 – Plot outline

Status: To Do
Label: Task
Synopsis
Use the overlaying method of the 7-point plot system to lay out you core
plot and subplots. This forms the plot outline.
List any characters, settings or important items that need to be researched or

sketched.
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Day 08 - Chapter synopses

Status: To Do
Label: Task
Synopsis
Break your 7-point plot overlay/outline into chapters and write a brief
synopsis, of 1 to 2 paragraphs, of what happens in that chapter. Make
adjustments to the 7-point outline as necessary.

sketched.
Notes
Breaking the 7-point overlay into chapters and then writing a synopsis for each chapter,
is a great way to tighten your plot. You’ll discover all sorts of holes that need to be fixed
and actions that just don’t make sense.
Updating the 7-point outline when you make adjustments will help you maintain the
structure of your plot. It’s also a lot easier to see how the adjustments affect the rest of
the plot in a spreadsheet than it is in a word doc or Scrivener.
Don’t push yourself to make things perfect. If you’re like me, your plot will change as you
write the first, second and maybe even third draft, but this outlining process will provide
you with a good framework on which to proceed.
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Day 09 - Scene synopses

Status: To Do
Label: Task
Synopsis
Break your chapters into scenes, and write a brief synopsis (no more than 1
paragraph) for each. Remember to make adjustments to the 7-point outline.

sketched.
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Day 10 – Research and further sketches

Status: To Do
Label: Task
Synopsis
Conduct any required research and sketch any additional characters, settings
or items. Else, skip or use as a catch-up day.
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Day 11 - More research

Status: To Do
Label: Task
Synopsis
Continue conducting any required research and sketch additional characters,
settings or items. Else, skip or use as a catch-up day.
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Day 12 - Update synopses & sketches

Status: To Do
Label: Task
Synopsis
Update synopses and character, setting and item sketches as necessary. Else,
skip or use as a catch-up day.
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Day 13 to 30 – Block scenes

Status: To Do
Label: Task
Synopsis
Roughly block out the action, emotion and description in each scene. Aim to
write 1600 words a day. It’s allowed to be rough.
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Day 31 – Review blocked scenes

Status: To Do
Label: Task
Synopsis
Review the scenes you’ve blocked out. Revise the 7-point plot, chapter and
scene synopses as necessary.
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The Leviathan method

Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
The World-Building Leviathan questionnaires.
by Kitty from KittysSpace.org
Steps 1-5
Status: To Do
Label: Task
Synopsis
We'll start out with some basic stuff. How big is the story you want to tell?
Who are you going to be talking about? What's the central conflict of the
story? These questions are relevant both to creating original worlds and to
creating stories in pre-existing worlds, so let's address these first out of all.
01 - Determine your scope

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Status: To Do
Label: Task
Synopsis
Determine the scope of your story and write a paragraph, of no more than
seven sentences, describing it.
Notes
How big of a story do you want to tell? Is it epic? Is it small? Are you
crossing vast swaths of the land or are you confining three
characters to a room and letting them endure each other for
eternity? It's very, very easy to get lost in the process of building
your personal playground if you don't give yourself boundaries at the
start. Once you've determined the scope of the story you want to
tell, you can establish boundaries: this far, and no farther. I'm taking
it to the edges of the city. I'm taking it to the front door of the
house. I'm gallivanting across the world.
Determining your scope also helps you figure out the purpose of the
story. Are you telling something deeply personal or are you taking
your reader on a grand adventure? It helps you fill out some
problems your character(s) might face along the way. A person
confined to their house faces many different challenges than a
person who's traipsing all over the wide world and back again. Again,
we're working with the idea that worldbuilding is a tool that helps us
tell a better story. This is a functional, goal-oriented approach.
Flights of fancy are two doors down.
Write a paragraph of up to seven sentences describing the scope of
your story. Note both the general scope and exceptions where you
might go outside it or spend some time focusing on one or two
particular aspects. Put this paragraph in the forward-most section of
your binder; this goes under summary information.
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Text
What’s my scope?
• Epic, with a cast of thousands? Intimate, with one or two characters?
• Will the story take place across entire continents or a small suburb?
What sort of story do you want to tell?

• A grand adventure or something deeply personal?
• Do you want the reader to have a rollicking good time or ponder a serious issue?
What’s the purpose of the story?

• Follow a group of people (friends, enemies, kings, assassins, soldiers, mages,
etc) as they try to save the world a la The Wheel of Time series?
• Tell of a young solider’s experience of war?
• Catalogue the best Hogwarts recipes?
Summary of scope
Write a paragraph, of no more than seven sentences, describing the scope of the story.
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02 - Describe your protagnist(s)

Status: To Do
Label: Task
Synopsis
Write a paragraph, of up to seven sentences, describing your protagonist(s).
Notes
Yes, this is an important part of worldbuilding, too.
The nature of your characters plus the scope of your story will
determine how much of your world you'll need to build for
background purposes. If you're not forcing your characters to
interact all over the world, but rather only in their own home
town/home territory, you'll have less geographical area to cover. And
on the other hand, think about how much of the world we live in
affects how we think, talk, dress, act, and react. Your character's
thoughts and responses, actions and questions, will be affected by
the world in which your character grows up. In either case, you'll be
spending roughly an equivalent amount of words describing either
several different locations and cultures from an outsider perspective,
or describing one location and culture from an in-depth and insider
perspective.
You don't need to answer everything in exhaustive detail, but you do
need to figure out some basic things. We'll get to the details later.
Again under 'summary information' (Scrivener alternative – in the
Characters folder [Outliner]), write a paragraph of up to seven
sentences detailing your protagonist(s). This will also give you an
idea of how cluttered your cast may or may not be. Just go off the
cuff, list the most striking features of your protagonist, whether
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cuff, list the most striking features of your protagonist, whether
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that's physical appearance, grace, intelligence, background, a
personal possession, a pet, or a relationship/set of relationships.
Keep in mind that all those will need to be developed later. It's also
okay to say "I have not yet decided A or B." You'll have to circle or
otherwise choose one later, but it's okay for right now to have some
options open.
Text
Name of protagonist 1
A one-paragraph description.
Name of protagonist 2
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03 - Describe your antagonist(s)

Status: To Do
Label: Task
Synopsis
Write a paragraph, of up to seven sentences, describing your antagonist(s).
Notes
As with your protagonist, your antagonist(s) can tell you a lot about
the world you're making. Write a paragraph about your antagonist.
Text
Name of antagonist 1
Name of antagonist 2
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04 - Study your conflict

Status: To Do
Label: Task
Synopsis
Determine what’s the conflict in your story and write a paragraph, of no
more than seven sentences, about why it’s happening and what, or who,
caused it.
Notes
There's an old idea that the core plot of most works can be narrowed
down to person vs person, person vs outside world, or person vs
self. It's true. At the very least, it's true that the core conflict in a
story can usually be boiled down to A vs B.
Write down your A vs B at the top of a page. This is your focus of
your novel, your core conflict, what drives the action and the plot.
Han, Luke, and Leia vs the Empire. The Fellowship of the Ring vs
Sauron and his minions. Malcolm Reynolds vs everyone else in the
gorram universe. Now go down the page and write down some basic
questions, and you already have the who and the what, hopefully,
but if you haven't, write that down as well. If it's character vs an
outside force, what is the outside force? When: Is this story taking
place over a few days or over several years? How is the conflict
manifested, subtly in many smaller conflicts or blatantly? Where do
the conflicts manifest? And if your scope is small, this will be a very
easy question. If your scope is larger, you'll need to describe some
locales, cities, towns, countrysides. A sentence or two will do for
each.
At the bottom of the page, write a paragraph of up to seven
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At the bottom of the page, write a paragraph of up to seven Your Novel
sentences describing the why. Why is this conflict happening? What

brought these things into conflict? Is it contrariness, is it an aspect
of the protagonist character that forces conflict, is the protagonist
seeking it out or did conflict drag the protagonist out of bed kicking
and screaming? This all will go into summary information.
Text
What’s your A vs B?
Person vs person, person vs outside world/force, or person vs self.
Who, or what, is B?
Government, corporation, sister, brother, alter-ego, addiction, aliens from Mars?
When does the story take place?

During the time of the dinosaurs? Today? Far, far into the future?
Over what timeframe does it take place?

Hours, a day, weeks, months, years, centuries?
How does the conflict manifest?

Subtly, in many smaller conflicts, or blatantly?
Where does it take place?

Write one or two sentences describing each location be it a street, city, country or
intergalactic empire.
Why is this conflict happening?

Write a paragraph, of no more than seven sentences, about why this is happening and
what caused it.
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05 - Outline your story

Status: To Do
Label: Task
Synopsis
Divide the story into scenes or acts using the basic formula for your genre.
Write a one- to three-sentence description for each scene, or a two
paragraphs for each act. Update your character list as necessary.
Notes
No, seriously. Outline your story.
Because this is a functional approach, you need to have an idea of
where your story is going so that you have an idea of what you need
to develop. You really don't want to go off into a 20 page tangent
about sewer systems in one city because you got distracted with the
mapmaking program one day and by god you're going to put those
sewer maps to use. At a minimum, divide your story into acts (nine
acts in groups of three for epic stories, three acts with an intro and
coda for mysteries, googling will help you find basic formulae for
most kinds off stories). Write one to three sentences for a scene-by-
scene outline, two paragraphs for an act by act outline. We'll come
back and develop the outline itself later, and in the meantime we'll
use it as a basis to develop the rest of the world. I mean it. You will
be referring back to your outline every step of the way.
For now, we'll go back up to the character sections (2 and 3) and
cross-check that with your outline. Do you have enough characters
to fill the story? Do you have some extraneous characters? On a
piece of scrap paper or in the margins of your outline, make a note
of every time a new character appears in your novel. Then make
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of every time a new character appears in your novel. Then make
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sure that character is represented in your protagonists or your
antagonists section.
Some characters won't be main characters. They might barely even
be speaking roles. That's fine, for now just write their names or
designations (Teacher, Bartender, Random Passer-By) under either
the protagonist or antagonist column or, if they're filler or
background scenery, make a third category for that. All you need to
know now is that they exist. What your expanded cast looks like,
which will already tell you how populated your world will be. There,
you've learned something new about your world already!
Text
Don’t forget to update your character list, adding new characters and
adjusted existing ones as necessary.
Act/Scene 01
Write one to three sentences for each scene, or two paragraphs for each act.
Act/Scene 02
Write one to three sentences for each scene, or two paragraphs for each act.
etc
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Steps 6-10
Status: To Do
Label: Task
Synopsis
On to some broad-spectrum details! Will there be magic? Will there be
technology? How diverse or rich or poor or varied is the population of this
world? Don't forget to keep your outline in mind!
06 - Determine your technology level

Status: To Do
Label: Task
Synopsis
List five technological items in each scene/act. Write two to five paragraphs
describing the level of technology in your world, but no more than one-and-
a-half pages.
Notes
This may seem complicated, but it really isn't. Go back to your
outline. Look at all the scenes or, if you don't have it scene-by-scene
yet, all of the acts, or the general progression. Write down five items
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yet, all of the acts, or the general progression. Write down five items
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of technology you will need for each section, whether it's a Simple
Machine or a cell phone or even something in the background that
may never be referred to in the text itself. Knowing it's there will
help set the scene for you. You can duplicate items if a character's
cell phone, chemical camera, or Antykitherian device becomes a plot
point, as long as you have those items of technology for each
section.
Overall, this should give you an idea of how technologically advanced
and oriented your society is. Some societies place more of an
emphasis on technology than others. And, looking back at your
scope description, you might go through a couple different attitudes.
Your item list should reflect that.
There are a number of ways to rate the level of technology available
to and pervasive within a society, and you can pick one of those if
you like. You can also just have a general idea how advanced your
society is from the items you've chosen. However you do it, write at
least two paragraphs describing the level of technology in your
world. Write at least five if your scope is vast. No more than 1 1/2
pages of material, but you should have a sufficient description of
how advanced technology is that someone reading it over can have
an idea of what your world looks like in that way. File this in a
separate section of your binder or under a separate word document,
Resources.
Text
List the tech in act/scene 01
1. Item 1
2. Item 2
3. Item 3
4. Item 4
5. Item 5
List the tech in act/scene 02

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1. Item 1
2. Item 2
3. Item 3
4. Item 4
5. Item 5
etc
Describe the level of technology

Write two to five paragraphs describing the level of technology in your world, but no
more than one-and-a-half pages.
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07 - Determine your economic variance

Status: To Do
Label: Task
Synopsis
Write two to three sentences describing the economic aspect of every scene
in your outline.
Notes
We'll look at two things when we're determining this: your
character's economic background and your outline.
Start scene by scene, and if you're doing this on a grand scale, start
only in one city or small country. We'll get to the rest later. On a
fresh piece of scratch paper, look at each scene or act or block of
outline that takes place in that city or country and jot down two to
three sentences about the economic aspect of the setting. Is it an
opulent, rich setting? Poor, depressed neighbourhood? Somewhere in
between? What does it have in terms of resources and what is it
lacking? Are people managing a subsistence living or is there a
surplus, or is the focus on luxury at the expense of actual stability?
That will give you some idea of how varied your work will be and,
obviously, how much you'll have to expand your world and your
background.
Go to Part 2 of this step.
Text
Economic aspect of scene 01
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Write two to three sentences describing the economic aspect of the scene. Is it an
opulent, rich setting? Poor, depressed neighbourhood? Somewhere in between? What
does it have in terms of resources and what is it lacking? Are people managing a
subsistence living or is there a surplus, or is the focus on luxury at the expense of
actual stability?
Economic aspect of scene 02

Write two to three sentences describing the economic aspect of the scene. Is it an
opulent, rich setting? Poor, depressed neighbourhood? Somewhere in between? What
does it have in terms of resources and what is it lacking? Are people managing a
subsistence living or is there a surplus, or is the focus on luxury at the expense of
actual stability?
etc
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Part 2
Status: To Do
Label: Task
Synopsis
Write two or three sentences about the economic background of every
character who appears in the scene.
Notes
On a separate piece of scratch paper, jot down two or three sentences
about the economic background of every character who appears or
lives in that city or country. I mean every character. Even the ones you
didn't give a name who barely have one or two lines, like Charlie
Brown's Teacher or the Cheese on the Head man.
Now go over all these sentences. In your binder under 'Resources'
(Scrivener alternative – Outliner -> Worldbuilder -> Resources ->
Economic Background) start a new sheet of paper, this time from the
least amount of economic resources and going up. Start with a header
of 'Least Resources' and either copy over or clarify (you may find that
having to rewrite your notes a couple of times gives you ideas or
clarifies your thoughts) all your notes from your scenes and your
characters. You can, if you know you'll want to come back to it,
highlight the times when your main character's name appears, so it
catches your attention. Then go to the next highest, which might be
'Lower Class' or it might be 'Working Class' or it might be another, less
politically-loaded term. If you know you want to give your world its
own vocabulary, now would be a good time to start; there's always
some kind of set of words to describe who has Stuff and who doesn't.
By the end of all of this you should have roughly a paragraph each
describing the economic strata you'll be running into in this city or
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describing the economic strata you'll be running into in this city
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country. Each paragraph should be at the top of its own page (we'll get
to why later). Some of it you'll be visiting in the description of the
scene you're working on, and some of it will be in the form of
assumptions your characters make. Maybe they're used to everyone
having a vehicle or mode of non-ambulatory transportation. Maybe
they're used to getting medical care when they need it. Maybe they
don't take having enough food for granted, but your character's
background will shape how they think about and react to what you're
throwing at them. It might even help add a scene or two to your work.
Text
Character 01
Write two or three sentences about the character’s economic background.
Character 02
Write two or three sentences about the character’s economic background.
etc
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08 - Magic, yes or no?

Status: To Do
Label: Task
Notes
This can be an obvious decision for some novels: mainstream, some
mysteries, most crime or pulp novels are overwhelmingly set in a
world where magic has no place. Almost all fantasy (now including
urban fantasy) novels have magic in some form or another. Still, you
should put at least a little thought into whether or not you're going
to put magic into your novel, and why. Three to five sentence
paragraph, under Summary information. Consider, also, magical
realism and the weight some events in your novel might have if you
leave it ambiguous as to whether or not it was magic or simply
coincidence. This is where your outline comes in handy! You know
things like this already, or you know where you need to figure it out.
Inevitably, if you do this long enough for enough different worlds,
you will come up with a few problems. As with magical realism
example, you'll run into the problem of "I want X but not Y." The
easiest thing to do right now is to write that, and then leave several
lines and set it aside. Come back to it later. You'll be building up a
number of different aspects of the world all at once, they won't all be
fully developed one after the other sequentially hitting all the bases
A through Z.
The second easiest thing is to ask why. Why this and not that? Why
one but not the other. Start writing down reasons, and then reasons
for those reasons. See what either looks likeliest or what fits
together best, what has the most concrete basis. Start with the first
things that come to mind first and what seems to follow logically,
and then start thinking outside the box. Again, only a handful of
lines for this. We'll go back to it later.
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Text
Is there magic in the story?
Write three to five sentences as to why.
If yes, what sort of magic?

Note what types of magic you want and what ones you don’t. Why do, or don’t, you
want them?
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09 - Describe the culture

Status: To Do
Label: Task
Synopsis
For every character-, location- or mood establishing scene, describe an
aspect of the culture that appears in the scene or informs the character’s
point-of-view. Arrange the descriptions in sub-categories.
Notes
Everyone has culture. Everyone. No human being exists in a
vacuum, and if a person lives with even a few other sentient beings,
they have a culture. Monkeys, dolphins, and even whales have
behaviours for both play and work that are taught from parent to
offspring.
The easiest place to start developing your culture here is from your
outline. Go through and find the parts where you have to establish
character, or the scenes where you have a location or mood to
establish. If you don't have plot to move forward, you have a
location or mood to establish. Creating some sort of culture or
aspects of one gives depth to the world in which your characters
move.
On a piece of scratch paper, write one to three sentences for each
character-establishing or location- or mood-establishing scene
describing some point of the culture in which it takes place or that
the point of view characters comes from. This can be episodic media
entertainment (tv-series, radio series), single-unit media
entertainment, literature, activities, art, architecture, historical re-
enactments... anything non-subsistence and unique to that collection
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enactments... anything non-subsistence and unique to that collection
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of people. You might not put in all of these as a descriptor, you might
not even put in half of them. But if your character is casting an eye
around a dark alley is he seeing posters for electronic music raves or
old playbills for theatre shows? Is she likely to note the CDs on a
person's shelves or that the decor of the home is incredibly retro?
What kinds of games are people playing in the park? What parts of
the body are taboo to show? This goes, unsurprisingly, under
'Culture'
How you organize this section is up to you. You could organize it by
arts and entertainment, businesses, sports and activites, or you
could get more or less specific. Either way, you'll want to start out
with some sub-categories in your culture section, and this is as good
a place as any to do it. Sort each point of culture into a sub-
category.
Text
Character-, location- or mood-establishing scene 01
In one to three sentences, describe an aspect of the culture that appears in the scene
or informs the character’s point-of-view.
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10 - Determine diversity
Status: To Do
Label: Task
Synopsis
List five points of diversity in your world’s culture. For each, list all of the
characters with speaking parts that belong to that group and write a three to
five sentence description. Arrange these points in subcategories.
Notes
As with before, you need to take a look at how many people you'll be
showing your reader, and adjust proportionally. Go back to your
outline and scribble in the margins the number of people who have
speaking roles in each scene. If you're not down to scene by scene
yet, ballpark it.
Diversity means a lot of different things. There's racial diversity,
gender diversity, and ability diversity, just to start with the things
that can be easily seen. There's also sexual orientation, social or
economic class, religion, and so on and so forth. Pick five points of
diversity to consider when making the demographics of your
characters, and group all the speaking parts into those categories.
Try to make these points of diversity relevant to your outline,
although some of it will be background information that's never
outright stated in the text. Be sure to consider that some categories
will have a 'null' field, for example, if a person doesn't own a home
or reside in any one place and therefore cannot be a resident of
District anything.
Make categories for each of these points of diversity, record three to
five sentences describing each one. For example, in this world there
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five sentences describing each one. For example, in this world there
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are various species of sentient beings, with 'sentient beings' as the
overall category. Humans are the dominant category, followed by the
fae, Hellhounds, and ghosts. Some other types of creatures such as
shades and pixies are of controversial origin, and may be a
subspecies of humans or fae, respectively. In X city there are two
types of people, the people who live in the city proper, and the
people who live in the suburbs but consider themselves as being
from the city. In this country the dominant religion is Pastafarianism,
but other religions include Discordianism, the Church of the Sub-
Genius, and the worshippers of Cthulhu. In this story you have fifty
two folk with Stars Upon Thars and thirty-seven plain-bellies.
This, too, goes under culture. And if you find that some of your
categories aren't relevant to your outline later on in the writing
process, feel free to add some. Don't remove any unless it's to
change the nature of the category, because that can always serve as
fodder for later stories.
Text
Point of diversity 01
• Character with speaking part
Description
Write three to five sentences describing this point.
Description
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Description
Description
Description
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Steps 11-15
Status: To Do
Label: Task
Synopsis
After a brief detour to flesh out our main characters some more, we're back
to dealing with the world-building, this time the socio-economic aspects.
Also known as how much of an underdog are you.
11 - Describe your protagonist characters

Status: To Do
Label: Task
Notes
Unless your novel is very, very self-contained (think No Exit), you'll
need to have certain information about your main characters. Take
your original paragraph about your protagonists and copy it to the
top of a fresh page. For each of these write a short 3-5 sentence
paragraph: Technology/technological knowledge available, which can
be anything from the simple machines to AIs and robotics.
Economic/social class, what resources does the character have
access to and what resources does the character go through on a
regular basis? Magic abilities or mundane skillset, which may or may
not be job related; what kinds of skills and abilities does the
character use or think about on a regular basis? Culture and hobbies,
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character use or think about on a regular basis? Culture and Your
hobbies,
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what does the character do during off-hours? Classifications,
whatever points of diversity you determined above. And finally, vital
statistics. Height, weight and build, coloration and physical
description, health, age.
By the time you're done with each of these paragraphs, make a
shorthand list for each category. One or two word summaries of the
items in each category. Some of them you'll be able to cluster,
depending on the characters involved, others will be more disparate.
Either way, these are all areas you have now established as being in
your world, genders, activities, skills, and resources. Put these in
your characters section, and keep in mind that we'll be referring
back to the lists and descriptions later.
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12 - Describe your antagonist characters

Status: To Do
Label: Task
Notes
Do the same for your antagonist characters. Consider that antagonists
usually have slightly different skillsets than protagonists, because of
different factors, different interests. Consider also that antagonists
aren't always (aren't mostly, even) polar opposites in most day to day
matters. The antagonist is the person who is working counter to your
protagonist, your main character, setting up the conflict that drives the
plot. They might not be evil. They might not even be overtly malicious.
In fact, if you can forget that these are the antagonist characters, it
might be better to do so. You're creating vivid, well-rounded
characters, and which position they occupy in the conflict is not the
focus of this exercise.
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13 - Describe the economic and related social classes

Status: To Do
Label: Task
Notes
Check your resources section for economic classes you've outlined.
You should have a designation such as "upper/middle/lower" or
"working/ business/leisure", or you might have made up words in
your first economics exercise. Whatever terms you use you should
have a less-to-more scale of economic classes as you flip through
the resources section of your binder. Take a pile of scratch paper and
copy over each class or designation or term onto its own paper,
because you'll be doing a lot of scribbling before this gets organized.
Find the occupations or other source of income for character in each
class, and sort them. Use that as a jumping off point to jot down five
or six other vocations in each economic class. These jobs might
never appear in your work, but it gives you a more rounded idea of
the sort of people who enjoy that level of economic wealth. Include
volunteer or part-time positions if you want. For example, a person
considered middle class in this world might work as a drop-ship
maintenance engineer, a teacher at a government funded school, or
a lab technician. Volunteers at the soup kitchen in this district of the
city tend to be of this economic class, whereas clinic doctors tend to
be of this other economic class.
This would be easier if we had transparencies that we could overlap,
but since we can't we'll make do. Look at your list of occupations,
vocations, and professions, then consider how many social classes
there are in your nascent world. Go back to your binder and below
each paragraph detailing the resources available in each economic
class, write another 3-7 sentences paragraph describing who the
people in these economic classes are and what they do.
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Remember that while economic classes are more or less rigidly
defined by earning power, cost of living, and other concrete factors,
social class is more fudgable. Someone with title or an old family
name might be very poor and trade on the sympathy of their title or
name, while someone who is wealthy but has only been wealthy for
a generation or less might have a different set of manners than
otherwise. Add a third paragraph, 3-7 sentences, describing the
hobbies, lifestyle, mannerisms, and noteworthy details about the
lifestyle of each group. In other words, put the socio- onto socio-
economic class.
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14 - Describe the technology for each socio-economic

class
Status: To Do
Label: Task
Notes
Staying in your resources section, add a new paragraph about about
the technology available. This technology might be as basic as the
wheel and the simple machines, to iPods and netbooks, to as
complex as small spacecraft and food replicators. If you're stuck for
ideas, build off the lifestyle and expectations. Go back to the outline
and see what this character would need to accomplish the things
that character accomplishes. Do those things needed fit within the
character's socio-economic class? Are they outside of it? If so, what
is within the socially expected boundaries of that socio-economic
class?
Keep in mind also that "technology" is here used very, very loosely. A
peasant in a hut with access to a spinning wheel and a loom has
weaving technology, it's just that the technology isn't what we think
of in terms of it doesn't involve electricity and things going beep.
More specific than 'resources' but less specific than "communications
devices" or "entertainment," consider it "things with moving parts
that can break and need to be replaced." Very nearly every socio-
economic level has them. Shoes have moving parts that can break
and need to be replaced. It's just a question of what, what parts,
and how easily can it be done.
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15 - Repeat steps 7, 13, and 14 until done

Status: To Do
Label: Task
Notes
Remember when I said we would come back to step 7 if we had to?
Now's the time. If you're working on a single-city or single and
small-country scale, congratulations! You get a breather. If you're
working on a multiple city, multiple country, or multiple-planet scale,
congratulations! You get to do steps 7, 13, and 14 all over again.
One of the reasons this is a world-building Leviathan is because it is
designed and intended to build off a skeletal structure, your outline,
and create system on top of system that supports itself, your world
descriptions. And that means digging into a whole lot of things that
might never see the light of day in the final draft. Particularly if
you're working on a planetary or galactic, epic kind of scale, you will
run into the convention that everything must be described in vast
and expansive detail. Think of this as filling in the detail beforehand,
and doing it in such a way that it's consistent all the way through.
Because of the tendency of sentient beings to behave in patterns and
develop cultures in patterns, a lot of this will seem repetitive. It
doesn't have to be. This is also a good place to compare your
different cities or your different socio-economic strata and put in
little quirks or vivid details so that when you finally sit down to write,
it's less repetitive or monotonous to start with. Or at least less
onerous.
You also might find it helps, if you're dealing with an epic scale work,
to keep each planet or city or country or some other group, separate
within your resources section. That's entirely up to you.
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Steps 16-20
Status: To Do
Label: Task
Synopsis
Skills and culture! Because writers and readers love infinite variety. This is
a place where it would be very easy to fall into stereotypes and sloppy
thinking, so make sure you're making your world both tailored to and as
individual as your own story.
16 - Develop your skillsets

Status: To Do
Label: Task
Notes
Go back to your character sheets for each character, and get out a
couple more sheets of scratch paper. Starting with the first character
that comes to mind or hand and continuing through, write down
each skillset, i.e. each hobby or occupation, volunteer position or
vocation. One to three word identifiers will do. Right now all you're
doing is making a list of the activities and jobs that feature in your
work.
Next to each skillset, or in some way that links to the skillset name,
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Next to each skillset, or in some way that links to the skillsetYour
name,
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write down five or six skills that a person in that position would be
expected to have. A writer would have advanced knowledge (one
hopes!) of spelling and grammar in at least one language. He or she
might also have typing skills, research skills or organization skills.
Don't laugh, writers, it's true. A priest might have counseling
training, knowledge of religious rituals of his or her particular
religion, perhaps some history, and certainly would be literate if not
well-read. A pilot of a small transport ship would need to be skilled in
mathematics and astrocartography and have practiced reflexes. And
so on and so forth. If you don't know what skills are required in one
job or another, ask! One of the miracles of this thing called the
internet is that you ca be in communication with many, many more
people than you would otherwise.
Keep in mind that a single character might have several skillsets,
depending on what they do for a living and how many hats they
wear in their daily life.
In each character page, underneath the character information you
have so far, write down a three to five sentence paragraph per
skillset that that character possesses. Ultimately you might have five
or six paragraphs describing the skills your character possesses, and
now keep in mind that other people in this world will have these
skills as well. If you find yourself in abrupt need of fleshing out
another character you'd only given a moment's thought to, you
might want to go back to these paragraphs and see that you had a
fishing boat captain who played for Irish dancers in her spare time,
so this other musician might have these skills but also those of that
racing jockey over there. Mix and match!
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17 - Familiarise yourself with the relevant details

Status: To Do
Label: Task
Notes
And back to the outline again. Remember when I said this was going
to be a functional approach geared towards writing a story? I meant
it.
Look at each scene of your outline. By this point if you only have
sections or acts, you should pencil in a rough scene progression. For
each scene, write down the overall activity taking place, one or two
sentences should do it. Now go back to your character pages. Take a
look at the skillset required, and go back to your outline and add a
sentence or two (or more if you need it) describing in more detail
what these characters would be doing. It's a little complicated, so
here's an example: Say you have a scene in which a musician is
rehearsing for a concert later on in the novel. Your scene notes
might look like this.
// Sascha and the gang rehearse for Horrorfest.
In which case you would go back to your skillset grouping and check
the related skills, then go back to the outline and add a couple
sentences.
// Sascha and the gang rehearse for Horrorfest. Sascha is doing a
sound check while Steve tunes up his bass. Jules has the set list in
front of him and is making some tweaks.
Because we often write what we know, what appeals to us, a lot of
this will involve going over information we already know. However,
again, you might find you're writing a science fiction novel about
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again, you might find you're writing a science fiction novel about
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robots and what you know about robotics would fit on a thimble. This
helps guide your research so that you don't get sidetracked and
fleshes out your novel at the same time.
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18 - Develop the culture around these various

activities
Status: To Do
Label: Task
Notes
Go back to your Culture section, and have a look at the categories
you've created. Then have a look at your list of skillsets. With a little
luck and maybe a little fudging, almost all skillsets should also fit
into a 'culture' sub-section. You might have to add one or two,
depending on how specific you went initially.
Under each sub-section, for each skillset, write a three to five
sentence paragraph describing it in the progression from novice to
mastery. Add another couple of sentences describing the social
weight, positive or negative, attached to the skill grouping. Finally,
determine how common or rare the skillset is. For example:
Culture --> Crafts --> Pottery. Here goes a description of the
progression of a potter, from where they might take classes and
learn the skill to what they might be able to do once they master the
skill. Followed by a couple of sentences describing what people in the
setting or settings would think of a potter. Followed by how common
skilled potters are in this world.
Culture --> Sports --> Pod racer. Here goes a description of the
progression of a pod racer, from how one learns to drive a pod to
what the life of a famous pod racer might be like. Followed by a
couple of sentences describing how they're viewed by the public,
followed by how common skilled racers are.
Culture --> Finance --> Corporate lawyer. You get the picture.
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If you find yourself coming up with other skillsets, or something that
just doesn't fit, by all means, add it in as well. Keep in mind that
we're looking at culture in an anthropological sense, which is
commonly and originally defined as what people do in a society. This
involves knowledge, beliefs, customs, habits, laws, practices, rituals,
expectations, hobbies, products, foods, transactions... many, many
things. If you're not doing it for your immediate survival (eating
because you're hungry, sleeping because you're tired) chances are it
has some culture attached to it. Right now we're just taking skill
groupings and describing them in the context of a larger culture
because it's easier to approach describing it piece by piece.
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19 - Describe negative biases

Status: To Do
Label: Task
Notes
Go back to your character sheet and look at all the aspects of the
characters you've listed so far. Get a piece of scratch paper and start
writing down all the negative prejudices each aspect of this character
might face. I highly recommend separating them into economic,
biological, social, professional, etc. Then go into your culture section
and, in a whole separate section from your previous categories
(which are most likely all to be related to Things People Do), write
about a page on each overall prejudice grouping on that list. Double
check against your diversity entry in your culture section, and if you
don't already have a representative of most of the main categories,
you might want to add a line or three about the negative views of
other people on the categories not represented by your characters.
Just because you don't have catmen as main heroes or villains in
your work doesn't mean someone won't start bitching about how
filthy and savage they are, even as an aside.
Some of these will overlap from character to character, i.e. unless
you have a two-person cast with one man and one woman, your
women and your men will share the potentiality of being treated as
their gender rather than as a whole and individual person. Likewise
you might have three scientists in your work, and so they might face
the same outside perception as being snobby and intellectual. Thus,
rather than separate it by character, clump them all into groupings
and organize your thoughts into a paragraph for your culture section.
Keep in mind that these are external perceptions, not descriptions of
what these people or practitioners of certain skills actually do or are
like. Also, some stereotypes and opinions might only be held by one
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like. Also, some stereotypes and opinions might only be heldYour
by one
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group within that same category against the other, i.e. literary
authors prejudiced against genre authors. Crips against Bloods, etc.
Also remember that these are all negative perceptions, and treat
them as such.
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20 - Positive biases
Status: To Do
Label: Task
Notes
Do the same thing with prejudices for, and put them after prejudices
against in each category of bias. Remember that bias exists in positive
or affirmative aspects as well as negative or derogatory. Also keep in
mind that the aspect of a person, race, religion, or skill or profession
that one group of people hates and derides might be the same aspect
another group of people praises, or vice versa. Now we are focusing
on the positive impressions, so keep it to the praises. If it gives you an
idea for a bias against, go back and note it in the appropriate section.
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Steps 21-25
Status: To Do
Label: Task
Synopsis
Now we're getting into some potentially more immediate issues, things that
might affect either the plot or the structure of your novel. The simplest of
these is the size of both your world and your story. The more complicated
part is dealing with all of the players involved. So we break that down into
several steps!
21 - Develop your factions. What are their

motivations?
Status: To Do
Label: Task
Notes
Look at your character notes and your outline. By now you should
have enough structure in it that you can pick out everyone's goals,
both for the main individuals and for various groups in the story.
Every person or group of persons who drives the plot should have a
discernible goal or motivation. Even some of the groups or
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discernible goal or motivation. Even some of the groups or Your Novel
individuals who don't drive the plot but provide background color or
red herrings might have a discernible goal or motivation. Note that
when I say "discernible" I mean that you should know what it is and
be able to tell or remember from your notes. You won't need to spell
out everything in your story text itself. In fact, if you have a clear
idea of your characters' motivations and you've written well enough,
your audience should be able to determine the overall shape of your
character's motivations by their actions and words, without you
needing to state it clearly.
For now, we'll break it into two parts. At this stage all we need to do
is name the factions, the individuals or groups of characters, or even
groups acting within your work as a single entity. Organizing them
by general goal sometimes makes it easier to draw lines and collect
people together under a single umbrella entity, but you don't
necessarily have to.
On a piece of paper under "Settings" (a new category!) write down
the names of each of these groups. It can be a single name of a
company or organization or it can be a descriptive phrase, such as
Evil Bastards With Scythes And No Sense. Write down the names of
all the characters in each faction, whether they're proper names or
just descriptive. Write down a brief two to three sentence summary
of the group, its goals, its resources, and its public presence (if it has
one).
At this point you can do one of two things, depending on what you
feel capable of handling. You can either expand your factions to fill in
some gaps, flesh out the world, or muddy the waters of your central
conflict or you can leave it as is.
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22 - Develop geography. Consider your outline and

where your story will be showcasing
Status: To Do
Label: Task
Notes
Go back to your outline and your scope description. For this, you'll
need at least a blank sheet of paper; at most you might want a CAD
program like Campaign Cartographer. We're going to be making a
map.
Start with your origin point in the first scene. Keeping in mind the
scope of your work, sketch out the next few locations with respect to
the first location. If you're writing a trek across the known world,
this might turn out to be a series of the first few towns or
landmarks. If all the action is taking place in a city, it might be a
handful of businesses within a few blocks of each other. Your map
will not be a specific predictable size, and it doesn't need to be to
scale. As long as you have the relative positions of every location to
all the others, and a scribbled-down idea of the distance, you'll be all
right.
Now go back to your outline and your character sheets. Both of
these will provide secondary locations for you to map out, in
references to places and the distance between where the characters
are and where these places are. You might also come up with a
name that is totally that town over there, or the perfect name for
this blues bar, or whatever, go ahead and stick that in there!
Eventually in your work you'll find you have a character who's
rattling off names of places to have dinner, and that's when things
like this will come in handy.
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All of this comes under "Settings." If you're using a CAD program,
make some printouts. If you're just sketching it out (and don't forget
to include distances or a scale bar at the very least!) you might want
to make some copies or scan it in so you have it backed up
somewhere. You might also find it helpful to copy and laminate, or
blow up and laminate, another copy if you're one of those people
who uses whiteboards or corkboards to plan things.
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23 - Check your scope. Is it as big as you thought? As

small? Adjust
Status: To Do
Label: Task
Notes
While you're looking at the scope of your work, check it. Is it as big
as you thought? As small? Are you discovering you have a bigger
story to tell than you thought, or are you sticking only to a handful
of characters because you've bred way too many plotbunnies and
drawn way too many plotlines? Adjust. This is also a good place to
finish or pad out your outline. No, seriously. It helps. You might have
discovered that issues have come up that you want to deal with, so
this would be a good time to work in those little scenes or line
references to deal with them. Issues such as plot holes, lack of
motivations, too many potential motivations, or visible character
development.
(Note: visible character development is different from behind the
scenes character development. Once you get some practice in,
usually character development is one of those things that makes
itself known, if you know them well enough. But it's always a good
idea to go back and check to make sure that what your readers see
is clear and follows about as logically as sentient beings get, one
action from the next.)
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24 - Develop your factions in greater detail

Status: To Do
Label: Task
Notes
I put this section a little distance from the exercise where you create
your factions, players, and sides, because I wanted you to get a bit
of distance from it. Now we're going to go back to it and flesh it out
a little more.
Everything you write that involves more than two or three "moving
pieces," i.e. people or cohesive groups of people who want a thing
and take steps towards that, your work will get a little more
complicated. Two people in a work who each want something is a
potential conflict. Three is a potential cyclical conflict, and four is a
potential pooch-screw. And so on and so forth until you have political
dramas where everyone is backstabbing everyone else and you need
a chart with string in three dimensions to keep track of who's doing
what to whom at what time.
If you didn't flesh out your factions earlier, now is the time to do so.
Expand each part, motivations and resources and membership
qualifications and so on, till each one is at least two or three
sentences in and of itself. If you did, pull out your outline and
compare your faction list with what your outline looks like. Which
groups will you be spending more time with? Which groups are just
background players? More complicated, which groups appear only in
the background of maybe two scenes but also perform actions that
echo throughout the work? One author wrote a scene in the third
book of his series where the main character lives through an event
that comes back to bite him in the ass in books five, six, and seven,
and that's just where I can think of the connection off the top of my
head. Two characters who got maybe a line reference in that scene
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head. Two characters who got maybe a line reference in thatYour
scene
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returned in book seven in a major way. It's much more helpful to
plan things like that instead of trusting that later you can go back
and insert them, or trusting that the story will spontaneously
generate hidden shadowy figures of conspiracy as necessary.
Make notes on your outline where your factions appear and their
goals and influence is significant. If you have a chapter that's mostly
a shopping trip designed for a bit of character background and for
the character and her best friend to deal with a recent death of a
third friend, probably your faction chart isn't going to figure into it. If
you have a grand conclave wherein many parties are going to
hammer out a treaty, you want to keep track of who's trying to move
what pieces where. Again, all your faction notes go in "Settings."
Lastly, go through your character sheets and add in a sentence to a
paragraph's worth of text, depending on the importance, of detail
about any groups these characters might be involved in. Just so you
have that information in the one place, too. Also review your
character's relationship with the faction: is their membership
obligatory because they were born to the Tudors or the Capulets?
Does their membership in the League of Pog Collectors mean they
can't have a monogamous relationship with someone of the same or
opposite sex? Or, more likely, does no one in the LPC care? Or is the
LPC a small group of five people in a restaurant somewhere and they
only care because the group is so small that everyone knows
everyone else's business?
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25 - Continue developing. What are their histories?

Status: To Do
Label: Task
Notes
Flipping through your character sheets, outlines, and notes, what are
the most developed factions in your work? Either in terms of how
vivid they are in your head or in terms of how prominent they are in
the outline. Go back to your Settings section and pick up their pages.
Starting with the ones that are least vivid but most prominent in
your outline, if such a thing exists, write five or so sentences
describing the history of these factions. How they were founded, who
has historically been a member if the membership has changed,
what was the original goal and how that goal has changed, how long
ago they were founded, etcetera. Go back to the root questions of
Who, What, When, Where, How, and Why if you're stuck for details.
Try not to overlap too much with the motivations, you already have
that information down. You might also, if the inspiration strikes, list
notable people who are members and a phrase on why this person is
notable.
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Your Novel
Steps 26-30
Status: To Do
Label: Task
Synopsis
It's all fiddly details from here on in. This section is mostly geography,
travel times, how your character is getting around, but there's a bit of other
stuff in as well.
26 - Continue developing
Status: To Do
Label: Task
Synopsis
How does your character fit into these factions? How do they affect the
story?
Notes
This information goes on your character page. Possibly in its own
section, depending on how prominent it is within your story. First list
your character's role in the faction, then go through the data points
you have on your character already. Connect them to your character's
relationship with this faction. Remember that not all data points will
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relationship with this faction. Remember that not all data points Novel
have relevance to the character's relationship with or membership in
the faction, just because a character is monogamous, for example,
does not necessarily mean the League of Pog Collectors cares.
Text
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Your Novel
27 - Develop geography
Status: To Do
Label: Task
Synopsis
Consider your outline and where your story will be taking place.
Notes
Hey, look! It's your outline calling again! You've been working on
characters, and you'll go back to them in a second, but first, get that
scratch paper. Go over your outline and jot down every different
location you have at which a scene takes place. Jot down how far
apart these are, roughly, whether they're different locations in the
same city or town or different towns in the same country or different
planets. Different planes of existence. Go back to your character
information and do the same. Group these locations by city, by
borough if it's in one city, by country, by however many categories you
need to. Write down a minimum five sentence paragraph describing
each geographical location you will be working with.
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Your Novel
28 - Develop transportation
Status: To Do
Label: Task
Notes
Consider your outline and how many times your characters will be
traveling between places. In your geography section, beneath each
location, write down a sentence or two saying how this location can be
accessed. Then go to your outline and write down a phrase to a
sentence worth of information explaining how these spatial transitions
will be accomplished. Walk, skate, Segway, bus, car, bike, horse,
wagon, motorcycle, hoverboard, light-cycle, gryphon, giant eagle,
transporter, spaceship, wormhole... Also jot down travel time, because
that will help you when organizing your in-novel timeline.
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29 - Develop geographical manifestations of socio-

economic strata, cultural groups, and racial/species
groups
Status: To Do
Label: Task
Notes
That sounds technical, but basically what it means is mapping out
your locations in terms of what sorts of people live where. Where are
your upper class people, where are your slums, and everything in
between. If there are clusters of people from one cultural or racial
group or another, etc. Sketch out, whether you use a mapping
program or a pencil and blank sheet of paper, what goes where. Keep
in mind the scope of your novel; if you're dealing with a planetary
scale, you can be vague and generalize regions of the planet, making
up a stereotype or two. If you're dealing with a city-wide scale, you
might as well go into a little bit of detail. These details can come in
handy later in dialogue or setting.
Text
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30 - Map your characters' travel through the novel,

geographically
Status: To Do
Label: Task
Synopsis
Check travel times. Look at what you'll have them passing.
Notes
Go through scene by scene, and since you're doing it anyway you
might as well make your timeline. Highlight, bracket, or otherwise
separate the scenes in your outline, day by day. Put, in a different
color of text, the travel times between scenes. Then go back to the top
of the outline and start again. Add a sentence or two next to the
method of transition (bike, helicopter, wormhole) describing in very
general terms the location the characters are coming from, and the
locations they'll be passing through on the way to where they're going.
Even if it's nothing more than a blue column of light.
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Steps 31-35
Status: To Do
Label: Task
Synopsis
More fiddly bits! Along with a few details you may have put off addressing
because they were so tiny; well, now's the time to go back and address
them!
31 - Name everything
Status: To Do
Label: Task
Notes
Name the fuck out of everything. EVERYTHING. (This will probably
also be a breather because not EVERYTHING needs to have a different
name, you just need to decide whether or not it will.) Go through your
outline and decide what this, that, or the other is named. Then go
through your notes and decide what this, that, or the other is named.
This will prevent you from going back later and flailing because you
forgot that you had a city over there with no name and no way for
people to refer to it in the story. Keep in mind that "the City" is
perfectly acceptable, so long as in-text you make sure to have all your
characters treat the same city in the same way, so that there is no
ambiguity as to where your characters are referring to/going.
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Your Novel
32 - Check your scope again

Status: To Do
Label: Task
Notes
Check your scope again. Do you need to go further out? Further in?
(We'll start with further in.) If you need to go further in, now is where
you want to do it. You have a pretty good starting point for the world
you're creating so far, now take a bit and read your notes and your
outline. What areas seem a little thin? You can expand in all sorts of
ways, you can put in more side characters, friends, co-workers, fellow
hobbyists, fellow faction members, people who share one category or
another with both your protagonists and antagonists. You can include
more setting description, you can stretch out the travel time to either
give your characters more introspection or more setting description or
both.
If you need to go further out, expand your scope, you'll need more
character profiles. You'll need more locations, and you'll need a
purpose for every extra detail you add. This will likely involve more
poking at your outline than your world notes. If there are points you
feel you need to make but haven't been, details in your world bible
you want to flesh out but don't have room for in your outline,
character aspects or dilemmas you want to explore more closely, or
global ramifications to character actions. First, expand your outline.
Then go through each section of your world bible so far, point for
point, and expand your section accordingly. Geography,
socio/economic data, factions, skillsets, etc.
One thing I would be very careful about doing at this point,

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One thing I would be very careful about doing at this point,Your Novel
although it's not directly related to the process of world-building, is I
would be very careful about adding another sub-plot to your outline. If
you do that, you'll have to go back from the beginning and make sure
all of these questions are answered for all the new locations and
characters you'll be meeting, and it'll be labor intensive and possibly
throw a lot of things out of whack. If you think you're going to do that,
though, here would be a good place to do it.
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33 - List the influences on your character

Status: To Do
Label: Task
Notes
On a piece of scratch paper, go through your character section for
each character and list off every person, place, or event that had a
strong influence on your main characters both protagonist and
antagonist. You might even want to separate them that way, as
persons, places, or events. This will require a lot of cross-checking all
over the place, so definitely use scratch paper. With each influence,
add in a couple of sentences explaining how and why.
When you're done with this you'll need to do two things, not
necessarily in this order. You'll need to summarize these influences on
your character in a brief biography. Make it about a page or two, and
start from the earliest point in your character's history you can think
of, tracing the events in his or her life from inception to the start of
the novel. Remember to add in details like where they learned their
profession, when they picked up their hobbies, when they met their
friends. Mark off notes in your timeline when specific events happened
in your character's past, and this will also help you refresh on what
kind of events your character might have been reacting to.
The second thing you'll need to do is go back over these persons

and places and shuffle them into your character and setting sections,
respectively, if they're not already in there. Flesh out each person
influence with at a minimum a seven or so sentence paragraph on how
they have interacted with the character you were working on. You can
also go back and do most to all of the character exercises in this
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Your Novel
also go back and do most to all of the character exercises in this
Leviathan. Then do the same for the places. You might want to locate
them on the map or they might already be there, in which case you
might want to add in a few more lines of description.
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Your Novel
34 - Study your cultural biases

Status: To Do
Label: Task
Notes
We have a lot of terms for the ways people interact with and treat
each other. Familiar, impersonal, aloof. Racist, sexist, ageist, ableist,
classist. Gay panic, transphobia, misogyny, white guilt, whether
positive or negative there are a lot of terms for how we feel about
each other as an individual about groups. Let me repeat that last part,
as an individual about groups. Once you get to know a person on a
one-on-one level it's harder to piece out what part of your reactions
are to the individual and what part are to a group or classification to
which that individual belongs.
So. There are two places where the prejudices of your work's
population will come into play. The first is in the outline. Go through it,
looking at all the places where people interact. Look at the people
interacting and put yourself in each character's shoes. Do they share a
trait with the other people in the scene? How do they feel about traits
they don't share? Are these feelings, either the in-group ones or the
out-group ones, strong enough to affect how that character behaves?
If so, is there a term in the society for this? Is this term shared
throughout all parts of the societies touched on in the novel or are
there other terms? Jot down at least five and at most twenty phrases,
with a couple sentences of description, based on what you find in your
outline. For example: . This will go under culture.
Next, go through your character sheet and look at both the feelings
your characters have about other people in their lives and their
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your characters have about other people in their lives and their
similarities and differences, and the feelings your characters have
about other people's perceptions of them. The questions will be
similar, but you might find one or two other terms you hadn't
encountered before. Add in the ones you didn't find in your outline
under culture.
Finally, go back and jot down in your outline a one-sentence note for
each encounter in which prejudice is a factor, just to remind yourself
later. (And when you're hitting those blocks, you might be glad of that
note, too!) Go back to your character sheets and summarize the
attitudes your character gives out and receives, with a line or two
added to each influence on your character's life, how this factored into
it. Leave out the ones where it wasn't a discernible factor, of course.
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Your Novel
35 - Create your characters' youth and childhood,

their life story
Status: To Do
Label: Task
Notes
You have where your character is now, and it's time to organize this
a little better and figure out where your character came from. Go
through all the information and straighten it out into a timeline. You
can either rewrite your original information so that everything is laid
out in chronological order or create a separate document for the
timeline.
Once you have all the backgrounds for your main characters, use
the very rough progression of a life in this world you're building to
create a series of three or four templates for what is the standard of
normality. These templates don't have to be of a specific person with a
name and a family history, more like a series of experiences, rites of
passage, and expectations of a person as they age in the society
you're creating. There might be greater or fewer of these, depending
again on the scope of your novel and how many different societies
you'll be dealing with. Your character specific information goes in your
character section, but the general information on a more normative
childhood goes in culture.
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Your Novel
Steps 36-40
Status: To Do
Label: Task
Synopsis
Moving in time as well as space, this section deals with a lot of
progressions, the history of your world and the progression of a life in it.
36 - Develop the normative life experience

Status: To Do
Label: Task
Notes
Now flesh out the templates. Give each sentence a paragraph or
more worth of description. Start with infancy, how most people are
born (in a hospital, in a home, in a convent?), whether or not there is
a new birth ceremony such as a baptism or a name-giving, and go on
from there. You should continue to have at least three or four
templates unless your entire cast list is three or four people long. Even
in a single city, different people will have different life experiences and
different ideas of what is “normal” for them, depending on race, class,
social status, etc.
If you're stuck for what kinds of points in a person's life to describe,

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If you're stuck for what kinds of points in a person's life to Your Novel
describe,
consider the biological stages of a sentient being's life first. Get back
to some very basic basics. For most sentient beings in fiction, whether
mainstream or science fiction/fantasy, there are some simple
biological steps shared by all sentient beings. Birth followed by a short
period of infancy, then childhood for lack of a better but less obscure
term. The period between developing basic motor and communication
skills and the next stage, puberty and adolescence. The developing of
advanced biological functions such as procreation and advanced
communication, strategy, and thinking skills. In other words,
teenagerhood. Then the body stops growing and for a variable length
of time, you have an adult of the species. Then the beginning of the
body's decay as processes function less and less well, and then death.
And for each of these stages, humans and other sentient life forms
generally create rituals or cultural expectations around them, to
explain and assist with the transitions between one stage and the
next.
At the end of this exercise you should have several pages worth of
an individual's journey from birth to death, three or four variations.
Again, you might have more variations depending on the scope of your
work, and you might have fewer. All of this goes in the culture section.
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Your Novel
37 - Develop places for your characters' youth and

childhood
Status: To Do
Label: Task
Notes
Back to location-based world-building! Back to your maps! Go
through your characters' youth and childhood, the typical experiences,
and start marking down the places they've been on your map. Even if
it's just a dot with a flag. Do the same for the normative templates.
Then give each location at least three to five sentence paragraph
under the 'Settings' section. Before you were writing about
neighborhoods, now you're writing about individual buildings, school
houses or malls or stadiums or day cares.
Keep in mind that all of these places have contexts as well. Are
these neighborhoods, towns, or even planets nice places to grow up
in? Is life hard for children, or are there plenty of families and safety
networks to help them out? If you're working with places you've
already started to flesh out, you might know this. If you're working
with an entirely new section of geography, look at the character and
how they grew up and use that as a jumping off point to think about
what these places might have been like. Think about who the people
who worked there were like. You can even, if you get inspired, write a
couple paragraphs about them with the same format as you have for
your tertiary characters, your bit parts. World-building in this way is a
bit like terraforming (or at least how I imagine terraforming to be,
since we can't quite do that yet.) Once you lay down your basic
components, all kinds of unexpected things start growing.
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Your Novel
38 - Develop variations on the normative experience

Status: To Do
Label: Task
Notes
Look at your normative life experience and tweak it. All life plans
never come to fruition quite as one either expects or wants, but there
are some obstacles that crop up that are predictable. Sudden poverty,
for instance, sudden disability or sudden wealth. Take a look at the
timeline for the normative experience for this world and pick five to
ten points where a person's life might abruptly diverge from the norm.
Write several paragraphs based on what you already have written (in
that same manner) for each divergence, which also go into culture.
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Your Novel
39 - Develop your world timeline

Status: To Do
Label: Task
Notes
Develop your timeline. By now you've got a lot of events, an
outline, and a lot of character history. Use your character history and
your outline and your world bible so far to develop a timeline of your
world. Use the start of your novel as your zero hour and expand both
forwards and backwards, starting with the events you've already set
down. How fast is technology developing? How are social attitudes
changing? Go back and forth between this timeline and your character
information, making adjustments as you need to. This part goes in
Setting, because the history also makes a part of the setting.
Keep in mind that sometimes things can change very, very fast.
There are people living now in a country where legal racial equality is
assumed (though not necessarily fact) who have grandparents who
were assumed to be slaves. There are people living now in a country
where individual thought and exchanges of ideas are everybody's
privilege who grew up in that same country where conformity was
demanded. The majority of the population living today grew up before
the internet and thus information (true or false) became
commonplace, before exchanges of ideas became easier for many,
many people (but not everyone).
Keep in mind also that some things change very, very slowly. Look
at the Catholic church. Look at Judaic practices. Look at the idea that
things and people that are different from us are dangerous and
subversive and should be squashed, that idea hasn't changed much in
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subversive and should be squashed, that idea hasn't changedYour
muchNovel
in
recorded history.
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40 - Check in with your outline

Status: To Do
Label: Task
Notes
Check your outline. How much of this needs to be developed
beyond one or two lines? The sad truth is, probably not much. But
despite the attention to outlines, this still isn't novel writing, this is
world writing. We're building a base for you to go on writing, or let
your novel go in whatever direction it needs to. Check your outline,
see what you have that you've developed, see what you don't have.
Be aware of how much time you're spending on things you'll never put
into your novel. Don't do any writing right now, just organize your
thoughts, because after all that it'll be pretty chaotic.
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Your Novel
Steps 41-45
Status: To Do
Label: Task
Synopsis
Almost there! Last odds and ends, where by odds and ends I mean things
that you could have started with, but are much easier when you have a
general idea of what your people are like underneath you, and you can build
these structures off of that.
41 - Look at all of your characters, sort out and list

their demographics
Status: To Do
Label: Task
Notes
Take a look at all of your characters who have names or speaking parts and take a
census of them. Have a look at Wikipedia or the census for your country (if your country
takes a census) for ideas on how this is laid out. You might need a lot of scratch paper;
the simplest way of doing this is to separate your characters into categories you want to
take census of and make hatchmarks below each category for every character that falls
under it. It seems like pointless statistic work, but it'll give you an overview of your world
as you've created it, which is a good way of seeing if your statistics match the image of
your world. For instance, if you picture your city streets as being full of orange people,
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your world. For instance, if you picture your city streets as being full of orange people,
Your Novel
with the occasional blue or pink person, and you realize that half your major or named
characters are blue people, a lot of your single-line characters are blue people, and a lot
of people in your orange characters' pasts are blue people, either you need to redo your
demographics or your city has a peculiar enclave of blue people. Which implies all other
kinds of things about diaspora, cultural centers, and migrant populations.
If you're like me and you have a bizarre fetish for graphs, pie charts, and spreadsheets,
you can even make this all prettified in a presentation. But that's not necessary.
More seriously, this is a place where author biases can show up. Not because they're
creeping in more here, author bias is a sneaky little bastard that's always around
nibbling at your fingers. I mean, now that everything's crunched down to the numbers,
this is where the numbers will reflect what you're doing underneath. Take a good look at
your racial demographics, your sexual demographics, cultural, sexual orientation,
species, social class, and wealth. Make sure that if you're focusing on one cultural group
(Fiddler on the Roof, ), one gender (Oz, Shawshank Redemption, The Prime of Miss
Jean Brodie), etc, that there's a good reason for it.
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42 - Work the linguistics

Status: To Do
Label: Task
Notes
Now that you've got your maps, your demographics, and some history and idea of the
places, skills, and activities you'll be dealing with, it's time to approach an area that
could be overwhelmingly vast or dismissively small. Linguistics!
Not the science of linguistics but the application of language to the context of your work.
At its simplest, this might mean you have a small division between characters who
speak with complex phrases and multisyllabic words more often than not, who don't say
'um' or pause or repeat themselves when they speak, and characters who say 'ain't' and
'um' and 'might be.' If that's all you're doing, I suggest you at least take a look at the
works of Elmore Leonard, or listen to Robert Downey Jr speak. Look at authors who are
known for their dialogue, and listen to speakers who have vivid manners of speaking.
Paying attention to their habits will help you polish your dialogue so that it sounds more
natural and thus more vivid within your story. Your prose, descriptions and actions, will
come out in your own voice, and that's as it should be.
If, on the other hand, you're creating whole new worlds, fantasy worlds or new planets
and spacefaring races, you might be at the more complicated end of the spectrum with
creating a constructed language, or 'conlang.' And there are pages and pages and
pamphlets and websites on creating a conlang, though I don't have one to recommend
immediately to hand. I'm not going to recreate them here, I'm just going to suggest that
this is a good time to take what you have and use it to build a conlang, if you feel the
need.
Somewhere in between is the world of dialect and jargon. Jargon gives the flavor of
authenticity to your work, but it must be used sparingly so that your broader audience
knows what you're talking about and for the love of Twain use it correctly. Ask a
specialist in the field in which you're writing if you're not sure. Dialect will make your
work vivid, as I said, but it helps to have the right dialect in the right place. Elmore
Leonard, Joss Whedon, (and others) are all good examples of writing dialect. They
know how people speak and they know how to re-create it so that it feels real to the
audience. Ian McShane, Robert Downey Jr, (and others) are also good examples, more
on the acting and delivery side.
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Look at your outline and your character sheets. Your character sheets will give you
some idea of which characters might have distinct speech patterns from the others;
think of characters who are from a different place or a different time than most, or think
of characters for whom you want to highlight a particular aspect like class or heritage.
Your outline will give you some idea of where it's appropriate. Consider that you
probably speak more formally or at least more politely at your job, or if you're talking to
an official person, than if you're relaxing with your friends. Finally, once you've figured
out what your characters' dialects should reflect and where you're going to put them, it
helps to make a dialect sheet. It's not hard; a dialect sheet is basically a list of bullet
points: quirks of language such as having no articles (Russian) or repeating a word for
emphasis (most pidgin dialects), and phrases you might substitute for commonly known
phrases that either have fallen out of use or that you've made up entirely.
One last thing to consider as you're finding places in your outline where dialect and
jargon goes is, again, clarity. Will writing all chapters that are from the steerage boy's
point of view in a lower class, East End type of dialect help sell the story, or will it
confuse the audience? It takes some practice to find the balance between the two.
Handing it off to a first reader or three helps.
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43 - Describe everything!
Status: To Do
Label: Task
Notes
That was potentially a long exercise, now we'll have a short one, and a fun one I
hope. Descriptions! Start with the places and people you're working with in your outline
and scribble down in the margins, on a sheet of scratch paper, or on a sticky note, one
sentence of description for each of the five senses. As many of them as you can, at
least, most characters aren't going to go around licking things. I hope. If you have time
and inclination after that, go through and add these descriptions to other places, other
characters. Add taste or smell or sound memories to the rites of passage and typical
experiences you worked on earlier. Flesh out your world, make it vivid, not just in the
organizational or grand details, but in the little things, too. What does it smell like? How
do the buildings feel to the touch?
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44 - Systems of government/bureaucracy
Status: To Do
Label: Task
Synopsis
Systems of government (if the scope is big enough) or local bureaucracy (if
the scope is smaller)
Notes
Only a few major world-building processes left! You can do it! Go back to your scope
and look at it, and check it against your outline. We're going to address some more stuff
that will (in most cases) remain in the background, but nonetheless will be important in
your world.
If your scope is large enough, you'll be dealing with one or several nations. Collections
of land and people who have agreed to be united by a name, a line on a map, and
perhaps most importantly (certainly most relevant to our exercise) a system of rules by
which everyone agrees to abide, and a collection of people who draw them up and
enforce them. Note that I did not say the collection of people, i.e. the government, is
agreed upon by the people who are governed. That's not always the case.
Have a look at your scope, your outline, and your geography. How many countries will
you need to make up? Have a look at all your materials, which is why we save this one
for last, and see what you've built up around the story you want to tell. Are there a lot of
characters with professions in caregiving or teaching? Are there a lot of soldiers? Is this
a well organized land or a land in chaos with everything falling apart? A lot of these
things have already been decided, when you were deciding what normal life
experiences were and how difficult it was for your protagonists (or antagonists) to obtain
some things. Re-read these notes and see what they point to, and then answer the
following questions in a page or so of description:
What services are provided by the government? What taxes, tolls, and fees are
exacted? How much control does the government have over the population, and how
much does the population have over the government? How is it structured to perpetuate
itself? To limit itself? How does the population see the government, and how aware are
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itself? To limit itself? How does the population see the government, and howYour
awareNovel
are
they that different forms of government exist? How aware are they of how the
government functions, and what its role is and restrictions are according to the existing
laws? What questions haven't you answered that you should be asking? Because I
know I haven't covered them all here.
You'll need to do this for every nation you have. You may do this for all the nations you
have ideas for, but the point of making this geared towards the outline is that you don't
do more work than you need to for the purposes of your work. Splashing around in the
creative pools of world-building is for after. It might also help to familiarize or re-
familiarize yourselves with the general types of government: republic, democracy,
aristocracy, etc. Communism, the social contract. Most of these are short reading. And a
tour of most wiki sites on dictators should, if you can stomach it, give you a brief
overview of how such governments are run.
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45 - Religion
Status: To Do
Label: Task
Notes
As with government, this is something you'll have built the foundations of already with
what you have in your notes so far. In this case you'll be looking at the cultures, the
outline, and the demographics of your characters. The demographics will tell you the
proportions of your characters, how many overall groups there are and how big they are
in relation to each other. The outline will tell you how much detail you need to go into in
order to give proper flesh and flavor to your work, and the cultures will tell you where
your characters' priorities are, and what shapes them.
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Steps 46-50
Status: To Do
Label: Task
Synopsis
Congratulations on making it this far! There's one more planning exercise to
go, and then the rest of the exercises are geared towards helping you move
around in the world, feeling at the edges, making sure you've got everything
and making sure you're comfortable writing in it after all that work.
46 - Flora and fauna

Status: To Do
Label: Task
Notes
This is one of those things that could either be a huge section or could be the length of
a paragraph. Also one of those sections you might decide you want to go back to and
enlarge, enhance, etc, later. Right now, all you need to do is go through your notes and
write down one to three sentences of description in every location where a plant or an
animal might be significant (say, if a particular store has seeds or seedlings for sale, or if
a particular place sells pets or pet items too, or items for farm animals) and the same for
every character who might have an animal or grow a plant in their home. If your society
as you've built it so far is heavily dependent on work animals, expand that to a
paragraph per animal or plant: what kind of uses do they have, both in general and
specific to the character. How difficult is the upkeep. Etc.
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47 - Historical accounts
Status: To Do
Label: Task
Notes
Now for some fun exercises! Go back in your timeline and write at least two 500 word
newspaper articles, historical accounts (such as by a scholar), or some other similar
piece of documentary writing about two different events that happened in your world's
past. Then write two more articles about the same event, but from a different point of
view, any different point of view. How would a writer for the Daily Prophet cover the Arab
Spring? What would a person's diary entry from Tatooine look like at the height of the
Rebellion, as opposed to someone on Coruscant? They don't have to be opposing
points of view, just different enough for you to get a good contrast.
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48 - Short sketches
Status: To Do
Label: Task
Notes
Write five short pieces of fiction, dialogue heavy, from the following list: buying
groceries, researching an unfamiliar topic at a library, making a large purchase (house
or vehicle), enrolling in a class either academic or vocational, dealing with a crisis
involving emergency services (this may include religious figures), revealing a secret to
a/several friends or relatives, discussing plans for the future with a spouse(s) or lover(s),
talking through a personal crisis of love or faith, courting a person, interviewing for
auditioning or a job or apprenticeship or other similar position. These don't need to be
from the point of view of a main character, it's just to give you an example of what a
person in your world would talk like or do in any of these situations. The emphasis on
dialogue is to keep it focused on the characters, but if you want to focus more on the
setting (or use the setting as a character, which a number of well-crafted works of fiction
have done) you can, too.
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49 - Visuals
Status: To Do
Label: Task
Notes
One for the visual learners! Make at least two pictures sketching out two everyday
scenes in your world OR two establishing scenes in your work. Not action scenes or
plot-heavy scenes, establishing scenes where you're setting out the most prominent
characteristics of your protagonists, antagonists, or settings. Sketch, use photoshop, cut
out magazine pictures and make a collage if you want to. Just do something visual, so
you have that to go back and look at. You can do more than two, but at least do a
couple.
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50 - Biography
Status: To Do
Label: Task
Notes
Write ten biographies of roughly 250-500 words of significant persons in your world, past
or present. In this case, pretend you're writing a wiki article rather than writing from the
point of view of someone who lives within the world because, depending on what literacy
and technology level your world has in general, there might not be so many significant
persons in the world and/or writing biographies might not necessarily be a Thing.
Political figures, entertainers, scientists or magicians, people who were simply there on
a day to catalyze an event. Serial killers. Revolutionaries. Innovators. Ten biographies,
from various points in your world's history. Go!
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Steps 51-53
Status: To Do
Label: Task
Synopsis
Last section!
51 - A day in the life

Status: To Do
Label: Task
Notes
This one doesn't have to go permanently in your binder at all, it's just an exercise. Try to
write an up-to-1,000 word short story about a day in the life of your characters for your
main, antagonist, and three bit characters in your novel. Is your world fleshed out
enough so that you can do this easily? Which parts did you get stuck on?
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52 - Finishing up
Status: To Do
Label: Task
Notes
Re-read. Go through outlines and bios, make sure everything fits and logically follows.
Add in anything you may have learned from the writing exercises you did subsequent to
the questionnaire. Organize it into a form you are comfortable with, and if you have to
rewrite the whole thing, it'll help to solidify it in your mind. Because beyond that, you're
done! Yay!
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53 - Write that good book!

Status: To Do
Label: Task
If you need a little inspiration, or just a fun read, check out
“Hello, I’m Your New PRO Columnist: Reflections on the Columns I’m Not
Going To Be Writing” by Jennifer Cruise
www.jennycrusie.com/for-writers/essays/hello-im-your-new-pro-columnist-
reflections-on-the-columns-im-not-going-to-be-writing/
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Reviews/Comments copy
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
A place to copy and/or place reviews/comments etc. concerning your
material. Includes a guide on critiquing fictional stories too. See 'Document
Notes' for more information. Also see "Writer's Editing Checklist" for what
else to look for before submitting your material.
Notes
You finally did it? You wrote out your material, spent countless hours on it too.
Now, you have shared it with the world, or you want to at least. Before you share
or release your material to the public eye or to any individual, be aware that once
you release it, there will always be someone (or many ‘someones’) that will read
over your material with a critical eye.
This section is technically a folder and it is split up to hold certain types of
reviews/comments. Use the correct area to store the information to keep
everything organized.
This section is not used to only store ‘normal’ reviews/comments, but critiques as
well. A guide has been included on how to critique fictional stories, which can be
used to critique your own material. It is a helpful guide because it lets you see
what a critic is most likely looking for or will notice while reading your material.
It may not fit into all categories or genres, but it works in general.
This section can also be used if you handed the draft out to someone for
reviews/comments. You can put what they say in the appropriate area and then
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reviews/comments. You can put what they say in the appropriate area and then
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decide whether to use/take their suggestions or not.
Please note that this section is NOT for the following:
● ‘Perfection’: While it is understandable that your material will have a few
errors, as there should not be ‘many’ honestly, that you missed, it is still
impossible to be ‘perfect’, or rather your material being as such. You may
seek perfection, but achieving it is impossible. Even if you somehow
succeeded with your material being ‘perfect’ with grammar, spelling, plot
holes etc. There will always be at least one individual that will not enjoy or
like the material for one reason or another. Remember, you cannot please
everyone and/or have the material aim for ‘all’ or various audiences. Keep
that in mind when you self critique your material and/or if others critique it.
It does not mean, however, that their critique is invalid. Just do not let the
critique ‘get to you’ is the bottom line.
● Publishing: If you are planning to publish and sell your material, self
publish or through a publishing company, it would be best for you and any
other close relatives/friends etc. to NOT look at comments/reviews about
your material for various reasons. Such places include Amazon, Barnes and
Nobles, Goodreads etc. While many reasons can be listed to explain, a
example would be better. Here is an example of an top seller author (Emily
Giffin) that reacted, not only badly to a legitimate critique, but the whole
situation only occurred due to them reading a critique they did not like and
responding to it. Although, officially, ‘their husband’ was the one that
originally reacted/responded to the critique. With such a situation as a
example, that is why it is very important to avoid reading
critiques/comments about your material, positive or negative, if you publish
it. As you, or someone you know that speaks on ‘your behalf’, may not react
to it well and it can result in illegal and possibly legal actions. Even if you
do react to it well, it would still be best to not respond at all. As someone
else can take it the wrong way and/or even twist your words/facts. It can, in
the end, turn quite ugly. Additionally, with the internet, the end results can
be online forever, or for a very long time after it happened. It will appear in
search engines too if someone takes the time to look up your name. There is
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search engines too if someone takes the time to look up your name. There
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also the issue of unintentionally taking ‘ideas’ from readers, which can also
cause issues for your material. More so if it is a series. It is honestly best to
not read reviews/comments about your material overall.
How to Critique Fiction [Introduction]

Status: To Do
Label: Task
Synopsis
Learn how to critique fictional stories. The same methods can be used to
critique your own material (if you are being truly honest). Guide by Victory
Crayne.
Notes
Every text document under this ‘section’ is from
http://www.crayne.com/howcrit.html
Text
How to Critique Fiction
by Victory Crayne
Introduction
Ever wonder how some critics can find some weaknesses
in your work whereas others gloss right over them?
You pour your energy and nine-tenths of your soul into a story. Night and
day you wrestle with yourself over every page, every word at your keyboard,
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day you wrestle with yourself over every page, every word at your keyboard,
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typewriter, or notepad. You are writing every day, aren't you? At last, you're
finished! With nervous anxiety you take the next daring step - letting someone
else, maybe another writer, editor, friend, or even enemy open to the first page and
start reading.
You wonder - is this your masterpiece? Have you learned at last how to
write a best seller? You really tried hard to do so much better on this one. You
wait, as if standing in front of the judge at your murder trial. Will the verdict be
'Not Guilty'? Will the jury yell and wave their arms in praise?
Or - will you hear those awful words - 'GUILTY of Bad Writing'?
A professional learns to systematically organize their knowledge of how to

write well. One area of knowledge is how to do a professional critique - a really
detailed, rip it up and tear it apart critique, hitting it from all angles, until every
weakness stands raw and exposed.
Here is a checklist of points and questions on many aspects of fiction

writing that may be useful to you - or your chosen favorite critic - in evaluating
works of fiction.
There are many different styles of critiquing, of course. The checklist and
questions presented here are offered as food for thought, not as a strict set of rules.
Very few people will try to answer every one of these points/questions.
After you finish your next piece, or part of it, set it aside for a few days.
Then haul out this article, put on your Critic Hat, and go through these questions
for your work.
See you on the Bestseller's List!
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The Critique Process

Status: To Do
Label: Task
Synopsis
The process of critiquing. A few quick steps you should take note of
BEFORE you start to critique any fictional story.
Notes
[1]While I agree to provide positive comments when possible, in my honest
opinion, it reads ‘Praise where praise is due,’ not give praise or a ‘pat on the back’
everytime, even when it is not well deserved. If a story is truly terrible, and there
isn’t a single thing to comment on that is positive, you should not force yourself to
leave a positive comment about the material. While you can write ‘You did your
best’ or ‘At least you wrote a story’ etc., it not only looks like fake praise on paper,
the author will even notice that when they read it. If anything, they would most
likely be offended then not. If you happen to read such a story, there are two things
you can do: (1) Ignore it after reading it, including not leaving a critique at all or
(2) Critique it anyway, anonymously, privately, or publically (internet, through a
system/process etc.)
If you want or happen to critique the material anyway, try not to be offended if the
author becomes hostile and/or very emotional. If the author does react with
hostility/emotional, try to consider if their age and/or mental capabilities has
anything to do with their reaction, and writing level too. Unless you criticized the
author personally and not the story, there is no need to feel guilty. A critique is
meant to help an author improve their writing, even if it is ‘all bad’. This goes the
same if you are the one receiving such a critique. Writing is a tool that is used
daily and important for every field or career. More so in this century due to social
networking and technology in general. If a author’s weaknesses are grammar and
spelling, for instance, the basic rules will not suddenly change if they have to write
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spelling, for instance, the basic rules will not suddenly change if they have to write
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an essay or report for their teacher, employeer, and/or company. This excludes if
the document has to be written in another language that is different from the
material you criticized.
Text
The Critique Process
A. Don't read other critiques of this story yet.
● Doing so would likely bias your review. The author would much
prefer your unbiased and fresh impression.
B. Write down your impressions as a reader.

● Was the story captivating from the very first few paragraphs?
● Did you enjoy reading it?
● What type of person would this book appeal to?
● Do you think that the story or book has sales potential?
C. Try to give feedback on what could be changed.

● Remember, the purpose of writing a critique is twofold:
(1) identify the weaknesses in the piece and
(2) offer some constructive advice to the author that might lead to
improvement in the story.
● To just bash the story without providing something useful to the
author is not really being professional.
D. Give examples of improvements, if possible.

● When you give an example of a better way to do what you pointed
out, you make your point much clearer to the author. As they say, 'an
example is worth a thousand words'.
E. Praise where praise is due.

● Did you remember to add some positive comments on the piece,
where the author did something you thought was very good?[ See [1]
under ‘Document Notes’]
"I feel I have a decent critical eye. But when I think I see a
touchdown, I cheer. That's feedback, too. Why should all the mistakes
find their targets, but the successes meet with only silence--leaving
the poor writer, who has poured out her/his heart, with nothing but:
no, no, no, ... As [critics], don't we have a responsibility to not only
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no, no, no, ... As [critics], don't we have a responsibility to Your Novel
not only
point out what needs changing, as we see it, but also what worked and
why, so the writer WON'T change it and will be encouraged to
produce more of the same?" - J. R. Lankford (Jilla).
"We all need to be told where we are very good as well as where we
are very, very bad. We cannot grow, otherwise."
- Pete Murphy
"I think there's a sometimes overlooked purpose in critiquing and

that is to identify the strengths in a story as well, to offer
encouragement and positive reinforcement in regard to those
strengths, thereby preventing the possibility that the author will
change, for the worse, those things that make the story good."
- Debra Littlejohn Shinder
F. Never criticize the author personally. Focus your attention on the story as
written.[ This is true. On the internet, unless the term changes in the future, it is called
‘flaming’, can sometimes be known as ‘trolling’ too. Basically, any words written are
meant to be towards the author, and they are usually personal and has nothing to do
with the material. If you read something about an author and you feel that it will affect
your critique, it would be best to not critique the material; at the time being or not at all. If
you were asked to critque their material, let the author know that you may not be able to
because you feel your critique may be bias and/or not ‘adequate’.]
G. Critique as you would want to be critiqued.

● Ask yourself before you post or mail a critique: Is this an example of
the way I would like to be treated?[ If you are the ‘blunt type’ critic,
obviously not everyone will be the same way or react the same as you would if
you received the same. This does not mean that you need to ‘lower’ or change
your critiquing style, but be aware that the other individual, if they are not the
same, may react negatively.]
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The Checklist
Status: To Do
Label: Task
Synopsis
A checklist to follow when critiquing a story. Includes opening, characters,
etc.
Text
The Checklist
Things to look for
A. Opening
1. Do the first few sentences or paragraphs of the story grab your
attention?
2. Do they present the protagonist's main problem? Remember how you

judge a book or story when you first see it in a bookstore.
3. Don't we often base our decision to buy or not buy upon those first
few sentences?
4. Did this author grab your attention fast enough?
B. Conflict
1. By conflict, I do not mean lots of slam-bam action. Conflict is "The
mental or moral struggle caused by incompatible desires and aims.
That is the kind of conflict that makes stories vitally alive." - Ben
Bova in "The Craft of Writing Science Fiction That Sells".
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2. Is there emotional conflict WITHIN the main character? Between the
main characters? Emotional conflict is part of what gets readers
interested. For example: love vs. loyalty; greed vs. duty; fear vs.
desire; revenge vs. self-doubt.
3. Are there too many or not enough conflicts?

● "The writer's job is to be a troublemaker! Stir up as many levels
of conflict and problems for your protagonist (hero) as you can.
Let one set of problems grow out of another. And never, never,
never solve a problem until you've raised at least two more. It is
the unsolved problems that form the chain of promises that
keeps the reader interested." - Ben Bova.
● Until the end, of course, when all the conflicts should be
resolved.
4. Is there enough conflict between the characters?

● Is it expressed through action, dialogue, attitudes, or values?
● Were the characters sufficiently contrasted? Or did they seem to
be totally satisfied with their roles?
● Did they have the potential to transform each other?
C. Plot
1. Was the main plot clear and believable?
2. Did the main character have a clearly defined problem to solve? Did
you feel by the end of the piece that this problem was solved or did
the character become resolved to live with it?
3. Were you able to determine the time and place of the story quickly
enough?
4. Did the story start at the right place? Did it end at the right place in
the plot?
5. Are there scenes which do not seem to further the plot?
6. Were there too many flashbacks, which broke your attention?
7. If the piece was a short story, were there too many subplots? If the
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7. If the piece was a short story, were there too many subplots? If the
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piece was a novel, could it be improved by more attention to the
subplots or have more subplots? Conversely, does it have too many
subplots and you got confused about what was happening?
8. Was every subplot useful? Did it add to the overall story or did the
author seem to stick it in just for complexity?
9. Pacing: Did the plot/subplots move fast enough to keep the reader's
attention?
10. Resolution of conflict: Did the conflict and tension in the plots and
subplots come to some reasonable ending? Or did the author leave us
hanging, wondering what happened? When you finished, were there
things that you still felt needed to be explained?
● If the author did leave some conflict unresolved, did they indicate
somewhere that future stories are pending?
D. Setting
1. Is there enough description of the background in the story to paint a
picture that seems real enough for the reader? Did you feel that you
were transported to 'that time or place'?
2. Was there too much description so modern readers might tend to

become bored? Was the description written with cliches?
3. Did the author use good enough names for people, places, and things?
Names help set the tone for a story. Were some names of people hard
to keep track of? Did some names seem inconsistent with the
character? Were the names too stereotypical?
● "The reader would have a tough time imagining a two-fisted
hero named Elmer Small, but James Retief comes across just
fine as a hero in Keith Laumer's stories. Similarly, Bubbles La
Toure is hardly the name of a saintly nun, whereas Modesty
Blaise is a sexy and intriguing name for a female counterpart of
James Bond." - Ben Bova.
4. Did the author convince you that people in that time or place would
behave that way?
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5. Is the timing and order of events in the story consistent? For example,
did John drive his new car on his vacation in chapter six but it wasn't
until chapter ten that he bought it?
E. Characterization
1. Did the people seem real? Or were the main characters stereotypes or
one-dimensional cardboard characters?
2. Were the facts about the characters accurate and consistent?

● "It's very important in building characters to make sure your
'facts' are accurate and consistent. If you mention in chapter
two that your sister's birth sign is Leo, and then in chapter
twelve, you have her celebrating her birthday during a snowfall
(unless she lives at the north pole [or in the southern
hemisphere]), credibility will be lost. Even if the reader doesn't
key in on exactly 'what' is wrong with the picture, he/she will
have a disquieting sense that 'something' is." - Debra Littlejohn
Shinder
3. People do not exist in a vacuum. They have family, friends, a job,

worries, ambitions, etc. Did you get a sense of enough of these, but
not too much, for the main characters?
4. Did you get a good picture of the culture, historical period, location,
and occupation of the main character?
5. Did you get enough of a sense of paradoxes within the character?

Enough of their emotions, attitudes, values?
6. Backstory: Were you distracted by too much background information

of a character at one time? Did the author seem to dump a lot of
information on the background of a character in one or two long
speeches, or did we learn about that character here and there in
smaller pieces?
7. Did the protagonist undergo some change in the story?
8. Could the story have been improved by adding more details of the
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8. Could the story have been improved by adding more detailsYour
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protagonist's or another character's reputation; stereotyped beliefs;
their network of relations to other people; habits and patterns; talents
and abilities; tastes and preferences; or physical description of their
body?
9. Does each chapter/page have enough sensory description? Can the

reader easily sense what is happening physically to the main
character? Were there enough words of sight, sound, touch, smell, or
taste?
10. If the story used a person as the antagonist (villain), did they seem
real too? Or did they seem so evil or one-sided that they were more
like ideal villains? Did they have some redeeming qualities too? Did
the villain seem to be a hero in their own mind?
11. Every reader has their own taste in how much characterization they
like. Did this story have too little or too much characterization for
you?
F. Dialogue
1. Did the words from the mouths of the people in the story seem
consistent with their personalities?
2. Was there too much or not enough dialogue, in your opinion? Usually
writers err on the side of not enough dialogue.
3. Did any character tend to talk in long monologues?
4. Were you able to sense the conflict, attitudes, and intentions of each
character in their dialogue without the author telling you of these
directly?
5. Were you able to detect any exchange of power that is sexual,

physical, political, or social?
6. Did the dialogue seem easy to speak? Can you 'hear' it? If it sounds
unusual, you might suggest that the writer try reading it aloud.
7. Does the dialogue seem TOO MUCH like normal speech, with too
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7. Does the dialogue seem TOO MUCH like normal speech, with
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many incomplete sentences, pauses, restarts, profanity, cliches, etc.
that it was distracting?
8. Did the author use dialect that was too heavy, making it difficult to
read?
9. Does each character have their own speech rhythm, accent (if
necessary), vocabulary, and even length of sentences?
10. In an exchange of conversation, can you easily tell who is speaking if

you didn't have their names or gender attached to their sentences?
G. Point of View
1. Was a given chapter or section written from one person's point of
view? Are there too many points of view in the story?
2. Did the story skip around between the first person or third person
point of view (POV)? Were the changes in POV signaled clearly?
There is nothing inherently wrong in changing POV, as long as it is
not done too often.
3. If the story was written in the third person POV, as most stories are,
did the story stick with the omniscient (all knowing) POV, use a
limited POV (where we don't know everyone's motives except by
clues from their words or actions), or did the author mix the two? Did
the author's choice seem right to you?
● "The key point is to get the reader to engage in a contract in
which the writer offers: 'I'm not going to show you everything
in the character's head because that would spoil the story for
you. Instead, I will reveal things as we go along but I promise
that I won't cheat.'" - Trevor Lawrence
4. When the POV changed, were you able to quickly sense who the new
viewpoint was from?
H. Show versus tell

1. When in the POV of a character, did the author describe what his/her
senses showed, e.g., sight, sound, smell, touch, taste? Or did the
author just tell you the dinner was very good?
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2. Did the author describe exactly how the people acted?
3. Was there too much abstract language where specific details would
have made a greater impact on the reader?
4. Were there many instances of words like "very", "much", "really",

"great", or "nice" when a more detailed description would have been
more colorful?
5. Did we get the chance to interpret what the characters were feeling or
did the author just tell us directly? For example, I once wrote: "Two
weeks later, after more hours than he cared to remember, Jet felt very,
very tired" and let it go at that and missed the opportunity to describe
his fatigue instead.
I. Format of the text

1. Was it easy to read or were the paragraphs too long or the lines too
long (not enough margin)?
2. Would it help to put blank lines between paragraphs? If the piece is to

be read on a computer monitor, adding a blank line between
paragraphs will make it much easier for your critics to read. Note:
when you submit the final version to print publishers, it is best to
adhere to their manuscript format (no blank lines between
paragraphs).
J. Grammar and Spelling

1. Was the English readable? Were there too many grammatical errors,
misuse of punctuation, run-on sentences, etc.?
2. Did you point out any typos or misspelling? How many times have
you missed that in your writing because you passed over it without
seeing it? Were there so many such errors that they made reading the
piece difficult for you?
3. Did the author use too many exclamation points (one of my

weaknesses)?
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4. Were there any cliches in the narrative? For example, I once wrote
"fruits of mother nature" and "thoughts burning in his mind", both of
which are cliches. In dialogue cliches are okay if the character would
speak that way.
5. Did the author use melodrama? For instance, I once wrote: "With
tears in her eyes and barely able to speak, the head nurse dialed the
Chief of Staff. There would be a lot of crying tonight." Can't you just
hear the violins in the background?
K. Style
● You may wish to comment on the style the story was written in, e.g.,
humorous, wordy, sparse, literary, homespun, technical, etc.
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Some Tips
Status: To Do
Label: Task
Synopsis
Extra tips to consider and/or follow while critiquing.
Text
Some Tips
Extra stuff!
A. Let the author know if this is not your favorite type of story.
● This may help them better understand your viewpoint. Things you do
not like in the story may very well appeal to a fan of that genre.
B. "But don't be afraid to critique something, even if it's 'outside your genre'.
There are certain things that are important to ALL types of fiction, and any
good writer/critiquer should be able to pick them out. I get some of my best
critiques from people who 'never read science fiction'." - Joan Shapiro
C. Read how other critiques are done.

● "I think reading critiques in general -- perhaps about other unrelated
stories -- can help a new critic see how it's done. For example, I agree
to critique a story -- and because I don't know any better, I spout off
personal preferences ("I don't like female heroines!" or "Do you really
have to use religious imagery? Religion turns me off." -- when those
things may be central to the story and nothing more than my own
tastes). Reading good critiques may help a newbie learn that a pro
offers objective advice about more tangible problems (character
development, grammar, advancing the plot, use of dialogue)." -
Anthony Boyd
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D. Consider the target readers.

● Do you as a critic have a good idea of the type of readers this author
was writing for? Before you criticize something that you may not like
personally, ask yourself: who are the readers this author wants to
write for? Is this appropriate for that audience?
E. Give your relevant experiences (optional).

● If you have some experience or knowledge that is very relevant to a
comment of yours, you might mention it. For instance, when I found
the description of a device in a computer to be in error, I pointed it out
to the author, suggested an alternative that would be more plausible to
computer sophisticated readers, and qualified my comments by telling
her of my years of computer experience. By the way, she thanked me.
F. Short stories versus novels.

1. When critiquing a short story, remember that every word must count.
Are there sentences and/or paragraphs that don't appear to contribute
substantially to the story and maybe should be thrown out?
2. Are there too many subplots? In short stories, one subplot may be
okay, but two or more is often just too much.
3. Did the author go overboard on flashbacks? Generally in short stories,

flashbacks should be used very sparingly.
4. Novels, however, not only allow more room for expression, talk,
details, and moods, but readers of novel expect more.
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Recommended Reading & Acknowledgements

Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
Recommended books to read and acknowledgments.
Text
Recommended Reading &
Acknowledgments
Reading is always important!
NOTE: Some of the books recommended might be old or outdated. Always try to
look for a updated version of the book, or even by another author. It is always best
to read material that is not only updated, but accurate to the present century. Do
not forget to use the internet as a resource too. Sometimes what you need can be
found online for free too.
A. For fiction in general
1. "Characters and Viewpoint" by Orson Scott Card
2. "Creating Unforgettable Characters" by Linda Seder
3. "How to Write a Damn Good Novel" by James N. Frey
4. "How to Write a Damn Good Novel, II" by James N. Frey
5. "Art of Fiction" by John Gardner
6. "Becoming a Novelist" by John Gardner
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7. "Writing the Breakout Novel" by Donald Maass
B. For science fiction

1. "How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy" by Orson Scott Card
2. "The Craft of Writing Science Fiction That Sells" by Ben Bova
3. "The Writer's Guide to Creating a Science Fiction Universe" by

George Ochoa and Jeffrey Ogier
4. "How to Write Tales of Horror, Fantasy & Science Fiction" edited by

J. N. Williamson
The author wishes to express sincere gratitude to the following people who
have contributed valuable ideas to this document: Anthony Boyd, J. R.
Lankford (Jilla), Trevor Lawrence, Pete Murphy, Christopher Olson, Joan
Shapiro, and Debra Littlejohn Shinder.
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Self Critiques
Status: To Do
Label: Task
Synopsis
A place to critique your own work based on your own judgment and/or
based on the critique guide featured previously. This includes taking notes
on how and where to improve in certain areas if need be. Placing links to
helpful resources is recommended.
Notes
You can take an hour each day to critique your own work, if that much time is
required. You can always adjust the time it takes. Remember, it is required to be
honest with yourself in order to critique your own material.
Text
“We learned about honesty and integrity - that the truth matters... that you
don't take shortcuts or play by your own set of rules... and success doesn't
count unless you earn it fair and square.”
Michelle Obama
A place to critique your own work based on your own judgment and/or based on
the critique guide featured previously. This includes taking notes on how and
where to improve in certain areas if need be. Placing links to helpful resources is
recommended.
Before you start, you need to have made some time to be away from your material.
In other words, creating a time gap to intentionally avoid your material. This
means without reading, skimming, glancing, or even ‘thinking’ about it. If you are
604
means without reading, skimming, glancing, or even ‘thinking’ about it.Your
If youNovel
are
approaching a deadline, at least a few days away from it would be enough. If you
have ‘all the time in the world’, the least amount of time you should be away from
your material is a week. If you think you need a little more time, a month at most.
You do not want to be away from the material so long that you forget significant or
important details of your own material. It would make the editing process, if need
be, more difficult for you. Not to mention your thinking process may change too
during a longer time span. Think of this process as a ‘short vacation’.
If you completed or did the above paragraph, you may move on.
In order for this section to be useful to you, honesty is required. If you are not
honest with yourself, this section will not be helpful nor useful to you. It is fine to
love or even like your own material, but it is quite another to lie about your
abilities. If you cannot be honest with yourself, you will not be able to improve in
certain or more areas efficiently or effectively. It is similar to teachers filling out a
self refection at the end of a semester or the school year. If it is not honestly
fulfilled, the individual filling out the form would not only not be able to improve
themselves, but also their learning/education/techniques and their students. Self
critiques should be treated the same.
Here are a few questions to think of as a start:

● Is the first line(s) really going to grab a readers attention? Would it have
grabbed yours if you were not the author that wrote the material? If
someone else had wrote it?
● Has the main plot been resolved? What about subplots, if any? Why or why
not? Will there be additional material to resolve the subplots/main plot?
What type will they/it be?
● Did you go over the word count threshold? If so, by how much? What will
you do next time to prevent yourself from going over the threshold? Is it
something you need to work on more often? Practice makes perfect?
● How is your grammar, in general? Spelling?
● Would you let your own family members/close friends/other relatives (etc.)
read your material? Why or why not? If you had the time, would you
edit/revise your material to let one or more of the mentioned above read it?
[If your answer is ‘No’ still, publishing and/or putting it online might not be
for you. There will always be the possibility that someone you know will
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●
Your
for you. There will always be the possibility that someone you know Novel
will
pick it up and read it.]
For more questions, see the critique guide mentioned. As a note, if you have
followed the detailed guides and sources featured throughout this template, most
of the questions should be answered, if not all.
Here is a chart to help you organize your critique of your material (not in any
specific order). I recommend that you directly link to the area(s)/page that has the
problem and/or copy and paste it here:
NOTE: Duplicating tables/charts can sometimes cause Scrivener to freeze/not

respond. Save before copying/duplicating any of the charts/tables below. And take
a snapshot or more too as another precaution.
If you are still having trouble copying and pasting the table below, there is a
template of it in the ‘Critique Stuff’ folder.
Name of Story Material Here
Characterization Plot(s) Opening Conflict(s) Setting
Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah
Dialog Point of View Show versus Format of Grammar

Tell the text & Spelling

Other (Style etc.)
Blah
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Constructive Criticism/Critiques
Status: To Do
Label: Task
Synopsis
"To avoid criticism say nothing, do nothing, be nothing.”
Aristotle
A place to put/store other critiques, not your own. This gives you time to
read, re-read, analyze, and respond (if applicable) to their critiques carefully.
Notes
If it is a verbal critique, try to actually listen to their words, NOT listen while
thinking of rebuttals/comments as they are speaking or after. You do not want to
look silly or foolish or be embarrassed, more so if a by-stander tells you that you
should listen and/or stop because you look like a fool etc. If you are not sure how
to handle verbal critique, look online for some guides/tips. They will help you in
the long run.
Another thing to keep in mind, even if you are listening, your body language can
give you away too. While you could be listening to what they are saying, if your
arms are folded in front of you, the other individual can clearly see what you are
really thinking; that you are repelling or becoming bottomline hostile with their
advice anyway and that they should not waste time with you. You should not only
practice on how to respond to criticism, but also train your body how to respond
to it too. Having a ‘poker face’ would be ideal, mostly.
[1] If you are NOT sharing or going to respond to the critique, you can let loose
here as much as you want. Pretty much write whatever you want; rant and rave
for example, etc. Disregard this comment if you plan to respond to the critique.
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Text
“To avoid criticism say nothing, do nothing, be nothing.”
Aristotle
A place to put/store other critiques, not your own. This gives you time to read, re-
read, analyze, and respond (if applicable) to their critiques carefully.
Before you respond to the critique, privately or not, one thing to do is to take a
deep breath and step back or away from the critique. Give it a few hours or even a
few days if you must, before you respond to it. A written critique is much easier to
respond to then a verbal one. You have all the time in the world to respond to one
or more. Here are helpful links to tips to follow before (and after) you respond to a
critique (not in any order):
1. 10 Ways to Deal with Criticism, by Patricia Spadaro

2. 7 Effective Ways to Deal With Criticism, by Tejvanpettinger
3. 7 Tips for Handling Criticism, by Gretchen Rubin
4. How to Deal with Criticism Well: 25 Reasons to Embrace It, by Lori
Deschene
5. Taking Constructive Criticism Like a Champ
6. How to Deal With Criticism, by wikiHow
7. Dealing with Criticism
If any of the links do not work or do not exist, use your favorite search engine to
find tips on how to handle criticism.
Now that you have read one or more of the above, it is time to read the critiques
you have received. A table (3) has been included below to help you get started on
how to respond/analyze a critique. Feel free to add additional comments/notes to it
and duplicate the chart(s) if you want more. You can even create separate text
documents for each critique to keep it even more organized. The choice is yours.
If you are still not sure how to respond to a critique, whether it makes you happy,
annoys you etc.; it is always fine to write, “Thank you for taking the time to write
a critique/review/comment for my story.” (Choose the one that applies). That
response is not a wrong or right answer. It is pretty much neutral. It does not tell
the critic what you think, if their critique will be helpful or not, or if you will take
their critique at all etc. Writing this response will also prevent any type of
unnecessary conflict/drama etc. if your response was not to their liking and/or
comes off as being ‘rude’ etc. It never hurts to be on the safe side either.
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If you are still having trouble copying and pasting the table(s) below, there is a
Critique #1
Insert a copy of their critique here.
Your comments/notes/response goes here[1; See ‘Document Notes’]
Quick Checklist
Did the critic comment about any of the topics/areas below?
Yes/No Yes/No Yes/No Yes/No Yes/No

Elaborate? Elaborate? Elaborate? Elaborate? Elaborate?
Improve how? Improve how? Improve how? Improve how? Improve
how?


how?
Other (Style etc.)
Yes/No
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Elaborate?
Improve how?
Critique #2
Quick Checklist

how?


how?
Other (Style etc.)
Yes/No
Elaborate?
Improve how?
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Critique #3
Quick Checklist

how?


how?
Other (Style etc.)
Yes/No
Elaborate?
Improve how?
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Positive/'Ego Boosts'
Status: To Do
Label: Task
Synopsis
A place to put/store other positive comments/reviews. Basically comments
that make you feel ‘warm and fuzzy’ inside.
Notes
[1] Why do you like their comment? What makes it positive and not ‘criticism’?
Can you use their positive comment/review to improve certain areas or to expand
certain areas? Do you agree with their review/comment? Why or why not?
Text
“…don't we have a responsibility to not only point out what needs changing, as
we see it, but also what worked and why, so the writer WON'T change it and will
be encouraged to produce more of the same?”
J. R. Lankford (Jilla).
A place to put/store positive comments/reviews. Basically comments that make

you feel ‘warm and fuzzy’ inside. This section is to be used to remind you about
the positive parts/areas of your material. Positive reviews/comments can be helpful
too, depending on how they are written and by whom, sometimes. You can respond
to their comment/review if you like. As always, duplicate the tables/charts (3)
below if needed and/or create a text document to separate them.

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Comment/Review #1
Insert a copy of their comment/review here.
Your comments/notes/response goes here[1; See ‘Document Notes’].
Quick Checklist
Did the comment/review about any of the topics/areas below?

how?


how?
Other (Style etc.)
Yes/No
Elaborate?
Improve how?
Comment/Review #2
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Quick Checklist

how?


how?
Other (Style etc.)
Yes/No
Elaborate?
Improve how?
Comment/Review #3
Quick Checklist
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how?


how?
Other (Style etc.)
Yes/No
Elaborate?
Improve how?
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Templates
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Titles copy
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
A quick list of possible titles for any story material(s).
Text
Titles
Possible titles for any story material
For Drabbles
Insert Title here [Direct link to it here]
Your comments/notes (Why you choose the title? Etc.)

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For Flash Fictions




For Short Stories

617
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For Novelettes



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For Novellas



For Books/Novels

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For NaNoWriMo



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Start Writing Here copy

Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Notes
Explanation
writing prompts:
* The Journal
words.
war’)
mind.
Done? Rename this card and drop into scene fragments or wherever you like!
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Literature Review copy

Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
Use this template to analyze a article/journal. This is mostly useful for those
that are planning to write a crime/mystery novel. As there might be times
you will need to research about certain topics and use some of the
terms/methods etc. that are mentioned to make the science portions more
'real'. Although it could be used for other genres. Not really the best format
to use when reviewing a book that is meant to be read for entertainment
purposes, but can be a starting point on what to think about etc.
Text
[Title]
[Submitted by]
[Institution]
[Course]
[Date]
Literature Review: [Topic]

Ready to get started? The approach you take to your literature review is likely to differ quite a bit by your area of
study. But since a literature review is generally an analysis of the existing content available on a topic, it’s a good
idea to start by outlining the works you plan to include in your review.
Outline of Existing Works

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Use the table that follows to organize the list of sources you plan to cover in your review.
Overview
This is a good place to present the theme of your review and to summarize the types and relative value of the
available literature as it relates to your theme. Remember that a literature review is not a book review—it’s a critical
analysis of the literature available on the topic.
Comparative Review
Most literature reviews explore the comparative value of the available works on the subject as they relate to your
topic or theme.
Gaps in Available Research

Are there areas of the topic that existing resources miss? For example, are there clear gaps that can benefit from new
works on the topic, or gaps that expose weaknesses in a given argument?
Contrasting Opinions
Did you include works that provide contrasting perspectives to your own? You can add to the critical value of your
review by taking a look at your own objectivity.
Conclusions
The sections included here are just examples to help you get started. You might need more or different sections and
might want to organize some parts of the review outline shown here into multiple sub-sections (such as to break out
the comparative review for more detailed analysis).
References
If applicable, include your list of references on its own page here.
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Book Review copy

Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
Use this template to analyze/review a book. This is useful for making
comparisons and making notes on what you enjoyed/did not enjoy. This
section can also be useful to see what reviews others have left on the book.
The reviews can be used to your advantage and you can think about adding
or not adding certain events in your own novel etc. It could be used for
almost any genre, depending on what the novel etc. will contain. Not really
the best format to use when reviewing a book that is meant to be read for
entertainment purposes only, but can be a starting point on what to think
about etc. This review can technically be used for other types of media's too
(play, script, movies etc.). Feel free to use it as such. How to critique a
fictional book is in the Reviews-Comments area.
Text
[Title]
[Author's Name]
[Publishing Company]
[Date Read/Finished]
[Star Rating (1 out of 10 or 5 etc.)]
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Book Review: [Topic, if wanted]
Here will be 'general' questions concerning the book.
1. Make a short summary on what you thought of the book overall.
2. Were the characters interesting? Why or why not?
3. Was the plot (and subplots if any) were interesting? Why or why not?
4. Was the ending satisfying? Why or why not?
5. Did the beginning really grab your attention, or did you read on to 'give it a chance' or for some other
reason(s)?
6. Can you think of any memorable events/quotes from the book itself? If not, why wasn't there anything that
caught your attention?
Comparisons
Use the table below to make the comparisons. Each cell will be blank, but can be used to put your answer/reply in.
Before the table will be a list of questions for certain categories/areas. While filling out the table, think about the
question(s) you are reading. Put the answers in the appropriate area/place. As a note, use tags to put them in certain
categories and/or organize them.
CHARACTERS:
1. Did any of the characters within the book remind you of your own? How and why? What makes them
different?
2. Would your own evolve or develop in a similar way in the end/beginning?
3. Would you introduce your characters in a similar way? Why or why not?
4. By reading this book, what do you plan to have your characters not do or do if they were in such a
situation(s)? Why or why not?
5. Pick one event/area within the book that involved one character, would you have planned it out differently?
Why or why not?
6. What have you learned from a character(s) within the book that you might want to apply to your own?
7. What is one quality that you did not like for one character? Why? Do any of your characters have the same
quality? Why?
8. What is one quality that you liked for one character? Why? Do any of your characters have the same
quality? Why?
PLOT:
1. Break the plot down to be as basic as possible. Example, 'boy meets girl'. Can your own be broken down in
a similar way? If not, why?
2. Write down a short paragraph about the main plot. If your own characters had to deal with the same
issue(s), would it have ended in a similar manner? Why or why not?
3. Do you feel that your plot is similar to the material? Why or why not? If it is similar, what will you do to
make it different? Do you feel others would honestly think the same if they read your material?
4. Did the ending make sense/ended with the plot/main issue solved? Why or why not? Will your own end in
such a way? Why or why not?
5. Were there too many sub plots, or not enough? How many sub plots do you have in your own?
SETTING:
1. Was there anything 'unique'/special about the settings/areas where the plot(s) took place? Will your own be
'unique'/special? Why or why not?
2. Was the setting(s) easy to imagine? If not, what would you have changed? If yes, do you feel you need to
change/improve upon your own? How and why?
Feel free to add your own questions if the above was not enough.
In the Book Your Own
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Overview
This is a good place to present the theme of the book. A quick overview of the book overall. This section should be
longer than the summary you wrote before concerning your thoughts about the book.
Comparative Review
Did this book remind you of another? If yes, list them and briefly write why for each. If not, what made it unique?
The Gaps
Anything you feel the author missed/did not mention ever again? Why do you think so? Should the author have
focused on that/those issues?
Opinions/Reviews
Use this area to put in reviews/critiques that caught your attention concerning the material. Feel free to add
comments etc. to them under it. Think about why you chose it/them, and how you can apply it to your own.
Extra
Use this section to put any extra thoughts, notes, and so on concerning the material.
References
If applicable, include a list of references that you might want to look up/use. Either for your own material or for the
novel. Such as certain vocabulary words, 'true' events etc.
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Quick Character Sketch copy

Status: To Do
Label: Character
Notes
This character profile template by Belinda Crawford.
Version 1.0
Text
Name, Title/rank
AKA
Summary
A one-paragraph summary of the character's storyline, motivation and description.
Loosely based on what you will write from the snowflake steps.
One-sentence summary
A one-sentence summary of the character's storyline
Motivation
The character's motivation (what does he/she want abstractly?)
Goal
The character's goal (what does he/she want concretely?)
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Conflict
The character's conflict (what prevents him/her from reaching this goal?)
Epiphany
The character's epiphany (what will he/she learn, how will he/she change?
Basics
Age Gender Species Height Hair Complex Nationali

colour ion ty
Date of Place of Race/su Weight Eye Handedn Ethnic

birth birth bspecies colour ess group
Right/left
Family
Marital Spouse(s)/partner(s) Children Biological Biological Siblings

status father mother
Social
Citizenship Social Job/career

Position/role Rank
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Social
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Position/role Rank
status
Fugitive,
criminal, up-
standing
member of
the public,
etc.
Skills, hobbies, talents and languages
Skills Hobbies Talents/gifts Languages
Physical description
Physical description.
Personality
Character’s personality.
Likes/dislikes
Character’s likes, dislikes and pet peeves.
Personal history
Character’s personal history.
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Gallery
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Detailed Character Profile copy

Status: No Status
Label: Character Notes
Synopsis
A very detailed character profile, with tons of questions to answer,
approxiately 400+ in total. See the other character sketch for a much shorter
and quicker way to create a character.
Notes
THIS IS A TEMPLATE! ALWAYS CREATE A COPY OF THE TEMPLATE BY CLICKING
ON THE FOLDER/DOCUMENT AREA FIRST, CLICK ‘PROJECT’ > NEW FROM
TEMPLATE > DETAILED CHRACTER PROFILE.
Most questions are from http://thechugsboson.deviantart.com/art/Blank-Character-

Sheet-Over-370-Questions-460031650
And
http://viralremix.deviantart.com/art/100-Questions-to-Ask-Your-OC-366001389
Text
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Character Name
Basic
IMAGE
DESCRIPTION OF IMAGE HERE
Pronounced:
● Name Origin:
● Name Meaning:
Nickname:
Age: NUMBER
● EXPLANATION (if needed)
Gender:
Birthday: 0/00/0000
Zodiac:
Webpage(s):
Short Description
●
Occupation(s)
●
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ID Number:
Social Security Number:
Species/Nationality:
Accent/Dialect[ What kind of speech does your character often employ?

Pacific Northwest? Pennsylvania Dutch? Cork?]:
● Laughter:
● Pitch/Range/Volume:
Significant Other:
Family (including Pet):
Physical Description
●
Alternate Form(s)
● INSERT LINK
Personality
●
Fandom(s) [If Any]

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Sexuality:
Theme Song:
Setting(s)
●
Back Story
Ongoing Story
● [Story Links]
Likes:
BLAH
BLAH
BLAH
BLAH
BLAH
Dislikes:
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BLAH
BLAH
BLAH
BLAH
BLAH
Strengths:
BLAH
BLAH
BLAH
BLAH
BLAH
Weaknesses:
BLAH
BLAH
BLAH
BLAH
BLAH
Extra/Notes
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Personal Characteristics
Status: No Status
Personal Characteristics
Birth Info:
● Date:
● Name/Original:
● Place:
● Weight:
● Length:
● Manner of Birth[ How they were born?]:
● First Word(s):
Death Info:
● Date:
● Age at Death:
● Cause of Death (CoD):
● Death Place:
● Resting Place:
● Last Words:
Objectives and Accomplishments:

● Primary Objective:[ What is your character's main goal? This should be the thing
that drives their part of the plot.]
● Secondary Objective:[ What other goals does your character intend to achieve?
These should drive subplots, which are also very important to a story.]
● Priorities:[ What does your character put before all other things in their life?]
● Motivation(s):[ What motivates your character to do the things they do?]
● Accomplishments:
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● Greatest Achievement:
● Failures:
● Biggest Failure:
● Self-Confidence:
● Traumas:
● Afflictions:
● Embarrassments:
● Worries:
● Soothers:[ What calms your character down?]
● Instigators:[ What might cause your character to be reminded of traumas, afflictions,
worries, etc.? EXAMPLES: Think of Edgeworth from Phoenix Wright w/ Earthquakes;
Shaggy and Scooby Doo w/Ghosts ; Storm from Marvel/X-Men w/close spaces etc.]
Memories:
● Earliest:
● Fondest:
● Worst:
● Favorite Dream:
● Worst Nightmare:
Desires/Wishes:
● Desires:
● Wishes:
● Regrets:
● Secrets:
● Confidantes:[ Who or what does your character feel safe sharing their secrets with?]
● Soft Spots:
● Cruel Streaks:[ What kinds of things does your character go out of their way to
assault?]
With Hands/Locomotion:
● Musical Instrument:
● Quirks:[ What about your character makes them unique?]
● Dominant Hand:
● Catchphrase:
● Autograph: IMAGE and/or DESCRIPTION and/or FONT TYPE
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Extra/Notes
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Mental Characteristics
Status: No Status
Mental Characteristics
IQ:
Known Languages:
●
Lures:[ What is your character drawn to?]

●
Manias:[ What is your character obsessed with? Pyromania, for example.]

●
Memory Capacity:
●
Phobias:
●
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Savvies:[ What are they very familiar with and/or very good at doing?]
●
Ineptitudes/Ineptities:[ What are they simply unable to

understand?]
●
Temperament:[ Is your character choleric, sanguine, melancholic,

[1]
phlegmatic, phlegmatic II, or supine/leukine?]
●
Hobbies:
●
Pet Peeves:
●
Extra/Notes
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Intellectual and Perceptive Characteristics

Status: No Status
Intellectual and Perceptive

Characteristics
More Info for Intellect Here
Logical-Mathematical:[ How well can your character use reason

and logic in their thinking?]
●
Spatial:[ How well can your character create an image in their mind?]
●
Linguistic:[ How well can your character use words, written and spoken?]
●
Bodily-Kinesthetic:[ How well does your character control their body

motions, how well do they handle objects? How clear is their sense of goal of physical action?]
●
Musical:[ How clear is your character's perception to sounds, music, tones, and
rhythms?]
●
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Interpersonal:[ How well does your character interact with and understand
others?]
●
Intrapersonal:[ How well does your character understand their self?]

●
Naturalistic:[ How well does your character understand their natural

surroundings?]
●
Existential:[ How well can your character understand phenomena or questions

beyond sensory data?]
●
Perceptive
Audition:
●
Gustation:
●
Olfaction:
●
Tactition:
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Vision:
●
Intuition:
●
Synesthesia:
●
Extra/Notes
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Psychological/Psychology
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Use this checklist to help create certain traits/personality traits and as a

reminder on what your character is like. For more research/sources, go here.
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Philosophical Characteristics
Status: No Status
Philosophical
Characteristics
Morality:[ What divides your character's definition of good and bad?]
●
Etiquette:[ What actions does your character use to demonstrate their morality?]
●
Attitude:[ How does your character act most of the time?]

●
Outlook on Life:[ How does your character see life? Dismal? Happy?
Boring?]
●
Perception:[ How do they perceive their situations? Optimistically?

Pessimistically? Sadistically? Masochistically? Ideally? Realistically? You might answer by
having them tell whether 'the glass is half empty or half full', and each of these perceptions
should give a different answer.]
●
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Standpoint:[ How do they tend to see the world? From a conqueror's

standpoint? From a student's standpoint? From a flea's standpoint? It doesn't necessarily have
to correspond with their occupation.]
●
Philosophy:[ What phrase might they use to sum up the world? Quotes etc.]
●
Political Party(ies):
●
Taboos:[ What would your character personally never do?]

●
Extra/Notes
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Spiritual Characteristics
Status: No Status
Spiritual Characteristics
Animal[ What animal might best describe your character? Website for more info.]
[1]:
●
Religion:
●
Devotion[ How enthusiastically does your character follow their religion?]:

●
Superstitions:
●
Virtues[ Does your character exhibit Chastity, Charity, Temperance, Diligence,

Humility, Kindness, Patience, or Justice? Only the 8 listed should be used, but more than one
can be used.]
[1] :
●
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Vices[ Does your character exhibit Lust, Greed, Gluttony, Sloth, Pride, Envy, Wrath, or
Despair? Only the 8 listed should be used, and only the ones whose opposites are not listed
above should be used. AKA The 7 Deadly Sins.]

[1]:
●
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Supernatural Characteristics
Status: No Status
Supernatural Characteristics
Ability(ies):
●
Element(s):
●
Magical Spell(s)/Chant(s)/Potion(s):[ What

[1] [2]
magical spells/chants does the character know and/or learning? What do they do?]
IMAGE
● SPELL/CHANT/POTION NAME [PUNCTUATION]: WHAT IT DOES
Origin/Derived From/How to Make It
IMAGE
IMAGE
Immunities:
●
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Futilities[ What things or people does your character's power have no effect on?]:
●
Restrictions:
●
Origin[ Where, when, and how did your character get their power?]:
●
Source(s)[ Where do they draw their power from? Their own body? A
necklace?]:
●
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Favorites
Status: No Status
Favorites
Favorite…
● Actor:
● Animal:
● Arts:
● Band:
● Book:
● Color:
● Country:
● Drink:
● Excuse:
● Food:
● Flavor:
● Movie:
● Musical Genre:
● Mythical Creature:
● Number:
● Pastime:
● People:
● Place:
● Quote:
● Restaurant:
● Season:
● Song:
● Store:
● Story Genre:
● Subject:
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● TV Show:
● Words:
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Dislikes
Status: No Status
Least Favorites
Least Favorite…
● Actor:
● Animal:
● Arts:
● Band:
● Book:
● Color:
● Country:
● Drink:
● Excuse:
● Food:
● Flavor:
● Movie:
● Musical Genre:
● Mythical Creature:
● Number:
● Pastime:
● People:
● Place:
● Quote:
● Restaurant:
● Season:
● Song:
● Store:
● Story Genre:
● Subject:
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● TV Show:
● Words:
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Apparel
Status: No Status
Apparel
Accessories[ What non-clothing items does your character wear? Bracelets?
Necklaces? Toe rings?]:
●
Dress Style/Wardrobe[ How does your character commonly

dress? Elegantly? Gothic? Mismatched?]:
● Style/Outfit 1:
● Style/Outfit 2:
● Style/Outfit 3:
Equipment[ What equipment does your character carry with them? A gourd? A
toolbox? A bag of hair?]:
● TYPE1:
● TYPE2:
Most Prized Possession[ What item does your character have

that holds the most personal value?]:
●
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Most Valuable Possession[ What item does your character

have that holds the most monetary value?]:
●
Trinkets[ What items does your character carry that they AREN’T just for looks, but
for more important reasons, such as the ability to use their power?]:
●
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Social Characteristics
Status: No Status
Social Characteristics
Including Impressions
Communication[ How does your character communicate with other
people?]:
●
Criminal Record[ What has your character done to break the law?]:
● Record 1:
● Record 2:
Discriminations:
●
Dominance[ How firmly does your character stand their ground over others?
Extra firm? Submissively? Iron-fistedly?]:
●
Ego[ How downright amazing does your character think they are? Ridiculously centric?
In the wrong place? Superfluous?]:
●
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Emotional Stability[ How much emotional inflictions can your

character take before they break? Lots? None at all? Negative amounts?]:
●
Expression[ How does your character express themself? Through the clothes?
By just saying it? By the pattern in which they play the harmonica?]:
●
Humor:
●
Liveliness[ How energetic is your character? Do they literally bounce off the
walls? Do they do only what they have to do? Do they literally sleep for entire days?]:
●
Mannerisms:
●
Patience:
●
Reputation[ How is your character viewed by their peers? Are they held in high
esteem? Do they think he's pure stupid? Do they think he's an alien?]:
●
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Sociability:
●
Status (‘Current’):
●
Style:
●
Impressions:
● First:
● Strangers':
● Friends':
● Family's:
● Self:
● Authority's:
● Associates':
● Lover's:
● Creator's:
● Post Mortem:
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Common
Status: No Status
Common
Compliments:
●
Insults:
●
Emotional Status[ What emotional state is your character most likely to

be found in? Happy? Depressed? Lackadaisical?]:
●
Expletives[ What words does your character use to express their anger? Swear
words? Flan-diddily-anders speech? Obscure words?]:
●
Mood:
●
State of Mind:
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●
Words[ (What kinds of words does your character use in everyday speech? "Dude"?
"dattebayo"? "Like a fox"?]:
●
Farewells:
●
Greetings:
●
Anima[ How does your character act when they are really being their self?]:
●
Persona[ How does your character act to hide their real self?]:
●
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Education
Status: No Status
Education
Average Grade:
● Elementary:
● Middle School:
● High School
● College:
● Graduate/Doctrine:
Degrees:
●
Education:
●
Extracurricular:
●
Graduating Year:
●
School:
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●
Special Education[ What education did your character receive that

their peers didn't get a chance at? Special Ed? Honor Roll? Private Schooling? Online? Home
schooled?]:
●
Study Habits:
●
Favorite Subject/Course:
● Elementary:
● Middle School:
● High School
● College:
Least Favorite Subject/Course:

● Elementary:
● Middle School:
● High School
● College:
Highest Grade in Subject/Course:

● Elementary:
● Middle School:
● High School
● College:
Lowest Grade in Subject/Course:

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● Elementary:
● Middle School:
● High School
● College:
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Resume/Employment History
Status: No Status
Resume/Employment History (and Salary)
Association[ What company, group, or people does your character associate

with? History, Inc.? The Marines? Mr. Pickles' Happy Hour?]:
● Elementary:
● Middle School:
● High School
● College:
Boss:
● Past:
● Present:
Experience:
●
Hours:
●
Days:
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●
Learning Type[ Is your character a Auditory, Visual, Kinesthetic learner?]:

●
Occupation(s):
●
Rank:
●
Work Ethic[ How well does your character think work should be done?
Thoroughly and effectively? It just needs to get done? Do they shirk it all the time?]:
●
Transportation:
●
Class:
● As a child:
● As an teenager
● As an young adult
● As an older adult
● As an senior
Debt:
●
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Dependents[ Who depends on your character for their monetary needs? Their
children? Their parent(s)? Their half-sister's second cousin, twice removed? Do they depend on
someone/others for their monetary needs?] :

●
Funds[ How much money does your character have on them on average? $5? $500?
$5,000,000?]:
●
Income:
●
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Connections
Status: No Status
Connections
Personal and Interpersonal
Immediate Family[ Who are the relatives your character sees

:
everyday or saw everyday growing up? Parents? Siblings? Children? Adopted parents?]
●
Close Relatives:
● Past:
● Present:
Distant Relatives:
● Past:
● Present:
Ancestors:
●
Acquaintances:
●
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Allegiance[ Who or what organization does your character work under or fight
for? Vendetta, Inc.? Reginald Bracegirdle? America?]:
●
Allies:
● As a child:
● As an teenager:
● As an young adult:
● As an older adult:
● As an senior:
Enemies:
● As a child:
● As an teenager:
● As an senior:
Followers[ Who follows your character and is inspired by them or tries to copy
them? That one annoying kid? Their friends? Their enemies?]:
● As a child:
● As an teenager:
● As an senior:
Friends:
● As a child:
● As an teenager:
● As an senior:
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Heroes:
● As a child:
● As an teenager:
● As an senior:
Inspirations:
●
Pets:
●
Rivals:
●
Role Models:
●
Subordinates[ Who does your character get to command around or get to

pull rank on? The midshipmen? Their sidekick? Anyone they please?]:
●
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Reactions and Combats

Status: No Status
Reactions and Combats

Reactions (Description and/or Images):
● Angry:
● Anxious:
● Conflicted:
● Criticized:
● Depressed:
● Excited:
● Frightened:
● Guilty:
● Happy:
● Humiliated:
● Instincts:
● Mistaken:
● Nervous:
● Offended:
● Praised:
● Rejected:
● Sad:
● Stressed:
● Thoughtful:
Combat:
● Signature Move:
● Specialty:
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● Special Attack:
● Strengths:
● Weaknesses:
● Summon Level:
● Threat Level:
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Physical Characteristics
Status: No Status
Physical Characteristics
Species:
Nationality:
Skin Color:
Height: in
Weight: lbs
Scars:
●
Piercings:
●
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Tattoos:
●
Body Measurements:
● Hat Size:
● Shirt Size:
● Waist Size:
● Shoe Size:
● Face Shape:
● Hair Color:
● Hair Length:
● Hair Type[ Is your character's hair curly or straight?]:
● Hair Style:
● Widow's Peak:
● Eyebrows:
● Facial Hair:
● Ear Type:
● Ear Shape:
● Eye Type:
● Eye Color:
● Nose Shape:
● Nose Color:
● Teeth[ Carnivorous, omnivorous, herbivorous?]:
● Chin Shape:
● Fur Type:
● Fur Length:
● Fur Color:
● Fur Designs:
● Locomotion[ Plantigrade, digitigrade, or unguligrade]:
● Tail Type:
● Tail Length:
● Tail Color:
● Tail Design:
● Tail Girth:
● Makeup:
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Health and Fitness

Status: No Status
Health and Fitness

Abnormalities:
●
Addictions:
●
Aids:
●
Allergies:
●
Augmentations:
●
Broken Bones:
● Past:
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● Present:
Conditions:
●
Diseases:
●
Disorders:
●
Extra Anatomy[ Things that aren't typically seen in this species]:

●
Handicaps:
●
Medication:
●
Vulnerabilities:
●
Reason(s) for Health:

●
Birthmarks:
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●
Blood Type:
●
Dexterity:
●
Diet:
●
Exercise:
●
Figure:
●
Fitness:
●
Hygiene:
●
Martial Arts:
●
Maximum Load[ What the most weight they can carry?]:

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Posture:
●
Scent:
●
Somatotype[ Mesomorphic, endomorphic, or ectomorphic]:

●
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Residence and Community

Status: No Status
Residence
Abode:
●
Hometown:
●
Citizenship:
●
Culture:
●
Traditions:
●
Sleep Patterns:
●
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Story and Extrauniversal Info

Status: No Status
Story and Extrauniversal Info

And How they Developed
Archetype:
●
Enneagram:
●
First Appearance:
●
Earliest Appearance:
●
Flaws:
●
Tropes:
●
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Clichés:
●
Role:
● Story Link
Fulfillment:
●
Significance:
●
Analogue[ What already existing character is your character most like? Naruto
Uzumaki? Homer Simpson? Eddy? Harry Potter?]:
●
Desired Voice Actor[ What actor or voice actor in the real world
would you like to play your character? Nicholas Cage? Will Smith? Ben Affleck?]:
●
Inspiration[ What already existing character, real world person, or other thing
that isn't from your own universe inspired your character? Buzz Lightyear? Johnny Appleseed?
Armenia?] :
●
Developments:
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● Personal:
● Social:
● Physical:
● Spiritual:
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Biographies
Status: No Status
Biographies
Infant to Senior
Infancy (Age 0-3):

●
Childhood (Age 4-12):

●
Adolescence (Age 13-19):

●
Young Adult (Age 20-40):

●
Middle Age (Age 40-49):

●
Seniority (Age 50+):

●
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Questionnaire for Character(s)

Status: No Status
Synopsis
Some of the questions might be repeats to previous ones. Use this if you
prefer 100 questions to answer instead.
Notes
From Deviant Art.
Text
Questionnaire for
Character(s)
PERSONALITY PROFILE
1. People don't behave the same way all the time. In fact, they
generally have a mask for every social group -- friends, family,
business. Sometimes they have a different mask for different groups
of friends. How does your character act around different people? How
does their personality shift and change?
2. Your character has been brought to a party and promptly ditched.

They don't have a ride back home. How does this work? How
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They don't have a ride back home. How does this work? HowYour Novel
comfortable are they around all of these strangers? Do they interact?
3. It's kind of awkward - what subjects are likely to make your

character hesitate, flush, stumble on their words, etc.?
4. Is your character more dominant or submissive to the people

around them? Do they tend to follow others' orders and wait for
people to give them instruction in life, or do they charge ahead and
make decisions on their own?
5. What happens when your character doesn't get what they want?
6. What's the character's self-esteem like?

a. Does it change over the course of the story?
7. What's one flaw about themselves that they hate the most and
wish they could change?
8. How does their personality shift when someone gets to know

them well?
9. Do they prefer time alone, or with other people?
10. Is it easy for this character to tell someone "no" when they don't
want to do something?
11. If this character were to describe their own personality, how

would they do it?
12. Is this character aware of their flaws?
13. How has this character's personality changed from childhood to

adulthood?
14. Who influenced this character's personality? Did they pick up

any mannerisms or traits from someone?
15. Does this character express affection? Are they comfortable

doing so?
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16. When frightened, will the character "fight" or "flight"?
17. Does this character ever put someone else's needs in front of
their own?
a. If there are only rare exceptions, why is that the case?
18. If this character suffered amnesia and lost all their memories,
what would they be like?
19. How does the character's living space reflect their personality?
20. What's one thing that other characters wish they could change
about this character's personality?
EMOTIONAL PROFILE
1. How easy is it for your character to feel anger? What's usually a
good tip off that they're experiencing it? (Physical reactions,
movements of appendages, etc.)
a. Sadness?
b. Happiness?
c. Fear?
2. What state of mind is the character usually in?
3. Are there any emotions the character is particularly afraid of, or

really resents having to feel?
4. How easily does this character trust their feelings with others?
a. Has anyone ever betrayed them?
b. How did it affect their ability to trust?
5. Can this character easily hide their emotions?

a. Do they find it difficult to express emotion, thus tend to look
neutral?
6. How well can this character resist their emotions and impulses?
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7. Does this character ever get violent (with others, objects,

themselves) when feeling any certain emotions?
8. Has this character contemplated suicide?

a. Self-harm?
b. Physically injuring others?
c. Killing others?
9. Does the character have any triggers? Why do these things

trigger them?
10. What would hurt this character so badly they couldn't even
breathe?
11. What is guaranteed to make this character smile?
12. If the character could remove one emotion from their life, which
would they choose?
13. If they're feeling upset, who are they likely to talk to for comfort?
Or do they keep it inside?
14. How would this character cope with losing someone extremely
close to them?
15. How does this character look and feel when crying?
16. If the character had to live out the rest of their life either
perpetually angry, sad, or frightened, which would they choose?
17. Does this character tend to blame or punish others for their own
emotions?
18. Is this character empathetic, and tends to be influenced by the

emotions of others?
19. What is the strongest emotion they have felt?

a. What event caused that?
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b. How would they react if that happened again?
20. If the character were to come face to face with their darkest fears
in a nightmare, what would be the scene?
PHYSICAL PROFILE
1. Based on the current diet and exercise your character has,
where do you see them physically in five years?
2. How agile is this character? Can they dodge easily? Or are they
clumsy?
3. Describe the muscle content of your character. Are they untrained

and soft? Or lithe and powerful?
4. What kind of body fat percentage do you suppose they have?
5. Do they have any scars? Where did those scars come from, and
how did they get them?
6. Describe some hairstyles your character has had in the past.

a. How about the present? What's their hair like now?
7. What are their teeth like? Any cavities? Root canals? Does their
dentition ever hurt?
8. Do their arches ever fall? That's painful.
9. How much endurance do they have? Do they easily get tired

during a workout?
10. How easily can they bear pain?
11. How long can this character sit still?

a. Do they shift a lot when sleeping?
12. What do their nails look like? Do they bite them?

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13. How hairy is this character?

a. Arms?
b. Legs?
c. Underarms?
d. Eyebrows?
e. Everywhere else
14. What is the most imperfect part of this character's body?
15. Do they get cold easily?

a. How about overheated?
b. Seasick?
c. Do barometric changes in pressure affect them?
16. How do they react to getting an illness? Think about sore

throats, achy bodies, headaches, stuffy noses, runny noses...
17. Is this character's body sensitive to touch?

a. Do they have any unusual erogenous zones?
18. How strong are this character's basic senses? Sight, hearing,
touch, taste, smell.
19. If this character had to permanently lose one of their senses,

which would they choose?
a. What if they could only have one sense, and had to lose the
others?
20. Does this character have any unusual limbs or physical

features?
PREFERENCES AND PEEVES

1. What's the state of your character's kitchen? What kind of foods
do you find in it? Is it... clean?
2. If they could only eat one type of food for the rest of their life,
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2. If they could only eat one type of food for the rest of theirYour
life,Novel
what would they choose?
3. What kind of clothing does this character like wearing and why?
4. How does this character feel about piercings?

a. Tattoos?
b. Dyed hair?
c. Revealing clothing?
5. What's something that turns this character on?

a. And what's a definite turn-off?
b. Do they have any kinks?
6. How does this character feel about animals?

a. Would they want any pets?
b. What animals are their favorite?
7. What type of movie is this character most interested in watching?
8. If this character could master a skill instantly, which would they

choose?
9. Are there any behaviors that other characters do that irk this
character?
a. Does the character ever voice their annoyance?
10. Would this character rather create something or destroy

something?
11. What kind of comedy does this character prefer? Toilet humor,
vulgar, slapstick, morbid, etc.
12. If they could stay at one age forever, which age would they
choose and why?
13. If the character could only wear clothing of one color, which
would they choose?
14. Describe the character's favorite possession. Where did they get
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14. Describe the character's favorite possession. Where didYour
theyNovel
get
it, and why are they so attached?
15. What is the character's favorite weather?
16. Do they prefer sweet, salty, sour, meaty, spicy, or neutral tastes?
17. Would they rather sleep in a cold room or a warm one?
18. Are there any hobbies this character absolutely hates and would
never want to do?
19. What's the easiest way to annoy this character?
20. Are their interests and likes socially appropriate?
ALL ABOUT HISTORY

1. Describe a scenario that has impacted your character and
caused them extreme happiness.
a. Fear?
b. Disappointment?
c. Depression?
2. What is the character's first memory?
3. Has the character ever experienced deja vu? Do you happen to

know why?
4. Sensations are powerful things, and often certain scents, sounds,

touches, etc. can invoke memories strongly associated with them.
Which have imprinted in your character's mind?
5. How'd they get along with their parents and/or other relatives?
6. If your character had to choose one friend they've valued over all
others, who would it be?
7. What's the worst injury they've ever gotten?

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8. How many places has this character lived in? What stands out
most about those places to them?
9. If the character could erase one memory from their mind, what
would it be?
10. What was the character's economic situation?
11. What are the character's three clearest memories?
12. If the character could go back and speak to a younger version of

themself, what would they say?
13. If the character could go back and choose their sex at birth,
what would they choose?
14. Describe the character's love life throughout the years.
15. How did the family that raised this character influence them?
16. If this character could "unmeet" someone in their life, who

would they choose?
17. If the character could choose different parents for themselves,

who would they choose and why?
18. Does this character feel guilty about anything in the past?
19. If the character were asked to associate an adjective with

different stages of their life, what would they choose and why?
20. If the character could choose to have themselves born at a

specific time period, which would they pick and why?
Extra/Notes
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More Questions for Character(s)

Status: No Status
Synopsis
Some of the questions might be repeats to previous ones. Use this if you just
want to answer more questions. As a side note, some questions WILL be
random-like.
Notes
From various sources
Text
More Questions for

Character(s)
1. What's their darkest fear?
2. A genie gives your character the chance to make one wish, but
gives them a time limit of one hour to make it. What wish do they
wish, or do they not take the offer?
3. Have your character ever run for elective office? If so, did they
win?
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4. What is the funniest thing that's ever happened to your character
while in charge of a situation?
5. How much effort does your character put into eating healthily?
6. How desperate was their greatest battle? How much, did they
risk?
7. How bad was their worst damage that they received (injury)?
8. Do they believe in "fate" and "destiny", or do they believe that

one choose their own path?
9. What do they think of creatures that are unknown to them?
10. Are riddles something they're good at?
11. If they have to go sit in a waiting room for a significant length of

time, what do they do while they're waiting?
12. Would they rather control time or space?
13. All their memories are to be completely wiped out of existence—

all except for one, which they can keep if so desire. Which memory
would they choose? Or would they rather become a perfectly blank
slate?
14. What do they do if they're forced to work with someone they

don't trust?
15. Let's say they can send a written message back to their younger
self of, say, ten years ago. But it can only be 100 words or less, and
then they may never have the opportunity again. What advice would
they give to themselves?
16. What qualities must a person display to make your character

almost immediately distrustful of them?
17. They are tasked with taking down a foe many times more
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17. They are tasked with taking down a foe many times more
powerful than they are, how do they accomplish this?
18. How would they feel if their greatest enemy resurrected

themself?
19. How would living in a world where cursing was a crime

punished with death affect them?
20. Have they ever sworn absolute obedience to any person or

organization or general set of rules? If so, just how sincere were they
about the commitment to obey any order (or perhaps "any lawful
order") they subsequently received through the valid chain of
command?
21. Ever been in a situation where your character couldn't possibly

come out victorious, yet somehow, they did?
22. Have your character ever emotionally attached themselves to an

object in such a way that they are a complete different person without
it or can't function without it?
23. Where does your character draw the line? Morally speaking
(with killing etc.).
24. What's the worst crime they've personally witnessed?
25. Worst crime they've ever committed?
26. How well are your character(s) at telling a flat lie and getting the
other person to believe they are telling the simple truth?
27. In they’re opinion, what is the worse crime someone can

commit?
28. What's the most boring job they've ever had to do - and what
would be their reaction if they were asked to do it again?
29. What is their preferred method of long distance communication?
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30. What place sticks out in their memory the most? When they
think of their job occupation, what is the first thing that pops into
their head?
31. How do you think your character would handle it (their

emotions, situation etc.) if practically everybody around them was
convinced they had gotten away with murder? (Literally -- as in, the
authorities decided they couldn't make a convincing case against
them, but they were widely acknowledged as the most likely suspect,
even if it couldn't be proved in court/jury etc.?)
32. Everyone they know has been stricken by some unnamed illness
that causes them to burst into song and dance randomly, how would
they deal with this situation?
33. How would they handle having to personally hunt down and
butcher their own meat?
34. How strong is their personal moral code? Do they have any that
they would never, unless under penalty of death, break?
35. How good are they at lying? Do they believe it is immoral or a

necessary evil?
36. What outfit would they like to be buried/cremated in, once

they're dead?
37. Do they like to gossip? If so, about whom/what? If not, why?
38. If somebody your character thought they were friends with had
spilled their deepest secrets and was subtly manipulating them, and
they only just found out, how would they react? Why?
39. Who do they normally confide in?
40. Do they like day or night better and why?
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41. Your character was asked to tell a short tale (think around a
camp fire type of deal,) what genre of story would they choose?
42. What is a personality trait your character admires in other

people, but don't have?
43. What's the furthest back that your character can trace their
family tree? (For instance, do they know the name of one of their
direct ancestors of three hundred years ago, or even further back?)
44. What do your characters normally do when someone asks them

a question, they answer truthfully (based on personal experience),
and the person makes it clear that he's sure they are lying since they
didn't give the answer he wanted to hear?
45. Do your character travel a lot?
46. How do your character show someone they care about them?
47. What's the last thing your character created? Actual physical
object, not something like "chaos".
48. Have your character - in their opinion - ever overreacted to

something? If so, what was it?
49. Suppose your character are in the middle of a conversation with

someone when they suddenly realize something awkward: He hasn't
noticed that his body is already dead. (No heartbeat, for instance.)
How would they break the news to him? Or would they chicken out
and pretend they hadn't noticed anything peculiar?
50. Do your character(s) engage in illegal activities?
Extra/Notes
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Multiple Questionnaire for Character(s)

Status: No Status
Synopsis
Some of the questions might be repeats to previous ones. Use this if you
prefer 38 questions to answer instead.
Notes
From Deviant Art.
http://the-oc-house.deviantart.com/journal/Multiple-OC-
Questionnaire-MEME-311464142
Text
Multiple Questionnaire for

Character(s)
A multiple OC Questionnaire Meme! It's very simple - pick six of your OC's
and put them to a character - Eg. John Doe as Character 1. If you go onto
Word you can replace 'Character 1' and so forth with the name of your
character through the document, to make it easier. Don't look at any of the
questions before you allocate your OC to a character, because that's
spoiling the fun.
Character 1
Character 2
Character 3
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Character 4
Character 5
Character 6
1. If Character 1 and Character 2 were to fight, who would win?
2. Character 3 and Character 4 decide to leave the country together

– where do they go?
3. Character 5 and Character 6 enter a drinking game – who wins?
4. Character 1 and Character 5 are lost – whose fault is it?
5. Character 3 and Character 2 fall in-love. How did this happen?
6. Character 6 and Character 2 are locked in a room together, what

will inevitably happen between them?
7. Between character 1 and Character 3, who has the worse

temper?
8. In a life and death situation, would Character 5 ever betray

Character 2?
9. Who, between Character 4 and Character 6 would be more likely

to be arrested for indecent exposure?
10. Character 4 and Character 1 get into a bar brawl? How did it
happen, and what do they do?
11. Character 5 and Character 3 are part of a squadron of Spies, one

of them is a traitor – how would the other find out?
12. Character 4 and Character 6 are on TV, how did they get there
and what are they doing?
13. Character 2 is believed to be dead, how does Character 6 react?
14. Character 3 goes crazy and tries to kill Character 1, how do they
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14. Character 3 goes crazy and tries to kill Character 1, howYour
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they
go about it? And do they succeed?
15. Character 5 is suddenly landed with a baby and appeals to

Character 4 for help, how does Character 4 react?
16. Character 1 goes to a haunted house and demands Character 6

comes with them. What happens?
17. Character 2 has been in a terrible accident, and it’s up to

Character 4 to keep them alive. What was the accident, and how
does this work out?
18. Character 3 suffers a blow to head and loses all of their memory.
Character 6 finds them – what happens?
19. Character 5 has been acting strangely, disappearing on midnight

expeditions, avoiding conversation and appeared distracted.
Character 1 goes to investigate. What do they find?
20. Character 3 has been kidnapped by slave-traders, and only

Character 4 and Character 2 can rescue them. How do they go
about it?
21. Character 5, Character 1 and Character 6 all share a common

hatred – what is it?
22. Between Character 3, Character 6 and Character 2 who is more

likely to lose their mind and go on a killing spree.
23. Character 5 has been brain-washed into thinking they’re

Character 1! How does Character 1 react?
24. Aliens attack and Character 2 reveals themselves to be an

android scout sent to help destroy the Universe. Can character 4
convince Character 2 to do otherwise?
25. Character 5 And Character 3 have sex, how does Character 1

react upon finding them?
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26. Character 4 and Character 6 decide to elope, how do Character 2
and Character 3 feel about this?
27. Character 6 is caught stealing and put in jail, does Character 2

leave them there, or break them out?
28. Character 1, Character 3 and Character 5 form TEAM A,

Character 2, Character 4 and Character 6 form TEAM B. They
enter a series of Mini competitions.
29. There is an eating competition, which team members do TEAM A

and TEAM B nominate? Who wins?
30. TEAM A are given a foul when one of the team members tries to
put laxatives in the other teams tea. Who was responsible?
31. A TEAM B member and TEAM A member start consorting, who

are they?
32. A TEAM A member throws a fight, so a TEAM B member can

win, who would do that and why?
33. TEAM B are in the lead, but TEAM A gain several points in what
kind of competition?
34. TEAM B and TEAM A are tied, and go onto the questionnaire
round. Between A) Sports, B)Current events and Politics, C)
Literature and D) General Knowledge, which topic to each Team
choose?
35. TEAM A and TEAM B swap a member, who and why?
36. Between TEAM A and TEAM B who would win the last challenge
of an obstacle course relay race?
37. How does the winning Team celebrate?
38. Do both teams remain friends, or is it time for Round 2?!
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Extra/Notes
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Setting Sketch copy

Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Name of Setting
Role in Story:
Related Characters:
Season:
Unique Features:
Description:
Sights:
Sounds:
Smells:
Notes:
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World Map
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
World Map
Name of Towns/Cities:
o
o
o
Name of Roads:
o
o
o
Name of Forests:
o
o
o
Name of Rivers/Mountains etc.:
o
o
o
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Related Characters:
Season(s):
Unique Features of Each Place:

o
o
o
General Descriptions:
o
o
o
Sights:
Sounds:
Smells:
Notes:
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Locations
Status: N/A
Label: No Label
Planet
Status: To Do
Label: Locations
Notes
All comments in brackets are Droemar’s.
Text
Planet/satelite
System, Sector/quadrant
Controlling party/faction
Class Type Satellites Native

Population
species
Moons, etc.
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Capital city Colours Symbol Government Affiliation(s)
Feudal, caste,
democracy,
etc
Major cities
City (continent/region)
Description
Population
Races

Culture
Mannerisms
statesman.)
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Cuisine
(What do people from this country eat every day? On festival days? As
delicacies? Taboo?)
Leisure
(What do people here do in their spare time? For fun?)
Greetings
Family?)
Customs
Superstitions
Beliefs
Rituals
Festivals
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Transport
Weather patterns
(Tropical? Stormy? Cold? Earthquakes? Climate in general?)
Resources
(What does the planet export? Import? Make? Is famous for?)
History
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Location (General)
Status: To Do
Label: Locations
Name of setting

• Character name
Summary
Location summary
Basics
Year/time Season City/town State Country

period
Population
Setting Detail
Overall feeling
Sights
Sounds
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Smells
Miscellaneous notes
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Location (Specifc)
Status: To Do
Label: Locations
Name of setting

• Character name
Summary
Location summary
Basics
Building type Levels
City/town Suburb/district Street &

number
Neighbourhood
Description
Description of neighbourhood. Include what it feels like to live there. Are they
gangs/thugs? Are the streetlights always blown out? Is it full of expensive cars and
McMansions?
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Neighbours
Description of neighbours, if appropriate. What are they like? What do they do? Would
you go out with them?
Setting Detail
Overall feeling
Sights
Sounds
Smells
Miscellaneous notes
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Main Character copy

Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Notes
You can use this template to develop each of your main characters and their role in the
story.
Tip: If you already have a sense of your plot, start with the ‘Character and Plot’
worksheet in the ‘Role in Story’ folder.
Profile Folder
This folder contains 5 worksheets designed to prompt and capture your character:
• Get to Know You - this worksheet prompts you with questions that will help you
develop key aspects of your character’s personality and identity.
• Dramatic Situations - this worksheet prompts you to start generating scenes
which will showcase or challenge your character.
• Why Should We Care? - this worksheet prompts you to think about creating an
interesting or likeable main character.
• (Re)action Style - this worksheet is about building a more detailed profile of how
your character is likely to act or react in different situations, given their
personality.
• Voice - this worksheet prompts you to think about the words your character thinks
and speaks in
• Laundry List - this is the place to track all those pesky details such as eye colour,
hair colour, age, habits etc.
Role in Story
This folder contains 3 worksheets to help you develop your character in a way that will
dovetail nicely into your existing plot.
• Plot and Character - this worksheet prompts you identify and develop plot-
relevant details about your character.
• Scene Ideas - this is a table for collecting scene ideas which are particularly
relevant to developing your character and thinking about how they develop the
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•
relevant to developing your character and thinking about how they develop
Your the
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character.
• Internal Growth - this worksheet prompts you to develop an internal journey for
your character.
Gallery
This folder is a place to collect images of your character, associated objects, or visual
inspiration.
Profile
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Get To Know You

Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Notes
Explanation
This worksheet is a series of prompts to help you get to know your

character, or even develop a character from scratch.
Tips:
• Start with whatever prompt grabs you. You don’t have to work
through them systematically. Skip or delete those that don’t do
anything for you.
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• Brainstorm multiple ideas in response to prompts.
If you have already developed your plot (even if just the one sentence
structure), it may be better to do the character & plot worksheet first to
focus on the aspects of your character that are relevant to the plot.
Some of the prompts have an ‘*’, which indicates some additional detail
for that prompt in the notes below:
Which real person does your character remind you of?
Maybe you once had a flatmate who used to steal all your food and talk
endlessly about his antique kettle collection. Maybe you’ve always
wondered about what it would be like to be a particular historical figure or
celebrity. Maybe you know someone who intrigues you? Maybe you want
to draw on your own experience and portray what it’s like to be inside your
own skin.
Which fictional or mythological person embodies a key aspect of

your character?
Fairytales and myths can be a rich source or roles, particularly if you

think about the characters in them as metaphors or symbols, then take that
metaphor and put it in another setting. The Beast in Beauty and the Beast
is about a man who cannot see past physical appearance and judges
people accordingly. Dr Frankenstein in Frankenstein was based on the
legend of Prometheus, who stole fire from the gods to give to humans and
was punished as a result. The central characters in 50 Shades of Grey
started their life as a fan-fiction about Edward and Bella from Twilight, who
were later de-vampired and re-named. James Cameron’s Avatar is a
science fiction movie modelled on the story of Pocahontas, and the central
characters mirror characters from Pocahontas.
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Find an random image
The image could represent a metaphor, an idea, something the

character loves or hates, or a past experience.
What is your character’s personal motto for life?
Examples of personal mottos: ‘slow and steady wins the race’, ‘the truth
is out there’, ‘the ends never justify the means’.
Roles and stereotypes
Stereotypes are a collection of assumptions that a social group makes

about a person or object. They may be a collection of ill-founded ideas or
they may be genuinely common characteristics of that kind of person or
object. The stereotype might be admired or disliked. You might consider
stereotypes that your audience is likely to bring to your character, and you
might consider stereotypes that your other characters are likely to bring to
your character.
If your character was to take the Myers-Briggs personality test,

what profile would they have? (The Myers-Briggs personality test
characterises personalities on 4 scales (introversion vs extroversion,
concrete vs intuitive approach to information, whether your decisions are
fact-focused or people-focused, and decisive vs open-minded). This
results in 16 different personality profiles, which are concisely summarised
here. The mental processes that might be driving the different personality
types are explained here.)
Text
Getting to know…
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CHARACTER NAME
Tell me about this character and why they interest you.
Which real person does your character remind you of? Why? *
Which fictional or mythological person embodies a key aspect of your

character? *
Tell me about three objects your character owns: a prized possession, an

item of clothing, and one other thing. Now tell me why these objects are
significant to your character and what they tell us about your character’s
personality.
Find a random image (not a portrait of your character). You could use the
random photo generator on Flickr, or a random generator on Pbase. What
does this image represent about your character? *
If you have developed your themes / key concepts / message, pick a

message, idea or viewpoint and explain how this character feels about that
message, idea, or viewpoint.
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If you have developed the cultural setting of your character, explain how
your character fits into this cultural setting. What parts of the culture do
they agree with and disagree with? Why? Are they part of any subcultures
or countercultures? What status and role do they have within the culture
and subcultures?
What is your character’s personal motto for life? Why? What does it
mean? *
Think of one or more roles or stereotypes this character might be

associated with. Now for each one explain the ways in which your
character fits this stereotype and the ways in which your character doesn’t
fit. *
How is the way your character sees themselves different from how others
see them? What blind spots does your character have about their
strengths and flaws? Where do others overestimate or underestimate
them?
What kind of home life does your character have? Who do they live with?
What kind of place do they live in? Why?
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If your character was to take the Myers-Briggs personality test, what profile
would they have? *
What formal and informal education has your character had? What skills
has this given them? What connections? How has it affected their
attitudes, assumptions, and language?
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Dramatic Situations
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Notes
1) Explanation
2) What situations would tell you interesting things about this character?
3) We get a sense of a character by observing them interact with other

characters and their environment. This worksheet is designed to help
you generate and identify scenes and situations that will illustrate
your character’s personality, and which might lead to conflict and
character growth. You may end up using these scenes in your story,
or they may just form background notes for you to understand your
character.
4) Tip: Try this worksheet after you already have a sense of your
character to help generate / improve your plot.
Every situation provides an opportunity for your character to act and react,
but some situations are more illustrative than others.
More illustrative scenes:
• challenge the character in some way (eg. their assumptions, their

skills, their compassion, their bravery etc. - it’s hard to gauge
someone’s strengths and weaknesses until you see how they handle
challenges);
• show the character making a conscious or instinctive decision about
how to behave;
• show the character in another environment (compared to previous
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• show the character in another environment (compared to previous
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scenes) - we act differently round our buddies than we do at work,
and we act different when we are in charge than when we are the
subordinate (show us a new aspect of the character);
• show the character in a similar scene to previously but making a
different choice to last time - if it’s apparent why there’s a change this
either shows complexity of character or character growth.
Less illustrative scenes:
• tell us about the character rather than showing us (a little telling here
and there is inevitable but it does not substitute for stronger scenes
showing us character);
• involve the character as a mere spectator, or simply following the
guidance / orders of others;
• Show the character having similar reactions in a similar environment
to what we’ve already seen (tells us what we already know).
•
•
Text
Dramatic situations for…
CHARACTER NAME
Where the character is in charge / of higher status
Where the character is subordinate / of lower status
Showing life-as-normal for this character
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That challenge this character’s fundamental values
Where the character has their skills tested
Where the character makes a mistake / loses / fails in a minor way
Where the character loses something in a big way (a spouse, a job, a leg, a
cherished ideal)
Where the character is happy
Where the character is sad
Where the character is angry
Where the character is criticised
1)
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Why should we care?

Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
You’ve got a solid idea of a main character that will work with your plot.
Now, how do you present them in a way that will make the reader follow
them with interest and/or empathy?
Notes
Explanation
You can have the most brilliantly plotted novel with fantastic ideas, but if
your main character… how can I say this delicately… shits the reader to
tears, they won’t read your book. Obviously, not every character will be
everyone’s cup of tea, but here is a discussion of some of the ways of
making characters attractive.
Your character will be understood and judged primarily from four things:
1) Their voice: what they focus on and what they overlook. Voice
conveys educational and cultural background, and to some extent
personality.
2) The reactions and judgements of others: We never have a full picture

of ourselves. The way others perceive us and treat us lends a more
complete picture.
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3) Their appearance and possessions: Judging a person by their
appearance and possessions is an indirect way of judging a person
based on their actions, so the only relevant parts of their appearance
and possessions are the parts your character chooses. The fact a
person is 6 foot 3 with blue eyes doesn’t tell us much. The fact that a
person wears crumpled clothes, and her nails are bitten to the quick,
and her hair is greasy and unwashed would start to build a picture of
the character’s personality and values, and/or perhaps something
about their situation.
4) Their actions and reactions: How does the character treat people?
What problem-solving strategies do they use? How do they handle
the obstacles put in their way. Competently? Ethically? Are they
spontaneous or do they prefer to plan in advance?
Creating sympathy for your protagonist
You can create sympathy for your character through:
• Invoking empathy. If they have a reaction to a situation that most

people could relate to - something not heroic or virtuous, but very
human - then the character will become more relatable;
• Make him the underdog. Everyone likes an underdog. We root for

the underdog because seeing them win gives us hope. It makes us
feel the world has a cosmic balance. Most people are an underdog
to someone.
• Have your character be passionate about something. We

respond to enthusiasm in others. People who are passionate about
something, anything, have a kind of positive energy that is
attractive.
• Have your character make a personal sacrifice for the greater

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• Have your character make a personal sacrifice for the Your
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good / to protect someone vulnerable. Probably you want to
avoid something as blatant as having your character go out of their
way to rescue a kitten, but the parent who forgoes something they
want for the sake of their children gets a point in their favour,
whatever other problems they might have. Note, the character who
is overly virtuous or simply a doormat is not likeable, they are
annoying.
• Vicarious transgression. There’s plenty of stuff we fantasise

about doing but would never actually do. Give your character a
good reason to break rule and norms - to give her arsehole boss the
finger, to jump the queue, to rob a bank. There is something
attractive about a person who is prepared to break the rules to do
what is right, and we get the fun of doing it without the potential
consequences of getting caught ourselves.
Some controversial and mixed-up characters - Heroes, Everymen,

Mary-Sues and Pants
The majority of popular books are picked up for enjoyment, and what is
enjoyable is a vicarious experience that transports us into interesting
places and situations. The protagonist functions as a pair of eyes to see
out of, a pair of hands to feel etc. If the character has too strong a
character or too unusual a character, this can disrupt for the experience of
being the character for many readers. Similarly, for many readers, a
reasonably bland character may not be an issue because they will insert
themselves into the role.
Pants: Bella Swan, Luke Skywalker, and Harry Potter are characters that
large readerships can put on like a pair of pants, because their personality
is kept very muted (a funny but not so flattering explanation of ‘pants’ is
here in this cartoon by The Oatmeal). The idea of such a protagonist is to:
a) avoid doing or saying anything that might alienate readers and interfere
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a) avoid doing or saying anything that might alienate readers and Your
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with vicariously experiencing the plot, and b) to create the impression that
great adventure could be just around the corner for any of us. With very
little noticeably going for them beyond a desire for adventure, it turns out
they are the Very Special and get thrust into the middle of the adventure
and/or romance. Although critics and more avid readers usually find them
bland and cliched, there are many, many very successful stories with this
kind character as a protagonist. To try and cater to both audiences, it is
common to pair a fairly bland protagonist with some strong and quirky
secondary characters.
Everymen: An everyman or everywoman character is a genuinely ordinary

person. Unlike a pants character, this character will be portrayed with
telling detail about a particular kind of ordinary person in a particular time
and place. Bridget Jones is an example of this kind of character - she’s a
completely average woman stumbling through life and readers identify with
her precisely because she isn’t special, and her ordinariness is expressed
through specific, telling detail. Where a pants character is singled out as
special very early on, wish fulfilment is toned down around the everyman
character for the majority of the story, though they may be unusually lucky
in getting their happy ending. Where the attraction of a pants character is
that the reader thinks ‘oh that would be so cool if that happened to me’, the
attraction of an everyman character is that the reader thinks ‘oh that’s so
true, that’s exactly how my life is, I feel reaffirmed that all my flaws are
normal’.
Mary Sue: A Mary Sue / Marty Stu is a bit different. Instead of wish
fulfilment for the reader, they are wish fulfilment for the author. They are
pretty much not anyone’s cup of tea except the author’s. Mary Sues they
are beautiful geniuses who solve every problem with little drama and who
everyone falls in love with. Marty Stu’s are gorgeous muscly action heroes
who can Macgyver their way out of any problem, have irresistible sex
appeal, and speak 10 different languages and have a degree in
astrophysics. Often they have a striking physical feature like purple eyes
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astrophysics. Often they have a striking physical feature like purple
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or a white streak in their hair, which is supposed to mark them as special.
They cannot be put on like a pair of pants for anyone but the author and
most readers find them profoundly irritating. They are also incredibly hard
to construct an interesting plot around, because they are so omnipotent it is
hard to put them in any serious peril. The attraction of a Mary Sue
character is as fun or therapy for the writer, but the are not a good choice
for a story you want others to read.
Genuine Hero: The genuine hero can be distinguished from the Mary Sue
because, despite the fact they may be insanely skilled and/or beautiful,
they have a fatal flaw. The classic example is Superman. Superman can
do almost anything, but he’s susceptible to kryptonite, and to having his
secret identity revealed, which would then imperil those he loves. The
attraction of a genuine hero is that sometimes people want to believe that
there is a higher power fighting for good. Hero stories have a mythical
quality - a feeling we are observing events of cosmic importance that are
still human and familiar. It is possible also to construct a heroes vs heroes
story (Gods on Olympus) where the heroes do not have fatal flaws, but are
well matched against equally powerful adversaries - the purpose of the
story is to transport us into a weird world inhabited by alien creatures
whose interest is precisely their weirdness. The weirdness has to be
striking because the characters themselves are going to be hard to relate
to.
More controversial characters - Antiheroes
Antiheroes are dislikeable yet very readable protagonists. Creating a good

antihero is challenging, because making them sympathetic risks losing
what is interesting about them, and making them too nasty risks losing
readers because the reader feels they are being asked to like and endorse
someone who repels them. Antihero characterisations require a strong and
convincing rationale for why the character behaves the way they do.
Usually there is a sense that the antihero is not entirely responsible for their
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Usually there is a sense that the antihero is not entirely responsible forNovel
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attitudes (they were tortured and trained to act this way, or it’s biological) or
their actions are ‘mad behaviour for a mad world’. An antihero may be
made more readable through being an underdog, or being exceptionally
passionate.
But I had good reasons for making a few controversial decisions - it’s
just the consequences got out of control: Game of Thrones features a
number of antiheroes - Jaime Lannister is a good example, having done
some brutal things to protect people - including killing a King to whom he
was a sworn bodyguard, and attempting to kill a child who might have
exposed incest between himself and his sister - but as we find out more
about his crazy family, his reasons, and see him suffer as the underdog as
a prisoner of war, he transitions from bad guy to antihero. Breaking Bad
features an antihero, who gets into making meth for good reasons (to pay
for cancer treatment), but whose situation as a drug dealer leads him to
choosing to make many brutal decisions, and deceiving those who love
him.
But I’m made to enjoy this and, given that, my choices aren’t so bad:
Lestat in Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles is a morally ambiguous antihero -
passionate about pursuing aesthetic and sensory pleasure above all things,
and rationalising his behaviour through the rationale that it is a dog-eat-dog
world and killing is what he’s made to do. Dexter is a vigilante serial killer
who targets villainous people, but who nevertheless enjoys killing people,
sometimes in painful ways. He is seemingly indelibly this way as a result
of some combination of biology and childhood trauma.
I might be evil but seeing the world through my eyes is truly

something different: Patrick Bateman in American Psycho or Humbert in
Lolita are not in any way likeable characters, and as a result many people
are too revolted to read the books. Such characters have very strong and
unique ‘voices’. They appeal to a more select market who are sufficiently
interested in what makes a character like Bateman tick, or the beautiful
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interested in what makes a character like Bateman tick, or the beautiful
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construction of Humbert’s prose, to be willing to put up with the
unpleasantness of what the characters do.
The Awkward Antihero: Some antiheroes may not be morally ambiguous

but just have significant antisocial behaviours. A character who brings an
unusual perspective may lack social graces but yet solve problems other
characters can’t. These characters usually bring an element of comic relief
and quirkiness, but can also be poignant. Forrest Gump is this kind of
awkward antihero. Most of the main characters in Big Bang Theory fit this
character type. The quirkiness and good heart of the awkward antihero,
plus the comic relief they provide, makes their social awkwardness
forgivable.
Antihero looking for redemption: Some characters have antihero

backstories, but are now on a journey of redemption. The backstory adds
something different, and usually gives the character unusual resources.
The question of whether they have truly reformed or will have a relapse
remains a source of tension, and there is a question of whether it is
possible for them to atone for their past crimes. They usually believe it is
not but feel compelled to try, which creates a certain sympathy for their
‘unwinnable situation’.
Text
Why you should care about…
CHARACTER NAME
Why should I care about your character?
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What scenes will you need to get me to root for your character?
If your character has no (or few) redeeming features, is there something so

unique about their voice or perspective that readers will be willing to persist
to experience it? What is it?
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(Re)action Style
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Notes
Readers gauge your character’s personality through their actions and
reactions. Do they stand and fight or run away? Are they strategic? Do
they choose fun over work? What do they choose to wear? etc.
Once you have developed the core details of your character’s

personality, it is useful to work out how these details will translate into a
pattern of acting and reacting. This page is designed to help you develop
a coherent guide to the kind of responses your character might have by
an activity where you try to finish their thought processes.
This exercise may assist you to start to develop your character’s voice.
Text
Imagine you are your character. Each of the dot points below is the
start of a sentence. How might your character finish it?
• When someone gets in my way
• When someone treats me unfairly
• Rules are
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• I couldn’t possibly
• I once felt guilty when
• Women think
• People embarrass me when they
• I would get really angry if
• Men are
• Perfection
• Failure
• Family
• Intuition
• It’s better to
• Sex
• It really annoys me when
• Experience
• Life
• Children ought to
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• It scares me that
• Logic
• Fun can
•
•
•
•
•
•
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Voice
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Notes
Explanation
Every person has their own unique voice. This worksheet is a series of
prompts and exercises to help you figure out what kind of voice suits your
character.
Sentence length:
Long sentences are not necessarily a sign of education. Concise

sentences may indicate good communication skills or well organised
thoughts. Skilled communicators also tend to vary their sentence rhythm.
Long, run-on sentences may indicate stream-of-consciousness thoughts or
connecting ideas in different ways.
Word length:
Longer words usually indicate a higher level of education, but they may
also indicate a self-consciousness about showing that level of education, or
even a deliberate intent to obscure knowledge from the ‘unworthy’.
Formality:
A more formal voice involves complete sentences, a more casual voice
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A more formal voice involves complete sentences, a more casual
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may use sentence fragments or run-on sentences. A formal voice avoids
contractions (are not rather than aren’t), and avoid colloquialisms (Did you
go to the market? rather than All youse went to the market, eh?).
Emotion:
Some people employ emotional and dramatic words heavily to convey a

situation. (‘OMG! I just saw something amazeballs!’ compared to ‘I saw
something you may find interesting’.) Does your character respond to
everyday situations with heavily emotive language and exaggeration, or do
they tend to understate? Do they emphasise the positives (optimism) or
the negatives (pessimism)?
Humour:
Some people are always making wise cracks. Others can’t see a joke if
it slapped them in the face. Most of us fall somewhere in between. There
are many different kinds of humour, from black or gallows humour, to
finding humour in making absurd links, to satire, to scatalogical humour, to
puns, to mocking those we distrust or dislike. There is intellectual humour
and crass humour. What appeals to your character?
Some characters are also inadvertently humorous. They may be
earnestly blind to their own faults or to the nature of reality.
Wit:
Wit is about how quickly your character can respond to a situation in a

verbally clever way. This does not necessarily require the character to be
well-educated. They may have a keen sense of human nature which they
express cleverly in limited vocabulary. Some people can be very intelligent
but be too flustered or cautious to express their thoughts quickly enough to
be witty.
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Cultural vocabulary:
People have more words for things they encounter frequently. If you live
in the snow, then there are many different words for snow because different
kinds have different consequences. If you live in 19th century rural
Australia, ‘iPad’ will not be in your vocabulary, but you may have a great
many words for ‘sheep’ and ‘hot’. If you are an expert, you will have
technical vocab to describe necessary concepts round your areas of
expertise. Consider on what topics your character would be well versed
and where your character’s vocabulary would reflect a lack of knowledge?
People will also draw on their environment when casting around for
metaphors, exclamations, curses etc. You can show a lot about a
character’s culture, background, and values by what they deem to be so
taboo that it makes a gratifying curse word, and what amounts to a high
compliment.
Your character may draw on their cultural and religious beliefs and
personal experience for key imagery. What images are symbolic to your
character? What images would your character use to symbolically
represent the themes in your novel.
Stereotypes:
A stereotype is a word that summarises a culturally accepted definition

of a person or object. Basically, it’s just a word, but one that is contested.
A person who characterises an English person as a ‘citizen of the British
Empire’ has a different set of beliefs to a person who calls the same
English person a ‘whinging Pom’.
Verbal tics:
A verbal tic is a recurring pattern in speech: saying ‘um’ or ‘like, you

know’ when trying to think, beginning each sentence with ‘so’ or ‘well’,
adding particular words for emphasis, stuttering, trailing away at the end of
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adding particular words for emphasis, stuttering, trailing away at the
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sentences etc. Verbal tics can become repetitive and annoying, or
gimmicky, so use carefully.
More info:
http://fuckyeahcharacterdevelopment.tumblr.com/post/35651202994/des
cribing-voices
Text
Developing the voice of…
CHARACTER NAME
Does your character use short or long sentences? Short or long words?
Why?
How formal is your character’s speech? Where does this formality come
from and is it consistent?
Does your character think / speak with drama and emotional language?
Are some emotions expressed and others repressed?
Does your character use humour? What kind? In what circumstances?
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How witty is your character?
Does your character have any specific cultural vocabularies?
Are there concepts or areas of knowledge for which your character has no
words?
What words and phrases arising out of the cultural vocabulary and local
environment are used for metaphor and emphasis?
Key Imagery:
Popular metaphors / mottos / sayings / colloquialisms:
Compliments:
Curses:
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What formal and informal education has your character had? How has it
affected their language?
What stereotypes would your character buy into? What would your
character reject?
Does your character have any verbal tics?
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Laundry List
Status: To Do
Label: Character
Notes
This character profile template adapted from a profile by Belinda Crawford.
Version 1.0
I loved the formatting of Belinda’s version, but have modified this into a ‘laundry
list’ of character attributes you may need to track, as more plot-relevant matters
are covered elsewhere in this Outliner.
Text
Name, Title/rank
AKA
Basics
Age Gender Species Height Hair Complex Nationali

colour ion ty
Date of Place of Race/su Weight Eye Handedn Ethnic
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Date of Place of Race/su Eye Handedn Ethnic
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birth birth bspecies colour ess group
Right/left
Family
Marital Spouse(s)/partner(s) Children Biological Biological Siblings

status father mother
Social
Citizenship Social Job/career

Position/role Rank
status
Fugitive,
criminal, up-
standing
member of
the public,
etc.
Skills, hobbies, talents and languages
Skills Hobbies Talents/gifts Languages
Physical description
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Physical description.
Personality
Character’s personality.
Likes/dislikes
Character’s likes, dislikes and pet peeves.
Personal history
Character’s personal history.
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Role in Story
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
Questions to help you develop key plot-relevant details about your
character.
Notes
Explanation:
Most stories have a protagonist, a central character who drives the story
through their actions and reactions, and who the author uses as a tool to
allow us to experience the story vicariously. Usually we are encouraged to
understand, empathise with, and even like this character. Other characters
are secondary.
Conventional romances have two protagonists—a hero and a heroine.
Some stories are also structured to spend time equally between a couple of
different protagonists, each with their own stories that somehow relate to
each other.
Usually we see the world through the protagonist’s eyes (regardless of
whether in first person or third person), although sometimes we see the
protagonist’s journey through the eyes of a narrator. A character whose
role is to observe the journey of another character while having to make
few important decisions is not a protagonist. The protagonist is the person
the story focuses on.
You can develop your basic structure first and then think what kind of
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You can develop your basic structure first and then think what kind of
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main character would make this story come alive, or you can develop your
main character first and then think about what would be an interesting
situation to challenge them. Sometimes the situation and character pop
into your head together.
If you have developed your structure first, even if you only have your
one-sentence summary, it is important that you don’t just aimlessly develop
a character, but focus on developing how your main character relates to
that structure. Use the Character and Plot worksheet to ask the right
questions to keep your character development on track.
If you have not yet developed the plot and have only the vaguest idea of
the situation in which the character finds themselves, but are eager to get
started on character development, jump instead to the Get to Know You
worksheet.
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Character & Plot

Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Notes
You can really only work through these questions once you have done
some plot development. Have a look at your one sentence summary and 3
Act structure and sketch out what you already know about your character.
Your first task is to get your head around the kind of character required by
your structure.
Looking at your plot summary so far, what does it require of this

character?
Here is an example assuming you have developed the following once

sentence summary:
•
• A philandering geologist and his wife struggle to survive a Siberian
winter night when their car breaks down in the middle of nowhere.
•
• In this example, I know my main character
• - Is male
• - Works as a geologist
• - Is married
• - Is a womanizer or sleazy or willing to cheat / has cheated?
•
• What is the character’s relationship to the setting?
•
• Is the MC in his/her native culture, an adopted culture, or a
completely new culture? What emotions does the MC feel towards
the setting? Why? Why is the MC in this setting?
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•
• What capacity does your main character have to deal with the
challenges/problems in the plot?
•
• Does the MC have any special skills / knowledge / character traits?
Does the MC have any crucial skill gaps / blind spots / character traits
that will impact on his/her ability to deal with the problems? If your
MC is going to succeed, does your MC have the capacity to credibly
develop the necessary skills / knowledge / insight to solve their
problems in the necessary time period? How will this happen? If not
(or if it’s a team effort) will secondary characters be able to fill the
skill’s gap?
•
• Who is the character already in conflict with in the initial
situation and what is the conflict?
•
• In terms of family and close relationships? In terms of professional /
work / educational environment? Other social / cultural groups? Other
individuals? Him/herself?
•
• Which of the persons / groups the character is in conflict with
are present in the setting and structure?
•
• Is an individual represented by someone / something or are they
there in person? (If they are not there in person, beware it may
become very difficult to make this conflict develop throughout the
story.)
•
• Is what we think we know about the character correct?
•
• (Eg. Are they really a geologist? Or secretly a spy? Or secretly
sacked from their job as a geologist and too proud to tell anyone?)
•
• Why does the character have the traits that are central to the
plot?
•
• (Eg. Why is the geologist a womanizer / sleazy / cheater? What drew
him to geology? What does he believe about marriage? How does
he typically behave towards his wife?)
•
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Text
PLOT & CHARACTER
Looking at your plot summary so far, what does it require of this character?
What is the character’s relationship to the setting?
What capacity does your main character have to deal with the challenges /
problems in the plot?
Who is the character already in conflict with in the initial situation and what
is the conflict?
Which of the persons / groups the character is in conflict with are present in
the setting and structure?
Is what we think we know about the character correct?
Why does the character have the traits that are central to his/her role in the
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Why does the character have the traits that are central to his/her role
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the
plot?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
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Scene Ideas
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Notes
Explanation
Look at scene ideas you may have developed when developing your plot,
profiling your character, developing themes, or pantsing:
Collect together the most promising scenes and consider:
• Which situations tell you the most about the character and why?
• Which ones fit into the plot? How?
• If they don’t fit, can they be tweaked to fit? Or can the plot be
tweaked to fit them?
You might have a bunch of different ideas of how you might insert a
particular situation into the plot. Include them all.
Tip: To add more rows to the table, right click or ctrl+click on the table and
choose ‘Table…’ from the pop up menu. An inspector window appears and
you can adjust the number of rows in the table to add more rows.
Text
Plot-Based Scenes to Illustrate my Main Character(s):
Situation What it tells us about Scene concept and
the MC how it fits into the
plot
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Internal growth
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Notes
Explanation:
Tip: If you have already developed a B Plot for your story, you may find
that you know many of these answers or this worksheet is redundant.
Regardless of whether a character’s external situation changes, a heroic

or likeable character is often marked by internal growth, particularly in
terms of moral understanding or insight. A lack or growth or a regression
might be a tragedy. Sometimes a hero does not gain insight, but rather has
their mental and emotional strength tested (with pain or temptation) and
proves their integrity.
A character’s journey to insight is more powerful if it takes effort. Unless

your character resists developing insight, then we aren’t seeing much of a
shift. The character may rationalise events away in line with their initial
philosophy, get defensive, take action to ‘fix’ what they see as a problem,
refuse to engage in activities that would challenge them, appeal to
someone for assistance etc. The character should face situations or tests
that take them out of their comfort zone. Likewise, a character’s journey to
prove their integrity requires that the character really be tested / tempted.
If your character fails some of these tests, we will get a sense of how
much effort their change / steadfastness takes.
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Try to steer clear of simply persuading your character with a speech by

another character. It doesn’t matter how brilliant a speech it is, if
something as superficial as a speech makes a difference, it probably
wasn’t much of a challenge in the first place. A speech could be
considered once the character is already bruised, battered, and receptive -
it’s the icing on the cake, not the cake itself
Tip: Leave the first question (character’s internal growth in a nutshell) to

the end or revise once you’ve finished your other questions. Keep this
answer to a couple of sentences max.
Text
INTERNAL GROWTH
In a nutshell, my character’s internal growth will be:
How does your character’s insight and understanding at the start of the
book compare to their understanding and insight at the end of the book?
Who or what could your character encounter to give them this greater
insight? Why does this provoke the change?
In what ways does your character resist developing insight?
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How well do your existing scene ideas fit with your character being
challenged to develop insight and resisting this development?
Can you think of further scene ideas that develop insight / show
resistance?
Do these scenes fit in the plot? If not, can you tweak them to fit, or tweak
the plot to accommodate them?
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Gallery
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Notes
Put character images here!
Scene Planner copy

Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Notes
EXPLANATION
You can start writing anywhere on this sheet. Maybe you are
experimenting by chucking two characters together in a setting and seeing
what happens, in which case you might note the characters and setting
first. Or you might pose your character an interesting problem with a plot
event (an action), to see how they react, and then make it up from there.
Or perhaps you know that certain information is to be revealed in this
scene, but you don’t know how it’s going to happen - jot down what’s
supposed to be revealed, then play with the settings and the dramatic
beats.
Dramatic Beats:
This is where you specify what happens and how it happens. If you write in
multiple POVs, I suggest you also note the POV observing various parts of
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multiple POVs, I suggest you also note the POV observing various Novel
parts of
the scene in this section.
The dramatic beats map the actions and emotional reactions which will
drive the dramatic structure of the scene. The action is what happens to
your character, and the reaction is how your characters first emotionally
react and then choose their next action. Focus on your protagonist or POV
character to start with, but then create greater depth and complexity by
considering actions and reactions of all the characters to each other.
Ending a scene with a hook is optional but recommended, particularly if the

scene ends a chapter. A hook creates a promise to the reader that
an actual or metaphorical gun to their head and the reader wondering how
the character is going to solve this problem or frantically trying to fit
together a new piece of the puzzle.
Example:
Action: Jane’s POV, close 3rd person. Jane's cat is run over.
Reaction: Jane is horrified. She's had her cat for 10 years.
Who has done it?
Action: Jane asks passers by if they saw anything? They have
not.
Reaction: Devastated at the injustice, Jane vows to discover the
killer and wreak revenge.
Hook: Change to killer's POV, watching Jane from a window and
thinking his plan is coming along nicely.
Action / reaction is sometimes known as scene and sequel.
Wondering what kind of reaction your character should have? Your

character’s personality, their present needs and situation, and your own gut
feelings are a good start. But here are some reaction options your
character could do (or attempt to do):
• Reframe the problem (it’s not a disaster, it’s an opportunity);

behaviour;
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• Sarcasm;
techniques;
• Positive emotional manipulation (create positive relationship to make it
harder for other character to upset main character).
• Break the rules (who cares? Or so long as it doesn’t hurt anyone? or so
long as I don’t get caught?);
• Be steadfast and trust to deity / moral principles to achieve objectives;
• Compromise;
experience;
• Plead / beg;
• Don’t try to change the other character - rather try to accept and come
to terms with the other character’s behaviour.
Cross-Referencing:
One useful idea is to cross-reference your scene notes on setting /

character / culture etc with your world building notes. You can do this by
copying and pasting, or via hyperlinks.
To create a hyperlink:
• select a word in your document;

• right click or ctrl+click to get a pop-up menu;
• select ‘Scrivener Link’;
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• choose to link to an existing card, or choose a ‘new card’.
•
•
Text
Scene Title Here
Dramatic Beats
Action
Reaction
Action
Reaction
Hook
Setting
Where is this scene set?

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Have you researched or developed the cultural background to this

setting? What key aspects of your culture does this scene reveal?
What mundane details of daily life will you need to know?
What details do you still need to research / create?
What would you observe with your five senses about this setting in
this scene? (Shut your eyes and imagine you’re there. Interact with
things. Listen. Smell. Touch. Describe.)
Characters
Which characters appear in this scene?
What physical / emotional / mental situation are your characters in at

the start of this scene and why?
How do your characters present in this scene? What are they

wearing? What state are they in?
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What objects / props might your character have in this scene?
Information Revealed
this scene?
What precisely is the information the character / reader understand in

this scene? Is there a misunderstanding or incomplete
understanding?
If the information is important to the character reaching their goal,

what is the price of this information? (Your character may have
already paid it - maybe they had to earn this information? Or maybe
the information itself causes / reveals problems.)
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Groups & factions copy

Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Nation
Status: To Do
Label: Character
Synopsis
Non-spacefaring kingdom, empire, country, etc.
Notes
Text
Nation
AKA
Continent, country
Summary
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Basics
Home Colours Symbol Currency Official

country language(s)
Government Current Current Military Affiliation(s)

type governing head of
body state

democracy, called?
etc
Number of
territories
Social Structure
Government
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Taxation
Currency
Population
Races

Culture
Mannerisms
statesman.)
Greetings
Family?)
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Customs
Superstitions
Beliefs
Rituals
Festivals
Language
(This is kind of a big one for me, because I’m always very careful to point how
and why my characters can understand each other, especially if they are from
different countries. Language in the real world is a hell of a barrier, but even if
you have a Chinese dragon, an Arabian unicorn, a French knight, a Mayan
princess, and a Japanese ninja, they can all talk to and understand each other
without explanation. Double I-call-BS-points for someone from another world or
bull. Take a closer look, especially if you’re modeling anything after medieval
Europe; only the Church had a universal language: Latin.)
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Education
(How are children taught? Skilled workers, like architects or brewers? Is there
public education? Higher education?)
Transport
Military
(What is their military like? What real world military is/can it be based upon?
What’s it’s structure?)
Major territories and cities

Territory
• City
Description
History
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Interstellar nation
Status: To Do
Label: Character
Synopsis
Spacefaring kingdom, empire, country, etc.
Notes
Text
Interstellar nation
AKA
Galactic cluster/quadrant
Summary
Basics
Home world Colours Symbol Currency Official

language(s)
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Government Current Current head Military Affiliation(s)

type governing of state
body

democracy, etc called?
Number of
systems
Social Structure
Government
Taxation
Currency
Population
Races
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(Common physical characteristics of long-term inhabitants and native peoples: skin
colour, hair colour, build, dress)
Culture
Mannerisms
(The likely way someone behaves if they’re from this place. Because believe me, a fur-
wrapped barbarian behaves in a very different way than a Greek statesman.)
Greetings
Family?)
Customs
Superstitions
(Knowing the power irrational explanations have over a populace can sometimes be
good story material.)
Beliefs
Rituals
Festivals
Language
(This is kind of a big one for me, because I’m always very careful to point how and why
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Language in the real world is a hell of a barrier, but even if you have a Chinese dragon,
an Arabian unicorn, a French knight, a Mayan princess, and a Japanese ninja, they can
all talk to and understand each other without explanation. Double I-call-BS-points for
someone from another world or time! Anyone who has ever toured Europe can tell you
why this is complete bull. Take a closer look, especially if you’re modeling anything
after medieval Europe; only the Church had a universal language: Latin.)
Education
(How are children taught? Skilled workers, like architects or brewers? Is there public
education? Higher education?)
Transport
Military
(What is their military like? What real world military is/can it be based upon? What’s it’s
structure?)
Major sectors and systems

Sector, quadrant
• System
Description
History
(Everyone comes from somewhere. People just don’t up and appear on islands and
such. I mean, even Native Americans walked across a land bridge way back in the day.
Europeans came from Romans and Greeks and Celts and Gauls and more. Very few
people bother to look at this aspect of world-building, and they really should. Even if a
civilization has been around for two thousand years and are elven dragon riders, they
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came from somewhere. Examine it!)
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Other copy
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Disease
Status: To Do
Label: No Label
Notes
Text
Name of disease
Scientific name
Other common names
Summary
Basics
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Place of Type of Resistances Method of

origin disease transmission
Country, Virus, Is it resistant Insects,

planet, bacteria, to anything? rodents,
species, etc. parasite, Temperature, water, air,
genetic, etc? drugs, bodily fluids,
nanites, etc. etc.
Lethality Infectivity Visibility Cure Vaccine
How lethal is How Does it cause Is there a Is there a

it? infectious is visible cure? What’s vaccine?
it? physical it called? What’s it
symptoms? called?
Symptoms
Common
•
Uncommon
•
Rare
•
Cause
If known, what is the cause of the disease?
Short-term effects
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What are the short-term effects of the disease?
Long-term effects
What are the long-term effects of the disease if it’s cured? What are the effects
if it’s not cured?
Treatment
What is the usual treatment plan for this disease? What sort of drugs are
commonly used, etc.
Social Impact
What sort of impact, if any, does this disease have on society? Does it cause
panic or debate? Are people shunned because of it?
History
What is the history of the disease? Has it mutated from another strain? Was it
an alien flu introduced by interstellar travellers?
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Species
Status: To Do
Label: No Label
Notes
Adapted from Tinsky’s article “Template for Creating and Building a New Fantasy Race
for your Fictional World”.
http://tinsky.hubpages.com/hub/Creating-a-New-Fantasy-Race
Text
Name
Scientific name
Other common names or nicknames
Summary
A summary of the species and how it is important to the story.
Basics
Homeland Hierarchy Political Religious Social

system system system
Matriarchal, Aristocracy,
patriarchal, caste, etc.
etc?
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Locomotion Diet Type of life- Synthetic or Special

form organic? abilities
Bipedal, Carnivorous, Carbon- Was this Does this

quadrapedal, herbivore, based, silicon- species species have
avian, etc. etc. based, etc. created in a special
lab abilities such
(synthetic) or as telepathy,
did it evolve enhanced
naturally intelligence,
(organic)? etc.
Technological Level of
level intelligence
Super
Stone age,
intelligent,
advanced, etc.
primitive, etc.
Common personality traits

Shared personality traits of a species are usually generalisations. Personality
traits could develop as result of environmental factors or through genetics. If
your species is separated into distinct groups geographically, this may result in
clans or tribes having different personality traits depending on experience,
interaction with local ecosystems and other environmental influences.
Physical characteristics
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can draw. The written physical description you provide for your species should
include the shared characteristics between all clans or tribes no matter the
location. If your species is subject to a varied physical form depending on
genetics or environmental factors, you may want to create a list of the different
physical attributes and the reasons. Consider including a traditional dress or
ceremonial dress as part of the physical description.
Subspecies
Clans and tribes are usually differentiated by location. Each location will have
different environmental factors that could trigger inter-racial differences:
physical, emotional and intelligent. Consider how your clans and tribes
communicate, have there been any racial customs that may have been adopted
by other clans of the same species through marriage, trade relations or
invasion? What are the cultural or physical differences between each clan or
tribe?
Alignment
The alignment characteristic has its origins in role-play games. It helps to define
the general demeanour of a species as good, bad or indifferent. Looking at the
history of your species and its accomplishments can help to determine its
general alignment.
Relations & allegiances with other species

How does the species view and interact with, other species. What relationships
do they have with other sentient or sapient lifeforms? How has this effected
their society?
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Social customs
What social customs do they have?
Homeland
What does their homeland look like? What are its characteristics? If you species
has migrated across your fantasy world, consider showing the origins of your
species on your world map. You may want to include the path(s) of migration as
well as the current civilisations.
Religion
What are the core beliefs and values of your species? Are there divisions in your
species based on religion or is the racial culture unified in its belief on origin and
spirituality? Does your species worship a single Deity? Religion can have a large
effect on social relations, technological advancement and social values and
norms, as well as shared personality traits.
Languages
If your species is the only sentient or sapient species upon your fantasy world
and it is divided into clans or tribes in different geographic regions it may have
quite a diverse linguistic culture. In fantasy settings and especially in role-play
games a common language shared by multiple species who co-exist together is
a common characteristic. Each species may still has its own language and
characters are often able to speak more than one language depending on their
experience.
Common First Names

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first names and surnames from its dictionary especially names that pertain to
fauna and flora which could be adopted for characters. Your species religion(s)
can also provide a source for first names as too can the history of your fantasy
world. Popular first names may change over the course of time. Using a first
name in a repetitive fashion for characters of a certain generation would mirror
the use of first names in our own human culture however, it may make the story
harder to convey and your readers might get confused.
Common Family Names

The origin of family names in our own societies are often derived from a position
or role that a family may have within a community. The surname "Wells" for
instance is thought to have been provided to families who were well diggers by
trade. Surnames are not necessarily required in small populations but as a
population grows it may become a requirement so that people can be told part.
Sometimes a surname may also originate from the description of where a person
hailed from, for instance, Alex Von Appleston might have been used to describe
Alex who came from the small hamlet name Appleston.
Adventures
How adventurous are your species? Do they like to travel to find battles to fight
or do thy prefer to learn new experiences? Are there religious pilgrimages that
your species embarks upon or quests for the youth to take in order to enter the
world as an adult?
Physical attributes
If your story or geofiction contains combat or use of physical strength then it is
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run? How high can they jump? How much weight can they lift? You may want to
include two sets of figures, one for averages and the other for extreme abilities.
Favoured Occupations
List the particular occupations that your species may be suited to holding within
your fantasy world's society. Why is the species suited to perform the tasks
associated with the position? Are there physical, mental or spiritual attributes of
your species that are ideally suited to an occupation? Are the choices for the
favoured occupations based on social interactions and hierarchies with other
species?
Level of Advancement
A species could advance to become a super species only if the physical, spiritual
and mental capabilities of your species allow it. A species without magical
powers may find it difficult to advance in experience or better themselves if the
world around them required the use of magical abilities. The degree of racial
intelligence are also factors limiting advancement.
Civilisations
What civilisations is your species responsible for nurturing or helping to build up?
What part did the species play in the civilisations creation, growth and demise?
Are there any significant cultural advances that your species has helped to
create?
Magical/special abilities
Not all specials will have magical/special abilities. These abilities do not have to
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or breeding. These abilities may have a positive or negative effect on a species.
It can build them up to become powerful both politically and physically or it can
cause them to become outcast. Keep a detailed list of the abilities of your
species if you decide to include them. Does everyone inherit the same special
abilities or are only a selection of powers inherited through genes? Do the
number or strength of special abilities increase or decrease with experience and
age? You might choose to restrict abilities to people who are in a certain
profession or who worship a particular deity.
Famous persons
Are there any notable famous people in your species? Famous characters could
be heroes or heroines of ages past or they could be influential people from the
present time period, such as a politicians, magicians, teachers or bards. Famous
characters don't have to be the characters that you are pivotal to your story, but
their actions may have had a lasting influence on your species and its
development.
Population statistics
Include the population statistics on your map for your fantasy species. The size
of the population and ability to socially network with other species can influence
the diversity of the culture and sub-cultures of your species.
History
The history of your species may begin prior to the your fantasy world if the
species has migrated from another world or it may have begun many billions of
years after your world came into existence. When you first begin fleshing out
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You can later develop these ideas as part of your world building or story.
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Weapon
Status: To Do
Label: No Label
Notes
Text
Name of weapon
AKA
Make – Year
Summary
Basics

weapon
Gun, bomb,
bladed, etc.
Ease of use Commonly Also used Ammunition

used by/for by/for
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Area of
Range
effect
Operation
How does the weapon work? How is it operated? What effect does it have?
Ammunition
Specifics regarding ammunition.
Special effects
Are there any special/magical properties about the weapon? What are they and
how do they work?
Portability
How easy is it to carry or move? Does it need to be mounted on a car, ship or
plane? Can you strap it to your back? Does it need to be disassembled for
transport? If it requires mounting, can it be dismounted? How hard is it to
dismount?
Restrictions on use/ownership
Do you need a license to own or use it? Does it require membership in an
organisation? Is it very, very expensive? How easy is it to acquire?
Training
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What training, if any, is required to use the weapon? If training is required, how
effectively can the weapon be used by someone without training?
History
What is the history of the weapon? When was it first created? Who created it?
When was it bought or passed on? Are there legends or stories told about it?
What sort of reaction do most people have to the weapon?
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Vehicle
Status: To Do
Label: No Label
Notes
Text
Name of vehicle (e.g. Serenity)
Make – Model name – Year
Type of vehicle
Summary
Basics

engine
Jet, steam,
electric, FTL,
etc.
Exterior Identifying Usage Where does Top speed

colour marks it travel?
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Stripes, logos, Personal, Air, sea, land,

etc. military, space, etc.
industrial, etc.
Specs
Car
No. of seats. Seat type Interior Cup-holders Window
options controls
Airbags Heating/cooling Security Other

system devices
Spaceship
Decks Crew Propulsion
complement
Weapons
What weapons does it have? How many?
Defences
What are it’s defences?
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Auxiliary craft
Does it have any auxiliary craft? What are they? How many are there?
Interior layout
What is the layout of the vehicle?
History
What is the history of the vehicle? Was it bought second-hand or new? Has it been in
any accidents?
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Critique Stuff copy

Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Self Critiques
Status: To Do
Label: Task
Notes
There are 5 copies of the tables.
Text


Other (Style etc.)
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Blah


Other (Style etc.)
Blah


Other (Style etc.)
Blah
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Other (Style etc.)
Blah


Other (Style etc.)
Blah
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Constructive Criticism/Critiques
Status: To Do
Label: Task
Synopsis
"To avoid criticism say nothing, do nothing, be nothing.”
Aristotle
Notes
There are 3 tables here. Feel free to edit the numbers.
[1] If you are NOT sharing or going to respond to the critique, you can let loose here as
much as you want. Pretty much write whatever you want; rant and rave for example, etc.
Disregard this comment if you plan to respond to the critique.
Text
Critique #1
Quick Checklist

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Improve
Your Novel
how?


how?
Other (Style etc.)
Yes/No
Elaborate?
Improve how?
Critique #2
Quick Checklist

how?
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Show versus Format of Grammar
Your Novel

how?
Other (Style etc.)
Yes/No
Elaborate?
Improve how?
Critique #3
Quick Checklist

how?

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how?
Other (Style etc.)
Yes/No
Elaborate?
Improve how?
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Positive/'Ego Boosts'
Status: To Do
Label: Task
Notes
There are 3 copies of the tables. Feel free to edit the numbers.
[1] Why do you like their comment? What makes it positive and not ‘criticism’?
Can you use their positive comment/review to improve certain areas or to expand
certain areas? Do you agree with their review/comment? Why or why not?
Text
Comment/Review #1
Quick Checklist

how?

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how?
Other (Style etc.)
Yes/No
Elaborate?
Improve how?
Comment/Review #2
Quick Checklist

how?


799
Improve
Your Novel
how?
Other (Style etc.)
Yes/No
Elaborate?
Improve how?
Comment/Review #3
Quick Checklist

how?


how?
Other (Style etc.)
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Yes/No
Elaborate?
Improve how?
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About
Created: Wednesday, February 04, 2015 4:20:46 PM
Modified: Monday, February 16, 2015 6:15:18 PM
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
A quick 'guide' on how to use the Manuscripts section.
Text
How to Use/Utilize
Too Many Manuscripts
Reminder: Try to always create a duplicate of the folder(s) or ‘Snapshots’ before

writing. You never know if you need to write another of the same type or need the
original format. Plain ‘Script’ format is NOT here, neither is ‘Fanfiction’, because
it is not a type of writing per say, but also requires different planning etc.
Opening this, or clicking the ‘Manuscripts’ section probably caused some
confusion. This IS the section to write your scenes/chapters and such, right? That
would be a ‘Yes’. Now the real question is, “Why are there so many folders?”
The answer to that is simple, to be as organized as possible and to keep

different types of manuscripts ‘separate’ yet ‘together’ at the same time. If you are
still not sure how this section can be useful the way it is, here is an example:
Say I have two characters, Joe Doe and Sally Que. I outlined the world they
live in, their culture, their interactions/scenes and so on based on the
guides/formats in the Outliner (or Short Story Outliner) and Writing Tasklists, now
it is time for me to write a story for them. The first thing I have to know is how
long the material would most likely be. This is where these different folders come
in handy.
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If I want to start off with something light, I would probably pick ‘Short
Stories’. Clicking on the folder will reveal two more folders inside. One for
‘Character 1’ (Joe) and one for ‘Character 2’ (Sally). If they are completely
separate characters, but live in the same world, these folders would be helpful. If
they will appear in the same scene/story, using only one folder would be helpful.
You can always rename the folder to something else by double clicking the text of
the folder or right clicking it and click ‘Rename’. For this example, they will be
two separate characters that happen to live in the same world.
Opening ‘Character 1’ and clicking on ‘Scene’, I can start writing whatever

scene should occur or what scene is taking place that involves Joe. If you rather
write a whole chapter and not ‘scenes’, you can always rename it and just write.
However, remember that this is the ‘Short Story’ section. Short Stories are meant
to be a certain length, which is 3,500 to 7,500 words, as the synopsis would read
when you click the folder or the ‘Manuscripts’ section. Each short story written for
Joe should not exceed that length. Otherwise it will turn into another form of
material, like a Novelette. If it does exceed the maximum word range, the text
document can always be moved by dragging it to the appropriate place/section. If
more folders or text documents are required, creating another is very simple. Click
Project > New Folder [Ctrl+Shift+N]/New Text [Ctrl+N] and simply name the
folder/document whatever you want, such as the title of the short story or the genre
they are.
Each of these folders will help you keep to a certain goal length. It can also
be used to write something quick. If I was writing a short story for Joe, but had a
quick idea for a drabble, I can stop and go to the appropriate section and write it
without wasting additional time to create another document and/or moving it later
from notes. The drabble may or may not be useful for a future scene, or it will stay
as a drabble.
These folders are also useful to further develop a character. Example, if the
short story for Joe is a romance and I wrote a quick drabble previously that
demonstrated his anger issues, that drabble will always be there and can serve as a
reminder about his other characteristics, or even be extended on.
Depending on the manuscript type you choose, some have word count goals.
For a drabble for example, the word goal is 100. When you reach the goal, the bar
will turn green at the bottom. If you are writing a novel for NaNoWriMo, each
scene/section is separated by days. That way you would know you reached the
803
scene/section is separated by days. That way you would know you reached YourtheNovel
required goal on that day. Notice that the goal is a little higher then the minimum
goal for NaNoWriMo. This is just in case the word count is a little off compared to
NaNoWriMo’s website word count when you go to verify your novel. You can
always set your own word count goal by clicking the little gray circle in the lower
right corner. If the ‘Inspector’ is on, the blue button with an i in white in the upper
right corner, it would be next to the little notepad icon (“Notes”).
Notice for the ‘Books’ folder, there are two folders inside. If you read the
synopsis for them, one was created for 3rd person POV and the other is 1st person
POV. It makes it easier to choose one and start writing as soon as possible, and
keeps the type of book separate too. Inside of the folders will be another folder.
The other folder is the chapters split up into scenes, which can be complied later,
while the current one is for whole chapters written together. It is known that there
is the 2nd person POV as well, it was not created for this template because 1st and
3rd person narration are usually used in story materials and are widely well
known. You are free to create your own folder if you like.
Finally, if I planned to write three stories for Joe, one is a short story,
another is a novel, and the last one being a novelette, I can have them in ‘separate’
folders, yet together at the same time. If I ever forget any ‘small’ details that he has
shown in another story and I want to stay consistent in other writing material, I can
easily search for it, within one project and not multiple, and even save the search
as a collection to find it later. The same can apply to Sally. I can use this whole
project just for Joe only too. That way I know every story material pertains to Joe
in some form. Or, I can use this project for both characters and separate them by
folder. This can be useful too because they may meet or interact one day in one
story and not separate ones.
In the end, think of these folders as a in-depth history line of your

character(s). Of their adventures, journals, or even as a blog. Written by your hand
in ‘their view’.
Other uses:
● Plan to publish your material? The folders can be used as an guide. Always
remember to check any tips you may have found and the reviews/comments
section.
● To challenge yourself. Staying within a certain range.
● For statistic purposes. Look under ‘Project’ in the toolbar .
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Titles
Created: Tuesday, February 10, 2015 7:25:58 PM
Modified: Thursday, February 12, 2015 4:52:59 PM
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
A quick list of possible titles for any story material(s).
Text
Titles
Possible titles for any story material
template of it here.
For Drabbles

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For Flash Fictions




For Short Stories

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For Novelettes



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For Novellas



For Books/Novels


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For NaNoWriMo



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Drabble Collection
Created: Sunday, February 01, 2015 3:47:04 AM
Modified: Sunday, February 01, 2015 3:47:04 AM
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
A collection of drabbles.
100 words each
Drabble 1
Modified: Wednesday, February 04, 2015 5:19:43 PM
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
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Drabble 2
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
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Flash Fiction
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
A collection of flash fictions.
300 to 1,000 words each.
NOTE: There is no definite or agreeable word range for this.
Flash Fiction 1
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
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Flash Fiction 2
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
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Short Stories
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
Short Stories.
3,500 to 7,500 Words
Character 1
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Scene
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
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Scene 2
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
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Scene 3
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
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Character 2
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Scene
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
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Scene 2
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
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Scene 3
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
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Novelette
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
Novelettes.
7,500 to 17,000 words.
Character 1
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Scene
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
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Scene 2
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
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Scene 3
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
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Character 2
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Scene
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
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Scene 2
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
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Scene 3
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
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Novella
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
Novellas.
17,000 to 40,000 words
Character 1
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Scene
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
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Scene 2
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
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Scene 3
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
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Character 2
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Scene
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
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Scene 2
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
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Scene 3
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
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Books
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
Books/full novels.
50k+ words.
Book Title 1
Status: Title Page
Label: No Label
Synopsis
For 3rd person narrative.
Chapter 1
Status: First Draft
Label: No Label
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Your Novel
TITLE
Subtext
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Aliquam sed libero
mattis, eleifend libero quis, sollicitudin turpis. Quisque vehicula nibh nec felis
pharetra, eget pellentesque nunc malesuada. Nam bibendum libero sit amet sapien
imperdiet cursus. Phasellus nec ex et felis efficitur elementum eu in nulla. Sed sit
amet sagittis felis, eget egestas nunc. Maecenas a auctor arcu. Quisque bibendum
diam in libero iaculis, nec lobortis libero iaculis. Fusce auctor mauris sit amet arcu
porttitor consectetur. Proin finibus pharetra enim, eu congue turpis ornare
imperdiet. Praesent ut imperdiet mauris, at finibus magna. Pellentesque mattis ante
purus, nec malesuada mauris tincidunt nec. Proin tempor orci ac tellus commodo
porttitor. Quisque rutrum consectetur massa, vitae commodo lacus rhoncus quis.
Nam vehicula tincidunt eleifend. Praesent eu risus ac quam aliquam scelerisque
nec ut magna. Curabitur sed quam pulvinar urna posuere consequat sit amet a ante.
Duis nec magna gravida, eleifend risus sit amet, cursus mi. Donec maximus
arcu faucibus, suscipit eros sed, vehicula tortor. Morbi ultricies eleifend nibh, vel
facilisis dolor condimentum et. Aliquam efficitur nulla sed velit tristique luctus.
Maecenas cursus tincidunt aliquet. Maecenas ut faucibus nisl. Donec non nisi
justo. Nunc ut nisi libero. In sapien neque, volutpat id leo vitae, molestie rhoncus
sem. Mauris vel mauris fringilla, efficitur urna eget, porta neque. Vivamus
ullamcorper viverra libero, vel dictum metus vulputate eget. Mauris et diam nec
ante scelerisque ultrices at sed neque. Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora
torquent per conubia nostra, per inceptos himenaeos.
Quisque tincidunt consectetur lacus, in maximus arcu lobortis vel. Lorem

ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Mauris efficitur pellentesque sem
id fringilla. Quisque iaculis justo sit amet quam consequat iaculis. Curabitur turpis
enim, pellentesque in leo sed, blandit placerat ligula. Mauris blandit, leo ac
lobortis finibus, risus lorem lobortis mauris, porta vestibulum quam quam vitae
ante. Nulla lobortis rutrum arcu non molestie. Donec viverra finibus tincidunt.
Aliquam mollis nulla at tortor cursus imperdiet. Morbi eget est metus.
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Chapter 2
Status: First Draft
Label: No Label
TITLE
Subtext

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Book Title 1 V2
Status: Title Page
Label: No Label
Synopsis
For 3rd person narrative.
Part 1
Created: Saturday, October 23, 2010 8:27:32 AM
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Chapter
Created: Sunday, November 05, 2006 6:31:13 AM
Status: No Status
Label: Chapter
Scene
Created: Sunday, November 05, 2006 6:33:03 AM
Status: First Draft
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Label: Scene
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Scene
Status: No Status
Label: Scene
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Chapter
Status: No Status
Label: Chapter
Scene
Status: No Status
Label: Scene
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Part 2
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Chapter
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Scene
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
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Book Title 2
Status: Title Page
Label: No Label
Synopsis
For 1st person narrative.
Chapter 1
Status: First Draft
Label: No Label
TITLE
Character POV
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Nam vehicula tincidunt eleifend. Praesent eu risus ac quam aliquam Your
scelerisque
Novel

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Chapter 2
Status: First Draft
Label: No Label
TITLE
Character POV

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Book Title 2 V2
Status: Title Page
Label: No Label
Synopsis
For 1st person narrative.
Part 1
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Chapter
Status: No Status
Label: Chapter
Scene
Status: First Draft
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Label: Scene
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Scene
Status: No Status
Label: Scene
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Chapter
Status: No Status
Label: Chapter
Scene
Status: No Status
Label: Scene
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Part 2
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Chapter
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Scene
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
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Mystery Novel Format

Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
Made strictly to help write a Mystery Novel. This template was created by
Mel Corbett for personal use and posted to share freely. See 'Novel Format'
inside for more info.
Novel Format
Status: No Status
Label: Notes
Synopsis
Template information. Who created it etc.
Notes
Make sure this is open throughout, as some notes will be here.
Text
MYSTERY NOVEL TEMPLATE (STANDARD MANUSCRIPT
850
MYSTERY NOVEL TEMPLATE (STANDARD MANUSCRIPT
Your Novel
FORMAT)
About This Template

This template was created by Mel Corbett for personal use and posted to share
freely. Please modify and share as you will. If you share this template, I ask that
you leave this page in the document.
This is template is based on the existing “Novel with Parts” template and
ticket2write’s article, "Plotting the Mystery Novel" at
http://ticket2write.tripod.com/id28.html. From Ticket2Write’s article:
Mystery Novel format - The following outline serves the modern mystery novel, as defined by
editors and publishers. A typical story will contain 60,000 to 65,000 words (205 manuscript
pages) and will be divided into 12 chapters, each approximately 17 pages in length.
This template has a WC goal of 4500 words/chapter based on 250 words/page

and 18 pages, to allow for fluff cutting. The section and chapter descriptions are
all quotes from ticket2write’s article. I made this up for me, and thought it would
be good to share. Obviously, you don’t have to stick exactly to the template, but it
helps for pacing/plotting purposes to have an idea of how long it should be. If you
follow this template exactly for word counts, you will produce a 54,000 word
manuscript.
How To Use this Template

• After downloading this template, click “Save as Template…” in the File menu.
This will save the file to the appropriate area on your computer.
• Edit the Title Page document to ensure it contains the correct information.
• You should rename these with the titles of the parts of your novel as you work.
For instance, Milan Kundera’s The Unbearable Lightness of Being’s first part is
entitled “PART ONE: Lightness and Weight”. In that example, you would name
the part, “Lightness and Weight” (the “Part One” will be added during Compile).
You can choose not to include these titles during the Compile process.
• Create a new folder for each chapter inside the relevant “Part” folder and title
each folder with the name of the chapter. If you don’t intend to use chapter
names, just use something descriptive that tells you what the chapter is about.
(You do not need to title the folders “Chapter One” and so on, as chapter
numbering will be taken care of automatically during the Compile process.) These
851
numbering will be taken care of automatically during the Compile process.) These
Your Novel
chapter folders have been created for you with the placeholder title “Chapter 1”,
etc.
• Create a new text document for each scene inside the chapter folders. (Upon
export, scenes will be separated with the “#” character.)
• Information about characters can be placed in the “Characters” folder, and
information about locations can be placed in the “Places” folder. (These are just
regular folders that have had custom icons assigned to them using the
Documents > Change Icon feature.)
• Character and setting sketch sheets have been provided which can be used for
filling out information about the people and places in your novel. These are
located in the “Template Sheets” folder. You should not edit the documents in the
“Template Sheets” folder directly unless you wish to change the templates (which
you are free to do - you may wish to customise the sketch sheets or get rid of
them entirely). Instead, to create a new character sheet, click on the Characters
folder (or wherever you want to create your new character sheet) and from the
Project menu, select New From Template > Character Sketch. This creates a
new character sketch document for you to edit and fill in with your character
details. You can create setting sketch sheets in the same way.
• Compile your manuscript into standard manuscript format by selecting File >
Compile.
Making Changes
There are various minor changes you can make to the settings to tweak this template so
that it better suits your needs, as follows:
• Part subtitles: If you don’t want to include the titles of your “Part” folders in your
compiled manuscript, go to the “Formatting” pane in the Compile sheet and
deselect “Title” for the “Level 1” folder item. Then click on “Title Settings” and
remove the colon and space at the end of the title prefix (“Part <$t:part>”).
• Chapter subtitles: If you don’t want to include the names of your chapter folders
below the chapter numbering text in the compiled document, go to the
852
•
below the chapter numbering text in the compiled document, Your
go to the
Novel
“Formatting” pane in the Compile sheet and deselect “Title” for the “Level 2+”
folder item and the “Level 1” and “Level 2” text items.
• Page header: You can edit the page header in the “Page Settings” pane of the
Compile sheet.
• Font: You can use “Quick Font Override” in Compile to change the font used
throughout the final document.
• Working with chapters instead of scenes: By default, this project is set up so
that you write each scene as a separate text document. If you don’t like to break
things up quite that much and would prefer to write an entire chapter in each text
document, make the following changes:
1. Rename the “Scene” documents to use your chapter titles and move them
so that they are contained directly inside the “Part” folders (that is, at the
same level as the current “Chapter” folders).
2. Move the chapter folders to the Trash.
3. Create a new text document for each chapter.
4. In the “Separators” pane of the Compile sheet, change the “Text
separator” setting to “Page break”.
Sample Document
See the “Sample MS” PDF file in the Research folder for an example of a document that
has been created using this template.
Final Note
Scrivener project templates are flexible and are not intended to restrict you to a
particular workflow. You can change, delete or move the files and folders contained in
the template, and you can create your own templates by setting up a skeletal project
with the files, folders and settings you would like to use for new projects and using File >
Save As Template.
853
Your Novel
BEAT SHEET NOVEL TEMPLATE

by First Last
854
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Set Up
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
Introduce the Crime & the Sleuth (and the subplot)
Chapter 1
Status: No Status
Label: Chapter
Notes
Chapter 1
A. Disclose the crime and mystery to be solved. The crime must
capture the imagination. It should have been committed in an
extraordinary way and either the victim the perpetuator, or both,
should be unusual. Give the reader enough information about the
victim to make them truly care that the perpetrator is found out and
that justice is served.
B. Early in the story, clues should be revealed which suggest both
physical and psychological aspects of the initial crime. Those clues
should point to suspects and motive which will cary the sleuth to the
end of Act I. Some clues should point the sleuth in the right direction,
others may not be obvious or be recognized as actual clues unto later
in the story.
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C. Introduce the sleuth who will solve the crime early, and have him or
her do or say something very clever or unexpected which will establish
that person as unique. Create this character with care. His or her
personality should be interesting enough to sustain the interest of the
reader to the very last page. (or through an entire series of books). It
is not necessary to disclose all aspects of the sleuth’s personality at
the onset. Let the description unfold gradually to sustain interest. Do
reveal enough background to let the reader understand the world in
which the protagonist functions. (Small town sheriff, Scotland Yard
detective, Pinkerton agent in the old West, country squire,
investigative reporter in New York City, etc.)
D. Ground the reader in the time and place where the crime occurs. It
is often useful to include some sort of symbol, an object or a person,
in the opening scene which serves as a metaphor for what occurs in
the story. The reappearance of this symbol at the conclusion of the
story will create a certain organic unity.
E. Begin with a dramatic event. Some writers offer a prologue,
describing the execution of the crime in detail, as it occurs, possible
from the point of view of the victim or perpetrators. The same
information could also be revealed by a character, through dialogue.
Sufficient details should be furnished to allow the reader to experience
the event as though he or she were actually there. Another good
opening would be to put the sleuth in a dire situation and allow detail
of the crime to unfold in due course.
Scene
Status: First Draft
Label: Scene
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Scene
Status: No Status
Label: Scene
857
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Chapter 2
Status: No Status
Label: Chapter
Notes
A. Set the sleuth on the path toward solving he mystery. Offer
plausible suspects, all of whom appear to have had motive, means and
opportunity to to commit the crime. Select the most likely suspects,
and have the sleuth question them. One of these suspects will turn out
to be the actual perpetrator.
B. At the approximate mid-point of Act 1, something should occur
which makes it clear to the reader that the crime is more complicated
than originally thought. Hints may be given to allow the reader to
actually see possibilities not yet known to the sleuth.
Scene
Status: No Status
Label: Scene
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Chapter 3
Status: No Status
Label: Chapter
Notes
A. The sub-plot should be introduced. The plot will continue to
maintain the progress of the story, but the sub-plot will carry
the theme, which is a universal concept to which the reader can
identify. Sub-plots tend to originate either in a crisis in the
sleuth’s private life, or in the necessity of the sleuth to face
a dilemma involving a matter of character, such as courage or
honesty.
B. The ultimate resolution of the sub-plot with demonstrate
change or growth on the part of the protagonist, and will
climatic on a personal or professional level. That climax may
coincide with, or occur as prelude to the climax of the main
plot. The sub-plot may be a vehicle for a romantic interest or a
confrontation with personal demons of the sleuth. The author can
manipulate the pace of the novel by moving back and forth
between the plot and sub-plot.
Scene
Status: No Status
Label: Scene
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Response - False Lead

Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
Investigation follows a false lead
Chapter 4
Status: No Status
Label: Chapter
Notes
A. Reveal facts about suspects, through interrogations and the
discovery of clues.
B. Flight, or disappearance of one or more suspect.
C. Develop a sense of urgency. Raise the stakes or make it

evident that if the mystery is not solved soon, there will be
terrible consequences.
Scene
Status: First Draft
860
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Label: Scene
861
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Scene
Status: No Status
Label: Scene
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Chapter 5
Status: No Status
Label: Chapter
Notes
A. The investigation should broaden to put suspicion on other
characters.
B. Information gathered through interviews or the discovery of

physical evidence, should point toward the solution, although
the relevance may not yet be apparent.
Scene
Status: No Status
Label: Scene
863
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Chapter 6
Status: No Status
Label: Chapter
Notes
A. The sleuth’s background is revealed as the sub-plot is
developed. Tell the reader what drives the protagonist, what
haunts or is missing in his or her life.
B. Make it clear that the sleuth has a personal stake in the
outcome, either because of threat to his or her life, or the
possibility of revelation of matters deeply disturbing to the
protagonist on an emotional level.
Scene
Status: No Status
Label: Scene
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Attack Correction
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
Change of focus and scope of the investigation. This is the pivotal point in
the story where it become evident that the sleuth was on the wrong track.
Something unexpected occurs, such as the appearance of a second body, the
death of a major suspect, or discovery of evidence which clears the most
likely suspect. The story must take a new direction.
Chapter 7
Status: No Status
Label: Chapter
Notes
A. Reveal hidden motives. Formerly secret relationships come to
light, such as business arrangements, romantic involvement's,
scores to be settled or previously veiled kinships.
B. Develop and expose meanings of matters hinted at in Act I.,

to slowly clarify the significance of earlier clues.
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Scene
Status: First Draft
Label: Scene
866
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Scene
Status: No Status
Label: Scene
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Chapter 8
Status: No Status
Label: Chapter
Notes
A. The sleuth reveals the results of the investigation. The
reader, as well as the protagonist and other characters, are
given an opportunity to review what is known and assess the
possibilities.
B. The solution of the crime appears to be impossible. Attempts
to solve the crime have stymied the sleuth. Misinterpretation of
clues or mistaken conclusions have lead him or her in the wrong
direction, and logic must be applied to force a new way of
grasping an understanding of the uncertainties.
Scene
Status: No Status
Label: Scene
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Chapter 9
Status: No Status
Label: Chapter
Notes
A. Have the sleuth review the case to determine where he or she
went wrong.
B. Reveal the chain of events which provoked the crime.

C. The crucial evidence is something overlooked in Act I, which
appeared to have been of little consequence at the time it was
first disclosed. That evidence takes on new meaning with
information disclosed in Act III.
D. The sleuth (and perhaps the reader, if a keep observer)
becomes aware of the error which remains undisclosed to the
other characters.
Scene
Status: No Status
Label: Scene
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Part Resolution
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
Solution
Chapter 10
Status: No Status
Label: Chapter
Notes
A. The sleuth weighs the evidence and information gleaned from
the other characters.
B. Based on what only he or she now knows, the sleuth must seek
positive proof to back up the yet undisclosed conclusion.
Scene
Status: First Draft
Label: Scene
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Scene
Status: No Status
Label: Scene
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Chapter 11
Status: No Status
Label: Chapter
Notes
A. Resolution of the sub-plot
B. The protagonist, having been tested by his or her private
ordeal, is strengthened for the final action leading to the
actual solution of the mystery.
Scene
Status: No Status
Label: Scene
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Chapter 12
Status: No Status
Label: Chapter
Notes
A. The Climax - a dramatic confrontation between the sleuth and
the perpetrator in which the sleuth prevails. The more
“impossible” the odds have been, the more rewarding the climax
will be.
B. Resolution - Revelation of clues and the deductive process
which lead to the solution. Establish that the case has been
solved and justice has been served to the satisfaction of all
involved (except, the villain).
Scene
Status: No Status
Label: Scene
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Character Sketchs
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Characters
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Character Sketch
Status: No Status
Character Name
Role in Story:
Occupation:
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Physical Description:
Personality:
Habits/Mannerisms:
Background:
Internal Conflicts:
External Conflicts:
Scale of 1-10 on these character traits:

Beginning of Story:
End of Story:
Tough Guy <–> Whiner
Team Guy <–> Rebel
Artist <–> Dreamer
Smarty <–> Dummy
Blooming Rose <–> Wallflower
Grinder <–> Lazy Dog
Goody <–> Baddy
Believer <–> Doubter
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Notes:
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Suspect Sketch
Status: No Status
Character Name
Secret:
Link to Crime:
Motive:
Role in Story:
Occupation:
Physical Description:
Personality:
Habits/Mannerisms:
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Background:
Internal Conflicts:
External Conflicts:
Scale of 1-10 on these character traits:

Beginning of Story:
End of Story:
Tough Guy <–> Whiner
Team Guy <–> Rebel
Artist <–> Dreamer
Smarty <–> Dummy
Blooming Rose <–> Wallflower
Grinder <–> Lazy Dog
Goody <–> Baddy
Believer <–> Doubter
Notes:
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Places
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
NaNoWriMo
Status: No Status
Label: No Label
Synopsis
Novels written during National Novel Writing Month, which is in
November. 50k words is the goal.
NaNo Title
Status: Title Page
Label: No Label
Synopsis
Each day is seperate with the goal set to 1,675 words per day. Due to
possible difference of word count on NaNo and here, a few extra words
879
possible difference of word count on NaNo and here, a few extra words
Your Novel
were added as a precaution. Total would be 50,250 words.
For each day, the index card will display where you should be at for total
words.
Nov. 1
Status: First Draft
Label: Scene/Outline
Synopsis
1,675/50,000 Words
880
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Nov. 2
Status: First Draft
Synopsis
3,350/50,000 Words
881
Your Novel
Nov. 3
Status: First Draft
Synopsis
5,025/50,000 Words
882
Your Novel
Nov. 4
Status: First Draft
Synopsis
6,700/50,000 Words
883
Your Novel
Nov. 5
Status: First Draft
Synopsis
8,375/50,000 Words
884
Your Novel
Nov. 6
Status: First Draft
Synopsis
10,050/50,000 Words
885
Your Novel
Nov. 7
Status: First Draft
Synopsis
11,725/50,000 Words
886
Your Novel
Nov. 8
Status: First Draft
Synopsis
13,400/50,000 Words
887
Your Novel
Nov. 9
Status: First Draft
Synopsis
15,075/50,000 Words
888
Your Novel
Nov. 10
Status: First Draft
Synopsis
16,750/50,000 Words
889
Your Novel
Nov. 11
Status: First Draft
Synopsis
18,425/50,000 Words
890
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Nov. 12
Status: First Draft
Synopsis
20,100/50,000 Words
891
Your Novel
Nov. 13
Status: First Draft
Synopsis
21,775/50,000 Words
892
Your Novel
Nov. 14
Status: First Draft
Synopsis
23,450/50,000 Words
893
Your Novel
Nov. 15
Status: First Draft
Synopsis
25,125/50,000 Words
HALF WAY THERE!
894
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Nov. 16
Status: First Draft
Synopsis
26,800/50,000 Words
895
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Nov. 17
Status: First Draft
Synopsis
28,475/50,000 Words
896
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Nov. 18
Status: First Draft
Synopsis
30,150/50,000 Words
897
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Nov. 19
Status: First Draft
Synopsis
31,825/50,000 Words
898
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Nov. 20
Status: First Draft
Synopsis
33,500/50,000 Words
899
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Nov. 21
Status: First Draft
Synopsis
35,175/50,000 Words
900
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Nov. 22
Status: First Draft
Synopsis
36,850/50,000 Words
901
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Nov. 23
Status: First Draft
Synopsis
38,525/50,000 Words
902
Your Novel
Nov. 24
Status: First Draft
Synopsis
40,200/50,000 Words
903
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Nov. 25
Status: First Draft
Synopsis
41,875/50,000 Words
5 DAYS TO GO!
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Nov. 26
Status: First Draft
Synopsis
43,550/50,000 Words
905
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Nov. 27
Status: First Draft
Synopsis
45,225/50,000 Words
906
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Nov. 28
Status: First Draft
Synopsis
46,900/50,000 Words
907
Your Novel
Nov. 29
Status: First Draft
Synopsis
48,575/50,000 Words
908
Your Novel
Nov. 30
Status: First Draft
Synopsis
50,000+/50,000 Words
909
BOOK TITLE
7 POINT STORY STRUCTURE Relevant notes. Relevant notes. Relevant notes. Relevant notes. Relevant notes. Relevant notes. Relevant notes.
THEME --> THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME
DESCRIPTION ACTION/PLOT CHARACTER ARC SUBPLOT #1 SUBPLOT #2 SUBPLOT #3 SUBPLOT #4 SUBPLOT #5
2) The "before" picture. Tip:

Hook start with the opposite of the
of Resolution.
4) Introduces conflict and

bridges gap between the Hook
Turning
and the Midpoint. The
point 1
character’s world changes.
New people, new secrets, etc.
6) Something bad happens.

Pinch Apply pressure, forcing the
point 2 characters to act. Often used
to introduce the villain.
3) The point at which the

characters begin moving from
Midpoint
one state to the other. From
reaction to action.
7) Something even worse
happens. Apply even more
pressure, until the situation
Pinch seems hopeless.
point 2 Tip: These are the jaws of
defeat from which your hero
will be snatching victory. Make
sure the teeth are sharp
5) Bridges the gap between

the Midpoint and the
Resolution. Obtain the last
Turning
thing needed to reached the
point 2
resolution.
Example: “Use the Force
Luke.”
1) The Climax. Everything in

Resolutio
the story leads to this
n
moment.
BOOK TITLE
PLOT AND SUBPLOT LAYERING
THEME THEME THEME THEME THEME
SCENE ACTION/PLOT CHARACTER ARC SUBPLOT #1 SUBPLOT #2 SUBPLOT #3 SUBPLOT #4 SUBPLOT #5
5
6
7
Tips for Beginners
Writing Tips for Science Fiction and Fantasy writers.
Website: http://www.sfwa.org/category/writing-tips/
3/5/2015 The Truth about Forensic Psychology
http://archetypewriting.com/articles/psychology/forensic.htm Go JAN APR OCT
33 captures 12
8 Feb 09 6 Aug 13 2010 2012 2013
The Truth about
Forensic
Psychology
by Lisa Featherston
Let’s face it, it has become more and more difficult to shock today’s reader
because of the level of violence we see on a regular basis on television and movie
screens. Sensationalism seems to be the one element writers increasingly feel
they need to achieve the jarring effect they hope for in any mystery/suspense
novel. Because of this, media has transformed forensic psychologists into a fly
bytheseatofyourpants role, thereby altering their roles as consultants,
assessors, and treatment providers into crimesolving supershrinks.
If only this were their true role, I would double my efforts in university coursework
in an effort to land that job as soon as possible. Just dust off my cape and utility
Forensics and Fiction
D. P. Lyle belt and I’m ready to go. Unfortunately, this exciting fantasy career is mostly
Best Price $7.80 fictional.
or Buy New $16.83
Psychology in general is one of the most fascinating careers available, and thanks
to all that we still don’t know about the human mind, there is just no possibility
for boredom. Just how much of a forensic psychologist’s career can be depicted in
Privacy Information
mystery and suspense novels that will still get the reader’s attention and keep it?
What is Forensic Psychology?
To first understand what a forensic psychologist is and does, we need to
understand what forensics really means. Forensics is the analysis of information
suitable for use in a court of law (Ramsland, 2002). So then, a forensic
psychologist is responsible for various tasks within the legal system that add a
Howdunit Forensics
D P Lyle
scientific analysis to civil or criminal proceedings in our court systems.
Best Price $7.41
or Buy New $12.49 James Patterson's Alex Cross
Most everyone loves Alex Cross, the brilliant doctor and forensic psychologist in
Privacy Information
many of James Patterson’s tales of suspense, but even Patterson exerts some
serious creative licenses in the Cross character’s professional duties. It may be
worthwhile to find the suspense and contributions of these professional characters
in a more realistic role. No psychologist is going to chase a serial killer through the
woods while wielding a .38 special. Sorry to disappoint.
What Forensic Psychologists Actually Do:
Competency Hearings
Don't Murder Your
Mystery [Agatha Aw...
Chris Roerden
In a criminal trial, competency may need to be determined for a
Best Price $7.25 number of reasons. Along with the competency to stand trial, a FP
or Buy New $12.17
(forensic psychologist) may be asked to determine the defendant’s
competency to waive his/her Miranda rights, testify in his/her own
case, refuse the insanity defense, confess, understand the nature of
Privacy Information the crime he/she is charged with, and understand the penalty
consequences if found guilty.
https://web.archive.org/web/20120412182129/http://archetypewriting.com/articles/psychology/forensic.htm 1/4
Insanity Assessments
“Insanity” is actually a legal term and not a psychological one. People
can be deemed insane if assessments show that they were not
responsible for their actions at the time of the crime because of mental
disease or defect. Despite popular belief, the insanity defense is used in
less than 3% of criminal trials in America and is successful in less than
3% of those cases. Psychological assessments are necessary to make
What Every BODY is
Saying
such determinations.
Joe Navarro, Marvi...
Best Price $10.35 To evaluate a defendant’s sanity, the forensic examiner will use an
or Buy New $12.98
MSO (Mental State at time of Offense test) which consists of three
interviews. The first focuses upon historical information about the
defendant. The second focuses upon the offense and their mental state
Privacy Information
at that time. The third assesses the defendant's present mental state.
Factors such as planning the offense, awareness of criminality, and
selfcontrol are rated along with an analysis of the collated information
(i.e. police report and notes, attorney notes, third party interviews).
Each state has chosen what guidelines they will follow in regards to the
insanity defense. The most popular guidelines followed is the
M’Naughten rule:
M'Naughten rule In 1843 the "Wild beast" test ended and
Writing Mysteries
Sue Grafton
ushered in the "right/wrong" test. This test consisted of three
Best Price $0.01 prongs: 1) an unsound mind; 2) not knowing what they were
or Buy New $11.43
doing; and 3) an inability to appreciate the wrongfulness of the
act. M'Naughten is considered a cognitivebased standard which
doesn't address the issue of volition (free will or the ability to
Privacy Information
choose not to do wrong).
One special note: Many times during competency and
insanity assessments, the Malingering test is applied. This
test is used to determine if the person is lying.
Courtroom experts
The FP may be called in to testify about the above mentioned
assessments but also to provide psychological information to help the
Writing and Selling Your
Mystery Nov... judge and/or jury understand evidence or a particular process. Such
Hallie Ephron information might be to explain the defendant’s evaluation process or
Best Price $0.99
or Buy New $11.35 any psychological terms or disorders. This is necessary because the
general public may have misconceptions about psychological disorders
and this could prejudice the jury against a defendant or even a witness
Privacy Information
for the state.
FPs may also be asked by the court to provide suggestions during
custody hearings or even some criminal cases as to treatment options
that would best benefit not only the parties involved but also society.
Defendants who are convicted and go to prison will more likely than not
be expected to return to society after their sentence is served, and how
they are treated inside or upon release can help to determine their
likelihood to repeat offend.
How to Write Killer Fiction
Carolyn Wheat Trial process advisors
Best Price $2.95
or Buy New $8.99 Sometimes an FP may be required before or during a trial to offer an
assessment of the most appropriate way to conduct certain aspects of
an investigation or a trial. For example: When eyewitness testimony is
needed from a child there are unique situational considerations that
Privacy Information may need to be made. Statistically, juries do not place the same weight
on a child’s testimony as they do adults and some interesting dynamics
account for this phenomenon.
Whether the child is to testify in open court, closed court, or by closed
circuit television may need to be determined. Protecting a child’s
mental health while still upholding the defendant’s right to a fair and
impartial process can be tricky sometimes but very necessary!
Offering the attorneys a strategically beneficial list of questions to ask
potential jurors during jury selection may be necessary to obtain the
best advantage as well as prevent jury prejudices.
Finally, in some cases, forensic psychologists are used as consultants
to either the defense or prosecution team to advise them in areas of
dealing with case presentation during a trial. There are some
psychological issues to consider about all the courtroom players during
a trial that will or should affect the way the attorneys presents
evidence, witness examinations, and even closing arguments.
Profilers
Some forensic psychologists may also be hired to offer assessments
about the crimes themselves in an effort to keep the investigation on
the right track and determine the responsible party. When investigating
team members find themselves running into brick walls during their
investigation, they may need to enlist outside expertise or just a fresh
pair of eyes. Psychologists are going to approach evidence in a different
light than a law enforcement officer in many cases. Because FPs are
trained to evaluate behaviors and mindset attached to evidence, they
can offer an investigator’s insight into what type of person they should
be looking for.
* No psychologist will take over a case or investigate a case on his
or her own. It just does not happen. So although Alex Cross is a
brilliant man and psychologist, he would never, in real life, follow
leads and hunt down killers on his own, if at all. Forensic
psychologists are hired as contributing sources only and will
always restrict their participation to that area they were hired for.
To do otherwise would impede investigations and potentially cause
legal backlash, more likely to themselves than anyone else.
Reader Savvy
An important consideration for writers: As forensic psychology continues to
become more popular, it stands to reason that an increased interest in this field of
study, by both those who desire such a career as well as the general public, will
ultimately mean a more informed public. Increased popularity for forensic
psychology can be attributed to the explosive interest from media portrayals. This
means we will quickly reach a point when the public will be well enough informed
about the realistic services forensic psychologists provide. Any author still writing
about sensational but fictional supershrinks will be viewed as lacking authenticity
and writers may see a significant decline in reader/fan following.
My recommendation If you are serious about exploring what a forensic
psychologist character might add to your murder mystery, you would be well
advised to seek a real one out and ask questions until you’re blue in the face.
These people have extraordinary jobs because by definition, they are most likely
the ones to work face to face with our most deviant criminals, whether for
research to better understand deviant behavior, to treat such criminals to relieve
their suffering (because yes, most of these people are suffering), or to evaluate
them according to a court order for treatment or release options in the future. The
point is, no one knows the roles of a forensic psychologist OR the character of the
deviant better than your local supershrinks themselves.
If you aren’t sure where to start, check your local university. Ask for either the
behavioral science department or the Psychology department (preferably the
Instructors for Abnormal Psychology). Again, despite popular belief, there are very
few law enforcement departments that have a forensic psychologist as a fulltime
staff member. These people typically operate their own practices, teach in
universities, work for private or county agencies such as mental health facilities,
or work in prisons or other correctional institutions. Don’t be afraid to approach
these people. Though they may be busy, they are human beings and love to
educate others as to what they actually do. Good luck!

About the Author
Lisa Featherston is a third year student of Criminal Justice: Forensic Psychology at Kaplan
University.
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3/5/2015 Basic Information on Forensic Science
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Basic Information
on Forensic
Science
by Juan Salvo
Forensic science is not just what you see on television shows like CSI but rather
the use of actual science to help determine the answer to varied legal questions.
There are many different types of forensic disciplines that are used to help police
and other officials answer these questions. These include criminalistics, forensic
psychology, forensic pathology and others.
Criminalistics is the science used to help understand the evidence in crimes.
Evidence used in criminalistics can include biological evidence, trace evidence,
Forensics and Fiction
D. P. Lyle impression evidence, controlled substances and ballistics. Biological evidence is
Best Price $7.80 usually bodily fluids such as semen and blood. Trace evidence are items like hair
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and fibers. Impression evidence are items like foot prints, impressions of car tires
and fingerprints. Criminalistics is usually investigated in a crime lab. Many cities
with very large populations have crime labs within their police departments. These
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include MiamiDade, Florida and the famous Las Vegas crime lab.
Forensic psychology is the study of the mind of a criminal. Forensic
psychologists usually study the motivations that led an individual to commit a
certain crime. Forensic psychology has recently come into the limelight as more
and more television shows have started to feature it. These includes CSI, NCIS
and Criminal Minds. Criminal Minds especially digs into why a person committed
the crime so that they may locate the victim before it is too late. Forensic
psychology has also been discredited by some as being interpreted in court as
Howdunit Forensics opinion and what might have been going through an individual?s mind, not what
D P Lyle actually went through the individual?s mind.
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Forensic pathology is the study of the cause of death. Literally, pathology is
used to determine how someone died and the forensic findings are usually used to
backup a court case. Forensic pathology has also recently become popular for
Privacy Information television shows such as CSI and NCIS. Many of the cases involve a mystery over
death.
There have also been many other forensic sciences such as forensic meteorology,
and forensic geology, although these are used much less often than other
branches of forensic science. Many of them just involve using analytical skills to
determine the cause of the events.
As with any science there have been some disagreements over the scientific
effectiveness of certain forensic sciences. One of these cases was an experiment
by the FBI. Comparative bullet lead analysis was used by the FBI for over 40
years starting when John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963. The theory was
that each batch of bullets had a specific chemical composition, much like an
element on the periodic table, and therefore could be traced back to its original
batch or even down to the very box. However, internal studies showed this to be
exactly the opposite and the test was finally pulled in 2005.
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3/5/2015 Basic Information on Forensic Science
No matter what you may think, forensic science affects you each and every day.
Forensic science allows scientific means to be applied to almost any situation so
that there can be a root cause determined. Forensic science in any form is just
the answering of a legal question using analytical means.

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3/5/2015 The Other in Fiction: Creating Wonderfully Wicked Villains
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The Other in
Fiction: Creating
Wonderfully Wicked Villains
by Carolyn Kaufman
Additional images of the Other are available in the Media/Visuals area.
Characters with psychological problems and quirks have appeared as long as
people have told stories. For most of recorded history, madness has been the work
of angry gods and mischievous demons, and in many developing countries people
still believe that psychological problems are caused by demonic possession,
witchcraft, and vengeful gods.
Bullies, Bastards And Though research has shown us that psychological disorders have more mundane
Bitches
Jessica Morrell causes like brain chemistry and stress, most of us are still subtly influenced by
Best Price $6.98 generations of superstition. We see people with mental illness as being extremely
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different from us, and sometimes even as deserving of their problems and the
consequences of those problems.
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Otherness
Alterity, or the concept of Other, is the
inability to relate to someone or
something we perceive as radically,
insurmountably different from ourselves.
Most of us have trouble knowing how to
react to someone who behaves strangely,
The Power of the Dark
Side
or whose behavior or ideas scare us. We
Pamela Jaye Smith say, "He's out of his mind,""He's lost his
Best Price $9.77 mind," or "He's acting crazy." Sometimes
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we even experience parts of ourselves as
Other. We look back on choices we've
made and try to make sense of them by
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saying things like "I wasn't myself" or "I
don't know why I did it."
The Other appears in two common forms
in fiction. In the first, the Other is a part
of a character who can't control her
behavior, often because she's possessed
or mentally ill. In the second, the
individual herself is Other, a villain so
Writing for Emotional
Impact packed with evil Shadow characteristics
Movie poster for Hannibal
Karl Iglesias that we can feel good about seeing her
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or Buy New $17.86 destroyed.
The Other in Fiction Cover of Bret Easton Ellis's American Psycho
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The Other tends to be easy to pick out in
fiction, because it usually has one or
https://web.archive.org/web/20110930055456/http://www.archetypewriting.com/articles/articles_ck/other.htm 1/6
more of the following three qualities.
1. The Other is a Monster
The villain who achieves Monster
status has been imbued with so
many Shadow qualities that he is no
longer viewed as human,
redeemable, or even worth saving.
Killing him isn't about killing
another human being—it's
destroying something even God
would highfive you for taking
down. I argue elsewhere that
Monsters are less scary than more
complex, empathetic villains, if for
no other reason than they're
predictable: they're always going to
make the "wrong" decision, the one
that makes it easy to hate them.
The Monster is a receptacle for the
The Power Of Point Of things we hate or fear about
View
ourselves, both individually and as a
Alicia Rasley
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species, things we'd like to strip out of ourselves and destroy. In action and
or Buy New $13.25 horror stories, the Monster is often identified by dark clothes, weapons
emblazoned with animals or symbols associated with evil (snakes, dragons),
and a blasé approach to killing.
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2. The Other Has Incredibly Obvious Psychological Problems
In many ways, psychosis and Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID, formerly
Multiple Personality Disorder or MPD) have replaced stories about possession
in the fictional media. Rather than being possessed by demons, we're
possessed by personalities or disorders.
In stories about possession, the demon rather than the person is responsible
Manuscript Makeover
Elizabeth Lyon
for the horrific acts committed; when the demon is exorcised, the person
Best Price $0.99 deserves no punishment and can resume a normal life. In stories about
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mental illness, love often serves the same purpose, saving the character
from her crimes and redeeming her soul.
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3. The Other has a Childish, OneTrack Mind
The Other is usually portrayed as thinking in overly simplistic words and
phrases. Sometimes this is because he has an Incredibly Obvious
Psychological Problem, and sometimes it's because he's a Monster. In
extreme cases, his thought processes echo nothing so much as an
elementary school child. The sentences become short and choppy and make
the Other sound like he's about to get a cake he's been looking forward to.
The Scene Book Horror films sometimes use this innocence and simplicity to emphasize how
Sandra Scofield awful the atrocities in question are. The idea that Freddy Krueger's mother
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or Buy New $8.06 was a nun shows us how far astray he's gone, and the ominous Nightmare
on Elm Street nursery rhyme does the same thing (1, 2, Freddy's coming for
you; 3, 4, better lock your door...) A little girl screaming obscenities has
shocked generations of Exorcist fans. And in Saw, there's something
Privacy Information unsettling about Jigsaw on the tricycle. If you're going to take this approach,
just be careful to come up with something original. The tricycle worked
because it hadn't been done to death.
The Purpose of the Other
This Other serves a purpose, and that purpose is to assure us that we're nothing
like it.
Mental illness and Monstrosity are often clumped together for two reasons. First,
mental illness can be scary, and we want to believe we would never behave that
The Amityville Horror
way, no matter what. Second, we use psychological terms to try to understand
Ryan Reynolds, Mel... cruelty and hatred, and it's much easier for the average person to equate
Best Price $0.01 "sociopath" with "monster" than to accept that circumstances contributed to that
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person's behavior...and could conceivably have done the same to us if we'd shared
them.
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American Psycho [Blu
ray]
Christian Bale, Ju...
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Here Martha Freeman's behavior has made her Other. Imagine how different the picture, headline,
and story might have read if she had broken down after the murder. Screencapture of article on
CourtTV News
Research like the Stanford Prison Experiment and Milgram's Obedience Study has
shown that circumstance is the most important influence on behavior, especially
cruelty. In both studies, average people hurt others (or thought they did) thanks
to opportunities and pressures offered by the environment. In the commentary on
American Psycho the 2004 remake of The Amityville Horror, actor Ryan Reynolds remarks how
Bret Easton Ellis upsetting it was to realize that he was capable of hitting a child—because he
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or Buy New $8.70 spontaneously did it while in character.
There is no excuse for the atrocities committed by men like Hitler, Stalin, and
Hussein, but when placed in the context of their lives, their behaviors make some
Privacy Information sense and are even predicable. Would you or I do the same things if we'd grown
up in exactly the same situations? I certainly hope not, but we might have had a
lot more in common with those "monsters" than we'd like to think.
The truth is, in real life nobody is pure Monster, and the Other is a lot less Other
than most of us would like to think.
Behind the Disorders Sometimes Associated with
Supernatural the Other
Jared Padalecki, J...
Best Price $12.50
or Buy New $21.49 Psychosis
People who develop psychoses—that is, people who lose contact with the reality
most people are experiencing—haven't developed a strange new personality;
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instead, they've lost the ability to differentiate between the same fantasies and
realities we all experience. We all have inner voices that say things like "That was
a stupid thing to do" or "Eating all those cookies is going to make you fat!" People
who "hear voices" are hearing the exact same thing, but an imbalance in brain
chemistry makes it impossible for them to tell these are internal thoughts, not
external voices. When they take antipsychotic medications, the drugs rebalance
their brain chemicals so their perceptions of reality are more like everyone else's.
They still hear the voices, they just know—the same way you and I do—that
they're coming from inside.
Most often associated with psychosis are schizophrenia and the manic phase of
bipolar I disorder, though some people develop other psychotic disorders or
experience psychosis as a result of drug use.
Dissociative
Identity Disorder
Psychological
professionals believe that
Dissociative Identity
Disorder is caused by
trauma so severe that to
cope the person
dissociates or splinters
that experience off from
the rest. Splintering
protects the birth or core
personality from the
terrible things that
happened. It's the same
process that protects us Comments about people seeming "normal" are indicative of confusion
from other painful —this man seemed just like always, and just like the rest of us...how
memories, like those could he have killed himself? Clearly he was different (something
associated with bad car Other) than we thought he was. Screencapture of article on BBC
News UK
accidents.
Fictional characters with DID usually harbor a savage killer. The truth is, people
with DID harbor killers no more than the rest of us. That doesn't mean people with
DID never harbor killers, only that "normal" people do, too. Surviving abuse
teaches some people to abuse others, but that's true even without a psychological
disorder.
In fact, the only psychological disorder that is associated with increased violence is
substance use and abuse—drinking and doing drugs. And even people without
ongoing substance abuse problems do things they later wish they hadn't when
they've been under the influence.
Revisiting the One Track Mind and the
Incredibly Obvious Problem
Since we've discussed the Monster pretty extensively, let's briefly revisit the other
two categories of Other and talk about ways to freshen them up.
The Childish OneTrackMind
Most people don't think like children unless they actually are children. People
sometimes regress, or act more childlike when they're overwhelmed, but they
always revert to grownup thought processes as the stressors pass or they adapt.
Killers in particular are going to think like grownups. Unless she's incredibly
disorganized (in which case she's going to be fairly easy to catch) she has to be
clever enough to outwit your hero or heroine. And even people who kill, for
whatever reason, think things besides killing. They go to the grocery store. They
watch Gray's Anatomy (pun intended). They get the flu, look at mailorder
catalogs, and clean their homes. Some better than others.
This normalcy
is what makes
people who do
terrible things
scary, because
we can relate
to everyday
behaviors. The
less Other the
villain is, the
scarier he's
likely to be. In
any case,
you're probably
not going to be
able to pick out
someone who
kills by their
Screenshot from The Benders. The jars contain, from left to right, keys (which is
speech why he's looking through them), keys, knickknacks, adult human molars.
patterns
(assuming
they're not constantly talking about gore), what they buy at the supermarket
(assuming they're not buying cement or fertilizer), or how their houses are
organized (assuming there aren't any dead people around).
Writers can and do make the OneTrackMind Other work when they take a unique
approach. For example, in the Supernatural episode The Benders, one of the
brothers is abducted by a weird family that likes to hunt and kill people for sport.
The family keeps trophies—like wind chimes made of human bones and jars of
teeth—in the house.
Two things really made the episode work. First, it didn't take itself too seriously.
Second, the brothers normally hunt supernatural creatures like demons, ghosts,
and other monsters; the punch line of the episode is that people can be a lot
scarier than monsters. And nobody ever suggested they were mentally ill—just
weird.
The Incredibly Obvious Problem
Only about 5% or 6% of the general population has a psychological disorder that's
obvious enough that you might notice it in the grocery store. And though you
might notice a disorder if you were living in the same house or room with it, you'd
probably be surprised how many people hide their problems so well that even their
families have no idea how bad their symptoms are.
People who have psychological problems are just like anyone else, even the ones
who take medications. Some people need to take insulin for diabetes, or use
inhalers when they have asthma attacks; likewise, sometimes the delicate
balance of chemicals and processes in the brain need a little help from modern
medicine.
Full Circle
The Other is powerful if you're willing to explore what makes her seem so different
from you. What makes someone or something seem Other to you? What's so
inconceivable that it would be scary if you knew how to relate?
Got it?
Good. Now go write about it.
Related Articles
ThreeDimensional Villains: Finding Your Character's Shadow
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Worksheet 1: Finding Your Hero’s Shadow (and Your Villain)
1 2 3 (optional)
OPPOSITE of the Qualities your hero’s
TRAITS/QUALITIES TRAIT/QUALITY or BEHAVIOR THAT TRAITS or shadow (Opposites
or VALUES that VALUE in 1 DEMONSTRATES QUALITIES that column) and your
make your HERO a (what does your the opposite quality make your VILLAIN a Villain have in
Hero hero hate most?) in 2 villain common
Helpful resources: Sandy Tritt’s Personality Components chart (scroll about halfway down the page) at http://users.wirefire.com/tritt/tip8.html
Copyright © 2007 Carolyn Kaufman, PsyD and Archetype Writing http://www.archetypewriting.com/

Full text of article to accompany worksheets at http://www.archetypewriting.com/ resources_fiction_articles_archetypes2_shadow.htm
Worksheet 2: How Heroes Fall When Villains Push
OPPOSITE
What is most
QUALITIES embodied Is there any way to If your villain can’t take it, in what way can
important to your
by your VILLAIN (ex take what’s most your villain manipulate or force your hero to
HERO? (ex:
infidelity, willingness important to your express the OPPOSITE quality or value so
marriage/home,
to betray, inequality, hero away? How? s/he becomes more like the VILLAIN?
integrity, justice)
unlawfulness)
Copyright © 2007 Carolyn Kaufman, PsyD and Archetype Writing http://www.archetypewriting.com/

Full text of article to accompany worksheets at http://www.archetypewriting.com/ resources_fiction_articles_archetypes2_shadow.htm
3/5/2015 ThreeDimensional Villains: Finding Your Character's Shadow
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Three
Dimensional
Villains: Finding Your Character’s Shadow
by Carolyn Kaufman
Part II of the Archetypes Series
Part I
PDFformat worksheets to accompany this article's exercises
If you’ve ever had to get up in front of a group of strangers and speak, you’re
familiar with the fear that you’re going to embarrass yourself while all eyes are on
you. Worse, all that attention seems to magnify your every quirk, and your flubs
can feel like they overshadow what you get right.
Even when we’re not on stage, stress makes us flounder. It’s easy to live our lives
according to our values and beliefs when everything is going right; it’s a lot harder
when we’re under pressure and in the spotlight.
Carl Jung named the face we present to
the world, the public façade we use to hide
things we don’t like about ourselves the
persona. The flipside of the persona is the
shadow, which is like a threedimensional
version of our physical shadows, packed
full of things we’re trying to hide,
sometimes even from ourselves.
To become whole, each of us needs to
individuate, or integrate, all of our
The Forest for the Trees archetypal parts into a cohesive whole.
Betsy Lerner That includes the persona and the shadow.
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In any story, the mark of a good villain is
his ability to force your hero into the
proverbial spotlight, where he will find
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ways to magnify and criticize the things
your hero would most like to hide.
The Dark and Light Sides Laurie Cooper's painting Face Reality addresses
of the Shadow racial issues; many see this woman's expression
as shame or pain. No matter what the persona
we've adopted has been, exposing what lies
Psychologist Carl Jung believed that in beneath and figuring out who we really are
spite of its function as a reservoir for through individuation can be frightening and
human darkness—or perhaps because of leaves us feeling vulnerable.
this—the shadow is the seat of creativity.
Author Ralph Keyes argues that most people never publish because they’re not
willing to find and face their shadows. Rather than acknowledge our fears about
what we might find inside ourselves, we project the anxiety onto others and
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obsess about what they will think. Good writers push past the fear, Keyes says, in
spite of the repercussions: “One reason so many good writers have such tattered
personal lives is that they write as if they have no one to protect. Lucky for
readers, not so lucky for writers.”
Recognizing Your Own Shadow
The Writers Journey Since the shadow is, by definition, upsetting to acknowledge, we shove our
Christopher Vogler... awareness of it down into the unconscious. That means that the only way to truly
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or Buy New know what’s in your shadow is to think about the things that infuriate you, disgust
you, and horrify you more than anything else. If cruelty just makes you sick, Jung
would say that cruelty is in your shadow.
Privacy Information Does that secretly mean you’re a cruel person? No, but it does mean you'll have
an awfully hard time accepting that you really are capable of the kind of cruelty
that makes you so sick. (And before you insist you aren't, read a bit about Phillip
Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Experiment.) Many, many people are riveted by true
crime and serial killer stories because they give us a way to indulge the shadow
without actually acknowledging that the shadow is part of us.
If you’re reacting to the last two paragraphs with skepticism or irritation, you’ve
found the feeling that means you’ve touched your shadow. If you can’t face it,
The Courage to Write Betsy Lerner says, “you[‘ll] think you can’t write, but the truth is you can’t tell.
Ralph Keyes Writing is nothing if not breaking the silence.”
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And remember: writing about it is not the same as doing it.
Finding Your Characters’ Shadows
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Good characters have shadows, just like you do, and your characters’ shadows
should repel them as much as yours do you. What that means is that channeling
your own shadow through your characters will help you create the kinds of villains
that have made writers famous. If Stephen King had hidden from his shadow, The
Shining would never have been written. The same goes for lots of other famous
stories. Dante’s Inferno. Bret Easton Ellis' American Psycho. The Exorcist. Dr.
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Frankenstein. Dracula.
Exercise: Find Your Hero's Shadow (and Your Villain)
The Hero with a
Thousand Faces If you like, you can download PDFformat worksheets to help you do the exercises
Joseph Campbell below here.
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Directions
For each part, work as quickly as you can. Try not to think too much about the
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answers; your unconscious does better work when you’re not wondering if you’re
doing the exercise right or criticizing the answers you come up with. You can write
as many answers as you like for each part, since there is no right or wrong
number. You'll probably find, though, that coming up with at least five will help
you get more out of the exercise.
Part 1. List the qualities and values that make your hero
a hero.
Examples: Is he brave? Is she selfless? Does he speak his mind even when it
will get him in trouble? Does she stand up for those who have no voice of their
own?
If you have trouble coming up with words for characteristics, try Sandy Tritt’s
Personality Components chart (scroll about halfway down the page) at
http://users.wirefire.com/tritt/tip8.html.
Part 2. List the qualities and values that make your
villain a villain.
Don’t worry about your hero, or shadows, or anything else we’ve talked
about for now. Remember, it's important to come up with at least five
The Archetypes and The
Collective Un... qualities or values. Again, you may find Sandy Tritt’s chart helpful.
C. G. Jung, R.F.C....
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Examples: Vengeful, dishonest, power hungry
Part 3.Next to each quality or value you’ve written for
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your hero, write the exact opposite quality.
Examples: Let’s say that some of your character’s heroic traits are charm,
intelligence, confidence, and a good sense of humor.
Ex 1. Quality: Charm Depending on just what you imagine your character’s
charm to be like, opposing traits might be things like rudeness, pushiness,
abrasiveness, clumsiness, or crudity.
Archetypal Dimensions of So depending on which “opposite” feels right to you, you might put:
the Psyche
MarieLouise von F...
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Heroic Trait Opposite Quality
or Buy New $25.60 Charm Rudeness
or
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Charm Pushiness
Ex 2. Quality: Confidence Opposing trait possibilities might include
insecurity, narcissism, fearfulness, embarrassment, or shame, which leaves
you with:
Confidence Shame
or
Confidence Insecurity
Ex 3. Value: Honesty This time we’ll use a value rather than a personality
characteristic or quality. Values that are in opposition to honesty might include
deceitfulness or dishonesty
Honesty Deceitfulness
or
Honesty Dishonesty
Part 4. Add a Behavior
Beside the positive qualities and values you’ve written for your hero, to the right of
your list of the exact opposite qualities you wrote in Part 3, write an example of a
behavior (not a thought or feeling) that demonstrates the opposite (nonheroic)
quality or value.
Ex 1. (Note: The examples are simple for the sake of space, but you can write
as much as you like, or give examples of more than one “opposite” or
“behavior.”
Heroic Trait Opposite Behavior

Charm Rudeness Telling crude jokes
Confidence Insecurity "Fishing" for compliments
Honesty Deceitfulness Burning a letter that "tells on" your character
Part 5. Compare Your Hero's Shadow (the Opposite column)
to your Villain's Characteristics
Check the second list you made, the one in which you wrote down the qualities
that make your villain a villain, and see if any of them match your hero’s Opposite
traits, values, or behaviors. Since the Opposite qualities and behaviors are your
Hero’s shadow, they should be personified by your villain.
If you don’t see a lot of overlap, it’s time to start thinking about how you can
incorporate the “dark sides” of your hero’s qualities into your villain. In most
cases, that means you need to think of ways in which your villain can manipulate
or force your hero to express or embrace the shadow qualities you’ve listed under
“Opposite.”
Villains Should Personify Heroes’ Shadows
A good villain is always the dark side of your hero; the greatest danger your hero
faces should be that under the right pressures and given the right circumstances,
your hero could embrace the very qualities that make the villain a villain—and at
some point in the story, she should start to do exactly that, even if she does it by
accident.
If your villain’s qualities are truly the things your hero hates most—especially if
they scare him—he’ll do anything to bring the villain down, even if that means
becoming the villain. Remember, shadow qualities are the things that infuriate
you the most, that make you the sickest. We’re drawn to fight the things we hate,
which means that your villain can become your hero’s nemesis only if the villain’s
character and behavior really arouse an obsessive drive in your hero.
The Line Between Hero and Villain is Thinner than You
Think
What makes the hero different from the villain, in the end, is choice: the hero
chooses not to become his shadow, and instead acknowledges and incorporates
his shadow qualities into the rest of his personality.
In many cases the villain is a fallen hero, someone who would have been just like
the hero if he’d been able to resist the draw of evil. Even in real life, the more we
hate someone or something, the more likely we are to become the very thing that
we hate. Consider the irony of killing someone to stop murder, as in the cases of
fanatics who kill doctors who perform abortion. There’s irony, too, in the venom of
those Christian anti***rights activists who insist that “God hates ***s.” (So
much for “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so…”) Martin Luther
King, Jr. was one of those rare heroes who never swayed from practicing what he
preached. He believed so strongly in peace he refused to hurt others in his pursuit
of it.
Consider the words of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the “father of the atomic bomb” and
the scientific director of the Manhattan Project responsible for the bombs dropped
on Hiroshima and Nagasakai, when he saw what his creations had done: “I am
become death, the destroyer of worlds.” Though some believe that the “Little Boy”
and “Big Man” bombs dropped in Japan ended WWII, even Oppenheimer viewed
the deaths as unconscionable as all the others. For years after, he was a vocal
opponent of the development of more nuclear weapons.
Examples
Fiction is filled with examples of heroes and their personified shadows, some more
obvious than others.
Star Wars
In the Star Wars saga, both Anakin (episodes 1III) and Luke Skywalker (episodes
IVVI) are seduced by the Dark Side of the Force. Anakin succumbs and embraces
his Shadow to becomes Darth Vader; he later tries to talk Luke into doing the
same thing. Though Luke is tempted, in the end he not only resists but is able to
redeem Anakin as well.
Lord of the Rings
In the Lord of the Rings trilogy, the Ring essentially draws each character’s
Shadow to the fore; Gollum is consumed by his and the evil in the Ring, and when
Frodo carries the Ring, he nearly falls prey as well.
The Matrix
In the Matrix trilogy, Neo has to become Agent Smith and acknowledge, embrace,
and overcome his own shadow to defeat the machine world.
Se7en
In the film Se7en, Mills not only becomes wrath, in so doing he becomes the killer
he’s pursued, thus falling prey to his own shadow.
The Prestige
In The Prestige, Angier becomes a murderer to avenge the accidental murder of
his wife. (You’ll notice he has to kill off his own moral side to do it.)
The Wizard of Oz
In The Wizard of Oz, the Wicked Witch is wicked because she wants revenge on
Dorothy for killing her sister; instead, Dorothy becomes a killer by killing the
witch.
Fairy Tales
Fairy tales are actually sociopolitical propaganda (see Bettelheim’s The Uses of
Enchantment), so Cinderella and Snow White epitomize the “good girl’s” moral
path while the villainesses epitomize the “bad girl’s” path.
Snow White: If Snow White embraced the kind of vanity the Queen did (her
shadow), she could become just like the Queen.
Cinderella: If Cinderella indulged herself in selfpity and a sense of
entitlement (her shadow), she could easily become like her wicked
stepsisters and stepmother.
How Heroes Fall When Villains Push
The trick to moving your hero from the side of good into the gray area between
good and evil is to have your villain push your hero’s proverbial buttons. Marriage
is the most important thing in the world to your hero, and the very concept of
divorce outrages him? The villain will try to find a way to damage the relationship
by introducing temptation or doubt into that relationship.
The hero’s most obvious reaction will be rage, and probably not just at the villain,
but also at herself and her spouse for being affected. The more the relationship is
damaged, the more hurt and anger will be involved and the less likely the couple
will be to repair that relationship, which causes the likelihood of divorce to
skyrocket. If the divorce happens, a part of the foundation on which the hero
bases her life and identity has been destroyed, and unless she’s able to
acknowledge and incorporate the new, uglier parts of herself, she’s on the way to
becoming a villain herself.
Works Cited:
Jung, Carl. The Archetypes and The Collective Unconscious (Collected Works
of C.G. Jung Vol.9 Part 1)
Lerner, Betsy. (2000). The Forest for the Trees: An Editor's Advice to Writers
. Riverhead Books: New York.
Keyes, Ralph. (1995). The Courage to Write: How Writers Transcend Fear.
Owl Books: New York.
© Carolyn Kaufman, PsyD and Archetype Writing
http://www.archetypewriting.com
You may use this article elsewhere as long as you do not change or remove any part of it,
including links.
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What Does it
Really Take to
Live Happily Ever After?
by Carolyn Kaufman, PsyD
The anima and animus may help us find passionate relationships, but research
shows that there are a lot of things that can destroy them. From a Jungian
perspective, a relationship is doomed to crumble when you’re reallife lover can’t
live up to the idealized image of the anima or animus you’ve projected.
Story characters who fall in love with a fantasy—like Scarlett O’Hara’s infatuation
with the undeserving Ashley—are doomed to be disappointed when the real,
flawed person shows through. Sometimes falling in love with one’s anima or
animus isn’t what’s really best for us. As Scarlett learns when she meets Rhett
Butler, sometimes what we need most is what infuriates us the most.
Beauty and the Beast The Three Essential Parts of Love
Paige O'Hara, Robb...
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or Buy New Attraction is an interesting thing, and it comes in different flavors. According to
Robert Sternberg, all types of love and attraction can be arranged in a triangular
shape. The points are:
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1. Liking (intimacy and sharing alone, this is “friendship”)
2. Passion (strong emotions and sexual attraction; alone, this is “infatuation”)
3. Commitment (intentions to stay in spite of difficulties; alone, this is “empty
love”)
Between liking and passion is romantic love; between liking and commitment is
companionate love; between commitment and passion is fatuous love. When you
have all three, you have "consummate love," which is essentially the strongest
and most perfect love.
Anima/animus attractions usually start
with passion—they’re that jawdropping
Gladiator
desire for someone you don’t know
Russell Crowe, Joa... well, but who just “does it” for you. The
Best Price $0.99 danger of anima/animus attractions is
or Buy New $19.10
that they’re actually projections of our
own anima/animus. As we get to know
the other person, we are either
Privacy Information disillusioned because they don’t fit the
idealized image we’re projecting onto
them, or we come to know them as
people and fall in love with them
because we also like them.
Love that includes liking, passion, and commitment is what Sternberg calls
“consummate” or perfect love. But while it’s solid and makes us feel whole, it’s
not effortless. Psychologist John Gottman researches what makes relationships
last or fail, and he can predict whether a couple will divorce with 96% accuracy.
https://web.archive.org/web/20120412233237/http://archetypewriting.com/articles/articles_ck/archetypes3_animaanimus_partIV.htm 1/3
The Four Horsemen of a Doomed Relationship
Gottman has demonstrated that the four behaviors, which he calls the “Four
Horsemen of the Apocalypse” endanger any relationship, and when combined with
an inability to “make successful repair attempts,” they doom it.
The horsemen are expressed through body language as much as through verbal
behavior; when they appear often, they predict divorce in the 80% range.
1. Criticism This goes beyond complaining about an action or behavior and
becomes an attack on the other person; the word “you” coupled with
The Seven Principles for “never” or “always” is usually an indicator. “Why don’t/can’t you ever…?” or
Making Marr... “Why do you always…?” or “You never…”
John M. Gottman, N...
Best Price $2.33
2. Contempt Disdain, disgust, sneering, contempt, demeaning mocking,
or Buy New $10.20 namecalling, eyerolling, sneering, and hostile humor.
3. Defensiveness Refusal to accept some responsibility, defensiveness
amounts to “The problem isn’t me, it’s all you.”
Privacy Information 4. Stonewalling Usually known as “the silent treatment, facing a
stonewaller is like talking to a brick wall. It doesn’t budge, and it doesn’t
discuss. 85% of the time, men are the stonewallers. Women are more likely
to criticize.
About 85% of couples who are able to make successful repair attempts by using
humor or taking a break to deescalate and regain perspective stay married.
As uncomfortable as conflict usually is, it’s necessary for a healthy relationship.
People who don’t argue aren’t communicating, and when their relationships begin
to fall apart, there’s nothing available to patch them back together.
Interestingly, the breakdown of traditional relationships has contributed to the
Why Marriages Succeed
or Fail
conflict that causes so many divorces. When men and women had strictly defined
John Gottman roles, society disdained attempts to cross the gender boundaries in real life—for
Best Price $0.01 example, the only way to get your fill of “feminine” if you were male was to spend
or Buy New $10.20
a lot of time with your wife. Modern society is still reconciling the blurring of the
gender lines, sometimes more smoothly than others, and the resulting confusion
can only really be addressed through healthy communication.
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The Syzygy: Pulling it All Together
When the anima and animus come together, they create Syzygy, a term that
represents the same kind of cohesive whole Plato
described when the two halves of sundered humans
wrap their arms around one another once again become
one.
In real life, finding and getting along with your “other
half” is difficult. Have you ever read a story in which the
characters constantly misunderstand, insult, and
The Relationship Cure
John Gottman stonewall each other, yet by the last page you’re to
Best Price $3.86 believe that they will live happily ever after with none of
or Buy New $9.88
the conflict that filled every page before the last? In real
life, it doesn’t work that way, and it shouldn’t in fiction,
either. Conflict is the engine that keeps every story
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going, and the love relationships between your characters are one of the most
important parts of that engine.
Think about it this way: There’s no way Scarlett O’Hara and Rhett Butler would
settle down without ever arguing again, but what fun would they be if they did?
Related Articles
A Primer on Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious
The Other in Fiction: Creating Wonderfully Wicked Villains
Three Dimensional Villains: Finding Your Character's Shadow
Creating Riveting Romances: The Anima/Animus Archetype Defined
Writing Romance: Three Influences on the Anima/Animus Archetype
Characterization and Conflict: Using Psychological Tests to Improve Your
Writing
Notes, References, and Further Reading
Buss, David. (2003). Evolutionary Psychology: The New Science of the
Mind, Second Edition. Allyn & Bacon
Buss, David.(2003). The Evolution of Desire: Strategies of Human Mating.
Basic Books.
Gottman, John. Various texts, most of them in the links at left. (If you use
Firefox's ad blocking plugin, like I do, you'll have to turn it off for this page.)
Forget all those other books, Gottman's are the real deal. His research is
some of the most compelling in couples and marital therapy and is often
used by therapists.
Stuff | Search
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The Perfect Hero
and the Perfect
Heroine: Dark and Light Sides of the
Anima & Animus
Every archetype has a positive and a negative side. As we saw in the Three
Dimensional Villains article, the villain is the negative aspect of the shadow, while
creativity is the positive. To further complicate things, everyone has both anima
and animus—the anima is just more evident in the male and the animus in the
female.
The Influence of the Animus: Women’s Heroes and Heroines
It’s easy to create an ideal man or woman for your stories. If you’re female, your
Man and His Symbols ideal woman is usually a Mary Sue (your idea of the perfect woman—usually
Carl Gustav Jung smart, sexy, hypercompetent, and of course devastatingly gorgeous), while your
Best Price $0.01
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idealized love interest takes the shape of your animus. If he’s dark and
dangerous, you’re projecting negative animus; if he’s sensitive and committed,
you’re projecting positive animus. In most cases, you’ll probably see both. (Please
note that many if not most writers avoid using their ideals in pure form, and
Privacy Information recognizing them is not the same thing as falling prey to them.)
Animus
The positive animus is assertive,
thoughtful, rational, powerful, courageous,
objective, honorable, and wise, qualities
embodied by characters like King Arthur,
Prince Charming, Robin Hood, Zorro, and
modern superheroes like Superman.
Female characters with strong animuses
The Evolution Of Desire are usually quite feminine, but rather than
Revised Ed... drawing strength from seduction or
David M. Buss
Best Price $4.00
manipulation, they draw it from something
or Buy New $12.08 inside, like Lois Lane (Superman), Princess
Leia (Star Wars) or Ellen Ripley (Alien).
Privacy Information The negative animus also carries shadow
qualities in that it’s ruthless, opinionated, In Disney's Sleeping Beauty, the villainess
destructive, brutal, reckless, and cold in Maleficent reflects Prince Charming's negative
the way Bluebeard, Harry Potter’s anima. Witches and hags often represent
negative animas.
Voldemort, and Superman’s Lex Luthor
are. Female villains like Cruella deVil,
Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the
Cuckoo’s Nest, and the Wicked Witch of In the classic tale of Beauty and the Beast
the West all have strong negative (Disney's version used here) , the Beast
animuses. reflects Belle's negative animus. Negative
animuses are often animalistic monsters of
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According to Jungian scholar MarieLouise
Von Franz:
The male personification of the unconscious
in the woman — the animus — exhibits both
good and bad aspects, as does the anima in
man. But the animus does not so often
appear in the form of an erotic fantasy or
mood [as the anima often does to men]…
even in a woman who is outwardly very
feminine the animus can be an equally hard
and inexorable power. One may suddenly
Evolutionary Psychology find oneself up against something in a
David Buss woman that is obstinate, cold and
Best Price $3.05
or Buy New
completely inaccessible. some sort; his transformation into a prince
represents the heroine's integration of her
The Influence of the Anima: Men’s animus.
Heroes and Heroines
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If you’re male, your ideal man is usually a Marty Stu (your idea of the perfect
male—clever, powerful, handsome, and supercapable) and your idealized love
interest is your anima. If she’s a femme fatale, you’re projecting negative anima;
if she’s lady, you’re projecting positive anima.
Anima
The positive anima provides guidance and is patient, compassionate, tender,
nurturing, intuitive, lifegiving, loving, and considerate, embodied by mythological
priestesses and sibyls as well as characters like Snow White, the Virgin Mary,
Peter Pan’s Wendy, Beatrice in Dante’s Paradiso, and Belle in Beauty and the
Sleeping Beauty Beast. In stories, anima figures teach heroes to recognize these qualities in
Mary Costa, Bill S...
Best Price $6.18
themselves: think Maria in the Sound of Music, Cosette in Les Miserables, and
or Buy New $39.99 Arwen in The Lord of the Rings. Male characters with positive animas have heart
without being weak, like Christian from Moulin Rouge, Cameron from 10 Things I
Hate About You, and Wesley from the Princess Bride.
Privacy Information The negative anima carries shadow qualities in that it’s moody, uncertain, vain,
catty, dangerously tempting, insecure, overbearing, and hypersensitive,
embodied by characters like the Greek Sirens, the German Lorelei or the Slavonic
Ruskala, wicked witches and wicked stepmothers, the vain Queen in Snow White,
or Maleficent in Disney’s Sleeping Beauty. In stories, these women are often
difficult or dangerous but often alluring, like Mystique in the XMen films or the
Dark Phoenix in the XMen comics. Male characters with negative animas are
moody, unpredictable, and dangerous like Commodus in the film Gladiator.
Antiheroes
Some characters have both positive and
negative aspects of the anima or
animus, creating antiheroes, flawed
heroes, and sympathetic villains.
In the film Terminator 2, Sarah
Connor’s positive animus is evident in
her heroic determination to save her
son and the world, but her negative
animus is also strong in that her
Lucilla and Commodus methods are often brutal and heartless.
In Gladiator, as noted above,
Commodus displays a strong negative anima in that he’s petulant and emotional,
but he’s also drawn strongly to the kind of positive anima he can’t find in himself,
embodied by his sister Lucilla.
Gone with the Wind’s Scarlett O’Hara has a strong positive animus that displays
determination, independence, and protectiveness, but she also has a lot of
unpleasant anima qualities—she’s given to histrionics and manipulative ploys.
Related Articles
A Primer on Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious
What Does it Really Take to Live Happily Ever After?
Writing
Von Franz, M. L. (1964). The Process of Individuation. In (Ed.) Carl Jung,
Man and His Symbols, p. 198. New York: Laurel
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Writing Romance:
Three Influences
on the Anima/Animus Archetype
Both the anima and animus are influenced by three things: biology, sociocultural
environment, and personal experience.
Biology
Reams of paper have been used to argue
which sex is superior to the other, but
research demonstrates that men and
women are actually equal in terms of their
psychological and cognitive (thinking,
intelligence) skills—except for one thing.
Romeo and Juliet Men significantly outperform women on
William Shakespear... spatial ability ( i.e. they conceptualize
Best Price $0.01
or Buy New $5.99 distance, speed, spin, direction, and area
better than women, which is believed to
have developed because men needed to be
able to hit exactly what they aimed at when
Privacy Information they threw spears at prey).
From an evolutionary perspective, the
differences men and women do have
developed because they faced different
adaptive problems. The principle of natural
selection says that any genetically
influenced characteristic or behavior that Bev Dolittle's Runs with Thunder
contributes to the survival of oneself and
one's offspring will eventually become more
common in the general population.
For example, imagine all of the dangers our
The Complete Fairy Tales
of Charles ... ancestors faced: predators, disease, famine,
Charles Perrault, ... and long cold winters, just to name a few.
Best Price $8.17
or Buy New $18.48 Now let's pretend that there are four types
of men in this ancient world: men who are
fast, men who are strong, men who are
Privacy Information
smart, and men who have none of these
characteristics. When faced with a natural
predator like a bear, the fast men may be
able to outrun it, the strong men may be
able to fight it off, the smart men may be
able to outwit it, and the men with none of
these characteristics probably don't have a
Bev Dolittle's Music in the Wind
prayer.
Since the men who are fast, smart, or
strong live longer, they have more years to produce offspring; they also are better
able to hunt down and kill deer, buffalo, and other animals that provide food and
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furs. Men who then took these food and furs to their wives and children were more
likely to have families that survived cold winters, thereby insuring that the man's
genetic material stayed in the gene pool. Men who had two or more of the above
characteristics (fast, smart, or strong) were more likely to become renowned
warriors who led tribes and were therefore able not only to protect, feed, and warm
their families, but who also received additional resources and protection from the
warriors who served under them.
Now think about the women in this same tribe. The women were often unable to
hunt or fight off predators alone, so they needed men to protect them and bring
them resources to aid survival. (Imagine a woman who's 8 months pregnant
chasing down a deer or fighting off a cougar and you'll see what I mean—feminism
Arthurian Romances
Chrétien de Troyes... works much better in a world that equalizes physical differences.) If these women
Best Price $0.01 were attracted to men who had neither strength nor speed nor intelligence, they
or Buy New $10.88
were more likely to be left unprotected and without food and warmth; therefore,
they and their children were more likely to die prematurely. Likewise, women who
were uninterested in caring for their offspring were likely to lose those children,
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thereby removing their own genetic material from the gene pool. (With our modern
perspective, we tend to want to imagine these women and children getting
assistance from the rest of the tribe, but when food was so scarce survival was in
question, each family would have had to put its own needs first.)
Because men's hunting and fighting ability was so important, men convert energy to
muscle more easily than women, experience faster healing of wounds and bruises,
have fewer nerve endings in their skin (which makes their bodies less sensitive to
touch and pain), and have excellent spatial skills (ability to think in three
dimensions) that helped them shoot arrows and throw spears. Since they could
never be absolutely sure that the children their partners carried were theirs, jealousy
made them protect their wives from other men's sexual access. Because only
young, healthy women can have babies, men who were attracted to these kinds of
Essential Classic
Romances
women were more likely to pass on their genetic material than men who were
Humphrey Bogart, I... attracted infertile diseased women!
Best Price $15.00
or Buy New
Women convert energy into stored fat, which is
necessary to carry healthy offspring (women who
are very thin often lose the ability to have children;
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some scientists believe that industrialized nations
have higher infertility rates because women strive
to keep their body fat and weight so low). They also
have a stronger resistance to infection, have more
acute senses of vision, hearing, smell, and taste so
they can take better care of their children and find
dangers like rotten food.
Women are better at reading body language and
emotional expressions, which helped them figure
out which men were truthful about being
committed (this is actually why women analyze
Man and His Symbols their relationships to death and men don't). They
Carl Gustav Jung also have stronger verbal skills, which helped them
Best Price $0.01
or Buy New $7.99 get along in the community with other women, and
better verbalize the need for help or medicinal
remedies. Women also tend to be attracted to
strong, masculine men who are of high status and
Privacy Information The most memorable, most compelling have plenty of resources. This is why young,
fictional romances are those that rely attractive women often end up with rich older men.
on archetypes. George Lucas relied on
Joseph Campbell's explanations of
These differences have been encoded into our
Jungian archetypes when creating the
genes at the physical level, but Jung lived decades
original Star Wars trilogy.
before David Buss' extensive research into this kind
of evolutionary psychology. What that means is
that Jung probably would have believed the idealized "masculine" or "feminine" was
imprinted on the "psychic DNA" of the collective unconscious rather than the literal,
physical DNA of our bodies.
Rather than seeing that as negation of the anima/animus archetype, we have to
remember that the archetypes are psychological echoes of different parts of human
nature, many of which are influenced by biology. The persona (putting on a "face"
others will like) is underlain by a social instinct that led our ancestors to develop
"packs" to fight off predators; the shadow is underlain by aggressive and often
sexual instincts; and the anima and animus are psychic manifestations of biological
attraction and mating instincts.
The Evolution Of Desire
Sociocultural Environment
Revised Ed...
David M. Buss
Different cultures value different things. Growing up, we're
Best Price $4.00
or Buy New $12.08 indoctrinated into our culture by learning that, for example,
N is for Nurse (who's female), D is for Doctor (who's male),
and T is for teacher (who's female). And just try finding an
Privacy Information advertisement that has a little boy using a toy vacuum or a
little girl in a room with footballs on her sheets.
Some people argue that gender is a social construction—
that is, the greatest differences between men and women
exist because we act like they're there. Myths, fairy tales,
religion, art, and all of the other cultural images to which
we're exposed help us build our understanding of what is
male and what is female.
For example, Cinderella, the Virgin Mary, Judy Garland,
Marilyn Monroe, Katherine Hepburn, and Angelina Jolie all
teach us different things about what it means to be
Evolutionary Psychology
feminine. Likewise, King Arthur, James Dean, Steve
David Buss
Best Price $3.05 McQueen, Al Pacino, and Adam Sandler all teach us
or Buy New different things about what it means to be masculine.
Individual Experience
coloring book images from
Privacy Information www.homeschooling.about.com
Both anima and animus are affected by the relationships we To be fair, many of their
saw between our primary caregivers (traditionally the images are better balanced;
mother and father), and the interactions we have with the I chose ones that illustrated
same and opposite sex. As we grow, each of us forms a kind my point.
of blueprint of how the world works. We incorporate things
like our parents' relationships and values, and their beliefs about relationships and
sex.
These caregivers serve as doorways to the masculine and feminine in the collective
unconscious. We come to understand what it means to be masculine (information
contained in the animus) through our male caregivers and what it means to be
feminine (information stored in the anima) through the feminine qualities embodied
by our female caregivers.

Related Articles
The Perfect Hero and the Perfect Heroine: Dark and Light Sides of the Anima &
Animus
What Does it Really Take to Live Happily Ever After? A look at the
psychological research on what makes or breaks romantic relationships.
Buss, David. (2003). Evolutionary Psychology: The New Science of the Mind,
Second Edition. Allyn & Bacon
Buss, David.(2003). The Evolution of Desire: Strategies of Human Mating.
Basic Books.
Gottman, John. Various texts, most of them in the links at left. (If you use
Firefox's ad blocking plugin, like I do, you'll have to turn it off for this page.)
Forget all those other books, Gottman's are the real deal. His research is some
of the most compelling in couples and marital therapy and is often used by
therapists.
Von Franz, M. L. (1964). The Process of Individuation. In (Ed.) Carl Jung, Man
and His Symbols, p. 198. New York: Laurel
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Creating Riveting
Romances: The
Anima/Animus Archetype Defined
Psychological research shows a mere three things are crucial
to human happiness, and one of them is love.*
Gods and goddesses of love, passion, fertility, and even
marital fidelity appear in the earliest historic writings, and
many of the stories that have endured best feature male
and female heroes' passionate love affairs. Famous
examples include Chrétien de Troyes' tale of Queen
Guenevere's love affair with Lancelot (c. 1170);
Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet (1597); and Charles
Perrault's Sleeping Beauty (1697).
Romeo and Juliet
William Shakespear... This basic human need for romantic,
Best Price $0.01 sexual, and marital connections is
or Buy New $5.99
reflected in Carl Jung's anima/animus
archetype. In essence, Jung believed
there is a psychological construct in
Privacy Information males (the anima) that creates a
strong draw to the feminine as it's
embodied in real women, and a
matching construct in females (the
Romeo & Juliet animus) that draws them to men. One of the best visual
by Francesco Hayez metaphors for the concept is the yinyang; each of the
contrasting halves, one of which refers (in part) to the
female and the other to the male, is embedded with a disc of
the opposite sex's color.
Losing and Finding One's "Other Half"
The Complete Fairy Tales "Chemistry," as we now call it, has long been thought of as the need for and
of Charles ...
Charles Perrault, ...
recognition of your "other half," and as Jung saw it, this recognition was prompted by
Best Price $8.17 the anima or animus. Plato's Symposium, written in 360 BC, provides a wellloved
or Buy New $18.48 explanation for how the need initially developed.
The original human nature was not like the present, but different. The primeval man was
Privacy Information round, his back and sides forming a circle; and he had four hands and four feet, one head
with two faces, looking opposite. He could walk upright as men now do, backwards or
forwards as he pleased, and he could also roll over and over at a great pace, turning on
his four hands and four feet, eight in all, like tumblers going over and over with their legs in
the air; this was when he wanted to run fast... [The sexes were not two as they are now,
but originally three in number; there was man (made of 2 male parts), woman (made of 2
female parts), and the union of the two (one male and one female part). But the primeval
humans] made an attack upon the gods [and Zeus said]: "Methinks I have a plan which
will humble their pride and improve their manners; men shall continue to exist, but I will cut
them in two. [Apollo] gave a turn to the face and pulled the skin from the sides all over that
which in our language is called the belly, which he fastened in a knot (the same which is
called the navel).
After the division the two parts of man, each desiring his other half, came together, and
https://web.archive.org/web/20120413032934/http://www.archetypewriting.com/articles/articles_ck/archetypes3_animaanimus_partI.htm 1/3
throwing their arms about one another, entwined in mutual embraces, longing to grow into
one. Each of us when separated is always looking for his other half..And when one meets
with his other half, the actual half of himself, the pair are lost in an amazement of love and
friendship and intimacy, and would not be out of the other's sight, as I may say, even for a
moment: these are the people who pass their whole lives together. And the reason is that
human nature was originally one and we were a whole, and the desire and pursuit of the
whole is called love.
What all of this means is that, just like in real life, your characters should be attracted
to their love interests for a reason. The potential love interest's traits and behavior
must resonate with your hero because they somehow make him or her more whole.
Arthurian Romances Many writers create love interests that reflect their own
Chrétien de Troyes... ideas of the "perfect" (or at least extremely attractive) man
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or Buy New $10.88 or woman; the danger is that sometimes we're actually
creating love interests for ourselves rather than for our
characters. We may assume that everyone would be
attracted to the same things we are, and that little
Privacy Information explanation is needed to justify why our heroes and
heroines would fall for each other. But if your hero or
heroine is so universally appealing, 1) Why hasn't s/he
been snatched up yet and 2) Why has s/he fallen for this
love interest? If the answer to 1 is that s/he's been waiting
for the "right one" to come along, 2 is even more
important. Also remember that in real life, the people we're
Scarlett & Ashley
most drawn to aren't always the ones who are best for us—
sometimes we're so focused on a bad choice that we don't
even see Mr. or Ms. Soulmate when s/he wanders by. Scarlett O'Hara's obsession with
Ashley is doomed to failure because he can never be what she needs.
Essential Classic
And of course, sometimes the people we're most drawn to won't have us, because
Romances while they could meet our needs, we don't or can't meet theirs. In the film Gladiator,
Humphrey Bogart, I...
Commodus is drawn to his sister Lucilla because she represents the purity and
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or Buy New kindness he lacks, but he is too flawed for her to truly love in return, even as a brother.
The Anima, the Animus, and the Double
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Jung was decidedly heterosexual, so he didn't address *** and *** relationships in the
way that the Plato did. (Some speculate that his break from Freud may have been
caused in part by Freud's alleged interest in him.) Unfortunately, that means that the
anima/animus archetype is difficult to apply to ***/*** relationships; however, Jung
did believe that everyone has both anima and animus—the anima is just more evident
in the male because it's so different from his everyday masculinity, and likewise the
animus in the female. Some modern theorists argue that an archetype they call the
Double is responsible for committed samesex partnerships.
The Double draws us into all relationships with individuals of the same sex, which can
range from platonic friendships to love relationships. In other words, the Double helps
Man and His Symbols us find our best samesex friends as well as love our brothers and fathers (if we're
Carl Gustav Jung male) and our sisters and mothers (if we're female). Meanwhile, the anima (for men)
Best Price $0.01
or Buy New $7.99 and the animus (for women) help us find our oppositesex mates. For those people
who were metaphorically cut apart from a samesex other half, the Double takes over
this responsibility as well.
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Related Articles
The Perfect Hero and the Perfect Heroine: Dark and Light Sides of the Anima &
Animus
* The other two are a/ satisfying work and b/ personality, most notably the qualities of
high selfesteem, extraversion, and optimism.
A nice discussion of the Double is available at
http://www.aislingmagazine.com/aislingmagazine/articles/TAM24/TheDouble.html
Plato’s Symposium is available in multiple places online, but I usually use
http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/symposium.html
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3/5/2015 A Primer on Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious
http://archetypewriting.com/articles/articles_ck/archetypes1.htm Go MAR APR OCT
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A Primer on
Archetypes and
the Collective Unconscious
by Carolyn Kaufman

Part I of the Archetypes Series
A lot of modern theory on what makes a good story is based on the work of Carl
Jung and Joseph Campbell, both of whom were fascinated with mythology and
religion. Several writing books have capitalized the Jung/Campbell concepts, most
notably Chris Vogler's The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers. Others
45 Master Characters include Victoria Lynn Schmidt's 45 Master Characters: Mythic Models for Creating
Victoria Lynn Schm... Original Characters and The Complete Writer's Guide to Heroes and Heroines
Best Price $2.71
or Buy New
by Tami D. Cowden, Caro LaFever, and Sue Viders.
So where did Jung come up with this archetype stuff,
anyhow?
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Jung was Sigmund Freud's protege, but when Freud, who was Jewish, fled to
London after the Nazi occupation, Jung realized that he didn't agree with a lot of
what Freud had taught him. While Freud was obsessed with sexual development
and fantasies, Jung was noticing that people around the world told stories about
the same kinds of heroes fighting the same kinds of battles with the same kinds
of villains.
In an attempt to understand what could possibly link societies that had had no
contact for thousands and more likely millions of years, Jung developed the
concept of the collective unconscious.
The Complete Writer's
Guide to Heroe...
Tami D. Cowden, Ca...
The Collective Unconscious and Quantum
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or Buy New $11.66
Physics
The collective unconscious is like psychic DNA: it contains "inherited" psychic
Privacy Information material that links us not only to other humans in the present but also to our
ancestors from the past. According to Jung's theory, though each of us appears to
function independently, in actuality we're all tapped into the same global mind.
Part of what makes the idea so intriguing is that other people have come up with
similar concepts, albeit from different perspectives. For example, neurologist Karl
Pribram and Manhattan Project physicist David Bohm's holonomic brain theory is
rooted in quantum physics.
Holonomic Brain Theory: The Collective Unconscious as a
Hologram
Essentially, if a holographic image is cut up into pieces, each of the pieces still
holds the whole hologram. (So if you had a hologram of an apple and cut it into
pieces, you'd just have a bunch of smaller apples. Information about the image is
https://web.archive.org/web/20120413135602/http://archetypewriting.com/articles/articles_ck/archetypes1.htm 1/4
in all different parts of the hologram.)
Empirical research has demonstrated that the brain is the same way: memories
aren't localized (stored in one place); rather, they're spread across the associative
areas of the brain. Associative areas aren't set aside for particular functions like
speech production, language comprehension, and memory encoding; instead,
they're responsible for all "miscellaneous" tasks.
The Writers Journey If you cut out a piece of the brain (don't try this at home, even if your name is
Christopher Vogler... Hannibal), say because you're removing a tumor, the patient never forgets Aunt
Best Price $1.75
or Buy New Cindy but remembers Uncle Dave. The patient may temporarily or permanently
lose certain functions, since some functions are dependent on a particular part of
the brain, but assuming you don't remove the entire cerebral cortex (the gray
stuff most people think of as the brain), knowledge can't be cut out. Each
Privacy Information associative area seems to contain echoes of all of the information.
So if your brain acts like a selfcontained hologram, the reasoning goes, then isn't
it possible your consciousness is actually a piece of a much larger hologram of
overall human consciousness; that is, of the collective unconscious?
The Archetypes
The Holographic Jung believed that the way to learn what was in the collective unconscious was to
Universe watch for the appearance of archetypes: patterns that spontaneously appear over
Michael Talbot
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and over around the world.
or Buy New
The most obvious place to find archetypes is in stories. The righteous warrior, the
smartcracking sidekick, the villain who must be overcome, and the love interest
Privacy Information are all archetypes. Plot patterns can also be archetypal—the humble birth and
prophesied journey of the hero, for example.

Each archetype is referred to by the purpose it serves. Though there are many,
we'll talk here about some of the most familiar.
Wise Old Man or Wise Old Woman
The Wise Old Man or Wise Old Woman is a mentor.
In the original Star Wars films the Wise Old Man archetype was represented by
both Yoda and Obiwan. In Disney fairy tales this is the Fairy Godmother, like the
The Hero with a
Thousand Faces one who gets Cinderella ready for the ball. In the Lord of the Rings saga it's
Joseph Campbell Gandalf, in the Matrix it's the Oracle, and in Harry Potter it's Dumbledore. In
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or Buy New
dramas like Good Will Hunting or Finding Forrester, the wise mentor would be
Robin Williams' Sean Maguire or Sean Connery's Mr. Forrester, respectively.
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Anima and Animus
The anima is the feminine side of a masculine character (almost always male)
and the animus the male side of a feminine character (almost always female).
In other words, the anima or animus represents the qualities of the opposite sex:
sensitivity in men, for example, or power in women. (Yes, it's sexist, but as Jung
died in 1961, he never quite made it to the feminist revolution.) The concept is
nearly identical to that of the yinyang in Taoism—an equal and opposite
harmonious balance.
Usually the anima or animus is represented by a love interest. Old romantic
paintings like those of the preRaphaelite period are great examples. In them,
nymphs and sirens seduce soldiers and sailors to enviable deaths, and knights in
shining armor rescue beautiful damsels. The knights are the damsels' animuses;
the damsels are the knights' animas.
In modern fiction, Harry Potter's Hermione is an anima, and Princess Leia and
Padme are animas in Star Wars. Though Elizabeth Swann is Will Turner's anima in
the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, and he her animus, there's some muddying
of the concept, since he's a more sensitive modern hero, and she a more active
modern heroine.
The Archetypes and The The whole anima/animus idea gets tough when characters break type, something
Collective Un...
C. G. Jung, R.F.C....
that's happening more and more in modern storytelling. For example, in the Lord
Best Price $15.24 of the Rings films, Sam is Frodo's anima, even though they're both males. Sam is
or Buy New $21.75 the sensitive, concerned caretaker to Frodo's determined hero. Lara Croft's love
interests are her animas, because she doesn't need an animus—she's already
plenty tough! Farscape's Crichton and Aeryn are a nice example of the liquidity of
Privacy Information the anima/animus, because she starts as his animus and he her anima, but as
the series progresses he gets harder and she softer, they switch into more
traditional roles.
The Shadow
The shadow is the dark side of human nature, and while it's usually represented
by a villain, it can also be represented by an antihero.
Archetypal Dimensions of
the Psyche Famous villains that nicely personify shadow include Darth Vader (Star Wars),
MarieLouise von F... Agent Smith (the Matrix), Voldemort and the deatheaters (Harry Potter), and
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or Buy New $25.60
most wicked witches, like Maleficent in Disney's Sleeping Beauty. Antiheroes
include the Crow and, arguably, Batman.
In truly great fiction, the villain is actually the dark side or shadow of the hero.
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This ups the stakes considerably, because the hero's weaknesses become the
villain's strengths. The villain is what the hero could become if he fails in his
quest, or worse, the qualities that could destroy the hero if he lets them.
Since George Lucas relied heavily on Campbell's work in the creation of the
original Star Wars movies, the Luke/Vader dichotomy is a nice example. Like the
two sides of a coin, they're irrevocably connected opposites.
The Crichton/Scorpius dichotomy in Farscape is another great example, since
both characters reach a point where they can't really function without each other.
Likewise, Gollum represents what Frodo could become if he falls prey to the lure
of the Ring, and the excitement of the Harry Potter saga must end when he
reaches the final showdown with his own shadow: Voldemort. The Evil Queen in
Snow White is corrupted by the Shadow quality of envy, placing her in stark
contrast to Snow White's purity and beauty, while Cinderella's Wicked Stepmother
and Stepsisters could be said to represent greed and an abuse of power in
contrast to Cinderella’s gentle kindness and ability to take joy in small things.
Though in stories the archetypes are always fragmented into individual
characters, in real life each of us carries qualities of each archetype. (If we didn't,
we wouldn't be able to relate to characters who represent the archetypes we were
missing.) You have an anima or animus, just like you have a shadow and a wise
part that knows the best answer, if only you can learn to listen to it.
Next Article: Part II: Three Dimensional Villains: Finding Your Character's Shadow
Related Articles
Three Dimensional Villains: Finding Your Character's Shadow
Writing
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3/5/2015 Archetype: The Fiction Writers' Guide to Psychology
http://archetypewriting.com/articles/psychology/bodyLang.htm Go FEB APR OCT
36 captures 12
13 Nov 08 28 Sep 13 2010 2012 2013

Using Body
Language in
Writing
by JJ Cooper
When I was in the Military, I spent some time teaching Body Language Analysis in
interviewing and interrogation. This involved reading the subject's body language
as well as using the interviewer's/interrogator's own body language to get optimal
results.
Research suggests that information is passed via three elements:
Verbal 7% (what is said)
The Definitive Book of Vocal 38% (how it is said)
Body Language...
Barbara Pease, All... Non verbal 55% (facial expression, posture, gestures)
Best Price $10.95
or Buy New $15.99 In normal conversation, the verbal element is primarily used for passing the facts
or opinions that a speaker wishes to convey to the listener. The vocal element is
used to support the words; in other words, it includes things like intonation and
Privacy Information emphasis on particular words.
As you can see, the nonverbal component, which is more commonly referred to
as body language, is the single largest component of persontoperson
communication. Each gesture is like a single word, and a word may have different
meanings. It is only when the word is used in a sentence with other words that its
meaning is fully understood. Gestures come in sentences/clusters and may
indicate the truth about a person's feelings or attitudes.
What Every BODY is We are generally unaware that posture, body movements and gestures can tell
Saying
Joe Navarro, Marvi... one story while the voice may be telling another.
Best Price $10.35
or Buy New $12.98 So how can writers transfer this information into their writing? Firstly, using body
language indicators is a great way of 'showing' the information instead of 'telling'
the reader what is happening. When using dialogue, accompany it with some sort
Privacy Information of physical movements. Let's face it, do you just sit or stand still when talking to
someone? Do you stand closer to someone you are more comfortable with? Do
you touch the arm of someone you care for just before speaking with them?
A word of warning though. Don't have a physical movement at the end of each
dialogue tag. Remember, everything we write must add value to the story
somehow.

About the Author:
JJ Cooper spent seventeen years in the Australian Army, deploying on two tours of duty in East
Timor and one tour to the Middle East in 2003. He specialised in Human Intelligence, including
interrogation (as a practitioner and instructor). Since leaving the military, he spends every spare
moment on his passion for writing. JJ's debut thriller, Interrogated, will be published by Random
House Australia in 2009. Visit his blog at http://jjcooperaus.blogspot.com.
Related Articles:
https://web.archive.org/web/20120412193613/http://archetypewriting.com/articles/psychology/bodyLang.htm 1/2
3/5/2015 Archetype: The Fiction Writers' Guide to Psychology
Body Language Cheat Sheet for Writers
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https://web.archive.org/web/20120412193613/http://archetypewriting.com/articles/psychology/bodyLang.htm 2/2
3/5/2015 Gathering Information from Characters: Types of Questions
http://archetypewriting.com/articles/psychology/questionTypes.htm Go FEB APR OCT
36 captures 12
21 Nov 08 28 Sep 13 2010 2012 2013

Gathering
Information from
Characters: Types of Questions
by JJ Cooper
Regardless of the occupation or personality of your characters, it is an advantage
if they know how to construct questions to elicit the information they require. This
doesn't just pertain to detectives or journalists (although I would argue many
journalists could use a course in questioning techniques). It can be used by
everyone and anyone to gain some information.
Let's look at types of questions:
The Definitive Book of Closed question. A closed question generally means an obstructive person or
Body Language...
Barbara Pease, All... shy person will only provide a yes or no answer if given the choice. It is what it is
Best Price $10.95 closed. It may be used effectively when leading someone to a point before
or Buy New $15.99
reuqiring detail or when confirming detail. For example: Did you kill the maid? The
answer can only be yes or no. There is no room for expansion because you
haven't asked for expansion.
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Open question. The best type of question to ask in order to get the other person
talking and ideal as a first question to get the other person to explain their story.
For example: Descibe in detail how you killed the maid. You see how there is no
room for a simple yes or no answer.
Leading questions. Most favoured by journalists. Personally, not my favourite
because they lead a subject onto a topic that you want to hear about. Unlike
probing (which I'll get to), these do not allow for a conversation to naturally, or
What Every BODY is
Saying
skillfully, flow by letting the subject tell their story. For example: You said an
Joe Navarro, Marvi... email to the maid that you desired her; and it is apparent that this may be
Best Price $10.35 questionable intentions in the context of her murder who do you think killed
or Buy New $12.98
her?
Probing questions. As opposed to leading questions, their is no accusatory
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conotations regarding an incident. It's not going as far as a leading question. You
get the subject on track and then follow up with an open question. For example:
You said in an email to the maid that you desired her what bearing do you think
this has on the case?
Mirror questions. Simply put you repeat the previous answer given and then
ask another. This should not be overused because it is an obvious attempt at
buying time to ask the next question. For example: Subject: I have no
recollection of that night. Interviewer: So, you have no recollection of that night,
why?
Multiple choice. Another one for the journalists amongst us. No need to explain
in detail here. The main problem is that you must know what choices are
available. By that I mean if the reason for something happening is outside of the
choices you are given, then you are showing your hand that you don't know. For
example: Do you prefer killing with a knife or a gun?
https://web.archive.org/web/20120412235152/http://archetypewriting.com/articles/psychology/questionTypes.htm 1/2
3/5/2015 Gathering Information from Characters: Types of Questions
This information may help when considering how your characters will ask
questions. Although the examples I provided are basic, I hope they put the type
of questions in context.

About the Author:
JJ Cooper spent seventeen years in the Australian Army, deploying on two tours of duty in East
Timor and one tour to the Middle East in 2003. He specialised in Human Intelligence, including
interrogation (as a practitioner and instructor). Since leaving the military, he spends every spare
moment on his passion for writing. JJ's debut thriller, Interrogated, will be published by Random
House Australia in 2009. Visit his blog at http://jjcooperaus.blogspot.com.
Stuff | Search
https://web.archive.org/web/20120412235152/http://archetypewriting.com/articles/psychology/questionTypes.htm 2/2
3/5/2015 Characterization and Conflict: Using Psychological Tests to Improve Your Writing
http://www.archetypewriting.com/articles/articles_ck/MBTI_PMAI.htm Go FEB APR OCT
43 captures 13
23 Apr 08 28 Sep 13 2010 2012 2013

Characterization
and Conflict:
Using Psychological Tests to Improve
Your Writing
If you’ve ever felt like you’re stuck in a writing rut because your characters are
blending together, the conflict has stalled, or you're just not sure how to show a
character's true colors, your psychological makeup may be getting in your story’s
way.
Put simply, stories need conflict, and to make that conflict convincing the writer
must be able to see why two people would wholeheartedly believe completely
different things.
What Story Are You Meanwhile, the writer's psyche is doing what human psyches do — anything and
Living? everything to simplify difficult issues into blackandwhite, onesided terms. The
Carol S. Pearson, ...
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sole purpose of defense mechanisms like denial (ignoring a problem) and
or Buy New $24.95 rationalization (finding a reason that something notok you did is ok) is to keep us
in agreement with ourselves.
Privacy Information So how can you make conflict between characters convincing when your psyche
is working so hard to keep you from seeing things from multiple perspectives?
Seeing Both Sides
The solution has two parts.
1. Know Yourself
First, Writer, you must know yourself. Only then can you see when you are
unintentionally contaminating your characters with your beliefs and attitudes.
Awakening the Heroes
Within
2. Know How Your Characters Are Different From Yourself
Carol S. Pearson
Best Price $0.55 Second, you must know how your characters are different from yourself — and
or Buy New $12.79
allow yourself to write about people who believe things that are very different from
you, even if it’s a little uncomfortable. (And if you're doing it right, from time to
time it should be uncomfortable, because through your antagonist you'll be
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arguing for something you don't believe.)
Using Psychological Tests
The good news is, there are some easytouse tools to help you do these two
things.
Why Psychological Tests?
https://web.archive.org/web/20120413030842/http://www.archetypewriting.com/articles/articles_ck/MBTI_PMAI.htm 1/4
Psychological professionals use psychological tests to identify thinking and
behavioral patterns because particular thoughts, ideas, attitudes, beliefs, and
behaviors tend to consistently cluster together. Diagnoses are simply thinking
and behavior patterns that tend to cause problems. The categories (aka
diagnoses) allow professionals to quickly communicate which pattern they’re
dealing with, and identify treatments.
Writers can use some of the same tools psychologists do to explore and
understand personality patterns among characters. We’ll look at two tools, often
called instruments, here briefly. We'll explore their use in more depth in another
article.
Please Understand Me II
David Keirsey The MyersBriggs (MBTI) and the Keirsey
Best Price $3.51
or Buy New $12.73 Temperament Sorter
The MyersBriggs Type Instrument (MBTI) and the Keirsey Temperament Sorter
Privacy Information
(similar enough that they’re often confused with one another) are probably the
most familiar to people, since they’re often given during corporate and
teambuilding seminars. Both are based on Carl Jung’s “psychological types:”
Extraverted (E) vs. Introverted (I)
Intuitive (N) vs. Sensing (S)
Thinking (T) vs. Feeling (F)
Judging (J) vs. Perceiving (P)
When you take a test like the MBTI or the Keirsey, you end up with a code like
ESTP or INFJ that indicates your preferred approach to dealing with people, work,
and ideas.
The Complete Writer's
Guide to Heroe...
Information Provided
Tami D. Cowden, Ca...
Best Price $3.62 In Please Understand Me II, Keirsey offers information on each temperament
or Buy New $11.81
type’s:
Word usage
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Selfimage
Social roles
Personal values
Intellectual approach
Approach to learning new skills
Vocational and educational interests
Tendencies in viewing others, the future, and the past
Availability and Cost
Thanks to the popularity of this approach, you can easily find free online tests
45 Master Characters (some better than others). The Humanmetrics version at is good, or you can
Victoria Lynn Schm...
take the official Keirsey at or buy a copy of Keirsey’s book, Please Understand Me
Best Price $2.71
or Buy New II: Temperament, Character, Intelligence. The downside of any approach other
than borrowing or buying Keirsey’s book is that you’re going to get a lot of
information from a lot of different sources, some of which isn’t very reliable.
Privacy Information Unfortunately, the official website doesn’t look like it’s been redesigned since
1997, and the information is poorly organized; however, it does use famous
people as "case examples" of the different personality types.
The Bottom Line
The MBTI and the Keirsey are easy to find and familiar enough that most people
will be able to get good basic results.
However, they're most typically used to help people figure out what kinds of jobs
they’ll be good at, so you’re going to run into a lot of vocational information. If
you decide to delve into Keirsey’s book, you’ll get an overwhelming amount of
information in paragraph format, probably enough to keep you from writing
anything for quite some time to come.
The PearsonMarr Archetype Indicator (PMAI)
A more direct approach, and one that is inspired more directly by archetypes, is
the PearsonMarr Archetype Indicator (PMAI).
Carol Pearson, who has written a number of books expanding on modern
archetypal theory — her focus is on using archetypes to influence and improve
people’s lives — decided to develop an instrument similar to the MBTI to help
people identify archetypal influences in their lives. She teamed up with
psychologist Hugh Marr to create the PearsonMarr Archetype Indicator (PMAI).
Like the MBTI, the PMAI is intended to increase understanding and
communication among people. The PMAI is unique in that it overlaps with
narrative theory, a psychological approach that suggests that we live “storied
lives.” In other words, our choices, beliefs, and behaviors are guided by the
stories we tell ourselves about our lives and the world. Because we all tell
ourselves slightly different stories, we all see the world in slightly different ways.
Information Provided
The PMAI is easier to use than the MBTI and Keirsey, especially for writers,
because after you identify strong personality tendencies (“archetypes”), you can
look each one up to find concise bullet points that will help you build or elaborate
on your character, including
Archetypal plot
Imagery
Strengths (“gifts”)
Spiritual, social, and natural expressions
How they are as leaders
Shadow qualities of the personality type
How they want to be seen
What draws their attention
How they deal with problems
What people who don’t have this quality are like
If you've used books like Victoria Lynn Schmidt's 45 Master Characters: Mythic
Models for Creating Original Characters or Tami Cowden and Caro LeFevre's The
Complete Writer's Guide to Heroes and Heroines, you'll find Pearson and Marr's
workbook, What Story Are You Living?: A Workbook and Guide to Interpreting
Results from the PearsonMarr Archetype Indicator a great companion.
If you want to get detail at the level of the Keirsey, you can just get a copy of
Awakening the Heroes Within: Twelve Archetypes to Help Us Find Ourselves and
Transform Our World, which describes the different archetypal personalities in far
greater depth.
Because Pearson and Marr are also interested in people's "archetypal journeys,"
they provide you with information on what growth and change look like in certain
personality archetypes.
Availability and Cost
The PMAI is less readily available and therefore not free. However, it is also more
carefully policed, which means you’re not going to get a lot of confusing,
contradictory information from different sources.
Okay Great, So Now What ?
Your first task is to take the instrument you’ve chosen as yourself. This will be
your baseline, or the results against which you will compare any others. With the
PMAI in particular, you can use your results to identify what kind of story you’re
living.
Then, next time you sit down to write, get out a fresh copy of the instrument
you've chosen and take it as your main protagonist. Take another as your main
antagonist. And so on. You may find it easier to take breaks between the
instruments, or even to take them on different days.
Then compare results.
How are your characters like you, and like each other?
How are they different?
Where can you emphasize the differences to heighten conflict?
Are there situations that would better suit scenes you’ve written, or
problems that would make your characters’ lives more difficult?
Don’t be afraid to play around with different possibilities suggested by your
results!

Related Articles:
The Perfect Hero and the Perfect Heroine: Dark and Light Sides of the Anima
& Animus
Creating Characters that Jump Off the Page
How Do You Think Up Your Characters?
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Character Name:
RPRF Personality Scale Descriptions of High Scorer
Abasement Shows a high degree of humility; accepts blame and criticism even when not deserved; willing to accept an
inferior position; tends to be self-effacing.
____ meek ____ self-belittling ____ humble ____ yielding

____ self-accusing ____ surrendering ____ apologizing ____ deferential
____ self-blaming ____ resigned ____ subservient ____ self-subordinating
____ obsequious ____ self-critical ____ obedient
Achievement Aspires to accomplish difficult tasks; maintains high standards and is willing to w o r k toward distant goals;
responds positively to competition; willing to put forth effort to attain excellence.
____ striving ____ attaining ____ enterprising ____ ambitious

____ accomplishing ____ industrious ____ self-improving ____ resourceful
____ capable ____ achieving ____ productive ____ competitive.
____ purposeful ____ aspiring ____ driving
Affiliation Enjoys being with friends and people in general; accepts people readily; makes efforts to win friendships and
maintain associations with people.
____ neighborly ____ good-natured ____ affable ____ sociable

____ loyal ____ friendly ____ cooperative ____ affiliative
____ warm ____ companionable ____ gregarious ____ good-willed
____ amicable ____ genial ____ hospitable
Aggression Enjoys combat and argument; easily annoyed; sometimes willing to hurt people to get own way; may seek to
"get even" with people perceived as causing harm.
____ aggressive ____ threatening ____ hot-tempered ____ belligerent

____ quarrelsome ____ attacking ____ easily-angered ____ blunt
____ irritable ____ antagonistic ____ hostile ____ retaliative
____ argumentative ____ pushy ____ revengeful
Autonomy Tries to break away from restraints, confinement, or restrictions of any kind; enjoys being unattached, free, not
tied to people, places, or obligations; may be rebellious when faced with restraints.
____ unmanageable ____ autonomous ____ ungovernable ____ undominated

____ free ____ rebellious ____ self-determined ____ resistant
____ self-reliant ____ unconstrained ____ non-conforming ____ lone-wolf
____ independent ____ individualistic ____ noncompliant
Change Likes new and different experiences; dislikes routine and avoids it; may readily c h a n g e opinions or values in
different circumstances; adapts readily to changes in environment.
____ inconsistent ____ wavering ____ irregular ____ flighty

____ fickle ____ mutable ____ variable ____ vacillating
____ flexible ____ adaptable ____ capricious ____ inconstant
____ unpredictable ____ changeable ____ innovative
Cognitive Structure Does not like ambiguity or uncertainty in information; wants all questions answered completely; desires
to make decisions based upon definite knowledge, rather than upon guesses or probabilities.
____ precise ____ seeks certainty ____ clarifying ____ rigorous

____ exacting ____ meticulous ____ explicit ____ literal
____ definite ____ perfectionistic ____ accurate ____ avoids ambiguity
Defendence Ready to defend self against real or imagined harm from other people; takes offense easily; does not accept
criticism readily.
____ self-protective ____ self-condoning ____ protesting ____ guarded

____ justifying ____ suspicious ____ wary ____ touchy
____ denying ____ secretive ____ self-excusing ____ has a "chip on the
____ defensive ____ resists inquiries ____ rationalizing shoulder"
Dominance Attempts to control environment, and to influence or direct other people; expresses opinions forcefully; enjoys
the role of leader and may assume it spontaneously.
____ governing ____ influential ____ leading ____ authoritative

____ controlling ____ persuasive ____ directing ____ powerful
____ commanding ____ forceful ____ dominant ____ supervising
____ domineering ____ ascendant ____ assertive
Endurance Willing to work long hours; doesn't give up quickly on a problem; persevering , even in the face of great
difficulty; patient and unrelenting in work habits.
____ persistent ____ unfaltering ____ tireless ____ sturdy

____ determined ____ persevering ____ dogged ____ zealous
____ steadfast ____ unremitting ____ energetic ____ durable
____ enduring ____ relentless ____ has stamina
Exhibition Wants to be the center of attention; enjoys having an audience; engages in behavior which wins the notice of
others; may enjoy being dramatic or witty.
____ colorful ____ exhibitionistic ____ ostentatious ____ dramatic

____ entertaining ____ conspicuous ____ immodest ____ pretentious
____ unusual ____ noticeable ____ demonstrative ____ showy
____ spellbinding ____ expressive ____ flashy
Harmavoidance Does not enjoy exciting activities, especially if danger is involved, avoids risk of bodily harm; seeks to
maximize personal safety.
____ fearful ____ seeks safety ____ avoids risks ____ stays out of harm's
____ self-protecting ____ unadventurous ____ vigilant way
____ pain-avoidant ____ apprehensive ____ attentive to danger ____ withdraws from
____ careful ____ precautionary danger
____ cautious ____ timorous
Impulsivity Tends to act on the "spur of the moment" and without deliberation; gives vent readily to feelings and wishes;
speaks freely; may be volatile in emotional expression.
____ hasty ____ reckless ____ impatient ____ foolhardy

____ rash ____ irrepressible ____ incautious ____ excitable
____ uninhibited ____ quick-thinking ____ hurried ____ impetuous
____ spontaneous ____ mercurial ____ impulsive
Nurturance Gives sympathy and comfort; assists others whenever possible; interested in caring for children, the disabled, or
the infirm; offers a "helping hand" to those in need; readily performs favors for others.
____ sympathetic ____ encouraging ____ maternal ____ consoling

____ paternal ____ caring ____ supporting ____ charitable
____ helpful ____ protective ____ aiding ____ assisting
____ benevolent ____ comforting ____ ministering
Order Concerned with keeping personal effects and surroundings neat and organized; dislikes clutter, confusion, lack of
organization; interested in developing methods for keeping materials methodically organized.
____ neat ____ well-ordered ____ orderly ____ planful

____ organized ____ disciplined ____ clean ____ unvarying
____ tidy ____ prompt ____ methodical ____ deliberate
____ systematic ____ consistent ____ scheduled
Play Does many things "just for fun;" spends a good deal of time participating in gamess, sports, social activities, and other
amusements; enjoys jokes and funny stories, maintains a light-hearted, easy-going attitude toward life.
____ playful ____ laughter-loving ____ sportive ____ carefree

____ jovial ____ joking ____ mirthful ____ blithe
____ jolly ____ frivolous ____ fun-loving ____ pleasure-seeking
____ merry ____ prankish ____ gleeful
Sentience Notices smells, sounds, sights, tastes, and the way things feel; remembers these sensations and believes that they
are an important part of life; is sensitive to many forms of experience; may maintain an essentially hedonistic or aesthetic
view of life.
____ aesthetic ____ notices environment ____ perceptive ____ enjoys physical
____ observant ____ feeling ____ responsive sensations
____ earthy ____ sensitive ____ noticing
____ aware ____ sensuous ____ discriminating
____ open to experience ____ alive to impressions
Social Recognition Desires to be held in high esteem by acquaintances; concerned about reputation and what other people
think, works for the approval and recognition of others.
____ approval seeking ____ agreeable ____ seeks recognition ____ behaves
____ accommodating ____ socially sensitive ____ courteous appropriately.
____ socially proper ____ desirous of credit ____ proper
____ seeks admiration ____ well-behaved ____ makes good impression
____ obliging ____ seeks respectability
Succorance Frequently seeks the sympathy, protection, love, advice, and reassurance of other people ; may feel insecure or
helpless without such support; confides difficulties readily to a receptive person.
____ trusting ____ appealing for help ____ confiding ____ pleading
____ ingratiating ____ seeks support ____ needs protection ____ help-seeking
____ dependent ____ wants advice ____ requesting ____ defenseless
____ entreating ____ helpless ____ craves affection
Understanding Wants to understand many areas of knowledge; values synthesis of ideas, verifiable generalizations and
logical thought, particularly when directed at satisfying intellectual curiosity.
____ inquiring ____ intellectual ____ probing ____ astute

____ curious ____ reflective ____ logical ____ rational
____ analytical ____ incisive ____ scrutinizing ____ inquisitive
____ exploring ____ investigative ____ theoretical
How would a stranger describe your character?
Which personality traits get stronger when s/he is scared or angry?
3/5/2015 What Will Your Character Do When Disaster Strikes?
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36 captures 12
26 Oct 08 28 Sep 13 2010 2012 2013

What Will Your
Character Do
When Disaster Strikes?
by Carolyn Kaufman
Most people have seen the character worksheets that encourage writers to
identify everything from shoe size and favorite food to sexual turn ons and turn
offs. And while knowing your character’s most treasured possession might come
in handy, it won’t tell you how your character will react when disaster strikes.
For that, you really need to have a handle on your character’s personality,
especially the five to ten “central traits” that drive her behavior. To help you out,
this article takes a 3step approach to getting to know and working with your
What Would Your
Character Do? character’s most important traits.
Eric Maisel, Ann M...
Best Price $0.01
or Buy New $11.67 Step One: Make a List of Your Character’s
Qualities
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Grab a pen and make a list of qualities that describe your character. Write down
as many as you can think of, being sure to list personality traits (e.g. moody,
prankish, logical, observant) and not physical characteristics like eye or hair
color. You can also download a big list of personality traits (PDF) and check off
the ones that fit your character best.
When you’re done, you’ll probably have a lot more than five or ten qualities, so
you’ll need to narrow things down. One trick is to collapse qualities that are
Writer's Guide to
similar into categories. For example, if you noted that your character has a great
Character Traits sense of humor, is a bit of a prankster, and likes to get into trouble, you could
Dr. Linda Edelstei... collapse all of those qualities into a word like “mischievous.” If your character is
Best Price $3.99
or Buy New $11.55 hotheaded, emotional, and cries easily, you could say she’s “moody.”
Regardless of how you do it, work your list down to the ten traits that are most
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important to making your character who she is. If you’re feeling brave, rank
order the list; doing so will help you with Step 3.
Step Two: Subjective Assessments
As in real life, personality characteristics are filtered through people’s
impressions. To get a better sense of how your character sees herself and how
that might differ from how others see her, use your list of ten key traits to answer
the questions below.
45 Master Characters
Victoria Schmidt
Best Price $4.39 Which of the top ten traits does your character value most? Why?
or Buy New $10.19
How does your character want other people to see her?
How do people who dislike your character see her? (Hint: They probably
Privacy Information have a negative take on qualities your character sees as positive. For
example, if your character is spontaneous, her enemies might see her as
impulsive or reckless. If she is outgoing, her enemies might see her as
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3/5/2015 What Will Your Character Do When Disaster Strikes?
obnoxious.)
Which of the traits has your character worked the hardest to develop? For
example, if being strong is important to your character, what has she done
to foster that trait? (The answer, or course, is going to depend on her
definition of strong. If being physically strong is important, then perhaps
she’s taken up weight lifting, but if being emotionally strong is her goal,
maybe she’s done therapy.)
Which of these traits does your character use to deal with everyday
problems? For example, if she gets stopped for speeding, does she try to
strike up a conversation with the officer? Is she deferential? Apologetic?
Argumentative?
Step Three: Disaster Strikes
Now that you have a pretty good feel for your character’s personality, imagine
disaster striking. The best kind of disaster for a story, of course, is one your
character is not equipped to handle.
Regardless of what the disaster is, most people's stress reactions are stronger
versions of the way they deal with other things. It's like, under pressure, the
personality defaults to whichever traits are strongest. So your character will
default to his strongest central trait, or jump back and forth between two or three
in his attempts to deal with what has happened.
So let’s say that one of your character’s ten main traits is “intelligent.” And let’s
say normally the way she handles problems is to reason her way through them.
If she’s faced with disaster, she’s going to try so hard to make sense of it that
she’s likely to eschew emotion completely. Or let’s say your character is “hot
headed.” If he normally gets angry when things go wrong, he’s going to go
ballistic when disaster strikes. Whatever makes your character unique is what's
going to characterize his feelings and reaction following the disaster.
You may want to create a list of central traits for each of your main characters.
Referring back to them will help you keep everyone’s reactions straight when
disaster strikes!

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2/26/2015 Writer's Editing Checklist
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19 captures 21
3 Jun 08 6 Aug 13 2010 2012 2013

Writer's Editing
Checklist
by Dawn Arkin
There's an old saying in the writing world. Writing your novel is only half the job.
Nothing could be truer. Getting your idea on paper is really only half the task. The
other half is making it into a polished, ready to send off novel. That takes blood,
sweat, and editing!
Many writers seem to think that what comes out of their fingers is perfect. That's
probably because it takes such an effort to make the written words flow. How
could they not be perfect? While some of your writings will be quite good right off
the bat. Most will need some polishing to be ready for a publisher to read. That's
where editing comes in.
SelfEditing for Fiction
Writers, Se...
Renni Browne, Dave... There are many things to look at prior to sending your work out. Here are some
Best Price $5.56 checklists to use when you've finished editing your novel so you know it is at its
or Buy New $9.17
most polished best.
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Any story will need research done to make it realistic. Even a modern day
story needs tidbits of reality to make the reader really believe it could
happen. Using the right mix of detail to story will make your tale real to your
readers. Once you finish, ask yourself theses questions.
Do I have enough details in my book to show the reader where, and when,
the story takes place?
Have I spent enough time gathering information that is accurate?
Make Your Words Work
Gary Provost
Did I double check my research, from a separate source, to be sure it is
Best Price $8.44 correct?
or Buy New $20.95 Did I have a good sense of my novel's needs when it came to the research?
Did I use enough details to make the story come to life, without overloading
it with every trivial thing I found?
Did I take into account the accents and behaviors of the people in my time
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period, or location, while writing my novel?
Revisions
Every author, no matter how famous, has to rewrite their work. It's what sets the
great writers off from the not so great. You can't get away with not rewriting your
work. So ask yourself these questions when you think you've finished your edits.
Getting the Words Right Did you read your manuscript through the first time without making any
Theodore Cheney
Best Price $3.54
changes to get an idea of what did, and didn't work?
or Buy New $11.35 Did you make notes of the parts that didn't work?
Did you try to find out why those parts didn't work?
Did you go through and find the repetitive words, phrases and ideas in your
novel?
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Have you marked the places that could use more details and marked the
places that could use fewer details?
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2/26/2015 Writer's Editing Checklist
Did you resolve those places during the next edit?
Have you shown your story to the reader, instead of telling him the tale?
Does your novel move at a proper pace, keeping the reader reading from
start to finish?
Did you do an edit for your grammar and spelling mistakes?
And did you remember not to rely completely on spell/grammar checks in
your word processing program?
Have you let another person read your work and comment on it?
If any of these questions are answered in the negative, you need to do another
edit. Do not fall into the trap of thinking your piece is perfect. Remember, writing
is a journey and often times the path requires more than one traveling.
Feedback
One of the best tools a writer can have is feedback. Finding other readers and
writers to go through your work and give you crucial insight into it is worth its
weight in pens and paper. Ask yourself these questions in regards to the feedback
you've received.
Have I had enough people look at my piece?
Did enough people read it, both friends and strangers?
Did I read through all received comments, not just the positive ones?
Did I take each comment with a grain of salt, making sure the comments
were helpful and not useless?
Did I remind myself the reader was commenting on my novel, not on my
abilities as a writer?
Did I remember that each reader will base their comments on their own
personal experiences and opinions?
Have I been polite and thanked every reviewer, even the ones that didn't
have any nice things to say about my work?
Feedback is crucial to a writer, but in the end the decisions of what goes into a
novel are the writers. But keep this in mind: if most reviewers are pointing out
the same thing you should take note and give that spot a more careful look.
Editing a novel is a long involved process. It can take even the most experienced
writer a great deal of time, effort, and patience. But the end results are well worth
the time.

About the Author
Dawn Arkin is an author on http://www.Writing.Com/ which is a site for Fiction Writing. Her
portfolio can be found at http://darkin.Writing.Com/ so stop by and read for a while.
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What is this chart?
DRAMATICA ®
This chart illustrates the core Dramatica structure found in all complete
stories. Its four major areas––Situation, Activity, Manipulation, and Fixed
Attitudes––represent areas of conflict essential to every fully explored story.
Nested within each of these four areas on this chart are various story
Table of Story Elements components which are used to create dramatic story points such as the “Story
Goal” and “Problem.” The components have been arranged according to
their relevance to genre, plot, theme, and character.
Based on a theory and Why should you use this chart?

As a writer, you’ll want to explore your story as completely as possible.
materials developed by This chart serves as a reference guide to help you understand the fundamental
Melanie Anne Phillips & Chris Huntley relationships that exist between the story components essential to developing
a fully explored story.
Situation Activity
Past How Things Are Changing Understanding Doing
Fate Prediction Fact Security Instinct Senses Wisdom Skill
Knowledge Order Actuality Inertia Proven Accurate Effect Result Knowledge Ability Actuality Aware Proven Theory Effect Trust
Chaos Thought Change Perception Non- Un-proven Process Cause Desire Thought Self-Aware Perception Hunch Un-proven Test Cause
accurate
Interdiction Destiny Threat Fantasy Interpretation Conditioning Experience Enlightenment
Ability Equity Aware Projection Theory Expectation Trust Ending Order Equity Inertia Projection Accurate Expectation Result Ending
Inequity Desire Speculation Self-Aware Deter- Hunch Unending Test Inequity Chaos Speculation Change Determin- Non- Unending Process
mination ation accurate
Future Present Obtaining Gathering Information

Openness Delay Work Attract Approach Self Interest Prerequisites Strategy
Consider- Faith Pursuit Support Certainty Deduction Proaction Acceptance Consider- Logic Pursuit Control Certainty Probability Proaction Inaction
ation ation
Disbelief Reconsider Oppose Avoid Induction Potentiality Non- Reaction Feeling Reconsider Un- Avoid Possibility Potentiality Protection Reaction
acceptance controlled
Choice Preconception Repel Attempt Morality Attitude Analysis Preconditions
Logic Conscience Control Help Probability Reduction Inaction Evaluation Faith Conscience Support Help Deduction Reduction Acceptance Evaluation
Un-
Temptation Feeling Hinder controlled Production Possibility Re- Protection Temptation Disbelief Hinder Oppose Production Induction Re- Non-
evaluation evaluation acceptance
Manipulation Fixed Attitude

Developing A Plan Playing A Role Memories Impulsive Responses
State of Being Situation Knowledge Ability Truth Evidence Value Confidence
Knowledge Inertia Actuality Order Proven Result Effect Accurate Knowledge Actuality Ability Aware Proven Effect Theory Trust
Change Thought Chaos Perception Process Un-proven Non- Cause Perception Thought Self-Aware Desire Cause Un-proven Test Hunch
accurate
Circumstances Sense of Self Desire Thought Suspicion Falsehood Worry Worth
Aware Equity Ability Projection Trust Expectation Theory Ending Order Inertia Equity Projection Accurate Result Expectation Ending
Inequity Self-Aware Speculation Desire Determin- Test Unending Hunch Change Chaos Speculation Inequity Process Non- Unending Determin-
ation accurate ation
Changing One's Nature Conceiving An Idea Innermost Desires Contemplations

Rationalization Commitment Permission Need Closure Hope Investigation Appraisal
Consider- Support Pursuit Faith Certainty Acceptance Proaction Deduction Consider- Pursuit Logic Control Certainty Proaction Probability Inaction
ation ation
Oppose Reconsider Disbelief Avoid Non- Potentiality Induction Reaction Avoid Reconsider Un- Feeling Reaction Potentiality Protection Possibility
acceptance controlled
Responsibility Obligation Expediency Deficiency Dream Denial Re-appraisal Doubt
Control Conscience Logic Help Inaction Reduction Probability Evaluation Faith Support Conscience Help Deduction Acceptance Reduction Evaluation
Temptation Un- Hinder Feeling Production Protection Re- Possibility Oppose Disbelief Hinder Temptation Non- Induction Re- Production
controlled evaluation acceptance evaluation
LEGEND: Color Coding of the Chart Understanding the Table Structure

The Dramatica table of story elements is comprised of many Quads
Throughline Issue (groupings of four squares or items). These quads range in size Approach Self Interest
The largest items on the chart illustrate Morality Within each concern are for “thematic” from the largest––the throughline-sized quad––to the smallest––the
Activity where genre is best represented. (For Example)
Issues. This is where theme is best element-sized quad. Each quad is nested within a larger quad; the
(For Example) They represent the broadest contexts represented. The Issue and its only exception being the throughline quad which is the largest.
in which a story's conflicts are diagonal opposite, the “thematic
explored. counterpoint,” form the foundations of Items positioned diagonally across from one another in a quad are
a thematic conflict. referred to as Dynamic Pairs. There are two dynamic pairs per
quad. When considering the relationship of the items in a quad,
Concern Temptation
Problem dynamic pairs are the most likely to generate conflict. Morality Attitude
Obtaining Within each throughline are four (For Example) The smallest items on the chart is In the illustration to the right, notice the two dynamic pairs:
(For Example) Concerns. This level is where plot is where character is best represented. Approach/Attitude and Self Interest/Morality. The dynamic pair of
best represented. Concerns indicate They represent the building blocks Attitude and Approach is more likely to create conflict than either
the topic of concen in each act. used for constructing characters and Example of one Quad with
the pairing of Attitude and Morality or Attitude and Self Interest. two Dynamic Pairs
the problems that drive them. Use dynamic pairs to heighten conflict in your story.
Copyright © 1995, 1999 Screenplay Systems Incorporated • All Rights Reserved • Dramatica is a registered trademark of Screenplay Systems Incorporated • Patent #5,734,916
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DRAMATICA (R)
A New Theory of Story
Developed and written by

Melanie Anne Phillips & Chris Huntley
Fourth Edition
Screenplay Systems Incorporated
FOURTH EDITION: February, 2001
Dramatica, A New Theory of Story -- Copyright (c) 1993 - 2001 Screenplay Systems Inc. All Rights Reserved 1.
The Dramatica Theory was developed by Melanie Anne
Phillips and Chris Huntley and was not researched nor
based upon any other theories of story design or analysis.
NOTE: This special fourth edition is only available in

electronic form and differs from the third edition in one sig-
nificant aspect. Some of the terminology in this version has
been updated to match the language changes made in the
4.0 version of the Dramatica software. Otherwise, this
version is comparable to the third edition published in 1996.
Copyright Notice
Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1996, 2001 by Screenplay
Systems Incorporated. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part
of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, tran-
scribed, stored in a retrieval system, or translated into any
human or computer language, in any form or by any means
whatsoever, without the express written permission of
Screenplay Systems Incorporated, 150 East Olive Avenue,
Suite 203, Burbank California 91502, United States of
America. Phone: (818) 843-6557. Internet Electronic Mail
Address: DRAMATICA@SCREENPLAY.COM
Trademarks
Dramatica is a trademark of Screenplay Systems Incor-
porated. Scriptor and Screenplay Systems are trademarks
of Screenplay Systems Incorporated. References may be
made in this manual to "Macintosh"; this name is a trade-
mark of Apple Computer, Inc. References may be made in
this manual to IBM and-Windows; this name is a trademark
of IBM &/or Microsoft, Inc. All other trademarks are held by
their respective owners.
ISBN 0-918973-01-6 Last updated: February 2, 2001
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank all those who have been
influential in guiding our paths and inspirational in shining a
light for us to follow. Though each of us can point to scores
of such friends, relatives, associates and distant pioneers,
Chris would particularly like to thank Stephen Greenfield for
bugging him (for 10 years!) about writing down the stuff in
this book, and Melanie would like to thank her mother,
whose brilliance laid the foundations for many of the insights
that ultimately led to the Dramatica theory.
The concise and extensive support materials contained in

this book would not have been possible without the help and
input of many dedicated and insightful contributors. While
gratefully acknowledging everyone's efforts, we would like to
give a special thank you to members of the industry who
attended our early seminars, our compatriots in the aca-
demic community who reviewed and scrutinized our work for
accuracy. In addition, special thanks goes to Mark Haslett,
who started as an intern with the Dramatica Project and
developed into a master of the theory, and contributed many
side notes and corrections to this book. Finally, our deepest
appreciation to Sandy Stone, Mary Parrillo, Katy Monahan-
Huntley, and J.D. Cochran (associates with the Dramatica
Project), and to all our friends and relatives who suffered our
long-winded requests for opinions of these materials per-
haps more than we suffered in creating them. Our profound
gratitude to a gathering of great minds in support of a new
idea.
FOREWORD
(ONWARD)
I know. You don't read forewords. You always skip them.

I understand.
Just don't skip this one.
Looking at story in a new way is like
falling into a fast river of cold water
with all your clothing on: it's a big shock.
Dramatica is a theory, a paradigm, a model, a philosophy of story.

It's got a different perspective on many of the ideas you may have
already learned in books and classes on writing, or from the raw
experience of writing.
At first, you struggle,
intensely aware of your situation.
Will you get whisked away?
Smash head first into a rock?
It takes some time to get used to Dramatica's unique perspective,

novel terminology, and dramatic concepts that predict relationships
between character, theme, plot and genre.
Kick off your shoes,
shed some of your excess clothing.
You can always get dressed later on.
Right now, you need to get accustomed
to your new environment.
What is story? What are the underlying principles? The begin-

ning of this book introduces concepts about story that will amaze
many, surprise others and confuse the rest (this is normal!).
Shooting the rapids,
quite unsure if you're going to make it,
you dodge a few nasty-looking bounders.
Whew!
Throughlines. Throughlines. Perspectives. Overall Story and

Subjective characters. Dynamic pairs. Contagonists. Thematic
Issues. Where did all this stuff come from?
A low branch, conveniently hanging over the water.
You reach for it as you get whisked
over the thundering waterfall,
sailing through thin air into...
Storyforming. Story Encoding. Story Weaving. Story Recep-
tion. As you move through these Four Stages of Communication,
things begin to look more familiar.
...a nice, calm, shallow pool of water.
You're alive!
Heck, the water's not cold — it's refreshing.
You might even want to stay in for a while...
You begin to see how Dramatica can be used to accurately

describe story problems, fix faulty structure, and improve
storytelling. Wow!
...As you paddle toward the shore,
you notice a group of familiar faces
applauding you: friends,
fellow writers, your agent.
The journey to learn more about the mysterious art and craft of
creating stories is always worth the effort. As you approach the
end of the book, much of what you've read will come together.
After the final page turns, I hope Dramatica will occupy a unique
place in your heart and mind when considering this thing we call
"story."
Your best friend extends a hand
to hoist you out of the water.
You're buck ass naked, but who cares?
You just had an adventure.
Stephen Greenfield
President, Screenplay Systems
Chief Software Architect, Dramatica
TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S
Acknowledgments ................................................................................. 3
Foreword (Onward) ............................................................................... 4
Dramatica & the Creative Writer ........................... 13.

Grand Argument Stories ........................................................................................... 14.
The Scope of Dramatica ........................................................................................... 16.
Author's Intent ........................................................................................................... 17.
When to Use Dramatica ........................................................................................... 17.
How this Book is Arranged ....................................................................................... 19.
Section 1: The Elements of Structure

Foundations ....................................................................................... 20.
The Story Mind ......................................................................................................... 20.
The Four Throughines .............................................................................................. 21.
Character .............................................................. 26.

Introduction to Characters .................................................................. 26.
The Hero is a Four Letter Word ................................................................................ 26.
Overall Story and Subjective Characters .................................................................. 27.
Overall Story Characters .................................................................... 28.
Archetypal Characters ........................................................................................ 28.
Protagonist ......................................................................................................... 28.
Antagonist .......................................................................................................... 29.
Reason & Emotion ............................................................................................. 30.
Sidekick & Skeptic .............................................................................................. 31.
Guardian & Contagonist ..................................................................................... 31.
Complex Characters ................................................................................................. 33.
Drivers and Passengers ..................................................................................... 34.
Drivers ...................................................................................................................... 35.
Passengers ............................................................................................................... 36.
Drivers and Passengers in "Star Wars" .................................................................... 37.
Archetypes in "Star Wars" .................................................................................. 37.
Drivers and Passengers in "The Wizard of Oz" ........................................................ 38.
Archetypes in "The Wizard of Oz" ...................................................................... 38.
Drivers and Passengers in "Jaws" ............................................................................ 39.
Archetypes in "Jaws" .......................................................................................... 39.
Action and Decision Elements of Drivers and Passengers ...................................... 41.
Recap of Archetypals ......................................................................................... 41.
Splitting Archetypes into Action and
Decision Characteristics ..................................................................................... 42.
Split Archetypes in Quads .................................................................................. 44.
The 16 Motivation Elements in "Star Wars" .............................................................. 45.
The 16 Motivation Elements in "The Wizard of Oz" .................................................. 46.
The 16 Motivation Elements in "Jaws" ...................................................................... 49.
Grouping the 16 Motivation Elements ...................................................................... 50.
"Star Wars" Characters in Four Motivation Quads ................................................... 52.
"Oz" Characters in Four Motivation Quads ............................................................... 53.
"Jaws" Characters in Four Motivation Quads ........................................................... 55.
Complex Motivation Characteristics ......................................................................... 56.
Rules for Building Characters? .......................................................................... 56.
Complex Characters in "Gone With the Wind" ......................................................... 58.
Complex Motivation Characters in "Real Window" ................................................... 60.
Principal Characters in "Rear Window" .............................................................. 60.
Characteristic Lists in "Rear Window" ................................................................ 61.
Other Character Dimensions .................................................................................... 63.
The Sixty-Four Element Question ............................................................................ 65.
Mapping the Archetypal Pattern ............................................................................... 66.
Archetypal Methodologies ........................................................................................ 67.
Complex Dimensional Patterns ................................................................................ 68.
Subjective Characters ........................................................................ 70.
The Main Character: One of A Kind ......................................................................... 71.
Subjective Characters in the Overall Story ............................................................... 74.
The Crucial Element ................................................................................................. 75.
Problem Solving and Justification ...................................................... 77.
What are Justifications? ..................................................................................... 77.
What is Problem Solving? .................................................................................. 78.
Why we Justify ................................................................................................... 80.
A Simple Example of Problem Solving ............................................................... 81.
Defining the Problem .......................................................................................... 84.
The Justified Main Character ............................................................................. 86.
Theme ................................................................... 88.

What Exactly IS Theme? ................................................................... 88.
Describing the Story's Problem .......................................................................... 89.
Chart of Dramatica Classes ............................................................................... 89.
Throughlines ...................................................................................................... 90.
Chart of Dramatica Types .................................................................................. 92.
Concerns ............................................................................................................ 93.
Chart of Dramatica Variations ............................................................................ 94.
Issues ................................................................................................................. 96.
Chart of Dramatica Elements ............................................................................. 98.
Problems ............................................................................................................ 98.
Matching Points of View to the Chart ............................................... 101.
Overall Story Throughline ................................................................................ 102.
Main Character Throughline ............................................................................. 105.
Impact Character Throughline .......................................................................... 107.
Subjective Story Throughline ........................................................................... 109.
Throughlines and Beyond ................................................................ 111.
Concerns .......................................................................................................... 112.
Issues ............................................................................................................... 114.
Problems .......................................................................................................... 116.
The Thematic Argument ................................................................... 117.
Premise and the Thematic Argument ............................................................... 117.
Additional Story Points ..................................................................... 121.
Plot ...................................................................... 124.

Plot vs. Storyweaving ....................................................................... 124.
Plot Story Points .............................................................................. 125.
Goal .................................................................................................................. 126.
Requirements ................................................................................................... 127.
Consequences ................................................................................................. 127.
Forewarnings ................................................................................................... 127.
Dividends ......................................................................................................... 128.
Costs ................................................................................................................ 128.
Prerequisites .................................................................................................... 128.
Preconditions ................................................................................................... 128.
Plot Progression ............................................................................... 130.
Acts ......................................................................................................................... 132.
Another View: 3 Act Progressions ................................................................... 133.
Sequences .............................................................................................................. 135.
Three Act Progressions .................................................................................... 137.
Four Act Progressions ...................................................................................... 137.
Scenes .................................................................................................................... 138.
What's in a Scene? .......................................................................................... 138.
Characters in Scenes ....................................................................................... 138.
Events ..................................................................................................................... 140.
Events and Throughlines ................................................................................. 140.
Events Masquerading as Scenes ..................................................................... 140.
Genre .................................................................. 141.
Modes of Expression ....................................................................... 142.
Grid of Dramatica Genres ................................................................................ 143.
Section 2: The Art of Storytelling

Foundations ..................................................................................... 149.
The Four Stages of Communication ....................................................................... 150.
Stage 1: Storyforming ........................................ 153.

Introduction to Storyforming ............................................................. 153.
Inspiration ......................................................................................................... 153.
Structure ........................................................................................................... 153.
Communication ................................................................................................ 154.
Character Dynamics ........................................................................ 155.
Resolve: Change or Steadfast? ...................................................................... 157.
Growth: Stop or Start? .................................................................................... 158.
Approach: Do-er or Be-er? .............................................................................. 160.
Mental Sex: Male or Female? ......................................................................... 161.
Plot Dynamics .................................................................................. 163.
Driver: Action or Decision? .............................................................................. 164.
Limit: Timelock or Optionlock? ........................................................................ 165.
Outcome: Success or Failure? ........................................................................ 166.
Judgment: Good or Bad? ................................................................................ 166.
Storyforming Structural Story Points ................................................ 167.
Selecting the Throughlines in Your Story ......................................................... 167.
Picking the Proper Classes for the Throughlines in Your Story ........................ 170.
Selecting Plot Story Points ............................................................... 175.
Static Plot Story Points ........................................................................................... 175.
Progressive Plot Story Points ................................................................................. 185.
Acts .................................................................................................................. 186.
Selecting Thematic Story Points ...................................................... 188.
Selecting Character Story Points ..................................................... 191.
Change Characters and the Crucial Element ................................................... 192.
Steadfast Characters and the Crucial Element ................................................ 193.
Stage 2: Storyencoding ...................................... 194.

Introduction to Storyencoding .......................................................... 194.
Encoding Overall Story Characters .................................................. 197.
Archetypal Characters ...................................................................................... 198.
Complex Characters ........................................................................................ 201.
Encoding Subjective Characters ...................................................... 204.
The Main Character is not necessarily the Protagonist .................................... 204.
Encoding Mental Sex ....................................................................................... 205.
Encoding Theme .............................................................................. 208.
Encoding the Overall Story Theme .................................................................. 209.
Encoding Theme for the Other Throughlines ................................................... 210.
Encoding Plot ................................................................................... 214.
Encoding Progressive Plot Story Points ................................................................. 215.
Signposts and Journeys ................................................................................... 215.
Main Character Throughline Plot Progression ................................................. 218.
Impact Character Throughline Plot Progression .............................................. 220.
Subjective Story Throughline Plot Progression ................................................ 223.
Encoding Genre ............................................................................... 226.
Medium & Format ............................................................................ 226.
Stage 3: Storyweaving ....................................... 227.

Storyweaving and Structure ............................................................. 228.
Storyweaving Static Story Points ............................................................................ 231.
Storyweaving Characters ....................................................................................... 232.
Storyweaving and Storytelling .......................................................... 233.
Spatial Techniques .................................................................................................. 233.
Building Size .................................................................................................... 233.
Red Herrings .................................................................................................... 233.
Meaning Reversals .......................................................................................... 233.
Message Reversals .......................................................................................... 234.
Temporal Techniques .............................................................................................. 234.
Building Importance ......................................................................................... 234.
Non-Causality ................................................................................................... 234.
Out of Sequence Experiences ......................................................................... 235.
Flashbacks and Flash-forwards ....................................................................... 235.
Storyweaving Tips ............................................................................ 237.
Tips for Short Stories .............................................................................................. 237.
Tips for Episodic Television Series ......................................................................... 238.
Characters in Episodic Series .......................................................................... 238.
Plot in Episodic Series ..................................................................................... 239.
Theme in Episodic Series ................................................................................ 240.
Genre in Episodic Series .................................................................................. 240.
Tips for Multi-Story Ensemble Series
and Soap Operas ............................................................................................. 241.
Tips for Novels ........................................................................................................ 243.
Tips for Motion Pictures .......................................................................................... 244.
The Rule of Threes .......................................................................................... 244.
Hand-offs .......................................................................................................... 245.
Stage 4: Story Reception ................................... 248.

About the Audience .......................................................................... 248.
Writing for Oneself .................................................................................................. 250.
The Author as Main Character ......................................................................... 250.
Writing for Groups ................................................................................................... 252.
A Quick Lesson in Propaganda .............................................................................. 253.
Adaptation .............................................................................................................. 260.
Epilogue
The Leftovers .......................................................... 266.
Is That All There Is? ................................................................................................ 266.
Constructive Criticism ......................................... 268.

Jurassic Park: Building a Better Dinosaur ............................................................. 268.
Dramatica Reference Material

1 Vocabulary .......................................................... 275.
Vocabulary Grammar .............................................................................................. 275.
Dramatica Vocabulary............................................................................................. 278.
Dramatica Synonyms ............................................................................................. 331.
2 Semantic Items ................................................... 336.

Semantic List .......................................................................................................... 336.
Classes ................................................................................................................... 336.
Types ...................................................................................................................... 336.
Variations ................................................................................................................ 337.
Elements ................................................................................................................. 338.
3 Structural Models ................................................ 339.

The Dramatica Structural Model ............................................................................. 339.
4 Classes ................................................................................................................ 340.
16 Types ................................................................................................................. 341.
64 Variations ........................................................................................................... 342.
64 Elements ............................................................................................................ 343.
Dramatica and the
Creative Writer
A Place to Start
Mastering the craft of writing requires a skill in communication and a flair for style.
Through communication, an audience receives meaning. Through style, an author
achieves impact. The Dramatica theory of story explores both aspects of the writing
process providing structural guidelines for clarifying communication and artistic tech-
niques for enhancing style.
Accordingly, this book is divided into two principal sections: The Elements of Struc-
ture and The Art of Storytelling. Separating these two aspects of the writing craft allows
us to see more deeply into each. This arrangement also splits the experience of writing
into two parts, when in practice, they are usually blended in a simultaneous effort.
Many other books have been written which explore the blended creative process. In
contrast, this is a book of theory, and is designed more to educate, than to inspire. Still,
the motivation to write is one of inspiration. So, before we rush headlong into a de-
tailed, accurate, and revolutionary explanation of story, let us put everything in context
by describing the relationship of Dramatica with the Creative Writer.
Communication
The process of communication requires at least two parties: the originator and the
recipient. In addition, for communication to take place, the originator must be aware of
the information or feelings he wishes to transmit, and the recipient must be able to
determine that meaning.
Similarly, storytelling requires an author and an audience. And, to tell a story, one
must have a story to tell. Only when an author is aware of the message he wishes to
impart can he determine how to couch that message so it will be accurately received.
It should be noted that an audience is more than a passive participant in the
storytelling process. When we write the phrase, "It was a dark and stormy night," we
have communicated a message, albeit a nebulous one. In addition to the words, an-
other force is at work creating meaning in the reader's mind. The readers themselves
may have conjured up memories of the fragrance of fresh rain on dry straw, the trem-
bling fear of blinding explosions of lightning, or a feeling of contentment that recalls a
soft fur rug in front of a raging fire. But all we wrote was, "It was a dark and stormy
night." We mentioned nothing in that phrase of straw or lightning or fireside memories.
In fact, once the mood is set, the less said, the more the audience can imagine. Did the
audience imagine what we, the authors, had in mind? Not likely. Did we communicate?
Some. We communicated the idea of a dark and stormy night. The audience, however,
did a lot of creating on its own. Did we tell a story? Definitely not!
Grand Argument Stories

The question arises: Is telling a story better than telling a non-story? No. Stories
are not "better" than any other form of communication — just different. To see this
difference we need to define "story" so we can tell what a story is and what it is not.
Herein lies a political problem. No matter how one defines "story," there will be an
author someplace who finds his favorite work has been defined out, and feels it is
somehow diminished by not being classified as a story. Rather than risk the ire of
countless creative authors, we have limited our definition to a very special kind of story:
the Grand Argument Story.
As its name indicates, a Grand Argument Story presents an argument. To be Grand,
the argument must be a complete one, covering all the ways the human mind might
consider a problem and showing that only one approach is appropriate to solving it.
Obviously, this limits out a lot of creative, artistic, important works — but not out of being
stories, just out of being Grand Argument Stories. So, is a Grand Argument Story better
than any other kind? No. It is just a specific kind.
What's In A Grand Argument Story?
A Grand Argument Story is a conceptually complete story with
both an emotional and logical comprehensiveness. There are a
number of qualities which determine whether a story is a Grand
Argument or not. These are seen in the story's Structure, Dynam-
ics, Character, Theme, Plot, and Genre.
Structure: the underlying relationship between the parts of a
story describe its structure. A Grand Argument Story has a very
specific structure which will be explored thoroughly in the first half of
this book entitled The Elements of Structure.
Dynamics: the moving, growing, or changing parts of a story
describe its dynamics. A Grand Argument Story has eight essential
dynamics which are explored in the second half of this book entitled
The Art of Storytelling.
Character: Grand Argument Stories deal with two types of
Characters: Overall Story Characters and Subjective Characters.
These Characters provide the audience with the experience of
moving through the story in both a passionate and an intellectual
sense.
Theme: Theme, in a Grand Argument Story, is tied to every
structural and dynamic element. Theme provides the various bi-
ases and perspectives necessary to convey the story's subject
matter or meaning.
Plot: Plot in a Grand Argument Story is the sequence in which a
story's thematic structure is explored. Plot details the order in which
dramatic elements must occur within that story.
Genre: Genre in a Grand Argument Story classifies the
audience's experience of a story in the broadest sense. Genre
takes into account the elements of structure, dynamics, character,
plot, and theme to define significant differences between various
complete Grand Argument Stories.
These parts of a Grand Argument Story combine in complex
relationships to create its Storyform. A Storyform is like a blueprint
which describes how these parts shall relate in a particular story ,
regardless of how they are symbolized for the audience. It is such a
Storyform which allows such different stories as West Side Story
and Romeo and Juliet, or Cyrano de Bergerac and Roxanne to
share the same meaning while bearing little resemblance to each
other. What these two pairs of stories share is virtually the same
Storyform.
The Free-form Author
While some authors write specifically to make an argument to an audience, many
others write because they want to follow their personal muse. Sometimes writing is a
catharsis, or an exploration of self. Sometimes authoring is a sharing of experiences,
fragmented images, or just of a point of view. Sometimes authoring is marking a path
for an audience to follow, or perhaps just presenting emotional resources the audience
can construct into its own vision. Interactive communications question the validity of a
linear story itself, and justifiably so. There are many ways to communicate, and each
has just as much value as the next depending upon how one wishes to affect one's
audience.
The Scope of Dramatica

With all these forms of communication, isn't Dramatica severely limited in addressing
only the Grand Argument Story? No. The Grand Argument model described by Dra-
matica functions to present all the ways a mind can look at an issue. As a result, all
other forms of communication will be using the same pieces, just in different combina-
tions, sequences, or portions. In our example, we indicated that the less we said, the
more the audience could use its imagination. A Grand Argument Story says it all. Every
point is made, even if hidden obscurely in the heart of an entertainment. Other forms of
communication use "slices" of the model, chunks, or levels. Even if an author is un-
aware of this, the fact that human minds share common essential concepts means that
the author will be using concepts and patterns found in the Dramatica model.
Symbolizing Concepts
It has been argued that perhaps the symbols we use are what create concepts, and
therefore no common understanding between cultures, races, or times is possible.
Dramatica works because indeed there ARE common concepts: morality, for example.
Morality, a common concept? Yes. Not everyone shares the same definition of morality,
but every culture and individual understands some concept that means "morality" to
them. In other words, the concept of "morality" may have many different meanings —
depending on culture or experience — but they all qualify as different meanings of
"morality." Thus there can be universally shared essential concepts even though they
drift apart through various interpretations. It is through this framework of essential
concepts that communication is possible.
Communicating Concepts Through Symbols

How can essential concepts be communicated? Certainly not in their pure, intuitive
form directly from mind to mind. (Not yet, anyway!) To communicate a concept, an
author must symbolize it, either in words, actions, juxtapositions, interactions — in some
form or another. As soon as the concept is symbolized, however, it becomes culturally
specific and therefore inaccessible to much of the rest of the world.
Even within a specific culture, the different experiences of each member of an audi-
ence will lead to a slightly different interpretation of the complex patterns represented by
intricate symbols. On the other hand, it is the acceptance of common symbols of com-
munication that defines a culture. For example, when we see a child fall and cry, we do
not need to know what language he speaks or what culture he comes from in order to
understand what has happened. If we observe the same event in a story, however, it
may be that in the author's culture a child who succumbs to tears is held in low esteem.
In that case, then the emotions of sadness we may feel in our culture are not at all what
was intended by the author.
Author's Intent
Simply having a feeling or a point of view does not an author make. One becomes
an author the moment one establishes an intent to communicate. Usually some intrigu-
ing setting, dialog, or bit of action will spring to mind and along with it the desire to share
it. Almost immediately, most authors leap ahead in their thinking to consider how the
concept might best be presented to the audience. In other words, even before a com-
plete story has come to mind most authors are already trying to figure out how to tell the
parts they already have.
As a result, many authors come to the writing process carrying a lot of baggage:
favorite scenes, characters, or action, but no real idea how they are all going to fit to-
gether. A common problem is that all of these wonderful inspirations often don't belong
in the same story. Each may be a complete idea unto itself, but there is no greater
meaning to the sum of the parts. To be a story, each and every part must also function
as an aspect of the whole.
Some writers run into problems by trying to work out the entire dramatic structure of
a story in advance only to find they end up with a formulaic and uninspired work. Con-
versely, other writers seek to rely on their muse and work their way through the process
of expressing their ideas only to find they have created nothing more than a mess. If a
way could be found to bring life to tired structures and also to knit individual ideas into a
larger pattern, both kinds of authors might benefit. It is for this purpose that Dramatica
was developed.
When to Use Dramatica

For some authors, applying Dramatica at the beginning of a creative project might be
inhibiting. Many writers prefer to explore their subject, moving in whatever direction
their muse leads them until they eventually establish an intent. In this case, the
storytelling comes before the structure. After the first draft is completed, such an author
can look back at what he has created with the new understanding he has arrived at by
the end. Often, much of the work will no longer fit the story as the author now sees it.
By telling Dramatica what he now intends, Dramatica will be able to indicate which parts
of the existing draft are appropriate, which are not, and what may be needed that is
currently missing. In this way, the creative process is both free and fulfilling, with Dra-
matica serving as analyst and collaborator.
Following the Muse

A number of authors write with no intent at all. They apply themselves to recording
their journey through a topic or subject or simply wander, musing. The resulting work is
almost always open to all kinds of interpretation, yet may elicit strong emotions and
conclusions in virtually everyone who observes the work. Even when an author mean-
ders, he does so with the same mental tools everyone shares. So although no intended
message might be conveyed, the subconscious patterns of the author's mental pro-
cesses are recorded in the work. For those authors who prefer a more freeform ap-
proach, the concept of a Grand Argument Story is generally useless. It is not that the
Dramatica model cannot describe the nature of their communication. Rather, a freeform
author simply has no need of it.
Dramatica as a Tool
None of the creative techniques an author might use are better or worse than others.
They are simply different approaches to the creative process. The key is to find the
ones that work for you. Sometimes what works is not to create a full argument, but to
break the rules, shatter expectations, and play with the minds of your audience mem-
bers. Even here Dramatica can help. Because it defines a complete argument, Dra-
matica can assist in predicting the effect that breaking an argument will have on the
message going to the audience: it can describe how the communication has been
altered. When all is said and written, Dramatica provides authors with a tool for under-
standing the process of communication, if and when they want it.
How This Book Is Arranged
Part of what makes a story great is its underlying dramatic structure and part is the
manner in which that structure is related to an audience, often called "storytelling".
Therefore, this book is divided into two principal sections: The Elements of Structure
and The Art of Storytelling.
In The Elements of Structure you will explore the essential components that occur in
all complete stories as they appear in Character, Theme, Plot, and Genre. In the Art of
Storytelling you will examine the Four Stages of Communication that occur between an
author and an audience: Storyforming, Storyencoding, Storyweaving, and Reception.
By the time you have finished, you will have gained a whole new understanding of
what stories are and a whole new set of tools for creating them.
For a glimpse of how some of Dramatica's basic concepts can be employed to
improve a story, you might want to take a look at a constructive criticism of the motion
picture Jurassic Park appearing in the Epilogue section.
You will note that the majority of examples provided in this book are drawn from
motion pictures. This stems from the authors' personal backgrounds in the motion
picture industry. Dramatica, however, is a theory of story — not a theory of screenplay.
All of the dramatic concepts presented here are equally applicable to any medium of
story expression.
Note about Pronoun Usage: Some characters are best looked at by their dramatic
functions. To help keep this perspective, we use the impersonal pronoun "it" when
referring to such characters. Other characters are best explored in terms of their
growth. To help draw the reader into a closer relationship with such a character, we use
the personal pronoun, "he".
Earlier editions of this book used "she" as the personal pronoun. Because of this
uncommon usage, readers were jarred out of a relationship with personal characters,
rather than being drawn in, defeating our purpose. As a result, this edition employs
masculine pronouns.
Section One:
The Elements of Structure
Foundations
Central Concepts
In Dramatica, there are some central concepts that prove immediately useful. Pre-
senting these up front reveals the practical side of the theory and provides a firm foun-
dation for more in-depth explorations to come.
These central concepts are:
1. The Story Mind

2. The Four Throughlines
3. The Overall Story Throughline
4. The Main Character Throughline
5. The Impact Character Throughline
6. The Subjective Story Throughline
7. The Grand Argument Story
The Story Mind

One of the unique concepts that sets Dramatica apart from all other theories is the
assertion that every complete story is a model of the mind's problem solving process.
This Story Mind does not work like a computer, performing one operation after another
until the solution is obtained. Rather, it works more holistically, like our own minds,
bringing many conflicting considerations to bear on the issue. It is the author's argu-
ment as to the relative value of these considerations in solving a particular problem that
gives a story its meaning.
To make his case, an author must examine all significant approaches to resolving
the story's specific problem. If a part of the argument is left out, the story will have
holes. If the argument is not made in an even-handed fashion, the story will have incon-
sistencies.
Characters, Plot, Theme, and Genre are the different families of considerations in
the Story Mind made tangible, so audience members can see them at work and gain
insight into their own methods of solving problems. Characters represent the motiva-
tions of the Story Mind (which often work at cross purposes and come into conflict).
Plot documents the problem solving methods employed by the Story Mind. Theme
examines the relative worth of the Story Mind's value standards. Genre establishes the
Story Mind's overall attitude, which casts a bias or background on all other consider-
ations. When a story is fully developed, the model of the Story Mind is complete.
The Four Throughlines

It is not enough, however, to develop a complete Story Mind. That only creates the
argument the audience will be considering. Equally important is how the audience is
positioned relative to that argument.
Does an author want the audience to examine a problem dispassionately or to
experience what it is like to have that problem? Is it more important to explore a pos-
sible solution or to weigh the benefits and drawbacks of alternative solutions? In fact,
all of these points of view must be developed for a story to be complete.
An author's argument must go beyond telling audience members what to look at. It
must also show them how to see it. It is the relationship between object and observer
that creates perspective, and in stories, perspective creates meaning.
There are four different perspectives which must be explored as a story unfolds in
order to present all sides of the issue at the heart of a story. They are the Overall Story
Throughline, the Main Character Throughline, the Impact Character Throughline, and
the Subjective Story Throughline.
The Overall Story Throughline

The first perspective is from the Overall Story Throughline, so called because it is
the most dispassionate look at the Story Mind.
Imagine the argument of a story as a battle between two armies. The Overall Story
view is like that of a general on a hill overlooking the battle. The general focuses on
unfolding strategies and, from this perspective, sees soldiers not by name but by their
function on the field: foot soldier, grenadier, cavalryman, scout. Though the general
may care very much for the soldiers, he must concentrate on the events as they unfold.
Because it emphasizes events, the Overall Story Throughline is often thought of as
plot, but as we shall see later, plot is so much more.
The Main Character Throughline
For a story to be complete, the audience will need another view of the battle as well:
that of the soldier in the trenches. Instead of looking at the Story Mind from the outside,
the Main Character Throughline is a view from the inside. What if that Story Mind
were our own? That is what the audience experiences when it becomes a soldier on
the field: audience members identify with the Main Character of the story.
Through the Main Character we experience the battle as if we were directly partici-
pating in it. From this perspective we are much more concerned with what is happening
immediately around us than we are with the larger strategies that are really too big to
see. This most personally involved argument of the story is the Main Character
Throughline.
As we shall explore shortly, the Main Character does not have to be the soldier
leading the charge in the battle as a whole. Our Main Character might be any of the
soldiers on the field: the cook, the medic, the bugler, or even the recruit cowering in the
bushes.
The Impact Character Throughline

To see the third perspective, keep yourself in the shoes of the Main Character for a
moment. You are right in the middle of the story's battle. Smoke from dramatic explo-
sions obscures the field. You are not absolutely sure which way leads to safety. Still,
before there was so much turmoil, the way was clear and you are confident in your
sense of direction.
Then, from out of the smoke a shadowy figure appears, solidly blocking your way.
The shadowy figure is your Impact Character. You can't see well enough to tell if he is
friend or foe. He might be a compatriot trying to keep you from stepping into a mine
field. Or, he might be the enemy luring you into a trap. What to do! Do you keep on
your path and run over this person or try the other path instead? This is the dilemma
that faces a Main Character.
To completely explore the issue at the heart of a story, an Impact Character must
present an alternative approach to the Main Character. The Impact Character
Throughline describes the advocate of this alternative path and the manner in which he
impacts Main Character.
The Subjective Story Throughline

As soon as the Main Character encounters his Impact, a skirmish ensues at a per-
sonal level in the midst of the battle as a whole. The two characters close in on one
another in a theatrical game of "chicken," each hoping the other will give in.
The Main Character shouts at his Impact to get out of the way. The Impact Charac-
ter stands fast, insisting that the Main Character change course and even pointing
toward the fork in the road. As they approach one another, the interchange becomes
more heated until the two are engaged in heart-to-heart combat.
While the Overall Story battle rages all around, the Main and Impact Characters fight
their private engagement. The Subjective Story Throughline describes the course
this passionate battle takes.
The Four Throughlines Of A Story You Know

Here are some examples of how to see the four throughlines of some well known
stories. Completed stories tend to blend these throughlines together in the interest of
smooth narrative style. From a structural point of view, however, it is important to see
how they can be separated.
Star Wars
Overall Story Throughline: The Overall view of Star Wars sees
a civil war in the galaxy between the Rebels and the evil Empire.
The Empire has built a Death Star which will destroy the Rebels if it
isn't destroyed first. To even hope for a successful attack, the
Rebels need the plans to the Death Star which are in the posses-
sion of a farm boy and an old Jedi master. These two encounter
many other characters while delivering the plans, ultimately leading
to a climactic space-battle on the surface of the Death Star.
Main Character Throughline: The Main Character of Star Wars
is Luke Skywalker. This throughline follows his personal growth
over the course of this story. Luke is a farm boy who dreams of
being a star pilot, but he can't allow himself to leave his foster
parents to pursue his dreams. He learns that he is the son of a
great Jedi Knight. When his foster parents are killed, he begins
studying the religion of the Jedi: the Force. Surviving many danger-
ous situations, Luke learns to trust himself more and more. Ulti-
mately he makes a leap of faith to trust his feelings over his com-
puter technology while flying into battle as the Rebel's last hope of
destroying the Death Star. It turns out well, and Luke is changed by
the experience.
Impact Character Throughline: The Impact Character of Star
Wars is Obi Wan Kenobi and this throughline describes his impact
(especially on Luke Skywalker) over the course of the story. Obi
Wan is a wizened old Jedi who sees everything as being under the
mystic control of the Force. He amazes people with his resiliency
and ability, all of which he credits to the Force.
Subjective Story Throughline: The Subjective Story throughline
of Star Wars describes the relationship between Luke and Obi Wan.
Obi Wan needs Luke to help him and he knows Luke has incredible
potential as a Jedi. Luke, however, needs to be guided carefully
because his desires are so strong and his abilities so new. Obi
Wan sets about the manipulations which will help Luke see the true
nature of the Force and learn to trust himself.
To Kill A Mockingbird
Overall Story Throughline: The Overall view of To Kill A Mock-
ingbird sees the town of Maycomb with its horns locked in various
attitudes over the rape trial of Tom Robinson. Due-process has
taken over, however many people think this case should never see
trial. As the trial comes to fruition, the people of the town argue
back and forth about how the defense lawyer ought to behave and
what role people should take in response to this alleged atrocity.
Main Character Throughline: The Main Character of To Kill A
Mockingbird is Scout and her throughline describes her personal
experiences in this story. Scout is a young tom-boy who wants
things in her life to remain as simple as they've always been. Go-
ing to school, however, and seeing the town's reaction to her
father's work introduces her to a new world of emotional complexity.
She learns that there is much more to people than what you can
see.
Impact Character Throughline: The Impact Character point of
view in To Kill A Mockingbird is presented through Boo Radley, the
reclusive and much talked about boy living next door to Scout. The
mystique surrounding this boy, fueled by the town's ignorance and
fear, make everyone wonder what he is really like and if he's really
as crazy as they say.
Subjective Story Throughline: The Subjective Story view of To
Kill A Mockingbird sees the relationship between Scout and Boo
Radley. This throughline explores what it's like for these two char-
acters to live next door to each other and never get to know one
another. It seems any friendship they might have is doomed from
the start because Boo will always be locked away in his father's
house. The real problem, however, turns out to be one of Scout's
prejudice against Boo's mysterious life. Boo has been constantly
active in Scout's life, protecting her from the background. When
Scout finally realizes this she becomes a changed person who no
longer judges people without first trying to stand in their shoes.
Summary - The Grand Argument Story
We have described a story as a battle. The overview that takes in the full scope of
the battle is the Overall Story Throughline.
Within the fray is one special soldier through whom we experience the battle first-
hand. How he fares is the Main Character Throughline.
The Main Character is confronted by another soldier, blocking the path. Is he friend
or foe? Either way, he is an obstacle, and the exploration of his impact on the Main
Character is the Impact Character Throughline.
The Main and Impact Characters engage in a skirmish. Main says, "Get out of my
way!", and Impact says, "Change course!" In the end, the steadfast resolution of one
will force the other to change. The growth of this interchange constitutes the Subjective
Story Throughline.
Taken together, the four throughlines comprise the author's argument to the audi-
ence. They answer the questions: What does it feel like to have this kind of problem?
What's the other side of the issue? Which perspective is the most appropriate for deal-
ing with that problem? What do things look like in the "big picture?"
Only through the development of these four simultaneous throughlines can the Story
Mind truly reflect our own minds, pitting reason against emotion and immediate advan-
tage against experience in the hope of resolving a problem in the most beneficial man-
ner.
Moving On
Now that you've added Story Mind, Overall Story Throughline, Main Character
Throughline, Impact Character Throughline, and Subjective Story Throughline to your
writer's vocabulary, you have all the background you need to explore a whole new world
of understanding: the Dramatica Theory of Story.
The Elements of Structure:
Character
Introduction to Characters
Hero Is a Four Letter Word
It is easy to think of the principal character in a story as "the hero." Many beginning
writers tend to base their stories on the adventures or experiences of a hero. As writers
become more mature in their craft, they may come to think of their central character as
a "protagonist," or perhaps a "main character." And yet, through all of this, no consistent
definitions of any of these terms have ever been agreed upon. Before we proceed then,
it seems prudent to establish what Dramatica means by each of these concepts.
A Main Character is the player through whom the audience experiences the story
first hand.
A Protagonist is the prime mover of the plot.
A Hero is a combination of both Main Character and Protagonist.
In other words, a hero is a blended character who does two jobs: move the plot
forward and serve as a surrogate for the audience. When we consider all the charac-
ters other than a Protagonist who might serve as the audience's position in a story,
suddenly the concept of a hero becomes severely limited. It is not wrong, just limited.
The value of separating the Main Character and Protagonist into two different char-
acters can be seen in the motion picture, To Kill a Mockingbird. Here, the character,
Atticus, (played by Gregory Peck) is clearly the Protagonist, yet the story is told through
the experiences of Scout, his young daughter.
Later on, we will explore many other ways in which the Main Character can be
employed in much less archetypal terms than as a hero. For now, the key point is that
Dramatica identifies two different kinds of characters: those who represent an audience
point of view, and those who fulfill a dramatic function.
Overall Story and Subjective Characters
The reason there are two kinds of characters goes back to the concept of the Story
Mind. We have two principal views of that mind: the Overall Story view from the outside
looking in, and the Subjective view from the inside looking out. In terms of the Story
Mind, the Overall Story view is like looking at another person, watching his thought
processes at work. For an audience experiencing a story, the Overall Story view is like
watching a football game from the stands. All the characters are most easily identified
by their functions on the field.
The Subjective view is as if the Story Mind were our own. From this perspective,
only two characters are visible: Main and Impact. The Main and Impact Characters
represent the inner conflict of the Story Mind. In fact, we might say a story is of two
minds. In real life, we often play our own devil's advocate, entertaining an alternative
view as a means of arriving at the best decision. Similarly, the Story Mind's alternative
views are made tangible through the Main and Impact Characters. To the audience of a
story, the Main Character experience is as if the audience were actually one of the
players on the field. The Impact Character is the player who blocks the way.
To summarize then, characters come in two varieties: Overall Story and Subjective.
Overall Story Characters represent dramatic functions; Subjective Characters represent
points of view. When the Main Character point of view is attached to the Protagonist
function, the resulting character is commonly thought of as a hero.
Looking Forward
In the next chapter we will begin an in-depth exploration of Overall Story Characters.
Here we will meet the Protagonist, Antagonist, and several other archetypes. Next we
will dissect each archetype to see what essential dramatic elements it contains. Finally,
we will examine how those same elements can be combined in different, non-archetypal
patterns to create more realistic and versatile complex characters.
Then we will turn our attention to the Subjective Characters: Main and Impact. We
will examine how the audience point of view is shifted through the Main Character's
growth. We will also explore the forces that drive these two characters and forge the
belief systems they posses.
Overall Story Characters
Archetypal Characters
Introduction to Archetypes
Archetypes exist as a form of storytelling shorthand. Because they are instantly
recognizable, an author may choose to use archetypal characters for a variety of rea-
sons — because of limited storytelling time or space, to emphasize other aspects of
story such as Plot or Theme, to play on audience familiarity, etc. The main advantage
of Archetypes is their basic simplicity, although this can sometimes work as a disadvan-
tage if the characters are not developed fully enough to make them seem real.
There are eight Archetypal Characters: Protagonist, Antagonist, Reason, Emotion,

Sidekick, Skeptic, Guardianand Contagonist. Several of these are familiar to most
authors. Some are a bit more obscure. One is unique to Dramatica. We will introduce
all eight, show how they interact, then explore each in greater detail.
Protagonist
Players and Characters?
In our earlier discussion of what sets the Subjective Characters apart from the Over-
all Story Characters, we described how authors frequently assign the roles of both
Protagonist AND Main Character to the same player in the story.
The concept of "player" is found throughout Dramatica and differs from what we
mean by "character." Dramatica defines a character as a set of dramatic functions that
must be portrayed in order to make the complete argument of a story. Several functions
may be grouped together and assigned to a person, place, or thing who will represent
them in the story. The group of functions defines the nature of the character. The
personage representing the functions is a player.
In other words, a player is like a vessel into which a character (and therefore a set of
character functions) is placed. If more than one Overall Story Character is placed into a
single player, the player will appear to have multiple personalities. This is clearly seen in
the dual characters contained in player, Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, or the many personalities
of Sybil.
Describing the Protagonist
No doubt the most well-known of all the Archetypal Characters is the Protagonist.
As with all the Archetypal Characters, there is a specific "shopping list" or "recipe" of
dramatic functions that describes the Protagonist. In this regard, the archetypal Pro-
tagonist is the chief proponent and principal driver of the effort to achieve the story's
goal.
At first, this description seems far too simple for even the most archetypal of Pro-
tagonists. This is because the Main Character is so often combined with the Protago-
nist when Archetypal Characters are used, that we seldom see a Protagonistic player
representing the archetypal functions alone.
Still, pursuing the goal is the essential function of the Protagonist, and beginning
here we can construct a network of relationships that describe the remaining arche-
types. As a side note, the entire exploration of the Subjective Story is an independent
job of the Main Character. For purposes of describing the Archetypal Protagonist,
therefore, we will be considering only its role in the Overall Story Throughline as just
another player on the field (albeit a crucial one).
So, for our current needs, the Archetypal Protagonist can be considered the chief
proponent and principal driver of the effort to achieve the story's goal.
Antagonist
What is an Antagonist?
The Archetypal Antagonist is diametrically opposed to the Protagonist's successful
attainment of the goal. Often this results in a Protagonist who has a purpose and an
Antagonist comes along and tries to stop it. Sometimes, however, it is the other way
around. The Antagonist may have a goal of its own that causes negative repercussions.
The Protagonist then has the goal of stopping the Antagonist. For purposes of estab-
lishing a consistent way to analyze how all Archetypal Characters relate to the goal of
any story, Dramatica defines the Protagonist's goal as the story's goal, regardless of
which kind it is.
Antagonist and the Impact Character

Just as the Protagonist is often "doubled up" with the function of the Main Character,
the Antagonist is sometimes (though less frequently) combined with the Impact Charac-
ter. The Impact Character is fully explored in the Subjective Characters section of this
book. For now, a simple description of the Impact Character will serve our purposes.
Just as the Antagonist opposes the Protagonist in the Overall Story, the Impact
Character stands in the way of the Main Character in the Subjective Story. Note we did
not say the Impact Character opposes the Main Character, but rather stands in the way.
The Impact Character's function is to represent an alternative belief system or world
view to the Main Character, forcing him to avoid the easy way out and to face his per-
sonal problem.
When combining the Impact Character and the Antagonist in the same player, it is
essential to keep in mind the difference between their respective functions, so that both
dramatic purposes are fully expressed.
Reason & Emotion

Why Reason and Emotion Characters?
Having briefly described the Protagonist and Antagonist, we can already see how
they represent basic functions of the Story Mind. The Protagonist represents the drive
to try and solve a problem; the Antagonist represents the drive to undermine success.
These two characters teeter back and forth over the course of the story as each in turn
gains the upper hand.
Even in the most Archetypal terms this conflict is an insufficient process to fully
describe an argument, for it fails to address many other basic concerns that will natu-
rally occur in the minds of audience members, and must therefore be incorporated in
the Story Mind as well. That is why there are six other Archetypal Characters. Just as
Protagonist and Antagonist form a pair, the other six Archetypal Characters form three
other pairs. The first of these is made up of Reason and Emotion.
Reason and Emotion Described

The Reason Archetypal Character is calm, collected, and cool, perhaps even cold. It
makes decisions and takes action wholly on the basis of logic. (Remember, we say
wholly because we are describing an Archetypal Character. As we shall see later,
Complex Characters are much more diverse and dimensional.)
The Reason character is the organized, logical type. The Emotion character who is
frenetic, disorganized, and driven by feelings.
It is important to note that as in real life, Reason is not inherently better than Emo-
tion, nor does Emotion have the edge on Reason. They just have different areas of
strength and weakness which may make one more appropriate than the other in a given
context.
Functionally, the Emotion Character has its heart on its sleeve; it is quick to anger,
but also quick to empathize. Because it is frenetic and disorganized, however, most of
its energy is uncontrolled and gets wasted by lashing out in so many directions that it
ends up running in circles and getting nowhere. In contrast, the Reason Character
seems to lack "humanity" and has apparently no ability to think from the heart. As a
result, the Reason Character often fails to find support for its well-laid plans and ends
up wasting its effort because it has unknowingly violated the personal concerns of
others.
In terms of the Story Mind, Reason and Emotion describe the conflict between our
purely practical conclusions and considerations of our human side. Throughout a story,
the Reason and Emotion Archetypal Characters will conflict over the proper course of
action and decision, illustrating the Story Mind's deliberation between intellect and heart.
Sidekick & Skeptic

The next pair of Archetypal Characters are the Sidekick and the Skeptic, who repre-
sent the conflict between confidence and doubt in the Story Mind. The Sidekick is the
faithful supporter. Usually, a Sidekick is attached to the Protagonist. Sometimes, how-
ever, they may be supporters of the Antagonist. This gives a good clue to the way
Dramatica sees Overall Story Characters: The purpose of the Sidekick is to show
faithful support. That does not determine who or what it supports, but just that it must
loyally support someone or something. Other dynamics of a story will determine who
the Sidekick needs to be attached to in order to make the story's argument, but from the
standpoint of just describing the Archetypal Characters by themselves, the Sidekick
faithfully supports.
The Sidekick is balanced by the Skeptic. Where the Sidekick has faith, the Skeptic
disbelieves; where the Sidekick supports, the Skeptic opposes. The nature of the
Skeptic is nicely described in the line of a song... "Whatever it is, I'm against it." In the
Story Mind, it is the function of the Skeptic to note the indicators that portend failure. In
contrast, the Sidekick notes the indicators that point to success. The interactions be-
tween Sidekick and Skeptic describe the Story Mind's consideration of the likelihood of
success.
Guardian & Contagonist

What are the Guardian and Contagonist?
Finally we come to the remaining pair of Archetypal Characters. The first of these
archetypes is a common yet often loosely defined set of functions; the second arche-
type is unique to Dramatica. The first of these characters is the Guardian. The Guard-
ian functions as a teacher/helper who represents the Conscience of the Story Mind.
This is a protective character who eliminates obstacles and illuminates the path ahead.
In this way, the Guardian helps the Protagonist stay on the proper path to achieve
success. Balancing the Guardian is a character representing Temptation in the Story
Mind. This character works to place obstacles in the path of the Protagonist, and to lure
it away from success. Because this character works to hinder the progress of the Pro-
tagonist, we coined the name "Contagonist".
Contagonist: "Whose side are you on?"

Because the Contagonist and Antagonist both have a negative effect on the Pro-
tagonist, they can easily be confused with one another. They are, however, two com-
pletely different characters because they have two completely different functions in the
Story Mind. Whereas the Antagonist works to stop the Protagonist, the Contagonist
acts to deflect the Protagonist. The Antagonist wants to prevent the Protagonist from
making further progress, the Contagonist wants to delay or divert the Protagonist for a
time.
As with the Sidekick, the Contagonist can be allied with either the Antagonist or the
Protagonist. Often, Contagonists are cast as the Antagonist's henchman or second-in-
command. However, Contagonists are sometimes attached to the Protagonist, where
they function as a thorn in the side and bad influence. As a pair, Guardian and
Contagonist function in the Story Mind as Conscience and Temptation, providing both a
light to illuminate the proper path and the enticement to step off it.
Archetypes — a Balanced Part of the Complete Argument

As a group, the Archetypal Characters represent all the essential functions of a
complete Story Mind, though they are grouped in simple patterns. Because the Arche-
types can be allied in different ways, however, a degree of versatility can be added to
their relationships.
Complex Characters
What is a Complex Character?

Complex Characters are created from the same set of dramatic functions as Arche-
types. The principal difference is that the Archetypal Characters group together func-
tions that are most similar and compatible, and Complex Characters don't. This means
that although Archetypal Characters may conflict with one another, an Archetypal Char-
acter is never at odds with its own drives and attitudes. This is why the Archetypal
Characters so often appear to be less developed than Complex Characters or perhaps
less human.
To create characters who more closely represent our own inconsistencies, we must
redistribute their functions so they are less internally compatible. As this results in many
more levels of exploration and understanding, we refer to any arrangement of character
functions other than an Archetypal grouping to be Complex. A character containing
such a grouping is a Complex Character.
Archetypes and Complex Characters Together

A single story may have both Archetypal and Complex Characters. The decision of
how to group the functions is completely open to an author's storytelling desires. The
problem is, until one is aware of exactly what these functions are and how they relate, it
is impossible to make meaningful decisions about how to combine them. These essen-
tial functions are at such a basic level that they form the elemental building blocks of
Overall Story Characters. Therefore, we refer to these functions as character Elements.
Listing them gives no feel for the end product, much as just listing the Periodic Chart of
Elements in chemistry gives no feel for the natures of the compounds that might be
engineered through combining them.
As a result, the best way to present the character Elements with meaning is to start
with the Archetypal Characters (who by definition contain all the Elements) and break
them down, step by step, level by level, until their elemental components are exposed.
In this manner, understanding is carried down to the Elements, which may then be
combined in non-archetypal ways to create Complex Characters.
Drivers and Passengers
Dynamic Pairs
We have now created four distinct pairs of Archetypal Characters. Each pair pre-
sents the birthing ground of a particular kind of conflict. Two Characters bonded in such
a relationship constitute a Dynamic Pair. Here are the Eight Archetypal Characters
organized by Dynamic Pairs.
PROTAGONIST ANTAGONIST
GUARDIAN CONTAGONIST
REASON EMOTION
SIDEKICK SKEPTIC
Functions of Dynamic Pairs

We can easily see how these Archetypal pairs represent a broad analogy to a hu-
man mind dealing with a problem. The Protagonist represents the desire to work at
resolving the problem. Its Dynamic Pair, the Antagonist represents the desire to let the
problem grow. As with the Archetypal Characters, we all face an internal battle between
making decisions based upon Reason or upon Emotion. Like the functions of the Side-
kick and Skeptic, the Story Mind will contain a struggle between Faith and Disbelief.
And finally in an Archetypal sense, the Mind will be torn between the Contagonist's
temptation for immediate gratification and the Guardian's counsel to consider the conse-
quences.
Forcing the Story Forward

There is another useful grouping of the Archetypal Characters which helps uncover
their essential Elements. Four of the characters seem to be the prime movers of the
story, and it is their interactions that determine the thrust of the effort to address the
story's problem. The other four are "back seat drivers" — perhaps highly interested in
the outcome, but rather than forcing the plot, they influence those who do force the plot.
Remember, these descriptions are only applicable in a general way but serve to make
comparisons between similar traits of characters. In Dramatica, we group four similar
items that are interrelated into a simple table called a quad. So, we can create a quad
of Driver Characters and a quad of Passenger Characters.
Drivers
The Driver Quad

Quad One: The Driver Characters
PROTAGONIST
ANTAGONIST
In simple stories, the Protagonist, Antagonist, Guardian, and Contagonist

are all major drivers of the story. Whatever the object of their efforts, Pro-
tagonist will be trying to achieve it, Antagonist will be trying to prevent its
achievement, Guardian will act to aid the achievement, and Contagonist will
act to hinder (although Guardian and Contagonist may not be directly con-
cerned with the goal itself or even each other). Regardless of their personal
levels of awareness, each of these Characters seen Objectively acts with a
unique drive that represents a basic Motivation of the Story Mind.
For example, if the Protagonist wants to build a shopping center, the
Antagonist will not want it built. The Contagonist might get an injunction
delaying construction so it can profit from a stock deal, even though it may
like to see the center built eventually, and the Guardian might find a legal
loophole to overturn the injunction, perhaps just as a by-product of another
matter it is representing in court.
Remember, these Overall Story Characters are not judged by how THEY
see the story, but how WE see them affecting the story.
Passengers
The Passenger Quad

Quad Two: The Passenger Characters
SIDEKICK
REASON EMOTION
SKEPTIC
Unlike the first quad, these four Characters are not the prime movers of the story, but
rather ride the coattails of the Driver Characters. If not for the Drivers, the Passengers
would not even be involved with the problem. Each represents an approach or attitude
in the story: Sidekick is forever faithful while Skeptic is forever doubting; Reason acts on
the basis of logic and Emotion responds from feelings. Of course, each of these Char-
acters also has its own motivations, but seen Objectively as part of the Story Mind they
represent different approaches and attitudes toward solving the problem.
Before we sub-divide the Archetypal Characters into their basic Elements, let's get a
better feel for them by examining the Drivers and Passengers in several well known
stories.
Drivers and Passengers in Star Wars
Archetypes in Star Wars
Most people would agree that Luke Skywalker is the Protagonist in Star Wars and
Dramatica sees it the same way. The Empire itself, embodied in the Gran Mof Tarkin
and his troops, is the force diametrically opposed to the story's goal of destroying the
Death Star, and is therefore the Antagonist. Obi Wan Kenobi is the Guardian, protecting
Luke and company and providing "moral" guidance, whereas Darth Vader is the
Contagonist, representing the temptation of the "Dark side of the Force" and hindering
progress at every turn.
Han Solo functions as the Skeptic, arguing his disbelief in the Force as well as his
opposition to just about every course of action anyone tries to take. R2D2 and C3PO
jointly fill the role of Sidekick, forever faithful to whomever they are assigned. Princess
Leia is Reason, coldly calculating (although this is tempered in the storytelling), calm-
headed and the real planner of the group. Chewbacca, in contrast, responds frequently
with little or no thought and acts solely on the basis of his feelings, which clearly defines
him as Emotion.
(It should be noted that R2D2 and C3PO have a well developed sub-plot between
them, that is forefront as the movie opens. This gives them much more personality and
versatility, and spells out differences between them that would not occur if they both
simply shared the sidekick function. Sub-plots are dealt with later in the Storyweaving
section of this book.)
Drivers and Passengers in Star Wars

Having delineated our eight characters in Star Wars, let us organize them into Driv-
ers and Passengers.
Driver Characters
PROTAGONIST - LUKE
GUARDIAN - OBI WAN CONTAGONIST - DARTH
ANTAGONIST - EMPIRE
Passenger Characters
SIDEKICK - R2D2 + C3PO
EMOTION - CHEWBACCA REASON - LEIA
SKEPTIC - HAN
Drivers and Passengers in The Wizard of Oz
Archetypes in The Wizard of Oz
We can label Dorothy as the Protagonist in The Wizard of Oz with some confidence.
Certainly the Scarecrow seems to be Reason since he is the planner of the group ("I'll
show you how to get apples!"), but he is not very calm or collected. In fact, he is quite
the opposite. Similarly, the Tin Man looks like Emotion as he cries in the poppy field,
yet he is anything but frenetic when he rusts himself from the tears. Clearly, our original
Archetypes don't seem quite as true-to-form as they did in Star Wars.
Let's file that away for later and press on. The Cowardly Lion fills the role of Skeptic
and Toto performs as the Sidekick. Glinda is an unabashed Guardian and the Wicked
Witch of the West balances her as the Contagonist. But just a moment here... Doesn't
the Wicked Witch act more like an Antagonist? Indeed she does, yet she seems to also
fill the same role compared to Glinda as Darth Vader fills compared to Obi Wan. As-
suming for a moment that the Wicked Witch IS the Contagonist, then who is the Antago-
nist?
There is only one major character yet unaccounted for —the Wizard himself.
The Wizard as Antagonist? Somehow it doesn't sound quite right. At this point it
becomes apparent that the characters in Oz are not all exactly Archetypal. Something
is going on with the Scarecrow and Tin Man and the Witch and the Wizard that doesn't
quite fit. Exploring these shortcomings of the Archetypal Character model as applied to
Oz will ultimately offer some insight into the essential character Elements.
For the time being, however, let's pencil in the Witch as Antagonist and the Wizard
as the Contagonist so we have a place to start. Here are the Eight Simple Characters
of The Wizard of Oz in Quad format, ignoring any inconsistencies for the moment.
Drivers and Passengers in The Wizard of Oz

Driver Characters
PROTAGONIST - DOROTHY
GUARDIAN - GLINDA CONTAGONIST - WIZARD
ANTAGONIST - WICKED WITCH
SIDEKICK - TOTO
EMOTION - TIN MAN REASON - SCARECROW
SKEPTIC - LION
Drivers and Passengers in Jaws
Archetypes in Jaws
Chief Brody fills the Protagonist's shoes in Jaws, and few would doubt that the Shark
is the Antagonist. Hooper, with all his gizmos, takes the Reasonable stand, while Quint,
who simply hates sharks, functions as Emotion. The Mayor is a strong Contagonist and
Brody's wife is a weak Sidekick although it almost seems as if Hooper fills that role
sometimes as well. Once again, more versatility is needed than the Archetypal Charac-
ters provide.
We still need a Guardian — someone to protect Brody as well as stress the proper
moral course. Simply put, Jaws has no character that performs BOTH functions.
Rather, the moral half of the Guardian's role is played by Hooper who reminds Brody of
his duty and urges him into taking action against the shark problem, while the protec-
tive role is filled in turn by the land itself, Hooper's boat, and ultimately Quint's boat.
Non-Archetypal Roles in Jaws

There is no reason why a character must be a person. A boat can be a player as
well as a person, as long as it can demonstrate its function to the audience. Again, in
Dramatica, the point of a story is to illustrate all aspects of the Story Mind dealing with a
problem. As long as each aspect is accounted for, the specific carrier of that Element is
structurally irrelevant and may only have storytelling ramifications.
So far we have not determined the Skeptic in Jaws. Who refuses to believe evi-
dence of the shark problem or the need for taking action against it? Clearly the Mayor
embodies that characteristic well, and yet was previously identified as the Contagonist.
Obviously some "doubling up" is going on here. If we look at who is across from whom
in quad form, we can see some of the basic dramatic Character conflicts in Jaws.
Drivers and Passengers in Jaws
Driver Characters
PROTAGONIST - BRODY
GUARDIAN - HOOPER CONTAGONIST - MAYOR
ANTAGONIST - SHARK
SIDEKICK - WIFE
EMOTION - QUINT REASON - HOOPER
SKEPTIC - MAYOR
From this breakdown, we see a good example in both the Mayor and Hooper of
single players who actually portray two distinct Archetypal characters. The Mayor func-
tions as Contagonist and Skeptic, whereas Hooper portrays both Guardian and Reason.
Some of these broad labels fit better than others, which is why there are actually some
Complex Character arrangements in Jaws as well, that do not quite fall into the strict
Archetypal mold.
Action and Decision Elements of
Drivers and Passengers
Recap of Archetypal Characters

Now that we have become familiar with Archetypal characters and some of their
limitations, let us recap our list of the eight Archetypal Characters as a prelude to resolv-
ing the inconsistencies we saw in The Wizard of Oz and Jaws:
PROTAGONIST: The traditional Protagonist is the driver of the story: the one who forces the action. We
root for it and hope for its success.
ANTAGONIST: The Antagonist is the character directly opposed to the Protagonist. It represents the
problem that must be solved or overcome for the Protagonist to succeed.
REASON: This character makes its decisions and takes action on the basis of logic, never letting feelings
get in the way of a rational course.
EMOTION: The Emotion character responds with its feelings without thinking, whether it is angry or kind,
with disregard for practicality.
SKEPTIC: Skeptic doubts everything — courses of action, sincerity, truth — whatever.
SIDEKICK: The Sidekick is unfailing in its loyalty and support. The Sidekick is often aligned with the
Protagonist though may also be attached to the Antagonist.
GUARDIAN: The Guardian is a teacher or helper who aids the Protagonist in its quest and offers a moral
standard.
CONTAGONIST: The Contagonist hinders and deludes the Protagonist, tempting it to take the wrong
course or approach.
Splitting Archetypes Into Action and
Decision Characteristics
Re-examining the list, we can learn something new that will help us in analyzing The
Wizard of Oz and Jaws: each of the Eight Archetypal Characters contains one charac-
teristic pertaining to actions and another characteristic pertaining to decisions.
PROTAGONIST ______________________________________________________
Action Characteristic:
Pursues the goal. The traditional Protagonist is the driver of the story: the one who
forces the action.
Decision Characteristic:
Urges the other characters to consider the necessity of achieving the goal.
ANTAGONIST ________________________________________________________
The Antagonist physically tries to prevent or avoid the successful achievement of the
goal by the Protagonist.
The Antagonist urges the other characters to reconsider the attempt to achieve the goal.
GUARDIAN __________________________________________________________
The Guardian is a helper who aids the efforts to achieve the story goal.
It represents conscience in the mind, based upon the Author's view of morality.
CONTAGONIST ______________________________________________________
The Contagonist hinders the efforts to achieve the story goal.
It represents temptation to take the wrong course or approach.
REASON ____________________________________________________________
This character is very calm or controlled in its actions.
It makes its decisions on the basis of logic, never letting emotion get in the way of a
rational course.
EMOTION ___________________________________________________________
The Emotional character is frenzied or uncontrolled in its actions.
It responds with its feelings with disregard for practicality.
SIDEKICK ___________________________________________________________
The Sidekick supports, playing a kind of cheering section.
It is almost gullible in the extent of its faith — in the goal, in the Protagonist, in success,
etc.
SKEPTIC ____________________________________________________________
The Skeptic opposes — everything.
It disbelieves everything, doubting courses of action, sincerity, truth — whatever.
Split Archetypes in Quads
Having split them in two, we can see that each of the Archetypal Characters has an
attitude or Decision characteristic and an approach or Action characteristic. When we
arrange both characteristics under each of the eight Archetypes in our Driver and Pas-
senger Quad format, we get a graphic feel for the Archetypal Overall Story Characters
and the Elements they represent.
Driver Quad
PROTAGONIST
Pursue-Consideration
Help-Conscience Hinder-Temptation
ANTAGONIST
Prevent-Re-consideration
Passenger Quad
SIDEKICK
Support-Faith
EMOTION REASON
Uncontrolled-Feeling Control-Logic
SKEPTIC
Oppose-Disbelief
In Dramatica, we refer to these 16 characteristics as the Motivation Elements be-

cause they describe what drives the Archetypal Characters.
The 16 Motivation Elements in Star Wars
Elements of Star Wars Characters

Let's see how well these sixteen Motivation Elements line up with the characters we
have examined so far. As Protagonist, Luke does indeed seem to be both the pursuing
character and the one who urges all to consider the need to achieve the goal ("We've
got to help the Princess!"). The Empire definitely wants to prevent Luke from succeed-
ing, and urges him and all others to reconsider the propriety of his actions - reconsider
or you will die. Obi Wan provides a sense of conscience, at the same time helping
Luke when he gets into trouble. Darth, on the other hand, clearly represents the tempt-
ing "Dark side of the Force," as well as hindering Luke's progress, the Rebel's
progress, and even hindering progress by the Empire itself!
R2D2 and C3PO are ever faithful and supportive, and Han is the perennial disbe-
liever and opposer. Chewbacca acts on his feelings and behaves in an uncontrolled
way, and Leia is extremely controlled and driven by logic.
Charted out, the assignment of characteristics to the various characters has a good
feel to it.
Character Quads with Elements

Driver Quad
PROTAGONIST-LUKE
GUARDIAN-OBI WAN CONTAGONIST-DARTH
ANTAGONIST-EMPIRE
(Avoid)Prevent-Reconsideration
Passenger Quad
SIDEKICK-R2D2 + C3PO
Support-Faith
EMOTION-CHEWBACCA REASON-LEIA
Uncontrolled-Feeling Control-Logic
SKEPTIC-HAN
Oppose-Disbelief
The 16 Motivation Elements in The Wizard of Oz
Archetypal Elements of "Oz" Characters
Returning to Oz, Dorothy is both pursue and consideration. Toto is faith and sup-
port. The Cowardly Lion is clearly disbelief and oppose, and Glinda is conscience
and help. But here is where breaking the Eight Archetypal Characters into 16 charac-
teristics solves our previous problems.
Tin Man and Scarecrow Swap Meet

When we look at the Scarecrow he appears to exemplify logic but his approach,
rather than being in control, is quite uncontrolled. Similarly, although the Tin Man is
undoubtedly feeling, his demeanor is just as surely described by control.
Archetypal Arrangement
Reason Emotion
Decision Element logic feeling
Action Element control uncontrolled
Wizard of Oz
Scarecrow Tin Man
Decision Element logic feeling
Action Element uncontrolled control
Apparently, the Scarecrow and the Tin Man have swapped characteristics: logic
goes with uncontrolled and feeling goes with control. In a sense, both of these Charac-
ters now contain two Elements that are at odds with each other. The Action Element
does not reflect the Decision Element. This creates two very interesting Characters who
have an additional degree of depth to them: an internal friction, inconsistency, or con-
flict. This is the kind of arrangement that begins to make characters more complex.
Witch and Wizard Ways
But what about the Witch and the Wizard? What is it that makes them diverge from
the Archetypal molds? Could it be a similar "swapping" of Elements? As it turns out, it
is a similar swapping, but not exactly the same. To be the Archetypal Contagonist, the
Wizard would have to be temptation and hinder. To be the Antagonist, the Witch
would have to be reconsideration and prevent. But rather than swapping an Action
Element for another Action Element, the Witch ends up with both Action Elements and
the Wizard with both Decision ones!
Archetypal Arrangement
Antagonist Contagonist
Decision Elements reconsideration temptation
Action Elements prevent (avoid) hinder
Wizard of Oz
Wizard Witch
Decision Elements reconsideration
temptation
Action Elements prevent (avoid)
hinder
"Oz" Elements in Quads
When we put this information into our Quad formation, the Elements do not line up in
a simple way.
Driver Quad
PROTAGONIST-DOROTHY
GUARDIAN-GLINDA WIZARD
Help-Conscience Temptation-Reconsideration
WICKED WITCH
Prevent-Hinder
Passenger Quad
SIDEKICK-TOTO
Support-Faith
TIN MAN SCARECROW
Control-Feeling Uncontrolled-Logic
SKEPTIC-LION
Oppose-Disbelief
Everyone still has two characteristics; however, the arrangements are not Archetypal
for all the Characters in The Wizard of Oz. As a result, the Archetypal role names have
been removed where they do not apply.
The 16 Motivation Elements in Jaws
Elements of Jaws Characters
Brody, as Protagonist, is very nicely pursue, and certainly with his bell-ringing and
whistle-blowing Brody is consideration as well. Hooper does provide the sense of
conscience and helps Brody. The Mayor definitely hinders our Protagonist and dishes
out plenty of temptation to give up the quest. Certainly the shark forces reconsidera-
tion of the propriety of the goal and goes out of its way to prevent Brody from accom-
plishing his goal of adjusting its feeding habits. Brody's wife is his faithful supporter.
Hooper adds to his functions by filling the role of logic as well, yet he is very uncon-
trolled in his approach, as made evident by the variety of devices he employs to no
apparent success. Quint is clearly operating from his feelings, but his approach is very
simple and in control. The Mayor, in addition, supplies us with disbelief and oppose.
Driver Quad
PROTAGONIST-BRODY
GUARDIAN - HOOPER CONTAGONIST - MAYOR
ANTAGONIST - SHARK
(Avoid)Prevent-Reconsideration
Passenger Quad
SIDEKICK-WIFE
Support-Faith
QUINT HOOPER
Control-Feeling Uncontrolled-Logic
SKEPTIC-MAYOR
Oppose-Disbelief
Grouping the 16 Motivation Elements
A Better Way to Group Elements

A better way to organize these characteristics is to separate the Action Elements
from the Decision Elements. Of course, since the Eight Archetypal Character Types
describe a specific pairing of Action characteristic to Decision characteristic, when we
separate the sets, we cannot keep the Archetypal Character names as their contents
are split. Nevertheless, it is much more useful to arrange the Elements by their similar
natures rather than by the simple arrangement contained in the Archetypal Characters.
With 16 characteristics, we can create four quads of four characteristics each. This
grows from having a Driver Character Quad and a Passenger Character Quad, then
splitting each in two (Action Quad and Decision Quad), giving us four Quads: the Action
Driver Quad, the Decision Driver Quad, the Action Passenger Quadand the Decision
Passenger Quad.
Motivation Element Quads
Action Driver Quad Decision Driver Quad
Pursue Consideration
Help Hinder Conscience Temptation
Prevent Reconsideration
Action Passenger Quad Decision Passenger Quad
Support Faith
Uncontrolled Control Feeling Logic
Oppose Disbelief
Using the Quads to Gain Meaning
In Dramatica, a group of four Quads is called a Set. Note how the set above pro-
vides additional meaning. For example, when dealing with a problem of Action in terms
of Drivers, one would have the choice to Pursue, Prevent, Help, or Hinder. When a
Character represents the Drive to Pursue, it applies itself to achieving the goal. Al-
though it may also want the goal to be achieved, a Help Character focuses its efforts on
being useful to the Pursuit of the goal rather than instigating its own effort. This explains
the functions of and relationship between the Protagonist's Drive (Pursue) and the
Guardian's Drive (Help).
Similarly, when a Protagonist's Drive is Pursue, an Antagonist's Drive is Prevent.
And, of course, the Contagonist Hinders the Protagonist's Pursuit. In fact, when we
consider all four Quads, we can obtain a very precise understanding of why the Eight
Archetypal Characters are created as they are and exactly how they relate.
Complex Arrangements of Character Elements

So far we have only explored sixteen different character Elements. One way to
create complex characters is by assigning these sixteen Elements to characters in non-
archetypal patterns. However, as great as the number of potential characters that can
be created is, this limited set of sixteen Elements is still not sufficient to describe all the
rich complexities of the Overall Story Characters we see in sophisticated stories. This is
because these sixteen Elements only represent character Motivations. In fact, we call
them the Sixteen Motivation Elements.
Characters Do Not Live By Motivations Alone

Like real people, characters are driven by Motivations, but they also aspire to differ-
ent Purposes, employ different Methodologies in the effort to achieve those purposes,
and use different Means of Evaluation to determine the effectiveness of their efforts.
The old adage that one should create three dimensional characters falls short by one
dimension. Fully realized characters are four dimensional possessing an Action and
Decision Element in each dimension.
In the following sections we will explore two kinds of character complexity. First we
will look at ways to rearrange the Motivation Elements, and second, we will outline how
to bring the other three character dimensions into play.
Star Wars Characters in Four Motivation Quads
Once again, to enhance our "feel" for these relationships, let's add the
names of the Characters in Star Wars to the Quads.
Star Wars
Luke Luke
Obi Wan Darth Obi Wan Darth
Empire Empire
R2D2/C3PO R2D2/C3PO
Support Faith
Chewbacca Leia Chewbacca Leia
Uncontrolled Controlled Feeling Logic
Han Han
Oppose Disbelief
As before, the amazingly pure Archetypal Characters of Star Wars translate into a
completely symmetrical pattern. Each Character has an Action Quad characteristic and
a Decision Quad characteristic. Each pair of Characters is in direct opposition, both
internally and externally. Further, Driver Archetypes are represented exclusively in the
Driver Quads and Passenger Archetypes are found entirely within the Passenger
Quads.
"Oz" Characters in Four Motivation Quads
The Wizard of Oz
Dorothy Dorothy
Glinda Wicked Witch Glinda Wizard
Wicked Witch Wizard
Toto Toto
Support Faith
Scarecrow Tin Man Tin Man Scarecrow
Uncontrolled Control Feeling Logic
Lion Lion
Oppose Disbelief
In looking at these patterns, the Passenger Characters in The Wizard of Oz seem

very much like the Passenger Characters in Star Wars, with that one notable exception
of the "flipping" of Logic and Feeling in relation to Control and Uncontrolled. In other
words, the two Characters simply traded places on one Dynamic Pair of Elements in a
single Quad. It makes sense that a stereotypical Reason Character would be logical
AND controlled, and a stereotypical Emotion Character would be feeling AND uncon-
trolled. But if you simply flip the Action Characteristics in relation to the Decision Char-
acteristics, far more versatile Characters are created —characters whose approach is
no longer in complement to their attitude, but in conflict with it. In a sense, these Char-
acters are made more interesting by creating an inequity within them even as they
continue to represent methods of problem solving within the Story Mind.
Looking at the Wizard and the Wicked Witch we see that the other kind of swapping
of characteristics also creates much less stereotypical Characters. Rather than a
tempter, the Wicked Witch becomes a completely action-oriented pest not only trying to
prevent Dorothy from achieving her goal, but hindering her every step on the way as
well. The Wizard becomes a purely decision-oriented tempter who represents taking the
apparent easy way out while also (through his fearsome reputation, embodiment, and
requests) urging Dorothy and her friends to reconsider their decisions. This lack of
action characteristics may help explain why the Wizard is so obviously absent during
most of the story, although his influence is felt throughout. Obviously, the nature of the
combinations of characteristics has a great impact on which decisions and actions the
audience will expect and accept from a Character.
Jaws Characters in Four Motivation Quads
Jaws
Brody Brody
Hooper Mayor Hooper Mayor
Shark Shark
Wife Wife
Support Faith
Hooper Quint Quint Hooper
Uncontrolled Controlled Feeling Logic
Mayor Mayor
Oppose Disbelief
Clearly, the Driver Character characteristics in Jaws are as simple as those in Star
Wars. In fact, they are identical in terms of which characteristics are combined into a
single Character. However, when we look at the Passenger Character characteristics,
we see a new phenomenon: some of those Elements are present in the Driver Charac-
ters, two of whom are doing multiple duty.
The Mayor represents Temptation and Hinder as a Driver Character but also repre-
sents the Passenger characteristics of Disbelief and Oppose. Hooper, a Driver in Con-
science and Help, also represents Logic and Uncontrolled, putting him in conflict with
Quint. It is clear that these "multi-characteristic" Characters are much more complex in
their make-up and therefore in their interactions than Archetypes. For this reason we
refer to them as Complex Characters.
Complex Motivation Characteristics
Rules for Building Characters?

The question now becomes, "Is there a definitive set of rules that govern how char-
acteristics may or may not be combined without violating the analogy of the Story
Mind?" Let's find out.
A Character Cannot Serve Two Masters

The first thing we notice when examining the Motivation Characters is that there is
never an instance where a Character contains both characteristics in a Dynamic Pair.
This makes common sense: "One cannot serve two masters." Essentially, how can you
be AGAINST something at the same time you are FOR it? So, our first rule of combin-
ing characteristics is: Characters should never represent more than one character-
istic in a Dynamic Pair.
Can't Serve Two Masters at the Same Time....

Sounds good, but what if you want to create a Character who represents one view
and then the other. For example, if you had a one-woman show, you would need to
combine ALL 16 Motivation characteristics into one person. This is accommodated by
the difference between a character and a player. In a one-woman show, even if it is a
single story argument, there might be a multitude of characters but only one player. The
key to keeping them separate is that the player changes from one character to another,
never simultaneously portraying more than one, such as by donning different apparel or
adopting a different voice.
In light of this additional information we add a second rule of thumb to our first:
Players should never represent more than one character at a time.
The Meaning of Overall Story Character Elements

In truth, there are many valid reasons for combining opposing characteristics in one
body. An example is Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde. As Jekyll and Hyde, this player has
a split personality representing, in effect, two Characters in the same body.
Dramatica sees a player as a shopper filling a grocery sack full of characteristics.
You can select whatever you want, as long as you don't put in both Elements of a Dy-
namic Pair. You can also carry as many bags as you can handle.
But wouldn't a fixed grouping of characteristics prevent a Character from growing?
For the answer, look back at what these characteristics really are. They are the prob-
lem-solving processes within the Story Mind seen Objectively. They are Overall Story
Characters. Objectively, characters remain the same; it is Subjectively that they grow
as points of view change. In a sense, the Overall Story nature of characters describes
their innate disposition, in which no changes can be made. The Subjective nature of
characters describes their learned behavior, which is what can be evolve in the course
of a story.
What does all this mean in a practical sense to us as Authors? First, Dramatica tells
us there are only 16 Motivations to spread among our players. If we use the same
characteristic twice, it clutters our story. If we neglect to employ one, there will be a hole
in our story's argument. Finally, we have a great deal of flexibility to create unique and
memorable characters while fulfilling all the requirements an audience will look for in a
Story Mind.
Complex Characters in Gone With the Wind
Simply "Gone With The Wind"

As an exercise, let's take a look at how the Motivation characteristics are repre-
sented and combined in some familiar well-written stories. Why don't we tackle some-
thing simple like Gone With the Wind.
"Simple?" you say. In terms of thematics, Gone With the Wind is an extremely rich
and complex story. But in terms of the characters, GWTW is no more complex than any
of the other stories we have analyzed so far. Let's see how.
Scarlett and Rhett

A list of the most notable Characters might include: Scarlett O'Hara, Rhett Butler,
Ashley Wilkes, Melanie Wilkes, Scarlett's sister Suellen, Frank Kennedy, Scarlett's
father Gerald O'Hara, and Prissy. Taking them one at a time, we can see the stuff they
are made of.
Intuitively, we sense that Scarlett and Rhett are the two most important characters.
Looking at the 16 characteristics, Scarlett is clearly Pursue. She pursues Rhett, she
pursues Ashley, she pursues the tax money, she pursues a fortune. She is motivated to
get people to consider things they normally would not. Based on this analysis we will
call Scarlett PURSUE and CONSIDERATION.
Rhett, on the other hand, spends most of his time avoiding. He avoids getting in-
volved in the war, and by his contraband dealings he avoids financial hardship. He
avoids Scarlett's advances, avoids the firing squad, avoids paying her the tax money,
and on and on. Nonetheless, it is Rhett that continually urges Scarlett (and everyone
else) to reconsider their actions. So Rhett comes down as AVOID and RECONSIDERA-
TION.
Comparing Scarlett to Rhett, each contains one action characteristic and one deci-
sion characteristic. Solely in terms of Motivations, Scarlett and Rhett are Archetypal
Protagonist and Antagonist.
Melanie and Ashley

There is little to disguise Ashley's effect as TEMPTATION upon Scarlett. Just be-
cause he never actively tempts her does not diminish his actual temptation value. And
this is a good point to file away for later: A character does not have to actively or
even consciously employ a characteristic to represent it.
Looking for Ashley's physical characteristic, although it is not strongly drawn, we find
him to be HINDER. Now since his physical self is designed to be the source of
Scarlett's temptation, Hinder has been down-played to make him more attractive. Nev-
ertheless, he repeatedly jeopardizes Scarlett's situation. Temptation and Hinder make
Ashley a Contagonist.
Melanie, in complement to Ashley, is CONSCIENCE and HELP. She continually
tutors Scarlett in the "correct" morality, simultaneously cleaning up the real world
messes that Scarlett leaves in her wake. Melanie is forever smoothing ruffled feathers
and it is she who handles the hiding of the Yankee renegade soldier that Scarlett
shoots. Conscience and Help make Melanie the Guardian.
It is interesting to note the Character pairings designed into this story. Scarlett
(Pursue and Consideration) is paired with Rhett (Avoid and Reconsideration). Ashley
(Temptation and Hinder) is paired with Melanie (Conscience and Help). Obviously,
Margaret Mitchell had an amazingly intuitive sense of where the dramatic potentials lie.
(But then, we knew that already, didn't we?) Let's see if this pattern continues.
Frank Kennedy, Suellen O'Hara, Gerald O'Hara, and Prissy

Scarlett's screaming sister Suellen plays nicely as FEELING and UNCONTROLLED,
making her the Emotion Character. Her choice of husband, Frank Kennedy (who is
snatched by Scarlett) is again, an opposite. Kennedy, by virtue of his steadfast busi-
ness development and religion of practicality defines LOGIC. And also by virtue of his
steadfast business development and resistance to diverging from his plans demon-
strates that he represents CONTROL (restraint). Kennedy fits nicely as the Reason
Character, again, in a complementary posture to his intended bride.
Finally, we reach a most telling pair. First, we perceive Scarlett's father Gerald
O'Hara has FAITH. He believes that a war will never happen, then believes the South
will win. Even when they have already lost he won't give up his faith. He goes into a
fantasy world rather than admit his faith is in error. On the flip side, he constantly OP-
POSES Scarlett's wishes. In the opening scene, Scarlett wants love but her father is
pushing real estate. After the fall, he keeps jumping in with inane comments about the
way Scarlett is handling the house. Consistently (albeit gently) he opposes her.
Prissy, on the other hand, has no faith at all. She is absolutely convinced that no
matter what the situation, the worst will happen. She is a DISBELIEVER pure and true.
And yet, she SUPPORTS Scarlett in every self-serving endeavor she instigates. As with
other characters we have examined, Mr. O'Hara and Prissy have swapped characteris-
tics, this time between the Skeptic and Sidekick. They are a complementary pair. This
is a wonderful twist from a thematic standpoint, pairing and swapping characteristics
between a rich white landholder and a poor black slave.
Complex Characters in Rear Window
Principal Characters in Rear Window

If there is anything that can be seen as "typical" about a Hitchcock film it would be
his forefront use of thematics. Rear Window is no exception. As with Gone With the
Wind, the enjoyment of the story comes largely from what happens between the lines.
But unlike GWTW, the characters in Rear Window are relatively complex.
At first glance, it may seem that there are quite a few characters, what with the
neighbors and all. There's the Composer, trying to sell his first hit song. There's Miss
Lonely Heart, who can't get a date. We see a lot of Miss Torso who exercises in front of
her open window. Upstairs is the Couple With the Dog, downstairs, the Sunbather.
And, of course, Thorwald the murderer.
More prominent, of course, is Jeffries and the characters we see in his apartment:
his girlfriend Lisa; Doyle, the detective; and his Nurse. (It is important to note that
Thorwald also shows up in Jeffries' apartment near the end of the story and is the only
neighbor to do so.)
The Top Five

The purpose of characters is to show how aspects of the Story Mind deal with a
problem. And this is what determines that the neighbors are not Overall Story Charac-
ters. Aside from Thorwald, they all have their own little stories, but only interact with
each other peripherally, if at all. Their private stories enhance the thematic atmosphere
of the overall story but neither advance nor clarify the plot.
If we eliminate all the neighbors who do not interact, we pare our list down to five
actual characters: Jeffries, Lisa, Doyle, Nurse, and Thorwald. If Rear Window is well
written, we would expect all sixteen motivation Elements to be distributed among these
five. Let's see if they are.
Elements of the Top Five

Who represents FAITH? Unquestionably Jeffries. He maintains his belief that a
murder has been committed in the face of objections by each of the other characters.
Lisa can't talk him out of it and neither can his Nurse. Thorwald denies it by his actions
and Doyle is not convinced until after the proof is irrefutable. In fact, Doyle personifies
DISBELIEF, even while HELPING Jeffries gain information to which he would not other-
wise have access. Lisa comes around to accepting the possibility and so does Nurse.
Thorwald already knows the truth, but Doyle is never convinced until he sees the proof
with his own eyes.
In addition, Doyle relies on LOGIC to support his disbelief. He will not accept
Jeffries' contentions without logical arguments. Then is Jeffries FEELING? No. Jeffries
does not disregard Logic in his considerations; he merely can't supply it. Jeffries urges
the others to CONSIDER what he knows and what he suspects. Lisa, on the other
hand, continually acts on impulse without regard for logic, illustrating nicely the charac-
teristic of FEELING.
If Jeffries is CONSIDERATION, we would expect his nemesis, Thorwald, to cause
RECONSIDERATION, and he does. Thorwald's apparently guilt-free actions are a
constant force that urges Jeffries (and the others) to RECONSIDER. All we ever see of
him is that he acts methodically to carry out his plan, whatever that might be. It is his
methodical approach that makes Thorwald the CONTROL Character as well. He
wastes no time or energy on anything but the task at hand, whereas Jeffries dabbles at
whatever fills his view, even when it interferes with his goal of getting the goods on
Thorwald. Jeffries plainly illustrates the Element of being UNCONTROLLED.
Even though Lisa SUPPORTS Jeffries in his quest, she manages to HINDER his
efforts through distraction and re-direction of their conversations. She clearly TEMPTS
him to give up PURSUING this crazy scheme. In contrast, Jeffries' Nurse OPPOSES
his efforts, even while providing a moralistic philosophy or CONSCIENCE to his every
comment. And, of course, Thorwald would prefer to AVOID the whole thing.
Characteristic Lists
If we take a slightly different form, we can arrange the five Characters as
column headings and list their characteristics beneath them.
Rear Window
JEFFRIES LISA DOYLE NURSE THORWALD
Faith Temptation Disbelief Conscience
Consideration Feeling Logic Re-Consideration
Uncontrolled Support Oppose Controlled
Pursue Hinder Help Avoid
Rear Window Characters in the Motivation Set
Assigning the Character names of Rear Window to the Motivation Char-
acteristic Quads we get:
Jeffries
PURSUE
Doyle Jeffries
HELP CONSIDERATION
Nurse
Conscience
Lisa
HINDER
Thorwald Lisa
AVOID TEMPTATION
Thorwald
RECONSIDERATION
Lisa
SUPPORT
Thorwald Doyle
CONTROLLED LOGIC
Jeffries
FAITH
Jeffries
UNCONTROLLED
Nurse Doyle
OPPOSE DISBELIEF
Lisa
FEELING
Using the grid above we can predict the principal conflicts of Rear Window simply
by noting which characters are in Dynamic (diagonal) positions and the issues (Ele-
ments) over which each pair will diverge.
In summary, the set of sixteen Motivation Elements offers a valuable tool for under-
standing some of the essential building blocks of Overall Story Characters and how they
can be distributed to create both Archetypal and Complex characters.
Other Character Dimensions

What's the Purpose?
When authors describe their characters, they are often asked to state a characters'
motivations. A common reply might be, "The character Jane wants to be president."
Often that is accepted as a valid motivation. In fact, becoming president is Jane's
Purpose, not her motivation. Her motivation may be that she felt no control over her life
as a child. Or she might be motivated by a love of the natural world, hoping to instigate
a national conservation plan. She might be motivated by a desire for an equal rights
amendment.
Just knowing what her purpose is does not tell us anything about what Jane is driven
by but only what she is driven toward. Any of the stated motivations would be sufficient
to explain Jane's purpose of becoming president. Conversely, if Jane's motivation were
the first example - a lack of control over her life as a child - several different purposes
might satisfy that motivation. She might become a school teacher, a drill sergeant, or a
religious leader. Clearly, motivations do not specifically dictate purposes, nor are pur-
poses indicative of any particular motivations.
Step into the Fourth Dimension....

In Dramatica, we refer to Motivation as a Character Dimension. Often it is said that
characters must be three-dimensional to seem like real people. Dramatica sees four
dimensions as necessary to flesh out a character. Motivations and Purposes are the
first and last dimensions, but that is not enough. Motivation gives a character the force
to move, Purpose gives a character a direction in which to move. But how is he actually
going to get to where he wants to go? For this, he needs a Methodology, which is the
third dimension of character. Methodologies describe the kinds of approaches a char-
acter might use in its efforts to achieve its purposes.
This might seem like enough dimensions. After all, we have a beginning (motiva-
tion), a middle (methodology), and an end (purpose). Still, there is one remaining di-
mension lacking: Evaluations. Evaluations are the standards by which characters
measure their progress.
All right, Buddy... Where's the conflict?!
As an example of the concept of Evaluation, imagine two business partners who
share motivations, methodologies and purposes. They might agree on what drives
them (a motivation to be independent), what they want to achieve (a purpose of creating
a thriving business), and how to achieve that (word-of-mouth advertising as a methodol-
ogy). Still, they might argue if sales are up but satisfaction is low because one evalu-
ates based on gross sales and the other evaluates based on customer satisfaction.
Their word-of-mouth methodology brings in more business because their prices are
good, but repeat business is non-existent because of poor customer satisfaction. As a
result, the two partners argue all the time, even though they agree in all three dimen-
sions of Motivation, Methodology, and Purpose.
Difficulties can arise between characters in any one of the four dimensions, even
though they might agree completely in one or more of the other dimensions. In short,
characters are never fully developed unless they are represented in all four dimensions,
and they may come into conflict over any combination of Motivations, Methodologies,
Means of Evaluation, or Purposes.
The Sixty-Four Element Question
Each of the character dimensions contains sixteen Elements, as we have already
seen with Motivations. Each character dimension is referred to as a Set of Elements.
All four Sets come together to create what is called a Chess Set (due to its eight by
eight grid) as illustrated below:
Purpose Set Evaluation Set
Knowledge Ability Actuality Aware Proven Theory Effect Trust
Desire Thought Self Aware Perception Hunch Unproven Test Cause
Order Equity Inertia Projection Accurate Expectation Result Ending
Inequity Chaos Speculation Change Determina- Non- Unending Process

tion Accurate
Consider Logic Pursuit Control Certainty Probability Proaction Inaction
Feeling Reconsider Uncontrolled Avoid Possibility Potentiality Protection Reaction
Faith Conscience Support Help Deduction Reduction Acceptance Evaluation
Temptation Disbelief Hinder Oppose Production Induction Re- Non-

evaluation acceptance
Motivation Set Methodology Set
A good way to get a feel for the content of and relationships between character
dimensions is through the Archetypal Characters. Beginning with the Motivation Set,
when we superimpose the Archetypal Characters onto the character Elements, an
"archetypal pattern" appears as follows:
Consider Logic Pursuit Control

Protagonist Reason Protagonist Reason
Feeling Reconsider Uncontrolled Avoid
Emotion Antagonist Emotion Antagonist
Faith Conscience Support Help

Sidekick Guardian Sidekick Guardian
Temptation Disbelief Hinder Oppose

Contagonist Skeptic Contagonist Skeptic
Mapping the Archetypal Pattern

The archetypal pattern formed in the Motivation Set clearly illustrates the consis-
tency and balance of the character Elements. In each quad of four Elements, the items
that are diagonal from one another hold the greatest potential for conflict because they
are exact opposites.
For example, Pursuit is the opposite of Avoid. As a result, when we place the Pro-
tagonist on the Motivation of Pursuit, we would expect the Antagonist to represent
Avoid. As we have illustrated in the previous section, that is exactly the case. Similarly,
when we place the Reason Archetype on Logic, it comes as no surprise to find Emotion
residing on Feeling, since it is diagonal from Logic. In fact, every pair of Archetypes that
are in a diagonal relationship will generate the greatest dynamics between them. This
is why we call two Elements in diagonal opposition a Dynamic Pair.
Consider Logic Pursuit Control
Protagonist Reason Protagonist Reason
Feeling Reconsider Uncontrolled Avoid
Emotion Antagonist Emotion Antagonist
Archetypal Methodologies
Shifting our attention to the Methodology Set, a very useful thing becomes evident.
Because the Methodology Elements are also arranged in Dynamic Pairs, we can simply
duplicate the Archetypal pattern from the Motivation Set and the Archetypal Characters
will cover the Methods they represent in stories as well.
Motivation Set Methodology Set

Protagonist Reason Protagonist Reason Protagonist Reason Protagonist Reason
Emotion Antagonist Emotion Antagonist Emotion Antagonist Emotion Antagonist

Sidekick Guardian Sidekick Guardian Sidekick Guardian Sidekick Guardian
Temptation Disbelief Hinder Oppose Production Induction Re-evaluation Non-acceptance

Contagonist Skeptic Contagonist Skeptic Contagonist Skeptic Contagonist Skeptic
For example, a Protagonist who is Motivated by Pursuit employs a Methodology of

Pro-action, and a Skeptic who is Motivated to Oppose employs a Methodology of Non-
Acceptance.
This Archetypal Pattern continues through all four character dimensions such that a
Protagonist will be motivated by Pursuit, employ a Methodology of Pro-action, Evaluate
its progress by the Effect it has, and strive toward achieving Actuality as its Purpose.
Each of the Archetypal Characters follows the same pattern for both its External and
Internal characteristics, resulting in an alignment of character Elements in four dimen-
sions.
Complex Dimensional Patterns
Most stories tend to emphasize one dimension over the others. Character Motiva-
tions are often made most prominent. Still, many stories are written that compare the
methods used by characters, question their purposes, or carry a message that a Means
of Evaluation is actually the cause of the problem. Some characters become famous for
characteristics other than Motivations, such as a notable detective who employs a
methodology of Deduction.
Being aware of all four character dimensions adds a level of versatility in creating
complex characters as well. Characters might be Archetypal in one dimension, but fall
into complex patterns in another. Also, a character may have three Motivations that
drive it, yet strive toward a single Purpose that it hopes will satisfy all three. Some
characters may not be represented at all in one or more dimensions, making them both
more complex and less well-rounded at the same time. To fully make the argument of
any story, however, all sixty-four Elements must be represented in one character or
another. In addition, a key point to remember is: Unless a character represents at least
one Element, it is not fulfilling a dramatic function and is therefore being employed for
storytelling only.
What's In a Pair?
Finally, we can use our Chess Set of Elements to learn something more about our
character's relationships. In each quad of Elements, we find not only Dynamic (diago-
nal) Pairs, but horizontal and vertical pairs as well. Horizontal Elements are called
Companion Pairs, and vertical Elements are Dependent Pairs. Each kind of pair de-
scribes a different kind of relationship between the Elements, and therefore between the
characters that represent them.
In addition to the three types of pairs, we can look at each Element as a separate
component and compare it to the overall nature of the quad itself. This Component
approach describes the difference between any given Element and the family of Ele-
ments in which it resides (quad). Therefore, the degree of individuality the characters
represent within the "group" can be explored.
Dynamic Companion Dependent Components

Pairs Pairs Pairs
Dynamic Pairs describe Elements with the greatest opposition to one another.
Whenever two opposing forces come together they will create either a positive or nega-
tive relationship. They can form a synthesis and create something greater than the sum
of the parts or they can simply tear away at each other until nothing is left (destructive).
Within a quad, one of the Dynamic Pairs will indicate a positive relationship, the other a
negative one. Which is which depends upon other story dynamics.
Companion Pairs contain the Elements that are most compatible. However, just
being compatible does not preclude a negative relationship. In a positive Companion
Pair, characters will proceed along their own paths, side by side. What one does not
need they will offer to the other (positive impact). In a negative Companion Pair, one
character may use up what the other needs. They are not against each other as in a
negative Dynamic Pair, but still manage to interfere with each other's efforts (negative
impact).
Dependent Pairs are most complementary. In a positive sense, each character
provides strengths to compensate for the other's weaknesses (cooperation). Together
they make a powerful team. In its negative incarnation, the Dependent Pair Relation-
ship has each character requiring the other in order to proceed (codependency).
Components describe the nature of the Elements in relationship to the overall quad.
On the one hand, the individual characters in a quad can be a group that works together
(interdependency). The group is seen to be greater than the individual characters that
comprise it, at the risk of overwhelming the individuality of its members. This is con-
trasted by identifying the disparate nature of each character in the quad (indepen-
dency). Seen this way, the characters are noted for their distinguishing characteristics
at the risk of losing sight of shared interests.
Dynamic Relationships are the most familiar to writers, simply because they gener-
ate the most obvious kind of conflict. Companion and Dependent Pairs are used all the
time without fanfare, as there has previously been no terminology to describe them.
Components are useful to writers because they allow characters in groups to be evalu-
ated in and out of context.
By constructing characters with thought and foresight, an author can use the position
of Elements in the Chess Set to forge relationships that are Dynamic in one dimension
while being Companion and Dependent in others. Characters created with Dramatica
can represent both the structural Elements of the Story Mind's problem solving tech-
niques and the dynamic interchange between those techniques.
Summary
Altogether we have outlined four dimensions of characteristics, each fostering an
aspect of the eight Archetypes. Each of the Archetypes can be sub-divided into internal
and external Elements resulting in a total of sixteen Elements in each dimension — a
total of sixty-four characteristics from all four dimensions with which to build characters.
Complex character can be created by stepping out of the archetypal patterns and rela-
tionships.
Subjective Characters
In The Elements of Structure: Foundations we described four throughlines in a story
- the Overall Story Throughline, Main Character Throughline, Impact Character
Throughline, and Subjective Story Throughline. The Overall Story Throughline de-
scribes the relative value of the approaches of the Overall Story Characters. The Main
Character Throughline describes the point of view and growth of the Main Character.
The Impact Character Throughline describes the alternative point of view and growing
impact of the Impact Character, and the Subjective Story Throughline describes the
ongoing argument between the Main and Impact Characters as to whether the Main
character should change or not.
A good way to think of these four throughlines is as four different points of view
through which the audience relates to the Story Mind — the same four points of view we
all use in all of our relationships. The Main Character represents the "I" point of view.
The Impact Character represents the "you" perspective. The Subjective Story
Throughline covers the "we" perspective, and the Overall Story Throughline explores
the "they" perspective. Taken together, the four points of view range from the most
personal to the most impersonal, and provide all of the angles we use to examine the
nature of our problems and the relative value of alternative solutions.
We have previously looked at the Elements of Character from a purely objective
perspective. When we stand in the shoes of a character, however, we get an entirely
different perspective. Rather than seeing how the events of a story relate to one an-
other, we become more concerned with how events effect us personally. Providing this
experience is the purpose of the Main Character.
The Main Character: One of a Kind
There is only one Main Character in a story. Why is this? Because each complete
story is a model of the Story Mind which reflects our own minds, and in our minds we
can only be one person at a time. At any given moment, we have a position in our own
thoughts. Our state of mind in regard to a particular problem reflects the biases of the
position on which we stand. If a story is to fully involve an audience, it must reflect this
point of view.
What Is the Story Mind?

Dramatica is built on the concept that the structure and dynam-
ics of a story are not random, but represent an analogy to a single
human mind dealing with a problem. We call this concept the Story
Mind. A Story Mind is not a character, the author, or even the
audience, but the story itself. It's as if the audience's experience of
a complete story were like looking inside of someone's head. Every
act and scene, the thematic progression and message, the climax,
plus all the characters and all that they do represent the parts and
functions (or thoughts if you will) of the Story Mind.
A complete story successfully argues all possible sides of its
message, thus it will address all the possible human perspectives
on that specific issue. That is how the structure and dynamics of a
single story create a single Story Mind. This is also why characters
are common elements in all stories, along with theme, plot, acts
and scenes. Each of these represent the way in which essential
human psychology is recreated in stories so that we can view our
own thought processes more objectively from the outside looking in.
Now before we go on, it is important to note that there can be many Main Characters
in a completed work, but there will be only one Main Character in a completed story.
This is because a work is the finished product an author puts before an audience, and
may contain a single story, several stories, or several partial and complete stories all
woven together or at least nestled in the same fabric of storytelling. This means that a
book or a movie, a stage play or teleplay, may have no Main Character at all, or it may
have many. But for any single story in that work, there will be only one Main Character.
A Grand Argument Story does not allow the audience to stand in the shoes of every
character, every Element, and see what the story looks like from there. Such a work
would simply be too big to handle. Rather, the purpose of a Grand Argument Story is to
determine if the Main Character is looking at the problem from the right place, or if he
should change his bias and adopt another point of view instead.
An Alternative Point of View
There is also one other very special character who represents the argument for an
alternative point of view. The character who spends the entire story making the case for
change is called the Impact Character, for he acts as an obstacle to the direction the
Main Character would go if left to his own devices.
As with each of us, the last thing we tend to question when examining a problem is
ourselves. We look for all kinds of solutions both external and internal before we finally
(if ever) get around to wondering if maybe we have to change the very nature of who we
are and learn to see things differently. We can learn to like what we currently hate, but it
takes a lot of convincing for us to make that leap.
When a Main Character makes the traditional leap of faith just before the climax, he
has explored all possible means of resolving a problem short of changing who he is.
The Impact Character has spent the entire story trying to sell the Main Character on the
idea that change is good, and in fact, pointing out exactly how the Main Character ought
to change. The clock is ticking, options are running out. If the Main Character doesn't
choose on way or the other, then failure is certain. But which way to go? There's no
clear cut answer from the Main Character's perspective.
A History of Success
The Main Character came into the story with a tried and true method for dealing with
the kind of problem featured in the story. That method has always worked for the Main
Character before: it has a long history. Suddenly, a situation arises where that standard
approach doesn't work, perhaps for the first time ever. This marks the beginning of the
story's argument. As the story develops, the Main Character tries everything to find a
way to make it work anyway, holding out in the hope that the problem will eventually go
away, or work itself out, or be resolved by the tried and true method.
Along the way, the Impact Character comes into the picture. He tells the Main Char-
acter there is a better way, a more effective approach that not only solves the same
problems the Main Character's tried and true method did, but solves this new one as
well. It sounds a lot like pie in the sky, and the Main Character sees it that way. Why
give up the old standby just because of a little flak?
As the story develops, the Impact Character makes his case. Slowly, an alternative
paradigm is built up that becomes rather convincing. By the moment of truth, the long-
term success of the old view is perfectly balanced by the larger, but as of yet untried,
new view. There is no clear winner, and that is why it is a leap of faith for the Main
Character to choose one over the other.
Main Character Resolve: Does the Main Character ultimately
Change or Remain Steadfast?
In completely empathizing with the Main Character of a story,

we practically become this person. There are certain dynamics we
expect to be able to determine about a Main Character as part of
experiencing things from his point of view. One of these is called
Main Character Resolve.
Main Character Resolve answers the question "Does the Main
Character ultimately Change or Remain Steadfast?" At the begin-
ning of the story the Main Character is driven by a particular motiva-
tion. When the story ends, he will either still be driven by the same
motivation (Steadfast) or have a new motivation (Change).
Main Character Resolve really describes the relationship be-
tween the Main Character and the Impact Character. The impact of
the Impact Character is what forces the Main Character to even
consider changing. If the Main Character ultimately does change, it
is the result of the Impact Character's effect on the Main
Character's perspective. If, on the other hand, the Main Character
remains steadfast, then his impact on the Impact Character will
force the Impact Character to change.
Some Examples:
Star Wars: Main Character: Luke Skywalker (Change)
Impact Character: Obi Wan Kenobi (Steadfast)
The Story of Job: Main Character: Job (Steadfast)

Impact Character: The Devil (Change)
To Kill A Mockingbird: Main Character: Scout (Change)

Impact Character: Boo Radley (Steadfast)
The Fugitive: Main Character: Dr. Richard Kimble (Steadfast)

Impact Character: Agent Gerard (Change)
It should be noted that the Impact Character need not even know he is having that
kind of effect on the Main Character. He may know, but he may easily not even be
aware. Main Characters are defined by the point of view, Impact Characters by the
impact on that point of view.
A Leap or a Creep?
As a final thought in this brief introduction to Subjective Characters, the "leap of
faith" story is not the only kind that occurs. Equally reflective of our own mind's pro-
cesses is the slow change story where the Main Character gradually shifts his perspec-
tive until, by the end of the story, he is seen to have already adopted the alternative
paradigm with little or no fanfare.
Usually, in such stories, a particular dramatic scenario occurs near the beginning of
the story and is then repeated (in some similar manner) near the end. The Main Char-
acter reacted one way in the first scenario and then the audience gets a chance to see if
he responds the same way again or not. In the Slow Change story, the Main Character
may never even realize he has changed, but we, the audience, are able to evaluate the
worth of the journey the Main Character has been through by seeing whether the Main
Character has been changed and whether that is for better or worse.
In our current Western culture, especially in Hollywood-style motion pictures, the
leap of faith story is favored. In other media and cultures, however, the Slow Change
story predominates. In theory, each reflects the way our minds shift belief systems:
sometimes in a binary sense as a single decisive alternation, and other times in an
analog sense as a progressive realignment.
Subjective Characters and the Overall Story

One of the most common mistakes made by authors of every level of experience is
to create a problem for their Main Character that has nothing to do with the story at
large. The reasoning behind this is not to separate the two, but usually occurs because
an author works out a story and then realizes that he has not made it personal enough.
Because the whole work is already completed, it is nearly impossible to tie the Main
Character's personal problem into the larger story without a truly major rewrite. So, the
next best thing is to improve the work by tacking on a personal issue for the Main Char-
acter in addition to the story's problem.
Of course, this leads to a finished piece in which either the story's issues or the Main
Character's issues could be removed and still leave a cogent tale behind. In other
words, to an audience it feels like one of the issues is out of place and shouldn't be in
the work.
Now, if one of the two different problems were removed, it wouldn't leave a complete
story, yet the remaining part would still feel like a complete tale. Dramatica differenti-
ates between a "tale" and a "story". If a story is an argument, a tale is a statement.
Whereas a story explores an issue from all sides to determine what is better or worse
overall, a tale explores an issue down a single path and shows how it turns out. Most
fairy tales are just that, tales.
There is nothing wrong with a tale. You can write a tale about a group of people
facing a problem without having a Main Character. Or, you could write a personal tale
about a Main Character without needing to explore a larger story. If you simply put an
Overall Story-tale and a Main Character tale into the same work, one will often seem
incidental to the real thrust of the work. But, if the Main Character tale and the Overall
Story-tale both hinge on the same issue, then suddenly they are tied together intimately,
and what happens in one influences what happens in the other.
This, by definition, forms a Grand Argument Story, and opens the door to all kinds of
dramatic power and variety not present in a tale. For example, although the story at
large may end in success, the Main Character might be left miserable. Conversely,
even though the big picture ended in failure, the Main Character might find personal
satisfaction and solace. We'll discuss these options at great length in The Art Of
Storytelling section. For now, let us use this as a foundation to examine the relationship
between the Subjective Characters and the Overall Story.
The Crucial Element

The point at which the Overall Story and the Main Character hinge is appropriately
called the Crucial Element. In fact, the Crucial Element is one of the sixty-four Overall
Story Character Elements we have already explored. When we look at the Overall
Story Character Elements as the soldiers on the field (from our earlier example), there is
one special Element from which the audience experiences an internal perspective on
the story. This is the Main Character position in the Overall Story, and the Element at
that point is the Crucial Element. As a result, whichever Overall Story Character repre-
sents the Crucial Element should be placed in the same player as the Main Character.
In that way, what happens during the Main Character's growth will have an impact on
his Overall Story function. Similarly, pressures on his Overall Story function caused by
the story's situations will influence his decision to change or remain steadfast.
We can see that a Protagonist will only be a Main Character if the Crucial Element is
one of the Elements that make up a Protagonist. In other words, a Protagonist has
eight different Elements, two from each dimension of character. If one of them is the
Crucial Element, then the player containing the Protagonist must also contain the Main
Character. This means that there are really eight different kinds of heroes that can be
created. An action hero might have a Crucial Element of Pursue, while a thinking hero
might have a Crucial Element of Consider. Clearly, the opportunities to create meaning-
ful Main Characters who are NOT Protagonists are also extensive.
The Impact Character has a special place in the Overall Story Character Elements
as well. We have already discussed Dynamic Pairs. As it turns out, the point at which
an Impact Character will have the greatest dramatic leverage to try and change the
Main Character is the other Element in the Dynamic Pair with the Crucial Element. In
simpler terms, the Main and Impact Characters are opposites on this crucial issue.
Often one will contain the story's problem, the other the story's solution.
In the Overall Story Character Element set, if the Main Character (and Crucial Ele-
ment) stands on Pursue, the Impact Character will occupy Avoid. If the Main Character
is Logic, the Impact Character will be Feeling. In this manner, the essential differences
between two opposite points of view will be explored both in an objective sense, looking
from the outside in, and also in a subjective sense, from the inside looking out. All four
throughlines come into play (Overall Story, Main Character, Impact Character, and
Subjective Story), and by the end of the story, the audience will feel that the central
issue of concern to the Story Mind has been fully examined from all pertinent angles.
To summarize, a complete story requires that both the Overall Story and Subjective
views are provided to an audience, and that they are hinged together around the same
central issue. This is accomplished by assigning the Main and Impact Characters to the
Overall Story Characters who contain either the story's problem or solution Elements.
The Element held by the Main Character becomes the Crucial Element, as both the
Overall and Subjective Stories revolve around it.
The Crucial Element: Where Subjective meets Overall Story

The Crucial Element will be an item which is at the heart of a
story from both the Overall Story and Subjective points of view.
How this happens depends greatly on the Main Character. The
Crucial Element is the connection between the Main Character and
the Overall story and makes the Main Character special enough to
be "Main." This issue at the heart of the Main Character is themati-
cally the same issue which is at the heart of the Overall Story.
For Example:
To Kill A Mockingbird Crucial Element is INEQUITY
Inequity is the problem which is causing all of the conflict around
the town of Maycomb. The trial of Tom Robinson brings all of the
towns' people into squabbles about inequity in the treatment of
different races, inequity among the social classes of people, their
levels of income, and their educations.
Scout, as the Main Character, is driven by her personal problem
of inequity. This is symbolized most clearly in her fear of Boo
Radley. Kept at the margins of the Overall Story dealings with the
problem of inequity, Scout however comes to see her prejudice
against Boo Radley as being every bit as wrong.
Deep Theory:
The following section delves deeply into the inner workings of a Main Character and
how that character grows over the course of a story. The material covered will address
the following questions: How does a Main Character come to have a particular prob-
lem? How does that problem come to relate to the Overall Story as well? If the Main
Character has a problem, why doesn't he just solve it? How can an Impact Character
bring a Main Character to the point of change?
This discussion can get pretty theoretical at times, and is presented more for those
who are interested in details, rather than as essential reading. If you have an interest in
theory, read on! If not, you may wish to skip to the next chapter on Theme, or jump
ahead to The Art Of Storytelling for a more practical approach.
Problem Solving and Justification

What are Justifications?
At the moment we act in response to a problem, each of us sees our approach as
justifiable. If we later regret our actions or are called to task, we all have reasons why
we should not be blamed or at least not held accountable. We call these reasons "Justi-
fications." To us, these justifications legitimize our actions. To others who find our
actions unwarranted, our reasons seem more like excuses, and our actions unjustified.
Sometimes, we ourselves may be unsure if we are justified in our actions or not
because there is a conflict between what our reason and our feelings are telling us.
When we see no clear-cut response, we go with the side of ourselves that makes the
stronger case.
Excuses, Excuses!
To convince ourselves (and others) that our actions are justified, we say things like,
"This is going to hurt me more than it's going to hurt you," "It's for your own good," I had
to teach him a lesson," "She had it coming," I had no other choice," "I couldn't help
myself," "There was nothing I could do," "It was the right thing to do," "The end justifies
the means," etc. Each of these statements tries to imply that even though feeling says
this is wrong, reason makes a stronger case that it is right (or vice versa).
Whenever the "proper" response is unclear, the legitimacy of our actions is open to
interpretation. If there were a way to stand outside of it all and take a truly objective
view, we could see absolutely which actions were justifiable and which were not. Unfor-
tunately, we are not afforded this objective view in real life. So, we create stories to try
and approximate the objective truth.
The Author Giveth; the Audience Taketh Away
An author builds an argument that the Main Character was either justified or not in
his actions, then "proves" the point by concluding the story with an outcome of success
or failure and a judgment of good or bad. In this way, the author hopes to convince an
audience that actions taken in a particular context are appropriate or inappropriate. The
audience members hope to become convinced that when the proper course of action is
unclear, they can rely on a more "objective" truth to guide them.
In real life, only time will tell if our actions will ultimately achieve what we want and if
that will bring us more happiness than hurt. In stories, it is the author who determines
what is justified and what is not. Within the confines of the story, the author's view IS
objective truth.
The author's ability to decide the validity of actions "objectively" changes the mean-
ing of justification from how we have been using it. In life, when actions are seen as
justified, it means that everyone agrees with the reasons behind the actions. In stories,
reasons don't count. Even if all the characters agree with the reasons, the author might
show that all the characters were wrong. Reasons just explain why characters act as
they do. Consensus regarding the reasons does not determine correctness.
What is Problem Solving?

All characters are driven by their justifications, but only some of the actions they take
will end up solving a problem. From the author's "objective" view, approaches that lead
to solutions are "problem solving". Approaches that do not are simply justifications.
The process of "problem solving" describes the paths an author promotes as being
the most appropriate approaches to the story's problem. The process of justification
describes all paths that are not as appropriate.
In a binary sense, the best path of all will be represented by either the Main or Im-
pact character. The remaining character of the two will represent the worst path. Of
Main and Impact, one will be problem solving, the other justifying. All the remaining
characters represent alternative approaches between the two extremes.
From an author's perspective, though it is important to know how things will turn out,
it is equally important to know how things got started. How is it that people can become
so misguided? How is it that characters can become so justified?
Problems Start Innocently Enough....
It is the nature of people and characters as well, to try and find a source of joy and a
resolution to that which hurts them. This hurt might be physical suffering or mental
torment. The resolution may be to rearrange one's environment or to come to terms
with the environment as it is. Regardless of the source of the inequity or the means
employed to resolve it, all thinking creatures try to maximize their pleasure and minimize
their pain. That is the primal force which drives us in our lives, and the dramatic force
that drives a story.
If our environments would instantly respond to our desires and if our feelings would
immediately adjust to new attitudes, all inequities between ourselves and our environ-
ments would be equalized at once. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Rather, to solve
external problems we must apply effort to rearrange the material that surrounds us, and
to solve internal problems we must adopt a series of paradigm shifts to arrive at a per-
spective that minimizes our anguish.
Getting to the Heart of the Problem

Because it takes time to resolve inequities, problem solving can be defined as a
process we engage in over time. Step by step we chip away at pieces of a problem
until we arrive at a solution. We meet pre-requisites that give us the resources to fulfill
the requirements that must be accomplished to clear the way to our goal. Or, we
change the nature of the forces at work that determine the processes that sustain the
inequity, so that it dissolves when its foundation is eroded.
Problem solving requires identifying the source of the inequity and/or the kind of
effort that will bring an end to it. Each of these requirements depends upon an accurate
assessment of the mechanism that generates the inequity, and therein lies the opportu-
nity for error.
Characters, Problems, and Justification

Stories are about one character who is truly problem solving and a second character
who believes they are problem solving but are in error. One will be the Main Character
and the other the Impact Character. In terms of the Story Mind, these two characters
represent our own inability to know in advance if the method we have chosen to apply to
a problem will lead to success or failure. When our approach leads to failure Dramatica
does not refer to the process as problem solving, but calls that process Justification.
Why We Justify
It is important to note that no one justifies because they are stupid or mean. They
are simply adopting the best approach they can conceive, based on their life experi-
ence. Neither justification nor problem solving are intrinsically good or bad. In fact, they
are really the same process, the only difference being how things ultimately turn out.
With the value of hindsight we can judge if the decisions made and actions taken were
appropriate, but we cannot judge this as the effort is happening since none of us can
see the future. So, no character or person can be certain whether their approach to an
inequity will resolve it, not effect it, exacerbate it, or create another inequity somewhere
else that might be even more disturbing. All any of us can do - all any of us EVER do is
to make the decisions and take the actions our experience dictates as the best options
toward resolving our inequities.
Poor, Misguided Souls....

From this perspective, no character is bad, merely misguided. However, that is not
the only perspective. If we step into the story and see a misguided character doing
hurtful things to others and even to ourselves, from OUR life experience we determine
that character must be stopped. Perhaps we argue with them, try to educate them, fight
with or kill them or just write them off, severing our emotional ties and letting them spiral
down into self destruction because it is the only way to avoid being dragged down with
them.
Or, we might argue with them and find ourselves convinced of their point of view, try
to educate them but learn something instead, fight with them and lose or be killed, or be
written off BY them or hold on to them and be dragged down as well, or drag them down
with us.
The point is, both Main and Impact characters will feel they are right, believe in what
they do, try to convince or thwart their counterpart and ultimately prove to be correct or
misguided.
Uniqueness Means Never Having to Say, "I Agree"

As we are driven by life experiences and since the experiences of each of us are
unique, it is no wonder we come into conflict and confrontation over most everything we
can think of. Stories are about the incompatibility of two life experiences as they relate
to the best way to resolve an inequity.
If a character stands by his life experience, then it stands to reason his approach
served him well in other scenarios. Similarly, his counterpart has had different life
experiences that served him equally well. In the context of the current inequity in ques-
tion, each life experience generates an approach incompatible with the other. In one
context, each set of experiences was problem solving. In the current context, one will
be seen to be problem solving, the other justification.
Tell Me A Message, Mommy....
This is the purpose and function of story: to show that when something has previ-
ously served you well one hundred percent of the time, it may not continue to hold true,
or conversely, that it will always hold true. Either message is equally valid and depends
wholly upon the author's personal bias on the issue, which arbitrarily determines the
slant of the message. Obviously, the outcome is not arbitrary to the author, but it is
completely arbitrary to the story.
Whether the Main Character is change or steadfast, the outcome success or failure,
and the judgment good or bad, determines the audience's position in relationship to the
correct and incorrect approaches to the problem, and therefore the impact of the mes-
sage upon them.
Step By Step, Slowly We Argued....

So far we have only identified the difference between problem solving and justifica-
tion in terms of the results they create. From this point of view, no character can tell for
sure if he is on the right or the wrong track until he sees the results. This is fine for the
characters, but an author will want to fashion a story so that judgment is passed on
each action and decision as it is taken. This is what constitutes the theme of the story
and builds the emotional side of the story's argument event by event until (hopefully) the
audience is buried under overwhelming evidence to support the author's message and
contentions.
Note the difference between the result-oriented rational argument and the more
holistic passionate argument. In a story, when all is said and done, the author hopes to
convince the audience of his point of view both in terms of its reasonable nature and
that it simply feels good as well. In this manner, the audience members adopt the
author's bias on the issue and are moved to alter their behavior accordingly in their
everyday life. In a broader sense, participating in the story has added to the life experi-
ence of the audience and will affect their future choices for problem solving.
To carry an emotional appeal to an audience, a story must not only show the results
of a method of problem solving, but must document the appropriateness of each step as
well. To do this as an author requires an understanding of the process of problem
solving and its justification counterpart. Let us examine both.
A Simple Example of Problem Solving

Imagine a waitress coming through the one-way door from the kitchen into the res-
taurant. Her nose begins to itch. She cannot scratch her nose because her hands are
full of plates. She looks for a place to lay down the plates, but all the counter space is
cluttered. She tries to call to a waiter, but he cannot hear her across the noisy room.
She hollers to a bus boy who gets the waiter who takes her plates so she can scratch
her nose. Problem solved! Or was it justification?
What if she could have solved the problem just by shrugging her shoulder and rub-
bing her nose? Then there were two possible solutions, but one was much more direct.
Rationally, either one would serve as well in that particular context, yet one was much
more efficient and therefore more emotionally satisfying because it required less un-
pleasant work than the other method.
There's a Problem In Your Solution!

If the waitress could not use her hand to scratch her nose, then using her shoulder
was another potential solution to the same problem. However, trying to find a place to
put down the plates is a generation removed from solving the original problem. Instead
of trying to find another way to scratch her nose, she was using her problem solving
efforts to try and solve a problem with the first solution. In other words, there was an
obstacle to using her hand to scratch her nose, and rather than evaluating other means
of scratching she was looking for a place to get rid of her plates. When there was a
problem with that, she compounded the inefficiency by trying to solve the plate problem
with the solution devised to solve the problem with the first solution to the problem: she
tried to flag down the waiter. In fact, by the time she actually got her nose scratched,
she had to take a round-about path that took up all kinds of time and was several gen-
erations removed from the original problem. She made one big circle to get to where
she could have gone directly.
But, what if there was a limit: her itching nose was about to make her sneeze and
drop everything. Then, going on that long circular path might mean she would sneeze
and fail, whereas the only appropriate path would be to use her shoulder to scratch
before she sneezes. But what if her stiff uniform prevents her shoulder from reaching
her nose? AND what if the extra time it took to try the shoulder actually delayed trying
the round-about method just long enough to make her sneeze before the waiter arrived?
If she had only taken the great circle route in the first place, she would have had just
enough time to solve the problem.
Paying the Price For a Solution

Clearly, problem solving turns into justification and vice-versa, depending on the
context. So how is it that achieving results in the rational sense is not the only deter-
mining factor as to which is which? Simply because sometimes the costs that must be
paid in suffering in a long, indirect path to a goal far outweigh the benefits of achieving
the goal itself. When we try to overcome obstacles that stand between us and a goal
(pre-requisites and requirements) we pay a price in effort, resources, physical and
emotional hardship. We suffer unpleasant conditions now in the hope of a reward later.
This is fine as long as the rewards justify the expenses. But if they do not, and yet we
continue to persevere, we cannot possibly recoup enough to make up for our losses,
much as a gambler goes into the hole after losing her intended stake.
My Kingdom for a Solution!

Why is it that we (as characters) throw good money after bad? This occurs because
we are no longer evaluating what we originally hoped to achieve but are trying to solve
the problems that have occurred with the solutions we have employed. In the case of
our waitress, she wasn't thinking about her nose when she was calling to the waiter or
yelling to the bus boy. She was thinking about the problem of getting their attention.
Because she lost sight of her original objective, she could no longer tally up the accru-
ing costs and compare them to the benefits of resolving the inequity. Rather, she com-
pared each cost individually to the goal at hand: putting down the plates, calling to the
waiter, yelling at the bus boy. And in each case, the individual costs were less than the
benefits of resolving the individual sub-goals. However, if taken as a whole, the sum of
the costs may far outweigh the benefits of resolving the original problem. And since the
pre-requisites and requirements have no meaning except as a means to resolving that
original problem, any benefits she felt by achieving those sub-goals should have had no
bearing on determining if the effort was worth the benefits. But, as she had lost sight of
the original problem, that measurement could not be made. In fact, it would never occur
to her, until it was too late to recoup the costs even if the problem came to be resolved.
Does this mean the only danger lies in the round-about path? Not at all. If it were to
turn out that there were NO direct paths that could work, ONLY an indirect one could
resolve the problem at all. And if the existence of the problem is such that its inequity is
not just a one time thing but continues to cause friction that rubs one physically or
mentally raw, then the inequity itself grows the longer the problem remains, which justi-
fies ANY indirect method to resolving the issue as long as the rate at which the costs
accrue is less than the rate at which the inequity worsens.
Accelerating Inequities!
But let's complicate this even more... Suppose the inequity doesn't worsen at first,
but only gets worse after a while. Then what may have been the most appropriate
response for problem solving at one stage in the game becomes inappropriate at a later
stage. In such a complex web of changing conditions and shifting context, how is an
individual to know what choices are best? We can't. That is the point: we can never
know which path is best because we cannot predict the future. We can only choose
what our life experience has shown to be most often effective in similar situations and
hope for the best. It does not matter how often we re-evaluate. The situation can
change in unpredictable ways at any time, throwing all of our plans and efforts into new
contexts that change their evaluation from positive to negative or the vice versa.
Stories serve as collective truisms, much like the way insurance works. Through
them we strive to contain the collective knowledge of human experience so although we
cannot predict what will happen to any specific individual (even ourselves) we can tell
what is most likely the best approach to inequity, based on the mean average of all
individual experience.
Strategy vs. Analysis

Although we have covered a lot of ground, we have only covered one of two kinds of
problem solving/justification: the effort to resolve an inequity. In contrast, the second
kind of problem solving/justification refers to efforts made to understand inequities so
that we might come to terms with them. In a sense, our initial exploration has dealt with
strategies of problem solving whereas this other area of exploration deals with defining
the problem itself.
Defining the Problem

We cannot move to resolve a problem until we recognize the problem. Even if we
feel the inequity, until we can pinpoint it or understand what creates it, we can neither
arrive at an appropriate response or act to nip it at its source.
If we had to evaluate each inequity that we encounter with an absolutely open mind,
we could not learn from experience. Even if we had seen the same thing one hundred
times before, we would not look to our memories to see what had turned out to be the
source or what appropriate measures had been employed. We would be forced to
consider every little friction that rubbed us the wrong way as if we have never encoun-
tered it. Certainly, this is another form of inefficiency, as "those who do not remember
the past are condemned to repeat it."
In such a scenario, we would not learn from our mistakes, much less our successes.
But is that inefficiency? What if we encounter an exception to the rules we have come
to live by? If we rely completely on our life experience, when we encounter a new
context in life, our whole paradigm may be inappropriate.
You Idiom!
We all know the truisms, "where there's smoke, there's fire," "guilt by association,"
"one bad apple spoils the bunch," "the only good (fill in the blank) is a dead (fill in the
blank)." In each of these cases we assume a different kind of causal relationship than is
generally scrutinized in our culture. Each of these phrases asserts that when you see
one thing, another thing will either be there also, or will certainly follow. Why do we
make these assumptions? Because, in context, they are often true. But as soon as we
apply them out of context they are just as likely false.
Associations in Space and Time
When we see something occur enough times without exception, our mind accepts it
as an absolute. After all, we have never seen it fail! This is like saying that every time
you put a piece of paper on hot metal it will burn. Fine, but not in a vacuum! You need
oxygen as well to create the reaction you anticipate.
In fact, every time we believe THIS leads to THAT or whenever we see THIS, THAT
will also be present, we are making assumptions with a flagrant disregard for context.
And that is where characters get into trouble. A character makes associations in their
backstory. Because of the context in which they gather their experiences, these asso-
ciations always hold true. But then the situation (context) changes, or they move into
new areas in their lives. Suddenly some of these assumptions are absolutely untrue!
Hold on to Your Givens!

Why doesn't a character (or person) simply give up the old view for the new? There
are two reasons why one will hold on to an outmoded, inappropriate understanding of
the relationships between things. We'll outline them one at a time.
First, there is the notion of how many times a character has seen things go one way,
compared to the number of times they've gone another. If a character builds up years of
experience with something being true and then encounters one time it is not true, they
will tend to treat that single false time as an exception to the rule. It would take as many
false responses as there had been true ones to counter the balance.
Context is a Sneaky Thing

Of course, one is more sensitive to the most recent patterns, so an equal number of
false items (or alternative truths) is not really required when one is aware he has en-
tered a new situation. However, situations often change slowly and even in ways we
are not aware. So context is in a constant state of flux. If something has always proven
true in all contexts up to this point then one is not conscious of entering a whole new
context. Rather, as we move in and out of contexts, a truism that was ALWAYS true
may now be true sometimes and not true at other times. It may have an increasing or
decreasing frequency of proving true or may tend toward being false for a while, only to
tend toward being true again later. This kind of dynamic context requires that some-
thing be seen as false as often as it has been seen as true in order to arrive even at a
neutral point where one perspective is not held more strongly than the other.
Building Paradigms
The second reason characters hold onto outmoded views is that they have built
other views upon the outmoded ones. In fact, this is how we learn. We see something
as an unerring truth, stop considering it every time we see it and accept it as a given.
Then, we assemble our givens, look for patterns and accept the relationships between
givens as being givens in their own right. Layer upon layer we weave an intricate web
of interconnections, some based on the order in which things are expected to occur,
some based on items or activities we associate as always occurring together.
Strength in Paradigms
When we encounter something at the top level of the most recently determined
givens, it can be a relatively small feat to rethink our conclusions. If one of our base
assumptions was wrong, however, there may be no way to reconcile the occurrence
with our understanding without completely dismantling the foundations of our whole
belief system. Not an easy task! It is much easier to discount the variance as an ex-
ception. Even more important, because we have not added the unusual incident to our
knowledge base, but simply let it bounce off, the next occurrence of the same "new"
truth will meet with the same strength of resistance as the first. We can hold onto our
old paradigm unless so many different new truths hit us all at once that it becomes
easier to create a new paradigm than to try and dismiss them all.
The Justified Main Character

This is the nature of the Main Character's struggle in a story. He has either built up
an understanding of how to try and solve problems that no longer fits, or he has built up
an understanding of what causes problems that is no longer correct. The backstory
builds upon one of these scenarios. A context is established that creates one kind of
problem solving regarding a specific problem. The story begins when the context
changes and the problem solving technique is no longer appropriate. The question then
becomes whether the Main Character should Change to conform to the new situation or
remain Steadfast until things get back to "normal."
Dancing Toward Neutral Ground

The story unfolds as the Main and Impact Characters argue over direct vs. indirect,
repetition vs. framework, strategy vs. analysis, and problem solving vs. justification. As
the story progresses, it is the Impact Character's function to force the Main Character
through all four of these conflicts, each representing a different "level" of justification
(problem solving) until they both stand at the neutral point where one means of problem
solving/evaluation is as good as the next. This is the moment of the Leap of Faith,
where life experience has been completely counterbalanced by what has been recently
learned. This is the moment the Main Character must step into the void with absolutely
no personal experiences to guide him, and choose to continue with the path he has
always taken or adopt a new one.
The story then resolves in Success/Good, Success/Bad, Failure/Good, Failure/
Bad. These four resolutions are the "Author's Proof," wherein he states his per-
sonal bias as to what the most appropriate and inappropriate choices were.
Sequence and the Passionate Argument

From this perspective, we can see how the sequence in which dramatic events
occur has tremendous impact not on the structure of a story, but on the meaning de-
rived from that structure. The "feel" of the passionate argument will be determined by
the order in which the Main Character passes through the levels of justification to face
the real source of the story's inequity.
This sequence affects not only character, but plot and theme as well, and is there-
fore a complex series of cycles within cycles that is unpredictable during the viewing of
a work, but falls into understanding at the conclusion or denouement. Because it is so
complex, this is the part of Dramatica best left to computer calculation or to the intuition
of the author himself.
Theme
What Exactly Is Theme?

It seems every author is aware of theme, but try to find one who can define it! Most
will tell you theme has something to do with the mood or feel of a story. But how does
that differ from genre? Others will say that theme is the message of the story. Some
will put forth that theme is the premise of a story that illustrates the results of certain
kinds of behavior.
Taking each of these a bit farther, a story's mood or feel might be "anger". A mes-
sage might be "nuclear power plants are bad". A premise could be "greed leads to self-
destruction." Clearly each of these might show up in the very same story, and each has
a somewhat thematic feel to it. But just as certainly, none of them feels complete by
itself. This is because each is just a different angle on what theme really is.
In fact, theme is perspective. Perspective is relationship. Theme describes the
relationship between what is being looked at and from where it is being seen. This is
why theme has traditionally been so hard to describe. It is not an independent thing like
plot or character, but is a relationship between plot and character.
As a familiar example, think of the old adage about three blind men trying to de-
scribe an elephant. Each is like a character in a story, and their investigation of the
beast is like the plot. One, feeling the tail comments, "It is long and thin like a snake."
Another, feeling the ear replies, "No, it is wide and flat like a jungle leaf." The final inves-
tigator feels the leg and retorts, "You are both wrong! It is round and stout like a tree."
How each of those men felt about the elephant, how they understood it, depended upon
his point of view, and the fact that it was an elephant. It is also true, that had another
animal been the object of study, the perspective would have changed as well.
Where we are looking from are the four points of view represented by the four
throughlines (Overall Story, Main Character, Impact Character, and Subjective Story). In
stories, what we are looking at is the problem that the Story Mind is considering. So,
to truly understand perspective (and therefore theme) we must be able to accurately
describe the nature of the story's problem, and then see how its appearance changes
when seen from each different point of view.
Describing The Story's Problem
When we seek to classify something, we try to narrow its definition, such as when we
ask if something is animal, vegetable, or mineral. When classifying problems that might
be of concern to the Story Mind, the first thing we might want to know is if the problem is
an external issue (such as an intolerable situation) or an internal one (such as a bad
attitude). External problems occur in a Situation (Universe) (or environment), Internal
problems occur in a Fixed Attitude (Mind).
Further, some problems don't have to do with states of things (an external situation
or an internal attitude) but are processes that have gone awry. An external process falls
in the category of Activity (Physics), which simply means physical activity of some kind.
An internal process which results in a problem has to do with Manipulation (Psychol-
ogy), which simply means a manner of thinking. Note that a manner of thinking (Psy-
chology) is different than a fixed attitude (Mind). Manipulation (Psychology) describes
problems like spending too much time with details, whereas Fixed Attitude (Mind) prob-
lems would be more like a prejudice.
Having identified four categories by which we might classify the nature of the Story
Mind's problem, we can arrange them in a quad pattern, much as we did earlier with the
Character Elements.
Universe Physics
A Situation An Activity
Psychology Mind
A Manner of Thinking A State of Mind
Since these four categories classify the problem, Dramatica refers to them as
CLASSES.
More Resolution
So far, we have been able to roughly determine that a problem might be an external
or internal state or process, represented by the four Classes. Already we can get a
more refined view of the problem we will be describing in our story. We need only
consider which of these four Classes best describes the problem about which we want
to write.
For example, if we have an idea for a story about people trapped underwater in a
sunken ship, that would be an external problem, best described as a state of things. An
external state is the definition of a Situation (Universe) problem, so this story idea takes
place in the Situation (Universe) Class.
If we wish to write about a harrowing trek through the jungle to a lost city, we are
describing an Activity (Physics) problem: an external activity from which difficulties arise.
A story exploring a father who will not let his daughter marry below her station in life
is best described as a Fixed Attitude (Mind) problem, for it stems from a fixed attitude.
And finally, an author who wishes to comment thematically on a group of friends
manipulating each other would select Manipulation (Psychology) as his Class of prob-
lem, for the thematic issue at hand is changing one's manner of thinking. Again, this
differs from changing one's Mind (about something).
It is important to note that ALL FOUR Classes will ultimately play a role in every
complete Grand Argument Story. As we shall explore a bit later, each Class will de-
scribe the problem as it appears from a different throughline.
Throughlines
Earlier we illustrated how one could see four throughlines of
Star Wars. Below are illustrations of how Star Wars' four
throughlines would be seen in terms of Throughlines.
Star Wars
Overall Story Throughline: Activity (Physics) (the Class of
Activities)— Star Wars is about a war between the Empire and the
Rebellion. There is not any set location where this needs to take
place, rather it is an exploration of the feints, attacks, and battles
that occur between the two forces.
Main Character Throughline: Situation (Universe) (the Class of
Situations)— Luke Skywalker is a whiny farm-boy from a small
desert planet. He has a tremendous amount of unrealized talent
because his father was a Jedi, but everyone sees him as a kid from
the edge of the galaxy.
Impact Character Throughline: Fixed Attitude (Mind) (the Class
of Fixed Attitudes) — Obi Wan Kenobi lives in the world of the
Force. His attitude about the Force's power and impact, the exist-
ence of the Light and Dark sides of the Force, and the importance
of the Force is unshakable.
Subjective Story Throughline: Manipulation (Psychology) (the
Class of Ways of Thinking) — Obi Wan clearly manipulates Luke
through psychological means. He attempts to coerce Luke to help
him get to Alderaan, which Luke resists; Obi Wan does not reveal
the fate of Luke's aunt and uncle to Luke even though Obi Wan is
clearly not surprised when he hears the news; Obi Wan purposely
keeps Luke in the dark about his resources while bartering with Han
Solo, hushing him up when Luke can barely contain himself; Obi
Wan keeps Luke under his thumb by doling out information about
the Force, the Empire, the Past, and everything else; and it's Obi
Wan who whispers into Luke's head at several critical moments...
"Run, Luke, run!" and "Trust your feelings, Luke."
At this point, we have achieved a clearer understanding of our story's theme by

classifying the story's problem. In our own lives, however, this would not be enough
information to identify the problem clearly enough to begin solving it, and so it is with the
Story Mind as well. We need to dig deeper and be more precise if we are to eventually
pin-point the source of the story's problem so it can be addressed at the root.
To increase our precision, we can sub-divide each of the Classes into different
TYPES of problems within each Class, much as the classification "animal" and "veg-
etable" are sub-divided into various species.
Past Progress Understanding Doing
Future Present Obtaining Learning
Conceptualizing Being Memory Preconscious
Becoming Conceiving Subconscious Conscious
As you can see, the TYPE level of resolution on our story's problem is much more
refined. Already the names of the Types carry much more of a thematic feel than those
of the broad-stroke Classes. Some of the Types seem more familiar than others. This
is because our culture has its own built-in biases and favorites and tends to focus on
certain kinds of problems more than others.
If we compare the Types in one Class to those in the others, we can see how the
chart does not cater to our culture's biases. Rather, it presents a neutral set of sub-
categories so that any kind of problem an author might wish to address is treated with
equal weight.
One of the first things we can begin to feel about the Types is that their position
within each quad has an influence on the nature of the Type, which is reflected in its
name. For example, in the upper left hand corner of the Situation (Universe) Class we
find the Type, "Past." By comparison, in the upper left hand corner of the Fixed Attitude
(Mind) Class we find the Type, "Memory." The balance of the chart can be easily illus-
trated in the phrase, "Past is to Situation (Universe) as Memory is to Fixed Attitude
(Mind)." In fact, all of the categories and sub-categories we have explored (and the two
remaining levels to be presented) share this kind of relationship.
We have found that it really helps to get a feel for a story's problem by running this
kind of comparison over in our minds as we examine the chart. Patterns of relation-
ships begin to emerge, and the process of choosing the Class and Type of problem at
the heart of our story's theme becomes almost a game.
Concerns:
Choosing the Type most prominent in a particular throughline
sets up the Concerns which will be most important from that point of
view. To demonstrate how this might work, let's look at the Con-
cerns of Star Wars.
Star Wars
Overall Story Concern: Doing (Engaging in an activity)— The
Empire is building the Death Star and searching for the location of
the Rebels; the Rebels are attempting to keep their location secret;
the smuggler is trying to deliver passengers to Alderaan to earn the
money he needs to pay off his boss; the passengers are trying to
transport the plans of the Death Star to the Rebels who will deci-
pher the plans and launch an attack on the Empire.
Main Character Concern: Progress (The way things are go-
ing)— Luke Skywalker is constantly concerned with how things are
going — "At this rate I'll never get off this rock!" He is impatient and
never satisfied with how things are progressing. Once he gets off
of Tatooine, he is concerned with how long it will take for him to
become a Jedi Knight — the progress of his training. When Obi
Wan gets sliced by Darth Vader, Luke's loss is compounded by the
fact that he has lost a friend and a tutor. When they get to the
Rebel base, he is concerned about how preparations are going and
eventually with his own progress as a pilot in the Rebel attack on
the Death Star.
Impact Character Concern: Impulsive Responses [Precon-
scious] (Immediate responses)— In order to be truly "one with the
Force," a persons must completely let go of himself and let the
Force act through him. This allows the Force to guide one's un-
thinking responses and reflexes and to become an unbeatable
power for good or evil. This is Obi Wan's greatest concern and his
efforts here impact everyone around him, especially Luke.
Subjective Story Concern: Playing A Role [Being] (Temporarily
adopting a lifestyle)— Obi Wan wants Luke to be the faithful stu-
dent, while Luke just wants to be a Hero without really understand-
ing what good it does to be quiet and controlled like Obi Wan.
Luke's farm-boy lifestyle is not at all in sync with his true nature as
Obi Wan sees him. Obi Wan knows that Luke is the son of a Jedi
and therefore he tries to manipulate Luke out of being what he's
not.
Limitations of space prevent us from describing each and every Type through ex-
ample. At the back of this book, however, you will find an appendix with a complete
definition of each, as well as reproductions of the complete chart of categories.
Even with this degree of refinement, our story's problem has still not been identified
with the precision required to truly focus our theme. It is time to move into the next level
of the problem chart.
When we sub-divide the Types, we can establish four different VARIATIONS of each.
This creates the extended chart below:
Interdiction Destiny Threat Fantasy Interpre- Conditioning Experience Enlighten-

tation ment
Openness Delay Work Attract Approach Self Pre- Strategy

Interest requisites
Choice Pre- Repel Attempt Morality Attitude Analysis Pre-

conception conditions
State of Situation Knowledge Ability Truth Evidence Value Confidence

Being
Circum- Sense of Desire Thought Suspicion Falsehood Worry Worth

stances Self
Rationali- Commitment Permission Need Closure Hope Investigation Appraisal

zation
Responsi- Obligation Expediency Deficiency Dream Denial Reappraisal Doubt

bility
Now we can finally begin to see some familiar thematic topics: morality, fate, commit-
ment, and hope, for example. We can also see a number of unfamiliar terms that we
may not have considered before in regard to theme. As before, Western culture (as do
all cultures) favors certain areas of exploration and virtually ignores others. For an
author who wishes to explore new ground, these unfamiliar terms provide a wealth of
options. For the author who writes for the mainstream, all the old standbys are there,
but with much more detail than before.
One thing you will not find on this chart are terms like "love" or "greed." Although
these concepts figure prominently in many discussions of theme, they are more descrip-
tive of subject matter, rather than the perspectives one might take about that subject
matter. For example, suppose we decide to write a story about love. All right, what kind
of love? Brotherly love? Romantic love? Paternal, lustful, spiritual, or unrequited love?
Clearly, love is in the eye of the beholder. In other words, love is shaded by the nature
of the object that is loved.
In our chart of Variations, we find terms such as "Attraction", "Obligation", "Desire",
or "Instinct", each of which can be used to describe a different kind of love.
Similarly, you won't find "Greed" on this chart, but you will find "Self-Interest" (near
the lower left corner of the Activity (Physics) Variations). "Self-Interest" is not as emo-
tionally charged as "Greed" but it more clearly defines the issues at the center of a rich
man's miserliness, a poor man's embezzlement, and also a loving parent who must
leave her child to die in a fire in order to save herself. And other Variations like "Fan-
tasy", "Need", "Rationalization", or "Denial" would each reflect a different kind of
"Greed".
It is not our purpose to force new, sterile and unfamiliar terminology on the writers of
the world. It is our purpose to clarify. So, we urge you to pencil in your favorite terms to
the chart we have provided. Stick "love" on "Attraction", place "Greed" on "Self-Inter-
est", if that is how the most seem to you. In this manner, you will create a chart that
already reflects your personal biases, and most likely incorporates those of your culture
as well. The original bias-free chart, however, is always available serve as an neutral
framework for refining your story's problem.
As a means of zeroing in on the Variation that best describes the thematic nature of
your story's problem, it helps to look at the Variations as pairs. Just as with characters,
the Variations that are most directly opposed in nature occur as diagonals in the chart.
A familiar dynamic pair of Variations is Morality and Self-Interest. The potential conflict
between the two emerges when we put a "vs." between the two terms: Morality vs. Self-
Interest. That makes them feel a lot more like the familiar kind of thematic conflict.
Later we shall return to describe how each dynamic pair in the chart can form the
basis for a thematic premise in your story. We will also show how this kind of dynamic
conflict does not have to be a good vs. bad situation, but can create a "lesser of two
evils" or "better of two goods" situation as well.
Issues
Identifying the Variation which is most suited to the central
explorations of a throughline sets up the Issue of thematic concepts
to be explored from that point of view. To demonstrate how this
might work, let's look at the Issues of Star Wars.
Star Wars
Overall Story Issue: Skill (Practiced ability)— Everyone in this
galaxy compares themselves to one another in terms of their skills;
piloting a spacecraft, fighting their way out of tight situations, and
standing up for themselves. The princess immediately evaluates
her rescuers (Han, Chewbacca, and Luke) in terms of their appar-
ent lack of skill. The entire war between the Rebellion and the
Empire is a match between skills and experience. The Empire has
a great deal of experience in quashing upstart groups, but its skills
at doing so are rusty. The Rebellion, which has far less experience,
is made up of great numbers of raw talent like Luke. Skill is an
advantageous quality in this story.
Main Character Issue: Fantasy (Belief in something unreal)—
Fantasy is an important part of Luke Skywalker's life. He has no
idea what wars are really like, but he wants to hear all he can about
them because his fantasy is to be a hero in one. He plays with toy
space ships, he is intrigued by messages from damsels in distress,
and he cares more about these fantasies than about the hum-drum
life of farming on a desert planet. These fantasies help set him
apart from the unimaginative people around him (e.g. his uncle), yet
they also make him seem exceedingly inexperienced and naive (as
he is almost killed in Mos Isley cantina). Fantasy is advantageous
for Luke.
Impact Character Issue: Worth (A rating of usefulness or desir-
ability to oneself)— Obi Wan's impact forces considerations of what
should be thought to have true worth (as opposed to objective
value). Obi Wan makes it clear that he believes the Force is what
everyone should see as having the greatest worth in the galaxy,
and then he backs up his opinion by using it to get himself and
others out of tight jams. He also appears at first to be a nutty old
hermit, but is revealed to be a person of great worth in the eyes of
Princess Leia, an important leader in the Rebellion. Because Obi
Wan shows that things are seldom what they seem, his impact
often causes people to reevaluate what they find of worth and what
they don't. These re-evaluations of worth generally lead to a
greater understanding — especially for Luke Skywalker. Obi Wan
shows Worth to be advantageous.
Subjective Story Issue: Ability (The innate capacity to do or
be)— The most focused aspect of Luke's and Obi Wan's relation-
ship has to do with developing the abilities of a Jedi Knight. When
Luke is either improving his own abilities or admiring Obi Wan's,
everyone sees this relationship as a positive one for both people
involved. Obi Wan's influence helps Luke see abilities which he
didn't ever allow himself to see, such as the ability to leave home
and join the Rebellion. Clarifying these abilities, however, would
not be positive to their relationship if these two didn't also share
similar desires. Fortunately for them, every time Obi Wan uncovers
a new ability, such as being able to use a light saber without look-
ing, it makes Luke want more. These kinds of demonstrable abili-
ties make others, such as Han Solo, see that there really is some-
thing good happening between this teacher and student—even if it
does involve ancient religion. Ability in this relationship is advanta-
geous.
We still have one final level of the thematic chart of a story's problem to encounter.
In fact, we have already encountered it. It is the very same chess set of sixty four
Character Elements we created earlier:
Knowledge Ability Actuality Aware Proven Theory Effect Trust
Desire Thought Self Aware Perception Hunch Unproven Test Cause
Order Equity Inertia Projection Accurate Expectation Result Ending
Inequity Chaos Speculation Change Determina- Non- Unending Process

tion Accurate
Temptation Disbelief Hinder Oppose Production Induction Re- Non-

evaluation acceptance
Each Variation can be sub-divided again into four Elements. And, it turns out that
when we get to the heart of the thematic issues in a story, no matter what kind of prob-
lem we began with it all comes down to the same thing: Character. Not surprising at all,
really. Characters represent the different ways the Story Mind can go about solving the
story's problem. The Main Character sits on the Crucial Element, and must either stick
with it, if it is the solution, or abandon it if it turns out to be the problem itself.
Problems
Identifying the Element at the heart of each throughline puts a
specific name on the Problem which drives that throughline through
the story.
Star Wars
Overall Story Problem: Test (A trial to determine something's
validity)— Rather than trusting in the design and efficiency of the
Death Star, the Empire determines it must have a test run on
Alderaan. This clues Princess Leia, Obi Wan, and subsequently
the Rebellion, as to the terrifying nature of what they are facing.
This also allows the Rebellion forces to prepare for the worst which
is the Empire's undoing. The Rebellion, on the other hand, does
not fully trust their information about the Empire's secret weapon
and tests its accuracy by waiting until they actually have the plans
in their hands. Had they trusted their initial reports they could have
moved the base and remained out of the Empire's reach.
Main Character Problem: Test (A trial to determine something's
validity)—Luke is constantly driven to test his skills — as a
wannabe Jedi, as a daring doer, as a marksman, and eventually as
a pilot. By constantly testing himself, he gets into situations that he
would have avoided if he had confidence (or trust) in himself. For
example, he knew better than to go alone into the Sand people's
territory; the scuffle he created at the bar could easily have been
avoided; the messy breakout of the Princess was partially moti-
vated by his testing his limits.
Impact Character Problem: Unproven (A rating of knowledge
that has not been tested)— Due to his devout faith in the Force, Obi
Wan is driven by the idea that everything remains unproven — even
if common sense might dictate otherwise. He finds exceptions to
every generality that people mention around him. The impact of his
character is to make others draw their most cherished beliefs into
question, because the true nature of "the Force" is so unimagin-
able, yet so powerful.
Subjective Story Problem: Non-Accurate (Not within toler-
ances)— Obi Wan's secrecy and misleading comments to Luke
keeps their relationship off balance. Obi Wan attempts to lure Luke
away with him to Alderaan, then feigns indifference when Luke
wimps out; Obi Wan marginally warns Luke to be careful at the
cantina without giving Luke a real idea of the dangers within; Obi
Wan's vagueness about the necessary "pains" associated with
Luke's Jedi training (like getting zapped by the trainer robot) jostles
their relationship.
We need to take a breather here! Much new material has been covered and it takes
quite some time to assimilate. We suggest you put the book down for a while, ponder
what we've just explored, have a snack, watch a program on TV, and then return once
the dust has settled. If we could, we'd provide some soothing mood music right about
now. Since that is a bit difficult, we'll do the next best thing - pull it all together in a
simplified image.
Because each level "falls" under the one above it, we can create a "3-D" representa-
tion of the thematic chart that illustrates its nested nature:
Physics
Universe
Mind
Psychology
The Dramatica Structural Model

This projection gives a good feel for how Classes, Types, Variations, and Elements
relate to one another. We start at the top by loosely classifying our story's problem,
then sub-divide each Class into Types. Each Type is refined into Variations and then
defined in terms of its basic Elements. Remember, our purpose here is only to identify
the components of theme. Later in THE ART OF STORYTELLING we will illustrate how
to construct and develop your story's theme.
Matching Points Of View To The Chart
To reiterate: Theme is perspective. Perspective is created by the relationship be-
tween two things: what is being looked at and where it is being seen from. In stories,
what is being looked at is the nature of the problem and its ramifications.
To define the story's problem we start with its Class, then find out what Type of
problem it is within that Class. Next we see what Variation of that Type the problem is
and then finally work down to the Elemental nature of the problem, which is reflected in
Character.
Now we need to see what each of those aspects of the problem looks like from each
of the four points of view an audience will expect in a complete story. Let's begin with
the Class level.
Overall Story Throughline
All four of the Classes of problem (Situation (Universe) - a situation, Fixed Attitude
(Mind) - a fixed attitude, Activity (Physics) - an activity, and Manipulation (Psychology) -
a manner of thinking) will show up in a complete story. As it turns out, one will represent
the way the Overall Story view sees the problem, one the Main Character's view of it,
one the Impact Character's view, and the remaining Class will tell us how the problem
looks from the Subjective Story view.
The first key, then, to creating thematic perspectives in a story is to assign each of
the four throughlines to the four Classes in the structure. Once this is accomplished,
the most broad stroke foundations of the author's biases on the story's issues have
been laid.
As an example, objectively, the problem in a particular story might seem to be a
situation. This means that the Overall Story point of view and the Situation (Universe)
Class would be matched or linked in such a story. When we assign a point of view to a
Class, we say that Class is the point of view's Throughline. In other words, all that we
see in our hypothetical story from the Overall Story view can be found in the Situation
(Universe) Class, so the Situation (Universe) Class is the Overall Story Throughline.
Assigning a point of view to a Class creates the perspective, and therefore
changes the way dramatic items in that Class appear.
For example, if Situation (Universe) is the Overall Story Throughline, the story at
large would be about a situation that affects all the characters in the story to some
degree. Such a story might be about people in a post-nuclear holocaust world, prison-
ers of war in a concentration camp, or two teenagers from rival gang families who have
fallen in love. In each case, the external situation is the cause of the story's problems,
when we see them objectively. Also in each case, all of the characters in the story will
be affected by the same situation, which is the definition of the problem when seen from
the "they" point of view, like that of the general on the hill watching the battle. The
audience will want to see what the problem looks like from this point of view to feel that
the issues of the story have been fully explored.
In contrast, if the Main Character point of view were assigned to the Situation (Uni-
verse) Class, the Situation (Universe) Class would become the Main Character
Throughline. In a different hypothetical story with this arrangement, only the Main
Character would be in the situation; the other characters would be involved in one of the
remaining Classes. In such a story where Situation (Universe) is the Main Character
Throughline, the situation might be that the Main Character is second in command on a
battleship, has a physical deformity like The Elephant Man, or particular race or sex. In
other words, the Main Character will be best described as a result of his personal situa-
tion, which will be some external condition that is causing difficulties only for that char-
acter. Quite a difference from an Overall Story situation that affects all the characters in
a story (including the Main Character).
Before we move to the Type, Variation, and Element levels, let's take a brief look at
each of the sixteen Class/throughline combinations that might be created.
Situation (Universe) as Overall Story Throughline

When Situation (Universe) is the Overall Story Throughline the story's troubles are
best described as pertaining to a Situation. This will be an overview concept: all of the
Overall Story Characters in the story will see the common source of their troubles as
emanating from an external situation. Just because the situation is external and objec-
tive does not mean it must be without feeling, but simply that the situation is not per-
sonal to the audience.
Activity (Physics) as Overall Story Throughline

An Overall Story Throughline of Activity (Physics) means the story's troubles are
caused by an activity gone wrong. This might be an activity engaged in by people or
existing in nature. Either way, the "perpetuation" of this activity is what generates all the
difficulties faced by the Overall Story Characters. There is often the tendency to think of
an activity in the large scale, making it macroscopic; larger than life. But dry rot works
as well as a marauding horde in creating problems big enough to drive a story. The only
constraint is that the activity must be an external one that is causing the difficulties.
Situation vs. Activities

It is easy to think of kinds of activities that border on being situations. For example,
we might want to tell a story about a disease. If the story's problem stems from having
the disease, it is a situation. If the story's problem is actually caused by fighting the
disease, it is an activity. Because all four Classes will show up in a complete story, it is
likely that both having and fighting the disease will show up as things unfold. The the-
matic question here is: which one is seen objectively, or phrased another way, which
one is best seen as the cause of the problems for all the characters throughout the
entire story - having it or fighting it?
Fixed Attitude (Mind) as Overall Story Throughline

Fixed Attitude (Mind) is an internal state, describing problems which come from fixed
attitudes. When Fixed Attitude (Mind) is chosen as the Overall Story Throughline, the
problems that affect all the characters will stem from internal attitudes and fixations. For
example, an Overall Story Throughline of Fixed Attitude (Mind) might be about how
prejudice affects a town or how a humiliating memory affects a kingdom. In contrast,
Situation (Universe) and Activity (Physics) Overall Stories deal with external states and
processes. A selection of Fixed Attitude (Mind) as the Overall Story Throughline specifi-
cally means that the source of the difficulties between all the Overall Story Characters is
best seen as a problematic state of mind.
Manipulation (Psychology) as Overall Story Throughline

Manipulation (Psychology) is an internal process, describing problems which come
from the ways in which people think. When Manipulation (Psychology) is chosen as the
Overall Story Throughline, the problems that affect all the characters will stem from
manipulations and conflicting processes of thought. As opposed to the fixed attitudes
described in the Fixed Attitude (Mind) Class, Manipulation (Psychology) is about prob-
lems which arise from manners of thinking. For example, an Overall Story Throughline
of Manipulation (Psychology) might be about the problems caused in a regiment that
has been overly trained to follow orders or in a dysfunctional family which is trying to
manipulate each other into a nervous breakdown.
Main Character Throughline
Because an audience identifies most strongly with the Main Character, choosing a
Main Character Throughline is like asking your potential audience, "Where's your mind
at?" This Throughline describes the realm in which the Main Characters operates.
Each Class, therefore, provides a completely different mind set for the Main Character.
Situation (Universe) as Main Character Throughline

Situation (Universe) is a Class of situations. A Situation (Universe) Main Character
finds himself in a situation. The situation in question can be a social status issue, such
as being a certain race or gender or being queen or king. It could be a predicament
such as being a rock star, or it could be a physical condition such as having an ex-
tremely large nose or exceptional beauty. Each of these illustrations shows a Main
Character as being defined by the situation in which he is found.
Fixed Attitude (Mind) as Main Character Throughline

A Fixed Attitude (Mind) Main Character will be defined as holding onto a fixed atti-
tude. Such a character might be suffering from a prejudice, haunted by a suppressed
memory, or unable to shake a crush on the kid down the street. In each case, it is a
fixed state of mind that causes the Main Character's difficulties.
Activity (Physics) as Main Character Throughline

An Activity (Physics) Main Character is a person of action. For example, he might
be doing something just to do it, or he might be trying to obtain or achieve something.
Other activities of an Activity (Physics) Main Character might be learning or seeking to
understand something. At first learning and understanding might seem too internal to
be Physics, but consider that these activities are applied externally. Learning is gather-
ing information about something and understanding is seeking the meaning of some-
thing. This is quite different than coming up with original thought which would be inter-
nal.
Manipulation (Psychology) as Main Character Throughline

A Main Character Throughline of Manipulation (Psychology) indicates an individual
who is best described by how he thinks. This could be a flighty person, someone who
jumps to conclusions, or even a calculating, manipulative person. In each of these
scenarios, the opinions the Main Character holds are not what sets him apart, but rather
the kinds of mental processes he goes through. Though there may be many Overall
Story Characters who represent manners of thinking, only the Main Character will pro-
vide the audience with the experience of thinking that way.
The Main Character has Class

Clearly, the nature and concerns of a Main Character change radically from Class to
Class. If you are most interested in exploring your Main Character in a story, then
choosing the Main Character Class before any others is the way to approach develop-
ing a story. Keep in mind, though, that once a Class has been assigned to one of the
four Throughlines in a story, it cannot be assigned to any of the others. So whatever
you might pick for your Main Character's Class will not be available for the Overall Story,
Subjective Story or Impact Character.
Impact Character Throughline
It is important to be clear about the difference between the Main Character and the
Impact Character. The audience looks through the Main Character's eyes, and through
them looks at the Impact Character. Through the Main Character, we feel what it is like
to be in a particular predicament. With the Impact Character we see an external view of
what someone else looks like in the same predicament. Since we cannot really climb
into and become this character, we can only judge him by how he affects the characters
and events around him.
As an example, if a Main Character were handicapped, during the duration of the

story the audience members would also feel handicapped, suffering the problems this
creates as if it were a problem in their own lives. If the Impact Character were handi-
capped, the audience would examine the problem from the outside, learning more about
the difficulties logistically, not experientially. The focus would be on how this handicap
impacts others. "Impact" is the key word to keep in mind when examining the story's
problem in the Impact Character Throughline.
Situation (Universe) as Impact Character Throughline

An Impact Character with a Throughline of Situation (Universe) will impact others
because of his social status, race, gender, physical attributes, position or station. What-
ever the situation might be, it provides the alternative paradigm to the Main Character's
view of things.
Activity (Physics) as Impact Character Throughline

An Activity (Physics) Throughline Impact Character will be a person whose actions in
the areas of Learning, Understanding, Doing, or Obtaining (the four Activity (Physics)
Types) make a case against the Main Character's point of view. At the end of such a
story, the audience will not have experienced what it feels like to engage in these activi-
ties, but will know a lot about what impact these activities have.
Fixed Attitude (Mind) as Impact Character Throughline

The Fixed Attitude (Mind) Impact Character exhibits a fixation or attitude dealing
primarily with memories, desires, immediate responses or considerations. It is this
attitude that causes the Main Character to reconsider and/or justify his position.
Manipulation (Psychology) as Impact Character Throughline
A Manipulation (Psychology) Impact Character influences others through direct
manipulation or may just have an impact because of the way in which he thinks. In
either case, the focus of this Throughline is an external view of how thought process
affect those whom come in contact with them.
Subjective Story Throughline
The Subjective Story Throughline is the realm of the story's Passionate Argument.
This is where the author creates meaning for the audience's emotional appraisal of a
story's message. The primary focus is on the relationship between the Main and Impact
Characters. Since the Main and Impact Characters are, by definition, at odds with one
another, the Subjective Story Throughline forms the background against which the
battle between them is fought. As a result, choosing a Class as the Subjective Story
Throughline affects how a story feels to an audience.
Situation (Universe) as Subjective Story Throughline

A Subjective Story Throughline of Situation (Universe) has the Main and Impact
Characters at odds over a situation that exists between them. This could be a marriage
contract, business partnership, a chain of military command, being caretaker for an
invalid, any kind of employment situation, etc. To properly illustrate a Subjective Story
Throughline of Situation (Universe), you will need to create a situation that is principally
limited to some sort of relationship between the Main and Impact Characters that in-
volves the past, present, progress, or future.
Activity (Physics) as Subjective Story Throughline

If Activity (Physics) is the Subjective Story Throughline, the Main and Impact Charac-
ters will be grappling over an activity. This could be an activity that is leading toward a
purpose or just something engaged in for its own rewards. It might even be a detrimen-
tal activity engaged in as a means of punishing oneself to relieve guilt. Both Main and
Impact may be striving to out-do each other at this activity, or one may be for the activity
and the other against it. In any case, the activity lies at the heart of the difficulties be-
tween them and forms the subject of the story's passionate argument if Activity (Phys-
ics) is the Subjective Story Throughline.
Fixed Attitude (Mind) as Subjective Story Throughline

When Fixed Attitude (Mind) is selected as the Subjective Story Throughline, fixed
attitudes or mind-sets form the battleground of the Main and Impact Characters. How
many fixed attitudes can we see as a personal point of contention between two people?
A prejudice, political view, religion, an attitude toward a child or parent, or a feeling of
worthlessness would do the trick. A scenario that portrays the troubles between the
Main and Impact Characters as revolving around a fixed state of mind, will successfully
represent Fixed Attitude (Mind) as the Subjective Story Throughline.
Manipulation (Psychology) as Subjective Story Throughline
Manipulation (Psychology) as the Subjective Story Throughline has the Main and
Impact Characters diverging over a manner of thinking. Phrases like, "You always get
this way when we argue," and "No, I don't - it's you that keeps changing subjects," are
referring not to a particular attitude, but a manner of thinking that is not appreciated
between the Main and Impact Characters. When the way one goes about working
something out becomes the issue between the Main and Impact Characters, the Sub-
jective Story Throughline will be Manipulation (Psychology).
Throughlines and Beyond
As we have seen, each of these sixteen perspectives has a slightly different flavor
as a result of the particular point of view linked with a specific Class. This alone is a
more quantitative way to look at Theme than has previously been available, yet we still
have three more levels of the thematic structure to explore! Each level will have its own
kind of perspectives. For convenience, we call the thematic perspectives created at any
level story points, which simply means that is how we appreciate a problem at that level
from that point of view.
Due to practical constraints on the size of this book, we won't be able to go into as
much detail for story points at the Type, Variation, and Element levels as we might like.
What we can do is provide a general description of the story points found in each
throughline. Once one gets a feel for how a throughline changes the meaning of a
structural item in general, one can apply that understanding to any item in the structure
and arrive at an accurate dramatic appreciation.
To recap, the Main Character Throughline represents the audience point of view in a
story. The Impact Character Throughline is the opposing point of view the audience is
asked to consider. The Subjective Story Throughline contains the passionate argument
between those two points of view. The Overall Story Throughline is the realm of the
practical argument about the relative value of all approaches that might be taken in
regard to the story's central problem including those of the Main and Impact Characters.
So, a Main Character Throughline explores what it looks like and feels like to have a
particular kind of problem (often seen as drive). The Impact Character Throughline
explores what kind of impact someone with that kind of problem (or drive) has on the
people and events around him. The Subjective Story Throughline determines which is
the better position to be in personally between Main and Impact, according to the au-
thor. The Overall Story Throughline determines which is the better position to be in for
the benefit of everyone else.
Keeping these points of view in mind, let's see what other story points are created at
the Type, Variation, and Element levels.
CONCERNS
Just as the combination of a throughline and a Class creates a Throughline in which
the problem appears from that point of view, the combination of a throughline and a
Type creates an area of Concern. So, there will be an Overall Story Concern, a Main
Character Concern, an Impact Character Concern and a Subjective Story Concern in
every complete story. As its name implies, a Concern reflects the area in which the
problem will be of greatest concern for each throughline.
Overall Story Concern

The Overall Story Concern is the area in which all of the characters share a common
concern. This might be a single item they are all concerned about, or it might be that
each of them has a personal concern of this nature. For example, if the Overall Story
Concern was the Type "Obtaining", then all the characters would be concerned with
Obtaining something. In such a story, everyone might be trying to Obtain the same
thing, such as a buried treasure. In another story with an Overall Story Concern of
Obtaining everyone might be trying to Obtain something different. The Protagonist
might want to Obtain the treasure, but the Reason Character might want to Obtain a
diploma. The nature of the Concern is shared, not necessarily the specific manifesta-
tion of it.
Later, in the Plot and Encoding sections, we will touch on how one can pull these
different items of Obtaining together into the same story. In the example above, the
Protagonist could be a treasure hunter wanting to Obtain the treasure. The Reason
Character who wants to Obtain a diploma in archeology joins the Protagonist's team
because he seeks the quest for the treasure as the basis for his doctoral thesis. Tying
items together in this manner is not a structural aspect of story, but one of storytelling,
and is therefore beyond the scope of this section on The Elements of Structure.
Keep in mind that a Concern of Obtaining might also mean a Concern of getting rid
of something. Whether one wants to Obtain or wants to stop Obtaining does not
change the nature of the area of Concern. So, for this appreciation and all the following,
remember to consider it as either meaning not enough of something or too much of
something.
Main Character Concern

As one would expect, the Main Character Concern is of interest only to the Main
Character. This appreciation describes the area in which the Main Character is most
worried or interested in regard to the way it sees the problem.
If Obtaining were the Main Character Concern, the Main Character alone would be
trying to get or get rid of (hold on to or refuse to hold on to) something. None of the
other characters would share this Concern because the other throughlines are all in
other Classes with different Types. This divergence is what gives a story some breadth
and a sense of completeness for an audience. Rather than focusing on just one issue,
every point of view regarding the story's problem falls into a different Throughline with
its own unique Concern.
Similarly, a Main Character with a Concern of Memory would be trying to remember,
to forget, to establish a memory, or to prevent one from forming.
Impact Character Concern

Because the Impact Character Throughline is looked at in terms of its impact, the
Concern here will be seen as the area in which the Impact Character has its greatest
effect. A way of phrasing this is to say that the Impact Character's impact primarily
Concerns this area. So, an Impact Character Concern of Obtaining here would de-
scribe an Impact Character who changes what is or can be Obtained (or refused) be-
cause of his impact on the people and events around him.
Subjective Story Concern

The Subjective Story Concern describes the area of greatest conflict or divergence
between the Main and Impact Characters. They might see eye-to-eye everywhere else,
but when it comes to the Subjective Story Concern, they always come to blows. It is the
nature of the way the thematic structure is created that the Concern of the Subjective
Story Throughline will seem to grow out of the Main and Impact Concerns.
If the Subjective Story Concern were Obtaining, the Main and Impact would argue
over whether or not they should have something. It might be something only one of
them has or can have (who should have it?) or it might be something they must either
have together or not at all.
Wrapping Up Our Concerns

As we have seen, matching a Type with a throughline creates a Concern. Each
Concern provides a deeper appreciation of a different side of the story's problem for the
audience.
Variations On A Theme
Moving down to the Variation level, we find story points that further refine the under-
standing of the story's problem as it is seen from each throughline. Each of these is
called a Issue for it describes the Issue of subject matter that is appropriately explored
in regard to the Concerns in a given Throughline. In a sense, the Issue might be
thought of as the thematic topic for each throughline.
Overall Story Issue

This appreciation describes the kind of value judgments that seem to pertain to all
the characters and events in a story. For example, a Issue of Morality will have a dy-
namic counterpoint of Self-Interest. This means the thematic conflict in the Overall
Story Throughline would be Morality vs. Self-Interest. Because Morality is the Issue, it
would be in the forefront and appear as the topic or subject matter of the Overall Story
Throughline's Theme.
Because Morality is the Overall Story Issue, it will appear almost everywhere. In a
hypothetical story, we might see a man taking candy from a baby, a headline proclaim-
ing that a company's profits are up, while behind the newsstand we see the company
dumping toxic waste in the background. Illustrations of the Overall Story Issue can
focus on the characters or can act as a flavoring for the story as a whole. We shall
explore this in greater detail in the Encoding section.
Main Character Issue

The Main Character Issue (and its counterpoint) represent the thematic conflict of
personal interest to the Main Character. It will be seen in the kinds of things this charac-
ter notices which no one else does. Because it is so personal a value judgment, the
author can use this appreciation to whisper his point of view, rather than shouting it
overtly, as might happen with the Overall Story Issue. Because it is so personal, the
Main Character Issue helps bring humanity to the Main Character. It is through the
issues explored through the Issue that the audience can identify not only with the Main
Character's head but his heart as well.
Impact Character Issue

The Impact Character Issue provides a way of evaluating the appropriateness of the
Impact Character's impact. The Impact Character Issue and Counterpoint act as a
balance or scale against which the results of the Impact Character's point of view are
weighed. This is where an author can truly tip the balance as to which point of view the
audience comes to favor. Later we shall explore how that balance might be tipped back
and forth over the course of the story, making a more realistic and less heavy-handed
statement of the author's bias.
Subjective Story Issue

The Subjective Story Concern describes the area of shared concern for the Main
and Impact Characters. The Subjective Story Issue and Counterpoint describe why
they come to blows over it. The Main Character will believe the Subjective Story Issue
(or counterpoint) is the value standard that should be used when looking at the Subjec-
tive Story Concern. As a result, The Main Character will see the Concern in a particular
light. In contrast, the Impact Character will believe the other Variation (Issue or counter-
point) is the proper way to evaluate the Concern. Since this standard of measure re-
sults in different conclusions about the Concern, the Main and Impact Characters come
into conflict. They use these two points as they argue over two issues: what should be
done about the Concern, and which is the best way to look at it.
It's Elemental!
Finally, we have arrived at the most basic and precise level of understanding in
regard to a story's problem: the Element level. It is here that the source of difficulties
experienced in each throughline can be found. The Overall Story Problem is something
that will affect all of the characters and all that they do.
In contrast, the Main Character's Problem will be the source of his drive. Ultimately, it
may turn out to be (or reflect) the Overall Story Problem, or have the potential to solve
the Overall Story Problem, if only the Main Character can bring himself to apply it.
The Impact Character Problem is the source of his drive as well, but rather than
being experienced by the audience as to what is driving them it will be examined from
the outside, "What is driving him or her."
Lastly, let's examine the Subjective Story Problem. Unlike the Problems in each of
the other throughlines, this one is not about an item, but a relationship - the relationship
between Main and Impact. What is at the heart of their disagreements? What is the
most essential issue from which all their conflict grows? The Subjective Story Problem
describes the most refined view of what drives (or pulls) the Main and Impact Charac-
ters apart.
At this point we have defined all of the principal thematic perspectives in a story. We
have determined that any Problem might be understood in terms of its Class, Type,
Variation, and Element. We have further described that the story's central Problem itself
can never be seen directly, but will be approximated by exploring how it appears from
four different points of view. Each view will provide its own understanding of the nature
of the Problem's Class, Type, Variation, and Element. Each of these is called an appre-
ciation. When all the story points are considered together in the mind of the audience,
the author's bias on the issues at the heart of a story is established.
Deep Theme
What we have done so far is describe the Elements of Theme. Now we have to put
them in motion as well.
The Thematic Argument

What moves Theme forward is the Thematic Argument. Why an argument? Be-
cause unless the audience shares the author's bias on the story's issues, it will not
accept a blanket statement that the author's proposed way of dealing with a particular
problem is the best. The audience really does want to be convinced - it wants to learn
something useful in real life while being entertained at the same time. But, unless an
author can successfully make an emotional argument supporting his bias through his
Theme, he will not be able to change the heart of his audience.
Premise and the Thematic Argument

One of the most familiar attempts to describe the nature of the thematic argument
relies on a concept called the premise. A premise usually takes this form: Some activity
or character trait leads to a particular result or conclusion. An example of this would be
Greed leads to Self-Destruction. A premise can be very useful in describing what a
thematic argument is about in a nutshell, but provides very little information about how
that argument will proceed.
In regard to the example above, there are many ways in which greed might lead to
self-destruction. In addition, each of the four throughlines has its own view of the the-
matic nature of the problem, so each one needs its own thematic argument. The tradi-
tional premise looks at a story's Theme from one point of view only. If greed leads to
self-destruction, is this a problem for everyone, just for the Main Character, just the
Impact Character, or does it perhaps describe the nature and outcome of the relation-
ship between Main and Impact? We simply don't have enough information to determine
that. As a result, the traditional premise is fine for summing up a story, but does little to
help an author create a thematic argument.
Dramatica's view of a thematic argument begins not with a conflict - the thematic
conflict. Each of the throughlines has its own thematic conflict which we have already
described to some degree during our discussion of Issue.
The Issue itself forms one side of the thematic conflict and the Counterpoint forms
the other. As indicated earlier, you won't find Greed in Dramatica's thematic structure,
but you will find Self-Interest. The Counterpoint for Self-Interest is the dynamically
opposed to it in the chart, which is Morality. Thus, the premise of a thematic argument
dealing with Greed might begin with the conflict, Self-Interest vs. Morality.
The advantage of the thematic conflict is that it spells out both sides of the thematic
argument Both Issue and counterpoint must be played against one another over the
course of the story if the author is to make a case that one is better than the other.
The component of traditional premise which describes growth is reflected in the
phrase "leads to." In some cases this may also be "prevents," "creates," "hinders" or
any other word or words that indicate the relationship of the topic (such as Greed) to the
conclusion (such as self-destruction). Again, this describes what an audience comes to
understand at the end of a story, but does not give a clue about how to develop that
understanding while creating a story.
Because it begins with a conflict rather than a topic, Dramatica's version of a the-
matic argument supports an author creating as many scenes or events as he may
choose in which the Issue is weighed against the Counterpoint. Each time the Issue or
Counterpoint is illustrated it can be a shade of gray and does not have be shown in
terms of all good vs. all bad. Using our example from above, in a series of scenes Self-
Interest might be shown to be moderately positive, largely negative, slightly negative,
then largely positive. At the end of the story the audience can sum up or average out all
the instances in which they have seen.
Similarly, the counterpoint of Morality in its own scenes might be largely positive,
moderately positive, largely negative and largely negative again. At the end of the story
the audience will sum up the counterpoint and determine whether Morality by itself is a
positive or negative thing.
The audience does not consciously work out these averages. Rather, it is simply
affected by the ongoing layering of value judgments created by the author's bias. In
fact, audience members are constantly balancing the Issue against the counterpoint in
their hearts until the story is over and they are left feeling more toward one or the other.
The advantage of this approach is that an author does not have to be heavy-handed
by saying only negative things about one side of the thematic conflict and only positive
things about the other. An audience will be much more open to a balanced emotional
argument where decisions are seldom black and white.
Finally, as reflected in traditional premise, an audience will want to see the ultimate
results of adhering to one value standard over another. In our example of Greed, it led
to Self-destruction. This is a generic conclusion. It could mean either a failure in one's
goals or a personal loss of the heart.
Dramatica sees goals and yearnings as two different things: one born of reason and
one born of emotion. How completely we achieve our goals determines our degree of
satisfaction. How well we accommodate our yearnings determines our degree of fulfill-
ment. So, one thing we need to know at the end of thematic argument is whether or not
our goals ended in success or failure, and also whether or not things feel good or bad.
The degree of success or failure, good or bad, is determined in storytelling. The
thematic story points of Success, Failure, Good, and Bad simply indicate on which side
of the fence the conclusion settled. As a result, there are two different aspects to the
conclusion of a Dramatica thematic argument — the outcome (Success or Failure) and
the Judgment (Good or Bad).
From these considerations we can see that four broad conclusions to a thematic
argument are possible:
1. The Success/Good conclusion or Happy Ending
2. The Failure/Bad conclusion or Tragedy
3. The Success/Bad conclusion or Personal Tragedy
4. The Failure/Good conclusion or Personal Triumph
It is important to note that a Failure/Good story, for example, does not mean the
Failure is Good but that in spite of a lack of satisfaction, the feel of the story is fulfilling.
Such is the case in the motion picture Rain Man in which Charlie (Tom Cruise) fails to
get the inheritance, yet overcomes his hatred of his father. This is a Personal Triumph.
Similarly, Success/Bad stories are like Remains of the Day in which Mr. Stevens
(Anthony Hopkins) successfully maintains the household through thick and thin, yet in
the end finds himself empty and alone. This is a Personal Tragedy.
Sewing Together The Themes
In this section we have learned that the traditional premise is too blunt a tool to do
more than describe the gist of a finished work. In contrast, Dramatica's concept of a
thematic argument is explored through thematic conflict, development of the relative
value of different standards, and concluded with an assessment of both the level of
satisfaction and fulfillment. Such an approach is much more in line with the organic flow
of a story's emotional impact as felt through Theme, and is much more accessible as a
creative guideline.
The Storyform: How Does All This Stuff Hold Together?
In our present exploration of Theme we are looking at Thematic

Story Points one by one. From this point of view Story Points can
appear rather independent, with each carrying its own meaning
which needs to be determined and developed.
This point of view is deceptive, however. The meaning which
Story Points hold is partly in their individuality and partly in their
relationships to each other. The nature of any single Appreciation
has an impact on how to see every other Appreciation in that story.
All together, the collective impact of a specific arrangement of Story
Points describes the underlying structure of a single complete story.
The connections these Story Points have with one another is
exceedingly complex. Beyond the obvious links between such
items as Throughlines/Concerns/ and Issues, the web of dramatic
relationships between the Story Points of a single story can only be
kept fully consistent using a computer.
The purpose of this section, The Elements of Structure, is just to
catalogue the pieces of story structure. The second half of this
book, titled The Art of Storytelling, will explore exactly how creating
a story determines what relationships will exist between that story's
Story Points.
Additional Story Points
Throughline, Concern, Issue, and Problem are not the only story points in Dra-
matica. In fact, there are six other story points for each of the four throughlines, plus
others that affect the whole story. Whether or not an author consciously considers them
while writing, these story points will clearly appear in every complete story.
Additional Element Level Story Points:

At the Element level where we already found each throughline's Problem, each of
the four throughlines also has three additional story points. Since each throughline has
a Problem, it is not surprising that each also has a Solution. The Solution is found
directly opposite the Problem in the thematic structure. For example, the Solution for
too much or too little logic is more or less feeling.
If a Problem were seen as a disease, its Solution would be a cure. A disease will
also have symptoms, and treatments for those symptoms. This is reflected in the same
quad as the Problem and Solution in each throughline, where one of the remaining
Elements will be the Focus (symptom) or Direction (treatment). The reason they are
called Focus and Direction is that characters, like real people, find their attention drawn
to the difficulties caused by a problem more than to the problem itself. Whether the
Focus and Direction we are considering falls in the Overall Story, Main, Impact, or
Subjective Story Throughline, they represent the symptoms of the Problem which draw
attention (Focus) and what the characters try to do about it (Direction).
In the Overall Story Throughline, the Focus is where all the characters concentrate,
as that is where their troubles are most apparent. The Direction is how they respond to
try and alleviate those troubles. If the story were a body with a disease (Problem),
sometimes a cure must be found and one must ignore the symptoms, not worry about a
treatment, and concentrate on a cure. Other times, the cure cannot be found, but if one
simply treats the symptoms, the body will recover enough to heal itself.
In the Main Character Throughline, the decision as to whether or not to change is
intimately tied to whether the Main Character is driven by the Focus toward a Direction
of effort, or whether he seeks the cure. The Main Character cannot tell which is the
correct approach, but a final decision at a leap of faith (or the more gradual shift from
one approach to the other) will ultimately determine whether the conclusion of the the-
matic argument ends in Success or Failure and Good or Bad.
In the Impact Character Throughline, the Focus is where this character hopes to
have the greatest impact, and Direction is how he wants things to change as a result of
that impact.
Focus in the Subjective Story Throughline is the actual topic over which Main and
Impact Characters argue because it gets their attention. The audience will see the real
Problem between them, but the Main Character and Impact Character will only see the
Focus. Subjective Story Direction describes the direction in which the argument tends
to lead.
Additional Variation Level Story Points

At the Variation level each of the four throughlines has two additional story points.
They function roughly the same way in each throughline, but are most similar in be-
tween the Main and Impact Character Throughlines and between Overall Story and
Subjective Story Throughlines.
Both Main and Impact have a Unique Ability and a Critical Flaw. In the Main Charac-
ter, the Unique Ability represents some trait or quality that has the potential to allow that
character to resolve his Problem. The Critical Flaw, however, undermines that Unique
Ability. If the Main Character is ever to solve his troubles, he must overcome his Critical
Flaw in order to fully employ his Unique Ability.
Because the Impact Character is seen in terms of his impact, his Unique Ability
describes the quality he possesses that enables him to have a special impact on the
Main Character (in trying to change the Main Character's point of view). The Impact
Character's Critical Flaw is another quality that undermines that impact.
In the Overall Story and Subjective Story Throughlines, these same two items are
better described as the Catalyst and Inhibitor. Catalyst and Inhibitor act as the accel-
erator and brake pedal on the forward progress of each throughline. In the Overall
Story Throughline, bringing in the Catalyst moves the plot forward more quickly, apply-
ing the Inhibitor slows things down. This is a structural aid in pacing a story.
In the Subjective Story Throughline, Catalyst and Inhibitor control the rate at which
the relationship between Main and Impact Characters will develop. More Catalyst can
bring a confrontation to a head, more Inhibitor can delay it. Because Catalyst, Inhibitor,
Issue, and counterpoint are all Variations, the proper choice of these items insures that
the pacing of the story will seem to come from inside the structure, rather than being
arbitrarily imposed by the author.
Additional Type Level Story Points

At the Type level, each of the four throughlines has one additional appreciation. It is
called a Benchmark, because it is a measure of the growth of each throughline. The
Benchmark provides a category in which the progress of each throughline can be
charted. For example, an Overall Story Benchmark of Obtaining might be seen in the
characters gathering cash receipts in their efforts to afford tuition. In the Main Character
Throughline, a Benchmark of Obtaining might be the unused concert tickets on a shy
man's bed stand from all the times he bought them but then was too afraid to ask some-
one out to the show.
What about the Class level?
The Class level has no additional story points, since it only has four items and each
is already spoken for as the four Throughlines.
Is That About It?

Please keep in mind that this section of the Dramatica Theory Book deals with The
Elements Of Structure. It describes what the pieces are, not how to put them together.
That comes later in The Art Of Storytelling.
Plot
Plot vs. Storyweaving

A common mistake made when considering plot is to assume that plot refers to the
sequence of events in a finished story. A more accurate view considers that there is a
difference between the progression of events in a story's structure, and the order in
which these are revealed to an audience.
As an example of the difference between the two, we can look to the novel The
Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thorwald Wilder. The book opens with five travelers falling to
their deaths as the bridge they are crossing collapses. The remainder of the book
documents how each of the travelers came to be on that bridge at that time. Clearly,
the progression of events for the characters was quite different than the order of revela-
tion granted to the audience.
In contrast, the novel Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. follows the adven-
tures of a Main Character who lives his life out of chronological order. In this case, the
mixed-up progression of events is part of the plot's structure, not simply part of the
storytelling.
The key difference between these two aspects of plot is that there is an internal logic
to the plot's structure from the character's point of view and there is an order in which
that logic is revealed to the audience.
Looking toward motion pictures for examples, films such as Pulp Fiction or Remains
of the Day present their plots in quite a different order than the events actually occurred.
In each of these stories, there is an internal logic to the sequence of events as they
occurred in the structure. Then, that sequence is mixed up in order. This new arrange-
ment has a completely different affect on how an audience will respond to each story,
yet does not alter the internal logic at all. In other words, if Pulp Fiction or Remains of
the Day were re-edited to reveal the plot in chronological order, the message of the
story's structure would remain the same, but the viewing experience for the audience
would be completely changed.
A prime example of this kind of impact shift can be seen in the film and video ver-
sions of the movie, Once Upon a Time in America. The story explores the changing
relationships of a group of friends from their days as poor children during the Depres-
sion to their ultimate stations in life as old men in today's society. In its original theatri-
cal release, episodes from several different periods in their long history together were
jumbled up, so that the audience would see them as old men, then young boys, old men
again, and then teenagers. A large part of the enjoyment in watching this film was to try
and sort out how one thing would eventually lead to another, and also to determine why
some expected things didn't happen after all. In a sense, viewing the movie was like
assembling a jigsaw puzzle.
In the video release, however, the story was re-edited to chronological order. All the
same pieces were there, but the story lost much of their charm, appearing ludicrously
simple and predictable in this new form.
The point is: the plot of a story describes the internal logic or sequence of events
that lead the characters from their situations and attitudes at the beginning of the prob-
lem to their situations and attitudes when the effort to solve the problem is finally over.
Once that has been established, an author may choose to rearrange the order in which
those events are revealed to the audience. This rearrangement may be integral to the
feel of the finished work, but has no effect on the internal logic. As a result, such a
technique falls into the realm of storytelling. In Dramatica, storytelling techniques of this
nature are called Storyweaving. Storyweaving is fully explored in the portion of this
book dealing with The Art of Storytelling. Here, we will only examine the nature of the
plot itself.
A Thematic Side To Plot

Plot has two sides: One side deals with the sequence of what happens next. The
other side is thematic in nature and determines what the plot is about. Terms that
describe the sequence of plot include Acts, Chapters, and Scenes. Terms that describe
the thematics of plot include Goal, Requirements, and Consequences. We'll examine
the thematic side of plot first.
Plot Story Points

As with the thematic perspectives we have already explored, plot thematics are also
called story points. What sets these apart is that they do not fall in any single
throughline. In fact, they are scattered among all four throughlines. This is because
these plot story points represent the collective impact of all four throughlines combined.
So, when we speak of Goal, we are not talking about one throughline's goal. Rather, we
are referring to the Story Goal, which is derived from and impacts all four throughlines.
The story-wide effect of plot story points can be clearly seen in-so-far-as the Main
Character, Impact Character, and Overall Story Characters will all be caught up in the
ripples caused by the quest for the Story Goal. Even the Subjective Story Throughline
will be impacted by the nature of the goal and the effort to achieve it.
There are eight Plot Story Points that stand at the center of all four throughlines.
They are the story Goal, Requirements, Consequences, Forewarnings, Dividends,
Costs, Prerequisites, and Preconditions. All of these story points can be found at the
Type level of the Thematic Structure.
In stories that reflect Western culture - particularly in American culture - the Story
Goal is traditionally found in the Overall Story Throughline. This results in a story in
which the Goal pertains to all of the Overall Story Characters. The Goal, however,
might just as appropriately be found in the Main Character Throughline, or either of the
other two. In such a story, the overall Goal could appear to be whatever the Main Char-
acter was hoping for or working toward, regardless of what was of concern to the Over-
all Story Characters.
In fact, it is the Concerns in each throughline that might also double up as the Story
Goal. This has the effect of tying all four throughlines' Concerns together into the issues
central to the story as a whole. The relationship among the eight plot story points re-
mains the same no matter which throughline serves as their anchor point. Therefore,
we shall describe the nature of the eight Plot Story Points as they appear when the
Story Goal is also the Overall Story Throughline Concern. For other perspectives, one
merely needs to shift into a different point of view, such as that of the Main Character.
The story points themselves would remain the same, only what they are applied to
would change.
Story Goal
The Story Goal will share the same Type as the Overall Story Concern. What then
is the difference between a Goal and a Concern? A Concern simply describes the
category of the kinds of things the Overall Story Characters are most worried about.
The Story Goal describes a specific item that is a shared concern. For example, if the
Overall Story Concern is Obtaining, then all the characters would be worried about
Obtaining something important to each of them. One might wish to Obtain a diploma,
another to Obtain a lost treasure. A Story Goal of Obtaining in the same story might be
everyone's desire to Obtain a pirate map. The map would bring recognition leading to a
diploma for one character and a lost treasure to another. In such a story, the audience
will be waiting to see if the Goal is Obtained or not because of the character concerns
that such an outcome will affect.
Story Requirements
In order to achieve a particular Type of Story Goal, a necessary Type of Require-
ments must be met. Requirements can come in two varieties. One is a series of steps
that must be achieved in a particular order. The other is more like a shopping list that
must be filled, no matter the order in which it is completed. Step Requirements can be
accomplishments such as winning a series of preliminary bouts to qualify for a shot at
the title. List Requirements can be items that must be gathered, such as clues or ingre-
dients. Regardless of the Step or List nature of the Requirements for a particular story,
they must all fall into the category described by the Requirement's Type.
Story Consequences
What happens if the Goal is not achieved? The Consequences are suffered. In
some stories, the characters may already be suffering Consequences as the story
opens. The Goal then becomes that one thing which will bring an end to the suffering.
In this case, the character's troubles are the Consequences of not yet having achieved
the Goal. Just as in real life, sometimes Goals are a reward, other times Goals bring
relief. It all depends on whether the situation starts out good, but could still be im-
proved, or whether it starts out bad and needs to be corrected.
Story Forewarnings
Just as progress in meeting Requirements indicates how close the Goal is to being
attained, the progress of Forewarnings indicates how close the Consequences are to
being imposed. Forewarnings can be as simple as cracks forming in a dam or as subtle
as an increasing number of missed appointments. Characters are not only running
toward the Goal, but trying to outrun the Consequences as well. Tension increases
when one is both the pursuer and the pursued. For stories in which the Consequences
are already in place, Forewarnings indicate how close things are to making the Conse-
quence permanent. An example of this kind of Forewarning can be found in Walt
Disney's production of Beauty And The Beast. Here, petals falling off a rose portend the
point at which the prince must remain a beast forever.
Driver And Passenger Plot Story Points

Just as there are Driver and Passenger characters, there are Driver and Passenger
Plot Story Points as well. Goal, Requirements, Consequences, and Forewarnings are
the Drivers and set the course of a story's plot. The next four story points, Dividends,
Costs, Prerequisites, and Preconditions, are the Passengers which modulate the course
of the plot set by the Drivers.
Story Dividends
During the effort to achieve the goal, certain benefits are enjoyed or accrued along
the way. These serve to add motivation for the characters to continue. No one likes to
keep his nose to the grindstone for an extended duration in the hope of ultimately re-
ceiving a reward. Similarly, if one is already suffering a Consequence, simply accepting
that torment while working toward relief quickly becomes unbearable. In a like manner,
characters need to enjoy small rewards along the way - little perks that make the jour-
ney bearable and the effort tolerable.
Story Costs
Just as positive benefits accrue during the effort to achieve the goal, so do negative
costs have to be paid. Every time a character endures some displeasure as a result of
trying to achieve the goal, this additional price is a Cost. Costs and Dividends modulate
the intensity of the Overall Story Character's drive toward the Goal. These characters
cannot know if they will ultimately succeed or not. As a result, putting in effort is some-
thing of a gamble. Just as with a slot machine in a casino, every spin that simply takes
one's money is a Cost. Every small pay-out is a Dividend. By properly balancing the
two, motivation to continue in hopes of a jackpot can be maintained, for each Dividend
is seen as proof that rewards can be had, and even if the Costs outweigh the Dividends,
the Goal would cover those costs and leave much more profit besides. Of course, as
with gambling, characters may slowly accrue so many costs that even the achievement
of the goal would not cover the physical or emotional debt.
Story Prerequisites
Any effort requires supplies, often called essentials. The effort to achieve the Goal
also requires these essential Prerequisites, without which progress cannot be made.
Only by gathering what is needed can an attempt be made to meet a story's Require-
ments. Prerequisites might be a certain kind of transportation, an amount of money, a
grade point average, or the approval of a bureaucrat. As long as the item in question is
essential to mounting the effort to achieve the Goal, it is a Prerequisite. Prerequisites
themselves do not bring the Goal any closer, which is why they are not Requirements.
All they do is define the raw materials or foundations that must be in place before the
quest for the Goal can proceed.
Story Preconditions
In contrast to Prerequisites, Preconditions are like riders that are tacked on to the
ends of bills being voted on in Congress. With such a bill, the Goal might be to help an
endangered species. One of the Requirements would be to pass a bill that gives the
species legal status as being endangered. One of the Prerequisites would be to get
enough votes to pass the bill. One of the Preconditions for getting a block of votes
would be to add a rider on the bill that provides subsidies to the tobacco industry.
Clearly the rider has nothing to do with the original bill, and might even be philosophi-
cally at odds with its intent. But, to get the job done, concessions must be made.
In a like manner, Preconditions in a story are non-essential constraints or costs
placed on the characters in exchange for the help of someone who controls essential
Prerequisites. This might be the only Bedouin who can supply camels so an expedition
can cross a desert, who insists they take his uncontrollable daughter with them.
In the movie, The Karate Kid, the Protagonist is a young boy who wants to be a
Karate Champion. To achieve this goal, he must meet the Requirements of winning
preliminary bouts. To win these bouts, the Prerequisites are that he receive additional
training from a master. The master, who controls this Prerequisite, adds a precondition.
He insists that the young boy learn new moves by doing chores around the master's
house that incorporate those moves, "Wax on... Wax off." Clearly, there are other ways
to learn Karate than doing chores, but this Precondition was brought about by the
master's desire that the boy learn humility along with his skill.
In Summary
These eight Plot Story Points are the touch points between plot and Theme. Without
them, the plot would simply be a series of events that held no particular meaning. With
them, the plot supports the thematic argument, and through it touches the other The-
matic Story Points including those such as the Main Character Problem, which lie at the
heart of what drives a story's characters. In this manner, Theme stands as a bridge
connecting character to plot so that what characters do thematically impacts the pro-
gression of events, and events that occur thematically impact the way characters think.
Plot Progression
There are Overall Story Throughline story points, Main Character story points, Im-
pact Character story points and Subjective Story Throughline story points. There are
even story points that are the synthesis of all four points of view such as Goal, Require-
ments, and Consequences. These central story points seem the most plot-like because
they affect the Concerns of all four throughlines.
As varied as all of these story points are, there is one quality they share: they stay
the same from the beginning to the end of a story. For example, if a story's Goal is
Obtaining, that never changes during the course of the story. If the Main Character's
Problem is Logic, then Logic is always that character's Problem from "Once upon a
time" to "They all lived happily ever after." True, the Main Character may solve his
Problem, but he will never magically stop being driven by one kind of Problem and start
being driven by another. Story Points of this stable nature are called Static Plot Points.
Static Story Points are thematic in nature because they form a bias or commentary
on the story as a whole. Even the eight Plot Story Points have a Theme-like feel to
them, for they describe what the plot is about. But there is more to plot that this. In fact,
there is a completely different kind of appreciation that moves from one issue to another
as a story develops. These are called Progressive Plot Points, and it is through them that the
explores a series of events in the Overall Story Throughline, the growth of the Main Character,
the changing nature of the Impact Character's impact, and the development of the relation-
ship of the Main and Impact Characters in the Subjective Story Throughline.
We can see that each of the four throughlines has, in a sense, a plot of its own, yet
they all affect one another in some consistent manner. What is it that makes them
separate, yet binds them together? A good way to get a feel for this kind of relationship
is to think of a story as a football game being covered by four different referees. The
"real" plot of the game is the series of events that take place on the field. Not one of the
four referees can truly observe all the events, for each can only see what is visible from
his position. A referee on the opposite side of the field, however, might see interactions
that were completely masked or hidden from the first position, whereas the first referee
would report activities not visible from the other side.
Based on what he believes to be happening from his position, each of the referees
will call penalties or allow play to continue. Often, the other referees will simply accept
that judgment and play will continue. Occasionally though, two or more referees will
disagree as to what transpired simply because the events actually looked different from
each of their perspectives. In this case, the umpire steps in to moderate the referees
and determine what the call should be, even if he did not see the play himself.
In stories, each throughline is like one of these referees. Each provides an angle on
the events of the story as they unfold. When something appears unfavorable from one
of those points of view, the characters in that Throughline cry foul and invoke a penalty
to alter the course of action. Each of the throughlines is affected by the series of events
that transpire, and conversely, each throughline can have an impact on the course of
future events. This is how all four throughlines seem to have plots of their own, yet
affect one another in a consistent manner. And, just as the umpire must sometimes
step in to settle disagreements, so the author steps in from time to time to side with one
throughline or another and allow a penalty or revoke it.
In the end, the true plot of the story is never seen directly, but simply synthesized as
the result of all four throughline plots taken into consideration. As Taoist philosophy
would explain it, "The Tao that can be spoken is not the eternal Tao." As Dramatica
would have it, "The plot that can be seen is not the actual plot."
How then shall we know what must happen in a story's plot? This we can learn by
examining the mechanism of the Progressive Story Points that occur in each
throughline. In this manner, we can plot the course of events as seen from each point
of view. The synthesis of these into a single understanding of the story's central plot is
what will then occur in the minds of our audience members as the plots unfolds.
Progressive Story Points

So just what are Progressive Story Points? Chances are, you are already familiar
with them. They are Acts, Sequences, Scenes, and Events. The Progressive Story
Points are not unlike the way we measure time in Days, Hours, Minutes, and Seconds.
We can see that a Minute does not stand independently, but is nested within an Hour,
which is in turn nested within a Day. Similarly, Scenes are story points that happen
within an Act. Events are nested in Scenes which are nested in Sequences which are
nested in Acts.
No event stands alone, but will bear something of the flavor or identity of the larger
units in which it resides and the smaller units it contains. If this begins to sound like the
thematic story points we have already explored, it is no accident. Throughline, Con-
cern, Issue, and Problem narrow the issue of the story when the story is seen as a
state. Act, Sequence, Scene, and Event narrow the issue of the story when the story is
seen as a process. The Static Story Points tell us what a story is about. The Progres-
sive Story Points tell us how a story unfolds. Taken together, the Static and Progressive
Story Points convey a story's meaning.
Acts
Each Class in the Thematic Structure has four Types in the level just below the
Class. In the Activity (Physics) Class, for example, the four Types are Learning, Under-
standing, Doing, and Obtaining. Because the Activity (Physics) Class will be assigned
as the Throughline of one of the four throughlines, one of these Types will be that
throughline's Concern. For this example, let us assume that Activity (Physics) is the
Overall Story Throughline, and the Concern is Obtaining.
Because a Concern is a Static Appreciation, it will be felt throughout the story.
Therefore, the Overall Story Characters will remain concerned with Obtaining from the
beginning to the end of the story. Even so, these characters do not simply sit around
being concerned with possessing something, rather, they proceed through a series of
endeavors in the attempt to Obtain it (or get rid of it). As it turns out, each of the four
Types in a Throughline represents a stage in this attempt.
In our example, the story might begin with the characters Learning something that
ultimately brings them to an Understanding. Eventually they Understand enough to
start Doing something, and when they have Done enough, they just might Obtain what-
ever it is they are after. The four stages of this endeavor, then, would be Learning,
Understanding, Doing, and Obtaining, in that order.
Another story might start with the characters Doing something. Once they have
Done enough, they Obtain something. As they come to examine what they have Ob-
tained, an Understanding grows until, after years of accepting what was, they finally
begin to Learn again.
The Types in a Throughline can be explored in any order. Each different order,
however, will create a different meaning. As an analogy to this, imagine two events: a
slap in the face and a scream. A slap followed by a scream might seem as if someone
were crying out from having been hit. A scream followed by a slap, however, might
seem as if someone was hysterical and being brought to her senses. The order in
which events occur changes their Progressive meaning, even though their Static mean-
ing might remain the same. This same dynamic holds true for Acts as well, so that the
order in which the Types are explored changes the Progressive meaning of that
throughline's view of the plot at large.
Each Type in a throughline will be the subject matter of one of four Acts in that
throughline. The order in which the Types are explored determines the Progressive
meaning of that throughline's evolution.
Another View: 3 Act Progressions
Some two thousand years ago, Aristotle proposed that every functional plot should
have a beginning, a middle, and an end. Since that time, this notion has evolved into a
widely held view that there should be three Acts in a complete story. Act one sets up
the dramatic potentials. Act two plays these potentials against each other. Act three
describes how it all turned out.
At first, a three act progression might seem in conflict with Dramatica's four act view.
As we shall see, however, the two actually go hand in hand.
2
3 3
1 2
4
1
The illustration above shows how a plot that covers four different Acts will automati-
cally generate three different transitions as the subject matter shifts from one concern to
the next. In a sense, we might think of a throughline's plot as a road.
City "A" City "B" City "C" City "D"
Journey #1 Journey #2 Journey #3
At the beginning of the road is the point of departure: City A. At the end of the road
is the destination: City D. Along the way are two other cities, B and C. The first leg of
the journey begins at City A and ends at City B. The second leg begins at B and ends
at C. The final journey begins at City C and ends at the destination, City D.
At each city is a signpost that gives its name. The four signposts in a throughline's
plot are the names of the Types. The order in which they will occur in the plot deter-
mines where they fall along the road. Between the four signposts are three journeys,
each of which can be described as traveling from one signpost to the next.
Returning to an earlier example, Signposts A, B, C, and D might be Learning, Under-
standing, Doing, and Obtaining. The Three journeys in this plot would then be Learning
-> Understanding, Understanding -> Doing, and Doing -> Obtaining. With four sign-
posts and three journeys, each throughline's plot actually has seven different Progres-
sive Story Points that are required for that perspective to be complete.
When Aristotle saw a beginning, middle and end, he was seeing Signpost A, all three
journeys lumped together, and Signpost D. When successive generations of writers
evolved a three act structure, it became very difficult to determine, "What happens in Act
2?" as all three journeys and two of the signposts were simply blended into "the middle".
By adopting a Four Act structure which coincides with three dynamic acts, the true
nature of a throughline's plot is far easier to understand and construct.
Sequences
Just as Theme has story points that are more character oriented, some more aligned
to plot, others that pertain most strongly to genre, and those that are closest to the heart
of Theme itself, Progressive Story Points also touch on all four aspects of the Elements
of Structure.
Acts are the most plot-like of the Progressive Story Points, and accordingly fall in the
Type level of the structure. Sequences, on the other hand, occur at the Variation level
and therefore, like the Issue, are the most Theme-like of the Progressive Story Points.
What Is A Sequence?
Sequences deal with a quad of Variations much as Acts deal with a quad of Types.
The quad we will be interested in is the one containing the Issue, as that is the item at
the heart of a throughline's Theme. Returning to our example story about an Overall
Story Throughline in the Activity (Physics) Class with a Concern of Obtaining, we shall
say the Issue is Morality, as illustrated in the quad below.
Self
Approach
Interest
Morality Attitude
If Morality is the Issue, then Self-Interest is the counter-point. Theme is primarily

derived from the balance between items. When examining the quad of Variations con-
taining the Issue, we can see that the Issue and counter-point make up only one pair
out of those that might be created in that quad. We have also seen this kind of balance
explored in the chapter on Character where we talked about three different kinds of
pairs that might be explored: Dynamic, Companion, and Dependent.
Just as with character quads, we can make two diagonal pairs, two horizontal pairs,
and two vertical pairs from the Variations in the Issue quad. For the Morality quad,
these six pairs are Morality/Self-Interest, Morality/Attitude, Morality/Approach, Self-
Interest/Attitude, Self-Interest/Approach, and Attitude/Approach. Each of these pairs
adds commentary on the relative value of Morality to Self-Interest. Only after all six
have been explored will the thematic argument will have been fully made. It could go in
a manner as follows:
Morality/Self-Interest
On face value, which appears to be the better of the two?
Morality/Attitude
When Morality is the issue, how do we rate the Attitude of
those espousing it?
Morality/Approach
When Morality is the issue, how do we rate the Approach of
those espousing it?
Self-Interest/Attitude
When Self-Interest is the issue, how do we rate the Attitude of
those espousing it?
Self-interest/Approach
When Self-Interest is the issue, how do we rate the Approach
of those espousing it?
Attitude/Approach
Overall, which should carry more weight in regard to this
issue?
By answering each of these questions in a different thematic sequence, the absolute

value of Morality compared to Self-Interest will be argued by the impact of the six differ-
ent relative values.
How Sequences Relate To Acts
Three Act Progressions
With six thematic Sequences and three dynamic Acts, it is not surprising that we find
two Sequences per Act. In fact, this is part of what makes an Act Break feel like an Act
Break. It is the simultaneous closure of a Plot Progression and a Theme Progression.
The order in which the six thematic sequences occur does not affect the message of a
story, but it does determine the thematic experience for the audience as the story un-
folds. The only constraints on order would be that since the Issue is the heart of the
thematic argument, one of the three pairs containing the Issue should appear in each of
the three dynamic Acts. Any one of the other three pairs can be the other Sequence.
Four Act Progressions

The three dynamic Acts or Journeys in a throughline's plot represent the experience
of traversing the road through the story's issues. The four structural Acts are more like
a map of the terrain. As a result, a more structural kind of thematic Sequence is associ-
ated with the Types directly.
Beneath each Type is a quad of four Variations. From a structural point of view, the
Act representing each Type will be examined or judged by the four Variations beneath it.
In our ongoing example, the Act dealing with Obtaining would be examined in terms of 5
Morality, Self-Interest, Attitude, and Approach. The difference between this and the
thematic sequences we have just explored is that Obtaining is judged by each Variation
in the quad separately, rather than each Variation in the quad being compared with one
another. It is an upward looking evaluation, rather than a sideways looking evaluation.
In this manner, a thematic statement can be made about the subject matter of con-
cern in each of the four structural Acts. The six Sequences constitute an argument
about the appropriateness of different value standards.
Scenes
By the time we get down to scene resolution, there are so many cross-purposes at
work that we need to limit our appreciation of what is going on in order to see anything
in the clutter. First, however, let's touch on some of the forces that tend to obscure the
real function of scenes, then strip them away to reveal the dynamic mechanism be-
neath.
Resolution and Sequence

Earlier we spoke of plot in terms of Types. We also speak of plot here in terms of
four resolutions: Acts, Sequences, Scenes, and Events. Both of these perspectives are
valid story points depending on the purpose at hand. Because all units in Dramatica are
related holographically, no single point of view can completely describe the model. That
is why we select the most appropriate view to the purpose at hand. Even though look-
ing at plot in terms of Types is useful, it is true that "plot-like" twists and turns are going
on at the scene resolution as well. However, these dynamics are not truly part of the
scene, but merely in the scene. An Act, Sequence, Scene, or Event is really a temporal
container — a box made out of time that holds dynamics within its bounds. Much like
filters or gratings with different-sized holes, the resolutions "sift" the dynamics trapping
large movements at the highest levels and allowing smaller nuances to fall all the way
down to the Elements.
What's in a Scene?
At the scene resolution, the effects of Types and Variations can be felt like the tidal
pull of some distant moon. But scenes are not the resolution at which to control those
forces. Scenes are containers that hold Elements — anything larger cannot get
crammed in without breaking. So the richness we feel in scenes is not solely due to
what the scene itself contains, but also to the overall impact of what is happening at
several larger scales.
What then does a scene contain? Scenes describe the change in dynamics be-
tween Elements as the story progresses over time. And since Elements are the building
blocks of characters, scenes describe the changing relationships between characters.
Characters and Scenes

Characters are made up of Motivations, Methodologies, Means of Evaluation, and
Purposes. These terms also describe the four major sets of Elements from which the
characters are built. The driving force of a character in a given scene can be deter-
mined, such as whether their argument is over someone's motivations or just the
method they are employing.
6 Goes Into 24 Like Theme Goes Into Scenes
We have spoken of the three and four act story points of story. It was illustrated how
both divisions are valid to specific tasks. When dealing with scenes, we find that no
scenes ever hang between two acts, half in one and half in the other, regardless of a
three or four act appreciation. This is because there are exactly 24 scenes created at
the Element level: six per act in a four act appreciation, eight per act in a three act
appreciation. In both cases, the scenes divide evenly into the acts, contributing to the
"feel" of each act break being a major turning point in the progress of the story.
Sequences, on the other hand, exist as a six part partition of the story. Therefore,
they divide evenly into a three act appreciation but not into a four. Since the four act
view is objective, sequences — as they define Thematic movements — are truly an
experiential phenomenon in the subjective appreciation and lose much of their power
objectively.
Events
One of the fascinating aspects of the Dramatica model is that it is recursive. It
represents one full cycle of the consideration of a problem. In fact, a story's dramatics
are such that at the end one has returned to reconsider the beginning. Mirroring this
looping effect, the smallest dynamic units in the model merge right back into the largest
structural units. Time doubles back to meet Space so a decision can be made as to
which one really contains the solution.
Events and Throughlines

In Plot, the most defined resolution — Events — is actually described by the most
broad stroke structural units: Classes. To recap, there are four Classes: Situation
(Universe), Fixed Attitude (Mind), Activity (Physics), and Manipulation (Psychology).
Each is represented as an Event. An Event is an occurrence — something that
changes (or remains the same) enough to be noticed by an audience. The dynamics of
that incident create dramatic meaning at its most delicate level.
There are four Events within the boundaries of each scene. This means that in
addition to character relationships, each scene must also describe a Situation, an Activ-
ity, a Manner of Thinking and a State of Mind. All four Classes should be represented to
complete a scene. Immediately, one thinks of action "scenes" that just show something
blowing up or deliberation "scenes" where nothing moves. How can these be scenes if
they don't contain all four Classes? They can't. In fact, they are Events.
Events Masquerading as Scenes

Twenty-four scenes are required for a complete Grand Argument Story. However, if
one breaks down those scenes a bit farther, it can be noted that 96 Events occur in a
complete story as well.
The "red herring" that obscures this temporal division is caused by changing loca-
tions. For example, if an Activity (Physics) Event (action) takes place in the jungle, then
is followed by a Manipulation (Psychology) Event (deliberation) back home in England,
the change in location tends to make one feel that two different scenes have occurred.
Yet, if the story is well designed, it will be noted that the Fixed Attitude (Mind) and Situa-
tion (Universe) Throughlines are also represented just before, during or just after.
This is all part of storytelling: to bring emphasis to certain aspects of the argument
or exploration and to diminish others. Three Events may occur in one location, to be
followed by the fourth in another. Still, they have filled only one Scene.
Genre
Previously, we have seen that the characteristics which build the Overall Story Char-
acters reside at the Element level of the Thematic Structure. Theme itself emanates
most strongly from the Variation level. Plot is generated in the Types. It should not be a
surprise, therefore, to find that Genre is most influenced at the Class level. In fact,
matching a point of view to a Class creates a story's Throughlines, and it is these
Throughlines that have the greatest structural impact on Genre.
As one moves up the Dramatica structure, looking from Character to Theme to Plot,
the structural components (the Elements, Variations, and Types) take on a decreasing
significance to the finished work compared to the storytelling aspects involved. Overall
Story Characters are very easy to define solely in terms of their Elemental dramatic
functions. Theme is a bit less tied to the structure as it explores the comparison be-
tween two dramatic Variations whose balance must be established by the author in the
process of storytelling. Plot can be looked at rather precisely in terms of Acts, but is
less so when it comes to thematic Sequences. At the Scene resolution of Plot a large
part of what goes on is storytelling. At Event resolution, determining exactly what
events ought to occur is almost exclusively storytelling, with the events falling into four
broad structural categories.
Following this progression it stands to reason that Genre, which centers on the
Class level just above where Plot is found, would be the least structural of story aspects
and also the most influenced by storytelling. And so it is.
In a casual sampling of traditional Genres, we immediately notice that Genre some-
times refers to the setting of a story, as in Westerns or Science Fiction. Other times, it
describes the relationships between characters such as Love Stories and Buddy Pic-
tures. Genre might pertain to the feeling an audience gets from a story as in Comedy
and Horror Stories. Even styles of storytelling can have their own Genres like Musicals
or Character Studies.
With all these different duties performed by the word Genre, how can we hope to
define it? An attempt is made by video rental stores. All the old standards are there
dividing the movies on their shelves: Action, Drama, Children's. This is fine for picking
out what you want to watch some evening, but not much help to authors trying to create
stories of their own.
Producer: "Write me a war story!"

Writer: "O.K. What do you want, something like M.A.S.H. or
Platoon or The Great Escape?"
Traditional Genre categories are really only useful for grouping finished works. The
overall feel of a story is created from a blending of many different components that have
an impact on the audience. These range from the underlying dramatic structure (story-
form) through the subject matter (encoding) and style (weaving) to audience expecta-
tions (reception).
The traditional concept of Genre is most useful to writers by keeping them mindful of
the "flavor" of their story, no matter if they are working on character, plot, or theme.
Genre would be a lot more useful if it could be clearly defined. This is where Dramatica
can help.
Dramatica intends to help writers construct the deep structure which underlies their
stories. This framework functions as the dramatic skeleton upon which the specifics of
a story are built. Story encoding then places muscle on the skeleton, Story weaving
clothes the creation, and Reception affects how the audience might react to such a
thing.
When considering Genre from an author's point of view — rather than the traditional
audience point of view — the most critical aspect will be structural. That is where the
foundation is laid, upon which the storytelling will be built. The first step of seeing
Genre this way is to look at the four Classes. These four Classes indicate the nature of
the subject matter that will be covered in a story's Genre. To recap, the four Classes
are:
-- Situation (Universe) – an external state; commonly seen as a situa-
tion.
-- Activity (Physics) – an external process; commonly seen as an activ-
ity.
-- Fixed Attitude (Mind) – an internal state; commonly seen as a fixed
attitude or bias.
-- Manipulation (Psychology) – an internal process; commonly seen as
a manner of thinking or manipulation.
Modes of Expression
Next, we want to consider a new concept: four modes of expression through which
the story's structure can be conveyed to an audience. The four modes of expression
are:
-- Information – focusing the audience on knowledge.
-- Drama – focusing the audience on thought.
-- Comedy – focusing the audience on ability.
-- Entertainment – focusing the audience on desire.
The Dramatica Classes describe what the audience will see. The modes describe in
what light they will see them. When we match the two categories, we begin to control
the feel our story will generate within the audience.
This is analogous to the manner in which Throughlines are created by attaching a
point of view to a Class. Throughlines are part of the Story Mind itself and represent
how a mind shifts its perspective to consider all sides of an issue. Genres, while also
creating perspectives, do so outside of the Story Mind and represent the four different
ways an audience can look at the Story Mind as a finished work they are receiving.
The following "Grid of Dramatica Genres," shows the four Dramatica
Classes along one axis, and the four modes of expression along the other.
Grid of Dramatica Genres

Situation Activity Fixed Attitude Manipulation
(Universe) (Physics) (Mind) (Psychology)
IInformation Where/What How it What it Why it's
(Education) it is works means important
Drama Exploration Action Bias Growth
(Serious) Drama Drama Drama Drama
Comedy Situation Physical Comedy of Comedy of
(Humor) Comedy Comedy Manners Errors
Entertainment Entertainment Entertainment Entertaining Entertainment
(Diversion) through through Concept through
Atmosphere Thrills Twists
-- Where/What it is – (Information/Situation (Universe)) – an examination of events and

situations with an emphasis on the past, present, progress, and future "state of things"
(e.g. Documentary, Historical and Period Pieces).
-- How it works – (Information/Activity (Physics)) – an examination of how specific pro-
cesses work with an emphasis on instruction (e.g. Educational, Informational, Instruc-
tional).
-- What it means – (Information/Fixed Attitude (Mind)) – an examination of opinions and
points of view with an emphasis on the context in which they are made (e.g. Inspira-
tional, Motivational).
-- Why it's important – (Information/Manipulation (Psychology)) – an examination of
value systems with an emphasis on providing context relevant to the audience's per-
sonal life (e.g. Persuasion, Propaganda).
-- Exploration Drama – (Drama/Situation (Universe)) – a serious exploration of how the
"state of things" is unbalanced (e.g. Courtroom, Crime, and Classroom dramas).
-- Action Drama – (Drama/Activity (Physics)) – a serious take on how problems are
created by ongoing activities (e.g. Espionage and War dramas).
-- Bias Drama – (Drama/Fixed Attitude (Mind)) – a serious take on what types of con-
flicts arise from incompatible attitudes (e.g. Obsession and Prejudice dramas).
-- Growth Drama – (Drama/Manipulation (Psychology)) – a serious take on the attempts
to overcome difficulties resulting from manipulations and/or evolving identities (e.g.
Coming of Age and Dysfunctional Family dramas).
-- Situation Comedy – (Comedy/Situation (Universe)) – humor derived from the difficul-

ties created by placing characters in some sort of predicament (e.g. TV Sitcoms).
-- Physical Comedy – (Comedy/Activity (Physics)) – pratfalls, slapstick, and other forms
of humor derived from physical activities gone awry (e.g. The Three Stooges and much
of Charlie Chaplin's work)
-- Comedy of Manners – (Comedy/Fixed Attitude (Mind)) – humor derived from diver-
gent attitudes, biases, or fixations - frequently noted as drawing room comedies (e.g.
Jack Benny or Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Ernest).
-- Comedy of Errors – (Comedy/Manipulation (Psychology)) – humor derived from mis-
interpretation or, in psychological terms, attribution error (e.g. Abbott and Costello's
Who's on First and several Shakespeare comedies including Twelfth Night).
-- Entertainment through Atmosphere – (Entertainment/Situation (Universe)) – enter-

tainment derived from new, unique, or interesting settings or backgrounds (e.g. Disas-
ter, Fantasy, Horror, Musical, and Science Fiction)
-- Entertainment through Thrills – (Entertainment/Activity (Physics)) – entertainment
derived from new, unique, or interesting activities/experiences — much like thrill rides
at an amusement park (e.g. Action Adventure, Suspense)
-- Entertaining Concept – (Entertainment/Fixed Attitude (Mind)) – entertainment de-
rived from new, unique, or interesting ideas (e.g. High Concept piece)
-- Entertainment through Twists – (Entertainment/Manipulation (Psychology)) – enter-
tainment derived from new, unique, or interesting forms of audience manipulation (e.g.
Mysteries, Thrillers)
This grid illustrates how the mode of expression can change the impact a Class will
have on an audience. If the Activity (Physics) Class is expressed in terms of Informa-
tion it would seem like a "How to" story. If Comedy is chosen as the mode of expres-
sion, however, the Activity (Physics) Class looks more like a story involving physical
humor or "slapstick."
The beauty of the grid is that it provides authors with a "shopping list" of the kinds of
impact they may wish to have upon their audience. Take time to fully examine the table.
Look at the brief explanation of each mode/Class combination. Unlike most of the
previous information in this book, this table lends itself to an intuitive feel that ties in
much more closely with the Art of Storytelling than with the Elements of Structure.
Taken together, Classes and modes of expression determine the feel of the subject
matter in a story. Still, there is one aspect of Genre remaining: positioning the audience
in relationship to the subject matter. To do this, we can make use of the four Dramatica
Throughlines. As a brief recap, they are:
-- Main Character Throughline – the first person point of view (I)
matched with a Class, this Throughline provides the audience with a
"down in the trenches," personal view of the story.
-- Impact Character Throughline – the second person point of view
(you) matched with a Class, this Throughline provides the audience
with a "what's impacting me," impersonal view of the story.
-- Subjective Story Throughline – the first person plural point of view
(we) matched with a Class, this Throughline provides the audience
with a "what's it like to be in this type of a relationship," passionate
view of the story.
-- Overall Story Throughline – the third person point of view (they)
matched with a Class, this Throughline provides the audience with a
"big picture," dispassionate view of the story.
By positioning the audience's four points of view on the Class/modes of expression
grid, we can accurately predict the feel our story will have.
EXAMPLE #1:
Situation Activity Fixed Attitude Manipulation
(Universe) (Physics) (Mind) (Psychology)
Comedy Situation Physical Comedy of Comedy
(Humor) Comedy Comedy Manners of Errors
Throughlines Overall Main Subjective Impact
Story Character Story Character
Suppose we wanted to write a Comedy with the Overall Story Throughline of Situa-
tion (Universe) and the Main Character Throughline of Activity (Physics). We could
assign all of the Throughlines to the grid in the Comedy mode of expression like above.
If we are good storytellers, all four throughlines would have a consistently humorous
(comedic) feel to them. The Overall Story would be a situation comedy; the Main Char-
acter would be a physically goofy or funny person(e.g. Stanley Ipkiss in The Mask); the
Impact Character might be someone who is constantly being mistaken for someone
else or mistaking the Main Character for someone else; the Subjective Story relation-
ship between the Main and Impact Characters would be conflicting over silly or exagger-
ated differences of opinion.
Though a story like this covers all of the storyforming bases, its single mode of
expression lacks the emotional depth that comes from variety. This monotone form of
storytelling is fine (and often preferable) for some forms of storytelling. Many audi-
ences, however, prefer to have greater variety of expression in their stories. As it
stands, this example story lacks any educational intent (Information), any sense of
seriousness (Drama), and any pure diversions (Entertainment).
How does one diversify? Assign each Throughline to a different mode of expression.
A story of such a completely mixed arrangement has no single, overriding feel to it.
What it gives up in consistency, however, it gains in variety.
The Overall Story (Situation (Universe)/Entertainment) would be set in some unique
or viscerally intriguing setting (perhaps a Western, the distant future, or the dark side of
the moon) in which something is amiss. In this setting we find our Main Character
(Activity (Physics)/Comedy), perhaps clumsy (e.g. Inspector Clouseau from The Pink
Panther), or overly active like Ace Ventura. Providing a nice contrast to the humorous
nature of the Main Character are the serious impact of Impact Character's manipula-
tions (Manipulation (Psychology)/Drama). Finally, we add the Subjective Story relation-
ship (Fixed Attitude (Mind)/Information) as it describes how the Main and Impact Char-
acters' fixed attitudes conflict over "what it all means."
This is the heart of Dramatica's approach to Genre. At its most basic level it is a
choice between four modes of expression. At its most exciting and elegant, it concerns
the sophisticated relationship and dynamics that are created when the four modes of
expression, the four structural Classes, and the four Throughlines are brought together.
The Class/modes of expressions grid allows authors to select Throughlines using their
feelings and intuition. By carefully setting these Dramatica relationships in a story, you
can create a powerful Genre experience for your audience with exactly the impact you
intended.
Finally, there is a greater depth to Dramatica theory that offers more information
about what is really going on in Genre. It may be more than you really need to consider
for your style of writing and the kinds of stories you create. If you'd like to explore this
final aspect of The Elements of Structure, read on.
The Class/modes of expression table we have been using makes it appear as if a
throughline must remain in one mode for the duration of a story. In fact, this is only the
Static Appreciation of Genre. In actual practice, the Genre of a story develops as the
story unfolds, so that it may appear to be simply a Drama as it begins, by the time it is
over it will have defined exactly what kind of Drama it is.
In this respect, beginning as one among a broadly identifiable group of stories and
ending up where no other story has gone before, each and every story develops its own
unique Genre by the time it is over. The manner by which this happens pertains to the
Progressive Appreciation of Genre, which we will now explore.
First of all, once a throughline is assigned to a Class, thereby creating a
Throughline, that particular combination will remain for the duration of the story. There-
fore, when we examine how the Mode/Class table is laid out, we can see that each
Throughline will fall in a vertical column and stay there. The Progressive nature of
Genre is seen when each Throughline slides up and down its particular column so that
during the story it may touch on all four modes of expression. The fact that each
Throughline is always in its same Class gives them consistency; the ability to shift
modes of expression gives them versatility.
Just as with Progressive Plot story points there are limits to how a Throughline can
move from one mode to another. Like the Acts in Plot, Throughlines must move through
modes of expression in a particular order. The rule of thumb is that a Throughline
cannot skip over a mode (according to the order used in the table) but must go through
each mode of expression in between to get to the desired one.
The reason for this limitation is that neither the human mind nor the Story Mind can
shift mental gears from, say, first gear to third gear without going through second gear.
Modes of expression are largely emotional concerns, and as such, the human mind
must be allowed to experience the transition from one emotional state to the next if it is
to feel natural.
A good example of the awkwardness that results from ignoring this rule of thumb
can be found in the motion picture, Hudson Hawke, starring Bruce Willis. The filmmak-
ers made a valiant effort to break convention and have a serious heist thriller jumbled
up with comedy and even song and dance numbers in the middle of a robbery! This
might have worked, had the audience been taken through the intermediate modes.
Alas, such was not the case and therefore the story simply came out jumbled and im-
possible to get a grip on emotionally.
It should be noted that sometimes in the process of storytelling an author will want to
shock an audience. This can be accomplished in a number of ways, including breaking
structure or skipping the transitional modes of expression. These kinds of techniques
are fully explored in the Storyweaving section of The Art of Storytelling. For now, our
discussion is limited to what a consistent progression of Genre would be.
If you have closely examined the table, you may have wondered if the mode at the
top (Information) could ever connect to the mode at the bottom (Entertainment) without
having to go through both Drama and Comedy first. The answer to this question is,
"Yes."
If you were to clip the Class/modes of expression table out of this book (not recom-
mended!) you could bend it around from top to bottom to make a cylinder. When pre-
sented in this form, it can be seen that Information is actually right next to Entertain-
ment. So, during the course of a story, a single Throughline might shift up or down or all
around, as long as it stays within its Class column.
Taken together, all four Throughlines could shift from scene to scene into different
relative positions, not unlike a combination lock, making the story all comedic at one
time, serio-comic at another, and so on. By the end of the story, the progressive shift of
Throughlines provides the combination for the unique Genre of a story.
Section Two:
The Art of
Storytelling
Foundations
Introduction to Storytelling
All complete stories exhibit two principal aspects: an underlying dramatic structure
which contains the story's inherent meaning and a secondary meaning which is created
by the manner in which that structure is presented in words and symbols. In practice,
neither aspect of story can exist without the other, for a structure which has not been
made tangible in some form cannot be communicated and similarly no mode of expres-
sion can be created without something to express.
The first half of this book explored The Elements Of Structure. Its purpose was to
define the essential components that occur in the dramatic structure of all complete
stories. These components fell into four principal categories: Character, Theme, Plot,
and Genre.
This half of the book explores The Art Of Storytelling, which documents the process
of conceptualizing and conveying a story. This process passes through four distinct
stages: Storyforming, Storyencoding, Storyweaving, and Reception.
An author might begin either with Structure or Storytelling, depending upon his
personal interests and/or style. If you come to a concept that is unfamiliar or unclear,
you may wish to use the index to reference that topic in The Elements Of Structure or to
take advantage of the extensive appendices at the back of the book.
The Four Stages of Communication
There are four stages of communication that stand between an author and an audi-
ence when a story is related. Stage one is Storyforming, in which the arrangement and
sequence of dramatic story points are determined. Stage two is Encoding where the
Storyform story points are translated into topics and events that symbolize the essential
dramatic concepts in terms the author anticipates will have meaning to an audience.
Stage three is Storyweaving, where all the independent illustrations are woven together
into a synthesized whole that is the story as it will be presented to an audience. Stage
four is Reception in which the audience assigns meaning to what they observe the work
to be, hopefully decoding the intent of the author with some degree of accuracy.
The Four Stages of Communication

In bringing a story to an audience, through any media, there are
four distinct stages of communication through which the story will
pass. When an author is developing a story or looking for ways in
which to improve it, a good idea is always to evaluate how the story
is working at each of these stages individually. Problems can exist
in any single stage or bridge across into many. Seeing where the
problem lies is half the work of fixing it.
The Four Stages are:
Stage 1: Storyforming — at which point the structural design
and dynamic settings of an idea are conceived. This is where the
original meaning of the story is born, the meaning which the author
wants to communicate.
Stage 2: Storyencoding — where the symbols with which the
author will work are chosen. Stories are presented through charac-
ters, setting, and other particulars which are meant to symbolize the
meaning of the story. No symbols are inherently part of any Story-
form, so the choices of how a particular Storyform will be
Storyencoded must be considered carefully.
Stage 3: Storyweaving — where the author selects an order
and emphasis to use in presenting his encoded story to his audi-
ence in the final work. The way in which to deliver a story to an
audience, piece by piece, involves decisions about what to present
first, second, and last. The potential strategies are countless: you
may start with the beginning, as in Star Wars, or you my start with
the end, as in Remains of the Day, or with some combination, as in
The Usual Suspects. What you most want the audience to be
thinking about will guide your decisions in this stage, because
choices made here have the most effect on the experience of
receiving the story as an audience member.
Stage 4: Reception — where the audience takes over, inter-
preting the symbols they've received and making meaning of the
story. The audience is a very active participant in its relationship
with a story. It has preconceptions which affect how it will see
anything you put in front of it. The audience is presented with a
finished, Storywoven work and hopes to be able to be able to inter-
pret the work's symbols and decipher the Storyforming intent of the
authors behind the work. The accuracy with which this is accom-
plished has a lot to do with how the story was developed in the
other three stages of communication.
There are many ways to play with any one of these stages and
many reasons for doing so. It all depends on what impact the
author wants to make with his work.
Genre, Plot, Theme, and Character

In each of the four stages of story communication, authors have recognized four
aspects of storytelling at work: Genre, Plot, Theme and Character. In other words, first
there must be a Storyforming stage in which Genre, Plot, Theme, and Character are
designed as dramatic concepts. Next is the Encoding stage where Genre, Plot, Theme,
and Character are symbolized into the language of the culture. Stage three, Storyweav-
ing, sees the author blending the symbolic representations into a seamless flow that
presents the symbols for Genre, Plot, Theme, and Character to an audience. The final
stage of Reception puts the audience to work decoding the symbols to appreciate the
author's intent as represented in Genre, Plot, Theme, and Character.
Naturally, with so many internal steps and story points, the opportunity for miscom-
munication is considerable. In addition, since the audience members are looking from
stage four back to stage one, they are in fact authors of their own Reception. In this
role the audience may create meaning that is fully supported by the symbology, yet
never intended by the author.
How Dramatica Fits In

The study of Reception theory is well documented in many books, articles, and
essays. The process of storytelling is brilliantly covered by many inspired teachers of
the art, including Aristotle himself. Dramatica provides a view of story never before
seen so clearly: an actual model of the structure and dynamics that lie at the heart of
communication - the Story Mind itself. By using the structure of story as a foundation,
the process of communication becomes much more accurate, giving the author much
more control over the audience experience.
Author as Audience
With the author at one end of the communication chain and the audience at the
other, it is not unusual for an author to cast himself in the role of audience to see how
the story is working. In other words, many authors approach their story not so much as
the creator of the work, but as its greatest fan. They look at the blended result of Story-
forming, Storyencoding, Storyweaving and Reception and judge the combined impact
even as they write it. This can be extremely valuable in making sure that all stages of
communication are working together, but it carries hidden dangers as well.
When an author adopts the audience perspective, he compresses all four stages
together. Thus, Genre, Plot, Theme, and Character become complete, yet their compo-
nents become nebulous and much harder to define. This makes it very easy to tell if
something is going wrong, but much harder to determine which part of the process is at
fault.
To avoid this problem, Dramatica suggests first building a Storyform that spells out
the dramatic story points necessary to fashion a complete argument in line with one's
intent. Then, referring to this structure while encoding (or symbolizing) the storyform, an
author can make sure that missing or inconsistent pieces of the storyform are not
masked under clever storytelling.
Emphasis Where Emphasis is Due

Encoding simply creates scenarios and events that illustrate the Storyform's dra-
matic story points. In the Encoding stage, no illustration is more important than another.
The emphasis is provided by the nature of the illustration. For example, a Goal of
Obtaining might be encoded as the attempt to win a fifty dollar prize or the effort to win
the presidency of a country.
Further emphasis is set in the third phase of communication, Storyweaving, when
the illustrated story points are actually written into the work, favoring some with ex-
tended coverage while de-emphasizing others with mere lip service. In this manner, the
portions of a Storyform structure which are more central to an author's personal inter-
ests rise to the surface of the work while those of less interest sink to the bottom to form
a complete but minimalist foundation for the story's argument.
In short, it is fine to stand back and admire one's handiwork, criticize it, and see if all
its parts are working together. The audience point of view, however, is not a good
perspective from which to fashion a work.
In keeping with this philosophy, this book began by outlining The Elements Of Struc-
ture. Now it is time to shift mental gears and outline the process of communication itself
as expressed in The Art Of Storytelling.
The Art of Storytelling
Stage One: Storyforming
Introduction to Storyforming
Inspiration
When an author begins work on a story, he seldom has the whole thing figured out in
advance. In fact, he might start with nothing more than a bit of action, a scrap of dia-
logue, or perhaps only a title. The urge to write springs from some personal interest one
wants to share. It could be an emotion, an experience, or a point of view on a particular
subject matter. Once inspiration strikes, however, there is the compelling desire to find
a way to communicate what one has in mind.
Another thing usually happens along the way. One creative thought leads to an-
other, and the scope of what one wishes to communicate grows from a single item into
a collection of items. Action suggests dialogue which defines a character who goes into
action, and on and on. Ultimately, an author finds himself with a bag of interesting
dramatic elements, each of which is intriguing, but not all of which are connected. It is
at this point an author's mind shifts gears and looks at the emerging work as an analyst
rather than as a creator.
Structure
The author as analyst examines what he has so far. Intuitively he can sense that
some sort of structure is developing. The trick now is to get a grip on the "big picture."
Four aspects of this emerging story become immediately apparent: Character, Theme,
Plot, and Genre. An author may find that the points of view expressed by certain char-
acters are unopposed in the story, making the author's point of view seem heavy-
handed and biased. In other places, logic fails, and the current explanation of how point
A got to point C is incomplete. She may also notice that some kind of overall theme is
partially developed, and that the entire work could be improved by shading more dra-
matic elements with the same issues.
So far, our intrepid author has still not created a story. Oh, there's one in there
somewhere, but much needs to be done to bring it out. For one thing, certain items that
have been developed may begin to seem out of place. They don't fit in with the feel of
the work as a whole. Also, certain gaps have become apparent which beg to be filled.
In addition, parts of a single dramatic item may work and other parts may not. For
example, a character may ring true at one moment, but turn into a klunker the next.
Having analyzed, then, the author sets about remedying the ailments of his work in
the attempt to fashion it into a complete and unified story. Intuitively, an author will
examine all the logical and emotional aspects of his story, weed out irregularities and fill
in cracks until nothing seems out of place in his considerations. Just as one might start
with any piece of a jigsaw puzzle, and in the end a larger picture emerges, so the story
eventually fills the author's heart and mind as a single, seamless, and balanced item,
greater than the sum of its parts. The story has taken on an identity all its own.
Communication
Looking at the finished story, we can tell two things right off the bat. First, there is a
certain logistic dramatic structure to the work. Second, that structure is expressed in a
particular way. In Dramatica, we call that underlying deep dramatic structure a Story-
form. The manner in which it is communicated is the Storytelling.
As an example of how the Storyform differs from the Storytelling, consider Romeo
and Juliet and West Side Story. It is easily seen that dramatics of both stories are
essentially the same. Yet the expression of those dramatics is completely different.
Storytelling dresses the dramatics in different clothes, couches the message in specific
contexts, and brings additional non-structure material to the work.
The structure of a story is like a vacant apartment. Everything is functional, but it
doesn't have a personality until someone moves in. Over the years, any number of
people might occupy the same rooms, working within the same functionality but making
the environment uniquely their own. Similarly, the same dramatic structures have been
around for a long time. Yet, every time we dress them up in a way we haven't seen
before, they become new again. So, part of what we find in a finished work is the actual
Grand Argument Story and part is the Storytelling.
The problems most writers face arise from the fact that the creative process works
on both storyform and storytelling at the same time. The two become inseparably
blended, so trying to figure out what really needs to be fixed is like trying to determine
the recipe for quiche from the finished pie. It can be done, but it is tough work. What is
worse, an author's personal tastes and assumptions often blind him to some of the
obvious flaws in the work, while over-emphasizing others. This can leave an author
running around in circles, getting nowhere.
Fortunately, another pathway exists. Because the eventual storyform outlines all of
the essential feelings and logic that will be generated by a story, an author can begin by
creating a storyform first. Then, all that follows will work together for it is built on a
consistent and solid foundation.
To create a storyform, an author will need to make decisions about the kinds of
topics he wishes to explore and the kinds of impact he wishes to have on his audience.
This can sometimes be a daunting task. Most authors prefer to stumble into the an-
swers to these questions during the writing process, rather than deliberate over them in
advance. Still, with a little consideration up front, much grief can be prevented later on
as the story develops.
Audience Impact
There are eight questions about a story that are so crucial and powerful that we refer
to them as the essential questions. Determining the answers to these can instantly
clarify an embryonic story idea into a full fledged story concept. Four of the questions
refer to the Main Character and four refer to the overall Plot. Taken together, they
crystallize how a story feels when it is over, and how it feels getting there.
Character Dynamics
Both structure and dynamics can be seen at work in characters. Structural relation-
ships are seen most easily in the Overall Story Characters who serve to illustrate fixed
dramatic relationships that define the potentials at work in a story from an objective
point of view. Dynamic relationships are seen more easily in the Subjective Characters
who serve to illustrate growth in themselves and their relationships over the course of a
story.
The Subjective Characters are best described by the forces that drive them, rather
than by the characteristics they contain. These forces are most clearly seen (and there-
fore best determined) in reference to the Main Character. There are four Dynamics that
determine the nature of the Main Character's problem-solving efforts. The four Charac-
ter Dynamics specify the shape of the Main Character's growth. Let's explore each of
the four essential character dynamics and their impact on the story as a whole.
Character Dynamic Examples
Main Character Resolve:
Change Characters: Hamlet in Hamlet; Frank Galvin in The
Verdict; Wilber in Charlotte's Web; Rick in Casablanca; Michael
Corleone in The Godfather; Scrooge in A Christmas Carol; Nora in
A Doll's House
Steadfast Characters: Laura Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie;
Jake Gittes in Chinatown; Clarice Starling in The Silence of the
Lambs; Chance Gardener in Being There; Job in the Bible
Main Character Growth:

Start Characters: Laura Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie;
Rick in Casablanca: Scrooge in A Christmas Carol; Nora in A
Doll's House
Stop Characters: Hamlet in Hamlet; Frank Galvin in The Ver-
dict; Wilber in Charlotte's Web; Jake Gittes in Chinatown; Clarice
Starling in The Silence of the Lambs; Chance Gardener in Being
There; Job in the Bible; Michael Corleone in The Godfather;
Main Character Approach:

Do-er Characters: Frank Galvin in The Verdict; Wilber in
Charlotte's Web; Jake Gittes in Chinatown; Clarice Starling in The
Silence of the Lambs; Michael Corleone in The Godfather;
Be-er Characters: Laura Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie;
Rick in Casablanca: Scrooge in A Christmas Carol; Hamlet in
Hamlet; Chance Gardener in Being There; Job in the Bible; Nora
in A Doll's House
Main Character Mental Sex:

Female Mental Sex Characters: Laura Wingfield in The Glass
Menagerie; Nora in A Doll's House
Male Mental Sex Characters: Frank Galvin in The Verdict;
Wilber in Charlotte's Web; Jake Gittes in Chinatown; Clarice
Starling in The Silence of the Lambs; Michael Corleone in The
Godfather; Rick in Casablanca: Scrooge in A Christmas Carol;
Hamlet in Hamlet; Chance Gardener in Being There; Job in the
Bible
Main Character Resolve: Change or Steadfast?
The first Essential Character Dynamic determines if the Main Character will be a
changed person at the end of a story. From an author's perspective, selecting Change
or Steadfast sets up the kind of argument that will be made about the effort to solve the
story's problem.
There are two principal approaches through which an author can illustrate the best
way to solve the Problem explored in a story: One is to show the proper way of going
about solving the Problem, the other is to show the wrong way to solve the Problem.
-- To illustrate the proper way, your Main Character must hold on to his
Resolve and remain Steadfast if he is to succeed, because he truly is
on the right path.
-- To illustrate the improper way of dealing with a Problem, your Main
Character must change to succeed, for he is going about it the wrong
way.
Of course, Success is not the only Outcome that can befall a Main Character. An-
other way to illustrate that an approach for dealing with a Problem is proper would be to
have the Main Character Change his way of going about it and fail. Similarly, the im-
proper way can be illustrated by a Main Character that remains Steadfast and fails.
So, choosing Change or Steadfast really has nothing directly to do with being correct
or incorrect; it just describes whether the Main Character's ultimate Resolve is to stay
the course or try a different tack.
Just because a Main Character should remain Steadfast does not mean he doesn't
consider changing. In fact, that is a temptation with which he is constantly faced: to give
up or alter his approach in the face of ever-increasing opposition.
Even if, in spite of difficulties and suffering, the Main Character remains steadfast,
the audience may still not want him to ultimately succeed. This is because simply being
steadfast does not mean one is correct.
If the audience is shown that a character is misguided yet remains steadfast, the
audience will hope for his ultimate failure.
Similarly, a Change Main Character does not mean he is changing all the time. In
fact, in most cases, the Change Main Character will resist change, all the way to the
moment of truth where he must choose once and for all to continue down his original
path, or to jump to the new path by accepting change in himself or his outlook.
Regardless of the benefits to be had by remaining steadfast, the audience will want
the Change Main Character ultimately to succeed if he is on the wrong path and
changes. However, if he does not change, the audience will want him to lose all the
benefits he thought he had gained.
Your selection of Change or Steadfast has wide-ranging effects on the dynamics of
your story. Such things as the relationship between the Overall and Subjective Story
Throughlines and the order of exploration of your thematic points is adjusted in the
Dramatica model to create and support the ultimate decision of your Main Character to
either change or remain steadfast.
Main Character Growth: Stop or Start?

The second essential question determine the direction of the Main Character's
growth.
Whether or not a Main Character eventually Changes his nature or remains Stead-
fast, he will still grow over the course of the story, as he develops new skills and under-
standing. This growth has a direction.
Either he will grow into something (Start) or grow out of something (Stop).
A Change Main Character grows either by adding a characteristic he lacks (Start) or
by dropping a characteristic he already has (Stop). Either way, his make up is changed
in nature. As an example we can look to Ebeneezer Scrooge in Dickens' A Christmas
Carol.
Does Scrooge need to Change because he is miserly or because he lacks generos-
ity? Scrooge's Problems do not stem from his active greed, but from his passive lack of
compassion. It is not that he is on the attack, but that he does not actively seek to help
others. This reflects a need to Start, rather than Stop. This difference is important in
order to place the focus of conflict so that it supports the overall argument of the story.
In contrast, Steadfast Main Characters will not add nor delete a characteristic, but
will grow either by holding on against something bad, waiting for it to Stop, or by hold-
ing out until something good can Start.
For a Steadfast Character, growth is not a matter of Change, but a matter of degree.
Change is still of concern to him but in his environment, not in himself. Conversely, a
Change Character actually alters his being, under the influence of situational consider-
ations. This helps clarify why it is often falsely thought that a Main Character MUST
Change, and also why Steadfast characters are thought not to grow.
To properly develop growth in a Main Character one must determine whether he is
Change or Steadfast and also at the direction of the growth.
A good way to get a feel for this dynamic in Change Characters is to picture the Stop
character as having a chip on his shoulder and the Start character as having a hole in
his heart. If the actions or decisions taken by the character are what make the problem
worse, then he needs to Stop. If the problem worsens because the character fails to
take certain obvious actions or decisions, then he needs to Start.
Of course, to the character, neither of these perspectives on the problem is obvious,
as he must grow and learn to see it. The audience can empathize with the character's
failure to see himself as the source of the problem even while recognizing that he
should or should not change because the audience is shown another view the character
does not get: the objective view. It is here that Start and Stop register with the audience
as being obvious.
Essentially, if you want to tell a story about someone who learns he has actually
been making the problem worse, choose Stop. If you want to tell a story about some-
one who has allowed a problem to become worse, choose Start.
A Steadfast Main Character's Resolve needs to grow regardless of Start or Stop. If
he is a Start Character, he will be tempted by indications that the desired outcome is not
going to happen or is unattainable. If he is a Stop Character, he will find himself pres-
sured to give in.
Remember that Growth in a Steadfast Character is largely seen in his environment.
His personal growth is seen as a matter of degree.
Main Character Approach: Do-er or Be-er?
The third essential question determines the Main Character's preferential approach
to problem-solving.
By temperament, Main Characters (like each of us) have a preferential method of
approaching Problems. Some would rather adapt their environment to themselves
through action, others would rather adapt their environment to themselves through
strength of character, charisma, and influence.
There is nothing intrinsically right or wrong with either Approach, yet it does affect
how one will respond to Problems.
Choosing "Do-er" or "Be-er" does not prevent a Main Character from using either
Approach, but merely defines the way they are likely to first Approach a Problem. The
Main Character will only use the other method if their preferred method fails. Having a
preference does not mean being less able in the other area.
Do-er and Be-er should not be confused with active and passive. If a Do-er is seen
as active physically, a Be-er should be seen as active mentally. While the Do-er jumps
in and tackles the problem by physical maneuverings, the Be-er jumps in and tackles
the problem with mental deliberations.
The point is not which one is more motivated to hold his ground but how he tries to
hold it.
A Do-er would build a business by the sweat of his brow.
A Be-er would build a business by attention to the needs of his clients.
Obviously both Approaches are important, but Main Characters, just like the real
people they represent, will have a preference.
A martial artist might choose to avoid conflict first as a Be-er character, yet be quite
capable of beating the tar out of an opponent if avoiding conflict proved impossible.
Similarly, a school teacher might stress exercises and homework as a Do-er charac-
ter, yet open his heart to a student who needs moral support.
When creating your Main Character, you may want someone who acts first and asks
questions later, or you may prefer someone who avoids conflict if possible, then lays
waste the opponent if they won't compromise.
A Do-er deals in competition, a Be-er in collaboration.
The Main Character's effect on the story is both one of rearranging the dramatic
potentials of the story, and also one of reordering the sequence of dramatic events.
Main Character Mental Sex: Male or Female?
The fourth Essential Character Question determines a Main Character's problem-
solving techniques to be linear or holistic.
Much of what we do as individuals is learned behavior. Yet, the basic operating
system of the mind is cast biologically before birth as being more sensitive to space or
time. We all have a sense of how things are arranged (space) and how things are going
(time), but which one filters our thinking determines our Mental Sex as being Male or
Female, respectively.
Male Mental Sex describes spatial thinkers who tend to use linear Problem solving
as their method of choice. They set a specific Goal, determine the steps necessary to
achieve that Goal, then embark on the effort to accomplish those steps.
Female Mental Sex describes temporal thinkers who tend to use holistic Problem
solving as their method of choice. They get a sense of the way they want things to be,
determine how things need to be balanced to bring about those changes, then make
adjustments to create that balance.
While life experience, conditioning, and personal choice can go a long way toward
counter-balancing those sensitivities, underneath all our experience and training the
tendency to see things primarily in terms of space or time still remains. In dealing with
the psychology of Main Characters, it is essential to understand the foundation upon
which their experience rests.
How can we illustrate the Mental Sex of our Main Character? The following point by
point comparison provides some clues:
Female: looks at motivations Male: looks at purposes

Female: tries to see connections Male: tries to gather evidence
Female: sets up conditions Male: sets up requirements
Female: determines the leverage points Male: breaks a job into steps
that can restore balance
Female: seeks fulfillment Male: seeks satisfaction
Female: concentrates on "Why" Male: concentrates on "How"
and "When" and "What"
Female: puts the issues in context Male: argues the issues
Female: tries to hold it all together Male: tries to pull it all together
In stories, more often than not, physical gender matches Mental Sex. From time to
time, however, gender and Mental Sex are cross-matched to create unusual and inter-
esting characters. For example, Ripley in Alien and Clarice Starling in The Silence of
the Lambs are Male Mental Sex characters. Tom Wingo in The Prince of Tides and
Jack Ryan in The Hunt for Red October are Female Mental Sex. In most episodes of
The X Files, Scully (the female F.B.I. agent) is Male Mental Sex and Mulder (the male
F.B.I. agent) is Female Mental Sex, which is part of the series' unusual feel. Note that
Mental Sex has nothing to do with a character's sexual preferences or tendency toward
being masculine or feminine in mannerism —it simply deals with the character's prob-
lem-solving techniques.
Sometimes stereotypes are propagated by what an audience expects to see, which
filters the message and dilutes the truth. By placing a female psyche in a physically
male character or a male psyche in a physically female character, preconceptions no
longer prevent the message from being heard. On the downside, some audience mem-
bers may have trouble relating to a Main Character whose problem-solving techniques
do not match the physical expectations.
Wrapping Up Character Dynamics

We have presented four simple questions, yet each carries such weight in regard to
the way an audience will be struck by a story that knowing the answers provides a
strong sense of guidelines for an author in the construction of his message. The one
seeming drawback is that each of the questions appears binary in nature, which can
easily lead to concerns that this kind of approach will generate an overly structured or
formulaic story. One should keep in mind that this is just the first stage of communica-
tion, storyforming, which is intended to create a solid structure upon which the other
three stages can be built.
As we proceed through this process, we shall learn how the remaining three stages
bring shading, tonality, and more of a gray-scale feel to each of these questions. For
example, the question of Resolve leads to other questions in each of the other stages
that determine such things as how strongly the Main Character has embraced change
or how weakly he now clings to his steadfastness, how big was the scope of the change
or how small the attitudes that didn't budge, how much does change or steadfast really
matter to the state of things in the story: will it alter everything or just a few things in the
big pond. In the end, the Character Dynamics firmly yet gently mold the point of view
from which the audience will receive its most personal experiences in the story.
Plot Dynamics
Plot Dynamics Examples

Story Driver
Action Stories: Hamlet; The Silence of the Lambs; Being
There; A Christmas Carol; Rain Man
Decision Stories: The Verdict; Chinatown; The Glass Menag-
erie; Casablanca; The Godfather; The Story of Job; Charlotte's
Web; A Doll's House
Story Limit
Optionlock Stories: Hamlet; The Silence of the Lambs; Being
There; The Verdict; Chinatown; The Glass Menagerie;
Casablanca; The Godfather; The Story of Job; Rain Man; A Doll's
House
Timelock Stories: Charlotte's Web; American Graffiti; High
Noon; 48 hrs; A Christmas Carol
Story Outcome
Success Stories: The Silence of the Lambs; Being There; A
Christmas Carol; The Verdict; Chinatown; Casablanca; The
Godfather; The Story of Job; Charlotte's Web
Failure Stories: Hamlet; The Glass Menagerie; Rain Man; A
Doll's House
Story Judgment
Stories with a Judgment of Good: Being There; A Christmas
Carol; The Verdict; Casablanca; Charlotte's Web; Rain Man; A
Doll's House
Stories with a Judgment of Bad: Hamlet; The Silence of the
Lambs; Chinatown; The Godfather; The Glass Menagerie
Overall Story Driver: Action or Decision?
Action or Decision describes how the story is driven forward. The question is: Do
Actions precipitate Decisions or vice versa?
At the end of a story there will be an essential need for an Action to be taken and a
Decision to be made. However, one of them will be the roadblock that must be removed
first in order to enable the other. This causal relationship is felt throughout the story
where either Actions would never happen on their own, except that Decisions keep
forcing them, or Decisions would never be made except that Actions leave no other
choice than to decide. In fact, the "inciting event" that causes the story's Problem in the
first place will also match the kind of Driver that will be required to resolve it. This
"bookends" a story so that its Problem and solution are both precipitated by the same
kind of Driver: Action or Decision.
Stories contain both Action and Decision. Choosing one does not exclude the other.
It merely gives preference to one over the other. Do Actions precipitate Decisions, or do
Decisions precipitate Actions?
This preference can be enhanced or nearly balanced out by other dynamic ques-
tions you answer about your story. It's really a matter of the background against which
you want your Main Character to operate.
The choice of background does not have to reflect the nature of the Main Character.
In fact, some very interesting dramatic potentials can be created when they do not
match.
For example, a Main Character of action (called a Do-er) forced by circumstance to
handle a deliberation-type problem would find himself at a loss for the experience and
tools he needs to do the job.
Similarly, a deliberating Main Character (called a Be-er) would find himself whipped
into a turmoil if forced to resolve a problem requiring action.
These mixed stories appear everywhere from tragedy to comedy and can add an
extra dimension to an otherwise one-sided argument.
Since a story has both Actions and Decisions, it is really a question of which an
author wants to come first: chicken or egg? By selecting one over the other, you in-
struct Dramatica to establish a causal order between dynamic movements in the Action
line and the Decision line.
Overall Story Limit : Timelock or Optionlock?
Limit determines the kind of constraints which will ultimately bring a story to a con-
clusion.
For an audience, a story's limit adds dramatic tension as they wonder if the charac-
ters will accomplish the story's goal. In addition, the limit forces a Main Character to
end his deliberations and Change or Remain Steadfast.
Sometimes stories end because of a time limit. Other times they draw to a conclu-
sion because all options have been exhausted. Running out of time is accomplished by
a Timelock; running out of options is accomplished by an Optionlock.
Both of these means of limiting the story and forcing the Main Character to decide
are felt from early on in the story and get stronger until the moment of truth.
Optionlocks need not be claustrophobic so much as that they provide limited pieces
with which to solve the Problem. They limit the scope of the Problem and its potential
solutions.
Timelocks need not be hurried so much as they limit the interval during which some-
thing can happen. Timelocks determine the duration of the growth of the Problem and
the search for solutions.
Choosing a Timelock or an Optionlock has a tremendous impact on the nature of the
tension the audience will feel as the story progresses toward its climax.
A Timelock tends to take a single point of view and slowly fragment it until many
things are going on at once.
An Optionlock tends to take many pieces of the puzzle and bring them all together at
the end.
A Timelock raises tension by dividing attention, and an Optionlock raises tension by
focusing it. Timelocks increase tension by bringing a single thing closer to being an
immediate problem, Optionlocks increase tension by building a single thing that be-
comes a functioning problem.
One cannot look just to the climax to determine if a Timelock or Optionlock is in
effect. Indeed, both Time and Option locks may be tagged on at the end to increase
tension.
A better way to gauge which is at work is to look at the nature of the obstacles
thrown in the path of the Protagonist or Main Character. If the obstacles are primarily
delays, a Timelock is in effect; if the obstacles are caused by missing essential parts, an
Optionlock is in effect.
An author may feel more comfortable building tension by delays or building tension
by missing pieces. Choose the kind of lock most meaningful for you.
Overall Story Outcome: Success or Failure?
Although it can be tempered by degree, Success or Failure is easily determined by
seeing whether or not the Overall Story Characters achieve what they set out to achieve
at the beginning of the story.
Certainly, the Overall Story Characters may learn they really don't want what they
thought they did, and in the end not go for it. Even though they have grown, this is
considered a Failure — they did not achieve what they originally intended.
Similarly, they may actually achieve what they wanted, and even though they find it
unfulfilling or unsatisfying, it must be said they succeeded.
The point here is not to pass a value judgment on the worth of their Success or
Failure, but simply to determine if the Overall Story Characters actually did succeed or
fail in the attempt to achieve what they set out to achieve at the beginning of the story.
Main Character Judgment: Good or Bad?

Judgment determines whether or not the Main Character resolves his personal
angst.
The rational argument of a story deals with practicality: does the kind of approach
taken lead to Success or Failure in the endeavor. In contrast, the passionate argument
of a story deals with fulfillment: does the Main Character find peace at the end of his
journey?
If you want an upper story, you will want Success in the Overall Story and a Judg-
ment of Good in the Overall Story.
If you want a tragedy, you will want the objective effort to fail, and the subjective
journey to end badly as well.
Life is often made of trade-offs, compromises, sacrifices, and re-evaluations, and so
should be stories. Choosing Success/Bad stories or Failure/Good stories opens the
door to these alternatives.
If we choose a Failure/Good story, we can imagine a Main Character who realizes
he had been fooled into trying to achieve an unworthy Goal and discovers his mistake in
time, or a Main Character who discovers something more important to him personally in
the course of trying to achieve the Goal. Each of these would be called a "personal
triumph."
A Success/Bad story might end with a Main Character achieving his dreams only to
find they are meaningless, or Main Character who makes a sacrifice for the success of
others but ends up bitter and vindictive. Each of these would be a "personal tragedy."
Because Success and Failure are measurements of how well specific requirements
have been met, they are by nature objective. In contrast, Good and Bad are subjective
value Judgments based on an appreciation of the Main Character's personal fulfillment.
Storyforming Structural Story Points
By answering the eight essential questions we greatly refine our understanding of
the way our story will feel to our audience. The next task is to clarify what it is we intend
to talk about. In the Theme section of The Elements of Structure we were introduced to
the various Story Points an audience will look for in the course of experiencing and
evaluating a story. Now we turn our attention to examining the issues we, as authors,
must consider in selecting our story's Appreciation's. We begin with the Story Points
that most affect Genre, then work our way down through Plot and Theme to arrive at a
discussion of what goes into selecting a Main Character's Problem.
Selecting the Throughlines in your story

One of the easiest ways to identify the four Throughlines in your story (Overall Story,
Subjective Story, Main Character, and Impact Character) is by looking at the characters
that appear in each Throughline. Who are they? What are they doing? What are their
relationships to one another? Clearly identifying the characters in each throughline will
make selecting the thematic Throughlines, Concerns, Issues, and Problems for the
throughlines much easier.
For the Overall Story Throughline:

When looking at the characters in the Overall Story Throughline, identify them by the
roles they play instead of their names. This keeps them at a distance, making them a
lot easier to evaluate objectively. For instance, some of the characters in
Shakespeare's Hamlet might be the king, the queen, the ghost, the prince, the chancel-
lor, and the chancellor's daughter, while the characters in The Fugitive might be the
fugitive doctor, the federal marshal, the dead wife, the one-armed man, and so on. By
avoiding the characters' proper names you also avoid identifying with them and confus-
ing their personal concerns with their concerns as Overall Story Characters.
Aren't the Main Character and the Impact Character also
part of the Overall Story?
The Main Character and the Impact Character will each have a
role in the Overall Story in addition to their explorations of their own
throughlines. From the Overall Story point of view we see all the
story's Overall Story Characters and identify them by the functions
they fulfill in the quest to reach the Overall Story Concern. The
Overall Story throughline is what brings all of the characters in the
story together and describes what they do in relation to one another
in order to achieve this Concern.
It is extremely important to be able to separate the Main Charac-
ter throughline from the Overall Story throughline in order to see
your story's structure accurately. It is equally important to make the
distinction between the Impact Character and the Overall Story.
Exploring these two characters' throughlines in a story requires a
complete shift in the audience's perspective, away from the overall
story that involves all the characters and into the subjective experi-
ences that only these two characters have within the story. Thus,
each of these throughlines should be considered individually.
The Main Character and the Impact Character will, however,
each have at least one function to perform in the Overall Story as
well. When we see them here, though, they both appear as Overall
Story Characters. In the Overall Story all we see are the character-
istics they represent in relation to the other Overall Story Charac-
ters.
So if your Main Character happens to be the Protagonist as
well, then it is purely as the Protagonist that we will see him in the
Overall Story. If your Impact Character is also an Archetypal
Guardian, then his helping and conscience are all you should con-
sider about that character in the Overall Story.
In every story, these two will at least be called upon in the Over-
all Story to represent the story's Crucial Element and its dynamic
opposite. It is possible that the Main and Impact Characters could
have no other relationship with the Overall Story than these single
characteristics. The point is that their importance to the Overall
Story should be thought of completely in terms of these and any
other Overall Story characteristics which are assigned.
For the Subjective Story Throughline:
When looking at the characters in the Subjective Story Throughline, it is best to look
at the Main and Impact Characters by their relationship with each other in lieu of their
names. The Subjective Story Throughline is the "We" perspective, (i.e. first-person
plural) so think entirely in terms of the relationship between the Main and Impact Char-
acters, not the characters themselves. Thus, "the relationship between Dr. Richard
Kimble and Sam Gerard" is the focus of the Subjective Story Throughline in The Fugi-
tive, whereas The Verdict focuses on "the relationship between Frank Galvin and Laura
Fischer."
For the Main Character Throughline:

When looking at the Main Character's Throughline, all other characters are unimpor-
tant and should not be considered. Only the Main Character's personal identity or
essential nature is meaningful from this point of view. What qualities of the Main Char-
acter are so much a part of him that they would not change even if he were plopped
down in another story? For example, Hamlet's brooding nature and his tendency to
over-think things would remain consistent and recognizable if he were to show up in a
different story. Laura Wingfield, in The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, would
carry with her a world of rationalizations and a crippling propensity to dream if we were
to see her appear again. These are the kinds of things to pay attention to in looking at
the Main Character Throughline.
For the Impact Character Throughline:

When considering the Impact Character's Throughline, look at their identity in terms
of their impact on others, particularly the Main Character. Think of the Impact Character
in terms of his name, but it's the name of someone else, someone who can really get
under your skin. In viewing the Impact Character this way, it is easier to identify the kind
of impact that he has on others. Obi Wan Kenobi's fanaticism (regarding using the
force) in Star Wars and Deputy Marshal Sam Gerard's tenacity (in out-thinking his prey)
in The Fugitive are aspects of these Impact Characters that are inherent to their nature
and would continue to be so in any story they might be found in.
Picking the proper Classes for the Throughlines in
your Story
Which is the right Class for the Main Character Throughline in your story? For the
Overall Story Throughline? For the Subjective Story Throughline? For the Impact
Character Throughline? Assigning the appropriate Dramatica Classes to the
Throughlines of your story is a tricky but important process.
There are four Throughlines or throughlines in a story: the Main Character, the
Impact Character, the Subjective Story, and the Overall Story. These throughlines
provide an audience with various points of view from which to explore the story. The
four audience points of view can be seen as I, YOU, WE, and THEY as the audience's
point of view shifts from empathizing with the Main Character, to feeling the impact of
the Impact Character, to experiencing the relationship between the Main and Impact
Character, and then finally stepping back to see the big picture that has everyone in it
(all of THEM). Each point of view describes an aspect of the story experience to which
an audience is privy.
There are four Classes containing all the possible kinds of problems that can be felt
in those throughlines (one Class to each throughline): Situation (Universe), Fixed
Attitude (Mind), Activity (Physics), and Manipulation (Psychology). These Classes
suggest different areas to explore in the story. The areas can be seen as SITUATIONS,
FIXED ATTITUDES or FIXATIONS, ACTIVITIES, and MANNERS OF THINKING or
MANIPULATION.
Domains Classes
Objective Story (They ) Universe Physics
Subjective Story (We) Situation Activity
Main Character (I) Psychology Mind
Obstacle Character (You) Manipulation Fixation
In Dramatica, a story will contain all four areas to explore (Classes) and all four
points of view (throughlines). Each Class will be explored from one of the throughlines.
The combination of Class and throughline into a Throughline is the broadest way to
describe the meaning in a story. For example, exploring a Main Character in terms of
his situation is quite different than exploring a Main Character in terms of his attitude,
the activities he is involved in, or how he is being manipulated. Which is right for your
story?
Pairing the appropriate Class with the proper throughline for your story can be diffi-
cult. An approach you may find useful is to pick a throughline, adopt the audience
perspective that throughline provides, and from that point of view examine each of the
four Classes to see which feels the best.
Each of the following sections present the four Classes from one specific audience
perspective. For best effect, adopt the perspective described in the section and ask the
questions as they appear in terms of your own story. One set of questions should seem
more important or relevant from that perspective. NOTE: Selecting a throughline/Class
relationship (or Throughline) indicates much about the emphasis you wish to place in
the context of your story. No pairing is better or worse than another. One pairing will
be, however, most appropriate to what you have in mind for your story than the other
three alternatives.
Dynamic Pairs of Throughlines

Each of the throughlines in a story can be seen as standing alone or as standing in
relation to the other throughlines. When selecting which Classes to assign the
throughlines of your story, it is extremely important to remember two relationships in
particular among the throughlines:
The Overall Story and Subjective Story throughlines will

always be a dynamic pair
And...
The Main Character and Impact Character throughlines
will always be a dynamic pair
These relationships reflect the kind of impact these throughlines have on each other
in every story. The Main and Impact Characters face off throughout the story until one
of them Changes (indicated by the Main Character Resolve). Their relationship in the
Subjective Story will help precipitate either Success or Failure in the Overall Story
(indicated by the Story Outcome).
What these relationships mean to the process of building the Throughlines in your
story is that whenever you set up one Throughline, you also set up its dynamic pair.
For example, matching the Main Character throughline with the Situation (Universe)
class not only creates a Main Character Throughline of Situation (Universe) in your
story, it also creates an Impact Character Throughline of Fixed Attitude (Mind). Since
Fixed Attitude (Mind) is the dynamic pair to Situation (Universe) in the Dramatica struc-
ture, matching one throughline to one of the Classes automatically puts the other
throughline on the opposite Class to support the two throughlines' dynamic pair relation-
ship.
Likewise, matching the Overall Story throughline with Manipulation (Psychology) to
create an Overall Story Throughline of Manipulation (Psychology) will automatically
create a Subjective Story Throughline of Activity (Physics) at the same time. The rea-
soning is the same here as it was for the Main and Impact Character throughlines. No
matter which Class you match with one of the throughlines on the Dramatica structure,
the dynamic pair of that class will be matched to the dynamic pair of that throughline.
Who am I and what am I doing?

When looking from the Main Character's perspective, use the first person singular (I)
voice to evaluate the Classes.
-- If the Main Character's Throughline is Situation (Universe) (e.g. Luke
in Wars or George in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?), questions like
the following would arise: What is it like to be in my situation? What
is my status? What condition am I in? Where am I going to be in the
future? What's so special about my past?
-- If the Main Character's Throughline is Activity (Physics) (e.g. Frank
Galvin in The Verdict or Dr. Richard Kimble in The Fugitive), ques-
tions like the following would be more appropriate: What am I in-
volved in? How do I get what I want? What must I learn to do the
things I want to do? What does it mean to me to have (or lose)
something?
-- If the Main Character's Throughline is Fixed Attitude (Mind) (e.g.
Scrooge in A Christmas Carol), you would consider questions such
as the following: What am I afraid of? What is my opinion? How do
I react to something? How do I feel about this or that? What is it that
I remember about that night?
-- If the Main Character's Throughline is Manipulation (Psychology)
(e.g. Laura in The Glass Menagerieor Frank in In The Line of Fire),
the concerns would be more like: Who am I really? How should I
act? How can I become a different person? Why am I so angry, or
reserved, or whatever? How am I manipulating or being manipu-
lated?
Who are YOU and what are YOU doing?

When considering the Impact Character's perspective, it is best to use the second
person singular ("You") voice to evaluate the Classes. This is best imagined as if one is
addressing the Impact Character directly, where "You" is referring to the Impact Charac-
ter.
-- If the Impact Character's Throughline is Situation (Universe) (e.g.
Marley's Ghost in A Christmas Carol), you might ask them: What is it
like to be in your situation? What is your status? What condition are
you in? Where are you going to be in the future? What's so special
about your past?
-- If the Impact Character's Throughline is Activity (Physics) (e.g. Jim in
The Glass Menagerie or Booth in In The Line of Fire): What are you
involved in? How do you get what you want? What must you learn
to do the things you want to do? What does it mean to you to have
(or lose) something?
-- If the Impact Character's Throughline is Fixed Attitude (Mind) (e.g.
Obi Wan in Star Wars or Martha in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?):
What are you afraid of? What is your opinion? How do you react to
that? How do you feel about this or that? What is it that you remem-
ber about that night?
-- If the Impact Character's Throughline is Manipulation (Psychology)
(e.g. Laura Fisher in The Verdict or Sam Gerard in The Fugitive):
Who are you really? How should you act? How can you become a
different person? Why are you so angry, or reserved, or whatever?
How are you manipulating or being manipulated?
Who are WE and what are WE doing?

When considering the Subjective Story perspective, it is best to use the first person
plural ("We") voice to evaluate the Classes. We refers to the Main and Impact Charac-
ters collectively.
-- If the Subjective Story's Throughline is Situation (Universe) (e.g. The
Ghost & Hamlet's pact in Hamlet or Reggie & Marcus' alliance in The
Client), consider asking: What is it like to be in our situation? What is
our status? What condition are we in? Where are we going to be in
the future? What's so special about our past?
-- If the Subjective Story's Throughline is Activity (Physics) (e.g.
George & Martha's game in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?): What
are we involved in? How do we get what we want? What must we
learn to do the things we want to do? What does it mean to us to
have (or lose) something?
-- If the Subjective Story's Throughline is Fixed Attitude (Mind) (e.g.
Frank & Laura's affair in The Verdict or Dr. Kimble & Sam Gerard's
relationship in The Fugitive): What are we afraid of? What is our
opinion? How do we react to that? How do we feel about this or
that? What is it that we remember about that night?
-- If the Subjective Story's Throughline is Manipulation (Psychology)
(e.g. Obi Wan & Luke's relationship in Star Wars): Who are we
really? How should we act? How can we become different people?
Why are we so angry, or reserved, or whatever? How are we ma-
nipulating or being manipulated?
Who are THEY and what are THEY doing?

When considering the Overall Story perspective, it is best to use the third person
plural ("They") voice to evaluate the Classes. They refers to the entire set of Overall
Story Characters (protagonist, antagonist, sidekick, etc.) collectively.
-- If the Overall Story's Throughline is Situation (Universe) (e.g. The
Verdict, The Poseidon Adventure, or The Fugitive), consider asking:
What is it like to be in their situation? What is their status? What
condition are they in? Where are they going to be in the future?
What's so special about their past?
-- If the Overall Story's Throughline is Activity (Physics) (e.g. Star
Wars): What are they involved in? How do they get what they want?
What must they learn to do the things they want to do? What does it
mean to them to have (or lose) something?
-- If the Overall Story's Throughline is Fixed Attitude (Mind) (e.g. Hamlet
or To Kill A Mockingbird): What are they afraid of? What is their
opinion? How do they react to that? How do they feel about this or
that? What is it that they remember about that night?
-- If the Overall Story's Throughline is Manipulation (Psychology) (e.g.
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? or Four Weddings and a Funeral):
Who are they really? How should they act? How can they become
different people? Why are they so angry, or reserved, or whatever?
How are they manipulating or being manipulated?
Selecting Plot Story Points
Plot Story Points come in two varieties: Static Story Points, and Progressive Story
Points. Static Story Points are dramatic items such as Goal, Requirements, and Conse-
quences, and may also include the Concerns of each throughline. Progressive Story
Points deal with the order in which each Throughline's Types are arranged to become a
throughline's Acts. In this section we shall first explore the issues involved in selecting
the Static Plot Story Points, then turn our attention to what influence the order of Acts
will have on our story's impact, and consequently on our audience.
Static Plot Story Points

Story Goal
A story's Goal is most often found in the Overall Story Throughline for stories written
in our culture. Aside from that bias, the story Goal might just as properly be found in
any of the four Throughlines. As we now consider how to select the Goal for our story,
we need to know a little bit more about what a Goal really does for an audience, and
what kinds of control over our audience we can exercise simply by choosing where we
place the Goal.
An audience sees a story's Goal as being the central objective of the story. As such,
it will be of the same nature as the Concern of one of the four Throughlines. Which one
depends upon which throughline an author wants to emphasize in his storytelling. For
example, suppose your Main Character and his experiences are the most important
thing to you, the author. Then you will most likely want to make the Main Character's
Concern your story Goal as well. On the other hand, if your story is about a problem
that is affecting everyone, you will probably want to make the Overall Story Throughline
Concern your story Goal.
Each throughline will have its own Concern. When the audience considers each
throughline separately, it will focus on that Concern as being the principal objective from
that point of view. When the audience considers the story as a whole, however, it will
get a feel for which throughline is most emphasized by the author's storytelling, and will
see that throughline's Concern as the overall story Goal.
Since emphasis is a gray-scale kind of process, the story Goal may appear to be a
highly focused issue in some stories and of lesser concern in others. In fact, all four
throughlines might be equally emphasized, which would result in an audience being
unable to easily answer the question, what was this story about? Just because no
overall Goal is identifiable does not mean the plot necessarily has a hole. It might mean
that the issues explored in the story are more evenly considered in a holistic sense, and
the story is simply not as Goal-oriented. In contrast, the Concern of each Throughline
must appear clearly in a complete story, for Concerns are purely structural story points
which are developed through storytelling, but not dependent upon it.
When selecting a Goal, some authors prefer to first select the Concerns for each
Throughline. In this way, all of the potential objectives of the story have been pre-
determined and the author then simply needs to choose which one to emphasize.
Other authors prefer not to choose the Goal at all, since it is not truly an essential part of
a story's structure. Instead, they select their Concerns and then let the muse guide
them in how much they emphasize one throughline over another. In this way, the Goal
will emerge all by itself in a much more organic way. Still, other authors like to select
the Goal before any of the Concerns. In this case, they may not even know which
Throughline the Goal will ultimately be a part of. For this kind of author, the principal
question they wish to answer is, what is my story about? By approaching the selection
of your story Goal from one of these three directions, you can begin to create a story-
form that reflects your personal interests in telling this particular story.
There are four different Classes from which to choose our Goal. Each Class has
four unique Types. In a practical sense, the first question we might ask ourselves is
whether we want the Goal of our story to be something physical or something mental.
In making this decision we are able to limit our available choices to Situation (Universe)/
Activity (Physics) (physical goals) or Fixed Attitude (Mind)/Manipulation (Psychology)
(mental goals). Instantly we have cut the sixteen possible Goals down to only eight.
Next we can look at the names of the Types themselves. In Situation (Universe):
Past, Progress, Present, and Future. In Activity (Physics): Understanding, Doing,
Learning, and Obtaining. In Fixed Attitude (Mind): Memory, Impulsive Responses [Pre-
conscious], Contemplation [Conscious], and Innermost Desires [Subconscious]. In
Manipulation (Psychology): Developing A Plan [Developing A Plan [Conceptualizing]],
Playing A Role [Being], Conceiving An Idea, and Changing One's Nature [Becoming].
Some are easy to get a grip on; others seem more obscure. This is because our culture
favors certain Types of issues and doesn't pay as much attention to others. This is
reflected in our language as well so that even though the words used to describe the
Types are quite accurate, many of them require a bit more thought and even a definition
before they become clear. (Refer to the appendices of this book for definitions of each).
Whether you have narrowed your potential selections to eight or just jump right in
with the whole sixteen, choose the Type that best represents the kind of Goal you wish
to focus on in your story.
Requirements
Requirements are the essential steps or circumstances which must be met in order
to reach the story's Goal. If we were to select a story's Requirements before any other
appreciation, it would simply be a decision about the kinds of activities or endeavors we
want to concentrate on as the central effort of our story. If we have already selected our
story's Goal, however, much has already been determined that may limit which Types
are appropriate to support that Goal.
Although the model of dramatic relationships implemented in the Dramatica software
can determine which are the best candidates to be chosen for a given appreciation, the
ultimate decision must rest with the author. "Trust your feelings, Luke," says Obi Wan to
young Skywalker. When selecting story points that advice is just as appropriate.
Consequences
Consequences are dependent upon the Goal, though other story points may change
the nature of that dependency. Consequences may be expressed as what will happen if
the Goal is not achieved or they may be what is already being suffered and will continue
if the Goal is not achieved. You should select the Type that best describes your story's
down-side risk.
One of the eight essential questions asks if the direction of your story is Start or
Stop. A Start story is one in which the audience will see the Consequences as occur-
ring only if the Goal is not achieved. In a Stop story, the audience will see the Conse-
quences already in place, and if the Goal is not achieved the Consequences will remain.
Choosing the Type of Consequence does not determine Start or Stop, and neither
does choosing Start or Stop determine the Type of Consequence. How the Conse-
quence will come into play, however, is a Start/Stop issue. Since that dynamic affects
the overall feel of a story, it is often best to make this dynamic decision of Start or Stop
before attempting the structural one of selecting the Consequence Type.
Forewarnings
Forewarnings appear as a signal that the Consequences are imminent. At first, one
might suspect that for a particular Type of Consequences, a certain Type of
Forewarnings will always be the most appropriate. Certainly, there are relationships
between Forewarnings and Consequences that are so widespread in our culture that
they have almost become story law. But in fact, the relationship between Forewarnings
and Consequences is just as flexible as that between Requirements and Goal.
Can the Forewarnings be anything at all then? No, and to see why we need look no
further than the fact that Consequences and Forewarnings are both Types. They are
never Variations, or Elements, or Classes. But, within the realm of Types, which one will
be the appropriate Forewarnings for particular Consequences depends upon the impact
of other story points.
When selecting the Type of Forewarning for your story, think of this appreciation both
by itself and also in conjunction with the Consequences. By itself, examine the Types to
see which one feels like the area from which you want tension, fear, or stress to flow for
your audience and/or characters. Then, in conjunction with the Consequences, deter-
mine if you see a way in which this Type of Forewarning might be the harbinger that will
herald the imminent approach of the Consequences. If it all fits, use it. If not, you may
need to rethink either your selection for Forewarnings or your choice for Consequences.
Driver and Passenger Plot Story Points
The eight static plot story points should be seen in relation to
one another. Each of them will affect how the others appear, and a
rise in the presence of one will always begin a ripple in the pres-
ence of the others.
One way to predict their relationship with each other in your
story is to arrange them into two quads and then explore the rela-
tionships which these quads create. The nature of these story
points will be different for every story, however the story points will
always have these driver and passenger quad arrangements.
Driver Plot Story Points
Goal
Requirements Forewarnings
Consequences
Passenger Plot Story Points
Dividends
Prerequisites Preconditions
Costs
Dividends
Dividends are benefits accrued on the way to the Goal. Goal, Requirements, Con-
sequences, and Forewarnings are all Driver Story Points in Plot. Dividends are the first
of the Passenger Story Points. As such, we see it used in storytelling more as a modi-
fier than a subject unto itself. Still, since authors may choose to emphasize whatever
they wish, Dividends may be lifted up to the forefront in a particular story and take on a
significance far beyond their structural weight.
No matter what emphasis Dividends are given in your story, they are still modifiers of
the Goal. As such, when selecting the Type of Dividends for your story, consider how
well your choice will dovetail with your Goal. Sometimes Dividends are very close in
nature to the Goal, almost as natural results of getting closer to the Goal. Other times
Dividends may be quite different in nature than the Goal, and are simply positive items
or experiences that cross the characters' paths during the quest.
As with the Driver Story Points, this choice is not arbitrary. The dynamics that deter-
mine it, however, are so many and varied that only a software system can calculate it.
Still, when one has answered the essential questions, it is likely one's writing instincts
have become so fine-tuned for a story as to sense which kinds of Dividends will seem
appropriate to the Goal under those particular dynamic conditions.
Costs
Costs function much like negative Dividends. They are the detrimental effects of the
effort to reach the Goal. Look at the Requirements for your story and see what Type of
Costs might make that effort more taxing. Look at the Consequences for your story and
see what Type of Costs might seem like an indicator of what might happen if the Goal is
not achieved. Look at the Forewarnings and determine the Type of Costs that en-
hances, or possibly obscures the Forewarnings from your characters. Finally, look at
the Dividends and try to find a Type for Costs that balances the positive perks. To
balance Dividends, Costs need not be an exact opposite, but simply have the opposite
(negative) effect on the characters.
Prerequisites
Prerequisites determine what is needed to begin meeting the Requirements. When
selecting Prerequisites, keep in mind they are to be used in your story as essential
steps or items that must be met or gathered in order to attempt a Requirement. As
such, the appropriate Type of Prerequisites is much more heavily influenced by the Type
of Requirements than the Type of Goal.
Prerequisites may open the opportunity for easy ways to bring in Dividends, Costs,
or even Preconditions (which we shall discuss shortly.) Certain Types of considerations
may be more familiar to you than others as a result of your personal life experience. As
such, they will likely be a better source of material from which to draw inspiration.
Choosing a familiar Type will help you later on when it becomes time to illustrate your
story points in Storyencoding.
Preconditions
Preconditions are non-essential steps or items that become attached to the effort to
achieve the Goal through someone's insistence. A keen distinction here is that while
Pre-requisites are almost always used in relation to the Requirements in a story, Pre-
conditions are likely to apply to either Requirements or the Goal itself. As such, both
Goal and Requirements should be taken into account when selecting Preconditions.
Think about the sorts of petty annoyances, frustrations, and sources of friction with
which your characters might become saddled with, in exchange for assistance with
some essential Prerequisite. If you were one of your characters, what kind of Precondi-
tions would most irritate you?
Story Points of this level are usually presented as a background item in storytelling.
Draw on your own experiences while making this selection so that the level of nuance
required can grow from your familiarity.
Plot Appreciation Examples:

GOAL:
The Story Goal in Hamlet is Memory: Everyone wants to be
comfortable with the memory of King Hamlet. Most wish to accom-
plish this by erasing the memory entirely, but Hamlet wants to keep
it alive and painful.
The Story Goal in The Godfather is Obtaining: The Overall
Story goal of the Godfather is for the Corleone family to reclaim
their place of power and find a new "Godfather" to maintain this
status.
REQUIREMENTS:
The Story Requirements in Hamlet are Innermost Desires
[Subconscious]: Hamlet must get Claudius to expose his true
nature, his lust for power and Gertrude, before anyone will believe
Hamlet's accusations.
The Story Requirements in The Godfather are Doing: In order
for a new Don Corleone to regain his family's former stature and
power, he must do things which demonstrate his superiority in the
rivalry among the New York families. This is accomplished with the
hits on Barzini, Tessio, and Moe Green on the day Michael "settles
all family business."
CONSEQUENCES:
The Story Consequences in Hamlet are The Past: If the
memory of King Hamlet is not allowed to rest, a repetition of the
past murder will (and does) occur. King Claudius kills Hamlet to
maintain his position as king.
The Story Consequences in The Godfather are Changing
One's Nature [Becoming]: If the Corleone family fails to reclaim
their power then they will be forced to become one of the secondary
families in the New York crime scene, a fate which hasn't been
theirs for a very long time.
FOREWARNINGS:
The Story Forewarnings in Hamlet are Changing One's Nature
[Becoming]: Hamlet starts becoming the crazy person he is pre-
tending to be. This alerts everyone, including King Claudius who
plots against Hamlet, that Hamlet will not let the memory of his
father die peacefully.
The Story Forewarnings in The Godfather are Progress: When
Don Corleone realizes that it was the Barzini family who had been
orchestrating his downfall all along, the Barzini's have already
made quite a lot of progress towards becoming the new top family
in New York. The progress of the loyalty of other families falling in
line with Barzini threatens to cut off Michael's chance to re-establish
his family's stature.
DIVIDENDS:
The Story Dividends in Hamlet are Developing A Plan [Con-
ceptualizing]: There is a general sense of creative freedom
among the members of King Claudius' court exemplified by
Polonius' advice to Laertes on how to take advantage of his trip
abroad. Hamlet finds that suddenly many ordinary things can be
used to help in his objective of manipulating the truth out of King
Claudius, and he takes pleasure in them. The play becomes a trap,
every discussion becomes an opportunity to investigate people's
true opinions. These are all dividends of the efforts made in this
story.
The Story Dividends in The Godfather are The Future: The
struggle in the world of organized crime over how drugs will be
distributed is costly, but it lays the ground work for what will one day
be their biggest money making industry. Michael's choice of assas-
sinations that make him New York's new "Godfather" also ensures
his family a safe move to Las Vegas in the future.
COSTS:
The Story Costs in Hamlet are Understanding: In Hamlet,
understanding is seen as a high price to pay — sometimes too
high. King Claudius comes to the understanding that Hamlet is on
to him and won't stop pushing until his father's death is avenged;
Ophelia comes to the understanding that Hamlet does not love her
and is also responsible for her father's death, so she loses her
mind; Queen Gertrude comes to the understanding that her son is
probably insane and her new husband is a murderer; etc.
The Story Costs in The Godfather are Innermost Desires
[Subconscious]: As the struggle for power in New York's under-
ground continues, all of the people involved suffer emotional dam-
age which hits them in their subconscious. For example, Tom's
pain over the fact that he is not really the Don's son is exacerbated
by the death of Sonny; Don Corleone suffers for the future of his
family as his sons are killed or forced to become criminals like
himself; Sonny is forced to suffer the insult of living with a brother-
in-law who beats Sonny's sister; the "Turk" is forced into a traumatic
position when the Don is only wounded during a murder attempt;
Kaye is forced to bury her suspicions that her husband is involved
in organized crime.
PREREQUISITES:
The Prerequisites in Hamlet are Future: Before Hamlet can
begin the work of exposing Claudius, he must know when the
appropriate people will be around so he can put his plans (such as
the play) into place.
The Prerequisites in The Godfather are Playing A Role [Be-
ing]: Because Michael, the new candidate for the title of Don
Corleone, had intended to avoid being in his family's business,
others are forced to temporarily fill in the vacancy left by his
wounded father. Michael himself believes he is temporarily becom-
ing involved with the Mafia up until the point when he has truly
become the new "Godfather."
PRECONDITIONS:
Preconditions in Hamlet are Obtaining: Hamlet needs hard
evidence of his uncle's murderous actions — his own preconditions
are that he cannot allow himself to go on the word of the Ghost
alone.
Preconditions in The Godfather are Impulsive Responses
[Preconscious]: In order for someone to be a good Don, they
have to have the correct kinds of immediate responses. Sonny was
"not a good Don," because he was too hot-headed. A precondition,
which Michael fulfills, is that he have the instincts to guide the
family well. He demonstrates these when he has no frightened
responses while protecting his father at the hospital and when he
immediately insists on killing the "Turk" himself; once again when
he accepts the news of Tessio's betrayal without blinking an eye or
betraying himself at any point through Impulsive Responses [Pre-
conscious]; etc. When Sonny's hot-headed attempts to muscle the
Corleone's back to the top failed, it became apparent that there are
preconditions set as to who could be the next "Godfather." Only
someone with a steel control over his Impulsive Responses [Pre-
conscious] could be cool enough to successfully lead the Corleone
family back to prominence.
Summary On Selecting Static Plot Story Points
We have examined some of the considerations that go into selecting Static Plot
Story Points. Independent of any other dramatics, any Type might be selected for any
of these story points. When additional structural story points are already chosen, how-
ever, one must consider their impact as well in making a selection.
In Western culture, the Goal is most often found in the Overall Story Throughline,
however, it might be equally appropriate in any of the four Throughlines. In conjunction
with the eight essential questions the relationship between the Static Plot Story Points
may place them evenly throughout the Throughlines, or may favor some Throughlines
more than others.
All things considered, these eight Static Plot Story Points are not solely structural
items (though grounded in structure) but are also affected by how they are emphasized
in storytelling.
Static & Progressive Plot Story Points:

There are two kinds of plot story points, Static ones which do
not change and Progressive ones which transform as the story
continues. To see each kind of appreciation in your story you need
to alter your point of view.
Static plot story points are Goal, Requirements, Consequences,
Forewarnings, Dividends, Costs, Prerequisites, and Preconditions.
Since these static plot story points remain constant in nature from
the beginning of the story to the end, the perspective from which to
see them is to look at the story as a whole, as if it were one single
thing. These story points should seem to be in effect no matter
what part of the story you look at. The Goal will always be present
and identifiable, the Consequences will always be looming, etc.
Their presence at any point in the story may be understated or right
up front, but the clearer they remain throughout the story, the stron-
ger the story's plot will be from this point of view.
Progressive Plot story points are Acts, Sequences, Scenes, and
Events. These story points describe the experience of moving
through the story so it is important to look at them in sequence.
Whichever kind of progressive appreciation you are looking at, it is
how they relate from one item to the next which is most important
aspect about them to understand.
Progressive Plot Story Points
The structure of a Grand Argument Story can be thought of a house the characters
need to explore. The Overall Story Characters will be looking for clues to a treasure.
The Main Character is thinking of buying the house and the Impact Character is trying to
sell it to him. The plot is like a sight-seeing tour through this story house. The house
itself has three floors each of which is separated into two wings. Each wing has four
rooms. This is like a story with three acts, each of which is separated into two se-
quences, each of which has four scenes.
Our characters begin on the ground floor and enter the first room in the first wing.
This room is like the first scene in the first sequence (wing) of the first act (floor) of the
story. Here, they look around, opening drawers, checking under the furniture and peer-
ing out the windows, if any. Each little area of investigation is an event in the first
scene.
The Overall Story Characters are trying to discover a treasure map. The Main Char-
acter is looking for termites and problem plumbing and the Impact Character is pointing
out the conveniences. When they have all finished, they have a pretty good idea about
the value of this room, either as a source of clues to the treasure or as a place to live.
Still, they have learned all they can here, and it is time to move on.
The characters now enter a second room, which is still in the same wing on the
same floor. This is like the second scene in the first sequence (wing) in the first act
(floor). Again, they investigate. They may find this room to be geared more to function
than the last. Or, it might be designed more for entertainment. It may or may not have
windows or more than one doorway to other rooms. In fact, part of the interest (and
possibly suspense) for them is which room they will be taken to visit next.
When they have fully explored four rooms (scenes), it is time to move on to the next
wing (sequence). One of the rules of our tour is that the characters cannot leave a
room (scene) until it is fully explored, cannot leave a wing (sequence) until all the rooms
(scenes) on that floor of the wing have been explored, and cannot leave a floor (act)
until all the rooms (scenes) on that floor in both wings (sequences) have been explored.
In the second wing, our characters also find four rooms and explore them one after
another. Once they have finished, the entire first floor (act) has been examined in its
entirety. Now it is time to go up to the next floor and continue their tour of the house.
On the second floor they look through the four rooms in the first wing, the four in the
second, and thereby complete that level and move up one more to the third and final
floor. Here they repeat the same procedure until, at last, the entire house has been fully
explored.
At this point, the characters have gathered all the information they are going to be
given about the house. If the Overall Story Characters have gather enough clues to find
the treasure, their problem is solved. If the Main Character buys the house, he is a
change character. The question then remains, is he solving his problem of having a
place to live or buying into even more problems with the faulty plumbing.
We can see that the Main Character's decision is based partly on what was in the
house and partly on the order in which things were presented. We all know that first
impressions are powerful, even if they are later proven to be inaccurate. How the Main
Character decides must conform to the combination of both these influences.
Similarly, the order in which the Overall Story Characters gather clues will have an
influence on whether they are able to put the pieces together or not. Assumptions can
easily be made that would not have been made if the information was presented in a
different order.
In the end, an audience will reject our story's argument either if there are rooms
missing (static) or if they are visited in an order that doesn't reflect the outcome (pro-
gressive). It is important, therefore, to pay as much attention to the Progressive Plot
Story Points as the Static ones. Because Acts are the largest resolution of the Progres-
sive Story Points they have the greatest influence on the flow of a story's plot, and
therefore deserve significant attention.
ACTS
Each throughline has its own four structural acts, which are like the three floors and
the roof of our story house. Each of the dynamic acts is like the journey that explores
the rooms on one of the three floors. As already discussed, when we choose a Class to
be a particular Throughline, the four Types in that Class become the names of the four
structural acts. We might write those names on cards and place them in front of us. We
can then rearrange those cards until we establish an order that reflects the concern with
which we want that throughline to begin, the intermediate concerns, and the concern of
interest when that throughline concludes. Most likely, our decision will be based not
only on the logistics of our story, but just as heavily on how this order feels, both to us
and hopefully to our audience. When we have settled on an order, we can be confident
that throughline reflects the proper journey to reach the conclusion we have envisioned
for it.
If we establish an order for each of the throughlines, we might feel our act level work
is done. That would be true if the throughlines were not connected. As we already
know, however, there is a strong connection between the four throughlines, for each
really represents only one angle on the same overall story. All four throughlines are
really happening simultaneously, just as the characters in our story house all take the
tour at the same time. To truly understand the impact of our decisions for act order, we
must lay out all four sets of our cards in parallel rows, side by side, and compare what is
happening in the same act in all four throughlines.
OS Act #1 OS Act #2 OS Act #3 OS Act #4
Objective Story Objective Story Objective Story Objective Story

Learning Understanding Doing Obtaining
MC Act #1 MC Act #2 MC Act #3 MC Act #4
Main Character Main Character Main Character Main Character

Present Past Progress Future
OC Act #1 OC Act #2 OC Act #3 OC Act #4
Obstacle Character Obstacle Character Obstacle Character Obstacle Character

Preconscious Memory Subconscious Conscious
SS Act #1 SS Act #2 SS Act #3 SS Act #4
Subjective Story Subjective Story Subjective Story Subjective Story

Concerning Conceptualizing Being Becoming
As we can see in the illustration above, the flavor of our story as a whole depends
both on the order of acts within each throughline and the combination of the acts from
all four throughlines. When our plot is laid out in this manner, we may elect to make a
few changes in one or more throughline's order to more accurately represent the overall
concerns of our story's progression as we envision it.
It is important to remember when making these decisions that the order we're talking
about reflects only the internal logic of the story, not necessarily the order in which it will
be revealed to the audience. How exposition is presented to the audience is a whole
different area of concern that is covered extensively in Storyweaving. Here we simply
want to make sure that the act progression in each of the throughlines supports the
outcomes, judgments, and conclusions of our story both from a logical and emotional
perspective.
Obviously, such considerations must rely heavily on intuition. That is why it is often
best to select all of the static story points before determining the progressive story
points. That extra familiarity with your story will go a long way toward clarifying your
intent, thereby providing a more solid foundation for your intuition. In addition, for those
who find constructing act order a daunting task, the Dramatica software model is able to
calculate the best progression for each throughline's acts, based on your selection of
static story points. In this manner, authors who would like some guidance in designing
their plots can approach their stories by subject matter and have that input translated
into the key stages of plot development and character growth.
Selecting Thematic Story Points
Selecting a Issue
A Issue is the thematic focus of a throughline. The focus, when explored with its
counterpoint and then coupled with a conclusion, creates a premise. A throughline's
Issue is found at the Variation level of the thematic structure. Variations, as part of the
balanced structure, do not provide value judgments to thematic foci as to whether they
are good, bad or indifferent. These interpretations are deciphered by the audience from
the interaction of all the dynamics of a story. For example, whether or not the Main
Character succeeds or fails can have a big influence on the value of a thematic focus,
even though success and failure are not Variations.
Focus and Point of View

An author might select the Variation "Morality" as the thematic focus, making the
thematic conflict Morality vs. Self-Interest. But which is better between the two? Both
are. And both are worse. It really depends on the context. The author's message
might be to speak out in favor of putting others first, or that one must first take care of
oneself before one can help others. Either point of view can be argued, as long as it is
argued completely and makes sense in context.
Because it is simply the point of focus, one might argue for a Issue of Morality by
either showing that Morality is a good thing or that Self-interest is bad. Of course, both
Variations will take their turn at the forefront in the exploration of the pair, yet one will
seem to be the pivot point around which the throughline revolves. Is the throughline's
message about Morality or about Self-Interest? The answer to that question deter-
mines the thematic Issue.
Thematic Quads
Although the exploration of a thematic focus will develop nuance and detail, the
focus itself (as well as the thematic counterpoint) must be pure so the issues at stake
are clear. This provides a balanced, delineated argument at the heart of the thematic
exploration, much as there must be a clear storyform at the heart of the storytelling. To
accommodate this need for clarity, one must zero in on the specific Issue at the heart of
a throughline's argument. With so much balance involved, choosing the right one for
your story is not always an easy thing to do. There is a method one can apply, however,
that makes it a bit easier and even rather fun.
As described earlier in the section on Theme, there are 64 Variations, grouped into
four sets of 16. Each set has four quads as illustrated below. We can start by selecting
a set, then a quad, then a conflict and finally a Issue, similar to the manner in which we
originally explored the thematic structure by starting with the broad stroke Classes and
then sub-dividing each into Types, then Variations, and finally Elements.
Dramatica's 64 Thematic Variations

Situation Variations Activity Variations
(Universe) (Physics)

tation ment

Interest requisites


Being

stances Self

zation

bility
Manipulation Variations Fixed Attitude Variations

(Psychology) (Mind)
Approach Self
Interest
Morailty Attitude
Perhaps the easiest way to get a feel for one's theme is to take each quad by itself,
and experience the four Variations all at once to get a sense of the relationships be-
tween them. In the Morality/Self-Interest quad, for example, the other two Variations are
Approach and Attitude. It is the nature of these Variations that the good or bad nature of
one pair will be measured by the other pair. In this case, if either Morality or Self-
Interest was selected as the focus, the contrast between them would be measured in
terms of Attitude and Approach. If Attitude and Approach were to be explored, they
would be measured by Morality and Self-Interest.
Grazing for Themes

Let's assume you have not yet selected any other story points. Begin by picking the
throughline you want to work with, i.e., Overall Story, Main Character, etc. Don't con-
sider what Class that throughline might be attached to. Then, keeping that throughline
in your mind, get a feel for the Variations in each Class by simply letting your eyes
wander over each set of sixteen and treating them as a single item. Eventually one set
should emerge as having the best overall feel for that throughline. In other words, the
Variations in that set best express the kinds of thematic issues you will want to explore
in that throughline.
Now, think of the sixteen Variations in that set as four groups of four. Each group is
called a quad, and has a unique flavor that defines the four Variations in it as being part
of the same family. Consider all four quads in the set, getting a feel for each one. Then
zero in on the quad that best exemplifies the family of subject matter you wish to ad-
dress in that throughline.
In the quad you have selected there are two different diagonal pairs of Variations.
Pick the diagonal pair (dynamic pair) of Variations that illustrates the thematic conflict
you wish to explore. Finally, choose one of the two Variations in the pair to be the focus
of your theme, and you have your Issue. The other Variation in the pair is your thematic
counterpoint.
In this manner, you can begin with a feeling and end up with a specific dramatic
choice that will affect not only theme, but character and plot as well.
Selecting Character Story Points
A Bridge between Subjective and Overall Story...

What is so special about the Main Character? The Main Character is uniquely
qualified to illustrate both the Overall Story and Subjective problems. This is because
he contains the one character Element that is central to both the Overall Story and
Subjective problems. As a result, neither problem can be resolved without his participa-
tion. Therefore, selecting the Main Character's Problem requires the consideration of
other Elements as well.
The Main Character need not be the source of the problem, but might contain the
Element crucial to the solution. This is why it is so easy to make the Protagonist the
Main Character. The Protagonist is pursuing the Overall Story goal already; why not
have him pursue the subjective one as well? If he is taking the correct approach in the
author's view, he contains the solution. If he is taking the incorrect approach, he con-
tains the problem. Either way, the Main Character, as Protagonist or not, is the linchpin
that holds the Overall and Subjective Stories together.
The act of pursuing a goal and being crucial to achieving it are two completely differ-
ent things. For example, it might be the Main Character's insight or resolve that spurs
the Protagonist on to success or distracts it into failure. Either way, the Main Character
precipitates the outcome of the story by changing or by remaining steadfast in regard to
that crucial Element.
The Problem Quad
In the quad of Elements containing the Problem Element, there is also its counter-
part, the Solution Element, which is indeed the solution to that particular problem.
There are also two remaining Elements in the quad: the Focus and the Direction. If the
Problem is a disease and the Solution the cure, then the Focus is the primary symptom
of the story's problem and the Direction is that symptom's most appropriate treatment.
Problem Focus
Direction Solution
As indicated, Main Characters do not have to contain the Element that is the cause
of the problem. But if they do not contain the Problem Element, they will contain one of
the other Elements in this crucial quad.
For example, we might determine that we want the problem and solution to be
found in the quad containing Logic, Feeling, Control and Uncontrolled. Any one of these
can be the problem.
Logic Control
Uncontrol Feeling
If we select Feeling as the problem, then Logic will be the solution. If we select
Control as the problem, then Uncontrolled will be the solution. Once we determine one
pair to be the Problem-Solution pair, the other pair is the Focus-Direction pair.
Focus is simply descriptive of what the Main Character believes the problem to be;
Direction is what they feel the solution is. So, for every actual Problem and Solution,
there is a corresponding Focus and Direction. Which Element is focus and which is
direction is determined by other dynamics at work in the story.
Change Characters and the Crucial Element

In the case of a Change Main Character, he will either contain the Problem or Solu-
tion Element. In the case of a Steadfast Main Character, he will either contain the
Focus or the Direction Element.
Why would a Change Main Character contain the problem or solution? In a sense,
the inequity of the story is not just in the Main Character or in their environment, but
exists between the two. It is created out of an imbalance in the distribution of Elements.
When a Main Character solves a problem by changing, he restores balance either by
taking an Element from himself and placing it back in the environment where it belongs,
or by grabbing an Element out of the environment and putting it within himself where it
is needed. If he must give up an Element, he contains the solution to the problem. If he
must receive an Element, he contains the problem. Either way, the Main Character
must change his internal make-up: his very nature.
Steadfast Characters and the Crucial Element

For a Steadfast Main Character, the imbalance is not seen by him to be between
himself and the environment, but wholly within the environment. In this case, the Main
Character takes an Element from one place and moves it to another to restore balance.
If the story is built around the Element that needs to be moved, the Main Character
contains the focus. If the story is built around the hole that needs to be filled, the Main
Character contains the direction.
The real essence of the Crucial Element is that the Main Character is responsible for
either getting rid of something undesirable or obtaining something desirable, either
within himself or in his environment. If accomplished, the Main Character restores
equilibrium and both the Overall Story and Subjective problems are resolved.
Wrapping Up The Selection Of Story Points

We could write endlessly on how to evaluate each appreciation. But in truth, there is
no mechanical way to make these choices. Any choice is just as good as any other. It
is only when the author's feelings and intents come into play that one selection proves
better than another.
When previous selections have already been made, however, then the logistics of
the story's argument begin to take a degree of control. The more selections that are
made, the greater that control becomes until all remaining selections have already been
pre-determined by the author's earlier choices.
Understanding which story points have the greatest influence on others goes a long
way to helping an author make appropriate choices that keep his message and the
feelings generated by his story's structure consistent. Still, such considerations are
intuitive in nature, and when intuition fails, it helps to employ the model of the relation-
ships between story points contained in the Dramatica software.
Stage Two: Storyencoding
Introduction To Storyencoding
Storyencoding is simply the process of turning the raw story points of a storyform
structure into the flesh and blood people, places, and events of a story that can be told.
As an example, suppose in our storyform we have selected an Overall Story
Throughline of Situation (Universe). As we have learned, this means that the Overall
Story throughline revolves around an external situation. Now, when it comes to actually
writing our story, we are not going to put down on paper, "The Overall Story throughline
was revolving around an external situation." Our audience would have a lot of trouble
getting involved with that! Instead, we're going to connect that bare appreciation to
something concrete so the audience can relate to what we're talking about.
To make this appreciation real, we ask ourselves, "What kind of a situation is it?" On
author might choose to say, "The situation around which my Overall Story throughline
revolves is that a group of travelers are trapped in a sunken ship." That fulfills the
dramatic function called for by the appreciation that the Overall Story Throughline is
Situation (Universe).
Another author might choose to encode an Overall Story Throughline of Situation
(Universe) by saying, "The situation around which my Overall Story throughline revolves
is that the parents of five children have died in a car crash, leaving the children to fend
for themselves."
Clearly, each appreciation might be encoded in any number of ways. Which way
you choose depends only on the kinds of subject matter you wish to explore. How you
encode each appreciation will determine much of the setting of your story in a Genre
sense, the kinds of things that might happen in you plot, the thematic issues that are
likely to rise to the surface, and the nature of the people populating your story.
Once the concept of encoding is understood, another issue often comes up: "Story-
forming and then Storyencoding doesn't seem like a very organic way to go about
creating a story." Well, we can't argue with that. You see, most authors are attracted to
a story not by the underlying structure, but by some element of storytelling. It could be
a setting or a character or a bit of action — anything that stimulates the imagination. In
fact, most authors don't even think about a message at this stage. What gets them
started is some intriguing concept, and the remainder of their effort in developing that
concept is to try and build a story around it.
At first, things go very smoothly. But at some point along the way there is a hole and
no inspiration to fill it. Or, there are some incompatibilities or inconsistencies and no
idea how to fix them. It is at this point that authors beat their heads against the wall, run
in circles screaming and shouting, and tell their story to every remaining friend they
have in hope of getting some comment that will clear the creative skies.
It is a lot easier if you have a storyform.
If you already know what your story is about, then all you need to do is illustrate it.
Rather than being constraining, this process is liberating. You can let your imagination
run wild, then hold up each new inspiration to the storyform and see if there is an appre-
ciation that idea will encode. You may have to tweak it a bit to make sure it will commu-
nicate the appreciation accurately, but if your intuition is pretty much on the mark, then
just about anything you come up with is likely to be a part of the puzzle and simply
needs to be nuanced a bit to slip it into the job it really ought to be doing.
Some of the story points in your storyform will already be encoded. In fact, they
were encoded before you created the storyform; that's how you knew which story points
to select. If you are using the Dramatica software, after making a limited number of
selections (perhaps twelve or even fewer!) all the remaining story points are selected by
the Story Engine. In other words, the model of story programmed into the software has
calculated the dramatic influence of the selections you've made and determined that all
the remaining story points for a balanced and complete story structure.
In the case above, many of the story points predicted by the Story Engine may not
yet connect with anything you have already developed. Rather, you find in your Story-
form a Goal of Obtaining, for example, and wonder, "Obtaining what? What are my
characters after?" This is when you think about what you do know about your story.
Maybe it takes place in a circus. Then a Goal of Obtaining could be getting to perform
in the center ring, or winning a place as a permanent attraction in a new mega-amuse-
ment park. Your story might be about a mountain man, and his Goal of Obtaining might
be to find a wife, or to get a ranch of his own. It really doesn't matter how you encode
an appreciation, as long as the encoding carries the message of the story through one
more stage of communication between author and audience.
Finally, if you are not using the Dramatica software, you will have selected your story
points by feel or topic. Some may have been chosen as appropriate to specific ideas
you are working with, but the rest just seemed appropriate to the story you have in your
mind and/or in your heart. We're back to intuition again here. And once again, you will
need to examine those story points which do not yet have specific encoding in your
story and ask your muse to suggest something.
In the end, even if the storytelling may be atrocious it will at least make sense if it is
built on a sound storyform.
The remainder of this section presents hints and tips for encoding all four aspects of
story: Character, Theme, Plot, and Genre. By far, Character is the most complex of
these for it requires the greatest subtlety and nuance to fashion believable people who
still manage to fulfill their dramatic functions. As a result, you will find the character
section the longest of the lot, and also, due to its importance, the first one we address.
Encoding Overall Story Characters
Although encoding places the argument of a story in the context of real life, the
storyform itself is not real life at all. It is an analogy to the mind's problem-solving pro-
cess. We all know what it is like to face problems in our own lives. However, we have
no way of knowing what our manner of dealing with problems looks like from the out-
side; from a more objective viewpoint. Storyforms deal with only one problem, which is
seen from two principal directions: the inside and the outside. When we look at the
problem from the inside, we can connect with experiences we all have had. The view is
familiar and we relate emotionally to situations that touch our personal nerves. In fact,
we tend to substitute our own experiences in place of what we observe in the story. This
subjective view holds our feelings and gives credibility to the objective view.
Out of Body Experiences

When we take an external view of a story, however, we no longer identify with the
Story Mind directly but view it more like we would in an "out of body" experience. It is if
we had stepped out of our own heads, then turned around to see what we were thinking.
It is from this view that the author makes his rational argument, telling the audience, "If it
feels like this from the inside, you'll want to be doing that."
Even this simple message carries value for an audience since the audience mem-
bers can benefit from good advice born of experiences they have not had to suffer
personally. In this way, when similar situations occur to them subjectively they can recall
the objective dictum from the story giving them at least one plan to try.
Characters as the Author's Contentions

All the ways of considering each problem are represented by a story's characters.
Because they represent parts of the argument, Overall Story Characters must be called
in the proper order and combination to support each of the author's contentions. This all
sounds very complex and manipulative. It is. But as authors, when we are on a roll we
don't stop to consider each aspect of what we are doing. Rather, it all synthesizes
together into the smooth flow of creativity that we "feel" through our writer's instincts. If
the complexity is not there beneath it all, however, there will be noticeable holes in our
plot and inconsistent characters.
Dramatica identifies every point of view that is essential to the Overall Story argu-
ment. It allows an author to divvy them up amongst his characters, then tracks the
progress of the characters through the story. In this way, an author can cut loose with
creative fervor until the muse fails. Then he can call on Dramatica to locate the end of
the thread so he can begin to weave it again.
Just because characters are Archetypal does not mean they cannot be fresh and
interesting. Archetypal Characters have just as many diverse characteristics as Com-
plex Characters. The only difference is how these characteristics are divided among
your story's characters. When an equal number are given to each character and when
all the elements making up each character are from a single "family" of elements, Ar-
chetypal Characters are created. In this sense, an Archetypal Character set is like an
alignment of the planets: each individual orbit is complex, but we choose to observe
them when they are all lined up in a clear and simple pattern.
Nonetheless, we must still explore all aspects of each character to make the Story
Mind's argument fully. However, since there is such consistency to the way the ele-
ments are distributed, the audience will anticipate the content of each character, allow-
ing an author the luxury of using shortcuts to describe them. In fact, once a character is
outlined enough to establish its Archetypal tendency, an author can leave out the rest of
the information since the audience will fill it in anyway. In a sense, a character is guilty
of being Archetypal until proven otherwise.
A Sample Story Using Archetypes

When an author wishes to concentrate primarily on action or entertainment, it is
often best to take advantage of the Archetypal arrangement to fully make the story's
argument with a minimum of exposition. The characters still need to be interesting in
order to involve an audience in their story. To illustrate how even Archetypal characters
can be intriguing, let's create story using only Archetypes and dress them up in some
attractive storytelling.
Creating a Protagonist
We want to write a simple story using Archetypal Characters. We can create a
PROTAGONIST called Jane. Jane wants to... what?... rob a bank?...kill the monster?...
stop the terrorists?... resolve her differences with her mother? It really doesn't matter;
her goal can be whatever interests us as authors. So we'll pick "stop the terrorists"
because it interests us. All right, our Protagonist — Jane — wants to stop the terrorists.
Creating an Antagonist
Dramatica says we need an ANTAGONIST. Antagonist by definition is the person
who tries to prevent achievement of the goal. So, who might be diametrically against
the completion of the task Jane wants to accomplish? The Religious Leader whose
dogma is the source of inspiration that spawns the acts of terror?... The multinational
business cartel that stands to make billions if the terrorists succeed in their scheme?...
Her former lover who leads the elite band of criminals? We like THAT one! Okay, we
have our Protagonist (Jane) who wants to stop the terrorists who are led by her former
lover (Johann).
Creating a Skeptic
Two simple Characters down, six to go. Dramatica now tells us we need a SKEP-
TIC. Who might oppose the effort and disbelieve in the ultimate success of good Jane?
A rival special agent who doesn't want to be left in the dust by her glowing success?...
Her current love interest on the force who feels Jane is in over her head?... Her father,
the Senator, who wants his daughter to follow him into politics? Good enough for us.
So we have Jane who wants to stop the terrorists, pitted against her former lover
Johann who heads the criminal band, and opposed by her father, the Senator.
Creating a Sidekick
To balance the Skeptic, we're going to need a SIDEKICK. We could bring back her
current lover but this time have him knowing how much ridding the world of scum-
sucking pigs appeals to Jane so he remains steadfastly behind her. Or we might em-
ploy her Supervisor and mentor on the force who knows the depth of Jane's talent,
wants to inspire other young idealists to take action against threats to democracy, or
prove his theories and vindicate his name in the undercover world... We'll use the
Supervisor. So here's Jane who wants to stop the terrorists, pitted against her former
lover Johann, the head of the band who wants to stop her, opposed by her father, the
Senator, and supported by her Supervisor.
Creating a Contagonist
Let's bring in a CONTAGONIST: the Seasoned Cop who says, "You have to play by
the rules" and thwarts Jane's efforts to forge a better modus operandi?... Or, the Ex-
Con with a heart of gold who studies the classics and counsels her to base her ap-
proach on proven scenarios?... Or, her friend Sheila, a computer whiz who has a bogus
response plan based on averaging every scenario every attempted? Computer whiz it
is. So Jane wants to stop the terrorists, is pitted against the head of the band (her
former lover Johann) who wants to stop her, opposed by her father, the Senator, sup-
ported by her Supervisor, and tempted by her friend Sheila, the computer whiz.
Creating a Guardian
Keeping in mind the concept of Dynamic Pairs, we are going to want to balance the
Computer Whiz with a GUARDIAN. The Master of the Oriental martial arts who urges
her to "go with the flow" ("Use The Force, Jane!")?... The Ex-Con again who urges,
"Get back to basics"?... or perhaps the Seasoned Cop who paves the way through the
undercover jungle?.... We like the Seasoned Cop. Note how we could have used him
as Contagonist, but elected to use him as Guardian instead. It's totally up to us as
authors which characteristics go into which players. Jane wants to stop the terrorists, is
pitted against the head of the band (her former lover Johann) who wants to stop her, is
opposed by her father, the Senator, supported by her Supervisor, tempted by her friend
Sheila the computer whiz, and protected by the Seasoned Cop.
Creating Reason and Emotion Characters

Since we really like some of our earlier concepts for Characters, let's use the Ex-Con
as REASON, stressing the need to use classic scenarios. We'll balance her with the
Master of the Oriental martial arts, who maintains Jane's need to break with the West-
ern approach by letting loose and following her feelings.
Well, that seems to cover all eight Archetypal Characters: Protagonist, Antagonist,
Skeptic, Sidekick, Contagonist, Guardian, Reason and Emotion. Finally, we have Jane
who wants to stop the terrorists and is pitted against the head of the band (her former
lover Johann) who wants to stop her, is opposed by her Father, the Senator, is sup-
ported by her Supervisor, tempted by her friend Sheila the computer whiz, protected by
the Seasoned Cop, urged by the Ex-Con to copy the classics, and counseled by the
Master of Oriental martial arts to let loose and follow her feelings.
The Same Old Story?

This is beginning to sound like a lot of many stories we've seen before. Why have
we seen this so many times? Because it is simple and it works. Of course, we have
limited ourselves in this example to the Archetypal Characters, not even taking advan-
tage of the Complex Characters we could also create.
When you keep in mind the Dramatica rules for mixing and matching characteristics
to create Complex Characters, you have an astronomical number of possible people (or
non-people) who might occupy your story. Because of the structure of inter-relation-
ships Dramatica provides, they will all fit together to the greatest potential and nothing
will be duplicated or missed. As a result, the Story Mind will be fully functional; the
argument fully made.
Complex Characters
It is not the content that makes characters complex, but the arrangement of that
content. We all know people who have one-track minds or are so aligned as to be
completely predictable (and often, therefore, boring!) People who are more diverse
contain conflicting or dissimilar traits and are much more interesting to be around. So it
is with characters.
Imagine building characters to be like playing Scrabble. There are a given number
of letter tiles, no more, no less. The object is to create words until all the tiles have been
employed. The game won't feel "complete" if any tiles are left over. Now imagine a set
of words that are all the same length and use up all the letters so none are remaining.
Suppose there is only one combination of letters that will accomplish this. If we build
characters that way, we get the one and only Archetypal set. There's nothing wrong
with playing the game that way, but after a few zillion times, seeing the same limited set
of words over and over again wears pretty thin. It is much more interesting to create a
wide vocabulary of all kinds and sizes of words.
Archetypes Have Their Place, But....

Archetypal Characters have their place, mind you. If an author's focus is on Plot or
Theme, he may want to create easily identifiable Archetypes as a shorthand to save
space and time. As soon as the edges of an Archetypal Character are sketched out,
audiences (who have seen these Archetypes time and again) will fill in the rest, pending
information to the contrary. In this way, an author can free up time or pages for aspects
of the story which may be much more interesting to him.
As a result, Complex Characters are often the first things torn down in an effort to
conserve media real estate. This leads to a glut of action-oriented stories populated by
stick-figure people. Whenever there is a glut in one place, you will find a deficiency
somewhere else. The imbalance between glut and deficiency creates demand. Box
office is directly proportional to demand. No more need be said.
Four Dimensional Characters
All characters, Archetypal or Complex, have four levels or Dimensions in which they
may contain characteristics. These are:
1. Motivations
2. Methodologies
3. Means of Evaluation
4. Purposes
Archetypal Characters contain one characteristic in each of these areas that de-
scribes how they deal with external problems. They also contain one each that de-
scribes how they deal with internal problems. Altogether they possess eight character-
istics.
Swap Meet
The easiest way to create Complex Characters is to simply swap a few Elements
between one Archetypal Character and another at the same level. This results in
evenly-balanced characters who aren't nearly as predictable as Archetypes. When the
points of view are mixed so that the focus of a scene or act changes from Methodolo-
gies to Motivations, for example, the manner in which a character responds might also
shift dramatically.
Even more Complex Characters can be built by giving more characteristics to some
and fewer to others. For example, one character might have two Motivations, three
Methodologies and so on. Another character might only have Purposes but no Motiva-
tions or any of the others. Those characters having the most characteristics will be
called upon more frequently to appear, thereby strengthening their presence with an
audience.
A Character Cannot Serve Two Masters

An author can create characters for any purpose, to be played like cards at particular
points in the hand. The only "rules" of character construction caution against any char-
acter containing more than one Element of a dynamic pair. In addition, it is best to
avoid assigning a character more than one Element from the same quad as the charac-
ter would then represent conflicting points of view on the same issue.
At first, this might seem desirable as it would create internal conflict. But in the case
of Overall Story Characters, they are seen from the outside. We cannot perceive their
internal deliberations. Any internal conflict simple weakens their Overall Story function.
Overall Story Throughline Characteristics
Elements are the most refined resolution of the problem in a story. Beneath each
Variation are four Elements that make up the parts of that Variation and are also defined
by its umbrella. One of the four elements under the Issue is the Problem of the story in
its most essential form. Another of the four will prove to be the Solution. A third element
is the Focus of the story, where the Problem appears to principally manifest itself. The
final element represents the Direction that is taken in response to the Focus.
Each of these elements has a specific and recognizable function even in traditional
story theory. For example, we know that characters often work not toward the real
solution but to a perceived solution. And characters frequently grapple with a problem
that is ultimately recognized as only a symptom of the real problem.
The "Crucial" Element

As indicated elsewhere, stories are really about inequities and their resolutions.
When the four principal elements are considered in this light, the Problem element
appears more like the essence of the inequity. The Solution becomes the essence of
what is needed to restore balance. Depending upon the dynamics of the story, one of
the four elements is "lifted up" as the prominent point of view. It becomes the Crucial
Element upon which all other lesser inequities in the story center. It is Crucial because
if it comes into balance all the remaining inequities of the story are forced to balance
themselves as well. If not balanced, none of the others can be resolved.
Overall Story Elements and the Subjective Characters

Elements serve to show what the inequity looks like from all possible points of view
and thereby hone in on the source: the one bad apple in the basket. All 64 Elements in
this level must be represented in character form in order to fully explore the story's
inequity. Of all these, two special characters bear special attention: the Main and
Impact.
The Main and Impact characters do double-duty by carrying the Subjective Storyline
and also playing an Overall Story role by being assigned to two different players that
contain an Overall Story function. The player containing the Main Character always
contains the Crucial Element in its Overall Story role. However, that element does not
always have to be the Solution. It might be the Problem, Focus, or Direction Element,
depending upon the dynamics. It is this duality that makes those two players the linch-
pins of the story: the hinge upon which the Overall Story AND Subjective Problems and
throughlines converge.
The player containing the Impact Character also contains the Element diagonal to
the crucial element: the other half of the dynamic pair. In this way as a Main Character
or Impact Character comes to eventually change or remain steadfast, the subjective
problem influences how that player will respond in regard to the Overall Story Element it
also contains. Like magnets with North and South poles, what happens on the Subjec-
tive side will influence the Overall Story stand, and when pressures force a change in
the Overall Story stand, it will influence the Subjective point of view. It is no surprise
that this relationship between Overall Story and Subjective dynamics in characters has
seemed so indefinably obscure for so long.
Encoding Subjective Characters

Although authors use Subjective Characters all the time they unfortunately view the
Subjective functions simply as other aspects of Overall Story Characters. In fact, the
two functions are most often blended into a single concept of character that does
double-duty. This is dangerous since every aspect of the argument must be made
twice: once Objectively and once Subjectively. If both roles are blended, this can
appear redundant. As a result, important points in the separate arguments may be
missing. In a temporal medium such as motion pictures, it is often the Subjective argu-
ment that suffers as the focus is on more Overall Story action. In novels, the Overall
Story is often flawed as the spatial nature of a book favors the Subjective view.
Just because a medium favors one view over the other does not mean anything can
be neglected. All parts of both arguments must be present in order to create an effec-
tive synthesis in the mind of the audience regardless of the emphasis a medium may
place on each view.
The Main Character is Not Necessarily the Protagonist

Many authors are not aware that a Protagonist does not have to be the Main Char-
acter. When we stop to think about it, many examples come to mind of stories in which
we experience the story through the eyes of a character other than a Protagonist. Yet
when it comes to writing our own stories, many of us never diverge from a Protagonist/
Main combination.
There is nothing wrong with this combination. In fact, as long as both characters are
represented in the single player, such a blend is a fine Archetypal Character. The point
is: there are other ways.
Subjective Characters range from the Main Character with whom we identify to all
the "other soldiers in the trenches" around us as we experience the battle together.
They are friends and foes, mentors and acolytes. We see in them characteristics of
Worry, Instinct, Experience and Doubt. Rather than functioning as approaches the way
the Overall Story Characters appear to do, the Subjective Characters function as atti-
tudes.
"We're Both Alike, You and I..."
The Main and Impact Characters are counterparts. They represent the two principal
sides to the argument of the story. Because they are dealing with the same issues a
case can be made that they are not too far apart. This often results in such familiar
lines as "We're both alike," "We're just two sides of the same coin," "I'm your shadow
self," and so on. In contrast, though they are concerned with the same things, they are
coming at them from completely opposing views. This leads to common line such as
"We're nothing alike, you and I," or "We used to be friends until you stepped over the
line."
Evil Twins?
Many authors picture the Impact Character as a negative or evil twin. Although this
can be true, it has little to do with the Impact Character's dramatic function. For ex-
ample, if a Main Character is evil and needs to change, their Impact might be a virtuous
steadfast character. Or both characters might be evil, with the resolve of one contrast-
ing the change in the other. In any case, the function of the Main and Impact Charac-
ters is to show two opposing sides of the same issue. That is their story function: to
show what happens when one changes and the other remains steadfast on a particular
issue.
Encoding Mental Sex

Both Males and Females use the same techniques, but in different contexts. As a
result, what is problem solving for one may actually be justification for the other. In fact,
for the four perspectives in any given story, in one Throughline both male and female
mental sex characters will see a given approach as problem solving, while in another
Throughline both will see it as justification. The third Throughline would be problem
solving for one mental sex and justification for the other and the fourth just the reverse.
Men TEND to use linear problem solving as their first method of choice. In linear
problem solving, they set a specific goal, determine the steps necessary to achieve that
goal, and embark on the effort to accomplish those steps. Gathering facts, or success-
fully achieving requirements all deal with seeing a number of definable items that must
be brought together to make the mechanism work in the desired manner.
This is a very spatial view of problem solving, as it sees all the parts that must be
accomplished and/or brought together to resolve the problem or achieve the goal.
Women TEND to use holistic problem solving as their first method of choice. In
holistic problem solving, steps are not important and there may not even be a specific
goal to achieve but simply a new direction desired. As a result, the RELATIONSHIPS
BETWEEN things are what is measured and adjusted to create a change in the forces
that determine that direction. Unlike male problem solving, there is no causal relation-
ship stating that THIS leads to THAT. Instead, COMBINATIONS of changes in the way
things are related alters the dynamics of the situation rather than the structure, and
changes context rather than meaning.
This is a very temporal view of problem solving, as it looks at the way things are
going and tries to alter relationships so that the direction of the forces that create the
problem is deflected.
Now, men and women use both techniques. Also, women may become trained to
use the linear method first, and men may develop a preference for the holistic method
as their primary problem solving approach. These are preferences made through con-
scious choice, training, or experience. Underneath it all, the brain's operating system
for problem solving will either be linear or holistic. This is what sets men and women
apart from each other. No matter how much common ground they come to from train-
ing, experience and conscious choice, there is always that underlying level in which
they can never see eye to eye, because they have intrinsically different outlooks.
So, when choosing male or female mental sex, we are not concerned with the up
front and obvious, we are concerned with that hidden level at the foundation of the Main
Character's psyche that dictates a linear or holistic approach to the problem regardless
of what is done consciously.
That's why the issue becomes vague - because it is not cut and dried in the Main
Character nor is it up front. It is just their tendency at the lowest most basic part of their
mind to go linear or holistic.
How can we illustrate this in a Main Character? The following point by point com-
parison can help:
Female: looks at motivations Male: looks at purposes

Female: tries to see connections Male: tries to gather evidence
Female: sets up conditions Male: sets up requirements
Female: determines the leverage points Male: breaks a job into steps
that can restore balance
Female: seeks fulfillment Male: seeks satisfaction
Female: concentrates on "Why" Male: concentrates on "How"
and "When" and "What"
Female: puts the issues in context Male: argues the issues
Female: tries to hold it all together Male: tries to pull it all together
As we can see, though both men and women will use both techniques depending on
context, one kind comes first or takes priority. Which one is the principal technique is
determined by mental sex. So, if you keep in mind that this all may be overshadowed by
other learned techniques, you can illustrate male and female problem solving techniques
as a TENDENCY to employ those listed above, all other things being equal.
Building a Mind for the Audience to Possess

When an audience looks at the Overall Story Characters, they see the Story Mind
from the outside in. When an audience empathizes with the Main Character, they see
the story from the inside out. In order for the audience to be able to step into the shoes
of the Main Character and look through his eyes, he must possess a complete mind for
the audience to possess. And that perhaps is the best way to look at it: the audience
takes possession of the Main Character's mind. That's why you hear people in a movie
yelling, "NO.... don't do that!!!" to a Main Character who is about to enter the shed where
the slasher is waiting.
However, the question arises: who is taking possession of whom? As authors we
direct our Main Character to take control of the audience's hearts and souls. We make
them feel what the Main Character feels, experience what he experiences. It's a pretty
sinister occupation we engage in. But that is how a story stops being a spectacle and
worms its way into the heart.
Encoding Theme
The trick in encoding theme is to make sure the audience knows what the argument
is about without coming right out and saying it, and also to make sure the argument is
made without the audience ever feeling manipulated or that the point is being made in a
heavy handed fashion. In this section we will explore methods of achieving these pur-
poses for theme in general and also suggest tips and considerations specific to the
themes of each of the four throughlines.
What Are You Talking About?

Without theme, a story is just a series of events that proceeds logistically and ends
up one way or another. Theme is what gives it all meaning. When encoded, theme will
not be a universal meaning for all things, but a smaller truth pertaining to the proper way
of dealing with a particular situation. In a sense, the encoding of theme moves the
emotional argument of the story from the general to the specific. It the argument is
made strongly enough, it may influence attitudes in areas far beyond the specific, but to
be made strongly, it must limit its scope to precise encoding.
If our thematic conflict is Morality vs. Self-interest, for example, it would be a mistake
to try and argue that Morality is always better than Self-Interest. In fact, there would be
few people whose life experience would not tell them that sometimes Self-Interest is the
better of the two. Keep in mind here that Dramatica defines Morality as "Doing for
others with no regard for self" and Self-Interest as "Doing for self with no regard for
others." This doesn't mean a Self-Interested person is out hurt to others, but simply that
what happens to others, good or bad, is not even a consideration.
As an example, Morality might be better if one has plenty of food to share during a
harsh winter and does so. Morality might be worse if one subjugates one's life rather
than displease one's peers. Self-Interest might be better if a crazed maniac is charging
at you and you kill him with an ax. Self-Interest might be bad if you won't share the last
of the penicillin in case you might need it later. It really all depends on the context.
Clearly, the very first step in encoding thematic story points is to check the definitions
first! Dramatica was designed to be extremely precise in its definitions in order to make
sure the thematic structure represented all the shades of gray an audience might expect
to see in a thematic argument. So, before you even consider the conflict, read the
definition which will help define where the real conflict lies.
Unlike other story points which really only need to show up once to be encoded into
a story, thematic story points will need to show up several times. A good rule of thumb
is that each conflict should be explored at least once per act. In this way, the balance
between the two sides of the conflict can be examined in all contexts appropriate to
story's message.
Further, it is heavy handed to encode the entire conflict. It is much better to show
one side of the conflict, then later show the other side in a similar situation. In this
manner, the relative value of each side of the thematic conflict is established without the
two ever being directly compared. In each act, then, what are some methods of encod-
ing the two sides of the thematic conflict? This depends on which throughline is in
question.
Encoding the Overall Story Theme

The Overall Story theme is an emotional argument that is story wide. Its connection
to the Overall Story makes this theme "objective", not any unemotional feeling that may
be implied by the title. To encode the Overall Story theme one must come up with
scenes, events, comments, or dialogue that not only pertains to the thematic conflict,
but at least imply that this particular issue represents the central imbalance in value
standards that affects everyone in the story. In fact, it is often better that the Overall
Story theme be encoded through incidental characters or background incidents so that
the message is not tainted by association with any other dynamics in the story.
For example, our Main Character is walking down the hall of a ward in a Veteran's
hospital with a doctor who is an incidental character whose purpose in the story is only
to provide exposition on a particular point. While they are walking, the doctor, an older
man, notes that he is out of breath trying to keep up with our Main Character. He com-
ments, "I can't keep up with you young guys like I used to." Moments later, a double
amputee wheels across their path, stops, says cheerfully to the Main Character, "As
soon as they fix me up, I'm going to be a dancer again!" and wheels off. The doctor
then remarks, "He's been like that since they brought him here." The Main Character
asks, "How long?" The doctor says, "Nineteen sixty-eight."
What thematic conflict is at work here? The doctor's comments represent Closure
(accepting an end). The patient's comments reflect Denial (refusing to accept an end).
By itself, this short thematic encoding will not make the conflict clear. But as the story
continues to unfold, several different encodings will eventually clarify the item they all
share in common.
What's more, in this example, it is clear by the way we presented the conflict, Clo-
sure is seen as a better standard of value that Denial. It would be just as easy to have
the doctor appear run-down by life and having no hope, while the patient is joyous. In
such a case, the message would have been the reverse. The doctor, representing
Closure, would be seen to be miserable, and the patient who lives in a dream world of
Denial would have happiness.
Theme encoding is an effort of subtle balance. Simply shifting a word or a reaction,
even slightly, can completely tip a well balanced argument. That is why many authors
prefer more black-and-white thematic statements than a gentle thematic argument. In
truth, it is the ability to get away from the binary that brings richness and depth to the
emotional content of a story.
One other thing we might notice about our example is that we might evaluate
whether Closure or Denial is better by seeing how each camp fared in regard to Hope
and Dream. Why Hope and Dream? They are the other two Variations in the same
quad as Closure and Denial. We can see that the doctor has no Hope, but the patient
still has Dreams. By showing that lack of Hope causes misery and an abundance of
Dreaming bring joy, the case is made that the doctor who represents Closure does not
achieve as beneficial a result as the patient who represents Denial.
Clearly this thematic message is not true in every situation we might encounter in
real life. In the context of our latter example, however, we are saying that for this par-
ticular kind of problem (the Overall Story Problem) Denial is a better way to go.
Our next concern is that even with a more balanced argument, it still seems one-
sided. The way to alleviate this attribute is to have some thematic moments occur in
which Closure turns out to be better than Denial . By so doing, we are admitting to our
audience that even for the kind of Overall Story Problem we are dealing with, neither
Closure nor Denial is a panacea. As a result, the audience begins to be excitedly drawn
toward the end of the story, because only then can it average out all the incidents of
Closure and Denial and see which one came out on top and by how much.
Theme encoding requires skill and inspiration. Because it must be approached by
feel, rather than by logic, it is hard to learn and hard to teach. But by understanding the
nature of the gentle balance that tips the emotional argument in favor of the Issue or its
counterpoint, one can consciously consider when and where and how to encode the
theme, rather than simply winging it and hoping for the best. Knowing the storyform for
your theme makes it far easier to draw the audience into feeling as you want them to.
Encoding Theme for the Other Throughlines

The Main Character theme follows many of the same guidelines as the Overall Story
theme. In fact, the basic approaches of illustrating the conflict by indirect means, calling
on the other two Variations in the thematic quad and having the balance between Issue
and counterpoint shift back and forth are good rules of thumb for all four throughlines.
The principal difference in theme encoding from one throughline to another is where the
conflict is directed.
For the Main Character Throughline, only the Main Character will be aware of the
thematic conflict in that Throughline. It might still be illustrated by contrasts between
incidental characters or in non-essential actions or events, but no one will notice but the
Main Character. For example, our Main Character in a motion picture might be sitting in
a diner and look out the window to see a hungry man sifting through a trash can for
some food. The focus shifts (as the Main Character ostensibly shifts his attention) to
bring to clarity another man sitting in front of the window getting up to leave from his
plate of half-eaten food. No one else is in a position to see this except our Main Char-
acter (and through him, the audience).
The above example would be a VERY subtle beginning of an argument about Moral-
ity vs. Self-Interest. In and of itself, there is not enough to say which is the Issue and
which is the counterpoint. Also, this example merely sets up that there are haves and
have-nots, but does not yet place a value judgment, for we do not even know which of
the two men is representing Morality and which Self-interest.
An interesting turn would be to have a Maitre'd notice our Main Character looking at
the hungry man through the window and run over to say, "I'm sorry, Monsieur, I'll have
my waiter tell him to leave." Our Main Character says, "No, wait..." He reaches into his
pocket, pulls out his last hundred francs and, giving it to the Maitre'd says, "Bring him
some food instead."
Still watching from the window, our Main Character sees the waiter taking a plate of
food to the hungry man. As soon as he arrives, the hungry man beats the waiter over
the head, takes his wallet, and runs off. The food has fallen into the garbage. Now,
what have we said through our encoding about the relative value of Morality vs. Self-
Interest as experienced by the Main Character? Also, which one is the Issue?
In our Main Character example, we did not feel like we were judging the Main Char-
acter himself because of the results of his actions. Rather, we were making a judgment
about the relative value of Morality and Self-Interest. In contrast, the Impact Character
theme encoding is designed to place a value judgment on the Impact Character himself.
Impact Characters are looked at, not from. As such, we want to evaluate the appro-
priateness of their actions. Part of this is accomplished by showing whether the Impact
Character's influence on the balance between Issue and counterpoint results in positive
or negative changes.
Suppose we keep everything from our Main Character example in the diner the
same, except we substitute the Impact Character instead. All the events would tran-
spire in the same order, but our point of view as an audience would have to shift. The
question for the audience would no longer be, "How am I going to respond in this situa-
tion?" but would become, "How is he going to respond in this situation?"
The point of view shot through the window might no longer be appropriate. Instead,
we might shoot from over the shoulder of the Impact Character. Further, we would want
to make sure the audience does not get too drawn in toward the Impact point of view.
So, we might have another customer observing the whole thing. Or, we might simply
choose camera positions outside the diner to show what happens, rather than staying in
the whole time looking out as we did with the Main Character.
Novels, stage plays, and all different media and formats present their own unique
strengths, weaknesses, and conventions in how one can appropriately encode for a
given throughline. Knowing which ones to use and inventing new ones that have never
before been used comprises a large part of the craft and art of storytelling.
Finally, let us briefly address thematic encoding for the Subjective Story Throughline.
Theme in the Subjective Story Throughline describes the meaning of the relationship
between the Main and Impact Characters. There are two distinct ways to evaluate
everything that goes on in the relationship and these two ways don't lead to the same
conclusions. The thematic Issue and counterpoint reflect these two different means of
evaluation.
In most relationships, everyone involved seems to have an opinion about what's best
to do. That's the way it always is in a story. As the Impact Character Throughline and
the Main Character Throughline have an impact on each other, so do the Overall and
Subjective Stories. Therefore, both Overall Story and Subjective Characters will have
opinions to express about how the relationship between the Main and Impact Charac-
ters is going. Remember, it's this relationship that makes the Subjective Story.
The variety of places to find opinions about the Subjective Story relationship means
the Issue and Counterpoint in the Subjective Story need not come exclusively from the
Main and Impact Characters. They could be brought up and argued without the pres-
ence of either the Main Character or Impact Character.
Of course, these two characters will be involved at some point as well. When they're
together, they're likely to be arguing the two sides of the Subjective Story's Thematic
issue and providing the Thematic Conflict. When they do, however, it is a good idea to
avoid just giving one character the Issue and the other character the Counterpoint. That
would lead to a simple face off over the issues without really exploring them. Instead,
have them swap arguments, each using the Issue, then the Counterpoint as their
weapon. Neither of them is solely a villain or a good guy from this personal point of
view.
Giving your Overall Story Characters conversations about this relationship is a good
way to express Issue vs. Counterpoint without involving the Main or Impact Characters.
This will help avoid unintentionally biasing the audience against either of them.
The real issue is, which is the best way to look at the relationship?
We all know stories involving newlyweds where the father of the bride argues that
his daughter's fiancee is not good enough for her since the boy has no job nor means to
provide for her. In these stories, the mother will often counter the father's argument by
saying the two kids really love each other, so what could be better?
In that example, father and mother may be Overall Story Characters arguing about
the best way to look at the Subjective Story between the Main and Impact Characters
(the daughter and son-in-law). In the end, one way of seeing the kids' romance will
prove to be the better way of evaluating the relationship.
The thematic resolution may be that the Subjective Story relationship appears ter-
rible from one standard of evaluation and only poor from the other, in which case these
people haven't got much of a relationship. Or, a relationship may appear mundanely
workable from one standard and thrilling from the other. Or, one may see it as highly
negative and the other sees it as highly positive. These are all potential conflicting
points of view about a relationship and these discrepancies give the Subjective Story
theme its depth.
The important job of the writer is to balance the argument so there is a real question
as to which way of seeing the relationship is using the best standard of evaluation.
Then the audience is not just being sold a biased bill of goods, but is being presented a
much more realistic tableau.
Encoding Plot
Encoding Static Plot Story Points is very simple. One need only figure out what it is.
How and when it is going to actually show up in the story is a completely different issue
and is part of Storyweaving.
The way to approach the encoding of Static Plot Story Points is more or less the
same for all of them. As an example, let us consider something fairly conventional: a
Goal of Obtaining. Obtaining what? That is what encoding determines. The Goal might
be to Obtain the stolen diamonds, a diploma, or someone's love. In each case, Obtain-
ing has been effectively encoded. Which one you might choose is dependent only upon
your personal muse.
Interestingly, there are many ways to stretch an appreciation to fit preconceived story
ideas. Suppose that we want to tell a story about a woman who wants to be President.
It might be he wants to be elected to the office. That would encode a Goal of Obtaining.
Or, he might want to have people believe he was the President on a foreign trip. That
would be a Goal of Playing A Role [Being]. He might already hold the office but feel that
he is not authoritative enough and wants to Become presidential. That would encode a
Goal of Changing One's Nature [Becoming].
Clearly, there are ways to bend a story concept to fit almost any appreciation. And,
in fact, that is the purpose of encoding - to create a symbol that represents an
appreciation's particular bend. So, going around the remaining Types, we might also
have a Goal about discovering a president's Past, how much legislative Progress a
president is able to make, the Future of the presidency, whether the president is able to
address Present concerns, to Understand the president's vision, Doing what is neces-
sary regardless of chances for reelection, Learning the President's hidden agenda,
Developing A Plan [Conceptualizing] a new order, Conceiving An Idea a new kind of
political leverage, trying to evoke the Memory of a past president's greatness, respond-
ing with Impulsive Responses [Preconscious] should the president be attacked, trying to
curb a president's subconscious drives until after the election, making the president
Conscious of a problem only he can solve.
Each of the above encodings deals with the presidency, but in a completely different
way. This allows an author to stick with the subject matter that interested him in the first
place, yet still make sure the Story Goal is accurately encoded. And why even bother?
Because the wrong perspective creates the wrong meaning. Anything that is not prop-
erly encoded will work against the dramatics of your story, rather than with them, and
your story's overall message and experience will be weakened.
Encoding Progressive Plot Story Points
Progressive Plot Story Points are also relatively straight forward. At act resolution
there is a simple method for encoding Signposts and Journeys that also establishes the
plot aspects of your story's scenes.
Signposts and Journeys

When we develop a plot, we are in effect planning a Journey for our characters. In
this respect, we might imagine our plot as a road. We have already discussed how that
road might be thought of as containing four signposts which define three journeys. Our
characters' Point of Departure is marked by the Type at Signpost #1. This Type is the
name of the town at which we are beginning our Journey. In our example, the charac-
ters are in the good borough of Learning.
We have also planned a destination for our characters. Again, in our example, we
wish our characters to arrive at the village of Obtaining. Obtaining's city limits are
marked by Signpost #4.
In order for our characters to experience the Journey we intend, we also want them
to pass through the towns of Understanding and Doing along the way. Once they have
arrived at Obtaining, they will have covered all the ground we want them to.
Our Plot is not only made up of Signposts, but also the experience of traversing the
road between the Signposts.
Signpost #1 Signpost #2 Signpost #3 Signpost #4
Journey #1 Journey #2 Journey #3
If we have four Signposts, we can see three Journeys between them. The Sign-
posts merely provide our audience with an impartial map of the checkpoints along the
way. It is the Journeys, however, that involve our audience in the experience of cross-
ing that ground.
Some writers have learned to create stories in a Three Act Structure. Others have
worked in a Four Act Structure. In fact, both are needed to map out the terrain and
involve the audience.
Now that we know the names of the Signposts in our Overall Story, it is time to
describe the kinds of Journeys that will take place on the road between them.
Example:
In our example, the three Journeys are:
Topic 1. Learning --------------- > Topic 2. Understanding
Topic 2. Understanding ----------- > Topic 3. Doing
Topic 3. Doing --------------- > Topic 4. Obtaining.
For a hypothetical story, we might then encode each Signpost and Journey as fol-
lows:
Signpost #1
Type 1. Learning
Our characters Learn that a number of robberies have occurred in-
volving diamonds.
Journey #1
Type 1. Learning———> Type 2. Understanding
As our characters Learn about the robberies that have occurred, they
become aware of similarities in the crimes. Eventually, the similarities are
too much to be coincidental.
Signpost #2
Type 2. Understanding
Our characters arrive at the Understanding that there is one multi-
national consortium involved in the heists.
Journey #2
Type 2. Understanding ———> Type 3. Doing
The more our characters Understand about the consortium, the more
they are able to figure out which smaller organizations are involved, as
well as the names of specific individuals. Eventually, the characters
Understand enough of the organization of the consortium to try and put
someone on the inside.
Signpost #3
Type 3. Doing
Our characters track down and infiltrate the consortium.
Journey #3
Type 3. Doing ———> Type 4. Obtaining
Our characters get in tighter and tighter with the consortium until they
are finally trusted enough to be employed in heist. Through a series of
dangerous maneuvers, our characters are able to get word of the heist
back to their organization, who alert the authorities.
Signpost #4
Type 4 . Obtaining
Our characters retrieve the stolen diamonds.
As you can see, the Signposts outline the direction
events will take. The Journeys help bring them to life.
Main Character Throughline Plot Progression
By now you should be familiar with the concept that the Main Character represents a
point of view for the audience. In fact, the audience stands in the shoes of the Main
Character and sees what he sees and feels what he feels.
In the Overall Story Throughline, the Plot Progression concentrates on the kinds of
activities in which the Overall Story Characters are involved. In the Main Character
Throughline, Plot Progression describes the stages of the Main Character's Growth.
Each Type in the Main Character Throughline reflects the Main Character's primary
concern at that point in his development. Eventually, he will grow enough to deal with
the issue closest to his heart: the Main Character Concern. Let's look at an example of
how you might encode this by continuing to develop the story we presented for Type
Order Plot Progression of the Overall Story.
Example:
In this fictitious story example, the Main Character Throughline has been chosen to
be Situation (Universe). The Type order selected for the Main Character is as follows:
Past, Progress, Present, and lastly Future.
Signpost #1
Type 1. Past
The Main Character is a law enforcement agency Department Chief
with political aspirations. He has zero tolerance for officers of the law
who have accepted payoffs from organized crime. As the story opens,
his chief Concern of the moment is the past history of graft in his depart-
ment.
Journey #1
Type 1. Past ———> Type 2. Progress
The Main Character investigates Past instances of Consortium influ-
ences in his department. Using this historical information, he gets closer
to infiltrating the Consortium.
Signpost #2
Type 2. Progress
The Main Character decides his agents are too weak to resist stealing
money from the Consortium. Therefore, he takes the case himself, going
undercover and slowly snaking his way into the heart of the Consortium
over a period of some months.
Journey #2
Type 2. Progress ———> Type 3. Present
The more the Main Character gets deeper into the Consortium, the
more he is trusted with the Consortium's funds. Also, he finds himself in
something of a Godfather position in which local businesses and organi-
zations come to him for help. For a while, he is able to either deny them
or pacify them.
Signpost #3
Type 3. Present
Now, well established in the Consortium, the Main Character is faced
with a situation in which an important Children's Hospital will be closed...
unless he uses some of the Consortium's ill-gotten gains to provide the
necessary funding.
Journey #3
Type 3. Present ———> Type 4 Future
The Main Character gives in to the needs of others, violating his own
zero tolerance code of ethics because of the serious needs of the chil-
dren. Still, he is able to get the goods on the Consortium enough to stop
some of their local plans, though not enough to damage the consortium
at core level. When he is "brought in from the cold" by his agency, they
treat him as a hero for his success. In contrast, he is troubled by his own
ethical failing. He gave in to the temptation to take the money.
Signpost #4
Type 4 Future
Though he is in a better position than ever to break into the political
scene and demand strict adherence to a code of ethics, his grand words
about his Future are now just ashes in his mouth, as he sits miserably in
his office pondering his shortcomings, drained of ambition.
Impact Character Throughline Plot Progression
The Impact Character in a story never stands alone, but is always evaluated in terms
of his impact on the Main Character. When encoding the Impact Character Throughline
Plot Progression, this is equally true. Unlike the Main Character Type Order which
reflects the Main Character's Growth from one concern to another, the Impact Character
Type Order reflects the progression of the Impact Character's impact on the Main Char-
acter. In other words, each of the four Impact Character Types describes a chink in the
Main Character's armor, a weakness that is exploited by the Impact Character. This
forces the Main Character to consider issues that will ultimately bring him to Change or
remain Steadfast.
For example, in our sample story, the Impact Character Throughline is in the Fixed
Attitude (Mind) Class. As a result, the Impact Character Throughline Types are Memory,
Impulsive Responses [Preconscious], Contemplation [Conscious], and Subconscious.
This means that the Impact Character will (in some order) force the Main Character to
remember (Memory), to respond differently when there is no time for consideration
(Impulsive Responses [Preconscious]), to become aware of something (Conscious),
and to desire something (Subconscious).
Encode the Impact Character's Types by the impact the Impact Character has in that
area of concern on the Main Character. In this way, your Impact Character will force
your Main Character to grow to a point of potential Change. That is the function and
purpose of the Impact Character in a story.
Impact Character Throughline Type Order Encoding
Example:
In this fictitious story example, the Impact Character Throughline has been chosen
as Fixed Attitude (Mind). The Type order selected for the Impact Character is as fol-
lows: Impulsive Responses [Preconscious], Contemplation [Conscious], Memory, and
lastly Subconscious.
(Note to authors: The Impact Character need not be physically present in order for
his impact to be felt!)
Signpost #1
Type 1. Impulsive Responses [Preconscious]
The Impact Character is a happy-go-lucky kind of guy. He sees jus-
tice and honor as being flexible, dependent upon the situation. His very
attitude causes unthinking responses (Impulsive Responses [Precon-
scious]) in the Main Character, who reacts to every instance of the Impact
Character's sliding scale of values as if he were shocked with an electric
prod. The Impact Character's actions force the Main Character to lose
his temper, make threats he later regrets, and smash things in a fit of self-
righteous rage.
Journey #1
Type 1. Impulsive Responses [Preconscious] ———> Type 2. Contemplation
[Conscious]
As the Main Character becomes more obsessed with infiltrating the
Consortium and edges toward putting himself under cover, the Impact
Character's flexible ways infuriate him more and more. Eventually, the
Impact Character has had enough of this, and begins to intentionally
exhibit his easy attitude in front of the Main Character, so he can make
him aware of situations in which rigid views just won't work.
Signpost #2
Type 2. Contemplation [Conscious]
The Impact Character carries the argument to the Main Character that
no one is immune to temptation. Going under cover in the Consortium
will surely cause the Main Character to break if he does not learn to bend.
Prophetically, the Impact Character makes the Main Character aware
(Conscious) that there are some situations in which a fixed code of ethics
creates a paradox where one must re-examine one's ideals.
Journey #2
Type 2. Contemplation [Conscious] ———> Type 3. Memory
Coming to see that even though the Main Character is now aware of
the issues involved, he still does not relent in his plans, The Impact Char-
acter begins to bring up "the old days" when they were both beat cops
together, fresh out of growing up in the same neighborhood. The Impact
Character uses the Main Character's memories to drive home the point
that the Main Character was also flexible in those days, and they laughed
at the stiffs who usually ended up getting killed or going crazy.
Signpost #3
Type 3. Memory
The Main Character has gone so deeply under cover that no one at
the agency has heard from him in days. The Impact Character contacts
and meets with the Main Character, finding him caught in a web of self-
doubt, unable to choose between sticking with his code or helping the
children's hospital. The Impact Character forces the Main Character to
remember their days growing up together in the same neighborhood.
Recalling how the Main Character's thinking was not always so black and
white, he urges the Main Character to learn a lesson from those memo-
ries and bend with the wind, rather than snap under the pressures that
are upon him.
Journey #3
Type 3. Memory ———> Type 4 Subconscious
Unable to be in further contact with the Main Character who remains
under cover, the Impact Character gets a few old friends from the early
days to cross paths with the Main Character in the attempt to loosen him
up. Each has been told by the Impact Character to remind the Main
Character about "the old days" and how much fun they used to have, how
many dreams they shared before they got "locked in" to the system.
Signpost #4
Type 4 Subconscious
Now that the Main Character is back in the agency, the Impact Char-
acter passes judgment upon him. He tells the Main Character to look to
his heart - look to all the noble things the Main Character had hoped to do
in the political realm. The Impact Character asks the Main Character how
he feels now, knowing that he has violated the very ideals he had in-
tended to run on. "What does your heart tell you now?" he asks of the
Main Character, then walks out leaving the dejected Main Character
alone.
Subjective Story Throughline Plot Progression
It is always best to work on the Subjective Story Throughline last since it describes
the growth of the relationship between the Main and Impact Characters, and therefore
needs to call upon what was previously determined for them.
Imagine for a moment that the Main Character is a boxer. As an audience we stand
in his shoes, effectively becoming him for the duration of the story. We look in the far
corner and see our opponent, the Impact Character warming up for the bout. As the
fight begins, we pass through changing concerns represented by the Main Character
Throughline Type Order. As the fight progresses, the Impact Character lands some
telling blows. These are described by the Impact Character Type Order.
Outside the ring sit the judges. They do not stand in the shoes of the Main Charac-
ter, nor are they concerned, fearful, or impacted by the Impact Character's attack.
Rather, the judges watch two fighters circling around the issues - maintaining the same
relationship between them as adversaries, but covering different ground in the ring.
So it is with the Subjective Story Throughline Type Order. As the first round begins,
the Main and Impact Characters converge on a particular issue. They argue the issue,
each from his own point of view. Once they have thrashed that topic into submission,
they move on to another area of friction and continue sparring.
Example:
In this fictitious story example, the Subjective Story Throughline has been chosen to
be Manipulation (Psychology). The Type order selected for the Subjective Story is as
follows: Developing A Plan [Conceptualizing], Conceiving An Idea, Playing A Role
[Being], and lastly Changing One's Nature [Becoming].
Signpost #1
Type 1. Developing A Plan [Conceptualizing]
Developing A Plan [Conceptualizing] means working out a plan,
model, belief system, or paradigm. In the Subjective Story, the Main and
Impact Characters quickly come into conflict about how to look at the
relationship between organized crime and law enforcement. The Main
Character argues that law enforcement is like a breakwater, holding back
an ocean of anarchy. The Impact Character sees the system more like
an ecology, where each kind of activity has its place in an ever-changing
environment.
Journey #1
Type 1. Developing A Plan ———> Type 2. Conceiving An Idea
As new information about the increasing number of diamond heists
builds, both the Main and Impact Characters approach the problem,
arguing over how to put the clues into a meaningful pattern. When they
discover the international Consortium, the Main Character looks for ways
to stop it completely, while the Impact looks for ways to divert it. Based
on his views, the Main Character Conceives of the need to place one of
his agents deep within the Consortium as a mole. The Impact Character
argues that the Main Character is thinking about it all wrong. They should
be working out how to make the heists too difficult and costly a venture so
the Consortium will go elsewhere to greener pastures.
Signpost #2
Type 2. Conceiving An Idea
Conceiving An Idea means coming up with an idea or determining a
need. They finally come up with the idea of using the Main Character as
the mole in an undercover operation, agreeing that this will be the best
way to proceed given their two points of view. They both believe that this
plan will not only achieve their purposes, but will also make the other see
the error of his ways. The Main Character believes he will be able to
prove that he can stop the Consortium dead in its tracks, and the Impact
Character believes the Main Character will be forced to compromise and
change his point of view.
Journey #2
Type 2. Conceiving An Idea ———> Type 3. Playing A Role [Being]
As the Main and Impact Character come up with more ideas to help
him rise among the Consortium, they realize they are still not seeing eye
to eye on how to run this operation. The Main Character starts acting
more and more impatient with the Impact Character, being more and
more like the role he is playing to be in among the sting. The Impact
Character starts taking on a different role, that of the Main Character's
nagging conscience.
Signpost #3
Type 3. Playing A Role [Being]
Playing A Role [Being] means acting a role or playing a part. With the
Main Character now on the inside of the Consortium, he adopts the role
of an up-and-coming organized crime boss. The Impact character is only
allowed to see him while playing the role of his long-time friend and
priest. Having to meet under the gaze of criminals, their relationship
becomes one of play-acting.
Journey #3
Type 3. Playing A Role ———> Type 4 Changing One's Nature
In their meetings, the Impact Character argues that if the Main Char-
acter is determined to follow through in his plan, and successfully become
a mole in the Consortium, the Main Character needs to play the role
better than he has been. This will mean acting ruthlessly and letting a
few people get hurt. The Main Character argues that he will not cross his
personal line, even if that choice blows his cover: if he acted like them, he
says he would be no better than they are. The Impact Character points
out that if the Main Character doesn't bend his own code a little more,
they will both become suspected narcs and probably be exposed. This
comes down to the choice between letting crime money be used to save
the children's hospital or letting the hospital be shut down, and the Main
Character chooses to save it.
Signpost #4
Type 4 Changing One's Nature [Becoming]
Changing One's Nature [Becoming] means truly transforming one's
nature. The Impact Character points out to the Main Character that The
Main Character is no longer the self assured champion of righteousness
he once was. He points out that there was no escaping the change that
the Main Character made in his personal code to be able to bring the
Consortium to some measure of justice. The Main Character responds
that the angst he is suffering is a test of his moral fiber. Those who stand
against the pressure and survive Become stronger for it. He throws the
Impact Character out of his office yelling that they will never work to-
gether again, but it is clear that the Main Character has seen too much in
himself and has become convinced that his moral ethics are no longer as
powerful as they used to be.
Encoding Genre
As previously discussed, Genre is only slightly influenced by a storyform. This is
because only four story points have a structural influence on Genre: the four
Throughlines. Once each Throughline has been encoded, all the rest of the nebulous
realm called Genre consists of storytelling preferences.
We have already explored the meaning of each Throughline appreciation in the
Genre portion of The Elements of Structure. In the next section on Storyweaving, we
will touch on many writing techniques that help to fashion Genre.
For now, let us simply recall that a story's Genre does not spring forth full-grown from
the very first word. Rather, it begins as a generalization and gradually evolves into a
more and more refined overall feel and tone until it becomes a unique Genre repre-
sented only the this single story.
As a caution, keep in mind that trying to be completely unique up front often alien-
ates an audience. Conversely, failing to develop enough unique refinements over the
course of a story makes it less than memorable. A safer approach is to start with the
same general nature as any one of thousands of other stories and then slowly mold a
new realm. This is much more audience-friendly and will still create a one-of-a-kind
experience.
Medium and Format

Up to this point, we have explored the encoding process as if storyform and
storytelling were the only concerns. This is only true in a theoretical sense. In practice,
a story cannot be transmitted from author to audience except across a medium. The
medium in which a story is presented both limits the tools available to the author, and
provides uniquely useful tools. For example, motion pictures are not known for the
capacity to present stories told in taste or touch or smell. Stage productions, however,
have made effective use of all three. Also, a novel allows a reader to jump ahead if he
desires, and examine aspects of the story out of order, something one cannot do in a
movie.
Stories in many media are recorded to play back directly to the audience. Others are
recorded as cues to performers and translated through them to the audience. Still
others are not recorded at all and simply told. There can be as many media as there
are means of conveying information.
Even within a single medium there may exist several formats. For example, in televi-
sion there are half-hour three-camera formats, half-hour single-camera formats, one-
hour and two-hour and mini-series formats. Also, time is not the only quality that defines
a format. Soap operas, episodic series, and multi-throughline episodic series are but a
few variations. Each of these formats offers dramatic opportunities and each operates
under constraints. By exploring their demands and benefits, the process of encoding
can be related to best advantage in each.
Stage Three: Storyweaving
Introduction To Storyweaving
Of the Four Stages of Communication, Storyweaving is most like what authors
usually think of as the writing process. It is here that we gather everything we know
about our story and decide how to present it to our audience.
Some authors are planners and like to work out everything before they write a word.
For them, the Storyweaving process is simply determining the most interesting way to
relate a story that, for them, is already complete in their minds. Another breed of author
consider themselves organic writers, and jump headlong into the writing process, only
discovering what their stories are about along the way. Most authors fall somewhere
between these two extremes, working out portions of their stories to varying degrees,
then jumping in with the intent to become inspired by the writing process to fill in the
gaps.
Which technique is best? Whichever works for you. Writing should be a positive
experience, not drudgery. If you are having headaches instead of triumphs, you might
want to consider changing the balance between your degree of preparation and your
spontaneous exploration. For anyone destined to write, the best mix can be found.
Of course, the proper mix of structure and stream of consciousness may change for
an author from day to day. Some days may be good for working on the framework of a
story. Other days it may be best to simply dive in and write. And the best mix can also
change depending upon the subject matter or even the medium or format. Writing is not
a science but an art. Still, like any art, science can improve the tools of the trade to
make artistic expression more enjoyable and the finished product more reflective of the
author's intent. This is where Dramatica can help.
As aids to structure, the Storyforming and Storyencoding stages of communication
describe everything necessary to construct a complete argument. As tools for organic
writing, Storyweaving and reception provide techniques that create results. As you
approach a story, you will likely want to draw on many of these tools to fashion the story
you have in mind in the manner that brings the most creative fulfillment.
Having now set the stage, as it were, of how Storyweaving fits into the writing pro-
cess, let's explore some of the tricks of the trade.
STORYWEAVING and STRUCTURE
Part of the purpose of Storyweaving is to communicate the underlying dramatic
structure or message of a story. The other part is to make that process of communica-
tion as interesting and/or effective as possible. In addition, the manner in which the
structure is expressed can have a great impact on how the audience receives the mes-
sage which extends far beyond simply understanding the message.
Our first job then is the somewhat mundane task of describing how a structure can
been communicated through exposition. Once we have laid this foundation, we can cut
ourselves free to consider the enjoyable aspects of using weaving techniques to build
suspense, create comedy, shock an audience, and generally have a good time putting
the frosting on the cake.
Space and Time Together Again

By now, you should be familiar with the concept that part of a story's structure is
made up of Static Story Points and part consists of Progressive Story Points. It is here
in Storyweaving that we must find a way to blend the two together so all aspects of our
story can unfold in concert.
In the Plot section of Storyencoding, we learned how the four structural and three
dynamic acts of each throughline could be seen as four signposts that defined three
journeys. Although there are many ways we might weave all of this into a story, there is
one very straightforward method that is useful to illustrate the basic concepts.
First of all, think of each signpost and each journey not as an act, but as a Story-
weaving scene. From this perspective, we can see that there will be twenty-eight
scenes in our story (four signposts and three journeys in each of four throughlines). If
we were to write the Type of each signpost on a card and then write the Types that
describe the beginning and ending of each journey on a card, we would end up with
twenty-eight cards, each of which would represent a Storyweaving scene. (It would be
a good idea to put all the signposts and journeys from each throughline on a different
color card so we could easily tell them apart.)
Now, we have in front of us twenty-eight scenes. Each one has a job to do, from a
structural point of view. Each one must express to an audience the appreciation it
represents. This is the process of encoding the signposts and journeys as we did in the
Plot section of Storyencoding. We might write that encoding right on each card so that
we can tell at a glance what is going to be happening in that scene.
It is at this point we can begin to Storyweave. What we want to determine is the
order in which those twenty-eight scenes will be played out for our audience. A good
rule of thumb for a straightforward story is that the scenes in each throughline ought to
be kept in order. So, Signpost 1 will be followed by Journey 1 which is in turn followed
by Signpost 2 and Journey 2, etc.
Now we run into a bit of a sticky wicket: because all four throughlines are actually
happening simultaneously from a structural point of view, we would have to have all four
Signposts 1 from all four throughlines occur at the same time! Of course, this might be
difficult unless we were making a movie and used a four-way split screen. Still, some of
our most sophisticated authors find ways use a single event to represent more than one
dramatic point at a time. This technique requires experience and inspiration.
A much more practical approach for those using Dramatica for the first time is to put
one of the Signposts 1 first, then another, a third, and finally the last. Which of the four
Signposts 1 goes first is completely up to our personal tastes, no limitations whatsoever.
Although this is not as complex as describing all four throughlines at once, it is a much
easier pattern to weave and has the added advantage of providing better clarity of
communication to our audience.
Next, we will want to Storyweave all four Journeys 1. We might decide to move
through them in the same order as the Signposts or to choose a completely different
sequence. Again, that has no structural impact at all, and is wholly up to our creative
whims.
Just because we have absolute freedom, however, does not mean our decision will
have no effect on our audience. In fact, the order in which each scene crops up deter-
mines which information is a first impression and which is a modifier. It is a fact of
human psychology that first impressions usually carry more weight than anything that
follows. It takes a lot of undoing to change that initial impact. This is why it is usually
better to introduce the Main Character's Signpost 1 before the Impact Character Sign-
post 1. Otherwise, the audience will latch onto the Impact Character and won't switch
allegiance until much farther into the story. Clearly, if our weaving has brought the
audience to think the Impact Character is the Main Character, we have failed to convey
the real structure and meaning of our story. So, just because we have freedom here
doesn't mean we won't be held accountable.
Using the technique described above, we could order all of the Signposts and Jour-
neys for all four throughlines until we have established a Storyweaving sequence for all
twenty-eight scenes.
Before we move on to the next step of this introduction to building Storyweaving
scenes, we can loosen up our constraints even a bit further. We don't have to present
all four Signposts and then all four Journeys. Together, each Signpost and Journey pair
moves a throughline from where it starts right up to the edge of the next act break.
Each pair feels to an audience as if they belong in the first act for that throughline.
Therefore, as long as the Signposts precede their corresponding Journeys, the order of
exposition can stick with one throughline for both Signpost and Journey or jump from a
Signpost to another throughline before returning to the corresponding Journey.
Taking this more liberal approach, we might begin with Main Character Signpost 1
and Journey 1 (as illustrated below), then show Overall Story Signpost 1, then Impact
Character Signpost 1, Overall Story Journey 1, Subjective Story Signpost 1 and Journey
1, and end with Impact Character Journey 1. In this manner, the Signposts and Jour-
neys in each throughline stay in order, but we have much more latitude in blending the
four throughlines together.
MC Card #1 MC Card #2 OS Card #1 OC Card #1
Main Character Main Character Objective Story Obstacle Character

Signpost #1 Journey #1 Signpost #1 Signpost #1
OS Card #2 SS Card #1 SS Card #2 OC Card #2
Objective Story Subjective Story Subjective Story Obstacle Character

Journey #1 Signpost #1 Journey #1 Journey #1
Storyweaving Static Story Points
By now, we have let our feelings be our guide in establishing a sequence for the
twenty-eight Storyweaving scenes. Our next task is to figure out how to illustrate all of
our remaining story points within those scenes.
One of the first things we might notice is that the Throughline of each throughline is
probably already expressed in the kinds of material we encoded for each Signpost and
Journey. That is because the Types are simply a more detailed breakdown within each
Throughline. All the remaining story points, however, will probably have to be ad-
dressed directly.
Since we have already woven all the crucial Progressive Story Points into our
scenes, the rest are Static Story Points, and they all share one common quality: they
must show up at least once, but can show up as many more times as you like. Again,
we have a lot of freedom here. As long as we illustrate each appreciation somewhere,
we have fulfilled our obligation to our structure. Anything beyond that is just technique
that may make the story experience for our audience a more involving one.
So, let's take Goal. We might spell out the Goal in the very first Storyweaving scene
and never mention it again. Hitchcock often did this with his famous "MacGuffin", which
was simply seen as an excuse to get the chase started. Or, we might bring up the Goal
once per act to make sure our audience doesn't lose sight of what the story is all about.
In fact, that is another good rule of thumb: even though once will do it, it is often best to
remind the audience of each Static Appreciation once per act. As we shall later see,
this concept forms the basis of The Rule of Threes, which is a very handy writer's tech-
nique.
Another thing we might do with a Static Appreciation is hint at it, provide pieces of
information about it, but never actually come out and say it. In this manner, the audi-
ence enjoys the process of figuring things out for itself. Since we are obligated to illus-
trate our structure, however, we better make sure that by the end of the story, the audi-
ence has enough pieces to get the point.
For each kind of Static Appreciation author's have created many original way in
which they might be woven into a scene through action, dialogue, visuals, even chang-
ing the color of type in a book. We suggest making a list of all your story points and
then peppering them into your scenes in the most interesting and non-cliché manner
you can. Even if you aren't overly clever about some of them, at least the structure has
been served.
Storyweaving Characters
Lastly, a word about weaving characters into your story. In this regard, there is a
huge difference between weaving a Subjective Character and an Overall Story Charac-
ter. In fact, at this juncture the weaving of Subjective Characters is much easier. Just
through creating scenes based on the Signposts and Journeys in the Main and Impact
Character Throughlines, much of their character has been woven into the story. Then,
by illustrating these character's Static Story Points the job pretty much finishes itself.
Overall Story Characters, however, are another matter altogether. Overall Story
Characters have functions, and therefore to be woven into a story they must exercise
those functions. With archetypes it is a relatively easy affair. There are eight arche-
types. Each must be introduced so the audience knows what function they represent.
Each must be dismissed so the audience knows how they ended up. And, each must
interact to show the audience which problem solving techniques work better than oth-
ers. Introductions, Interactions, and Dismissals: another Rule of Threes again.
The most obvious and important interactions between archetypal characters occur
between dynamic pairs, such as the Protagonist and Antagonist or Reason and Emo-
tion. The two sides of each argument between functions must be played against each
other to show which archetype fares better.
In addition, each interaction must go through the three steps of development: set-up,
conflict, and resolution. This means that the argument over function between each
dynamic pair of archetypes must first be established. Then, the approaches must
actually come into conflict. Finally, one of the two opponents must be shown to better
the other.
Putting all this together, we have eight introductions, eight dismissals, and four
interactions with three steps in each. This amounts to twenty-eight character events
that must occur in a story using archetypes. As one might suspect, with twenty-eight
character events and twenty-eight Storyweaving scenes, it dovetails nicely to put one
character event in each Storyweaving scene.
Now, you don't have to do this. It's just one simple way of getting the whole job
done. In keeping with this kind of approach, you might choose to touch on theme in
each of the scenes, and explore at least one aspect of a Static Appreciation in every
scene as well. This would certainly make sure the entire structure was related. But it
also runs the risk of creating a monotone feel to your story.
Loading up one scene with many story points, then clearing the boards to concen-
trate on only one, can liven up the party. In addition, all of this has been based on an
assumption of one Signpost or Journey per Storyweaving scene. Although that is the
simple way to Storyweave, there are many more ways to convey the structure of a story.
Let's take a look at some of them.
Storyweaving And Storytelling
There are two kinds of storytelling: techniques, those that affect the arrangement of
things (spatial) and those that affect the sequence of things (temporal). In Dramatica
theory, we have cataloged four different techniques of each kind.
Spatial techniques:
Building size (changing scope)
This technique holds audience interest by revealing the true size of something over
the course of the story until it can be seen to be either larger or smaller than it originally
appeared. This makes things appear to grow or diminish as the story unfolds.
Conspiracy stories are usually good examples of increasing scope, as only the tip of
the iceberg first comes to light and the full extent is ultimately much bigger. The motion
picture The Parallax View illustrates this nicely. Stories about things being less exten-
sive than they originally appear are not unlike The Wizard Of Oz in which a seemingly
huge network of power turns out to be just one man behind a curtain. Both of these
techniques are used almost as a sub-genre in science fiction stories, recently notable in
Star Trek The Next Generation.
Red herrings (changing importance)

Red herrings are designed to make something appear more or less important than it
really is. Several good examples of this technique can be found in the motion picture
The Fugitive. In one scene a police car flashes its lights and siren at Dr. Kimble, but
only to tell him to move along. In another scene, Kimble is in his apartment when an
entire battalion of police show up with sirens blazing and guns drawn. It turns out they
were really after the son of his landlord and had no interest in him at all. Red herrings
can inject storytelling tension where more structurally related weaving may be lethargic.
(Note the difference from changing size, which concentrates on the changing extent of
something, rather than re-evaluations of its power.)
Meaning Reversals (shifting context to change meaning)

Reversals change context. In other words, part of the meaning of anything we
consider is due to its environment. The phrase, guilt by association, expresses this
notion. In Storyweaving, we can play upon audience empathy and sympathy by making
it like or dislike something, only to have it find out it was mistaken. There is an old
Mickey Mouse cartoon called Mickey's Trailer which exemplifies this nicely. The story
opens with Mickey stepping from his house in the country with blue skies and white
clouds. He yawns, stretches, then pushes a button on the house. All at once, the lawn
roll up, the fence folds in and the house becomes a trailer. Then, the sky and clouds
fold up revealing the trailer is actually parked in a junkyard. Certainly a reversal from
our original understanding.
Message Reversals (shifting context to change message)

In the example above, the structure of the story actually changed from what we
thought it was. In contrast, when we shift context to create a different message , the
structure remains the same, but our appreciation of it changes. This can be seen very
clearly in a Twilight Zone episode entitled, Invaders, in which Agnes Moorhead plays a
lady alone on a farm besieged by aliens from another world. The aliens in question are
only six inches tall, wear odd space suits and attack the simple country woman with
space age weapons. Nearly defeated, she finally musters the strength to overcome the
little demons, and smashes their miniature flying saucer. On its side we see the Ameri-
can Flag, the letters U.S.A. and hear the last broadcast of the landing team saying they
have been slaughtered by a giant. Now, the structure didn't change, but our sympathies
sure did, which was the purpose of the piece.
Temporal techniques:
Building importance (changing impact)
In this technique, things not only appear more or less important, but actually become
so. This was also a favorite of Hitchcock in such films as North By Northwest and
television series like MacGuyver. In another episode of The Twilight Zone, for example,
Mickey Rooney plays a jockey who gets his wish to be big, only to be too large to run
the race of a lifetime.
Non-causality
There is often a difference between what an audience expects and what logically
must happen. A prime example occurs in the Laurel and Hardy film, The Music Box.
Stan and Ollie are piano movers. The setup is their efforts to get a piano up a quarter
mile flight of stairs to a hillside house. Every time they get to the top, one way or an-
other it slides down to the bottom again. Finally, they get it up there only to discover the
address is on the second floor! So, they rig a block and tackle and begin to hoist the
piano up to the second floor window. The winch strains, the rope frays, the piano
sways. And just when they get the piano up to the window, they push it inside without
incident.
After the audience has been conditioned by the multiple efforts to get the piano up
the stairs, pushing it in the window without mishap has the audience rolling in the aisles,
as they say.
Out of sequence experiences (changing temporal relation-

ships)
With this technique, the audience is unaware they are being presented things out of
order. Such a story is the motion picture, Betrayal, with Ben Kingsley. The story opens
and plays through the first act. We come to determine whom we side with and whom
we don't: who is naughty and who is nice. Then, the second act begins. It doesn't take
long for us to realize that this action actually happened before the act we have just
seen. Suddenly, all the assumed relationships and motivations of the characters must
be re-evaluated, and many of our opinions have to be changed. This happens again
with the next act, so that only at the end of the movie are we able to be sure of our
opinions about the first act we saw, which was the last act in the story.
A more recent example is Pulp Fiction in which we are at first unaware that things
are playing out of order. Only later in the film do we catch on to this, and are then
forced to alter our opinions.
Flashbacks and flash-forwards (sneak previews and

postviews)
There is a big difference between flashbacks where a character reminisces and
flashbacks that simply transport an audience to an earlier time. If the characters are
aware of the time shift, it affects their thinking, and is therefore part of the story's struc-
ture. If they are not, the flashback is simply a Storyweaving technique engineered to
enhance the audience experience.
In the motion picture and book of Interview With The Vampire, the story is a struc-
tural flashback, as we are really concerned with how Louis will react once he has fin-
ished relating these events from his past. In contrast, in Remains Of The Day, the story
is presented out of sequence for the purpose of comparing aspects of the characters
lives in ways only the audience can appreciate. Even Pulp Fiction employs that tech-
nique once the cat is out of the bag that things are not in order. From that point forward,
we are looking for part of the author's message to be outside the structure, in the realm
of storytelling.
Technique Wrap-up
As long as the audience is able to discern the story's structure by the time it is over,
the underlying argument will be clear. Beyond that, there is no law that says if, when, or
in what combinations these Storyweaving techniques can be brought into play. That is
part of the art of storytelling, and as such is best left to the muse.
The one area we have not yet explored is the impact medium and format have on
Storyweaving techniques. Not to leave a stone un-turned, Dramatica has a few tips for
several of these.
Tips for Short Stories
How to Make Short, a Story
The Dramatica model contains an entire Grand Argument Storyform. There is simply
not enough room in a short story, however, to cover all aspects of a Grand Argument.
The worst thing to do is arbitrarily hack off chunks of the Grand Argument Story in an
attempt to whittle things down. A better solution is to limit the scope of the argument.
This can best be done by focusing on a single Class or eliminating a level of resolution
(such as Overall Story Characters or Theme).
Two Ways to Limit Scope

When limited to one Class, the story will be told from only one point of view: Main
Character, Impact Character, Overall Story Throughline, or Subjective Story
Throughline. Because storyforms are holographic, the gist of the argument is made but
only "proven" within the confines of that point of view.
When limiting to fewer resolutions, a whole level of examination is removed, effec-
tively obscuring a portion of the exploration and leaving it dark. Again, the gist of the
topic is explored but only in the illuminated areas.
In the case of a single-Class story, the argument appears one-sided, and indeed it
is. In the limited-resolution story, the exploration of the topic seems somewhat shallow
but is complete as deep as it goes.
Ultra-Short Stories
When writing VERY short stories, these two methods of "paring down" the informa-
tion are often combined, resulting in a loss of perspective AND detail. So how small can
a story be and still be a story? The minimal story consists of four dramatic units in a
quad. This is the tiniest story that can create an interference pattern between the flow
of space and time, encoding both reason and emotion in a way than can be decoded by
an audience. However, ANY quad will do, which leads to a great number of minimal
stories.
Tips for Episodic Television Series
Characters in Episodic Series

Keeping Characters Alive
Unlike single stories that are told from scratch, television stories have "carry-over."
That which is established becomes embedded in the mythic lore of the series, creating
an inertia that strangles many fine concepts before their time. This inertia can be a very
good thing if it forms a foundation that acts as a stage for the characters rather than
burying the characters under the foundation.
To keep a limber concept from succumbing to arthritis in this concrete jungle, creat-
ing characters who can portray the full Element level of the structural storyform and
making choices that shift the dynamics from episode to episode are required to keep
things lively.
Many episodic series rely on Archetypal Characters who can be counted on to re-
spond in the same way from episode to episode. This caters to the strengths of televi-
sion series with a loyal audience: the ability to create friends and family on which one
can rely.
The first few episodes of a series usually bring in the "Villain of the Week" (essen-
tially a new Archetypal Antagonist each time) while the Archetypal roles are becoming
established for the regular cast and the mythic lore is being outlined. This formula
wears thin rather quickly as the characters fall into predictable relationships with each
other. They assume standard roles from which they never vary until the series loses its
ratings and is canceled.
Swapping Roles
A solution to this growing inflexibility is to change the formula after a few "establish-
ing" episodes. If one keeps the Overall Story Characters the same for stability but
swaps the Subjective Character roles, the dynamics of the character inter-relationships
change even while the structure remains the same. This means the Protagonist is still
the Protagonist, Reason is still Reason and so on, but Reason may be the Main Char-
acter of the week and Protagonist the Impact Character. By shifting Subjective Charac-
ter roles, several season's worth of character variations can be created without any
repeats and the loyal audience's attention is retained.
To further break up the routine, occasional stories can focus on one of the Overall
Story Characters as Protagonist and Main Character in his own story, without the other
cast members. For this episode only, a whole new ensemble is assembled as if it were
a story independent of the series. Obviously, too much of this weakens the mythic lore,
so this technique should be used sparingly.
Characters of the Week

On the other hand, many successful series have been built around a single charac-
ter who travels into new situations from week to week, meeting a whole new cast of
characters each time. This forms the equivalent of an anthology series, except the Main
Character recurs from week to week.
A means of generating character variety is to occasionally assign this recurring
character to roles other than that of Protagonist. Instead of telling every episode as
revolving around the recurring character, have that character be Guardian or Antagonist
or Skeptic to some other Protagonist. This technique has allowed many "on the road"
series to remain fresh for years.
Plot in Episodic Series

Plot is the aspect of episodic series most plagued with formula. This is because of a
predictable Dramatic Circuit. A Dramatic Circuit is made up of a Potential, Resistance,
Current, and Outcome. Each of these aspects must be present to create the flow of
dramatic tension.
Conventions have been established that often follow the order indicated above.
Each episode begins with the potential for trouble either as the first act in a half-hour
series or as the teaser in an hour series. In half-hour series, the next act brings in a
Resistance to threaten conflict with the Potential. Hour-long series present an act
establishing the status quo that the Potential is about to disrupt, then present an act on
the Resistance. Next follows the Current act in which Potential and Resistance conflict.
In the final act, Potential and Resistance "have it out" with one or the other coming out
on top. Some series favor the Potential winning, others the Resistance, still others
alternate depending on the mood of the producers, writers and stars.
Some feel this kind of formula is a good pattern to establish because the audience
becomes comfortable with the flow. Sometimes this is true, but unless the Character,
Theme, and Throughline of each episode varies the audience will wind up getting bored
instead. More interesting approaches vary which function of the Dramatic Circuit comes
first and jumble up the order of the others as well. Starting with an Outcome and show-
ing how it builds to a Potential, then leaving that Potential open at the end of the story
can make plots seem inspired. Many a notable comedy series has its occasional bitter-
sweet ending where all the pieces don't come together.
Theme in Episodic Series
Often in episodic series, "themes" are replaced with "topics." Although Dramatica
refers to the central thematic subject as a Topic, common usage sees topics as hot
subjects of the moment. This makes topics an element of storytelling, not storyform.
Frequently, the actual thematic topic is missing or only hinted at in the exploration of a
news topic.
For example, the "topic of the week" in a typical series might be "Babies for Sale."
But is that a Theme? Not hardly. What is interesting about Babies for Sale? Are we
exploring someone's Strategy or Worry or Responsibility or Morality? Any of these or
any of the 60 other Variations could be the thematic topic of "Babies for Sale."
To involve the audience emotionally, the theme of each episode must be distinct,
clearly defined and fully explored in essential human ways — not just revolving around
a news item.
Genre in Episodic Series

Series can be comedies, action stories, love stories — whatever. The key point to
consider is that Dramatica Throughlines work in any Genre. To keep a "high" concept
from bottoming out, rotate through the Throughlines, using a different one each week.
There are only four Throughlines: a Situation, an Activity, a Manner of Thinking and a
State of Mind. A Situation Comedy (Situation) is quite different from a Comedy of Errors
(a Manner of Thinking). Whatever Genre the series is cast in, bouncing the episodes
through the Throughlines keeps the Genre fresh. In addition, jumping among genres
from time to time can spice up the flavor of a series that has begun to seem like left-
overs from the same meal, week to week.
Tips for Multi-Story Ensemble Series and Soap Operas
Subplots
The least complex form of the Multi-Story Ensemble Series employs the use of
subplots. Subplots are tales or stories drawn with less resolution than the principal
story. They hinge on one of the principal story's characters other than the Main Charac-
ter. This hinge character becomes the Main Character of the subplot story.
Subplots are never essential to the progression of the principal plot and only serve to
more fully explore issues tangential to the principal story's argument. "Tangent" is a
good word to use here, as it describes something that touches upon yet does not inter-
fere with something else.
Subplots may begin at any time during the course of the principal story, but should
wrap up just before the principal climax, or just after in the denouement (author's proof).
Relationships of Subplots to Plot

Since subplots are essentially separate stories, they may or may not reflect the
values and concerns of the principal story. This allows an author to complement or
counterpoint the principal argument. Frequently a subplot becomes a parallel of the
principal story in another storytelling context, broadening the scope of the principal
argument by inference to include all similar situations. In contrast, the subplot may
arrive at the opposite conclusion, indicating that the solution for one storytelling situation
is not universally appropriate.
There can be as many subplots in a story as time allows. Each one, however, must
hinge on a character who is essential to the principal story (as opposed to a character
merely created for storytelling convenience). Each character can only head up a single
subplot, just as the Main Character of the principal story cannot carry any additional
subplots. However, the Main Character can (and often does) participate in a subplot as
one of its Overall Story characters.
Multi-Story Formats
Other than subplots, Multi-Story Series can contain several stories that are not
related at all. In this case, there may be two or more completely independent sets of
characters who never cross paths. Or an author may choose to interweave these
independent stories so that the characters come into contact, but only in an incidental
way. In a sense, this form is sort of a "spatial anthology" wherein multiple stories are
told not in succession but simultaneously.
Perhaps the most complex form of the Multi-Story Ensemble Series is when both
subplots and separate stories are employed. Often, the subplots and the separate
stories both use the principal story's characters as well as characters that do not come
into play in the principal story.
Stretching Time
An over-abundance of storytelling becomes difficult to conclude within the limits of
even a one-hour show. Therefore, single episodes can be treated more like acts with
stories sometimes running over four or more episodes. Each episode might also con-
tain subplots staggered in such a way that more than one may conclude or begin in the
middle of another subplot which continues over several episodes.
Obviously, a lot of cross-dynamics can be going on here. It is the author's job as
storyteller to make sure the audience is aware at all times as to which story or subplot
they are seeing and what the character's roles are in each context. This is essential,
since no internal storyform is controlling all of the independent stories. They are held
together here only by the connective tissue of storytelling.
Tips for Novels
Novels, like all forms of prose, employ "stretchy time" where (unlike plays) individual
audience members can proceed through the work at their own pace. They can also re-
experience important or personally meaningful sections and skip sections. As a result,
in novels an author can play with storytelling in ways that would be ineffective with the
audience of a stage play.
More than most formats, the author can meander in a novel without losing his audi-
ence. This is a wonderful opportunity to explore areas of personal interest, develop a
particularly intriguing character, harp on a message or engage in a fantasy in public.
Of course, if you intend to tell an actual story in your novel, then the storyform has to
be in there somewhere. However, with stretchy time in effect, time is not of the essence
and one can afford to stray from the path and play in the fields on the way to
Grandmother's house.
Tips for Motion Pictures
The Rule of Threes

Many rules and guidelines work fine until you sit down to write. As soon as you get
inspired, creative frenzy takes over and the muse bolts forward like a mad bull. But
there is one rule of thumb that sticks out like a sore thumb: the Rule of Threes.
Interactions and the Rule of Threes

Overall Story Characters represent dramatic functions which need to interact to
reflect all sides of solving the story problem. The first interaction sets the relationship
between the two characters. The second interaction brings them into conflict. The third
interaction demonstrates which one fare better, establishing one as more appropriate
than the other.
This is true between Protagonist and Antagonist, Protagonist and Skeptic, Skeptic
and Sidekick — in short, between all essential characters in a story. A good guide while
writing is to arrange at least three interactions between each pairing of characters. In
this manner, the most concise, yet complete portrayal can be made of essential story-
form dynamics.
Introductions
Each of the characters must be introduced before the three interactions occur, and
they must be dismissed after the three interactions are complete. These two functions
set-up the story and then disband it, much like one might put up a grandstand for a
parade and then tear it down after the event is over. This often makes it feel like there
are five acts in a story when three are truly dynamic acts and two have been "borrowed"
from the structure.
The introduction of characters is so well known that it is often forgotten by the au-
thor. A character's intrinsic nature must be illustrated before he interacts with any of the
Overall Story Characters. This is so basic that half the time it doesn't happen and the
story suffers right from the start. (Keep in mind that an author can use storytelling to
"fool" his audience into believing a character has a given nature, only to find out it made
assumptions based on too little information in the wrong context.)
Introductions can be on-camera or off. They can be in conversation about a charac-
ter, reading a letter that character wrote, seeing the way they decorate their apartment
— anything that describes their natures.
Dismissals
The Rule of Threes should be applied until all of the primary characters are played
against each other to see what sparks are flying. Once we get the picture, it is time to
dismiss the company. Dismissals can be as simple as a death or as complex as an
open-ended indication of the future for a particular character. When all else fails, just
before the ending crawl a series of cards can be shown: "Janey Schmird went on to
become a New Age messiah while holding a day job as a screenplay writer."
The point is, the audience needs to say good-bye to their new friends or foes.
Hand-offs
Hand-offs and Missing Links
Often we may find that a particular point of view needs to be expressed in a given
scene but the character that represents that view has gone off to Alaska. Why did we
send him to Alaska? Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time. But now... Do we go
back and rewrite the entire plot, have him take the next flight home or blow it off and let
the lackluster scene languish in his absence?
None of the above. We could do those things, but there are two other choices that
often prove much more satisfying as well as less destructive to what has already been
written. One method refers to characters in absentia, the other is the hand-off.
Characters in Absentia
The function of characters in a scene is not to establish their physical presence, but
to represent their points of view on the topic at hand. As long as they fulfill that mandate
and throw their two-cents into the mix, their actual presence is not required.
As authors, how can we represent a character's point of view in a scene without
having to haul him in and place him there? Perhaps the easiest way is to have other
characters talk about the missing character and relate the opinion that character would
have expressed if he had been present. For example, one character might say, "You
know, if Charlie were here he'd be pissed as hell about this!" The conversation might
continue with another character taking a contrary position on what old Charlie's reaction
might be until the two have argued the point to some conclusion much as if Charlie had
been there in spirit.
Other techniques might use an answering machine message, a letter, diary or video
interview from the character in question that is examined in the course of a scene.
Many current stories use a murder victim's videotaped will to include him in scenes
involving his money-grubbing heirs. More subtle but potentially even more effective is
for one character to examine the apartment, studio, or other habitat of a missing charac-
ter and draw conclusions based on the personality expressed in the furnishings and
artifacts there. Even the lingering effect of processes a character started before he left,
or other characters' memories of the missing character can position him in the midst of
intense dramatic interchanges without his actual attendance.
Still, for some storytelling purposes, a live body is needed to uphold and represent a
point of view. If there is just no way to bring the character who contains those charac-
teristics into the scene personally, an author can assign a proxy instead. This is accom-
plished by a temporary transfer of dramatic function from one character to another
called a hand-off.
What is a Hand-off?
A hand-off occurs when one player temporarily takes on the story function of a
missing player. This new player carries the dramatic flag for the scene in question, then
hands it back to the original player upon his return.
Doesn't this violate the Dramatica guideline that every Overall Story Character is the
sole representative of his unique characteristics? Not really. Having one character be
the sole representative of a characteristics is a guideline, not a law. The essential part
of that guideline is that a character does not change his internal inventory of character-
istics during the course of the story. A player, however, is not bound by that restriction.
In a hand-off the player is not actually giving up a characteristic because he isn't
around when another character is using it, so technically the first player is never seen
without it. But due to this, he cannot share characteristics with other players at the
same time. If he did, two characters might be trying to represent the same point of view
in the same scene, making dramatic tension just go limp.
How to Do Hand-offs
When we employ the hand-off, we actually create two players to represent the same
trait at different times. It is reminiscent of time-sharing a condo. In any given scene, a
single point of view might be represented by character "A" or by character "B," but never
by both in the same scene.
Most often, one of the players will be a major player and the other just a "plot device"
player of convenience who appears for one scene and is never heard from again. Such
players just fill in the gaps. Sometimes, both players prove intriguing to the author and
each becomes a major player. The difficulty then arises that at the climax of the story,
both players might still be alive and kicking and therefore suddenly converge in an
awkward moment. No matter what you do, it's going to be klunky. Still, if you must
have both present, it's best to either make a statement in the story that they have the
same characteristic(s), thereby binding them in the mind of the audience, or deal with
them one after another.
A special case exists when (for whatever reason) an author decides to terminate a
player from the story. This can be a result of sending the player to its death, to the
Moon or just having it leave at some point and not return. Often, this technique is used
to shock an audience or throw them a red herring. Unless the functions represented by
the discontinued player reappear in another player, however, part of the story's argu-
ment will disappear at the point the original drops out. In the attempt to surprise an
audience by killing off a major player, many an author has doomed an otherwise func-
tional storyform.
There are two primary ways in which a discontinued player's functions can continue
without him. Certainly the easiest is to bring in a new player who is dramatically identi-
cal to the first, although its personal attributes are usually quite different. Often the
storytelling requirements of a plot deem one player more suited to part of a story and
another player to be more in line with the rest. By killing off the first player but continu-
ing its dramatic function through a new player, both purposes can be served to the best
storytelling effect without a loss of dramatic continuity. The major caveat is that the
audience must be made aware that this "dead hand-off" has occurred so it does not
suddenly sense a vacuum in the story's argument. This may require a fair amount of
introduction to solidly place the new player in the old role.
The second technique for replacing a player yet continuing the character's functions
is to divide the functions among several new players, each representing only a portion
of what had previously been contained in one. Naturally, these new players would be
less complex than their predecessor, which may diminish nuance at certain levels of the
story. On the plus side, this method scatters the functions into new bodies, allowing for
external conflicts between functions that were previously blended into a single indi-
vidual. Once again, informing the audience of who got what is essential to the smooth
progression of this type of hand-off.
THE ART OF STORYTELLING
STAGE 4: ST O R Y RECEPTION
About the Audience
What do you have in mind?

Few authors write stories without at least considering what it will be like to read the
story or see it on stage or screen. As soon as this becomes a concern, we have
crossed the line into Reception theory. Suddenly, we have more to consider than what
our story's message is; we now must try to anticipate how that message will be re-
ceived.
One of the first questions then becomes, how do we want it to be received. And
from this, we ask, what am I hoping to achieve with my audience. We may wish to
educate our audience, or we may simply want to bias them. Perhaps we are out to
persuade our audience to adopt a point of view, or simply to pander to an existing point
of view. We might provoke our audience, forcing them to consider some topic or incite
them to take action in regard to a topic. We could openly manipulate them with their
informed consent, or surreptitiously propagandize them, changing their outlook without
their knowledge.
No matter what our author's intent, it is shaped not only by who we are, but also by
who the audience is that we are trying to reach.
Who are you talking to?

You are reading this book because you want to use the Dramatica theory and/or
software to help you record something you are thinking about or feeling. For whatever
reasons, you have decided you want to record something of yourself in a communicable
form.
A primary question then becomes: to whom do you intend to communicate? You
might simply wish to communicate to yourself. You may be documenting transient
feelings that you wish to recall vividly in the future. Or you may want to capture the
temporal ramblings of your chain of thought and then stand back to see what pattern it
makes. Self-searching is often a primary objective of an author's endeavor.
Writing for Someone Else

What if you are writing not for yourself but to reach someone else? It might be that
you hope to reach a single individual which can be done in a letter to a friend, parent, or
child. You might be composing an anecdote or speech for a small or large group, or you
could be creating an industrial film, designing a text book, or fashioning a timeless work
for all humanity.
In each case, the scope of your audience becomes more varied as its size in-
creases. The opportunity to tailor your efforts to target your audience becomes less
practical, and the symbols used to communicate your thoughts and feelings become
more universal and simultaneously less specific.
The audience can thus range from writing for yourself to writing for the world. In
addition, an author's labors are often geared toward a multiplicity of audiences, includ-
ing both himself and others as well. Knowing one's intended audience is essential to
determining form and format. It allows one to select a medium and embrace the kind of
communication that is most appropriate — perhaps even a story.
Dramatica and Communication Theory

Exploring all avenues of communication is far beyond the scope of this initial imple-
mentation of the Dramatica Theory. To be sure, Dramatica (as a model of the mind) has
much to offer in many diverse areas. However, for the practical purposes of this soft-
ware product, we cannot cover that much ground. Rather, we will briefly touch on major
perspectives in the author/audience relationship that can also serve as templates for
translation of the Grand Argument Story perspective into valuable tools for other forms
of communication. In this manner, the usefulness of this specific software implementa-
tion can extend beyond its immediate purpose. (What does this say about OUR in-
tended audience?)
Writing for Oneself
In the Great Practical World of the Almighty Dollar Sign, it might seem trite or tan-
gential to discuss writing for oneself (unless one expects to pay oneself handsomely for
the effort). In truth, the rewards of writing for oneself DO pay handsomely, and not just
in personal satisfaction. By getting in touch with one's own feelings, by discovering and
mapping out one's biases, an author can grow to appreciate his own impact on the work
as being in addition to the structure of the work itself. An author can also become more
objective about ways to approach his audience. (And yes, one can gain a lot of per-
sonal insight and satisfaction as well.)
The Author as Main Character

As an experiment, cast yourself in a story as the Main Character. Cast someone
with whom you have a conflict as the Impact Character. Next, answer all the Dramatica
questions and then go to the Story Points window. Fill in as many of the story points as
seem appropriate to you. Print out the results and put them aside.
Now, go back and create the same story again — this time with your "opponent" as
the Main Character and YOU as the Impact Character. Once again, fill in the story
points and print them out. Compare them to the first results. You will likely find areas in
which the story points are the same and other areas in which they are different.
These points of similarity and divergence will give you a whole new perspective on
the conflicts between you and your adversary. Often, this is the purpose of an author
when writing for himself. Thoughts and feelings can be looked at more objectively on
paper than hidden inside your head. Just seeing them all jumbled up together rather
than as a sequence goes a long way to uncovering meaning that was invisible by just
trotting down the path. After all, how can we ever hope to understand the other person's
point of view while trying to see it from our perspective?
A wise woman once said, "Don't tell me what you'd do if you were me. If you were
me, you'd do the same thing because I AM ME and that's what I'm doing! Tell me what
you'd do if you were in my situation."
Documenting Oneself
Another purpose in writing for oneself is simply to document what it was like to be in
a particular state of mind. In a sense, we jot down the settings of our minds so that we
can tune ourselves back into that state as needed at a later date. The images we use
may have meaning for no one but ourselves, and therefore speak to us uniquely of all
people. The ability to capture a mood is extremely useful when later trying to communi-
cate that mood to others. To bring emotional realism to another requires being in the
mood oneself. What better intuitive tool than emotional snapshots one can count on to
regenerate just the feelings one wants to convey. To make an argument, accept the
argument. To create a feeling, experience the feeling.
Who is "Me"?
A simple note is stuck to the refrigerator door: "Call me when you get home." Who
is "me?" It depends on who you are asking. Ask the author of the note and he would
say it was "myself." Ask the recipient of the note and they would say, "It's him." So the
word "me" has different meanings depending upon who is looking at it. To the author, it
means the same when they wrote it as when they read it as an audience. To the in-
tended audience, however, it means something quite different.
In life, we assume one point of view at a time. In stories, however, we can juxtapose
two points of view, much as we blend the images from two eyes. We can thus look AT a
Main Character's actions and responses even as we look through his eyes. This cre-
ates an interference pattern that provides much more depth and meaning than either
view has separately.
My "Me" is Not Your "Me"

When writing for others, if we assume they share our point of view, it is likely that we
will miss making half of our own point. Far better are our chances of successful com-
munication if we not only see things from our side but theirs as well. Overlaying the two
views can define areas of potential misunderstanding before damage is done. Still,
"Call me when you get home" is usually a relatively low-risk communication and we
suggest you just write the note without too much soul-searching.
Writing for Groups
What Binds a Group?

Groups are not clumps. They are conglomerations of individuals, bound together (to
various degrees) by an aspect of shared interests or traits. Sometimes the common
theme can be an ideology, occupation, physical condition, or situation. Sometimes the
only thread of similarity is that they all gathered together to be an audience.
Do readers of novels "group" as an audience? Certainly not in the physical sense,
yet fans of a particular writer or genre or subject matter are bound by their common
interest. Regular viewers of a television series start out as individuals and become a
group through bonding of experience. They know the classic "bits" and the characters'
idiosyncrasies. In fact, the series' audience becomes a group representing a fictional
culture that ultimately becomes one more sub-cultural template in actual society. Works
can indeed create groups as well as attract them.
What Binds Us All Together

What of the "captive" audience that has no sense of what they are about to experi-
ence, yet are gathered in a classroom or reception room or boardroom or theater?
What of the audience attending the first telecast of a new series, knowing little of what
to expect?
Underneath all the common threads binding an audience together is a group of
individuals. Each one is responsive to the same essential mental processes as the
next. It is this intrinsic sameness — not of ideas but of the way in which ideas are
formed — that makes us all part of the group we call humans. At this most basic level,
we are all part of the same group.
Symbolic Identification
Throughout this book we have stressed the difference between storyforming and
storytelling. A clear communication requires succinct storyforming. Communicating
clearly requires appropriate storytelling.
What makes storytelling appropriate? The fact that the symbols used to encode the
storyform are both understood in denotation and connotation by the intended audience.
If the audience misreads the symbols, the message will be weakened, lost, or polluted.
Identifying with one's audience is not enough: one must also identify one's audi-
ence. It is all well and good to feel part of the group. But it can be a real danger to
assume that identification with a group leads to clear communication in appropriate
symbols or clear reception by all audience members.
A Quick Lesson in Propaganda
Propaganda, n. 1. any organization or movement working for the propa-
gation of particular ideas, doctrines, practices, etc. 2. the ideas, doctrines,
practices, etc. spread in this way. (Webster's New Twentieth Century
Dictionary)
Propaganda: 3. a storyforming/storytelling technique used to impact an
audience in specific ways, often employed to instigate deliberation and/or
action. (Dramatica)
Propaganda is a wondrous and dangerous story device. Its primary usage in stories
is as a method for an author to impact an audience long after they have experienced the
story itself. Through the use of propaganda, an author can inspire an audience to think
certain ways, think about certain things, behave certain ways, and take specific actions.
Like fire and firearms, propaganda can be used constructively and destructively and
does not contain an inherent morality. Any morality involved comes from the minds of
the author and his audience.
This section is not about the morality of propaganda. It is designed as a primer on
how to create and employ propaganda in stories. With that in mind, let's get down to
the nitty-gritty.
The Basics of Propaganda

The human mind seeks to understand itself and the world around it. It does this
through various ways including organizing information into meaningful patterns. De-
pending on the quantity of the information and the accuracy of its interpretation, a mind
will identify a pattern (or several potential patterns) and supply the apparently "missing"
pieces to make the pattern, and therefore meaning, complete. This pattern matching
and filling in of missing pieces is intrinsic to the processes that create the human "mind."
By choosing which piece(s) of the storyform to omit, authors can manipulate the impact
a story will have on the minds of their audiences.
In its most basic form, propaganda is a way for authors to have an audience share
their point of view. Closed (or complete) stories allow authors to present their points of
view in the form of an argument which the audience can then take or leave. Open (or
incomplete) stories require their audiences to supply the missing pieces in order to get
meaning from the story. Just creating an open story, however, does not create propa-
ganda. There must be a pattern to what is missing .
The amount and nature of the missing pieces have a tremendous effect on the
story's propagandistic impact. If you leave too much out of your story, an audience may
not make the effort to "fill-in-the-blanks." The story may then be interpreted by the
audience as meaningless. If, however, you selectively leave out specific pieces of the
storyform, the audience may unknowingly fill in those holes with aspects of its personal
experience. In this way, the story changes from an argument made by the author to the
audience, to an argument made by the author and the audience. Unwittingly, the audi-
ence begins to share the author's point of view and perhaps even become coconspira-
tors in its propagation: ergo, propaganda.
Since a propaganda story is based upon a tenuous relationship between an audi-
ence and an author, both perspectives should be considered to understand the tech-
niques that can be used and the results that can be achieved.
The Audience
Knowing (or preparing) your audience can have a tremendous effect on how your
propaganda will impact them. Here are some rules of thumb:
-- The more specific the symbols you use to encode your story, the
more limited an audience it will affect. The less specific the symbols,
the greater potential audience.
-- The more specific the symbols used to encode the story, the greater
the likelihood it will have an impact on the portion of the audience
that understands the symbols. The less specific the symbols, the
less impact the story will have.
-- The more familiar an audience is with the symbols used to encode a
story, the more susceptible they are to propaganda. The less famil-
iar, the less susceptible.
The Author
Here are the things an author should consider while creating a propaganda story:
1. Nature of Impact
How you want to impact your audience? Do you wish to play with your audience's:
-- Motivations (what drives them)
-- Methodologies (how they go about doing things)
-- Purposes (what they are striving for)
-- Means of evaluation (how they measure their progress — their per-
sonal yardsticks)?
Pick only one as the area of primary impact. This will become the area of the story-
form that you purposefully omit when storytelling. The remaining three areas will be
used to support your intent by drawing attention away from the missing piece(s).
2. Area of Impact
What part of your audience's world-view do you wish to impact?
-- View of the world around them — "objective reality" (Overall Story)
-- View of relationships (Subjective Story)
-- View of themselves (Main Character)
-- View of others (Impact Character)
Choose one of the perspectives. This will be the domain in which to place the "hole"
in the storyform. The area of impact determines which part of your audience's world-
view the propaganda will "infect."
3. Type of Impact: Specific vs. General

Do you want the impact on your audience to be of a specific nature, or of a broader,
more general nature?
The more specific you make the propaganda, the more specific and predictable its
impact will be on an audience. The upside (from an author's point of view) is that spe-
cific behavior (mental or physical) can be promoted or modified. The downside is that
specific propaganda is more easily identifiable and therefore contestable by the audi-
ence.
Specific propaganda is achieved by intentionally not encoding selected story story
points, such as the Main Character's motivation or the story Outcome (Success or
Failure). The audience will supply the missing piece from its own personal experiences
(e.g. the Main Character's motivation in Thelma and Louise.; what happened to Louise
in Texas that prevents her from ever going back is specifically not mentioned in the film
— that blank is left for the audience to fill).
The more general you make the propaganda, the less specific but all-pervasive its
impact will be on an audience. Instead of focusing impact on the audience's motiva-
tions, methodologies, purposes, or means of evaluation, generalized propaganda will
tend to bias the audience's perspectives of their world. The upside (from an author's
point of view) is that generalized propaganda is difficult for an audience to identify and
therefore more difficult to combat than the specific form of propaganda. The downside
is that it does not promote any specific type of behavior or thought process and its direct
impact is less discernible.
General propaganda is achieved by intentionally not encoding entire areas of the
story's structure or dynamics. For example, by leaving out almost all forms of the
story's internal means of evaluation, Natural Born Killers forces its audience to focus on
the methodologies involved and question its own (the members of the audience) means
of evaluation.
4. Degree of Impact
To what degree do you wish to impact your audience? The degree to which you can
impact an audience is dependent on many variables not the least of which are your
storytelling skills and the nature of the audience itself. There are some basic guidelines,
however, that can mitigate and sometimes supersede those variables when skillfully
employed.
Shock as Propaganda
One tried-and-true method is to control what an audience knows about the story
before experiencing the storytelling process so that you can shock them. Within the
context of the story itself (as opposed to marketing or word-of-mouth), an author can
prepare the audience by establishing certain givens, then purposefully break the story-
form (destroy the givens) to shock or jar the audience. This hits the audience at a
Impulsive Responses [Preconscious] level by soliciting an instantaneous, knee-jerk
reaction. This type of propaganda is the most specific and immediately jarring on its
audience. Two films that employed this technique to great effect are Psycho and The
Crying Game.
Psycho broke the storyform to impact the audience's Impulsive Responses [Precon-
scious] by killing the main character twenty minutes or so into the film (the "real" story
about the Bates family then takes over). The shock value was enhanced through mar-
keting by having the main character played by big box office draw Janet Leigh (a good
storytelling choice at the time) and the marketing gimmick that no one would be allowed
into the movie after the first five or ten minutes. This "gimmick" was actually essential
for the propaganda to be effective. It takes time for an audience to identify on a per-
sonal level with a main character. Coming in late to the film would not allow enough
time for the audience member to identify with Janet Leigh's character and her death
would have little to no impact.
The Crying Game used a slightly different process to achieve a similar impact. The
first twenty minutes or so of the film are used to establish a bias to the main character's
(and audience's) view of reality. The "girlfriend" is clearly established except for one
important fact. That "fact," because it is not explicitly denoted, is supplied by the mind
of the main character (and the minds of the audience members). By taking such a long
time to prep the audience, it comes as a shock when we (both main character and
audience) find out that she is a he.
Awareness as Propaganda
Another method is to be up-front about the nature of the propaganda, letting your
audience know what you are doing as you do it to them. This impacts an audience at a
Contemplation [Conscious] level where they must actively consider the pros and cons of
the issues. The propaganda comes from controlling the givens on the issues being
discussed, while the audience focuses on which side of the issues they believe in.
A filmic example of this technique can be seen in JFK. By choosing a controversial
topic (the assassination of President Kennedy) and making an overly specific argument
as to what parties were involved in the conspiracy to execute and cover-up the assassi-
nation, Oliver Stone was able to focus his audience's attention on how "they" got away
with it. The issue of who "they" were was suspiciously contentious as the resulting
media bru-ha-ha over the film indicated. Who "they" were, however, is not the propa-
ganda. The propaganda came in the form the story's given which is that Lee Harvey
Oswald had help. By the end of the story, audiences found themselves arguing over
which of the parties in the story were or were not participants in the conspiracy, accept-
ing the possibility that people other than Oswald may have been involved.
Conditioning as Propaganda
Presenting an audience with an alternative life experience is yet another way to
impact your audience. By ignoring (or catering to) an audience's cultural bias, you can
present your story as an alternative reality. This impacts an audience by undermining or
reinforcing their own personal Memories. By experiencing the story, the message/
meaning of the story becomes part of the audience's memory base.
The nature of the propaganda, however, is that the story lacks context, which must
be supplied by the audience. Thus personalized, the story memory is automatically
triggered when an experience in the audience's real life summons similarly stored
memories. Through repeated use, an audience's "sensibilities" become conditioned.
In Conditioning propaganda, audience attention is directed to causal relationships
like When A also B (spatial), and If C then D (temporal). The mechanism of this propa-
ganda is to leave out a part of the causal relationships in the story, such as When A also
B and If ?? then D. By leaving out one part, the objective contextual meaning is then
supplied automatically by the audience. The audience will replace ?? with something
from its own experience base, not consciously considering that a piece is missing be-
cause it will have emotionally arrived at the contradiction: When A also B and then D.
This type of propaganda is closest to the traditional usage of the term with respect to
stories, entertainment, and advertising. For example, look at much of the tobacco and
alcohol print advertising. Frequently the Main Character (the type of person to whom
the advertisement is supposed to appeal) is attractive, has someone attractive with
them, and appears to be well situated in life. The inference is that when you smoke or
drink, you are also cool, and if you are cool then you will be rich and attractive. The
connection between "cool" and "rich and attractive" is not really in the advertisement but
an audience often makes that connection for itself. In Conditioning propaganda, more
than in the other three forms of propaganda, the degree of impact on your audience is
extremely dependent on your audience's life experience outside the story experience .
Crimes and Misdemeanors is a film example that employs this conditioning tech-
nique of propaganda. The unusual aspect of the film is that it has two completely sepa-
rate stories in it. The "Crimes" story involves a self-interested man who gets away with
murder and personally becomes completely OK with it (a Success/Good story). The
"Misdemeanors" story involves a well meaning man who loses his job, his girl, and is left
miserable (a Failure/Bad story). By supplying two competing stories instead of one, the
audience need not supply its own experiences to arrive at a false context while viewing
this work. Audiences will come to stories, however, with a particular cultural bias. In our
culture, Failure/Bad stories which happen to nice people are regrettable, but familiar;
Success/Good stories about murderers are uncommon and even "morally reprehen-
sible."
The propaganda comes into effect when the audience experiences in its own life a
Failure/Bad scenario that triggers a recollection of the Success/Good story about for-
getting the grief of having murdered — an option that the audience would not normally
have considered. Lacking an objective contextual meaning that sets one over the other,
both stories are given equal consideration as viable solutions. Thus, what was once
inconceivable due to a cultural or personal bias is now automatically seen as a possible
avenue for problem-solving.
Misdirection as Propaganda
The most subtle and possibly most effective form of propaganda from a single expo-
sure is the use of misdirection as a way to impact an audience's Subconscious. Like
"smoke and mirrors" used by magicians, this form of propaganda requires focusing the
audience's Conscious attention in one place while the real impact is made in the Sub-
conscious. Fortunately for propagandistic minded authors, this is one of the easiest
forms of propaganda to create.
This technique comes from omitting parts of the storyform from your storytelling.
What you leave out becomes the audience's blind spot, and the dynamic partner to the
omitted storyform piece becomes the audience's focus. The focus is where your
audience's attention will be drawn (the smoke and mirrors). The blind spot is where
your audience personalizes the story by "filling-in-the-blank." The story's argument is
thus linked directly to the audience's subconscious, based on the context in which the
story is presented.
Let's look at some dynamic pairs of partners that appear in a storyform. The follow-
ing pairs concern the nature of the impact on your audience:
Motivation <–> Purpose

Means of <–> Methodology
Evaluation
Should you wish to impact your audience's motivations, omit a particular motivation
in the story . The audience, then, focused on the purpose they can see will automati-
cally supply a motivation that seems viable to them (e.g.: Thelma and Louise ).
Here are the storyform dynamic pairs that relate to story/audience perspectives:
Overall Story Perspective <–> Subjective Perspective

Main Character Perspective <–> Impact Character Perspective
Combining a nature with a perspective gives an author greater control over a story's
propaganda. For example, if you wish to impact your audience in how they view the
means of evaluation employed by the world around them, omit the Overall Story means
of evaluation elements and the audience's attention will be distracted by focusing on the
methodologies employed (e.g.: Natural Born Killers).
A Word Of Warning
Propaganda is powerful but using it involves risks. It is like a virus or engaging in
germ warfare. Once an audience is exposed to a propagandistic message, the only
way they can neutralize it is to balance it with an equal but opposite force. Audiences
frequently don't like to think they are being manipulated. If the audience becomes
aware of the nature of your propaganda, the equal but opposite force can take the form
of a backlash against the author(s) and the propaganda itself. Look at the strong reac-
tion against advertisers who "target" their advertising to specific demographic groups
(e.g. African Americans, women, Generation X, etc.), particularly if they are trying to sell
liquor, tobacco products, or other items considered "vices" in America.
Once released, propaganda is difficult to control and frequently becomes subject to
real world influences. Sometimes propaganda can benefit from real world coincidences:
The China Syndrome's mild propaganda about the dangers of nuclear power plants got
a big boost in affecting its audience because of the Three Mile Island incident; the
media coverage of the O.J. Simpson murder case may not have tainted potential jurors,
but Natural Born Killers' propaganda against the media's sensationalization of violence
got a little extra juice added to its punch. Often real life or the passage of time can
undermine the effectiveness of propaganda: it is possible that Reefer Madness may
have been effective when it first came out, but audiences today find its propaganda
against drug use obvious, simplistic, risible and, more importantly, ineffective.
A Word About Adaptation
"Read the book; see the movie!" "Now a major motion picture!" "A novelization..."
"A new musical based on the stage play..." "...based on the book..." "...based on the hit
movie!" "The timeless story of..." "...a classic tale..." "...updated for today's audience..."
"...colorized..." "...reformatted to fit your screen..." "edited for television."
It's the same old story. Or is it? Is a story really the same when translated from one
medium to another and if not, how is it different? What qualities must be changed to
maintain a story's integrity? To adapt adeptly an author needs to know the answers to
these questions.
Before we can investigate answers, it would be prudent to define some terms. First,
what do we mean by "adaptation?" Simply, adaptation is the process of translating a
story from one medium to another. What is a "medium?" A medium is a physical facility
for storing information and the processes involved in retrieving it. Finally, what is
"story?" For our purposes we shall define story as any information an author wishes to
communicate to an audience (including considerations, experiences, and feelings).
So, putting it all together, adaptation is the process of translating information from
one physical facility for storage and retrieval to another in such a way that it can be
communicated to an audience. Sounds pretty cold, doesn't it. That's because this is
simply the logistic description of adaptation.
A more organic description might be: Adaptation is the process of reproducing an
audience experience in another medium. That has a better feel to it, but is much less
precise. Also, we can clearly see a difference in the purpose of each approach, as
indicated above when we spoke of the new story's identity versus its integrity. One
seeks to maintain the parts, the other to be true to the whole. And that is the paradox at
the heart of the adapter's dilemma: should authors strive to accurately recreate the
structure or to faithfully reproduce the dynamics? More to the point, why can't we do
both?
The answer lies with the media themselves. Every medium has its own strengths
and weaknesses. Often what can be easily accomplished in one medium is either
difficult or even impossible to achieve in another. Books are not very good at directly
communicating sounds or visual atmospheres. The motion picture, on the other hand,
is a poor medium for directly communicating a characters' inner thoughts and feelings.
In each case, indirect means must be employed to accomplish what might be di-
rectly communicated in the other medium. To successfully adapt a work, an author
must determine what to add or remove in order to achieve the same effect as the origi-
nal medium.
It would seem that adaptations will always fail to capture some aspect of the original,
either in substance or essence. That is true, but it does not have to be a fatal problem.
An audience tends to regard certain aspects of a story as being essential. As long as
an adaptation retains and/or recreates those essential elements, the audience will find
the effort successful.
Beyond the essential, other elements may be more or less fully developed than in
the original, providing something of the same flavor while allowing the latitude to tailor
the piece for the new medium. The question then becomes how to determine which
items are essential and how deeply they need to be developed, on a case by case
basis.
The first step is to do a complete analysis of the original work. Just reading the book
a hundred times or watching the movie until images are imbedded on your retina is not
good enough. You don't want to know a work just from the inside out, but you want to
know it from the outside in as well — the way the audience sees it. To develop both an
understanding and an empathy for the story, it helps to examine it in terms of the Four
Stages of Communication.
The Four Stages of Communication describe the manner in which the author's
original intent makes its way from his mind into the minds of his audience. Stage one is
Story forming, in which the author first defines the message for himself. Stage two is
Story encoding, where the author comes up with images and events to symbolize the
message. Stage three is Story weaving, which is the process of arranging these im-
ages into scenes and acts. Stage four is Story Reception, which describes the relation-
ship of the audience to the work. By analyzing how each of these stages functions in a
story, an author can make sure that the adaptation will connect at all levels of apprecia-
tion.
Storyforming
A key concept of traditional narrative theory is that the narrative itself is transportable
among media. The narrative is not the complete story, but simply the essential dramat-
ics of the deep structure. In Dramatica, we call this the Storyform. Dramatica is very
precise about what this underlying dramatic argument contains.
Each of the elements that must appear in a complete storyform is called an appre-
ciation, because it is necessary for the audience to appreciate the story from that per-
spective to prevent a hole in the dramatic argument. Some story points are structural in
nature, such as the story's goal, or the Main Character's unique ability. Others are more
dynamic, such as the Main Character's mental sex, or the story's limit through the impo-
sition of a timelock or an optionlock.
When analyzing a work to be adapted, it is sometimes difficult to separate the story-
form from the storytelling. A good rule of thumb is to think of the storyform as the
author's logistic argument and the storytelling as the emotional argument.
A good example of this can be seen by comparing Romeo and Juliet to West Side
Story, Cyrano de Bergerac to Roxanne, or Heart of Darkness to Apocalypse Now. In
each pair, the storyform is very nearly the same, while the storytelling is quite different.
An example of a poor adaptation that failed at the storyforming level was the transla-
tion of A Christmas Carol into the motion picture Scrooged, starring Bill Murray.
In the original Dickens story, Scrooge is a character who must start doing something,
rather than stop doing something. Scrooge is not best described as pro-actively hurting
people but more as allowing suffering to continue due to his lack of action. He has a
hole in his heart. The ghost of Christmas Present presents him with two children, Want
and Need. They serve to illustrate the problems Scrooge perpetuates through his lack
of generosity.
In the modern adaptation, Bill Murray's character is portrayed as someone who must
stop doing something. He is show as pro-actively harmful to a number of people. But
when the argument is made for him to change, he is still presented with those who want
and are needy. That argument is simply not appropriate to a character who needs to
stop. As a result, the attempt to make a more pro-active villain, updated for our time,
failed because the supporting argument contained in the remainder of the storyform was
not adjusted accordingly.
Use your Dramatica software to arrive at the single storyform that best describes the
work you are adapting, and then make sure that if you decide to change anything, you
run another storyform to learn what else must be changed as well. You may discover
that only minor changes need to be accommodated, or you may find out that the story-
form needs to be altered so heavily that the item you intended to change would scuttle
any sense of familiarity with the original.
Storyencoding
If the storyform is the skeleton, the story encoding is the meat. Let's take a single
storyforming appreciation and see how encoding can flavor its meaning. Suppose the
goal of the original story is to obtain the stolen diamonds. Without changing the story-
form, we might adapt that to obtaining the stolen gold. We could also change it to
obtaining a diploma, obtaining someone's love, or obtaining the office of President of the
United States. Each and every one of these examples has a goal of obtaining, but each
also has a different flavor depending solely upon the encoding.
Often, encoding is more important to an audience than anything else. Encoding
determines the setting, the subject matter, the size and scope of the issues. Substitut-
ing stolen gold for stolen diamonds would probably be interchangeable to most audi-
ence members. Substituting obtaining a diploma would not.
Encoding is the first stage that is open to authors' interpretation. As such, it is impor-
tant to fully illustrate the original story's storyform completely, so that all the specific
symbols used by the original author can be documented. Then, the process is to sort
through the list, see which are essential, which are peripheral but must be given lip-
service, and which can or even should be cut, due to the specifics of the new medium.
It is important to note that when delving into this much detail, it is easy to miss the
forest for the trees. For example, if we elected to change "stolen diamonds" to "stolen
gold" but still had our Main Character working for De Beers, we might have created a
problem.
This is not to say that every encoding appreciation must be consistent with all the
others in flavor. In fact, many stories are appealing simply because the juxtapose
contrasting symbols. The key is to make sure you maintain the same relationship
between the flavors. Much like adapting a recipe for a culinary feast, you might substi-
tute salt for sugar, but then you must also substitute vinegar for sour cream. The overall
flavor would be completely different, but the relationship between flavors is maintained.
That level of pattern-recognition is well within the grasp of most audiences. How many
times has The Simpsons replicated famous scenes from famous movies in a completely
different context? This works because the internal relationships remain consistent.
Storyweaving
Storyweaving is the process of unfolding the symbols of your story for the audience.
It is where suspense, tension, mystery, and surprise are created. When adapting
genres such as horror, thriller, and murder mystery, it should be noted that the experien-
tial mood is almost storyform and storyencoding dependent. It is the weaving that takes
center stage, and is therefore the most crucial aspect to maintain in an adaptation.
With murder mysteries particularly, the manner in which the cat is let out of the bag
defines the audience experience. A great deal of the appeal of a Sherlock Holmes
mystery, for example, is due to the steps through which the chase becomes afoot.
Holmes has been successfully translated to virtually every time and place in human
history changing both storyform and storyencoding until nothing remains of the original
because the feel remains the same due to the way the case unravels. In many re-
spects, the Holmes stories are identified by their exposition template, and that is why
the audience comes to the work.
This is the same stage of communication that is emphasized in The Twilight Zone
(the first series, the movie adaptation, and the adapted second series), The Outer Limits
(first series and adapted series), and virtually every Stephen King book and movie. Did
you ever wonder why some of King's best works don't translate well to the screen? The
adaptations that don't work change the storyweaving, which is the identifying trademark
of the King experience.
Make sure you examine the manner in which the audience is let in on the secrets of
the story to be adapted. Is the story an Extrovert that lets it all hang out from scene
one? Is it a Flirt that flaunts it but takes its time in delivering? Is your story an Introvert
that must have its secrets coaxed out one at a time, or is it a Liar that fools us with red-
herrings and mis-directions?
Unless you strive to maintain the original's personality, much of the charm may be
lost in the translation. A recent example of this kind of mistake occurred in bringing The
Beverly Hillbillies to the big screen. In the original series, the storyweaving personality
was much like a British comedy of manners in which the cultured and proper are forced
by circumstances to accommodate unsophisticated bumpkins. Enter Politically Correct
storyweaving. Suddenly, the focus of comedy shifts from manners to physical comedy.
The slapstick gags are funny enough, but that is not what the audience expected.
The Beverly Hillbillies the audience grew up with, was nowhere to be found in this
movie. The personality associated with the title was not maintained. Interestingly, if
there had been no original series, the motion picture would likely have been much
funnier to an unbiased audience. When creating an original work, storyweaving consid-
erations can be limited to exposition of the storyform. When adapting a work, story-
weaving must also take into account the expectations of the audience, described in the
fourth stage of communication, Story Reception.
Story Reception
We started in Storyforming with the message, encoded it into symbols, transmitted
those symbols through storyweaving, and now that multi-plexed signal arrives at the
receiver: your audience. Problem is, they all might be tuned to a different channel!
Some members of your audience will be familiar with the original work itself. Some
may have experienced it many times. Others will have heard about it from a friend, but
never actually saw or read the original. Many have only seen the advertisements, or the
book review, or the trading cards, or the lunch box. A few have never heard of it at all
and just stumbled upon your adaptation. You may want to play on in-jokes and setups
that require prior knowledge. How about that scene in Superman: The Movie when
Clark runs up to the phone booth to change and there's somebody using the phone? It
would not be very funny to someone who does not recognize it as a twist on the ex-
pected pattern.
In addition, there is really no such thing as an audience, except when defined as a
collection of individuals who experience a work. They may have nothing else in com-
mon, so you can't expect them to respond as a single unit. What buzz words can you
safely use? Which obscure buzz words do you want to use anyway because you ex-
pect they will catch on and become all the rage? How much biased, special-interested,
politically correct, atheistic, agnostic, faithful, black, brown, white, red, yellow, young,
old, middle-aged, female, male, gay, straight, bi, Republican, Democrat, Independent,
Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Buddhist, brilliant, stupid, insane, and emotionally-chal-
lenged baggage are audience members going to carry to your adaptation?
Part of the adapter's job is to identify the audience. An equally important job is to
identify with the audience. This puts a burden on the author of an adaptation that the
author of an original work usually does not share.
When creating an original story, one often has the luxury of writing whatever one
wants, and then hoping the finished piece finds its audience. In contrast, the adept
adapter must consider the full spectrum of the new audience. Usually, if a work is being
considered for adaptation, it is because there is some following for the original. The
adaptation is intended to not only appeal to that audience but exceed it and attract a
wider crowd.
How do you adapt a work for the masses? Simple. Make sure the story works not
only as an adaptation, but on its own merits as well. Never violate dramatic integrity
solely for the sake of adaptive integrity. Better to disappoint a few diehard fans than to
disappoint the potential legions of new fans.
Conversely, there are those projects where the size of the new audience is unimpor-
tant. The purpose of this kind of adaptation is to supply those few diehard fans with a
new medium of enjoyment for their favorite story. In this case you must be faithful to
every detail, even if it turns out a work that can't stand on its own merit.
Either approach is reason enough to shape the nature of the adaptation.
Seldom can both be done at the same time. More than anything, Story
Reception is where the author decides for whom they wish to write. Once
you have identified that group, you must get into their heads, to get into their
hearts.
In Summary
Adaptation is no simple task. It requires familiarity with both the logistics and pas-
sion of the original, from the inside out and the outside in. To achieve this familiarity,
one must resonate with the original on many levels, best examined through the Four
Stages of Communication.
-- Storyforming: Storyform the original and then create a new story-

form to reflect any changes you make in the adaptation.
-- Storyencoding: Delineate the original encoding and determine what
must be lifted verbatim, what might be altered, and what could or
should be eliminated.
-- Storyweaving: Reproduce the storyweaving personality to faithfully
reproduce the dramatic flavor.
-- Story Reception: Determine the prior knowledge and expectations
of your audience.
In conclusion, and above all, to your new audience be true, for then how canst thee
be false to the original?
E PILOGUE
The Leftovers
Is That All There Is?
Dramatica is a theory of Story. But behind Dramatica is a whole new understanding

of the mind's problem solving and justification processes. In fact, the model of the mind
derived from the intrinsic relationships inherent in stories form the basis of a theory of
psychology called Mental Relativity.
Mental Relativity describes the mind's pattern making capability and explains in
detail how and why we see such things as spirals in a sea shell, a galaxy, or strands of
DNA. Mental Relativity outlines the structural/dynamic relationships that form the matrix
of self-awareness itself. Mental Relativity connects with low-level neurology at one end
and high-level psychology at the other, bridging the gap between the biochemical func-
tioning of the brain and the elusive essence of self.
Through Mental Relativity, insights are provided not only into story, but many other
areas as well such as:
-- Music: predictive in determining the emotional impact of melodies,

harmonies, rhythm, and meter.
-- Personal Problem Solving: Assists in prioritizing concerns and
choosing a consistent perspective for all considerations.
-- Interpersonal Relationships: Allows for adopting a truly objectified
view of discrepancies between individuals.
-- Manipulation (Psychology): Provides an understanding of the exact
mechanism for the creation and dissolution of Justifications.
-- Quantum Physics: The mathematical equations and formulas by
which the model operates hold meaning in regard to the Uncertainty
Principle, Tendency Theory, Synchronicity, and the connection be-
tween packets of energy and particles of mass.
-- Biology/DNA: By providing a dynamic model based on frictals, a
clear view can be provided of the processes involved in DNA trigger-
ing, and neural processing.
-- Social Systems/Trends: All large scale patterns that ebb and flow
come into greater focus through frictal ordering.
-- Astrophysics: Black holes and Quasars can be modeled in great
detail using the same processes that describe the mental acceptance
of givens in relationship to spontaneous creative thought.
Obviously many of these potential applications have not been fully devel-
oped. Some are only the promise of a theory that describes the mind's
pattern making process. It is our hope that others more versed in these
disciplines than ourselves will see the potential as implemented in Dramatica
and apply it to their specific areas of interest.
Constructive Criticism
Analysis of Jurassic Park
Building a Better Dinosaur

(The following analysis provides a glimpse of how some of Dramatica's basic con-
cepts can be employed to improve a story. Use this as an example of how many as-
pects of the theory can be brought together in a practical sense.)
The film Jurassic Park is wonderfully entertaining. The concepts are intriguing, the
visuals stunning. Everything it does, it does well. Unfortunately, it doesn't do enough.
There are parts missing, little bits of "story DNA" that are needed to complete the chain.
To be fair, these problems largely result from the mostly faithful adherence to the dra-
matic structure of the book upon which the movie is based.
Storyform, the structure and dynamics of a story, is not medium dependent. What
works in one medium will work in all others. Storytelling, however, must vary signifi-
cantly to take advantage of the strengths and avoid the weaknesses inherent in any
format. Jurassic Park makes this storytelling translation very well, but the flawed dra-
matics were nearly lifted intact, shackling the movie just like the book with a Pterodactyl
hanging 'round its neck.
Yet criticisms are a dime a dozen. Suggestions for improvement are much more
rare. Fortunately that is the strong suit of the Dramatica theory. Here is one plan for
building a better dinosaur.
Dramatica Background
As a starting point, Dramatica denotes a difference between a Tale and a Story. A
Tale describes a series of events that lead to success or failure. It carries the message
that a particular way of going about solving the problem is or is not a good one. But a
Story is an argument that there is only one right way to solve a problem. It is a much
more potent form that seeks to have the audience accept the author's conclusions.
To gain an audience's acceptance, an argument (Story) must appeal to both logic
and feeling. To make the logical part of this argument, all the inappropriate1 ways a
problem might be approached need to be addressed and shown to fail. Each one must
be given its due and shown not to work, except the one touted by the author. This is
accomplished by looking at the characters and the plot objectively, much like a general
on a hill watching a battle down below. The big picture gives a clear view of the scope
of the battle and the ramifications of the individual soldiers' actions and decisions.
To make the emotional part of the argument, however, the audience must become
involved in the story at a personal level. To this end, they are afforded a Subjective view
of the story through the eyes of the Main Character. Here they get to participate in the
battle as if they were actually one of the soldiers in the trenches. It is the differential
between the Subjective view of the Main Character and the Overall Story view of the
whole battle that generates dramatic tension from which the message of the story is
created.
By comparing the two views, the argument is made to the audience that the Main
Character must change to accommodate the big picture, or that the Main Character is
on the right track and must hold on to their resolve if they hope to succeed. Of course,
the Main Character cannot see the big picture, so they must make a leap of faith near
the end of the story, deciding if they want to stick it out or change.
Now this relationship between the Main Character and the Overall story makes him
a very special character. In fact, he holds the key to the whole battle. He is the crucial
element in the dramatic web who (through action or inaction) can wrap the whole thing
up or cause it to fall apart. As a result, the personal problems he faces reflects the
nature of the Overall Story problem of the story at large.
To the audience there are two problems in a story. One is the Overall Story problem
that everyone is concerned with; the other is the Subjective problem that the Main
Character is personally concerned with. Although the problems may be greatly different
in the way they are manifest, they both hinge on the crucial element in the Main Charac-
ter as their common root. So, to be a complete argument a story must explore an
Overall Story AND a Subjective problem, and show how they are both related to the
same source.
Jurassic Park Analysis:

Jurassic Park attempts to be a story (not a tale) but does not make it because its
exploration of the Subjective problem is lacking.
The Overall Story problem is clearly shown to be caused by the relationship of Order
to Chaos. The message of the logical side of the argument is that the more you try to
control something, the more you actually open yourself up to the effects of chaos. As
Princess Leia put it to the Gran Mof Tarkin in Star Wars, "The more you tighten your
grip, the more star systems will slip through your fingers."
If Order is seen as the problem, then Chaos would be the solution. This is vaguely
alluded to in Jurassic Park when the Tyrannosaurus comes in unexpectedly and wipes
out the Raptors, unknowingly saving the humans. Although the point is not strongly
stated, it is sort of there in the background. We will come back to this point later to
show how it should have been a much more dramatically integral event than it was.
The important concept at the moment is that as far as it goes, the Overall Story is fairly
close to what it should be, which is true of most action-oriented stories.
It is the Subjective Story that fails to fulfill its dramatic mandate in Jurassic Park. To
see how, we must go back to the very beginning of the film, to our Main Character, Dr.
Alan Grant.
As the Main Character, Dr. Grant contains the crucial element, so we would expect
him to intersect the Overall Story's problem by representing Order or Chaos. Clearly
the author intended him to represent Order. This means that he contains what has
been established as the Problem Element (the inappropriate attitude or approach that is
the underlying source of the Story's troubles), rather than the Solution Element, and as
such must Change if he is to succeed.
The first scene with Grant at the dig should have illustrated his love of Order. All the
elements were there: a disruptive boy, a randomly sensitive computer, a helicopter that
comes out of nowhere and disrupts the dig. All of these things could have illustrated
Grant's hatred of Chaos and his quest for Order. Using the same events and incidents,
the point might have been made in any number of ways, the easiest being a simple
comment by Dr. Grant himself.
Unfortunately without any direct allusion to Order being his primary concern, Dr.
Grant comes off simply as finding disruptions inconvenient, faulty equipment annoying,
and kids as both.
Why is it so important to set up the nature of the problem so early? Well, one of the
major problems with the Jurassic Park storyform is that we really don't know what the
problem is supposed to be until near the end of the first act. Certainly almost every
movie-goer must have been aware that this was a picture about an island where cloned
dinosaurs come to life, and then run amok wreaking havoc — that's all storytelling. But
that alone doesn't say why this problem occurred. The "Why" is the heart of the story-
form: the reason, if you will, for having a story to tell. If the point of contention had been
established up front, the whole thrust of the picture would have been given direction
from scene one.
Just stating that Dr. Grant shares the same problem as the story is not enough. The
relationship between his view of the problem and the Overall Story view of the problem
is what explores the concept, makes the argument, and allows the Main Character to
grow. Ultimately, it is the differential between the two views of the problem that brings a
Changing (versus Steadfast) Main Character to suspect the error of his ways and make
a positive leap of faith. He sees the problem outside himself, then finds it inside himself.
He changes the inside, and the outside is forced to follow suit.
What does this mean for Jurassic Park? As it is, Doctor Grant's attitude toward John
Hammond's ability to control the dinosaurs is one of skepticism, but not because of
Order, because of Chaos. Grant simply agrees with Ian Malcolm, the mathematician.
This makes the same point through two characters. Instead, Grant's function should not
be to tout Chaos, but to favor Order. Only this point of view would be consistent with his
feelings toward children.
As illustrated in the meeting scene with Hammond, Ian, and Elissa, Grant jumps
from representing one approach to representing the opposite, neutralizing his effective-
ness in the story as owner of the crucial element and taking the wind out of the dramatic
sails.
This problem could have been easily avoided and replaced with strong drama by
having Dr. Grant continue to believe that the park is unsafe, but for a different reason.
(Note: The following proposed scene is designed to illustrate how Grant's and Ian's
positions on what is needed for the park to be safe is different. The storytelling is mini-
mal so as not to distract from the storyforming argument.)
GRANT
How can you be sure your cre-
ations won't escape?
HAMMOND
Each compound is completely en-
circled with electric fences.
GRANT
How many fences?
HAMMOND
Just one, but it is 10,000 volts.
GRANT
That's not enough....
HAMMOND
I assure you, even a T-Rex re-
spects 10,000 volts!
GRANT
No, I mean not enough fences.
It's been my experience that Dr.
Malcolm is right. You can't
count on things going the way you
expect them. You need back-ups
to your back-ups. Leave a soft
spot and Chaos will find it. Put
three fences around each com-
pound, each with a separate power
source and then you can bring
people in here.
MALCOLM
That's not the point at all!
Chaos will happen no matter how
much you prepare. In fact, the
more you try to control a situa-
tion, the greater the potential
that chaos will bring the whole
thing down.
In the above scene, Grant stresses the need for even MORE control than Hammond
used. This clearly establishes his aversion to giving in to chaos. Ian illustrates the
difference in their points of view by stating that the greater the control you exercise, the
more you tighten the spring of chaos.
What would this mean for the middle of the story? Plenty. Once Grant and the
children are lost in the open with the thunder lizards, he might learn gradually that one
must allow Chaos to reach an equilibrium with Order. Several close encounters with the
dinos might result in minor successes and failures determined by applying Order or
allowing Chaos.
As it stands, Dr. Grant simply learns to care about the children. But what has really
changed in him? What did he learn? Would it not have been more dramatically pleas-
ing to have the children teach him how chaos is not just a disruptive element, but some-
times an essential component of life? And would it not make sense for someone who
has spent his whole life imagining the way dinosaurs lived to be surprised by the truth
when he sees them in person? What a wonderful opportunity to show how the orderly
interactions he had imagined for his beloved beasts are anything but orderly in the real
world. So many opportunities to teach him the value of Chaos, yet all we get is "They
DO travel in herds... I was right!" Well, that line is a nice place to start, especially if you
spend the rest of the story showing how wrong he was about everything else. Truly a
good place from which to start growing.
Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of the Subjective Storyline is the meaning-
less manner in which they escape in the end. Grant and the kids are sealed in the
control room, but the Raptors are right outside. The girl struggles to get the computer
up so they can get the door locked. This of course, merely delays the Raptors until the
helpless humans can escape into another Raptor attack. Then out of nowhere, T-Rex
conveniently barges in, kills the Raptors and allows the humans to escape? Why? Why
then? Was T-Rex just waiting in the wings for his cue?
Let's describe one possible ending that would've tied in Chaos, Dr. Grant's personal
problem of Order in the Subjective throughline, his growth as a character and eventual
change, AND have all this force a successful outcome in the Overall Story Throughline.
Imagine that earlier in the story, when the power went down it only affected some of
the electric fences, not all. So only some of the areas were open to the roving dinos.
Rather than having Elissa get the power back on for the fences, she merely powers up
the computer system, but even with power to the computer restored no one can boot it
up.
Dr. Grant and the kids make it back to the control room, barely escaping the T-Rex
who is trapped by one of the functional electric fences. They climb over the fence on a
tree knocked down by the Tyrannosaurus. The Raptors are at the door of the control
room, the girl goes to the computer to lock the door. She locks it, then tells Grant she
can bring up the rest of the fences. There might be some kind of visual reminder in the
room (such as a dino picture) that Grant (and the audience) associate with his major
learning experience with the kids about the need to accept Chaos. Grant almost allows
her to bring up the power, then yells for her to stop. He tells her not to bring it up, but to
actually cut the power on all of the fences, as he truly come to believe that Chaos will
somehow help them.
The girl pauses for a beat, unsure if she should follow his instructions. Then, based
on her learning experience which established her trust in Grant, she puts aside her
personal assessment and brings all the fences down. By opening all the compounds,
all the dinosaurs are released, allowing Chaos to rule the day while the dinosaurs rule
the Earth.
Why would Grant do this? His argument for Order was based on logic. Over the
course of the story, he was presented another argument that affected his feelings. So,
when the moment of truth arrives, he must choose between what his head and his heart
are telling him. His intellect makes a very definitive case that bringing the fences up will
re-establish Order. But his gut instincts now insist that is the last thing they should do.
By letting Chaos reign, says his instinct, somehow things will work out. He doesn't have
any clue HOW they will work out, just a strong feeling that bringing down the fences is
what he must do if they are to survive.
Now, how do we convey all Grant's considerations to the audience so that it will
understand all of this? Simple! First we see briefly see the computer display showing
the power going off around the various compounds, including that of our old friend, T-
Rex. Just as before, the Raptors break in, the humans escape onto the dino skeletons.
NOW, when T-Rex charged in to save the day, it is solely because of Dr. Grant's deci-
sion to cut the power to the fence that was holding him in. Indeed, Grant's invitation to
Chaos has saved them.
Having learned his lesson about the benefits of Chaos and the folly of Order, Grant
is a changed man. The author's proof of this being the correct decision is the group's
salvation, courtesy of T-Rex.
Equilibrium is established on the island, Grant suddenly loves kids, he gets the girl,
they escape with their lives, and all because the crucial element of Order connected
both the Overall Story and Subjective throughlines.
Certainly, Dramatica has many more suggestions for Building a Better Dinosaur, but,
leapin' lizards, that's enough for an introduction to the theory!
R EFERENCE
PART 1
Vocabulary
Vo c a b u l a r y G r a m m a r
Dramatica's terminology has its own grammar with structures, designations, and
usages which are reflected in the vocabulary listings. The individual Vocabulary listings
are constructed as follows:
Vocabulary Item -- [the type of item] -- if a Vocabulary term is a semantic item, the term's Dynamic Pair
(dyn.pr. ) will be noted -- short definition -- long definition -- synonyms (syn.)
Example:
Chaos -- [Element] -- dyn.pr. Order<—>Chaos -- random change or a lack of order -- Chaos is disorder,
randomness, anarchy. The Chaos characteristic is brilliant at cutting through a Gordian knot. But
then it just keeps cutting every rope it sees until the chandelier falls on its head. It "stirs the pot" just
to see what will bubble up to the top -- syn. randomness, anarchy, disorder, formlessness,
noncohesion
The types of items which will be noted in the Vocabulary references

include:
Structural Semantic items:
[Classes]
The 4 basic areas a story can affect (Situation (Universe), Activity (Phys-
ics), Manipulation (Psychology), Mind).
[Types]
The 16 basic categories of what can be seen from a specific point of view
or Class.
[Variations]
The 64 terms which describe the thematic message and its development
within a story as well as the ways of evaluating this message (semantic
items).
[Elements]
The 64 descriptions which represent the highest resolutions of ap-
proaches and attitudes required to solve a story's problem (semantic items).
Story Points items:
[Overview Story Points]

Items relating to the widest appreciation of your entire story, including the
Character and Plot Dynamics which describe its dramatic mechanism and
basic feel.
[Character Dynamics]
Items relating to your Main Character's essential nature, behaviors, and
attitudes.
[Plot Dynamics]
Items relating to the entire story (both Overall and Subjective Story) in
terms of the forces that drive the plot forward and the outcome to which they
lead.
[Structural Items]
Items relating to the thematic arenas to be emphasized in a particular
Storyform, focusing on goals, events, and activities.
[Archetype]
A specific type of character reflecting one of eight quintessential arrange-
ments of 64 Characteristics required to solve a story's problem.
[Dynamic Pairs]
Implied by every term is a specific term that is its reciprocal. Together
they create a paired unit where the presence or absence of one affects the
presence or absence of the other. Every term that is a structural semantic
item is part of a dynamic pair.
[Storyform]
The skeletal blue print of story points that are at work in any single story.
It contains the story points at work in the story which are independent of how
an author chooses to illustrate them.
[Throughlines]
The story story points that are developed from the four distinct perspec-
tives common to all stories (the Overall Story, Subjective Story, Main Charac-
ter, and Impact Character perspectives) create a line of observations, from
each of those points of view, which can be followed through the course of the
story. These are called the throughlines, one throughline for each perspec-
tive.
[Storyforming]
Determining the story points that will be explored in a story, the perspec-
tives from which they will be explored, and the order in which these explora-
tions will occur within the world of a story is called Storyforming. This is
independent of any Storytelling and instead deals with ordering the pieces
common to all stories.
[Storytelling]
Illustrating a storyform with the cultural signs and artistry that an author
feels are appropriate to his story.
[Storyweaving]
Combining the Storytelling of a story with its Storyform.
Dramatica Vocabulary
Ability -- Most terms in Dramatica are unique, Accurate -- [Element] -- dyn.pr. Non-accurate<—
however, four items have two uses, serving >Accurate -- being within tolerances -- Not all
both as Variation and Element. This is a result concepts work all the time. When an under-
of the fundamental importance of the concepts standing has uses within limitations or is mostly
represented by these four items: Thought, or often true, it can still provide a useful way of
Knowledge, Ability, and Desire. looking at the broad issues. The more accu-
[Variation] -- dyn.pr. Desire<—>Ability rate an understanding, the more specifically
-- being suited to handle a task; the innate one can apply it with certainty. The character
capacity to do or be -- Ability describes the possessing the Accurate characteristic will
actual capacity to accomplish something. accept rough approximations and will make
However, even the greatest Ability may need judgments and perform activities that are
experience to become practical. Also, Ability "within tolerance" or "good enough" for the
may be hindered by limitations placed on a purpose at hand. The advantage is that little
character and/or limitations imposed by the energy is wasted on "the law of diminishing
character upon himself. -- syn. talent, knack, returns." The disadvantage is that appraising
capability, capacity, faculty things as Accurate can lead to gross generali-
zations. If the character containing Accurate is
[Element] -- dyn.pr. Desire<—>Ability not careful it may assume that an understand-
-- being suited to handle a task; the innate ing applies to every instance all the time -- syn.
capacity to do or be -- An aspect of the Ability within tolerance, sufficient, adequate, accept-
element is an innate capacity to do or to be. able, passable
Although all characters will have abilities of one
sort or another, only the character containing Act -- [Structural Term] -- The largest sequential
the Ability characteristic will seem to have them increments by which we can measure the
all. This does not mean he have developed progress of a story -- an Act is a noticeable
any of his Abilities, but just that he has the division in the dramatic flow of a story which is
capacity to do so. The positive side is that the created by the convergence of the elements of
character containing the Ability Characteristic Character, Theme, and Plot. This division has
can develop any skill he may need. The been noticed in studies of narrative dating back
negative side is that just because something thousands of years, but never with the preci-
can be done does not mean it should be done. sion with which we see it in Dramatica. A
In other words, sometimes Ability is more a complete storyform contains all the thematic
curse than a blessing because it can motivate story points that will be explored in a story, the
a character to exercise capacities that may be perspectives from which they will be explored,
negative -- syn. innate capacity, capability, and the order in which they will be explored
talent for, inherent proficiency from those perspectives. When a particular
perspective has explored the nature of a Type
Acceptance -- [Element] -- dyn.pr. Non-accep- by paying tribute to the Variations connected
tance<—>Acceptance -- a decision not to with it, that perspective has completed an act.
oppose -- When a character represents Accep- Each perspective has its own throughline and
tance, it simply adapts to whatever comes its there are four acts for every throughline,
way without opposition. Of course, this can making up a complete storyform.
eliminate many potential conflicts by refusing to
stand against inequity. On the other hand, if Action -- [Plot Dynamic] -- in terms of the Overall
the source of the inequity keeps churning out Story plot, actions force decisions -- All stories
trouble Acceptance will allow that negative have both Action and Decision, however one
process to continue unencumbered -- syn. will take precedence over the other. Typically,
acquiescence, tolerance, allowance for, one defines an Action story as having more
consent, submission Action or more intense Action than a Decision
story. This view is overly influenced by how the success. When the Main Character's appraisal
story is told rather than what it represents. matches the reality of the situation, his assess-
Dramatica takes a different view of Action and ment of the Work required is said to be Actual.
Decision. Either Actions force the need for Actuality -- [Element] -- dyn.pr. Perception<—
Decisions or Decisions force the need for >Actuality -- an objective reality — the way
Actions in order to advance the plot. Over the things are -- Actuality refers to the true state of
course of the story as a whole (independent of things. A character who represents Actuality
the nature of the Main Character), if Actions sees right through image and pretense,
precipitate the progression of the plot, it is an preferring to get to the heart of the matter. It
Action story. The question to ask in regards to also will not accept foregone conclusions until
any particular story is which comes first to they have materialized. It feels that without
move the story along?—not which is there substance there is no meaning. The problem
more of. Action stories will begin with an is that anything that does not meet its strict
Action, be marked at the beginning and end of definitions is ignored as irrelevant. It is often
every Act by an Action, and will end with a surprised when the undefined or unformed
climactic Action. If it were not for unforced turns out to be very real -- syn. the true state
Actions taking place in an Action story, the of things, objective reality, factuality, demon-
story would dwindle until another Action strable existence, demonstrable reality
occurred.
Analysis -- [Variation] -- dyn.pr. Strategy<—
Activity (Physics) -- [Class] -- dyn.pr. Manipula- >Analysis -- evaluation of the situation and/or
tion (Psychology)<—>Activity (Physics) -- an circumstances -- Analysis sits on one side of
activity -- The Activity (Physics) Class is one of planning and strategy sits on the other. Analy-
action. Whereas the Situation (Universe) sis is the interpretation of available data in
Class describes a fixed situation, Activity order to establish the approach most likely
(Physics) is a Class of dynamics. Situations succeed. If the Analysis is faulty, it limits the
evolve, develop, and change. Activities are potential of a Strategy. If a Strategy is faulty, it
engaged in and endeavors undertaken. -- syn. limits the effectiveness of Analysis -- syn.
an activity, an enterprise, an initiative, an evaluation, examination, breakdown of situa-
endeavor, an operation tion, close investigation, scrutinization
Actual Dilemma -- [Overview Appreciation] -- The Antagonist -- [Archetype] -- An archetypal Overall
Main Character's decision to change results in Story player who is in every way opposed to
success -- In an Actual Dilemma, the Main the Protagonist -- Antagonist and Protagonist
Character cannot succeed if he keeps to the are diametrically opposed. If one is pursuing,
path he began on. Unless he changes, he is the other avoids. If one is avoiding, the other
doomed to failure. Of course, the Main Char- pursues. If one's goal is to cause something,
acter cannot see the future and therefore can the other's goal is to prevent the same thing
never be absolutely sure if he should change and vice versa. Together, Antagonist and
or not. That is why Main Characters must often Protagonist form a Dynamic Pair centered
make a "leap of faith" at the moment of climax around the core issue of the Overall Story
and decide to Change or Remain Steadfast. Problem in stories which contain these arche-
Other times, the Main Character is slowly typal characters. In order for one to succeed
drawn towards his Resolve of Changing or the other MUST fail.
Remaining Steadfast, however it is still clear
which way he's gone by the end of the story. In Apparent Dilemma -- [Overview Appreciation] --
stories where the Main Character Changes The Main Character's decision to change
and, succeeds as a result, he is said to have results in failure -- Apparent Dilemma de-
been in an Actual Dilemma. scribes a story where the Main Character
mistakenly believes he is on the wrong path.
Actual Work -- [Overview Appreciation] -- The An Actual Dilemma story, by contrast, is one in
Main Character's decision to remain steadfast which the Main Character's original path
results in success -- A Work story is one in cannot lead to success. If the Main Character
which remaining steadfast is the path to Changes when only Remaining Steadfast
would have led to success, he is said to have Approach -- [Variation] -- dyn.pr. Attitude<—
been in an Apparent Dilemma. >Approach -- one's methodology of doing or
Apparent Work -- [Overview Appreciation] -- The being -- Approach is the manner in which a
Main Character's decision to remain steadfast character chooses to seek the solution to a
results in failure -- Apparent Work describes a problem. This might be a specific method or
story where the Main Character mistakenly just a general set of tools or guidelines that is
believes he is on the proper path. An Actual deemed appropriate for the job. These tools
Work story is one in which Remaining Stead- can be physical or mental ones, depending
fast is the path to success. If the Main Charac- upon the nature of the problem and the deter-
ter maintains his course when indeed he needs mined solution -- syn. method, procedure,
to Change, he is said to have been in an style, manner, manner of doing, one's own
Apparent Work story. way.
Appraisal -- [Variation] -- dyn.pr. Reappraisal<— Archetypal Characters -- Of all the ways the 64
>Appraisal -- an initial understanding -- When Overall Story Character elements of Dramatica
determining which parts of evidence he should might be grouped, there is one arrangement
investigate and which parts he doubts and that is akin to an alignment of the planets.
therefore chooses to ignore, a character makes When all elements from one "family" of like
an initial Appraisal of where the evidence elements are placed in each character, eight
seems to be leading. Although there is not Archetypal Characters are created. They are
enough evidence to really draw a conclusion, Archetypal because their homogeneous nature
the100re is enough to indicate the direction accommodates all levels a character must
evidence seems to be leading. That which is have to be fully dimensional, yet line up by
not in line is doubted, and the more out of line, content so well there is little internal disso-
the more doubt. That which is in line is investi- nance. Archetypal Characters are useful in
gated. Of course, since this Appraisal is based stories that seek to concentrate on plot, action,
on insufficient evidence, the big picture can or external themes. This is because they do
change dramatically over the course of investi- not "get in the way" or clutter the Author's
gation. Yet, like everyday people, a character purpose. However, because they are so
is strongly influenced by first impressions and predictable, Archetypal Characters are not
can become attached to an Appraisal and fail easily used to explore the human psyche and
to see that the direction of evidence has are most readily employed in stories designed
changed -- syn. first impression, preliminary more for entertainment than message.
understanding, initial approach, initial assimila- Argument -- [Dramatica Term] -- the underlying
tion. message that is made by a story's combined
Appreciations -- See Story Points structure and dynamics -- The dispassionate
argument is the story's contention that a
Approach -- [Character Dynamic] -- The Main particular approach is the most appropriate one
Character's preferred method of general to solve a problem or achieve a goal in a given
problem solving -- By temperament, Main context. The passionate argument is the
Characters (like each of us) have a preferential story's contention that one world view is better
method of approaching problems. Some would than another in terms of leading to personal
rather adapt their environment to themselves, fulfillment. An author can use his story's
others would rather adapt themselves to their argument to convey a personal message
environment. There is nothing intrinsically right directly, or indirectly if he makes an exagger-
or wrong with either approach, yet it does affect ated argument supporting what he is against.
how one will respond to problems. Choosing The argument of a story exists within the story
"Do-er" or "Be-er" does not prevent a Main and, if it is complete, it can be discerned
Character from using either approach, but whether the author realizes it's there or not.
merely defines the way he is likely to first (Also see Grand Argument Story.)
approach a problem, using the other method
only if the first one fails. Attempt -- [Variation] -- dyn.pr. Work<—>Attempt
-- applying oneself to something not known to
be within one's ability -- When there is a that the course of one, both or neither of them
question as to the match-up of one's abilities to may be altered by the interaction. The only
the demands of a task, one may still elect to way an audience can be sure what, if anything,
attempt to complete the task. However, has changed course is to plot one more
sometimes a character has lost sight of the dramatic point past the climax, as part of Act 4
purpose of the task or underestimated his to illustrate the new direction of the Overall
progress and has actually done the work while story and Main Character. This might be the
continuing to try beyond the point originally "?" after the words "The End" in a monster
aimed at. Why does one beat a dead horse? story or a formerly mean man sharing his
Why does a billionaire struggle to earn one sandwich with a stray dog on the way home.
more million? -- syn. try, uncertain undertak- The purpose is simply to illustrate that the
ing, speculative endeavor, dubious effort, suspected effect of the climax has or has not
endeavor, unlikely venture truly resulted in a change in course. As such, it
Attitude -- [Variation] -- dyn.pr. Approach<— functions as the Author's Proof and is a key
>Attitude -- one's demeanor while doing or component of the denouement.
being -- Attitude describes the manner in which Avoid-- [Element] -- dyn.pr. Pursuit<—>Avoid --
a character proceeds with an approach. One stepping around, preventing or escaping from a
character might be hard-driven, another laid problem rather than solving it -- Like its coun-
back. One may be willing to sacrifice efficiency terpart Pursue, the Avoid characteristic causes
for the sake of a pleasant approach. Another a character to be a real self-starter. The
might sacrifice pleasure in order to make the difference is that just as strongly as Pursuit
approach most efficient. Sometimes an tries to close in on the something, Avoid tries to
approach can be pushed too hard or not hard escape it. Avoid can take the forms "escape"
enough. It requires not only the proper ap- or "prevent" depending upon whether the focus
proach but the appropriate attitude to arrive at of the effort is an object or a process. Avoid
the solution to a problem. -- syn. demeanor, might be seen as running away, but that has its
manner of approach, countenance, behavioral place. And certainly, when seen as "prevent" it
outlook, perspective on doing might be applied to stopping something very
Attraction -- [Variation] -- dyn.pr. Repulsion<— negative from happening. Of course, it could
>Attraction -- drawing or being drawn to also prevent something positive or really just
something -- How hard should one try? How be running away from something that should
much work should one do? This is modulated be faced. Pursue and Avoid are not value
by the Attraction of what one is trying to judgments but directions. -- syn. evade,
achieve. Attraction is a directional factor that dodge, elude, escape, steer clear of, prevent
indicates what lies ahead is a positive reward. Aware -- [Element] -- dyn.pr. Aware<—>Self-
When a character strives toward a goal, he Aware -- being conscious of things outside
passes many veils along the way. Each one is oneself -- A character that represents Aware-
a curtain to the future that must be ripped away ness misses nothing that happens around him.
to see what lies beyond. Attraction describes A drawback is he may forget to figure himself
the nature of the curtain itself. Can you judge into the equation. -- syn. outward perceptive-
the pleasure of a book by the art on its cover? ness, external sensitivity, consciousness of the
In the parable of the carrot and the stick, external, responsive
Attraction is the carrot. -- syn. allure, entice- Backstory -- [Storytelling] -- Although often embel-
ment, charm, captivate, appeal, draw, lure lished greatly in the storytelling, Backstory is
Author's Proof -- [Storytelling] -- the epilogue or nothing more than a description of how a Main
follow-up to a story that proves the "outcome" Character's justification built up over time,
of the story is real or imagined, good or bad -- leading him to intersect with the story's prob-
Technically speaking, the moment of climax in lem, or how a story problem developed over
a story is the intersecting point where the time, leading it to intersect with the Main
nature of the Main Character crosses paths Character. Backstory outlines the sequence of
with the nature of the Overall story. It is here events and the combination of forces that
make the Main Character the central connect- Being -- See Playing A Role
ing point between the subjective and Overall Benchmark [Stipulation] -- [Type] -- the indicator
Story problem. Backstory need not be pre- of the depth of a throughline's difficulties -- The
sented to the audience as it is not essential to Benchmark is a measuring stick which is used
the story's argument about how to or how not to judge progress in whichever throughline it is
to solve a problem. However, inclusion of operating in. In the Overall Story, it is used to
Backstory can offer the additional benefits of see how close the Overall Story Characters
showing the audience how to avoid the prob- think they are to solving their problem. It
lem before it becomes a problem. Sometimes describes where they apply their efforts, and
Backstory is presented at the beginning of thus is where they look to see how it is coming
storytelling, making it appear to be part of the along.
story itself into which it can smoothly and
seamlessly segue. More often, Backstory is Blind Spot -- [Character Appreciation] -- The
explored episodically in Flashbacks or through motivations of the Subjective Characters which
other forms of revelation. Sometimes the focus they are unable to see about themselves --
of the storytelling is on the Backstory itself and Both the Main Character and the Impact
the story is told episodically through Character (who stands in the Main Character's
flashforwards. Even more complex implemen- path) are driven by their particular motivations.
tations not only present Backstory episodically In a story, each has a prime motivation that
but also out of order, leaving it to the audience describes the one issue in each that they
to ultimately put the pieces together and cannot see in themselves. It is because they
thereby solve a riddle necessary to solving the cannot see it in themselves that it works below
problem of the story itself. the level of their consciousness to motivate
them. Because they cannot see it, it is called a
Bad -- [Plot Dynamic] -- The Main Character Blind Spot. In a change character, the Blind
ultimately fails in resolving his personal prob- Spot is the actual source of the problem
lems -- If at the end of the story the Main common to both the Overall and Subjective
character is still nagged by his personal stories. In a steadfast character, the Blind Spot
problem, then the judgment of the story can be represents what drives him to become the
considered bad. Even though the effort to agent of the common solution to both the
achieve the story's goal may result in success, Overall and Subjective stories. In either case,
this is not necessarily a good thing for the Main although other characters may see it quite
Character. In fact success might be obtained clearly in the Main and Impact Characters,
in the Overall story even though the Main neither Main nor Impact can see the Blind Spot
Character fails to resolve his personal prob- in themselves.
lems. Conversely, the effort to achieve the
story goal might end in failure, yet with the Both -- [Overview Appreciation] -- both women
Main Character ultimately overcoming his and men will tend to empathize with the main
personal problems. Regardless of whether the character in this story -- Although there is much
Overall story ends in Success or Failure, if the common ground in a story that is appreciated
Main Character fails to resolve his personal equally by women and men, some dramatic
problems, the outcome is deemed Bad. messages speak to one group more profoundly
than the other. One particular area of differ-
Be-er -- [Character Dynamic] -- The Main Charac- ence is the relationship of female and male
ter prefers to adapt himself to his environment - audience members to the Main Character. In
- Every Main Character will have a preference some stories an audience member will feel
to deal with problems by either physical effort Empathy with the Main Character, as if he/she
or by mental/emotional effort. When a Main were standing in the Main Character's shoes.
Character prefers adapting himself to the In other stories, an audience member will feel
environment over working directly in the Sympathy, a less intense emotional attach-
external environment to resolve problems, he ment, for the Main Character as if the Main
is a Be-er. Character is a close acquaintance. The
Becoming -- See Changing One's Nature dynamics that control this for women and men
are quite different. "Both" indicates that, as a must be either the Main Character or the
result of this storyform's dynamics, both male Impact Character but cannot be both. A
and female audience members will tend to Change Character cannot tell until the end of
empathize with the Main Character. Neither the story whether or not he will change, and
will sympathize. even then, a Change Character has no way of
Catalyst -- [Variation] -- The item whose presence knowing whether or not changing will lead to
always pushes the story forward toward the success or to resolving his personal problem.
climax -- The Catalyst is what creates break- However, in every story, either the Main
throughs and seems to accelerate the Character or the Impact Character will Change
throughline it is affecting. In both the Overall in response to the other's Steadfastness and
and Subjective Stories there occur dramatic become that story's Change Character.
"log-jams" when things seem to be approach- Change -- [Character Dynamic] -- The Main
ing a halt. This is when the Catalyst is neces- Character changes his essential nature while
sary, for its introduction will either solve the attempting to solve his problems -- Every Main
puzzle that's holding things up or else make Character represents one special character
the puzzle seem suddenly unimportant so the element. This element is either the cause of
story can continue. the story's problem or its solution. The Main
Cause -- [Element] -- dyn.pr. Effect<—>Cause -- Character cannot be sure which it represents
the specific circumstances that lead to an effect since it is too close to home. Near the climax
-- The character containing the Cause charac- of the story, the Main Character must demon-
teristic is concerned with what is behind a strate whether he is going to stick with his
situation or its circumstances. This can lead it original approach in the belief that it is the
right to the source of trouble, the source of solution or jump to the opposite trait in the
control. However, sometimes many things belief he has been wrong. In "Leap of Faith"
came together to create a particular effect. In stories this will occur during a "moment of
that case, the Cause characteristic may fail by truth." In "Non-Leap of Faith" stories this will
either looking for a single source or trying to occur over the course of the story and be
address them all while ignoring the option of assessed for Change or Steadfastness in the
simply dealing with the effect. -- syn. reason end of the story. When a Main Character
for, effector, source, agent, antecedent abandons his original story-long approach for
its counterpart, he is said to Change.
Certainty -- [Element] -- dyn.pr. Potentiality<—
>Certainty -- a conclusion that something is Change -- [Element] -- dyn. pr. Inertia<—>Change
absolutely true -- The character representing -- an alteration of a state or process -- Change
the Certainty characteristic is not a risk taker. is the force that alters. A characteristic repre-
It must be completely sure before it takes senting change is quick to adapt but also
action or accepts information as true. The cannot leave well enough alone. It feels that if
slightest potential for error or change will stop it things have been one way long enough to
in its tracks. On the plus side, it never goes establish a pattern, it is time to change it. --
out on a limb far enough to break it; on the syn. altering, altering force, modify, reshape,
minus side, it might never get out far enough to adjust, adapt
get the fruit either. Many opportunities are lost Changing One's Nature [Becoming] -- [Type] --
to it because it hesitates until it is too late. -- dyn.pr. Playing A Role [Being]<—>Changing
syn. sureness, definiteness, having no doubts, One's Nature [Becoming] -- transforming one's
total reliability, indisputability, irrefutability, nature -- Changing One's Nature [Becoming]
unmistakability, certitude, conviction means achieving an identity with something.
Change Character -- [Character Appreciation] -- This is different from "being" which merely
the subjective character who changes his requires posing as something. To become, one
approach or attitude in a story -- The Change must do more than just pretend to be by
Character is the single character who does mimicking all the traits of what one wants to
change in a story in an attempt to resolve his become. Rather, one must also lose all those
personal problem. The Change Character parts of oneself that are inconsistent with what
one wants to become. "Giving up" a part of in that they do double duty by having a special
oneself is always the hardest part of becoming relationship with the audience and pulling their
and the reason so many characters spend a lot weight as Overall Story Characters as well.
of time "being" without ever becoming -- syn. This is because they are concerned both with
embodying, manifesting, personifying, incarnat- the Main Character's personal problem and
ing, transforming also the Overall Story problem.
Chaos -- [Element] -- dyn.pr. Order<—>Chaos -- Charge -- [Dynamic Term] -- Since there are two of
random change or a lack of order -- Chaos is each kind of pair in a quad (Dynamic, Depen-
disorder, randomness, anarchy. The Chaos dent and Companion), it is useful to have a
characteristic is brilliant at cutting through a way of identifying each one by its position in
Gordian knot. But then it just keeps cutting the quad. Dramatica uses the concept of a
every rope it sees until the chandelier falls on dramatic CHARGE to accomplish this. As with
its head. It "stirs the pot" just to see what will electrical charges, positive or negative does
bubble up to the top. -- syn. randomness, not mean one is good and the other bad but
anarchy, disorder, formlessness, noncohesion simply that they have opposite attributes. So in
Character -- [Dramatica Definition] -- In Dramatica, a quad the Dynamic (diagonal) pair that is
there are two major divisions of Characters: the negatively charged simply means that it runs
Subjective Characters and the Overall Story from the upper right item in the quad to the
Characters. In the most frequently told kinds of lower left unit of the quad. The other Dynamic
stories, Subjective Characters are the smaller pair is referred to as positively charged. The
group, consisting of only the Main Character top Companion (horizontal) pair is positive; the
and the Impact Character. Both of these are bottom Companion pair is negative. The left
concerned with providing the audience with a Dependent (vertical) pair is positive; the right
Subjective view of the story. There can be, and Dependent pair is negative. By using the
frequently are, many more Overall Story than CHARGE method, any pair in any quad can be
Subjective Characters. An Overall Story directly and specifically referred to.
Character is defined as a specific collection of Choice -- [Variation] -- dyn.pr. Delay<—>Choice -
dramatic Elements or characteristics that - making a decision -- Choice is simply a
remains consistent for the entire story. There decision as to which is the best path toward
are sixty four elements in the Dramatica resolving a problem. A character will ponder all
Structure which represent the building blocks the information and factor in all his feelings and
of Characters. All sixty four elements must be arrive at a decision. Sometimes a character
used to fully develop the story's argument. To will choose before all the information is in. This
have meaning to an audience, the group of can lead him to take steps that may ultimately
elements that makes up each Overall Story prove to be counter-productive or even self-
character must present a consistent viewpoint destructive. On the other hand, such intuitive
(with regards to the story goal/problem) during leaps can bypass a number of obstacles on the
the course of the story. In this way the relative way to a story's conclusion. Still, "snap judg-
attributes of each of these elemental ap- ments often lead to regrets for those whose
proaches can be clearly explored during the only exercise is jumping to conclusions." —
course of the story. Sixty four elements may at Dramatica fortune cookie -- syn. decision,
first sound too limited to create interesting selection, determination, pick
characters, but when you consider that the Circumstances -- [Variation] -- dyn.pr. Situa-
number of arrangements of the elements is tion<—>Circumstances -- the relationship of
multiplied by the way the might be grouped, the oneself to the environment -- Circumstances
total number of characters that can be created describes the way a character feels about his
is in the millions. In regard to story, the Overall environment. Whereas Situation is rated in
Story Characters present the story to the terms of satisfaction, Circumstances are rated
audience and the Subjective Characters allow in terms of fulfillment. Emotion, therefore, is
the audience to participate in the story. Be- the standard of measurement a character uses
cause of this, Subjective Characters are unique to evaluate his Circumstances. Often a
character must accept unfulfilling Circum- syn. finishing, completion, resolution, recursive
stances because he needs the benefits of the Co-Dynamic Pair -- [Structural Term] -- When one
Situation. Or a character may accept an of the two dynamic pairs in a quad is selected
unsatisfying Situation because it comes with as the "Reference Pair," the remaining dynamic
fulfilling Circumstances. Over the course of a pair is referred to as its CO-DYNAMIC PAIR.
story, the balance between the two measure-
ments can vary greatly. -- syn. how things Commitment -- [Variation] -- dyn.pr. Responsibil-
stand emotionally, emotional evaluation of the ity<—>Commitment -- a decision to stick with
environment, value of existing conditions, something regardless of the consequences -- A
relationship to others commitment forms the essence of the stead-
fast character. When a character makes a
Class -- [Structural Term] -- The broadest classifi- commitment, it is a decision not to quit regard-
cation of where problems can exist -- The less of the obstacles that may come. This
possible places where problems can exist can allows the character to accept much higher
be divided into four areas, and we call these costs on the way to a goal than he would if he
areas the four Classes. The Classes are re-evaluated every time something went
separated by distinctions between inner and wrong. A problem arises, however, when one
outer states and processes. Situation (Uni- of those obstacles turns out to be impassable.
verse) and Activity (Physics) represent external If a character reaches this point, he cannot
states and processes respectively, and Fixed achieve the goal. But since he is Committed,
Attitude (Mind) and Manipulation (Psychology) he does not re-evaluate and instead continues
represent internal states and processes to beat his head against a brick wall. -- syn.
respectively. Though Classes have the same dedication, devotion, steadfastness, zeal
names as Throughlines, they represent only a
structural ordering of semantic terms and are Companion Pair -- [Structural Term] -- In any
not the same as Throughlines which are more given quad, the two top items share a relation-
dynamic story points created by matching a ship between them in the same way the bottom
Class with one of the four throughlines. two share a relationship. What separates the
two pairs is what dramatic focus they create.
Closure -- [Variation] -- dyn.pr. Denial<—>Clo- Each pair in each quad will be focused in a
sure -- bringing something to an end -- Closure slightly different place, creating a gradual shift
can be seen in two ways. One, it can be an in the model from one point of view to its
ending. In this sense, it prevents what has opposite. In many quads, the top pair will
happened from being changed; it protects a appear to be more oriented toward the environ-
memory or a situation because the window of ment in comparison to the bottom pair which is
opportunity for change has ended. In the other more oriented toward the mind. Either the top
sense, Closure can be seen as a continuance. or bottom pair can be referred to as a Compan-
This is because a process made into a closed ion Pair, meaning that the two items that make
loop will just go on forever, repeating the same up the pair are companion rather than in
course. In some stories Closure settles all the conflict.
dramatic potentials to show that the issue of
the story has been resolved. In other stories, Complex Characters -- Whenever even a single
Closure is used to show that even though the element is added or removed or swapped in an
immediate problem has been resolved, the Archetypal character, that character becomes
volatile relationships among the characters is Complex. The more elements that differ from
never-ending. Closure is useful in letting one the Archetypal, the more complex the character
know when the job is done. Negatively, becomes. Characters in a story need not all be
Closure tries to bring everything to a conclu- Archetypal or all be complex. Making some
sion even if it is a continuously growing pro- characters more complex than others is a
cess that is completely open-ended. The valuable storytelling tool that allows for more
attempt to stop such an evolution would be exploration of certain areas of the story while
either fruitless or disastrous. But is a process underplaying others.
closed or not? When is a career at an end? -- Conceiving An Idea -- [Type] -- dyn.pr. Develop-
ing A Plan [Conceptualizing]<—>Conceiving An ing stories. -- syn. habituation, trained re-
Idea -- coming up with an idea -- Conceiving sponse, accustomed response, adaptive
An Idea is the process of arriving at an idea. If adjustments
there were no artificial light in the world, one Confidence -- [Variation] -- dyn.pr. Worry<—
might conceive the need for some form of >Confidence -- belief in the accuracy of an
electric torch. That would be conceiving. But expectation -- Confidence points to the future.
the design of an actual incandescent bulb It is not a rating of the present situation but a
versus a fluorescent one would require con- positive evaluation of how things will turn out.
ceptualizing a specific implementation of the Confidence, therefore, is a great motivator in
idea one has conceived. Conceiving An Idea unknown situations. This is because Confi-
need not come before conceptualizing. For dence is not based on predicting a situation but
example, a common dramatic technique is to on the experience of past situations. The
give a character a very clear mental image of downside is that Confidence erodes the
an object or arrangement that holds the motivation to prepare for the unexpected. If
solution to the story's problem. But the charac- past experience has always shown that even
ter does not know the solution lies in the the most threatening disasters have worked
conceptualization. It is only when he finally themselves out, then one will ignore potential
conceives of the need for a particular kind of danger that may turn out to be real. We see
solution that he realizes he had the answer all this in history time and time again, such as the
along. Simply put, Conceiving An Idea defines way the people of Pompeii remained in their
the question, Conceptualizing clarifies the homes while Vesuvius bellowed smoke for the
answer -- syn. originating, inventing, devising, umpteenth time. -- syn. hopeful prospects,
engendering, hatch ideas positive expectations, faithful anticipation,
Conceptualizing -- See Developing A Plan optimism
Concern (Overall Storyline) -- [Type] -- the goal Conscience -- [Element] -- dyn.pr. Temptation<—
or purpose sought after by the Overall Story >Conscience -- forgoing an immediate benefit
characters -- The Overall Story Concern is the because of future consequences -- Conscience
area which all the Overall Story Characters are is the motivation that negative consequences
hoping to have a good grasp of by the end of are unavoidable if a present desire is acted
the story. Their goals and purposes will all upon. Conscience can serve a character well
share some aspect of the Type item which is in overcoming strong transient desires that
their story's concern. There is also a Subjec- would bring disasters upon him. If the negative
tive Story Concern which is the area of concern consequences are purely imaginary, however,
between the Main Character and the Impact Conscience constricts the free expression of
Character. This is also a Type item which one's heart .-- syn. forgoing for fear of conse-
describes the nature of what the Main and quences, forgo, forbearance, temperance,
Impact Characters are seeking from each abstinence, restraining oneself
other. Conscious -- See Contemplation
Conditioning -- [Variation] -- dyn.pr. Instinct<— Consequence (Overall Storyline) -- [Type] -- The
>Conditioning -- responses based on experi- area that best describes the result of failing to
ence or training -- Conditioning describes achieve the goal -- For every goal there is a
learned responses to various stimuli. Similar to consequence. Consequence describes the
Instinct in that the Consciousness in not results of failing to achieve the goal. This
involved until after the fact, Conditioning differs predisposes the goal to be something desirable
insofar as it was not inherent in the basic but this is not necessarily true. Sometimes the
nature of a character but acquired though difference between goal and consequence can
training or familiarity to impose its triggers on be one of choosing the lesser of two evils.
the mind. Since Instincts are intrinsic and More optimistically put, goal and consequence
Conditioning is learned, they frequently come might be measures of magnitude of two
in conflict over how to respond. This concept favorable outcomes. Sometimes the Conse-
alone has provided the theme for many intrigu- quence will occur if the goal is not met, other
times the consequence already exists and can relearn how to weigh an issue so his conclu-
only be eliminated by meeting the goal. So if sions are less destructive to himself and/or
they are close in their negative or positive others. -- syn. considerations, sensibilities,
value, it may be difficult to be sure which is the cognizant, ability to consider, sensible, in-
consequence and which is the goal. An easy formed contemplation, contemplation
way to be certain is to see which one the Main Control -- [Element] -- dyn.pr. Uncontrolled<—
Character hopes to achieve. >Control -- a method based on organization
Consider -- [Element] -- dyn.pr. Reconsider<— and constraint -- The Control characteristic
>Consider -- weighing pros and cons -- A causes a character to methodically direct its
Consideration is the act of deliberation. A actions and deliberations to the specific
character possessing the Consideration purpose at hand. This leads to a great degree
characteristic keeps pondering an issue, of focus. The drawback is that when one
running it over in his mind. Once he has focuses, one loses peripheral vision. The
latched onto a topic, he refuses to let it go until purpose can become so all consuming that
it is resolved. This trait aids in keeping one's many peripheral yet essential parts of the
motivations impervious to erosion. On the equation are ignored until it is too late to save
other hand, the Consideration characteristic the whole project -- syn. regulate, organized
may not let sleeping dogs lie. Therefore it can management, steer, conduct, guide, manipu-
lead to stirring up all kinds of negative reac- late, focused organization
tions. -- syn. deliberate, contemplate, ponder, Cost (Overall Storyline) -- [Type] -- the price that
weigh in the mind, mull must be paid while meeting the requirements
Contagonist -- [Archetype] -- An Archetype of the goal -- Requirements are not always met
representing the motivations of temptation and just by applying effort. Sometimes they involve
hinder -- A concept unique to Dramatica, the trade-offs necessitating the acceptance of loss
Contagonist is the character that balances the in another area in order to meet the require-
Guardian. If Protagonist and Antagonist can ment. The damages sustained in the process
archetypically be thought of as "Good" versus of meeting the requirement are the Cost of
"Evil," the Contagonist is "Temptation" to the achieving the goal. Cost should not be con-
Guardian's "Conscience." Because the fused with Consequence. Consequence is a
Contagonist has a negative effect upon the state of things that either exists and will be
Protagonist's quest, it is often mistakenly vanquished by the goal or will come to exist
thought to be the Antagonist. In truth, the unless the goal is achieved. In contrast, Cost
Contagonist only serves to hinder the Protago- builds over the course of the story all the way
nist in his quest, throwing obstacles in front of to the climax. Sometimes by the end of the
his as an excuse to lure him away from the story, the consequence of not achieving the
road he must take in order to achieve success. goal is far less than the cumulative cost of
The Antagonist is a completely different achieving it. If there is a single large cost to be
character, diametrically opposed to the paid right at the moment of the climax, the
Protagonist's successful achievement of the Main Character may decide he has paid
goal enough already and determine the goal is just
Contemplation [Conscious] -- [Type] -- dyn.pr. not worth it, electing to stop trying. If there is
Memory<—>Contemplation [Conscious] -- no large cost at the end, the Main Character
considerations -- When one has all the facts, may decide to keep on going for an insignifi-
knows all the impact — both positive and cant goal motivated by the thought of how
negative; when one is fully aware of detrimen- much they already invested. In the words of
tal consequences and still decides on the poor the songwriter/singer Don McLean, "The more
course of action, there is something wrong with you pay, the more it's worth."
the way one arrives at conclusions. This is the Critical Flaw -- [Variation] -- The Subjective
subject of stories focusing on the Contempla- Character trait that inhibits the effectiveness of
tion [Conscious]. The key here is not to that Subjective Character's Unique Ability -- To
redefine who a character is but to lead him to balance the Main Character's extraordinary
status conveyed by his Unique Ability, he must ready motivation. This is a useful tool for
also be shown to be especially vulnerable in Authors since it allows for the subtle relation-
one area as well. This vulnerability is called his ship of unused, inferred, threatened, or antici-
Critical Flaw. The Main Character's Critical pated dramatic interactions that shape the
Flaw is his Achilles heel that prevents him from fabric of a story in ways other than conflict.
being too one-sided. Just as with Unique Decision -- [Plot Dynamic] -- in terms of the
Ability, the Critical Flaw can be quite mundane Overall Story plot, decisions force actions -- All
as long as it can threaten him with failure from stories have both Action and Decision. Typi-
an unprotectable direction. The specific Critical cally, one defines a Decision story as having
Flaw must be unique to the Main Character in more intense Deliberation than Action. This
the story. However, the more common the view is overly influenced by how the story is
Critical Flaw is to the audience, the more it will told rather than what it represents. Dramatica
identify with the Main Character's predicament. takes a different view of Action and Decision.
In Start stories, the Critical Flaw inhibits the Either Actions force the need for Decisions or
Main Character from using his Unique Ability. Decisions force the need for Actions in order to
In Stop stories, the Critical Flaw undoes the advance the plot. Over the course of the story
work done by the Unique Ability after the fact. as a whole (independent of the nature of the
Only when the Main Character learns to either Main Character) if Decisions precipitate the
Start or Stop as required by the story can the progression of the plot, it is a Decision story.
Critical Flaw be avoided, allowing his Unique
Ability to solve the problem. The Impact Deduction -- [Element] -- dyn.pr. Induction<—
Character in any story also has a Unique Ability >Deduction -- a process of thought that deter-
which makes him uniquely qualified to thwart mines certainty -- Deduction is the process of
the Main Character. But in his character as thought that arrives at a determination of what
well is a Critical Flaw which prevents him from is by limiting out all that cannot be. It has been
just totally overwhelming the Main Character. said, "When you have ruled out the impossible,
This is again a trait which is unique to this whatever is left, no matter how improbable,
particular character, but its effects are felt in a must be true." The characteristic representing
different area than the Main Character Critical Deduction will arrive at conclusions by eliminat-
Flaw because of the Impact Character's ing all competing theories that have holes until
different purposes. only one remains. This is fine for cutting away
the nonsense and discovering understanding,
Crucial Element -- [Element] -- The single ele- unless the competing theories were not all the
ment in the story that needs to be exchanged available theories and the real answer was
for its dynamic pair in order to correct the never even considered. Also, Deduction often
imbalance that began the story fails to look for situations in which alternative
Current -- [Dynamic Term] -- The flow of a truths exist. A famous story had a detective
process -- One way to measure the relation- narrowing down murder suspects only to
ship of items in a quad is to classify them as discover that they all did it! -- syn. drawing a
Potential, Resistance, Current, and Outcome conclusion, process of elimination, demonstra-
(or Power). In this manner, we can see how tive reasoning, narrowing to a single point
dramatic components operate on each other Deficiency -- [Variation] -- dyn.pr. Permission<—
over the course of the story. Current simply >Deficiency -- motivation based on lack --
means the flow of a process. When a dramatic When a character lacks something in the
current exists it does not necessarily create sense of having Deficiency, he may not even
change. Rather, until it is directed to a specific comprehend what he lacks. But this lack
purpose as Power, the current will have no drives him and fulfilling the lack would end the
impact at all. So in a quad, assigning one of drive caused by the Deficiency. Deficiency is
the items as the current does not mean it will closely related to Need, but where Needs are
alter the course of the story. Instead, it might always defined by their context and the pur-
function to encourage purpose by providing a pose which makes them seem necessary,
Deficiency does not require a purpose. When
a character lacks, he is NOT content with what down, stubbornness
he has and REQUIRES something more in Dependent Pair -- [Structural Term] -- A pair of
order to become content. Fulfilling a lack may items whose relationship is complementary --
appear to be the last thing a character Needs In any given quad, the two items directly above
because it does not lead to his purpose, but and below each other are referred to as a
once the lack has been taken care of, a Dependent Pair. Since a quad consists of four
character may find his purpose has changed items, it therefore contains two Dependent
and his Need has been eliminated. -- syn. Pairs.
inadequacy, insufficiency, deficit, unfulfilled
need Desire -- Most terms in Dramatica are unique,
however four items have two uses, serving
Delay -- [Variation] -- dyn.pr. Choice<—>Delay -- both as Variation and Element. This is a result
putting off until later -- Delay is the decision not of the fundamental importance of the concepts
to make a decision. Whenever the options are represented by these four items: Thought,
too closely balanced to see a clear path, Knowledge, Ability, and Desire.
whenever there is not enough information to be
confident of an outcome, a character will Delay. [Variation] -- dyn.pr. Ability<—>Desire
The purpose is to wait until one gathers more -- the motivation to change one's situation or
information or until the situation changes to circumstances -- Desire describes an aware-
present a clear best course. But how long ness that something better exists than what
does one wait? And what if something dis- currently is. This doesn't mean things have to
tracts the character and he forgets to check be bad now, just that one perceives something
and see if things have changed? Now the better. The key word here is "perceives."
character has left a problem unresolved, and Desires are based not on what is truly better
unless it intrudes upon his thinking, it will never but on what one imagines will be better. Often
be thought of again. Yet deep within him, he there is a large gap between the two. (Recall
will be influenced to avoid what created that the story of the dog with the bone which
problem or to take steps to protect against its jumped into the pond to get the bone from his
recurrence. Until the original problem is reflection and ended up with no bone at all.)
addressed and a choice of path is made, the Little tension is produced if a character can try
character will not be free of the problem's out his desires at no cost. But great tension is
influence. -- syn. put off, retard, postpone, produced when he must give up something
defer, suspend, prolong, procrastinate good forever in the belief that something else is
better. ("Do you want [desire] what's in the box
Denial -- [Variation] -- dyn.pr. Closure<—>Denial or what's behind door number 3?") -- syn.
-- the refusal to let something go -- Denial is want, favor, like, covet, prefer, wish, aspire
the refusal to accept that something is or has
become closed. How many people continue to [Element] -- dyn.pr. Ability<—>Desire
make a point after they have won the argu- -- the motivation to change one's situation or
ment? More than just not accepting a conclu- circumstances -- The Desire element is the
sion, Denial can also be not accepting that a essence of motivation. A characteristic repre-
process will just keep repeating. A repeating senting Desire is mindful of a future in which
process has a cycle. In a story, a character situation or circumstances are improved. This
comes into such a circle at one point and does not mean that it is unhappy with what it
follows it around back to start. At that point, a has but rather that it can imagine something
theme of Denial would have that character better. On the plus side, Desire primes the
refusing to believe that he has been just been characteristic to seek to better its environment
chasing his own tail. At the leap of faith he will or itself. On the minus side, Desire is not
just push off again and keep on circling a no- always coupled with an ability to achieve that
win situation in the hopes it will change this which is Desired. In this case, Desire may no
time around. Inertia does not always travel in longer be felt as a positive motivator but as a
straight lines. -- syn. not accepting, refusal to negative lack and may become a measure-
end, unwillingness to let go, refusal to back ment of one's limitations and constraints -- syn.
drive, motivational goal, unfulfillment, source of
discontent, essence of motivation -- house is. A character that deals with conceptu-
Destiny -- [Variation] -- dyn.pr. Fate<—>Destiny - alizing would be well aware of the kind of
- the future path an individual will take -- solution that will eliminate the problem but
Destiny is the path to a particular fate or spend his time trying to devise a specific way
through a series of fates. Fates are experi- of achieving that solution -- syn. visualizing,
ences or conditions one must encounter along imagining, envisioning, visualizing implementa-
the way as one's Destiny directs one's course. tion
The nature of Destiny is such that no matter Dilemma Stories versus Work Stories -- A
how much a character is aware of the nature distinction between stories where the Main
and location of an undesirable fate, nothing he Character decides to Change and where the
can do is enough to pull him off the path. Main Character remains Steadfast -- Work
Characters often try to deny Destiny by jump- describes the activities of a Main Character
ing to an entirely different path only to discover who remains steadfast and resolute throughout
that all roads lead to Rome. -- syn. inescap- the story. This kind of character believes in the
able path, predetermined trajectory, set direc- correctness of his approach to the problem and
tion of the future, inevitable path, unavoidable sticks by his guns come what may. Dilemma
trajectory describes the situation of a Main Character
Determination -- [Element] -- dyn.pr. Expecta- who ultimately changes at the end of the story.
tion<—>Determination -- a conclusion as to the This kind of character becomes convinced that
cause behind a particular effect -- Determina- he cannot solve the problem with his original
tion is an evaluation of the forces driving a approach and adopts a new approach. So a
process. This allows one to anticipate future Work Story is concerned with a Steadfast Main
effects or to take action to stop or enhance a Character and a Dilemma Story concerns itself
current effect. However, it may just be that a with a Change Main Character. However, just
completely different set of forces is really because the Main Character has decided to
behind the process, causing one to put his remain Steadfast or to Change does not mean
efforts in the wrong place. When a person he made the right choice. Only in the end will
swims directly toward the shore, the current he find out if he succeeded or failed. If in a
can carry his far down shore. As long as the Work Story the Steadfast Main Character really
character possessing Determination sticks with should have Changed and fails because he did
a particular concept of the powers that be, not, then it was really an Apparent Work Story
there is the potential it may not get what it since work alone could not solve it. If in a
expects. -- syn. ascertaining causes, discover- Dilemma Story the Change Main Character
ing causes, finding the reasons why, figuring really should have remained Steadfast and
out factors, discerning antecedents fails because he did not, then it was really an
Apparent Dilemma Story since there wasn't
Developing A Plan [Conceptualizing] -- [Type] -- actually a dilemma after all. Steadfast means
dyn.pr. Conceiving An Idea<—>Developing A Work, Change means Dilemma. These are
Plan [Conceptualizing] -- visualizing how an modified by their pairing with Success, which
idea might be implemented -- Developing A means Actual, and Failure which means
Plan [Conceptualizing] means coming up with Apparent
a practical implementation of an idea. It is not
enough to simply have the idea. To conceptu- Dilemma -- The Main Character Changes -- A
alize, one must develop an actual mental Dilemma story is one in which the Main Char-
model of how such an idea might be made acter believes his path cannot lead to success.
manifest. In other words, one might have an In the end, when the Main Character Changes,
idea to build a spacious house. But to concep- he may or may not jump to the correct path so
tualize the house one must imagine everything he may or may not succeed. Either way,
that makes up the house — the design, the Dilemma describes a story where the Main
layout, the colors and textures, everything that Character Changes.
is essential to understanding what that specific Direction-- [Character Dynamic] -- See Growth
Direction (Overall Storyline) -- [Element] --
[Response]; the apparent remedy for the tinue on an otherwise costly path
principal symptom of the story problem -- Do-er -- [Character Dynamic] -- As an approach,
Characters do the best they can to deal with the Main Character prefers to adapt his envi-
the Overall Story Problem, but because the ronment to himself -- Every Main Character will
Overall Story Characters of a story are all have a preference to deal with problems by
looking at the problem from their subjective either physical effort or by mental/emotional
point of view, they can't get enough distance to effort. When a Main Character prefers working
actually see the problem right away. Instead in the external environment, he is a Do-er.
they focus on the effects of the problem, which
is called the Overall Story Focus, and choose Doing -- [Type] -- dyn.pr. Obtaining<—>Doing --
to follow what they feel will be a remedy, which engaging in a physical activity -- Doing is the
is called the Overall Story Direction. process of being physically active. In and of
itself, Doing does not require any purpose but
Direction Element (aka Perspective Element) -- simply describes engaging in a process, task,
A Subjective Character can never be sure if or endeavor, whether for pleasure or by
what he believes to be the source of the necessity or compulsion. -- syn. performing,
problem really is the source of the problem. executing, effecting action, acting
Regardless, based on his belief he will deter-
mine a potential solution or Direction in which Domain -- [Throughline] -- See Throughline
he hopes to find the solution. The dramatic Domain Act Order -- [Plot Structure] -- See
unit that describes what a Subjective Character Throughline Act Order
holds as the path to a solution is his Direction Doubt -- [Variation] -- dyn.pr. Investigation<—
Element. >Doubt -- questioning validity without investi-
Disbelief -- [Element] -- dyn.pr. Faith<—>Disbe- gating to be sure -- Here Doubt is defined as
lief -- the belief that something is untrue -- the lack of faith that evidence leads to a certain
Disbelief is not the same thing as a lack of conclusion. This means that even though
faith. Lack of faith is the absence of absolute evidence supports a particular concept, the
confidence that something is or will be true. character is unwilling to abandon the belief that
Disbelief is absolute confidence that something alternative explanations can be found. Cer-
is not true. Disbelief may make one a skeptic tainly this approach has the advantage of
but sometimes it makes a character the only keeping one's mind open. But sometimes a
one with the confidence to tell the Emperor mind can be too open. If a character Doubts
"You have no clothes!" -- syn. refusal to too much, he will not accept solid evidence no
accept, distrust, find unconvincing, find false, matter how conclusive. This can prevent the
unpersuadability character from ever accepting the obvious truth
Dividend (Overall Storyline) -- [Type] -- the and continuing to labor under a delusion. --
benefits gathered while meeting the require- syn. pessimism, uninformed misgivings,
ments of the goal -- Although meeting the uncertainty, trepidation, distrust
requirements of a goal can incur costs, it can Dream -- [Variation] -- dyn.pr. Hope<—>Dream --
also provide dividends along the way. Some- a desired future that requires unexpected
times solving one of the pre-requisites or developments -- Dream describes a character
attaining one of the pre-conditions of the who speculates on a future that has not been
requirement has its own reward. Though these ruled out, however unlikely. Dreaming is full of
rewards are not individually as significant as "what ifs." Cinderella Dreamed of her prince
the promised reward of the goal, sometimes because it wasn't quite unimaginable. One
cumulatively they are enough to cause a Main Dreams of winning the lottery even though one
Character to quit while he's ahead and avoid a "hasn't got a hope." Hope requires the expec-
particularly large cost that would be unavoid- tation that something will happen if nothing
able if the goal were to be achieved. Other goes wrong. Dreaming has no such limitation.
times, a particularly large dividend may loom Nothing has to indicate that a Dream will come
just ahead in the story, providing the Main true, only that it's not impossible. Dreaming
Character with a boost in motivation to con- can offer a positive future in the midst of
disaster. It can also motivate one to try for one puts all one's efforts into dealing with the
things others scoff at. Many revolutionary Effect while ignoring the cause. Should a
inventors have been labeled as Dreamers. Still mayor add to the police force to battle crime or
and all, to Dream takes away time from doing, improve social services? -- syn. result, conse-
and unless one strikes a balance and does the quence, outcome, culmination, the ensuing
groundwork, one can Dream while hopes go Element -- [Structural Term] -- There are 64
out the window for lack of effort. -- syn. aspire, elements in each class. The same 64 ele-
desiring the unlikely, pulling for the doubtful, ments appear in every class, arranged differ-
airy hope, glimmer, far fetched desire ently by position. Elements represent the most
Driver -- [Plot Dynamic] -- the kind of activity refined and highly detailed approaches and
focused upon in the effort to solve the story's attitudes in the attempt to solve the story's
problem -- Action or Decision describes how problem. Primarily, they are the building blocks
the problem of the Story will primarily be of the characters. To fully argue the thematic
explored. The primary concern is the kind of message, it must be addressed from all
storytelling you want to do. If you want action possible directions. This is accomplished by
to be the focus of your storytelling, choose making sure that all 64 elements are divided
action. If you want deliberation to be the focus among a story's Overall Story characters. If an
of your storytelling, choose decision. It's that element is not used it will leave a hole in the
simple. logic or emotion of the story. If one is used
Dynamic Pair -- [Structural Term] -- A pair of items more than once, it will obscure the point by
whose relationship is that they are extreme showing it in two different incarnations. The
opposites -- In any given quad, Dynamic Pairs reason that elements are repeated from class
are represented as two items that are diagonal to class is that they represent the heart of the
to each other. A quad consists of four items problem. When all else is stripped away, the
and therefore contains two Dynamic Pairs. problem must be evaluated by these same
Their relationship can imply conflict, or it can building blocks no matter where it was ap-
imply synthesis. These are the negative and proached from. The reason that the elements
positive aspects of Dynamic Pairs. are arranged differently from class to class is
that the way they are grouped depends upon
Dynamics -- Dramatic forces that determine the the direction from which the story approaches
course a story will take. -- The power of a story them. When the story is approached from a
is divided between two realms. First is the given class, it is like looking at the problem
structure that represents the dramatic poten- from a particular direction. All the same
tials that exist in character, plot, and theme at elements are seen, but from a different point of
the beginning of a story. Second are the view.
dynamic forces that will act upon the dramatic
potentials to change the relationship between Emotion -- [Archetype] -- An Archetype who
characters, change the course of the plot and represents the motivations of Feeling and
develop the theme as the story unfolds. In Uncontrolled -- The Emotional Archetypal
Dramatica, choices between alternative forces Character reacts passionately to turns of
such as "Success or Failure" and "Change or events without considering the consequences
Steadfast" determine the dynamics that will act or best course to achieve his purpose. Fre-
upon a story. quently portrayed as a "screamer" or "big dumb
ox" this character is really not stupid. He
Effect -- [Element] -- dyn.pr. Cause<—>Effect -- actually represents feeling and frenzy. So his
the specific outcome forced by a cause -- nature is to feel deeply about issues but be
Effect is the end product of an effort or series unable to focus that heartfelt intensity in any
of efforts. One might argue its pros and cons, useful direction. Rather, he tends to go off the
yet ignore how the Effect came to be in the first deep end and thrash out aimlessly, frequently
place. On the plus side, concentrating on to the detriment of himself and those around
Effect keeps the effort focused on the problem them. Such a character can prove to be a
or goal. On the minus side, it can lead to Trojan horse by storytelling him into the
beating a dead horse. Failure may follow if
enemy's camp where he will almost certainly around. By "robbing Peter to pay Paul" he
wreak havoc. might be moving resources back and forth in a
Empathy -- Empathy describes the complete way that stresses the whole system which
identification of the audience with the Main might crumble from the strain -- syn. balance,
Character such that the audience sees the fairness, parity, equilibrium, level, even
story through his eyes. Essence -- [Overview Appreciation] -- the primary
Ending -- [Element] -- dyn.pr. Unending<— dramatic feel of a story -- A story can be
>Ending -- coming to a conclusion -- The appreciated as the interaction of dynamics that
Ending characteristic causes a character to converge at the climax. From this point of
look toward the conclusion in every process or view, the feel of the dramatic tension can be
situation. He may wish to prevent it or to defined. Dramatic tension is created between
hasten it, but his primary concern is when it's the direction the Main Character is growing
going to be over. A very useful trait in dealing compared to the author's value judgment of
with steps or phases. Not very useful if the that growth. A Change Main Character will
process or situation is really un-ending. Since either grow out of something or grow into
the character representing the Ending charac- something. In the first case, he possesses a
teristic assumes that everything must end characteristic that he will let go. In the second
sooner or later, he cannot accept that some case, he adds a new characteristic to his
things never end. Some relationships will last make-up. But is he correct in stopping some-
a lifetime, come what may. But if one partner thing he has been doing or starting to do
believes it can end, he will always worry, something new? This is determined by the
looking for signs of its demise. If he was an author's value judgment of Good or Bad.
Ending person, Prometheus was sorely When a Main Character Stops doing some-
mistaken. (Weeds grow back and Rust never thing Bad, that is positive. When a Main
sleeps!) -- syn. conclusion, finish, completion, Character Starts doing something Good, that
termination, close also is positive. However, when a Main
Character Starts doing something Bad or Stops
Enlightenment -- [Variation] -- dyn.pr. Wis- doing something Good, these are negative.
dom<—>Enlightenment -- an understanding Positive and Negative affect where the audi-
that transcends knowledge -- Not all meaning ence places its focus on the story. In a Positive
comes from experience. The mind has the story, the focus is on the effort to find the
ability to synthesize abstract truth that has not solution. In a Negative story, the focus in on
been or cannot be observed. When a charac- the effort to escape the problem.
ter is able to come to an understanding of the
whole that exceeds the sum of the observed Evaluation -- [Element] -- dyn.pr. Re-evalua-
parts, he is said to be Enlightened. A truly tion<—>Evaluation -- an appraisal of a situa-
refined thematic conflict can be explored in the tion and/or circumstances -- Evaluation is the
relationship between the practical Wisdom meaning a character finds in a situation or
born of great experience and the aesthetic circumstances. Rather than just grappling with
Enlightenment born of great insight -- syn. the bits and pieces, the character creates an
insight, illumination, intuitive discernment, understanding of how all the parts fit together.
transcendent comprehension This gives him a better grasp of how to deal
with the issue. The danger is that once he has
Equity -- [Element] -- dyn.pr. Inequity<—>Equity - Evaluated, the situation or circumstances
- a balance, fairness, or stability -- Equity is change, yet he is still using the old evaluation
balance. The Equity characteristic makes a as a unit of measure. Meanings change over
character want everything to work out fair and time and need to be updated to maintain
square. He will spend his time trying to main- accuracy -- syn. appraisal, analysis, assess-
tain balance and will judge the acceptability of ment, survey, examination
a situation by its apparent equilibrium. On the
downside, he may not realize that without Evidence -- [Variation] -- dyn.pr. Suspicion<—
inequity there is no motivation and hence no >Evidence -- information supporting a belief --
progress. Also, there may not be enough to go Evidence is information one gathers to develop
an understanding about something. When to social standing. Expediency is as important
looking at Evidence, a character does not an emotional motivation as Need is a motivator
necessarily have to know exactly what he is of reason. Since Expediency is based on
looking for, just that the information pertains to avoiding future punishments or disappoint-
the nature of what he is trying to learn about. ments that may or may not be real, dramatic
As a result, he tends to examine the Evidence tension can be easily created between the
only in terms of whether or not it is something subjective and Overall Story views. A way to
that falls into a pre-determined category. think of Expediency is that when it pops up,
Therefore, errors can occur when the Evidence characters who are being influenced by it will
(although it pertains to the subject of interest) think of it in terms of "Should." "I should really
actually holds much more information in do this, even though I may not want to." -- syn.
another area. This can lead a character to "not advisability, convenience, prudent efficiency
see the forest for the trees" because he is Experience -- [Variation] -- dyn.pr. Skill<—
looking at the small picture and ignoring the big >Experience -- the gaining of familiarity --
one. For example, in a mystery a detective Experience refers to the cumulative effect of
may be looking for Evidence of who committed observing or participating in mental or physical
a murder, when in truth the victim died of activities until they become familiar. However,
natural causes which is clearly indicated if the just because the activities become second
detective had only thought to look for that -- nature does not mean a character is necessar-
syn. proof, indicator, supporting information, ily good at them. To excel, a character need
corroborating facts, grounds for belief, substan- both Experience AND the innate Skills that can
tiation be honed by that experience. If either is
Expectation -- [Element] -- dyn.pr. Determina- lacking or deficient, the character's real ability
tion<—>Expectation -- a conclusion as to the will be less than its Experiential potential. --
eventual effect of a particular cause -- Expecta- syn. familiarization, level of practice, season-
tion is the projection of what one expects to ing, accumulated feelings, accumulated
find at the end of a path. Expectations allow dealings with
one to anticipate and make plans for both Fact -- [Variation] -- dyn.pr. Fantasy<—>Fact --
rewards and troubles. However, if the charac- belief in something real -- Fact is something
ter representing Expectation does not occa- that is truly real as opposed to just seeming to
sionally question the basis of his projections, be real. Of course, from a character's subjec-
he may find the world has turned under his feet tive view, when something seems to be real it
-- syn. anticipated results, eventual outcome, is impossible to tell from actual fact. No matter
presumed prospects, probable denouement, how strongly a belief, understanding, or
likely consequences knowledge of something is held, subjectively
Expediency -- [Variation] -- dyn.pr. Need<— there is always the possibility some change in
>Expediency -- most efficient course consider- the situation or additional information will prove
ing repercussions -- It is important not to it to be unfactual. Optical illusions are a good
consider Expediency as only meaning effi- case in point. The moment a character ac-
ciency. In terms of story, Expediency de- cepts something as fact is the moment a
scribes what a character feels he must do or thematic conflict might begin to grow. Never-
be in order to avoid potential consequences. theless, Fact represents beliefs that turn out to
These consequences can come from his be real. -- syn. belief in the genuine, ultimately
environment, in the form of disapproval by real beliefs, truly real beliefs, authentic notion,
others, or from within in the form of self- authentic idea, correct knowledge, correct
recrimination. If the perceived consequences beliefs
are internal, Expediency feels like a "moral" Failure -- [Plot Dynamic] -- the original goal is not
pressure but is really the emotional retribution achieved -- Every overall story throughline in a
one flails against oneself for not living up to Grand Argument Story has at its beginning a
one's own self-image. If they are external, desired outcome to be sought after. Ultimately,
Expediency feels like peer pressure or a threat the characters will either achieve that outcome
or Fail to do so. The reasons for Failure (and ings that are not accurate. Neither one can be
in fact the Failure itself) may not be bad. For consciously intentional or one would be aware
example, in the course of trying to arrive at an of the untruth of the Fantasy. Fantasies are not
outcome, the characters may decide it was necessarily bad. In fact, they can be the best
wrong to want it or learn that achieving it would way for a character to clarify the nature of his
hurt people. Whatever the reason, be it goal. Maintaining the Fantasy allows one to
nobility or no ability, if the outcome desired at practice responses so that Fantasy might
the story's beginning is not achieved, the story actually turn into fact. Of course, when one
ends in Failure. lets a Fantasy grow such that it extends
Faith -- [Element] -- dyn.pr. Disbelief<—>Faith -- beyond the goal and into the means of evaluat-
accepting something as certain without proof - ing progress toward the goal, the Fantasy can
- Faith is a belief in something without the become self-sustaining and only imagined
support of proof. Since the future is uncertain, progress is ever made -- syn. false belief, faith
Faith in one's ability to arrive at one's purpose in the imaginary, delusion, erroneous convic-
is a very strong motivator. However, when one tion
has Faith, it cannot be argued with since it Fate -- [Variation] -- dyn.pr. Destiny<—>Fantasy -
does not rely on logic or proof. The danger of - a future situation that will befall an individual -
Faith is that it does not allow one to determine - The distinction between Fate and destiny is
if obstacles are signs that ones motivations are an important one. Destiny is the direction
misplaced, because the obstacles seem to be one's life must take, Fate is any given moment
tests that must be overcome through steadfast along that direction. So whereas one can have
belief -- syn. acceptance without proof, stead- many Fates, one can only have one destiny.
fast belief, confidence in unproven, credence, Fate describes a state of situation and circum-
unquestioned trust stance that exists at a particular point in time.
Falsehood -- [Variation] -- dyn.pr. Truth<— In other words, Fate is something of an out-
>Falsehood -- that which has been shown to come, or perhaps a step — just one of a
be erroneous -- Falsehood does not mean number of Fates along the path of one's
incorrect but in error. In other words, what is destiny. Characters often either make the
presented may be absolutely accurate and yet mistake of assuming that they have only one
not reflect what is really going on. Perhaps Fate and are therefore stuck with it, or they
only a portion of the truth is expressed or more mistakenly believe they can achieve their
information than is pertinent causes one to destiny without "passing through" unattractive
misconstrue. A danger is that Falsehood can fates that lie along the path. The nature of a
get away from the control of its creator. Once Fate is that no matter how you try to avoid it, it
an error has been passed off as truth, some tracks you. All options that you might exercise
will continue to accept it as truth even if it is still lead to that Fate. That is what also defines
recanted by the person that gave the False Destiny as the limitations on free will that force
account -- syn. erroneousness, untruth, you to arrive at your Fate no matter how you
erroneous notion, mistaken, astray, dishonest alter what you do or what kind of person you
are. If we all knew the future, there would be
Family -- [Structural Term] -- In the Dramatica no free-will -- syn. inevitable events,
structure, all units are divided into four major unpreventable incidents, eventual events,
groups according to their most general natures. destined occurrence, destined events, unavoid-
These groups are Elements, Variations, Types, able situations
and Classes. Each of these groups is called a
Family. Feeling -- [Element] -- dyn.pr. Logic<—>Feeling -
- an emotional sense of how things are going --
Fantasy -- [Variation] -- dyn.pr. Fact<—>Fantasy Feeling is the mental process of seeking the
-- belief in something unreal -- Fantasy is most fulfilling course or correct explanation
something that although seemingly real, truly is based on emotion. The Feeling characteristic
not. Fantasies exist subjectively so they can believes "ya gotta have heart." It cares not for
either be misinterpretations of the meaning of what is efficient or even practical as long as it
actual things or internal fabrications of mean-
is "feels" right. This makes the Feeling charac- what an audience expects to see which filters
teristic very empathetic to the emotional the message and dilutes the truth. By placing
atmosphere in a situation, yet apt to ignore or a female psyche in a male character, precon-
pay little attention to necessities -- syn. empa- ceptions no longer prevent the message from
thy, emotional sensibility, affective outlook, being heard. The word of warning is that this
sentiment, emotional assessment technique can make a Main Character seem
Female Mental Sex -- [Character Dynamic] -- The "odd" in some hard to define way to your
Main Character uses female problem solving audience. So although the message may fare
techniques -- A choice of female creates a better, empathy between your audience and
Main Character whose psychology is based on your Main Character may not.
assessing balance. A female Main Character Female -- [Overview Appreciation] -- women will
resolves inequities by comparing surpluses to tend to empathize with the main character in
deficiencies. The manner employed in resolv- this story; men will tend to sympathize --
ing the inequity will involve creating a surplus Although there is much common ground in a
where a surplus is desired, creating a defi- story that is appreciated equally by women and
ciency where a deficiency is desired, creating a men, some dramatic messages speak to one
surplus so a deficiency is felt elsewhere, group more profoundly than the other. One
creating a deficiency so a surplus will be felt particular area of difference is the relationship
elsewhere. Through the application of one's of female and male audience members to the
own force, hills and valleys can be created and Main Character. In some stories an audience
filled either to directly address the inequity or to member will feel Empathy with the Main
create a change in the flow of energies that will Character, as if he/she were standing in the
ultimately come together in a new hill or Main Character's shoes. In other stories, an
disperse creating a new valley. These are the audience member will feel Sympathy for the
four primary inequity resolving techniques of a Main Character, as if the Main Character is a
female character. It is important to note that close acquaintance. The dynamics that control
these techniques are applied both to others this for women and men are quite different.
and to oneself. Either way, manipulating "Female" indicates that as a result of this
surplus and deficiency describes the approach. storyform's dynamics, female audience mem-
When selecting female or male, typically the bers will tend to empathize with the Main
choice is as simple as deciding if you want to Character. Male audience members will tend
tell a story about a man or a woman. But there to sympathize
is another consideration that is being employed Fixed Attitude (Mind) -- [Class] -- dyn.pr. Situa-
with growing frequency in modern stories -- tion (Universe)<—>Fixed Attitude (Mind) -- a
putting the psyche of one sex into the skin of fixed attitude -- The Fixed Attitude (Mind) Class
another. This does not refer only to the "sex describes a fixed attitude. This can be a bias,
change" comedies but also to many action prejudice, or even a "positive" opinion about
stories with female Main Characters (e.g. anything at all. The key is that the attitude is
Aliens) and many decision stories with male fixed, meaning it is accepted as a given and
Main Characters (Prince of Tides). When an not re-evaluated. Often the Fixed Attitude
author writes a part for a woman, he/she would (Mind) Throughline is represented by a group
intuitively create a female psyche for that of people who share a common bias for or
character. Yet by simply changing the name of against something. -- syn. attitude, fixation,
the character from Mary to Joe and shifting the position on an issue, fixed point of view,
appropriate gender terms, the character would disposition
ostensibly become a man. But that man would
not seem like a man. Even if all the specific Flashbacks and Flashforwards -- [Storytelling] --
feminine dialogue were changed, even if all the Storytelling techniques for developing the story
culturally dictated manifestations were altered, and the backstory simultaneously -- Often the
the underlying psyche of the character would purpose of telling a story is not just to docu-
have a female bias rather than a male bias. ment the effort to solve a problem but to
Sometimes stereotypes are propagated by convey understanding as to how such a
problem came to be in the first place. If the and help force the limit of the story and bring
author wants to develop both story and the Main Character to the moment where he
backstory simultaneously during the course of can be assessed in terms of his Main Charac-
the storytelling by alternating between them, ter Resolve. These Forewarnings could be a
two primary techniques are available: the quick look at a growing crack in the dam which
Flashback and the Flashforward. In the no-one sees, or it could be a mad scientist
Flashback, the story proper is assumed to take installing the final component in his doomsday
place in the present. Flashbacks then reveal device; however it is represented, its nature will
key episodes in the development of the prob- be described by the Type appreciation of
lem (the Backstory), sometimes in the past, to Forewarnings.
underscore or contrast specific points in the Future (The Future)-- [Type] -- what will happen or
story as appropriate and as desired. In the what will be -- A story focusing on the Future
Flashforward, the Backstory is assumed to concerns itself with what will be. This does not
take place in the present and the story is require the story to be "set" in the Future —
revealed to the audience in episodes illustrat- only that the Future state of external and/or
ing the future outcome of forces presently put internal issues is the subject that is being
into play. In either case, by the end of the addressed. A character centered on Future
storytelling, both Backstory and Story have may be trying to discover what will be or may
been fully illustrated to the extent desired to be trying a achieve a particular state of affairs
convey the intended message down the line. In both the Story and Character
Focus -- [Element] -- [Symptom]; the principal sense, the end is more important than the
symptom of the story problem -- When a Main present although it still may not justify the
Character is at odds with his surroundings, a means -- syn. what is to come, what will be,
problem exists between himself and his prospect, prospective -- dyn.pr. Progress
environment. The actual nature of this gap Gathering Information -- See Learning
between Main Character and environment is
described by the Problem Element. The nature Goal (Overall Storyline) -- [Type] -- the central
of what is required to restore balance is objective of a story -- A Goal is that which the
described by the Solution Element. This is the Protagonist of a story hopes to achieve. As
Overall Story view of the problem. The Main such, it need not be an object. The Goal might
Character, however, is not privy to that view but be a state of mind or enlightenment; a feeling
must work from the Subjective view instead. or attitude, a degree or kind of knowledge,
From the Subjective view, the problem does desire or ability. Although it is his chief con-
not appear to be between the Main Character cern, the Goal which a Protagonist seeks is not
and the Environment, but wholly in one or the necessarily a good thing for him nor is it
other. Sometimes a Main Character is a "Do- certainly attainable. Only through the course of
er" type and will perceive and first try to solve the story does the value and accessibility of the
the problem in the environment. Other times a Goal clarify. Dramatica points out the nature of
Main Character is a "Be-er" who will first try to Goal that is consistent with an Author's dra-
solve the problem by adapting to the environ- matic choices, but it remains for the Author to
ment. A "Do-er" focuses the problem in the illustrate that nature. For any given category of
environment; a "Be-er" focuses the problem in Goal, an unlimited number of examples might
himself. The Focus Element describes the be created.
nature of how the problem appears to the Main Good -- [Plot Dynamic] -- If at the end of the story
Character when he places it wholly in one area the Main Character is no longer nagged by his
or the other. personal problems, the judgment of the story
Forewarnings (Overall Storyline) -- [Type] -- the can be said to be Good -- The Main Character
indications that the consequence is growing ultimately succeeds in resolving his personal
more imminent -- Whether or not the Conse- problems -- Even though the effort to achieve
quences ever befall the Main Character, there the story's goal may result in success, this is
are Forewarnings that indicate their approach not necessarily a good thing for the Main
Character. In fact, success might be obtained
in the Overall Story even though the Main differently depending on if the Main Character
Character fails to resolve his personal prob- Changes or Remains Steadfast.
lems. Similarly, the effort to achieve the story If a character must change, he has one of
goal might end in failure yet the Main Charac- these two kinds of problems. Either he is
ter ends up overcoming his personal problems. bullheaded in sticking with an inappropriate
Regardless of whether the Overall Story ends approach or he simply doesn't use an ap-
in Success or Failure, if the Main Character proach that would be appropriate. In the "too
succeeds in resolving his personal problems much" scenario, the character comes off as
the outcome is deemed Good. aggressively obstinate. In the "too little"
Grand Argument Story -- [Dramatica Term] -- A scenario the character comes off as stubbornly
story that illustrates all four throughlines ignorant. The "too much" Change Character
(Overall Story, Subjective Story, Main Charac- needs to "stop." The "too little" Change
ter, and Impact Character) in their every Character needs to "start."
appreciation so that no holes are left in either If the Main Character remains Steadfast,
the passionate or dispassionate arguments of though, then the kinds of problems they'll face
that story -- A Grand Argument Story covers all will involve either holding out for something to
the bases so that it cannot be disproven Start or holding out for something to Stop.
because, from the perspective that it creates, it Metaphorically, the Steadfast Character is
is right. There are four views in a complete either a storm trying to weather away an island,
story which look at all the possible ways the or an island trying to hold out against a storm.
story could be resolved from all the possible Both Change and Steadfast Characters'
perspectives allowed; these are represented by Growth can be called "Start" or "Stop."
the perspectives created by matching the four
Throughlines with the four Classes—(the Guardian -- [Archetype] -- An archetype that
Overall Story, Subjective Story, Main Charac- represents the motivations of Conscience and
ter, and Impact Character Throughlines Help -- This Archetypal character acts as
matched up with the Classes of Situation teacher/helper to the Protagonist. As Con-
(Universe), Activity (Physics), Manipulation science, he provides the audience with the
(Psychology), and Fixed Attitude (Mind) to story's assessment of what is good and bad in
create the four perspectives of the particular the world it describes. In his Dynamic Pair
story they are operating in). Every complete relationship, the Guardian counterbalances the
storyform explores each of these perspectives efforts of the Contagonist to hinder progress
entirely so that their view of the story's problem and tempt the Protagonist from the proper
is consistent and that they arrive at the only path. Since, according to Archetypal conven-
solution that could possibly work, allowing the tion, the Protagonist must ultimately face the
givens built into the story from the start. When Antagonist without assistance, both the Guard-
this is done, a Grand Argument has been made ian and Contagonist must be dramatically
and there is no disproving it on nullified before the climax of the story so that
its own terms. You may disagree that the they cannot interfere. This often occurs as a
things it takes for givens really are givens, but separate confrontation between them, just prior
as an argument it has no holes. to the Protagonist meeting the Antagonist, or it
may occur concurrently, but concludes before
Growth -- [Character Dynamic] -- The way a the actual climax of the story is reached.
character grows in his attempt to solve his
problems, toward either "Start" or "Stop" -- Help -- [Element] -- dyn.pr. Hinder<—> Help -- a
Change Characters see their problems as direct assistance to another's effort to achieve
being inside themselves. Steadfast Characters their goal -- The Help characteristic assists
see their problems as being outside them- another's efforts. This can be a real boon to
selves. Sometimes a problem is created by someone struggling to achieve. Sometimes,
too much of something, other times by too little. however, someone doesn't want any help. He
Growth describes whether a problem is "too either wants to do it on his own or what he is
much" of something, or "too little." It appears trying to do has been misread by the character
representing the Help characteristic who is
actually hindering him. Did you hear the one suspicion. The danger is acting upon it as if it
about the Boy Scout who helped the little old were fact. -- syn. intuition, premonition,
lady across the street and then she bashed impression, suspicion
him with her handbag because she had been Impact Character -- [Subjective Character] -- The
waiting for a bus? -- syn. aid, assist, support, Subjective Character that forces the Main
bolster, abet Character to face his personal problem --
Hinder -- [Element] -- dyn.pr. Hinder<—>Help -- a Every Main Character has a single Impact
direct detraction from another's effort to Character that forces him to face his personal
achieve their goal -- The Hinder characteristic problems. From the Main Character's point of
strives to undermine another's efforts. This view, the Impact Character may seem to be
might be seen as a negative, as it often is. But blocking the road to the solution of the Main
sometimes a character functions to hinder an Character's personal problem, or he may seem
"evil" character, disrupting his plans. Hinder to be trying to knock the Main Character off the
merely indicates the effect on the plans not road to the solution. In a more objective view,
whether that is a good or bad thing. -- syn. the Impact Character functions to block the
retard, obstruct, impede, fetter, undermine, Main Character from sweeping his personal
block, burden, encumber, thwart problem under the carpet, forcing the Main
Hope -- [Variation] -- dyn.pr. Dream<—>Hope -- a Character to address it directly. In every act, a
desired future if things go as expected -- Hope story problem is introduced that requires the
is based on a projection of the way things are Main Character to expose his personal prob-
going. When one looks at the present situation lem in order to solve the story problem. It is
and notes the direction of change, Hope lies the Impact Character that creates the most
somewhere along that line. As an example, if personal tension for the Main Character.
one is preparing for a picnic and the weather Frequently, the Main Character is chosen by
has been sunny, one Hopes for a sunny day. If the author to be the Protagonist as well, and
it was raining for days, one could not Hope but often the Impact Character function is com-
only Dream. Still, Hope acknowledge that bined with the Guardian or the Contagonist. In
things can change in unexpected ways. That this way, they each do double duty as prime
means that Hoping for something is not the movers of both the objective and subjective
same as expecting something. Hope is just the concerns of the story. This arrangement is not
expectation that something will occur unless essential, however, and in many cases it is
something interferes. How accurately a prudent to assign the Main and Impact Charac-
character evaluates the potential for change ter roles to characters other than the Protago-
determines whether he is Hoping or dreaming. nist and Guardian/Contagonist in order to
When a character is dreaming and thinks he is clearly explore the relationship between the
Hoping, he prepares for things where there is Overall Story and Subjective problems of the
no indication they will come true. -- syn. story.
desired expectation, optimistic anticipation, Impact Character's Concern -- [Type] -- The area
confident aspiration, promise, encouraging of the Impact Character's cares, interests, or
outlook goals -- The Impact Character will be interested
How Things Are Changing -- See Progress in achieving some degree of growth or control
over things described by this appreciation.
Hunch -- [Element] -- dyn.pr. Theory<—>Hunch -- This could be in terms of concrete or abstract
a conclusion based on intuition -- A Hunch is things, depending partly on the Impact
an understanding arrived at by circumstantial Character's Throughline and partly on the twist
evidence. The phrase "where there's smoke, the author wants to put on that Throughline.
there's fire" describes the concept. The
advantage is that when evidence mounts, even Impact Character's Critical Flaw -- [Variation] --
without direct connections, one may draw an The item that undermines the Impact
analogy that has a substantial likelihood of Character's efforts -- The Impact Character's
being correct as in "I've seen that pattern Critical Flaw undermines his effectiveness
before!" Of course, a Hunch is merely a against the Main Character in general, but
especially in regards to his Unique Ability. The the Impact Character though, the inequity does
Impact Character in any story has a Unique not appear to be between himself and the
Ability which makes him uniquely qualified to Environment but wholly in one or the other.
thwart the Main Character. But in his character The Focus Element describes the nature of
as well is a Critical Flaw which prevents him how the problem appears to the Impact Char-
from just totally overwhelming the Main Char- acter from his Subjective point of view. Focus
acter. This is again a trait which is unique to really describes the effects of the Impact
this particular character. Character Problem element, but because the
Impact Character's Direction -- [Element] -- The Problem element is on the level of his own
direction of the Impact Character's efforts -- An motivations, Subjective Characters can never
Impact Character can never be sure if what he see his actual problems without solving them.
believes to be the source of his problem really Impact Character's Problem -- [Element] -- The
is the source of his problem. Regardless, source of the Impact Character's drive -- In
based on his way of seeing things, he will every Impact Character there exists some
determine a potential solution or Direction in inequity that is driving him. If the Impact
which he hopes to find the solution. The Character Changes something in himself in
dramatic unit that describes what a Subjective response to the Main Character's Steadfast-
Character believes is the path to a solution is ness, it is this item, his Problem, which he
his Direction. changes by exchanging it for his Solution. If
Impact Character's Throughline -- [Throughline] - the Impact Character is Steadfast, though, then
- The broadest description of the Impact he holds onto his problem, deepening his
Character's impact in a specific story -- Every- resolve to keep the same motivations at the
thing that emanates from what the Impact end of the story as he had when he began the
Character does and represents which primarily story.
relates to his impact alone, as opposed to Impact Character's Issue -- [Variation] -- the
specific relationships he has with other charac- nature of The Impact Character's efforts -- An
ters, can be said to be part of the Impact Impact Character's Issue captures the essence
Character Throughline. There are four different of what that character will represent in the
Throughlines in the structure of any story, story. The nature of the things he does,
represented by the combination of each of the intends to do, and effectively means to the
four Classes with each of the four passionate argument of the story are all linked
throughlines— the Overall Story Throughline, in this appreciation.
the Subjective Story Throughline, the Main Impact Character's Solution -- [Element] -- what
Character Throughline, and the Impact Charac- is needed to truly satisfy The Impact
ter Throughline. The Impact Character Character's motivation -- The Solution Element
Throughline describes, in the broadest single is the "flip side" of the Problem Element. For
term, what the Impact Character represents the Impact Character, it is the element that
and the area in which the Impact Character would alleviate the Impact Character's drive
operates within the story. which his Problem Element supplies. It is not
Impact Character's Focus -- [Element] -- Where necessarily applied during a story, but it exists
the Impact Character's attention is most in every story nevertheless.
directed -- The Impact Character concentrates Impact Character's Benchmark -- [Type] -- The
his attention where he thinks his problem lies. standard against which the Impact Character's
Just as in the Main Character, an inequity concern is measured -- The way of telling how
exists in the Impact Character between himself much the Impact Character is dealing with the
and his environment which is driving him. The issues at stake for him in the story is by
actual nature of this inequity is described by choosing an item in the story and using it as a
the Impact Character Problem Element. The measuring stick. This can be subtle or obvi-
nature of what is required to restore balance is ous, illustrated perhaps by the number of
described by the Impact Character Solution empty beer cans next to an alcoholic's bed, the
Element. From the Subjective view afforded to severity of a facial tick, or the amount of
perfume a character puts on. However it is -- Induction is the process of thought that
illustrated, it needs to be there to give both the determines where an unbroken line of causal
audience and the Impact Character some way relationships leads. The purpose is to see if it
of judging how deep his concern is and how far is possible that something connects to some-
along in the story he is. thing else. The character containing the
Impact Character's Unique Ability -- [Variation] -- Inductive characteristic has an advantage in
The item that makes the Impact Character taking seemingly unrelated facts and putting
uniquely able to thwart the Main Character -- them in an order that establishes a potential
The reason the Impact Character is able to causal relationship. This allows him to arrive at
carry half of the Subjective Story is his unique conclusions that "limit in" something as a
suitability to take the opposite position to the possibility. The drawback is that the conclusion
Main Character on the Crucial Element of the only illustrates one possibility out of an un-
story. The Impact Character Unique Ability known number of possibilities. Unlike deduc-
gives the Impact Character a power which no tion, Induction does not rule out competing
one else in the story has to be able to affect the theories until only one remains. Rather,
Main Character. The nature of this power is Induction simply determines that a particular
what is described by this appreciation. theory is not ruled out. Problems occur when it
is assumed that simply because a causal
Impulsive Responses [Preconscious] -- [Type] - relationship might exist that it does exist. This
- dyn.pr. Innermost Desires [Subconscious]<— leads to blaming and holding responsible both
>Impulsive Responses [Preconscious] -- people and situations that were not actually the
immediate responses -- Built into the mind is real cause. Only if all possible Inductions are
an instinctual base of reactions and attitudes compared can the likelihood of any single one
that cannot be altered but merely compensated be determined -- syn. postulate, predicate,
for. When a story's problem revolves around conjecture, infer, hypothesize, determine
the unsuitability of someone's essential nature possibility
to a given situation or environment, the central
issue is the Impuslive Responses. The solu- Inequity -- [Element] -- dyn.pr. Equity<—>Inequity
tion lies in the character conditioning himself to -- an unbalance, unfairness, or lack or stability
either hold his tendencies in check or develop -- When a character focuses on Inequity he is
methods of enhancing areas in which he is evaluating in terms of what is wrong or unfair
naturally weak in reason, ability, emotion, or with a situation. No matter how much is
intellect. -- syn. unthinking responses, imme- working right or how much is good, it is the part
diate responses, impulse, impulsive response, that is out of balance that occupies his atten-
instinctive response, innate response, reflex tion. A character with this trait will spot trouble
before anyone else, but he will also never be
Inaction -- [Element] -- dyn.pr. Protection<— satisfied unless absolutely everything is
>Inaction -- taking no action as a means of worked out -- syn. imbalance, unfair, disparity,
response -- Inaction does not mean simply unequal, uneven, disproportionate
sitting still. The Inactive characteristic might
choose to allow a course of action by not Inertia -- [Element] -- dyn.pr. Change<—>Inertia -
interfering. Or it might refuse to move out of - a continuation of a state or process -- Inertia
harm's way, thereby forming a resistance to the is a tendency to maintain the status quo. That
progress that drives the harm. Both of these which is moving wants to keep moving. That
are efficient tools for altering the course of an which is at rest wants to stay at rest. An
interaction. However, the Inactive characteris- Inertia-oriented character concerns himself
tic may also drag its feet in all areas and form a with keeping things on an even keel. He tries
resistance to both good and bad things so that to avoid or prevent anything that rocks the
its influence simply hinders everything but boat. He also does not adapt well to change. -
changes nothing. -- syn. passive reaction, - syn. tendency to continue, a change resistant
inactive response, achieve through not doing pattern, continuation, following an established
direction
Induction -- [Element] -- dyn.pr. Deduction<—
>Induction -- a means of determining possibility Innermost Desires [Subconscious] --[Type] --
dyn.pr. Impulsive Responses [Precon- witness accounts frequently employ Interpreta-
scious]<—>Innermost Desires [Subconscious] tion (and its Dynamic Partner, Senses) to great
-- basic drives and desires -- Innermost De- dramatic advantage -- syn. construe, rendition,
sires [Subconscious] describes the essential rendering meaning, elucidate, translating
feelings that form the foundation of character. meaning
These feelings are so basic that a character is Intuitive -- See Female Mental Sex
often not aware of what they truly are. When
the Innermost Desires [Subconscious] is Inverse -- [Structural Term] -- Anytime a pair of
involved, a character is moved right to the fiber items is being considered, each item in the pair
of his being. -- syn. libido, id, basic motiva- is referred to as the INVERSE of the other
tions, basic drives, anima Investigation -- [Variation] -- dyn.pr. Doubt<—
Instinct -- [Variation] -- dyn.pr. Conditioning<— >Investigation -- gathering evidence to resolve
>Instinct -- intrinsic unconditioned responses -- questions of validity -- Investigation is a pro-
Instinct describes those builtin responses to active word for it describes a character who
situations and circumstances that are not makes an effort to seek out evidence. Obvi-
learned, yet drive one to comply with their ously this usually tends to bring one closer to a
urges. How much sway they have over an conclusion sooner than without the effort. But
individual depends both upon the nature of the Investigation can cause trouble since the
instinct and the intensity of conditioning against character must pre-determine where to look.
the instinct that he has experienced by acci- This leads to a meandering path through the
dent, design, or choice. When one acts or evidence that may miss whole pockets of
responds according to instinct, there is no essential information. Sometimes a single
conscious consideration beforehand. Only missed piece can flip the entire conclusion 180
after the fact does the consciousness become degrees. So Investigating to one's satisfaction
aware that an instinct has been triggered. depends on random success and the limits of
Nonetheless, one can learn to inhibit instinctual one's tenacity, not necessarily on learning what
commands until the consciousness has the the whole picture is. -- syn. inquiry, research,
opportunity to consider the propriety of con- probe, sleuthing, delving, query
forming to it. -- syn. involuntary drive, innate Issue -- [Variation] -- The thematic meaning of the
impulse, unconditioned response, automatic Throughline being explored -- Each of the four
response, unconditioned motivation Throughlines: Overall Story, Subjective Story,
Interdiction -- [Variation] -- dyn.pr. Prediction<— Main Character, and Impact Character, have a
>Interdiction -- an effort to change a pre- thematic nature which is described by its Issue.
determined course -- Interdiction is the effort to The Overall Story Issue, for example, de-
change the course of one's destiny. Once a scribes the nature of the Overall Story Charac-
character determines that his destiny is pulling ters' efforts in that story. Whatever kinds of
him toward an undesirable fate, he tries to things are done by the Overall Story Charac-
Interdict and thereby avoid the fate. But has ters in relation to the Story Goal can be said to
he correctly identified the course of his destiny be linked thematically by this particular item.
or in actuality is what he sees as Interdiction is Item -- [Structural Term] -- Sometimes it becomes
just another pre-destined step toward his fate? convenient to group a number of units of
-- syn. altering the future, interfering with the similar nature together and treat the group as if
predetermined, hindering the inevitable, it were a single unit itself. When units are
escaping the predestined grouped together in this manner the larger
Interpretation -- [Variation] -- dyn.pr. Senses<— entity is referred to as an item.
>Interpretation -- determination of possible Judgment -- [Plot Dynamic] -- The author's
meaning -- Once an observation is made, its assessment of whether or not the Main Char-
meaning must be Interpreted by the mind. acter has resolved his personal problem -- The
Even if seen exactly as it happened, the forces notion that the good guys win and the bad guys
or intents behind what is seen are often lose is not always true. In stories, as in life, we
misconstrued. Stories revolving around eye often see very bad people doing very well for
themselves (if not for others). And even more situations where it would be better to accept.
often we see very good people striking out. If Because we cannot know if a point of view
we only judged things by success and failure, it should be held onto or given up and reexam-
wouldn't matter if the outcome was good or bad ined, we have no way of being certain that we
as long as it was accomplished. The choice of are approaching a problem correctly. But
Good or Bad places the author's moralistic either way, we will not question our Justifica-
judgment on the value of the Main Character's tion, only the propriety of applying it to a
success or failure in resolving his personal particular instance. In the case of a Main
problems. It is an opportunity not only to Character who must remain steadfast, he
address good guys that win and bad guys that needs to hold onto his Justifications long
fail, as well as good guys that fail and the bad enough to succeed with them. But in the case
guys that win, but to comment on the success of a Main Character who must change, he
or failure of their growth as human beings. needs to give up his Justifications and re-
Justification -- The complex hierarchy of experi- examine his basic understanding. Stories
ence and expectation that helps one reconcile explore the relationship of the inequity between
exceptions to personally held truths while the way things are and the way the Main
maintaining our position on those personally Character sees them or would have them be.
held truths -- All understanding comes from Then it can be evaluated by the audience as to
determining connections between processes whether or not the decision to remain steadfast
and results, causes and effects. All anticipation or change was the proper one. So Justification
comes from accepting these connections as is neither good nor bad. It simply describes a
unchanging and absolute. In this manner we mind set that holds personal experience as
are able to respond to new situations based on absolute knowledge, which is sometimes just
our experience and to plan for the future based what is needed to solve the problem and other
on our expectations. But our knowledge of our times is actually the cause of the problem.
world and ourselves is incomplete. We are Knowledge -- Most terms in Dramatica are
constantly learning and redefining our under- unique, however four items have two uses,
standing and our anticipation. Sometimes we serving both as Variation and Element. This is
have built up such a complex hierarchy of a result of the fundamental importance of the
experience and expectation that it becomes concepts represented by these four items:
easier (more efficient) to formulate or accept Thought, Knowledge, Ability, and Desire.
what might seem an unlikely and complex [Variation] -- dyn.pr. Thought<—
explanation than to redefine the entire base of >Knowledge -- that which one holds to be true -
our knowledge. After all, the enormity of our - Knowledge is something a character holds to
experience carries a lot of weight compared to be true. That does not necessarily mean it IS
a single incident that does not conform to our true but just that the character believes it is.
conclusions. Unfortunately, once conflicting The gulf between what is known and what is
information is explained away by presupposing true can create enormous misconceptions and
an unseen force it is not integrated into the inaccurate evaluations. -- syn. held truth,
base of our experience and nothing has been maintained information, presumed facts,
learned from it. The new and potentially accepted ideas
valuable information has bounced off the
mental process of Justification, having no [Element] -- dyn.pr. Thought<—
impact and leaving no mark. This is how >Knowledge -- that which one holds to be true -
preconceptions, prejudices, and blind spots are - The Knowledge characteristic urges a charac-
created. It is also how we learn, for only by ter to rely on what is held to be true. The
accepting some things as givens can we build Character representing Knowledge will tap the
complex understandings on those foundations. resources of its information to find parallels and
Justification also creates the motivation to understanding that he can apply to the issue at
change things rather than accept them, but in hand. The advantage of Knowledge is that one
so doing also creates a blind spot that keeps need not learn what is already known, thereby
us from seeing a solution in ourselves in skipping non-essential re-evaluations and
getting a head start with solving a problem. spective or with a new approach. It is not
The difficulty is that Knowledge can be wrong. important if one is learning to arrive at a
Without re-evaluation dogma sets in — rigor particular understanding or just to gather data.
mortis of thought, leading to inflexibility and As long as the focus is on the process of
closed minded-ness because the Character gaining information, Learning is the operative
believes no re-consideration is needed since word. -- syn. cultivating experience, acquiring
the subject is already "known." -- syn. learn- information, collecting data, gathering knowl-
edness, held truths, authoritative certainty, edge
generally agreed upon truths Level -- [Structural Term] -- The relationship
Leap of Faith -- Having run out of time or options between families (Elements, Variations, Types
and come to the moment of truth, the Main and Throughlines) of dramatic units is similar to
Character decides to either Change or remain turning up the power on a microscope: each
Steadfast with no way of knowing which will has a different resolution with which to examine
best lead him to his goal or resolve his per- the story's problem. Throughlines take the
sonal problem -- No Main Character can be broadest view. Types are more detailed.
sure that he will succeed until the story has Variations are even more refined and Elements
completely unfolded. Up until that moment, provide the greatest detail available in a story.
there is always the opportunity to change one's Each of the families, therefore, represents a
approach or one's attitude. For example, a different level of resolution or simply a different
Main Character may determine that what he Level.
thought was the true source of the problem Limit -- [Plot Dynamic] -- The restricted amount of
really is not. Or he may reconsider his motiva- time or options that, by running out, forces the
tion to try and resolve it; whether he should story to a climax -- The Limit is what forces the
give up or try harder. Again, there is no way for story to a close. One of the functions of a story
him to tell with certainty which path will lead to is to give the audience the value of experi-
success. Nevertheless, when these scenarios ences it has not had itself by living through the
close in on a single moment in the story, the Main Character. As such, the Main Character
moment of truth, where the Main Character has in the story Changes or Remains Steadfast
their last opportunity to remain steadfast in and hopes for the best, and we learn from his
their approach and attitude or to change either accomplishments or disappointments. Yet,
or both, there will be a Leap of Faith. After even a Main Character would not jump into the
that, all that remains is to see it to its conclu- void and commit to a course of action or
sion, good or bad. That moment of truth is decision unless forced into it. To force the
called the Leap of Faith because the Main Main Character to decide, the story provides all
Character must choose a course and then the necessary information to make an edu-
commit himself to it, stepping into the unknown cated guess while progressively closing in on
with blind faith in a favorable outcome or the Main Character until he has no alternative
resignation to an ostensibly poor one. but to choose. This closing in can be accom-
Learning -- [Type] -- dyn.pr. Understanding<— plished in either of two ways: either running
>Learning -- gathering information or experi- out of places to look for the solution or running
ence -- Learning describes the process of out of time to work one out. Running out of
acquiring knowledge. It is not the knowledge options is accomplished by an Optionlock; a
itself. When a portion of a story focuses on deadline is accomplished by a Timelock. Both
learning, it is the gathering of an education that of these means of limiting the story and forcing
is of concern, not the education that ultimately the Main Character to decide are felt from early
has been gathered. Learning need not be an on in the story and get stronger until the
academic endeavor. One might learn to climax. Optionlocks need not be claustropho-
express one's feelings or learn about love. bic so much as they only provide limited pieces
Learning does not even require new informa- with which to solve the problem. Timelocks
tion as sometimes one learns simply by looking need not be hurried so much as limiting the
through old information from a different per- interval during which something can happen.
Once an established Limit is reached, however, that prevents him from being too one-sided.
the story must end and assessments be made: Just as with Unique Ability, the Critical Flaw
is the Outcome Success or Failure? is the can be quite mundane as long as it can
Judgment Good or Bad? is the Main Character threaten him with failure from an unprotectable
Resolve Change or Steadfast? etc. direction. The specific Critical Flaw must be
Logic -- [Element] -- dyn.pr. Feeling<—>Logic -- a unique to the Main Character in the story.
rational sense of how things are related -- However, the more common the Critical Flaw is
Logic is the mental process of choosing the to the audience, the more it will identify with the
most efficient course or explanation based on Main Character's predicament. In Start stories,
reason. The Logic characteristic exemplifies the Critical Flaw inhibits the Main Character
the theory behind "Occam's Razor," that the from using his Unique Ability. In Stop stories,
simplest explanation is the correct explanation. the Critical Flaw undoes work done by the
Therefore, the Logic characteristic is very Unique Ability after the fact. Only when the
efficient but has no understanding or tolerance Main Character learns to either Start or Stop as
that people do not live by reason alone. As a required by the story can the Critical Flaw be
result, the character with the Logic characteris- avoided, allowing his Unique Ability to solve the
tic often ignores how other's "unreasonable" problem.
feelings may cause a very real backlash to his Main Character's Direction -- [Element] -- The
approach. -- syn. linear reasoning, rationality, efforts of the Main Character to solve his
structural sensibility, syllogistics apparent problems -- A Main Character can
Logical -- See Male Mental Sex never be sure if what he believes to be the
source of his problem really is the source of his
Main Character -- A story has a central character problem. Regardless, based on his apparent
that acts as the focus of the audience's emo- problems he will determine a potential solution
tional attachment to the story. This Main or Direction which he hopes will work as a
Character is the conduit through whom the solution. The dramatic unit that describes what
audience experiences the story subjectively. a Main Character holds as the path to a
The Main Character may be the Steadfast solution is the Main Character Direction.
Character who needs to hold on to his resolve
or the Change Character who alters his nature Main Character's Throughline -- [Throughline] --
in an attempt to resolve his problems. Either the general area in which The Main Character
way, it is mostly through his eyes that we see operates -- Everything the Main Character
the passionate argument of the story, if not also does and represents that primarily relates to
the dispassionate argument. him alone, as opposed to specific relationships
he has with other characters, can be said to be
Main Character's Concern -- [Type] -- The Main part of the Main Character Throughline. There
Character's personal objective or purpose, the are four different perspectives in the structure
area of the Main Character's concern -- The of any story represented by the combination of
Main Character Concern describes the kinds of each of the four Classes with each of the four
things the Main Character is striving to attain. Throughlines— the Overall Story Throughline,
This could be in terms of concrete or abstract the Subjective Story Throughline, the Impact
things, depending partly on the Main Character Throughline, and the Main Character
Character's Throughline and partly on the twist Throughline. The Main Character Throughline
the author wants to put on that Throughline. describes in the broadest single term what the
Main Character's Critical Flaw -- [Variation] -- the Main Character represents and the area in
quality that undermines The Main Character's which the Main Character operates within the
efforts -- To balance the Main Character's story.
extraordinary status conveyed by his Unique Main Character's Focus -- [Element] -- where The
Ability, he must also be shown to be especially Main Character believes the problem to be;
vulnerable in one area as well. This vulnerabil- where the Main Character's attention is fo-
ity is called his Critical Flaw. The Main cused -- When a Main Character is at odds
Character's Critical Flaw is his Achilles heel with his surroundings, a problem exists be-
tween himself and his environment. The actual Main Character should be this way"). If the
nature of this gap between Main Character and Main Character should not be a certain way,
environment is described by the Problem we say it is a "Stop" story as he must stop
Element. The nature of what is required to being a certain way. If the Main Character
restore balance is described by the Solution should be a certain way, we say it is a "Start"
Element. This is the Overall Story view of the story as he must start being a certain way. So
problem. The Main Character, however, is not in a sense the Problem Element is not by itself
privy to that view and must work from the the cause of the story's problem, but works in
Subjective view instead. From the Subjective conjunction with the Solution Element to create
view, the problem does not appear to be an imbalance between two traits that need to
between the Main Character and the Environ- be balanced. The choice to present one as a
ment but wholly in one or the other. Some- negative trait defines it as the Problem Element
times a Main Character is a "Do-er" type and and its positive partner becomes the Solution
will perceive and first try to solve the problem Element.
in the environment. Other times a Main Main Character's Benchmark -- [Type] -- the
Character is a "Be-er" who will first try to solve nature of the Main Character's effort to solve
the problem by adapting to the environment. A his personal problem; the standard by which
"Do-er" focuses the problem in the environ- the Main Character judges the degree of his
ment; a "Be-er" focuses the problem in himself. concern -- the way of telling how much the
The Focus Element describes the nature of Main Character is dealing with the issues at
how the problem appears to the Main Charac- stake for himself in the story is by choosing an
ter when he places it wholly in one area or the item in the story and using it as a measuring
other. stick. This can be subtle or obvious, illustrated
Main Character Problem -- [Element] -- source of perhaps by the number of empty beer cans
The Main Character's motivation; the source of next to an alcoholic's bed, the severity of a
the Main Character's problems -- In every Main facial tick, or the amount of perfume a charac-
Character there exists some inequity that is ter puts on. However it is illustrated, it needs
driving him. If the Main Character Changes to be there to give both the audience and the
something in himself at the leap of faith, it is Main Character some way of judging how deep
this item, his Problem, which he changes by his concern is and how far along in the story he
exchanging it for his Solution. If the Main is.
Character is Steadfast, though, he holds onto Main Character's Unique ability -- [Variation] --
his problem, deepening his resolve to keep the the quality that makes The Main Character
same motivations through the end of the story uniquely qualified to solve the story's problem/
as he had when he began the story. achieve the goal -- Just as a requirement
Main Character's Issue -- [Variation] -- the nature defines the specific nature of things needed to
of The Main Character's efforts; the Main achieve a particular goal, Unique Ability defines
Character's thematic focus -- A Main the specific quality needed to meet the require-
Character's Issue captures the essence of ment. Unique Ability is another way in which
what that character will represent in the story. the Main Character is identified as the inter-
The nature of the things he does, intends to do, secting point between the Subjective and
and effectively means to the passionate Objective stories as it is only he who ultimately
argument of the story are all linked in this has what it takes to meet the test of the
appreciation. requirement and thereby achieve the goal. The
Main Character's Solution -- [Element] -- what is Unique Ability need not be anything extraordi-
needed to truly satisfy The Main Character's nary but must be the one crucial quality
motivation; the solution to the Main Character's required that is shared by no one else. Fre-
problems -- The Solution Element is the "flip quently, the Unique Ability is in keeping with the
side" of the Problem Element. In a story, the Main Character's position or profession,
focus may be on the Problem Element ("The however it can be much more interesting to
Main Character should not be this way") or the assign an incongruous Unique Ability. In either
focus may be on the Solution Element ("The
approach, it is essential to illustrate the exist- an author writes a part for a man, he/she would
ence of the Unique Ability in the Main Charac- intuitively create a male psyche for that charac-
ter several times throughout the story, even if it ter. Yet by simply changing the name of the
is not employed until the climax. In this way, it character from Joe to Mary and shifting the
becomes integrated into the nature of the Main appropriate gender terms, the character would
Character and does not seem conveniently ostensibly become a woman. But that woman
tacked on when it is ultimately needed. Also, would not seem like a woman Even if all the
the Unique Ability can be extremely mundane. specific masculine dialogue were changed,
The key is that the ability does not have to be even if all the culturally dictated manifestations
unique by nature, but just possessed uniquely were altered, the underlying psyche of the
in that specific story by the Main Character. character would have a male bias rather than a
Clever storytelling may arrange the climax of female bias. Sometimes stereotypes are
the story so that some completely ordinary and propagated by what an audience expects to
insignificant Unique Ability makes the differ- see which filters the message and dilutes the
ence in the outcome of a cosmic struggle. truth. By placing a male psyche in a female
Main vs. Impact Story -- See Subjective Story character, preconceptions no longer prevent
the message from being heard. The word of
Male Mental Sex -- [Character Dynamic] -- The warning is that this technique can make a Main
Main Character uses male problem solving Character seem "odd" in some hard to define
techniques -- A choice of male selects a way to your audience. So although the mes-
psychology for the Main Character based on sage may fare better, empathy between your
causal relationships. A male Main Character audience and your Main Character may not.
solves problems by examining what cause or
group of causes is responsible for an effect or Male -- [Overview Appreciation] -- men will tend to
group of effects. The effort made to solve the empathize with the main character in this story;
problem will focus on affecting a cause, women will tend to sympathize -- Although
causing an effect, affecting an effect, or there is much common ground in a story that is
causing a cause. This describes four different appreciated equally by women and men, some
approaches. Affecting a cause is manipulating dramatic messages speak to one group more
an existing force to change its eventual impact. profoundly than the other. One particular area
Causing an effect means applying a new force of difference is the relationship of female and
that will create an impact. Affecting an effect is male audience members to the Main Charac-
altering an effect after it has happened. Caus- ter. In some stories an audience member will
ing a cause is applying a new force that will feel Empathy with the Main Character, as if he/
make some other force come into play to she were standing in the Main Character's
ultimately create an impact. These are the four shoes. In other stories, an audience member
primary problem solving techniques of a male will feel Sympathy for the Main Character, as if
minded character. It is important to note that the Main Character is a close acquaintance.
these techniques can be applied to either The dynamics that control this for women and
external or internal problems. Either way, men are quite different. "Male" indicates that
manipulating cause and effect is the modus as a result of this storyform's dynamics, male
operandi. When selecting female or male, audience members will tend to empathize with
typically the choice is as simple as deciding if the Main Character. Female audience mem-
you want to tell a story about a man or a bers will sympathize.
woman. But there is another consideration that Manipulation (Psychology) -- [Class] -- dyn.pr.
is being employed with growing frequency in Activity (Physics)<—>Manipulation (Psychol-
modern stories: putting the psyche of one sex ogy) -- a manner of thinking -- The Manipula-
into the skin of another. This does not refer tion (Psychology) Class is where the evolution
only to the "sex change" comedies but to many or change in an attitude is explored, unlike the
action stories with female Main Characters Fixed Attitude (Mind) Class which describes
(e.g. Aliens) and many decision stories with the nature of a fixed state of mind. This is a
male Main Characters (Prince of Tides). When more deliberation-oriented class where the
focus is not on the attitude itself, but whether it Morality -- [Variation] -- dyn.pr. Self Interest<—
is changing for better or for worse. -- syn. >Morality -- doing or being based on what is
ways of thinking, thinking process, activity of best for others -- Not to be taken as a spiritual
the psyche, manipulation of others or religious sense of right and wrong, Morality
Memory -- [Type] -- dyn.pr. Contemplation here is intended to describe the quality of
[Conscious]<—>Memory -- recollections -- The character that puts others before self. This is
Past is an objective look at what has hap- not, however, always a good thing. If a charac-
pened. In contrast, Memory is a subjective ter is besieged by Self-Interested parties that
look at what has happened. Therefore, grasp and take whatever they can, Morality (in
Memory of the same events varies among this limited sense) is most inappropriate. Also,
individuals creating many different and possibly Morality does not always require sacrifice. It
conflicting recollections. Often one's current simply means that a Moral character will
feelings come from memories, both pleasant consider the needs of others before his own. If
and unpleasant. Many a taut story revolves the needs are compatible, it can create a win/
around a character's effort to resolve open win scenario where no one need suffer. -- syn.
issues from his memories. -- syn. linear selflessness, altruism, benevolence, generosity
reasoning, rationality, structural sensibility, Motivation -- The elements that represent the
syllogistics drives behind a character's Purposes -- Motiva-
Mental Sex -- [Character Dynamic] -- a determination is the force that drives a character in a
tion of the Main Character's mental operating particular direction. In order for the problem in
system -- Much of what we are as individuals is a story to be fully explored, all motivations
learned behavior. Yet the basic operating pertaining to that topic must be expressed.
system of the mind is cast biologically before This is accomplished by assigning characteris-
birth. Talents, intellectual capacity, instincts — tic elements that represent these motivations to
all of these are not learned but inherited. the various objective characters. In this way,
Among these traits are those specific to different characters represent different motiva-
females and others specific to males. To be tions and the story problem is fully explored. In
sure, we can go a long way toward balancing creating Overall Story Characters for a given
out those traits yet that does not eliminate story, 16 of the 64 elements will be selected as
them nor diminish their impact. In dealing with the Motivation elements of that character set.
the psychology of a Main Character, it is Nature -- [Overview Appreciation] -- the primary
essential to understand upon which foundation dramatic mechanism of a story -- The nature
his experience rests. of a story will be one of four possibilities: Actual
Methodology -- the elements a character will Work Story, Actual Dilemma Story, Apparent
implement to achieve his Purposes -- When a Work Story, or Apparent Dilemma Story. A
character is motivated toward a particular story can be appreciated as a structure in
purpose, there remains the decision of what which the beginning, middle, and end can all
means should be used to reach it. Not every be seen at the same time. From this point of
possible Methodology is as appropriate as view, the Objective and Subjective throughlines
every other under unique circumstances. For can be compared. The Overall Story
example, if one wants to pound in a nail, a Throughline determines if the solution to the
wrench would not work as well as a hammer. problem can be found in the environment or if
In fact, sometimes the whole problem in a story the problem is actually caused by a character
is created because someone is using the flaw of the Main Character himself. The
wrong tool for the right job. In creating Overall Subjective throughline determines if the Main
Story Characters for a given story, 16 of the 64 Character will remain steadfast in the belief the
elements will be selected as the Methodology problem can be solved in the environment or
elements of the character set. will change in the belief that he himself is the
cause of the problem. When the Main Charac-
Mind -- See Fixed Attitude ter remains steadfast, he spends the entire
story doing work to try and solve the problem.
This is called a Work Story. If the Main Char- characters being dogged by a relentless
acter is correct in believing the solution to the Problem, the story feels negative. Another way
problem lies in the environment it is an Actual to appreciate the difference is to look at the
Work story. If the steadfast Main Character is Main Character. An audience can sense
wrong and is the true cause of the problem, it whether the author feels a Main Character
is an Apparent Work story since he believes should or should not change. If the character
Work is all that is necessary and that is not the is growing toward the proper choice, the story
case. When the Main Character changes, he feels positive. If he is growing toward the
has come to believe that he is the real cause of improper choice, the story feels negative. Both
the problem. This is called a Dilemma Story these views are created by the friction between
because the Main Character spends the story the Overall Story view that indicates what is
wrestling with an internal dilemma. If the Main truly needed to solve the problem and the
Character is correct in believing that he is the Subjective view of the Main Character as to
source of the problem, then it is an Actual what seems to be the solution to the problem.
Dilemma Story. If he is incorrect and changes, Neither -- [Overview Appreciation] -- both men
even though the problem was truly in the and women will tend to sympathize with the
environment, it is an Apparent Dilemma Story. main character in this story -- Although there is
Each of these four combinations creates a much common ground in a story that is appre-
different mechanism in order to arrive at the ciated equally by women and men, some
climax with the appropriate match up between dramatic messages speak to one group more
the true location of the problem and the Main profoundly than the other. One particular area
Character's assessment of where to find the of difference is the relationship of female and
solution. male audience members to the Main Charac-
Need -- [Variation] -- dyn.pr. Expediency<— ter. In some stories an audience member will
>Need -- that which is required -- Needs are feel Empathy with the Main Character, as if he/
always based upon a purpose. It is often she were standing in the Main Character's
assumed that Need describes something shoes. In other stories, an audience member
absolutely required in an objective sense. But will feel Sympathy for the Main Character, as if
Need is really a subjective judgment of what is the Main Character is a close acquaintance.
lacking to fulfill a requirement. To illustrate this, The dynamics that control this for women and
we might consider the statement, "We all need men are quite different. "Neither" indicates that
food and water." This statement seems to as a result of this storyform's dynamics, neither
make sense, but is not actually correct. In male and female audience members will tend
truth, we only need food and water if we want to empathize with the Main Character, both will
to live. For a paralyzed patient who wishes to sympathize.
be allowed to die, the last thing he Needs is Non-Acceptance -- [Element] -- dyn.pr. Accep-
food and water. Clearly, need depends upon tance<—>Non-Acceptance -- a decision to
what one subjectively desires. That which is oppose -- The character containing the Non-
required to fulfill that desire is the subjective Acceptance characteristic will not compromise.
Need. -- syn. subjective necessity, urge, He stands his ground regardless of how
demand, imperative unimportant the issue may be. Certainly, this
Negative Feel -- [Overview Appreciation] -- the characteristic nips attrition in the bud but also
problem is closing in on the objective charac- loses the benefits of give and take relation-
ters -- Overall, stories feel like "uppers" or ships. -- syn. run counter to, reject, decline,
"downers." This is not a description of whether repudiate, resist, refusal to compromise
or not things turn out okay in the end, but a Non-Accurate -- [Element] -- dyn.pr. Accurate<—
sense of direction created by the kind of >Non-Accurate -- not within tolerances -- Non-
tension that permeates the story up to the Accurate describes a concept that is not
moment of climax. When the focus is on functional for the purpose at hand. There may
characters doggedly pursuing a Solution, the be some value in the concept in other areas,
story feels positive. When the focus is on but for the intended use it is not at all correct.
The Non-Accurate characteristic will find the come into conflict with new information, if he is
exceptions to the rule that ruin an argument. open, he will not be biased or blind to it. He
This makes it nearly immune to generaliza- puts openness above holding on to a point of
tions. Unfortunately this can also make it view. Of course, this can easily be carried to
unable to accept any explanation or concept extremes, when someone seems to have no
that has an exception, even if the exception opinion at all and just goes with whatever
has no real effect on how the concept is being anyone else says. Some degree of pre-
applied. Anything that is not right all the time conception is necessary to benefit from the
for every use is rejected as Non-Accurate -- value of one's own experience. -- syn. broad
syn. not within tolerance, insufficiency, inad- mindedness, tolerancy, willingness to reevalu-
equacy, deviancy, deficient to the purpose ate, receptiveness
Objective Story -- See Overall Story Oppose -- [Element] -- dyn.pr. Support<—
Obligation -- [Variation] -- dyn.pr. Rationaliza- >Oppose -- an indirect detraction from
tion<—>Obligation -- accepting a task or another's effort -- The Oppose characteristic
situation in exchange for someone's potential causes a character to speak out against any
favors -- Obligation is a mental trick we play effort, although he does not actively engage in
when we accept a poor situation now in the preventing it. As in "the Loyal Opposition," an
hopes it will lead to a better one later. If we do opposing view can be useful in seeing the
not feel Obligated, we know we are really in negative side of an endeavor. However it can
control of the situation since we can leave at also wear thin really fast with the constant nag,
any time. However, we would then lose any nag, nag. -- syn. object to, speak out against,
chance of a reward at the end and even risk argue against, protest, dispute, show disap-
consequences that might befall us as a result proval of, detract from
of leaving. But by focusing on the hope of a Optionlock -- [Plot Dynamic] -- the story climax
reward and protection from consequences, our occurs because all other options have been
current suffering can be tolerated and we feel exhausted -- If not for the story being forced to
we have no choice but to stick it out. The a climax, it might continue forever. When a
problem is that as long as we continue to feel story is brought to a conclusion because the
we have no choice, the suffering can increase characters run out of options, it is said to
way beyond any realistic hope of recouping contain a Optionlock. As an analogy, one
and yet we "must" stay. -- syn. agreement, might think of a story as the process of examin-
pledge, contract, accepted compulsion, emo- ing rooms in a mansion to find a solution to the
tional contract story's problem. Each room in the mansion will
Obstacle Character -- See Impact Character contain a clue to the actual location of the
solution. In an optionlock, the Overall Story
Obtaining -- [Type] -- dyn.pr. Doing<—>Obtain- Characters might be told they can examine any
ing -- achieving or possessing something -- five rooms they want, but only five. They must
Obtaining includes not only that which is pick the five rooms ahead of time. They can
possessed but also that which is achieved. For take as long as they like to search each one
example, one might obtain a law degree or the and go thoroughly examine four of the rooms.
love of a parent. One can also obtain a After getting through their fourth pick they are
condition, such as obtaining a smoothly given a choice: based on the clues they have
operating political system. Whether it refers to found so far, do they wish to stick with their
a mental or physical state or process, obtaining original fifth room or pick another room instead
describes the concept of attaining -- syn. out of all that remain? Either choice may lead
controlling for oneself, possessing, having, to success or failure, but because running out
keeping. of options forced the choice it is an Optionlock
Openness -- [Variation] -- dyn.pr. Preconcep- story. This choice represents the Optionlock
tion<—>Openness -- willingness to re-evaluate which brings the story to a close and forces
-- Openness simply means entertaining alter- such story points as Main Character Resolve
natives. When a character's pre-conceptions (Change or Steadfast), Outcome (Success or
Failure), and Judgment (Good or Bad). direction of efforts in the Overall Story -- see
Order -- [Element] -- dyn.pr. Chaos<—>Order -- Direction.
an arrangement in which patterns are seen -- Overall Story Dividends -- [Type] -- The area
The character containing the Order character- that best describes the dividends accrued while
istic is concerned with keeping things orga- trying to achieve the goal -- see Dividends.
nized. Change is not a problem as long as it is Overall Story Throughline -- [Class] -- The
orderly. However, sometimes you can't get domain in which the Overall Story takes place
there from here and the whole system has to -- see Throughline.
be blown apart to rebuild from the ground up.
Sometimes a little chaos needs to reign so that Overall Story Focus -- [Element] -- Where
a log jam can be broken or a process speeded attention is focused in the Overall Story -- see
up. The character representing Order is an Focus.
organization fiend. -- syn. structure, patterned Overall Story Forewarnings -- [Type] -- The area
arrangement, organization, patterned forma- that best describes the imminent approach of
tion, formation, configuration, patterned the story consequences -- see Forewarnings.
sequence Overall Story Goal -- [Type] -- The common goal
Outcome -- [Plot Dynamic] -- an assessment of of the objective characters -- see Goal.
how things ended up -- When one is creating a Overall Story Inhibitor -- [Variation] -- The item
story, one must consider how it all comes out. that impedes the Overall Story's progress --
This will not just be a description of the situa- The Overall Story Inhibitor is what prevents a
tion but also of what potentials remain and how story from just rushing full speed to the solu-
they have changed over the course of the tion. It is like a brake mechanism which can be
story. Often, an author may wish to show the applied as the author pleases. The introduc-
Outcome of a dramatic movement at the tion of this item will always slow the progress of
beginning or middle rather than the end. In this the story and it works as the antidote to the
way the audience will focus more on how that Overall Story Catalyst.
eventuality came to be rather than trying to
figure out what is going to happen. Overall Story Line -- the plot as it concerns the
story goal -- The Overall Story Line is a distinct
Overall Story Catalyst -- [Variation] -- The item act by act sequence of events that involves all
whose presence always pushes the Overall of the Overall Story story points and none of
Story forward -- The Overall Story Catalyst is the Subjective Story story points. It represents
what creates breakthroughs and seems to the dispassionate argument of the story,
accelerate the development of the Overall emphasizing events and relationships in a
Story. In both the Overall and Subjective purely cause and effect way. This is not to say
Stories there occur dramatic "log-jams" when that it has nothing to do with the meaning of a
things seem to be approaching a halt. This is story, only that it is not the WHOLE story.
when the Catalyst is necessary, for its introduc- Meaning in stories comes from comparing the
tion will either solve the puzzle that's holding Overall Story view of a story with the Subjec-
things up or else make the puzzle seem tive view that comes from within the story.
suddenly unimportant so the story can con-
tinue. Overall Story Preconditions -- [Type] -- The
area that best describes the conditions im-
Overall Story Concern -- [Type] -- The area of posed on meeting the story's requirements --
concern in the Overall Story -- see Concern. see Preconditions.
Overall Story Consequence -- [Type] -- The area Overall Story Prerequisites -- [Type] -- The area
that best describes the result of failing to that best describes what is needed to meet the
achieve the goal -- see Consequence. story requirements -- see Prerequisites.
Overall Story Costs -- [Type] -- The area that Overall Story Problem -- [Element] -- The source
best describes the costs incurred while trying of the Overall Story's problems -- see Problem
to achieve the goal -- see Costs.
Overall Story Issue -- [Variation] -- The Overall
Overall Story Direction -- [Element] -- The
Story's thematic focus -- see Issue to both Overall Story and Subjective views by
Overall Story Requirements -- [Type] -- The the author. When the audience is only shown
area that best describes the requirements that information that the Main Character also
must be met prior to achieving the goal -- see receives, it is in the Subjective perspective.
Requirements. When the audience receives additional infor-
mation that the Main Character does not
Overall Story Solution -- [Element] -- The receive, it is in the Overall Story perspective.
solution to the Overall Story's problems -- see The dramatic potentials of a story are largely
Issue created by the differential between the Overall
Overall Story Benchmark -- [Type] -- The Story and Subjective perspectives. At appro-
standard by which progress is measured in the priate times, Dramatica aids the author in
Overall Story -- The Overall Story Benchmark focusing his attention on the perspective that
is the gauge that tells people how far along the will most effectively support his dramatic
story has progressed. It can't say how much intentions.
longer the story may go, but in regards to Overview Story Points -- Story points items
seeing how far away the goal is, both the relating to the widest appreciation of your
Overall Story Characters and the audience will entire story, including the Character and Plot
look to the stipulation in order to make any kind Dynamics which describe its dramatic mecha-
of judgment. This Type item describes the nism and basic feel are called Overview Story
nature of the measuring stick which will be Points. For example, Essence, Nature, Reach,
used in the story. Apparent or Actual Dilemma stories, etc.
Overall Story Type Order -- [Plot Structure] -- the Past (The Past) -- [Type] -- dyn.pr. Present<—
kind of activity employed to arrive at a solution >Past -- what has already happened -- The
to the story's objective problem, act by act -- As past is not unchanging. Often we learn new
the Overall Story progresses act by act, it things which change our understanding of what
covers the Overall Story Perspective (the past events truly meant and create new story
Perspective created by matching the Overall points of how things really fit together. A Story
Story Throughline with one of the four Classes) that focuses on the Past may be much more
Type by Type around the quad of Types which than a documentation of what happened.
it contains. These four explorations make up Frequently it is a re-evaluation of the meaning
the four acts and describe the kinds of things of what has occurred that can lead to changing
that will have to happen in order to arrive face one's understanding of what is happening in
to face with the Overall Story Problem. the present or will eventually happen in the
Overall Story versus Subjective Perspectives -- future. -- syn. history, what has happened,
In Dramatica, we can examine a story from the former times, retrospective
outside as a dispassionate observer, noting the Perception -- [Element] -- dyn.pr. Actuality<—
relationship of Character to Plot to theme. We >Perception -- the way things seem to be --
can also examine a story from the inside, by Perception is a point of view on reality. In truth,
stepping into the shoes of the Main Character we cannot truly get beyond perception in our
to discover how things look to himself. In the understanding of our world. A character that
first case, we see the story like a general represents Perception is more concerned with
watching a battle from atop a hill. We are the way things seem than what it is. Therefore
concerned with the outcome, but not actually he can be caught off-guard by anything that is
involved. This is the Overall Story perspective. not what it seems. -- syn. appearance, how
In the second case, we see the story from the things seem to be, discernment, a particular
point of view of a Main Character. This is more reading of things, a point of view on reality, a
like the view of a soldier in the trenches. We way of seeing
are watching the same battle, but this time we
are personally involved. This is the Subjective Permission -- [Variation] -- dyn.pr. Deficiency<—
perspective. An audience is provided access >Permission -- one's ability based on what is
allowed -- Permission means Ability limited by
restrictions. These constraints may be self
imposed or imposed by others. When a what it appears to be. Stories often focus on
Character considers what he can or cannot do, someone who wants to "be" something without
he is not assessing his ability but the limitations actually "becoming" it. The important differ-
to his ability. When one worries about the ence is that to "be" requires that all the ele-
consequences born of disapproval or self- ments of what one wants to be are present in
loathing, one halts for the lack of Permission. oneself. To "become" requires that there are
The frustration of a character suffering a vice- no elements in oneself that are not in what
grip on his ability may eventually erupt in an one wants to become -- syn. pretending,
explosive reaction if the noose gets too tight. -- appearing, acting like, seeming as, fulfilling a
syn. constrained ability, limited capability, role
restricted capacity, hindered performance, Positive Feel -- [Overview Appreciation] -- the
allowed limitations, restrained utility objective characters in the story are closing in
Perspective -- [Throughline] [Class] -- The combi- on the problem -- An author can pass judgment
nation of one of the four throughlines with one on the appropriateness of a Main Character's
of the four Classes -- To complete the creation approach to the problem. When a Main
of one of the four perspectives (or Character's approach is deemed proper, the
Throughlines) for any particular story, a audience hopes for him to remain steadfast in
throughline must be matched to a Class so that that approach and to succeed. Regardless of
the place which the perspective is looking from whether he actually succeeds or fails, if he
is defined and the nature of the perspective is remains steadfast he wins a moral victory and
defined. The four throughlines include the the audience feels the story is positive. When
Overall Story, the Subjective Story, the Main the approach is deemed improper, the audi-
Character, and the Subjective Character and ence hopes for him to change. Whether or not
they are the four places where a perspective or the Main Character succeeds, if he changes
Throughline can be assigned. Situation from an improper approach to a proper one he
(Universe), Activity (Physics), Manipulation also win a moral victory and the story feels
(Psychology), and Fixed Attitude (Mind) are the Positive.
four classes which represent the four broadest Positive versus Negative -- Positive and Negative
classifications which describe the nature of a are not evaluations of the ultimate outcome of
perspective. In every story, each throughline is a story, but evaluations of how the story feels
assigned one Class. Then the pair relation- during its course toward the outcome. Does
ships of the Classes and the terms which fall the story feel like it is drawing closer to a
under them suddenly apply to the Perspectives satisfying and fulfilling conclusion or farther
which have been created by this merging of away from an unsatisfying, unfulfilling conclu-
throughlines and Classes. Only by fully sion? Then it is positive. Does the story feel
exploring all four perspectives can a Grand like it is drawing closer to an unsatisfying and
Argument Story be completed. unfulfilling conclusion or farther away from a
Physics -- [Class] -- See Activity satisfying, fulfilling conclusion? Then it is
Playing A Role [Being] -- [Type] -- dyn.pr. negative. Any given story will have either a
Changing One's Nature [Becoming]<—>Play- positive or negative feel to it. This is caused by
ing A Role [Being] -- temporarily adopting a a combination of two kinds of dynamics, one of
lifestyle -- "Being" is an elusive word, subject to which describes the Main Character, the other
inconsistent common usage. For purposes of describes the Author. Every Main Character's
story, Playing A Role [Being] is meant to personal problem is either caused because he
describe the condition of existing in a certain is doing something he needs to stop or be-
manner. This does not mean that whomever or cause he is not doing something he ought to
whatever is being a particular way is truly of be. In other words, his problem exists because
that nature to the core. In fact, it may be put he needs to remove or add a trait. In a sense,
on, as an act or to deceive. However, as long the Main Character must either move toward
as there is nothing more or less to the function- something new or move away from something
ing of person or thing, it can be said to "be" old. That alone does not give a positive or
negative feel to a story, as what he is moving plied. Rather, until a Resistance interacts with
toward or away from could be good or bad. a Potential, the Potential has nothing to act
Every Author has feelings about which traits against and will remain latent. So in a quad,
are good ones to have and which are bad. assigning one of the items as the Potential
Just because a Main Character successfully does not mean it will become active in the
solves his problem by removing or adding a story. Instead, it might function to deter the
trait does not mean he has become a better Resistance item from a certain course rather
person for it. The Author's message may be than risk conflict with Potential. This is a useful
that failure in problem-solving is preferable to tool for Authors since it allows for the subtle
diminishing one's overall character. So the relationship of unused, inferred, threatened, or
Author's identity is exposed to the audience by anticipated dramatic interactions that shape the
passing a value judgment on whether removing fabric of a story in ways other than conflict.
or adding a trait (Start or Stop) was good or Potentiality -- [Element] -- dyn.pr. Certainty<—
bad. Taken together, Start and Stop, and a >Potentiality -- a determination that something
value judgment on what the Main Character is has the capacity to become true -- The element
growing in relation to of good or bad create of Potentiality drives a character to take risks
four combinations. Two of these are positive on long odds. Always looking at what is not
and two of them are negative. Start and good specifically ruled out, he is even beyond the
means the Main Character is moving toward realm of possibility and spends his time focus-
something good and that feels positive. Stop ing on the greatest possible potential. As long
and bad means the Main Character is moving as there is no reason why something should
away from something bad and that also feels not be a certain way, the character represent-
positive. Start and bad means the Main ing Potentiality acts as if it is. Of course this
Character is moving toward something bad and leads him to see benefits and dangers others
that feels negative. And Stop and good means might miss, but it also leads him to starve on
the Main Character is moving away from "pie in the sky." This characteristic always
something good and that feels negative as looks at what might be, never stopping to take
well. stock of what is. -- syn. chance, precarious-
Possibility -- [Element] -- dyn.pr. Probability<— ness, focusing on the uncertain, going with the
>Possibility -- a determination that something improbable
might be true -- The Possibility element en- Power (Outcome) -- [Dynamic Term] -- One way to
dows a character with an open-minded assess- measure the relationship of items in a quad is
ment of his environment and relationships. to classify him as Potential, Resistance,
However, it gives less weight to the single most Current, and Power (or Outcome). In this
likely explanation, looking instead at the whole manner, we can see how dramatic components
range of known alternatives. Since the most operate on each other over the course of the
likely scenario does not always happen, the story. Power simply means the effect of a
Possibility element aids in having "Plan B" process. When a dramatic Power exists it
ready. On the downside, this characteristic does not necessarily create change. Rather,
may "over think" things and lose track of what until it is applied for the necessary period of
is most probable. -- syn. plausibility, viability, time by Current, the Power will have not have
conceivable eventualities, open assessment the impact sufficient to affect change. So in a
Potential -- [Dynamic Term] -- One way to mea- quad, assigning one of the items as the Power
sure the relationship of items in a quad is to does not mean it will alter the course of the
classify them as Potential, Resistance, Current, story. Instead, it might function to direct effort
and Outcome (or Power). In this manner, we by providing a specific target. This is a useful
can see how dramatic components operate on tool for Authors since it allows for the subtle
each other over the course of the story. Poten- relationship of unused, inferred, threatened, or
tial simply means a latent tendency toward anticipated dramatic interactions that shape the
some attitude or action. Though a dramatic fabric of a story in ways other than conflict.
Potential may exist, it is not necessarily ap- Preconception -- [Variation] -- dyn.pr. Precon-
ception<—>Openness -- unwillingness to re- of fates. Fates are experiences or conditions
evaluate -- Preconception is a pre-conception one must encounter along the way as one's
that prevents one from entertaining information destiny directs one's course. The nature of
contrary to a held conclusion. When one shuts destiny is such that no matter how much a
his mind to additional data, there is no way to character is aware of the nature and location of
realize that the conclusion might be in error. an undesirable fate, nothing he can do is
Contradictory observation no longer becomes enough to pull him off the path. However, if
part of experience so experience ceases to one could know the future course, one could
grow. Obviously, this can lead to all kinds of prepare for each eventuality in order to mini-
actions and attitudes that work to the detriment mize or maximize its effect. -- syn. foresight,
of oneself and others. On the other hand, foreseeing, anticipation, envisioning one's
Preconception can steel one against temporary future, prophecy, forecast, foretell, prognosti-
exceptions that tempt one to veer from the true cate
path. Question -- Is it bad to have Precon- Prerequisites (Overall Storyline) -- [Type] -- the
ceptions against evil? -- syn. prejudice, closed essential parameters that must be met to
mindedness, narrow mindedness, intolerancy, complete the requirement -- Pre-requisites are
stubbornness, unwillingness to reevaluate the essential or necessary steps or accom-
Preconditions (Overall Storyline) -- [Type] -- plishments that must be achieved in order for
unessential restrictions imposed on the effort to something to occur. If a goal has a single
reach the goal -- When meeting the require- requirement, there may be many pre-requisites
ment is made contingent upon some non- to achieving that requirement.
essential restriction, the extra baggage is Prerequisites -- [Variation] -- dyn.pr. Precondi-
referred to as Pre-conditions. Depending upon tions<—>Prerequisites -- preliminary steps that
the nature of the Pre-conditions and the nature must be met -- Prerequisites are the essential
of a character, it may turn out that although the or necessary steps or accomplishments that
pre-requisites will achieve the goal, the goal must be achieved in order for something to
itself is improper and only the Pre-conditions occur. If a goal has a single requirement, there
can actually solve the problem. Misplaced may be many prerequisites to meeting that
emphasis is a common thematic exploration. requirement. -- syn. essential steps, necessary
Preconditions -- [Variation] -- dyn.pr. Prerequi- requisites, compulsory stipulation
sites<—>Preconditions -- limitations tacked on Present (The Present) -- [Type] -- dyn.pr. Past<—
to an effort -- When access to resources >Present -- the current situation and circum-
necessary to meeting pre-requisites is made stances -- "Present" does not refer to the way
contingent upon some non-essential accom- things are going, but to the way things are. It is
plishment or limitation, the extra baggage is a here and now judgment of the arrangement
referred to as Pre-conditions. Depending upon of a situation and the circumstances surround-
the nature of the Pre-conditions and the nature ing it. A story that focuses on the Present is
of a character, it may turn out that although the not concerned with how events led to the
pre-requisites will achieve the goal, the goal current situation nor where the current situation
itself is improper and only the Pre-conditions will lead, but defines the scenario that exists at
can actually solve the problem. Misplaced the moment . -- syn. how things stand, the
emphasis is a common thematic exploration. -- here and now, current situation, as of this
syn. provision, prescribed specification, moment
imposed stipulation, limiting parameters,
imposed limitations Proaction -- [Element] -- dyn.pr. Reaction<—
>Proaction -- taking initiative action to achieve
Preconscious -- see Impulsive Responses one's goals -- The Proactive characteristic will
Prediction -- [Variation] -- dyn.pr. Interdiction<— urge a character to begin problem solving on
>Prediction -- a determination of a future state his own. This character will be a self-starter
of affairs -- Prediction explores the effort to who is up and at it the moment he realizes a
learn the course of one's destiny. Destiny is potential problem exists. Sometimes, however,
the path to a particular fate or through a series a potential problem may not actually material-
ize and would have disappeared in short order of thought that determines potential. Almost
by itself. Proaction may actually cause the like deduction in reverse, rather than arriving at
problem to occur by irritating the situation. a present truth by limiting out what cannot be,
Worse yet, the character representing Production arrives at a future truth by limiting
Proaction may act before the true nature of the out what can not happen. Anything that
problem is seen, leading him to cause damage remains has potential. The problem for the
to innocent or non-responsible parties, some- character representing the Production charac-
times actually aiding the real source of the teristic is that Potentiality is often mistaken for
problem. -- syn. to initiate action, execute, Certainty if he fails to realize that any over-
undertake, commit, implement looked or unknown information can completely
Probability -- [Element] -- dyn.pr. Possibility<— alter the course of the future. -- syn. determin-
>Probability -- a determination of likelihood -- ing potential, noticing possibilities, ruling out
The character having the Probability character- future impossibilities, discovering of potential
istic puts its beliefs and efforts behind what is Progress -- [Type] -- dyn.pr. Future<—>Progress
most likely. It is not as bound to safety as a -- the way things are going -- Progress con-
character containing the Certainty characteris- cerns itself with change -- what direction and
tic, yet will still only take "calculated" risks. It is how fast? It is not so important where things
always playing the odds and changes direction were, are, or will be, but rather how the
in mid-stride if the odds change. This allows it struggle between inertia and change seesaws
to steer clear of many dangers but also tends over the course of the story. -- syn. flowing,
to make it fickle. -- syn. likelihood, prospective, advancing, proceeding, moving forward,
predictable, promising developing step by step, graduated, staging,
Problem (Overall Storyline) -- [Element] -- the successive, procession, the way things are
underlying cause of the story's difficulties -- Of going
all the Elements, there is a single one that Projection -- [Element] -- dyn.pr. Speculation<—
describes the essence of the story's problem. >Projection -- an extension of probability into
The inclusion of this element in an Overall the future -- Projection is a means of anticipat-
Story Character identifies him as the Main or ing events and situations by extending the line
Impact Character. This is because it makes of how things have been happening into the
that character the only one who can solve both future. A character that represents Projection
the Overall Story and Subjective problems in a has a good grasp of what he might look for in
single stroke by addressing the problem things to come. However, this character will
(changing). give great weight to past experience so abrupt
Problem Solving Syle -- See Mental Sex changes in direction might be ignored until it is
too late. -- syn. anticipation, how things will be,
Process -- [Element] -- dyn.pr. Result<—>Pro- most likely, probable
cess -- the mechanism through which a cause
leads to an effect -- A Process is a series of Protagonist -- [Archetype] -- An archetype who
interactions that create results. The character represents the motivations of Pursuit and
representing Process will concentrate on Consider -- An Overall Story Character
keeping the engine running smoothly. Unfortu- charged with the responsibility of pursuing a
nately, he often forgets to look where the car is solution to the story's objective problem. An
actually going. Sometimes the experiences objective problem does not mean it can't be
along the way are the important part, other personal. Rather, it means that all of the
times it is arriving at the destination. -- syn. dramatically functioning characters in the story
chain of interactions, manner of procedure, are concerned about the outcome. The true
cause/effect relation, progression, ongoing pull Archetypal Protagonist pursues the solution
or tendency against the Antagonist. In other stories a close
cousin of the Protagonist shares all the same
Production -- [Element] -- dyn.pr. Reduction<— elements except he tries to avoid the
>Production -- a process of thought that Antagonist's plan. For the Pursuing Protago-
determines potential -- Production is a process nist the goal is to cause something. For the
Avoiding "Protagonist" the goal is to prevent ing stories are told about characters who
something. struggle to achieve a Purpose that really will
Protection -- [Element] -- dyn.pr. Inaction<— not meet their Motivation or about characters
>Protection -- an effort to prevent one's con- who achieve a Purpose for the wrong Motiva-
cerns from being vulnerable to interference -- tion. But other, less common arrangements
Protection is the act of building one's defenses sometimes present more Deliberation oriented
against actual and potential threats. Certainly, stories where the character achieves a Pur-
preparing for problems brings a character pose near the beginning and then must search
advantages should the problems occur. to find a Motivation that gives it value, or a
However, the very act of building defenses can character who has a strong Motivation but
be interpreted as a threat to others who rely on must search for the Purpose that truly accom-
Proaction and thereby precipitate the very modates it.
aggression the character had tried to protect Pursuit -- [Element] -- dyn.pr. Avoidance<—
against. Also, a character representing Protec- >Pursuit -- a directed effort to resolve a prob-
tion may stifle another's need for risk-taking or lem -- The character representing Pursuit is a
become so wrapped up in preparations that real self-starter. The Pursuit characteristic
there are no resources left to use for advance- leads a character to determine what he needs
ment. -- syn. defense, safeguard, preserva- to achieve and then make a bee-line for it.
tion, precaution This may seem admirable and it can be.
Proven -- [Element] -- dyn.pr. Unproven<— Unless of course he is trying to pursue some-
>Proven -- a rating of knowledge based on thing bad for himself and/or for others. In fact,
corroboration -- Proven refers to an under- it may be that the object of the Pursuit doesn't
standing that has been shown to be correct want to be pursued. "If you love something let
enough times to enough people to hold it as it go... If it loves you, it will come back. If it
fact. The character representing Proven will doesn't come back, hunt it down and kill it." --
judge truth only by what has been sufficiently syn. seek, go after, attempt to achieve, look
verified. This makes it wary of unsubstantiated for, directed effort
rumors, evidence, or conclusions. In the Quad -- [Structural Term] -- For every dramatic
negative column, determining something is unit, three others can be found that possess a
Proven requires drawing an arbitrary line that similar quality. A relationship exists in this
says, "Enough it enough, it's true!" The group of four units that allows them to act as
moment one assumes that the understanding potentiometer controlling dramatic direction
is Proven, one ceases to look for exceptions. and flow. These groups can be represented as
When a connection is made between two a square divided into four quadrants — hence
events or people on the basis of a series of the name QUAD. In each quad of four dra-
"Proven" facts, all it takes is one exception to matic units, special relationships and functions
ruin the argument. -- syn. verified, confirmed, exist between diagonal, horizontal, and vertical
corroborated, established, demonstrated, pairs.
shown Range -- [Variation] -- See Issue
Psychology -- See Manipulation Rationalization -- [Variation] -- dyn.pr. Obliga-
Purpose -- The intentions which any character tion<—>Rationalization -- a logical alternative
has in a story -- Purpose and Motivation are used to mask the real reason -- Rationalization
often confused. Whereas Motivation is the is the attempt to have your cake and eat it too.
reason or emotion that the character must fulfill When a character expects that catering to his
or satisfy, Purpose is the specific way he desires will bring about some cost or punish-
intends to do so. Sometimes a character will ment, he tries to do what he'd like in a way he
attempt to satiate his Motivation by achieving thinks will avoid retribution. One way is to
several Purposes, each of which does part of come up with an excuse. Rationalization
the job. Other times, a single Purpose can involves fabricating an artificial reason for one's
assuage multiple Motivations. Many interest- attitude or actions that will excuse them. The
reason must make sense as being a possible
actual cause of the character's activities. In character Proactive and another Reactive, a
fact, it might very well have been the reason, much more real and powerful interaction is
except that it wasn't, which is what makes it a created. -- syn. response, reply, acting from
Rationalization. -- syn. fabricated excuse, stimulus, goaded to action
ulterior explanation, false justification, artificial Reappraisal -- [Variation] -- dyn.pr. Appraisal<—
reason >Reappraisal -- a reconsideration of a conclu-
Reach -- [Overview Appreciation] -- the manner in sion -- When one has made an initial appraisal
which the audience identifies with the Main as to where preliminary evidence seems to be
Character -- The Reach of a story describes leading, there comes a time when one must
the relationship between the audience and the make a Reappraisal of the evidence to see if
Main Character. An audience might Empathize its direction has changed. This tends to keep
with a Main Character in which case the one on the right track. But characters, like
audience identifies with the Main Character everyday people, are influenced by what has
and sees the story through his eyes. Alterna- occurred most recently — "What have you
tively, an audience might Sympathize with the done for me lately?" As a result, during
Main Character in which case it stands next to Reappraisal a character might discount the
the Main Character as if it were a close ac- body of evidence in favor of that which is most
quaintance. The story dynamics that deter- fresh in his mind. -- syn. reassess, rechecking,
mine Empathy or Sympathy are different for checking up, re-examining a conclusion,
men than for women. Women tend to identify reevaluating a conclusion
and Empathize with a Main Character of either Reason -- [Archetype] -- An Archetype who
sex who is limited by a Optionlock. Men tend represents the motivations of Logic and Control
to only Empathize with male Main Characters. -- The Reason Archetypal Character evaluates
Women tend to Sympathize with a Main and acts solely on the basis of calm logic,
Character of either sex who is limited by a never becoming enraged, passionate or
timelock. Men tend only to Sympathize with emotionally involved in a decision. Although
female Main Characters. As a result of these common in simple stories, the Reason charac-
dynamics, sometimes both women and men ter is hard to empathize with. As a result, it is
will Empathize, sometimes women only, one of the characters most often altered
sometimes men only, sometimes neither (both slightly from its archetypal arrangement to
will Sympathize). It should be noted that these provide more potential for empathy from the
are tendencies only. Training, experience, and audience. A frequent choice is to swap the trait
personal choice in any individual audience of calm with the Emotional character's trait of
member can slip the balance wholly to the frenzy. The result is that both characters
other side. Nevertheless, at the subconscious become more interesting, the Reason charac-
level these tendencies will hold true. ter being both logical and frenetic, the Emo-
Reaction -- [Element] -- dyn.pr. Proaction<— tional character being highly passionate yet in
>Reaction -- actions made in response -- The control
Reaction characteristic leads a character to Reconsider -- [Element] -- dyn.pr. Consider<—
strike back at the source of a problem. Reac- >Reconsider -- questioning a conclusion based
tion is less precipitous than Proaction requiring on additional information -- The Reconsidera-
the problem to materialize before it acts. It tion characteristic represents the drive to re-
does not take preemptive first strikes nor does examine one's conclusions to see if they are
it turn the other cheek. As a result, it often still valid. This leads to a pragmatic approach
waits too long to tackle a problem that could to one's own beliefs but also undermines
easily have been prevented, then gets in a resolve with every new obstacle that crosses
brawl that actually becomes a problem. Many one's path. -- syn. re-examining conclusions,
authors try to pit one Proactive character rethinking, to mull over again, further delibera-
against another. This actually diminishes the tion, additional scrutiny
drama of the conflict as both characters are
taking the same approach. By making one Reduction -- [Element] -- dyn.pr. Production<—
>Reduction -- a process of thought that deter-
mines probability -- Reduction is a process of or that something unsavory lies behind. This is
thought that compares the likelihood of several the nature of Repulsion. The warning is, "I'd go
incomplete lines of deduction. Sometimes back if I were you" or "Don't spit into the wind."
there is not enough information to fully deduce But does the curtain truly represent something
the ultimate truth in a matter. However, there is distasteful that waits beyond or is it simply a
enough information to narrow the field of false front, a mask to scare off the less tena-
possibilities. When all the possibilities are cious? -- syn. unattractive, repellent, forebod-
considered, each can be rated on its individual ing, unsavory, pushing away, forcing back
merits as to how much each has. The potenti- Requirements (Overall Storyline) -- [Type] -- the
alities are compared, arriving at the most likely necessary pre-cursor to achieving the goal --
conclusion. This allows the Reduction charac- Achieving a goal is not a one-step activity.
teristic to act with a greater degree of confi- Rather, all the cogs and wheels of a situation
dence than if no "favorite" theory or explanation must be adjusted and realigned first in order to
had emerged. Of course, dealing with incom- enable the goal. That can entail taking a
plete data is a horse race where even the most certain number of steps in sequence and/or
unlikely explanation may surge ahead when involve "tuning" the orchestra of the dramatics
the last piece is in place and prove to be the until they support the harmony of the goal.
actual fact of the matter. It is when the Reduc- Both the sequential and holistic approach to
tion characteristic gives probability the weight these pre-requisites and pre-conditions are
of certainty or fails to reevaluate that problems described by the nature of the overall require-
can arise. -- syn. determining probability, ment to achieving the goal. In other words, the
comparisons of potentiality, measurement of requirement describes the condition requisite
likelihood, judging probabilities to the goal and is made up of pre-requisites
Reevaluation -- [Element] -- dyn.pr. Evalua- and pre-conditions.
tion<—>Reevaluation -- a reappraisal of a Resistance -- [Dynamic Term] -- One way to
situation or circumstances -- Reevaluation is measure the relationship of items in a quad is
the act of reconsidering one's first impressions. to classify them as Potential, Resistance,
This may be in regard to a person, situation, Current, and Outcome (or Power). In this
goal, or even oneself. Reevaluation is a manner, we can see how dramatic components
helpful characteristic in dispelling incorrect operate on each other over the course of the
initial assessments of the meaning behind story. Resistance simply means a tendency
things, but is a real drawback when a person or toward inertia. When a dramatic Resistance
situation conspires to lure one's understanding exists it does not necessarily come into play.
away from an accurate Evaluation. Perhaps a Rather, until a Potential interacts with a Resis-
series of coincidences or a concerted effort can tance, the Resistance will have no impact at
present information that conflicts with an earlier all. So in a quad, assigning one of the items as
Evaluation that was actually quite on the mark. the Resistance does not mean it will alter the
A character containing the Reevaluation course of the story. Instead, it might function to
characteristic can be swayed by new mislead- deter the Potential item from a certain course
ing information and form new, mistaken under- rather than risk conflict with Resistance. This
standings. -- syn. reappraisal, further assess- is a useful tool for Authors since it allows for
ment, subsequent analysis, scrutiny of first the subtle relationship of unused, inferred,
impressions threatened, or anticipated dramatic interactions
Repulsion -- [Variation] -- dyn.pr. Attraction<— that shape the fabric of a story in ways other
>Repulsion -- pushing or being pushed away than conflict.
from -- A character's path to his goal is blocked Response -- See Direction
by many curtains. The future beyond each
cannot be seen until he has passed through to Resolve -- [Character Dynamic] -- the degree to
the other side. Sometimes the curtain itself is which the Main Character feels compelled to
attractive, encouraging one to continue. Other remain on the quest -- There are two major
times it is negative, indicating danger or loss, ways in which an author can illustrate the best
way to solve the problem explored in a story.
One is to show the proper way of going about Security -- [Variation] -- dyn.pr. Threat<—>Secu-
solving the problem, the other is to show the rity -- an evaluation of one's protections --
wrong way to solve the problem. To illustrate Before one can expand to greater achieve-
the proper way, your Main Character should ments, it is important to protect what one has
hold on to his resolve and remain steadfast already achieved. When a character is con-
because he truly is on the right path. To cerned with Security, he builds defenses
illustrate the improper way of dealing with a against threats both known and anticipated.
problem, your Main Character must change for However, actual dangers may or may not fall
he is going about it the wrong way. within the ability of the protections to keep one
Responsibility -- [Variation] -- dyn.pr. Commit- secure. Subjectively, a character must deter-
ment<—>Responsibility -- the belief that one is mine when he feels secure, based on his
best suited to accomplish a task -- The instinct experience. For example, a famous comedian
for survival is paramount under normal circum- once related that he always bought so many
stances. Still, even animals throw themselves groceries he had to throw many away when
into danger to help a human friend. The drive they spoiled. This, he said, was because he
that overcomes self-interest is Responsibility. had gone hungry so often as a child. When a
Responsibility exists when one cares more for character's experiences motivate him to over or
others than for oneself. The problem occurs under prepare for dangers, Security may
when a character believes he knows what is actually become a danger itself. -- syn. evalua-
best for someone and that someone doesn't tion of safety, measure of safeguards, appraisal
agree. "It's for your own good," and "This is of one's protections, gauge of defenses
going to hurt me more than you" are two Self-Aware -- [Element] -- dyn.pr. Aware<—>Self-
expressions that exemplify this attitude. Aware -- being conscious of one's own exist-
Sometimes the character is right in believing ence -- When a character possesses Self-
he knows best, other times not. But either way, Awareness he fully appreciates all his feelings,
Responsibility can cause problems when it is thoughts, abilities, and knowledge. Everything
imposed on another rather than offered to he experiences or observes is couched in
them. Responsibility can both be given or terms of his own point of view. As the down-
taken. -- syn. assumed propriety, believed side, he may not be able to understand that
appropriateness, self designated aptness, some things that happen don't pertain to him at
accepted suitability all and in fact happen best without him. -- syn.
Result -- [Element] -- dyn.pr. Process<—>Result - self-conscious, conscious of one's existence,
- the ramifications of a specific effect -- Result self-perceiving, self-appreciating, self-cogni-
is a holistic view of all the end products of a zant
process. When a cause generates an effect, Self-Interest -- [Variation] -- dyn.pr. Morality<—
how does the effect upset the overall balance >Self-Interest -- doing or being based on what
of a situation? In a balance of power, one must is best for oneself -- In its pure form, Self-
consider the results of arming an ally not just Interest is defined as the quality of ALWAYS
the immediate effect of strengthening its choosing what is best for oneself with NO
military. The character possessing the Result consideration as to the effect on others. This
characteristic considers the ripples that might does not require ill intent toward others. A
occur because of a given effect. The negative character who is Self-Interested simply focuses
aspect is that it often over-thinks the situation on the personal ramifications of decisions. In
until its considerations are ranging far beyond fact, in stories that show the evil nature of an
the scope of any real concerns. This can oppressive society or regime, Self-Interest can
inhibit useful actions for insignificant reasons. be a very positive thing. -- syn. self-serving,
Stop a new factory that will create jobs to self-centered, narcissistic, selfishness, self-
protect a previously unknown species of gnat? absorbed, egocentric
It depends on the scope of the concern. -- syn. Sense-Of-Self -- [Variation] -- dyn.pr. State of
ramifications of an effect, consequence, Being<—>Sense of Self -- one's perception of
repercussion, impact, end product oneself -- Simply put, Sense of Self is our own
Self Image. A character may not truly know the Protagonist, the Sidekick is identified by
who he is but he always knows who he thinks what his qualities are, not by who he is working
he is. This inward-looking view may be right on for. In fact, the Sidekick might be attached to
the mark or not even close. The difficulty a the Antagonist or not attached at all. His
character has is that from inside himself it is function is to represent the qualities of faith and
impossible to be sure who he is. All he can do support, not specifically to be in service of any
is take clues from the reaction of those around other character. However, if the Sidekick is
him. Interesting storytelling sometimes places bound to the Protagonist, he can be effectively
a character among those who provide a used to mirror the Author's feelings about the
warped feedback that creates a false Sense of conduct of the Protagonist. Moving scenes
Self in the character. This erroneous image can be created by a misguided Protagonist
may be far better, far worse, or simply different actually alienating the faithful, supportive
than his actual state of being. Other stories Sidekick. Although the Sidekick would never
force a character to come to grips with the fact turn against the Protagonist, he can turn away
that he is wrong about himself, and the opin- from him, leaving rather that being a party to
ions of others are accurate. In a Main Charac- something he finds immoral or disappointing.
ter, the differential between Sense of Self and Situation (Universe) -- [Class] -- dyn.pr. Fixed
State of Being is part of what separates the Attitude (Mind)<—>Situation (Universe) -- a
Subjective from the Objective story situation -- The Situation (Universe) Class is
throughlines. -- syn. perception of self, self where any fixed state of affairs is explored,
image, self identity, self attribution such as an institution, system, or situation that
Senses -- [Variation] -- dyn.pr. Interpretation<— remains stable and unchanging. The point
>Senses -- sensory observations -- Senses may be to show that the system is good, bad,
refers to the raw data supplied to the mind to or neutral, but the focus must be on the system
interpret. Sometimes the data is accurate, not on how the system is changing. -- syn. a
other times it is faulty even before the mind situation, a set of circumstances, state of
gets hold of it. Senses describes the overall affairs, predicament, environment, milieu
accuracy of an observation (such as seeing a Situation -- [Variation] -- dyn.pr. Circum-
crime or checking the results of a test). When stances<—>Situation -- the arrangement of
taken in conjunction with its Dynamic Pair of one's environment -- Situation describes the
Interpretation, all manner of error or accuracy ins, outs, and practical considerations of the
can be created. This provides the author with environment in which a character finds himself.
a powerful storytelling tool to create comedies Throughout a story, the situation may evolve or
and tragedies based in error and misunder- may remain constant, depending upon the
standing. -- syn. perceptual data, raw sensa- essence of the message and the nature of the
tions, sensory impressions, immediate impres- plot. Since it is limited to the practical, Situa-
sions, perceptions tion can only be measured and/or interpreted
Set -- [Structural Term] -- A set is a grouping of 16 though Reason. -- syn. how things stand
units. Although the set contains four separate rationally, a reasoned evaluation of environ-
quads and the units are all in specific positions ment, arranged context, environmental state,
according to their natures, the quads are not surroundings, predicament
considered in the set. This is because the Skill -- [Variation] -- dyn.pr. Experience<—>Skill --
concept of the set is to define a group of 16 practiced ability -- Skill is the innate potential to
that all have similar natures. In other words, a accomplish either that which is physical or
set is an umbrella that equally covers each of mental. It does not require the practical
16 individual units in a group. experience necessary to tap that potential, just
Sidekick -- [Archetype] -- An Archetype who that the latent capacity exists. Skill might be
represents the motivations of Faith and Sup- seen as raw physical ability, talent, or intellec-
port -- The Sidekick is the absolutely faithful tual or emotional aptitude which may or may
and supportive member of the Archetypal not ever be developed. -- syn. proficiency,
character set. Although frequently attached to aptitude, competence, adeptness, degree of
expertise, practiced ability, honed ability State-of-Being -- [Variation] -- dyn.pr. Sense of
Solution -- [Element] -- the specific element Self<—>State-of-Being -- one's true self --
needed to resolve the story's problem -- The State of Being describes the actual nature of a
Solution Element is the "flip side" of the Prob- character. The character himself is often not
lem Element. In a Change story, for instance, aware of the true nature of his being. In fact,
the focus may be on the Problem Element there may be no one at all who fully under-
("The Main Character should not be this way") stands all that he is. However, in the communi-
or the focus may be on the Solution Element cation between Author and Audience, the
("The Main Character should be this way"). So essence of a character must be fully explained
in a sense the Problem Element is not by itself or the story's message will be obscured. -- syn.
the cause of the story's problem, but works in essence, one's true self, true self, essential
conjunction with the Solution Element to create nature, core being
an imbalance between two traits that need to Steadfast Character {Character Appreciation} --
be balanced. The choice to present one as a the Subjective Character who ultimately retains
negative trait defines it as the Problem Element his original approach or attitude from the
and its positive partner becomes the Solution beginning of the story to the story -- Every
Element. In Steadfast stories, the Solution Subjective Character (both the Main and
Element represents the nature of the things Impact Character) represents one special
that would resolve the Overall Story Problem. character element. This element is either the
Again it is the "flip side" of the problem, but it cause of the story's problem or its solution.
has exclusively to do with the Overall Story The Subjective Character cannot be sure
since the Main Character does not, in these which he represents since it is too close to
cases, share the same problem as the Overall home. Near the climax of the story, each
Story. Subjective Character must demonstrate
Speculation -- [Element] -- dyn.pr. Projection<— whether he has stuck with his approach in the
>Speculation -- an extension of possibility into belief that it is the solution or jumped to the
the future -- Speculation is the effort to deter- opposite trait in the belief that he is the cause
mine what could conceivably happen in the of the problem. There will only be one Stead-
future even though it is not the most likely fast Character in every story, however when a
scenario. Speculation leads a character to Subjective Character decides to stick with his
expect the unlikely in the event that it actually story-long approach, he is said to Remain
occurs. Difficulties arise when Speculation Steadfast.
runs rampant and a character puts effort into Steadfast -- [Character Dynamic] -- The Main
preparing for things that are so unlikely as to Character sticks with his essential nature while
be unreasonably improbable. -- syn. prognos- attempting to solve the problem -- Every Main
tication, surmising possibilities, conjecturing Character represents one special character
Start -- [Character Dynamic] -- The audience element. This element is either the cause of
wants something in the story, which is directly the story's problem or its solution. The Main
connected to the Main Character, to begin -- Character cannot be sure which he represents
Start means something different in a story since it is too close to home. Near the climax
where the Main Character has a Resolve of of the story, the Main Character must demon-
Change than in a story where the Main Char- strate whether he has stuck with his original
acter has a Resolve of Steadfast. If the Main approach in the belief that it is the solution or
Character must Change because he lacks an jumped to the opposite trait in the belief he has
essential trait, then he must Start doing or been wrong. When a Main Character decides
being something they currently are not. If the to stick with his story-long approach, he is said
Main Character is holding out Steadfastly until to remain Steadfast.
something begins in his environment, then he Stipulation-- [Type] -- See Benchmark
is waiting for something to Start. The term Stop -- [Character Dynamic] -- The audience
simply describes an aspect of the growth which wants something in the story, which is directly
happens in the Main Character. connected to the Main Character, to desist --
Stop means something different in a story story is stripped of all its details and
where the Main Character has a Resolve of Storytelling, what is left are the story points and
Change than in a story where the Main Char- thematic explorations that make up a Story-
acter has a Resolve of Steadfast. If the Main form. When a story fully illustrates the Story-
Character Changes because he possesses a form it is working from it will make a complete
detrimental trait, then he Stops doing or being argument without any "plot holes" because the
something he has been. If the Main Character argument of a story is its Storyform.
is Steadfast in holding out for something Storyforming versus Story telling -- There are
outside himself to be brought to a halt, he is two parts to every communication between
hoping that it will Stop. The term simply author and audience: the storyforming and the
describes an aspect of the growth which storytelling. Storyforming is the actual dra-
happens in the Main Character. matic structure or blueprint that contains the
Story Mind -- The central concept from which essence of the entire argument to be made.
Dramatica was derived is the notion of the Storytelling is the specific way the author
Story Mind. Rather than seeing stories simply chooses to illustrate that structure to the
as a number of characters interacting, Dra- audience. For example, a story might call for a
matica sees the entire story as an analogy to a scene describing the struggle between morality
single human mind dealing with a particular and self-interest. One author might choose to
problem. This mind, the Story Mind, contains show a man taking candy from a baby. An-
all the characters, themes, and plot progres- other might show a member of a lost patrol in
sions of the story as incarnations of the psy- the dessert hoarding the last water for himself.
chological processes of problem solving. In Both what is to be illustrated and how it is
this way, each story explores the inner work- illustrated fulfill the story's mandate. Another
ings of the mind so that we (as audience) may way of appreciating the difference is to imagine
take a more objective view of our decisions five different artists each painting a picture of
and indecisions and learn from the experience. the same rose. One may look like a Picasso,
Story versus Tale -- A tale describes a problem one a Rembrandt, another like Van Gogh, yet
and the attempt to solve it, ultimately leading to each describes the same rose. Similarly,
success or failure in the attempt. In contrast, a different authors will choose to tell the same
story makes the argument that out of all the Storyform in dramatically different ways.
approaches that might be tried, the Main Storyforming -- the process of creating the
Character's approach uniquely leads to suc- dramatics of a unique story by arranging
cess or failure. In a success scenario, the structure and dynamics -- When an author
story acts as a message promoting the ap- thinks of the way he wants his story to unfold in
proach exclusively; in the failure scenario, the terms of the point he wants it to make and how
story acts as a message exclusively against his characters will solve their problems, what
that specific approach. Tales are useful in that author is doing is Storyforming. Before
showing that a particular approach is or is not a Dramatica, the tendency was to actually blend
good one. Stories are useful in promoting that the two processes of Storyforming and
a particular approach is the only good one or Storytelling together so that authors thought of
the only bad one. As a result of these differ- what they wanted to say and how they wanted
ences, tales are frequently not as complex as to say it more or less simultaneously. But
stories and tend to be more straight forward these are really two distinct acts which can be
with fewer subplots and thematic expansions. done separately, especially with the help of
Both tales and stories are valid and useful Dramatica.
structures, depending upon the intent of the Story Points -- Commonly shared dramatic
author to either illustrate how a problem was concepts -- Story Points are items of dramatic
solved with a tale or to argue how to solve a meaning that are common to all stories. When
specific kind of problem with a story. a person attempts to deal with troubles, certain
Storyform -- [Dramatica Term] -- The structural considerations and perspectives are commonly
and dynamic skeleton of a story -- When a adopted; "goals," for example, "requirements,"
and "consequences." Stories, which represent Subjective Story Concern -- [Type] -- The area of
analogies to this problem solving process, also concern between the Main Character and the
incorporate these aspects. In Dramatica, these Impact Character -- The nature of the things
shared considerations are referred to as "story which the Main and Impact Characters want
points." from their relationship; the Subjective Story
Strategy -- [Variation] -- dyn.pr. Analysis<— Concern describes how the audience sees the
>Strategy -- a plan to achieve one's purpose or concern of the Main and Impact character's
a plan of response -- The specific plan or relationship with each other being.
series of interconnected plans that are in- Subjective Story Catalyst -- [Variation] -- The
tended to produce a desired result is called a item that acts as the catalyst to move the
Strategy. The sophistication of a strategy can subjective story forward -- The Subjective Story
range from complex to non-existent (if a Catalyst is what creates breakthroughs and
character prefers to wing it). Sometimes a seems to accelerate the Subjective Story. In
strategy is on the mark, other times it is com- both the Overall and Subjective Stories there
pletely inappropriate to its intended purpose. occur dramatic "log-jams" when things seem to
Either way, for the audience to appreciate its be approaching a halt. This is when the
apt or inept construction, the plan must be Catalyst is necessary, for its introduction will
spelled out in full. In storytelling, Strategy can either solve the puzzle that's holding things up
define limits and draw out parameters for a or else make the puzzle seem suddenly
story. This is a useful variation to use for unimportant so the story can continue.
connecting theme to plot. -- syn. scheme, Subjective Story Direction -- [Element] -- The
tactic, plan, ploy, decided approach direction of efforts in the subjective story; the
Subconscious -- See Innermost Desires apparent remedy for the symptom of the
Subjective Story Line -- the story as it relates to difficulties between the Main Character and
the conflict between the Main and Impact The Impact Character -- Subjective Characters
Characters -- The passionate argument of a do the best they can to deal with the Subjective
story is carried by the relationship between the Story Problem, but because the Main and
story's Subjective Characters— namely, the Impact Characters are all looking at the prob-
Main and Impact Characters. The examination lem from their subjective points of view, they
of their internal states and the articulation of can't get enough distance to actually see the
the story's passionate argument makes up the problem right away. Instead they focus on the
Subjective Story Line. This is not the view from effects of the problem, which is called the
within the shoes of either the Main or Impact Subjective Story Focus, and choose to follow
Characters, but is rather like an objective view what they feel will be a remedy, which is called
of their subjective relationship. It is a view of the Subjective Story Direction.
their story together which always sees both of Subjective Story Throughline -- [Throughline] --
them. the general area in which the subjective story
Subjective Story Type Order -- [Plot Structure] -- takes place -- see Throughline.
the kind of activity employed to arrive at a Subjective Story Focus -- [Element] -- the princi-
solution to the story's subjective problem, act pal symptom of the difficulties between the
by act -- As the Subjective Story progresses Main Character and the Impact Character,
act by act, it covers the Subjective Story where attention is focused in the subjective
Perspective (the Perspective created by story -- When there is a problem in the rela-
matching the Subjective Story Throughline with tionship between the Main and Impact charac-
one of the four Classes) Type by Type around ter, they look at it from their subjective point of
the quad of Types which it contains. These view and cannot see its actual nature because
four explorations make up the four acts and it lies on the level of their motivations. Instead
describe the kinds of things that will have to they focus their attention on what they believe
happen in order to arrive face to face with the to be the source of their problems which is
Subjective Story Problem. really an effect of the problem. This area is
called the Subjective Story Focus.
Subjective Story Problem -- [Element] -- the will always slow the progress of the Subjective
underlying cause of the difficulties between the Story. It works as the antidote to the Subjec-
Main Character and the Impact Character -- tive Story Catalyst.
This is the actual source of the inequity be- Subplot -- [Storytelling] -- An amplification of a
tween the Subjective Characters which lies at branch or aspect of a storyform -- Subplots are
the level of their motivations. Only by applying often misunderstood to be secondary subordi-
the Subjective Story Solution can the effects of nate stories running in parallel to the main
this inequity finally be dealt with. story. Such secondary stories are a valid
Subjective Story Issue -- [Variation] -- the the- storytelling technique but they are not Sub-
matic focus between the Main Character and plots. A Subplot in not a separate independent
the Impact Character -- The nature of the story but an amplification of a branch or aspect
activities which make up the relationship of the main story. Each Subplot is, indeed, a
between the Main and Impact Characters story in its own right but it is connected to the
which is the Subjective Story is described by main story through one of the objective charac-
this item. The Subjective Story Issue describes ters. This objective character does double duty
the way the relationship between the Main and as the Main Character (a subjective character)
Impact Characters will work thematically in the in the subplot. As a result, it is inappropriate to
Grand Argument of the story, so at the same hinge a subplot around either the Main or
time it generally describes the kinds of things Impact Characters of the main story as the two
that will pop up to illustrate this theme. story lines would become blurred and create
Subjective Story Solution -- [Element] -- the confusion as to the message intended. In
specific element needed to resolve the difficul- order to keep Subplots from appearing to be
ties between the Main Character and The the main story, it is important to draw them with
Impact Character -- This is the item which will, less detail. This does not mean they should be
if introduced, restore balance in the Subjective incomplete or sketchy, rather that the Subplot
Story and neutralize the effects of the Problem should be explored in less depth. There can
by replacing it. It may not be actually imple- be as many Subplots as there are objective
mented, but if it were adopted in the relation- characters. A large number of subplots will
ship between the Main and Impact Characters, become unwieldy, however, and can need-
it would end the source of their conflict and lessly complicate the telling of a story, blurring
change their relationship. or diverting the audience's understanding of
the main story. Similar to the Main Character
Subjective Story Benchmark -- [Type] -- The of the main story, the Main Characters of the
standard by which growth is measured in the subplots should be limited to one story each.
Subjective Story -- The Subjective Story Not all "multiple plot" stories consist of subplots
Benchmark is the gauge that tells people how attached to a main plot. Frequently in serial
far along the Subjective story has progressed. programs such as soap operas, certain forms
It can't say how much longer the story may go, of episodic television, and some written serials
but in regards to seeing how far away the such as comic strips, several complete stories
concerns are, both the Main and Impact run in parallel, connected only by their common
Characters, as well as the audience, will look setting or by using the same ensemble of
to the stipulation in order to make any kind of characters. In this form of storytelling, charac-
judgment. This Type item describes the nature ters do double duty, playing multiple roles in a
of the measuring stick which will be used in the number of separate plots which really do not
Subjective story. directly affect each other. The point of note is
Subjective Story Inhibitor -- [Variation] -- The that an author should be aware of the differ-
item that impedes the subjective story's ence between subplot and multiple plot con-
progress -- The Subjective Story Inhibitor is structions so that the proper dramatic connec-
what prevents the Subjective Story from just tions can be made to create the greatest
rushing full speed to the solution. It is like a impact.
brake mechanism which can be applied as the Success -- [Plot Dynamic] -- the original goal is
author pleases. The introduction of this item achieved -- Every overall story throughline in a
Grand Argument Story has at its beginning a the intricacies in a story's storytelling and
desired outcome to be sought after. Ultimately, Overall Story elements rather than its emo-
the characters will either Succeed in achieving tional side.
that outcome or fail to do so. However, Suc- Symptom -- See Focus
cess is not always a good thing. For example,
it may be that a character succeeds at some- Temptation -- [Element] -- dyn.pr. Conscience<—
thing hurtful or evil. Even a well intentioned >Temptation -- the urge to embrace immediate
character might achieve something that he is benefits despite possible consequences --
unaware will cause harm. Whatever its quality, Temptation is the draw to belief that the
worth or ramifications, if the outcome desired negative consequences of an action are
at the story's beginning is achieved, the story imaginary or can be avoided. Often this is just
ends in Success. a pipe dream, and when one gives into Temp-
tation one must pay a price. However, just as
Support -- [Element] -- dyn.pr. Oppose<— often one can avoid negative consequence and
>Support -- an indirect assistance given to indulge one's desires. It is our Faith and
another's efforts -- Support is not direct help. Disbelief in consequences that defines the
Direct help is actively joining someone in an struggle between Conscience and Temptation.
effort. Support is aiding the effort without ("Psssst... We've got this new Dramatica
actually participating in it. For example, a program that will solve all your story problems
character possessing the Help characteristic but it's going to cost you some bucks...") --
would join someone in digging a ditch. The syn. indulge, embracing immediate benefits,
character representing Support would provide intemperance, immoderation
a shovel and cheer them on. Support is a fine
thing to keep one's spirits up, but is awfully Tendency -- [Overview Appreciation] -- the degree
frustrating when you just need someone to to which the Main Character feels compelled to
lend you a hand. -- syn. commend, extol, accept the quest -- Not all Main Characters are
endorse, back, compliment, laud well suited to solve the problem in their story.
They may possess the crucial element essen-
Suspicion -- [Variation] -- dyn.pr. Evidence<— tial to the solution yet not possess experience
>Suspicion -- questioning a belief based on in using the tools needed to bring it into play.
evidence -- Suspicion is a preliminary conclu- Like most of us, Main Characters have a
sion arrived at with insufficient evidence. It is preference for how to go about solving prob-
valuable in helping one know what kinds of lems. Some prefer to immediately take action.
things to look for in gathering additional We call these characters Do-ers. Others prefer
evidence. But it can also be a detriment to deliberate first to determine if the problem
because once a character suspects something, might go away by itself or perhaps they can
he is less likely to examine all the evidence for adapt to it. We call these characters Be-ers.
a completely alternative explanation. -- syn. When a Do-er finds himself in a story driven by
wary approach, partially justified apprehensive- Action he is quite at home. Similarly, when a
ness, informed doubt, doubt based on evi- Be-er finds himself in a Decision driven story,
dence, sensible caution he is quite content. Both of these combination
Sympathy -- [Overview Appreciation] -- The lead to Main Characters who are more than
audience will care about the Main Character, Willing to accept the quest for a solution to the
but it will not identify with him -- Sympathy story's problem. They are comfortable with the
describes the relationship of the audience to a tools they will be required to use. But if a Do-
Main Character whom it cares about yet does er is placed in a Decision story or a Be-er is
not identify with. To identify with the Main drawn into an Action story, the Main Character
Character, empathy is needed, but some story will be very Unwilling to participate in the quest
forms do not allow for empathy from either at all for the tools he must use are not in his
male or female audiences, and some exclude area of experience. Willing Main Characters
both at once. But sympathy can still be a force the plot forward. Unwilling Main Charac-
strong emotion, and creating a storyform which ters are dragged along by circumstances
will elicit sympathy can be a way to emphasize beyond their control.
Test -- [Element] -- dyn.pr. Trust<—>Test -- a trial description of linear connections
to determine something's validity -- To test is to Thought -- [Element] -- dyn.pr. Knowledge<—
try out a supposition to determine if it is correct. >Thought -- the process of consideration --
"Run it up the flagpole and see if people salute When a character represents Thought, he
it" is the concept here. Any explanation that illustrates the process of consideration. Unlike
makes sense has the potential to be correct or the logic element that is only concerned with
incorrect once it is actually tried in "the real arriving at a conclusion via reason, Thought
world." The Test characteristic will always want deliberates both logical and emotional aspects
to try things out before using it. This can weed of a problem, not particularly to decide an issue
out faulty items before they break down when so much as to examine it from all perspectives.
one relies on them. However, it can also waste This has the advantage of illuminating every
time when it is of the essence or waste one of side of an issue, but has the potential disad-
the three wishes just to see if it works. -- syn. vantage of Thought becoming an endless loop
trial of validity, examination, audit, inspection, where consideration runs round in circles,
scrutinization chasing its mental tail and never coming to rest
Theme -- [Dramatica term] -- The author's state- in a decision. -- syn. the process of consider-
ment about the relative worth of different value ation, thinking, contemplation, mental atten-
standards as they are compared in all contexts tion, running over in your mind
essential to the story. -- Theme is developed Thought -- [Variation] -- dyn.pr. Knowledge<—
by creating varying perspectives within a story >Thought -- the process of consideration --
on an issue which is central to the story. Thought is not always directed. Often it
Presenting these perspectives in such a way wanders, experiential and without conscious
that the most appropriate one, according to the purpose. Thought might be about a topic or
author, moves to the forefront conveys theme simple random musings or creative daydream-
to an audience. Theme occurs in both progres- ing or inspiration. At its most essential level,
sive and static elements of a story's structure Thought is simply the mental force of change
and is a consideration in all four stages of that rearranges the inertia of knowledge. -- syn.
communication (Storyforming, Storyencoding, consideration, contemplation, ponderence,
Storyweaving, and Reception). musing, reflection
Theory -- [Element] -- dyn.pr. Hunch<—>Theory - Threat -- [Variation] -- dyn.pr. Security<—>Threat
- an unbroken chain of relationships leading -- an evaluation of one's vulnerabilities --
from a premise to a conclusion -- A Theory is Threats are indicators or warnings that danger
an unbroken web of relationships that de- lurks. Avoiding real danger can be enhanced
scribes a mechanism. To be a theory, the by acting at the first sign of a Threat. However,
actual mechanism of each relationship in the reading the indicators is a subjective endeavor.
Theory must be known as well. Unless it is One's biases and experiences may lead to
understood how point A gets to point B, it might inaccurate assessments of Threats. They may
just be coincidental. For example, if two be real or imagined. When a character avoids
completely different and separate mechanisms actions or behaviors because he perceives a
are working in the same area, it may appear Threat that is truly imaginary, he might stunt his
that one is causing a certain effect when it is own progress toward his purpose based on an
really the other. Developing Theories gives the unreal fear. -- syn. perceived danger, indica-
character representing Theory the ability to tion of peril, perceived vulnerability, warning,
understand and predict how things work and fit detected hazard
together. The drawback is that he will not
accept an obvious relationship unless all its Throughline -- [Dramatica Term] -- The sequence
steps can be discovered. As a result, many of story points over a story that describe one of
"common sense" approaches and understand- the four Perspectives in a story -- The
ings are not used, despite their proven value. -- Throughlines are really the four structural
syn. structured explanation, concrete hypoth- perspectives which each move toward facing
esis, systematized descriptive knowledge, its own problem as the story reaches a climax.
The Overall Story, Subjective Story, Main
Character, and Impact Character Throughlines timing mechanism on a safe, or the poison that
all have their own distinct story points which takes effect in 24 hours- anything that has a
have to be illustrated to create a Grand Argu- specific deadline and needs to be prevented or
ment Story, but Storytelling choices can be achieved. The other way to force a story to
made to accentuate a particular throughline end is with a optionlock which limits how many
and emphasize it more than the others and things the characters can try to solve the
create stories that have an unusual feel to problem — trapped aboard a spaceship with a
them. vicious creature with no one coming to the
Throughline [Domain] -- [Throughline] -- An item rescue, trying to escape from Alcatraz, strug-
that describes the area in which any one of the gling to save a relationship — anything that
four throughlines occurs—Main Character, has a specific scope and needs to be resolved.
Impact Character, Overall Story, and Subjective So in short, in a timelock the characters run out
Story -- There are four Throughlines in every of time, in a optionlock the run out of options.
complete story, each representing a different As a side note, timelocks and optionlocks can
perspective in the structure of that story. One co-exist but only one can be the real limit that
is assigned to the Overall Story Throughline forces the climax.
and contains the story points attributed to the Timelock -- [Plot Dynamic] -- the story climax is
dispassionate argument of the story while also forced by a time limit -- If not for the story being
describing the area in which the Overall Story forced to a climax, it might continue forever.
occurs. Another is for the Subjective Story When a story is brought to a conclusion
Throughline and contains the story points because the characters run out of time, it is
which concern the passionate argument of the said to contain a Timelock. As an analogy, a
story and describe the relationship between the story might be thought of as the effort to find
Main and Impact Characters. The Main and the solution to the story's problem which is
Impact Character Throughlines are each hidden in one of the rooms of a mansion. Each
assigned Throughlines as well, which contain room contains a clue to the actual location of
the story points attributed to their character and the solution. The Main Character is told he
describe the area in which they each operate. may search as many rooms as he likes in five
Each Throughline is the matching of a particu- minutes. At the end of five minutes he is given
lar Class (either Situation (Universe), Activity a choice. Based on the clues he has already
(Physics), Manipulation (Psychology), or Fixed found, he must decide if the solution is in one
Attitude (Mind)) with a particular throughline of the rooms he already searched or in one of
(either Overall Story, Main Character, Impact the rooms he has not yet searched. Either
Character, or Subjective Story). Each choice may lead to success or failure, but
Throughline describes the general area in because running out of time forced the choice
which the problems of its throughline will lie it is a Timelock story. The choice represents
and from what perspective the audience will be the Timelock which brings the story to a close
directed to view those problems. Throughlines and forces such story points as Main Character
determine large, genre-like positions in the Resolve (Change or Steadfast), Outcome
relationship of audience to story. (Success or Failure), and Judgment (Good or
Throughline Act Order -- [Plot Structure] -- the Bad).
area in which the solution to the story's prob- Trust -- [Element] -- dyn.pr. Test<—>Trust -- an
lem is sought, act by act acceptance of knowledge as proven without
Timelock versus Optionlock -- The two kinds of first testing its validity -- To Trust is to accept
limits that can force a story to its climax -- without trial. Whether a concept, relationship,
Stories would go on forever unless they were person, or mechanism, it will be accepted by
limited in some way, forcing an end to action the character possessing the Trust characteris-
and/or decision. One way to bring a story to a tic without supportive evidence. This helps him
conclusion is with a timelock which limits how to get on with the job at hand in the most
long the characters have to solve the problem. efficient manner, but opens him up to disas-
The limit might be a bomb set to go off, the trous surprises when an assumption is proven
incorrect at a critical moment. -- syn. untried Uncontrolled -- [Element] -- dyn.pr. Control<—
acceptance, untested belief in, accept implicitly, >Uncontrolled -- a disorganized response --
assumed dependability, unquestioned reliance The character representing Uncontrolled
on spreads himself very thin by expending his
Truth -- [Variation] -- dyn.pr. Falsehood<—>Truth energy and motivation in all directions at once.
-- that which has been proven correct -- Truth As a result, he is fully involved in his environ-
is more than facts and accuracy. Truth is ment, which covers all the bases. Yet, be-
meaning. Whenever someone is quoted out of cause his attention is randomly distributed,
context, what is reported may be factual and there is not single direction to his thrust.
may be accurate but it is not Truthful. Meaning Therefore, the Uncontrolled character fre-
depends upon intent and purpose. That is the quently spends a lot of energy getting no-
beauty of the legal system — that even if where. -- syn. unregulated, disorganized,
someone is caught red-handed, the jury can unfocused, rampant, unguided, open, frenzy
acquit because it feels there were mitigating Understanding -- [Type] -- dyn.pr. Learning<—
circumstances. The problem with Truth is that >Understanding -- appreciating the meaning of
it is an interpretation and therefore open to something -- Understanding is different from
debate. One person's Truth is another's knowledge. From knowledge one gets aware-
Falsehood. -- syn. honesty, correct informa- ness, from Understanding one gets meaning.
tion, correct notion, verity To obtain meaning requires not only knowing
Type -- [Structural Term] -- The 16 terms which the substance of its nature but the context of its
are grouped directly beneath the Classes essence. In other words, one must not only
which are the next most general areas in which define what something is but how it fits into the
problem elements can lie -- There are 16 Types larger picture as well. To this end, Reason
in the Dramatica structure, four to each Class. describes the function and Emotion defines the
The Classes each represent a different point of purpose. So Understanding is not just an
view and the Types in that Class represent a intellectual pursuit but requires an empathy
more refined exploration of that point of view. with the meaning as well. It is useful to note
In a sense, Types describe the basic catego- that many Eastern and ancient philosophies
ries of what can be seen from a given point of define Understanding as "becoming one with"
view. Just as Throughline level story points that which is being considered. Until one joins
create genre-like brush strokes in the story his subject in unity, he cannot understand it. --
structure, Type level story points determine the syn. comprehending, grasping, appreciating,
nature of the plot. obtaining meaning, acquiring meaning
Unending -- [Element] -- dyn.pr. Ending<— Unique Ability -- [Variation] -- The item that
>Unending -- a continuance without cessation - makes the Main Character uniquely able to
- The Unending characteristic sees nothing as resolve the Overall Story Problem; the item
ever coming to completion. What others may that makes the Impact Character uniquely able
see as an end, this characteristic sees as a to thwart the Main Character's efforts -- Just as
change of direction. For example, obtaining a a requirement defines the specific nature of
diploma is seen not as an end of college but as things needed to achieve a particular goal,
another step in one's career (which is Unend- Unique Ability defines the specific quality
ing). This has an advantage of "never saying needed to meet the requirement. Unique
'die'," which helps the motivation stay alive to Ability is another way in which the Main Char-
keep trying. On the other hand, seeing a bad acter is identified as the intersecting point
thing as unending can rob one of motivation. between the Subjective and Objective stories
Also, when something is really over, the as it is only he who ultimately has what it takes
character representing Unending can't see it. to meet the test of the requirement and thereby
This might be a former relationship or a current achieve the goal. The Unique Ability need not
job that he takes for granted. -- syn. continual, be anything extraordinary but must be the one
ongoing, perpetual, ceaseless, interminable, crucial quality required that is shared by no one
incessant, perennial else. Frequently, the Unique Ability is in
keeping with the Main Character's position or to join the quest. Once the Main Character is
profession, however it can be much more enticed or coerced into beginning the journey
interesting to assign an incongruous Unique toward a solution, he requires outside encour-
Ability. In either approach, it is essential to agement or compulsion to keep up the effort.
illustrate the existence of the Unique Ability in Value -- [Variation] -- dyn.pr. Worth<—>Value --
the Main Character several times throughout the objective usefulness or desirability of
the story, even if it is not employed until the something in general -- Value is a good indica-
climax. In this way, it becomes integrated into tor by which to predict its import to others.
the nature of the Main Character and does not However, no one really thinks completely
seem conveniently tacked on when it is ulti- objectively so there is always a degree of
mately needed. Also, the Unique Ability can be personal preference included in a determina-
extremely mundane. The key is that the ability tion of Value. Difficulties arise when a charac-
does not have to be unique by nature, but just ter neglects the personal worth someone else
possessed uniquely in that specific story by the may or may not find in something of specific
Main Character. Clever storytelling may value. For example, a Boss may find it of no
arrange the climax of the story so that some direct Value, but placing a candy bar on each
completely ordinary and insignificant Unique employees desk for them to find in the morning
ability makes the difference in the outcome of a can have a lot of worth to the employee.
cosmic struggle. Indirectly, then, Value is returned to the Boss in
Unit -- [Structural Term] -- Dramatica breaks down the form of a better day's work. But seeing the
the components of story into the smallest indirect Value is difficult from the subjective
possible building blocks that have meaning for view. Learning to see items and actions not
an author. These essential building blocks are just for their intrinsic Value, but for their condi-
called Units. tional Value is a strong thematic message. --
Universe -- See Situation syn. utility, objective appraisal, general useful-
ness
Unproven -- [Element] -- dyn.pr. Proven<—
>Unproven -- a rating of knowledge that has Variation -- [Structural Term] -- The 64 items that
not been tested -- Unproven describes an represent the thematics under which problem
understanding suspected to be true but not elements can occur -- The variations describe
substantiated enough to call it fact. The the thematic message and the development of
character representing Unproven will not that message in the story. Variations are
accept anything as fact just because the theory measuring sticks by which the author wishes
has worked so far. No matter how many times his message to be evaluated. It is the discrep-
or how many ways evidence builds to support ancy between opposing ways of evaluating the
the contention, Unproven will not be satisfied meaning of the story that creates the thematic
until the conclusion is absolutely drawn in hard statement as to which is the best way or that
data not just road tests. This keeps the one way is no better or worse than another.
character representing Unproven from jumping There are 64 Variations in the Dramatica
to conclusions, but makes him less able to structure, 16 to each Class.
accept the obvious conclusion unless it is Willing -- [Overview Appreciation] -- The Main
directly observed in a way that is not open to Character willingly participates in the effort to
alternative interpretation. -- syn. unverified, find a solution to the story problem -- Willing
unconfirmed, unestablished, undemonstrated, describes a Main Character who is self-
untried motivated to find a solution to the story's
Unwilling -- [Overview Appreciation] -- The Main problem. Even if the going is tough, he re-
Character unwillingly participates in the effort to quires no outside encouragement or compul-
find a solution to the story problem -- Unwilling sion to keep up the effort.
describes a Main Character who would prefer Wisdom -- [Variation] -- dyn.pr. Enlightenment<—
not to become involved in neither the problem >Wisdom -- understanding how to apply
nor the search for a solution. As a result, some Knowledge -- Wisdom is the meaning of what
sort of leverage must be applied to "force" him is known. A Character may be aware of facts
but unless he sees the pattern that organizes based on a projection of negative experience.
those facts, the knowledge alone may be When in the past seemingly innocuous situa-
useless. Wisdom, therefore, does not describe tions have developed into disasters, one learns
just being aware of something but understand- to Worry at the slightest evidence of instability.
ing how many bits of knowledge fit together .-- Worry has the positive quality of motivating one
syn. mental mastery, integrated understand- to prepare for the worst. If the worst happens,
ing, seasoned understanding, comprehension, the character representing Worry is truly
astute cogency prepared. But how often does the worst
Work -- [Plot Dynamic] -- See Driver actually happen? The downside is that re-
sources one might use to make advances are
Work -- [Variation] -- dyn.pr. Attempt<—>Work -- wasted just trying to protect the status quo.
applying oneself to something known to be And those who worry tend to avoid unknown
within one's ability -- When a task lies within situations that might hold substantial rewards. -
one's known abilities, effort applied to the task - syn. anxiety, concern, apprehension, misgiv-
is Work. There are no surprises; no short- ings
comings. But has one accurately judged both
one's abilities and the demands of the task? If Worth -- [Variation] -- dyn.pr. Value<—>Worth -- a
not, perhaps the task is not achievable or of a rating of usefulness or desirability to oneself --
size that one must increase one's abilities Worth describes the subjective value of an item
before undertaking it. -- syn. appropriate or action to an individual. Of course, this
undertaking, suitable task, manageable labor, a varies greatly from individual to individual. This
performable activity is the nature of garage sales -- one woman's
trash is another woman's treasure. Making
Worry -- [Variation] -- dyn.pr. Confidence<— choices on the basis of Worth is an efficient
>Worry -- concern for the future -- Like confi- way to get the most with one's resources. But
dence, Worry looks toward the future but is there may be all kinds of potential locked in
something a character considers worthless
Dramatica Synonyms
because objectively it has great Value. For matica, the patterns of a "Z" (either forward or
example, Native Americans used gold simply backward, from top to bottom or bottom to top)
as a decoration. To them it had little other drawn through the four items of a quad de-
Worth. Of course to Europeans it had signifi- scribes one of the sequences in which dra-
cant Value. A character who ignores potential matic units might be brought into play.
value because of low Worth can live to regret
the deals he makes in a story, both physically
and emotionally. -- syn. subjective value,
individual appraisal, personal importance Ability -- [Element] -- innate capacity, capability,
talent for, inherent proficiency
Z Pattern -- [Dynamic Term] -- There is a relation-
ship between the function of dramatic items Ability -- [Variation] -- talent, knack, capability,
and the order in which they interact. Changing capacity, faculty
the order can drastically affect how an audi- Acceptance -- [Element] -- acquiescence, toler-
ence interprets the meaning of events and ance, allowance for, consent, submission
information. For example, if a person makes a Accurate -- [Element] -- within tolerance, sufficient,
rude comment and is slapped, an audience will adequate, acceptable, passable
react differently than if a person is slapped then
makes a rude comment. One of the ways in Activity (Physics) -- [Class] -- an activity, an
which drama is built is to control the order in enterprise, an initiative, an endeavor, an
which events happen. To do this, there must operation
be some standard or measure that defines the Actuality -- [Element] -- the true state of things,
"at rest" or "initial" order of events. In Dra- objective reality, factuality, demonstrable
existence, demonstrable reality Conceiving An Idea -- [Type] -- originating,
Analysis -- [Variation] -- evaluation, examination, inventing, devising, engendering, hatching
breakdown of situation, close investigation, ideas
scrutinization Conditioning -- [Variation] -- habituation, trained
Appraisal -- [Variation] -- first impression, prelimi- response, accustomed response, adaptive
nary understanding, initial approach, initial adjustments
assimilation Confidence -- [Variation] -- hopeful prospects,
Approach -- [Variation] -- method, procedure, positive expectations, faithful anticipation,
style, manner, manner of doing, one's own way optimism
Attempt -- [Variation] -- try, uncertain undertaking, Conscience -- [Element] -- forgoing for fear of
speculative endeavor, dubious effort, endeavor, consequences, forgo, forbearance, temper-
unlikely venture ance, abstinence, restraining oneself
Attitude -- [Variation] -- demeanor, manner of Contemplation [Conscious] -- [Type] -- consider-

approach, countenance, behavioral outlook, ations, sensibilities, cognizant, ability to
perspective on doing consider, sensible, informed contemplation,
contemplation
Attraction -- [Variation] -- allure, enticement,
charm, captivate, appeal, draw, lure Consider -- [Element] -- deliberate, contemplate,
ponder, weigh in the mind, mull
Avoid -- [Element] -- evade, dodge, elude, escape,
steer clear of, prevent Control -- [Element] -- regulate, organized man-
agement, steer, conduct, guide, manipulate,
Aware -- [Element] -- outward perceptiveness, focused organization
external sensitivity, consciousness of the
external, responsive Deduction -- [Element] -- drawing a conclusion,
process of elimination, demonstrative reason-
Cause -- [Element] -- engender, induce, elicit, ing, narrowing to a single point
determinant, reason for, factor, effector, source,
agent, antecedent Deficiency -- [Variation] -- inadequacy, insuffi-
ciency, deficit, unfulfilled need
Certainty -- [Element] -- sureness, definiteness,
having no doubts, total reliability, indisputability, Delay -- [Variation] -- put off, retard, postpone,
irrefutability, unmistakability, certitude, convic- defer, suspend, prolong, procrastinate
tion Denial -- [Variation] -- not accepting, refusal to end,
Change -- [Element] -- altering, altering force, unwillingness to let go, refusal to back down,
modify, reshape, adjust, adapt stubbornness, uncompliant
Changing One's Nature [Becoming] -- [Type] -- Desire -- [Element] -- drive, motivational goal,
embodying, manifesting, personifying, incarnat- unfulfillment, source of discontent, essence of
ing, transforming motivation
Chaos -- [Element] -- randomness, anarchy, Desire -- [Variation]-- want, favor, like, covet,
disorder, formlessness, noncohesion prefer, wish, aspire
Choice -- [Variation] -- decision, selection, determi- Destiny -- [Variation] -- inescapable path, predeter-
nation, pick mined trajectory, set direction of the future,
inevitable path, unavoidable trajectory
Circumstances -- [Variation] -- how things stand
emotionally, emotional evaluation of the Determination -- [Element] -- ascertaining causes,
environment, value of existing conditions, discovering causes, finding the reasons why,
relationship to others figuring out factors, discerning antecedents
Closure -- [Variation] -- finishing, completion, Developing A Plan [Conceptualizing] -- [Type] --

resolution, recursive visualizing, imagining, envisioning, visualizing
implementation
Commitment -- [Variation] -- dedication, devotion,
steadfastness, zeal Disbelief -- [Element] -- refusal to accept, distrust,
find unconvincing, find false, unpersuadability ity, affective outlook, sentiment, emotional
Doing -- [Type] -- performing, executing, effecting assessment
action, acting Fixed Attitude (Mind) -- [Class] -- attitude, fixation,
Doubt -- [Variation] -- pessimism, uninformed position on an issue, fixed point of view,
misgivings, uncertainty, trepidation, distrust disposition
Dream -- [Variation] -- aspire, desiring the unlikely, Future -- [Type] -- what is to come, what will be,
pulling for the doubtful, airy hope, glimmer, far prospect, prospective
fetched desire Help -- [Element] -- aid, assist, support, bolster,
Effect -- [Element] -- result, consequence, out- abet
come, culmination, the ensuing Hinder -- [Element] -- retard, obstruct, impede,
Ending -- [Element] -- conclusion, finish, comple- fetter, undermine, block, burden, encumber,
tion, termination, close thwart
Enlightenment -- [Variation] -- insight, illumination, Hope -- [Variation] -- desired expectation, optimis-

intuitive discernment, transcendent compre- tic anticipation, confident aspiration, promise,
hension encouraging outlook
Equity -- [Element] -- balance, fairness, parity, Hunch -- [Element] -- intuition, premonition,

equilibrium, level, even impression, suspicion
Evaluation -- [Element] -- appraisal, analysis, Impulsive Responses [Preconscious] -- [Type] --

assessment, survey, examination unthinking responses, immediate responses,
impulse, impulsive response, instinctive
Evidence -- [Variation] -- proof, indicator, support- response, innate response, reflex
ing information, corroborating facts, grounds
for belief, substantiation Inaction -- [Element] -- passive reaction, inactive
response, achieve through not doing
Expectation -- [Element] -- anticipated results,
eventual outcome, presumed prospects, Induction -- [Element] -- postulate, predicate,
probable denouement, likely consequences conjecture, infer, hypothesize, determine
possibility
Expediency -- [Variation] -- advisability, conve-
nience, prudent efficiency Inequity -- [Element] -- imbalance, unfair, disparity,
unequal, uneven, disproportionate
Experience -- [Variation] -- familiarization, level of
practice, seasoning, accumulated feelings, Inertia -- [Element] -- tendency to continue, a
accumulated dealings with change resistant pattern, continuation, follow-
ing an established direction
Fact -- [Variation] -- belief in the genuine, ultimately
real beliefs, truly real beliefs, authentic notion, Innermost Desires [Subconscious]-- [Type] --
authentic idea, correct knowledge, correct libido, id, basic motivations, basic drives,
beliefs anima
Faith -- [Element] -- acceptance without proof, Instinct -- [Variation] -- involuntary drive, innate
steadfast belief, confidence in unproven, impulse, unconditioned response, automatic
credence, unquestioned trust response, unconditioned motivation
Falsehood -- [Variation] -- erroneousness, untruth, Interdiction -- [Variation] -- altering the future,

erroneous notion, mistaken, astray, dishonest interfering with the predetermined, hindering
the inevitable, escaping the predestined
Fantasy -- [Variation] -- false belief, faith in the
imaginary, delusion, erroneous conviction Interpretation -- [Variation] -- construe, rendition,
rendering meaning, elucidate, translating
Fate -- [Variation] -- inevitable events, meaning
unpreventable incidents, eventual events,
destined occurrence, destined events, unavoid- Investigation -- [Variation] -- inquiry, research,
able situations probe, sleuthing, delving, query
Feeling -- [Element] -- empathy, emotional sensibil- Knowledge -- [Element] -- learnedness, held
truths, authoritative certainty, generally agreed performance, allowed limitations, restrained
upon truths utility
Knowledge -- [Variation] -- held truth, maintained Playing A Role [Being] -- [Type] -- pretending,
information, presumed facts, accepted ideas appearing, acting like, seeming as, fulfilling a
Learning -- [Type] -- cultivating experience, role
acquiring information, collecting data, gathering Possibility -- [Element] -- plausibility, viability,
knowledge conceivable eventualities, open assessment
Logic -- [Element] -- linear reasoning, rationality, Potentiality -- [Element] -- chance, precarious-
structural sensibility, syllogistics ness, focusing on the uncertain, going with the
Manipulation (Psychology) -- [Class] -- ways of improbable
thinking, thinking process, activity of the Preconception -- [Variation] -- prejudice, closed
psyche, manipulation of others mindedness, narrow mindedness, intolerance,
Memory -- [Type] -- remembering, recollections, stubbornness, unwillingness to reevaluate
reminiscence, recalling, retention Preconditions -- [Variation] -- provision, prescribed
Morality -- [Variation] -- selflessness, altruism, specification, imposed stipulation, limiting
benevolence, generosity parameters, imposed limitations
Need -- [Variation] -- subjective necessity, urge, Prediction -- [Variation] -- foresight, foreseeing,

demand, imperative anticipation, envisioning one's future, prophecy,
forecast, foretell, prognosticate
Non-Acceptance -- [Element] -- run counter to,
reject, decline, repudiate, resist, refusal to Prerequisites -- [Variation] -- essential steps,
compromise necessary requisites, compulsory stipulation
Non-Accurate -- [Element] -- not within tolerance, Present -- [Type] -- how things stand, the here and
insufficiency, inadequacy, deviancy, deficient to now, current situation, as of this moment
the purpose Proaction -- [Element] -- to initiate action, execute,
Obligation -- [Variation] -- agreement, pledge, undertake, commit, implement
contract, accepted compulsion, emotional Probability -- [Element] -- likelihood, prospective,
contract predictable, promising
Obtaining -- [Type] -- controlling for oneself, Process -- [Element] -- chain of interactions,
possessing, having, keeping manner of procedure, cause/effect relation,
Openness -- [Variation] -- broad mindedness, progression, ongoing pull or tendency
tolerance, willingness to reevaluate, receptive- Production -- [Element] -- determining potential,
ness noticing possibilities, ruling out future impossi-
Oppose -- [Element] -- object to, speak out bilities, discovering of potential
against, argue against, protest, dispute, show Progress -- [Type] -- flowing, advancing, proceed-
disapproval of, detract from ing, moving forward, developing step by step,
Order -- [Element]-- structure, patterned arrange- graduated, staging, successive, procession,
ment, organization, patterned formation, the way things are going
formation, configuration, patterned sequence Projection -- [Element] -- anticipation, how things
Past -- [Type] -- history, what has happened, will be, most likely, probable
former times, retrospective Protection -- [Element] -- defense, safeguard,
Perception -- [Element] -- appearance, how things preservation, precaution
seem to be, discernment, a particular reading Proven -- [Element] -- verified, confirmed, corrobo-
of things, a point of view on reality, a way of rated, established, demonstrated, shown
seeing Pursuit -- [Element] -- seek, go after, attempt to
Permission -- [Variation] -- constrained ability, achieve, look for, directed effort
limited capability, restricted capacity, hindered Rationalization -- [Variation] -- fabricated excuse,
ulterior explanation, false justification, artificial impressions, perceptions
reason Situation (Universe) -- [Class] -- a situation, a set
Reaction -- [Element] -- response, reply, acting of circumstances, state of affairs, predicament,
from stimulus, goaded to action environment, milieu
Re-appraisal -- [Variation] -- reassess, rechecking, Situation -- [Variation] -- how things stand ratio-
checking up, re-examining a conclusion, re- nally, a reasoned evaluation of environment,
evaluating a conclusion arranged context, environmental state, sur-
Reconsider -- [Element] -- re-examining conclu- roundings, predicament
sions, rethinking, to mull over again, further Skill -- [Variation] -- proficiency, aptitude, compe-
deliberation, additional scrutiny tence, adeptness, degree of expertise, prac-
Reduction -- [Element] -- determining probability, ticed ability, honed ability
comparisons of potentiality, measurement of Speculation -- [Element] -- prognostication,
likelihood, judging probabilities surmising possibilities, conjecturing
Re-evaluation -- [Element] -- re-appraisal, further State-of-Being -- [Variation] -- essence, one's true
assessment, subsequent analysis, scrutiny of self, true self, essential nature, core being
first impressions Strategy -- [Variation] -- scheme, tactic, plan, ploy,
Repulsion -- [Variation] -- unattractive, repellent, decided approach
foreboding, unsavory, pushing away, forcing Support -- [Element] -- commend, extol, endorse,
back back, compliment, laud
Responsibility -- [Variation] -- assumed propriety, Suspicion -- [Variation] -- wary approach, partially
believed appropriateness, self designated justified apprehension, informed doubt, doubt
aptness, accepted suitability based on evidence, sensible caution
Result -- [Element] -- ramifications of an effect, Temptation -- [Element] -- indulge, embracing
consequence, repercussion, impact, end immediate benefits, intemperance, immodera-
product tion
Security -- [Variation] -- evaluation of safety, Test -- [Element] -- trial of validity, examination,
measure of safeguards, appraisal of one's audit, inspection, scrutinization
protections, gauge of defenses
Theory -- [Element] -- structured explanation,
Self-Aware -- [Element] -- self-conscious, con- concrete hypothesis, systematized descriptive
scious of one's existence, self-perceiving, selfknowledge, description of linear connections
appreciating, self-cognizant
Thought -- [Element] -- the process of consider-
Self-Interest -- [Variation] -- self-serving, self- ation, thinking, contemplation, mental atten-
centered, narcissistic, selfishness, self-ab- tion, running over in your mind
sorbed, egocentric
Thought -- [Variation] -- consideration, contempla-
Sense of Self -- [Variation] -- perception of self, tion, ponderence, musing, reflection
self image, self identity, self attribution
Threat -- [Variation] -- perceived danger, indication
Senses -- [Variation] -- perceptual data, raw of peril, perceived vulnerability, warning,
sensations, sensory impressions, immediate detected hazard
Trust -- [Element] -- untried acceptance, untested
belief in, accept implicitly, assumed depend-
ability, unquestioned reliance on
Truth -- [Variation] -- honesty, correct information, correct notion, verity
Unending -- [Element] -- continual, ongoing, perpetual, ceaseless, interminable, incessant, perennial
Uncontrolled -- [Element] -- unregulated, disorganized, unfocused, rampant, unguided, open, frenzy
Understanding -- [Type] -- comprehending, grasping, appreciating, obtaining meaning, acquiring mean-
ing
Unproven -- [Element] -- unverified, unconfirmed, unestablished, undemonstrated, untried
Value -- [Variation] -- utility, objective appraisal, general usefulness
Wisdom -- [Variation] -- mental mastery, integrated understanding, seasoned understanding, comprehen-
sion, astute cogency
Work -- [Variation] -- appropriate undertaking, suitable task, manageable labor, a performable activity
Worry -- [Variation] -- anxiety, concern, apprehension, misgivings
Worth -- [Variation] -- subjective value, individual appraisal, personal importance
R EFERENCE
PART 2
Semantic Items
that appear in the structural part

Dramatica's Struc- of the Dramatic model. The
tural Semantic items have been subdivided into
four parts based on their struc-
Items tural nature: Classes, Types,
Variations, and Elements.
The following is an alpha-
betical list of the semantic items Classes (Throughlines)
1. Fixed Attitude (Mind)
2. Activity (Physics) 13. Confidence
3. Manipulation (Psychology) 14. Deficiency
4. Situation (Universe) 15. Delay
Types (Concerns) 16. Denial
1. Changing One's Nature [Becoming] 17. Desire
2. Playing A Role [Being] 18. Destiny
3. Conceiving An Idea 19. Doubt
4. Developing A Plan [Conceptualizing] 20. Dream
5. Contemplation [Conscious] 21. Enlightenment
6. Doing 22. Evidence
7. The Future 23. Expediency
8. Learning 24. Experience
9. Memory 25. Fact
10. Obtaining 26. Falsehood
11. The Past 27. Fantasy
12. Impulsive Responses [Preconscious] 28. Fate
13. The Present 29. Hope
14. Progress 30. Instinct
15. The Innermost Desires [Subconscious] 31. Interdiction
16. Understanding 32. Interpretation
Variations (Issues)
33. Investigation
1. Ability
34. Knowledge
2. Analysis
35. Morality
3. Appraisal
36. Need
4. Approach
37. Obligation
5. Attempt
38. Permission
6. Attitude
39. Preconception
7. Attract
40. Preconditions
8. Choice
41. Prediction
9. Circumstances
42. Prerequisites
10. Closure
43. Rationalization
11. Commitment
44. Reappraisal
12. Conditioning
45. Repel 12. Consideration
46. Resolution 13. Control
47. Responsibility 14. Deduction
48. Security 15. Desire
49. Self-Interest 16. Determination
50. Sense-of-Self 17. Disbelief
51. Senses 18. Effect
52. Situation 19. Ending
53. Skill 20. Equity
54. State-of-Being 21. Evaluation
55. Strategy 22. Expectation
56. Suspicion 23. Faith
57. Thought 24. Feeling
58. Threat 25. Help
59. Truth 26. Hinder
60. Value 27. Hunch
61. Wisdom 28. Inaction
62. Work 29. Induction
63. Worry 30. Inequity
64. Worth 31. Inertia
32. Knowledge
Elements (Problems)
1. Ability 33. Logic
2. Acceptance 34. Non-acceptance
3. Accurate 35. Non-Accurate
4. Actuality 36. Oppose
5. Avoid 37. Order
6. Aware 38. Perception
7. Cause 39. Possibility
8. Certainty 40. Potentiality
9. Change 41. Proaction
10. Chaos 42. Probability
11. Conscience 43. Process

44. Production
45. Projection
46. Protection
47. Proven
48. Pursuit
49. Re-evaluation
50. Reaction
51. Reconsideration
52. Reduction
53. Result
54. Self-Aware
55. Speculation
56. Support
57. Temptation
58. Test
59. Theory
60. Thought
61. Trust
62. Unending
63. Uncontrolled
64. Unproven
R EFERENCE
PART 3
Structural Models
The Dramatica Structural Model
Physics
Universe
Mind
Psychology
The Dramatica Structural Matrix is a framework for holding dramatic topics pertinent
to Genre, Plot, Theme, and Character in relationships that describe their effect upon
one another. During the process of storyforming, these topics (called "themantics") are
re-arranged much as a Rubik's cube might be scrambled, all in response to the author's
choices regarding the impact they wish to have on their audience. As a story unfolds,
the matrix unwinds, scene by scene and act by act until all dramatic potentials, both
large and small have been completely explored and have fully interacted.
4 Classes
Universe Physics
A Situation An Activity
Psychology Mind
A Manner of Thinking A State of Mind
16 Types
Situation Activity
(Universe) (Physics)
Past Progress Understanding Doing
Future Present Obtaining Learning
Conceptualizing Being Memory Preconscious
Becoming Conceiving Subconscious Conscious
Manipulation Fixed Attitude

(Psychology) (Mind)
6 4 Va r i a t i o n s
Dramatica's 64 Thematic Variations
Situation (Universe) Activity (Physics)

Variations Variations

tation ment

Interest requisites


Being

stances Self

zation

bility
Manipulation (Psychology) Fixed Attitude (Mind)

Variations Variations
64 Elements
Science in Sci-Fi, Fact in Fantasy
Science in Sci-Fi, Fact in

Fantasy is a blog series for
authors and fans of
speculative fiction. Just as
science fiction often has
roots in hard sciences –
physics, astronomy, genetic
engineering, microbiology —
fantasy world-building relies
on everything from
economics to military
strategy to animal
husbandry.
Every week, we discuss

elements of sci-fi or fantasy
with an expert in a relevant
topic area. We debunk the
myths, correct the misconceptions, and offer advice on getting the
details right.
Table of Contents
Here are the articles we’ve posted already for this series. These are
links to the blog posts on the web, but you’ll find the full versions
below.
Fact in Fantasy (#FactInFantasy)

o 10 things authors don’t know about the woods by
bowhunter Dan Koboldt
o Horses in fantasy writing by rancher and horse trainer
Karlie Hart
o Developing realistic fantasy cultures with sociologist
Hannah Emery
o Medieval versus modern archery by bowhunter Dan
Koboldt
o A short history of warfare in the western world, with
historic actor Jerry Quinn
o Designing realistic magic academies by sociologist
Hannah Emery.
o A quick and dirty guide to feudal nobility, with history
buff Jerry Quinn
o Witchcraft for Writers, with Renaissance historian E.B.
Wheeler.
o Languages in fiction, with linguistic expert Christina
Dalcher.
10 Things Writers Don’t Know About The Woods
May 4, 2014
It’s hard to put a number
on how many books I’ve read
that feature characters in the
woods. Sometimes they’re
fleeing, sometimes chasing,
sometimes just looking for
something to eat.
As someone who spends a
lot of time in the woods, I should
tell you that most authors get it
wrong. Here are ten realities
about the woods that every
writer should know.
1. A forest has more than just trees

When writing about the woods, many authors focus on just
one thing: the type of trees and how many there are. In a mature
deciduous forest, there are typically at least four layers of plants:
The layers of woods

The top canopy, formed by the tall trees, begins 20 or 30 feet
overhead and goes much higher.
o Below that you’ll often have a second canopy from saplings
and smaller trees, like dogwoods and cedars.

o The third layer, called the understory, comprises shrubs and
bushes, like honeysuckle.

o Lastly, there’s the ground cover of forest herbs: weeds,
wildflowers, and other things that grow quickly in spring
before the deciduous trees get their leaves.
All of this must be negotiated by someone on the ground.
Which leads me to my next point.
2. Running often isn’t possible.

Nothing throws me out of a book faster than a character
running (or worse, galloping) full-tilt through a dense forest. If
you only had the big tree trunks to worry about, you’d be fine. It’s
the understory that’s the problem: dense, shoulder high thickets
are almost impossible to traverse quickly. And if it’s a patch of
evergreens, forget it. They’re hard to even walk through, because
they can grow so closely together with branches that hang almost
to the ground.
Running or riding a horse at top speed is also pretty much
begging for a broken ankle. Holes, stumps, and fallen logs all lurk
beneath a deceptively placid layer of fallen leaves.
3. It’s hard to move quietly

Having stalked many animals in the woods, I can tell you
that most of them are pretty quiet. They have to be, in order to
survive. The loudest thing in the woods by far is a human being.
Most hunters sneak into the woods well before the animals are
moving about, and they find a place to sit very, very still. We don’t
walk around, because it’s nearly impossible to sneak up on game.
What this means for any kind of a forest chase is that a
person running through the woods would be easy to hear coming
from a long way off, and easy to follow, too. There’s one time
when a person can move through the forest both quietly and at a
decent speed: when the ground is wet, either from heavy dew or
recent rainfall. You still have to avoid snapping twigs and kicking
branches, but otherwise you can find stealth.
4. Visibility is generally poor

The visibility in a forest depends on a few factors, the most
important of which is the season. Visibility is poorest in late
spring and summer. Because of the undergrowth and the
greenery, you usually won’t be able to see more than 20 or 30
yards in any direction. Also, someone on the ground usually can’t
see the sky, the clouds, or the stars at night because of the top
canopy. So yeah, that whole navigating-by-the-stars thing won’t
happen in a dense forest.
Visibility is strikingly different after the leaves fall. The
woods are a very different place, then. You might be able to see 50
or 100 yards, depending on the terrain. Snow on the ground
makes a difference, too: the contrast makes animals and people
stand out at a distance, especially when they’re moving.
Ironically, better visibility doesn’t always help the hunter,
because it works just as well for the animals.
5. Getting lost is easy

It is very, very easy to become disoriented in the forest. Here
are some of the reasons:
o You don’t walk in a straight line. There are thickets and
fallen trees to skirt around, ridges to cross, and game trails to

follow.
o You can’t count on the sun or moon, because they’re
often hard to see through the canopy or when it’s cloudy.

o Deep in the woods, everything starts to look the
same. You think you know where you are, but you might be
wrong.
Even when I’m hunting an area I know well, I never enter the
woods without my GPS and an extra set of batteries for it.
6. The best way to hide

Humans (as well as predators and many bird species) have
excellent perceptive vision, meaning that they can easily spot
movement.
Thus, the best way for anyone or anything to hide in the
forest is to keep absolutely still. Movement, even swatting a
mosquito (which are voracious in the forest, by the way), will give
you away.
Wearing the right colors helps, too. Blue, red, and bright
orange are colors you won’t often see in the woods, so they stand
out like neon signs. A hunter in full camouflage, sitting still with
his back to something that breaks up his outline (like a wide tree)
is virtually invisible. That same hunter walking back to the truck is
easy to spot.
If I were fleeing someone in the woods, I’d go to ground as
quickly as possible and lay still.
7. The truth about tracking

The concept of “tracking people” in the woods in fantasy
literature has always bothered me. You know, the old “Ah-ha! This
twig is snapped here, so they went in this direction.” Most of the
time, unless someone is in view, you’ll have little idea which way
they went. The ground is hard and strewn with fallen leaves.
Twenty guys might have walked through the same stretch of
woods half an hour before me, and I wouldn’t be able to tell.
Following someone on a trail will help, though, since it may
have been worn down to mud that can hold a footprint. Other
things that would help:
o If the quarry is bleeding. Blood stands out on the forest floor,
and falls in a pattern that usually indicates direction.
o If there’s snow on the ground. Nothing reveals tracks better
than half an inch or more of snow on the ground. Not only

are all tracks visible, but you can tell old ones from new ones.
o The two above things combined — tracking
someone/something that’s bleeding through snow-covered

woods — represents the base-case scenario. Of course, clever
quarry might think of ways to turn that against would-be
pursuers.
I have tracked wounded deer through the woods on a few
occasions. When fleeing danger, animals (including humans) have
certain tendencies. They prefer to flee downhill, and via the path
of least resistance. They run largely in one direction. And they
avoid open areas whenever possible.
8. Expect strange noises
Often when I’m sitting in the woods, there’s not much to look
at (even with my hunting binoculars), so I use my ears instead.
Sound usually travels farther than I can see. There are many
familiar noises: crows, woodpeckers, crickets, that sort of thing.
And let me tell you, I have heard some strange noises. One that I
hear somewhat often is a squeaky-squeaky kind of creaking noise;
I suspect it’s some kind of bird. Other noises are less common, yet
more puzzling.
Here’s a good example. Once while hunting on a wooded
island along the river, I heard this whooshing sound. It would
happen once every 15 or 20 minutes. It almost sounded like a
bellows, but I was 5 miles from any civilization. Then I came to an
open patch of sky, and I saw what it was: a flock of small birds,
flying in unison. I think they were teal, and they flew like little
stunt planes. The whooshing sound happened when they all made
a sharp turn at the same time. I wouldn’t have guessed that in a
hundred years.
Other strange noises I’ve heard remain mysteries. Once I
heard something that sounded like a baby crying in long, plaintive
wails. That one still haunts me.
9. The woods are beautiful, if you’re into that sort

of thing
Despite all the bugs and tripping hazards and briar patches
(and poison ivy!), the woods tend to be a peaceful place. I might
spend eight hours without seeing another person. Away from the
rush and noise of modern life. Time passes more slowly. Twilight
seems to last longer. The tranquility of the deep woods, with the
sigh of wind through the treetops, is something we outdoorsmen
(and outdoorswomen) cherish.
10. There are exceptions to challenges of the

woods
Obviously, none of these problems (stealth, visibility, and
getting lost) apply to elvenkind. Or the Dúnedain.
Horse Misconceptions in Fantasy Writing
July 25, 2014
The Expert: Karlie Hart
I met Karlie when I joined as a
co-blogger on Trouble the Write
Way, a blog about writing craft. I
knew I had to befriend her right
away, because she knows
about horses.
Karlie has been a
rancher/horse trainer for several
years, growing everything from
cows and chickens to hay and
tomatoes down in Mississippi.
Currently, she’s working on
getting a degree in English and Creative Writing, with full intent
to pursue a new career in publishing. She’s written six novels to
date and hopes to one day see them in print.
Today, Karlie’s going to help us get the facts straight on those
sturdy animals that pervade fantasy novels: horses.
What things do authors get wrong about horses?
First, up, here are some misconceptions about horses that
have come up in books.
Misconception #1. Shin splints are serious

This is such a little thing, but it’s a dead giveaway that the
author has spent no extensive time around horses. I read a novel
in which the horse “came up lame” from a shin splint, and the
character told the boy to stable him for a month or the leg would
be permanently damaged.
Shin splints are harmless “stress knots” that show up on a
horse’s front legs. If the splint is in the joint, that would cause him
problems, but I’ve never seen one like that. Any horse that is
worked/ridden (say, a roping horse, or a trail horse that covers
rough ground) to any extent will develop them. In fact, the only
horses I’ve encountered without them were show horses, who
were only worked very lightly in preparation for the ring.
Misconception #2. Breaking a horse to saddle takes

months
It should never take months to break a horse to saddle. Like,
ever. If a trainer tells you that, he’s taking your money. The
longest it has taken us to gentle a horse is two weeks. Why? We
don’t “break” them. We use the old method of trust and respect,
built on a foundation of solid training.
Misconception #3: Mares are “moody”

Mares are not moodier than geldings, any more than
geldings are moodier than mares. I run into this quite a bit, and it
is absolutely not true, and crazy how many people believe that.
Stallions are unsafe and unpredictable; you can count on that. But
really, there is no basis to the other.
Misconception #4: Horses scream when injured

Here’s something I straightened out for Dan. Horses are
fight or flight animals. Yes, they can scream, but I’ve never heard
a horse in pain make that sound. I’ve seen mares struggling to
give birth, horses tangled in barbed wire, and other awful
situations, and they might emit a long, drawn-out groan, but if
they’re trapped or compromised in any way, their energy is going
to be spent trying to get away. They can’t handle being helpless,
it’s ingrained into them.
Getting the Details Right

Here are some details about horses that an author could get
right, to impress me.
1. Give them shin splints.

As I mentioned above, most horses will get them, but they’re
harmless.
2. Forget about loyalty.

Horses are not inherently loyal to their owners, especially in
the face of danger. Yes, there are some horses that will stand
between their owner and a predator. But chances are you won’t
own one in your lifetime. I know the horse has been romanticized,
but when it comes down to it, they’re looking out for themselves.
So if they would have the horse balk, perhaps putting the owner in
greater danger, instead of bravely charging out among the
swords/spears/bayonets….
3. Keep whinnies to a minimum

Horses are actually relatively quiet animals; they don’t
communicate with the snorts, whinnies, squeals etc. If you sit
down and just watch a group of horses, they do all their “talking”
with body language. Usually, they eat/drink in peace, unless one
of them steps out of line.
4. Even horses need a nap sometimes

Horses don’t only sleep standing up – they get most of their
rest this way, but they do need to enter REM sleep, just like
humans do. They can’t achieve that state while standing. A horse
will only need to lie down for a couple hours every four to five
days to ensure they are getting the minimum of REM sleep they
need. Also, they rest easier in groups than when they are alone
because of the inherent predator instincts they possess.
On Dothraki and House Elves: Developing
Fantasy Cultures
September 4, 2014
The Expert: Hannah Emery
Hannah Emery is a
sociologist by training (PhD from
UC Berkeley last year). Her
professional specialties include
culture, education, and identity;
she wrote her dissertation on the
social construction of identity,
looking at how parents choose
names for their children.
In addition to the general
Intro to Sociology course, she’s
also taught courses on identity and
on family.
Hannah is currently teaching part-time and writing a series
of fantasy novels.
She blogs at sociologistnovelist.wordpress.com, mainly
about writing and the intersection of writing and social science.
Why Developing “A Fantasy Culture” Won’t Cut It

Can you describe your fantasy story’s dominant culture in
one sentence?
That’s where many of us start when we’re writing, especially
those who really love to worldbuild. We hit on a concept for a race
of catpeople, or think about how people would be different if
they’d evolved underwater, or decide to tweak how human
reproduction works. Concepts like these are fantastic starting
places: with a little research and creativity, they can be spun
pretty quickly into a full-fledged culture, with elaborate practices,
values, and stories and beliefs about how the world works.
And you can stop there. A lot of authors do, including some whose
books are runaway best-sellers. But if you want your story to
portray a realistic society, building “the culture” won’t be enough,
for three reasons: cultural drift, cultural exchange, and deviance.
Let’s unpack these a little.
Cultural Drift
How old is your primary culture? And how much territory
does it cover?
There’s a lot of talk both inside and outside the United States
about “American culture,” You know, the culture of Big Macs and
organic local farmers’ markets, of abstinence pledges and the
reality show Sixteen and Pregnant, of – you get the idea. Even in
“the information age,” the US still has regional cultures. If you’re
familiar with those cultures, you might make assumptions about
someone from the Bay Area, or the Bible Belt, or Brooklyn, but
you’d likely realize there’s not much you can assume about
someone from “America.” The country’s just too big.
The same goes for cultural change over time. Even in a
relatively young country like the US, there have been dramatic
cultural changes since its founding, and modern people get into
positively brutal arguments about what the original culture was
(just ask someone with an opinion on the issue what “separation
of church and state” means).
Over time and distance, the Vulgar Latin spoken in the
Roman Empire fragmented into the very-different Romance
languages. Culture fragments, too, and it also changes in response
to local conditions. The American Revolution changed its people’s
culture dramatically. So did the slave trade. So did the car.
Failing to take cultural drift into account seems to be
particularly common when you’re developing non-human cultures
(centaurs are noble, dwarves are gruff, elves are arrogant, you
know the drill). One exercise to help you get around this is
to think about which of the cultural traits you’ve
developed are actually rooted in biology: those are the ones
most likely to be universal across cultures.
For instance, almost all human children are raised in family
groups; almost all humans subsist on some combination of plant
matter and animal protein; almost all humans will have sexual
partners at some point in their adult life. But think how many
variations exist on those themes if you widen the scope to all
human cultures.
Cultural Exchange
Think fast: where did tomatoes originate?
If you guessed Italy, I can’t blame you. Tomato sauces and
bruschetta are so strongly associated with Italian food now that it
can be hard to believe there were no tomatoes in Europe until the
sixteenth century. They originated in southern Mexico, and came
to Europe with returning Spanish explorers. Same thing with chili
peppers, brought first to Europe and then to Asia from the “New
World.” People traveled, they saw new things, and they adopted
those things as their own.
Intelligent creatures are curious. If people from your primary
culture have contact with other cultures, whether through war,
alliance, or just casual encounters, some parts of those other
cultures will trickle home with them. Some American GIs who
served in Vietnam came home with a new taste for Southeast
Asian cuisine; some sub-Saharan Africans who heard the
preaching of European missionaries decided this Jesus stuff might
be worth exploring.
Food and religion are particularly good examples of cultural
exchange, because they’re pretty portable and fairly resistant to
extinction. When people travel to a new country, they bring their
cuisine and their faith along, and even when immigrants
assimilate, food and faith tend to persist longer than other things.
But the longer an export is immersed in a new culture, the further
it’s likely to drift from its original source material.
Christianity in Africa looks quite different from Christianity
in Europe; “Chinese food” in the United States is very different
from Cantonese or Szechuan cuisine. Blame cultural drift again,
along with syncretism (a term most commonly applied to
religion): combining new cultural elements with ones that are
already working well.
East and Southeast Asia are notorious for this, with many
people’s religious practices incorporating elements of Buddhism,
Daoism, Confucianism and local indigenous traditions without the
practitioners seeing any contradiction.
Cultural exchange is particularly common where two
cultures bump up against each other often. This is why “ethnic”
food is most prevalent in big cities that are common immigrant
destinations, and why there are more Mexican restaurants in the
southwestern US (i.e., close to Mexico) than in New England. If
your story’s set in a border town, it will almost by definition not
be monocultural.
When Two Cultures Meet

Finally, of course, there’s cultural exchange in the most
direct sense of the word. When two human cultures first meet,
there are two things you can almost always count on: they’ll try to
kill each other, and they’ll make babies. Even if there are taboos
against intercultural sexual relations – even if it’s punishable by
death – it’ll still happen. And the children who come from those
unions will have to be categorized within the societies who could
potentially claim them, and decide for themselves what cultural
space they’re going to occupy.
Which brings me to my final bullet point. I suspect that right
now, someone reading this is preparing to protest that your
fantasy culture is the exception, that your cultural authorities
(king, warlord, high priests, whoever) maintain a policy of strict
isolationism, so there’s no opportunities for cultural exchange,
and they’re immortal, so there’s limited opportunity for cultural
drift because the story coming from the top never changes. To
you, I say that even in the most authoritarian societies, there will
always be the crazy ones.
Deviance
What was US culture like in the 1950s? (Hint: This is a trick
question.)
If you took early American TV as your guide, you could easily
believe the America of the ‘50s was a land of capitalism-loving,
comfortably middle-class families, with stay-at-home moms and
breadwinning dads. But, of course, some Americans still got
divorced in the ‘50s; some were in same-sex relationships; some
were poor; some were Communists. The dominant culture’s social
norms may have pointed people toward the Leave it to Beaver
ideal, but the reality was a little different.
Whatever norms, beliefs and values your society has, there
will be people who stray from them. People who don’t believe God
created the universe, or don’t believe that the Big Bang did. People
who sever ties with their family of origin, or who live with their
parents until they’re forty. Straying from the mainstream –
whatever that mainstream might be – is what sociologists call
deviance.
Characters Breaking the Norm

People tend to think of the term deviance as referring to
illegal and/or immoral actions, and that’s certainly part of the
picture. But there are also deviant acts that violate norms rather
than laws or morals, like sitting down right next to someone on
the bus when there are empty seats available elsewhere. You won’t
get arrested; you may not even get a dirty look; but you’ll almost
certainly make the other person uncomfortable.
And there’s another type of deviance even milder than norm-
breaking, people who just do things a little differently. In 2014, in
much of the world, not having a cell phone makes you deviant; so
does having twelve children. Ditto skydiving, or having a tarantula
for a pet.
Your society will have all these forms of deviance.
There will be people who commit crimes (actions that a
government deems undesirable for one reason or another); there
will be people who do immoral things (often actions that a
religious authority deems undesirable); and there will be people
who do weird things, and think outside the box.
The motivations for these actions could be anything you can
imagine. What if there was a Dothraki in George RR Martin’s A
Song of Ice and Fire who was allergic to horses? What if there was
a Hogwarts house elf who had a vision from the gods and started
preaching that the house elves needed to go join Voldemort’s
cause, or that they needed to use their magic destroy the humans?
The people in your world will be born into a culture, and that
culture will shape their thoughts and beliefs and actions. But no
thinking person can conform completely to every aspect of their
culture, no matter how constrictive that culture is. You’ll always
have variability, and that’s something to consider when
developing fantasy cultures.
This might all sound like a lot of work, and I’m certainly not
suggesting you come up with a hundred incarnations of every
culture that could potentially appear in your story. But for the
main cultures, I’d suggest it’s worth thinking about these things.
Because the more nuance you can put in your cultures, the more
realistic they’ll feel to your readers – and who knows, you may
even find opportunities for new stories! The messianic house elf
seems like it has potential to me.
Medieval versus Modern Archery
September 18, 2014
About the Expert
I’m serving as the expert today, in
honor of something very special that
happened this week: the opening of
bowhunting season in Missouri. I’ve
hunted with bow and arrow for 17
years.
Every September, I disappear
into the woods for (seemingly) weeks
at a time in pursuit of two formidable
animals: the elusive whitetail deer,
and the wily wild turkey.
Medieval versus Modern Archery

The bow and arrow is one of the oldest projectile weapons in
history, dating back as far as 30,000 years B.C.E. It’s been around
forever — particularly for hunting — but the bow’s use in warfare
rose to prominence during the Middle Ages. I’m talking about
the English longbow, also called the Welsh longbow. Its first
recorded use in Britain was around 633 AD, when an arrow shot
by a Welsh longbow killed Edwin, the son of the king of
Northumberland.
Advantages of the Longbow

The crossbow was the main rival for the longbow in the
Middle Ages, and popular because it required minimal training.
Yet it could only deliver 1-2 bolts per minute and had an effective
range of 20-40 yards, whereas a longbow could deliver 6
arrows per minute at a range of 300-400 yards. They were
also relatively easy to make; modern bowyers can build a longbow
in about 10-20 hours.
Bows in Battle
In the Middle Ages, the longbow saw use in various civil wars
for which the period was rather famous. They also played a key
role in several battles of the Hundred Years’ War. One of
these was the Battle of Crécy, which took place in northern France
on August 26, 1346. On one side were the exhausted French
forces, whose crossbowmen had just endured a long march in the
rain that damaged many of their weapons. On the other side were
the English, who’d chosen the field of battle, rested, and kept their
bowstrings dry. The French tried a crossbow volley which had no
effect.
How did the English respond? Froissart, the renowned
French chronicler, tells it this way:
“Les archers anglois découvrent leurs arcs, qu’ils avoient
tenus dans leur étui pendant la pluie.”
Translation: the English archers uncovered their bows,
which they had kept in their case during the rain (hey, I knew that
French degree would come in handy someday). And you don’t
need Froissart to know what happened next. There’s even a nice
illustration of it from this timely bit of art.
Wet crossbows were no match for the Welsh longbows,
which could shoot 400 yards and deliver 5-6 arrows per minute.
The French forces were soon routed and took thousands of
casualties.
Longbows versus Chain Mail and Plate Armor

An interesting question that comes up, both in history and in
fantasy novels, is whether longbows could put an arrow through
armor or chain mail. A bodkin arrow, whose tip has a stronger,
narrower point (essentially a squared, spear-like shape), was
probably developed for this purpose. Compared to the broadhead,
which had a wider cutting radius, bodkins were more likely to
punch through armored enemies.
Though it’s a matter of debate among historians, many
believe a bodkin would have difficulty penetrating solid armor,
especially high-quality plate armor covered with a gambeson (a
sort of cloth worn on the outside to protect against projectiles).
Against non-mithril chain mail, however, a longbow with bodkin
arrows was likely very deadly. Especially at close range (<50
yards).
Wreck of the Mary Rose

Very few longbows from antiquity survive. Unlike swords,
armor, shields, and other weapons, bows wore out and were
replaced instead of handed down from one generation to the next.
Much of what we know about English longbows comes from
the Mary Rose, a warship from the navy of King Henry VIII that
sank in 1545.
When rediscovered in the 1970′s, the wreck was like a
Tudor-era time capsule. Among the countless historical artifacts
were about 175 longbows and 4,000 arrows, the analysis of which
rewrote our understanding of English longbows in the Middle
Ages. It’s what I use for the comparison below.
Modern Archery
Firearms eventually replaced the bow and arrow in warfare,
but archery remains popular today for sport and recreation. I
know more about the bowhunting side, where bows, arrows, and
related equipment are modern marvels.
According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, there are ~3
million bowhunters in the United States, and they spend $935
million each year on bows, arrows, and other archery equipment.
Most hunters prefer the compound bow, for reasons I’ll explain
below. How does their modern equipment compare to that of King
Henry VIII’s archers? Let’s find out.
Longbow Versus Compound Bow

Here I’ll compare some of the important features of
longbows from the Mary Rose to a typical modern compound bow
used for hunting.
Feature: English Longbow Compound Bow
Length: 72 inches 32 inches
Limb material: Wood: Yew, ash, or elm Metal alloys (Al) or carbon fiber
Draw Length and Weight: 30 inches, 150 pounds 25-30″, 50-70 pounds
String material: Hemp, flax, or silk Polyester
Range: 350-400 yards 500 yards*
Arrows: Poplar, ash, beech, or hazel Aluminum or carbon fiber
*The effective range for hunting is around 25-50 yards. Most deer are taken from about
30 yards or less.
One thing you’ll notice is that the longbow was considerably larger
(6 feet) and had much higher draw weights. My own bow has a
draw weight of 62 pounds; at times, I’ve had trouble drawing it.
There’s also the fact that hunters in North America don’t really
need more than a 60 pound draw for any game they might
encounter. As I note above, most of us prefer a “flat-shooting”
compound and practice accuracy at 20-40 yards.
Flatbows and Recurve Bows

Other kinds of non-compound bows have evolved over
history. The cross-section of an English longbow would be a “D”
shape: flat on the side that faced the archer, and rounded on the
other side. A flatbow is a different design with flat, relatively wide
limbs that have a rectangular cross-section. It’s superior to the
longbow because it the flat surface spreads the stress more evenly.
It generally takes longer to construct a flatbow than a longbow,
but a wider variety of timbers — such as elm, maple, and hickory
— can be used.
The recurve bow is yet another design, but one in which the
tips of the bow curve away from the archer when strung. This also
means that the string rests against the limb of the bow at the top
and bottom. A recurve stores more energy and delivers it more
efficiently than straight bows, which means that they can be
shorter in size, but with the same punch. Horse bows, which had
to be shorter so that they could be shot by horseback, were often
recurves for this reason.
Bow and Arrow Myths in Fiction

Because I like to debunk common myths/mistakes in this
series, I thought I’d touch on a few things we see — especially in
the fantasy genre — that are not really accurate.
1. Learning to shoot a bow is easy
Longbows in particular were difficult to master. King Henry
III made the following declration in 1363 to encourage all
Englishmen to practice with the bow.
“Whereas the people of our realm, rich and poor alike, were
accustomed formerly in their games to practise archery –
whence by God’s help, it is well known that high honour and
profit came to our realm, and no small advantage to ourselves in
our warlike enterprises… that every man in the same country, if
he be able-bodied, shall, upon holidays, make use, in his games,
of bows and arrows… and so learn and practise archery.”
2. Bows shoot arrows flat

An arrow shot from a bow falls with gravity, and the less
powerful the bow, the greater the effect. With a modern
compound (60 pound draw), I’d estimate the arrow drops 6-10
inches every ten yards.
With historical bows, this also meant that archers “aimed
up” to account for the rainbow-shaped flight path. If you don’t
believe me, go watch a longbow or recurve shooter at an archery
range sometime. It’s scary.
3. Skinny boys and girls can shoot longbows

Sorry, Katniss, but shooting a longbow that could kill a man
at distance, or punch through armor, required considerable upper
body strength. We’re talking 80 to 120 pounds of force. I myself
probably couldn’t draw one. I certainly couldn’t shoot it
repeatedly. The skeletons of English longbowmen showed visible
adaptations (enlarged left arms and bone spurs on the right
fingers) from prolonged longbow use.
Smaller bows with lighter draw weights (especially recurves)
are more realistic. Many compound bow manufacturers now make
lighter models specifically for use in the growing female-
bowhunter demographic. Sometimes in hot pink.
4. Ten arrows a minute is reasonable

Surviving documents and historical accounts of English
longbowmen suggest they shot, at most, around 6 arrows per
minute. It would be wasteful to do otherwise, and most archers
were supplied with 60-70 arrows before a battle. Unless your
character is an elf named Legolas, it’s wise to put a cap on the rate
and number of arrows he/she can shoot.
Compound Bow Advantages

The reason that compound bows are so popular is the draw
curve: the strength required to pull back an and hold an arrow.
With a longbow, that draw curve is essentially linear: it takes
more strength to hold a bow the farther you draw it back. That’s
why some of those Katniss-like moments are a little
unrealistic. Longbows are hardest to hold when you’re fully
drawn, so there’s not a lot of time for aiming and releasing. A
strong man would have trouble holding a longbow at full
draw for more than a second.
The compound bow’s design offers a different draw curve:
it’s hard at first, but as the pulleys (the gear-shaped things at each
tip) turn over, a compound requires less strength to draw.
Holding an arrow at full draw is much easier. I’ll routinely hold at
full draw for 5-10 seconds to take steady aim at the target.
Modern bows also have something called a peep sight: a small
donut-shaped plastic ring, located in the string (near where you
nock the arrow). At full draw, you look through the hole at
sighting pins on the bow itself. You set the pins at different
heights for different ranges (20, 30, and 40 yards). Thus, the peep
sight helps with both centering and distance.
Modern bows have other luxuries, too: stabilizers to make
them easier to hold, shock absorbers to preserve the limbs, fancy
arrow rests, and limb savers. Most hunters now use carbon
arrows, which are narrow and strong, but provide the flex
required to counter the archer’s paradox. They might use field
points, fixed-blade broadheads, mechanical broadheads, or even
blunted arrowheads for small game.
Despite all of the technological advances, the fundamentals
of the bow and arrow haven’t changed in thousands of years.
Draw, aim, shoot. It’s challenging to hunt with a bow instead of a
rifle, but millions of us do anyway. I like the challenge. And when
I carry my bow into the woods, it’s like taking thousands of years
of history with me.
A Short History Of Warfare In The Western
World
November 12, 2014
“Morning of the Battle of Agincourt”,

painted by Sir John Gilbert.
About the Expert
Jerry Quinn is a classical actor
and history buff with a special interest
in 10th-12th century Normandy. He’s
spent a dozen years performing at
Renaissance Faire, where he’s learned
both how to pick up a prostitute in
Shakespearean English and when it’s
okay to let go of obsessive historical
accuracy for the sake of making sense to the audience.
He’s also the editorial administrator of the
Ubergroup onscribophile.com, the “most productive writer’s
group on the internet,” where he herds a little over
150 cats writers and preaches the dramatic principles of Lajos
Egri.
A Comedically Short History Of Warfare In The

Western World
Fantasy authors often buck the idea that technology in their
world should progress the same way real history did.
Technological advances in warfare, however, are a lot like
biological evolution: the result of trying and failing a whole lot of
times before something actually works. Tiny fencing swords were
not used against knights in plate armour because, plain and
simple, they wouldn’t have worked. If you don’t believe me, take
the most delicate fish knife in your kitchen and attempt to hack
open a corrugated-steel loading-dock door.
Sure, a tiny fencing sword could have been made by the same
level of forging technology as a heavy broadsword, and yes, some
early ones did exist. They weren’t widely useful, however—outside
of duelling with another unarmed layman—so they weren’t made
in quantity for the battlefield. Why waste the time and money
making a tool that doesn’t work? Nature and economics both
refuse to support illogical solutions. Not until the proliferation of
efficient firearms made heavy armour obsolete (By the same force
of necessity: why weigh yourself down with something that won’t
actually protect you anymore?) was it realistic to try to poke your
opponent with something fast and light.
Over the next few months, I’ll be trying to help fantasy
authors understand the underlying logic of whycertain things
came after others in actual history. Yes, fantasy by definition
means you can do whatever you want, but if “whatever you want”
happens to include the physics, chemistry, and biology of Earth–-
if your fantasy world has 9.8 m/s/s gravity, a 24-hour diurnal
cycle, four temperate seasons, liquid water, mercury that’s
poisonous, gold that’s valuable, and a whole bunch of recognisable
four-limbed megafauna like horses, cows, and sheep—you need to
understand the basic relationship between the limitations of that
world and what the bipedal primates running around on it can do
with it.
Since a large portion of fantasy takes place in an analogue of
the western world sometime in the last 2000 years, today we’ll
begin with an overview of that, starting with:
Organisation and deep pockets

The very early Roman Republic—from about the 7th-4th
century BCE—followed the example of a Greek phalanx: primarily
infantry, long spears, interlocking shields. In the 3rd century BCE,
they really started getting organised: mobile, disciplined, and
constantly rotating to allow fresh troops into battle. Weapons and
armour were quite light. The main advantage was
manoeuvrability, good funding, and discipline that came with
soldiering as a full-time profession. The Roman army built roads
to get where they were going easily. They managed food and
supplies carefully. From the 1st century BCE onwards, Roman
armies even brought along doctors and staged field hospitals.
The keywords of Roman-era infantry combat: light,
fast, organised, aggressive. They took what everyone already knew
how to do and did it bigger, faster, harder.
Smarter politics and copying your neighbours

Rome had always assimilated conquered ‘barbarian’ peoples
into its army, but as the empire over-expanded, over-spent, and
grew corrupt, administrative and support structure declined. The
fiction that the chaotic, unrelated tribal mercenaries were paid
Roman allies continued into the 5th century, but in reality, the
organisation that had made Rome was long gone.
After the collapse of Rome, Byzantium continued to use
fundamentally Roman structure, but were clever enough to
improve upon it. Rather than allowing citizens to avoid military
service — which required hiring mercenaries of questionable
quality and loyalty — they implemented universal conscription.
The Byzantines were also quick to adapt clever innovations by
their enemies—notably, the concept of heavy cavalry in the form
of cataphracts of the Eurasian steppe.
The keywords of Byzantine-era combat: politically savvy,
opportunistic, adaptable. They took Roman organisation and
added the humility and pragmatism to incorporate whatever they
saw that worked.
The Stirrup Controversy

There’s a theory that feudalism in Europe was a result of the
introduction of the stirrup. Stirrups enabled “shock tactics”—ie, a
fighter with a way to brace himself on his horse could hang on
well enough to mow the enemy down. This tactic was so superior,
Carolingian France in the 8th and 9th century structured itself
around infeudination: rewarding its best mounted warriors with
land. Those lords would then turn around and subinfeudinate –-
think “sublease,” except the property is paid for with military
service — lesser knights with smaller parcels of their land. (This is
why, by the way, we still call the people we rent our apartments
from “landlords” today.)
Although the causality is debated, it is undeniable that heavy
cavalry and feudalism rose to prominence at the same time.
Modern gangs are still structured similarly: a charismatic and
physically dominant leader both charms and kills his way into
power, personally appointing those he favours (who must have
similar but not greater personal charisma and physical
dominance) as his lieutenants, and so on down from there.
The keywords of medieval-era combat: heavy,
aggressive, direct. Fundamentally, medieval society functioned on
the premise that those who could take something, did.
Gunpowder and democracy

The earliest known gun appeared in Europe in the 14th
century, and artillery became indispensable by the 15th.
Fortification designs rapidly began advancing to keep pace, and
the importance of nobility in warfare eroded as heavy cavalry lost
its advantage. Longbows and pikes, used intelligently, could be
very effective against armoured knights, but both required a
lifetime of training that made it difficult to amass large forces.
As technology improved, “hand cannons” became prominent
among infantry. The flintlock musket of the 17th century could kill
an armoured man at 100 yards and did not require great physical
strength to use. They weren’t particularly accurate, but in enough
quantity, they didn’t need to be. By the end of the 17th century,
mobility was preferable over the nominal remaining protection of
armour, and thus the armour disappeared.
It’s been said that “The musket made the infantryman and
the infantryman made the democrat.” The fact that anyone could
use a musket made the common man relevant in combat, swelled
the size of armies, bred nationalism (drawing men from across the
country together to serve in organised corps) and made it feasible
for a peasant revolt to have military effects.
The keywords of gunpowder warfare: easy-to-use,
widely available, equalising.
The American 2nd amendment–written in the 18th century,
within 100 years of muskets rising to prominence–is grounded in
the idea that the muskets widely owned by common men are of
adequate technological consequence to overthrow a monarchist
government.
This is only a rough overview, of course, and does not even
touch on naval warfare. Hopefully, though, it’s given you at least a
few starting keywords to plug into google. If you’d really like to
roll up your sleeves and dig in, some classic textbooks on the
subject include The Cambridge History of Warfare by Geoffrey
Parker, The World History of Warfare by Christion Archer, and A
History of Warfare by John Keegan.
Designing Realistic Magic Academies
October 2, 2014
Image Credits: Wikia & Wikipedia

About the Expert
This week’s expert is our first
returning guest! Hannah
Emery is a sociologist by training
(PhD from UC Berkeley last year).
Her guest post on developing
fantasy cultures remains of the
most popular articles in this series.
Her professional specialties include
culture, education, and identity; she
wrote her dissertation on the social construction of identity,
looking at how parents choose names for their children.
She’s taught courses on sociology, identity, and family.
Hannah is currently teaching part-time and writing a series of
fantasy novels.
She blogs at sociologistnovelist.wordpress.com, mainly
about writing and the intersection of writing and social science.

When I reread JK Rowling’s Harry Potter books these days,
I have different questions than I did the first time around.
Questions like: who are the great legendary heroes of British
wizarding society that every kid learns about? What options does
a talented student like Hermione Granger have for post-secondary
education?
Anyone who’s read or watched the Harry Potter saga knows
quite a bit about Hogwarts. But even after reading all seven books,
I’m still pretty confused about the education of 20th-century
British wizards. And if you’re planning to create a school of magic
for your fantasy world, there are some things you should think
about to keep your readers from having this same confusion. Most
importantly, you need to figure out the function of your
school within its society. Ask yourself this question: who is
your school’s target audience?
General or Trade Schools?

At first glance, schools of magic would seem to be pretty
common in fantasy fiction. Besides Rowling’s Hogwarts, there’s
the Citadel in George RR Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire, the
University in Patrick Rothfuss’s Kingkiller Chronicles, and loads
of others. However, most institutions of magical learning
seem to operate on the trade school model: students are a
slice of the general population, of various ages and backgrounds,
who’ve come in search of highly specialized knowledge or
training.
Hogwarts, on the other hand, is a general education
program: all British witches and wizards between the ages of 11
and 17 are expected to pass through its doors. Like general schools
in most parts of the world, it divides its students primarily by age,
and students have relatively little choice in which courses they
take for most of their academic career. Hogwarts students aren’t
there to get a cosmetology certificate or a law degree: they’re just
trying to graduate from high school.
The Prevalence of Formal Education

Although human societies have always had to train their
children in how to be productive adults, and formal instruction for
some elite portion of the population (on topics including literacy,
mathematics, philosophy, theology, and science) has existed in
almost every society throughout history, widespread
education of “the masses” is a relatively new concept.
Laws requiring formal schooling for all children regardless of
their background first appeared in parts of Protestant Europe in
the 17th and 18th centuries; compulsory schooling didn’t become
the general law in the United States until 1918 (though many
states mandated it decades earlier).
Let’s say your story is set in a version of our modern real
world. There’s almost certainly some sort of mandatory, formal
education for children. At least through the mid-teenage years. So
you’ve got a school system designed to serve the general
population. Your next task is to think a bit about the people who
designed the system, and figure out their goals.
Goals of Western Education Systems

A quick look at the history of the modern Western
educational system shows that the people putting together public
schools have had different goals at different times, and these goals
have all affected our complicated modern system.
Scholars of education pretty much agree that in the 21st century,
the general Western education system has a few main purposes:
1. Instilling practical life skills

Although there are a lot of debates these days about what
schools ought to be teaching students – how human sexuality
should be discussed in school (or if it should be discussed at all),
whether programming courses should be mandatory, whether
teachers should make sure every high school graduate can balance
a checkbook and change the oil in their car – there are a few skills
the modern world takes for granted.
If you’re an adult living in an industrialized country, it’s
expected that you can read, write, and do basic math.
That’s one reason standardized tests focus on these skills:
someone who’s illiterate or innumerate will have a really hard
time in the modern world.
2. Developing loyal citizens

The first public schools in Protestant Europe came about
because religious leader Martin Luther thought it was important
for all citizens to be able to read the Bible. In the United States,
widespread public schooling became popular during the massive
immigration of the 19th century, and one of its main goals was
to teach immigrant children how to be Americans.
The Pledge of Allegiance was developed with this goal in
mind; ditto the story many American children still learn about
President George Washington chopping down a cherry tree as a
boy.
Although many modern schools try to take a more
multicultural approach they tend to teach children about their
own nation’s geography, civics, and history. Public schools put a
country’s entire next generation in a room together to learn about
the world. It’s unavoidable that part of that learning will involve
establishing some basic norms about what it means to be
American/Australian/Japanese/a British wizard.
3. Establishing cultural literacy

If you grew up in the United States, there are certain books
you probably read in high school: The Grapes of Wrath, Catcher
in the Rye, To Kill a Mockingbird. If you grew up in the English-
speaking world, you probably have at least a passing acquaintance
with Romeo & Juliet and Hamlet. The markers of what constitutes
“an educated person” are different from one place to another, but
education almost always includes more than facts and figures.
Depending on which rank of society you’re planning to move in
once you’ve finished your education, the amount of “culture”
you’re expected to be familiar with could go beyond
literature. You might be expected to speak a foreign language
fluently, or to recognize classical music or fine art, or to know
which fork to use at a fancy dinner party. Which brings me to the
final role of formal education…
4. Gatekeeping and credentialism

As I mentioned, in much of the world throughout much of
history, formal education was the domain of an elite few.
As education expanded to the masses, that wealthy few began
creating additional prestige markers to set themselves apart. For a
while, it was only the elite who attended high school; then, it was
only the elite who pursued bachelor’s degrees; now – well, you get
the idea.
This phenomenon, called credentialism, is one thing
sociologists point to as a cause of “degree inflation” (where
bachelor’s degrees are increasingly not sufficient education for a
professional job). The harder it is to get credentials for a job, the
longer that job will stay in the hands of the elite.
With these goals in front of us, we can see that Hogwarts has
an odd curriculum for a modern comprehensive school. As far as
we can tell from the books, it focuses heavily on the acquisition of
practical skills: like Martin’s Citadel and Rothfuss’s University, it
feels much more like a trade school than a place for general
education.
Designing Your Magic School

If your school of magic is a specialized place where people go to
learn the wizarding arts, then you can feel free to make the classes
as content-focused as you want. But if you’re designing a place for
general education, you’ll want to include at least a little of the
other stuff. Here are some things to consider:
o What cultural touchstones are young people in your
magical society expected to be familiar with by graduation?

o What does “an educated person” look like?
o Who teaches students the basic intellectual survival
skills? These could be reading and fundamental math; they

could also be something completely different.
o How do the elites in your society (because every society
has people who’d rather not mingle with “the masses”) set
themselves apart?
o Are there private magic academies that teach spells in
ancient languages known only to the wealthy?

o Does your school have the equivalent of AP courses, or a
PTA pushing the school to offer Mandarin to give their

kindergartners a jump-start on the road to Harvard?
You don’t have to put it all in; you probably shouldn’t. Like all
worldbuilding, a little in the text goes a long way. But
thinking about it will help you build a better magic school, and
with it, a better world.
A Quick And Dirty Guide To Feudal Nobility
December 11, 2014
About the Expert
Jerry Quinn is a classical actor
and history buff with a special
interest in 10th-12th century
Normandy. He’s spent a dozen years
performing at Renaissance Faire,
where he’s learned both how to pick
up a prostitute in Shakespearean
English and when it’s okay to let go of
obsessive historical accuracy for the
sake of making sense to the audience.
He’s also the editorial
administrator of the Ubergroup on scribophile.com, the “most
productive writer’s group on the internet,” where he herds a little
over 150 writers and preaches the dramatic principles of Lajos
Egri.
He’s currently living abroad in France and Morocco, which is
a fancy way of saying “drifting about doing itinerant manual
labour” and “giving apocryphal advice in an authoritative tone” on
his travel blog.
A Quick And Dirty Guide To Feudal Nobility

Nothing drives me crazier than authors—or patrons at
Renaissance Faires—addressing everyone and everything as
“mi’loooooooord.” Firstly, no one outside of possibly a few British
comedians in the 1970s has ever pronounced the word “my” that
way. Secondly, not everyone is a lord; that notion defies the most
basic grasp of economics. Thirdly, there are different kinds of
lords, especially in different periods—the system was constantly
evolving. Finally, there are specific ways to address each type
depending on who you are.
Detailing every type of feudal lord that ever existed is a
Herculean task already undertaken by numerous (very dry)
textbooks, so today I’m going to break down the underlying
reasoning behind the system. As fantasy authors, you do not need
to cleave to any existing real world system, as long as yours is
created with a reasonable, self-consistent logic. For this mini
lesson, I’m going to focus primarily on the English system from
the Norman Conquest to the War of the Roses.
Rule 1: Not Everyone Was A Lord

Let’s start with the fundaments of feudalism. As I said in my
last lesson, the basic premise was that “those who could take
something, did.” The Norman Conquest was exactly what it
sounded like: William, Duke of Normandy, trumped up a claim to
England, then sailed over from France and took it. That wasn’t the
first time, either; William wasn’t French. “Norman,” or “North-
man,” was the French word for the Vikings who sailed down from
Scandinavia and took half of France, thus starting a long tradition
of the English taking whatever the hell they wanted.
The economics functioned as follows: if you were spending
all your time practising with your sword to get better at taking
things, you weren’t able to grow your own food. You had to
convince the farmers to give you a share of their crops, in the
original form of income tax: tithe. How to accomplish that? Show
up at their houses with all your sword-toting buddies and take it.
By now, you’re hopefully starting to picture the king and all his
peers a lot less like this:
And a lot more like this:
Enter the concept of the landlord. Yes, this is from whence

modern word originates. Technically, all the land belongs to the
king. He permits the farmers to live there and work it for him in
exchange for tithe. Since he can’t manage it all directly, he leases
big chunks of it to his favourite armed thug buddies, known as
“creating” them the Earl, Duke, etc, of a given area. They then
receive tithe for their portion, and owe him military service in
exchange for the hookup. A lord was functionally the local cartel
boss. The Don, the Jefe, however you like it. By nature, there
aren’t very many of them.
As of 1307, there was still only one type of lord below the
king: an Earl, from Old Norse Jarl. And there were only eleven of
them. England may not look very big on a map, but next time you
visit, try walking from London to York with only the clothes on
your back and as much food as you can carry. To the average
person of the era, it was a serious undertaking to get beyond the
borders of the Earldom in which you were born. They knew they
had a Lord, theoretically, receiving all their taxes, and a king
somewhere, but nothing about either of them.
Modern Americans: unless you live in the capitol and work in
a relevant business… have you ever actually met the President? Or
even the governor of your home state? Do you even know your
governor’s name without googling it? There are literally five times
as many American governors now as there were British earls in
the 13th century, and you don’t walk around seriously expecting to
bump into one on the street.
Rule 2: The System Keeps Changing

The fun part about things made up at the whim of a single
guy is that the rules keep changing. During the reign of William I,
there were exactly three types of nobility: King, Earl, and Baron.
The first British duke was created in 1337, when Edward II made
the Black Prince Duke of Cornwall. A duke was below the king but
above an earl.
In 1385 Richard II created Robert de Vere (already the 9th Earl
Oxford) the 1st Marquis of Dublin. “Marquis” is a reference to the
“marches,” or borders, as he was defending a border territory. The
next marquis, created 1397, refused to use the title because he felt
a made-up honour carried no weight. It went unused until Henry
VI revived it in 1442. No further titles came into use until the
Renaissance. As of 1611, the British hierarchy went:
o King
o Duke
o Marquis
o Earl
o Viscount
o Baron
o Baronet
To make things infinitely more complicated, the rest of Europe

followed their own rules. For the most part the terms and
hierarchy were comparable, and variations are pretty obvious in
the term used: a Grand Duke, for instance, would be above a
regular Duke.
Making a word diminutive, such as Count/Viscount or
Baron/Baronet implies the new position was just below the one
from which it is derived. Count, btw, is the continental word for
Earl, and Earl’s wives were still called Countess (probably because
Earless sounds like something that happened to Van Gogh.)
It’s important to realize that kings were not the only type of
sovereign (ruler with no one above them) nor were they
necessarily the king of a particularly large area.
There were—and still are—some sovereign duchies, in which
the Duke is the top of the line. Pre-conquest England was divided
up into dozens of small kingdoms, such as Mercia, East Anglia,
and Wessex, which were eventually consolidated by the usual
means of one of the kings beating up his neighbour and taking the
land. (This is true throughout most of world history. The Illiad
speaks of a “coalition of Greek Kings” of which Agamemnon was
High King. Ramses the Great self-described as “King of Kings” as
did many Persian “Shahenshah”s.)
Prince was not always a word for king’s son, either: in its
broadest sense, “prince” is a generic term for a top-level ruler.
One might refer to a collection of “foreign princes” as being a
general mishmash of approximately ruling-class men who might
have a reasonable claim to a sovereign rule of a country, including
Dukes, Emirs, Shahs, and what have you. For an exhaustive list of
examples to create your fantasy hierarchy from, see Wikepedia’s
entry on royal and noble ranks.
Rule 3: Specific Forms of Address

A king or queen is addressed as “his/her/your Majesty,” a
prince or princess as “his/her/your Highness,” and a
Duke/Duchess as “his/her/your Grace.” Everything below that is
“his/her/your Lordship/Ladyship.” “His/your Excellency” came
much later, and was used for a chancellor or prime minister. You
can invent more, but make sure they differ from ones that already
exist. It’s also extremely common to refer to someone by the name
of the land they own, which is NOT the same as their family name.
Sir denotes knighthood.
It is a job qualification, and as such, goes with a man’s first
name. Being a knight means you get to be called Sir, just as having
your PhD means you get to be called Dr. Lord denotes ownership
of property. It goes with the land, not a man’s name, because you
are saying he owns the land, not his own name. Most Lords
happen to also be knights, but that’s sort of like saying “Most of
the largest properties in the world are owned by people who have
graduate degrees.” It’s an interesting fact, but the degree does
NOT bring the land with it. You can have “Sir so-and-so, who
doesn’t own anything in particular,” just as completing your phD
does not automatically give you a gargantuan estate.
Master is a last-resort polite form of address if someone is
landless and not a knight, likely a younger son of petty gentry, or a
tradesman. In general, use the most flattering/important title
available, unless the character is purposely being familiar or rude.
I’ll use examples from my own fictional world: Teagan Chambrer,
Knight Commander General, youngest (non-inheriting) son of the
Thegn of Duck’s Crossing, could be addressed as:
o Sir Teagan
o General Teagan
o Master Chambrer (but this would be insulting, as it ignores
the fact that he is an officer)

But NOT:
o Lord Anything (he’s not.)
o Sir Chambrer (he, Teagan, personally, is the knight, not his
entire family.)
William Huntley, 1st Earl Greenford, knight of the realm, could be
addressed as:
o Lord Greenford
o Greenford (with no preamble)
o Sir William (but a bit familiar/pretentious to use his
personal name, as it implies that his person is more relevant

to you than his status as an Earl. Might be used by friend or a
woman flirting with him.)
o Master Huntley (but again, insulting.)
But NOT:
o Sir Huntley (he, William, personally, is the knight, not his
entire family)
o Sir Greenford (his property is not a knight.)
o Lord Huntly (owner of his family?)
o Lord William (owner of himself?)
Robert Caenid, 2nd Earl Nor’watch, knight of the realm, and Lord
Treasurer, could be addressed as:
o Lord Nor’watch
o My Lord Treasurer
o Sir Robert (again, personal)
o Master Caenid (again, insulting)
But NOT
o Lord Robert (owner of himself?)
o Master Robert (master of himself?)
o Sir Treasurer (the office of treasurer is a knight?)
Stephen fitz Wheelwright (note, “fitz” means “son of” and

wheelwright is a profession, such as baker, miller, smith, thatcher,
fletcher, cooper, etc. This is a literal statement that his father is
the town wheelwright, not a family name.) Captain of the guard,
not a knight, could be addressed as:
o Captain Stephen
o the wheelwright’s boy (insulting now that he is an officer.
Would have been his form of address formerly.)

But NOT:
o Sir Stephen (he is not.)
o Master Wheelwright (that’s his father.)
Use of a first name in isolation of any title or pet name is

extremely personal. No one, regardless of comparable rank,
addresses someone by a pet name uninvited, unless they
are purposely being rude or overly familiar. It sets the tone of the
situation – if my boss were to say, “Morning, Jerry!” I might reply,
“Morning, Ben!” but if he were to open with “Good morning, Mr.
Quinn,” I sure as hell better retreat behind, “Good morning, Mr.
Stirling” unless I want to get in trouble.
Generally, all women married to a knight or better can be
referred to as “my Lady,” although you would only attach a name
if you would do so for her husband. A lady retains her title after
being widowed as a courtesy, even if she remarries a man of lesser
station. If there is a new woman who can claim the same title, the
word “dowager” will be attached to specify. Eliza Caenid, widow of
the former Earl Nor’watch, mother of Robert, the current Earl
Nor’watch, could be addressed as:
o My Lady Countess
o the Dowager Countess Nor’watch
But NOT:
o Lady Nor’watch (that’s her daughter-in-law.)
Conclusion
The biggest thing to remember when designing your own
system is it’s all about the land. You only get as many lords as you
get mob bosses; when too many try to exist in a given area, turf
wars occur. Since the land is so important, the form of address
almost always makes reference to it, and you certainly wouldn’t
treat someone like he ran the place if he didn’t. (Just picture what
would happen if the Godfather overheard you calling some other
shmuck “boss” instead).
This is only the briefest of overviews, of course, but hopefully
it gives you some keywords to plug into Google. If you really want
to get into it, some very thorough (and mind you, antique)
resources include:A Genealogical History of the Dormant,
Abeyant, Forfeited, and Extinct Peerages of the British Empire by
Sir Bernard Burke, A Directory of British Peerges by Francis
Leeson, and The genealogy of the existing British peerage, with
sketches of the family histories of the nobility by Edmund Lodge.
3/15/2015 Witchcraft for Writers Dan Koboldt
About Writing Blog Science in SF #SFFpit Contact
Witchcraft for Writers

February 19, 2015 by dankoboldt — Leave a Comment
This article is part of the Science in Sci-fi, Fact in Fantasy blog series. Each week, we ask an
expert to tackle some aspect of fantasy writing (cultures, weapons, horses, etc.) or a scientific /
technological concept pervasive in science fiction.
Please join the mailing list to be notified every time new content is posted.
About the Expert

E.B. Wheeler has an MA in European history and an MLA in historical landscape architecture.
Her work writing about history and historic preservation includes the scripts for Letterpress
Software’s award-winning Exploring America series. She also writes historical fiction and
fantasy. Her first novel, The Haunting of Springett Hall, comes out July 2015. You should check
out her blog.
http://dankoboldt.com/witchcraftforwriters/ 1/12
Witchcraft for Writers

When people think of witches, they often picture something like the scene from Monty Python
and the Holy Grail, with peasants crowding around a woman with a long, warty nose, shouting,
“She’s a witch! Burn her!” They also might imagine Hallowe’en witches with their pointed black
hats and green skin, or modern Wiccans worshipping a mother goddess in covens. None of
these images is true to historical European witchcraft (though witches were sometimes
depicted flying on broomsticks). Witchcraft is so buried in stereotypes that its historical facts
take a little digging to uncover.
The idea of magic—the ability of certain men and women to control the natural world through
supernatural powers—is probably as old as humanity. Witchcraft in Europe, however, belongs
mostly to the 1500s and 1600s, a time when the Black Death had shaken traditional beliefs and
institutions and Europe was torn apart by religious and political upheavals.
Witch Scenery (Wikipedia)
Witchcraft in the Renaissance

Prior to the Renaissance, many Europeans believed that some people had the ability to talk to
spirits, locate lost or stolen objects, create love charms, see the future, control the weather,
interfere with livestock, and harm others through supernatural means. This type of magic
involved a blending of earlier pagan beliefs with Christian ones and was frowned on by
authorities but rarely prosecuted (often seen as merely superstitious). These activities
continued into the Renaissance—the age of witchcraft—when practicing magic came to be seen
by many as a form of devil worship.
Earlier magic often invoked either benevolent or malevolent spirits, but the Renaissance idea of
witchcraft stemmed from the growing fear that magic practitioners made pacts with the devil to
gain supernatural powers. The people who practiced folk magic may not have considered
themselves in league with Satan, but church and political leaders now did. Even those
authorities who did not believe witches had any real power (and they were often in the
minority) viewed attempts to practice magic as a serious crime worthy of death.
Signs of the Devil

This focus on the devil changed notions of what was involved in magic, sometimes becoming
quite colorful. Having sex with the devil or with demons was considered a common rite of
passage in witchcraft. Witches were thought to harm people and livestock by touching or
looking at them, by concocting magical brews, or by sending evil spirits to harass them.
One of the signs of a witch was a mark like a mole, but without sensation—an “extra nipple”
which witches were supposed to use to give sustenance to their familiars. There were also
things witches were said not to be able to do, such as recite the Lord’s Prayer.
Trials and Confessions

Witch trials sometimes showed a sharp disconnect between the views of common people and
the beliefs of political and religious authorities. Many people executed for witchcraft insisted
that they were innocent or only confessed after being “cleansed” by torture (the Inquisition was
often involved in Continental witchcraft trials).
A minority of people accused of witchcraft confessed freely to making pacts with the devil in
hopes of gaining power. Another group of the accused were those practicing older forms of folk
magic, who did not view their activities in the same malevolent light as their accusers. In Italy
and other parts of southern Europe, some confessed

witches claimed that their consciousness left their bodies
while sleeping to battle with other witches and protect the
harvests. Their accusers struggled to make these
confessions fit into their view of witchcraft.
Targets of Witch Hunts

Concern about witches wasn’t reserved for political or
religious leaders; the common people also feared those
who might further disrupt the order and safety of their
communities. Outsiders were often the targets of witch
hunts—those who were on the margins of society,
especially single or widowed women, the mentally ill,
thieves, and the poor. Women were suspected of
witchcraft more often than men, but men were also
accused and executed.
The old stereotype that midwives were often viewed as Bury Witch trial, 1664 (Wikipedia)
witches is probably false. Midwives filled an important

role in society—sometimes even having the power to baptize children if they looked likely to
die at birth—and though the growing, male-dominated medical profession began to chip away
at their authority, they were still important enough in their communities that they were not
often persecuted.
Advice for Writers

If you’re writing historical fiction, it’s best to research the exact time period and location you’re
writing about to see which trials and punishments were used, because they varied greatly
across time and place. Some witches were executed by burning at the stake, but many more
were hung, especially in Britain and its colonies. Another form of execution in Britain and
America was being pressed, with the victims lying under a board and having stones placed on
them until they were crushed to death.
People accused of witchcraft sometimes chose this slow, agonizing execution by refusing to
enter a plea of guilty or not guilty. Being pressed was a punishment for silence in the face of
the judges, but because people could not be tried or convicted without entering a plea, the
victims saved their family’s property from a government anxious to seize it from convicted
criminals.
The Salem Witch Trials

The Salem witch trials provide an interesting case study in
witchcraft. A group of girls in Massachusetts, perhaps
influenced by slave folk beliefs, claimed to be persecuted
by witches whom they saw in visions. They accused nearly
200 people, and twenty were executed for witchcraft
before the trials were halted. Nineteen of the victims died
by hanging and one by pressing. Another four died in
prison, plus a baby born to an accused mother (prisons
Compendium Maleficarum (Wikipedia)
during this time were atrocious breeding grounds for
disease). Thirteen of those killed were women, so slightly
more than half.
Those accused ranged in age from their 20s to their 80s, though the majority were on the older
end of the spectrum. Some fit the typical descriptions of witches—socially marginalized and/or
involved in illegal activities (or possibly mentally unbalanced)—but many had lived respectable
lives and had families and community members who vouched for them (to no avail).
Several of the victims were couples where one spouse had tried to defend the other from the
witchcraft accusations. One, George Burroughs, was a Harvard-educated minister, who recited
the Lord’s Prayers just before his execution, causing a stir among the crowd. A few women
escaped hanging by “pleading their belly”—pregnant women were not executed because of the
desire to spare the unborn child from being punished for the crimes of its parent.
Lessons from Witchcraft Trials

Witchcraft trials give us insight into a mindset that is mostly lost to the modern word. They
came about in part because of an active belief that God and Satan, saints and demons, were
not abstract concepts or distant religious figures, but actively involved in everyday life.
Especially during times of political and religious upheaval, people felt themselves involved in a
war between forces of good and evil—not just in a metaphorical sense, but as a literal, day-to-
day, physical reality.
The lines between the spiritual and physical world were blurred at best. Spectral evidence, such
as the dreams and visions of alleged victims, were as important to detecting witchcraft as
witnesses and confessions. Understanding this can help us come a little closer to
understanding the “foreign country” of the past and creating settings and characters that will
transport readers to this lost world.
Learn more about witchcraft here:

http://ebooks.library.cornell.edu/w/witch//digital.html
http://salem.lib.virginia.edu/home.html
http://legacy.fordham.edu/Halsall/source/witches1.html
http://history.hanover.edu/link-lists/wh.html (many broken links, but some good info)
Further reading:
Religion and the Decline of Magic by Keith Thomas
Magic in the Middle Ages by Richard Kieckhefer
The Devil in Massachusetts by Marion L. Starkey
The Night Battles by Carlo Ginzburg
Please Share the #FactInFantasy
If you liked this article, please share it with your writing friends using the buttons below. You
can also click to send one of these ready-made tweets:
Click to Tweet Everything writers need to know about witchcraft, with historian @EB_Wheeler:
http://bit.ly/1DDXWBQ Part of #FactInFantasy by @DanKoboldt

Related Posts by Dan Koboldt:
3/15/2015 Linguistics in Fiction Dan Koboldt
Linguistics in Fiction
March 5, 2015 by dankoboldt — 2 Comments
This article is part of the Science in Sci-fi, Fact in

Fantasy blog series. Each week, we ask an expert
to tackle some aspect of fantasy writing (cultures,
weapons, horses, etc.) or a scientific / technological
concept pervasive in science fiction.
Please join the mailing list to be notified every

time new content is posted.
About the Expert

Christina Dalcher, Ph.D. (@CVDalcher) is a
theoretical linguist specialising in phonetics and
http://dankoboldt.com/linguisticsinfiction/ 1/14
phonology. Her research has covered the physical, Image Credit: EDL
cognitive, and social forces contributing to sound

change in Italian and British English dialects. She has also written her first novel – an adult
thriller featuring (you guessed it!) a linguist. You can meet Christina at her blog.
Linguistics in Fiction
I recently saw a graph depicting a fact I’ve long suspected: the probability that a book is good
varies inversely with the number of words the author invented. My advice? Believe it. When I
read science fiction, I read Heinlein. It’s good stuff, I don’t need a glossary, and my eyes don’t
roll at unintelligible strings of punctuation marks in dialogue.
Of course, exceptions exist. Burgess’ A Clockwork Orange comes to mind. With a Nadsat
vocabulary drawn from Cockney rhyming slang, Slavic roots, and Burgess’ own neologisms, it
worked. It worked because Burgess knew his linguistics (he was a phonetics lecturer in early
life). And he knew it so well, he got away without including the Nadsat glossary in the first
edition.
Not everyone who writes, whether it’s sci-fi, fantasy, or a Lee Child-esque thriller, can possibly
have an expert-level background in everything. Most of us know our limitations. The problem,
when it comes to linguistics, is this: unlike chemistry or engineering or genetics, knowledge of
language is an inherent part of the human condition. By the time we’re three years old, barring
pathologies, each of us speaks his native language perfectly. It’s precisely this fact that can lead
writers down the garden path and permit the delusion that everyone is an expert when it
comes to something as universal as language.
Don’t take this as an attack on you. It’s not meant to be. If anyone deserves the blame for bad
linguistics in writing and film, it’s probably the language scientists themselves. We’ve done a
lousy job of self-marketing over the past half-century.
With that preamble, let’s move on to specifics.
Common Linguistic Mistakes

Four things I see in novels and movies that make me want to run.
This [insert piece of evidence] was obviously written by a woman. You can tell from the syntax.
Really? Having studied syntax for more years than I’d like to remember, I’m hard pressed to
find a difference between male grammar and female grammar. Wanna talk lexicon? Dancing
around before getting to the point? The fundamental frequency of a speaker’s voice? I might
buy the gender assumption from sociolinguistic or acoustic clues. But, as far as I know, the
syntax of a language doesn’t vary much between women and men. Whatever anatomical
features we have, we still need subjects and verbs and objects, and we need them in a certain
order. The take-home message here is simple: If you’re going to make a statement about
language, you need to do more than toss out a term of art.
There’s no word for [insert concept] in [insert language]. That really tells you something about
the culture, doesn’t it?
Ah, the good old Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis (SWH, henceforth). Combine the strong version of this
chestnut with hearsay and you’re guaranteed to be the life of the party. Unless, of course, a
linguist is standing nearby. Or worse – a native speaker of whatever language you’ve just made
a sweeping generalisation about. There’s an easy way to avoid getting yourself stuck in such a
situation: Don’t do it.
Whorf went there and earned himself a trophy in the Linguistic Hall of Shame (unfortunate,
because he did make other very sound contributions to language study). While linguists may
accept the weaker version of the SWH – the claim that language shapes our thoughts and
behaviour to some extent, very few agree to the strong version of linguistics relativism – that
our thoughts and actions are actually constrained by the language we speak.
The [insert cultural-linguistic group] have [insert made-up number] of words for [insert word].
Here we have the corollary to the previous problem. You’ve heard it before, usually with words
like ‘Eskimo,’ 100, and ‘snow’ to fill in the blanks. Don’t fall for it. The Eskimo Snow Word
Swindle sprouted from – you guessed it – a combination of bad research and misquoting. Use
something like this in your writing and readers will gasp in awe, quote you at their next cocktail
party, and perpetuate the myth by telling their kids. Linguists, on the other hand, will be
shaking their heads wondering why they failed at educating Joe Public. Like I said – lousy
marketing. And think about it for a minute: don’t we English speakers have passel of snow-
related words? When we don’t, we can create snow-related phrases along the lines of “nice
packable snow suitable for snowman-building.” The only real difference between that phrase
and an Inuit ‘word’ meaning the same thing is that one of them includes some spaces. Not a
very interesting distinction, in my mind.
Language X is more primitive than Language Y
Sigh. Here’s a fact: All languages are complex. And every single one of them can handle any
concept. If a language doesn’t have a word for ‘quark’ or ‘cornflower blue’ or (God forbid)
‘snow’, guess what? If it needs one of those words, it’ll add it into the lexicon.
4 Tips for Writing Languages

Here are four snippets about language that I’d love to tell you about.
1. Accents vs. dialects vs. languages

There’s an old saying: “A language is a dialect with an army and a navy.” This does a great job
of encapsulating the fuzzy difference in meaning between dialect and language, but I’ll try to
sort things out in a bit more detail.
Linguists generally use the term accent when referring to speech patterns carried over from a
speaker’s first language to a second language. Example: Giuseppe, from Naples, speaks English
with a marked Italian accent.
We use dialect when we’re talking about mutually intelligible variants of the same language.
Example: Mary’s Brooklyn dialect is notable for dropping final ‘r’ sounds, but anyone who
speaks English understands her perfectly.
Languages get tricky. I could say that one speaker of Language X will always understand
another speaker of Language X, and I’d be right – most of the time. But what do we do about
Chinese? Or Italian? Both of these languages comprise multiple variants that might be
considered dialects. But they’re not, really. In the case of Italian, we’ve got everything from
Sicilian to Neapolitan to Venetian to Genovese, mostly due to the relatively recent unification of
small city-states in Italy. Put a Neapolitan and a Venetian at dinner table, and you might as well
put a Neptunian and a Venusian in their places. Those so-called dialects are different enough
to be mutually unintelligible. There’s a sense in which they’re really languages on their own,
minus the armies and navies.
In sum, if you want to use terms like accent, dialect, and language in your work, have a think
about the difference in meaning among them. Linguaphiles will thank you for it!
2. Universal grammar
Here I’m going to borrow heavily from An Introduction to Language (Fromkin & Rodman, 2003)
because they’ve said it so well.
All human languages (now numbering around 6,000), whether they are spoken or signed, share
common elements. On the phonetic side of things, every language employs a limited number
of sounds or signs. Grammatically speaking, every language has syntactic categories – go
ahead, find me a language with no verbs, I dare you! All languages have rules governing the
formation of words and sentences, negation, question-making, imperatives, and verb tenses.
In the realm of semantics (meaning), certain universal concepts are found in all the languages
of the world: things like ‘living’ vs. ‘non-living’, ‘male’ vs. ‘female’, ‘animate’ vs. ‘inanimate’. When
it comes to spoken languages, each and every one on our big blue planet uses a subset of
possible speech sounds; in that subset, you’ll find both vowels and consonants.
The take-home message here? Human languages are a lot more similar than they are different.
3. Alien language
Here it is – the part you’ve all been waiting for! Unfortunately, I’m not going to be able to invent
an alien language for you.
What I can do, instead, is give you a short assignment. Go into your library (book or film) and
pick out a few of your favourite sci-fi works that incorporate some weird alien language. Read
or listen to them. When you’re done, ask yourself one question: Do those alien languages
differ significantly from human languages?
In many cases, I think you’ll find what I’ve found: alien speech in fiction almost always follows
the same rules and constraints that human languages do.
Since what I write is grounded in the here-and-now, I may not be the best person to come to if
you need advice on how to make E.T. sound. But I can tell you this: think outside the box. Ask
yourself what features you could bestow on your non-human character that would enable him
to do something truly different. If you’re creative enough to write sci-fi or fantasy, you’re
creative enough to do that.
4. Classical ancestors of English – three, not two

Thanks to the fantasy writers for being patient while I dug into outer space. Let’s come back to
Earth now.
We all spent time in school studying those Latin and Greek roots in English words, and for good
reason – there are tons of them. But English, along with Latin, Greek, and a ton of other related
languages, falls squarely into the Indo-European family. Yes, Indo, as in India. The next time
you dig into linguistic history, have a look at Sanskrit. You might be surprised to find that
saabun means ‘soap’ and we got cummerbund from the word for ‘loin band’.
A few authors who nailed the language thing

Mary Shelley, Robert Heinlein, Marian Zimmer Bradley, Anthony Burgess (mentioned above),
George Orwell, Neal Stephenson.
Why? Generally because they kept it simple and didn’t try to go too far. There’s that old saying
“Write what you know,” right? It’s good advice.
Getting Languages Right in Fiction

You all want me to say “research,” don’t you? Okay. I’ll say it. “Research.”
Unfortunately, when it comes to linguistics and its numerous subfields – phonetics, phonology,
morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, sociolinguistics, and historical linguistics – delving
deep into the abyss of language literature might not be feasible. Not if you need to spend your
time banging out the rest of a 100,000-word novel and also need to brush up on chemistry,
engineering, and genetics. There’s simply not enough time in the day.
My suggestion, then, is to find yourself a real, live linguist. Most universities will have one or
two. Also consider using the Ask a Linguist feature on the LinguistList:
http://www.linguistlist.org/ask-ling/
What happens if you get it wrong?

In short, a linguist will find you and post snarky comments on his blog. Geoff Pullum has done
this more than once, but my favourite bit of Pullum-Snark is a Language Log piece entitled
“Learn some phonetics, Reacher.” In it, he rips apart Jack Reacher’s (really Lee Child’s) casual
toss-out of speech science jargon without having done even a minute of research. As Pullum
points out, “in five minutes over a beer with any linguist” Child could have seen the error of his
ways. Read about it here.
You don’t want to be Pullum’s next victim. Trust me. Do your research or ask a linguist (there
are tons of us, including yours truly). If you don’t have the time to do either of these, kill your
linguistic darlings.
Please Share the #ScienceInSF / #FactInFantasy

Click to Tweet Languages in fiction with linguistics expert @CVDalcher: http://bit.ly/1A0DYMY
Part of the #ScienceInSF #FactInFantasy series by @DanKoboldt
Click to Tweet Language abuses in fiction, with linguist @CVDalcher: http://bit.ly/1A0DYMY
Like #1, “From the syntax, a woman wrote this.” #FactInFantasy
Click to Tweet Tips for creating languages in fiction, with linguist @CVDalcher:
http://bit.ly/1A0DYMY #2: Lean on universal grammar #FactInFantasy

Science in Sci-Fi, Fact in

Fantasy is a blog series for
authors and fans of
speculative fiction. Just as
science fiction often has
roots in hard sciences –
physics, astronomy, genetic
engineering, microbiology —
fantasy world-building relies
on everything from
economics to military
strategy to animal
husbandry.
Every week, we discuss

elements of sci-fi or fantasy
with an expert in a relevant
topic area. We debunk the
myths, correct the misconceptions, and offer advice on getting the
details right.
Table of Contents
Here are the articles we’ve posted already for this series. These are
links to the blog posts on the web, but you’ll find the full versions
below.
Science in Sci-fi (#ScienceInSF)

o 9 misconceptions about space travel by aerospace
engineer Jamie Krakover
o Genetics myths in fiction writing by genetics researcher
Dan Koboldt
o The science in Jurassic Park by microbiologist Mike
Hays
o Wildlife biology in fiction with Texas biologist Rebecca
Mowry
o Writing outside the human box, with biology professor
Brie Paddock
o Medical misconceptions in fiction, with nurse Karyne
Norton
o Getting mental illness right in fiction with psychiatric
NP Kathleen S. Allen
o Chemical fallacies in fiction with chemist Gwen C. Katz
(and husband)
o Zombie microbiology 101 with microbiologist Mike Hays
o Mutation myths in fiction by geneticist Dan Koboldt
o Ability and luck in writing with biostatistician Dustin
Fife
o Proper lab technique for SFF writers with nuclear
chemist Rebecca Enzor.
o Near-future scenarios for us & our planet, with
science reporter Bianca Nogrady
o Research in writing: How to ask an expert, with
Boeing engineer Eric Primm
o Explosions in science fiction, with chemist Gwen C. Katz
(and husband)
o Misconceptions about memory with neurologist Anne
Lipton
o How the ocean will kill you, with marine biologist Danna
Staaf.
o Computer and internet myths, with computer scientist
Matt Perkins.
o 8 things authors should know about viruses, with
HIV expert E.E. Giorgi.
o Writing children with B.E.S.D., with special ed teacher

Rachel Heaps-Page.
o Researchers gone wild, with laboratory manager Amy N.
Vidrine.
9 Misconceptions About Space Travel
The Expert: Jamie Krakover
Today’s guest blogger is Jamie Krakover.
Growing up with a fascination for space and
things that fly, Jamie turned that love into a
career as an Aerospace Engineer. Combining her
natural enthusiasm for science fiction and her
love of reading, she now writes MG/YA sci-fi and
fantasy. Check out her blog or follow her on
Twitter. And no the rocket science jokes never get old!
9 Misconceptions About Space Travel

I love science fiction. Whether it’s books or movies, I love
exploring the possibilities of what if. And let’s face it there are a
lot of really cool possibilities when it comes to space travel.
Unfortunately, a lot of the really awesome things we see in science
fiction movies and even books are less than realistic. That’s not to
say you can’t stretch the truth and explore options but if you want
it to be believable you need to understand some things about
space travel.
So as writers, how do we decipher reality from Hollywood? How

do we create fiction that could be realistic, and that is an
extension of our world without making it overdramatized and
fake? We research. So in an effort to put my rocket science to good
use, and help my fellow writers here are 9 common
misconceptions about space travel.
1. People and objects in space experience zero gravity

In space there’s not exactly zero gravity. Gravity is actually the
pull one object has on another. It’s why things fall to the ground
when you drop them, because the Earth has a gravitational pull.
But when you are in space, you are actually in free fall, which is
why it you feel weightless or “in zero gravity”.
When you are outside the gravitational pull of another body in

space, you will just keep free falling because there is nothing to
pull you down. In other words you are falling in an infinite hole
because there is no bottom to hit. So while zero gravity is the slang
for what space travelers experience, they really are just freeeeee,
free falling… (thank you Tom Petty)
2. There are formal directions in space

In space, up, down, left, right, etc. is all relative. It’s really easy to
get disoriented because there is no north or south, forward or
backward, it’s just a vast expanse. Without other objects to orient
against, it would be hard for someone in space to figure out which
way is up. Literally. Because “up” as we know it doesn’t really
exist.
This is one reason why the quote, “The enemy’s gate is down”
from Ender’s Game is so famous. Because in space, “down” is
relative to what direction you are facing. Orienting in space isn’t
easy. There’s no floor or ceiling, and that’s a difficult thing for the
brain to wrap itself around. But by Ender identifying the enemy’s
gate as down, this helped him orient within the battle room where
they were in a near weightless environment with no frame of
reference.
3. Flying in space is like flying on Earth

Nope not even close! It’s not like cruising around underwater
either. I know astronauts train in the water, but that is mainly to
help simulate the feeling of “weightlessness”. Astronauts often
build and maneuver heavy objects in space so training in water
helps simulate a lighter load.
That said, maneuvering in space is extremely difficult. There’s no
friction. Not to go all physics on you, but Newton was a smart guy.
When he said an object in motion stays in motion until an
external force is applied, he meant when you push on something it
will keep going forever until something else stops.
On Earth a lot of times that something is friction (or a car or a

wall or another person etc.). In space, there are very few things to
stop objects in motion. If you push something it will presumably
go in the direction you pushed it, forever and ever unless it hits
something else or enters into the gravitational pull of another
object (see #1). In which case the object will then take on a new
direction and continue on in that direction until affected by
something else.
Even worse, you can’t just wave your arms in space like you can in
water and move around. Space is a vacuum. There’s no air around
you to displace to move yourself. Without some kind of jet pack to
propel you, you would be stuck floating in the middle of nowhere.
(Or speeding through space in whatever direction you happened
to be going.)
Where it gets tricky is when you factor in that things can go (for
lack of better words) up and down, left and right, and front and
back. But you can also spin around those directions in what’s
called yaw, pitch, and roll.
When you combine those directions in different combinations,

there’s a lot of different ways an object can move. It can pitch and
go down, it can roll and go forward, it could do everything at once.
etc. So if you have an object spinning toward a planet through
space it’s pretty hard to get it to stop. If it hits something else, it’s
likely to be sent spinning off in a completely different direction
forever, or until it encounters something else.
4. Stuff “blows up” in space
I love a good science fiction space battle like the next person.
Watching spaceships blow up is really cool. Unfortunately it’s
REALLY unrealistic. Again space is a vacuum. There’s no air,
which means there’s no oxygen in space. Without oxygen, you
can’t have fire. And without fire there can be no explosions. I
know… so sad, but so true.
5. How people can die in space

People don’t blow up in space either. I know I’m ruining all the
fun. There may be no pressure in space, but that isn’t what would
cause people to explode. If a person were to go out into space
without a pressurized suit they would bloat and go unconscious,
but from that point they’d probably die from hypoxia or an
embolism not from actually exploding. The body is strong enough
to keep the bloating contained. Therefore a person would never
explode in space.
People can’t freeze in space. Although space is extremely cold, in a

vacuum heat transfer works very differently. Your body would
maintain its heat and keep heating itself. In fact, you’d probably
overheat before you froze. That said your blood will not boil in
space. While space is cold enough for liquids to boil, lower
pressure means a lower boiling point, your body’s liquids like
blood have no direct exposure to space. So therefore your blood
won’t boil. It’s protected by your skin and the rest of your body.
People don’t run out of oxygen in space. Well they do, but that’s
not what kills them. Actually if you were in a room with no oxygen
source, you would die from the excess of carbon dioxide that you
exhaled. Since blood rich in CO2 is poisonous to us that is what
would kill someone, not the lack of oxygen.
6. There’s sound in space

Nope no sound. Sound needs something to compress or vibrate
against in order create waves which is what we hear. In space
there’s no air. Yep, it’s still a vacuum. So there’s nothing for the
vibrations to compress against. Which means space is a sad and
quiet place. And if you could have awesome space explosions
(which you can’t see #4), you wouldn’t be able to hear them. So
really what’s the point? I know they’re cool!
7. Creating a gravity environment in space is easy

They don’t call it rocket science for nothing. Okay, sorry, I
couldn’t resist. But in all honesty you can’t just push a button on a
spaceship and suddenly conjure gravity like magic. The way to
create gravity in space is to create force that will push objects in a
certain direction. On Earth that direction is toward the floor or
the ground. On a space ship, that’s a little harder to simulate. You
have to do it using rotation.
If you spin a bucket of water in a circle upside down at the right

speed, the water will be pressed against bucket and won’t spill
regardless of whether the bucket is right side up or upside down.
Using this same theory, you can spin a space craft at the right
speed such that the people and the objects inside are pressed
against the outer walls of the craft. This creates a gravitational
environment.
Where things get tricky is how you actually go about doing this.
There are many arguments as to whether a giant spinning ring or
a spinning tethered craft would work better, but I won’t go into all
the details here because I could write an entire blog post just on
that subject. (In fact, I did an entire senior design project on this.)
That said, regardless of which route you go, it’s an expensive

endeavor. Making something that large spin is difficult. There are
a lot of logistics that go into how you get something to spin at the
right speed. Too slow and you don’t get enough gravity. Too fast
and you make people sick. And who wants puke on a perfectly
good spaceship? I know I don’t!
Once you get a craft spinning it should sustain itself. (see #3) But
if for some reason you have to stop the spin or you want to do
more than orbit (i.e. travel to other planets) then things get tricky.
It’s hard to make a ship go the direction you want it to when it’s
spinning. (Go watch that video in #3 again.)
8. The sun is on fire

It’s not really on fire, but it is really warm. Okay, fine… it’s blazing
hot! But it can also be quite dangerous in space. Radiation is a real
concern. On Earth the atmosphere helps protect people from the
suns radiation to some extent.
However, in space there is no atmosphere so space travelers are at

a much higher risk of receiving higher doses of radiation.
Protecting against radiation, especially large galactic cosmic
radiation events, requires quite a bit of shielding. Radiation
shielding can be one of the heavier parts of spacecraft. So think
about that the next time you want to have a solar flare wash across
your fictional spaceship. Not enough shielding and you could wipe
out your crew.
9. A light year is a measurement of time

I know it has the word year in it, but a light year, is actually a
measurement of distance used by astronomers to try and reduce
the use of large numbers in their calculations. One light year is
about 5.9 x 10^12 ft, which is a 59 followed by eleven zeroes. A
HUGE number. The Sun is 92,960, 000 miles from the Earth or
0.0000158 light years. Well that’s not sure a pretty number
either, but when you start talking about other star systems that
are tens of hundreds or even thousands of light years away, then
things look a little cleaner when you can say something is 100
light years away.
And there you have it, nine misconceptions about space. This is by
no means an exhaustive list of things people get wrong about
space travel, but hopefully it helps put things in perspective. After
all, they wouldn’t call it rocket science if it was easy. Heck, I have
critique partners who ask me about crazy space scenarios all the
time. And now you can too. Seriously feel free. Message me on
twitter or on my blog. I’m always happy to analyze minor plot
details, or major ones.
A huge thank you to Dan for letting me take over his blog! I now
return you to your regularly scheduled programming.
Genetics Myths in Fiction Writing
August 1, 2014
The Expert: Dan Koboldt

I know what you’re thinking: any guy can claim
to be an expert on something when it’s his own
blog. Yet in this case, it’s true: I’ve worked as a
genetics researcher for the last decade, and co-
authored more than 50 publications
in Nature, Science, JAMA, the New England
Journal of Medicine, and other journals.
Currently, I manage the human genetics group
for one of three NIH-funded large scale DNA sequencing centers
in the United States. MassGenomics, my work-related blog, is
where I do most of my writing about DNA sequencing and its
impact on our understanding of genetics.
Genetics Gone Wrong: Common Misconceptions

If I had to pinpoint a common theme among misconceptions
about genetics in fiction, it would beoversimplification.
Straightforward, guaranteed patterns of inheritance might fit
nicely into your storyline, but they’re not the way the biological
world works. Here are some common myths that I see, not just in
sci-fi, but in other genres as well.
1. Genetics has (or will have) awesome predictive power.

The Human Genome Project (HGP) officially met its goal in 2003,
when the public-private consortium published their draft
assembly of our genome (24 chromosomes, 3.2 billion base pairs).
Even though this was more than ten years ago, you probably
noticed that we’re not living in a GATTACA world. Not that we
haven’t learned a tremendous amount about the content and
function of the human genome, of course, but understanding the
relationship between “genotype” (changes at the genetic level) and
“phenotype” (changes at the physical level) has proven difficult.
That’s because the phenotypes we study are often complex ones
that arise from a number of factors including genetics,
environment, diet, age, etc. Predicting the outcome from genetic
information alone is tough.
2. People have different genes

It’s common to hear phrases like “You’ve got good genes,” or “I
got the gene for ___ from my father’s side,” as if having (or not
having) a gene causes some effect. This is more of a terminology
issue than a true misconception, but I thought I should make it
clear: Technically speaking, we all have the same set of ~20,000
protein-coding genes. It’s the genetic variation within and around
these genes that gives rise to individual differences.
In rare cases, someone will truly be missing one or both copies of
a gene because of a genomic deletion event, but that’s usually bad
news: now the protein encoded by that gene will be absent. Such
large-scale deletions are rare, but they’re often found in patients
with severe genetic disorders.
The problem with this myth is that “gene” makes for a pretty
useful colloquial term to talk about differences between people
that have a genetic basis. If the 90-year-old grandfather character
in your story said, “I’ve lived this long because I have good genetic
variants in my genes,” it would be more accurate but wouldn’t
sound natural. He’d more likely just say, “I’ve lived this long
because I have good genes.”
3. We have the same eyes, so you’re my daddy
You’ve probably seen this cliche somewhere: a character figures
out that someone is really his/her long-lost father because they
share the same eye/hair color or peanut allergy. Yes, many of the
traits underlying physical appearance have a genetic basis.
Anyone who’s had kids can tell you that. Yet it’s not always
straightforward, and certainly not something I’d rely upon for
pseudo-genetic testing.
Last year on my genetics/genomics blog MassGenomics,
I debunked two human genetics myths, eye color and hair
color. The major locus that controls eye color is on chromosome
15, but as many as 10 different genes affect it. Further
complicating the issue is the fact that eye color can change,
particularly in the first few months of life. A lot of babies are born
with blue eyes that eventually become brown or green.
Handedness is another common miconception: twin studies
show that genetic factors only influence 25% of hand
preference. If two left-handed parents have a baby, there’s
only a one in four chance that the child will be left-
handed. Case in point: my wife and I are both lefties, but two of
our three kids are right-handed.
4. People get a lot of mutations

If we took two people and compared their genomes, base by base,
we’d find around 3 million differences. That sounds like a lot, but
it’s about 0.01% of the genome. In other words, we’re all
99.99% identical at the genetic level. It is not correct to
describe these differences as “mutations”. The term
mutation implies the change of DNA sequence: the event during
which one base becomes another. The differences you have did
arise by mutation, but they did so a long time ago.
In truth, virtually all of your genetic variants were inherited from
your parents. New mutations do arise between generations, but
they’re incredibly rare: you might have about 30 or 40 new
variants that your parents don’t have, in 3.2 billion base pairs.
Maybe one of those is actually in a gene.
Getting Genetics Right in Fiction

If you want to get the genetics and inheritance right in your fiction
(and look smart doing so), here are some things you could do:
1. Rely on the well-known genetic stories

Despite everything I said about the complexities and uncertainties
in genetics, there are some aspects that we understand rather
well. Many of these are rare genetic disorders whose inheritance
pattern and genetic basis are well known, like Huntington’s
Disease. HD is a late-onset (middle age), caused by mutations in
the HTT gene on chromosome 4. It’s autosomal dominant,
meaning that if one of your parents has it, you have a 50% chance.
And because it’s late-onset, you won’t know (without genetic
testing) until you’re well into adulthood.
The OMIM Database is a good place to look for information
about rare, well-studied genetic disorders.
You’ve probably also heard of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, in
which rare mutations can predispose to many forms of cancer,
especially breast and ovarian cancer. There’s also a gene called
apolipoprotein E (APOE) which is linked to Alzheimer’s Disease.
There are three alleles (forms of variation) in the gene
called ε2, ε3, and ε4.
o APOE ε2 is relatively rare and may provide some protection
against the disease. If Alzheimer’s disease occurs in a person
with this allele, it develops later in life than it would in
someone with the APOE ε4 gene.
o APOE ε3, the most common allele, is believed to play a
neutral role in the disease—neither decreasing nor increasing
risk.
o APOE ε4 is present in about 25 to 30 percent of the
population and in about 40 percent of all people with late-
onset Alzheimer’s. People who develop Alzheimer’s are more
likely to have an APOE ε4 allele than people who do not
develop the disease.
2. Consider probabilities and maybe family history

Outside of the well-understood genetic disorders (which usually
have genetic testing available), most of the genetic effects that we
have found are a matter of probability, not certainty. It’s not
guaranteed that, if you have a mutation in BRCA1 or BRCA2, that
you’ll get breast cancer. It’s must far more probable.
In genetics, we often represent the risk as an odds ratio, which is
the odds that a person will share a genetic trait (i.e. get a disease)
if they have a certain variant, compared to if they don’t have a
certain variant. For example, a genetic variant with an odds ratio
of 10 means that, if you have the variant, you’re 10 times more
likely to get the disease. It doesn’t have to be a disease, though. It
could just as easily be a trait like red hair.
In terms of predicting what traits and diseases a person might
have, family history remains one of the most powerful
indicators. If you’re a woman and your sister, mother, or
grandmother had breast cancer, you’re in a high-risk
category. You don’t need a genetic test to know that.
3. Hang a lantern on the uncertainty

Much of our understanding about the human genome, genes, and
inheritance is changing. Experienced geneticists know that there
are few absolute certainties. Groundbreaking and unconventional
discoveries happen all the time.
Believable scientists in your fiction should be aware of the
limitations of knowledge. They should talk in terms of probability.
And they should freely admit that we can’t always predict the
future, even with genetics.
The Science of Jurassic Park
August 7, 2014
The Expert: Mike Hays

Today’s article is a guest post from
microbiologist Mike Hays. He’s from
Kansas, a tried and true flat-lander by
birth. He has worked as a
molecular microbiologist for
over 25 years, has coached high
school sports, and is a middle grade
author.
The Science of Jurassic Park

When the
small Procompsognathus appeared on the Costa Rican beach in
JURASSIC PARK as I read the book for the first time, I jumped
out of my chair with excitement and hit my head on the light
fixture. By the time I settled back down with the book in one hand
and a towel pressed against the cut on my scalp with the other
hand, I was hooked. After the revelation of the cloning of
dinosaurs and the science involved, I was firmly in “can’t-put-
this-book-down-or-even-talk-to-my-wife” mode. I still re-read the
book about every five years and that magic is always there, a
magic grounded in the book’s science and technology.
I was a fledgling molecular microbiologist when the book first
came out. I was learning the technology of molecular cloning and
the revolutionary new technique of polymerase chain reaction
(PCR). I remember the science of JURASSIC PARK, both the
fictional and the actual science, created an uproar within science
community and led to the big question:
Could we really clone dinosaurs?
Scientists thought about it.
Scientists argued about it.
Scientists wrote about it.
There was much debate about cloning, sequencing, embryology,
and paleontological theories on dinosaur behavior. What was
perhaps overlooked in the discussion was the fact that JURASSIC
PARK was a science fiction thriller. Michael Crichton did such an
exceptional job building the world, I think we all got caught up in
the possibilities he presented.
In science fiction, the science need not be 100% accurate; the
science needs to be plausible and logical within the world build. In
my opinion, Crichton does that rather well in JURASSIC PARK.
He lines up the scientific details, everything from large cobra
venom-like protein toxins to genomic space-filling frog DNA, and
ticks them off like a timer on a bomb counting down the seconds
to disaster.
The Good Science Things
Here are some of the good science things in Jurassic Park.
1. Dinosaurs!
He brought the most cutting-edge theories in paleontology to life
within the framework of the most exciting new molecular
technology ever discovered. He re-invigorated dinosaur mania for
a whole new generation.
2. Chaos Theory.
To me, the most impressive science facet of JURASSIC PARK was
the integration of chaos theory into the story. Chaos theory is
when small changes in the initial conditions of a complex system
lead to drastic changes in the results.
I like the double pendulum chaos animation at the
following YouTube link as a model to illustrate the basics of chaos
theory. The hinge in the center of the pendulum’s arm is the small
change in the system. As the pendulum swings, it pretty much
holds to an orderly swing pattern for about 5 trips. After the 5th
trip, the order breaks down and the arm goes haywire. The small
initial change manifests into a totally chaotic pattern.
Now, think back to JURASSIC PARK. The first part of the visit to
the park is relatively ordered, just like our pendulum model. Then
one by one the compounding small mistakes, which existed in the
park’s plan from its inception, begin to crumble the perceived
order of the entire system.
Every facet of the JURASSIC PARK vision tumbles into chaos.
3. Molecular biology.
JURASSIC PARK pushed the limits of the fledgling molecular
biology knowledge base in the late 1980’s. Crichton did the best
with the technology he had available and did his best to be
accurate. In areas where he was weak in his knowledge base in
JURASSIC PARK, such as the sequence database information
errors in some of the representative Genebank sequences, he
sought in bioinformatics experts as consultants for his sequel,
LOST WORLD.
The Stretches in Science
Here’s where Michael Crichton took more creative license and less
hard science.
1. The Genome Factor.
Cloning basically means to copy, so if you want to clone
something, what do you need, first and foremost? An intact
genome.
But, finding a genome template from ancient samples with
enough intact information in the blueprint to produce more than
a few genes is very difficult. The quality and amount of ancient
DNA depends on the sample preservation and natural
degradation of the genomic DNA. DNA, the chemical strands that
contain the genetic instructions for the development and function
of living things, is a fairly stable biological molecule. DNA is stable
enough that LIFE trusts it with its past, present, and future. But,
DNA degrades over time. It is difficult to find intact pieces in
ancient DNA, especially in amber-trapped insects found in South
American rainforest environments, as laid out in JURASSIC
PARK. The extraction of the blueprint DNA from this source
would probably not produce enough viable genetic information to
clone even one deadly claw.
Recent advances in extraction technologies, enrichment of target
DNA, and incredible jumps in genome and whole organism
sequencing science increased the prospect of someday being able
to cloned prehistoric animals.
Recent reports of successful sequencing project of wooly
mammoths (10,000 years old), Neanderthals (38,000 years old),
the genome of a girl belonging to an early species of Homo
sapiens called the Denisovans – a close relation to the
Neanderthals – who lived about 80,000 years ago (The study
even reports she had brown eyes, hair and skin!). To push the
envelope even further, the entire genetic sequence of a 700,000
year old extinct species of horse was published this year in the
journal, Nature.
Interesting to note, all these ancient samples were discovered in a
frozen state. Having probably been frozen for millennia, the DNA
was better preserved than anything found in rainforest
environment, amber-trapped insects. The result was a better
genomic template and better templates = better sequence.
These advances in genome sequencing have stretched the ability
of scientist to gather genetic information from extinct organisms
almost a million years old. Not quite to the age of dinosaurs yet,
but I hold out hope we may someday find a 65 million-year-old
frozen dino-popsicle containing a solid genome.
2. Embryo Availability.
Another scientific criticism from back in 1991 was the limited
available choices for embryo development once a clone was
established. The synthetic eggshell technology in the book was an
easy out in this regard, but really wasn’t a applicable real-life
method to hatch a dinosaur clone. Cloning dinosaur embryos may
be one thing, but actually hatching and raising viable progeny is a
whole different ball of wax.
In 2014 technology, with advances in stem cell technologies and
the ability to reprogram a blank cell with a new set of DNA
instructions, perhaps this hurdle could be overcome if we can
learn to piggyback on existing natural reptilian systems.
3. Time Scale.
As a professional scientist, I am pretty certain the discovery,
development (especially on a scale of cloning dinosaurs) AND
building a secret theme park on Isla Nublar, would have easily
taken more than a decade. Even with a well-funded army of
scientists, cutting-edge laboratories, and all the Cray
supercomputers one could get one’s greedy hands on, it would
have been a LONG process. Plus, how did they sneak all this
technology and equipment past the regulatory agencies?
That’s What Sci-Fi Does

So, from a pure scientific standpoint and within the science
knowledge base of the late 1980’s, Michael Crichton did a pretty
darn good job with the genetics and molecular biology in
JURASSIC PARK. He took these cutting-edge technologies and
crafted a very entertaining and thought-provoking story world.
Sure, there were reaches, but the reaches in science were plausible
and logical within his story world.
Besides, can’t we give Michael Crichton a pass on some of the
science flaws? He cloned dinosaurs! He lit a fire under the
imagination of science and technology and raised the bar on the
possibilities of new fantastical projects could actually happen. He
sowed a seed in young scientist for future discovery.
That, my friends, is successful science fiction.
And that is enough for me.
(Just keep me away from Steven Spielberg and that cartoon DNA-
strand narrated, animation ride he used to explain the
background science of Jurassic Park to visitors in the movie.
Grrrr….)
Now, where did I put that tattered paperback copy of JURASSIC
PARK? I’m ready for a re-read.
More About Mike Hays

Mike Hays writes from a boy point of view and hopes to spread his
particular style of stupid-funny inspiration through his books,
blogs and social media. His upper middle grade historical fiction
novel, THE YOUNGER DAYS, is about a family’s survival in the
fallout from the violent Border War over “Bloody” Kansas.
He is part of the #MGLitChat host team for the Thursday evening
weekly Twitter chat dedicated to the lively discussion of all things
middle grade bookish.
Connect with him on Twitter: @coachhays64.
Wildlife Biology in Fiction
August 14, 2014
The Expert: Rebecca Mowry

Today’s expert is wildlife biologist
Rebecca Mowry. Over the past 10
years, she’s spent countless hours in
the field with wolves, woodpeckers,
mountain lions, river otters, and a big
salamander called a hellbender.
Here’s how I know she’s the real deal:
yesterday at work her pickup got
stuck somewhere and had to be towed
out; she came home covered in mud.
We’ve had fascinating
conversations about deer and
predators and the evolution of migration patterns. You
should follow her on Twitter.
Today, she offers some tips on gettng wildlife biology right in your
fiction.
Wildlife Misconceptions in Fiction
As a wildlife biologist, I encounter a lot of misconceptions about
wildlife in books or film/TV that irritate me to no end. In many
cases, even a little bit of research could clear these things up. I can
think of a dozen species-specific misconceptions off the top of my
head (mostly behavioral in nature), but I’m going to pick a few
general examples.
1. I can put a cactus wren in Maine, no problem.
This remark stems from one of my favorite films, The Shawshank
Redemption. You know that scene where Red finds Andy’s money
under a rock wall in Maine? Yeah, that bird singing in the
background is a cactus wren, and cactus wrens live in the
Southwest. Near cacti.
Another classic example is the Coca-Cola advertising campaign

featuring polar bears interacting with penguins. Sure, it’s cute,
and Coke can get away with it, but I’m fairly certain it drove every
zoologist bonkers.
What’s the problem? I like a little anthropomorphism as much as

the next person, and I can shrug off the image of one the most
aggressive carnivores on the planet sitting next to a family of
penguins as the lies of advertising. After all, nobody really thinks
that happens (at least, I hope not). What I can’t stand is that Coke
ignored the fact that polar bears live only in the Arctic, and
penguins live only in the Antarctic.
I am forever irritated by simple mistakes like this in film and TV.
But it applies to novels too. For the love of all that is furry and
feathered, look up a species’ habitat/geographic range before you
put it in your story. Keep desert animals in the desert, forest
animals in the forest, and so on.
This happens so often, especially with birds. The problem is that
people love animals – which is, in my opinion, a great thing – but
it makes it more likely that your readers will know more than you
expect them to. Birdwatching is becoming more and more popular
with the public, increasing the odds that your lack of research will
be noticed and scorned.
Oh, and to add to the confusion, lots of animals migrate. So don’t
try to tell me about the turkey vultures circling your lost MC in
Montana in the winter, because they’re only there in the
summertime.
2. The geographic range and habitats of my species never

changed
If you’re writing any kind of historical fiction, you should be aware
that the range and habitats and even appearance of a species can
change over time. For example:
o Prior to the red/gray wolf’s extirpation from the eastern U.S.,
there were no coyotes there.
o Until a few hundred years ago, jaguars lived throughout most
of Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and even Louisiana.
o Horses were brought to North America in the 1400s, but they
actually evolved here, before being wiped out by the ice age
10,000-12,000 years ago.
o Recent climate change is causing shifts in migratory patterns
of a wide variety of birds, as well as changes in plant
communities
Just like any other facet of historical fiction, it’s worth it to
research what the wildlife community would have looked like back
when your story takes place. In North America, most habitats
have changed drastically since the advent of Europeans (and even
since the advent of the first humans, period). You can probably
get away with a lot of stuff, but you want your novel to be
authentic, don’t you?
3. All wildlife biologists are park rangers, game wardens,

or TV show hosts.
My friends and I all got tired of the “Wildlife biology? What are
you going to do with that, be a park ranger?” comment in college.
In fact, I was just watching an episode of the West Wing where
C.J. Cregg gets a visit from a park ranger. This park ranger
proceeds to tell Cregg’s assistant that he studied shrub/range
ecosystems, and that it was a good thing the Park Service hired
him, because he wouldn’t have had anything else to do. Clearly the
writers of the show fell victim to the myth that “Park Ranger” is
our only career path.
I’ll admit that I felt this way for my entire childhood. I grew up on
Steve Irwin (may he rest in peace) and Jack Hanna, and I didn’t
even know you could study wildlife biology in college until I was
17. I thought that if you loved animals, you had to be a
veterinarian.
Now, of course, I know that the field is incredibly diverse. Wildlife
biologists do lead tours in natural areas, arrest poachers, and
educate the public on TV. But they also trek into remote jungles to
document rare and unknown species. They survey deer and
turkeys to set yearly harvest quotas for hunters. Thousands of
university professors research wildlife behavior, evolution,
habitat, and threats to conservation.
Each state has an agency (like Texas Parks and Wildlife) dedicated
to wildlife research and management, and there are several
federal entities that do this as well (the US Fish and Wildlife
Service, the US Forest Service, the US Geological Survey). Then
there are non-profit organizations that do their own work toward
species and habitat conservation, like the Sierra Club, the Nature
Conservancy, and the World Wildlife Fund. They all employ
wildlife biologists.
And we’re also not all tree-hugging, granola-eating hippies. Many
biologists love game animals and hate predators. Many biologists
love predators and hate hunters. Many biologists love everything.
And some biologists are tree-hugging, granola-eating hippies.
4. Forensics is only for people.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service Forensics Laboratory in
Corvallis, Oregon begs to differ.
Illegal harvesting and animal trafficking (for medicinal uses and
the pet trade) are just two common wildlife-related crimes. To
combat these issues, scientists have developed a variety of tools –
as well as employing traditional forensics – to uncover evidence
and catch the culprits. Almost any forensic analysis that can be
done on human samples can be done on wildlife samples, but I’m
more familiar with the molecular side.
Molecular ecology and conservation genetics are growing fields in
wildlife biology, and the sky’s the limit when it comes to the power
of DNA in unraveling ecological mysteries – and solving wildlife-
related crimes. I actually got my master’s degree on a genetics
project involving “counting” river otter populations in Missouri
from scat samples. Yes, scat. There’s DNA in there, did you know?
With these and other methods, biologists can use DNA from
elephant ivory to determine where the elephant came from (a
legal harvest zone versus a protected habitat). They can examine
the DNA of fish meat at the market to make sure protected species
are not being harvested and sold. Incorporating these types of
tools could make for an interesting crime novel, I think, or
provide an unexpected source of evidence.
5. We know just about all there is to know about wildlife

and ecosystems.
Wrong, wrong, wrong! We’re still learning. Constantly.
Scientists are continuing to unravel the evolutionary history of
wildlife species. Advances in genetic analysis have a lot to do with
this. That’s why taxonomists (the people who classify animals into
taxonomic groups) are always changing the scientific names of
stuff, much to the dismay of people like me who had to memorize
them in college.
In addition, the effects of contemporary environmental challenges
make up a large proportion of current wildlife research. A lot of
what is happening in our world today is unprecedented, and in
most cases, we can only speculate how these changes will affect
wildlife species (and potentially humans!).
Birds are changing the timing of reproduction and migration due
to climate change. Grizzly bears and polar bears may be
hybridizing because of range constriction (again due to climate
change).
Overfishing may be causing trophic cascades running all the way
down the food chain; e.g. seals and sea lions decline due to lack of
food, orca then run out of seals and switch to sea otters, and sea
otter declines result in an overpopulation of sea urchins, which
damage kelp forests, which are an important habitat for a number
of diverse marine organisms. Other challenges include habitat
degradation affecting animal behavior and food habits, and
wildfire suppression preventing naturally occurring fire cycles to
which plants and wildlife had evolved.
We’re still learning just how important these issues are, and
whether we need to intervene to prevent species extinction,
catastrophic wildfires, and other negative effects.
6. There will be no animals in the future.

This applies especially if you want to write futuristic science
fiction. While I can’t say with certainty that this statement isn’t
true (I can’t see into the future), I find it highly unlikely.
Certain animals and plants can survive in any number of tough

situations; that’s part of the beauty of mutation and evolution. I’m
simplifying this a lot, but consider the Cretaceous-Paleogene mass
extinction 66 million years ago that killed off the then-
predominant terrestrial vertebrates, the dinosaurs. Many small
mammals were able to survive the extreme environmental
conditions that the very large reptiles couldn’t. That ushered in
the explosion of mammalian diversity which allowed mammals to
evolve into many of their current forms (including humans).
Humans may be one of the most devastating forces of “nature”
when it comes to species extinction, but don’t forget that there are
many species that thrive in human-dominated landscapes, like
pigeons, feral dogs, rats, and cockroaches. There are even some
that aren’t quite as “nasty”, like white-winged doves, peregrine
falcons, red foxes, raccoons, and coyotes; in fact, I worked on a
project in urban Orange County, California where we observed
bobcats and coyotes making their home in culverts and office-
park drainage systems.
Animals adapt, and evolution is still occurring. We may not be
able to predict exactly what this will mean for the future, but it
means you, as a science fiction author, have a lot of artistic license
here.
How to handle wildlife biology in your novels

Here are some tips for handling these topics well in your fiction.
1. Do your research.
If you want to make your story as authentic as possible, make sure
you’re describing the appropriate ecosystems and animal
communities. There are tons of resources on the internet for
this: ebird.com for birds, iNaturalist.org for everything, and even
Wikipedia gets things right most of the time.
2. Have fun with it!
Because we’re always learning, there’s a lot of wiggle room for
using wildlife in fiction. For example, G.R.R. Martin decided to
use ravens as messengers in his fictional world, and while I’ve
never heard of them being used as such, Corvids (the taxonomic
group of which ravens are a member, and includes crows, jays,
and magpies) are known to be highly intelligent.
Recently, scientists have observed New Caledonian crows not only
using tools, but using sequences of tools and showing ability to
reason. Other crow species have been known to use passing cars
as tools to crack nuts. In Washington, scientists (using Dick
Cheney masks) demonstrated that crows can recognize human
faces.
Here’s a fun TedTalks video about crow intelligence.
There’s a lot of license when it comes to using animals in fiction,
and while I’m not saying you need to be 100% ecologically
accurate, I’d at least like your details to be believable. In The
Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins bred genetically-altered jays with
wild mockingbirds to create the mockingjay.
Jays and mockingbirds are classified into different taxonomic
families (which makes hybridization less likely), but I still find
this to be an excellent incorporation of wildlife behavior into a
futuristic story. Use your research on species’ habitat needs,
evolution, and behavior to come up with a mind-blowing
prediction of futuristic animal communities.
3. Contact a wildlife biologist if you have any questions.

Seriously. There are so many of us. Find a biologist at your state
agency, a federal biologist, or a non-profit. We’ll probably be very
happy to help you.
About the Author

Rebecca Mowry works as a biologist with the Texas Parks and
Wildlife Department, where her world revolves primarily around
deer, but she still gets to do other fun stuff. About a year ago she
began writing The Front Range, a story which hints at an ancient
connection between humans and the world we live in, and was
inspired by her experiences.
Writing Outside the Human Box
August 21, 2014 by dankoboldt 2 Comments (Edit)
The Expert: Brie Paddock

Brie Paddock (@bookstoregirl) is an intrepid biology professor by
day and aspiring writer by night. She teaches animal anatomy
and physiology to enthusiastic undergraduates and creates
fantasy lands of dragons and to emotionally torture her
characters. She holds a PhD in Biomedical Science, focusing in
molecular, cellular, and integrative neuroscience from Colorado
State University and is currently seeking representation for her
first fantasy novel, Bones of the Progenitors.
Thinking Outside the Human Box

We are surrounded by representations of humans at the pinnacle
of society, communication, technology, with little room left for the
other thousands of species that share our planet. Da
Vinci’sVitruvian Man, a beautiful piece of art that relates
architecture to the proportions of a human man, shows just how
self-centered we are, despite being only one of nearly 9 million
species on this planet.
But speculative fiction goes beyond the limitations of the
mundane and into the realm of the fantastic. Elves, dragons,
vampires. Tolkien, McCaffrey, Stoker. Love them. But it’s been
done. You can dust off these supernatural beings, reinvent an
aspect, tweak a trope. Or you can invent your own monsters and
aliens. Give them their own form, their own behaviors, their own
motivations, thoughts, strangeness. Make them real.
The Truth About Flies

I spent many years putting electrodes into the nerves of fruit flies
to see, exactly, how they work. This (among some other things)
earned me a PhD with a focus in neuroscience. You probably
know that they can smell bananas better than we can. But fruit
flies also:
o Flirt with each other
o Can get jet lagged
o Learn and remember things that happen to them
I’m not trying to get you to write about fruit flies as your next
alien or fantasy villain or mount for your hero in plate mail. But
think about this: our brains are not fundamentally different from
those of other animals.
What Makes Us Human?

Most people are shocked to discover that flies show other complex
behaviors over which we feel possessive. Our job as writers of
fiction is to support those ideas with words that resonate with
readers and make them question and assess their own humanity.
Humanity is defined in many ways and most of us feel fairly
comfortable that we are the dominant species on the planet. But
what measurable thing makes us human? Tool use? Warfare?
Monogamy? Love? Depression? Enjoyment of the society of like-
minded individuals (with apologies to Jane Austen)?
When Jane Goodall revealed that chimpanzees waged war on one
another, many were shocked to have another species invade a
sphere thought strictly the purview of humans.
Humans Are Animals

Here’s a myth I want to dispel. Humans aren’t different from
animals. We are animals. Each character you write about is an
animal. Humanity is a nebulous ideal and can be represented by
characters other than humans.
So, let’s get to some nitty gritty science ideas that can help you
break out of the human box when designing characters. How can
you make a new species that’s interesting, different, but
understandable and relatable to your readers? Let’s talk
differences.
Animal Senses
Many animals have senses — sight, smell, hearing, olfaction,
touch — that outstrip our own. Most people are familiar with the
idea that dogs have a sense of smell that far outstrips ours, but
many people don’t realize the diversity of animals that have
sensory systems far superior to ours. Much like children unaware
of the double meanings of words used by our parents, we sense
only a portion of the world around us.
Sight
Most animals have the ability to see. Light enters our bodies, and
we have specialized cells and tissues that change when that light
hits those cells. That is the basis of all sight, from jellyfish that
floats in the ocean, to a hawk circling above a field and searching
for a tasty mouse in the grass.
Light is type of energy; we perceive it as having color and
brightness. Our eyes have two types of cells that allow us to see
color; rods and cones. Rods are active at low levels of light, so they
allow us to see in the dark. Cones, which are active at brighter
light levels, provide color vision. Special proteins in rods and
cones, called opsins, help us distinguish between different colors.
People who are red-green color blind, for example, lack the opsin
that distinguishes these two colors.
What if an animal had different opsins in their rods? Could they
see color at night? What if an animal had another opsin? Could
they see colors we can’t?
The answer to that last question is yes. Birds have additional
opsins that allow them to see beyond the wavelengths of light that
humans get to enjoy. Other animals that can see UV light include
butterflies, bees, salmon, and reindeer.
Hearing
Sound provides a different realm. Relatively few animals can
actually sense sound, a fact that surprises most humans partially
because we use sound to communicate so thoroughly, constantly,
and urbanely. Why?
In part, because we live on land.
Anyone who has been to a loud beach or swimming pool has
experienced the apparent decrease in volume when you dunk your
head (with your accompanying ears) under the surface of the
water. Sound waves don’t travel as effectively through water and
many animals live underwater.
But there are two fascinating things that fish do to sense their
environment. Some fishes use bones along their spine to hear
sounds otherwise rendered too faint by traveling through the deep
ocean.
Other Senses
Some voracious aquatic predators, including sharks and rays, use
a sense that is completely foreign to us as they hunt their prey.
They have pits along their lower body that allow them to sense the
bioelectricity. Their prey can remain utterly immobile, invisible
under the sand, but the prey can’t stop their own brains from
working or hearts from beating. So the rays and sharks prey upon
that weakness.
Sharks aren’t very nice. But the chubby, pollinating, bumbling
honey bee uses electroreception, too. Just like a person shuffling
their feet on a thick carpet, bees accumulate static electricity when
their wings rub during flight. Some of that charge is transferred
when they visit flowers. Bees use electroreception to determine
whether which flowers have recently been visited by other bees, so
that they don’t waste their own time and energy.
Don’t Limit Your Creations

There’s more to this world that we can see or hear, smell or sense.
But that doesn’t mean our characters have to be similarly limited.
Evolution begins every animal with a mistake, an aberration in
the genetic code. Most of these mutations condemn their owners
to certain death, but a powerful few have created all the terrifying
squid and fluffy bunnies of our planet. Next time you design a
monster or an alien, make a mistake. Make a thousand. Then see
which one survives the natural selection of your story.
Medical Misconceptions in Fiction
August 28, 2014
The Expert: Karyne Norton

Karyne has worked as a labor and delivery
nurse for nine years and been an avid
reader for twenty-five years. She’s also a
wife, mother, photographer, missionary,
and writer of fantasy and science fiction.
You should follow heron Twitter and
check out her blog, Because of Books.

I haven’t been able to watch shows with hospital scenes for the
last decade, and I cringe or skim when I run into medical
misconceptions in books. I wish I could ignore them, but they
stand out to me like bad grammar to an English teacher. My hope
is to help writers get through some of the common pitfalls of
writing about medical situations when they don’t have any
medical training.
Misconception #1: CPR is for living patients

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen writers mess up CPR.
One of the first things they teach us in Basic Life Support is that
you can’t screw up CPR because the person is already dead. Your
goal is to bring them back life. BUT if the patient is talking,
moving, breathing, or has a heartbeat, you should NOT be doing
CPR.
Real CPR Training
If your character comes across an unconscious person, and they
have any medical training, here’s what they’ll do.
1. They’ll gently shake them and call their name (or shout
something) to see if they wake up.
2. They’ll ask for people around to call for help/911. If the
patient is old or young, they might ask for an AED
(automated external defibrillator).
3. Sometimes (especially on children) they’ll check for
breathing. It used to be taught ABC (airway, breathing,
circulation), but for strangers they don’t recommend mouth
to mouth, and recent studies have shown that circulation
should be prioritized because our blood has plenty of oxygen
to circulate without rescue breaths. Children tend to have
healthy hearts, so if they’re unconscious it’s usually because
they choked or drowned.
4. Most often they’ll immediately check for a pulse on the neck
or wrist. If there’s no pulse, they start chest compressions.
Chest compressions look awful. If they don’t look awful,
you’re not pushing hard enough. Bones break.
5. When an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) is
available, they use it. (DK note: follow that link and read it.
You might save someone’s life).
6. They continue this until an ambulance arrives.
When this happens to a patient in a hospital setting, the same

general steps are followed, except when someone calls for help,
they push a code button on the wall that alerts an entire team of
medical professionals to come to the room with a code cart. This
is often depicted as a chaotic moment, but honestly it’s more like a
highly intricate dance. The first person to find the patient is
generally the one to do chest compressions.
The next to come will start giving oxygen through an ambu bag. If
there isn’t already an IV someone starts it. Another person sets up
the code cart and hooks the patient up to the EKG monitor.
Another simply records everything that’s being done at what time
so they can chart it all later. Usually there are 5-10 people that
walk in within a minute (if not sooner).
When the anesthesiologist arrives, the person in charge of airway
assists him while he gets the patient intubated and compressions
are paused during intubation. The patient’s primary doctor
usually stands and watches everything that’s being done and gives
out orders. Others in the room are encouraged to voice any other
ideas or steps that might have been missed.
There’s a lot happening at one time, but don’t think for one
second that it’s disorganized. The code teams in hospitals are
trained to respond to every code in the hospital, and depending on
the size of the hospital, there can be a handful each day.
Misconception #2: Babies fly out in one push

This is the absolute hardest one to please me on because it’s MY
area. If I love a book and a delivery scene shows up, I tend to skim
out of fear that I will forever close the pages. Your personal labor
experience is yours and probably shouldn’t be your character’s. If
you barely made it to the hospital and your babies practically slid
out, please realize it’s not common. I’m about to make up some
statistics on the fly, but these are based off what I’ve seen while
working on a labor and delivery unit.
I would guess that 30-40% of our patients have inductions. Many
of those inductions last DAYS. Another 30-40% (there’s definitely
crossover) end up with C-sections. Yes, your character can have a
C-section. It could even be planned. Only 5-10% of people labor
without getting an epidural. I’m sure your character is a very
strong woman with a high pain tolerance, but that doesn’t have
anything to do with whether or not she would get an epidural.
And the women that don’t get epidurals? They don’t all scream
bloody murder. Some don’t make a sound.
Misconception #3: IVs are needles

This is a pretty quick fix, but I see it often enough that it’s worth
mentioning. When an IV catheter is inserted a needle is used,
BUT the needle is immediately removed and a plastic catheter is
all that remains. This is a common misconception among patients
too (especially ones that like to complain). Don’t have your
characters notice the needle in their arm or complain about it
being sharp. Or if they do, have your nurse character set them
straight so you get a smile out of this reader.
Misconception #5: Meds are used to shut people up

This is incredibly illegal, and for some reason writers like to have
their characters being given meds that knock them out left and
right. “You have a scrape on your elbow? Here, let me start an IV
for no reason other than to give you an incredibly potent narcotic
that I happen to have in my pocket and I can’t possibly already
have an order for. That way you’ll fall asleep super confused and
the reader will want to turn the page.”
That’s seriously how I read those scenes. In the hospital setting,
we need a physician’s order to give any kind of medication. Even
oxygen requires an order. In emergency situations, there’s almost
always a doctor present to give us that order, but we can’t just pull
it out of our hat. Narcotics (and most every medication) are kept
locked up in medication dispenser that require pass codes and
fingerprints to access.
We also have to get permission from the patient to give any
medication. If a patient is in hysterics and needs to be restrained
in some way, most hospitals have policies requiring TWO
physicians agreeing that the physical restraints or medication
(never both) be used. And these are very rare occurrences.
Now, I’m not gonna lie. Medications get used to shut people up,
but it’s usually done by the nurse strongly encouraging the patient
to ask for the medication. Nursing licenses are too hard to earn
just to lose over a stupid narcotic and an annoying patient.
Misconception #6: Teens get treatment without parental

sign-off
Be careful what you have your YA characters getting done without
parental figures present. In emergency situations, minors are
treated in order to save their lives. But pain medications won’t be
given out to every crying kid. You may not always need parent
permission to get an abortion, but if that same girl shows up at the
hospital 6 months later wanting an epidural, mommy or daddy
better sign for her. Some of these issues are state specific, so do
your research.
How to Get the Medical Stuff Right

I’m only scraping the surface of medical misconceptions.
Someone who works in an oncology unit or cardiac unit might
have very different things to point out. So what’s a writer to do?
Make a nursing friend. Or two. Or twelve. Honestly, we’re very
friendly people and we LOVE talking about our jobs. Just be
aware that you might hear more than you want, and you might
not want to eat while we talk.
Mental Illness In Fiction: Getting It Right
September 11, 2014
About the Expert

Kathleen S. Allen is a Psychiatric Nurse
Practitioner (actually, a Psychiatric Clinical
Nurse Specialist, similar to a NP) with five
years experience as a psychiatric NP and
two years experience as a psychiatric RN
(registered nurse).
In case you’re wondering what a
Psychiatric NP does, they’re independent nurses with a four-year
degree in nursing and a two-year master’s degree in nursing along
with being either a nurse practitioner or clinical nurse specialist.
Kathleen also has a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree which is a
clinical doctorate, meaning more clinical-based rather than
research-based like a PhD.
You should check out her website and Tumblr blog or connect
with her on Twitter.
Mental Illness in Fiction: Get It Right, Please

A NP evaluates patients, diagnoses, orders medication if needed
and does education around mental health issues. I’ve seen the
gamut of mental illness, all the way from mild anxiety to full-
blown psychosis in a bipolar disorder or schizophrenic or
depressed patient. I’ve treated patients with suicidal tendencies,
attempted suicides and patients undergoing ECT (electroshock
therapy and no it’s not like it was in ONE FLEW OVER THE
CUCKOO’S NEST), and medical illnesses that seemed like
psychiatric ones but weren’t. Yes, that happens.
Like you, I am also a writer (see my Amazon page or my
website for my books) but I’m also a mental health professional.
When I read a work of fiction that either deals with mental illness
in some way or the main character has a mental illness it’s usually
with some degree of trepidation. More times than not they get it
wrong.
Some Facts About Mental Illness

1. Having depression doesn’t mean your character can’t
still have fun or laugh or be social. Your character can do all
those things and still have depression. Also, one of my pet peeves
is saying you’re depressed because_________. Your character
isn’t depressed, they’re sad or blue or down but unless they’ve
been evaluated and diagnosed with depression, your character
needs to not say this.
2. A character who has bipolar disorder may have manic

episodes or they may not. They might be severely depressed
or only have moderate depression. Bipolar Disorder has a
spectrum of symptoms.
3. No one who has Dissociative Identity Disorder (used to be
called split personality) would kill someone when they are in one
of their alter personality states unless the core personality would
also kill. Your character would not have amnesia after killing
someone. This disorder is rare (and some medical professionals
don’t believe it exists at all) so be careful using it.
4. Talking about suicide does not mean your character

will push the person into attempting suicide. It was
already on their minds. Also, someone who cuts is not suicidal as
a general rule.
5. Your characters don’t stop hearing voices when they

are in a psychotic episode overnightafter taking an anti-
psychotic medication. Sometimes they won’t stop at all. It can
take weeks to months. Know the difference between a
hallucination and a delusion. They are not the same thing. And
when people have hallucinations they don’t only see things that
aren’t there, they may hear things or smell things that aren’t there
too.
And if they are in a psychotic episode, it would be difficult, if not
impossible to function in their daily lives by going to school or
work or maintaining a romantic relationship or really any
relationship. Psychotic patients are not dangerous. Are there
exceptions? Of course and those are the ones we hear about in the
news. But as a general rule, they aren’t.
6. Anti-depressant medications don’t change your

personality. They allow your characters to be able to function in
their daily lives. Some medications have worse side effects than
others but in books I’ve read when the main character is on these,
either there are no side effects mentioned or the main character
has them for one day.
I used to tell my patients unless you develop a rash/hives or can’t

breathe (same with any medication), most side effects go away
within three to five days. Some have longer term side effects so it’s
best to consult a medical professional about them unless you have
first-hand knowledge about the medication. It usually takes 6-8
weeks for anti-depressants to work although some work in a
shorter amount of time.
7. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is not

humorous. Patients with this disorder hate that they have to
check things over and over, it’s not funny or cute and one of the
reasons I never walked the TV show, MONK. Can your characters
have mild OCD or OCD tendencies? Yes, it doesn’t mean they have
OCD. If they go back to make sure their house is locked twice, or
they left the stove on, it’s not OCD.
8. Hearing voices might mean your character is

schizophrenic, or it might mean they are in a bipolar
episode or have severe depression. Some medications (not
psychiatric ones) can cause psychosis too, also some recreational
drugs. Some medical illness can also cause depression, that’s why
it’s important for you, as the writer to get your facts straight.
Getting Mental Illness Right in Fiction

The bottom line is, do your research. If in doubt, call a medical
professional and ask them before you write. The DSM-IV (now the
V is out) used to be the book I used for diagnosis. It explains the
symptoms for each disorder, including personality disorders
usually there’s set number of symptoms a patient has to have
before being diagnosed with a certain disorder.
Of course I’ve only touched on some brief issues I’ve seen in
books, I’m sure there are others I didn’t mention. I’d be glad to
answer any questions about mental illness about your characters
if you hit me up on Twitter or on my website but please no
medical advice for yourself.
Resources for Mental Illness
Here are some online resources for getting the facts about mental
illness:
o National Alliance on Mental Illness: NAMI
o University of Michigan Depression Center
o Mental Health Myths (U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services)
o 10 Facts On Mental Health from World Health Organization
Chemical Fallacies in Fiction
September 25, 2014
About the Expert

This week, we get two experts for
the price of one: a husband and wife
who are both chemists! They’re here
to give us a little dialogue about
acids, gases, and asphyxiation.
Jordan: Jordan has a BS in

chemistry and has worked with
adhesives and polymer science for
the last ten years. His specialties include “green” chemistry, which
involves coming up with more environmentally friendly
alternatives to existing chemistry or formulations. Jordan is made
up of chemicals and likes thinking about them.
Gwen: Gwen has a BA in chemistry (it’s complicated): She did
conservation research in a museum, helping museums develop
better ways to preserve art and prevent fading and damage, before
quitting to become a full-time writer. She has an opinionated
blog and you can also yell at her on Twitter.
Chemistry Mistakes in Fiction

Gwen: Hi, I’m Gwen.
Jordan: And I’m Jordan.
Gwen: Before anyone asks, yes, we did meet in college, but no,
we did not fall in love during a lab course together. You may put
all your jokes about us having chemistry to rest.
Jordan: We’re well aware that if we tried to list all the
inaccuracies in fiction, it would be an infinitely long post, but we
wanted to talk about a couple of chemistry topics that authors
often get wrong.
The Truth About Acids

Gwen: First up: Acids! In fiction, acid is pretty much the
universal solvent. You can put any amount of any substance in
any acid and it will dissolve in seconds. Real acids aren’t quite as
dramatic.
Jordan: They come in many forms, but they’re usually clear,
often pungent, and not bubbly unless they’re actively dissolving
something.
Gwen: Not all acids will dissolve all substances. They range from
vinegar, which is essentially harmless, to strong acids that must
be handled with great caution. But most acids readily dissolve
metals like iron and aluminum and do not dissolve plastic or
glass.
Jordan: Most acids would take days to dissolve a large chunk of
material and they have a limited amount of material they can
dissolve before the acid gets neutralized.
Gwen: So if you got caught in a boat in a lake of acid, like they do
in Dante’s Peak, you would probably get to the shore just fine.
Jordan: But that doesn’t mean real acids aren’t exciting! In real
life, acid corrosion can lead to explosions, clouds of toxic gas, and
your bones dissolving inside your skin.
Gwen: That last one is hydrofluoric acid. It’s one of the few acids
that dissolves glass. Before plastics were invented, the only safe
way to store it was in a wax bottle.
Jordan: You may remember hydrofluoric acid from Breaking
Bad. It was knowingly misused on the show because the creators
didn’t want to teach people how to actually dissolve a human
body. The most accurate part was that it could dissolve a bathtub.
Gwen: Here’s another cool acid. It’s called aqua regia, which is
Latin for “water of kings.” It’s a mixture of nitric acid (HNO¬3)
and hydrochloric acid (HCl) and it is the only acid that can
dissolve gold. It dissolves platinum, too.
Jordan: When Nazis were seizing all the gold in Europe,

Hungarian chemist George de Hevesy dissolved two other
scientists’ Nobel prizes in aqua regia and kept the solution in a jar
in plain sight. The Nazis never found it. After the war, he
precipitated out the gold and the Nobel Foundation recast the
medals.
Gwen: Do you see that vapor coming off the acid? We call that a
fuming acid.
Jordan: With certain concentrated acids, the right kind of acid
can vaporize and then condense on the mucous membranes of
your eyes, nose, and lungs without you ever directly coming in
contact with the solution.
Gwen: The most likely way that acid could kill you is through
inhalation. The other major danger is eye damage: As you know,
even lemon juice can severely irritate your eyes, and stronger
acids can cause blindness. The danger of chemical burns to the
skin is much more minor. They sure hurt, but you probably won’t
lose a limb that way.
Jordan: Also, all acids contain hydrogen. As they dissolve things,
the hydrogen is released. In a confined space, it can build up and
cause explosions.
Gwen: And while we’re on the topic, let’s talk about gases.
Gases and Asphyxiation

Jordan: In a lot of media, gases are also misrepresented,
whether it’s the effects of a vacuum or the effects gases can have
on people.
Gwen: For starters, nearly all gases are transparent, with the
exception of nitrogen dioxide, that nasty brown gas that you may
know as smog.
Jordan: Authors often under- and overplay the effect of oxygen
on their characters. Too much oxygen can give people a slight
high, but even slightly lowered levels of oxygen can cause altitude
sickness, which includes nausea and disorientation.
Gwen: So in a science-fiction movie, when the oxygen levels on a
spaceship start dropping, the crew isn’t going to be just fine as
long as they keep it from dropping to 0%.
Jordan: Obviously, if there’s no oxygen in a room, you’ll die of
asphyxiation. But the interesting thing is that, depending on the
gas, you can die different ways.
Gwen: One way is oxygen replacement, when another gas
displaces all the oxygen in a room. Even a harmless gas such as
nitrogen can become dangerous in this situation. If you die this
way, your lips and nail beds will turn blue because the hemoglobin
in your blood, which turns red when it bonds with something,
doesn’t have any oxygen to bond with.
Jordan: Another way is more insidious. Carbon monoxide (CO)
is a molecule the same shape as oxygen (O2) and it tricks
hemoglobin into bonding with it instead, and then you suffocate
even if there is oxygen around.
Gwen: Cyanide (CN) kills you the same way. Since hemoglobin
bonds very tightly with carbon monoxide and cyanide, if you’re
killed by one of these gases, your lips and nail beds will turn
bright cherry red.
Jordan: Carbon monoxide is released when you burn things,
which is why you should never run a car in a closed garage.
Gwen: One thing that really is as dramatic as it is in fiction is
exploding hydrogen. But the wonderful world of explosions is
another topic for another day.
Zombie Microbiology 101
October 9, 2014 by dankoboldt Leave a Comment (Edit)
The Expert: Mike Hays

Today’s article is a returning guest
post from microbiologist Mike
Hays, who already wowed us with
his take on the science ofJurassic
Park. He’s from Kansas, a tried and
true flat-lander by birth.
He has worked as a molecular

microbiologist for over 25
years, has coached high school
sports, and is a middle grade
author. Go follow him on Twitter.

Everybody loves zombies. Okay, maybe not everybody, but
zombies have been a source of frightful entertainment for years
and their popularity appears to be at an all-time high in today’s
media market. Why are we so drawn to them? Robert Kirkman,
creator of the Walking Dead comics, believes it is our innate fear
of death which draws us in. And, like relentless nature of death, he
says, “Zombies are out to get you; no matter how hard you try.”
Author Mira Grant of the Newsflesh series, thinks zombies hit the
human fear chord toward infectious diseases and the potential
loss of self and identity caused by a serious infection. The answer
probably lies in a little of both fear theories. I lean toward the
infectious disease fear side of the fence, though. Maybe the fear of
being chased by relentless and seemingly endless mass of
reanimated corpses hell-bent on eating my brain is enough to
draw me in, but the fear of losing myself to an unseen microbial
Zombie Factor that strikes without warning, is what brings me
back craving more.
The Zombie Apocalypse

The world turned to chaos as flesh-eating reanimated corpses
shuffle across the planet seeking human brains for a snack, caused
by a zombie virus. The zombie virus is a very popular causative
agent in today’s zombie media culture. Books, movies, and TV
shows featuring the zombie-caused-by-virus story. But, is it
plausible? Maybe, maybe not. Let’s take a look past the decaying
flesh, the characteristic, zombified gait, the insatiable drive to
consume human flesh, and delve deeper into the potential
causative agent of the Zombie Factor.
I. Viral
Probably the most popular microbial agent for Zombie Factor is a
virus. Viruses are a logical choice. They carry the fear stigma we’ve
come to associate with massive outbreaks of diseases, like
smallpox, influenza, Ebola, HIV, rabies. Perfect for the Zombie
Factor, right? Well…maybe not. The most dangerous viruses, the
ones which spread rapidly, are usually spread by airborne contact.
Other modes of transmission like infected animal bites, insect
bites, and ingestion/contact with infected body fluids are slower
methods of viral transmission, which in turn, slow the spread of
the disease.
The Zombie Apocalypse would require a high velocity

transmission virus to be effective against the intelligent,
always prepared human populace. Viruses have limited genome
size and complexity. They infect cells and may hijack some
cellular processes, but I don’t believe they actually have the
genomic power for a massive transformation from human to
zombie. It’s a sexy, simple agent on which to base a Zombie
Factor, but, in my opinion, it just doesn’t have the mustard to get
the job done alone.
II. Bacterial
Ten years ago, I would have said “No way” to bacteria as a
causative agent of zombification. Back in my scientific youth,
bacteria were thought to attach to the target cells, dump their
various toxins, and cause the disease. Now, we are discovering
bacteria are much more complex than simple toxin dumpers; they
secrete proteins which enter the host cell and modulate host gene
expression. What does that mean? It means the bacteria can
reprogram normal cellular responses. The bacteria can create host
mediated changes that help its survival. Now things are getting
interesting, huh? Especially when we add another layer of
complexity and consider the effects of a whole population of
bacteria, called a microbiome.
A microbiome is the collection of microorganisms which exist in a

particular environment. Part of what we study in the research
laboratory where I work in involves study the intestinal
microbiota and the interactions these microbes have with the host
gut in the prevention of infection with enteric pathogens. It is an
intricate system where the microbes modulate the cells of the
intestine to benefit both the host and the microorganisms of the
gut biome.
Frankly, I did not put zombification and microbiome together
until I received a research article alert a few weeks ago for an
article describing the human death microbiome which the authors
called the thanatomicrobiome. The researchers report a
characteristic, time-dependent, post-mortem shift of the bacteria
in human tissues from a predominantly aerobic (oxygen loving)
bacterial population to an anaerobic population (oxygen hating).
Perhaps a single bacterial pathogen may not have the bang to
induce zombification, but how about a unique zombie microbiome
signature which triggers a transformation in a nearly dead human
host to a member of the walking dead? The zombie bite introduces
a zombie bacterial microbiome which sit resident in the host until
the host faces death and then triggers the transformation from
death bed human to walking dead. Sweet, huh?
III. Parasites
Parasites are potential contributors to the Zombie Factor. Fungus,
yeasts, molds, and worms all have the genomic complexity which
could potentially cause such a massive transformation. There are
documented cases of parasites affecting host behavior, with many
of these discoveries rising from the relatively new field of
neuroparasitology. Toxoplasma gondii infection in rats makes
them less scared of cats and more likely to be eaten by these cats,
where the parasite multiplies and is released in the cat’s feces.
The flatworm, Euhaplorchis californiensis changes its fish host’s
behavior to make it easier to be captured and eaten by birds,
which are the reproductive host. Perhaps the most exciting
example is of theOphiocordyceps fungus, coined the zombie-ant
fungus, infection of ants reported in a Guardian article from 2011.
There is even a cool video from ScienceCast about the zombie-ant
fungus. As you can see, parasites really begin to reveal a
microorganism with the potential to be a cause of zombification
and a candidate for the elusive Zombie Factor.
IV. Prions
Prions can be another potential Zombie Factor agent. Prions are
infectious proteins often described as virus-like particles without
any nucleic acid (DNA or RNA). In general, these prion proteins
appear to be similar to native host proteins, except with slight
conformational changes which cause them to spontaneously
aggregate, form crystals and kill host cells. Prion diseases are
associated with the degenerative brain disorders, Creutzfeldt –
Jakob disease and kuru in humans, Bovine Spongiform
Encephalitis (BSE), or “Mad Cow disease, in cattle, Chronic
Wasting Disease (CWD) is deer or elk, and Scrapie in sheep.
The degenerative neurological effects of prion-induced,
spongiform encephalitis affect brain function and could
potentially induce the characteristics of a zombie, wonky motor
skills, speech, and eating disorders. The problem with prions is
they are slow moving. It may take years for enough prion protein
crystals to aggregate to the point of causing brain damage.
V. Epidemiology
Can the Zombie Factor move fast enough, be infectious enough,
and (this should be a big AND) spread without some sort of
intervention through immunity or vaccination, to actually
produce an effective army of the living dead hell-bent on live,
healthy, human brain consumption?
Well, it would have to have a high reproduction number, R(0)
value, which is a calculation used by epidemiologists to enumerate
how many new individuals become infected per one original
infected individual. Here’s a recent link explaining the R(0) value
for Ebola compared to other viruses.
It would have to be more easily transmittable than through a bite
(Rabies, a virus often associated as basis for a zombie virus, is a
rare disease with an R(0) value barely over one.) and would have
to spread very quickly before containment of those infected.
More things to consider with the Zombie Factor agent.
In a nutshell, although there are some intriguing, existing
microbial agents which have some potential to be the infectious
Zombie Factor, they all fall short. Zombie populace, the odds are
NOT in your favor for a global takeover. It doesn’t matter if you
are a classic Voodoo zombie fan (That’s a whole separate blog post
on toxins!) or are drawn to the brain-eating side of the zombie
fence either by your fear of death or by your fear of infectious
disease, keep your walking dead fandom going strong.
Keep reading, keep watching, and keep writing. Just keep those
awesome zombie stories coming. Please feel free to leave your
Zombie Factor origin ideas in the comments.
Mutation Myths in Fiction
October 16, 2014
The Expert: Dan Koboldt

I know what you’re thinking:
any guy can claim to be an
expert on something when
it’s his own blog. Yet in this
case, it’s true: I’ve worked as
a genetics researcher for the
last decade, and co-authored
more than 50 publications
in Nature, Science, JAMA,
the New England Journal of
Medicine, and other
journals.
Currently, I manage the
human genetics group for
one of three NIH-funded
large scale DNA sequencing centers in the United
States. MassGenomics, my work-related blog, is where I do most
of my writing about DNA sequencing and its impact on our
understanding of genetics.

In my last post for this series, I wrote about some
common misconceptions about genetics that often show up
in fiction and mass media. This time, I’d like to tackle a related
concept, the mutation of DNA. Mutation is the process by which a
base in DNA is accidentally, yet irrevocably altered. As usual, I’m
going to tackle some of the “myths” about mutation that I’ve
encountered in fiction — especially science fiction — and then
offer some guidance for authors to help them get it right.
Myth #1: Mutations Happen All the Time (Click to Tweet)

Thanks to advances in genome sequencing technologies, we have
a good estimate for the human mutation rate. It’s roughly one
mutation per 100 million base pairs per generation. Granted, the
human genome is large (3.2 billion base pairs), so each of us does
have about 32 mutations that neither of our parents gave us.
Compare that to the ~3 million inherited genetic variants, and
you’ll understand just how rare true mutations are. An important
exception to this: somatic mutations, which happen during or
after an embryo develops, and thus are found only in a subset of
cells. Our group uses next-generation sequencing to examine
cancer genomes. Cancer develops from a single cell that’s
acquired somatic mutations. The highest mutation rate I know of?
The genomes of lung cancer specimens from lifelong smokers.
Myth #2: Mutations Are Often Beneficial (Click to Tweet)

Quite the opposite. Most mutations are actually neutral, because
they occur out in the 95% of the genome that doesn’t really do
anything. When mutations do hit a protein-coding gene or
regulatory region, it’s usually bad news. The human genome has
been under natural selection for thousands of years. It’s like
tinkering with a complicated machine: when you make random
changes, you’re more likely to break something than improve it.
Most of the well-known inherited disorders, like cystic fibrosis or
sickle-cell disease, are caused by mutations that damage or
disable the proteins. Well, sickle-cell disease is an unusual
example: if you have two copies of the mutation (one in each copy
of the gene), you get sickle-cell disease. However, if you have just
one copy, it protects against malaria. You can understand why
that allele has persisted in populations of African origin.
Myth #3: One Mutation Takes Over the Body

I really like the movie Resident Evil, but there’s a scene that
bothers me. A creature in it “mutates” and changes form entirely
in the course of a few minutes. It’s a frighteningly cool speculative
element, but not terribly realistic. Usually a mutation affects a
single cell. If multiple cells are hit, as might be the case with
exposure to radiation, the mutations would be random in those
cells.
The odds that the same one would occur in two different cells are
infinitesimal. Even a dramatic change, like one that causes some
tumor cells to resist chemotherapy, requires weeks or months to
have a system-wide effect. In the absence of a pervasive delivery
mechanism (like a virus infecting lots of cells at once with a
custom gene), there’s no way for a significant, rapid change to a
complex organism like a human.
Tips for Handling Mutations Well in Fiction

Now that you’ve been disabused of some of the worst myths,
you’re already well-equipped to write about mutations rather well.
It might also be useful to cover some of the basics.
The Causes of Mutation

Mutations are typically caused by DNA damage after exposure to
mutagenic elements (carcinogens, ultraviolet light, ionizing
radiation, etc). Our cells have complex machinery for repairing
DNA damage, and, failing that, to initiate a self-destruct
procedure. Sometimes it doesn’t work as intended, particularly if
the machinery has itself been compromised. That’s why carriers of
certain mutations in the BRCA1 andBRCA2 genes (involved in
DNA repair) predispose women to breast and ovarian cancer.
Mutations can also occur due to biological errors — mistakes
made by the enzymes that copy DNA when cells divide. When this
happens during meiosis, a mutation might be passed on to the
child that wasn’t present in the parents.
Mutations and Natural Selection

The millions of genetic variants that (in combination) distinguish
us from one another arose from mutations in our
ancestors. Mutations that are damaging tend to be weeded out
over time by natural selection — the people with them were less
apt to survive and have children. This form of selection, called
purifying selection, is evident in many of the protein-coding
regions of the genome.
Its signature is a lack of genetic variation among healthy members
of the population. In contrast, regions where genetic variants are
common are unlikely to be under strong selection, because
otherwise lots of people would be messed up (to use a scientific
term).
There is another kind of natural selection, positive selection,
under which variants that confer survival or fitness advantages
rapidly become common in certain populations. In the poorly-
received movie Waterworld, for example, the character played by
Kevin Costner had developed gills which allowed him to spend
long periods underwater. Obviously there’s a survival advantage,
though it might be compensated for by all of the normal people
trying to kill him.
The classic real-world example of positive selection in humans is a
mutation that altered the LCT gene — allowing us to be lactose-
tolerant — that arose in Africa during a period when cattle were
being domesticated. Being able to drink cow’s milk was a major
advantage, and the mutations that provided this capability were
rapidly selected for. Granted, I mean “rapidly” in terms of
evolution, which is measured in generations, not years.
Another well-known signature of recent positive selection in the
human genome affects genes related to innate immunity. This also
is unsurprising, since infectious diseases were (and in many
places of the world, remain) a common cause of mortality and
morbidity. I’d love to tell you that more exciting science fiction
traits like super strength or super speed were under obvious
positive selection as well. Unfortunately, we haven’t found
convincing evidence of positive selection acting on physical traits.
At least, not yet.
Ability and Luck in Writing
October 23, 2014
About the Expert

Today’s expert is biostatistician Dustin Fife.
He received his PhD in Quantitative
Psychology from the University of Oklahoma.
He’s published stats articles in various quant
psych journals includingEducational and
Psychological Measurement, Multivariate
Behavioral Research, and The British Journal
of Mathematical and Statistical Psychology,
and currently works as the Senior
Biostatistician at OMRF.
While riding the bus to and from his day job, Dustin writes
science fiction. He’s completed 2.9378 novels and he’s seeking
representation for his first book (his “baby”), slaving to finish his
third, and simmering his second in a locked drawer. To learn
more about Dustin as a writer, visit his writing blog. To learn
more about his work with statistics, visit his stats blog.

This article’s going to be a bit different. Most scientists visit Dan’s
blog with pet peeves about scientific blunders committed in
fiction. The truth is, there’s nothing about statistics that’s
interesting enough that folks would want to even attempt to write
about it. Alas, statistics myths are confined to the media (where
they tend to do the most damage). But, we can use some
principals from stats (and a special flavor of statistics
called Quantitative Psychology) to shed some light on how best to
portray the people that populate our prose.
Quantitative psychologists (QPs) specialize in three things
(1) Measuring psychological traits, and as a consequence (2)
angering students who have to trudge through standardized tests,
and (3) angering parents who believe (and often rightly so) that a
child’s ability cannot be measured by a single number. (Though,
as an aside, we’re no more at fault for the policy of test-taking
than paper companies are for printing them. However, that didn’t
stop Hollywood from portraying two QPs as the bad guys in the
movie Stand and Deliver).
Despite the preponderance of techno-babble, there’s really not
that much to measuring something psychological. It all comes
down to this simple formula (and a whole lot of fragile
assumptions):
Performance = Ability + Luck (or lack thereof)

For example, suppose we’re trying to measure a kid’s IQ. His score
on the test can be attributed to his IQ (Ability) and chance factors
(luck or no luck), such as whether the kid had a hangover, trippy
wording on the item, the temperature in the room, etc.
Implications for Testing

When a QP sits in front of a computer with a database of test
scores, what he tries to do is use fancy-pants statistics to partition
the scores into those two components: Ability and Luck. But
before she or he ever gets in front of the computer, s/he does
his/her darndest to make sure the test measures mostly ability
and little luck. Here’s three ways we do it (which will have
implications for writing…I promise).
1. Measure repeatedly.
Ever wonder why that stupid test is four hours long? It’s because
we assume “luck” will even out in the long run. So, if on question
#1, you thought it said “breast” instead of “beast” (I did that once
while reading aloud in church….very embarrassing) and got the
item wrong. Well…that sucks for that one item, but chances are
you will probably accidentally guess another item right, so it all
evens out in the end.
2. Vary the difficulty of the items.

If all questions were easy, pseudo-smarties and geniuses would
both score perfectly. Likewise, if all questions were tough, we
could separate the Einsteins from the Jones’, but would suck at
determining the Forest Gumps from the Forest Whitakers.
Ideally, we’d administer items from a range of difficulties (or even
better, adapt the test to their performance).
3. Recognize that luck plays a role.

Three people walk into a bar at Harvard—a student, a parent, and
a QP. The bartender says, “entrance into this club’ll cost ya 150 IQ
points.” The son says, “I only scored a 145.” The mom says, “My
son’s a genius, I don’t care what the tests say.” The QP says, “with
a 95% probability, he scored somewhere between 111 and 179.”
(Talk about a lame punch line!)
Implications for Writing

I’m a firm believer that every character needs to have one or more
dominating traits. Sam is loyal while Gollum is self-serving,
Eddard Stark is honorable while Cersei Lannister is despicable,
Ender Wiggin is empathetic while Bonzo Madrid is ruthless,
Hermione is intelligent while Ron is dense. Just like QPs try to
measure ability, as fiction writers we need to convey ability. And
we can steal these same three strategies.
1. Characterize repeatedly.
Every. Single. Page. Should be dripping with cues about what sort
of character your MC is (or for that matter, all characters). A
reader should be able to randomly choose a page and say, “yep,
that’s Tom for ya,” or, “that’s exactly the type of thing that Tom
would say,” or “It doesn’t surprise me at all that Tom would wear
those clothes,” or “I would expect Tom to do something like that.”
Of course there’s always room for surprises and for your
characters to do something uncharacteristic, but that’s where the
next part comes in.
2. Vary the difficulty of the situations.

Wanna show that your MC (we’ll call her Gwendalin) is
compassionate? Okay, so maybe you start with her in the middle
of a war, helping gather people into a bomb shelter. I suppose that
works okay. She’s certainly being compassionate, but at the same
time, there’s something about a major crisis that tugs lots of
people’s heartstrings, even people who typically don’t show
compassion. This is akin to an “easy item” on an exam. If you
really want to illustrate Gwendalin’s compassion, show her
tenderly treating the burns of the man who murdered her son.
Show her offering shelter to a war criminal. Take us to the
boundary of her compassion, and then go further!
Is your character Eddard Stark? Make him choose between honor

and the lives of his daughters! Is your character the brilliant
Sherlock Holmes? Give him an adversary that’s more intelligent
than he (Moriarty). Want to show that Sam is loyal to Froto? Give
him the ring that corrupts everyone and see what he choses then!
Wanna show Jack Shepherd (from Lost) is a skeptic? Have him
face the smoke monster!
3. Luck and Ability.

Both luck and ability play a role in stories, but sometimes stories
rely on one more than the other. There are superman stories,
where the hero always succeeds because they’re totally “awesome”
(boring), and there are the What About Bob stories, where the
hero always succeeds because of luck. Neither extreme is good.
Here’s my rule of thumb: at the end, the character must defeat the
villain because of ability (not luck).
In the middle, let them fail because of bad luck (although having
them fail due to lack of ability also works). She leans in to kiss the
hunky-hunk, but the doorbell rings. He tries to escape prison but
a fire alarm goes off. They fail to steal the diamonds because of a
computer glitch. When in doubt, remember the try/fail cycle.
Having a stellar plot is great, but if it involves characters that we
don’t care about, the sweetness of your spectacular plot will be
muddled, kinda like drinking a vintage wine from a chewed up
sippy cup. But if we can peg your characters because you are
characterizing repeatedly, throwing them in tough situations, and
spoiling success with bad luck (and defeating the villain with
ability), you’ll have characters with enough “muscle” to carry the
plot.
Happy writing!
Proper Lab Technique for SFF Writers
October 29, 2014
About the Expert

Today’s expert is nuclear chemist
Rebecca Enzor. Rebecca has a BS in
biology and chemistry and has
spent the last eight years working as
a nuclear chemist at an
environmental testing laboratory.
She writes most of her fantasy
novels on sticky notes while
dodging explosions in the lab. You can read more about her
obsession with science (and My Little Ponies) at her website or
in her Twitter feed.
Proper Lab Technique for SFF Writers

Thanks for inviting me to guest post, Dan. As you said, my day job
is analytical nuclear chemistry, but I don’t blow things up. Often.
When I do it’s a complete accident and a bit scary. Like the time a
bit of the Manhattan Project exploded…all over my face. Or the
time I dumped radioactive liquid down the front of my pants…a
half hour before I had to leave for the airport. Turns out they don’t
let you leave the country if you’re radioactive (thank goodness I
ripped the pants off in time to keep it from my skin!).
But mostly my job is to test water, soil, and tissue samples for
radioactivity, pesticides, herbicides and PCBs. There are a lot of
steps in this process – a lot of places where it can go wrong – and
we have to have defensible data in court so I have to be very
careful when I’m working. Which is why it bugs me so much when
scientists in books/movies have a laissez-faire attitude towards
how they use their equipment.
What are some of the things you need to keep in mind when
writing about laboratory work? Let’s start with PPE.
Proper Protective Equipment (PPE)

Most books/movies get at least the basics of PPE right. After all,
what’s a scientist without the white lab coat and oversized safety
glasses? And gloves, because no self-respecting scientist is going
to touch anything in a lab without gloves on.
But did you know that you can’t wear tennis shoes in some labs?
My lab requires leather shoes, preferably slip-on so that if you
spill something on them you can quickly slip them off too. You
wouldn’t want to have to untie your shoes when there’s hot acid
all over the laces. Not to mention the hot acid will seep
through the cloth quicker than you can slip the shoe off even if
you don’t have laces.
Do you have long hair? You’ll have to put it in a ponytail. Long
necklace? Leave it at home. Deep V-neck shirt? You should wear
something else. Expose as little skin as possible. Speaking of
exposing as little skin as possible: don’t wear a thong in the lab.
It’s *really* embarrassing when you spill something dangerous on
your pants and have to rip them off, only to leave your butt-cheeks
flapping in the breeze for all to see.
Lab Equipment
Once you’re properly clothed you can finally get to work, but
depending on what you’re doing, you might need some special
equipment. Working with chemicals? You’re going to need a
fumigation hood. (Unless you’re isolating Radium-228, which
they’ll let you do on a counter with no hood, even though the
acetic acid will give you a headache.)
The biggest thing to know if you’re working with a fume hood
is don’t stick your head inside. Because the whole point of the
hood is to capture the dangerous fumes and if you stick your head
in there your nose will capture the fumes instead. There’s also
usually a glass or plastic moveable “door” on the hood that you
want to keep closed as often as possible, not only because fumes
will escape otherwise, but because it’s a great barrier to all those
dangerous chemicals you’re working with. When you add
chemicals to other chemicals, they often splash – sometimes they
explode. If you don’t want them to explode all over you, there
needs to be a barrier.
Other things you might be working with?
o Acid dispensers – definitely use these things in the hood
with the barrier between you.
o Centrifuges – make sure they’ve stopped before you go
sticking your fingers in there.
o Syringes – well this is just a big DUH.
o Glassware – easy to break and cut yourself. Bonus points if
there’s acid, radioactivity, or other nasty things in the
glassware to contaminate your cut.
o Vacuum flasks – when these explode they make an awful
noise and an even more awful mess! Never mix acids and
bases in a vacuum flask.
And then we get to pipettes, which is the whole reason I wrote this
post on Proper Lab Technique.
How Not to Use An Eppendorf Pipette

I’m sure most of you have seen, or at least heard of, James
Cameron’s AVATAR (as opposed to the Avatarwhere the
characters can control the elements). That movie came out in
2009 – five full years ago – and there’s a scene in it that to this
day bugs me. Sigourney Weaver is using a pipette, which is a tool
we use in the lab to transfer a specifically measured amount of
liquid from one container to another.
You hold the pipette upright, depress the plunger, stick it in the
liquid you want to transfer and release the plunger. It sucks the
exact same amount of liquid up each time (we calibrate the
pipettes daily so we know that they are, in fact, sucking the exact
same amount of liquid up each time). You then place the pipette
tip over the container you want to put the liquid into and depress
the plunger again so all the liquid exits. It’s a super easy and
mostly fail-proof way to get the exact same amount of liquid into
each sample. You could do the same with a syringe, but there’s a
lot more human error involved in a syringe.
So Sigourney Weaver is using a pipette, gets the appropriate
amount of liquid into it, and then tips it upside down. *insert
facepalm here*. Friends, I have done this exact same thing on
accident, and do you know what happens when you turn a pipette
full of liquid upside down? The liquid goes into the pipette’s
mechanism and then you can’t use it anymore because it’s
contaminated. Part of the liquid can squirt out too – very
dangerous if you’re using it to transfer radioactive sources. I’ve
done this – on accident – more times than I’d like to admit. And
pipettes are expensive. My boss probably hates me.
I can tell you I’m not the only one who’s noticed this, either. If you
Google “Sigourney Weaver, pipette, avatar” the first hit
is this YouTube video entitled “How Not To Use An Eppendorf
Pipette” and then pages and pages of scientists like myself gasping
in utter horror over her misuse of said pipette. It would be funny,
if I wasn’t still horrified five years after watching a SFF film.
Obviously this one stuck with me.
Respect for Science

The last thing you need to know about writing a scientist in a lab?
We care about what we’re doing. We check constantly to make
sure we’re safe and the people around us are safe. We make sure
we’re doing every step correctly, because a misstep could lead to
bad data…or an explosion.
So never, ever, ever write this sentence: “Scientists have their

heads in the clouds and don’t bother with maintenance.”
Because I will throw your book across the room.
Near-future Scenarios for Humans and
Planet Earth
November 4, 2014
About the Expert

Bianca Nogrady is freelance science
journalist who writes for national
and international publications on
everything from climate change to
obesity to native foods to
supernovas. In any one week,
her work spans the length and
breadth of science, medicine, and
the environment, and she’s never
met a piece of research she didn’t
find fascinating.
Bianca has written two non-fiction
books: (1) The Sixth Wave, which she’ll talk about in a bit,
and (2) The End: The Human Experience of Death, which
attempts to answer the question, “what is death like?”
Her adult science fiction novel BIOHUNTER, set in North
America some 250 years in the future, was the submission I chose
to mentor in Pitch Wars 2014. It’s currently standing outside
the great big sweet shop that is the publishing industry, nose
pressed against the glass, waiting to be invited inside.
Near-future Scenarios for Humans and Planet Earth

For me, one of the greatest privileges of being a writer is being
able to explore the ‘what-ifs?’.
These might be small what-ifs, like exploring what happens to fish
larvae if marine noise pollution stops them finding their way back
to their reef. They might be quirky what-ifs, like finding out how
the waxing and waning of campfires influences our social
development.
But sometimes—and this is happening more and more lately—my
work as a writer forces me to confront the really big hairy scary
what-ifs. Like, “what if the atmospheric concentration of carbon
dioxide climbs above 550 parts per million?”, or “what if we don’t
reduce our reliance on fossil fuels in time to adapt to renewable
energy?”, or “what if the world we are leaving our children is so
harsh that many of them won’t survive it?”.
Over the last ten years of writing as a science journalist, a non-
fiction author, and a fiction author, I have noticed some dramatic
shifts in how I feel about the near-future prospects for our planet
and our species.
Ten years ago, there was a lot of doom-and-gloom in the science
media about our prospects, and dire warnings being thrown about
that we were steering inexorably into an environmental hell-hole.
Many of the stories were about peak oil, peak phosphorous, peak
everything-of-mineral-value; about the melting of polar ice caps
and permafrost; about soaring carbon dioxide levels; and about
how we needed to act.
Then I had the privilege of co-authoring a non-fiction book The
Sixth Wave with my friend Dr. James Bradfield Moody (who also
happens to be an engineer, an innovation theorist, a World
Economic Forum Young Global Leader, and supremely clever
fellow). This book put forward the idea that we are at the
beginning of a huge wave of innovation that, like the
Industrial Revolution, will transform our way of life and our
economy, propelling us into a glorious new paradigm of
sustainability.
The Optimistic Scenario

We envisioned a world in which waste is an opportunity, in which
nature is a source of inspiration for innovation, in which the
digital and natural converge, in which information is global but
stuff is local, and in which we shift towards service-based
thinking, rather than product-based consumption.
It was a wonderfully optimistic book. Despite the lack of initiative
being displayed by governments around the world at successive
climate summits (at the time and still now), it gave me hope that
we may yet innovate to meet the challenges of climate change and
peak resources.
Cutting-Edge Innovations
While researching The Sixth Wave, I learned about some of the
extraordinary innovations that are already a reality, like wave
farms, plastic wood, landfill mining, the pricing of ecosystem
services, green chemistry, car-sharing, software-as-a-service,
smart fridges, aquaponics, and green super-grids. These
innovations are elegant, simple, and sustainable. So many of them
caught my imagination not only as a journalist, but also as a
fiction writer.
When I learned about kite power—which takes the principles of
wind turbines, but gets rid of all the unnecessary structural
components—I immediately pictured a horizon dotted with the
swirling waltz of high altitude wind power kites. I saw a design for
large, gourd-shaped bamboo water collectors, which condense
water out of the air, and knew I just had to find a place for those
in my writing.
For a long time, I was actually excited about what the future
would hold for humanity.
The Pessimistic Scenario

When I began researching my science fiction novel BIOHUNTER,
all of that changed. I wanted to explore what might happen if our
greatest fears came true. What would our planet and our
civilization be like if the worst of climate change came to
pass, and if the resources that our world is founded on
became too difficult and expensive to extract any
more? What if we didn’t have oil or coal or LPG, or iron or silver
or rare earths? What if the polar ice caps largely melted, and sea
levels rose tens of metres? And what if temperature and rainfall
patterns changed so much that large parts of the world became
effectively uninhabitable?
I read a book called The Long Descent by John Michael Greer (up
your antidepressants before reading it, people. Trust me on this),
which explores the theory that we are seeing the beginning of the
end of our civilization. As has happened to so many other grand
civilizations before ours—such as the Aztecs and the Romans—
Greer argues that all we see around us will one day decline and
rot. He predicts it won’t be the apocalypse so many of us fear, but
more a sad, gradual sequences of crashes and contractions as we
descend back into a dark ages. Would the last person to leave New
York please turn out the lights?
This depressing vision permeated my thoughts so much I began to
have apocalyptic dreams of running, clutching my children, as a
rising tide of oil pursued us across a barren landscape under a
filthy sky. I found myself wondering how I and my family would
survive in a world without oil, electricity, or even clean, fresh tap
water. My little vegetable garden took on a whole new meaning, as
I began to imagine what life would be like if we relied entirely on
it for our food.
Predicting The Human Reaction

With these scenarios in mind, I began building the world of
BIOHUNTER. I pictured a world where melting ice caps and
glaciers had led to the flooding of most of the world’s major
metropolises, most of which had already been emptied by extreme
weather events. Heat and drought had rendered large parts of the
world’s food-producing regions barren and uninhabitable.
Governments had fallen as they became unable to provide their
citizens with even the most basic infrastructure. The internet and
cloud had vanished like dust in the wind as grid-fail took down
global electricity networks.
As populations migrated inland in search of reliable sources of
fresh water and agricultural land, they formed their own self-
governing, self-sustaining settlements, powered by renewable
energy harvested from the sun and the wind, with not a fossil fuel
in sight. Settlements grew and raised what they could to feed
themselves, and traded for the rest.
The World of BIOHUNTER

In the world of BIOHUNTER, while there are now far fewer of us
left alive, thanks to the pressures of famine, disease, and war, but
there’s still not enough to go around. Resource wars rage, but
instead of wasting precious metal on bullets and bombs, conflicts
are settled with bioweapons. They’re easy to brew, don’t take
much material, and they’re a guaranteed way to clear out a nice
settlement and move in.
I thought this was all very depressing and apocalyptic, until I had
a conversation with a friend who commented that everything
(apart from the biowarfare) actually seemed quite utopian.
When I began to think about it, the world of BIOHUNTER was
also the world of The Sixth Wave, although it reaches that relative
utopia only after having gone through the wringer of Greer’s Long
Descent. I began to see that many of the innovations that James
and I had envisaged when writing The Sixth Wavewere
manifesting in the world of BIOHUNTER.
It’s still a harsh, cruel world. Civil conflict rages between
settlements over resources that we currently take for granted:
clean water, arable land, salt, flour, or even human resources. And
biowarfare is brutal and indiscriminate. It’s no longer about
soldier fighting soldier. It is an outright war of attrition where the
victor takes all. The weapons are deadly and invisible, which
makes them very difficult to protect against. The current epidemic
of Ebola provides a clear example of just how much damage
something as minuscule as a virus can inflict on a population.
The Rise of Solarpunk

And then I discovered solarpunk. It was one of those
serendipitous moments where my day job (journalism) and night
job (aspiring novelist) came together.
The editor of an environment news service asked me to look into
the nascent solarpunk movement for a feature. I discovered a
young sub-genre that is reaching for a more positive, sustainable,
and realistic view of humanity’s near-future. While Biohunter
shows a world rising from the ashes, solarpunk wills for us to
achieve the same result without having to hit rock-bottom first.
As solarpunk advocate and brand strategist Adam Flynn wrote, in
a post on the Heiroglyph website, “We’re solarpunks because the
only other options are denial or despair.” The solarpunk
movement, which is unique in having emerged largely as a
hashtag on Tumblr and Twitter, takes some inspiration from an
article written by author Neal Stephenson in the World Policy
Journal in 2011, which called for science fiction to deliver
some much-needed ‘techno-optimism’ to the population,
and enthusiasm to scientists and engineers.
So, after all these ups and downs, I’m now allowing myself to feel
a little bit of optimism that we may yet find our way to a positive
future.
Research Your Writing: How to Ask an
Expert
November 20, 2014
Recently, a reader asked me if I could find

someone to discuss whether utilities might
function in a a post-apocalyptic world. It’s
the kind of question you need an engineer
to answer, and I just happened to know
one.
About the Expert

Eric Primm is an engineer for Boeing and
has spent the past nine years making sure
the wings don’t fall off various aircraft. He writes fiction about
philosophers and non-fiction about martial arts. You can find his
musings on the arts on the STL Counterpoint blog.
Eric and I live in the same city, and we met through the fiction
writing courses at Washington University. He will forever be on
my A-list for telling me to go read Scott Lynch and Joe
Abercrombie (now two of my favorite authors).
Research Your Writing: How to Ask an Expert

There exists a delicate balance in the world of fiction between just
enough and too much scientific knowledge. The author must
always know more about a subject than the reader, but the story
needs only the information necessary to make the world feel real.
To conform to reality, authors research and research and research
a subject. A conversation with an expert is one research option. I
say conversation because most likely the expert will have
questions of her own. If a dialogue isn’t possible, then these few
helpful hints will help the author ask more efficient questions.
I’ve been an engineer for half of my life now1, and I’m
approaching my second decade of viewing questions through the
lens of engineering. It’s not a well kept secret that my profession
is cautious one. This is especially true of corporate engineers
where millions of dollars are at stake. Think about all the aircraft
in the sky that were designed over fifty years ago. Someone had to
worry about the lives on that plane far into the future. So, when
someone asks an engineer a question, caution is our first
approach.
Let’s start with an example question for an expert: “[Would]
water, telephone lines, and other utilities function in a post-
apocalyptic world without a major power grid?” For an engineer,
this question is simply a starting point. There are too many
unknowns for a useful answer. This isn’t to say that it’s a bad
question; it’s a good example for showing how normal people can
communicate with engineers2. For this essay, I will assume the
question is for use in the science fiction genre because in fantasy
the answer can be whatever the author wants it to be.
The author should provide the expert with a little background
information. With a more detailed question, the expert can
provide a specific answer, and each detail will have a dramatic
effect on the world of the story as well. In the question above
“…post-apocalyptic world without a major power grid” I
immediately wondered:
1. What does without a major power grid mean? Does this
mean that the power stations are no longer working? Or are
the power stations working but the ‘grid’ itself – the wires
and transformers – are somehow destroyed?
2. What caused the power grid to go down? For example, a
hacker shutting down power generation plants has different
physical consequences than if an electromagnetic pulse
(EMP) is the cause of the apocalypse. Whereas a hacker can
shutdown the generation of power, an EMP will fry non-
shielded circuits in all electronics. Massive tornadoes could
tear apart the wires while missing the power generation
stations. So, the cause will change the answer.
A plot synopsis is not necessary for the expert to answer the
question as well. A sentence or two should suffice. The expert
doesn’t need to know about the terrorists’ years of being dosed on
LSD by the CIA to understand why they distributed the zombie
plague upon the world. She needs to know that the power plant
don’t work because instead of doing their jobs, the uninfected
workers chose to hide out in their local Costco to wait out their
eventual death3. Be careful of providing too much plot detail
because red herrings work for the story, not for the research.
The writer should expect to receive more information than
needed. An expert is an expert for a reason; he has invested time
and effort into his chosen profession. The information provided
will contain nuggets that are important but may not be necessary
for the story. Remember that the author needs to know more than
the reader. Well, the expert is going to make sure the author
knows a lot. It’s the author’s job to figure out what is important
and what isn’t.
It may take a few follow up questions to get to the answer needed.
The author should avoid expecting a one stop solution. Asking an
expert isn’t like googling an answer. It will provide a more holistic
knowledge than just reading a webpage. Patience on both sides is
the key to finding a mutual understanding. By asking the expert, a
deeper knowledge of the subject is possible.
Taking into account all of this advice, if I were to rework the
question, I’d start with this: “Would utilities function in a post-
apocalyptic world where major power grids were destroyed by
nuclear detonations in the atmosphere? A war between Belgium
and Costa Rica escalates to a global conflagration4. Nuclear
nations set off enough nukes to ensure that the entire surface of
the earth is bathed in EMP.” Or “Tornados rip through the middle
of Kansas shearing all power lines. The tornados miss the town of
Opolis but cut off their connection with the Wichita power plant.
Would utilities function all power transmission lines destroyed?”
To answer the question, utilities require electricity. So, if the
power goes down, water will only flow for as long as the pressure
in the pipes remains because the pumps that build the pressure
will be without power. The electricity required to power switch
boards and server farms will eventually run out leaving phones
useless. Either way, if the electricity stops flowing or the paths
that the electricity travels are damaged, the ending is the same.
Hopefully, the expert’s knowledge make the author think deeply
about the story. Because in the end, the more thought out the
author’s world will result in a better story.
Footnotes
1. That’s a mild panic attack right there, ladies and gentlemen.
2. Yes, engineers can be normal people, too. But why would they want to be
when they can play with math instead?
3. In this scenario, the power plant would eventually shut down, and the
electricity used in the utility plants would shut off at some point. But the
grid is not affected, and the wires inside Costco are not harmed. Thus, with
a few generators, the last humans in Costco can party like Prince did in
1999. At this post, Costco should really be sponsoring this essay.
4. Try to use conflagration wherever you can. It’s a great word.
Explosions in Science Fiction
November 26, 2014
About the Expert

Back by popular request this week
are Gwen C. Katz and her husband
Jordan. The chemistry duo
previously set us straight on some of
the chemical fallacies in fiction.
Here’s a little about them:
Jordan: Jordan has a BS in

chemistry and has worked with
adhesives and polymer science for
the last ten years. His specialties
include “green” chemistry, which
involves coming up with more
environmentally friendly
alternatives to existing chemistry or
formulations. Jordan is made up of chemicals and likes thinking
about them.
Gwen: Gwen has a BA in chemistry (it’s complicated): She did
conservation research in a museum, helping museums develop
better ways to preserve art and prevent fading and damage, before
quitting to become a full-time writer. She has an opinionated
blog and you can also yell at her on Twitter.
Explosions in Science Fiction

Gwen: So what are we talking about this time?
Jordan: Explosions.
Gwen: Ah, yes. My college lab manager called it “cratering,” as in
“failure to vent the separatory funnel may result in unwanted
cratering.”
Jordan: Writing is thankfully less hazardous. It should go
without saying, but don’t try any of this at home.
Gwen: You probably already know about the problems with
explosions in space. Quick recap: There is no sound in space and
fire can’t burn in a vacuum.
Jordan: A spaceship could blow up, but the explosion would
have to start inside the ship where there is oxygen.
Gwen: And without any air to carry it, the shockwave would
quickly dissipate.
Jordan: That’s another thing: The shockwave from an explosion
is usually the most dangerous part. The difference in pressure as it
goes by can blow eardrums, cause concussions, and even kill a
person outright.
Gwen: Grievous bodily injury from shrapnel or from being
thrown around and hitting things is the other major cause of
death, especially with military-grade weapons like grenades and
shells, which are designed to fragment in the way that causes the
most injury.
Jordan: Explosions are fast. Most of the time, you won’t have a
chance to do more than flinch. You certainly can’t outrun one.
Gwen: A volcanic pyroclastic flow moves at upwards of 400 mph,
for instance. Even a light aircraft couldn’t escape that.
Jordan: Most modern explosives aren’t actually very volatile, for
obvious safety reasons. You can light C4 on fire without making it
explode.
Gwen: The most lively common explosive is nitroglycerin, which
can be set off by dropping it or shaking the container.
Jordan: Even gasoline is less flammable than it is in movies. If
you toss a lit cigarette into gasoline, it will go out. It’s simply not
hot enough. You need an open flame.
Gwen: On the other hand, given an optimal fuel/air mixture, all
kinds of things can become explosive. Fine dust created in
industrial processes is responsible for many accidents. In 2008, a
sugar refinery exploded when a spark ignited the sugar dust.
Jordan: And of course the West, Texas explosion last year was
caused by stored fertilizer. Substances like that are especially
dangerous, since chemically they contain oxygen, which is
required for combustion. Basically, it’s a self-contained system.
Gwen: Our relatives in Texas keep telling us what great
chemistry job opportunities there are out there. It just doesn’t
seem worth it.
Jordan: I mentioned oxygen. Everybody knows the triangle of
combustion: Fuel, heat, and oxygen. But the trick is that,
depending on what’s burning, the oxygen doesn’t always have to
come from air.
Gwen: In some situations, it can come from carbon dioxide or
even from water. Magnesium burns this way, which makes it very
hard to extinguish. It’s used in incendiary bombs.
Jordan: You probably don’t think of metals as being flammable,
but magnesium is easy to light and it burns very hot. It burns a
bright white color.
Gwen: The worst accident in the history of motorsport, the 1955
Le Mans disaster, involved a car with magnesium alloy parts. It
caught fire and rescue workers attempted to put the fire out with
water, which only intensified the fire. The car burned for hours.
Jordan: Metals often burn in dramatic ways. Strontium
compounds burn with a nice red color. They’re used in road flares.
Fireworks use other metals to create blue, green, and other colors.
Gwen: Sodium is another exciting one: It can catch on fire when
it comes in contact with water. Potassium and cesium are even
more dramatic.
Jordan: Explosions are fun, but books and movies often neglect
less flashy effects of heat and being near hot things.
Gwen: Right–they tend to treat hot things like they can’t hurt
you unless you actually touch them. But ambient heat can be a
serious danger. For instance, when Obi-Wan and Anakin are
fighting on platforms a few feet above a giant lake of molten lava
in Star Wars Episode 3, they ought get heat exhaustion, even if the
poisonous fumes from the volcano didn’t take them out first.
Jordan: People can walk on lava flows in Hawaii because it has
already cooled and crusted over. Most of the heat is trapped on
the inside.
Gwen: Speaking of lava flows, you can’t sink into lava. It’s a
liquid, but it’s still as dense as rock. If you fell into lava, you’d float
on top of it. Same with molten metal.
Jordan: Metallurgy is its own topic that we’re not going to
address in detail.
Gwen: Alas, it’s outside our area of expertise. But we do
encourage you to read up on it if you’re writing about ancient
weaponry. The capabilities of steel weapons versus iron versus
bronze vary greatly.
Jordan: We can touch on a couple of points. First, there’s
corrosion. Most metals quickly rust without proper care, so you
won’t find a thousand-year-old sword with a blade that can still
cut. Not even if there’s a prophecy about it.
Gwen: Sorry, Isildur.
Jordan: Aluminum is the big exception. When aluminum begins
to corrode, the aluminum oxide forms a protective layer that
prevents it from corroding further.
Gwen: Bronze can also form a pretty patina instead of corroding
if conditions are right. And, of course, gold.
Jordan: But you won’t find ancient artifacts made of aluminum
anyway, since the refinement of bauxite was only invented in the
late 19th century.
Gwen: Conversely, metals require oxygen to rust, so a spaceship
or space station that never enters the atmosphere shouldn’t look
rusty and discolored, no matter how old it is.
Jordan: Well, that’s all we’ve got for today.
Gwen: We hope this will help the next time your characters need
to blow something up, light something on fire, or otherwise create
mayhem.
Misconceptions about Memory in Fiction
December 4, 2014
About the Expert

Anne M. Lipton, M.D., Ph.D. (@AnneLipton)
is a behavioral neurologist who specializes in
dementia. She has several academic books to
her credit and has written an adult mystery
and several picture books.
Memory in Fiction and the Realities of

Remembering
First we’ll tackle some of the myths about memory in fiction.
Myth #1 Memory = attention (or language or visuospatial skills

or all of the above).
Sometimes people conflate memory with another cognitive
(mental) domain—or all of them. For example, a person may have
difficulty recognizing faces (prosopagnosia) and this perceptual
difficulty (agnosia) may be misinterpreted as a problem recalling
names.
Reality: Memory refers to specific cognitive processes for

the encoding (processing), storage, andrecall (retrieval) of
information. These functions are analogous to writing a message,
filing it away, and getting it out later and reading it.
Memory may be divided into declarative (explicit) memory,
which can be tested verbally, and non-declarative (implicit-
procedural) memory, involving perception and motor skills, such
as riding a bike or playing an instrument. Episodic
memory (recall of events) and semantic memory (one’s
“encyclopedia” of learned facts) are types of declarative memory.
Anatomically, different brain regions mediate different aspects of
memory. Key among these are parts of the brain’s frontal
lobes and temporal lobes. Named for its seahorse-shape,
the hippocampusand its associated entorhinal cortex are
essential structures for explicit memory. The hippocampus is part
of the limbic system, which includes the amygdala, a structure
underlying basic drives and emotions.
Besides memory, the other main areas of cognition (thinking)
are:
o Attention/concentration,
o Language
o Visuospatial functioning
o Executive functioning, which refers to higher-order cognitive
processes such as insight, judgment, planning, and
organization.
o
Myth #2 Memory is a static, stand-alone function.
Numerous examples of what I like to call “Made-for-TV
amnesia” abound in movies and books like The Bourne
Identity (or the lack thereof). In such cases, a character (+/- head
injury) finds himself in a strange place or situation and can’t
remember his name. He is otherwise healthy, alert, walking, and
talking. Somehow, he can recall the names of things like phones,
boats, or passports (words that one usually learns well after one’s
name). He can learn new information and also remembers how to
drive, etc. Memory doesn’t work like this.
Reality: Memory doesn’t operate in isolation. It works in concert
with sensory input to the brain. It is distinct from, but intertwined
with other cognitive domains such as attention. People often see
memory as operating independently of these other processes, but
the system is interdependent. Language and memory are so tied
together in terms of how we humans communicate and remember
that memory is often classified in terms of verbal and non-
verbal recall.
Visual memory tends to be the non-verbal type of most clinical
interest. But other types of nonverbal memory can be just as
important, if not more so, in daily life—and writing. Proust’s
madeleine in Remembrance of Things Past is a sweet example of
gustatory (taste) memory:
“And suddenly the memory revealed itself. The taste was that of
the little piece of madeleine which on Sunday mornings at
Combray (because on those mornings I did not go out before
mass), when I went to say good morning to her in her bedroom ,
my aunt Léonie used to give me, dipping it first in her own cup of
tea…”—Marcel Proust, Remembrance of Things Past
Memory also has temporal patterns. Most laypeople use the terms
short-term and long-term memory, but neuroscientists generally
refer to working memory and reference memory or else
immediate (short-term), recent (e.g., current events), and remote
(long-term) recall.
Because of the interconnectedness of cognitive processes, memory
loss that is sudden and severe is likely to be associated with other
medical or psychological issues. If a head injury (or similar insult)
is severe enough, one may have retrograde amnesia (memory
loss for past information and events), particularly if there is
altered consciousness. But this would be most profound for events
around the time of the trauma. I buy that Bourne or whoever may
have such amnesia, but this would be unlikely to extend only to
longstanding aspects of his identity while sparing more recent and
mundane matters. It should be the other way round. Ribot’s law
of retrograde amnesia refers to the common phenomenon in
which more recent memories are forgotten to a greater degree
than more remote ones.
Someone with a traumatic brain injury (TBI) or the like may also
experience anterograde amnesia(difficulty learning and
remembering new information). Bourne doesn’t seem to have a
problem with “new learning,” which also makes his selectively
impaired recall less credulous: the more severe a trauma causing
amnesia, the more likely that anterograde amnesia will occur.
There’s no singular or centralized memory center that you can
obliterate to erase all of someone’s memories. Although, if you
want to come close, destruction of each hippocampus on either
side of the brain (= the bilateral hippocampi), can produce severe
anterograde amnesia.
To suddenly forget one’s name, other identifying traits, and all the
major players in one’s life, while functioning otherwise normally,
is not easily explained by a head injury or other neurological
insult. Even in Transient Global Amnesia (TGA), the name
overstates the case, as the amnesia is often not total. Moreover, it
is often linked to an underlying medical condition, such as blood
vessel (vascular) disease or migraines. Drugs don’t make you
forget who you are unless they cause you to become so delirious
(delirium = acute confusional state) that you begin
having delusions (false beliefs).
Forgetting one’s self while everything else seems normal doesn’t
fit with the anatomy or temporal patterns of memory, suggesting
a psychogenic amnesia. Rarely, after extreme physical and/or
psychological trauma, such as severe abuse, or another situation
someone wishes to escape, a person may enter a “dissociative
fugue.” (E.g., the man who washes up on the beach who can’t
recall his own name but can play the piano and learn the names of
new people he meets. Someone experiencing such a state may
even adopt a new identity.)
A person who has completely forgotten his or her identity and
journeys to find it again makes for a great story, which is probably
why this plot point is so popular, even if it is so improbable.
Our oldest and most-often used memories (e.g., our names) are
what we memory specialists sometimes like to call “overlearned”
information or what laypeople sometimes call “hard-wired.”
Unless you suffer serious trauma (with accompanying medical
symptoms), you are unlikely to suddenly forget your home or your
family or your job or all the everyday things that make you who
you are. Of course, sometimes people may develop a neurological
illness that gradually affects memory.
A dementia is one example of such a progressive (i.e.,
progressively worsening) neurodegenerative disorder, which
adversely affects cognition (often memory) and interfering with
daily functioning. However, even in the case of a dementia such as
Alzheimer’s disease, your name is likely to be the last thing that
you forget.
Myth #3 The perfect memory.

It’s right up there with the perfect murder and the unsinkable
ship. Memories often fade with time or become reworked.
Certainly, some people have better memory abilities than others,
memory can improve with practice, and certain techniques
(referred to as “mnemonics”) can aid memory. However, anyone
who remembered everything would have a difficult time making it
through everyday life (beautifully illustrated in the classic short
story “Funes, the Memorious” by Jorge Luis Borges). Besides,
flawed characters are much more interesting. Every superman
should have his kryptonite.
Reality: Memory is rather imperfect. Which is not necessarily a
bad thing. Although it can be, say if your fate depends on the
testimony of eyewitnesses, who are notoriously unreliable.
Memory has its limits. It is easier to retrieve a memory using cues
(recognition memory) than via spontaneous (or free) recall.
Repetition can aid memory—or alter it. The human penchant for
pattern recognition may likewise help or bias our memory. Roast,
roast, roast, roast. What do you put in a toaster? (Hint: not toast).
When it comes to memory in fiction, here’s a few things to, er,
remember:
1. Know your terms.
2. Be specific.
3. Be subtle.
3/15/2015 How the Ocean Will Kill You Dan Koboldt
How the Ocean Will Kill You

January 1, 2015 by dankoboldt — Leave a Comment

Fantasy blog series. Each week, we tackle one of the scientific
or technological concepts pervasive in science fiction — space
travel, genetic engineering, artificial intelligence, etc. — with
input from an expert.
Please join the mailing list to be notified every time new

content is posted.
About the Expert

Danna Staaf has a Ph.D. in marine biology and works as a
freelance science writer. She also writes science fiction and Credit: micadew and
fantasy for adults and children, and has a special fondness for davehamster on Flickr
squid. You should follow her on Twitter.
How The Ocean Will Kill You, and Other Salty Truths
The ocean covers 71% of our planet and probably leaks into at least that much of our collectiv
psyche. You can’t dip your toe in a tidepool without getting bitten by symbolism. The depths o
the sea are humanity’s unconscious; maritime weather is fickle fate; fish represent Jesus; and
the white whale—well, we all know about him.
http://dankoboldt.com/howtheoceanwillkillyou/ 1/7
The ocean has shaped high fantasy like Ursula K. LeGuin’s Earthsea series and hard sci-fi like
David Brin’s Uplift books, adventures like Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and thrillers
like Benchley’s Jaws.
The immense popularity of these last two titles, however, has contributed to one of the most
common misconceptions about the ocean among readers and writers alike.
The ocean can kill you, but probably not the way you think.
When they hear that the ocean is dangerous, most people think of great white sharks, giant
squid, maybe even sea serpents. But the most dangerous thing in the ocean is actually . . .
water. Because you can’t breathe it.
In the US, about 3500 people die every year by drowning, and half of these occur in what th
CDC calls “natural water” settings: the ocean, lakes and rivers. Compare 1750 annual deaths by
natural water to less than one by shark (some years there are no fatal shark attacks) and zero
by squid (there’s never been a confirmed fatal squid attack).
That’s why real people who work or play in the ocean, like
divers and sailors and surfers, take safety seriously and
focus primarily on the risks of drowning and exposure.
Fictional characters should do the same. The Law of
Conservation of Detail may prevent you from waxing lyrical
about your kayaking protagonist’s life jacket, but at least
you can make sure your divers follow the buddy system.
On the flip side, if you do want to hurt or kill a character in

the ocean, it’s tragically easy to find inspiration in real
headlines. Operating a boat under the influence. Night
swimming alone. Ignoring the dive computer’s warnings. Blue Ringed Octopus (Credit:
DiveNet)
But I know, I know. Sometimes you just have to threaten
your characters with a deadly animal. In that case, may I
suggest a cone snail or a blue-ringed octopus?
Most of the animals in the ocean are not whales, dolphins, or fish.
Or even (as much as it pains me to admit it) giant squid. In fact, the ocean is Earth’s premier
showcase for the sheer diversity of animal life. It’s got dancing flatworms, sea cucumbers that
breathe through their anuses, sailing jellyfish, octopuses that dress up like shrimp, shrimp tha
can break your thumb faster than you can blink . . . I could go on.
Most of these creatures are invertebrates, animals without a backbone. And some are truly
bizarre. In college, my invertebrate zoology professor said that if he had to pick a group of
animals that came from outer space, it would be the echinoderms (starfish, sea urchins, and
sea cucumbers). Instead of having a left and right side like we’re used to, they have five-pointe
symmetry. Instead of a proper circulatory system, they pump raw seawater through their
bodies, using the pressure of the water to move their feet. They can regenerate their arms and
even their guts. Aliens among us, indeed.
In fact, many writers have drawn inspiration from this realm for creating alien or fantasy life
forms. (Writing Outside the Human Box tackled this topic in excellent detail). Marine
invertebrates offer an almost endless diversity of shapes, forms and behaviors to stir the
imagination.
And if you’re writing horror, try looking up marine invertebrate parasites. Tongue-eating
isopods, anyone?
But if you’re not inventing new species or traumatizing your readers, if you’re just writing a few
boat scenes or a romantic walk on the beach, do you really need to know about all this
biodiversity? Plenty of people who live in coastal towns never see much more than seagulls an
the occasional whale. However, it’s worth remembering that today’s ocean is the product of
centuries of overfishing.
The ocean we’re used to is unnaturally empty
Are you writing historical fiction or creating a fantasy/alternate world? Try filling the oceans
brimful with turtles and fish twice the size of a person. Pack in the whales like sardines.
Consider reading accounts of historical abundance, like this passage from the memoir Two
Years Before the Mast, in the year 1834:
“ We were surrounded far and near by shoals of sluggish whales and grampuses,
which the fog prevented our seeing, rising slowly to the surface, or perhaps lying out
at length, heaving out those lazy, deep, and long-drawn breathings which give such
an impression of supineness and strength. . . . I stood leaning over the bulwarks,
listening to the slow breathings of the mighty creatures—now one breaking the
water just alongside, whose black body I almost fancied I could see through the fog;
and again another, which I could just hear in the distance—until the low and regular
swell seemed like the heaving of the ocean’s might bosom to the sound of its own
heavy and long-drawn respirations.
On the other hand, are you writing about the future? Consider that whales may become wholl
extinct, as in the charmingly cheesy Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. Sad to say, it’s also
reasonable to speculate that we may lose all the coral reefs, sea turtles, and sea birds.
We often think of the ocean as powerful and dangerous. It is. But at the same time, many
marine animals and ecosystems are fragile and endangered. To incorporate both aspects in ou
writing is to give to the sea what we try to give to all of our characters—depth.
Please Share the #ScienceInSF

Click to Tweet How the ocean will kill you, with marine biologist Danna Staaf:
http://bit.ly/1Af985f Part of the #ScienceInSF series by @DanKoboldt
Click to Tweet Common misconceptions about the ocean, w/ marine biologist Danna Staaf:
http://bit.ly/1Af985f #1: How it kills you. #ScienceInSF @DanKoboldt
Writing Outside the Human Box
3/15/2015 Computer and Internet Myths in Fiction Dan Koboldt
Computer and Internet Myths in Fiction

January 8, 2015 by dankoboldt — Leave a Comment

Fantasy blog series. Each week, we tackle one of the
scientific or technological concepts pervasive in science
fiction — space travel, genetic engineering, artificial
intelligence, etc. — with input from an expert.

content is posted.
About the Expert

Matt Perkins was writing code long before he was writing
fiction. He has over 15 years of industry experience
designing, building, and supporting web applications and
enterprise software for clients large and small. Part two of
his sci-fi suspense/thriller series Winterwakers will be
available January 27 in all major eBook stores. Follow Matt
on Twitter, or like him on Facebook.
Computer and Internet Misconceptions in Fiction

Here’s a hard truth for anyone writing sci-fi, fantasy, or any other form of speculative fiction: a
http://dankoboldt.com/computerinternetmythsfiction/ 1/8
big part of your audience knows a lot more about computers than you do. If you choose to
feature computing or the Internet in your work, you run a big risk of stretching credibility for
these readers, who are, sadly, accustomed to being disappointed by portrayals of technology i
fiction. Missteps like these take the reader out of the story, and hurt their suspension of
disbelief. With a large percentage of today’s populace working in IT, these tech-savvy readers
are too numerous to ignore.
Though reality isn’t always as exciting as the bad assumptions we’ve grown accustomed to,
there are still plenty of opportunities for excitement and conflict in the digital world that you
can use to your advantage. Your techie readers will certainly appreciate your attention to deta
plus, your respect for the reality of modern computing will make your story stand out in a
crowd of tech ignorance.
Myth 001: The Know-It-All Computer Geek

You probably wouldn’t expect Maytag to make a good car, nor would you expect Volkswagen t
make a good dishwasher. And I bet you wouldn’t want a psychiatrist doing your liver transplan
The world of computing is as highly specialized as engineering or medicine, if not more so. Thi
is why the trope of the computer geek character who effortlessly masters every piece of
technology in existence is so irritating: it’s impossible for one person to be that knowledgeable
Computers today are so complex and diverse, they are quite literally beyond the understandin
of any one person.
Real IT pros tend to specialize in one small subset of computing, gaining deep knowledge and
experience in their chosen discipline. When they encounter a problem outside their area of
expertise, they consult with a specialist in that domain, much like a doctor would. Large
companies employ dozens, if not hundreds of diverse specialists, while small organizations
typically outsource their most demanding IT tasks to firms that provide these services. Nobody
hires an IT generalist — even if such a person existed, the “jack of all trades, master of none”
principle would apply.
In any case, having one character who can solve every tech problem imaginable is lazy writing
That doesn’t mean your computer geek can’t try to solve a given problem — there’s nothing a
good techie likes more than a challenging puzzle — but you must put realistic limits on his
abilities. There will be certain things he won’t be able to do, no matter how smart he is.
For your reference, some (definitely not all) of the most common areas of IT specialization are
Software Developer/Engineer: these are the people who create and update software
(apps).
OS Developer: sub-speciality of the above; these guys work on the underlying operating
system of the computer (e.g. Windows, Android).
Database Administrator: builds and maintains databases, big and small. Database
security is part of their job.
Network Administrator: builds and maintains computer networks, keeps everything
connected. Quite often handles network security as well.
Hardware Engineer: designs, builds, or maintains the hardware components of
computers and computer accessories. This profession has a lot of sub-specialities, as you
can probably imagine.
Technical Support: these are the people who pick up the phone when someone has a
problem with their computer. They fix basic issues on their own, and triage the more
complex problems to other IT people.
Myth 010: Quick and Easy Hacking

We’ve all seen this one: a hacker sits in front of a hostile computer (or even a keypad on a
locked door), types a magical sequence of characters/digits, then smiles and says those two
thrilling words: “I’m in.” The door opens, the files are downloaded, the missile launch is
aborted, and the protagonists have succeeded again, all thanks to the mighty hacker and her
arcane computer knowledge.
This is patently absurd, especially the door-and-keypad scenario. Please don’t ever write
anything like this. It’s lazy and unrealistic, and few computer tropes will cause more techie eye
rolls than this one.
Want to know the “magic” secret behind most real-world hacks? Someone was careless with
their password, and a hacker got a hold of it. The Sony Pictures hack of 2014 is a perfect
example of this: a sysadmin’s password was used to gain full access to their network. There’s n
magic, no secret “open sesame” codes — just stolen network credentials. A hack like this is no
more sophisticated than a liquor store robbery.
So, how do hackers obtain passwords? There are plenty of possibilities. The most common is
basic negligence on the part of the account holder. At a previous job, my colleagues and I
would always joke that if you flipped over ten of our client’s keyboards, you’d find nine
passwords. Worse, a lot of clueless users have passwords that are very easy to guess, like
“password”, or “letmein” (side note: for your own sake, please come up with a password that’s
long and complex, but easy for you to remember). In a few cases, a software vulnerability in
weak or out-of-date software can expose passwords to someone who knows where to look; th
is exactly what the Heartbleed bug in OpenSSL was about. And, of course, there’s the old
fashioned way: you can give the sysadmin a briefcase full of cash, or point a gun at his head.
There’s a saying in information security: your network is only as secure as your weakest IT
employee.
One possibility is to have the hack be an inside job, which is alarmingly common in the real
world. In my Winterwakers series, the hacker protagonist is a network support tech whose job
grants him legitimate access to plenty of computer networks.
Myth 011: The One and Only Copy

“I have the last remaining copy of your mom’s secret banana pancake recipe,” cackled the
villain. “Give me the nuclear launch codes, or I delete it forever!”
This one always makes me laugh. Data is everywhere, and it’s virtually immortal. This is true
now more than ever, with real-time backups and cloud drives being the new normal.
Companies and governments know their data is precious and treat it accordingly, employing
frequent backups and redundant storage. If something ever gets erased, either deliberately or
accidentally, it’s a trivial matter to bring it back from the dead. Conversely, finding and erasing
all traces of a file from all these backups and redundant systems is a complex, laborious task.
Even private individuals today have access to very strong data protection. Home backup drives
are quite common and easy to use, and cloud storage services like Dropbox and iCloud
preserve your data in secure servers you can access anytime, anywhere.
Assuming none of your backups or clouds have you covered, there are still ways you can
retrieve deleted files. Consumer apps exist that find deleted data and reconstitute it, often wit
perfect success. Data recovery pros have access to even more advanced tools, and can
sometimes recover files from fire or flood-damaged computers.
If you want data to be lost or inaccessible to your characters, consider encryption instead of
deletion. A properly encrypted file is nearly impossible to crack without the decryption key (th
rules in “Quick and Easy Hacking” apply here as well).
100: Enhance From Nothing

This one has been used and abused countless times in police procedurals and sci-fi thrillers
alike. Using what appears to be simple computer software, a tech transforms a grainy,
indistinct image into a crisp, sharp rendering of a license plate, an address, or a person’s face.
Fictional techs can zoom in and enhance virtually any image the hard-nosed detective throws a
them.
Reality is nowhere near this convenient. A computer image is stored as a grid of pixels: tiny
colored squares that combine to create a picture. When you zoom in on an image, all the
computer can do is make those pixels larger, which just looks like a blockier version of the
same image. The software can’t add more pixels — it has no way of knowing what’s supposed
to be there after the image was created.
That said, if you had a massive, hi-res image, it might in fact be possible to zoom in on it and
get better detail, simply because of the sheer number of pixels available. Beware of making th
assumption, though. A Youtube-quality (i.e. not that great) video weighs in at around 3 GB per
hour of footage. Higher resolution uncompressed video files are hundreds of times that size. I
your villain’s secret compound has dozens of security cameras (as all good secret compounds
do), the data storage demands of hi-def video would be cost-prohibitive, if not massively taxin
on the hardware. This is why security camera footage is so grainy: if it wasn’t, you’d only be ab
to store a few minutes at a time.
Instead of zoom-and-enhance, real police departments use quantity over quality. Cameras are
everywhere nowadays, and most positive ID’s are made by examining and comparing images
from multiple cameras, usually without the aid of software. Learn from the real world and don
lazily rely on this well-worn trope: make your characters work hard to crack that case.
Computers can do many amazing things, but magically enhancing an image to move your plot
along isn’t one of them.

Click to Tweet Computer and internet myths in fiction, by tech expert @mrperki:
http://bit.ly/1xHZwk3 Part of the #ScienceInSF series by @DanKoboldt
http://bit.ly/1xHZwk3 Myth #1: the know-it-all computer geek #ScienceInSF
http://bit.ly/1xHZwk3 Myth #2: quick and easy hacking #ScienceInSF
Researchers Gone Wild
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3/15/2015 8 Things Authors Should Know About Viruses Dan Koboldt
8 Things Authors Should Know About Viruses

January 22, 2015 by dankoboldt — 3 Comments


content is posted.
About the Expert

E.E. Giorgi is a computational biologist at the Los Alamos
National Laboratory. She has been working on HIV since
2006. She spends her days analyzing genetic data, her
evenings chasing sunsets, and her nights pretending she’s
somebody else. On her blog, E.E. discusses science for the
inquiring mind, especially the kind that sparks fantastic premises and engaging stories.
Her detective thriller CHIMERAS, a medical mystery, is a 2014 Readers’ Favorite International
Book Award winner, and her futuristic sci-fi thriller GENE CARDS is a Stargazer Literary Prizes
finalist winner.
http://dankoboldt.com/8thingsaboutviruses/ 1/11
8 THings Authors Should Know About Viruses

My 12-year-old is a very picky reader. I never managed to get him hooked on Harry Potter,
Percy Jackson or any of those bestselling characters, but he’s read the Hobbit and all three
books in The Lord of the Rings trilogy when he was 10. So when he came home with a new boo
from the library and devoured it in three days I was in awe. I picked up the book and started
reading it, eager to find out what this author had done to enthuse my child.
The premise hooked me, but the ending had my jaw drop. I put the book down, called my 12-
year-old, and lectured him on viruses from A to Z. My kid knows I work on HIV, so I told him
about some very special people—we call them elite controllers—who have the virus but, unlik
the vast majority of HIV-infected people, they never get sick with AIDS. I told my son that we d
not kill those people to study their brains, we do not torture them to see how they react, we do
not keep infecting them over and over again, and we do not use them as guinea pigs.
My son listened to everything I had to say, then nodded and went back to read the rest of the
books in the awful-virus trilogy.
I’ll admit that viruses make fantastic plot devices for science fiction. I’m a writer myself and I’v
used them in virtually every book I’ve written so far. They are the subtlest of serial killers. And
you ever want to see how an investigation is conducted to catch any of these microscopic seria
killers, watch And The Band Played On, a movie/documentary on how the spread of AIDS was
linked to an infective agent and how its transmission route was discovered.
Now that most information is available on the Internet through Wikipedia and many fantastic
websites like This Week in Virology and MedlinePlus, there’s no excuse for not researching
these fascinating little machines and getting the basic facts right. It makes for a much more
enjoyable reading experience and, as you’ll see, viruses will surprise you with plot twists that
are even better than what your own imagination would’ve come up with.
1. What is a virus?
A virus is a microscopic machine that carries genetic material and has one purpose: replicate.
Too small to carry all the genes they need to self-replicate, viruses infect cells so they can hijac
the cell’s own machinery in order to replicate. By doing so, they disrupt the cell’s own processe
that keeps it alive and that’s how they make us sick. Some viruses can cause long-lasting
inflammation that, if not treated, can eventually lead to cancer, as is the case, for example, wit
the human papilloma virus, which can cause cervical cancer.
The fact that they carry genetic material is what makes viruses so special and, as it turns out, s
useful, too. In order to replicate, some viruses insert their DNA inside the cell’s genome and,
once there, they are able to turn ‘on’ or ‘off’ some of the genes. Indeed, these pesky little
machines can tap into the deepest wiring of our cells and induce changes in gene expression
(called epigenetic changes). And if you are looking for a way your fictional virus can make the
most damage, how about this: some of the epigenetic changes induced by a virus can be not
only permanent, but also heritable.
So far I told you that bad news. But there are some good news, too.
2. Without viruses we wouldn’t have vaccines.

I know, it probably sounds like a tautology, since we wouldn’t have discovered vaccines if we
didn’t have viruses. A vaccine is an inactivated form of the virus that can be presented to the
immune system without the aftermath of an infection. It’s like giving a hunting hound an
olfactory clue to sniff so he knows what to hunt. But the inactivated virus still needs to be
presented to the immune system, and what better way than to put it inside another virus?
Indeed, a vaccine is made of two components: an outer shell, or viral vector, and an inside,
which is the inactivated virus that needs to be presented to the immune system. Common
viruses like the cold virus (adenovirus) are often used as vectors for vaccines because we know
they can’t do much damage. The virus is modified in the lab, and its contents are removed and
replaced by the vaccine strains.
In the past, vaccine trials have gone wrong because of unexpected immune reactions to the
viral vector in use. So, if you need a plot twist for the fictional vaccine in your book, one way to
go is to create a really bad immune reaction to the vector.
3. Without viruses we wouldn’t have gene therapy.

Viruses can be very specific, and infect certain cells only. For example, HIV infects T-cells, whic
are part of our immune system. Hepatitis viruses instead infect liver cells. This ability to inject
their genetic material into specific cells can be exploited for therapeutic purposes. Gene
therapy is a way to replace damaged or defective genes with healthy ones. Like vaccines, gene
therapy too makes use of a viral vector as the carrier for the replacement genes.
For example, HIV has been used in a gene therapy trial to cure a type of leukemia characterize
by an abnormal proliferation of B-cells. B-cells and T-cells are part of our immune system. HIV
targets and kills T-cells. Researchers modified the HIV virus so that it would still “attack” T-cells
but this time, instead of inserting its own genetic material inside the cell, it inserted a particula
gene that enabled the T-cells to recognize and kill the malignant B-cells. Pretty ingenious, right
4. Don’t forget the incubation time!

Incubation is the time that elapses between the moment the very first viral particle enters the
host and the onset of symptoms. It can be hours, days, years, but it’s never, never zero. That’s
because the immune system doesn’t react immediately. It takes time for those viral proteins to
be chopped up and presented to the surface of the cell. Once there, they are like red flags
ready to be seen. Once recognized as a threat, the immune system mounts its counterattack b
creating many T-cells and antibodies exactly like the ones that recognized the enemy in the fir
place. For example, in the case of HIV, it usually takes around three weeks before we start
seeing an immune response.
Now, here is the fun part for writers: incubation time is what makes viruses so elusive. The on
clues viruses leave are symptoms, but if they happen days or even weeks after the virus
entered the body, how are you going to find out when and where the contamination happened
That’s why authors shouldn’t ignore incubation time, rather, they should make it part of the pl
and have fun with it. Not only you can make incubation last as long as you want or need, but it
is perfectly reasonable that different people will have different incubation times. Try and catch
a killer without knowing when, exactly, it struck the victim!
5. There’s more to incubation time: latency.

Some viruses can enter a cell and do nothing for days, months, years. They enter a state called
“latency.” They are “sleeping”, in a way, a Trojan horse hidden inside the body. Sometimes all i
takes is a stressful week to weaken the immune system and present the perfect opportunity fo
the virus to wake up and strike. HIV is one of such viruses. In March 2013 the first child to ever
be cured of HIV was announced to the world. The child, born HIV-positive, had been on
antiretroviral drugs for about a year and a half until the mother stopped taking her to the
doctor and giving her the medications.
When the child was seen by doctors again, she had no detectible viral load. Had she been cure
of HIV? That’s what everybody thought. It took one year, but eventually the virus came back. It
had remained dormant and well hidden inside the child’s body, but in due time it started
replicating again and sure enough, the child’s viral load started growing again. There are viruse
in the herpes family that can hide in this latency state for decades, just waiting to catch the
immune system at a low point.
Latency is a great plot device if you want to turn your fictional virus into a bioweapon. Put you
source in an airplane and then watch it spread. If you delay the onset of symptoms, it will
create a great puzzle for the investigators to try and retrace the origin of the contamination.
6. Some viruses spread easily, and some do not

If your virus is a bioweapon, you want to make it easy to spread, and the best way to do that is
to make it airborne: it’ll spread through saliva aerosol with a sneeze. The influenza virus is the
perfect example. On the other hand, Ebola (though deadly) is too big to be airborne. If you
need your virus to be less efficient, make it spreadable through fluids like blood or semen. You
can even play around with genetics, and make only some people with a certain genetic
mutation be prone to develop symptoms, while the others can still spread the virus without
ever showing symptoms.
7. Viruses can cause many different symptoms

This is one aspect of viruses where you can do virtually whatever you want, so long as you
remember to account for that critical incubation time. Viruses can affect any part of your body
muscles, respiratory tracts, stomach and bowels, brain. HIV affects the immune system, for
example. Patients who develop AIDS end up dying of any opportunistic infection because by
then, the virus has debilitated the immune system to the point that a common cold becomes
deadly. And because viruses have the ability to mess up with the on/off switches of our genes
(the epigenetic changes I explained earlier), you can even have your virus trigger some weird
autoimmune disorder.
Or, you can twist it the other way around: you can have the virus actually kill malignant cells in
the body. Such viruses exist and are called oncolytic viruses because they infect tumor cells.
Researchers are currently experimenting with a modified poliovirus that could potentially kill
certain types of brain tumors.
8. The viruses inside us: endogenous retroviruses.

Earlier I said that what makes viruses so special is the fact that they carry genetic material.
Retroviruses in particular have the ability to insert their genome inside the host cell’s DNA.
Now, imagine one of those viruses inserting its genome inside a germ line cell and then
becoming latent. Germ line cells are those cells that become spermatozoa in men and oocytes
in women. If such cell now carries the inserted viral genomes and becomes a fertilized egg, the
viral genome will indeed be passed on to the offspring.
You think this is far-fetched? Think again: roughly 10% of our genome originated exactly like
that, from retroviruses that, millions of years ago, infected germ line cells. Again, another
potentially great plot element, with an even creepier factor, as now the killer is hidden inside
our very own genome.
In reality these proteins, though initially completely silent, have over time found new function
throughout evolution. For example, some of these retroviral proteins are expressed in the
mammalian placenta, which makes sense if you think that what viruses do to survive is hide
from the immune system. In a way, a fetus too has to be hidden from the immune system
because it represents extraneous tissues (hence, an antigen) growing inside the mother’s body
I hope you’ve enjoyed this overview on viruses. Viruses are not only fun to write about, but the
are also very versatile: they can be your serial killer or your deus ex machina, they can work fo
the bad guys as bioweapons, or for the good guys as the unexpected cure in a bad twist of
events.

Click to Tweet 8 things authors should know about viruses, with HIV expert @eegiorgi:
http://bit.ly/1CDW0Xw Part of the #ScienceInSF series by @DanKoboldt
http://bit.ly/1CDW0Xw #4: Don’t forget incubation time! #ScienceInSF
http://bit.ly/1CDW0Xw #8: The viruses inside us #ScienceInSF


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Comments
Amy Rogers says

January 23, 2015 at 10:55 am
Right up my alley! Well said, EE Giorgi. You’d make a great teacher. Viruses are endlessly
fascinating (check out Carl Zimmer’s book A PLANET OF VIRUSES for a nice pop-sci
introduction) and it pains me when novelists get them hopelessly wrong.
You don’t touch on one of my biggest peeves about viruses in fiction: the cure. Viral
epidemics are not easily stopped. Too many killer virus stories end with a miracle cure
that makes no sense in scientific terms. But as a writer, I know that this creates a plotting
challenge. How can I give my story a “happy” ending if I can’t put the virus genie back in
a bottle?
In my new science thriller REVERSION I use #3 as a major plot point. Then I rely on the
unique properties of rabies virus (especially #4, long incubation time) to clean things up
in the end.
Reply
EE Giorgi says
January 25, 2015 at 2:03 pm
You are right, Amy, I missed to talk about the cure. It always seems all too easy in
fiction, doesn’t it? Rabies is a fascinating virus. I’ve been meaning to read your book,
Amy, it’s on my list!
Reply
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January 22, 2015 at 9:57 am
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3/15/2015 Writing Children with BESD: 5 Truths from the Classroom
Writing Children with BESD: 5 Truths from the

Classroom


content is posted.
About the Expert

Rachel Heaps-Page is a qualified teacher with particular experience educating children with
severe learning disabilities and/or behavior problems. She has taught children with BESD in
both mainstream classrooms and one-to-one, in primary and secondary schools based in
England.
Rachel writes young adult fiction, her current WIP a fantasy trilogy entitled ‘The rise of Sir
Louis’.
5 Truths About Behavioral, Emotional, and/or Social Difficulties

http://dankoboldt.com/writingchildrenbesdtruths/ 1/8
K was eleven years old and he was always smiling, but his anxiety showed in the raw red mark
all the way round his mouth. The skin was always dry, cracked and bleeding because he licked
almost constantly and nothing could make him stop. The other children tried not to notice, bu
it was hard for them and most days someone upset him with their stare.
As his designated adult, it was my job to make sure he didn’t react; to protect his learning and
the other children from his problems and to shield the triggers that would set him off. I
wrenched chairs from his hands and taught him under tables. I cajoled him through work that
seemed impossible, helping him to navigate through overwhelming losses he was struggling to
handle so that he could learn how to read or do maths or speak a little French.
After two years, we had grown quite familiar. I had my tactics and
resources to help K attempt an education, I recognised the signs that
warned of tantrums or tears and I knew by the way K took off his coat in
the morning if we were going to have a bad day.
K would unzip his coat extra carefully on those mornings and leave it in th
middle of the floor; a small and innocuous gesture that was his way of
saying, “I am in pain and today is going to hurt”.
I had my purse stolen on a bad day, and my car keys. I stood for hours in the rain while he
screamed personal slurs against me and watched him climb over fences, or onto the roof.
Once, a bad day got me sent to the hospital; pouring with blood after I fell trying to retrieve m
fleeing charge, the icy ground taking a chunk of my leg and leaving a scar to this day.
K was just one of many children with BESD that I have met on my journey as an educator,
broadening my understanding of the term attributed to them and deepening my insight into
their world. These are some of the lessons they have taught me, that may assist you when
writing characters who share their title or traits:
1. BESD doesn’t require ‘extreme’ behaviour

K was extreme, but I am glad to say that in six years of classrooms I only met one child like him
Though children experiencing BESD have issues that run very deep, I have met very few who
showed it through overtly negative behaviour.
Through our time together K taught me a valuable lesson: that children with BESD have choice
K’s destructive, visceral responses were understandable but they weren’t always justified. Ther
were times he couldn’t control himself but far more often he indulged violence because a
provocative streak urged him too while J, a pleasant boy I once supported, only revealed his
crippling social anxiety through his catchphrase. He would mutter “potato” under his breath,
picked up from a popular comedian he watched obsessively and whom made him feel safe.
This was a minor disruption at best and taught me that no matter how severe the child’s
condition, there is no ‘typical’ reaction children or guarantee of extreme responses.
BESD is typically only diagnosed when it is severe, but the characters you will write will have th
same question facing them: though things may difficult, how will they respond?
In my time I have seen a whole range of reactions to BESD, from an eyebrow rising to self harm
and violence. There is no ‘right’ or typical behaviour, so develop your character’s coping
strategies whilst staying true to the personality you are forging in them.
2. BESD and learning disabilities are not the same thing

As is usual for children who struggle behaviourally in the classroom, his educators had tested
and observed K in order to determine exactly what issues they were contending with. K had
severe emotional problems that fuelled his BESD but traditional tests proved that when K was
on an even keel and we had set up the right support, he was able to achieve academically.
BESD is the umbrella term that we use to explain a child’s consistent exhibition of disruptive
behaviours, or issues regarding their social skills, relationship skills and emotional health.
These behaviours and issues can stem from a learning disability such as Down’s syndrome, bu
they do not occur exclusively.
It is true that a child dealing with other issues is likely to suffer academically, but not because
they have no capacity to excel. In many cases, a child with BESD will suffer academically simpl
because they faced much greater obstacles when they came to learn. This can be overcome by
educators with insight, who obtain the right resources and offer the best support to the
struggling child. Unfortunately, many children miss out on this help as they are overlooked or
remain undiagnosed, or their teachers are simply too pressed by other responsibilities to give
any more. So, you should feel free to retain your character’s title of ‘genius’ even if they hate
the classroom or to allow ‘troubled’ souls to achieve greatness in the end.
3. Not every case starts with abuse

Though it is common for tragedy and trauma to be a root-cause of BESD, it is not a precursor.
Children can be born with problems, genetic issues that undermine a child’s ability to cope or
to learn or diseases/conditions that prevent full mental or physical development. These can be
at the heart of your character’s issue and a contributing factor or real reason behind their
BESD, just as legitimately as a murdered parent or infliction of abuse.
It may help to think of this disorder as being, ultimately, about

obstruction. There is something that causes the child to act out or
fail to connect with the world or others around them. There is a
reason that they struggle to moderate their behaviour or constantly
misunderstand their friends, why they can’t express themselves
healthily or at all. It is your place as the author to decide what this
is. The options are limitless and a true test of your creative skill
when it comes to their creation.
Consider BESD as the response of a character born colour blind. It is a minor, physiological tra
that should not directly impact behaviour. But, if they are born in a world that demands
perfection, it may become a powerfully impacting trait that makes them unable to forge and
maintain relationships or cope in their society.
Many writers advise asking questions to get to the heart of each character, and I would advise
the same in this case. If you are compelled to bestow BESD to your character I would urge you
to consider why? What is the obscure or significant element of your character’s nature,
physiology, or experience that first set them on this developmental path? That first act to light
their behavioural fuse?
You may decide this won’t be revealed to your readers, but I believe such insight helps to
understand your character and so lends depth to their behaviour as you write.
4. Characters with BESD don’t have to be villains or victims

There is an old adage I like to apply in this instance, ‘hate the sin, not the sinner’. As a teacher,
was trained to look beyond the child’s behaviour to who they were as a person; a child who
could be encouraged to learn and make better choices, even if they acted terribly. This was
particularly challenging when working with troubled children, as their behaviour was often a
veil for the person inside. Many gentle souls I worked with had terrible reputations because
violent outbursts, even when caused by exceptional circumstances, aren’t easily forgotten and
are even less easily forgiven.
There is a tendency to look at a child with BESD and try to predict their life as an adult based o
that short window of time. It is hard to imagine a healthy marriage or successful career, for th
child who stands on a table to urinate during lessons. But childhood is only a part of our life
journey and damaged children can recover, or at least control, their dysfunction as they enter
adulthood.
Every damaged child in your fictional world does not have to become the helpless damsel, or
cruel tyrant. An author has the privileged opportunity to play out the whole story, so consider
offering your wounded character a chance to heal or to redeem themselves for past mistakes.
5. You don’t have to get everything right

What I learnt as a teacher I retained as a writer and I suspect some of my personal insights
inform the characters I create. However, I don’t allow facts to constrain me as I find that the
more I worry about technical accuracy, the more soulless my character (and indeed my writing
becomes. Unless you are hoping to create the quintessential ‘BESD’ child and set it forth as a
case study, do not feel constrained when creating your character.
With the right research and a sensitive approach any topic can be masterfully explored in your
writing, but bear in mind that ‘expert’ and author is a rare combination and readers won’t
expect it of you. Fiction writers in particular can take liberties and are expected to fabricate, so
let your creative juices flow! After all, it is one of the great joys of our craft.
My last thought is to urge you; forge a character with depth and complexity in mind and less
concern for ‘ticking the boxes’ of their label. They may have severe BESD, but don’t feel obliged
to mould them from that singular definition or try too hard to justify the label in your work.
Your characters can wrestle with issues beyond your experience, or respond in a way some
might consider unconventional, but if they are ‘real’ – if they are complex and human, they wil
still ring true.

Click to Tweet 5 truths about writing children with BESD, by teacher @RachHeapsPage:
http://bit.ly/1yMDXvJ Part of the #ScienceInSF series by @DanKoboldt
http://bit.ly/1yMDXvJ #1. Extreme behavior not required. #ScienceInSF
http://bit.ly/1yMDXvJ #4. They need not be victims. #ScienceInSF
Mental Illness In Fiction: Getting It Right


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3/15/2015 Researchers Gone Wild Dan Koboldt


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The Expert: Amy Vidrine

Amy Vidrine has a BS in Microbiology and over a
decade worth of experience in multiple laboratories as
a staff scientist. She’s worked in biochemistry, genetics,
molecular biology, and immunology labs, primarily focused on cancer research. She’s designed
and performed more experiments than you can shake a stick at.
She is currently working as a lab manager, which means she is responsible for designing and
implementing the experiments for the lab and teaching others how to do the same. She knows
quite a bit about research methodology. You can find her on Facebook and Twitter.
http://dankoboldt.com/researchersgonewild/ 1/7

We’ve read it before: mad scientists, weird science, and horrific experiments. Or maybe it’s
heroic scientists working in state-of-the-art labs that produce miracles in minutes. Both of thes
portrayals of science are misguided; research just isn’t done that way. Here are some common
myths about scientists and research.
Myth #1: Experiments take a few minutes

We’re all pretty familiar with CSI: (the books are actually better than the TV show, in my
opinion; Max Allan Collins and Jeff Mariotte are fantastic writers). The criminalists collect their
samples from the crime scene, get them sent back to the lab, and within pages (or minutes) ar
getting their results. Of course, to hold a reader’s interest, an author can’t really say six month
go by while Nick, Greg, and Sara work other cases and wait for the lab to work through the
backlog to their samples. But that’s really what happens.
Science takes time. Even a fairly simple experiment can take days. Gene sequencing? Even with
the best, most advanced equipment, it can take hours. And that doesn’t include the backlog,
which can stretch that time out to months.
Myth #2: Scientists are greedy and have no morals

I find this one to be personally insulting. How many books have been published that paint
scientists as greedy, amoral jerks who run whatever experiment seems likely to gain them the
most money? How many books have an Apocalypse caused by the release of a deadly virus by
careless or crazy scientist?
Hey, come on guys, scientists are just like anyone else. We go to work, we do our job, and
collect our paycheck. Most of us aren’t in it for the fame (haha!), riches (HAHA!) or for the powe
to destroy the human race. We do it for the science. News flash: science doesn’t (usually) pay
that well.
Myth #3: The Myth of the Ridiculous and Illogical Experiment

Ever wonder why scientists are putting human genes into plants and animals? No, it’s not for
fun, or because we’re amoral, weird, or evil. The reasons depend on what gene we’re talking
about, but usually there is a logical reason, like trying to understand cancer or improving the
food supply. “Frankenanimals” or “Frankenfood” are not “part-human” or “part-animal” though

some mice are considered “humanized” (due to the expression of human-like genes in some
tissues).
This does not mean that the strawberry you are

eating is part fish. DNA is DNA, and a “fish” gene is
not inherently “fishy” any more than any of your
genes are fundamentally “human.” Their
sequences, yes (gene sequences are considered
“conserved” if they are similar, or homologous,
across multiple species), but not the DNA itself.
So while that strawberry is expressing a protein

normally found in fish, it is not “part fish.” So it’s
not ridiculous to put some gene into an animal or Frankenfood
plant it normally wouldn’t be found in; that “fish
gene” actually protects that strawberry from a
killing frost and has nothing to do with “being a fish.” Scientists don’t do ridiculous experiment
There’s not enough funding for that.
When I read Kim Harrison’s Dead Witch Walking I nearly threw the book across the room when
I realized her Apocalypse was caused by “The Attack of the Killer Tomato.” While it is true that
animal and human genes are used in plants or bacteria (and yes, sometimes animals like mice
or rabbits), it is not true that a human virus put into a tomato plant can kill the vast majority o
humans on the planet.
Proteins from viruses can, and have been, expressed in tomatoes and other plants. But there i
no scientifically valid reason to grow a full human virus in a tomato. There are human cell line
(in vitro culture) designed for that.
Getting Research Right in Fiction

1. Your science – and your scientist! – shouldn’t be ridiculous
Think like a scientist! There needs to be a reason why the experiment is being done. If you can
think of no reason other than, “My bad guy is a scientist, so he needs to do icky things like
putting human eyeballs on tomato plants,” then you may need to rethink your plot. Your villain
should have more dimension than that anyway, and scientists aren’t typically Evil Geniuses ben
on world domination.
2. Science should be (a little bit) boring
Yeah, it might not be fun to read, but it will be much more realistic. Think of that time kind of
like when your characters are going to the bathroom or eating lunch. Readers know it happens
but it doesn’t need to be in the story in detail (or even there at all). Plan your plot to include th
time it takes for major discoveries (years, not hours), and if it just drags the story down then
rearrange the timeline so that your characters have already put in the work before the book
starts.
There are ways to work pacing into science so that the exciting stuff happens in the story. But
make it clear that it took a lot of time and work to get there.
3. Ask a scientist or do research on your own
Look up what the scientific method is and why it’s important to science. Researchers are happ
(usually) to share their knowledge about research methods, so contact one with questions. Bu
the Internet is now one of the most powerful research tools on Earth. While Wikipedia or
Google itself might of limited use, Google Scholar can link you to many published research
articles. You might need a license to access them (try your local college library) but many are
available for free.
All of the articles on PubMed Central are free and available to anyone and everyone to access.
If you think someone might have done research similar to what you are writing about, check it
out, and make your fiction much more realistic! (And keep scientists from chucking your book
across the room.)

2/12/2015 What's Wrong With The Three Act Structure
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What's Wrong With The Three Act Structure
By James Bonnet
The three act structure is not a story structure. You can't find it in myths and legends or other great stories of the past and you can't find it in nature. So
why is it being applied to the screenplay or the story of a film? It's a good question because it makes no sense. And my very strong recommendation in this
article will be that you avoid thinking in act structure terms when creating a story or story film.
The three (four, five, six, or seven) act structures are the arbitrary divisions of the principal (or main) action of the story into a number of parts a legacy
from the theatre and applicable today only to the theatre or television shows which have commercial breaks. If you write a movie for television, it will have
seven acts. Why? Because it has seven commercial breaks. And you will be asked to insert something intriguing at the end of each act to lure the audience
back after the break. But that has nothing to do with story.
The Greeks had no act structure in their plays. The plays had one act. The Romans had five acts. It's arbitrary. It appeared in plays because of the need to
have intermissions. People can't sit for three hours in a theatre listening to an auditory experience without taking a break or going to the restroom. It appears
in television shows because they want to have commercial breaks so they can sell something. None of which has anything to do with story.
A two hour feature film shown in a movie theatre is a continuous action. There are no intermissions. It's one continuous actless event which revolves
around a problem. A much better way to look at a story, when you are creating one, is not through any arbitrary division into acts but through the eyes of
that problem, which is the central event and the heart of a great story's structure.
In The Silence of the Lambs, a serial killer is on the loose, and that is the problem that has to be resolved. In Gladiator, a tyrant has usurped the Roman
Empire, preventing the restoration of the Republic. In The Sixth Sense, a murdered child psychologist is stuck in limbo and the spirits of dead people are
haunting a little boy's mind. In Independence Day, aliens have invaded the Earth. In Star Wars, the Evil Empire has taken possession of the galaxy. In The
Iliad, not to be mistaken for a movie called Troy, the Greek army is being decimated because their best warrior has dropped out of the fight. In King Arthur,
the kingdom is in a state of anarchy and has to be reunified. In Harry Potter, Voldemort is trying to take possession of the Wizard World. In The Lord of the
Rings, Sauron, a very similar dark force, is trying to take possession of Middle Earth. In Ordinary People, a young boy is suicidal. In The Exorcist, it's a
problem of demonic possession. In Jaws it's a shark problem. In The Mummy it's a mummy problem. In The Perfect Storm it's a weather problem. In
Jurassic Park it's a dinosaur problem. In Traffic it's a drug problem. In Armageddon it's an asteroid problem. In Erin Brockovich it's an environmental
problem. Each of these stories and hundreds of others I could name all revolve around a problem that has to be resolved.
And what need is there to think of these events as having three acts? None.
What use would it be to think in terms of three parts (or acts) when creating a story like A Beautiful Mind which, if you wanted to divide it into parts, clearly
has five parts and not three. In the first part, Russell Crowe is a genius mathematician, in the second part, he is a spy; in the third part we discover the first
two parts were a delusion and that he is really mentally ill (the problem); in the fourth part, a first effort is made to solve that problem which fails; and in the
fifth part, a second effort is made to solve that problem which succeeds. How would it help to impose a three act structure? It wouldn't.
What good would a three (four or five) act structure do if you were writing a novel the DaVinci Code, for instance? If you really want to gauge how irrelevant
act structure is to a story, try to apply it to a novel. It makes absolutely no sense.
You quickly realize the idea is absurd. It has nothing to do with story. But the screenplay which becomes a story film is a story in the same way that the
novel is a story. The spine and structure of both are essentially the same. This is true of the great myths, legends, fairytales, as well as the classics and
modern blockbusters. They all have the same basic structure. (See my previous eZine articles: Beyond Theme: Story's New Unified Field (Parts I, II, III);
The Essence of Story; and Conquering The High Concept (Parts I & II) .
Story has adopted these problemsolving structures from real life. From real serial killers that have to be caught, real terrible diseases that have to be cured,
real lost or kidnapped children who have to be found, and real maneating sharks that have to be destroyed. The principals of dramatic action are the laws of
problem solving action in real life artistically treated and the actions that solve these problems in real life don't contain a three act structure.
So why impose that oddity on a story which is destined to be filmed? Perhaps it's happening because it makes story structure seem simple, which it is not.
You can work with the three act structure for twenty years and still not make a story come out right.
What is the alternative? In my opinion, it makes much more sense when you're creating a story to be thinking in terms of the natural structure of the
problem which has two main parts: the action that created it and the action that will resolve it. The action that creates the problem is called the inciting
action and the action that resolves the problem is called the principle action. The threat, which is the driving force of the inciting action, be that a villain, an
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2/12/2015 What's Wrong With The Three Act Structure
asteroid, a shark, etc., is the cause the problem. The antithreat, which is the driving force of the principal action, be that a protagonist or a hero, is the one
who opposes the threat and solves the problem. Either of these actions will acquire the components of the classical structure if there is resistance which
is to say if there is sufficient resistance, there will be complications, a crisis, the need for a climactic action to resolve the crisis, and a resolution.
In Harry Potter, Voldemort is the threat that creates the problem. He is also the main source of resistance that creates the complications and crises, and
the need for climactic actions to resolve the crises whenever Harry attempts to solve the problems Voldemort creates. In The Silence of the Lambs, Buffalo
Bill is the threat that causes the problem and also the main source of resistance creates the classical structure when Jodie Foster tries to track him down.
In The Lord of the Rings, Sauron is the threat that is causing the problem and is also the main source of resistance that creates the complications, crises,
etc. when Frodo and his little Fellowship try to solve the problem by destroying the Ring of Power.
Aristotle's classical structure, which is the dominant feature of this structure, can stand alone. All of the structures you might find in the act are already built
into the problem solving action that encounters resistance, namely: conflict, complications, crises (turning points) climax and resolution. It is, in fact, the
structure of any problem solving action (real or fiction) that encounters resistance. From there, the natural thing to do is divide the principal, problem solving
action into scenes, which are the ideal units of action to reveal these larger, essential actions.
After the story is created, of course, you can divide the action into any number of parts that you like, but it's counterproductive to think in those terms at the
story's inception. In other words, you shouldn't be using act structure to lay out or create the story.
However, if you need to use the three act structure because you're pitching an idea to someone who only speaks that language, then follow Aristotle and
translate the idea of three acts into a beginning, a middle, and an end and you'll be able to communicate with them. Then, if you're asked: what is the first
act? Tell them how the story begins (which is really what they want to know) and make it as intriguing as possible. If asked: what is the second act? Tell
them what's happening in the middle of the story (which includes the main crisis of the dominant plot) and make it as stressful as possible. If asked about
the third act, tell them what the climax of the story is (and make that as exciting as possible) and finally how the story is resolved and make that as
satisfying as possible.
To conclude, what I'm saying is this: when you're creating a story, you should put aside the archaic notion of three acts and focus on the natural structures
surrounding the problem, which is the central event and heart of your story.
My next eZine article, The Novel vs. The Screenplay will explore the relative merits of writing in those mediums.
Meet the Author: James Bonnet
James Bonnet, an internationally known writer, teacher and story consultant, began his career as an actor creating the role of
James Roosevelt in the Tony Award winning hit Broadway show, Sunrise at Campobello. He received his first professional
writing job at age 23, writing for the television series, It’s A Man’s World. He was elected twice to the Board of Directors of
the Writers Guild of America and has written or acted in more than forty television shows and features. Since 1990 he has
been conducting intensive weekend story seminars in Los Angeles, and consulting with novelists, screenwriters, producers
and directors. Since 2006 he has ...
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2/12/2015 Story Structure & Plot Novel Writing Tips
Writing a Novel

Home Page

Conflict
Character Tip: read these articles in sequence starting with Conflict
Structure & Plot

Dialogue
The Writing It Part Conflict and Character within Story Structure
Editing
The Basic Three Act Structure
Writing Links
The simplest building blocks of a good story are found in the Three Act
Structure. Separated by Plot Points, its Act 1 (Beginning), Act 2 (Middle), and
Act 3 (End) refer not to where in time in the story they lie but instead
fundamental stages along the way.
Novel &
Scriptwriting Books
and Software

Learn more about
nonfiction writing
and my book on
In the Beginning you introduce the reader to the setting, the characters and the
fatherhood. situation (conflict) they find themselves in and their goal. Plot Point 1 is a situation
findfatherhood.com that drives the main character from their "normal" life toward some different
conflicting situation that the story is about.
Learn More
Great stories often begin at Plot Point 1, thrusting the main
character right into the thick of things, but they never really leave
out Act 1, instead filling it in with back story along the way.
In the Middle the story develops through a series of complications and
obstacles, each leading to a mini crisis. Though each of these crises are
temporarily resolved, the story leads inevitably to an ultimate crisis—the
Climax. As the story progresses, there is a rising and falling of tension
with each crisis, but an overall rising tension as we approach the Climax.
The resolution of the Climax is Plot Point 2.
In the End, the Climax and the loose ends of the story are resolved during
the Denouement. Tension rapidly dissipates because it's nearly impossible
to sustain a reader's interest very long after the climax. Finish your story
and get out.
http://www.musiktherapie.at/PederHill/Structure&Plot.htm 1/3
Character Arc and Story Structure
Act 1
In the Beginning of a story the main
character, being human (even if he of she
isn't), will resist change (inner conflict). The
character is perfectly content as he is;
there's no reason to change.
Plot Point 1 – Then something happens to throw
everything off balance.
It should come as a surprise that shifts the
story in a new direction and reveals that the
protagonist’s life will never be the same
again.
In Star Wars this point occurs when Luke's family is killed,
freeing him to fight the Empire.
It puts an obstacle in the way of the character that forces him or her
to deal with something they would avoid under normal
circumstances.
Act 2
The second Act is about a character’s emotional journey and is the
hardest part of a story to write. Give your characters all sorts of
challenges to overcome during Act 2. Make them struggle towards
their goal.
The key to Act Two is conflict. Without it you can’t move the
story forward. And conflict doesn’t mean a literal fight. Come up with
obstacles (maybe five, maybe a dozen—depends on the story)
leading up to your plot point at the end of Act 2.
Throughout the second act remember to continually raise the
stakes of your character’s emotional journey.
Simultaneously advance both inner and outer conflicts. Have
them work together—the character should alternate up and
down internally between hope and disappointment as external
problems begin to seem solvable then become more
insurmountable than ever.
Include reversals of fortune and unexpected turns of events
—surprise your reader with both the actions of the main
character and the events surrounding him.
Plot Point 2
Act Two ends with the second plot point, which thrusts the story in
another unexpected direction.
Plot Point 2 occurs at the moment the hero appears beaten or lost
but something happens to turn the situation around. The hero's goal
becomes reachable.
Right before this unexpected story turn, the hero reaches the
Black Moment—the point at which all is lost and the goal cannot
be achieved.
In order to have a "Climax", where the tension is highest,
you must have a "Black" moment, where the stakes are
highest and danger at its worst.
During this moment, the hero draws upon the new
strengths or lessons he's learned in order to take action
and bring the story to a conclusion.
Dorothy’s gotta get a broom from the Wicked Witch
before she can go home.
Luke’s gotta blow up the Death Star before fulfilling
his destiny.
Professor Klump’s gotta save face with the investors
of his formula and win back Jada.
Act 3
The third Act dramatically shows how the
character is able to succeed or become a
better person.
Resolution/denouement ties together the
loose ends of the story (not necessarily
all of them) and allows the reader to see
the outcome of the main character’s
decision at the climax. Here we see evidence of the change in a
positive character arc.
Story Structure & the Buddha
Great novels—great stories—existed long before there were books about
something called Story Structure. The pattern of an enchanting yarn has been
recreated again and again through time and around the world in myths and
tales. The rhythm of these stories that so captures our imaginations reflects not
marketing trends but our collective struggle through life. Things that deeply
resonate do so because they tug at our inner workings. Structure is not a prison
—use tips and advice on it only as a map, but go down deep within yourself to
find the road. Finding the road is the most pleasurable part of writing.
>> Find out more with The Hero's Journey in the Good Links Section
A Word on Plot
Don't let your focus be the Plot, which is the series of events and situations
that occur along the route of your story. The Plot is a natural outcome of the
seeds of your story—it emerges from your setup of the characters, their
conflicts and the setting they occur in. You'll write a more powerful, believable
story if you focus on seed planting long before you worry about the harvest.
The Best Books on Story Structure

>> See More Books about Writing a Novel or Film Script
Read an article about writing Dialogue
2/12/2015 Three Act Structure: A Pair of Spanx for Your Novel | Ingrid's Notes
Ingrid's Notes
… musings on creative writing and craft …
MARCH 29, 2013 BY INGRIDSUNDBERG
Three Act Structure: A Pair of Spanx for Your Novel
(https://ingridsnotes.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/march‑dystropian‑madness‑
logo.jpg)By Sheryl Scarborough
If the writer’s closet of useful tools could be likened to Carrie Bradshaw’s fabu walk‑
in (http://shine.yahoo.com/fashion/woman‑pays‑175‑000‑to‑replicate‑carrie‑
bradshaws‑closet‑2444744.html]), masterful accessories such as simile and metaphor
would equate to exquisite Louboutin’s and Jimmy Choo’s footwear… exotic word
choices would sparkle like Tiffany’s finest… and you would most likely find three‑
act structure in the drawer labeled: Spanx!
This is my way of saying Three‑Act Structure may not be sexy, but once you try it,
you’ll wonder how you ever lived without it. What exactly can Three‑act structure do
for you? I’m glad you asked.
Simply organizing the main points of your manuscript into a structured beginning, middle and end will give you a
comfortably shaped body of character, narrative and pace. (Spanx, baby!)
Three‑act structure streamlines the creative process, allowing you to focus on great dialog and important story points, not the
organization of them. (When you’re busy being brilliant who wants to organize?)
https://ingridsnotes.wordpress.com/2013/03/29/threeactstructureapairofspanxforyournovel/ 1/11
Which part of your story belongs in each act can be defined in enough detail that, once you learn it, you will never forget it.
(Can you just give me the crib version? Yes. Read on!)
There are plenty of whole books, which define Three‑Act structure and demonstrate how it works. For the purpose of this blog
I’m just going to give you the basics. Three‑Act structure is a specific way to balance and pace your story. The breakdown is
simple:
(https://ingridsnotes.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/three‑act‑structure.jpg)
Each Act encompasses a certain number of pages. This is the pacing part. Each act also plays a specific role in telling your story.
This is the structure part.
In Act 1 the purpose is to introduce your characters and orient your reader to the setting and world you imagine.
Act 2 is where your story develops; this explains why it’s twice as long as Act 1 and Act 3.
Act 3 should be reserved for the exciting climax and conclusion of your story.
Act 1: Think of a Knight on a Quest…
(https://ingridsnotes.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/act‑1.jpg)
Act 1 should answer WHO, WHAT, WHEN and WHERE… but not why. It should install your character in his world in a way
that quickly orients your reader. Use Act 1 to identify your main character’s problems and introduce us to his friends and foes.
Establish his goals and make us care about him.
If you’ve done your job, Act 1 is when your reader develops empathy with your main character. You need for this to happen…
don’t blow it. The transition at the end of Act 1 is the point where your character commits to a course of action and your reader
settles into her chair and thinks, “okay, here we go.”
Act 2: Facing the Two‑Headed Dragon…
If Act 1 is a Quest, then Act 2 is a series of challenges… sort of like facing a two‑headed dragon! In Act 1 your reader has learned
WHO, WHAT, WHEN and WHERE. By the time she reaches Act 2 she wants to know WHY.
In Act‑1 your job was to establish your character’s goal.
In Act 2.1, your job is to play keep away with that goal.
Just like in real life, adversity creates character. The goal of the first half of Act 2 is to throw a series of try/fail obstacles into your
character’s path. With each test your character’s commitment becomes apparant. Each time he fails, you deepen his character and
reveal more about him… this is how readers find out what he wants and needs and especially how invested he is in his goal.
Not only will your character come alive through these challenges, but as you raise the stakes your reader will become more
involved, intrigued and invested in your story.
(https://ingridsnotes.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/mid‑point.jpg)
The length of the trial and error portion of your story is dictated by Three‑Act structure. In the first half of Act 2 you are writing
toward the mid‑point, which is a mere 25% of your total story.
The Mid‑point: It Changes Everything…
The Mid‑point can be a down moment – the catastrophic end of your character’s goal. Or, it can be an up moment – a moment of
shaky success that’s so tenuous and delicate your reader will be worried that this is just one more thing for the main character to
lose.
Just remember, the purpose of the Mid‑point is that it changes everything.
The Second Half of Act 2: Rebuild the Character’s Goal…
Depending on your Mid‑point you have either destroyed your main character’s goal or you have pushed it to such a pinnacle that
it is in jeopardy. In either case, the second half of Act 2 asks “now what” or “what now.” This is where you begin to rebuild your
main character’s goal. To keep the reader intrigued you must keep the pressure on your main character. Achieving his goals
should be hard and take real grit and determination. This is what keeps a reader in their seat.
(https://ingridsnotes.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/act‑2‑part‑2.jpg)
You also want to begin to bring your storylines together in the last half of Act 2 so that you won’t crowd the climax and
conclusion of your story with loose ends.
The End of Act 2: Your Character’s Darkest Moment
Pull out all the stops and really make this moment count. This is the low point your reader has been worried about for your entire
novel. And now you must give it to them. Slam your story down on your main character with all the brutality you can muster and
I guarantee your reader won’t be able to stop reading.
If you have built your story to this moment, the hopes and dreams that your reader has for your main character will carry them
over the end of Act 2 and straight into the climax and conclusion. They won’t be able to put down your book.
Act 3: The Unexpected and Long‑Anticipated…
“Act 3 begins with the unexpected and ends with the long‑anticipated.“
Author, Ridley Pearson
What this means, is as you conclude your story, you want to make the ending as exciting and unexpected as possible… and yet
What this means, is as you conclude your story, you want to make the ending as exciting and unexpected as possible… and yet
you want to fulfill your promise to the reader and wrap up the story they expected you would tell. In most cases, your main
character will achieve a satisfying goal – maybe not the goal he started out with, but one the reader will accept as a good
conclusion to your story.
Example: staying with my Knight on a Quest theme, the end of my story should involve rescuing the Princess – or in my case –
The Prince.
But don’t forget to keep an element of surprise… your reader will be working with you to create a successful conclusion to your
story.
Roles People Play in Groups
By Ann Porteus
Table of Contents
Task Roles
Initiating
Information of Opinion Seeking
Clarifying
Summarizing
Consensus Testing
Maintenance Roles
Encouraging
Harmonizing
Expressing Group Feelings
Gatekeeping
Compromising
Standard Setting and Testing
Hindering Roles
Dominating
Withdrawing
Degrading
Uncooperative
Side Conversations
People play different roles in groups. And people play multiple roles in groups. Task roles, maintenance roles and hindering roles are
all important roles for facilitators to be aware of and recognize.
Task Roles
Task roles refer to the actions of individuals that help move the project, decision, task along.
Initiating
What: Proposing task or goals; defining a group problem; suggesting procedure or ideas for getting the task accomplished.
When: At the beginning of a meeting, when the meeting bogs down, or when the group needs direction or new direction.
How: Define the task; suggest a method or process for accomplishing the task; provide a structure for the meeting.
"It seems like we are being asked to ...",
"Does it seem like a good idea to begin by...?"
Information or Opinion Seeking

What: Requesting facts; seeking relevant information about a question or concern; asking for suggestions, ideas or opinions.
When: Problem solving, decision making, action planning, group discussion.
How: Ask for more facts; collect data; seek individual opinions, ideas and suggestions.
"What are the likely solutions?",
"Mary, what do you think of that idea?",
"What else do we need to know before we can proceed?"
Clarifying
What: Interpreting or reflecting ideas and suggestions; clearing up conclusions; indicating alternatives and issues before the
group; giving examples, defining terms.
When: Any time the group discussion becomes too vague, too general or lacks focus; when a lot of information has been put out.
How: Ask for clarification of an example; build on the ideas of others; clarify an idea based on your understanding; try to develop
timid suggestions and half stated ideas into fully developed possibilities.
"What I think I hear you saying is ___",
"Robert, can you explain your idea a bit more,"
"Cecilia, do you see how that idea relates to what Luis said earlier?"
Summarizing
What: Pulling together related ideas; restating suggestions after the group has discussed them; offering a decision or
conclusion for the group to accept or reject.
When: At each transition in the meeting, when many different ideas or proposals are being considered, when the group gets off
track; at the end of a meeting/ discussion.
How: Restate the points, decisions, action plans or common themes of the discussion; remind the group of the process or
method being used.
"Let's take a minute to look at the main themes that are arising in our discussion"
"It looks like the main points being raised are ___"
"Remember that each person needs to offer a suggestion before we begin an open discussion."
Consensus Testing
What: Checking with the group to see how much agreement has been reached and how ready the group members are to
consider a decision.
When: Problem solving, decision making, action planning.
How: Poll the group on an issue or decision to determine whether a consensus already exists.
"Are there any objections to using creative brainstorming to identify potential solutions for our problem?"
"Is there agreement that...?"
Maintenance Roles
Maintenance roles refer to the actions of individuals that help preserve the relationships in a group.
Encouraging
What: Being friendly, warm, and responsive to others; accepting others and their contributions; regarding others by giving them
an opportunity to contribute or be recognized.
When: Regularly.
How: Give recognition for contributions to the group, point out the accomplishments of the group.
"That was a really good suggestion, Chris. Thanks."
"We have accomplished a lot today. Thanks."
Harmonizing
What: Attempting to reconcile disagreements; reducing tension, getting people to explore their differences.
When: When the group cannot reach consensus, when conflict of ideas, opinions or personality is preventing progress.
How: Articulate the common elements in conflicting points of view.

"What can we do to get you to support this? What can we all agree on?"
"We seem to be stuck. What can we do to move the discussion along?"
Expressing Group Feelings

What: Sensing feelings, mood, relationships within the group; sharing one's own feelings with other members.
When: When the group is having trouble making a decision, when you sense a conflict in the group, as a check-in to see how the
group is doing.
How: Verbalizing what you see as the feelings, mood, tension in the group. Openly acknowledging your own feelings about what
is going on in the group.
"I am sensing that there is some tension in the room. does anyone else feel it?"
"It seems like some people have withdrawn from this discussion. Is that something we need to discuss?"
Gatekeeping
What: Helping to keep communication channels open: facilitating the participation of others, suggesting procedures that permit
sharing remarks.
When: Whenever you want to hear from the more silent members of the group, whenever you want to prevent a participant from
dominating the discussion.
How: Ask an individual for their opinions or the information; be sensitive to the non-verbal signals indicating that people want to
participate; when a person monopolizes the conversation, ask others for input
"Jeff, did you want to share something?"
"Thanks for your input, Robin. I would like to know what the rest of you think."
Compromising
What: When your own ideas or status is involved in a conflict, offering a compromise which yields status; admitting error,
modifying ideas in interest of group cohesion or growth.
When: When the group is stuck, when trying to make a decision and there are opposing views.
How: Offering suggestions for getting unstuck; asking the group members to figure out a compromise.
"I guess this method may not be the best for accomplishing this task. Shall we try Kim's idea?"
"I feel like we are stuck with two opposing views, what can we do to reach a compromise?"
Standard Setting and Testing

What: Checking whether the group is satisfied with its procedures; suggesting new procedures when necessary.
When: When the group first meets together, whenever the norms that are developing prevent the group from functioning
effectively.
How: Help group define its ground rules; remind group of the standards they established for themselves anytime when those
rules are ignored or broken.
"How do we want to operate as a group?"
"Seems like our ground rules have been forgotten. Should we take a few minutes and revisit them?"
"I just want to remind you of the ground rules we set up in the beginning."
Hindering Roles
Hindering roles refer to actions of individuals that hinder the group's process and progress.
Dominating
Behavior: Asserting authority or superiority to manipulate the group or certain members; interrupting contributions of others;
controlling through use of flattery or patronization.
Solution: Establish a procedure whereby each person contributes one idea to the discussion and then must wait until every other
group member does the same before contributing again; interrupt the dominator, ask him/her to summarize the point quickly so
that others can add their ideas, too.
"Thank you for giving us all those ideas, Erin. Let's hear from others in the group now."
Withdrawing
Behavior: Removing self psychologically or physically from the group; not talking; answering questions only briefly.
Solution: Do not let conflicts remain unresolved; talk with the person privately to find out what is happening; direct questions to
and solicit ideas from the avoider so this person stays involved.
"Carol, I have noticed that you haven't been as involved in the group lately. Is everything O.K.?"
Degrading
Behavior: Putting down others' ideas and suggestions; deflating others' status; joking in a barbed or sarcastic way.
Solution: When your group first gets together, review your contract and ground rules with them, highlighting the rule that all ideas
will be accepted; the first time someone criticizes another person, reinforce this rule.
"You have a point, but we need to solve our problem, not attack each other's ideas."
Uncoooperative
Behavior: Disagreeing and opposing ideas; resisting stubbornly the group's wishes for personally oriented reasons; using
hidden agenda to thwart group progress.
Solution: Incorporate statements in the original guidelines that deal with cooperation and interruptions, encourage this person to
explain reasons behind his/her objection; look for any aspect of the position that supports the group's ideas so that this person
moves from left to center field; refocus his/her participation as a recorder or process observer; ask the group to deal with this
uncooperative behavior.
"It seems like we may be forgetting the ground rules we set up as a group. Should we take a few minutes to revisit them now?"
"Sandy, that is an interesting view. Could you explain how you came to those conclusions?"
Side Conversations
Behavior: Whispering, giggling and having private side conversations with another person.
Solution: Set guidelines and expectations at the beginning of the meeting, stop the meeting and ask those involved in the side
conversation to share what they are talking about with the group, stop the meeting and comment that it is difficult for you to hear
the other discussion or to concentrate on the topic at hand with side conversations occurring; privately talk with the distracters
and discuss their expectations for the meeting's topics; empower others to confront the distracters with how these side
conversations keep everyone from concentrating on the group's discussion.
"I am having trouble focusing on the discussion with the side conversations going on. Is anyone else experiencing this?"
"It is difficult to focus on the discussion with side conversations going on. Can we agree that we will all focus on the main
discussion?"
"I sense we are losing people's attention and interest, can we do a check-in to see where people are on this topic?"
Resource Manual Table of Contents

Residential Education Home Page
Team Role Summary Descriptions
© BELBIN 2011 www.belbin.com
Models
Natural and unnatural languages
I personally like naturalistic languages, so my constructed languages (conlangs) are full of irregularities, quirky lexical derivations, and
interesting idioms.
It’s easier, no doubt, to create a logical language, and desirable if you want to create an auxiliary interlanguage (auxlang), à la Esperanto.
The danger here is a) creating a system so pristine, so abstract, that it’s also impossible to learn; or b) not noticing when you reproduce some
illogicality present in the models you’re using. Ask me about the irregularities of Esperanto sometime.
NonWestern (or at least nonEnglish) models
Looking at some nonIndoEuropean languages, such as Quechua (see my intro to Quechua here), Chinese, Turkish, Arabic, or Swahili, can
be eyeopening.
Learn other languages, if you can. If languages are difficult for you, just skim a grammar for nice ideas to steal. Bernard Comrie’s The
World’s Major Languages contains meaty descriptions of fifty languages. Anatole Lyovin’s An Introduction to the Languages of the World
readably surveys all the world’s language families, pointing out touristic highlights, and gives more detailed sketches of some important
languages Comrie skips.
If you don’t know another language well, you’re pretty much doomed to produce ciphers of English. Checking out grammars (or this Kit)
can help you avoid duplicating English grammar, and give you some neat ideas to try out; but the real difficulty is in the lexicon. If all you
know is English, you’ll tend to duplicate the structure and idioms of the English vocabulary. Below I’ll give you some hints on minimizing
this problem.

Sounds
Nonlinguists will often start with the alphabet and add a few apostrophes and diacritical marks. The results are likely to be something that
looks too much like English, has many more sounds than necessary, and which even the author doesn’t know how to pronounce.
You’ll get better results the more you know about phonetics (the study of the possible sounds of language) and phonology (how sounds are
actually used in language).
If you read just one book on linguistics... besides mine, I mean... make it J.C. Catford’s A Practical Introduction to Phonetics. Catford goes
through the possible sounds systematically, with practical descriptions of how to produce each one even without having heard them.
Don’t get too alarmed by the technical terms below. There’s a lot of them, but they’re all good to know, and the rest of the document isn’t as
hard.
Real linguists and their notation
Language textbooks often describe sounds by comparison with English, offering recipes for producing unusual sounds. Linguists instead use
the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet), a set of symbols with precise meanings.
I won’t rely heavily on the IPA here, as it’s kind of baffling till you’ve learned something about phonology. But I’ll introduce the symbols as
we talk about each sound. To make it clear when I’m using an IPA symbol, I’ll print them like this: p. Many of them, like p, are what you’d
expect from English.
Types of consonants
Consonants are formed by obstructing the flow of air from the lungs. In linguistics, we don’t organize them alphabetically, but in a two
dimensional grid: place of articulation vs. closure.
Place of articulation
Place of articulation describes where the obstruction occurs. By convention, we start at the lips and move inward. Compare the descriptions
to the diagram, and make sure to pronounce the consonants to feel where they're produced.

Name Obstruction Examples

Labial lips alone p b m w
Labiodental lips and teeth f, v
Dental tongue against the teeth English th (unvoiced θ, voiced ð), French or Spanish t, d
Alveolar tongue behind the teeth s, z, English t, d, Spanish r (ɾ)
PalatoAlveolar tongue further back from the teeth sh (ʃ), zh (ʒ)
Palatal tongue touching the top of the palate Spanish ñ, Italian gn (both ɲ), Sanskrit c
Velar back of the tongue against the back of the mouth k, g, ng (ŋ)
Uvular tongue compressing way back in the mouth Arabic q, French r (ʀ)
Glottal constricting the throat h, glottal stop ʔ as in John Lennon saying bottle
If you need to distinguish dental from postalveolar t, d in IPA, you can use t̪
d̪
for the dentals.
Degree of closure
Consonants also vary in how much they obstruct the airflow.
Name Closure Examples
Stops (or Plosives) Complete closure (though it’s just momentary) p t k b d g
Fricatives Impeded, enough to create a hissing sound f s, sh (ʃ); zh (ʒ), kh (x)
Affricates A stop that releases into a fricative ts, English ch tʃ, j dʒ
Approximants Slightly impeded, no hissing sound r l w h; y (j)
Vowels No closure at all— that’s what a vowel really is!
It often surprises English speakers that phonetically ch is just t + sh (tʃ). Similarly j is d + zh (dʒ).
Confusingly, the IPA for our y is j. Think of the German j.
More distinctions
Voicing is whether the vocal cords are vibrating or not. (If you’re not quite sure: when you hum, they’re vibrating; when you whisper,
they’re not.) Voicing is the difference between f and v, t and d, k and g, sh and zh.
Voiced and unvoiced consonants usually come in pairs, but not always. For instance, Spanish has s but not z; Arabic has b but not p.
Voicing isn’t binary; rather, consonants vary in how soon the voicing starts— voicing onset time, VOT. English has fairly late VOT; French
has early VOT.
With nasal consonants, air travels through the nose as well as the mouth: m, n, ng (ŋ).
The mouth does the exact same thing for b as for m; the difference is that the nasal passage is open for m (which also means that the sound
can be prolonged).
Stops may be released lightly or with a noticeable puff of air— aspiration. In English, we aspirate unvoiced stops at the beginning of a word
(pot, tall, cow) but not after an s (spot, stall, scow). French and Spanish don’t have this initial aspiration.
In Mandarin Chinese, Hindi, or Quechua, there are separate series of aspirated and nonaspirated stops: p pʰ. (As shown, the IPA is a
superscript h.) Beijing doesn’t begin with a b but with an unaspirated p.
Palatalized consonants are pronounced while raising the tongue toward the top of the mouth. That’s about the position for y, and a
palatalized consonant may sound to English speakers as if there’s a y before or after it. In Russian and Gaelic, there are distinct series of
palatalized and nonpalatalized consonants. Palatalization is marked in IPA with a superscript j, as in nʲet, Russian нет.
Rhotics
Rhotics, rlike sounds, come in several variants.
The American r is usually a retroflex sound ɻ, pronounced by curling the tongue up behind the alveolar ridge. Some languages, like
Hindi, have a whole series of retroflex consonants, such as the stops ʈ ɖ.
Spanish r as in caro is a tap ɾ, where the tongue brushes briefly against the alveolar ridge.
Spanish rr as in carro is a trill, which is like a repeated tap made by vibrating the tongue against the alveolar ridge.
French r is a uvular approximant or trill ʀ. It sounds like a kh pronounced further back in the throat, or like a dry gargle.
Laterals
There are also several laterals, llike sounds, where the tongue is in position for a stop but space is left on the side for the air to get by.
Clear l is the initial sound in lake. In Spanish, all l’s are clear. English l is alveolar; Russian’s is dental.
Dark l ɫ is the final sound in cool; it’s formed by retracting the tongue— velarization, a process that can be applied to other
consonants as well.
A palatal l ʎ is made with the closure farther back, against the top of the palate, as in Italian voglio. Some dialects of Spanish
pronounce ll this way (but many have j).
If the edges of the tongue are closer to the sides of the mouth, so there’s a noticeable hissing sound, you have a lateral fricative ɮ. This
also has an unvoiced version ɬ.
The consonant grid
Linguists prefer to arrange consonants in a grid. Here’s the grid for American English:
labial labiodental dental alveolar alvpal velar glottal
stops p b t d k g
fricatives f v θ ð s z sh zh h
affricates ch j
approximants w r l y
nasals m n ng
English th is really two sounds, the unvoiced θ of thick and the voiced ð of this.
For the alveolarpalatal column I used the English spellings; sh zh are ʃ ʒ; ch j are tʃ dʒ; y is j. And ng is ŋ.
At this point, if you’re given a name like voiced velar stop or unvoiced alveolarpalatal approximant, you should be able to figure out what it
means.
Inventing consonants
You’ll notice that the grid of consonants for English has gaps in it. Does this mean you can invent new sounds by filling in the grid? Oh yes.
Take the cell right under k g— the labels tell us that it’s for velar fricatives. The unvoiced version is x, fantasy writers’ beloved kh, as in
German Bach. There is a voiced version gh ɣ, found in Greek.
How about a labial affricate pf? German has one. It’s possible to make labial fricatives ɸ β too— not f as that involves the lower lip
touching the teeth, but a lightly hissing fricative formed with just the lips. Japanese Fuji begins with ɸ; Spanish b, v in the middle of a word
are pronounced β.
Even more exciting is to add entire series of consonants using contrasts not used in English, such as palatalization or aspiration. Or remove a
series English has. Cuzco Quechua, for instance, has three series of stops: aspirated, nonaspirated, and glottalized, but it doesn’t distinguish
voiced and unvoiced consonants.
The key to a naturalistic language, in fact, is to add (or subtract) entire dimensions. It’s conceivable that a language could have a single
glottalized consonant, but more likely that it will have a series of them (along the points of articulation: p’ t’ k’). A language might have just
two palatalized consonants (Spanish does: ll, ñ), but one that has a whole series of them is more typical.
You can also add places of articulation. For instance, while English has three series of stops, Hindi has five (labial, dental, retroflex, alveolo
palatal, and velar. Retroflex consonants involve curling the tongue backwards a bit), and Arabic has six (bilabial, dental, ‘emphatic’ (don’t
ask), velar, uvular, glottal).
Some consonants are more common than others. For instance, virtually all languages have the simple stops p t k. Lass’s Phonology gives
examples; see also David Crystal’s The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language, p. 165.
Vowels
The most important aspects of vowels are height and frontness.
Height is how far the tongue is raised within the mouth; the mouth also tends to open wider as the tongue lowers, so lower vowels are also
called open.
The usual scale is high i u as in me moo, mid e o as in say so, and low a as in sock. (Pronounce these as in the examples... if you're
wondering why we say A as ej, E as i and I as aj, it has to do with a sound change centuries ago called the Great Vowel Shift.)
Many languages, including English, have four steps instead. Instead of mid there are two heights:
Closed e o as in English say, so; French é and the vowel in eau; Italian e, o in cera, voce.
Open ɛ as in English set, French è; Italian e as in sella. And also ɔ, the o in French donne and Italian cosa.
If you pronounce Don, Dawn differently, ɔ is the vowel in Dawn.
If you pronounce those the same, start with the vowel of set and move the tongue back.
Frontness is how close the tongue is to the front of the mouth.
Front vowels include i e ɛ as in me, may, meh. The vowel in English pat is æ, a low front vowel.
Back vowels include u o ɔ as in do, doe, dawn (again, unless you say that like don).
There are also central vowels, with the tongue partly back. a as in sot can be central (but for some speakers it’s a back ɑ). The muddy
vowel ә or shwa is very common in English, as in the unstressed syllables of China, about, photograph.
The vowel grid
You can arrange the vowels in a grid according to these two dimensions. The bottom of the grid is usually drawn shorter because there isn’t
as much room for the tongue to maneuver as the mouth opens more.

To get a feel for these distinctions, pronounce the words in the diagram, moving from top to bottom or side to side, and noting where your
tongue is and how close it is to the roof of the mouth.
The words shown may not match your own dialect. The important thing here is to understand what your tongue is doing as it makes front vs.
back and high vs. low sounds. The ideal IPA vowels are as extreme as possible— e.g. i is as front and high as you can get it.
Other vowel distinctions
Vowels can vary along other dimensions as well.
The lips can be rounded or not. It’s typical for front vowels like i e ɛ to be unrounded, and back vowels like u o ɔ to be rounded. Say moo
and note how your lips are pursed— that’s rounding. Compare me, which should be unrounded.
English doesn’t have front rounded vowels, but French and German do (Fr. u, oe; Ger. ü, ö). The IPA symbols are high y, closed ø, and open
œ. To pronounce y, say i and round the lips as for u.
The IPA symbols for back unrounded vowels are high ɯ, closed ɤ, open ʌ. For many English speakers the latter is the vowel in cut. Russian
ы and Japanese u are both ɯ; to pronounce this, say u with lips relaxed.
Vowels may constrast by length, as in Latin, Greek, Sanskrit, and Old English. Estonian has three degrees of length. A long vowel is simply
pronounced longer. A long a is often transcribed ā, though the IPA is a:.
Like consonants, vowels can be nasalized— pronounced with the nasal passage open. French, for instance, has four nasalized vowels œ̃
ɔ ̃
ɛ ̃
ɑ̃
as in un bon vin blanc.
When two vowels are adjacent, they normally form a diphthong, as in English coy, cow, guy koj kaw gaj. The vowels are not really distinct;
the position of the vocal organs glides smoothly from one position to the other.
English tends to diphthongize its closed vowels— e.g. day, go are pronounced dej gow. In most languages you want to avoid this— e.g.
French thé, tôt are a pure te to.
Vowel systems
English has a rather complicated vowel system:
‐‐lax‐‐ ‐‐tense‐‐
front‐‐‐‐‐‐back front‐‐‐‐‐‐back
high pit put peat poot
mid pet putt pate boat
low pat pot father bought
Lax vowels are pronounced closer to the center of the vowel space— more like shwa— while tense vowels are pronounced closer to the
periphery. Pronounce the words above (if you’re a native speaker) to get a feel for the contrast.
Interesting simple systems include Quechua (three vowels, i u a) and Spanish (five: i e a o u). Simple vowel systems tend to spread out; a
Quechua i, for instance, can sound like English pit, peat, or pet. Spanish e and o are open (as in pet, caught) in syllables that end in a
consonant, closed (as in pate, pot) elsewhere.
Again, for your conlang, don’t just add an exotic vowel or two; try to invent a vowel system, using the dimensions listed above. For instance,
starting from the English system, you could bag the tense/lax distinction, add roundedness, and then collapse the front and back low vowels
(there are often more high than low vowels).
Phones, phonemes, and allophones
Sounds is too vague for linguistics. And please don’t call them letters! The raw sounds people produce are called phones. (They’re actually
messier than I’ve described, as phonetic distinctions generally aren’t binary. Things like tongue height or place of articulation are really
continuous variables.)
Each language has a set of phonemes— classes of phones that the speakers treat as ‘the same sound’.
By convention
phonemes appear between slashes: /l/ /p/...
phones appear between brackets: [l] [p]...
The distinction is important for two reasons:
Because phonemes can be realized with different phones. For instance, English /p/ is realized as aspirated [pʰ] at the beginning of a
word, unaspirated [p] elsewhere. English /l/ is clear [l] at the beginning of a syllable, dark [ɫ] at the end. English /m/ is usually labial,
but it’s labiodental [ɱ] before an f, as in emphatic. Such variations within a language are called allophones.
Different languages make different phonetic distinctions. E.g. English and Mandarin can both be said to have phonemes /p b/. But—
In English the distinction is by voicing, with aspiration as allophonic— that is, /p/ is [p] or [pʰ] and /b/ is [b].
In Mandarin, the distinction is by aspiration, with voicing as allophonic— that is, /p/ is [pʰ] and /b/ is [p] or [b].
Linguists ask, of a particular phonetic distinction in a language, is it phonemic? That comes down to: is it used to contrast words? Mandarin
pʰàŋ ‘fat’ contrasts with pàŋ ‘pound’, so the p/pʰ distinction is phonemic in Mandarin. But p/pʰ never distinguish two words in English (they
never occur in the same position in the word), so the distinction is allophonic in English.
When you work out the sounds of your conlang, you’re creating a phonological inventory— a list of phonemes. That should be the basis of
your orthography (or transliteration, if the conlang has its own writing system). Present the phonemes, then you can describe any allophonic
variation.
Note that the IPA can be used for either phonemic or phonetic transcriptions. Symbols can be used rather loosely for phonemes, because
phonemes are really mental categories that can have different phonetic realizations anyway. Some phonemes can only be explained
historically, or by reference to other dialects... we’ve already seen John Lennon realizing /t/ as [ʔ] in bottle!
Your orthography doesn’t have to use IPA at all, of course! It’s helpful to readers, though, if you give the IPA in your phonology section.
Stress
Don’t forget to give a stress rule. English has unpredictable stress, and if you don’t think about it your invented language will tend to work
that way too.
French (lightly) stresses the last syllable. Polish and Quechua always stress the secondtolast syllable. Latin has a more complex rule: stress
the secondtolast syllable, unless both final syllables are short and aren’t separated by two consonants.
If the rule is absolutely regular, you don’t need to indicate stress orthographically. If it’s irregular, however, consider explicitly indicating it,
as in Spanish: corazón, porqué.
In English, vowels are reduced to more indistinct or centralized forms when unstressed. This is one big reason (tho’ not the only one) that
English spelling is so difficult.
Tone
Mandarin syllables have four tones, or intonation contours: high level, rising, fallingrising, and high falling. These tones are part of the
word, and can be used to distinguish words of different meanings:
Tones are often described on a fivepoint scale, 5 being the highest. The Mandarin tones above are 55, 35, 214, and 51.
Cantonese and Vietnamese have six tones.
Tone is complicated by tone sandhi, where neighboring tones influence each other. For instance, Mandarin’s third tone changes to second
before another third tone, so nǐhǎo ‘hello’ is pronounced níhǎo.
Tones are not absolute, but relative to your normal pitch. (And if you’re wondering, songwriters may or may not try to match the tones of
their lyrics to the melody.)
Pitchaccent
If that seems a bit elaborate, you might consider a pitchaccent system, such as I used in another invented language, Cuêzi: the stress in a
word can either be high or low in pitch. Japanese and ancient Greek are pitchaccent languages.
In (standard) Japanese, syllables can be either high or low pitch; each word has a particular ‘melody’ or sequence of high and low syllables—
e.g. ikebana ‘flower arrangement’ has the melody LHLL; sashimi ‘sliced raw fish’ has LHH; kokoro ‘heart’ has LHL. It rather sounds as if a
tone has to be remembered for each syllable; but this turns out not to be the case. All you must learn for each word is the location of the
‘accent’, the main drop in pitch. Then you simply apply these three rules:
Assign high pitch to all moras (= syllables, except that a long vowel is two moras, and a final n or a double consonant takes up a mora
too)
Change the pitch to low for all moras following the accent
Assign low pitch to the first mora if the second is high.
Thus for ike'bana we have HHHH, then HHLL, then LHLL.
Phonological constraints
Every language has a series of constraints on what possible words can occur in the language. For instance, as an English speaker you know
somehow that blick and drass are possible words, though they don’t happen to exist, but vlim and mtar couldn’t possibly be English.
Designing the phonological constraints in your language will go a long, long way to giving it its own distinctive flavor.
Start with a distinctive syllable pattern. For instance,
Japanese allows only (C(y))V(V)(n): Ranma, Akane, Tatewaki Kunō, Rumiko Takahashi, Gojira, Tōkyō, konkūru, sushi,
etc.
Mandarin Chinese allows (C)(i, u)V(w, y, n, ng): wǒ shì Měiguórén, wényán, chīfàn, mànhuà, Wáng Fěi, Zhāng, etc.
Quechua allows (C)V(C): Wallpakuna sarata mikuchkanku, achka allin hatun mosoq puka wasikuna, etc.
English goes as far as (s) + (C) + (r, l, w, y) + (V) + V + (C) + (C) + (C): sprite, thanksgiving.
C stands for a consonant, V for a vowel, and the parentheses mark optional phonemes, so (C)V(V)(n) means "an optional consonant, a
required vowel, possibly another vowel, and possibly a final n."
Try to generalize your constraints. For instance, m + t is illegal at the beginning of a word in English. We could generalize this to [nasal] +
[stop]. The rule against v + l generalizes at least to [voiced fricative] + [approximant]. (We do allow v + l in borrowings, like Vladimir.)
Another process to be aware of is assimilation. Adjoining consonants tend to assimilate to the same place of articulation. That’s why Latin
in + port = import, ad + simil = assimil. It’s why the plural s sounds like z after a voiced stop, as in dogs or moms. It’s also why Larry
Niven’s klomter, from The Integral Trees, rings so false. m + t (though not impossible) is difficult, since each sound occurs at a different
place of articulation; both sounds are likely either to shift to the dental position (klonder) or the labial (klomper). Another possible outcome is
the insertion of a phonetically intermediate sound: klompter.
Alien mouths
If you’re inventing a language for aliens, you’ll probably want to give them really different sounds (if they have speech at all, of course). The
Marvel Comics solution is to throw in a bunch of apostrophes: This is Empress Nx’id’’ar’ of the planet Bla’no’no! Larry Niven just violates
English phonological constraints: tnuctipun. We can do better.
Think about the shape of the mouth of your aliens. Is it really long? That suggests adding a few more places of articulation. Perhaps the
airstream itself works differently: perhaps they have no nose, and therefore can’t produce nasals; or they can’t stop breathing as they talk, so
that all their vowels are nasal; or the airstream is at a higher velocity, producing higherpitched sounds and perhaps more emphatic
consonants. Or perhaps their anatomy allows quite odd clicks, snaps, and thuds that have become phonemes in their languages.
Several writers have come up with creatures with two vocal tracts, allowing them to pronounce two sounds at once, or accompany
themselves in twopart harmony.
Or, how about sounds or syllables that vary in tonal color? Meanings might be distinguished by whether the voice sounds like a trombone, a
violin, a trumpet, or a guitar.
Suggesting additional sounds is difficult and perhaps tiresome to the reader; an alien ambience can also be created by removing entire
phonetic dimensions. An alien might be unable to produced voiced sounds (so he sounts a pit like a Cherman), or, lacking lips, might skip
over labials (you nust do this to de a thentrilocooist, as ooell).
Writing systems
Orthography
Once you have the sounds of your language down, you’ll want to create an orthography— that is, a standard way of representing those
sounds in the Roman alphabet.
I don’t recommend trying to be very creative here. For instance, you could represent a e i o u as ö é ee aw ù, with the accents reversed at the
end of the word. An outlandish orthography is probably an attempt to jazz up a phonetic system that didn’t turn out to be interestingly
different from English. Work on the phonemes, then find a way to spell them in a straightforward fashion.
If you’re inventing a language for a fantasy world, it’s wise to take account of how Englishspeaking readers will mangle your beautiful
words. Tolkien is the model here: he spelled Quenya as if it were Latin, didn’t introduce any really vile spellings, and kindly indicated final
e’s that must be pronounced. Still, he couldn’t resist demanding that c and g always be hard (I couldn’t either, for Verdurian), which
probably means that a lot of his names, like Celeborn, are commonly mispronounced.
Marc Okrand, inventing Klingon, had the clever idea of using upper and lowercase letters with different phonetic values. This has the
advantage of doubling the letters available without using diacritics, but it’s not very aesthetic and it sure is a tax on memory.
Or you may go for neatness, as I did in inventing Verdurian. I don’t like digraphs, so I adapted Czech orthography— č for ch (tʃ), š for sh (ʃ),
etc. At the time I had to create a special font, but these days you can use Unicode characters very easily.
Please don’t browse the Unicode catalog as if all the characters were just decoration. As the IPA in the Kit shows, all of them have some
meaning, and if you choose them for their looks it will look confusing and not too smart to anyone who knows the actual meaning.
A sense of variation among the nations of your world can be achieved by using different transliteration styles for each. In my fantasy
world, for instance, Verdurian Ďarcaln and Barakhinei Dhârkalen are not pronounced that much differently, but the differing orthographies
give each a different feeling. Surely you’d rather visit civilized Ďarcaln than dark and brooding Dhârkalen? (Tricked you. It’s the same
place.)
If you’re inventing an interlanguage, of course, you shouldn’t worry about English conventions; create the most straightforward
romanization you can. You’re only asking for trouble, however, if you invent new diacritic marks, as the inventor of Esperanto did.
An example
Here’s the alphabet I came up with for Verdurian:
Note that there’s a onetoone correspondence between the Verdurian alphabet and the standard English representation. This is not very
naturalistic— transliteration schemes are not usually this straightforward— but it’s a good place to start. Once you can fluently read your
own alphabet, feel free to add complications.
A good alphabet can’t be created in a day. This one took shape over a period of weeks, as I played with various letterforms.
Keep the letters looking distinct. The best alphabets spread out over the conceptual graphic space, so that letters can’t be confused for one
another. Tolkien is a bad example here: the elves must have been tormented by dyslexia. If letters start to approach each other too closely,
users find ways to distinguish them, in the way that computer programmers, for instance, write zeroes with a slash. Europeans write 1 with an
elaborate introductory swash— impossible to confuse with I, but looking much like a 7, which has therefore acquired a horizontal slash!
Remember that letters are written over and over again, over the life of an individual or a civilization. Elaborate letters are likely to be
simplified. You can simulate this process by writing the letter over and over yourself; the appropriate simplifications will suggest themselves
automatically.
Note that I supplied upper and lower case forms, as in the Roman and Greek alphabets. The lowercase forms are all cursive simplifications of
the uppercase forms (which are also the ancient forms). In retrospect I probably shouldn’t have imitated the mixedcase system, which on our
world is basically limited to Western alphabets. I should have kept the ‘uppercase’ forms for ancient times, the ‘lowercase’ forms for modern
times.
I tried to give the letters individual histories, as with our alphabet. The letter t, for instance, derives from a picture of a cup, touresiu in Cuêzi;
n was originally a picture of a foot (nega); for more see the Cuêzi grammar. I have to admit that I did this backwards— I invented
pictograms that could have developed into the letters, which I had devised years before!
Also note that the voiced consonants, in the uppercase forms, are simply the unvoiced forms with a bar over them (this is a bit obscured with
d and t), and that the letters for š č ž are all transparent variations of each other. This slightly violates my ‘maximally distinct’ rule, but I think
it adds interest to the alphabet.
You’ll also notice both c and k in the alphabet. This is the sort of ethnocentrism it’s all too easy to fall into. Why would another language
duplicate the convoluted history of our alphabet’s c and k? I’ve reinterpreted these symbols to refer to /k/ and /q/.
Diacritics
Some advice: never use a diacritical mark without giving it a specific meaning, preferably one which it retains in all uses. I made this mistake
in Verdurian: I used ö and ü as in German, but ë somewhat as in Russian (indicating palatalization of the previous consonant), and ä as a
mere doubling of a. I was smarter by the time I got to Cuêzi: the circumflex consistently indicates a lowpitch accent.
Avoid using apostrophes just to make words look foreign or alien. Since apostrophes are used in contradictory ways (they represent the
glottal stop in Arabic or Hawai’ian, glottalization in Quechua, palatalization in Russian, aspiration or a syllable boundary in Chinese, and
omitted sounds in English, French, and Italian), they end up suggesting nothing at all to the reader.
Fancier writing systems
What, you say you want to build a syllabary? A cursive form of your alphabet? A logographic system?
Read a good book on how writing systems work. Writing Systems by Geoffrey Sampson is a very good book.
If that seems too much, read up on the type of writing system you want to imitate: Chinese characters, the Japanese or Maya syllabary, the
Sanskrit syllabic alphabet, the Korean featural code, the allcursive Arabic alphabet, and so on.
My page on Yingzi describes a logographic script for English, as an underhanded way to explain how Chinese characters work; also see the
logographic writing system for my conlang Uyseʔ. Advanced Language Construction also has a chapter on creating nonalphabetic systems.
A book like Kenneth Katzer’s Languages of the World gives examples of a wide variety of scripts. Comrie’s The World’s Major Languages
does the same, but gives more detail. Or invest in the 800pound gorilla of the field, Daniels & Bright’s The World’s Writing Systems, which
explains how every writing system in the world works.
Logographic scripts and syllabaries tend to work best with languages that have a very limited syllabic structure— Japanese, with (C)V(n), is
close to ideal; English is close to pessimal.
Word building
How many words do you need?
Where the conlang bug bites, the Speedtalk meme is sure to follow. Let Robert Heinlein explain it:
Long before, Ogden and Richards had shown that eight hundred and fifty words were sufficient vocabulary to express anything
that could be expressed by “normal” human vocabularies, with the aid of a handful of special words— a hundred odd— for each
special field, such as horse racing or ballistics. About the same time phoneticians had analyzed all human tongues into about a
hundredodd sounds, represented by the letters of a general phonetic alphabet.
... One phonetic symbol was equivalent to an entire word in a “normal” language, one Speedtalk word was equal to an entire
sentence.
—“Gulf”, in Assignment in Eternity, 1953
This is a tempting idea, not least because it promises to save us a good deal of work. Why invent thousands of words if a hundred will do?
The unfortunate truth is that Ogden and Richards cheated. They were able to reduce the vocabulary of Basic English so much by taking
advantage of idioms like make good for succeed. That may save a word, but it’s still a lexical entry that must be learned as a unit, with no
help from its component pieces. Plus, the whole process was highly irregular. (Make bad doesn’t mean fail.)
The Speedtalk idea may seem to receive support from such observations as that 80% of English text makes use of only the most frequent
3000 words, and 50% makes use of only 100 words. However (as linguist Henry Kučera points out), there’s an inverse relationship
between frequency and information content: the most frequent words are function words (prepositions, particles, conjunctions, pronouns),
which don’t contribute much to meaning (and indeed can be left out entirely, as in newspaper headlines), while the least frequent words are
important content words. It doesn’t do you much good to understand 80% of the words in a sentence if the remaining 20% are the most
important for understanding its meaning.
The other problem is that redundancy isn’t a bug, it’s a feature. Claude Shannon showed that the information content of English text was
about one bit per letter— not too high considering that for random text it’s about five bits a letter. Sounds inefficient, huh? On the other
hand, we don’t actually hear every sound (or, if we’re accomplished readers, read every letter) in a word. We use the builtin redundancy of
language to understand what’s said anyway.
To put it another way: y cn ndrstnd Nglsh txt vn wtht th vwls, or shouted into a nor’easter, or whispered (which removes all voicing
information), or over a staticky phone line. Similarly distorted Speedtalk would be impossible to understand, since entire morphemes would
be missing or mistaken. Very probably the degree of redundancy of human languages is pretty precisely calibrated to the minimum level of
information needed to cope with typical levels of distortion.
However, go ahead and play with the Speedtalk idea. It’s good for some hours of fun, working out as minimal a set of primitives as you can;
and the habit of paraphrase it gives you is very useful in creating languages. Just don’t take it too seriously; if you do, your punishment is to
learn 850 words of any actual foreign language and be set down in a city of monolingual speakers of that language.
Alien or a priori languages
If you’re making up a language for a different world, you want, of course, words that don’t sound like any existing language. For this you
simply need to make up words that use the sounds and the syllable structure in your language.
This can fairly quickly get tiresome. I don’t advise you to sit down and come up with a hundred words at once; you’re likely to run out of
inspiration, or find that all the words are starting to sound the same. You may also be creating new roots where you could more easily derive
the word from existing roots.
It’s not hard to write computer programs that will randomly generate words for your language (even respecting its syllable structure). If you
do, remember that sounds (and syllable structures) are not equiprobably distributed in natural languages. English uses many more t’s than f’s,
more f’s than z’s. (My own lexicon generator gen is available on zompist.com, and handles this for you.)
Resist the temptation to give a meaning for every possible syllable. Real languages don’t work like that (unless the number of possibilities is
quite low). Even if you’re working on a highly structured auxiliary language, you’ll want some maneuvering room for future expansion. And
the speakers of your language shouldn’t have to throw out an old word whenever they want to construct a coinage or an abbreviation.
You will want a mixture of word lengths for variety; but don’t invent too many long words. It’s better to derive long words by combining
shorter words, or adding suffixes. Or, imitating the way English is full of polysyllabic borrowings from Latin and Greek, or Japanese is full
of Chinese loanwords, create two languages, and build words in one out of components in the other.
A few halfrecognizable borrowings
You can vary how alien your language looks to English speakers. At one extreme, the auxlang Interlingua maximizes recognizability for
speakers of European languages:
Esseva in le mundo scientific— specialmente le branca medical— que interlingua vermente se monstrave utile.
It was in the scientific world— especially in the area of medicine— that Interlingua truly showed its utility.
I intended Verdurian to look mildly familiar, as if it could be a distant relative of the European languages. For example:
Sul Aď e otál mudray dy tü, dalu esë, er ya cečel řo sen e sënul.
Only God is as wise as you, my king, and even there I’m not certain.
So cuon er so ailuro eu druki. Cuon ride še slušir misotém ailurei. So ailuro e arašó rizuec.
The dog and the cat are friends. The dog laughs at the cat’s jokes. The cat is quite amusing.
To achieve this impression, I borrowed from a number of earthly languages— e.g. ailuro ‘cat’ and cuon ‘dog’ are adapted from Greek; sul
‘only’ from French; rizir ‘amuse’ and ya ‘indeed’ from Spanish; druk ‘friend’ and slušir ‘hear’ from Russian. The friendly orthography and
the simple (C)(C)V(C) syllable structure also help make the language inviting.
By contrast, another language, Xurnese, was intended to look more alien. There are still some cognates, but they’re more subtle.
Ir nevu jadzíes mnošuac. Toš to ray do šasaup rile šizen. To am šus bunji dis kes denjic. Syu cu šus izrues šač.
My niece is dating a sculptor. She can see no flaws in him. He hopes one day to govern a province. Myself, I don’t envy that
province.
Another language, Old Skourene, looks even more forbidding:
Nuasdi goşrimi ŋageşordor nenikkuḷiŋ.
Our ruler preys on his subjects like a lion.
Languages based on existing languages
Auxlangs are often based on existing languages; for instance, Esperanto is chiefly based on French, Italian, German, and English. Here the
problem of creating words largely reduces to one of acquiring enough good dictionaries.
A few language creators have tried to approach the task systematically— e.g. Interlingua is based on nine languages, and usually adopts the
word found in the most languages.
Lojban uses a wider variety of languages, including some nonWestern ones, and uses a statistical algorithm to produce an intermediate form.
The intention is to provide some mnemonic assistance to a very wide variety of speakers. It’s an intriguing idea, although the execution is so
subtle that the language is often mistaken for a priori.
Some conlangs, including some quite sophisticated ones, aim to duplicate the feel of a particular language, or language family. These are
particularly suited to alternate histories, or to fantasy countries set on Earth.
Sound symbolism
Some linguists claim to have found some common meaning patterns among human languages. For instance, front vowels (i, e) are said to
suggest smallness, softness, or high pitch; low and back vowels (a, u, o) to suggest largeness, loudness, or low pitch. Compare ittybitty,
whisper, tinkle, twitter, beep, screech, chirp, with humongous, shout, gong, clatter, crash, bam, growl, rumble; or Spanish mujercita ‘little
woman’ with mujerona ‘big woman’. Cecil Adams took advantage of this pattern when he commented, on the subject of penis enlargement
surgery, that “if nature has equipped you with a ding rather than a dong, you’ll just have to live with it.”
Exceptions aren’t hard to find, of course— notably small and big.
Inventing alien languages, authors also simply make use of what we might call phonetic stereotypes. Tolkien’s Orkish, for instance, makes
heavy use of guttural sounds and is full of consonants, while his Elvish tongues are more vocalic, and seem to have plenty of pleasant
sounding l’s and r’s.
It’s curious how much mere voicing makes Orkish sound nasty to English speakers. Compare Tolkien’s Gorbag, Shagrat, Lagduf, Muzgash
with unvoiced Corpac, Shacrat, Lactuf, Muscash.
Derivational morphology
You can multiply the usefulness of your basic roots, and make your langauge more consistent, by creating a system of derivations. Some of
the most useful:
process or state knowledge, departure, whiteness
associated person fighter, librarian
place dining room, bookplace (= library)
collection woods, wordhoard (= dictionary)
tool borer, cutthing (= knife)
characteristic adjective warlike, bovine, stellar
causative redden, makedie (= kill)
diminutive doggie, Johnnie, mujercita
augmentative bigdog, mujerona
inhabitant Verdurian, Xurnese
negative unfamiliar, undo, atheism
You can just add a suffix or prefix, or you can use compounds (‘bookplace’), or more exotic methods like reduplication (e.g. Malay balik
‘go back’ → balikbalik ‘go back and forth’).
For more examples see any of my conlangs. These processes are very useful even if you want nothing more than a naming language.
Some guidelines for not reinventing the English vocabulary
If the literal meaning of an expression doesn’t make sense (e.g. make good, go all out, have it in for someone, look livedin), you’re
probably dealing with an idiom. Translate using expressions that make sense literally (succeed, work at full capacity, have a grudge
against someone, seem inhabited), or create your own idioms (laugh at hell, play bee, circle your eye at someone, be breathed and
worn).
Look through the foreigntoEnglish section of a bilingual dictionary. Look at the range of English meanings particular foreign words
have: think about what kind of root concept could cover all of them. Look at the foreign words used to translate a single English word:
try to see what distinctions the foreign language is making where English uses that one word.
Get into the habit of providing two English terms for a word in your conlang: e.g. Xurnese šásuc = ‘flaw, defect’; kes = ‘rule, govern;
legislate’. It gives your words at least some character of their own, and saves time when you need the other word. To compensate,
divide up different English senses— e.g. ‘man’ is xuma for a male, xumaur for a human.
Look up the etymology of the English word. See if you can come up with an alternative process. E.g. language is related to French
langue ‘tongue’. Maybe you could derive the word from something else: speak, talk, mouth, way (of communicating), gabble.
Consider a whole class of related English words— verbs of motion, for instance. Design the related class of words in your language,
dividing up the conceptual space in your own way. (E.g. a basic division in English is come / go; in Russian, go by foot / go by vehicle;
in Hua, move upward / move downward.)
Read Lakoff and Johnson, Metaphors We Live By. Create your own metaphors and the vocabulary that goes with them.
For a fantasy language, think about the culture that your language serves. What concepts are most important to it? They will likely have
many synonyms, or even be reflected directly in the grammar. What’s its history or mythology? They will probably generate a number
of derived words.

Back to Outline On to Grammar
The Language Construction Kit is © 1996, 2012 by Mark Rosenfelder.
Grammar
Once you’ve bundled together some words and perhaps an alphabet, you may think you’re done. If you do, it’s likely that you’ve just created
an elaborate cipher for English. You still have the grammar to do, bucko.
To linguists, a grammar is a full description of a language, including:
Phonology, the sounds of the language, which we’ve already covered
Morphology, how words are formed, whether by inflections, compounding, or more exotic ways
Syntax, which is about how words are arrayed into sentences, so it includes word order and constructions that depend on separate
words or particles
Semantics, the study of meaning, including how it changes over time and how words relate to each other
Pragmatics, how language is actually used in the world, and how meanings change in context
We’ll start with morphology, but after that I’m going to simply describe a bunch of features that you might want to put in your language and
suggest some alternatives. A given feature may be implemented by morphology or by syntax— that’s one of the choices you’ll be making.
I’ll touch only briefly on semantics and pragmatics, but we’ll talk about where to find more info.
Is your language fusional, agglutinative, or isolating?
Inflections are affixes used to conjugate verbs and decline nouns. Examples from English are the s we add to verbs for the 3rd person
present form, the s added to pluralize nouns, and the ed of the past tense. Languages such as Russian or Latin have complex, not to say
baroque, inflectional systems.
In agglutinative languages, each affix has a single meaning. For instance, Quechua wasikunapi ’in the houses’; the plural suffix kuna is
separate from the case suffix pi. Or mikurani ‘I ate’, in which the past tense suffix ra is kept separate from the personal ending ni.
By contrast, in fusional languages, a single inflection may encode multiple meanings. For instance, in the Russian домов domóv, the óv
ending indicates both plurality and the genitive case; it doesn’t bear any evident relationship with other plural endings (e.g. nominative á) or
the singular genitive ending (a). In Spanish comí ‘I ate’, the í ending indicates the 1st person singular, past tense, indicative mood— quite a
job for one vowel, even accented.
In isolating languages, there are no suffixes at all; meanings are modified by inserting additional words. In Chinese, for instance, wǒ chī fàn
could mean ‘I eat’ or ‘I was eating’, depending on the context; the verb is not inflected at all. For precision, adverbs or particles can be
brought in: wǒ chī fàn zuótiān ‘I was eating yesterday’, wǒ chī fàn le ‘I’ve eaten (i.e. I ate and finished)’.
Polysynthetic language incorporate nouns or other roots within the verb. For instance, Nishnaabemwin naajmiijme ‘fetch food’ incorporates
miijim ‘food’. The incorporated form may differ from the noun normally used as a standalone word.
In practice natural languages are all a bit mixed; some inflections in fusional languages have a single meaning; Quechua does have a few
fused inflections, and Mandarin does have a few suffixes.
Conlang creators seem to gravitate toward agglutinative or isolating languages; but there’s something to be said for fusional inflections. They
tend to be compact, for instance. You can’t beat í for succintness.
How do you form inflections?
The inflections of the IndoEuropean languages lean heavily toward suffixes: cf. Spanish Las mujeres jóvenes bailan ‘The young
women dance’.
The Bantu languages prefer prefixes: cf. Swahili Kisu kimoja kilitosha ‘One knife was enough’.
Infixes are inserted within a root. My conlang Kebreni has the infix su for ‘made of X’: siva ‘sand’ → sisuva ‘sandy’.
Vowel change is extensively used in the Semitic language for both inflectional and derivational morphology. E.g. Arabic KTB ‘write’
has such forms as yaktubu ‘he writes’, kitba ‘writing’, kitāb ‘book’, and kātib ‘writer’. In Munkhâshi I made use of consonant changes
in verbal paradigms; e.g. the B/D/E rank forms of ‘be’ are khath, khat, gat.
Reduplication repeats all or part of the root. Sanksrit formed its perfect this way; e.g. tan ‘stretch’ had the perfect form tatan.
How do you form fused inflections? The simplest way is to derive them from an earlier, worndown set of agglutinative inflections. But there
are other paths (such as confusion between different sets of paradigms), so you can also just invent them.
In the following sections, be aware that the possible approaches may include inflections, separate particles, word order, and more. So (say)
the negative may belong to the morphology in one language, to syntax in another.
Do you have nouns, verbs, and adjectives?
Why not get rid of one or two of them?
It’s not hard to get rid of adjectives. One easy way is to treat them as verbs: instead of saying "The wall is red", you say "The wall reds";
likewise, instead of "the red wall" you say "the redding wall".
With such tricks you can even get rid of the verb be, which according to some theorists is responsible for most of the sloppy thinking in the
world today. (Heinlein was careful to ban ‘to be’ from Speedtalk.) About the only response this notion deserves is: would that clear thinking
was that easy.
You can extend the idea to get rid of nouns. For instance, in Lakhota, ethnic names are verbs, not nouns. There’s a verb ‘to be a Lakhota’:
the present forms mean ‘I am a Lakhota, you are a Lakhota, etc.’
You can have some fun with this. "The rock is under the tree" could be expressed as something like "There is stonying below the growing,
greening, flourishing", or perhaps "It stones whileunder it grows greeningly." If we really encountered a language like this, however, I’d have
to wonder whether we weren’t just fooling ourselves. If there’s a word that refers to stones, why translate it as ‘to stone’ rather than simply
‘stone’?
Jorge Luis Borges, in "Tlön, Uqbar, Tertius Orbis", posits a language without nouns; but this was because its speakers were Berkeleyan
idealists, who didn’t believe in object permanence. However, linguists really do not like using semantic classes— or metaphysics— to define
syntactic categories. (It’s not the right level of analysis; and it tends to obscure how languages really work by making them all look like
Latin.)
Jack Vance (in The Languages of Pao) posited a language without verbs. For instance, "There are two matters I wish to discuss with you"
comes out something like "Statementofimportance — inastateofreadiness— two; ear— of [place name]— inastateofreadiness; mouth
— of this person here— inastateofvolition." Vance may be in a state of pulling our legs.
Can you make a case?
What’s case? It’s a way of marking nouns by function: e.g. Latin
mundus subject or nominative the world (is, does, ...)

mundum object or accusative (something affects) the world
munde vocative O world!
mundi possessive or genitive the world’s
mundo indirect object or dative (given, sold, etc.) to the world
mundo ablative (something is done) by the world
Our possessives (’world’s’) started out as genitive case forms, though they’re really particles today. Most of our pronouns still have
nominatives and accusatives (I vs. me, we vs. us).
Conlang enthusiasts generally either love case (because it makes a language compact and frees up word order) or hate it (because English
doesn’t do much with it).
Not all case systems work the same way. Consider these roles:
A. subject of transitive sentences: I broke the window
B. object of transitive sentences: I broke the window
C. subject of intransitive sentences: the window broke
English and Latin treat A and C alike, using the nominative, B as the accusative. But some languages, such as Basque, group B and C
together as the absolutive case, leaving A in the ergative case. (In a way it’s more logical... after all, the window always has the same
semantic role, so in ergative/absolutive languages it has always the same case.)
If you think that’s weird, a few languages, such as Dyirbal, use the nominative/accusative system for 1st and 2nd person pronouns (I, we,
you), and the ergative/absolutive system for nouns and for 3rd person pronouns.
You can have case without inflections, by using particles— e.g. Japanese o marks the accusative, no the genitive.
If a language doesn’t have case it may rely on word order to indicate the relationship between a verb’s arguments; but there is another
alternative: headmarking on the verb. For instance, in the Swahili Kitabu umekileta? ‘Did you bring the book?’, the verb leta has prefixes
indicating the subject (u ‘you’) and the object (ki, a third person prefix agreeing in gender with kitabu). (me marks the perfect tense.) The
genderspecific object marker on the verb allows free word order even without case marking on the nouns.
Do nouns have gender?
Gender need not be simply masculine/feminine. Swahili, for instance, has eight gender classes, none of them masculine/feminine: one is for
animals, one for human beings, one for abstract nouns, one forms diminutives, etc. Algonquian languages have animate/inanimate genders
instead. For a conlang I created physical/spiritual genders.
Conlangers used to avoid gender, back when they were mostly creating auxlangs. But it’s a nice addition to a naturalistic language;
Verdurian has masculine and feminine gender.
People ask, what is gender for? Gender is remarkably persistent: it’s persisted in the IndoEuropean, Semitic, and Bantu language families
for at least five thousand years. It must be doing something useful.
A few possibilities:
In a gendered language like Spanish, adjectives agree in number and gender with nouns: los toros poderosos ‘the powerful bulls’. This
helps tie adjectives and nouns together, reducing the functional load on word order and adding useful clues for parsing.
It gives language (in John Lawler’s terms) another dimension to seep into. In French, for instance, there are many words that vary only
in gender: port/porte, fil/file, grain/graine, point/pointe, sort/sorte, etc. Changing gender must have once been an easy way to create a
subtle variation on a word.
It allows indefinite references to give someone’s sex.
It offers some of the advantages of obviative pronouns (see below): one may have two or more third person pronouns at work at the
same time, referring to different things.
It can support free word order without case marking, as in the Swahili example above.
What else is marked on the noun?
The noun can have other markings too, such as:
Plurality, as in English. Some languages have dual forms for pairs of things.
Honorifics, as in Japanese o.
Topic, like Quechua qa, or the Swedish postposed article (flickan ‘the girl’).
Possession: e.g. Quechua wasi ‘house’ → wasiyki ‘your house’.
Diminutives and augmentatives are very useful.
Does the verb inflect by person and number?
Like case, personal endings make for nice compact sentences, since if you have them you can generally omit subject pronouns. Here’s an
example from Spanish; note that English has a remnant of person/number agreement with the s ending.
hablo I speak
hablas you (s.) speak
habla he/she speaks
hablamos we speak
habláis you (pl.) speak
hablan they speak
Some languages, such as Swahili and Quechua, include the object pronoun in the verb as well, usually as an infix. Quechua rimasunki
means ‘he is speaking to you (s.)’.
The Romance languages have clitic forms of the pronouns, which stop just short of being verb inflections: e.g. French Je le vois, ‘I see him’;
Spanish Dígame, ‘Tell me’.
Basque verbs can inflect to encode information about the listener. For instance, ekarri digute is a neutral way of saying ‘They brought it to
us’; ekarri zigunate means the same, but also indicates that the listener is a woman addressed with the informal personal pronoun.
What else can you put on the verb?
Some distinctions languages make on their verbs:
time, of course (tense strictly speaking)
whether the action is completed (grammarians say perfect) or not
whether the focus is on the ongoing process (progressive), or a single action, or a habitual action, or a repeated action (all these are
aspects)
whether the action can be counted on (indicative mood), or is doubtful or merely to be desired (subjunctive), or isn’t happening at all
(negative)
whether I’m telling you (indicative again) or ordering you (imperative)
whether the speaker knows about the action from personal experience, or merely from hearsay, or merely considers it probable
(evidentiality)
whether the verb is intransitive (it just happens) or transitive (it happens to something) or reflexive (it happens to the subject)
whether the verb simply describes a state (static) or reports a change in state (dynamic). In my conlang Caďinor, for instance, scadran
means ‘ride’ in its static forms, ‘mount’ in its dynamic forms; ciloran is static ‘need, lack’ and dynamic ‘run out of’.
degree of deference between speaker and listener
who benefits from an action (a benefactive)
the speaker’s emotional reaction (e.g. Quechua lla which expresses fear or lamentation, or ru for urgency)
Any language can express these distinctions, but they differ in which features are grammaticalized: reflected in the morphology and syntax
of the language. English, for instance, grammaticalizes person and number in its verbal system, while Japanese does not. On the other hand
Japanese verbs have positive and negative forms, as well as a morphological indication of levels of deference.
Languages also differ in how many distinctions are made in these categories.
There is an Austronesian language which has four past tenses (last night, yesterday, near past, remote past) and three futures
(immediate, near, remote).
The languages of the Vaupés river basin distinguish five levels of evidentiality: visual perception; nonvisual perception; deduction
from obvious clues; hearsay; and mere assumption.
What are the personal pronouns?
The basic, universal persons are first (referring to the speaker), second (the hearer), and third (everybody else), and usually there are
separate singular and plural forms. Turkish neatly fits this sixcell grid:
singular plural
1st person ben biz
2nd person sen siz
3rd person o onlar
However, there’s lots of room to play around. Distinctions may be made:
by gender (not necessarily just in the third person— cf. Arabic ʔanti ‘you (s. f.)’)
not by gender (many languages don’t distinguish ‘he’ and ‘she’)
by number (I vs. we... sometimes there’s special dual forms for pairs of things; also note that many language form the plurals with a
regular suffix: Mandarin wǒ ‘I’ → wǒmen ‘we’)
not by number (it’s an optional distinction in Chinese)
by animacy (cf. he/she vs. it)
whether ‘we’ includes ‘you’ (inclusive we) or not (exclusive we)
by level of formality or politeness
by whether third persons are present or not
between two sets of third persons (proximate and obviative)— imagine having two forms of ‘he’ to distinguish two different persons
between real and hypothetical reference: e.g. English ‘one’, French on
It’s possible to bag the third person by using demonstratives instead (this one, that one). Many cultures seem to feel that raw pronouns are a
little impolite, and use titles instead. Miss Manners informs us that the Holy Roman Emperor properly referred to himself as ma majesté.
I invented an alien race once that used different pronouns on land and underwater (they were amphibians), and had the inclusive/exclusive
and proximate/obviative distinctions. They also had a pronoun for group minds, and pronouns for each of their three sexes. The complete list
was impressive.
What are the other pronouns?
Esperanto has a table of correlatives, a nice way to organize all the nonpersonal pronouns. For English, it looks like this:
query this that some no every
adjective which this that some no every
person who this that someone no one everyone
thing what this that something nothing everything
place where here there somewhere nowhere everywhere
time when now then sometime never always
way how thus somehow
reason why
The first column comprises interrogative pronouns; the second two are demonstratives, and the rest are indefinite pronouns. The
adjectives no, some, most, every are quantifiers.
It’s easy and diverting to regularize the table, although natural languages generally leave holes, which must be filled in with phrases (’in that
way’, ‘for no reason’).
In some languages, like Russian, the interrogative pronouns (’Who did it?’) and the relative pronouns (’the man who did it’) are different.
Generally, if nouns decline, these pronouns decline the same way. Sometimes they’re worse— English, for instance, retained separate ‘from’
and ‘to’ forms for pronouns of place (hence = from here / hither = to here) long after such distinctions were lost for ordinary nouns.
What are the numbers?
Are the numbers based on tens, or something else? Many human number systems are based on fives or twenties instead. My pronounhappy
aliens had a duodecimal system. Intelligent machines would surely prefer hexadecimal...
How do you form higher numbers? ‘Fortythree’, for instance, may be formed in several ways:
forty three
four three
forty with three
three and forty
four tens and three
eight fives and three
fifty less seven
twice twenty and three
Where nouns decline, numbers may also. Or they may not. In Latin, you stop declining the numbers at four.
In IndoEuropean languages we are used to unanalyzable roots for the numbers; but in other families number names are derivations, often
related to the process of counting on fingers and toes— e.g. Choctaw 5 = tahlapi ‘the first (hand) finished’; Klamath 8 ndanksahpta ‘three I
have bent over’; Unalit 11 atkahakhtok ‘it goes down (to the feet)’; Shasta 20 tsec ‘man’ (considered as having 20 countable appendages).
For more on numbers, see the Sources page of my Numbers from 1 to 10 in Over 2000 Languages page.
What about adjectives?
Adjectives can be something like nouns, something like verbs, or like neither. If they’re like nouns, they generally agree with their head noun
in gender, case, and number. If they’re like verbs, they conjugate like verbs.
How are comparative expressions ("holier than thou", "most holy", "as holy as thou") formed?
It’s useful to have some regular derivations for or from adjectives:
opposite (un)
lack (less) or surfeit (ful)
possibility (able)
liking (phile) or disliking (phobe)
relating to a place or language (er, ian, an, ese)
weakening of meaning (ish)
strengthening of meaning (to the max)
adverb (ly)
Are there articles?
English nouns feel a little naked without an article— definite ‘the’ or indefinite ‘a(n)’. In the plural we leave the indefinite article out
(’dogs’), but in Romance language the indefinite article can be pluralized (unos perros).
Many languages, such as Latin and Russian, get by quite happily without them.
It may help to understand what the distinction really means. Ordinarily it’s pragmatic: the can be paraphrased ‘You know which one I’m
talking about’. Consider:
I saw a man at the rodeo. The man had on a horrid plaid suit.
A man in the first sentence signals that this character is being introduced in this conversation; the in the second sentence signals that he’s old
news, he is in fact the same guy we just started talking about. The before rodeo also indicates that the speaker expects that the hearer can
figure out which rodeo— if not, he’d have said a rodeo.
Word order serves the same function in Russian. There you’d say, in effect,
I saw man in rodeo. Man wore horrid plaid suit.
When he’s introduced, the man lives near the end of the sentence; when he’s old news, he appears at the front.
(Actually, they don’t have many rodeos in Russia.)
What order do the components of a noun phrase appear in?
Consider articles, numbers, quantifiers, adverbs, adjectives, possessives, subordinate clauses— e.g.
The ten very happy robots who passed the bar exam
You can generally divide phrases into heads and modifiers. Some languages are very consistent about placing all modifiers before, or all
after the head. English is headfinal, with the exception of subordinate clauses. Japanese is headfinal too, but it’s more consistent: it would
say "barexam passed ten robots".
What order do the components of a sentence appear in?
Linguists like to talk about the order of subject, object, and verb, which of course can occur in just six combinations: SVO (as in English or
Swahili), SOV (Latin, Quechua, Turkish), VSO (Welsh), OVS (Hixkaryana), OSV (Apurinã), VOS (Malagasy). The last three are for some
reason rare, although they do exist.
Combinations and complications are common; for instance, simple German sentences are SVO, but subordinate clauses are SOV:
Wer seine Finanzen im Griff hat, ist einfach entspannter.
Whoever has his finances in order is simply more relaxed.
But if there’s an auxiliary, it appears right after the subject, while the participle or infinitive moves to the end:
Mein Vater ist vor einigen Tagen nach London gefahren.
My father traveled to London several days ago.
(It’s really more complicated than that, but that’s the basics!)
"Subject" and "object" may work differently in languages with ergativity or topicalization.
In Flaidish, a topic can be expressed that isn’t a grammatical constituent of the sentence:
Luckit teeren Verduria zys kematt nellit.
Among human cities, Verduria is pretty nice.
How do you form yesno questions?
English has a rather baroque procedure (inverting subject and verb). Other languages simply make use of a rise in intonation, or add a
particle at the beginning of the sentence (e.g. Polish czy) or to the verb.
Many languages offer ways of suggesting the answer to the question. For instance, the Latin particle num expects the answer ‘no’ (Num ursi
cerevisiam imperant? Bears don’t order beer, do they?), while nōnne expects ‘yes’ (Nōnne ursus animal implūme bipēs? Bears are
featherless bipeds, aren’t they?).
Where questions are formed by appending a particle (e.g. ne in Latin, or chu in Quechua), the particle can be added directly to the word
being questioned. We can only achieve the same effect in English by emphasis (Is the bear drinking beer? Is the bear drinking beer?) or by
rearrangement (Is it beer that the bear is drinking?).
One way of asking a quesion in Chinese is to offer the listener a choice: Nǐ shì bu shì Běijīng rén? "You’re from Beijing?", literally "You be,
not be from Beijing?"
Some folks, believe it or not, get by without having words for ‘yes’ or ‘no’. The usual workaround is repeat the verb from the question: "Do
you know the way to San José?" can be answered "I know" or "I don’t know", as in Portuguese:
—Você conhece o caminho que vai a São José?
—Conheço. [’I know’]
How about other questions?
English usually moves the question word to the beginning of the sentence, but other languages don’t, asking in effect “You said what?” or
“She’s going out with whose boyfriend?”
Also note that some languages have different pronouns for relative clauses (“The man who fishes”) and questions (“Who is this man?”).
How do you negate a sentence?
Again, there are many options:
add a particle before the verb (as in Russian or Spanish)
...or after the verb (as we used to do: thou rememberest not?),
...or both (French je ne sais pas)
use a special mood of the verb (Japanese nageru ‘throw’, nagenai ‘not throw’)
add a particle at the beginning or end of the sentence (e.g. Quechua mana, which however also requires a supporting suffix on the verb)
insert a special verb and negating that, as English does
use a special inflected auxiliary (e.g. Finnish e)— it’s as if ‘not’ was an inflected verb: I not, you not, he nots...
These can be mixed, as in English: auxiliaries are directly negated with n’t, while other verbs require dosupport: inserting ‘do’ and
negating that.
How do conjunctions work?
Conjunctions allow constituents to be paired, and express various relationships between them— e.g. English and, or, but, then. (But has the
same meaning of and but expresses contrast or surprise.)
Latin has a neat trick: to express X and Y, you can say X Yque, using a clitic. The expression SPQR, Senātus Populusque Rōmānus, is an
example of this construction: the Senate and the People of Rome.
Latin also distinguishes inclusive and exclusive or: vel X vel Y means that you can have X or Y or both, but aut X aut Y means you get one or
the other but not both.
Quechua (before the Spanish conquest) got by without conjunctions at all. For adding things together, you can usually get by with
juxtaposition. Or you can use a case ending meaning with: in effect you say ‘X and Y’ by saying ‘X with Y’. I’m not sure how disjunctions
(’or’) were handled— today Quechua uses forms borrowed from Spanish.
How do you form subclauses?
Subclauses are perhaps the most sophisitcated aspect of syntax, allowing entire sentences to serve as constituents or modifiers. A few basic
types:
Sentential arguments, where a verb takes an entire sentences as its subject (“That Grandma’s drunk suprises me”) or object (“He
believes that you’re crazy”).
Special subordinators may form place and time adverbials: “when/where you were born”
A preposition can take a sentence as its object: “after you were born”
A sentence can modify a noun, forming a relative clause: “the man who ate a horse”
Quechua has an interesting way of forming relative clauses, using participles. For instance:
Chakray yapuq runata qayamusaq
fieldmy plowparticiple manaccusative callmovement.towardI.future
I’ll call the man that plowed my field.
Rather than looking like an ordinary sentence (“the man plowed my field”), the subclause has the form of a participle (“the myfieldplowing
man”).
Mandarin can subordinate any clause (and indeed many other things) with the particle de:
Wǒmen gěi tā shōuyīnjī le.
We gave him a radio.
→ wǒmen gěi tā de shōuyīnjī
the radio we gave him
If your language has cases, you must be careful to put the pronouns in the right case— English doesn’t give you the right instincts here, now
that whom is used only by pedants. In Latin Quod fēcit sapiō “I know what he did”, quod ‘what’ is in the accusative, as it’s what was done,
while in Virum quī fēcit sapiō “I know the man who did it”, quī ‘who’ is in the nominative.
Transformations
It can be useful to think about relative clauses using transformations. For instance, a sentence like
The man that John hit yesterday prefers beer to wine.
can be seen as deriving by transformation from one sentence that’s embedded in another:
The man [John hit him yesterday] prefers beer to wine.
In English, you can think of relativization as proceeding in two steps:
1. replacing the pronoun in the subclause with an interrogative pronoun (or that)
The man [John hit whom yesterday] prefers beer to wine.
2. moving that pronoun to the head of the clause
The man [whom John hit yesterday] prefers beer to wine.
Your language may also put limits on what exactly can be relativized. The following examples are legal in English, for instance, but not in
certain other languages.
the girl [you think [I love her]]
→ the girl you think I love
the neighbor [I traumatized his pastor]
→ the neighbor whose pastor I traumatized
the cat [I said [Alesia brought it home]]
→ the cat that I said Alesia brought home
Not everything is possible in English:
This is the man [my girlfriend’s father is a friend of John and him]
→ This is the man that my girlfriend’s father is a friend of John and.
or (thanks to Leo Connolly for this example)
There’s the barn [more people have gotten drunk down in back of it than any other barn in the county]
→ There’s the barn that more people have gotten drunk down in back of than any other barn in the county.
Some languages can handle such sentences simply by leaving the pronoun in the subclause. S.J. Perelman liked to do this in English:
“That’s the man which my wife is sleeping with him!”
Some other constructions that can be thought of as transformations:
Passives: John ran the band → the band was run by John
Fronting: John ran the band → The band, John runs it
Clefting: John ran the band → It’s John that runs the band
Causatives: John made [the band played Van Halen] → John made the band play Van Halen
Raising: It’s easy [John runs the band] → It’s easy for John to run the band
Nominalization: John ran the band → John’s running of the band
My conlang Axunašin has a very extensive section on transformations.

Style
A natural language has a wide variety of registers, or styles of speech: from the ceremonial or ritual, to the official or scientific, to the
journalistic or novelistic, to ordinary conversation, to colloquial, to slang. Children talk in their own way; so do poets. The upper crust speaks
differently from the lower classes.
Some of these registers work in predictable ways. For instance, rites are often conducted in an archaic form of the language (or sometimes
another language entirely). Educated speech usually includes older, longer, foreign, or technical words. In Verdurian, for instance, educated
speech borrows many words from the parent language, Caďinor.
Slang often provides humorous substitutions for common words. Some such substitutions from Vulgar Latin have become the normal word
in the Romance languages: testa ’pot’ replaced caput ’head’, giving French tête; bucca ’cheek’ replaced os ‘mouth’, giving bouche; caballus
‘nag’ replaced equus ‘horse’, giving cheval.
Slang also borrows from minority groups: e.g. French toubib, chnouf, bled from Arabic; English shiv and pal from the Gypsies, schlock from
Yiddish, jazz and jive from blacks; Spanish calato and cachaco from Quechua.
Politeness
All cultures have ways of expressing politeness, but they differ in the methods used, and in what ways politeness is grammaticalized.
According to Anna Wierzbicka, polite speech in English lays great stress on respecting others and avoiding imposition. English has a vast
array of indirect forms for asking people to do things, or even for offering them things: Will you have a drink? Would you like a drink? Sure
you wouldn’t like a beer? Why don’t you pour yourself something? How about a beer? Aren’t you thirsty? We’re so used to such pseudo
questions that we use them rather than a direct imperative even when actual politeness is far from our minds: Will someone put this fucking
idiot out of his misery? For Christ’s sake, will you get lost?
In Polish, by contrast, a courteous host pushes his hospitality on the guest, dismissing the guest’s expressed remonstrances and desires as
irrelevant: Prosze bardzo! Jeszcze troszke! —Ale juz nie moge! —Ale koniecznie! "Please, a little more!" "But I can’t!" "But you must!" And
Polish is very free with imperatives— indeed, to be really forceful you must use the infinitive instead.
Japanese is often even more indirect than English: e.g. it avoids the imperative "Drink CocaCola!" in favor of Koka kora o nomimashou!
(lit. "We will drink CocaCola!").
Japanese is also notable for having verbal inflections which add a level of politeness (e.g. tetsudau ‘helps’; polite form tetsudaimasu), as
well as entirely different lexical items with the same purpose (e.g. iku ‘go’, humble form mairu, honorific irassharu).
Terms of address are a fertile field for exquisite complications; so are pronouns. In quite a few languages it’s perceived as rather a
familiarity to address someone using the second person pronoun: to be polite you use the plural (French vous), or a thirdperson form (Italian
Lei, Spanish Usted from vuestra merced ‘your mercy’, Portuguese o senhor ‘the gentleman’), or a title (Japanese sensei ‘teacher’, otōsan
‘father’, etc.). If this seems odd, it’s worth noting that English took the first approach, so thoroughly that the second person singular pronoun
‘thou’ disappeared.
Attempts have been made to formulate universals of politeness, but this can be tricky. E.g. it’s been suggested that politeness involves
avoiding disagreement; but in Jewish culture disagreement expresses sociability and is taken as bringing people closer together. Or, it’s been
said that direct praise of oneself is avoided, and praise of others is approved; but selfpraise among Black American speakers is good form,
and direct praise of others is avoided in Japanese.
Poetry
For poetry you must consult your own Muse. However, it’s worth pointing out that rhyme is not the only thing poetry can be based on:
Old English verse was based on alliteration.
Latin and Greek poetry was based on quantity, that is, patterns of long and short vowels.
Blank verse, of course, is based on patterns of stress, without having to rhyme.
French verse is generally based on lines of a certain syllable length, e.g. the alexandrine, of twelve syllables. Similarly, the haiku is
composed of three lines, of 5, 7, and 5 syllables each.
Ancient Hebrew poetry was based on parallelism, the near repetition of an idea ("But let justice roll down like waters, and
righteousness like an everflowing stream."), or on successive sentences or verses each beginning with a different letter (notably Psalm
119).
It’s also worth thinking about the goals of the poet. Is he aiming at grandeur? Historical allusion? Wit? Startlingness?
Is poetry a popular art, like rap? If so, it probably stays fairly close to colloquial speech. If it’s a rarefied exercise, it may either maintain
archaic forms or experiment with the language.
Finally, think about what foreign cultures influenced your culture’s poetry. Latin borrowed many Greek meters; and European poetry has
been deeply influenced by Latin.
Semantics and Pragmatics
Some of the most interesting bits of linguistics fall under semantics (which covers meaning) and pragmatics (which covers how languages
are used in the real world, in context).
We’ve touched on these above, but for a more indepth introduction, see my grammar of Xurnese.
Language families
You can add enormous depth to a fantasy language by giving it a history, and relatives. Verdurian and its sister languages Barakhinei,
Ismaîn, and Sarroc all derive from Caďinor, as French and Spanish derive from Latin. Caďinor, Cuêzi, and Xurnese, in turn, all derive from
ProtoEastern, and thus are related in systematic ways, much as Latin, Greek, and Sanskrit all derive from protoIndoEuropean.
What can you do with such relationships?
Create doublets of words to enrich the language: one that derives from the ancient language and is worn down by milennia of sound
change, one that has been borrowed more recently in its ancient form. Verdurian has doublets such as these:
fežir ‘hurl’ / pegeio ‘force’
sönil ‘saddle’ /asuena ‘seat’
žanec ‘coming’ / ctanec ‘future tense’
elut ‘fair play’ / aelutre ‘virtuous’
Create learned borrowings. Legal, scientific, medical, literary, and theological terms in Verdurian are often reborrowed from
Caďinor: e.g. vocet ‘summons’; gutia ‘epilepsy’ (from a Caďinor word meaning ‘shaking’), menca ‘style, school’.
Verdurian has also borrowed educated terms from Cuêzi: avisar ‘school’, deyon ‘matter’, risunen ‘draw’. Moreover, some terms were
borrowed direct from Cuêzi; others were borrowed from Cuêzi into Caďinor in ancient times, and then inherited in Verdurian: e.g.
risunen ← risunden ← Cuêzi risonda ‘drawing’, ultimately from risi ‘reed pen’.
Set up borrowings from related languages, e.g. Verdurian kenek ‘camel’, borrowed from Barakhinei kêntek, derived from Caďinor
kentos ‘plain’, which has also come down into Verdurian as kent. Čište ‘guitar’ was borrowed from Ismaîn, and is cognate with native
sista ‘box’, both going back to Caďinor cista ‘box’.
Words often change meaning as they’re borrowed. Some cute examples from Verdurian:
čayma ‘tent’ ← Western chaimba ‘shelter’— because the shelters of the Western barbarians were in fact tents
dalu ‘king’ ← C. dalu ‘prince’— because when the Caďinorian empire fell, its princes each became independent rulers
garlo ‘sorcerer’ ← C. garorion ‘wise or clever man’; note the dissimilation of the two r’s; compare Latin arbor → Spanish arbol
kestora ‘natural philosophy’ ← C. kestora ‘the categories (of study)’
minyón ‘cute’ ← C. mingondul ‘beggar’ ← mingonda ‘large mat’, i.e. all that a beggar possessed
nočula ‘together’ ← C. nodatula ‘tied up’
ponyore ‘baritone’ ← Cuêzi pomioro ‘manly’
How do you do it?
To do this well you have to know something about historical linguistics. The sci.lang faq will give a brief overview. Better yet, read
Theodora Bynon’s excellent Historical Linguistics, or R.L. Trask’s book of the same name, or Hans Henrich Hock’s more thorough
Principles of Historical Linguistics.
The basic principle is that sound change is almost completely regular. This is good news: it means all you have to do is devise a set of
sound changes between the parent language and its derivative(s), and apply them to each word.
Here, for instance, are just some of the sound changes from Caďinor to Verdurian; you can see the full set here.
loss of final os: corsos → cos
p fricativizes to f before s or t: psis → fsiy
c becomes s before a front vowel, or before n: cisir → sisir; aracnis → arasni
g becomes ž before a front vowel: gina → žina
l becomes y between vowels: bileta → biyeta
nd, dr, lg, kr simplify to n, d, ly, ř respectively: sudrir → sudir, unge → unye
diphthongs normally simplify: aiďos → aď, caer → cer, Endauron → Enäron
A different set of sound changes can be used to create a sister language. For instance, Barakhinei changes unvoiced consonants to voiced
between vowels (this is an extremely common change in languages), loses the final sound of each word, etc. The net result is a language
related to but subtly different from Verdurian:
gloss Caďinor Verdurian Ismaîn Barakhinei Sarroc

walk prosan prosan prozn proza
lightning molenia molnia moleni molenhi mlenoya
eagle ueronos örn ŕone feron wieron
summer aestas esta eşte âshta aisťa
go laudan lädan luʐn laoda lawda
calm geleia želea jeleʐe gelech glieȟa
If you’re interested in applying sound changes to one language in order to generate a descendent language, you may find my Sound Change
Applier program useful.
Dialects
You can use the same technique to create dialects for a your language. Linguistically, dialects are simply a set of language varieties which
haven’t diverged far enough apart that their speakers can’t understand each other. Dialects can be created simply by specifying a smaller
number of less dramatic sound changes.
For instance, the Verdurian dialect of Avéle is characterized by the following changes:
Unstressed vowels are reduced to i (front vowels), schwa (back vowels), or vocalic r (before r)
Consonants between vowels become voiced: standard epese ‘thick’ becomes ebeze
Where Caďinor c changes to s in standard Verdurian, in Avéle it changes to š
Where Caďinor ct changes to ž in standard Verdurian, in Avéle it also changes to š
Dialects can also have their own lexical terms, of course, perhaps borrowed from neighbors or previous inhabitants of the local territory.
People often suppose that the dialect of the capital city (or whatever other place has supplied the standard language) is more ‘pure’ or more
conservative than provincial speech. In fact the opposite is likely to be true: the active center of a culture will see its speech change fastest;
rural or isolated areas are more likely to preserve older forms.
If you’re inventing an auxlang you may of course want to do everything possible to prevent the rise of dialects. This is probably an
expression of the fascistic streak common to language tinkerers. Why not design your interlanguage with dialects, reflecting the phonology
of various linguistic regions? The resulting language, with varieties close to the major natural languages, might achieve more acceptance than
uniform interlanguages have.

Back to Outline Back to Sounds On to Writing
The Language Construction Kit is © 1996, 2012 by Mark Rosenfelder.
Writing it down
I’ve received a lot of mail over the years that amounts to “OK, but how do I do it?” This page, adapted from the first chapter of Advanced
Language Construction, is an attempt to answer that question, as well as similar questions like “How do I know when I’m done?” and “Is it
weird enough?” And don’t miss the section on how to gloss.
Basic outline
Beginning a novel, you have to face the horror of staring at a blank page. It’s easier with a conlang: you can start by writing an outline! Then
you can stare at a blank outline instead.
Here’s the overall outline I start with:
Introduction
Phonology
Morphology
Derivational morphology
Syntax
Semantic fields and pragmatics
Writing system
Examples
Lexicon
If you’re not used to outlining, the idea is to state your topics and their order before you actually write anything. You don’t write straight
ahead from the first sentence of the introduction all the way to the words starting with Ž. You can work on topics in any order; the outline
makes sure they’re in the right place and you don’t forget anything.
When you think of a new topic, add it to the outline; you don’t have to fill it out immediately. Topics can have subtopics, to any level you
like. For instance, you could go add subtopics to Phonology right now:
Phonology
Consonants
Vowels
Stress
Phonotactics
Any modern word processor, like Word, will have useful facilities to work with outlines. E.g. you can move entire topics around (their
subtopics and text will come with), or view just the titles of the outlines without the text.
Start adding text to the topics, in any order. You could start with a list of vowels (you can make a nice table later):
Vowels
i e ɛ ɑ ɔ o u
You may find it helpful to add a symbol so you know what hasn’t been filled in yet. I use STD or $$$. Then I can jump quickly to the first
uncompleted section by searching for this text.
Some of the sections may not make sense for a given language, or will logically appear in a different place. E.g. if you have an alphabet, it’s
more convenient to treat that under Phonology; while if you have an isolating language, you may have no inflectional morphology at all.
I am simple caveman, not know ‘computer’
You can work on paper if you prefer— that’s how I did Verdurian. Just expect to go through multiple drafts.
If you use a binder and loose pages, you can easily replace just a section of the grammar. Start new sections on a new page, and keep
everything about a language together— avoid having your notes in five different piles or notebooks.
You can keep a dictionary in alphabetical order by maintaining two columns and just writing in one. New words get placed in the second
column. When it starts to get unreadable, it’s time to make a new edition. Index cards work too, with less rewriting.
Plan of attack
I work on a grammar iteratively, going back and forth between sections. But my overall progress usually looks something like this:
Put the words I have so far (perhaps from a map, perhaps from the SCA) into the Lexicon.
From those words, create tables of consonants and vowels, under Phonology.
Always keep your phonological inventory up to date; it guides the word creation process.
Start the derivational morphology section. You’ll need this even for a naming language, as it’s very useful to be able to form terms
like “of NAME”, “NAME person”, “NAME speech”, “NAME place”. Plus it’s a good habit to create derived words as you add lexical
entries (war → warlike, warrior, make war).
Create the basic morphological paradigms for verbs, nouns, and pronouns. At the very least you’ll want the present tense forms,
plurals, and a complete set of pronouns.
Start listing your adpositions, or their equivalent. It’s useful to be able to form expressions like “at NAME”, “from NAME”, “near
NAME”, and so on. Plus it’s likely to greatly multiply your stock of verbs: e.g. go gives you go to, go back, go away, go on behalf of,
go with, go near, etc.
Start the syntax section by deciding on basic NP order. Create examples and the necessary supporting words as you go. You’ll want to
think about deictics, numbers, and quantifiers, and this is a good time to start tables of those.
Decide on basic sentence order— SOV etc. Write some sample sentences, things like The lawyer read the manuscript and The girl
gave the book to the duke.
Within each section, in general, place the basics first: the simplest forms before the insane compound forms; simple interrogatives
before subordinate irrealis clauses. Naturally, if you have some feature which affects a huge part of the grammar (Old Skourene’s
triliteral roots, Elkarîl’s oddball case analysis), discuss that as early as possible.
Now comes a long period of filling out details. You can take two basic approaches— or alternate between them.
Go through the sections of the grammar, thinking how you’re going to approach each item. Work through the Language
Construction Kit for ideas.
Work on your examples, and as you come to things you haven’t said how to do, fill out the appropriate section of the grammar.
E.g. to translate The king decided to execute the man who slept with his wife, you might have to work out the past tense, or
auxiliary verbs, or relative clauses.
What if you need to make changes? Well, it happens. Just do it: make the changes, then examine existing words and samples to get
them up to date.
At some point the outline is pretty much filled out. Are you done? The best way to find out is to work on your sample texts— these
days I make sure I have at least three. You’ll almost always find a few constructions you need to work out. Plus you’ll have sample
texts!
Some topics only need to be addressed if you need them. If you’re going to write a novel in this setting, it’ll be very useful to work out
the calendar, common expressions, and how names and titles work. If you plan to write much text in the language, think about
pragmatic particles, slang, and swearing. If this is your major language, add sections on allophony and dialects.
Once I have a fairly good grammar and three sample texts, the language is beginning to feel done, but I probably only have about 500
words. That would be more than enough for a naming language, but it means that translating almost any text will require word creation.
So create more words, till you have a thousand or so. Work through wordlists, or just translate more texts.
How do I choose?
How do you know which features to add, which way to implement them, what the word for ‘fish’ should be?
Some people struggle with this; I hope it’ll help if I say that there is no right answer. No one can tell you when you need to break out the
ergativity machine or drop in some evidentials.
Creating a language is much like drawing a cartoon character, where you just arbitrarily decide whether it’s a male or female, human or dog
or turtle, how big to make the nose, whether to add a ponytail or a dashiki. The skill is in the naturalism, detail, and consistency, not in the
choice of accoutrements.
Though you can certainly interpret a nonEnglish feature in your own way, it’s always a good idea to look at natural models. If you have the
print LCK or Advanced Language Construction, review the appropriate section. If not, check out the grammar of a language that has that
feature, or at least look it up on Wikipedia.
Which language is this?
Here’s some good advice you probably won’t take: don’t start with your main language— that of your protagonists or major story setting.
You’ll get better at conlanging as you do more. Your first language is likely to be the least satisfying.
What I recommend is to work first on your protolanguage— the ancestor of your main language. Then use the SCA to derive the words for
its descendant. This will not only give you a more naturalistic vocabulary, it’ll give you an ancestor you can borrow learned words from.
(Is there anything special about creating a protolanguage? No, it’s just a language. It doesn’t have to be like Latin.)
I should note that if you use the SCA from a large wordlist, you will of course start with a large wordlist. That’s great! The gotcha here is
assuming that every word means the same as in the parent language. A large number of them should change meaning. And for more
naturalism, many words should come from a derived form, as e.g. French soleil ‘sun’ comes from the diminutive of Latin sōl.
Creating paradigms
I work out the morphology pretty early, because without it I can’t create sample sentences. You can leave gaps, but it’s hard to (say)
introduce a whole new dimension of verbal conjugation late in the process.
The key moment in creating a paradigm is not deciding on the affixes, but creating the structure of the table. So if you create a blank table
person sing. plural

1
2
3
you’ve already decided that your verbs are conjugated by person and number— and already eliminated interesting alternatives like obviative,
dual, gender, and politeness forms!
Similarly you can easily create a present tense paradigm, then past and future, and not even realize that you never considered aspect, modals,
or irrealis forms.
So, take a moment before filling out the table to think about whether it has the features you really want. (You can add more dimensions later;
but if you do, don’t forget to check your sample sentences in case they need updating.)
If you look at an actual paradigm, like the present tense of French finir ‘finish’—
person sing. pl.

1 finis finissons
2 finis finissez
3 finit finissent
you may wonder where all that juicy variation comes from. How do you know how different to make the endings, or how many identical
endings speakers will put up with?
If you have a parent language, run the entire paradigm through the SCA. Then try to simplify the output with analogy.
For a fusional language where you don’t have the parent worked out, simulate the above process: start with a regular, agglutinative
system, then mangle it.
Fusional paradigms are often partially regular. So it may be fusional except in a few of the forms.
It may be helpful to think about where that beautiful French paradigm actually came from.
IndoEuropean originally marked the three persons with final m, s, t. 5000 years of sound change has played havoc with this, but we
still see the 3rd person t, as well as the s in the 2s and the m (changed to n) in the 1p. (They’re all silent in French, but maintained
in the orthography.)
IndoEuropean however didn’t come up with a consistent way to mark the plural; a different method was used in each person (and to
boot, in each subfamily).
The i is really part of the root— it appears in every form of finir. The equivalent for other conjugations is less stable (e.g. the e in
parler ‘speak’), so it’s convenient to treat it as part of the suffix.
iss isn’t really a plural marker; it’s the i from the root plus the Latin inchoative sc.
Another example of multiple pluralizing strategies is Ayacucho Quechua rimay ‘speak’:
person sing. pl.

excl. rimaniku
1 rimani
incl. rimanchik
2 rimanki rimankichik
3 riman rimanku
This is agglutinative, but with two different pluralizers, chik and ku. The former is used when the listener is included, i.e. in the 2p and the
inclusive 1p.
I like to keep the Morphology section focused on the paradigms, leaving their usage to the Syntax section. That’s for two reasons:
It keeps the Morphology pages compact, making them a better reference for the paradigms.
The usage section can then address all usage, including compound tenses, auxiliaries, and other issues that don’t really go under
Morphology.
But you can discuss the uses of the paradigms as they come up, if you prefer. In that case, a chart of just the paradigms may be useful.
Placeholders vs. filling out
If you’re aiming at a grammar like mine, it’s apt to be 25+ pages of dry linguistic prose. Don’t be intimidated by the task of generating all
that text. Start with placeholders, like this:
Questions: auxiliary verb pol
Assuming you’ve worked out how auxiliaries actually work, that’s all you need to actually write questions. In the final Munkhâshi grammar,
I expanded this as follows:
Questions use a combination of topicalization and an auxiliary; pol ‘do’ must be used if no other is present. The subject is fronted
together with the auxiliary:
Wowal gotalh threwap tujno?
do.A.past ktuvok eat.A.past iliu
Did the ktuvok eat the iliu?
Gpuki tutujno matâ?
can.Epl pliliu swim.Epl
Can iliu swim?
The question is answered with appropriate forms of the auxiliary: Wothôl ‘Yes, B is going’; Potôrul ‘No, D isn’t going.’
It’s not just a matter of writing full sentences; trying to explain the procedure, you’ll find you have to work out minor details. In this case:
what if there’s another auxiliary; how is the question answered; what about negative questions (not shown).
It’s work to create sample sentences and glosses, but every sentence you write is another chance to develop the vocabulary and add new
points to the language.
Wordcrafting on the go
As you work on the grammar you’ll be inventing words; never create one without adding it to the lexicon, in alphabetical order. Not only
does this ensure they don’t get lost, but it keeps you from accidentally creating homophones. Plus, it’s a lot of work to generate a lexicon, so
every bit you do gets you closer to the finish!
E.g. the Dhekhnami word for swim was entered into the lexicon like this:
v swim, float [mat]
math
I always use a table format, which looks neater. If there are morphological peculiarities (such as the outofcontrol plurals in Xurnese), I
indicate these in a column just after the word itself.
(Some languages have a morphology that just spits on alphabetical order— e.g. Old Skourene agaşti ‘beloved’, eguşeta ‘romance’, gşiutta
‘affair’, and iggşet ‘loving’ are all formed from one root. So the lexicon is sorted by roots, and all these words are entered under gaşt ‘love’.)
It’s a good habit to provide a part of speech column. This provides another place for morphological data (e.g. gender of nouns, conjugation
class for verbs), it disambiguates glosses (e.g. ‘a bear’ vs. ‘to bear’), and it allows searches— e.g. you can look for all your prepositions.
Another good habit is to provide multiple glosses. Fight the tendency to make every word a oneforone equivalent of one English word.
This makes your language more naturalistic, and can save time later when you find you need the other word.
Extra credit if you take the time to work out some quick derivations. E.g. swim could generate words for swim (n), swimmer, swimming hole.
Extra extra credit if some of the derivations aren’t also derivations in English. E.g. swimthing might be the word for fish; swim + diminutive
might be bathe.
I hate to create a word without an etymology. Dhekhnami is created mostly from Munkhâshi using the SCA, so to invent math I actually
created mat, added it to the Munkhâshi lexicon, and ran it through the SCA. Often I’ll borrow the word instead, or derive it as a compound.
Words usually don’t retain a single meaning for millennia on end— you should often take the opportunity to modify the meaning of an
inherited or borrowed word.
How do you look up a word when you need it? Well, you’re doing this on the computer, right? Use the search function. If it’s a common
word, you can save time by placing the cursor at the beginning of the lexicon, or just keep your lexicon in a separate file.
An alternative is to include a separate EnglishtoConlang lexicon. That’s not a bad thing to have, but it’s a huge hassle to maintain, and it
makes it all too easy to create ciphers of English— e.g. you create a word for can and later when you want to translate ability you create a
different word just because ability doesn’t yet have an entry. So it’s best to create such a lexicon when the language is pretty much done.
Am I done yet?
You read the LCK, so you know you should have a Syntax section, and it contains the single word “VSO”. What else goes there?
Here’s a checklist, not at all exhaustive, of things that you should consider putting in the grammar somewhere.
The basics: sentence and NP order; questions; negatives; relative clauses.
Can people violate the basic order— for topicalization, for emphasis, for passives, or just as an afterthought?
How do verb + verb combinations work? This includes auxiliaries (You may go) as well as ordinary verbs (I advise you to go).
Where do time and place clauses live? You’ll probably have single words (never), NPs (last week), and clauses (when Oblivion freezes
over).
Existentials (There’s a Chinese place near here) are often a special construction.
How do you handle sentential arguments? These can be subjects (That people still read Nietzsche offends me) or objects (Holmes
deduced that the criminal wore a tartan).
Make sure your relativization scheme clearly handles the four basic combinations of transitivity:
sentence subclause example
subject subject The man [who caught the fish] is here
subject object The fish [the man caught] is tasty
object subject I hate the man [who caught the fish]
object object I ate the fish [the man caught]
Pay attention to cases (which case is who in?) and to word order (the subclause may omit arguments, so it’s a special case for your
basic sentence order).
How do you translate if statements? Are deductions (If that’s Camelot, we’re almost home) handled differently from counterfactuals (If
grandma had wheels, she’d be a wagon)? Conditionals are a playground for seeing how your conlang handles notquitereal events.
How do you handle causatives? (I made her go, I advised her to carry a gun). These tend to play havoc with case systems as the caused
person is the object of the main clause and the subject of the subclause.
You worked out the numbers from 1 to 10, great! How do you form larger numbers, ordinals, fractions? How about basic mathematics?
How do you form comparatives? (See the next section.)
How do NP + NP combinations work? You’ll need these for titles (King Alric), geographic names (Lake Van), and brands (Yonagu
Books), and there are alternatives to English’s concatenation method.
Are there ways to indicate that a referent, or a relative clause, refers to something known to exist? Compare I met a queen vs. I met the
queen. In English I’m looking for a man with one arm is ambiguous as to whether I have a specific man in mind, but other languages
differ.
You can nominalize a verb (know → knowledge); how do you nominalize a VP? Note the combination of cases and prepositions in
John’s knowledge of Linux.
Is it complicated enough?
You may be trying for a simplified language— or you’re just in a hurry to get done. But a hallmark of natural languages is their almost
fractal complexity. There’s always another exception or complication, and linguists can write entire dissertations on a single word.
Complexities may occur to you if you just think hard about a feature. Say you’re thinking about comparatives: you work out how to say
bigger than a mammoth. Revolve the concept of comparison around in your head— does your method work on these cases?
superlatives (biggest of all); note that speakers may turn absolutes into intensives (fortissimo = very strong)
degrees of comparison (e.g. mathematics uses >> for is very much greater than)
equalities (as big as a mammoth; note the difference from our morphological comparative)
negatives (no bigger than a fly)
examples with and without a comparison class (a better mousetrap; a mousetrap better than Roger’s— hey look, the word order
changed!)
comparisons of adverbs (more slowly) or verbs (he cried more than he laughed)
You can’t always think of such variations just staring at the computer. Alternatives include looking at other people’s grammars, and waiting
till interesting cases come up in sample texts.
Sometimes an idea that didn’t make it into the morphology may pop up elsewhere. E.g. French doesn’t have evidentials as a morphological
category, but it can use the conditional as one: il aurait allé can be used for “he supposedly went”. English doesn’t have a topic particle, but
clefting is a substitute: what I’m looking for is a cheap bicycle.
Another source of complication is to think about variations of dialect or register. Come up with three ways to solve the problem and assign
one to the yokels from Nowheresville and another to colloquial speech. If you’ve derived your language from a parent, the newer language
may have innovated a new method but kept the parent’s method in formal written language.
Six quirky constructions
Languages are full of minor constructions with their own odd syntax; here’s a sampling. You don’t have to address these in particular; the
point is that once you start looking you’ll find more and more.
I wouldn’t live in Vyat, let alone Verduria.
She won’t pet the dragons, let alone clean up their dung.
This may seem straightforward, but what type of constituent is the ‘let alone’ phrase? And where did it come from? We have let (NP)
alone in other contexts, but can’t move the NP: *Let alone the boy!
What, me worry?
What, him get elected?
It looks like something got left out, but what? And if it’s a deletion, why is it allowed only after What?:
*How, me worry?
*** you.
*** those robots.
Yes, you can do syntax on profanity. The main oddity here is that the object isn’t reflexive, as in Hit yourself! Maybe it’s not an
imperative but a wish— maybe an abbreviation for I wish someone would *** you. But then why can’t we make a similar abbreviation
for I wish someone would kill you?
Itep cheated on the test, and Deru did so too.
Do so is interesting because it’s a verbal anaphor— just as a pronoun stands for an NP, do so stands for a VP.
Quechua has the verbal anaphor nay which stands for a verb you can’t think of the moment— cf. whatchamacallit for nouns. Wallpata
narankichu? ‘Did you do that thing to the chicken?’
My grandmother is hard to like.
It’s hard to like my grandmother.
These have been derived transformationally from
[(For someone) to like my grandmother] is hard
though note that similar sentential subjects don’t work:
[(For someone) to like my grandmother] is outrageous
*My grandmother is outrageous to like.
The surface form is identical to The elf is eager to please, but the semantics differ: my grandmother is the underlying object; the elf is
the underlying subject.
John put books as well as records in the closet.
Chris played Deus Ex on the PC as well as on Xbox.
We’ve had pizza yesterday as well as today.
As well as (and similar expressions: in addition to, rather than, instead of) look like conjunctions. But curiously, they don’t play well
with VPs or entire sentences:
?It rained as well as snowed.
*John looks like Justin Bieber as well as owns a bank.
*We had pizza as well as Julie did a dance.
Is it simple enough?
Maybe you’re making an auxlang, or a pidgin, or an interlanguage for talking to AIs, or something else where simplicity is a virtue. In that
case the thing to watch for is borrowing complexities from English (or other natlangs) that you don’t really need.
Check your verb conjugations... do you really need each dimension of inflection? Do you need time and aspect?
Do you need cases and adpositions? How small a set of adpositions could you make work? (Some creoles get by with two.)
Do your pronouns need different roots in the plural? Do you need the third person at all? (You can use deictics instead: this, that.)
Do your nouns need plurals?
Can you bag the adjectives, by making them nouns or verbs? Lots of languages get by without articles, too.
Instead of adding roots, take some time to remove some: find ways to make the word out of other roots (like = love a little; ice =
solid water; uncle = parentsib; six = twice three), or double up (one word could serve for road, route, street, path, way,
passage).
Subclauses add complexity— why not prohibit them? Pronouns are one approach:
I met the man. He caught the fish.
“It was easy.” He said that.
If something is signalled on every word, consider not doing that. Common culprits in auxlangs: number, part of speech.
The defining characteristic of human languages, in some tellings, is the ability to talk about anything. But maybe you can give up
on that. Maybe you just can’t use the language to talk about computers, or crafts, or agriculture— think of all the terms you’d
save!
Less radically, you can ruthlessly combine categories, in the manner of the Australian avoidance languages. These are languages that were
required for all conversation with taboo relatives, such as mothersinlaw. One word in the avoidance language often corresponded with half
a dozen in ordinary language— e.g. nyirrindan in Jalnguy stood in for seven Guwal words used for different kinds of spearing or poking.
You might have only one word for all sorts of small omnivores, or all older relatives, or all ways to hurt someone. It’s less precise, but it
works and it sure cuts down on words.
(Hey, while I’ve got the book open, here’s a cool word from Guwal: banyin means ‘get a stone tomahawk and bring it down on a rotten log
so the blade is embedded in the log, then pick up both tomahawk and log by the handle of the tomahawk and bash the log against a tree so
that the log splits open and the ripe grubs inside it can be extracted and eaten.’)
Is it weird enough?
Conlanging isn’t a weirdathon. You could copy a natlang in every respect and, after all, it would be naturalistic. And contrariwise, putting in
every feature you’ve ever heard of— a kitchen sink conlang— is a classic noob move.
But yeah, it’s generally less interesting to just redo English or do a neoRomance language. How close is your languge to the following?
Standard Fantasy Phonology (i.e. English plus kh)
Pronouns: one for each person and number, plus object forms, and separate words for ‘he’ and ‘she’
Nouns have singular and plural only, and maybe case
Adjectives are a separate class, and either don’t decline, or decline like nouns
Verbs conjugate by person and number
Verbs have three tenses: past, present, future, plus maybe a conditional
Modality is expressed with a conjugated auxiliary
Definite and indefinite articles
No gender
SVO
Prepositions
Questions and negatives formed by adding a particle
Decimal number system
If it’s pretty close— again, it’s no sin, but you’re not taking advantage of the breadth and strangeness of natural languages. Review the
options given in the Language Construction Kit; even more are in the print books.
I’m generally satisfied if I can point out four or five ‘interesting features’ of a language... these can be unusual features, or just things I want
to play with. For instance, for Old Skourene:
Triconsonantal verb roots with vowel changes for conjugation
Most nouns, including everyday words, are derived from verbs
The case structure is ergative/absolutive
There is no subordination per se, but a wide array of conjunctions
There are four genders: masculine, feminine, animate, inanimate
The phonology is highly tolerant of clusters, and features a retroflex series
If you’re creating an auxlang, you don’t want weirdness per se, but if your idea can be described as “Esperanto done right”, be aware that
Esperanto is blandly European and that its creator would have done well to learn a lot more about Amerindian or East Asian languages.
Sample texts
Writing texts in your language is like exercise: it’s work, but it’s good for you. Every sentence you write is an opportunity to develop the
lexicon, confront syntactic oddities, and show off the culture.
For the last reason, I don’t advocate translating standard texts (like the Babel story). Instead, showcase something from your culture. Some
ideas:
A conversation with a visitor (a chance to work out greetings and other mechanics of conversation)
A religious text: a prayer, a myth, an argument against the unbelievers
Part of the novel you’re writing
A native’s description of his capital city, or his marriage, or a dungeon, or a spaceship
A complaint about a foreign nation, or another intelligent species
A scene from a play (e.g., a daughter contests the marriage arranged by her father; a courtier wants the king to arrest an enemy;
a girl passes herself off as a boy)
Common proverbs
The most notable quotations from a culture hero (think Buddha, or Oscar Wilde, or Merlin, or Chuck Norris)
Instructions for casting a magic spell
A comic story (a drunkard gets in trouble; a cheating couple is found out; a robot malfunctions)
An intercepted letter from a spy
If your conculture differs spectacularly from modern earthly models, focus on that. E.g. the Lé are femaledominant, so one of my Lé sample
texts is a pious letter from a mother instructing her son on how to fit into the matriarchal clan he’s marrying into.
Glosses
Your glosses should look like this:
В России все работают на заводе.
V Rossii vse rabotajut na zavode.
[vɾɔs ˈsi i fsʲɛ ɾә ˈbɔ ta jut na zә ˈvɔ dʲe]
in Russias.gen everyonepl.nom work3p.pres.ind on factorys.loc
In Russia, everyone works at the factory.
Ha, I’m just winding you up. You don’t need all of that— though it’s all useful. In order, the lines are:
1. Native writing system
2. Transliteration
3. Phonetic representation
4. Gloss
5. Free translation
You won’t be able to provide the native writing system unless you have a font for it, and if your Phonology section is good enough the
phonetic representation is just a convenience. So that leaves us with the transliteration, gloss, and translation. When I was starting out I’d
often skip the gloss, but now I think it’s essential. It allows the reader to follow the grammatical descriptions without learning the language.
(And it’s a big help even if they are learning it.)
Glosses are chunky to read. You could try expanding them—
in | Russia singular genitive | everyone plural nominative | work third person plural present indicative | on | factory singular
locative
but that’s not really more readable, is it?
The convention is that separates morphemes, while . separates words required to explain the morpheme. So work3p.pres.ind above means
that rabotajut is divided into two morphemes:
rabota work
jut third person plural present indicative
That is, the dots tell us that 3p.pres.ind describes a single, indivisible morpheme. We can use the same convention for words that require
more than one word in the English gloss; e.g. we could gloss French sortir as go.out.
Compare Quechua llamkanku which means the same as rabotajut but whose gloss is work3pl. That is, nku can be divided into n = 3rd
person, ku = plural.
Some people like the neatness of a tabular format, though I think it’s overkill and makes the transliteration hard to read:
V Ross ii vse rabota jut na zavod e

in Russia s.gen everyone.pl.nom. work 3p.pres.indic on factory s.loc
An alternative is the approach J. Randolph Valentine takes in his Nishnaabemwin Reference Grammar:
Giigshkitoon wiinsaaknang Maanii shkwaandem.
Mary was able to get the door open.
Giigshkitoon vti ind 3sProx'0s ‘ANsg was able to do IN’; wiinsaaknang vti conj 3sProx'0 ‘CONJ ANsg open IN’; Maanii na
3sProx ‘Mary’; shkwaandem ni 0s ‘door’
Although this takes a lot of space, it fits the language since (as the glosses suggest) there’s a lot of grammatical information to get across.
The translation should be unforced English, not an attempt to capture the feel of the original— that’s what the glosses are for. For instance,
if you’re translating Quechua
Gringuqa hamukunsi kaballupi.
gringotopic goto.spkr3evid horseloc
don’t try to use the nuances or syntax of the original:
As for the gringo, he came, I’m sure, by horse.
Rather, supply the sentence as we’d say it:
A gringo was coming along on a horse.
The reader can look at the glosses to see the differences from English. You can force it a bit if you are contrasting two constructions— e.g. if
you had a variation with hamukunmi, which uses the hearsay evidential mi rather than the direct knowledge evidential si, you can write
contrasting glosses:
(I know) a gringo was coming along on a horse.
(I hear) a gringo was coming along on a horse.
What’s next?
If this is your first introduction to linguistics or conlanging, I advise trying it out! Create a map and start filling it in... keeping a grammarin
progress as you go. When you run into questions or puzzles, you can always come back to the Kit for ideas.
The print and ebook versions of the Kit— and its sequel, Advanced Language Construction— are full of even more information. To keep
the online kit simple, I’ve left out a lot of detail, as well as fascinating natlang examples. If you get very far into creating languages, both
volumes are well worth picking up!
And check out the web resources here.

Back to Outline Back to Sounds Back to Grammar
Extract from Advanced Language Construction, © 2012 by Mark Rosenfelder.
1/30/2015 How to Write Fan Fiction
How To Write Better Fan Fiction: 184 quick and easy hints
to improve writing
(Click here to browse 70 topics on my main site ranging from exotic kaleidoscope designs to the strange
world of lucid dreaming or click on writing to return to the main How to Write Better Fan Fiction page.)
This modified version of my general writing book, Amateur to Amateur: A Nonexpert's
Guide to Expert Writing, is intended to assist fan fiction authors to write better stories.
No part of it may be reproduced without my permission.
This text is intended to be read from this web page. Transferring it to another location
may delete important formatting, like spacing, font control and italics, which are critical
to understanding what was written. If you wish a WORD 97 version of this text with
black font on a white background, please email me with your request and I will be happy
to send you one.
Amateur to Amateur:
A Nonexpert's Guide to Expert Writing
(Adapted for Writing Fan Fiction)
by
Wayne Schmidt
24 June 2000
INTRODUCTION
I had three seconds to take his money.
He didn't know he was my next target as he wandered innocently among the bookstore's
shelves toward my favorite corner. My hunting ground.
The store manager had obligingly arranged the displays so this spot was out of sight of
the cashier and the front window. Someone could be murdered here and not found for
hours.
My target bent at the waist to read a title. His wallet bulged richly in the pocket of his
jeans.
I was close now.
http://www.waynesthisandthat.com/writefanfic.htm 1/64
He pulled the book from the shelf.
Careful! Not too close.
He opened the book.
Would he sense my presence?
He'd take three seconds to read the first sentence.
My three seconds.
He smiled and reached for his wallet.
I'd done it.
In three seconds I'd taken his money.
I wrote that book.
That book is this book. The passage you just read uses a powerful writing technique
called misdirection to surprise and entertain. That and one hundred and eightythree
other tricks of the writer's craft are presented in this guide designed specifically for
anyone writing fan fiction for the Internet.
What separates this text from others? I wrote it while learning how to write my first fan
fiction novel. Notes and questions recorded during those years preserved the point of
view of someone completely new to the craft of writing. In addition to providing
numerous guidelines for effective writing, this text also addresses questions unique to
firsttime writers such as, "How often should the word and be used?" or "How many
howevers are found in bestselling novels?" There are no hard and fast rules for these
sorts of questions. Yet all new writers struggle with uncertainties about whether they use
too many of this or that particular word or writing device. This manual gives specific
numerical answers to many such questions based on how often topselling contemporary
authors use them. With these numbers a writer can determine if he or she has any
habits that are likely to grate on a reader's ear.
This guide combines information from seventeen writing manuals and analyses of five
novels by awardwinning, bestselling authors universally recognized as masters at their
craft: Stephen King's The Dark Tower, (suspense/fantasy), John Grisham's The Chamber
(suspense), Robert Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land (science fiction), Ed McBain's
Mischief (mystery), and Connie Willis's Dooms Day Book (science fiction).
Each of the book's seven chapters is written as a collection of short, easily understood,
numbered suggestions. These are followed by appendices providing a unique approach to
building a personalized thesaurus, a list of the most common beats (see Hint 97), a list
of sounds and a suggested reading list.
This book is written informally in the first person from me (the author) to you (the
reader). We're going to be together for quite a few hours so why should we dance around
with phrases like it is said and one should.
If you're wondering if you want to take up writing fan fiction consider this, writing is the
world's best hobby. It's inexpensive, interesting, unaffected by weather, and bestows
more prestige than any other activity.
"So, Joe. What'd ya do last week?"
"Gardened."
"Oh yeah?" Yawn.
or...
"So, Joe. What'd ya do last week?"
"I finished a sixtyfive thousand word science fiction novel where mineral eating aliens infest the
Earth and devour our planet."
"You wrote a book! You're kidding! When can I read it?"
Need I say more? Let's get started.
Jump to formating hints.
Jump to general writing hints. NEW!!! A new hint!
Jump to punctuation hints. Don't skip over this! It's more about using spacing
to add drama to your writing than where to place a comma.
Jump to character hints.
Jump to specific writing hints.
Jump to adding comic relief to you story.
Jump to rewriting hints.
Jump to a list of common beats. See hint 97.
Jump to lists of ways to show common emotions.
Jump to an activitylevel ordered thesaurus.
Jump to lists of ways to show common actions.
Jump to a list of different sounds.
Jump to a suggested reading list. This list also explains what can be learned
from each example.
Jump to the bibliography.
CHAPTER 1
STORY FORMAT
This chapter presents the basic format used for fan fiction on the net. Since what you
write will most likely stay on your own web pages, feel free to use any format you prefer.
If you're going to archive your stories on other sites these guidelines will help.
1. LIMIT LINES TO 65 CHARACTERS WIDE. Computer monitors are so wide that
tracking from one side to the other can strain a reader's eyes and patience. Using a
narrower format will make your stories more readerfreindly. Also, many archives use
narrow windows for displaying fan fiction. Lines longer than 65 characters may extend
beyond the page forcing readers to scroll back and forth.
2. SKIP A LINE BETWEEN PARAGRAPHS. It makes reading your stories easier. The
debate is ongoing as to whether this means the first line doesn't have to be indented.
3. USE LEFT JUSTIFICATION ONLY. Justifying both edges of print looks nice but it
makes it harder for readers to track from one line to the next.
4. USE BOOKMARKS FOR LONG STORIES. They help readers jump quickly to the
area where they left off.
5. USE DISCLAIMERS. Some organizations are very aggressive about protecting their
literary property. If you are writing fan fiction based on an established series, like Star
Trek or The XFiles, make sure you have a disclaimer that states who owns the rights to
that series and that only the characters and storyline particular to your story belong to
you.
Here is an example:
Star Trek is owned by Paramount Pictures, a division of Viacom. All the copyrights associated
with Star Trek belong to them. Only the ideas contained within this story are the property of the
author. No profit is being earned by the writer of this story.
6. RATE YOUR STORY. Give the G, PG, PG13, R, NC17, or Adult (X) rating for your
story right up front. This is a courtesy so you don't alienate your readers once they've
started into your story.
7. USE "SLASH" WARNINGS. In addition to posting ratings, if your story contains
SLASH (samesex pairings) warn readers up front that this is the case even if the story is
otherwise rated as mild as G.
8. PROHIBIT YOUNG READERS FROM READING "R" AND ABOVE RATED OR
"SLASH" STORIES. This is for your own protection. Parents of young readers have sued
fan fiction writers who failed to do this. It's also a good idea to make readers use at least
one link after the warning to get to these sorts of stories. This shows that they sought
out the story rather than came across it accidentally.
9. USE "THE END". Skip four lines and type The End in the center of the last page of
your novel. This prevents readers from asking themselves if there's anything more to
read. Questions like that weaken the ending's emotional impact.
CHAPTER 2
GENERAL SUGGESTIONS
NEW!!! A new hint!
10a. Avoid switching back and forth between units. If you are describing a scene,
avoid jumping back and forth between feet, yards, meters, and inches. It forces the
reader to focus on converting the varying units to recognizable distances. Select one,
yards for example, and use it consistently.
The following suggestions address a variety of subjects on the process and efficiency of
learning how to write and writing itself.
10b. THINK! Strive to put yourself in the reader's position to understand what a
particular hint is trying to accomplish. This enables you to use them more effectively and
develop your own techniques.
11. READ BEST SELLERS IN YOUR FIELD. Whether you consciously study them for
writing techniques or not, you'll absorb a lot of useful information. Appendix E lists a few
good titles and what techniques they demonstrate.
12. READ BEST SELLERS OUTSIDE OF YOUR FIELD. Like cross training in sports,
studying other types of fiction will strengthen your chosen area. See Appendix E.
13. READ TEXTS. There are hundreds of excellent writing texts. Read as many as
possible. A subject that's obtuse in one book will be clear in the next. Newly published
texts are best because their recommendations reflect the latest trends.
14. USE A WORD PROCESSOR. They have better spellchecking and grammar
checking capabilities than web page construction wizards. Once your story's polished up
on the word processor, paste it into your website.
15. WRITE A LOT. Writing is like long distance running, it takes a lot of practice. So
write! Write! Write!
A good pattern to follow is to read a text on how to write a novel, read a current best
seller, and then write a novel of your own or rewrite one you've already finished. This
sequence provides knowledge, example, and experience. Repeat these three steps a
couple of times and you'll soon be writing great novels.
What should you write about? Whatever subject you know best. If your not familiar with
something, study it, do it (if practical and legal), then write about it.
16. READ OTHER AUTHOR'S FANFICTION. It's usually terrible but it will help you to
see how mistakes ruin a story. Also, if you don't read theirs, how can you expect them
to read yours? If you do read someone else's work, send them an email with positive
comments about it. Remember, even if you hated it they put a lot of work into writing
the story so be considerate in your comments.
17. DON'T COPY ANOTHER AUTHOR'S STYLE. Using stylistic devices borrowed from
another author always sounds forced. It's better to concentrate your attention on what
you want to say and express it in a way that feels natural to you.
18. DON'T PLAGIARIZE. Never take someone else's words or ideas and pass them off
as your own. That's plagiarism and illegal. If you're quoting someone's work be sure to
acknowledge the source.
19. CARRY A NOTEBOOK. Use it to record ideas for dialog, plots, or scenes. Many
times ideas come out of the blue and flit away just as suddenly. Write them down
immediately. You may get a great idea only to forget it a minute later in the crush of
daily life.
20. IF YOU TRY WRITING A NOVEL, FIGURE ON IT TAKING SEVEN HUNDRED
HOURS. That includes time for a 5000 word chapterbychapter outline (see Hint 73),
an 80,000 word draft, which even a twofinger typist can pound out at 500 words per
hour, and three rewrites. Second novels take half as long.
21. WRITE IN THE MORNING. Most writers do their best and most productive work in
the morning after a good night's sleep. If your work schedule permits, try it.
22. WRITE EVERY DAY. Even if it's a token effort. Breaks of even a few days result in a
mental lethargy difficult to overcome. A good pace is to write onethousand words a day.
Do more if you want but discipline yourself to this minimum.
23. LIVE HEALTHY. Productivity and creativity are strongly affected by lifestyle. Good
sleeping, eating, and exercising habits increase productivity and creativity. It's true that
some great writers were drunks but they would have been even greater had they been
sober so don't emulate their poor examples.
24. RITUALS HELP. Wearing a special writing hat, setting aside a specific place to work,
and rewarding yourself every time a chapter's completed help maintain motivation and
satisfaction. Think up your own rituals and they'll pay surprising dividends.
25. IF SOMEONE READS YOUR FAN FICTION, RECIPROCATE. Reading one of their
stories in return, if they have any, is courteous. and may also encourage them to return
and read more of yours.
If someone has read your work and sends you a strongly negative critique that reads
more like a personal attack than constructive criticism (sometimes called "flaming"),
don't respond in kind. It'll only tell them they got to you, which is what they wanted in
the first place. Either ignore them or politely, but not haughtily, thank them and ask
what specifically they would change if it were their story. If your take the second tack
you might get a useful answer.
26. RESEARCH. Some research is necessary for every story. Keep in mind that the goal
of research is to give your story the feel of realism. Don't use research to lecture the
reader about a subject.
If you're not sure where to begin you research try writing the STORY first. Leave blanks
where you feel you want to insert background. Once the draft is complete use these
blank areas to focus your research.
27. WRITER'S BLOCK. If you ever freeze up and can't think of a single word to write
you're suffering from writer's block. How you attack it depends on how you view yourself
as a writer. If you write for just for the fun of it, the simplest solution do is stop. Put the
story away for a day, or a year, until you want to write and new ideas start coming. If
you consider yourself a professional there are many ways to overcome this malady.
The best way to beat writer's block is to prevent it. Stop writing each day in the middle
of a sentence. This accomplishes three things: it provides a leg up on the next day's
work, it encourages new ideas as you think about how to finish the sentence, and it
drives you crazy because you left something undone. The last point is the most
effective. By the time you begin your next writing session your skin will be crawling with
eagerness to finish that sentence.
If writer's block hits anyway, try writing something else for awhile. A variation on this is
to write onethousand madeup words or gibberish. Your subconscious will decide writing
something real is preferable to such an tiresome task. Try writing something you'd never
imagine like profanity or a sexually explicit scene. Shock treatments like this are
effective but don't let copies of it get loose or you'll get talked about. If your interest is
profanity or sex, try writing something boring like a detailed description of changing a flat
tire. Some other ideas are: write a detailed description of your last dream, the last time
something angered you, or the revenge you'd like to inflict on the cause of that anger.
Lastly, go someplace new or do something you've never done before. Exposing your
subconscious to new experiences shocks it into being creative.
28. USE WORD LISTS TO BREAK MINIBLOCKS. A miniblock is where you're writing
stalls because you can't think of the right word or phrase. An easy way to break such a
block is to refer to one of the lists at the end of this text or create similar lists of your
own ahead of time.
29. IF YOU ARE WRITING A NOVEL, YOUR ATTITUDE TOWARD IT WILL EVOLVE.
The first four chapters of a first novel incite exuberance from the excitement that
accompanies the beginning of any big job. A quarter of the way through this excitement
gives way to euphoria with the realization you're going to succeed. You hit the halfway
mark and fatigue sets in. The slow business of grinding out eighty thousand words
weighs heavy. The rush of newness is gone. You wonder if you'll ever finish.
Hang in there. You will.
During the last quarter of the novel excitement builds again as the light at the end of
the tunnel brightens. The last two chapters pour out of your fingers in a painful rush.
When the last word is typed you feel like a mountain climber with his foot on Everest's
peak. Masterpiece or not, you've written a novel. Less than one out of every thousand
people succeed in writing a book so, CONGRATULATIONS! Take yourself out to dinner!
Buy a new toy!
You deserve it.
CHAPTER 3
PUNCTUATION
Don't skip this chapter! There are several punctuation tips that can greatly increase
the dramatic impact of your writing. I'm not talking about commas or semicolons but line
skips, italics, and pointofview punctuation. Learn these tricks. They'll sharpen up your
stories.
However, having said that I also have to state the punctuation is a complex field worthy
of extended study. When you have time, get a good text and dive in. Until then the
simplified rules in this chapter cover most of what you need to know. For a detailed
treatment see The Elements of Style by William Strunk and E.B. White or The Elements
of Grammar by Margaret Shertzer.
30. SKIP A LINE TO INDICATE TIME HAS PASSED. If you have someone drive in
silence for an hour, an extra blank line gives your reader a sense of elapsed time. After
the skip, start the next paragraph with an interesting transition statement to let the
reader know how long the break lasted and any other information the reader needs.
Avoid anything trite.
An hour later they reached the town.
This is trite and dull.
An hour's desperate skidding over I15's rainslicked surface brought Jacksonville's outskirts
flashing past the car's windows.
This is better because it expresses action and conveys specific information.
31. SKIP A LINE FOR DRAMATIC EMPHASIS. This focuses attention on the last
sentence before the line skip and is especially effective if the final statement is short,
pithy, and unexpected. Be careful not to use this technique more than twice or the
reader will start thinking about it as a stylistic device instead of being captured by the
drama of the moment. Be careful about using this technique if your format already
places a line skip between every paragraph.
32. CENTERED "+++" SIGNALS A POINT OF VIEW CHANGE. Use three centered
"+" marks or dots with a skipped line above and below the marks to tell the reader
there's been a change in the point of view within a chapter.
33. COMMAS. Use commas to: separate names or titles from the rest of the sentence;
separate degrees or titles from each other; after yes, no or however, at the beginning of
a sentence; set off a mild exclamation (Oh,); or whenever you need to control the
rhythm of the sentence.
Using too many commas can irritate a reader. Top authors average six commas for
every twohundred and fifty words.
34. "..." MEANS A VOICE TRAILOFF. Use three dots to express a speaker's voice
trailing off or waiting for an answer.
"You know I love you, Beatrice. And I do want to marry you. It's just that, well..."
35. "" MEANS AN INTERRUPTION. Use a dash to express an interrupted
conversation.
"But, Marty"
"I said that's enough!"
36. STRENGTHS OF PUNCTUATIONS. Periods, semicolons, and commas force the
reader to pause. The punctuation used determines the length of the pause. Periods
create the longest pauses, semicolons the second longest, and commas the shortest.
37. AVOID COLONS AND SEMICOLONS. In the five novels researched for this guide,
colons and semicolons were only used four times and in each case the sentence could
have been broken into two sentences with no ill effect. Because the average American
reader isn't an expert on punctuation, many look at colons and semicolons as a sign the
writer is showing off.
If you have the irresistible urge to use either the colon or semicolon follow these rules:
Use a colon to precede a list.
He needed three tools: a hammer, screwdriver and pliers.
Use a semicolon between two, complete, related sentences which you want to join into
one sentence.
He shouted he was going to jump off the bridge; exclamations like that made him feel everyone
was watching him.
This sentence can be legally written two other ways:
He shouted he was going to jump off the bridge because exclamations like that made him feel
everyone was watching him.
He shouted he was going to jump off the bridge. Exclamations like that made him feel everyone
was watching him.
Which one should be used? The one that sounds best to you.
38. AVOID USING DASHES, ITALICS, ETC. Dashes, words enclosed in parenthesis or
with all their letters capitalized, italics, and exclamation points remind the reader he's
reading a story instead of living an adventure. It's better to write words that give the
effect you want without these crutches. Use these highlighting techniques when needed
but go easy. Top writers average one of these emphasizing devices every 800 words.
There are times when using italics is mandatory. Always italicize the names of ships,
book and magazine titles, foreign words, and foreign titles. Words representing sounds
as they happen may also be italicized.
The elevator pinged its readiness.
39. DIALOG PUNCTUATION. Use the following guides for punctuating dialog:
"," John said, "."
"," John said.
John said, "."
"?" John asked.
"," John asked, "?"
John asked, "?"
Of these forms, the first is used fiftyfive percent of the time, the second fortyfive
percent of the time, and the third almost never. The first question form is used in
seventyfive percent of all questions; the second takes up the remaining twentyfive
percent. The third question form is rarely seen.
CHAPTER 4
CHARACTERS
Interesting characters with rich backgrounds are essential for a successful novel. The
following guidelines will help you populate your story with people that jump out of the
story and grab your reader by the throat.
40. FIVE STEPS TO CREATE A CHARACTER:
a. Decide the character's purpose.
b. Determine what main characteristics he needs to accomplish
this purpose.
c. Add personal and external conflicts for depth.
d. Add attitudes and values.
e. Make up specific details to flesh out the character (write a
biography).
41. WRITE BIOGRAPHIES. Each character in you story needs a biography that defines
who they are. Identify critical events in their lives and how these affected them. Define
their ethnic, cultural, socioeconomic status, and attitudes. Give them friends and prize
possessions. Main characters should have biographies at least a thousand words long.
Minor characters only need a couple of lines. Make up ten times more information than
you'll use in the book. This makes your characters come alive in your mind and provides
insights as to how they'll act in specific situations.
Write biographies even if your story is based on existing characters in established series
like Star Trek. It'll help you firm up your concept of the characters.
Remember that characters consist of three parts: physical, psychological and
sociological. All of these effect each other. A character's antisocial behavior may be the
result of some physical flaw.
42. GO TO A MALL FOR CHARACTERS. An excellent location to get ideas for
characters is an indoor mall on Friday evenings. No place else offers a wider cross section
of people.
43. GROUPS NEED PURPOSE. Whether it's two little old ladies or an angry mob, every
group that plays a significant role in a novel needs a purpose that brought them
together, a conflict to keep them in tension, contrasting qualities, and the ability to
affect each other. Without these attributes a group is a one dimensional entity that'll
bore the reader.
44. REVIEW BIOGRAPHIES REGULARLY. Constant review of each character's
biography keeps the details of their lives fresh in your mind. This enables you to write
their actions and conversations spontaneously.
45. GIVE EACH CHARACTER HIS OWN VOICE. You should be able hear a difference
in the way each character talks. Techniques used to create unique voices are: have one
character use a lot of contractions while another uses few; one talks in short, simple
sentences and the other speaks in long, complex sentences; one character likes short
words whereas the second prefers long ones.
46. POSSESSIONS HELP DEFINE CHARACTERS. A person's house, car, hobbies,
toys, and friends define him. A well waxed Mercedes implies a successful, fastidious
personality. An old, rusted Chevy inspires images of a slob or someone trapped in
poverty. Mentioning a character's possessions enables you to describe him without
explicitly stating what the reader can see for himself.
47. PRESENT CHARACTERS SLOWLY. In the real world we get to know people slowly,
bit by bit. Introduce characters the same way. Let the reader discover the character as
your story unfolds. One effective way to disclose something about a character is have
people talk about him before he makes his first appearance. This creates anticipation.
48. DON'T USE STEREOTYPES. Stereotypes (the prostitute with a heart of gold) and
antistereotypes (a football player who knits). are too predictable to be interesting
characters. Another stereotype common to pulp science fiction is the bright young thing
blasting into space.
49. GIVE HEROES FAULTS AND VILLAINS VIRTUES. It's hard for readers to identify
with a perfect person so give your hero a forgivable or lovable fault. The flip side is also
true. A villain is more believable if he has an endearing quality. This allows the reader to
feel both satisfaction and sympathy when the villain is vanquished. One exception to this
is the purely evil entity used in some horror stories.
50. MAKE VILLAINS STRONG. Villains must be powerful, implacable, and complex or
they won't be sufficiently threatening to create suspense.
51. AVOID PASSIVE MAIN CHARACTERS. Readers want to identify with strong
personalities so your main characters need to be forceful enough to make things happen,
not just react to events around them. They should reach decisions and express them in
a few, short words. Good characters are alive with great passions and strong emotions
and they act on these feelings.
52. AVOID SELFISH AND ALTRUISTIC HEROES. Heroes shouldn't act totally on their
own behalves, unless they're the only ones threatened. It makes them look self
centered. They shouldn't act purely altruistically either. That makes him seem too good
to be true. Both cases create characters the reader will not take to heart. Combining
some of each of these characteristics will make your hero seem more real.
52. VOLUNTEER OR DRAFT HEROES. If a character's going to do something brave
that costs him significantly, have him volunteer so he appears noble. If he's going to
profit from his actions have him be drafted or trapped into it to avoid making him appear
selfserving.
54. MONSTERS ARE PRODUCTS OF THEIR ENVIRONMENTS. For science fiction and
horror stories a monster's appearance and psychology should be consistent with the
evolutionary pressures of his natural surroundings. When creating a monster let the
environment that bore him shape what he looks like and how he acts.
55. USE AS FEW CHARACTERS AS POSSIBLE. One of the hardest things readers
have to do is to keep track of a story's characters. Use too many any you'll lose the
reader. A story needs at least two main characters: a villain and a hero. It's a good idea
to give the hero a second main character to act as a side kick so he can talk to someone.
Add a sprinkling of minor characters to develop the story but keep the total head count
down.
56. CHARACTER NAMES. Give each character a name that starts with a different letter
of the alphabet. This helps the reader keep them separate. A useful technique for this is
to write the alphabet vertically down a sheet of paper and create a last name starting
with each letter. Repeat this process for first names. If you run out of letters you've got
too many characters.
Varying name lengths also helps the reader differentiate between characters.
Use a variety of ethnicities but remember that ethnicity plays a big part in determining
how a reader expects a character to act. Sticking too close to an ethnic stereotype can
make a character dull. On the other hand, using a stereotypical type for a minor
character can eliminate a lot of dull description.
Gentle sounding first names make a character more sympathetic. Harsh last names
make it easier for the reader to dislike a character. Long, complicated, or hyphenated
names suggest intellectualism and selfimportance. Short, onesyllable names like
James Bond imply strength and virility.
Make names look interesting. The easiest way to do this is to use an unusual spelling
for a common name.
Telephone books are an excellent source of names. Mix first and last names to avoid
getting sued because you used someone's name for an ax murderer. All of the above
also applies to the names of things and places.
57. AVOID LAST NAMES ENDING IN "s." The possessive, Jones' or Jones's,
depending on which authority you follow, looks odd to many readers and can be
confusing if you're talking about a possession of more than one Jones.
58. SHOW CHARACTER'S INNER FEELINGS. Characters shouldn't just state what
happened but also show how they felt about it.
59. MAKE CHARACTERS GROW. Real people evolve with time and so should main
characters. Their experiences during your story will change them. Show these changes
in your by having them act and think differently at the end of the story than they did in
the beginning. If the story's is part of a series that continues with the same characters,
update their biographies as the series progresses.
60. GIVE CHARACTERS UNEXPECTED TRAITS. Characters are more interesting if
they have an unexpected talent, such as a coward who's a crack shot with a revolver.
Exaggerating a certain ability, physical characteristic, or habit is also effective.
61. KEEP YOUR PERSONALITY OUT OF YOUR CHARACTER'S. Don't let your own
personality take over the personality designed for a character. It's easy for this to
happen while writing long passages of dialog. You get so engrossed in what's going on
you're pulled into the action. Before long your character starts talking like you instead of
himself. One exception is a character modeled after yourself.
62. GIVE CHARACTERS CONFLICTING EMOTIONS. Inner turmoil makes characters
more human and interesting.
63. VILLAINS DO WHAT THEY THINK IS JUST. When portraying the villain's point of
view, make it clear he believes what he's going is right. This gives him conviction and
credibility.
64. GIVE HEROS DOUBTS. Readers won't identify with a character who knows how and
what to do in every circumstance. No one's that good. Giving your hero a few doubts
makes him more appealing, believable and increases suspense.
65. ONE WAY TO PORTRAY AN AGGRESSIVE CHARACTER. You can show a
character is aggressive by having him corner a timid character with an endless stream of
yes or no questions. Fire them off faster than the cornered character can respond. Have
the aggressive character cut the timid character off before he's completed his answer.
Mercilessly repeat questions. Make the cornered character back up, stammer, fidget and
look around for escape.

CHAPTER 5
WRITING
A big part of good writing is performing a lot of little tricks correctly. This chapter
presents ninetythree such tricks guaranteed to brighten anyone's work.
The chapter contains many specific recommendations for how often certain words or
techniques should be used. These numbers are the averages used by the best selling
authors named in the Introduction and are meant as guidelines. Don't attempt to have
exactly this number on each page of your novel. For example, I suggest and be used
three times every 250 words. Some passages in your story may have no ands. Others
may have ten. Use and whenever it's needed. But, if you're averaging fifteen every 250
words, you need to know you're following a pattern successful writers avoid.
Bullets sixtysix through seventyeight focus on general suggestions. From seventy
nine on, they cover specific mechanical issues.
66. TARGET YOUR AUDIENCE. Decide the age, gender, and what your readers expect
from your story. Keep these details in mind at all times so action and dialog caters to
their desires. Do this even if you're writing for yourself. What do you want out of the
story? Why are you writing it? Unless this initial objective is kept clearly in mind your
story will alienate the readers you wanted to reach.
Targeting your audience also means selecting your book's the genre: mystery, science
fiction, etc. Be careful of mixed genre books. They tend to confuse readers. A special
case of this is incorporating sexually explicit scenes in a story. If your book is written as
a sex story... fine. If it's a mystery or political thriller the excitement of a sex scene can
be so great that it overpowers and washes away much of what your reader remembers
about what else has happened in the story.
67. DEFINE YOUR THEME. Write one sentence stating the goal, theme, or idea you
want your novel to express. It may be as simple as:
This book will be a scary story to entertain people.
or as complicated as:
I want to create a novel that demonstrates the counter productivity of prejudice in modern society.
68. STATE YOUR PLOT. Write a barebones statement of your plot. If the theme is:
Don't trust monsters.
the plot might be:
Boy meets monster. Boy befriends monster. Monster eats boy.
Effective stories have strong, easily grasped plots pitting contrasting elements like love
and hate, rags to riches, or justice versus injustice against each other. What's a strong
plot? Anything that appeals to intense emotions.
Girl and boy meet and like each other.
This is pathetically weak.
Girl and boy love each other to the point of selfdestruction.
This is a strong plot, at least Shakespeare thought so when he wrote Romeo and Juliet.
Stick to simple, strong plots like he did and you'll be in good company.
69. KEEP THE PLOT SIMPLE. Complicated plots drown readers in a sea of detail.
Decide what the main conflict is, add one or two subplots for depth, and leave it at that.
70. DON'T PUT ALL YOUR IDEAS IN ONE BOOK. It'll make the novel seem busy and
forced.
71. WRITE A VERY SHORT OUTLINE FOR THE STORY. Compose oneline sentences
that state the main event in each chapter. List these sentences on a single page to form
a short outline. This format makes it easy to see the flow of your story and makes gaps
in the storyline stand out.
A story can also be graphed, which is particularly good for keeping the times when
events take place in proper chronology. The form of the graph can be anything that
provides a clear picture of story's elements.
72. DEFINE THE STORY'S DETAILS. Use the short outline to decide the details of your
story such as where it takes place, when occurs, how many characters are needed and
what type of characters they should be. Write the character biographies. Get a map of
the area or make one up if your story occurs in a fictitious place. Research the facts
that'll make your story believable.
73. WRITE A DETAILED CHAPTERBYCHAPTER OUTLINE. This outline should take
at least one page per chapter. Explain what happens in the chapter, where it takes place,
name the characters, decide when it takes place and record ideas for scenes and dialog.
Most importantly, state what effect you want the chapter to have on the reader (let's say
horror), how you're going to create this effect (have a sympathetic person get eaten by a
slobbering monster) and state why you want to do this (so the reader knows this
monster is dangerous). Write this outline when you're most excited about your story
idea.
Once you've started a story, outlines are perfect for recording ideas for dialog or action
that come to you while writing earlier chapters. Let's say you're writing chapter five when
a humorous bit of dialog occurs to you that's perfect for a scene in chapter fifteen. By
flipping forward in the outline to jot the dialog down you can check to make sure it fits
and eliminate the hazard of loosing it among other notes in your writer's notebook.
Outlines are lifesavers when something forces you to stop writing for an extended time.
A quick reading of the outline enables you back to get up to speed with minimal effort.
Some writers prefer to just goforit and write a story in one free rush. Don't. The
headache of going back to straighten out accidental name changes, time shifts, and out
oforder events is a nightmare. It can take longer to correct these problems than it took
to write the entire draft.
Chapterbychapter outlines are guides, not masters. Use them to avoid unconscious
drifts away from the intended story line. But, if a good idea presents itself while you're
writing, feel free to pursue it.
74. WRITE NONSTOP. Write the first draft of your story as continuously as possible.
This insures you get maximum continuity and captures your keenest excitement in the
developing story. Don't worry about punctuation or spelling. Just write!
This doesn't mean write sloppily. A poorly written draft may force you to abandon whole
chapters during rewriting or accept a poor passage bandaged to mediocrity. Make the
draft as good as you can without interrupting the natural flood of ideas that accompanies
original writing. Focus on what you want to say and how you want to say it.
75. CAPTURE THE READER'S INTEREST IMMEDIATELY. Hook your reader's
attention with the first sentence or at least by the end of the first paragraph. Delay
longer and you risk having him or her getting bored and looking for someone else's story
to read.
The opening hook shouldn't be a oneliner that immediately fades into insignificance
after the third sentence. You need to establish tension, pull at the reader's curiosity and
hold their attention long enough to make him start scrolling deeper into the story.
Once you've gotten a reader to start scrolling don't make the fatal error of stalling the
action by dropping into a retrospective of how the characters got where they are. People
want to know what's happening now, not what happened before. One clue that an
author's made this mistake is the presence of a lot of had's showing up in the second
500 words of the story. If the story needs supporting background, feed it to the reader in
small bits scattered throughout the initial chapters.
76. WRITE STORIES THAT EXCITE YOU. Writing even a short story is a long task. An
exciting idea helps keep you going.
77. LIMIT GRAPHIC VIOLENCE. In spite of the escalation of graphic violence in
motion pictures, more readers will be offended by it's presence than enjoy it. More
importantly, graphic violence establishes an emotional high that's impossible to
maintain. Normal passages following such a scene seem boring.
78. BEWARE OF MIDBOOK DOLDRUMS. If you're writing a novel, halfway through it
many writers get tired and write accordingly. Prepare for this in advance and concentrate
on maintaining an increasing sense of suspense and expectation throughout the book.
Put a plot twist, a shocking character disclosure, or let the reader discover some
interesting new fact in every chapter, especially those in the middle of the book. Don't
let the reader say to himself, "This looks like a good place to stop for the night." He may
do so and never look at your story again.
79. END HALF OF YOUR CHAPTERS WITH CLIFFHANGERS. A chapter's end is the
natural place for the reader to stop reading. The strongest technique to make him want
to read "just one more page" is to end it with a cliffhanger. Unfortunately, ending each
chapter like that gets predictable. Top authors of mystery, action and suspense stories
end half of their chapters with cliffhangers. Be careful to avoid getting into the pattern of
alternating plain endings with cliffhangers. Vary the pattern so your reader never knows
what's coming next.
It's not necessary to resolve a cliffhanger in the beginning of the next chapter. Let the
hero swing in the wind for a chapter while the story addresses some other business. It's
an effective way to maintain suspense. If the cliffhanger involves an action sequence
then you should complete the action in the beginning of the next chapter or you'll lose
the action's momentum.
80. ACTION SEQUENCES RESULT IN CHANGE. Action sequences should end with a
change taking place so the reader thinks the action resulted in progress. You can
accomplish this by introducing a new character, moving the characters to a new location,
changing the weather, destroying something, or having something come into being.
81. THE ORDINARY IS IMPORTANT. Commonplace details are as important as
unusual details in maintaining interest. Without something normal to compare it to, the
extraordinary has no reference to show how extraordinary it is.
82. SUSPENSE IS NOT THE SAME AS ACTION. Suspense is anticipation of action and
only works if the reader identifies with or has sympathy for the victim. Create victims
your reader loves and tease the reader with disaster hanging over the character's head
as long as possible.
83. SHORT SENTENCES SUGGEST SUSPENSE AND ACTION. You can hint that a
crisis is approaching by gradually shortening sentence lengths, using shorter words and
making references to death or threats. Action sequences also benefit from short
sentences and words.
The opposite is true for portraying an increasing level of intimacy between two
characters. In this case, gradually lengthen the duration of each character's
uninterrupted discourse. Increasing the amount two characters agree with each other
has a similar effect.
If you're writing a story with military personnel, be careful not to use too many yes, sirs
or aye, sirs as one line sentences; they tend to make the passage read choppy and very
quickly become repetitious. They are particularly bad in battle scenes because the break
up the rapid flow of action.
84. SHOW, DON'T TELL. It's more effective and interesting to use action and dialog to
present facts than having a narrator talk about them. Don't say a monster is hideous;
describe its appearance and let the reader see for himself that it's hideous. Also, when
describing something, use active rather than passive descriptions.
Passive: The house's red paint was peeling.
Active: A breeze fluttered threads of red paint hanging from the
house's sides.
85. BE DEFINITE. The key is to avoid using not.
Indefinite_____________Definite
He did not forget. He remembered.
She didn't like it. She disliked it.
He displayed anger. He was mad.
86. KEEP IT SHORT. Don't clutter sentences with words that contribute unnecessary
information.

87. PLACE MODIFIERS CLOSE TO WHAT THEY MODIFY.
Bronklin smashed the brass knuckles into Jeff's face covered with studs.
This sounds like Jeff's face is covered with studs. Moving the studs closer to the brass
knuckles clarifies the picture.
Bronklin smashed the brass knuckles covered with studs into Jeff's face.
Eliminating words that slow the impact of the description also helps to maintain the
action.
Bronklin smashed the sharply studded brass knuckles into Jeff's face.
88. NUMBERS. Don't spell out yearly dates, addresses, or serial numbers. One
exception is in dialog where monthly dates and ages of people are stated.
It happened in 1996.
The address read 48 East Dover.
The 56th Battalion was wiped out.
"He'll be seventyfive on March fifth".
Some editors require that numbers 100 and higher in dialog must be written as
numerals.
89. USE THE CORRECT WORD. English abounds with pairs of words that seem to be
interchangeable but actually have different meanings. The most common error is using
can, which implies ability, for may, which implies permission. Writers are expected to
use words precisely. Chapter four of the third edition of The Elements of Style by Strunk
and White has an extensive list of misused words.
90. WRITE IN THE ACTIVE VOICE. Avoid the passive voice. It can't carry a high level
of action.

Passive: The octopus was wrestled by Clyde.
Active: Clyde wrestled the octopus.
91. USE CONSISTENT LEVELS OF ACTION. Don't have a character do something at
two different speeds in the same sentence.
George slowly levered himself out of the chair and stormed out of the room.
Levered implies exhaustion. Stormed suggests boundless energy. Sentences like these
confuse readers.
92. CONTROL THE PACE IN ACTION SEQUENCES. Don't use your highest action
verbs in the beginning of passages containing a lot of action. It gives you no room to
accelerate the pace of events. Start at half speed and build to a crescendo of action at
the climax.
93. AVOID INTERRUPTING CLAUSES IN SENTENCES. People don't talk that way.
The greatest church, in my opinion, is the cathedral of Notre Dame.
It's better to write the sentence so it reads more smoothly.
I think the cathedral of Notre Dame is the greatest church.
94. AVOID ADJECTIVES AND ADVERBS. We live in fastpaced times where action is
valued over description. Use action phases to describe instead of adjectives which just
tell. However, bright adjectives and adverbs are used by top authors so don't be afraid of
them when you feel they're needed. These authors average one adjective for every four
nouns and one adverb for every three verbs.
95. EVERY EVENT SHOULD HAVE A REASON. Anytime something happens let the
reader know why it happened and show the effect of it's happening.
96. USE SAID. Don't use a lot of words for said like exclaimed, argued, or complained
and use said as little as possible. If Mary and John are the only people in a scene use
Mary said and John said only at the beginning of the dialog. Readers are smart enough to
track whose saying what from then on. Top authors average one said per 250 words of
dialog between two people. If more than two people are present you need to use a said
on almost every line to be clear who's talking unless it's obvious who'll be talking next
from what was said previously. Don't worry about repetition with said. It's not really read
by the reader, only acknowledged. It's so dull a word the reader gets the point without
being aware of it. Asked is the preferred word for questions.
97. USE BEATS. An alternative way of indicating who's talking is to use a beat. This is a
short phase that shows someone doing something before or after he talks. Alternate
expressions for this concept are Actions or Character Action. Three classical beats are:
He turned, He stood up, and He looked at her. Some writing texts describe these
particular beats as cliché beats because they've been used so much. However, simple,
timehonored beats like these make up ninetyfive percent of the beats used by top
authors. New and innovative beats are few and far between. Beats are used an average
of one time for every eight lines of dialog between two people. Twice this number is used
in dialogs with more than two people.
Beats should be two to six words long and written so they don't interrupt the flow of
dialog. Besides identifying who's talking, beats remind the reader that the dialog is taking
place between real people and not disembodied voices. Beats can be used to express
emotions by having someone wring his hands before answering a question (nervous,
uncertain). When a beat is injected between one character's question and another's
answer, they evoke a sense of time spent thinking before the question is answered.
Beats also help remind the reader where the dialog is taking place. Finally, beats
represent nonverbal communication that can be used to reveal a character's personality
to the reader or another character.
It's critical that the beats assigned to different characters are written so that the
characters interact. On person throws a ball, the other catches it. On stomps his foot,
another comments about the probable cause for his anger. This is called the interactive
subtext.
Beats are also a great way to avoid talking heads dialog. That's where you have a long
succession of statements by different characters without any reference to what they are
doing, where they are, or how they react to what's being said. They might as well be
disembodied mouths babbling away in a dark room.
Good sources of beats are 1940s black and white movies. Try the Maltese Falcon.
Humphery Bogart was a master of this art. Another good source is Raymond Chandler's
mystery novel The Big Sleep. For a list of beats used by top authors and the frequency
each is used, see Appendix A.
98. LONG PARAGRAPHS RELAX READERS. A long paragraph after an action or
suspensefilled passage is useful to let the reader catch his breath. Twelve lines is long
enough, any longer and you may bore your reader.
99. AVOID WORDS ENDING IN LY. Don't use adverbs ending in ly to tell the reader
how a character said something.
"Oh my God!" he said excitedly.
What the person said and context should make it clear he was excited. In this example
what was said and the exclamation point make it clear the character is excited. Excitedly
is redundant. Top authors use one ly modifier in this manner only once every 3000
words.
A tricky twist to this is that it's all right to use an adverb attached to said when the
adverb honestly modifies the attribute and isn't describing the character. In Stranger in a
Strange Land, Robert Heinlein uses ly modifiers with almost every attribute and gets
away with it by carefully avoiding redundancy.
Gregor said aggressively, "you aren't Demitri."
This would be a correct use of an adverb if nothing that preceded Gregor's statement
indicated he would talk aggressively.
Adjectives ending in ly used during dialog or descriptions show up an average of twice
in every 250 words of dialog.
100. USE PRONOUNS. Don't use character's names every time in dialog. Throw in a
pronoun here and there for variety. When you do mention a character, always refer to
him in the same way. Don't make your reader wonder who you're talking about because
you've changed the character's name so often the reader's lost track. If you refer to a
character in a different way make sure you've let the reader know who you're talking
about. But, don't bend over backward to come up with many different ways to refer to a
character in an effort to avoid repetition. Don't go overboard on pronouns or repetition
will become a problem. Top writers average three pronouns to every time they use a
character's name when two characters are involved.
101. AVOID ING WORDS. Don't use a lot of words ending in ing, especially at the
beginning of sentences. Few things will label someone as an amateur faster. You may be
an amateur but you don't want your stories to read like you are. It can also lead to
characters doing impossible things.
Turning, he walked to the door.
No one can turn around and walk at the same time. Top authors average three ing
words every 250 words and seldom at the beginning of a sentence. An exception is short
the passage describing frenzied activity. These may have half a dozen ing words in two
sentences.
102. LIMIT THE NUMBER OF POINTS OF VIEW. Write each chapter in your novel
from one character's point of view. This means the reader knows only what that
character sees, hears, feels, tastes, and thinks. The reader observes other characters
but can't see into their minds. Avoid changing viewpoint from one character to another
in midchapter. It confuses the reader. Most important, let the reader know who the
pointofview character is as early in each chapter as possible.
It's good to use different points of view as the novel progresses as long as one
character is the pointofview character in most of the chapters. A variety of viewpoints
allows more flexibility in getting the story to the reader but keep the headcount down so
the reader doesn't get confused shifting between a lot of characters. If the pointofview
character isn't the main character, have the pointofview character refer to the main
character or respond to something the main character did to help the reader remember
who the hero is.
Using several points of view is called a limited third person viewpoint and is usually
considered the best. An omniscient viewpoint is one where the narrator flits godlike
from scene to scene explaining action to the reader from everyone's point of view.
Writing a novel in first person, through the eyes of a single character as if the he were
talking to the reader, confines you to describing only what that character sees. This is
limiting and you have to avoid using I too often.
Never write from the limited firstperson point of view. This would be a novel where the
"I" character changes several times. It is extremely confusing even when the reader is
prepared for it.
103. BE SPECIFIC. Say cocker spaniel, not dog. It makes the image you're trying to
create more concrete. But don't push it. Once the dog's been identified as a cocker, refer
to it as a dog in the future. Constantly using the full name, especially if it's a long
complicated one like a Volvo S1800 Sports Sedan, is repetitious.
There's a hazard in being too specific: overwriting. Adding too much detail with too
much specificity results in a story bogged down with description.
104. USE REAL LANDMARKS FOR REALISM. Use the names of actual highways and
towns to increases the sense of reality in traveling scenes. Have major actions take place
in fictitious towns. This way some civic leader can't sue you because you used his town
as the site for an environmental disaster that damaged its reallife tourist industry. For
the same reason avoid using the names of reallife personalities
105. USE VERBS WITH PUNCH. Dynamic, actionpacked verbs like dart instead of run
brighten your writing. For every activity there is a range of verbs which describe that
action with different levels of intensity. In the case of running, hurtle would be a high
action verb, run a middle action and dull verb, and walk slower and duller still. Search for
the one word that captures the degree of activity you want to convey.
Verbs for any activity can be ordered into a spectrum from the slowest to the fastest.
An example of such an Activity Level Ordered Thesaurus for the verb run is given in
Appendix B. Such lists are useful to find the one interesting verb that expresses the
exact level of action desired.
106. DON'T ENCUMBER VERBS. Avoid had's, have's, and their ilk but don't be afraid
to use them to clarify when something took place. Top authors use had once in every
500 words of narration. It's almost never used in dialog.
107. USE CONTRACTIONS AND SHORT SENTENCES. Write dialog the way people
really talk with contractions and simple, short sentences. Have characters interrupt and
misunderstand each other. Let them answer questions before they're asked if it's clear
what was going to be asked. A character who's not paying attention may randomly
repeat words the speaker says to fake attention. Let characters finish someone else's
sentences. Have them hedge, change the subject, lie and dodge questions.
One way to prepare to write dialog is to pretend you're one of the characters and hold a
conversation with another character. You can do this while you're driving to work. (If
you're in a car pool you may want to do it silently.) Repeat the dialog several times until
it flows smoothly.
108. AVOID HEAVY ACCENTS. The occasional missing, wrong, or misspelled word is
enough to identify an accent. Coloring a character's conversation with too much accent
makes the reader focus on how a character is saying something instead of what he's
saying.
109. AVOID REPETITION. Except for said, don't repeat words, phrases, or techniques.
Not only is it boring, it reminds the reader there's a writer in the background. Having a
drunk stagger and slur his speech is repetitious; just use one or the other. Accidental
rhyme, where two words that sound alike are used close enough together to attract the
reader's attention, is also a form of repetition. Accidental rhyme also shows up when two
adjacent sentences have the same rhythm.
Purposeful repetition can be used to present a character the reader is supposed to hate.
If a character constantly repeats the same phrase the reader will become annoyed with
them. A repeated irrational phrase also effectively identifies a mentally disturbed person.
110. GIVE IMPORTANT ELEMENTS THE MOST TIME. Use more time to develop
important scenes and characters than minor scenes and characters. This shows the
reader what he needs to remember. If you spend a lot of time on something you're
obligated to have it play a major role in the story or the reader is left with unfulfilled
expectations. This comes under the heading of being honest with your reader.
If your goal is misdirection, keep the reader in contact with the object of the
misdirection but only peripherally and make sure that the source of contact makes
sense. If it's too contrived, the reader may guess the coming surprise.
111. VARY PARAGRAPH LENGTHS. A chapter full of paragraphs all the same length is
boring. Mix up the lengths of your paragraphs to help maintain reader interest.
Paragraphs in bestselling books average from one to thirteen lines long. Top authors
average seven lines in narrative paragraphs, two in dialog. Short, one line paragraphs
are useful for dramatic emphasis. Narrative paragraphs longer than thirteen lines stall
action. Even if it's packed with action, a very long paragraph can be difficult for a reader
to swallow. It makes readers feel like they're trying to make a long speach without taking
a breath.
Be careful not to pack too many short, pithy, one or two line paragraphs into a passage.
It makes it read choppy and uneven. Save the short paragraphs for those special
moments when you need a little extra punch.
Also, avoid multicharacter paragraphs where one of them talks; it can confuse your
reader as to who is talking.
Long paragraphs can shift back a forth between dialog and action, but they read
choppy. It's best to compose paragraphs so that there is one section of dialog and one of
action.
112. VARY CHAPTER LENGTHS. Chapters in effective stories vary from one to
fourteen pages long with an average of nine. Short chapters employed during periods of
tension increase the reader's sense of suspense or action. One or two page chapters are
used to emphasize a single scene that has a major impact on the story.
113. SIDE SCENES ADD INTEREST. Include short scenes outside of the flow of the
main story to present interesting information about a place or character. Scenes like this
add texture and depth to a novel as well as dramatic or comic relief. These scenes can be
imbedded within a main scene.
In real life nothing is simple, isolated, or unchanging. Side scenes are a convenient way
to show how something important to the plot is connected to the rest of your story's
world without a major interruption to the action.
114. EMPLOY ALL THE SENSES. Use sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch to pull the
reader into your story as long as they don't distract attention away from the action.
Someone walking into a busy kitchen might smell the rich aroma of hot bread. The same
character bursting into the same kitchen in pursuit of a killer wouldn't.
Ninetyfive percent of a typical novel's sensory information is visual. The remaining five
percent is used to accentuate scenes that have significant importance to the story.
Successful authors average one senseevoking description every 500 words. Using
more than this, unless they are intended to focus attention on one particular element of
the passage, results in the story sounding too busy with detail.
115. AVOID CLICHES. These are overused expressions like:
It's raining cats and dogs.
Cliches can also show up in plots such as the cavalry charging to the rescue, a surprise
witness solving a murder case, or the villain having a sudden changeofheart and
sacrificing himself to save the hero. Avoid these at all costs.
116. DON'T USE THE RIDICULOUS. Plato never said, "Gee Whiz!" and aliens or
foreigners are unlikely to use American slang.
117. DON'T USE INVENTED OR UNUSUAL WORDS. They start the reader thinking
about the odd word instead of the story.
118. DON'T OPEN SENTENCES WITH HOWEVER. Avoid however's, therefore's,
moreover's, etc. in the front of sentences. They break up the smooth flow of reading. I
didn't find a single use of any of these words in the five novels examined. One exception
might be a pompous character who repeatedly uses such words to qualify or expand
something he's just said. This would be an annoying pattern so don't use it with a
character that's supposed to evoke sympathy.
119. DON'T END SENTENCES WITH PREPOSITIONS OR VERBS. It can make
readers feel like they've been left hanging in space.
120. USE FLASHBACKS SPARINGLY. They add texture and depth but stop the action.
121. USE FORESHADOWING. A powerful technique to get your reader to wonder about
what's going to happen is to tease him with a hint long before the event occurs. This can
be done by having a character make an ominous statement or by referring to a potential
disaster. Foreshadowing should only be used once or it becomes an obvious device.
122. SHOCK YOUR READER FOR DRAMATIC EFFECT. An effective technique to
surprise a reader is to end a bland paragraph with a short, dramatic sentence. The bland
passage lulls him into a state of unsuspecting which heightens the impact of the ending.
Don't make the bland part too long or the reader may skip ahead and miss the punch
line. Ten lines is the maximum. This technique is equally effective for generating humor.
Don't use this more than twice in novellength stories and keep them spaced far apart.
123. DON'T TALK ABOUT EMOTIONS IN THE ABSTRACT. Don't talk about love,
greed, etc. in generalities. It bores most people. This may sound shallow but it's true.
Present these subjects only as one specific character loving or envying another specific
character.
124. KEEP NARRATIVE PASSAGES SHORT. Avoid narrative passages over ten lines
long that explain something to the reader. This stalls the action. It's more interesting to
present information in small lumps of dialog or action as the story develops.
Don't force two characters to discuss a subject just to present information to the
reader. This is narration in thin disguise. It doesn't read like real conversation.
This doesn't mean narration is bad. It's a spaceefficient tool for presenting bulk facts
and useful for indicating the passage of time in just a few words. It can also avoid
redundancy by describing a series of repetitious scenes which would otherwise bore the
reader.
Don't misunderstand this bullet to mean you should avoid narration in favor of dialog. A
novel should have as much actionpacked narration as possible. Just be careful about
expository narration
125. LIMIT DESCRIPTIONS TO WHAT'S NEEDED. Give only as much description as
is needed to support the scene otherwise the reader will be misled into believing that the
thing being described is more important than it actually is.
126. CHARACTERS CAN'T TALK AND MAKE NOISES. Don't have a character
chuckle, laugh, snicker, etc. what he said. It can't be done.
"You're kidding," John chuckled.
It is all right to have him chuckle before he talks.
John chuckled. "You're kidding."
127. COMPARE AND CONTRAST. Comparing and contrasting people or things to other
people and things sharpens the reader's images of them. This makes the images more
concrete and pulls the reader deeper into the story.
128. DON'T USE QUALIFIERS. Avoid qualifiers like just, even, like, although, also,
besides, almost, if, but, too, unless, sort of, etc., if they weaken what's being said and
can introduce a note of ambiguity. Consider the following examples:
..............."I just called to say 'Hi'."
..............."I called to say 'Hi'."
The first case sounds less active and less definite. Also, just can imply recently or only in
this case. Such ambiguity weakens the statement.
............. "Although Bob's a great quarterback, he's also a class 'A' jerk."
.............."Bob's a great quarterback and a class 'A' jerk."
The second case reads more active and sounds less like a professor lecturing a class of
students. However, in this case I admit that the first version may be more appropriate if
the intent is to emphasize contrast between Bob's athletic prowess and his personality.
......... "Unless you want to look like a fool, don't wear long pants to wade in the pond."
......... "If you wear long pants to wade in the pond you will look like a fool."
The second version sounds more definite.
Having made this suggestion, let me qualify it by saying that there are always situations
where using them is appropriate, such as for a character you wish to portray as being
indefinite or because you simply prefer the way it sounds. In the final analysis you are
writing for yourself so you should write the way it sounds best to you.
By the way, the top writers I surveyed averaged one qualifier every 500 words.
129. LIMIT AND. The best authors average three and's per 250 words of narration and
three for every 500 words of dialog.
130. AVOID MULTICLAUSE SENTENCES.
John pushed through the door, dragged himself across the room and flopped onto bed.
Top authors only average three sentences like this every 500 words. These sentences
are rarely seen in dialog.
131. AVOID INFINITIVES. Use infinitives like to run, to jump, to see, sparingly.
Successful authors use them an average of three times per 250 words. The average is
the same for narration and dialog.
132. DON'T RESTATE A CHARACTER'S ACTIONS. Don't reiterate an action that
echoes a previously stated action.
His eyes wide, John leaned forward in amazement.
Wide eyes and leaning forward both evoke a sense of amazement with the proper
context. Only one is needed. Explicitly stating that John was amazed is telling instead of
showing
133. AVOID PHRASES LIKE IN A FEW MINUTES. Transition statements like this are
a boring way to tell a reader that a character paused before carrying out some action.
The best authors only use phrases or beats like this once in every 1000 words of dialog.
It's better to engage the character in some sort of minor activity that implies the passage
of time. Similarly, don't have a character sit and wait. People don't just wait. They tap
their feet, read magazines, or chew gum.
134. AVOID HAD HAD'S. There's nothing wrong with using had had, were were, or
that that but they are awkward to read. Top authors average one of these per novel.
135. USE MORE DIALOG THAN NARRATION. Successful writers average three lines
of dialog for every line of narration, but this figure varies greatly from author to author.
Some use equal amounts of dialog and narration. Others average five times as much
dialog as narration. Shoot for a threetoone ratio and you'll be in the right ball park.
136. AVERAGE TWO LINES OF DIALOG AT A TIME. The average length one person
talks in dialog is two lines. Avoid long passages where one character runs on and on. In
normal conversation someone always interrupts an attempt at a long discourse.
Exceptions would be a character giving a speech to an audience or a supervisor chewing
out an employee.
Also, make sure that the dialog you use is interesting. One way to add interest is to
have the characters talk indirectly.
Direct: "Please leave the room."
Indirect: "Isn't there someplace else you need to be?"
137. AVOID WAS, WERE, ARE, AND IS. Was, were, are and is are dull and lifeless.
Top authors limit themselves to an average of four of these per 250 words. Ninetyfive
percent of the time when one of these words was used, it was was. Your writing will be
more lively if you find bright alternatives to these dead verbs.
138. USE INTERNAL MONOLOGUE SPARINGLY. Internal monologue is where a
character talks or thinks to himself. Only one of the best selling authors surveyed used
internal monologue and then just once every 500 words. Context should identify it as a
thought. Don't put internal monologue into parenthesis and don't use the attribute he
thought. Avoid having your character mumble or talk under his breath to sneak in a
piece of internal monologue. Although occasionally used by some authors, it's considered
a cliched technique.
The best place for internal monologue is at the beginning of a dialog to establish the
mind set of a character. The character's interior voice should be the same as his exterior
voice. Interior monologue is effective in short, separate, oneline paragraphs to
emphasize an important thought (although some editors prefer it at the end of a
paragraph). Italics can be used for additional emphasis but keep it short and don't use it
more than once every 800 words or it looses it's surprise effect.
Internal monologue is useful to present a character with two levels of thought. What
the character says is what he wants the other character to believe. His internal monolog
tells the reader what he really thinks.
Avoid long passages of internal monologue. Normal people don't think like that and it
sounds like exposition.
139. APPEAL TO YOUR READER'S VISUAL EAR. The gross appearance of sentences
influence a reader's emotions. Decreasing the length of each line of down the monitor
focuses attention on the last word and increases drama. Doing the opposite suggests
increasing complexity or a snowballing effect growing out of a simple act.
Only use this technique once in a story because it's easily remembered and screams
repetition.
140. INSPIRE THE READER'S EMOTIONS. The highest goal writers aspire to is to
make the reader experience an emotion strong enough to make his heart pound with
excitement or drive him to laughter. Novels that succeed at this are cherished by their
readers.
Anger, in the form of righteous indignation, is the easiest emotion to evoke. Do it by
victimizing a sympathetic character through an injustice or giving a hero some weakness
then have the villain kick him there. Connie Willis's novel Dooms Day Book
demonstrates several effective ways to inspire anger.
Suspense is created by having danger hang over a character with whom the reader
identifies.
Scare a reader and he'll respect your story, make him mad and he'll tell his friends
about it, BUT... make him laugh and he'll nominate you to an awards site. This doesn't
mean you have to write a novel filled with comedy. All it takes to capture your reader's
heart is to make him or her laugh out loud once or twice during the story. Chapter Six
explains techniques for making your reader, and yourself, laugh at something you've
written.
The hardest emotion to inspire is fear. The current generation of readers grew up on a
diet of movies containing endless scenes of horrific monsters committing unspeakable
acts on innocent victims. As a culture we are inured to this sort of thing. Think back to
the last time in your adult life you read something that evoked fear. Examine what you
felt carefully. The odds are it was really suspense, anger, or righteous indignation. My
recommendation is to avoid trying to invoke fear. It's an impossible task in the modern
world.
141. END SENTENCES WITH THE MOST IMPORTANT WORD. The best place for the
word you want to emphasize is at the end of a sentence. Like a king's advisors, the one
he remembers is the one he hears last.
We leave tomorrow for Needleton.
We leave for Needleton tomorrow.
The first sentence leaves the reader with the sense that the most important issue is
that the destination is Needleton. The second sentence places more emphasis on when
they were leaving.
The first word of a sentence is the second strongest place for a word to be emphasized.
Use these techniques with caution. Trying to employ them too rigorously can result in
awkward sentences that take on a passive flavor.
142. DESCRIBE SCENES THROUGH CHARACTER EMOTIONS. Don't always describe
scenes as they are. Describe them through the attitudes and emotions of the pointof
view character.
143. DON'T CHANGE TONE IN MIDSENTENCE. Avoid sentences where one part is
written in a stiff, formal pattern and another informally. Forcing your reader to shift of
gears like this is irritating.
144. AVOID FORMAL LANGUAGE. Don't use stiff, formal language. It sounds like
you're trying to show off. Studies have shown that people read with optimum
comprehension and pleasure when the writing is at a seventhgrade level. This was true
whether the readers were high school dropouts or college graduates.
One exception to avoiding an overlyformal style would be the dialog of a character you
want the reader to dislike.
145. CHANGE READER'S DISTANCE FROM ACTION SLOWLY. Avoid sudden
changes in how close you place the reader to the action.
The man stepped into the storm. (distant)
He leaned into the howling wind. (closer)
The storm blew gritty sand under John's collar. (very close)
The man walked down the road. (distant)
The first three lines transition into each other giving the reader time to adjust. The
sudden shift from the third line to the fourth is irritating. This is a subtle effect and, as
with writing sentences with a mixture of formal and informal phases, the reader may not
even be aware of why he's irritated.
146. AVOID UNNATURAL PERSONIFICATIONS.
The smell of the ocean greeted him.
A smell can't greet anyone. This is an area where you can take a lot of literary license.
If you enjoy the sound of phrases like the one above, use it. But some readers will think
it's odd.
The angry crags reached for the sky.
The problem here is that an unnatural personification (can crags really be angry?) is
used to tell instead of show. It is also inaccurate because the reader's concept of an
angry crag may be different than yours.
The mountain's shattered crags thrust upward into the blueblack sky.
This paints a more vivid picture, which is less likely to be misinterpreted by the reader.
Additional description would be needed to evoke a sense of anger but once done the
overall effect would create a richer emotional impact in the reader.
One of the most common places for unnatural personification to show up is with eyes.
Avoid having them jump, fall out, leap up, climb upward or anything else that implies
that they have separated themselves from the character's head and taken on a life of
there own. I'll admit that most fan fiction readers won't be bothered by this, but editors
and archivists interested in quality writing will nail you for it. Eye's can weep, leer, gaze,
blink, look, stare, glower, glare, burn and even blaze, just keep them in their sockets.
147. DON'T USE FLOWERY LANGUAGE. Resist the urge to use flowery language to
present a scene unless it's part of a particular characterization. Normal people don't talk
like that.
148. DON'T LET GEOGRAPHY LOSE YOUR READER. If you're describing a complex
series of movements, like a character walking through a maze, make sure your
description of the maze is clear enough so that the reader doesn't get lost, even if the
character does. Also, if you begin a new chapter with a sudden shift in characters or
location, the first sentence of that chapter should quickly and clearly tell the reader
who's present and where they are. Don't make your reader pause and ask what's going
on. Doing so breaks the spell of his or her living in the story.
149. MISDIRECT, BUT DON'T LIE. Use misdirection to set your reader up for a
surprise, but never lie. Take the opening scene in the Introduction of this book. I used
context to imply a theft was about to take place to misdirect your expectations away
from the real subject of the book. It wasn't a lie because I didn't say I was going to steal
the man's money, only take it. A example of lying to the reader can be found in poor
mystery novels where the hero solves the case by introducing new evidence at the very
end of the story. The reader feels cheated. A contrasting example would be an Agatha
Christie story where the key to the puzzle is clearly shown to the reader early in the
story and exposed for what it is at the end. This is playing fair with the reader and the
effect is astounding. Not only is the reader surprised at the solution, he's amazed with
the realization he had the key all the time and yet failed to recognize it.
150. KEEP VILLAINS HIDDEN AS LONG AS POSSIBLE. Seeing a monster is not as
frightening as seeing the edge of it's shadow. The longer you can keep your villains
hidden the longer you'll maintain a high level of suspense. The movie Jaws is an
outstanding example of this technique. Even though it was obvious that the monster
was a shark, keeping it out of sight until the last scenes greatly increased the sense of
horror.
151. USE DIFFERENT TYPES OF CONFLICT. A story is a character resolving conflict.
The conflict can be a physical, moral, political, emotional, or economic. It can be man
against man, man against nature, aliens against machines, or science against evil. The
combinations are endless. Look for unusual conflicts to brighten your story.
152. SURPRISE ENDINGS MUST BE FORESHADOWED. A surprise ending that
satisfies is a gift all readers cherish. To make such endings work and be honest with your
reader, the source of the surprise must be established early in the story. A perfect
example of this is the last scene in Robert Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land. The
entire book sets the reader up for the surprise yet no one ever expects it.
153. TIE UP ALL LOOSE ENDS. Make sure all loose ends are tied up at the end of your
story. Your reader has invested a lot of time reading it and he's going to feel cheated if
he doesn't get all of the answers he wants. Some stories end with the characters
wandering off surrounded by danger. The reader purposely left to wonder about their
fate. Master writers can get away with this... barely. The problem is that even done to
perfection the reader is still deprived of that warm glow of a wellrounded solution.
One exception is the series book. Here readers want the resolution to the story's
problem but also expect a hint of things to come. A tease at the end of the novel offers
them the promise that the adventure, or at least the characters, will continue. If you do
this you are obligated to write the followon story and have it available within a
reasonable period of time... usually within two months.
154. HAVE VICTORY COST YOUR HERO SIGNIFICANTLY. If it doesn't, his struggle
will be trivialized. Let your hero hang on the hook of an agonizing dilemma where his
inner emotions tear at his, and your reader's, heart. Make the dilemma such that no
matter which way the story turns out the hero loses something he values.
155. DON'T LOSE THE READER. The numberone rule in good writing is never
confuse the reader. Break every other rule but this one.
156. DEATH ISN'T ALWAYS ENOUGH. If you want to leave your reader with the
feeling that justice has been served, just having the villain die may not be a sufficiently
satisfying punishment. Suppose he's tortured hundreds of children to death. A painless
execution by injection hardly meets the eyeforaneye punishment most readers
demand so match the antagonist's punishment to his crimes. Excellent examples of this
can be found in many of Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer novels. Mr. Hammer seldom
just shoots the bad guy. He's more likely to beat him up, shoot him so he dies a slow,
painful death and taunt him as he writhes in agony. It may not be a pretty scene but it's
beautiful writing.
157. KEEP HEROES SHORT OF TIME. Placing a time limit on when the main character
has to accomplish the final salvation in your story is an effective way to force readers
toward the edges of their chairs. If you want to suddenly increase the level of tension, do
something that cuts the hero's time to an impossible amount. This can be as effective as
introducing a new threat.
158. FINISH WHERE YOU STARTED. One additional way to end a story that gives the
reader a warm, closedloop feeling is to have something in the final scene be the same
as in the story's opening scene. This element of commonality can be the location,
characters, or a particular action. Endings such as this are useful in series of novels
because they establish that no matter what problems the series characters face, when
everything's said and done all's back to normal and they're ready for the next adventure.
159. VARY SENTENCE LENGTHS. Bestselling authors use sentences from one to
twentysix words long. The average is thirteen. A series of sentences all the same length
and form is boring.
He pulled out his gun.
He turned toward her.
He pulled the trigger.
Of course there's more wrong with these sentences than sentence length but they get
the point across. Let's combine the last two sentences.
He pulled out his gun.
Turning towards her, he pulled the trigger.
This is slightly better. It reads smoother and his turning and pulling the trigger at the
same time isn't too awkward but we can do better. Since this is the last entry in this
chapter let's use some of the other guidelines to brighten this passage. There are two
hes and two pulleds. Replacing these dull, repeated words with specific, active words and
giving the characters names helps.
John jerked out his gun.
Spinning toward Jane, he fired.
John and Jane are dull names. Giving characters interesting names is a good first step
toward improving the story. Also, using last names versus first names makes the reader
think less friendly toward the character called by his last name and more sympathetically
toward the character addressed by his first name, especially if you use a soft first name
to inspire sympathy. To give the scene more impact let's get more specific about the
gun, eliminate the ing word, and specify where he fired.
Bronklin jerked the revolver out of its holster. He spun toward Jennifer, took aim and fired point
blank into her face.
A bit graphic but certainly a more entertaining passage.
CHAPTER 6
COMEDY
Make your readers laugh and they'll hunt the Internet for more of your work.
Authors from Shakespeare to Stephen King have realized this and always include comic
interludes in their serious works. Comic moments provide relief from what would
otherwise be an endless, boring drama. A comic touch also increases the effectiveness of
serious passages by providing contrast.
Comic scenes frequently come automatically to authors as they're writing and provide
the comic relief every story needs. However, from time to time an author recognizes he
or she needs to insert something funny at a particular spot in a story and nothing
obvious presents itself. This following information will help you manufacture something
comical.
The mechanics of creating something funny are complex and laborious. Fortunately, for
the serious novel you'll only need a few humorous moments. This chapter provides
several guidelines to get you started. For a complete treatment read Comedy Writing
Secrets by Melvin Helitzer.
Comedy on demand is not accidental. It's calculated as coldly as mathematics and
choreographed as meticulously as a ballet. The formula for creating humor is:
putdown + surprise = comedy.
Puttingdown a character in a novel makes the reader feel superior. Surprise initiates
an automatic laugh response that evolved in humans as a defensive action to hide
weakness. When these two reactions are evoked at the same time people laugh and feel
good about themselves. Any insult or insulting depiction creates the putdown. Surprise
is created by heading the reader in one direction then using a short punch line to show
things weren't going where the reader thought.
Three ways to inject humor into a story are: the oneliner, the joke, and the comic
scene.
Oneliners are short comments made by one character in response to something
another character has said or something that's happened. These comments use a play
onwords to create humor by using words or phrases with double meanings. Oneliners
are part of the story's action while jokes are separate anecdotes that one character tells
another.
Jokes in stories have to be told by a character. It takes an adept author to pull this off
without breaking the flow of the story so approach adding a joke to your novel with
caution.
Comic scenes involve throwing a character into an uncomfortable situation and letting
the reader delight in the character's squirming. The surprise element in comic scenes is
that the situation is something in which the reader wouldn't expect the character to be
found. Most comic scenes will present themselves to you while you're writing your story.
The key in recognizing a scene's potential for comedy is to constantly imagine your
characters acting out the story as you write it.
160. USE ONE, ONELINER PER CHAPTER. More than this makes it difficult to
maintain a serious tone. Only two or three are needed throughout the entire story to
give the reader the pleasant tickle that'll make him remember your name. One exception
would be a character that uses a lot of oneliners to type him as a clown, insecure
person, or wise guy.
161. ONELINERS ARE REALLY TWOLINERS. A oneliner is a character's response
to something said or done. The leadin statement or event is like the straight man in a
comedy team. He feeds the funny man straight lines that provide the material for the
punch line. In stories the initial situation or straight line sets the reader up by heading
him in a particular direction. The second line, the oneliner, is the pay off. In a mystery,
the leadin might be one detective describing his discovery of a suspect, who's a well
known gardener, performing a questionable sexual act among his vegetables. The scene
would be presented straight with a description that portrays the gardener in
embarrassing terms. A second detective says,
"I guess gardeners like it dirty."
Oneliners come in many flavors: playonwords, reverses, or triples. The above
example is categorized as a playonwords because is uses the double meanings of the
words it and dirty to suggest a second meaning to what the situation and words literally
say.
162. HOW TO WRITE A PLAYONWORDS ONELINER. The first step in creating a
comic oneliner in response to a situation is to list all of the words related to the subject
of the situation. In the case of the suspect it's gardening. Next, expand each of these
words into its components.
gardening plants flowers
vegetables
weeds
seeds
tools
rakes
shovels
trowels
dirt
compost
clay
rocks
sand
activities
digging
watering
planting
In this example the word lists were purposely kept short. In reality you'd make them as
long as possible. The goal at this stage is to go for quantity. Quality comes later.
Next, list all the clichés or phrases related to the target subject. Again, aim for
quantity.
He's out in the garden
He likes gardening
He's in the garden
He likes it in the garden.
Gardening is dirty work.
Take all the words from the initial lists and look for those with double meanings or that
sound alike.
flower flour
out outside
it general subject
sex
dirty
soiled
sex
rake
garden tool
adventurer, philanderer
Read through these lists several times. The cliché list will suggest comic possibilities.
Juggle the doublemeanings list with the cliché list until something jumps out at you.
Fifty percent of all humor is based on sex because all humans share a desire for and
insecurity about it. This universal constant means that humor aimed at sex is more
likely to be understood and successful than any other subject. Following that clue, create
as many rewritten clichés that use the double meaning of it as you can imagine.
He likes it in the garden
He likes it in the dirt
etc.
Continue juggling with the goal of making the statement as short and twisted as
possible. This is where you use judgment to throw out ideas that don't work and
encourage those that do. The "gardeners like it dirty" line came from this process.
If this process sounds laborious... it is. Figure one hour of hard work for a simple one
liner. Is it worth it? Yes, if you want to develop a full range of writing skills that will help
you write effective novels.
163. WRITING A REVERSE. A reverse derives humor by surprising the reader with the
knowledge that the real object of a situation is the opposite of what was expected.
When school is out, there's always the tearing up homework, screeching and giggling. You would
think professors would act more dignified. Paul Sweeney
The setup must create a credible image in the reader's mind that directs attention
toward an obvious object or person. The punch line must be short and disclose that the
real object is the opposite of, but related to, of the implied object. Mr. Sweeney's joke
wouldn't be funny if he'd reversed to policemen, janitors, or even principals. The
associations of these professions to students, the implied objects, is too weak and not
sufficiently opposite.
To construct a reverse, create a scene with an implied object. Then make a list of
everything related to this object. Select those things that are diametrically opposite to
the implied object and chose from them the one that creates the biggest smile.
Telling a joke in a novel risks pulling the reader away from the storyline so it's best the
write the setup as a scene or observation and have a character deliver the punch line in
a oneliner.
164. TRIPLES CREATE COMIC MOMENTUM. A triple is a form of oneliner where the
setup statement takes the form of two, short declarative statements instead of a single
statement. The advantage of the triple over the oneliner is that its format allows the
reader to build up greater momentum before reaching the punch line.
The most honorable Judge Herbert Watkins, pride of the community, example to the
youth, was drunk as a skunk.
In this case the triple begins after the first comma. The first declaration prods the
reader in a particular direction while the second kicks him to greater speed so he slams
into the punch line at a full run.
Triples are most effective if all three statements have the same structure. This enables
the reader to skim through them giving him less time to guess at the approaching punch
line.
It's easiest to write a triple backwards. Start with the a phase that instills the final
image you want to convey then add two statements in front of it which are diametrically
opposite to it. Finish by polishing all three statements until they read smooth and fast.
165. EXAGGERATE! Overstatements and understatements are easy ways to create
humor.
Picture a scene with two detectives standing over a corpse riddled with bullet holes,
knife wounds and an ax sticking out of it's head.
Understatement:
"Think we need a coroner?"
Overstatement:
"This guy's gonna need two coroners!"
Exaggerating the size, shape, color, cost, etc. of anything can lead to humor.
...a rat as big as a rhinoceros...
166. KEEP COMIC SCENES SHORT AND FAR BETWEEN. Comic scenes should be
shorter than two paragraphs long. Any longer and they dominate the chapter. If you
want to end the chapter on a light tone end it with the comic scene. If you want to use
the comic scene to heighten drama, put the comic scene at the beginning or middle of
the chapter. Two comic scenes in a novellength story are enough to supply dramatic
relief.
167. USE FUNNY SOUNDING WORDS. Psychologists have found that words
containing the hard k or long e sounds evoke more humor than words without them
because if spoken, these letters activate the same muscles used for smiling. Test this by
reading the following lists:
dull funny
salmon turkey
porche buick
donut cookie
Joe Claude
Elizabeth Becky
one three
five eighteen
ten sixty
The effect is slight but useful. Use these sounds in the names of characters or things
you want to portray as foolish. It's just as important to avoid these sounds when you're
identifying a character or object that's supposed to be taken seriously.
CHAPTER 7
REWRITING
Should you rewrite? Yes!
A freshly completed draft of a story is like an unfinished road; it may pass through
beautiful scenery but the ride is so rough you can't enjoy the trip. Rewriting smooths the
bumps out of a story just like a grader makes a road drivable.
The good news is rewriting isn't the horror it's made out to be. It's easier and faster
than writing and gives a feeling of polished accomplishment drafts can't provide. Here are
some hints to make rewriting easy and productive.
168. DON'T TRY TO WRITE THE PERFECT STORY. It can't be done. Attempting to
correct every last error will get you trapped in an endless cycle of revisions.
When have you done enough rewriting? When you can read your story cover to cover
without feeling a strong urge to change something. Once you're there it's time go on to
something else, like writing a second story.
169. SOLUTIONS OUT OF THE BLUE. You may wonder where ideas for improvements
will come from. For mechanical problems, guides like the one you're now reading will
help. For plot changes, new scenes, or fresh dialog, don't worry. The amount of time it
takes to write a story permanently imprints the major elements of the story in your
mind. For weeks after you put it away flashes of inspiration on how to solve one problem
or another will come to you automatically. Write them down in your notebook. By the
time you're ready to start rewriting you'll have more than enough material to improve
your story.
170. WAIT BETWEEN REWRITES. Don't look at your story for at least a month
between readings. This gives you enough time to forget some of it's details so when you
pick it up again it'll seem fresh and new. The key to good rewriting is to proof read
slowly. Writers are so familiar with their work that when they look at it they don't really
read but just skim it; their memories fill in the words they jump over. The hazard is that
this permits mistakes to be jumped over as well.
171. CHECK GRAMMAR AT NIGHT. Proof read for punctuation, spelling and other
grammar mistakes in the evening. That's when most people are tired and irritable. In
this state of mind grammatical errors leap off the page. Correcting spelling errors is
particularly important. As a writer you work hard to create the illusion in your reader's
mind that they are living an actual story. A misspelled word is like a slap in the face,
shocking them out of the illusion by reminding that they are just reading a story.
172. REWRITE IN THE MORNING. Rewriting is the process of improving the
effectiveness of your writing as opposed to proof reading which corrects grammatical
mistakes. Rewrite in the morning or whenever you're at your best.
173. ELIMINATE THE IRRELEVANT. Cut even good passages if they don't advance
the plot or add interesting texture that's pertinent to the story. Don't discard these
passages. Record them in your notebook because they may be useful in another novel.
This is a good test of how serious you are about becoming an author. If you have the
strength to cross out a beautifully written paragraph because it doesn't fit you probably
have what it takes to become a successful writer.
174. DROP THEs AND As. Discard as many thes and as as possible. It brightens your
writing. Imagine you have to pay for every word on the monitor and it'll be surprising
how many unnecessary thes and as turn up.
175. FOLLOW YOUR FEELINGS FOR DELETING. If you ask yourself if something
should be cut, it probably should.
176. EACH CRISIS SHOULD ACCOMPLISH SOMETHING. Every major crisis should
advance the plot, reveal something about a character, introduce something new, or
increase the mystery. If it doesn't, rewrite it so it does or delete it.
177. READ IT OUT LOUD. Eventually, you should read everything out loud, especially
dialog. If you stumble over any words, change or delete them so the passage reads
smoothly. If you feel the impulse to pause; stick in a comma, speaker attribute, or beat.
An inclination to pause is your subconscious telling you that if this were real
conversation the speaker would put a break.
178. USE AN OUTSIDE READER. Welcome criticism and use it. A second person's
point of view is the best way to identify unclear areas where you understood what was
going on so well you assumed the reader did as well resulting in an important piece of
information being left out. The problem with proof readers is locating someone willing to
invest the time to make honest, specific, constructive notes as they read. Query owners
of fan fiction sites hosting stories in your genre to see if they'll proof your story. Archives
sometimes have lists of proofreaders. Finally, apply to fanzines for publication. Even if
they reject your story, their comments will let you know what you did wrong. In all
fairness to fanzine editors, make sure your story is well polished and has been proofed by
at least one other person before submitting it. Fanzine publishers and editors are heavily
overloaded and it isn't fair to waste their time on a rough draft.
179. DON'T TRY TO FIX EVERYTHING IN ONE REWRITE. If you do your progress
will be so slow that it'll take a year to finish. Worse still, by attempting the impossible
task of remembering fifty different mistakes to look for, many will be missed. It's more
effective to concentrate on two or three problems and get the rewrite done in a
reasonable amount of time. Put the story away awhile and address a few more problems
during the next rewrite.
The following checklist can help you make certain you've checked your story for all the
important issues.
1. Have you proved your theme?
2. Have you touched the reader's emotions?
3. Is there conflict and is the reason for it believable?
4. Do your characters grow?
5. Are all the loose ends tied up?
6. Have you engaged all the reader's senses?
7. Did use use active instead of static descriptions?
8. Did events grow out of each other?
9. Is the climax satisfying?
180. DELETE ENTIRE CHAPTERS IF THEY DON'T BELONG. The hardest task during
a rewrite is accepting that a major plot error has been made and whole chapters have to
be thrown out. It's painful because these chapters represent many hours of hard work.
Steel yourself. If it has to be done, do it. If you don't you won't have a story but a
collection of scenes and events that confuse rather than entertain.
181. AN ELECTRONIC CAUTION. Beware of the "find and replace all" function. These
things can sometimes reach inside words and change parts of them. You may intend to
change a name and change the spelling of a hundred words.
182. BEWARE OF SPELL CHECKERS. One of the greatest technical assists to amateur
writers is the automatic spell checker. For all their value they're notorious for ignoring
the wrong word spelled correctly. They're also only good when used. It's easy to forget to
run a chapter through a spell checker after every rewrite. The result is that new
misspellings slip into your work. Cultivate the habit of using the spell checker before you
close a chapter file. Finally, some spell checkers accept two different spellings for the
same word. Both may be correct. In such cases go to a second reference and use the
preferred form.
183. USE BOTH THE MONITOR AND PRINTER. A document displayed on a monitor
doesn't read like print on paper. It's not better or worse, just different so don't do all of
your proof reading using the monitor. Print your story at least once and proof this hard
copy. It takes time but you'll catch things missed on the monitor. The opposite is true. If
you always review printed sheets, work through the story once on the screen.
184. DON'T PRINT ON THE BACKS OF PREVIOUS DRAFTS. This sounds like a good
way to save paper but it's not worth it. The printing on the backside shows through
giving the side you're reading a distracting, dirty look that can affect the quality of a
rewrite. Printing on the backs of pages also leads to confusion about which side
represents the current draft.
APPENDIX A
BEATS
This is a list of the short phrases, called beats, used to describe a character's
movements usually just before he or she says something. These beats came from the
novels analyzed for this text. The number of slash marks after the verb indicate the
number of times that particular beat was used. Common modifiers used with the
principle verb are listed after the slash marks.
clapped him on the shoulder
pinched his eyebrows
shouldered her way into the mob
he pitched forward
eyelids fluttered and opened
tottered toward the door
puckered into a pout
puffed as he lowered his bulk
tipped forward
lurched sideways
skidded down the hallway
burst // into tears, through the door
whacked the pillow
plucked at her sleeve
glanced ////////////// at, outside, fearfully, sadly
nodded //////////////
sighed ///////////// ruefully, glumly
looked /////////////////////////// roundeyed, over, up, at him with a beaming smile,
troubled, him over, sourly, long suffering, pained, baffled, into his eyes, wideeyed, into
his face, wistful
shrugged ///////////
shivered ////
shook his head ////////////// finger
smiled /////////////
stopped //// to wheeze, smiling
shuddered //
frowned //////
turned ///////// away, to, toward, her head, red
blinked ///
chewed /// thumb, lip, nail
rushed ///
came ///// over, in, out
pooched her lips out
walked or walking /// in, with labored awkwardness, noiselessly
studied
struggled out of his overcoat
stuffed it in the bag
wrestled into the coat, it out of the box
jammed it back in
pursed his lips
rummaged in the shopping bag
started ///// fingering it, to bawl, to leave, toward, to pry himself
lifted //// his glass, the paper
replaced /
left ////// without closing his mouth, again
picked /// imaginary lint from her sleeve, the trunk up, at her food
stuck / a cigarette in his face, out her lip
dug / out a
opened ///// her eyes, the door, her mouth
leaned // over, heavily on the bed rail, back in her chair
patted /// his stomach, her knee, his shoulder
punched / buttons
flipped / the lights off
whistled
kept quiet
stood up
gave him a detailed account
pressed the button
let out a long breath
straightened // up, impatiently
took his face in her hands
froze
tried to reswallow her stomach
eyebrows went up
thumbed through the papers
gasped ///
broke /// into a sly smile, out a cigar
jittered
threw up both hands
unlocked the door
led them in
put a finger to his lips
grimaced ///
glowered ///
relaxed
let his features mellow
drew himself up
nostrils dilated
switched off
got // into the argument, clumsily up
held out both hands
took /// a few steps
stepped //// into the hallway, back nimbly
shied away
wriggled // into pajamas
wiggled / her toes
knelt ///
reached out and touched her
drew back hastily
tried to be a roadblock
dropped // the papers, to her knees
drummed /// on the table, fingernails
got up, squared his shoulder, went into the meeting
pushed back from his desk
sat back
bathed and painted and combed
emptied the drink
cut in
gathered // them by eye, up her skirts
returned
yawned
bit her lip
twisted one toe in the grass
repressed a yawn
scowled ///
slumped //
stumbling and stammering she told
appeared to count to ten
counted to ten
sat down
pulled up a chair
timidly touched her hand
jaw dropped
muffed the adjustment
grinned
grudged a grin
jaw muscles were jumping
trotted over
recalled... and winced
swayed
covered his ears
slapped a hand to his face
charged toward it
trembled
was choked with
mellowed slightly
thought rapidly
hummed happily
shoved /// into the crowd, his chair back, through the door
hooked // his spectacles over his ears, a thumb at
gave way
stretched and felt a great weariness, like a million
lumbered upstairs
dimpled ///
pondered it
made a face
waved // the papers, a hand, it aside, vaguely at the screens
raised his voice
swallowed
gulped
coughed
strangled
jumped in
clipped his answers
mouth worked, but only noises came out
snorted
poised to get up
relaxed with a great sigh
barely hesitated
swaggered off
held his breath
eyes twinkled
fixed /// it, him with an eye
whirled around
screwed up his face
blushed
met them
took a cigar out of his mouth
put his fingers to his lips and whistled
threw a salute
changed to a smile
snuck a glance
squeezed his hand
eyes got big
undulated away
raised both arms
followed
stared /// blindly at it
gave in
yanked them off
closed /// his eyes, the door, the file
twisted, almost falling out of his chair
sat up //
dumped his drink
covered it
chortled
pointed a finger
pause
laughed
eyes filled with tears
quivered
shifted his attention
twanged the string
tossed it to
wiped // his spectacles on his muffler, his eyes
sat by her
waited
stared at // his glass, her
scowled
showed him // how to, where to
dropped the matter
growled
made a croaking noise
swung around
glided towards them
pursued the last bite with a fork
fed
sat down
pulled him down
jutted out his lips
fitted his fingertips together
glared
glowered
pointed out
made a disorderly rout
swore
cursed
giggled
heaved a sigh
went // blindly, with her
called out
reached for her
went around the table
squirmed
thought about it
strolled into the room
poured a glass of water
gripped his arm
puttered about
leered at him
EMOTIONS
The following lists are beats grouped by the types of emotions they express. These
don't have to be used only as is but also as inspirations to your own imagination to come
up with better beats.
CURIOUS/DOUBTFUL
Pinched his eyebrows
His expression cooled ten degrees
Pursed his lips
Raised an eyebrow
Eyebrows went up
He arched his eyebrows
She crinkled her eyes (like she'd missed something whispered about her)
His eyes got a little watchful
He beetled his forehead
Arched his eyebrows
Frowned with his eyebrows
A cleft formed between his eyebrows
The skin around his eyes drew tight
He cocked his head slightly to one side
Leaned his head back to look down the ridge of his nose at him
His eyebrows shot half way up his forehead
He grimaced with one eye
He turned his head to one side but kept his eyes on him
A suspicious little halfsmile curved his lips
He measured his words with a teaspoon
His eyes veiled themselves with doubt
A sneer touched the corners of his lips
His jaw muscles jumped as he considered my words
He leaned forward
Listened with his entire body
Stroked his jaw
Flicked an eyebrow
His mouth hung open, forgotten
She pouched her lips out
Gave him a short sideglance
Gave him a tolerant smile
He gave him a small cool smile
He stared over tended fingers at her
He scratched his wide forehead
A deep crease appeared on his forehead
He narrowed his eyes
He made two black vertical lines between his eyes
His lips quirked at the corners
Made a vague sound in his throat
His look turned cool
EMBARRASSED
He blushed
A crimson flush spread up from under his collar
Her ears burned hot
He turned red
He turned away with a shy smile
He looked down (examined) his fingernails
He stuttered
He fumbled his words
His eyes turned down (away)
He eyes skipped around the room; left, right, anywhere but in her eyes
His mouth formed a circle and pink colored his cheeks
Her cheeks colored like a peach in the sun
He shifted in his chair
He stared and tried to swallow
He gulped
He coughed out a nervous laugh
A feeling like stage fright churned his stomach
It felt like chains tied him to the words he'd spoken
His breathing came in short, irregular gasps
His voice quavered
There was a strain in her smile
She willed her eyes to look into his face even though they strained to turn away
Red spots flared on her cheeks
His lips trembled in an insecure smile
He clipped his answers short, tried to avoid looking at her
He tried not to look at her but his eyes kept slipping back to her face
He squirmed
She looked like she didn't know what to do with her face
THOUGHTFULNESS
Blinked
He steepled his fingers
Chewed his lip, nail, or thumb
He nodded slowly to himself
Pursed his lips
He chewed slowly, ruminatively
He touched his lips with two fingers
His face closed in thought
Touched his lips with his fingers
A slowness overcame his voice
Touched the end of his pen to the corner of his mouth
His eyes looked past me
Squinted
Muscles drew the skin around his eyes tight
He cast his eyes upward
Studied the ceiling
Eyes grew distant
His face grew vague
His eyes focused inward
His eyes glazed over
His voice trailed off
A veil drew across his eyes
His eyes took on a sheen
Chewed his tongue
Frowned
Furrowed his brow
Brought his eyebrows together
His face pinched in concentration
Stared straight ahead and rubbed his thumb against his fingers
The skin over his eyebrows wrinkled, He wrinkled the skin over his eyebrows
Made a clicking sound in the side of his cheek
Ran a finger along his jaw
Chewed the end of his pencil
Rubbed the end of his nose
Tapped his forehead
Tapped a pencil on his desk
Pinched his lower lip
Pulled at an earlobe, the hairs at the corner of an eyebrow
Scratched his beard, side of his head, behind his ear, eyebrow
Bit (chewed) the inside of his cheek
Frowned with his eyebrows
Massaged the back of his neck
He eyes were far away
He tapped his lips with his fingertips
Put a finger to his lips
His face took on a measured look
He drifted away, like he'd forgotten where he was
He frowned to himself
His eyes went somewhere else
His mouthed worked without making any sound, but only noises came out
His face took on a pondering air
He chewed his cigar
He jutted out his lips
He fitted his fingertips together
He halfclosed his eyes
He stewed for a minute
Thoughts passed behind his eyes like shadows
Whistled quietly under his tongue
TIREDFATIGUEDRESIGNED
Sighed
The weight of his shadow was enough to drag him down
Shrugged
Nuzzeled his lips around a forth cup of coffee
Let out a long breath
Dropped to his knees
Heaved a sigh
Yawned
Slumped
He spread his hands
His nerves jumped
He waved vaguely with a hand
His face crumpled into a rueful grimace
His eyes glossed (crossed) over me without recognition
Her voice quavered
He offered her a flat smile
He forced (willed) a smile
Exhaustion drew his face down (made the pouches on his face sag)
His arms fell to his sides
He couldn't keep his eyes focused
Shadows kept drifting through his vision
He heard a sizzling, headache sound in the back of his skull
Fell, crumpled, collapsed into his chair
His hands shook
His sucked in desperate gulps of air
Drew in a long breath and let it hiss out slowly
His eyes sagged
He made a vague sound in the back of his throat
His eyes were (went) somewhere else
His eyes went dull
He blinked, waiting for recognition to sink in
Nodded dolefully
Exhaustion roughened his words
Managed a weak smile
His eyes drifted half closed
He made a wry mouth
He made a confused smile
He raised a hand only to let it fall away at his side
Purpose was a distant thought, lost behind a mountain of fatigue
He sank into the chair
His voice sounded fuzzy, like he was one scotch short of drunk
He dragged his shadow after him

APPENDIX B
Activity Level Ordered Thesaurus
The following list of words is ordered from the lowest level of action to the highest for
verbs that can be used to express activities related to running or walking. Some of these
words express a sense of continuous action while others are impulsive. This list is not
comprehensive.
Lists like this can be made for any activity and are invaluable for finding the perfect
verb for a scene. To construct one of these lists, begin by making a list of all the words
you can think of for the activity in question, then look up each of those words in a good
thesaurus and add any new words that fit. Repeat this process until all the words you
find are ones you've already listed. Finally, rearrange them from one extreme level of
activity to the other. Keep any lists you make up close at hand for easy reference.
Making one of these lists can take several hours but it is time well invested. They
become a ready reference that last forever.
Note that many words not only express how fast a person moves but create bright
images of the nature of the motion and even hint at the person's attitude.
Activity Level Ordered Thesaurus for run
stirred
groveled
dragged
pulled
crept
crawled
swayed
drifted
stepped
traveled
trekked
ambled
rambled
reeled
strolled
strutted
tramped
slipped
slid
strode
flowed
glided
trailed
journeyed
coursed
rolled
promenaded
advanced
hiked
paraded
heaved
fled
clipped along
struck off for
ventured
floated
floundered
slithered
blundered
stumbled
hobbled
waddled
wove
wandered
lumbered
slunk
skulked
lurched
jolted
twitched
treaded
sauntered
walked
marched
projected
propelled
shuffled
dodged
hopped
sped
hastened
ran (noticed how boring this word is in comparison to the others!)
streamed
bustled
bolted
vaulted
flitted
flittered
skittered
rushed
scooted
scuttled
scurried
scampered
arrowed
careened
raced
plunged
bounced
flung
leaped
pitched
cast
tossed
jumped
threw
sprinted
stampeded
bounded
charged
sprang
soared
roared
thundered
flew
zipped
spurted
zoomed
burst
streaked
dashed
flashed
smashed
darted
hurtled
hurled
APPENDIX C
DIFFERENT WAYS TO DESCRIBE ACTIONS
The following lists present many different ways to express simple actions. These lists
are useful for finding ways to avoid repetition when you have similar actions occurring
close to each other or when you just want a different way to describe a common activity.
FOLLOW
Followed
Trailed after
Tagged along
Heeled
Birddogged
Dogged his steps
Tracked after him
Walked in his shadow
Dragged (or any walklike verb) after him
Tailed him
Fell in line behind him
FROZE(as in stopped suddenly)
Stopped
Halted
Jarred to a halt
Terminated
Paused
Checked his forward motion
Arrested
Interrupted
Held up
Petrified
Slammed to a stop like he'd been instantly fossilized
Stiffened
Locked every bone (muscle) tight
Drew himself up short
Braked like he'd crashed into an invisible wall
LEAD THE WAY
Lead
Led the way
Forged ahead of them
Blundered forward
Charged ahead
Stormed forward
Blazed a trail
(almost any walk/run word or phrase)
Pointed the way
Made his way forward, through the tangle
LOOKED
looked sideways, along his eyes, out of the corners of his eyes, down his nose
blinked
studied
glowered
fixed him with his eyes, a stare
stared
squinted
scowled
measured
glared
made out
leered
make out
ogled
peered
glanced
sized up
gave him a sideglance
strained to see
looked askance at him
riveted
His eyes ate him with hate
feasted his eyes on it
Inspected
goggled
Acid poured from his eyes
shot a glance
eyes sparked fire
fired a glare
eyes fired splinters at him
gave him a stare
scanned
searched
viewed
surveyed
watched
saw
witnessed
regarded
glimpsed
peeped
gazed
contemplated
observed
examined
gawked
reconnoitered
spied
beheld
gaped
SPEAK
Said
wailed
Snapped
greeted
Lamented
blubbered
Disputed
sniveled
Said
mewed
Howled
growled
Rejoiced
grunted
Spoke
murmured
Whined
muttered
Answered
grumbled
Questioned
clamored
Sang
fussed
Chirped
screeched
Shrilled
decried
Groped
denied
Complained
simpered
Hurrahed
tittered
Replied
giggled
Declared
sniggered
Stated
snickered
Bellowed
crowed
Roared
cheered
Blustered
chortled
Argued
chuckled
Shrieked
cackled
Screamed
Interrupted
Cried
Whimpered
Bawled
Sobbed
Sighed
Moaned
Groaned
Beefed
Moaned
Wept
SHIFTED
(As in a character shifting his position.)
Leaned
Straightened
Wriggled
Wiggled
Squared his shoulders
Turned
twisted
shuffled
shifted
squirmed
inclined
thrashed
scooted to the right, forward, backward, away, sideways around
SIT
Sat down
Jammed himself into the chair
Flopped
Threw himself down
Collapsed onto the stool
He fell into the sofa
Dropped like the dead
Folded
Pushed himself down
Snuggled deeper into the cushions
Hurled himself at the couch
Lowered himself gingerly
Eased into the seat
Slumped
Squeezed
Sagged
Flowed
Perched
Reclined
Settled
Landed with a thump
Roosted
Slouched
Sank
Plunged
Descended
Puffed as he lowered his bulk
Squatted
Hunkered
STOOD
Stood up
Jumped
Snapped up, to attention
Lurched up
Struggled upward
Bolted up
Wrestled himself to a standing position
Eased himself up
Lifted
Threw himself up and out of the chair
Drew himself up to his full height
Bounced up
Climbed up
Clamored up
TURNED
Turned
Rotated
Spun
Twisted
Spiraled
Waltzed
Pivoted
Eased around
Swung about
Revolved
Cycled
Gyrated
Twirled
Whirled
Pirouetted
Circled
Swiveled
Reeled
Axled
Torqued
Coiled
Wriggled
Squirmed
Contorted
Corkscrewed
Rounded
Swirled
Hinged
APPENDIX D
SOUNDS
Here's a listing of different sounds grouped by their intensity.
QUIET MEDIUM LOUD
Snap buzz blare
Snick bong bellow
Ting gong bang
Tang clatter boom
Plink clamor roar
Twang thunk crash
Tinkle thud
Plink ding
Chink dong
Clink jangle
Chirp jingle
Bing ring
Ding rumble
Ping rattle
Tick crack
Whoosh
Shushed
APPENDIX E
Suggested Reading List
The Mist, a novella by Stephen King in his anthology, Skeleton Crew, (Signet, 1986).
This story presents four glowing examples of prime writing techniques: ending a dull
paragraph with a short, startling sentence to emphasize drama, making a minor
character interesting by disclosing an unsuspected ability, keeping the reader's interest
in this character alive by having this character grow as the story progresses, and using
the repetition of an irrational phrase to portray another character's descent into insanity.
Mr. King's development of suspense by placing a sympathetic character in jeopardy from
an insane mob shows that terror doesn't come from the monsters chasing us as much as
from those inside of us.
Dooms Day Book, by Connie Willis, (Bantam Books, 1992).
This book accomplished the remarkable achievement of winning both the Nebula and
Hugo Awards for outstanding science fiction. Besides being an excellent read this novel
demonstrates two effective ways to invoke righteous indignation in readers. In one
instance Ms. Willis creates a bureaucrat so absorbed in his own agenda he's oblivious to
the dangers to which he exposes his employees. You want to slam this guy against a
wall. In the other instance, Ms. Willis has the hero vainly trying to resolve a critical
problem but can't because he's besieged by an endless stream of people forcing petty
problems on him.
Stranger in a Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein, (Putnam, 1961).
The opening sentence of this novel uses a timeless cliché to create a powerful attention
grabber. Its effectiveness is equaled only by the surprise disclosure on the last page that
illustrates the power of closing a novel with something that captures the reader's
imagination.
This novel is a masterpiece of character creation and development. Once read, the
people populating this book will live in your mind forever. This story's also the most
entertaining science fiction social commentary ever written.
Retief of the CDT, by Keith Laumer, (Pocket Books, 1971).
In this series of short stories Mr. Laumer does the impossible. He creates a character
who is superior in every conceivable way, cynical, and even a little arrogant, yet Mr.
Laumer makes you love him. I'm still trying to figure out how it's done.
The Stainless Steel Rat, by Harry Harrison, (Berkley, 1970).
The first book of this series shows the irresistible power of opening a novel with an
attentiongrabbing scene. Before the first page is over Mr. Harrison hits you smack
between the eyes with not one, but four needle sharp hooks to capture your attention. I
dare anyone to read the first page and not want to finish the book. The Stainless Steel
Rat also demonstrates how wry humor spices up a story.
SOURCES CONSULTED
Bova, Ben. The Craft of Writing Science Fiction That Sells. Cincinnati, Ohio: Writer's
Digest Books, 1994.
Browne, Renni and Dave King. Self Editing for Fiction Writers. New York: HarperCollins
Publishers, 1993.
Buchman, Dian and Seli Groves. The Writer's Digest Guide to Manuscript Formats.
Cincinnati, Ohio: Writer's Digest Books, 1987.
Card, Orson Scott. Characters & Viewpoint. Cincinnati, Ohio: Writer's Digest Books,
1988.
Carrol, David L. A Manual of Writer's Tricks. New York: Marlowe & Company, 1995.
Clark, Thomas. The Writer's Digest Guide to Good Writing. ed. by Thomas Clark.
Collier, Oscar with Frances Spatz Leighton. How to Write & Sell Your First Novel.
Delton, Judy. The 29 Most Common Writing Mistakes (And How to Avoid Them).
Edelstein, Scott. 30 Steps to Becoming a Writer and Getting Published. Cincinnati, Ohio:
Writer's Digest Books, 1993.
Gardener, John. The Art of Fiction. New York: Vintage Books, 1991.
Greenberg, Martin and Isaac Asimov. Cosmic Critiques: How and Why Ten Science
Fiction Stories Work. Cincinatti, Ohio: Writer's Digest Books, 1990.
Grisham, John. The Chamber. New York: Doubleday, 1994.
Harrison, Harry. The Adventures of the Stainless Steel Rat. Berkley Books: New York,
1978.
Heinlein, Robert A. Stranger in a Strange Land. New York: G. P. Putnam's Son's, 1961.
Helitzer, Melvin. Comedy Writing Secrets. Cincinnati, Ohio: Writer's Digest Books, 1987.
Herman, Jeff. 19992000 Writer's Guide to Book Editors, Publishers and Literary Agents.
Prima Publishing: Rocklin, California, 1998.
King, Stephen. The Dark Tower, The Gunslinger. New York: Penguin Books USA Inc.,
1989.
King, Stephan. Skeleton Crew, The Mist. New York: Signet, 1986.
Laumer, Keith. Retief of the CDT. New York: Pocket Books, 1978.
Mandell, Judy. Book Editors Talk to Writers. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1995.
McBain, Ed. Mischief. New York: Morrow, 1993.
Novakovich, Josip. Fiction Writer's Workshop. Cincinnati, Ohio: Story Press, 1995.
Seger, Linda. Creating Unforgettable Characters. New York: Henry Holt, 1990.
Shertzer, Margaret. The Elements of Grammar. New York: Macmillan, 1986.
Strunke, William and E.B. White. The Elements of Style, 3rd. ed. Needham Heights,
Massachusetts: Allyn & Bacon, 1979.
Tompkins, David G. Science Fiction Writer's Market Place and Sourcebook. Cincinnati,
Ohio: Writer's Digest Books, 1994.
Williamson, J. N. How to Write Tales of Horror, Fantasy, & Science Fiction. ed. by J. N.
Williamson. Cincinnati, Ohio: Writer's Digest Books, 1987.
Willis, Connie. Dooms Day Book. New York: Bantam Books, 1992.

THE END

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Merlin BBC (Wikipedia)
Merlin's Keep episode synopses, screen caps, promotional photos
BBC map of Camelot (click to biggify, then click as you like for various levels of hugeitude)
ravenclawwit has put together this great list of resources, including way too many topics to list:
The Court Librarian: A List Of Arthurian Reference Materials and Resources for Writers
Arthurian Legend
Arthurian legend (Wikipedia)
List of Arthurian Characters (Wikipedia)
King Arthur (Wikipedia)
Merlin (Wikipedia)
Guinevere (Wikipedia)
Morgan le Fey (Wikipedia)
Arthurian Resources
www.arthurianlegend.com/
King Arthur: History & Legend
Arthurnet Links
The Camelot Project
A Short History of Arthurian Archaeology
The Pendragon Historical Society
Knights of the Round Table
Robert Treskillard's Arthurian Blog
King Arthur & the Knights of the Round Table
Myth, Legend & Folklore
Best of Legends
Encyclopedia Mythica
Beasts of Myth
Many Monsters to Destroy
Mythical Creatures & Beasts
Mythical Creatures
Encyclopedia Mythica: Bestiary
Historical Reference
All Things Medieval
Life in the Middle Ages
English, Old English, and AngloNorman Names
AngloSaxon names
Medicinal and Magical Herbs of Medieval Europe
Medieval Hunting Weapons, Uses and Hunters
Merlin: Hunt!Fail: How Not to Hunt Like Prince Arthur and Why by crabby_lioness
Early British Kingdoms
Sixth Century Maps
Medieval Sourcebook: Maps
American and British English differences (Wikipedia)
American and British English spelling differences (Wikipedia)
List of words having different meanings in British and American English (Wikipedia)
List of American words not widely used in the UK (Wikipedia)
SpNeo/Spelling Guide
British American Dictionary
British/North American Vocabulary
Table of American and British English words
Selected Vocabulary Differences Between British and American English
AmericanBritish and BritishAmerican Dictionaries
Spelling differences between American and British English
Differences in American and British English
horrific Americanisms
A British slang dictionary with audio pronunciations
The American's guide to speaking British
English slang and colloquialisms used in the United Kingdom
Reference notes on Britspeak and culture
All about British Life and Culture
A guide on the differences between American and English culture
How to Adapt to British Culture
About the UK
British Culture, Customs and British Traditions
Customs and Traditions
Calendar of Festivals and Holidays
cavalorn writes about US & UK Christmas traditions
British cuisine (Wikipedia)
REAL British Cuisine: A Visitor’s Guide
British Cuisine
Foods from England
ALL BRITISH FOOD.COM
A Brief Introduction to British food
Shopping in the UK
Tesco (for prodeuts & pricing)
Sainsbury's (for prodeuts & pricing)
Passport to the Pub
So you want to drive in England?
memories on hp_britglish
comment discussion about schools in the UK at jackxianto
britpickery
Oi! Yanks! No!
An assortment of adult themed resources can be found by clicking the photo be forewarned: many of the links are NC17 & NSFW
*** I would very much like to hear from you if you have suggestions, links to add, concrit, or what have you. Please also let me know if you find
any broken links, or links that are NSFW ***
Tags: !mod post, !resources

Current Mood: nervous

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(Deleted comment)
jacketpotato on November 3rd, 2009 04:32 am (UTC)
Thank you! I hope you found something you liked!
1/30/2015 Advice on Novel Writing
< Back to darkwaves.com
Advice on Novel Writing by Crawford Kilian
Foreword by the Author
1. Developing Efficient Work Habits
2. Elements Of A Successful Story
In the opening...
In the body of the story...
In the conclusion...
Throughout the story...
3. Style: Checklist For Fiction Writers
4. Manuscript Format
5. Storyboarding
6. Ten Points on Plotting
7. The Story Synopsis
8. Understanding Genre: Notes on the Thriller
9. Symbolism and all that
The Natural Cycle
The Natural Versus the Human World
The Hero's Quest: Mysterious or unusual birth
Symbolic Images
Symbolic Characters
10. Narrative Voice
11. Constructing a Scene
12. Show And Tell: Which Is Better?
13. Character In Fiction
The Character Resume
http://www.darkwaves.com/sfch/writing/ckilian/ 1/52
14. “Let's Talk About Dialogue,” He Pontificated
Some Dialogue Conventions to Consider:
15. Writing A Query Letter About Your Novel
The Letter Itself
16. Researching Publishers and Agents
17. Reading a Contract
Delivery Of Satisfactory Copy
Permission for Copyrighted Material
Grant Of Rights
Proofreading and Author's Corrections
Advances and Royalties
Author's Warranties and Indemnities
Copies to Author
Option Clause
Going Out of Print
A Word of Advice
Afterword by the Author
Foreword by the Author
A little later tonight (Thursday, Nov 5 [1992]), I'm going to start sending in a series
of items about writing fiction for the mass market. Some of these I posted a few days
ago, provoking a remarkable amount of email asking for copies of this or that
posting. So I decided I'd start from the top and go through the whole batch in a
couple of stages.
Altogether I'll be sending 17 separate “handouts” from my commercial fiction
course. They range from good work habits to the reading of contracts. Pleasedon't
read them as divine revelation. They come out of my experience, which may not be
anything like yours or that of other writers. But if they save you some time, energy
and grief, I'll be glad.
The files total about 180Kenough for a short book. I'll number each one as Fiction
Advice plus a number and keyword. If you miss some of them, I'll try to post them
directly, but sometimes people's addresses don't make sense to my computer...
Why am I doing this? Well, a year or so ago someone emailed me with that very
question. I thought for a minute and then replied to this effect: When you're young,
and you think you have the talent, you wonder how you can make the talent serve
you. When you're older, you wonder how you can serve the talent. This is some small
part of my service. God bless, work hard, write honestly, take pride in your craft!
Crawford Kilian
Communications Department
Capilano College
2055 Purcell Way
North Vancouver, BC Canada V7G 1H7
Usenet: Crawford_Kilian@mindlink.bc.ca
Developing Efficient Work Habits
Different writers face different advantages and drawbacks in forming good writing
habits. The circumstances of your personal life may make it easy or hard to find
writing time, but time itself is not the real issueit's habit. Writing must be
something you do regularly, like brushing your teeth. The writer who waits for
inspiration will wait even longer for a complete, published novel.
Writing habits flourish best in routine, but the efficient writer also exploits
opportunity.
Routine: Set aside some time every day when you can work undisturbed for an hour
or twofirst thing in the morning, during lunch, after dinner, whenever you can set
aside other demands. Ideally, it's the same time of day. Your family and friends will
soon build their routines around yours. With luck, they will resent your unscheduled
appearances during your writing time, and will send you packing back to your desk.
Keep your writing equipment (paper, pens, software manuals, etc.) in your writing
place, close at hand. Minimize distractions like interesting new magazines and books.
Try to find a writing time when few people phone or visit. If a cup of coffee and
some background music make you feel less lonely, by all means enjoy them.
Use household chores as thinking time: a chance to review what you've done so far
and to consider where your writing should go next. Walking the dog or vacuuming
the carpet can provide more ideas than you expect. This is really just “controlled
daydreaming,” letting your mind freewheel in a particular direction: What the
heroine should do in the next chapter, how the hero would respond to escaping a car
bomb, how the villain developed his evil character. But the process doesn't seem to
work if you just sit and stare at the wall. You need to be up and moving in some
automatic pattern.
Don't lean on others for editorial advice and encouragementleast of all people
you're emotionally involved with. Spouses, friends and roommates rarely have both
editorial perceptiveness and the tact to express it without infuriating you or breaking
your heart. Empty praise will get you nowhere; unconstructive criticism can destroy
your novel in an instant.
Instead, be your own editor: set aside regular times to write yourself letters
discussing your own work, articulating what's good and less good in it. In the process
you'll easily solve problems that could otherwise grow into fullblown writer's block.
On a computer, the letters can form a continuous journal, recording your reactions to
the evolving work. Checking back to the first journal entries can help keep you on
trackor dramatically show how far you've moved from your original concept.
Writing a letter to yourself is especially helpful if you're beginning to have anxieties
about the story. Sometimes we try to suppress those anxieties, which only makes
them worse. Anxiety turns to frustration and despair, and finally we abandon the
whole project. If you can actually write down what bothers you about your heroine,
or your plot, or whatever, the answer to the problem often suggests itself. The act of
turning our chaotic thoughts into orderly sentences seems to lead to much quicker
and more satisfying solutions.
In addition to these selfaddressed letters, keep a daily log of your progress. Word
processors with wordcount functions are powerful encouragers. The log can give
you a sense of accomplishment, especially on big projects, and can enable you to set
realistic completion deadlines. For example, if you know you can write 500 words in
an hour, and you write three hours a week, you can have a completed novel
manuscript of 75,000 words in 50 weeks. If you write ten hours a week, the ms. will
be complete in 15 weeks.
Compile a “project bible.” This is a list of facts, names, and so on that you expect to
be using for constant reference. If you have some important research findings you
plan to use, put them in the bible along with their sources. Include lists of characters'
names (with descriptions, so their eyes don't change color), unusual words or
spellings, etc. The best format for this bible may be a looseleaf binder you can carry
with you. (A word of caution: If your bible gets too big to carry easily, you're
defeating its purpose.)
Opportunity: If you decide you “can't write” unless you're seated at your Gigabyte II
computer with Mozart on the stereo and no one else in the house, you're just making
life harder for yourself. Your ordinary domestic routine will always contain “dead
time”periods when you're away from home (or at least away from your workplace)
with no other task at hand. You might be waiting in a doctor's office, on a bus, or
trapped in a large, dull meeting. Use that dead time constructively by carrying your
notebook bible in which you can record at least a few lines of a rough draft. Or you
might jot down some background notes about your project, or a selfediting idea
that's just occurred to you. You can then use these when you're back at your desk
producing finished text.
These are general habits that will help you at all stages of the novelwriting process.
But you may also find that you need to understand those stages and adapt your habits
to each of them. You may not do yourself any good if you plunge into the writing
phase before you've worked out a decent outline. So let's take a look at the stages of
the novelwriting process, and then consider some techniques to maximize your
efficiency in each of them.
Elements Of A Successful Story
If your novel or short story is going to work, it's going to need all the right
components. Used without imagination or sensitivity, those elements may produce
only formula fiction. But, like a good cook with the right materials and a good recipe,
you can also create some pleasant surprises.
Many writers, like many good cooks, don't need to think consciously about what
they're throwing in the pot. But as an apprentice you should probably think about
how your story matches up with the following suggestions. They all have to do,
essentially, with bringing your characters and readers from a state of ignorance to a
state of awareness: Can our heroine find happiness as a journalist? We don't know,
but we'll find out. Can our hero found a family dynasty in the Nevada wilderness?
We don't know, but we'll find out.
In the opening...
Show us your main characters, or at least foreshadow them: We might see your
heroine's mother getting married, for example. Or we might see a crime committed
which will bring in your hero to investigate.
Show one or more characters under some kind of appropriate stress. For example, if
the hero must perform well under enemy fire in the climax, show him being shot at in
Chapter Oneand performing badly. If the heroine must resist temptation at the end,
show her (or someone else) succumbing to temptation in the beginning.
Show us who's the “good guy,” who's the “bad guy.” That is, in whom should we
make an emotional investment? Whose side are we on? Even if the hero is morally
repugnant (a hired killer, for example), he should display some trait or attitude we
can admire and identify with. The villain can be likable but set on a course we must
disapprove.
Show what's at stake. Editors and readers want to know this right away. (That's why
the blurb on the jacket usually tells us: “Only one person can save the West/defend
the Galactic Empire/defeat the vampires...”)What does the hero stand to gain or lose?
What will follow if the villain wins?
Establish the settingwhere and when the story takes place.
Establish the area of conflict . If the setting is the Nanaimo coal mines at the turn of
the century, the area of conflict may be relations between miners and owners, or
within a family of miners, or within a single miner's personality.
Foreshadow the ending. If the hero dies in a blizzard at the end, a few flakes of snow
may fall in the first chapter.
Set the tone of the story: solemn or excited, humorous or tragic.
In the body of the story...
Tell your story in scenes, not in exposition. A scene contains a purpose, an obstacle
or conflict, and a resolution that tells us something new about the characters and their
circumstances.
Develop your characters through action and dialogue. Show us, don't tell us, what's
going on and why (not He was loud and rude, but “Get outa my way, you jerk!” he
bellowed.).
Include all the elements you need for your conclusion. If everything depends on
killing the victim with a shotgun, show us the shotgun long before it goes off.
Give your characters adequate motivation for their actions and words. Drama is
people doing amazing things for very good reasons. Melodrama is people doing
amazing things for bad or nonexistent reasons.
Develop the plot as a series of increasingly serious problems. (The heroine escapes
the villain in Chapter 5 by fleeing into the snowy mountains; now in Chapter 6 she
risks death in an avalanche.) Establish suspense by making solution of the problems
uncertain (How will the heroine escape the avalanche and avoid freezing to death in
Chapter Seven?).
Make solutions of the problems appropriate to the characters (Good thing she took
Outward Bound training in Chapter One).
In the conclusion...
Present a final, crucial conflict when everything gained so far is in danger and could
be lost by a single word or deed: this is the climax, which reveals something to your
readers (and perhaps to your characters) which has been implicit from the outset but
not obvious or predictable.
Throughout the story...
Remember that nothing in a story happens at random . Why is the heroine's name
Sophia? Why is she blind? Why is her dog a black Lab? The easy answer is that
you're the God of your novel and that's the way you want things. But if you have a
conscious reason for these elements, the story gains in interest because it carries
more meaning: For example, “Sophia” means “wisdom” and the name can provide a
cue to the reader.
Use image, metaphor and simile with a conscious purpose, not just because a phrase
“sounds good.”
Maintain consistent style, tone, and point of view.
Know the conventions of the form you're working in, and break them only when you
have a good reason to. For example, if it's conventional for the private eye to be an
aggressive, harddrinking single man, you're going to shake up the reader if your
private eye is a yogurtloving, shy mother of three schoolage children. You'll shake
up the reader even more if she goes around pistolwhipping people; as a private eye,
her behavior will still depend on her personality and limitations.
Style: Checklist For Fiction Writers
As you begin to develop your outline, and then the actual text of your novel, you can
save time and energy by making sure that your writing style requires virtually no
copy editing. In the narrative:
1. Do any sentences begin with the words “There” or “It”? They can almost
certainly benefit from revision. (Compare: There were three gunmen who had
sworn to kill him. It was hard to believe. or: Three gunmen had sworn to kill
him. He couldn't believe it.)
2. Are you using passive voice instead of active voice? (Compare: Is passive voice
being used?) Put it in active voice!
3. Are you repeating what you've already told your readers? Are you telegraphing
your punches?
4. Are you using trite phrases, cliches, or deliberately unusual words? You'd better
have a very good reason for doing so.
5. Are you terse? Or, alternatively, are you on the other hand expressing and
communicating your thoughts and ideas with a perhaps excessive and abundant
plethora of gratuitous and surplus verbiage, whose predictably foreseeable end
results, needless to say, include as a component part a somewhat repetitious
redundancy?
6. Are you grammatically correct? Are spelling and punctuation correct? (This is
not mere detail work, but basic craft. Learn standard English or forget about
writing novels.)
7. Is the prose fluent, varied in rhythm, and suitable in tone to the type of story
you're telling?
8. Are you as narrator intruding on the story through witticisms, editorializing, or
selfconsciously, inappropriately “fine” writing?
In the dialogue:
9. Are you punctuating dialogue correctly, so that you neither confuse nor distract
your readers?
10. Are your characters speaking naturally, as they would in reality, but more
coherently?
11. Does every speech advance the story, revealing something new about the plot or
the characters? If not, what is its justification?
12. Are your characters so distinct in their speechin diction, rhythm, and
mannerismthat you rarely need to add “he said” or “she said”?
Manuscript Format
Once your book appears in print, your publisher will return your manuscript as “dead
matter.” At that point it's of interest only to future Ph.D. candidates. But when it first
arrives in the publisher's office, it ought to look as inviting, clean and professional as
you can make it. You want to make sure it's as readable (and correctable) as possible;
don't give the editor an excuse to reject you because you make her eyes hurt, and she
can't even find room to insert proper spelling.
Ideally, you'll submit your manuscript in laserprinted form. If you can't afford that,
then use an inkjet printer (used with good bond paper, it's almost as good as laser), a
good dotmatrix printer, or an electric typewriter. If your dotmatrix printer has a pale
ribbon and you can't replace it, make a darker photocopy of the original printout.
Consider your choice of font. A sans serif font is legible but not readablethat is, you
can recognize a word or phrase quickly, but reading page after page would be
exhausting. A boldface font is even worse. A serif font is more readable, so by all
means choose one for the body of your manuscript text. Point size is also important.
For the Mac, 12point Times isn't bad, and it lets you put a lot of text on one page.
But 14point Times is more readable.
(This issue, by the way, recently kicked up a big fuss in this newsgroup; some people
argued that only a monospace font was acceptable. I finally phoned Del Rey Books
to see if they preferred a monospace font like Courier, or a more flexible font. The
editor I talked to obviously thought I was bonkers; they don't much care as long as
they can read the manuscript.)
Paper should be standard 8.5x11, 20 lb. white bond. If you use fanfold paper in a dot
matrix printer, make sure it's reasonably heavy. (You will of course separate each
page and remove the strips on the sides.) Give yourself a margin of at least an inch
top and bottom, and an inch or an inch and a half on the sides. Doublespace your
text. Do not put an extra doublespace between paragraphs, unless you want a similar
gap on the printed page to indicate a change of scene or passage of time. Indent each
paragraph about half an inch. If you are using a font with letters that take up variable
amounts of space, a single space after a period is enough. If you are using a
typewriter or a monospace font, two spaces are better. Either way, a single space
should follow every comma, semicolon, and colon. If you can, use an “em dash” with
no spaces between the dash and the surrounding words. Two hyphens are an
acceptable substitute. Underline text only if you cannot italicize it.
Do not use a rightjustified margin! It may look tidy, but it creates gaps between
words that make reading hard. Avoid hyphenations. Also avoid “widows and
orphans”that is, a paragraph that begins on the last line of a page, or a paragraph
that ends on the first line the following page. Most word processors can kick such
paragraphs onto the next page. This may create huge lower margins, but it's better
than breaking a paragraph.
Be sure that each page displays a plain Arabic numeral in the upper righthand
corner. Otherwise, don't bother with a header. They're not going to scatter your ms.
or lose the title page. And when you send it in, don't bind it in a cute cover. Send it
loose, in a typingpaper box. Make sure you have at least two copies on disk (in
separate locations) or a photocopy. In 1979 I sent half a manuscript (240 pages, a
year's work) to my editor in New York; he sent it back a couple of months later, but
I'm still waiting for it. Fortunately I had a carbon copy.
The publisher may want you to send along a disk with the manuscript on it, as well as
the hard copy. When I did that recently, I found that the editor just poured my files
into a new font and layout and sent me the page proofs for correction. That meant all
the mistakes I found were my own; I couldn't blame some clumsy typesetter. This is
the downside of the computer revolution, folks.
Storyboarding
“Storyboarding” usually means arranging a sequence of images for a film or

commercial. But you can storyboard a novel also, and it can be a helpful way to
organize the plot.
That's because we don't normally think plot. We have an idea for a story (immigrant
boy founds family dynasty in Nevada wilderness) and a random assortment of mental
images (encounter with a grizzly bear, wild ride to rescue son from kidnappers,
gorgeous blonde swimming nude in icy stream, showdown with eastern gangsters
wanting land for casino). How do we get from these fragments to a coherent plot?
Writing a letter to yourself may help, but first try this: Take a stack of 3x5 cards and
jot down an image or scene on each one, just in the order the ideas occur to you. It
might look something like this:
Jesse rides into town, confronts Caleb Black about his fraudulent miningshares
deal. Caleb denies everything, threatens to shoot Jesse if he talks about it.
When you have five or ten or twenty such cards, lay them out in the sequence you
envisage for the story. You certainly don't have a card for each scene in the novel,
but you have the scenes that your subconscious seems to want to deal with.
You also have numerous gaps. How do you get Jesse from his silver mine in Nevada
to the deck of the Titanic? How does Caleb get in touch with the three hired killers
from San Francisco? How does Jesse's grandson respond to the first offer from the
gangster syndicate that wants to build a casino on the site of the old mine?
Now you turn your thoughts to just those gaps, and new ideas occur to you. That
means more cards. Maybe some of the new ideas are better than the original ones, so
some of the old cards go in the trash. New characters emerge to fulfill functions in
the story. Your research into Nevada history suggests still more scenes which might
go into this or that part of the novel; still more cards go into your growing deck.
The story may eventually end up as a series of flashbacks, but for now stick to
straight chronological order. Maybe the whole story occurs during a threehour siege
of a secluded mansion; maybe it stretches across a century and a continent. Whatever
the “real time” of your story, you may see that the cards clump naturally around
certain periods of the plot and you see no need for events to fill in the gaps. That's
fine; maybe you've found the natural divisions between chapters or sections of the
story.
Keep asking yourself why. Why Nevada, why mining, why a gorgeous naked blonde?
Don't keep a scene in your storyboard unless you can justify it as a way to dramatize
a character's personality, to move the story ahead, to lend verisimilitude. If you
absolutely must have a scene in which Jesse's true love Sophia goes skinnydipping in
an icy creek and then nearly drowns, what good will the scene do for the story?
Once you have at least the main sequence of events clearly mapped out on your
cards, you can begin to transfer them to a more manageable synopsis or outline.
More about that in a later posting.
Ten Points on Plotting
1. Nothing should happen at random. Every element in a story should have
significance, whether for verisimilitude, symbolism, or the intended climax.
Names, places, actions and events should all be purposeful. To test the
significance of an element, ask: Why this place and not another? Why this name
and not another? Why this action, this speech, and not othersor none at all?
The answers should be: To persuade the reader of the story's plausibility; to
convey a message about the theme of the story; to prepare the reader for the
climax so that it seems both plausible and in keeping with the theme.
2. Plot stems from character under adversity. A mildmannered person cannot
achieve his goals by an outofcharacter action like a violent assault, unless we
have prepared the reader for it by revealing a glimpse of some suppressed aspect
of his personality that can be plausibly released by stress. And the stress itself
must also be plausible, given the circumstances of the story.
3. Each character has an urgent personal agenda. Too much is at stake to abandon
that agenda without good reason. We may not share the character's urgency, but
we should be able to see why he cares so much about what he's doing. A
character who acts without real motivation is by definition melodramatic, doing
outrageous things for the sake of the thrill it gives the readernot because it
makes sense for the character to do so.
4. The plot of a story is the synthesis of the plots of its individual characters. Each
character has a personal agenda, modified by conflict or concordance with the
agendas of others. The villain doesn't get everything his way, any more than the
hero does; each keeps thwarting the other, who must then improvise under
pressure. If the hero is moving northwest, and the villain is moving northeast,
the plot carries them both more or less due northat least until one or the other
gains some advantage.
5. The plot “begins” long before the story. The story itself should begin at the
latest possible moment before the climax, at a point when events take a decisive
and irreversible turn. We may learn later, through flashbacks, exposition, or
inference, about events occurring before the beginning of the story.
6. Foreshadow all important elements. The first part of a story is a kind of
prophecy; the second part fulfills the prophecy. Any important character,
location, object should be foreshadowed early in the story. The deus ex machina
is unacceptable; you can't pull a rabbit out of your hat to rescue your hero. But
you can't telegraph your punch eitheryour readers don't want to see what's
coming, especially if your characters seem too dumb to see it. The trick is to put
the plot element into your story without making the reader excessively aware of
its importance. Chance and coincidence, in particular, require careful
preparation if they are going to influence the plot.
7. Keep in mind the kind of story you're telling. Any story is about the relationship
of an individual to society. A comic story describes an isolated individual
achieving social integration either by being accepted into an existing society or
by forming his own. This integration is often symbolized by a wedding or feast.
A tragic story describes an integrated individual who becomes isolated; death is
simply a symbol of this isolation. The plot should keep us in some degree of
suspense about what kind of story we're reading. Even if we know it's a comedy,
the precise nature of the comic climax should come as a surprise. If we know the
hero is doomed, his downfall should stem from a factor we know about but have
not given sufficient weight to.
8. Ironic plots subvert their surface meanings. Here, an ordinarily desirable goal
appears very unattractive to us: the hero marries, but chooses the wrong girl and
turns his story into a tragedy. Or the hero may die, but gains some improvement
in social acceptance as a resultby becoming a martyr or social savior, for
example.
9. The hero must eventually take charge of events. In any plot the hero is passive
for a time, reacting to events. At some point he must try to take charge. This is
the counterthrust, when the story goes into high gear. In some cases we may
have a series of thrusts and counterthrusts; in the opening stages of the plot, the
counterthrust helps define the hero's character and puts him in position for more
serious conflicts (and counterthrusts) later in the story. You could even say that
every scene presents the hero with a problem; his response is his counterthrust.
In the larger structure of the plot, the counterthrust often comes after the hero's
original plan of action has failed; he has learned some hard lessons and now he
will apply them as he approaches the climax of the story.
10. Plot dramatizes character. If all literature is the story of the quest for identity,
then plot is the roadmap of that quest. Every event, every response, should
reveal (to us if not to them) some aspect of the characters' identities. Plot
elements dramatize characters' identities by providing opportunities to be brave
or cowardly, stupid or brilliant, generous or mean. These opportunities come in
the form of severe stress, appropriate to the kind of story you're telling. A plot
element used for its own sakea fistfight, a sexual encounter, an ominous
warningis a needless burden to the story if it does not illuminate the characters
involved. Conversely, the reader will not believe any character trait that you
have not dramatized through a plot device.
The Story Synopsis
The story synopsis or outline can take many forms; it has no rigid format. But the
synopsis, like the manuscript, should be doublespaced and highly legible, with
frequent paragraphing.
Some synopses cover the whole story, while others supplement a portion of
completed manuscript and presuppose the reader's familiarity with that portion. If
you have broken your novel into chapters, that's a useful way to divide your synopsis
also. You may find, however, that what you thought would fit into one chapter will
expand into two or three.
The major element of the synopsis, and sometimes the only element, is the narrative.
Usually in present tense:
On a fine spring day in 1923, Lucy Williams applies for a job working for a
mysterious millionaire.
Names and describes major characters:
Lucy's new boss is Donald Matthews, a handsome young businessman

scarcely older than Lucy, but with an unsavory reputation as a rumored
bootlegger.
Summarizes major events in the story:
Hurrying home through the storm, Lucy bumps into Kenneth Holwood,
Donald's former partner. Holwood seems deranged, and hints at some terrible
secret in Donald's past.
Indicates the story's point of view:
Lucy mails the package despite her qualms; she wonders what it might
contain. Meanwhile, in a shabby hotel room across town, Holwood
meticulously plans the death of Donald Matthews. (This shows us that the
story's point of view is thirdperson omniscient; we will skip from one
viewpoint to another as events require.)
Contains virtually no dialogue:
Donald invites Lucy to dinner at a notorious speakeasy, saying she'll enjoy
herself more than she thinks she will.
A list of major characters' names (with brief descriptions) can sometimes be helpful
in keeping the story straight; if used, such a list usually goes at the beginning of the
synopsis.
A background section sometimes precedes the synopsis itself, especially if the story's
context requires some explanation. (This seems especially true of science fiction,
fantasy, and historical novels, where the plot may hinge on unfamiliar story
elements.) Otherwise, such explanation simply crops up where required in the
synopsis.
How long should a synopsis be? I've sold some novels with just two or three pages.
Other writers may write forty or fifty pages of outline. If your purpose is to interest
an editor before the novel is completed, and you expect the total ms. to run to 90,000
to 120,000 words, a synopsis of four to ten doublespaced pages should be adequate.
After all, you're trying to tempt the editor by showing her a brief sample, giving her
grounds for a decision without a long investment in reading time.
Should you stick to your synopsis? Not necessarily. It's there to help you and your
editor, not to dictate the whole story. Like the itinerary of a foreign tour, it should
give you a sense of direction and purpose while leaving you free to explore
interesting byways; it should also give you a quick return to the main road if the
byway turns into a dead end.
Understanding Genre: Notes on the Thriller
“Genre” simply means a kind of literature (usually fiction) dealing with a particular
topic, setting, or issue. Even socalled “mainstream” fiction has its genres: the
comingofage story, for example. In the last few decades, genre in North America
has come to mean types of fiction that are commercially successful because they are
predictable treatments of familiar material: the Regency romance, the hardboiled
detective novel, the space opera. Some readers, writers and critics dismiss such
fiction precisely because of its predictability, and they're often right to do so. But
even the humblest hackwork requires a certain level of craft, and that means you
must understand your genre's conventions if you are going to succeedand especially
if you are going to convey your message by tinkering with those conventions. For our
purposes, a “convention” is an understanding between writer and reader about certain
details of the story. For example, we don't need to know the history of the Mexican
American War to understand why a youth from Ohio is punching cattle in Texas in
1871. We don't need to understand the postEinstein physics that permits fasterthan
light travel and the establishment of interstellar empires. And we agree that the
heroine of a Regency romance should be heterosexual, unmarried, and unlikely to
solve her problems through learning karate.
As a novice writer, you should understand your genre's conventions consciously, not
just as things you take for granted that help make a good yarn. In this, you're like an
apprentice cook who can't just uncritically love the taste of tomato soup; you have to
know what ingredients make it taste that way, and use them with some calculation.
So it might be useful for you, in one of your letters to yourself about your novel, to
write out your own understanding and appreciation of the form you're working in. I
found this was especially helpful with a couple of my early books, which fell into the
genre of the naturaldisaster thriller. Your genre analysis doesn't have to be in essay
form; it just has to identify the key elements of the genre as you understand them,
and that in turn should lead to ideas about how to tinker with the genre's conventions.
And that, in turn, should make your story more interesting than a slavish imitation of
your favorite author.
As an example, here are my Own views about the thriller:
1. The thriller portrays persons confronting problems they can't solve by recourse
to established institutions and agencies; calling 911, or a psychiatrist, won't help
matters in the slightest.
2. The problems not only threaten the characters' physical and mental safety, they
threaten to bring down the society they live in: their families, their communities,
their nations. This is what is at stake in the story, and should appear as soon as
possible.
3. The solution to the characters' problems usually involves some degree of
violence, illegality, technical expertise, and dramatic action, but not more than
we can plausibly expect from people of the kind we have chosen to portray.
4. The political thriller portrays characters who must go outside their society if
they are to save it, and the characters therefore acquire a certain ironic quality.
They must be at least as skilled and ruthless as their adversaries, yet motivated
by values we can understand and admire even if we don't share them.
5. The disaster thriller portrays characters who are either isolated from their
society or who risk such isolation if they fail. That is, either they will die or their
society will fall (or both) if they do not accomplish their goals. In the novel of
natural disaster, the disaster comes early and the issue is who will survive and
how. In the novel of manmade disaster, the issue is how (or whether) the
characters will prevent the disaster.
6. The characters must be highly plausible and complex; where they seem
grotesque or twodimensional, we must give some valid reason for these
qualities. They must have adequate motives for the extreme and risky actions
they take, and they must respond to events with plausible human reactions.
Those reactions should spring from what we know of the characters'
personalities, and should throw new light on those personalities.
7. The protagonist's goal is to save or restore a threatened society; it is rarely to
create a whole new society. In this sense, the thriller is usually politically
conservative, though irony may subvert that conservatism.
8. At the outset the protagonist only reacts to events; at some point, however, he or
she embarks on the counterthrust, an attempt to take charge and overcome
circumstances.
9. The progress of the protagonist is from ignorance to knowledge, accomplished
through a series of increasingly intense and important conflicts. These lead to a
climactic conflict and the resolution of the story.
10. With the climax the protagonist attains selfknowledge as well as understanding
of his or her circumstances (or at least we attain such knowledge). This
knowledge may well create a whole new perspective on the story's events and
the characters' values: A murder may turn out to have been futile, or loyalty may
have been betrayed. We should prepare for these insights early in the novel, so
that the protagonist's change and development are logical and believable.
Symbolism and all that
Maybe you never got anything out of your literature courses except a strong dislike
for “analyzing a story to death.” Sometimes the symbolic interpretation of a story or
poem can seem pretty farfetched.
Nevertheless, as soon as you start writing, you start writing on some kind of
symbolic level. Maybe you're not conscious of it, but it's there: in your characters,
their actions, the setting, and the images. (Some writers are very powerful
symbolists, but don't realize it; that's why authors are often poor critics of their own
work.)
You may argue that your writing simply comes out of your own life and experience,
and has nothing to do with “literary” writing. Well, no doubt you'll include elements
of your own life, but whether you like it or not you'll find yourself treating that
experience like gingerbread dough: You'll shape it into a mold to create a
gingerbread man, or you'll have a shapeless mess on your hands.
What you write is really a kind of commentary on everything you've read so far in
your life. If you get a kick out of romance novels, and you write one based on your
own torrid love life which is quite different from most romances, your novel is still a
comment on what you've read.
This is not the place for a long discussion of the theory of fiction. You should learn at
least the basics of that theory, however, and no better source exists than Anatomy of
Criticism, by Northrop Frye. You may find parts of it heavy going, but it will repay
your efforts by letting you look at your own work more perceptively, and by enabling
you to develop structure and symbol more consciously.
To paraphrase Frye very crudely, every story is about a search for identity. That
identity depends largely on the protagonist's position (or lack of position) in society.
A tragic story shows a person who moves from a socially integrated position (the
Prince of Denmark, the King of Thebes) to a socially isolated one (a dead prince, a
blind beggar). A comic story shows a person moving from social isolation
(symbolized by poverty, lack of recognition, and single status) to social integration
(wealth, status, and marriage to one's beloved).
Fiction in the western tradition draws on two major sources: ancient Greek literature,
and the JudaeoChristian Bible. Both sources are concerned with preservation or
restoration of society, and with the individual hero as savior or social redeemer.
Hamlet wants to redeem Denmark from his uncle's usurpation; Oedipus wants to save
Thebes from the curse that he himself unintentionally placed on it.
In precisely the same way, the private eye redeems his society by identifying who is
guilty (and therefore who is innocent); the frontier gunman risks his life to preserve
the honest pioneers; the mutant telepath faces danger to search for fellowmutants.
Now, you can play this straight or you can twist it. The private eye may find that
everyone is guilty. The gunman may be in the pay of crooked land speculators. The
mutant may find he is sterile, that his talents will die surface meaning. Winston
Smith, in Nineteen EightyFour, is happily integrated at the end of the story, but we
don't share his happiness.
How you use symbols can also undercut or change your apparent meaning. Let's take
a look at some common symbols and patterns, and how they can comment on your
story.
The Natural Cycle
Day to night, spring to winter, youth to old age. These suggest all kinds of imagery:
light=goodness, darkness=evil
spring=hope, winter=despair
girl=innocence, crone=evil knowledge, impending death
Northrop Frye argues that we associate images of spring with comedy; images of
summer with romance; images of autumn with tragedy; images of winter with satire
and irony. Note, however, that here “comedy” means a story of social unification;
“tragedy” means a story of social isolation; and “romance” means a story in which
the characters are larger than life and encounter wonders usually not seen in reality.
Bear in mind that images associated with these cycles are usually all you need: at the
end of Nineteen EightyFour, a cold April wind kills the crocuses that ought to
promise hope and renewal. Similarly, autumn leaves can symbolize an aging person,
a dying society, or the onset of evil.
The Natural Versus the Human World
Desert versus garden
Sinister forest versus park
Pastoral world versus city
In western literature, the journey from innocence to experience is often symbolized
by the protagonist's journey from an idyllic world close to nature, to an urban world
that has closed itself against nature. (In Biblical terms, this is the journey from Eden
through the desert of the fallen world, to the Heavenly City.) Returns to the natural
world are sometimes successful; sometimes the protagonist manages to bring the
urban world into a new harmony with nature. In other cases, an urban hero finds
meaning and value through some kind of contact with nature.
The Hero's Quest: Mysterious or unusual birth
Prophecy that he will overthrow the present order, restore a vanished order
Secluded childhood among humble people in a pastoral setting
Signs of the hero's unusual nature
Journeyquest a series of adventures and ordeals that test the hero, culminating in a
climactic confrontation
Death real or symbolic
Rebirth
Recognition as saviorking; formation of new society around him
Symbolic Images
A symbol may be good or evil, depending on its context, and the author is quite free
to develop the context to convey a particular symbolism. For example, the tree is
usually a symbol of lifebut not if you use it as the venue for a lynching, or you turn
its wood into a crucifix or a gibbet. Here are some images and their most common
symbolic meanings:
Garden: nature ordered to serve human needs (paradis is a Persian word for
garden)
Wilderness: nature hostile to human needs
River: life, often seen as ending in death as the river ends in the sea
Sea: chaos, death, source of life
Flower: youth, sexuality; red flowers symbolize death of young men
Pastoral animals: Ordered human society
Predatory animals: Evil; threats to human order
Fire: light, life or hell and lust
Sky: heaven, fate or necessity
Bridge: Link between worlds, between life and death
Symbolic Characters
Different types of characters recur so often that they've acquired their own names.
Here are some of the most common:
Eiron: One who deprecates himself and appears less than he really is; includes
most types of hero (Ulysses, Frodo, Huck Finn). The term “irony” derives from
eiron.
Alazon: An imposter, one who boasts and presents himself as more than he
really is; subtypes include the braggart soldier (General Buck Turgidson in Dr.
Strangelove) and obsessed philosophermad scientist (Saruman, Dr.
Strangelove). In my novel Tsunami, I named my villain Allison; although he
starts as a movie director, he ends up as a braggart soldier.
Tricky slave: Hero's helper (Jim in Huckleberry Finn; Gollum in The Lord of the
Rings).
Helpful giant: Hero's helper; in tune with nature (Ents in TLOR; Chewbacca in
Star Wars).
Wise old man: Hero's helper; possessor of knowledge (Gandalf, ObiWan
Kenobi).
Buffoon: Creates a festive mood, relieves tension (Sam Gamgee, Mercutio).
Churl: Straight man, killjoy or bumpkin (Uriah Heep).
Fair maiden: Symbol of purity and redemption (Rowena) or of repressed
sexuality (any number of Ice Maidens).
Dark woman: Symbol of lust and temptation (or of natural sexuality).
Hero's double: Represents the dark side of the hero's character (Ged's shadow in
Wizard of Earthsea).
Since these images are much older than what is now politically correct, they can
cause problems; readers may see them as affirmations of old, oppressive social
values. However, many modern writers now use them ironically to criticize, not
endorse, the values the images originally expressed. Nevertheless, be aware that if
your heroines are always blonde virgins and your villainesses are always seductive
brunettes, you may be sending a message you don't consciously intend.
Be aware also that you're perfectly free to develop your own symbolic system. Just as
the “Rosebud” sled in Citizen Kane symbolizes Kane's lost childhood innocence, you
can make a symbol out of a hat rack, a catcher's mitt, or an old bus schedule. You're
also free to make your symbols understandable to your readers, or to keep them part
of your private mythology. If you associate a catcher's mitt with your the death of
your hero's father, the reader will understandon some levelwhat you're trying to
say. If the catcher's mitt seems important to your hero, but you don't tell us why, we
can only guess at the symbolic meaning.
Don't try too selfconsciously to be “symbolic.” But if certain images, objects or
events seem to dominate your thinking about your novel, write yourself a letter about
them. See whether they might indeed carry some symbolic level of meaning, and if
that level is in harmony with your conscious intent.
Narrative Voice
Someone in your story has to tell us that Jeff pulled out his gun, that Samantha
smiled at the tall stranger, that daylight was breaking over the valley. That someone
is the narrator or “author's persona.”
The author's persona of a fictional narrative can help or hinder the success of the
story. Which persona you adopt depends on what kind of story you are trying to tell,
and what kind of emotional atmosphere works best for the story.
The persona develops from the personality and attitude of the narrator, which are
expressed by the narrator's choice of words and incidents. These in turn depend on
the point of view of the story.
Firstperson point of view is usually subjective: we learn the narrator's thoughts,
feelings, and reactions to events. In firstperson objective, however, the narrator tells
us only what people said and did, without comment.
Other firstperson modes include:
the observernarrator, outside the main story (examples: Mr. Lockwood in

Wuthering Heights, Nick Carraway in The Great Gatsby)
detached autobiography (narrator looking back on longpast events)
multiple narrators (firstperson accounts by several characters)
interior monologue (narrator recounts the story as a memory; stream of

consciousness is an extreme form of this narrative)
dramatic monologue (narrator tells story out loud without major interruption)
letters or diary (narrator writes down events as they happen)
If the point of view is firstperson, questions about the persona are simple: the
character narrating the story has a particular personality and attitude, which is
plausibly expressed by the way he or she describes events.
The secondperson mode is rare: You knocked on the door. You went inside. Very
few writers feel the need for it, and still fewer use it effectively.
If the point of view is thirdperson limited, persona again depends on the single
character through whose eyes we witness the story. You may go inside the character's
mind and tell us how that character thinks and feels, or you may describe outside
events in terms the character would use. Readers like this point of view because they
know whom to “invest” in or identify with.
In thirdperson objective, we have no entry to anyone's thoughts or feelings. The
author simply describes, without emotion or editorializing, what the characters say
and do. The author's persona here is almost nonexistent. Readers may be unsure
whose fate they should care about, but it can be very powerful precisely because it
invites the reader to supply the emotion that the persona does not. This is the persona
of Icelandic sagas, which inspired not only Ernest Hemingway but a whole
generation of “hardboiled” writers.
If the point of view is thirdperson omniscient, however, the author's persona can
develop in any of several directions.
1. “Episodically limited.” Whoever is the point of view for a particular scene
determines the persona. An archbishop sees and describes events from his
particular point of view, while a pickpocket does so quite differently. So the
narrator, in a scene from the archbishop's point of view, has a persona quite
different from that of the pickpocket: a different vocabulary, a different set of
values, a different set of priorities. (As a general rule, point of view should not
change during a scene. So if an archbishop is the point of view in a scene
involving him and a pickpocket, we shouldn't suddenly switch to the
pickpocket's point of view until we've resolved the scene and moved on to
another scene.)
2. “Occasional interruptor.” The author intervenes from time to time to supply
necessary information, but otherwise stays in the background. The dialogue,
thoughts and behavior of the characters supply all other information the reader
needs.
3. “Editorial commentator.” The author's persona has a distinct attitude toward the
story's characters and events, and frequently comments on them. The editorial
commentator may be a character in the story, often with a name, but is usually at
some distance from the main events; in some cases, we may even have an
editorial commentator reporting the narrative of someone else about events
involving still other people. The editorial commentator is not always reliable; he
or she may lie to us, or misunderstand the true significance of events.
Thirdperson omniscient gives you the most freedom to develop the story, and it
works especially well in stories with complex plots or large settings where we must
use multiple viewpoints to tell the story. It can, however, cause the reader to feel
uncertain about whom to identify with in the story. If you are going to skip from one
point of view to another, start doing so early in the story, before the reader has fully
identified with the original point of view.
The author's persona can influence the reader's reaction by helping the reader to feel
close to or distant from the characters. Three major hazards arise from careless use of
the persona:
1. Sentimentality. The author's editorial rhetoric tries to evoke an emotional
response that the story's events cannot evoke by themselvessomething like a
cheerleader trying to win applause for a team that doesn't deserve it. A particular
problem for the “editorial commentator.”
2. Mannerism. The author's persona seems more important than the story itself,
and the author keeps reminding us of his or her presence through stylistic
flamboyance, quirks of diction, or outright editorializing about the characters
and events of the story. Also a problem for the editorial commentator. However,
if the point of view is first person, and the narrator is a person given to stylistic
flamboyance, quirks of diction, and so on, then the problem disappears; the
persona is simply that of a rather egotistical individual who likes to show off.
3. Frigidity. The persona's excessive objectivity trivializes the events of the story,
suggesting that the characters' problems need not be taken seriously: a particular
hazard for “hardboiled” fiction in the objective mode, whether first person or
third person.
Verb tense can also affect the narrative style of the story. Most stories use the past
tense: I knocked on the door. She pulled out her gun. This is usually quite adequate
although flashbacks can cause awkwardness: I had knocked on the door. She had
pulled out her gun. A little of that goes a long way.
Be careful to stay consistently in one verb tense unless your narrator is a person who
might switch tenses: So I went to see my probation officer, and she tells me I can't
hang out with my old buddies no more.
Some writers achieve a kind of immediacy through use of the present tense: I knock
on the door. She pulls out her gun. We don't feel anyone knows the outcome of
events because they are occurring as we read, in “real time.” Some writers also enjoy
the present tense because it seems “arty” or experimental. But most readers of genre
fiction don't enjoy the present tense, so editors are often reluctant to let their authors
use it. I learned that the hard way by using present tense in my first novel, The
Empire of Time; it was enough to keep the manuscript in editorial limbo for months,
and the final offer to publish was contingent on changing to past tense. Guess how
long I agonized over that artistic decision!
Constructing a Scene
The basic unit of fiction is not the sentence or the paragraph, but the scene. Every
scene in a story has both a verbal and a nonverbal content. The verbal content may be
a young man fervently courting a girl, or the President of the United States deciding
whether to go ahead with a nuclear attack on a biologicalwarfare research center.
The nonverbal content appears in the way you present the scene: You want your
reader to think that the young man is touchingly awkward, or obnoxiously crude; that
the president is a shallow twerp or a deeply sensitive man facing a terrible decision.
In effect, you are like an attorney presenting a case to the jury: You supply the
evidence, and the jury supplies the verdict. If you tell us that the young man is
touchingly awkward, we may well disbelieve you. But if you show us his awkward
behavior, and we say, “Aw, the poor lunk!”then your scene has succeeded.
Every scene presents a problem of some kind for one or more characters, and shows
us how the characters deal with that problem. That, in turn, shows us something
about the characters and moves the story ahead.
Here's an exercise I've found useful with my fictionwriting students. I give them
about 30 minutes to take the following elements to construct a scene that dramatizes
the elements and leads to a decisive resolution:
A taxi and publictransit strike that's completely tied up downtown traffic
Donald Benson, a 35yearold businessman: male chauvinist, aggressive
personality, with business troubles
Helene Williams, his 22yearold secretary: insecure in her new job, able to
make friends easily, knows the city well
The need to get Donald to a hotel out at the airport to make a crucial
presentation to a potential investor from Los Angeles; the investor will be flying
out in four hours.
Give yourself half an hour to write such a scene, so that the reader will finish it
knowing all this information. I predict you'll be amazed at how quickly you can
produce the scene, and at how it leads logically to another scene. The key is
*knowing what you want to show your reader about your characters and their
problems.* Once you know that, everything else follows pretty easily. So consider
what's going on in your own story. What do you want your reader to think about your
heroine? That she's shy but determined? That she thinks no man could ever love her?
That she's perceptive about other women but baffled by men? Whatever those traits
may be, you should be able to think of logical, plausible events that could force her
to show them to us.
In some cases, your plot will give you some automatic scenes. If your heroine is
flying from New York to Frankfurt, maybe her seatmate is an attractive man who
studiously ignores her; maybe the German customs people give her a hard time but
she insists on her rights; maybe the heroine sees the attractive man greeted by a
woman he seems to dote on even though the perceptive heroine can see the woman
despises him. And so on.
How long should a scene be? Long enough to make its point. A scene may run to just
a sentence or two, or it may take up 20 pages. When it ends, we should know more
about the characters involved, and their problems should have increased. This doesn't
mean endlessly increasing gloom, but it means that even a success only clears the
way for a more stressful scene to come. The hero may disarm the terrorist bomb in
the daycare center, but the resulting publicity will make him a marked man; now the
terrorists will try to kill him or his loved ones.
How many characters should take part in a scene? As few as possible. Even a debate
in Congress isn't going to involve every last representative. Here's a tip in this
connection: If your plot demands a fairly large castfor example, your protagonist is
the commanding officer of an infantry platoon, or the headmistress of a girls' school
don't introduce a whole mob of characters at once. Bring in your protagonist first, in
a scene that demonstrates the character's key traits (courage, leadership, selfhatred,
whatever). Then bring in each of the supporting characters in a scene that lets him or
her display key traits as well, while deepening our understanding of the protagonist
and moving the plot along.
This way we build up interest in the story by building up interest in the varied and
complex characters. Tolkien does it in The Lord of the Rings; Kurosawa does it in
Seven Samurai. Learn from the old masters!
Show And Tell: Which Is Better?
Novice writers (and some professionals) often fall into the trap of “expositing”
information instead of presenting it dramatically. Sometimes exposition is inevitable,
or even desirable. Lloyd Abbey, in his brilliant SF novel The Last Whales, gives us
exactly one line of human dialogue; his characters, all being whales, can't speak to
one another, so the narrator must tell us what they think and do. Gabriel Garca
Marquez can also write superb exposition for page after page.
Most of us ordinary mortals, however, need to dramatize our characters and their
feelings. Otherwise our readers will tire of our editorials.
Consider the following expository and dramatic passages. Which more adequately
conveys what the author is trying to show to the reader?
Vanessa was a tall woman of 34 with shoulderlength red hair and a pale
complexion. She often lost her temper; when she did, her fair skin turned a deep
pink, and she often swore. She was full of energy, and became impatient at even the
slightest delay or impediment to her plans. Marshall, her chief assistant, was a
balding, mildmannered, nervous man of 54 who was often afraid of her. He was
also annoyed with himself for letting her boss him around.

Vanessa abruptly got up from her desk. A shaft of sunlight from the window behind
her seemed to strike fire from her long red hair as she shook her head violently.
“No, Marshall! God *** it, this won't do! Didn't I make myself clear?”
“Yes, Vanessa, bbut”
“And you understood what I told you, didn't you?” Her pale skin was flushing pink,
and Marshall saw the signs of a classic outburst on the way. She took a step toward
him, forcing him to look up to meet her gaze; she must be a good three inches taller.
He raised his hands in supplication, then caught himself and tried to make the
gesture look like the smoothing of hair he no longer had. He felt sweat on his bald
scalp.
“Vanessa, it was a”
“It was another one of your screwups, Marshall! We're committed to a Thursday
deadline. I'm going to make that *** deadline, whether or not you're here to help
me. Now, am I going to get some cooperation from you, or not?”
Marshall nodded, cursing himself for his slavish obedience. Fiftyfour years old,
and taking orders from a bitch twenty years younger. Why didn't he just tell her to
shove it?
“All the way, Vanessa. We'll get right on it.”
“*** well better.” Her voice softened; the pink faded from her cheeks. “Okay, let's
get going.”
Comment: A paragraph of exposition has turned into a scene: the portrayal of a
conflict and its resolution. The scene has also prepared us for further scenes. Maybe
Marshall's going to destroy himself for Vanessa, or poison her; maybe Vanessa's
going to learn how to behave better. Most importantly, the authorial judgments in the
exposition are now happening in the minds of the characters and the mind of the
readerwho may well agree with Marshall, or side with Vanessa.
Here's another example:
Jerry was 19. Since leaving high school a year before, he had done almost nothing.
He had held a series of parttime jobs, none of them lasting more than a few weeks.
His girl friend Judy, meanwhile, was holding down two summer jobs to help pay
for her second year of college. Jerry controlled her with a combination of
extroverted charm and bullying sulkiness. Secretly he envied her ambition and
feared that she would leave him if he ever relaxed his grip on her.

“Hey, goodlookin',” Jerry said as he ambled into the coffee shop and took his usual
booth by the window.
“Hi,” said Judy. She took out her order pad.
“Hey, I'm real sorry about what I said last night. I was way outa line.”
“Would you like to order?”
“Hey, I said I was sorry, all right? Gimme a break.”
“That's fine. But Murray says not to let my social life get in the way of my job. So
you've got to order something for a change.”
He snorted incredulously. “Hey, I'm broke, babe.”
She stared out the window at the traffic. “You can't hang out here all day for the
price of a cup of coffee, Jerry. Not any more. Murray says he'll have to let me go if
you do.”
“Well, tell him to get stuffed.”
“Jerry, be reasonable. I can't. I need this job.”
“Christ, you already got the job at the movie theatre.”
“That's nights, and it hardly pays anything. I've got my whole second year at college
to pay for this summer. Jerry, maybe we can talk about this after I get off work,
okay?”
“Yeah, right. See you Labor Day, then.”
“Jerry, don't be a smartass. See you at four, okay?”
He got up, shrugging. “Yeah, sure. Guess I'll go over to the bus station and read
comic books until then.” He glared at her. “Don't be too nice to the guys who come
in here. I find out you been fooling around with anybody, you know you're in
trouble, right?”
“Right, Jerry. I'm really sorry. See you later.”
Comment: Again we have a conflict that promises to lead to further conflicts and their resolution. We
want to know if Judy will ditch Jerry, or Jerry will smarten up. Their relationship reveals itself through
their dialogue, not through the author's editorializing.
Note that both these examples involve a power struggle. Someone is determined to
be the boss, to get his or her way. Most scenes present such a struggle: someone
decides on pizza or hamburgers for dinner, someone chooses the date for DDay,
someone comes up with the winning strategy to defeat the alien invaders or elect the
first woman president. We as readers want to see the resources thrown into the
struggle: raw masculinity, cynical intelligence, subtle sexual manipulation, political
courage, suicidal desperation.
Depending on which resources win, we endorse one myth or another about the way
the world operates: that raw masculinity always triumphs, that political courage leads
nowhere, and so on. Of course, if we are writing ironically, we are rejecting the very
myths we seem to support. By using raw macho bullying mixed with a little selfpity,
Jerry seems to win his power struggle with Judy. But few readers would admire him
for the way he does it, or expect him to succeed in the long term with such tactics.
Think carefully about this as you develop your scenes. If your hero always wins
arguments in a blaze of gunfire, he may become awfully tiresome awfully fast. If
your heroine keeps bursting into tears, your readers may want to hand her a hankie
(better yet, a towel) and tell her to get lost. Ideally, the power struggle in each scene
should both tell us something new and surprising about the characters, and hint at
something still hiding beneath the surfacelike the insecurity that underlies Jerry's
and Vanessa's bullying.
Character In Fiction
Plausible, complex characters are crucial to successful storytelling. You can develop
them in several ways.
1. Concreteness. They have specific homes, possessions, medical histories, tastes
in furniture, political opinions. Apart from creating verisimilitude, these
concrete aspects of the characters should convey information about the story:
does the hero smoke Marlboros because he's a rugged outdoorsman, or because
that's the brand smoked by men of his social background, or just because you
do?
2. Symbolic association. You can express a character's nature metaphorically
through objects or settings (a rusty sword, an apple orchard in bloom, a violent
thunderstorm). These may not be perfectly understandable to the reader at first
(or to the writer!), but they seem subconsciously right. Symbolic associations
can be consciously “archetypal” (see Northrop Frye), linking the character to
similar characters in literature. Or you may use symbols in some private system
which the reader may or may not consciously grasp. Characters' names can form
symbolic associations, though this practice has become less popular in modern
fiction except in comic or ironic writing.
3. Speech. The character's speech (both content and manner) helps to evoke
personality: shy and reticent, aggressive and frank, coy, humorous. Both content
and manner of speech should accurately reflect the character's social and ethnic
background without stereotyping. If a character “speaks prose,” his or her
background should justify that rather artificial manner. If a character is
inarticulate, that in itself should convey something.
4. Behavior. From table manners to performance in handtohand combat, each
new example of behavior should be consistent with what we already know of the
character, yet it should reveal some new aspect of personality. Behavior under
different forms of stress should be especially revealing.
5. Motivation. The characters should have good and sufficient reasons for their
actions, and should carry those actions out with plausible skills. If we don't
believe characters would do what the author tells us they do, the story fails.
6. Change. Characters should respond to their experiences by changingor by
working hard to avoid changing. As they seek to carry out their agendas, run
into conflicts, fail or succeed, and confront new problems, they will not stay the
same people. If a character seems the same at the end of a story as at the
beginning, the reader at least should be changed and be aware of whatever
factors kept the character from growing and developing.
The Character Resume
One useful way to learn more about your characters is to fill out a “resume” for
themat least for the more important ones. Such a resume might include the
following information:
Name:
Address & Phone Number:
Date & Place of Birth:
Height/Weight/Physical Description:
Citizenship/Ethnic Origin:
Parents' Names & Occupations:
Other Family Members:
Spouse or Lover:
Friends' Names & Occupations:
Social Class:
Education:
Occupation/Employer:
Social Class:
Salary:
Community Status:
JobRelated Skills:
Political Beliefs/Affiliations:
Hobbies/Recreations:
Personal Qualities (imagination, taste, etc.):
Ambitions:
Fears/Anxieties/Hangups:
Intelligence:
Sense of Humor:
Most Painful Setback/Disappointment:
Most Instructive/Meaningful Experience:
Health/Physical Condition/Distinguishing Marks/Disabilities:
Sexual Orientation/Experience/Values:
Tastes in food, drink, art, music, literature, decor, clothing:
Attitude toward Life:
Attitude toward Death:
Philosophy of Life (in a phrase):
You may not use all this information, and you may want to add categories of your
own, but a resume certainly helps make your character come alive in your own mind.
The resume can also give you helpful ideas on everything from explaining the
character's motivation to conceiving dramatic incidents that demonstrates the
character's personal traits. The resume serves a useful purpose in your project bible,
reminding you of the countless details you need to keep straight.
“Let's Talk About Dialogue,” He Pontificated
Dialogue has to sound like speech, but it can't be a mere transcript; most people don't
speak precisely or concisely enough to serve the writer's needs. Good dialogue has
several functions:
To convey exposition: to tell us, through the conversations of the characters,
what we need to know to make sense of the story.
To convey character: to show us what kinds of people we're dealing with.
To convey a sense of place and time: to evoke the speech patterns, vocabulary
and rhythms of specific kinds of people.
To develop conflict: to show how some people use language to dominate others,
or fail to do so.
Each of these functions has its hazards. Expository dialogue can be dreadful:
“We'll be in Vancouver in thirty minutes,” the flight attendant said. “It's Canada's
biggest west coast city, with a population of over a million in the metropolitan
area.”
Dialogue can convey character, but the writer may bog down in chatter that doesn't
advance the story.
“When I was a kid,” said Julie, “I had a stuffed bear named Julius. He was a sweet
old thing, and whenever I was upset I'd howl for him.”
(Unless Julie is going to howl for Julius when her husband leaves her, this kind of
remark is pointless.)
Dialogue that conveys a specific place and time can become exaggerated and
stereotyped:
“Pretty hot ootside, eh?” remarked Sergeant Renfrew of the Royal Canadian
Mounted Police. “Good day to get oot of the hoose and oot on the saltchuck, eh?
Catch us a couple of skookum salmon, eh?”
Dialogue that develops conflict has to do so while also conveying exposition,
portraying character, and staying true to the time and place:
“Gadzooks,” said Sergeant Renfrew as he dismounted from his motorcycle.
“Wouldst please present thy driver's licence and registration, madam?”
“Eat hot lead, copper!” snarled Sister Mary Agnes as she drew the .45 from within
her habit.
Some Dialogue Hazards to Avoid:
Too much faithfulness to speech: “Um, uh, y'know, geez, well, like, well.”
Unusual spellings: “Yeah,” not “Yeh” or “Yea” or “Ya.”
Too much use of “he said,” “she said.”
Too much variation: “he averred,” “she riposted”
Dialect exaggeration: “Lawsy, Miz Scahlut, us's wuhkin' jes' as fas' as us kin.”
Excessive direct address: “Tell me, Marshall, your opinion of Vanessa.” “I hate
her, Roger.” “Why is that, Marshall?” “She bullies everyone, Roger.”
Some Dialogue Conventions to Consider:
Each new speaker requires a new paragraph, properly indented and set off by
quotation marks.
“Use double quotations,” the novelist ordered, “and remember to place commas and
periods inside those quotation marks.”
“If a speaker goes on for more than one paragraph,” the count responded in his
heavy Transylvanian accent, “do not close off the quotation marks at the end of the
first paragraph.
“Simply place quotation marks at the beginning of the next paragraph, and carry on
to the end of the quotation.”
Use “he said” expressions only when you must, to avoid confusion about who's
speaking. You can signal increasing tension by moving from “he said” to “he
snapped,” to “he snarled,” to “he bellowed furiously.” But the dialogue itself should
convey that changing mood, and make such comments needless.
Action as well as speech is a part of dialogue. We expect to know when the speakers
pause, where they're looking, what they're doing with their hands, how they respond
to one another. The characters' speech becomes just one aspect of their interactions;
sometimes their words are all we need, but sometimes we definitely need more. This
is especially true when you're trying to convey a conflict between what your
characters say and what they feel: their nonverbal messages are going to be far more
reliable than their spoken words.
Speak your dialogue out loud; if it doesn't sound natural, or contains unexpected
rhymes and rhythms, revise it.
Rely on rhythm and vocabulary, not phonetic spelling, to convey accent or dialect.
If you are giving us your characters' exact unspoken thoughts, use italics. If you are
paraphrasing those thoughts, use regular Roman type):
Now what does she want? he asked himself. Isn't she ever satisfied? Marshall
wondered what she wanted now. She was never satisfied.
If you plan to give us a long passage of inner monologue, however, consider the
discomfort of having to read line after line of italic print. If you wish to emphasize a
word in a line of italics, use Roman: Isn't she ever satisfied?
Writing A Query Letter About Your Novel
The query can be a quick way to tell whether your novel might be of interest to a
particular publisherwithout having to wait until some editor finds your manuscript
deep within her slush pile. The query should give the editor an idea of your story
(and a sense of the way you're handling it) that's clear enough to help her decide if it's
worth considering. If the idea sounds good, you know the complete manuscript (or
sample chapters) will enjoy a prompt and careful reading. If the idea doesn't sound
right for her, she may tell you why, and perhaps suggest either a new approach or
another publisher.
Some queries are very short, and others are long indeednovel outlines
masquerading as letters. Consider the following suggestions as guidelines, not
ironclad laws:
1. Supply a short, pungent description of what the book is about: a desperate
attempt to escape a narcotics bust, an unexpected journey that leads to romance
and danger in 1930s China, an aging gunfighter's attempt to prove himself again
in the Mexican Revolution.
2. If not obvious from your plot outline, identify the audience your book is aimed
at: hardcore spaceopera fans, teenage girls, Regencyromance readers.
3. Be able to tell the editor what makes this novel different from others in the
genre: a twist in the plot, a new angle on the hero, an unusual setting.
4. Your credentials may be helpful, if only as a dedicated and knowledgeable
reader in the genre, or as an observant resident of the city you've set your novel
in. These are not trivial qualifications: If you don't know and love the genre
you're writing in, it will show. And if you don't know the history and folklore of
your setting, the story will lack depth.
5. Display in your query some of the excitement and energy you want to bring to
your storyshow how and why this story matters to you, and it'll matter to your
editor.
The Letter Itself
Ideally, your query letter ought to run to a page or a little more, organized something
like this:
First paragraph: Tell us what kind of novel you've written, or are now writing. How
long is it, when and where is it set? Describe the hero and heroine, and perhaps one
or two other major characters. What's their predicament? How are they proposing to
get out of it? And why should we carethat is, what's at stake?
Second paragraph: Describe what happens in the middle of the novelhow your
characters interact, what conflicts arise among them.
Third paragraph: The resolution of the novelthe climax and its outcome, and tying
up loose ends.
Fourth paragraph: Why this story interests you, what your qualifications are for
writing it, and some questions for the editor: If this story interests you, would you
like the whole ms., or an outline and sample chapters? Do you have any specific ms.
requirements I should be aware of?
Obviously this pattern will vary depending on the nature of the query: If you've
included an outline and sample chapters, the plot summary will be very brief or
nonexistent, and the query will focus on your background and your questions for the
editor. If the book is completed, the plot summary will be easier to supply than if you
have only a rough idea of where the book is going.
The query letter is a blurb for your novel, and like any blurb it needs to pique the
reader's interest and make the reader wonder: “How is that going to turn out?” The
quality of writing in the query had better be firstrate, especially if you haven't
included an elegantly written chapter or two. If your query is clumsy or riddled with
English errors, the editor will be less than eager to see more of your prose.
Because the query requires little time to read and respond to, it can help you quickly
identify potential markets and definite nonmarkets. But it can't presell your novel;
at best, it can only create a cautiously welcoming attitude in an editor who knows
how tough it is to sell a first novel during a recession.
Will your query reveal such a knockout story idea that the publisher will steal itturn
you down, pass on your idea to one of their hack writers, and publish it for their own
profit? This may be the single most common anxiety of novices, but the sad truth is
that your idea probably isn't worth stealing. In fact, the editor may wearily see it as
the umpteenth standard variation on some ancient plot, one she's seen a dozen times
just this week. This is not to say your idea should be positively weird; most story
ideas in genre fiction are indeed variations on ancient plots. The trick is to make the
variations appear to be fresh, surprising, and full of potential storytelling power. A
query is a direct approach to an editor. But you may well be aware that many, many
publishing houses no longer even consider queries or submissions that do not come
through an agent. In my next posting I'll consider what that implies in the selling of
your novel.
Researching Publishers and Agents
Too many people submit manuscripts to publishers.
Simply to read enough of those manuscripts to judge them unworthy would take the
fulltime services of several salaried editors. Most publishers simply can't afford to
plow through the slush pile in hopes of someday finding a Great Novelist.
So they indicate in Writer's Market that they will consider only “agented
submissions”work that a professional literary agent, who knows the market, thinks
has some sales potential.
That simply draws fire onto the agents, who now find that they too have huge slush
piles. And, like the publishers, the agents can't make money reading unsalable junk.
Where does that leave you?
In better shape than you think. If you've hammered out a credible but surprising plot
about interesting people in a hell of a jam, and you're showing them in action instead
of telling us what they're like, and your grammar, spelling and punctuation are first
rateyou're already ahead of 80 per cent of your competition.
Now the problem is finding the right market. Too many novice writers simply fire off
their work to a publisher they've vaguely heard of, or one that's supposed to be
prestigious, or even one that happens to be conveniently located right in town. (Those
were precisely my three motives in submitting my first children's book to Parnassus
Press. They bought it, which shows that sometimes even ignoramuses can get lucky.
By rights I should have had to send the ms. to a couple of dozen houses before hitting
the right oneif I ever did.)
Publishers tend to carve out special markets for themselves. A couple of sharp editors
can dominate a genre; because they know how to reach a certain kind of reader, they
attract a certain kind of writer. Or a publisher may be passionately devoted to
supporting a certain kind of fiction, but is deeply uninterested in any other kind. A
feminist publisher wouldn't have the faintest idea how to market a men's action
adventure novel, and wouldn't care to learn. A children's publisher won't care how
wellcrafted your murder mystery is. And so on.
So step one is almost embarrassingly obvious: Notice which houses publish the kind
of story you're working on. Look carefully at the story elements in the titles they
publish; Del Rey fantasy novels, for example, require magic as a major component,
not just frosting or a gimmick to get the hero somewhere interesting. Out of all the
publishers in North America, only a few are potentially yours.
Then consult those potential publishers' entries in Writer's Market and see what they
have to say about their own needs and who their editors are in specific genres. You
may learn that your work in progress is too long, or too short, or needs some
particular quality like a heroine aged over 35. You may also learn how long it takes
them to respond to queries and submissions. Don't take those statements as legally
binding promises; responses almost always take far longer, especially for unagented
submissions.
Writer's Market also lists publishers by the genres they publish. This list can lead you
to houses you're not familiar with, but don't just rush your ms. off to some publisher
in Podunk. Check out the entries of these houses also, and also track down some of
their recent titles in your genre. If they strike you as dreadful garbage, avoid them.
Better to stay unpublished than to be trapped with a bad publisher.
Another useful source of research information is the publishing trade press. Quill and
Quire in Canada, and Publisher's Weekly in the US, are much more uptodate than
any annual can be. So if the top horror editor in New York has just moved to a new
publisher, or a publisher is starting a new line of romance novels aimed at Asian
women, you may adjust your marketing strategy accordingly. Magazines like The
Writer and Writer's Digest supply similar market news.
If every possible publisher warns you off with “No unagented submissions,” you then
have to go through a similar process with literary agents. You should be able to find
an annually updated list of agents in your local library or the reference section of a
good bookstore. Some agents, like Scott Meredith and Richard Curtis, have even
written books themselves about the publishing business; these are worth reading.
As a general rule, you probably need an agent in the city where most of your
publishers are. That, as a general rule, means New York City. You also need an agent
who knows the market for your particular genre, so your work will go as promptly as
possible to the most likely markets. (Some agents may submit a work in multiple
copies to all potential publishers; this can really speed up the process.)
But also bear in mind that the phone and fax can put almost anyone in close touch
with the New York market, so an agent in Chicago or Los Angeles or Miami may be
quite as effective as somebody in Manhattanand may also be familiar with regional
publishers.
Consider whether you want a big agent with scores or hundreds of clients, or a small
outfit. The big agent may have clout but little stake in promoting you; the small agent
may work hard for you, but lack entree to some editors. Talk to published writers, if
possible, about their experiences with agents; sometimes a sympathetic author can
suggest a good one.
No agent, however good, can sell your work to an editor who doesn't want to buy it.
What the agent offers the editor is a reasonably trustworthy opinion about the
marketability of a particular manuscript. It's in the agent's interest to deal only in
work with serious sales potential, and to get it quickly into the hands of its most
likely buyers.
You may therefore have to query a number of agents before you find one who's
willing to take you on. And you may find that some highly reputable agents won't
look at your stuff unless you pay them to.
This is not a racket. If you agree to the agent's terms, the reading may give you a very
frank response. Sometimes you'll get a detailed critique that may devastate your ego
but teach you just what you need to learn. In many cases the agent will waive the
reading fee if he feels you're a commercial possibility and you're willing to sign on as
one of his clients. That should be an encouraging offer indeed.
Sometimes an agent will take you on but strongly suggest certain kinds of revisions,
or even that you tackle a completely different kind of story. Listen carefully; you're
getting advice from someone who knows the market and wants to share in your
prosperity. At least one of my novels greatly profited from the advice of an agent
who thought my originally proposed ending was a disaster.
Your agreement with an agent may take the form of a detailed contract, or a simple
agreement over the phone, or something in between. Be sure you understand and
accept the terms your agent requires: Ten per cent of what he makes you, or 15?
Deductions for photocopying, postage and phone bills? Control over all your writing,
or just your fiction output?
Once you have an agent, don't be a pest. When he's got something to report, he'll let
you know. If you've got something to report, like the completion of the manuscript or
an idea for turning it into a series, let the agent know. Otherwise, stay off the phone
and stick to your writing.
In some cases, of course, you may find you've sold a novel on your own hook and
then decide to go looking for an agent. Under these happy circumstances you should
find it fairly easy to get an agent's interest. If the publisher's already offered you a
contract (and you haven't signed yet), the agent may be willing to take you on and
then bargain a better deal for you. But you'll probably do all right even if you
negotiate that first contract on your own. Most publishers are honorable and decent
people; sometimes their integrity is positively intimidating. Even if they weren't
honorable, your first book is likely to make so little money that it wouldn't be worth
it to screw you out of spare change.
Reading a Contract
When you do finally receive a publisher's contract, you may feel your heart sink. It
runs to several pages of singlespaced text, highly flavored with legalese and
organized in a daunting sequence of numbered paragraphs and subparagraphs. Who
knows what thorns lurk in such a thicket?
Actually, not too many. Most of your contract is standard “boilerplate” text that
protects you as much as the publisher. It is often possible, even for a novice, to
negotiate specific aspects of the contract.
Still, it helps to know what you're getting yourself into, so let us take a look at some
of the key passages you're likely to find in your contract.
Delivery Of Satisfactory Copy
If you're selling your novel on the strength of sample chapters and an outline, the
publisher wants assurance that you'll submit the full manuscript (often with a second
copy), at an agreedupon length, by an agreedupon date. If your full ms. doesn't
measure up, or arrives too late, the publisher has the right to demand return of any
money you've received.
In practice the publisher is usually much more flexible. He may bounce your ms.
back to you with a reminder that you don't get the rest of your advance until the ms.
is “satisfactory.” He (or more likely the editor) will tell you in exquisite detail what
you still need to do to achieve “satisfactory” status. A late ms. also means you won't
collect the balance of your advance until it arrives, and it may also cause delays in
final publicationas I learned to my sorrow with Greenmagic.
Permission for Copyrighted Material
If you want to include the lyrics of a pop song in your novel, or quote something as
an epigraph, it's up to you to obtain the rights to such material, and to pay for them if
necessary. If you leave it to the publisher, he'll charge you; if he can't get permission,
and the novel doesn't work without such material, the deal is off and you have to
repay any advance you've received. Obviously, this is an extreme case; normally you
just drop the lines from the song or poem, and carry on.
Grant Of Rights
You are giving the publisher the right to make copies of what you've written. These
copies may be in hardcover, softcover, audio cassette, filmstrip, comic book, or
whatever. You are also specifying in which parts of the world the publisher may sell
such copies. For example, a sale to a British publisher may specifically exclude
North America, leaving you free to sell North American rights separately.
You may also be giving the publisher rights to sell foreign translations, to print
excerpts in other books or periodicals as a form of advertising, or to sell copies to
book clubs. Normally such sales require your informed, written consent.
Proofreading and Author's Corrections
You agree that you will proofread the galleys or page proofs of your novel and return
the corrected pages promptly. If your corrections amount to actual revision of the
original manuscript, and will require retypesetting more than 10 per cent of the
book, the publisher will charge you for such costs. This can very easily destroy any
income you might have earned from the book.
Advances and Royalties
This spells out how much the publisher will pay you, and when. The most common
agreement is payment of onethird of the advance on signing the contract; onethird
on delivery of a satisfactory complete ms.; and onethird on publication date. You
may be able to negotiate half on signing and half on delivery; otherwise, you are in
effect lending the publisher some of your advance until a publication date that may
be over a year away.
Royalties are generally a percentage of the list price of the book. For hardcover
books, the usual royalties is ten per cent of list price. So a novel retailing for $24.95
will earn its author $2.50 per copy. For massmarket paperbacks, royalty rates can
range from four per cent to eight per cent, usually with a proviso that the rate will go
up after sale of some huge number of copies150,000 seems to be a popular target. A
paperback selling at $5.95, with an eight per cent royalty, will therefore earn you
about 47 cents. A “trade” paperback, intended for sale in regular bookstores rather
than supermarkets and other mass outlets, will probably earn a comparable rate; the
list price, however, will likely be higher and the number of copies sold will be lower.
Whatever the royalty rates, you're likely to get only half as much for sales to book
clubs or overseas markets. (This is especially painful for Canadian authors with
American publishers: sales in your own country, as “foreign” sales, earn only half the
U.S. royalty rate.)
You will also agree to split the take from certain kinds of licensing sales. For
example, if your novel is a hardback and some other house wants to bring out a
paperback edition, you can normally expect a 50 per cent share of what the
paperback house pays. Sometimes a paperback house will license a hardback edition
(in hopes of getting more critical attention for your book and hence selling more
copies in paperback eventually); in such a case you should expect 75 per cent of the
deal.
If you can possibly avoid it, do not agree to give your publisher a share of any sale to
movies or TV. A film or TV show based on your novel will boost the publisher's
sales quite nicely; he doesn't need a slice off the top of a deal that will surely pay you
more than the publisher did. But if the book seems highly unlikely to interest
Hollywood, you might offer a slice of film rights in exchange for a richer advance,
with a proviso that an actual film or TV sale will also produce an additional chunk of
money from the publisher.
The publisher will normally not charge for the production of versions of your novel
in Braille or other formats for the handicapped. So you will get no money from this
source.
The publisher should agree to supply you with two royalty statements a year. Each
will cover a sixmonth reporting period, and each should arrive about 90 days after
the close of that period. So a statement for JanuaryJune should reach you at the end
of September. This will probably be a computer printout, and may be confusing. But
it will indicate the number of copies shipped, the number returned unsold by
booksellers, and the number presumably sold. The publisher will hold back on some
of the royalty “against further returns.” Whatever remains is the actual number on
which the publisher owes you money.
Chances are that your advance will have consumed any potential royalties for the
first reporting period, and perhaps for the second as well. Once you have “earned
out” your advance, however, you should expect a check with each royalty statement.
Do not sign a contract that does not explicitly promise you at least two royalty
statements a year. Some publishers promise a statement only after the novel has
earned out its advance. This means you may go for yearsor foreverwithout
knowing what your sales have been.
Author's Warranties and Indemnities
Here you are promising that this is indeed your work, that it isn't obscene, a breach of
privacy, libelous, or otherwise illegal. If you do get into trouble, you agree to
cooperate with the publisher's legal defense, and you agree to pay your share of the
costs instead of asking the publisher, booksellers, or others to do so. If the publisher's
lawyer thinks the manuscript poses legal problems, you agree to make the changes
required to solve those problemsor to allow the publisher to do so.
You may find an insurance rider as part of your contract; this is intended to protect
both you and the publisher from suffering total financial disaster if you get caught in
a losing lawsuit.
Copies to Author
You will get a certain number of free copies, and will pay a reduced rate for more
copies. That means you will still pay for those copies, and you should.
Option Clause
Pay attention to this one! This says you are giving the publisher right of first refusal
on your next book (or at least your next book of this particular genre). The option
clause means the publisher will give the next book a close, prompt reading. You
should expect a response within 90 days, but some contracts specify 90 days after
publication of your current book. That means you might have to wait for months,
maybe over a year, until the publisher sees the initial reaction to your first book.
In practice, though, you probably will get a quicker response than that. If the
publisher does make you an offer, you have the right to refuse it; you can then take
your second book to any other publisher you like. However, you can't sell it to
anyone else unless you get better terms for it than your original publisher offered.
You may well find yourself trapped as a result. If you need money in a hurry, you
may feel you've got to accept a bad offer rather than spend months or years shopping
your ms. around the market until you find a more generous publisher. And then, of
course, your second contract will include an option clause for the third novel!
Your best hope in this case is that sales of the first book will warrant a heftier
advance on the second or third book. And if the publisher still won't cooperate, you
can then go to another publisher with at least some respectable sales figures that
show you deserve a better deal.
Going Out of Print
Request for it to be reprinted; if he doesn't want to, you can then demand that all
rights revert to you. You are then free to sell the book to another publisher. (I have
done this a couple of times. You don't make as much money on the resale, but at least
the book stays out on the market longer.) You may be able to acquire the plates or
film from which copies of your novel were made, making it possible for a new
publisher to bring your book out quite cheaply.
You will probably not make any money from “remaindered” copies that the publisher
may sell to a book jobber at a deep discount. In some contracts, however, the author
may indeed receive some percentage of such sales. It's also possible to buy copies of
your book at a similar low price.
A Word of Advice
If at all possible, go over the contract with the editor or publisher, asking whatever
questions arise. Then take your contract to an agent, lawyer, or professional writer.
Chances are that it's perfectly okay. But even if you don't find something sneaky in
the fine print, you'll have a clearer understanding of what you and your publisher
have committed yourselves to. If something arises later on, like a problem over the
option clause or the frequency of royalty statements, it won't come as a total shock.
Finally, bear in mind that if you have read this far, you are seriously interested in
mastering an art and craft that rewards very few practitionersnovices or experts.
Fiction in print is still relatively popular, but only relatively. For every reader you
might attract, TV or films or recordings attract hundreds of consumers. You will
work for months or years to create a product that is theoretically eternal, but in
practice has a shelflife of a few weeks. Most of your readers will, two months after
reading your work, be unable to recall anything about the story (including your
name)maybe not even whether they liked it or not. And you will reach more readers
with a punchy, witty letter to the editor of a metropolitan daily than you're likely to
reach with your novel.
Is it worth it? Only you can answer that question. My answer has been yes, and I
don't regret it. Writing ten novels has been not only fun but an education; I can hardly
wait to find out what the eleventh novel will teach me.
Afterword by the Author
Good heavens17 files in 15 minutes! Ain't technology grand!
Slight correction: the files total about 100K; I miscounted.
Doubtless some postings have typos or noise... but I hope enough got through to do
you some good and encourage you to take a shot at writing fictionor another shot at
that *** novel you've been chipping away at for the last few years.
I hope my comments draw some responses, criticism, rebuttals, anecdotal evidence,
aspersions on my ancestry, and anything else that may come to mind. But unless you
want to share painful intimacies via email, why not put your comments in the
newsgroup where everyone can benefit from them! Thanks for your interest and your
patience.
Cheers, CK
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1/30/2015 HOW TO WRITE MARGINALLY READABLE FAN FICTION
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HOW TO WRITE ALMOST READABLE FAN FICTION
Last updated in HALL OF SHAME on 6/13/2006.
First, a confession. Yes, Ms. Nitpicker, too, makes mistakes, hard though it is to believe. Although raised to read and write English
(the American version, at any rate), she secretly harbors a deepseated conviction that all words ending in "l" or "t" have doubled
letters when suffixes are added, as in "traveled," but the computer spellchecker always corrects her misapprehension. For a long
time, she was positive that the word to describe her villain's whisper was "silibant," not "sibilant"it still sounds betterbut when a
better speller than she pointed out her error, Ms. Nitpicker reluctantly said farewell to the smoother, liquid "silibant." You, too, can
give up your punctuation and grammar confusion.
Second, a defense. Before you ask, "Just who do you think you are to tell us how to punctuate things?" I shall tell you: I'm Ms.
Nitpicker, that's who. Ms. Nitpicker was an English teacher in her youth (which wasn't as far away as some of you seem to think).
She reads far too much, and has written various fan fictions over the decades. Not content to rest on the laurels of her GPA, she also
went to the local libraryGod bless all libraries!and consulted grammatical guides in the course of preparing this website,
because she has a bad memory and because she preferred reading and writing to grammar in her actual academic studies. She
suspects you did, too.
Explaining how to write a highquality piece of fiction, however, is beyond the scope of Ms. Nitpicker's efforts here. This list
concentrates on making whatever you have written, however amateurishly, APPEAR readable. No names are named, no story titles
are mentionedMs. Nitpicker herself does not remember who the guilty parties are, and has mostly plucked these samples from
stories she liked well enough to keep. The truly awful stories were usually not even read, let alone quoted. Face it; we ALL have
made errors in our writing. Let us have a good laugh, or at least a snicker, and then try to remember the correct rules of grammar.
Is sloppiness in speech caused by ignorance or apathy? I don't know and I don't care.William Safire
Laugh at a demonstration of bad writing largely stolen from William Safire.
Reflect upon some REASONS TO HATE THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.
http://littlecalamity.tripod.com/HowTo2.html 1/11
For a less educational but entirely authentic demonstration of bad writing, enjoy MAKE THE PIE HIGHER!, a mock poem
composed of George W. Bush quotations.
Smirk at proof that years of expensive higher education did not enable your doctor to write a coherent sentence
GRAMMATICALLY INFIRM MEDICAL ENGLISH.
Note the silliness that ensues when BAD NEWSPAPER HEADLINES and classified ads are published.
IMPORTANT SECTIONS for those who like to pick and choose
GENERALITIES (We're already here, silly.)
DIALOGUE
CHARACTER THOUGHTS
PUNCTUATION (NOT JUST IN DIALOGUE)
VOCABULARY
REDUNDANCY AND REPETITION
MS. NITPICKER'S CONTINUING HALL OF SHAME
CHEAT SHEET INDEX, with character details for fan fic writers
MS. NITPICKER'S FANFIC GLOSSARY
GENERALITIES
1. Put your name (or alias) on every section of your story, directly under the title. Ms. Nitpicker cannot tell you how many stories
she has saved or printed apparently written by "Anonymous." Some fen don't even put their name on their web page, let alone
their actual creations! Having made the effort to write this story/poem/filk, you deserve to get the credit (or blame) for it.
2. Run a spellchecker, but don't stop there. Your computer, though helpful, is not of Star Fleet capability and doesn't know
whether you meant "way" or "weigh" or "whey." Perhaps you don't, either. A dictionary is a great help.
3. Find an excellent proofreadera picky aunt who harps on correct grammar and punctuation, perhaps. Do not pick a beta reader
who never reads books for entertainment, who got bad grades in English, or who does not speak or write English. (Don't laugh.
Ms. Nitpicker has seen print fanzines boast of having proofreaders when there were a minimum of eight mistakes per page!)
Remember, when the beta reader finds mistakes, that this is HELPFUL, and not a personal attack on you. Be grateful that your
mistake was only seen by a handful of people, and not thousands.
4. Don't apologize. If you, who created the story, feel it's so bad that you have to tell us about the bad spelling and other
problems, then sensible people will say, "Thanks for the warning," and avoid reading it. Don't brag that it wasn't betaread.
Don't nervously confess to being a firsttimer, or announce that you have never seen the show itself. Astute readers will notice
any problems without your helpand many of us will avoid your fanfic if we see those disclaimers, possibly missing a great
story. Again, if you don't love it, aren't even proud of itand you created itwhy should we waste time on it? Claiming that it
is only a "draft" and posting it that way for years without ever once changing a "draft" tale to a "polished" one fools no one.
DON'T PRINT OR POST YOUR STORY UNTIL YOU'RE PROUD OF ITand be sure an English teacher sort of person has
read it first. (If someone does find an error after you've posted, don't hesitate to correct it, of course.)
5. Don't repeat yourself. Ms. Nitpicker is going to repeat this later on. It's important. The first time Diane Carey referred to Major
Kira in one DEEP SPACE NINE book as being like Peter Pan, it was apt and mildly amusing. By the third time, Ms. Nitpicker
was screaming. (She repeated a Sisko comparison more than once, tooin the same book. Diane, we got it the first time. We
are Not Dumb.) (See REDUNDANCY AND REPETITION AND REDUNDANCY.)
6. Watch the show. Watch it over and over again. Base your characterizations and dialogue on the show when you're writing
"canon," not on other fannish productions or "fanon." For all you know, that other fan writer may have done lousy
characterization, and the many fans assigning a middle name to the sidekick may all be copying each other rather than quoting
from the show. (Obviously, if that other fan created an alternate universe, and you are adding to that AU, all bets are off, and
you should indeed copy his or her characterizations.) Read your story aloud and try to "hear" the TV character saying those
words. If they sound wrong, rewrite!
7. Write about the actual character, not your fantasy, unless you label the story "AU" or "alternate universe." Many SENTINEL
fans picture Blair Sandburg as a frail, delicate flower, but if you watch the show, you'll note that the character is quite short,
but also quite solidly built. He is not fragile or slender. He does not have thin wrists or thin shoulders or thin anything.
Similarly, don't have Joe Dawson of HIGHLANDER kneel by anyoneJoe (like the actor who plays him, Jim Byrnes) lost
both legs just above the knee and wears prostheses. He CAN'T kneel.
8. Take time to do it right. Yes, in the heat of the moment some writers have dashed off instant productions that were enjoyable,
but most creations benefit greatly from being reread and rewritten several times, and passed by a beta reader or two before
being posted.
9. Do not post a story or part of a story if the story itself has not been finished. Yes, Ms. Nitpicker has heard all the whining about
this point.
You need the pressure/encouragement from readers to drive you to write.
[If you can't write fanfiction without outside pressure, you aren't a writer. Don't bother to start a story at all. Write for your own
pleasure/satisfaction, please. If readers respond favorably, that's an added bonus.]
Readers' comments may help you come up with ideas.
[That's what friends are for. That's what beta readers are for. That's what beta mail lists and chat rooms are for. Oh, forget itif
you don't have enough ideas to write a complete story, don't start one.]
Unlike all those other liars on the Web, you MEANT to finish the story promptly.
[The road to hell is paved with good intentions, dear.]
Remember, when you post a story, you are signing a contract with the reader. If real life or writer's block interferes and you
never finish the tale, you have broken the contract. You have lied. You, in fact, have no honor. Do you promise children a
Christmas, and entice them with tales of presents and Santa, then on Christmas Day announce that real life interfered or Santa
ran out of ideas and Christmas is postponed? Even if, come July, the children arise to find presents under the withered tree, the
event will be anticlimactic at best. All this is quite aside from the fact that all stories need to be reread and proofread and
edited, and characters and plot often change dramatically as you write, leading you to need to rewrite earlier sections to
foreshadow what is to come. If it's already posted...you have a problem on your hands. FINISH AT LEAST A FIRST DRAFT
of the entire work before you start posting story chapters.
10. If, despite Ms. Nitpicker's earnest pleas, you ignored her and posted your story in parts as you wrote it, for God's sake, don't
post sequels before you bother to finish the story! This is rubbing salt in the wound. If you have the time and energy to write a
sequel, there is no excuse whatsoever for not finishing the original story.
11. Avoid mixed metaphors. In a recent fan fiction, Ms. Nitpicker's alter ego stupidly wrote, "Thunderstorms clouded her charcoal
eyes." Huh? You ever see thunderstorms whipping around inside your barbecue grill? It should either have involved lightning
flashing in her stormdark eyes, or sparks igniting in her charcoal eyes. In the same story, she had Giles reaching out without
looking, like an acrobat who knows his catcher will be there, followed in the next sentence by Anya circling them like a shark
scenting spilled blood. Nuhuh. Either they're both sharks, or they're both acrobats, or you should only tangle one of them up in
a metaphor or simile. (These examples amply demonstrate why you should edit and rewrite several times before posting a story
to the Internet.)
12. Try to make sense in comparisons. One online tale announced that a "second shot rang out on its heels." Bullets don't have
heels; people and animals do. Another tale made the comparison "like rewiring a ***edoff wild cat." Huh? Do undomesticated
felines have wiring in them? Does the wiring wear out, and do Rangers hunt them down and helpfully rewire them? No doubt
that would *** off the wildcat, but still.... Ms. Nitpicker applauds your attempt to avoid worn clichés like "white as a sheet,"
which appears in too many fan stories, but creativity has its limits. Can't you find or create a more understandable or more
appropriate simile or metaphor? For instance, these fen wrote some interesting and original lines:
Yet, most times, for a man with heightened senses, Jim could be as dense where other people were concerned as a
forest primeval.
The bruises from the previous day have faded to nothing, but the bruises behind her eyes are raw.
The grey clouds that had been weeping all day made sunset invisible, and the fluorescent lights made the dimming
of daylight unnoticeable
When they arrived at the station, Blair immediately went for the coffee like a heatseeking missile. He hadn't
stopped shaking during the whole drive downtown.
Rain fell so heavily, it looked like black paint running down a canvas.
13. Try to make sense in general. Do not tell us, as one writer did, that:
Jim heard Blair mutter some silent curses to himself when he tripped over an exposed root.
Oh, he did, did he? Did you perhaps mean ALMOST silent curses? Another example of unlikely events:
Kandros just stood there unmoving, waving his hand towards two of his men who were standing in the main door.
If he's unmoving, his hand ain't waving, baby. Furthermore, people stand in doorways, not doors, except in the case of
superheroes who can fade through the material of the door. This, too, is senseless:
With a grateful sigh, he heard the blondhaired Alan call a rest stop.
What does his hair color have to do with his speech? Can we "hear" his blond hair? If not, don't try to squeeze in his hair color,
sexual preferences, school grades, and other extraneous data. Have your character glance or look at his friends as they walk
and notice Alan's blond hair is sweatmatted, if you want to bring up hair color, as it's something we SEE, not hear.
14. Do not write stories in which you and your friends get to enter the TV show and interact with the characters. Well, okay, you
may write themall writing is good practicebut you must not inflict them on anyone other than the friends who appear in the
story.
15. Do not write stories about the actors who play the characters you like. There have been some excellent fanfic tales about
exactly thisMs. Nitpicker was fond of a pair of BLAKE'S 7 zines in which first actor Paul Darrow got stuck in the B7
universe, and next Avon was the guest star at the convention Paul Darrow should've attendedbut in general it is trespassing
on the actor's private life, and very rude, even when welldone. This goes doubly for slash stories about the actor or actress.
Furthermore, unless you're a close personal friend of the performer, you cannot accurately portray her/him in your story,
whereas the character publicized in the media is familiar and easy to study.
16. You may write a Mary Sue storyagain, all writing is good practicebut if you post it or print it, be prepared to either be
flamed or laughed at, even if a few people profess to like the story. What is a Mary Sue story? A story about a character
sometimes male, but usually femalewho often has an unusual name, a tragic past, one or more incredible talents (such as
telepathy, precognition, fantastic singing voice, amazing artistic talent, superb fencing skills, all of the above, etcetera), is
related to or beloved by one or more of the main characters from the TV show/movie/comic book you're writing about, and
may die after saving the day for everyone. In other words, your daydream alter ego. After discovering STAR TREK fandom
(the original series), Ms. Nitpicker was mortified to realize she had been writing private Mary Sue stories about the younger
sister of Mark Slate from THE GIRL FROM UNCLE. Like farting and burping, everyone does it sooner or later, but it is an
embarrassment and should be kept as private as possible. (For more on the Mary Sue syndrome, visit TOO GOOD TO BE
TRUE: 150 YEARS OF MARY SUE by Pat Pflieger.)
17. Set the scene. Ms. Nitpicker's writer alter ego has a bad habit of starting each scene with a smartalec bit of dialogue or
character's thought, leaving the reader lost. Where are we? When are we? How did we get there? A header that gives the date
and time is not enough. Give us descriptive details that appeal to the senses. What do we smell here? What do we hear? What
do we see? Don't say Giles is in a warehouse; tell us that it looks new and clean but stinks of rancid grease, and he fears the
boxes stacked neatly around him are stuffed full of McDonald's French fries waiting for delivery.
18. Read! Write! Read some more! (Be sure some, if not most, of the reading you do is by professional writers with good
reputations, because what you read will rub off on you, and if all you read is badly written tripe, you will tend to write badly
written tripe. No, you are not required to read the classics, but read something other than novelizations of movies and TV
shows.)
19. Research! With the advent of the Internet, you may not even have to go to the library to do it. If you have absolutely no
knowledge of policework, don't write police case stories without researching it first. Visit a library. Get on the Internet. Call on
fellow fen for helpsome may well be police. Too many fanfics involve the heroes not finding out until 2/3rd of the story is
done that their fellow cop was intimately involved in the case in the pastfanfic detectives apparently don't read the case files
when they're assigned to a caseor suddenly having the brilliant idea to call the FBI, astounding the boss, when the FBI would
have been contacted first thing. Similarly, don't have Al Calavicci of QUANTUM LEAP shot in the heart and, after being dead
for ten minutes, suddenly sit up, get off the gurney, and lead an attack on the bad guys, unless you're writing a story about
zombies. Again, there are web sites specializing in medical facts useful for fan fictionsee THE CHEAT SHEET INDEX for
the location of some of those links.
20. Be consistent. If your villain is named "Gardner" in the first half of your story, don't call him "Gardener" through the second
half. (Ms. Nitpicker's alter ego had a villainlike character named Allison who kept becoming Allyson or Alison or some other
variation. If, like that writer, you have a shaky memory, try to pick memorable names that don't have common spelling
variations.)
21. Unless you have a literary reason that would thrill an English teacher, most of the time the passive voice should not be used.
For instance:
Joe complied and the sound of a rifle was heard, followed by several sparks.
The sound isn't the subject and doesn't get to be heard; Joe is the subject, and gets to hear the sound. This sentence should say
something along the lines of, "Joe complied, and heard the sound of a rifle, then saw several sparks." Better yet, since "sound"
is so general and bland, make it the snap or bark or boom or crack of a rifle, and make those sparks shine for us.
22. If you're new to writing, avoid using the present tense to tell your story. Although there are vignettes and stories which use it
for a reason and do so successfully, it is very tricky. (On a personal note, Ms. Nitpicker uses it to outline her story before
actually writing it, so your story reads to her as an unpolished first draft story idea, not an actual story.) Also tricky, as well as
irritating, is writing in the second person"You walk to the cupboard and are intrigued to find it stuffed with statues of Terry
Pratchett." In most cases, it's best to either write a normal story, or put it in real script form if you want to keep saying "Mulder
picks up the gun and turns to Skinner." If you do write a present tense storyand certainly you maytry not to slip back and
forth between present and past tense unless you have some artistic reason to switch and can justify it to an English teacher.
23. Use dialogue. If no one speaks in your story, you've probably written a summary, not a story. (See the section on Dialogue for
details.
24. This is very important: pick a p.o.v.that is, a point of viewand stick to it within one scene.. We see what that character
sees, think what he thinks. If everything else in that scene was told from Captain Kirk's P.O.V. and you desperately want to
throw in a typically acerbic McCoy thought, either have Kirk reflect, "Right now, I bet Bones is thinking...." or have McCoy
actually speak his thought orin the next scene from McCoy's P.O.V.have him remember what he thought earlier. When the
reader is comfortable "being" Kirk, abruptly shifting to "being" McCoy and then back to Kirk is disruptive. Whomever you use
for your P.O.V., stick to him/her/it for the entire scene. It takes extra thought and creativity, but it's the way to go. If Blair of
THE SENTINEL is being tortured and we're agonizing through it with Jim, he's observant enough to pick up body cues and
sounds that will make it clear to us just how Blair is reacting, and he knows his partner so well he knows what the kid is
probably thinking, too; stick with Jim through that scene. If necessary, make the next scene Blair's P.O.V. as he went through
the experience. Different scenes can have different P.O.V.'s.
25. Avoid excessive use of bold or allcapitalletter "shouting" in your writing. Exclamation points (which are used singly, not in
packs) and wording should make it clear to us which words were emphasized. Yes, Ms. Nitpicker just used bold formating in
the example above; she is not telling you that bold is anathema, merely to cut back on your use of it in order to make it truly
dramatic/useful.
26. Your characters should speak ungrammatically, not in thesis paper language. Remember that in real life we use many
contractions and slang, and we seldom deliver lengthy ponderous lectures in fancy terminology. We say, "I'll go, too" instead
of "I will go, also" or "I shall journey, as well." HOWEVER, the nondialogue parts of your story should use full sentences and
correct English as much as possible. (See DIALOGUE and CHARACTER THOUGHTS.)
27. Avoid purple prose. "Opal ocular orbs" is not an improvement on "blue eyes." Although Ms. Nitpicker praises your desire to
widen your vocabulary, in writing, less is often more. Pick the exact word that conveys your meaning, not the words that sound
smartest. Indeed, many writing guides advocate drawing a line through every other adjective you use. If your story reads like a
breathless romance novel, with lots of tousled tresses, pouting, and tearfilled eyes, you have probably strayed into the violet
prose zone, if not deep purple. For instance:
Santiago turned death's ear to Sandburg's impassioned plea.
Death has unusually shaped ears, does he?
28. If you feel the need to tell us that the villain is sneering evilly, you've failed in writing. We should know from his behavior and
words that he is evil; even the sneering is obvious when he asks our dungeonbound hero, "Enjoying the accommodations?"
Your readers are smart enough to know he's not seriously worried that the hero might not be comfortable. Adding a "twisted,
evil smile" is overkill. Besides, most villains don't believe they're evil, they feel justified in and enjoy what they're doing.
They're smiling with sincere pleasure. Ms. Nitpicker has a particular fondness for sneering villains, but admires most the
writers who show the villainy rather than describe it.
29. Vary your sentence structure. If every sentence starts with "He," you have a problem. Instead of writing, "He put his coat on
and left," try, "Putting on his coat, he left." On the other hand, if every sentence starts with an adverbial phrase, try starting
some with a subject. In addition, vary the sentence length. Long sentences are philosophical; when a battle or chase is going
on, use short choppy sentences to mimic the rapid action.
30. Don't use words whose meaning you don't understand. Turn to a dictionaryan online one, if nothing elseor a thesaurus if
you have even the slightest doubt. For instance, this was wrong:
Ellison came pounding after, but his senses must have warned him of the precipitous. [He's at the edge of a steep?
His senses didn't warn him of an abrupt? No, you meant a "precipice," dear.]
See the section on Vocabulary for help with words that aren't quite the right choice.
31. Too many pronouns can be confusing, as in:
...he assured him with a smile and bob of his eyebrows...
There is no reason to avoid using the character's name now and then.
32. Don't TELL us what happenedSHOW us, with dialogue and action. Too many stories are summaries along the lines of,
"Duncan let Joe know about the new Gathering, and Joe agreed to attend. He went there even before Duncan. They had a long
talk about what it might mean." How did Duncan tell him? How did Joe react? Did he have qualms about attending? Did he
bring or tell anyone else? Was he armed? What did they say in the long talk? Was it angry, amused, worried, all of the above?
Give us a whole scenein this case, probably two scenes, one of the discussion and one of Joe's arrivalinstead of a few
sentences summarizing it.
33. Don't tell us too much. Ms. Nitpicker once read a fanfiction piece that opened with three pages on the history of the building
that was going to appear in the story. Ms. Nitpicker skipped the entire thing. So will most readers. If your characters are going
to be battling evil in a haunted house, let us find out about the house WITH them, in BRIEF documents found in the house,
phone calls or emails seeking data, and conversations with neighbors or ghosts. Similarly, don't tell us the past history of the
show and all about the characters' relationships; assume that we've seen the show at least once, and tell us only what we need
to know to understand this story. Do it in little bits scattered here and theredon't tell us that Jim and McCoy had a fight and
sum it up for us in a paragraph, let us pick up on it by their sidelong glances and angry snips of dialogue in the course of the
story.
Willow looked around, but the young woman who was both a computer hacker and a witch couldn't see any sign of
their attacker. "Buffy, he's gone!"
Riley and Xander helped the former librarian, and now magic shop owner, up. Giles groaned a little, as Riley
looked around. "He disappeared?"
Do we need to know that Giles used to be a librarian, in order to understand that he got knocked down? Do we need to know
that Willow is a computer hacker and witch, perhaps to explain why she couldn't see any sign of their attacker? This, for
instance, is appalling, even aside from the terrible punctuation and incorrect spelling of a main character's name:
"Ethan Rain my exlover! It is strange to find you in Sunnydale expecially in the mall bathroom" Giles was in
shock at seeing the mischevious man in the bathroom.
34. It is very tempting to refer to our favorite sidekick as "the young Immortal" or "the young anthropology student." But after
awhile it leads us to suspect that you are perhaps in your nineties. Furthermore, it's insulting, for you're assuming we never
watch the TV show or that we can't remember (after the one reference) which one is the young one and which is the cop, or
which is the Starfleet doctor and which is the alien. Use it ONCE, if you absolutely positively cannot think of another way to
establish who the character is and you are addicted to clichés. (Wouldn't it be better to have Kira watch Julian stride away, and
mutter something about him being too *** immature even if he can cure any disease ever heard of, rather than refer to him as
"the young doctor"?) If there are so many pronouns like "he" in your paragraph that you think we are getting confusedand we
may well berefer to your characters by name. Tell us "He raised his fist, and Blair ducked" instead of "He raised his fist, and
the young anthropology student ducked." Most of the time, you're probably referring to the "young man" immediately after a
line of dialogue, as in:
"Yes," said the bad writer.
This leads us to an important point about 'said' in the section on DIALOGUE.
I'm thoroughly chastened, and I want to examine the story page to see if I can embarrass Ms. Nitpicker in turn.
Forget grammar, take me to the notes Ms. Nitpicker took on TV shows in her preInternet days; I want to see the Cheat Sheet
Index for background data for stories.
I want to send praise, more examples of fanfic errors, or anthrax spores (or, as some yokels have been saying, "Amtrak spores")
to littlecalamity@yahoo.com . Or just send me to her home page.
I think I need more guidance. Send me to HOLY MOTHER GRAMMATICA'S GUIDE TO GOOD WRITING or to THE BIG
LIST OF FANFIC PEEVES. Maybe I should visit BAD FANFIC! NO BISCUIT! or Avoiding Mistakes in Fanfiction Writing: A
Beginner's Guide by Valis2 or DR. MERLIN'S GUIDE TO FAN FICTION. I could even visit the open directory project for a list of
fan fiction writing guides.
I feel I have learned all I need to learn, and want to take MS. NITPICKER'S FAN FICTION TESTHOW WELL DO YOU
KNOW GRAMMAR?
Laugh at MORE EXAMPLES OF BAD WRITING
Laugh at a demonstration of bad writing largely stolen from William Safire.
Reflect upon some REASONS TO HATE THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.
Smirk at proof at that years of expensive higher education did not enable your doctor to write a coherent sentence
GRAMMATICALLY INFIRM MEDICAL ENGLISH.
Note the silliness that ensues when BAD NEWSPAPER HEADLINES are written.
Copyright 19992013, Jane Leavell. All rights reserved.
1/30/2015 WRITING DIALOGUE IN FAN FICTION
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DIALOGUE
1. Read a booknot other fans' online attempts, which will only lead you astray. If you cannot actually read a book, at least open
a book of fiction (from the library, perhaps) and look for pieces of dialogue. (HINT: they are the words that come between
quotation marks.) These may give you clues as to how to punctuate dialogue.
2. If there are only two characters in the scene, and one has just spoken, don't keep telling us the other character replied or
answered or said or stated the dialogue we see sitting between the next quotes. Unless this is a ghost story, the ONLY person
who could have said or stated or somehow made that reply is the other person in the room or scene. Every now and then, in
case we get confused, you may identify the speaker, but not at every single piece of dialogue.
3. "Said" and "stated" and "spoke" are hugely unnecessary most of the time, even in a crowded scene. If you mastered the
vocabulary/dialect/thinking of your characters, it will be OBVIOUS which one said those words that way. You may need to
add that he laughed, or spoke harshly, or shrugged, or seemed confused, if it's important and isn't clear from the actual
dialogue, but not simply that he spoke.
"...grabbed his chin tightly and began to speak" is a worthless bit of prose. If there are quote marks around the next words, then
we KNOW he began to speak, don't we? Just say, "Kronos grabbed his chin tightly." Follow that with the words he actually
spoke.
If you must tell us something was said, avoid "he spoke." It is awkward. Use "said."
4. Abbreviations like "tv" or "ok" or "am" or "pm" are capitalized. This is wrong:
That SOB chopped off my hair...
"SOB" really needs periods; otherwise, it appears that you're saying "sob," as in "cry." Further, "ok" in lowercase is
completely unacceptable. Use "okay." For tshirts," use "teeshirts." There's no such word as "Cos" unless you're referring to
Bill Cosby: the abbreviation for "because" would be 'cause. Nor may you use 'cuz, which is typically usedin dialogue only
for 'cousin.'
http://littlecalamity.tripod.com/Text/Dialogue.html 1/5
5. Names are capitalized. Names are not limited to "Christian" or "first" names such as Jane or Mohammed, nor to surnames.
A detective and a police station are not capitalized; they are generic. However, if your character is a cop returning
to "the Station," he is probably using it as a nameshort for Police Station #69, perhapsand you may want to
capitalize.
At the police station, when Captain Simon Banks barks, "Get somebody from Forensics," he's giving the name of a
specific department; it is not the general science of forensics. Names, of course, should be capitalized.
At the police station, Captain Banks sits in the captain's office. Note that it is not capitalized. When people look at
the captain, it's a job title and a person but not a specific name, and therefore it isn't capitalized. They say, "Yes,
sir," and the 'sir' is not capitalized, unless Captain Banks happens to be British and a knight of the realm.
A doctor is working on your partner, and neither the doctor nor the partner are capitalized, but you address him as
Doc or Doctoras in, "Thanks, Doc"with capital letters, because you are using it as his name, since you were too
dumb to read his nametag. The detective from the police station, if addressed as "Detective," gets capitalized, too.
(Not all textbooks agree with Ms. Nitpicker, but it is the only polite thing to do, and Ms. Nitpicker is almost always
polite.)
Similarly, if your hero refers to his sidekick as "Chief" or "Dummy" as a name, it should probably be capitalized; if
he's spitting, "You re a dummy!" it shouldn't be.
Furthermore, "Oh, God" is referring to a specific deity and should be capitalized. You wouldn't write "Oh, allah"
would you? "Gods" are a bunch and not a specific name, and therefore can usually be lowercase, as in "Oh, gods, I
hope I make it." The fact that the character is cursing or exclaiming in horror does not excuse the author's failure to
show honor and respect to a deity by capitalizing His/Her/Its name.
Traditionally, we capitalize the name of countries, so our characters drink Scotch and eat a Danish and open French
doors, although probably not all at the same time. This is a rule seldom observed, but if you were French, wouldn't
you resent being reduced to a lowercase word?
Although there are exceptions, since English is a very strange language, we usually put an apostrophe in to indicate
that we've removed a letter and made a contraction, as in changing "it is" to "it's." If you are making a plural from a
name, you will have guessed wrong if you write, "The Brown's have family visiting from L.S. Cousins. One of
them was sixteen." You've just said, "The Brown is have family visiting." It should be "Browns."
"Boy Scout" is not a generic descriptive term; it is a registered name like Walkman or Kleenex, and they may
decide to sue if you keep referring to your character as "a real boy scout." Spelling it correctly may appease them.
Worse yet, some of you think "boyscout" is a single word. You are wrong.
For God's sake, it's not Ensign Checov. At least spell your main characters' names right!
There should be one or more commas setting the name off from the rest of the sentenceone before, if the name is
in the middle of the sentence, and one after. Commas are places where we pause, however briefly. We don't say,
"Jane you are a nitpicker" all in a single breath; we hesitate very briefly after the name, having used the name to get
someone's attention. "Oh God please let me live" would have a comma before and after God. (Let us be respectful
here.) In moments of hysterical babble, Ms. Nitpicker will allow you to gasp, "Oh God oh God oh God," but do
honor the comma most of the time, won't you? (In fact, if you substitute Garak or Avon or Arturo for God, you
should still use Our Friend, the Comma.)
(Check REDUNDANCY AND REPETITION for another problem with names.)
6. "Yes, Anya, are you quite finished up there?" Anya was about to tell Giles she had no idea why she was even in the
loft, when she registered that Willow was helping Giles and the familiar sense of anxiety about her place took hold.
*I can't let Giles know I don't remember, he might lose confidence in me.* Instead she smiled brightly and nodded.
"Yes, all done! Did you need anything while I'm here?" Giles shook his head bemusedly, amazed as always at her
mercurial moods.
After Giles speaks, the description of Anya's reaction is a separate paragraph, one which includes her reply. Giles shaking his
head is done by him, not her; even though he's reacting to her statement, he's part of a separate paragraph. The words spoken
by a character belong with the character's actions and thoughts, not with whatever they're responding to.
7. Try reading the dialogue aloud. If it sounds ponderous, or is too hard to say with the proper emotion, you've done some
awkward writing and need to fix it. Listen to the words. Is that how that particular character would phrase it? Can you easily
picture the actor spouting those words in character?
8. If you're British, and writing about an American TV show, please study the dialect very carefully. You may use British
spellings, but you may not use British slang, ever. For instance, look at this quote from a story about the HIGHLANDER:
He stood and walked toward the bathroom. "I just need to spend a penny."
The character was an American, and generally the only money we spend in bathrooms is in exchange for illegal drugs. Our
cubicles are not coinoperated, and most of us won't know exactly what the character is about to do, since drugs here cost
considerably more than a penny.
Remember, Richie Ryan of HIGHLANDER does not announce, "I'm for the long jump here," he yelps, "Oh, ***, I'm gonna
die!"
9. Local idiom from local idiots isn't the only problem here; Joe Dawson, the bartender/Watcher in HIGHLANDER, is a gorgeous
fellow, but he doesn't speak in fivesyllable professorial terms. Write the dialogue the way the character would speak it, not
with fancy terms that would get you a good grade on a local report. In real life, we stammer and hesitate and make mistakes;
we don't deliver lengthy lectures that sound like they were cut out of an encyclopedia article. (Americans, please don't have
British characters such as Dr. Who thinking, "You be dissin' me, bro.")
Speaking of thinking, we proceed to CHARACTER THOUGHTS.
IMPORTANT SECTIONS for those who like to pick and choose
GENERALITIES
Dialogue I'm telling you, don't bother to click this one here.
CHARACTER THOUGHTS
PUNCTUATION (NOT JUST IN DIALOGUE
VOCABULARY
REDUNDANCY & REPETITION
CHEAT SHEET INDEX
I'm thoroughly chastened, and want to return to the main page and perhaps yell at Ms. Nitpicker.
I think I need more guidance. Send me to HOLY MOTHER GRAMMATICA'S GUIDE TO GOOD WRITING. Maybe I
should visit BAD FANFIC! NO BISCUIT!.
I feel I have learned all I need to learn, and want to take MS. NITPICKER'S FAN FICTION TESTDO YOU KNOW YOUR
GRAMMAR?
Copyright © 1999 2013, Jane A. Leavell. All rights reserved.
1/30/2015 CHARACTER THOUGHTS
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CHARACTER THOUGHTS
1. How do you think? (Ms. Nitpicker assumes you do; after all, you are intelligent enough to have come here for guidance.) Do
you routinely think of yourself in the third person, as though you were someone else? Ms. Nitpicker does not think to herself,
"She was feeling hungry, and she was afraid she was going to suffer for it." She might think, "Jeez Louise, I'm gonna starve to
death here!" Outside of this formal guide, Ms. Nitpicker has never referred to herself as "she" and has seldom thought in the
past tense, as in "She was sure she was going to die." No, Ms. Nitpicker thinks, "Oh, ***, I'm gonna die!" For instance, does
this sound right?
*Duncan had only taken me in because he'd known. He'd known all that time that I would become like him.
Immortal."
The author got the "I" part right, but not the tense. Richie would have thought, "Duncan only took me in because he knew. He
knew all that time that I'd become like himImmortal."
2. An author can certainly DESCRIBE the sort of thoughts going through a character's head, but she really shouldn't add "he
thought" or fancy formatting to it, because he DIDN'T think "He was getting weary of being the star of hurt/comfort stories."
What he probably thought was, "OWWWWW!" or possibly, "I'm getting tired of being the star of hurt/comfort stories."
However, check out the caveats below.
3. The punctuation goes with the thought itself. This is wrong:
Who needs sentinel senses, he thought?
More correctly, this would be: "Who needs sentinel senses?" he thought. You can substitute stars or slashes or single quotes for
the double quotes. The thinking wasn't a question, only the "who needs sentinel senses" was.
4. Don't mix third person (he/she/it/they) and first person (I) thoughts. Pick one way to tell us what your character is thinking. If
it's first person and sounds the way human beings think to themselves, you can put your stars or italics or single quotes or
http://littlecalamity.tripod.com/Text/Thoughts.html 1/4
double quotes around it. STICK TO YOUR CHOICE as much as possible, certainly within the same sentence and preferably
within the same paragraph.
I tend to be judgmental, too, he thought sadly, but she was getting too harsh, she deepened the conflict between
good and bad writers.
Come on, guys, is she dead or something? Put it all right now, in the present:
I tend to be judgmental, too, he thought sadly, but she's getting so harsh she's deepening the conflict between good
and bad writers.
(Frankly, she doesn't care, either.)
Or you can word it ALL in the third person, taking care not to add italics or stars or other fancy symbols:
He knew he tended to be judgmental, but she was getting too harsh; she deepened the conflict between good and
bad writers.
5. In fan fiction, if the character is indeed thinking in the present tense and first person, you probably DO need to set it off with a
different font or stars or italics or single quotes, but this is not a rule set in stone. Ms. Nitpicker grants you dispensation to
break it. Still, this can be confusing:
She's getting on my nerves, the bad writer admitted to herself, and I think she needs to die.
You might want to set off the actual thoughts from the author's descriptive interjections:
She's getting on my nerves, the bad writer admitted to herself, and I think she needs to die.
6. Putting the character's thoughts entirely in the third person is all right, but then you must not make it pretty with italics or
anything else. Do not highlight/italicize/set off third person thoughts. Again, keep to the same type of format within a
paragraph. Don't give us:
*This kid is going to have a good time he just didn't know it yet.*
Why? Because it switches from present tense to past tense; until the good time, it seems to be someone's actual thoughts, but
then it switches to a description of that person's thinking. Another online mistake:
Would it work? It had to. Please...please...please.
Actual thinking would have been something along the lines of, Will it work? It has to. Please...please...please. Or leave the
description of thinkingthe would it work partunformatted, and only italicize the actual thoughts, the please bit.
On the other hand, you may say,
He was cold and scared and couldn't help thinking that he was probably going to die, and messily, too.
You can ramble on for paragraphs that way, describing his thinking in third person and without formatting and without
switching tenses or persons, as long as you stick to it. It's all right. Really.
OTHER NITS TO PICK
GENERALITIES
DIALOGUE/
CHARACTER THOUGHTS.
PUNCTUATION (NOT JUST IN DIALOGUE
VOCABULARY
MS. NITPICKER'S CONTINUING HALL OF SHAME /Text/Shame.html
CHEAT SHEET INDEX
I'm thoroughly chastened, and I want to return to the main page.
I feel I have learned all I need to learn, and want to take MS. NITPICKER'S FAN FICTION TESTHOW WELL CAN YOU
WRITE?
1/30/2015 PUNCTUATION
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PUNCTUATING THE DIALOGUE
This seems to be confusing to many of us. When given a choice between a period and comma, some fans choose the wrong one
100% of the time. Do not be afraid of commas. So many of you seem to be, as demonstrated by this sample:
While it did not kill, to those who were weak enough, it could send someone into a catatonic stateor a comma.
1. If the sentence ends within the quotation marks, use a period or a question mark or exclamation point inside the quotes.
HOWEVER, if you tacked on a “he spoke” (against Ms. Nitpicker’s advice), then the sentence isn’t over; you will not end the
dialogue with a period. Yes, there are exceptions. Most of the time, in dialogue, you need not consider “she said” as a full
sentence. The exception would be if it’s followed by a subject. For instance, NOT:
“I knew that.” He said.
And NOT:
“I knew that.” he said.
But you COULD say:
“I knew that,” he said.
Or you could say:
“I knew that.” He said it meekly, ready to apologize.
The “it” made all the difference.
If this is too difficult, perhaps you should never end dialogue with a period unless there are no words whatsoever after the
quotation marks, and hope a beta reader will catch any excess commas for you. You will still make mistakes, but Ms. Nitpicker
suspects there will be fewer mistakes.
http://littlecalamity.tripod.com/Text/Punctuation.html 1/7
2. Just because you have descriptive narrative words between sentences of dialogue doesn’t mean the sentence in the dialogue is
continuing. This is wrong:
“Take it easy, guys,” he managed, extending his hand to Jim, “Try not to get into much trouble while I’m away.”
Put a period after Jim’s name. That part of the sentence described how he said the first piece of dialogue, and now it’s over.
The next bit of dialogue stands alone. This is also wrong:
“Jim,” the voice that called to him seemed to be coming from a great distance.
The sentence ended with “Jim.” That means the narrative partwhich is a complete standalone sentence by itselfshould start
with a capital “T.” If you wanted the dialogue to be part of the narrative sentence, you’d have to say:
“Jim,” the voice called to him, seeming to be coming from a great distance.
3. A very, very few of us think that we must always put a comma or colon or semicolon after the ending quotation, just before
the unnecessary “he stated.” Ms. Nitpicker knows who you are. Someday you will have a comma (followed by end quotes)
branded on your left hand, and a period followed by end quotes on the right. If you still don’t stop, a question mark and
exclamation point will be embossed on more private and sensitive parts of your anatomy. Do not think she is jesting. Ms.
Nitpicker has yanked the keys from an old typewriter and is already heating them in a burner.
This leads us to:
1. If you interrupt your sentence with a dash, you must end the interruption with either more hyphens or with a
period/exclamation point/question mark. You will not end the phrase with a comma and slide back into the sentence hoping no
one will notice you switched horses in midstream. Please, no drowning horses! Dashes and commas don’t mix well, and they
ask that you respect their wishes and segregate them.
Furthermore, dashes are two hyphens. They indicate a break in the speech, or a slightly longer pause than a comma. Don’t try
to make them pretty. They are not a space, hyphen, space; nor are they a space, two hyphens, space. Dashes are in such a hurry
that they have no time to insert spaces.
Sometimes, particularly in a list, too many commas are confusing. That’s where the halfbreed comma, the semicolon, comes
in handy. For instance, this is wrong:
Odo caressed Lwaxana’s cheek, her throat, her rounded shoulder, her long, slim, beringed fingers.
It sounds like he’s caressing her “long,” whatever that is. This would make it readable:
Odo caressed Lwaxana’s cheek; her throat; her rounded shoulder; her long, slim, beringed fingers.
2. The semicolon is also used to separate two full sentences that you want closely connected; perhaps you want the pause
between those two thoughts to be shorter than one caused by a period. This example needs a dictionary check, a knowledge of
how to use “thankfully” (covered in VOCABULARY), a comma in a different place, and a semicolon:
She couldn’t remember most of what the tattooed man had done to her, thankfully excrutiating pain had blocked
out most of the unnatural acts.
3. Lists of things are usually proceeded by a full colon. (By the way, Ms. Nitpicker did mean ”preceded,” unlike the online
author who used it in place of “proceeded.”) This is wrong:
On the way, Amanda busied herself by pointing things out to the other woman, the flower, the Eiffel Tower, the
tiny ships.
Amanda appears to be pointing out things to the flower and the Eiffel Tower, which Ms. Nitpicker doubts are interested. It
needs a colon after “woman,” not a comma. This is correct:
He reviewed the things he loathed about Ms. Nitpicker: her arrogance, her obsession with punctuation, and her
habit of using his bad grammar as examples on her Web page.
4. Lists separated by commas and words like “and” should all consist of the same parts of speech. For instance, this story had the
wrong idea:
Methos had been civil, serious, and worked hard.
He “had been civil” and he “had been serious” and he “had been worked hard”? Ms. Nitpicker does not think so. This is right:
“Methos had been civil, serious, and hardworking.”
Another fannish author tried this:
He just had time to lean back against the wall, close his eyes, and did his best to look asleep.
No, dear. He just had time to lean back against the wall, close his eyes, and do his best to look asleep. That’s all he had time
for.
In short, if two of the three words are nouns, the last should be; if two of three are verbs, they all should be; if two of the words
are present tense, they all...well, you get the idea.
5. Despite the suggestions about substituting semicolons and colons, COMMAS ARE OUR FRIENDS. Yes, some of you
sprinkle them about randomly and inappropriately, but generally there is a lack of them out there. (See the items under
DIALOGUE, above.) Some sentences change their meaning entirely without the comma.
He watched as the men moved toward him and prayed for death.
Why were the mad rapists praying for death? They were about to have sex with a truly handsome young man. No, Ms.
Nitpicker suspects the victim was praying for death as well as watching, but without the comma, it appears that the men are
moving and praying. (In some tales, Ms. Nitpicker couldn’t tell who was about to fall off the cliffthe villain or the victim
because of an excess of pronouns and lack of commas.)
6. Questions should be followed by question marks, whether or not they’re part of dialogue, even if they’re rhetorical questions.
If the villain says, “Why don’t you sit down and wait?” we all understand it’s an order, but it was phrased as a question and
gets the appropriate symbol. The word “asked” is a helpful clue; if you use it, then review your dialogue and see if you
remembered to use a question mark. The same rules apply with clues such as “why” and “what” and “who.”
7. When someone trails off and then picks up again, we indicate that with an ellipsis, or three trailing dots. HOWEVER, when the
sentence trails off at the very end and dies, it is helpful to add a period to end the sentence, so there should be four dots. This is
most frequently needed in dialogue:
“I...well...okay, maybe I did make that mistake in the past, but...um....”
Four out of five grammar or rhetoric texts consulted by Ms. Nitpicker left it at that; only one used a comma at the end of the
ellipsis instead of a period:
“It...seems to me...” Ms. Nitpicker advised, hesitantly, “...wrong to put a comma at the end of an ellipsis…no
matter what some texts are doing nowadays.”
Remember, an ellipsis indicates a thought trailing off; if the sentence breaks off abruptly, as when someone is interrupted, it’s
generally indicated by a dash (two hyphens).
Word processors may try to be "helpful" by converting your ellipsis to some weird image. Hit the "undo" button (it looks like a
back arrow on your toolbar) when it does this, and it will surrender and give you back your three dots.
8. Although the ellipsis is...nice, some online authors have characters end EVERY SINGLE THOUGHT OR SENTENCE with
an ellipsis.... Most action characters are firm, decisive folks. They wouldn’t let their voices trail off in confusion at the end of
every sentence. Don’t overuse this. Periods are our friends, too.
9. No sentence fragments. None. Or at least keep them to a minimum. Just a few. Certainly none that start with a word ending in
“ing,” as in, “Feeling guilty about leaving him.” That is a clause describing something in another sentence, not a sentence in
itself. An ellipsis spreads out any needed pause, so we realize there’s a dramatic hesitation before the next sentenceso why
not use that? Ms. Nitpicker is aware that many published authors are using this jerky style of writing, but that doesn’t make it
right. This is bad grammar:
The flow of words suddenly halting as something caught his attention.
It holds no meaning unless it’s tacked onto the sentence ahead of it. Read each sentence SEPARATELY; if it makes no sense,
you may not have a sentence. This, too, is wrong:
He was going to kill the kid. Slowly. Painfully.
This is better:
He was going to kill the kid...slowly, and painfully.
We still understand the pause and emphasis that bad writers would indicate with periods and sentence fragments, yet we’ve
written a real sentence that would get a passing grade even if we took the dots out. You may also use dashes, as in:
He was going to kill the kidslowly, and painfully.
Ms. Nitpicker will cut you some slack here. You may use one sentence fragment per story, to achieve a dramatic effect. Okay,
she is in a good mood, she’ll make it one per five pages. But some fen cannot write in full sentences, and that must stop.
10. When writing a sentence like this, you need to know that the first person, place, or thing that follows the comma is the
person/place/thing involved with that clause. For instance, an online story claimed:
…picking them up, a broad grin appeared on his face.
A broad grin picked them up? Ms. Nitpicker doesn’t think so. Another story tried this:
Taking her in his arms, they kissed passionately.
Ms. Nitpicker doesn’t believe their arms kissed; she suspects lips were involved and the people were the ones kissing
passionately. This whole sentence is a failure; either it would be, “Taking her in his arms, he kissed her passionately,” or
“Falling into each other’s arms, they kissed passionately.”
In other words, you may not say things like, “Entering the tent, a thought struck him.” The thought may be entering the tent,
but only because it’s inside somebody’s mind. More correctly phrased, it would be, “Entering the tent, he was struck by an
idea.” (This is certainly better than being struck by a club or rifle butt, in Ms. Nitpicker’s opinion.)
OTHER NITS TO PICK
GENERALITIES
DIALOGUE
CHARACTER THOUGHTS
PUNCTUATION (NOT JUST IN DIALOGUE) You're already there. Period.
VOCABULARY
REDUNDANCY AND REPETITION
CHEAT SHEET INDEX
I'm thoroughly chastened, and I want to return to the home page.
I think I need more guidance. Send me to HOLY MOTHER GRAMMATICA'S GUIDE TO GOOD WRITING or to
DANGERMOM'S HANDYDANDY GRAMMAR GUIDE. Maybe I should visit BAD FANFIC! NO BISCUIT!.
I feel I have learned all I need to learn, and I want to take MS. NITPICKER'S FAN FICTION TESTHOW WELL DO YOU
KNOW GRAMMAR?
Let's crossexamine some stories from this site to see if she follows her own rules. . . .
1/30/2015 VOCABULARY
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VOCABULARY
1. Affects and effects are not the same word. For instance, we could say that Steven Spielberg's special effects may affect us.
Here is one fan's demonstration of incorrect usage of effects/affects:
This is what effects you most. There are strong forces of change surrounding you, of both good and evil.
Ms. Nitpicker can only suppose that the forces of evil are ones making us use "effects" incorrectly.
2. "The concept of stay put has always seemed to allude you, Chief." (Er, no, it hasn't referred to you, Chief. It might elude, or
escape, you, though.)
3. A bear is a fuzzy animal. As a verb, it can mean to endure or to carry. Bare, on the other hand, is naked. Therefore this is
obviously wrong:
"I've always wondered how much pain an Immortal can bare before he went mad."
(There they go, those showoffs, baring everything all over the place.)
4. If you use complement correctly, Ms. Nitpicker will give you a compliment, but she probably won't need to, judging from
such online examples as:
Such impatience. It complimented the man's shortsightedness perfectly.
No, dear, the impatience wasn't giving him praise, it was enhancing or complementing his other bad qualities.
5. Calvary is a hill referred to in the New Testament. The cavalry traditionally rides to the rescue on horses, banners flying. Do
you see a slight problem with this sentence?
He could only hope that Henri was kicking Tibidoux’s *** into the next county and that the calvary was going to
arrive soon.
http://littlecalamity.tripod.com/Text/Vocabulary.html 1/7
Ms. Nitpicker doubts that Calvary will be arriving anytime soon.
6. The Bomb Squad did not diffuse that bomb; they defused it. You diffuse chemicals in your high school science classes, or
diffuse your alcoholic beverage by adding soda, but you do not defuse it, because there is no fuse on your drink to be removed.
7. Elicit and illicit are different words.
She didn't illicit any strange looks, because no one really saw her.
(It's not illegal to look these days; perhaps she was trying to elicit some lustful gazes, though.)
8. This is wrong:
"I must admit, I wasn't looking foreword to facing Buffy, Xander, and Willow on my own."
A foreward is in introductory section in a book. He wasn't looking forward.
9. Avoid himself, as in "Amanda and himself robbed the museum." Without knowing fancy rules, a quick way to check this is to
mentally take out the other person. You wouldn't say "Himself robbed the museum." (Ms. Nitpicker has faith in you.) No, you
would write, "He robbed the museum," so make the sentence "Amanda and he robbed the museum." The reason this sounds
funny to you is that few people speak grammatically correct English, so you hear a lot of myself/himself or "Amanda and him
robbed the museum." But we write more formally than we speak, don't we? Don't we? Let's not see a lot of himselves, unless
there's an Irish leprechaun in your story doing a Barry Fitzgerald imitation.
10. Even when there's no "himself/herself/myself" involved, use this rule of thumb: if there are two or more entities mentioned,
and one is a pronoun, remove the excess entities and see if the pronoun makes sense alone.
Him and Ray hid from Francesca/Him hid from Francesca
He and Ray hid from Francesca/He hid from Francesca.
Doesn't this make it obvious which is the correct version?
11. A hiss is a prolonged "s" sound. What part of this sentence can possibly be hissed?
Dawn hissed at her. “Why do you care?”
12. Hopefully does not mean "with luck." Even though everyone else in America is saying it this way, you can't say:
Hopefully, Ms. Nitpicker's lecture will soon be over.
Would you say, "Full of hope, Ms. Nitpicker's lecture will soon be over"? I doubt it. Her lecture is not full of hope; you are.
Ms. Nitpicker's lecture will soon be over, she thought hopefully.
13. Its means "belonging to it." It's means "It is," or occasionally "it has."
14. Lead, when pronounced "leed," means "to guide," as in "Blair will lead the Sentinel through the use of his senses." When
pronounced "led" but spelled lead, it's that stuff in the paint chips in lowincome housing that poisons people. After Blair leads
the Sentinel, he has led the Sentinel.
15. Nobody, even in HIGHLANDER shows, gets hit by lightening (although it does sound faster than trying to diet).
Thunderstorms result in lightning.
16. When you say something literally happened, you're telling us it isn't just a figure of speech. If you insist that "Spock literally
froze," there better be icicles hanging from his pointed ears.
17. The Immortal doesn't loose his head during a sword duel. Perhaps a bad swordsman would make the head wobble loosely on
the neck, but more probably the Immortal will lose that head.
18. If Blair Sandburg has been put into a hospital bed while Jim Ellison weeps, the orderlies are laying him on the bed, while Blair
is lying on the bed. His backpack may be laid on the bed, too, but the in general the only time our characters themselves are
"laying" in bed is when they are active in a slash or erotica story, and then they are laying someone while lyingon the bed. We
use laying in places where we might use "placing" or "placed" or "place." Trust Ms. Nitpicker on this; she would never lie....
19. Since peak and peek are two different words, you need to remember that "peek" has to do with looking at something, hence
this is a mistake:
Rhonda peaked her head in the embrasure of the door.
Did her head come to points? Did it reach an apex? You don't peek your head, you merely peek. And what is an embrasure,
anyway? Let's try "Rhonda peeked through the doorway."
20. Ms. Nitpicker is going through a phase of being angered by bad grammar, but that doesn't really faze her.
21. Pore and pour are not the same word. We pour ourselves a stiff drink after reading some bad fan fiction; we pore eagerly
over the latest story from one of the good fan writers. This example was therefore wrong (unless Jim had mistaken his files for
his plants and was watering them):
Jim went back to his desk and started to pour over the files again, trying to find the missing link that tied all these
victims together.
22. A head that is shaking moves left to right. A nod is a head moving up and down. In most cultures, you cannot shake your head
yes, and you cannot nod your head no. Try it. Then stop having your characters shake their heads yes. This fanwriter needed
to take out "negatively" and put in a comma:
Blair was shaking his head negatively and Jim grabbed his arm.
23. Eyes and the sun shine. This has nothing to do with the word show; therefore, this is wrong:
"Chief, the feeling goes both ways," Jim said with a grin that shown in his eyes.
The word you are searching the dark for is shone. Now that Ms. Nitpicker has shown it to you, use it properly.
24. The place where the cult is holding the meeting is the site of the meeting, and the fact that they are naked makes them an
amusing sight. Similarly, you use the gun sight to focus on your target, but you cite sources for your thesis.
25. Nobody snuck anywhere. They sneaked, unless the word appears in dialogue. (Remember that in fiction the dialogue is full of
lousy English, and rightly so.)
26. Sole means "only." A soul is an intangible spiritual asset reputedly possessed by human beings. Hence Ms. Nitpicker's
confusion with a sentence like,
The fight was not the soul source of interest to the Sentinel; seated there he could monitor the Guide.
27. You sow seeds, and sew things tightly together. This is wrong:
If I wrote books, I’d have the Pulitzer sown up right about now.
Ms. Nitpicker is sure her Pulitzer is sewn up so tightly it shall not escape her. Vote early and often.
28. When the hero gets shot, the force of the bullet or phaser blast probably knocks him supine, or on his back. Think "supine is
spine." Those of you (and there are many) who have him falling prone have left him on his belly, which often makes his
succeeding actions unlikely or even impossible.
29. Thankfully does not mean "luckily." You may NOT say:
Thankfully, it started ringing and Simon promptly answered.
"Thankfully" describes how an action was performed. ("Ms. Nitpicker's lecture is over!" she cried thankfully.) In the example
above, the phone was not full of thanks; it has no feelings.
30. There is a place, as in "Put it over there." Their means "belonging to them," as in "I love their muscular bodies." But they're
is short for "they are," as in "They're going to suffer in Jane's new story."
31. When a tree is cut down, the logger hollers, "Timber!" If he pronounced it "tamber," it would be a wholly different word,
spelled "timbre" and meaning tone or resonance. Ms. Nitpicker assumes the following was said in a wooden voice:
It was said in a low timber, concern showing in it.
Also, things don't 'show' in a voice, they resound. We use eyes to see, and you can't see a voice.
32. When you're using too to mean "also," put a comma in front of it. For instance, "Roy Rogers was like that, too." You CAN say
"Tonto was too submissive for my tastes," without commas, because there you're using "too" to mean "excessively." You may
not use to for either one.
33. Your sadistic villain may take a vicious kick at the hero's ribs. A slight variation in spelling changes the meaning to thick,
gooey, sticky, and gelatinous. That makes this sentence strange:
Wounds that I thought were closed, that I thought were safely ensconced in the past, had been viscously ripped
open, allowing the pain and horror to emerge once more.
34. Who's is short for "who is," as in "Who's writing all this bad stuff?" Whose should only appear in sentences like "She loved
the FBI agent, whose enthusiasm for the paranormal was appealing."
35. You really mustn't say, as one author did, "Therefore, he was the only one that could stop Ellison." Objects are a that. We refer
to people as "who" (or even "whom," in extremely persnickety cases). This is wrong:
You are of a race who cheats, lies and steals.
Remember, "who" is a person, an individual (not an object or a number); an entire race is a "that."
36. There is no such word as "woah." Americans do say, "Whoa!" Originally it was said to our horses in order to stop them; now
it's a common exclamation.
37. "We can't just leave her to wreck further havoc on this world." No, we can't. Mostly because she won't demolish the havoc, she
will inflict or wreak it.
38. Your means "belonging to you." You're means "you are," as in "You're going to die." It is NOT written "Your going to die."
British readers have suggested that the American habit of pronouncing both words "yer" has caused the confusion...but Ms.
Nitpicker has seen British fen make the same mistake.
39. Always put qualifiers as close as possible to the verb they are modifying. For instance:
Without a sound, one of the men slowly pulled a garrote from a fanny pack, while the other removed a baggie that
contained a white cloth from his pocket, then removed the cloth from the plastic bag, and dropped the bag onto the
ground.
Here, “from his pocket” doesn’t describe the white cloth, it modifies how or where he “removed” something, so it should read,
“removed from his pocket a baggie that contained….”
40. If you have a plural subject or object, you must use a plural verb. This is wrong:
There was a million things he wanted to say.
Since "things" is plural, there "were" a million things he wanted to say. You wouldn't say "They was going there," would you?
Of course not.
One fan solemnly asked,
Is Dawson and McLeod that close?
Ms. Nitpicker can only sigh, "No. They isn't."
Similarly, you can't say "Everyone wishes they could kill Ms. Nitpicker," even if it is true, because "they" is plural and
"everyone" is, oddly enough, singular. It has to be something like "Everyone wishes she could kill Ms. Nitpicker" or "All
writers wish they could kill Ms. Nitpicker."
PICK ANOTHER SECTION, WHY DON'T YA?
GENERALITIES
DIALOGUE
CHARACTER THOUGHTS
PUNCTUATION
VOCABULARY (There's a word for people who click links to the page they're already on, you know.)
Ms. NITPICKER'S HALL OF SHAME
I think I need more guidance. Send me to HOLY MOTHER GRAMMATICA'S GUIDE TO GOOD WRITING. Maybe I should visit BAD FANFIC! NO BISCUIT!.
1/30/2015 Redundancy and Repetition and Redundancy
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undefined
REDUNDANCY AND REPETITION AND REDUNDANCY
1. Let me be redundant herewhy not, when everyone else is?and repeat that you DO NOT NEED TO TELL ME this:
"Why?" Al asked.
The fact that you used the word "why" followed by a question mark TELLS ME that Al asked, as opposed to stating or
exclaiming. You don't need to say, as another writer did:
"Yes," he nodded.
Either say he nodded, or put "Yes." (We know who said it, because someone else just asked him a question, unless the question
was addressed to a crowd. Who else would be answering? A passing UFO?)
Furthermore, don't say "He nodded his head." What else was he going to nod?
Similarly, when we "glanced at Brown who was grinning all over his face," we wonder where else would he grin, and why
there is no comma after "Brown." (See the section on DIALOGUE, above.)
(As a side note, Ms. Nitpicker just finished reading a SENTINEL fan fiction piece where heads nodded so often that she was
holding her breath, waiting for them to topple off various necks. Jim, Blair, and Simon must have had severe muscle strain by
the time that story was over. There were 27 nods and 17 head shakes in just sixteen singlespaced 10font pages!)
2. Avoid using the same word twice in one sentence, or even in one paragraph. For instance, a fannish author told the reader that
"This sudden thought suddenly depressed him." (Gee, let me make a sudden guess: could this have come on suddenly?) Get a
good thesaurus, and look up alternatives to "sudden," if you suddenly find you can't think of any. Below, another example of
the same word or action repeated too many times:
"Starting a little early?" Joe smiled, looking at her drink.
Kira smiled a bit, "Oh yeah, nothing like a 'grownup' Slushie to kick off my afternoon binge."
Joe nodded, trying to smile, "Heh, yeah. Ah, you ready to set up?"
"Soon, there's no hurry, right?"
http://littlecalamity.tripod.com/Text/Redundancy.html 1/3
Joe looked towards the phone, not hearing her. Kira tried to lighten the mood a bit.
"You need some time to recruit an audience?", she smirked a little.
(These people are smiling way too much. Ms. Nitpicker keeps picturing Howdy Doody.)
3. If the main characters in your universe are named Joe, Duncan, and Richie, whyout of all the names in the universewould
you choose to name your additional character "Joe" and make him an Immortal who needs a cane to walk? Since Joe Dawson
uses a cane to walk in that series, I will spend your entire story trying to figure out which canewielding Joe is doing what.
Name your man Boone, or Jennings, or Thomas, or Burl. If your universe revolves around Jim and Blair, don't add a woman
named Blair to your story. Please. We're begging you, here.
4. If your story is entirely set in one fandom, consider your audience. Do you really need to remind your readers that Julian
Bashir is a doctor? Ninety percent of the time, using phrases like "the young doctor" or "the detective" are insulting. Use the
character's name, instead. We have probably seen the show before. Even if we haven't, we can figure out that Jim's a detective
from the way he works in the police station and flashes a badge when he arrests someone, yet doesn't wear a uniform.
OTHER NITS TO PICK
GENERALITIES
DIALOGUE
CHARACTER THOUGHTS
VOCABULARY
REDUNDANCY AND REPETITION (It would be redundant to click here, don't you think?)
MS. NITPICKER’S CONTINUING HALL OF SHAME
CHEAT SHEET INDEX
I'm thoroughly chastened, and I want to return to the main page.
I feel I have learned all I need to learn, and want to take MS. NITPICKER'S FAN FICTION TESTHOW WELL CAN YOU
WRITE?
1/30/2015 FAN FICTION CHEAT SHEET INDEX
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CHEAT SHEET INDEX
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER fans, Giles doesn't go around calling everyone he dislikes a "pillock." Don't limit his vocabulary;
learn some British slang at sites like A DICTIONARY OF SLANG.
Visit Wikipedia for some samples of police jargon.
Go here for a dictionary of hardboiled slang ala Bogart detective movies.
To absorb wisdom from Little Calamity's background notes on various cult TV shows, and occasionally find links to useful sites on
said shows, click on the appropriate link below:
Action Shows in General
MAGNUM P.I.
MAN FROM ATLANTIS
QUANTUM LEAP
RIPTIDE
Western TV shows
Review helpful hints on HOW TO WRITE ALMOST READABLE FANFICTION.
Read stories about shows like these.
http://littlecalamity.tripod.com/CheatSheet.html 1/2
1/30/2015 FAN FICTION CHEAT SHEET INDEX
http://littlecalamity.tripod.com/CheatSheet.html 2/2
1/30/2015 MS. NITPICKER'S FANFIC GLOSSARY
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copyright 2002 to Jane Leavell, (littlecalamity@hotmail.com )
Posted 3/2002; updated 6/12/06; two additions 4/29/12
Are you new to fanfiction? Do you feel lost in an impenetrable fog, bombarded by terms whose meanings elude you? Let Ms.
Nitpicker shine a light through the foga very small, uncertain light, because fandom is large and fluid. What follows are generally
accepted definitionswithin an individual fandom, the meaning may vary. Furthermore, as newbies join fandoms they sometimes
assign new meanings to old terms, disconcerting we oldsters.
AU or A/U: Alternate Universe. Although technically ALL fanfiction is AU, since it isn't canon, the term is reserved for stories that
lift parts of the show out and put them in a totally different setting. For instance, if THE HIGHLANDER killed off Richie Ryan and
continued for several seasons without him, and you object, you might write an A/U where Richie DIDN'T die and the succeeding
seasons never took place. Perhaps you want to create a version of STAR TREK in which there was never a Dr. McCoy and Britney
Spears was the ship's doctordon't expect me to read itor you want Buffy (the vampire slayer) to be a vampire and Angel (the
vampire with a soul) to be a vampire slayer. These are alternate universe stories. NonAU fanfiction tries to carry on within the limits
of the actual showperhaps showing scenes inbetween the aired events, or creating a story that could be an episode of the show
without confusing anyone too much.
ACTOR FICTION: Also known as RL FICTION or Real People fiction. Fanfiction about the reallife actor who plays your
favorite character on that show. Often said actor is portrayed as changing places with the fictional character. Although meant as a
compliment, actor fiction is often extremely annoying to the victim, particularly when the actor is portrayed engaging in sexual acts
which may not appeal to said actor. Writing actor fiction is neither a mature nor a kind act, and actor fiction is rightfully banned from
many archives and mailing lists. (SorryMs. Nitpicker has read and enjoyed some RL Fiction, but her somewhat harsh dictate still
stands.)
ANIME: Japanese animation. A popular area for fanfiction. See Josei Ni for a glossary of anime terms.
AU: Alternate Universe. Maybe you want to do a story where Han Solo is and always was a woman, but everything else about the
http://littlecalamity.tripod.com/Text/Dictionary.html 1/6
Star Wars universe is unchanged. That's an Alternate Universe. Generally you need to clearly label AU stories so readers aren't
confused. See CANON, below.
BETA READER: A brave soul who will read your rough draft and provide proofreading for punctuation/spelling and/or criticism
for characterizations/plot. Your story almost certainly needs one or more beta readers. The quality of beta readers, alas, varies
widely. The term "BETA" is also widely used alone; you may post a beta version of a story, or belong to a beta mailing list that will
proofread your story as your post it.
CANON: Anything which appeared in the actual series/movie and therefore can be "proven" to be a genuine aspect of the show or
character. If we saw the character eating cats in an episode, it is canon that he/she/it eats cats, no matter how much we dislike the
idea.
CON: Ms. Nitpicker cannot avoid snide thoughts about the similarities between "conning" or tricking someone out of money and
holding a fannish "convention," but she will spare you her wisecracks. A con is a gathering of fen, and may be tiny or as immense as
the WorldCon (World Science Fiction Convention). Some cons focus on a specific fandom; others, like the fanzine convention
MediaWest, are mediawide. Some have websites on the Internet. Most cons include some combination of a dealer's room where you
can purchase photos, fan art, fanzines, jewelry, costumes, and so forth; video rooms that air movies, episodes of TV shows, or fan
made video clips; panels, or mixed lectures/discussions about aspects of fandom ("Can Vampires Get AIDS?," "Sidekicks," "Man of
Steel, Woman of Kleenex"); costume contests; dances; and/or plays related to fandom.
CROSSOVER: Sometimes this appears as X/O or Xover. A story which involves two or more different shows. For instance, Jane
Leavell's "Quantum Island" crosses QUANTUM LEAP with GILLIGAN'S ISLAND. A good crossover is difficult to produce, as
first you must have a good combination and secondly a reasonable excuse for the two of them getting involvedthey can't just
happen to stumble across each other. There's no reason why Horatio Hornblower would meet Starsky & Hutch, for instance, and
"Because I wanna!" is no excuse, but if one of the shows you're crossing involved time travel, it might work.
DISCLAIMER: Also known as HEADER INFO. Traditionally put at the top of the story, a disclaimer may include a legal
disclaimer announcing that you don't make money at this and don't want to infringe on the creators' rights; SPOILERS (which see)
and warnings such as "character death"; a brief plot summary; a mention of distributionwhat archives can post this piece without
asking you for permission; a dedication or thank you to beta readers; something about story length; which chapter this is (with the
format 1/5 meaning part one of five parts); and so on. Different archives and mailing lists may require different information.
DRABBLE: Writing drabble is similar to saying, "I've written some really cool dialogue, or conceived a neat scene that has no plot
or point, and rather than come up with a story to put it in, I'm just going to post it and wait for praise." Similar to PWP, except
limited to one hundred words.
F/F: Also known as "Femslash." Designates a story or fanzine focussing on a *** relationship between women. The story itself may
involve no actual sex scenes or 'offensive' content. Some authors use capital letters for adult protagonists and small case for teen or
child partners. SEE ALSO: "slash" and "M/M."
FANON: "Fanon" is a detail about a particular show or character that was created by a fan but has now been generally
borrowed/copied/accepted as canon by many other writers. For instance, in a story about THE SENTINEL, Susan Williams had Blair
borrowing Jim's Cascade PD sweatshirt, and now sweatshirtborrowing is often portrayed as Blair's habit in other stories by other
writers, making it fanon. See also: CANON.
FANZINE: A fancreated "magazine," a printed (or in early days a mimeographed) collection of fan fiction, articles, and fan art.
These are not as numerous or as popular as they once were, because they are expensive, and most fen are busy downloading fannish
items from the Internet for free. One advantage to a fanzine is that it may have a good editor and good betareaders, with the result
that the stories will be superior to ones blithely posted on the Internet by bad spellers/bad writers. Another advantage is that you can
read them in the bathtub, which Ms. Nitpicker does not recommend for Palm Pilots or laptops or PC's. Fanzines can be purchased
online but it's better to pick them up at a convention, where you can see the quality before shelling out big bucks. Mediawest, a con
held at Lansing, Michigan, over Memorial Day Weekend, is a big fanzine conventionwell, big in the historical sense, as the actual
attending membership is deliberately limited to 500 fenand they have a website with information about attending.
FEN: A plural form of "fan."
FILK: As a noun, this refers to a parody song with a scientific or science fiction leaning to the replacement lyrics. As a verb, to sing
songs that parody a known tune but contain lyrics relating to science/sci fi/fantasy/media.
FLAME: When you viciously attack a writer for bad writing or for daring to write a story with a pairing or subject that repulses you,
you are "flaming." There is a huge difference between thoughtful balanced criticism and outright flames, yet many fen confuse the
two. (One problem is that email, unlike facetoface discussion, is impersonal and what is said in it often comes across as more
harsh than the author intended. Flame wars may break out when friends leap to the defense of someone, mistaking a joking remark or
a poorly worded observation for a vile slur.) Ms. Nitpicker recommends that before sending an impassioned complaint to an author,
one should read the complaint ten times, hold it for two days, and repeat. A flame is never invited, and is never excusable. If you
cannot stomach that subject matter or that romantic pairing, don't read the storyend of discussion.
GEN: A story or fanzine fit for general audiences, in the original usage, and therefore lacking in explicit sex of any kind. With the
widespread popularity of "slash," the meaning is changing , and "gen" is often used to mean "may have porn, but no same sex stuff."
Some fen are attempting to use "het" for stories that involve heterosexual explicit sex, thus leaving "gen" as "no worse than what you
see on network TV."
H/C: "Hurt/comfort." One or more characters will be hurt (physically or emotionally or mentally), and one or more characters will
suffer angst over this and try to comfort the victim. This is a popular category within fanfiction.
HET: Story or fanzine with explicit scenes of heterosexual sexual acts. See also: SLASH and GEN.
LOC: "Letter of Comment." Also known as "feedback." Supremely important to fanfic authors, yet often neglected by readers, an
LoC can be as simple as "Loved it. More, please?" or as detailed as pages of critique. Praise can be offered without invitation;
criticism should be delicately handled, perhaps not even offered unless the author specifically requests it somewhere in the
header/disclaimer, lest the author mistake it for FLAMING. Ms. Nitpicker herself very much appreciates feedback and has gratefully
corrected mistakes caught by observant readers. LOC is sometimes used as a verb, as in, "I feel guilty that I don't LoC more often."
M/M: Nothing to do with candy; in fact, it designates a story or fanzine focused on a *** relationship between two males. The story
itself may involve no actual sex scenes or offensive content. Some authors use capital letters for adult protagonists and small case for
teen or child partners. SEE ALSO: F/F and SLASH.
MARY SUE: A character who is clearly the author's alter ego and therefore incredibly perfect; incredibly beautifuloften with
unusually colored eyes/hair; incredibly talentedoften gifted musically and magically; has a tragic past; and is either related to or
beloved by one or more of the show's main characters. Mary Sue may die in the arms of a series character, having given her all.
Occasionally appears as a male, but because it's less common there is no commonly accepted name for the male: some references
include Harry Sue, Barry Sue, or Marty Stu. In THE SENTINEL fandom, it's Blairy Sue, since Blair is often reduced to being a
Mary Sue. Mary Sue as a term originated in fandom for the original STAR TREK series, when Paula Smith wrote a humorous piece
about the incredibly perfect Lieutenant Mary Sue saving the Enterprise.
MST: Inspired by the cable series MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000, MSTing a story means taking someone else's story and
adding in your own smartalec comments, mocking it. One might consider it Ms. Nitpicker out of control. Unlike Ms. Nitpicker, an
MST doesn't generally keep the victim anonymous. It can be very funny, but also very cruel. The standard version uses the actual
narrators from the real MST 3000, mocking the story as they mock bad movies on their series, but other writers use characters from
the story's universefor instance, Harry Potter might insist he would never behave that way. Personal attacks on the author of the
original badfic are sometimes part of the piece.
N/C: Nonconsensual. These initials warn you that the story will involve rape in some form.
OC or OFC or OMC: Original Character or Original Female Character or Original Male Character (less commonly used). Not to be
confused with Mary Sue...unless badly written. Often included in headers so that people who dislike original characters (because
they take away from "screen time" for the show's characters or for fear that they will turn out to be Mary Sues) can avoid reading the
story.
OOC: Out of Character. This is a label applied when your story has someone behaving in a manner totally unlike the real character
Spock from the original Star Trek series laughing and joking with crew members on deck, for instance.
PAIRING: A romantic/sexual linking of characters within a show, sometimes indicated with initials ("K/S" would be Kirk and
Spock from the original STAR TREK) and sometimes by combining the characters' names ("Tibbs" would be Tony and Gibbs from
NCIS, for instance). Usually the reader is warned with these acronyms or combined names in the header or disclaimer so she can
skip romantic relationships she doesn't like.
POV: Point Of View. See Ms. Nitpicker's guide for details.
PWP: Plot What Plot; also referred to as "Porn Without Plot". In other words, "I've written something that has no plot whatsoever
and I think you want to waste some time and therefore will read it." Consider it fair warning that what you will read exists only for
some obsessive focus such as hurt/comfort. This may run for dozens of page, if the author wants to linger on scenes of gratuitous sex
between characters. See also: DRABBLE.
SHIPPER: Short for "relationshipper." The story is semiromantic and revolves around a romantic pairing; the story itself may or
may not involve graphic sex. Generally that pairing involves two series characters, not an original character paired with a series
character. In some fandoms, a shipper story is strictly heterosexual; in others (such as BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER), anything
goes.
SLASH: Originally taken from descriptions of Kirk and Spock as sexual partners; the stories were labeled "Kirk/Spock" and
thereafter stories about *** pairingswhether male/male or female/female, and whether or not they involved graphic sex scenes
were referred to as "slash" stories. A few newbies (people new to fandom) have tried to stretch this, using "slash" to mean sex of any
kind, but that isn't the generally accepted definition. See also: GEN and HET.
SONGFIC: Fanfiction inspired by/heavily laden with song lyrics. Ms. Nitpicker strongly recommends against this practice, outside
of music wheel circles, since she is unfamiliar with 90% of the songs involved and therefore the intended impact of the piece is
totally lost. Unless the actual music is unimportant and you only intend for us to be moved by the great lyrics, songfic is difficult to
successfully churn out. However, this is a popular genre of fanfic.
SPOILERS: Often mentioned in the headers as warnings that the story may give away plotlines from a particular episode or
particular season, so people who don't want clues about future events can avoid reading that particular story until they've seen the
listed episodes.
SQUICK: Anything in fanfic which might make a reader queasy. What that might be varies between fandoms and even within
mailing lists in a fandom. Character death is a major squick issue; sexual orientation, excessive violence or gore, or original female
characters may do it for some.
TPTB: The Powers That Be. Generally used as a reference to the unknown bureaucratic types who actually own the movie or series
we're writing about; often referred to in headers/disclaimers, which see. BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER appropriated the term
creator Joss Whedon is known to visit BTVS message boardsfor the vaguely godlike beings who run the universe in his television
series.
WIP: Work In Progress. In other words, a warning that it may never be finished, and that the author may not have edited it
thoroughly or thought out the plot/characterization/point of the story.
***: In anime, refers to PWP stories about *** relationships, often tragic ones.
YURI: In anime, a distortion of ***, referring to PWP stories about *** relationships, often tragic.
LINKS
There is a general fan fiction glossary at BAD FANFIC! NO BISCUIT!, and one at cmshaw's Fan Glossary.
Visit MS. NITPICKER'S GUIDE TO WRITING MARGINALLY READABLE FAN FICTION.
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Bushido
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Main page This article is about the Japanese concept of chivalry. For other uses, see Bushido (disambiguation).
Contents
Featured content This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve
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Wikimedia Shop Bushidō (武士道?), literally "the way of the warrior", is a Japanese word
Interaction for the way of the samurai life, loosely analogous to the concept of
Help chivalry.
About Wikipedia Bushido, a modern term rather than a historical one, originates from the
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samurai moral values, most commonly stressing some combination of
Recent changes
Contact page frugality, loyalty, martial arts mastery, and honor unto death. Born from
Neo-Confucianism during times of peace in Tokugawa Japan and
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following Confucian texts, Bushido was also influenced by Shinto and Zen
What links here
Related changes Buddhism, allowing the violent existence of the samurai to be tempered
Upload file by wisdom and serenity. Bushidō developed between the 16th and 20th
Special pages centuries, debated by pundits who believed they were building on a
Permanent link legacy dating from the 10th century, although some scholars have noted
Page information "the term bushidō itself is rarely attested in premodern literature."[1]
Wikidata item
Cite this page Under the Tokugawa Shogunate, some aspects of warrior values became
formalized into Japanese feudal law.[2]
Print/export Japanese samurai in armour, 1860s.
Create a book The word was first used in Japan during the 17th century.[3] It came into Photograph by Felice Beato
Download as PDF common usage in Japan and the West after the 1899 publication of
Printable version Nitobe Inazō's Bushido: The Soul of Japan .[4]
Languages In Bushido (1899), Nitobe wrote:
‫اﻟﻌرﺑﯾﺔ‬
Asturianu ...Bushidō, then, is the code of moral principles which the samurai were required or instructed to observe.... More
Azərbaycanca frequently it is a code unuttered and unwritten.... It was an organic growth of decades and centuries of military
Bân-lâm-gú career. In order to become a samurai this code has to be mastered.
Беларуская
Български Nitobe was not the first person to document Japanese chivalry in this way. In his text Feudal and Modern Japan
Boarisch (1896), historian Arthur May Knapp wrote:[5] "The samurai of thirty years ago had behind him a thousand years of
Català training in the law of honor, obedience, duty, and self-sacrifice.... It was not needed to create or establish them. As a
Čeština child he had but to be instructed, as indeed he was from his earliest years, in the etiquette of self-immolation."
Dansk
Deutsch Contents [hide]
Español 1 Historical development
Esperanto
1.1 Early history to 11th century
Euskara
‫ﻓﺎرﺳﯽ‬ 1.2 13th to 16th centuries
Français 1.3 17th to 19th centuries
Galego 1.4 19th to 21st centuries
2 Tenets
Hrvatski 2.1 Seven virtues of Bushidō (as visioned by Nitobe Inazo)
Bahasa Indonesia 2.2 Associated virtues
Íslenska
3 Modern translations
Italiano
‫עברית‬ 4 Major figures associated with Bushidō
Latina 4.1 Fictional characters associated with Bushidō
Latviešu 5 See also
Magyar 6 References
Bahasa Melayu 7 External links and further reading
Nederlands
日本語
Norsk bokmål Historical development [edit]
Polski
Português This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help
Română
Română improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material
Русский
may be challenged and removed. (May 2010)
Scots
Shqip
Simple English Early history to 11th century [edit]
Slovenčina Main article: Bushido literature
Slovenščina
The Kojiki is Japan's oldest extant book. Written in 721, it contains passages about Yamato
Српски / srpski
Suomi Takeru, the son of the Emperor Keiko. It provides an indication of early Japanese military values
Svenska and literary self-image, including references to the use and admiration of the sword by Japanese
ไทย warriors.
Українська
This early concept is further found in the Shoku Nihongi , an early history of Japan written in 797.
‫اردو‬
Tiếng Việt The chapter covering the year 721 is notable for an early use of the term "bushi" (武士?) (albeit
中文 read as "mononofu" at the time) and a reference to the educated warrior-poet ideal. The Chinese
Edit links term bushi had entered the Japanese vocabulary with the general introduction of Chinese
literature, supplementing the indigenous terms tsuwamono and mononofu. It is also the usage for
public placement exams.
An early reference to saburau — a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany a person of high
rank — appears in Kokin Wakashū, the first imperial anthology of poems, (early 10th century).
By the end of the 12th century, saburai ("retainer") had become largely synonymous with bushi,
and closely associated with the middle and upper echelons of the warrior class.
Bushidō in
Gyo-Kaisho style Although many of the early literary works of Japan contain the image of the warrior, the term
Kanji. Inscription "bushidō" does not appear in early texts like the Kojiki. Warrior ideals and conduct may be
contains 7 tenets illustrated, but the term did not appear in text until the Tokugawa period (1600-1868).[6]
of Bushido.
13th to 16th centuries [edit]
From the literature of the 13th to 16th centuries, there exists an abundance of references to military ideals, although
none of these should be viewed as early versions of bushido per se. Carl Steenstrup noted that 13th and 14th
century writings (gunki monogatari ) "portrayed the bushi in their natural element, war, eulogizing such virtues as
reckless bravery, fierce family pride, and selfless, at times senseless devotion of master and man."
Compiled over the course of three centuries, beginning in the 1180s, the Heike Monogatari depicts a highly
fictionalized and idealized story of a struggle between two warrior clans, the Minamoto and Taira, at the end of the
12th century—a conflict known as the Genpei War. Clearly depicted throughout the Heike Monogatari is the ideal of
the cultivated warrior. The warriors in the Heike Monogatari served as models for the educated warriors of later
generations, although the ideals depicted by them were assumed to be beyond reach. Nevertheless, during the early
modern era, these ideals were vigorously pursued in the upper echelons of warrior society and recommended as the
proper form of the Japanese man of arms.
Other examples of the evolution in the Bushidō literature of the 13th to 16th centuries included the Japanese:
The Message Of Master Gokurakuji - Hojo Shigetoki (1198–1261)
The Chikubasho - Shiba Yoshimasa (1350–1410)
The Regulations Of Imagawa Ryoshun - Imagawa Sadayo (1325–1420)
The Seventeen Articles Of Asakura Toshikage - Asakura Toshikage (1428–1481)
The Twenty-One Precepts Of Hōjō Sōun - Hojo Nagauji (1432–1519)
The Recorded Words Of Asakura Soteki - Asakura Norikage (1474–1555)
The Iwamizudera Monogatari - Takeda Shingen (1521–1573)
Opinions In Ninety-Nine Articles - Takeda Nobushige (1525–1561)
Lord Nabeshima's Wall Inscriptions - Nabeshima Naoshige (1538–1618)
The Last Statement of Torii Mototada - Torii Mototada (1539–1600)
The Precepts of Kato Kiyomasa - Kato Kiyomasa (1562–1611)
Notes On Regulations - Kuroda Nagamasa (1568–1623)
The sayings of Sengoku-period retainers and warlords such as Kato Kiyomasa and Takeda Shingen, by artist
Utagawa Kuniyoshi
Nabeshima Naoshige were generally recorded or passed down to posterity around
the turn of the 16th century when Japan had entered a period of relative peace. In a
handbook addressed to "all samurai, regardless of rank," Kato states:
"If a man does not investigate into the matter of Bushido daily, it will be difficult for him to die a brave and manly
death. Thus, it is essential to engrave this business of the warrior into one's mind well."
Kato was a ferocious warrior who banned even recitation of poetry, stating:
"One should put forth great effort in matters of learning. One should read books concerning military matters, and
direct his attention exclusively to the virtues of loyalty and filial piety....Having been born into the house of a
warrior, one's intentions should be to grasp the long and the short swords and to die."[7]
Naoshige says similarly, that it is shameful for any man to die without having risked his life in battle, regardless of
rank, and that "Bushidō is in being crazy to die. Fifty or more could not kill one such a man." However, Naoshige also
suggests that "everyone should personally know exertion as it is known in the lower classes."[7]
17th to 19th centuries [edit]

Japan enjoyed a period of relative peace during the Tokugawa period from 1600 to
the mid-19th century, also called the early modern or the "Edo". During this period,
the samurai class played a central role in the policing and administration of the
country under the Tokugawa shogunate. The bushidō literature of this time contains
much thought relevant to a warrior class seeking more general application of martial
principles and experience in peacetime, as well as reflection on the land's long
history of war. The literature of this time includes:
The Last Statement of Torii Mototada (1539–1600)
Kuroda Nagamasa (1568–1623)
Nabeshima Naoshige (1538–1618)
Budoshoshinshu by Taira Shigesuke, Daidōji Yūzan (1639–1730)
Hagakure as related by Yamamoto Tsunetomo to Tsuramoto Tashiro.
Miyamoto Musashi killing a
Bugei Juhappan (武芸十八)
giant creature, from The Book of
Five Rings The Hagakure contains many sayings attributed to Sengoku-period retainer
Nabeshima Naoshige (1537–1619) regarding Bushidō related philosophy early in
the 18th century by Yamamoto Tsunetomo (1659–1719), a former retainer to Naoshige's grandson, Nabeshima
Mitsushige. The Hagakure was compiled in the early 18th century, but was kept as a kind of "secret teaching" of the
Nabeshima clan until was the end of the Tokugawa era (1867).[8] His saying "I have found the way of the warrior is
death" was a summation of the focus on honor and reputation over all else that bushido codified.[9]
Tokugawa-era rōnin scholar and strategist Yamaga Sokō (1622–1685) wrote extensively on matters relating to
bushidō, bukyō (a "warrior's creed"), and a more general shido, a "way of gentlemen" intended for application to all
stations of society. Sokō attempts to codify a kind of "universal bushidō" with a special emphasis on "pure" Confucian
values, (rejecting the mystical influences of Tao and Buddhism in Neo-Confucian orthodoxy), while at the same time
calling for recognition of the singular and divine nature of Japan and Japanese culture. These radical concepts —
including ultimate devotion to the Emperor, regardless of rank or clan — put him at odds with the reigning shogunate.
He was exiled to the Akō domain, (the future setting of the 47 Rōnin incident), and his works were not widely read until
the rise of nationalism in the early 20th century.
The aging Tsunetomo's interpretation of bushidō is perhaps more illustrative of the philosophy refined by his unique
station and experience, at once dutiful and defiant, ultimately incompatible with the mores and laws of an emerging
civil society. Of the 47 Rōnin — to this day, generally regarded as exemplars of bushido — Tsunetomo felt they were
remiss in hatching such a wily, delayed plot for revenge, and had been over-concerned with the success of their
undertaking. Instead, Tsunetomo felt true samurai should act without hesitation to fulfill their duties, without regard for
success or failure.
This romantic sentiment is of course expressed by warriors down through history, though it may run counter to the art
of war itself. This ambivalence is found in the heart of bushidō, and perhaps all such "warrior codes". Some
combination of traditional bushidō's organic contradictions and more "universal" or "progressive" formulations, (like
those of Yamaga Soko), would inform Japan's disastrous military ambitions in the 20th century.
19th to 21st centuries [edit]

Recent scholarship in both Japan and abroad has focused on differences between the samurai class and the bushidō
theories that developed in modern Japan. Bushidō in the prewar period was often emperor-centered and placed much
greater value on the virtues of loyalty and self-sacrifice than did many Tokugawa-era interpretations.[10] Bushidō was
used as a propaganda tool by the government and military, who doctored it to suit their needs.[11] Scholars of
Japanese history agree that the bushidō that spread throughout modern Japan was not simply a continuation of
earlier traditions.
More recently, it has been argued that modern bushidō discourse originated in the 1880s as a response to foreign
stimuli, such as the English concept of "gentlemanship," by Japanese with considerable exposure to Western culture.
Nitobe Inazo's bushidō interpretations followed a similar trajectory, although he was following earlier trends. This
relatively pacifistic bushidō was then hijacked and adapted by militarists and the government from the early 1900s
onward as nationalism increased around the time of the Russo-Japanese War.[12]
The junshi suicide of General Nogi Maresuke and his wife on the death of Emperor Meiji occasioned both praise, as
an example to the decaying morals of Japan, and criticism, explicitly declaring that the spirit of bushido thus
exemplified should not be revived.[13]
During pre-World War II and World War II Shōwa Japan, bushido was pressed into use for militarism,[14] to present war
as purifying, and death a duty.[15] This was presented as revitalizing traditional values and "transcending the
modern."[16] Bushido would provide a spiritual shield to let soldiers fight to the end.[17] As the war turned, the spirit of
bushido was invoked to urge that all depended on the firm and united soul of the nation.[18] When the Battle of Attu
was lost, attempts were made to make the more than two thousand Japanese deaths an inspirational epic for the
fighting spirit of the nation.[19] Arguments that the plans for the Battle of Leyte Gulf, involving all Japanese ships,
would expose Japan to serious danger if they failed, were countered with the plea that the Navy be permitted to
"bloom as flowers of death."[20] The first proposals of organized suicide attacks met resistance because while bushido
called for a warrior to be always aware of death, but not to view it as the sole end, but the desperate straits brought
about acceptance.[21] Such attacks were acclaimed as the true spirit of bushido.[22]
Denials of mistreatment of prisoners of war declared that they were being well-treated by virtue of bushido
generosity.[23] Broadcast interviews with prisoners were also described as being not propaganda but out of sympathy
with the enemy, such sympathy as only bushido could inspire.[24]
The famous writer Yukio Mishima was outspoken in his by-then anachronistic commitment to bushido in the 1960s,
until his ritual suicide by seppuku after a failed coup d'état in November 1970.
Tenets [edit]
Bushidō expanded and formalized the earlier code of the samurai, and stressed frugality, loyalty, mastery of martial
arts, and honor to the death. Under the bushidō ideal, if a samurai failed to uphold his honor he could only regain it
by performing seppuku (ritual suicide).
In an excerpt from his book Samurai: The World of the Warrior ,[25] historian Stephen Turnbull describes the role of
seppuku in feudal Japan:
In the world of the warrior, seppuku was a deed of bravery that was admirable in a samurai who knew he
was defeated, disgraced, or mortally wounded. It meant that he could end his days with his
transgressions wiped away and with his reputation not merely intact but actually enhanced. The cutting of
the abdomen released the samurai’s spirit in the most dramatic fashion, but it was an extremely painful
and unpleasant way to die, and sometimes the samurai who was performing the act asked a loyal
comrade to cut off his head at the moment of agony.
Bushidō varied dramatically over time, and across the geographic and socio-economic backgrounds of the samurai,
who represented somewhere between 5% and 10% of the Japanese population.[26] The first Meiji era census at the
end of the 19th century counted 1,282,000 members of the "high samurai", allowed to ride a horse, and 492,000
members of the "low samurai", allowed to wear two swords but not to ride a horse, in a country of about 25 million.[27]
Some versions of Bushidō include compassion for those of lower station, and for the preservation of one's name.[7]
Early bushidō literature further enforces the requirement to conduct oneself with calmness, fairness, justice, and
propriety.[7] The relationship between learning and the way of the warrior is clearly articulated, one being a natural
partner to the other.[7]
Other pundits pontificating on the warrior philosophy covered methods of raising children, appearance, and grooming,
but all of this may be seen as part of one's constant preparation for death — to die a good death with one's honor
intact, the ultimate aim in a life lived according to bushidō. Indeed, a "good death" is its own reward, and by no means
assurance of "future rewards" in the afterlife. Notable samurai, though certainly not all (e.g. Amakusa Shiro), have
throughout history held such aims or beliefs in disdain, or expressed the awareness that their station — as it involves
killing — precludes such reward, especially in Buddhism. On the contrary, the soul of a noble warrior suffering in hell
or as a lingering spirit is a common motif in Japanese art and literature. Bushidō, while exhibiting the influence of Dao
through Zen Buddhism, is a philosophy in contradistinction to religious belief, with a deep commitment to propriety in
this world for propriety's sake.
Seven virtues of Bushidō (as visioned by Nitobe Inazo) [edit]

The Bushidō code is typified by seven virtues:
Righteousness (義 gi ?)
Courage (勇 yū ?)
Benevolence (仁 jin?)
Respect (礼 rei ?)
Sincerity (誠 makoto?)
Honour (名誉 meiyo?)
Loyalty (忠義 chūgi ?)
Associated virtues [edit]

Filial piety (孝 kō ?)
Wisdom (智 chi ?)
Fraternal Respect (悌 tei ?)
Modern translations [edit]

Modern Western translation of documents related to Bushidō began in the 1970s with Carl Steenstrup, who
performed research into the ethical codes of famous Samurai clans including Hōjō Sōun and Imagawa Sadayo.[28]
Primary research into Bushidō was later conducted by William Scott Wilson in his 1982 text Ideals of the Samurai:
Writings of Japanese Warriors. The writings span hundreds of years, family lineage, geography, social class and
writing style — yet share a common set of values. Wilson's work also examined the earliest Japanese writings in the
8th century: the Kojiki, Shoku Nihongi, the Kokin Wakashū, Konjaku Monogatari, and the Heike Monogatari, as well as
the Chinese Classics (the Analects, the Great Learning, the Doctrine of the Mean, and the Mencius).
In May 2008, Thomas Cleary translated a collection of 22 writings on Bushido "by warriors, scholars, political advisers,
and educators". The comprehensive collection provides a historically rich view of samurai life and philosophy. The
book, Training the Samurai Mind: A Bushido Sourcebook, gives an insider's view of the samurai world: "the moral and
psychological development of the warrior, the ethical standards they were meant to uphold, their training in both
martial arts and strategy, and the enormous role that the traditions of Shintoism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism
had in influencing samurai ideals." The translations, in 22 chapters, span nearly 500 years from the 14th to the 19th
centuries.
Major figures associated with Bushidō [edit]

Asano Naganori
Imagawa Ryōshun
Katō Kiyomasa
Sakanoue no Tamuramaro
Tadakatsu Honda
Tokugawa Ieyasu
Torii Mototada
Sasaki Kojirō
Saigō Takamori
Yamaga Sokō
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
Yamaoka Tesshū
Yukio Mishima
Fictional characters associated with Bushidō [edit]

Ogami Itto
Roronoa Zoro
Auron
Cyan Garamonde
Master Splinter
See also [edit]

Budō
Hagakure
Shudō
Japanese martial arts
The Unfettered Mind
Zen
Zen at War
References [edit]
1. ^ "The Zen of Japanese Nationalism," by Robert H. Shart, in Curators of the Buddha, edited by Donald Lopez, p. 111
2. ^ Japanese Feudal Laws John Carey Hall, The Tokugawa Legislation, (Yokohama, 1910), pp. 286-319
3. ^ Ikegami, Eiko, The Taming of the Samurai, Harvard University Press, 1995. p. 278
4. ^ Friday, Karl F. "Bushidō or Bull? A Medieval Historian's Perspective on the Imperial Army and the Japanese Warrior
Tradition" The History Teacher, Vol. 27, No. 3 (May, 1994), pp. 340
5. ^ Arthur May Knapp (1896). "Feudal and Modern Japan" . Retrieved 2010-01-02.[dead link]
6. ^ "The Zen of Japanese Nationalism," by Robert H. Sharf, in Curators of the Buddha, edited by Donald Lopez, p. 111
7. ^ a b c d e William Scott Wilson, Ideals of the Samurai: Writings of Japanese Warriors (Kodansha, 1982) ISBN 0-89750-
081-4
8. ^ "The Samurai Series: The Book of Five Rings, Hagakure -The Way of the Samurai & Bushido - The Soul of Japan"
ELPN Press (November, 2006) ISBN 1-934255-01-7
9. ^ Meirion and Susie Harries, Soldiers of the Sun: The Rise and Fall of the Imperial Japanese Army p 7 ISBN 0-394-
56935-0
10. ^ Eiko Ikegami. The Taming of the Samurai: Honorific Individualism and the Making of Modern Japan. Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press, 1995.
11. ^ Karl Friday. Bushidō or Bull? A Medieval Historian's Perspective on the Imperial Army and the Japanese Warrior
Tradition. The History Teacher, Volume 27, Number 3, May 1994, pages 339-349.[1]
12. ^ Oleg Benesch. Inventing the Way of the Samurai: Nationalism, Internationalism, and Bushido in Modern Japan.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014. ISBN 0198706626, ISBN 9780198706625
13. ^ Herbert P. Bix, Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan p 42-3 ISBN 0-06-019314-X
14. ^ "No Surrender: Background History "
15. ^ David Powers, "Japan: No Surrender in World War Two "
16. ^ John W. Dower, War Without Mercy: Race & Power in the Pacific War p1 ISBN 0-394-50030-X
17. ^ Richard Overy, Why the Allies Won p 6 ISBN 0-393-03925-0
18. ^ Edwin P. Hoyt, Japan's War, p 334 ISBN 0-07-030612-5
19. ^ John Toland, The Rising Sun: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire 1936-1945 p 444 Random House New York
1970
20. ^ John Toland, The Rising Sun: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire 1936-1945 p 539 Random House New York
1970
25. ^ excerpt from Samurai: The World of the Warrior by Stephen Turnbull
26. ^ Cleary, Thomas Training the Samurai Mind: A Bushido Sourcebook Shambhala (May, 2008) ISBN 1-59030-572-8
27. ^ Mikiso Hane Modern Japan: A Historical Survey, Third Edition Westview Press (January, 2001) ISBN 0-8133-3756-9
28. ^ Monumenta Nipponica
External links and further reading [edit]

Oleg Benesch. Inventing the Way of the Samurai: Nationalism, Internationalism, and Bushido in Modern Japan. Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2014. ISBN 0198706626, ISBN 9780198706625
易經道 Yijing Dao, 鳴鶴在陰 Calling crane in the shade, Biroco - The Art of Doing Nothing, 2002-2012, 馬夏 Ma, Xia, et. al.,
[2]
"Bushido Arcade" a Contemporary translation of the Bushido [3]
William Scott Wilson, Ideals of the Samurai: Writings of Japanese Warriors (Kodansha, 1982) ISBN 0-89750-081-4
Training the Samurai Mind: A Bushido Sourcebook by Thomas Cleary 288 pages Shambhala (May 13, 2008) ISBN 1-
59030-572-8 ISBN 978-1590305720
Katsumata Shizuo with Martin Collcutt, "The Development of Sengoku Law," in Hall, Nagahara, and Yamamura (eds.), Japan
Before Tokugawa: Political Consolidation and Economic Growth (1981), chapter 3.
K. A. Grossberg & N. Kanamoto 1981, The Laws of the Muromachi Bakufu: Kemmu Shikimoku (1336) and Muromachi
Bakufu Tsuikaho, MN Monographs (Sophia UP)
Hall, John C. "Japanese Feudal Laws: the Magisterial Code of the Hojo Power Holders (1232) ." Transactions of the Asiatic
Society of Japan 2nd ser. 34 (1906)
"Japanese Feudal laws: The Ashikaga Code." Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan 1st ser. 36 (1908):
John Allyn, "Forty-Seven Ronin Story" ISBN 0-8048-0196-7
Imagawa Ryoshun, The Regulations of Imagawa Ryoshun (1412 A.D.) Imagawa_Ryoshun
Algernon Bertram Freeman-Mitford, 1st Baron Redesdale, Final_Statement_of_the_47_Ronin (1701 A.D.)
The Message Of Master Gokurakuji — Hōjō Shigetoki (1198A.D.-1261A.D.) Hojo_shigetoki
Sunset of the Samurai --The True Story of Saigo Takamori Military History Magazine
Onoda, Hiroo, No Surrender: My Thirty-Year War. Trans. Charles S. Terry. (New York, Kodansha International Ltd, 1974)
ISBN 1-55750-663-9
An interview with William Scott Wilson about Bushidō
Bushidō Website : a good definition of bushidō, including The Samurai Creed
The website of William Scott Wilson A 2005 recipient of the Japanese Government's Japan’s Foreign Minister’s
Commendation, William Scott Wilson was honored for his research on Samurai and Bushidō.
Hojo Shigetoki (1198-1261)and His Role in the History of Political and Ethical Ideas in Japan by Carl Steenstrup; Curzon
Press (1979)ISBN 0-7007-0132-X
A History of Law in Japan Until 1868 by Carl Steenstrup; Brill Academic Publishers;second edition (1996) ISBN 90-04-
10453-4
Bushido — The Soul of Japan by Inazo Nitobe (1905) (ISBN 0-8048-3413-X)
Budoshoshinshu - The Code of The Warrior by Daidōji Yūzan (ISBN 0-89750-096-2)
Hagakure-The Book of the Samurai By Tsunetomo Yamamoto (ISBN 4-7700-1106-7 paperback, ISBN 4-7700-2916-0
hardcover)
Go Rin No Sho - Miyamoto Musashi (1645) (ISBN 4-7700-2801-6 hardback, ISBN 4-7700-2844-X hardback Japan only)
The Unfettered Mind - Writings of the Zen Master to the Sword master by Takuan Sōhō (Musashi's mentor) (ISBN 0-
87011-851-X)
The Religion of the Samurai (1913 original text), by Kaiten Nukariya, 2007 reprint by ELPN Press ISBN 0-9773400-7-4
Tales of Old Japan by Algernon Bertram Freeman-Mitford (1871) reprinted 1910
Sakujiro Yokoyama's Account of a Samurai Sword Duel
Death Before Dishonor By Masaru Fujimoto — Special to The Japan Times: Dec. 15, 2002
Osprey, "Elite and Warrior Series" Assorted. [4]
Stephen Turnbull, “Samurai Warfare” (London, 1996), Cassell & Co ISBN 1-85409-280-4
Lee Teng-hui, former President of the Republic of China, "武士道解題做人的根本蕭志強譯" in Chinese，前衛, "「武士道」解題
―ノーブレス・オブリージュとは" in Japanese，小学館，(2003), ISBN 4-09-387370-4
Categories: Dō Feudal Japan Japanese martial arts terms Military history of Japan Warrior code
Codes of conduct Samurai Bushido
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Seven deadly sins

Main page For other uses, see Seven Deadly Sins (disambiguation).
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Languages 1 Biblical lists
Ænglisc 2 History
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Azərbaycanca 3.1 Lust
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3.2 Gluttony
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3.3 Greed
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Ελληνικά 3.7 Pride
Español 4 Historical sins
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4.1 Acedia
Euskara
‫ﻓﺎرﺳﯽ‬ 4.2 Vainglory
Føroyskt 5 Catholic seven virtues
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Gàidhlig 8 Cultural references
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Kiswahili
Latina with King Solomon, it states that the Lord specifically regards "six things the
Latviešu Lord hateth, and seven that are an abomination unto Him", namely:[4]
Lietuvių
1. A proud look
Magyar
Bahasa Melayu 2. A lying tongue
Nederlands 3. Hands that shed innocent blood
日本語 4. A heart that devises wicked plots
Norsk bokmål 5. Feet that are swift to run into mischief
Norsk nynorsk
6. A deceitful witness that uttereth lies
Polski
Português 7. Him that soweth discord among brethren
Română Another list, given this time by the Epistle to the Galatians (Galatians 5:19-
Русский 21), includes more of the traditional seven sins, although the list is
Simple English
substantially longer: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
Slovenčina
Slovenščina idolatry, sorcery, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, The Holy Spirit and the Seven
Српски / srpski heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, "and such like".[5] Since Deadly Sins . Folio from Walters
Srpskohrvatski / the apostle Paul goes on to say that the persons who practice these sins manuscript W.171 (15th century)
српскохрватски
"shall not inherit the Kingdom of God", they are usually listed as (possible)
Suomi
Svenska mortal sins rather than capital vices.
Tagalog
தமி History [edit]
ెల గ
ไทย The modern concept of the seven deadly sins is linked to the works of the 4th
Türkçe century monk Evagrius Ponticus, who listed eight evil thoughts in Greek as
Українська follows:[6]
Žemaitėška
Γαστριμαργία (gastrimargia) gluttony
中文
Edit links Πορνεία (porneia) prostitution, fornication
Φιλαργυρία (philargyria) avarice
Ὑπερηφανία (hyperēphania) hubris – sometimes rendered as self-
esteem[7]
Λύπη (lypē) sadness – in the Philokalia, this term is rendered as envy,
sadness at another's good fortune
Ὀργή (orgē) wrath
Κενοδοξία (kenodoxia) boasting
Ἀκηδία (akēdia) acedia – in the Philokalia, this term is rendered as
dejection
They were translated into the Latin of Western Christianity (largely due to the An allegorical image depicting the
human heart subject to the seven
writings of John Cassian),[8] thus becoming part of the Western tradition's
deadly sins, each represented by an
spiritual pietas (or Catholic devotions), as follows:[9] animal (clockwise: toad = avarice;
snake = envy; lion = wrath; snail = sloth;
Gula (gluttony)
pig = gluttony; goat = lust; peacock =
Fornicatio (fornication, lust) pride).
Avaritia (avarice/greed)
Superbia (hubris, pride)
Tristitia (sorrow/despair/despondency)
Ira (wrath)
Vanagloria (vainglory)
Acedia (sloth)
These "evil thoughts" can be categorized into three types:[9]
lustful appetite (gluttony, fornication, and avarice)
irascibility (wrath)
intellect (vainglory, sorrow, pride, and Discouragement)
In AD 590, a little over two centuries after Evagrius wrote his list, Pope Gregory I revised this list to form the more
common Seven Deadly Sins, by folding (sorrow/despair/despondency) into acedia, vainglory into pride, and adding
envy.[10] In the order used by Pope Gregory, and repeated by Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) centuries later in his epic
poem The Divine Comedy, the seven deadly sins are as follows:
1. luxuria (lechery/lust)[11][12][13]
2. gula (gluttony)
3. avaritia (avarice/greed)
4. acedia (sloth/discouragement)
5. ira (wrath)
6. invidia (envy)
7. superbia (pride)
The identification and definition of the seven deadly sins over their history has been a fluid process and the idea of
what each of the seven actually encompasses has evolved over time. Additionally, as a result of semantic change:
socordia sloth was substituted for acedia
It is this revised list that Dante uses. The process of semantic change has been aided by the fact that the personality
traits are not collectively referred to, in either a cohesive or codified manner, by the Bible itself; other literary and
ecclesiastical works were instead consulted, as sources from which definitions might be drawn.[citation needed] Part II of
Dante's Divine Comedy, Purgatorio, has almost certainly been the best known source since the
Renaissance.[citation needed]
The modern Catholic Catechism lists the sins in Latin as "superbia, avaritia, invidia, ira, luxuria, gula, pigritia seu
acedia", with an English translation of "pride, avarice, envy, wrath, lust, gluttony, and sloth/acedia".[14] Each of the
seven deadly sins now also has an opposite among corresponding seven holy virtues (sometimes also referred to as
the contrary virtues). In parallel order to the sins they oppose, the seven holy virtues are humility, charity, kindness,
patience, chastity, temperance, and diligence (see below).
Historical and modern definitions [edit]
Lust [edit]
Main article: Lust
Lust, or lechery (carnal "luxuria") is an intense desire. Lust could be exemplified by the intense desire for money,
food, fame, power, or sex.
In Dante's Purgatorio, the penitent walks within flames to purge himself of lustful thoughts and feelings. In Dante's
Inferno, unforgiven souls of the sin of lust are blown about in restless hurricane-like winds symbolic of their own lack
of self-control to their lustful passions in earthly life.
Gluttony [edit]
Main article: Gluttony
Derived from the Latin gluttire, meaning to gulp down or swallow, gluttony
(Latin, gula) is the over-indulgence and over-consumption of anything to the
point of waste.
In Christianity, it is considered a sin if the excessive desire for food causes it
to be withheld from the needy.[15]
Because of these scripts, gluttony can be interpreted as selfishness;
essentially placing concern with one's own interests above the well-being or
interests of others.
Excess
Medieval church leaders (e.g., Thomas Aquinas) took a more expansive view (Albert Anker, 1896)
of gluttony,[15] arguing that it could also include an obsessive anticipation of
meals, and the constant eating of delicacies and excessively costly foods.[16]
Aquinas went so far as to prepare a list of six ways to commit gluttony, comprising:
Praepropere – eating too soon
Laute – eating too expensively
Nimis – eating too much
Ardenter – eating too eagerly
Studiose – eating too daintily
Forente – eating wildly
Greed [edit]
Main article: Greed
Greed (Latin, avaritia), also known as avarice, cupidity or covetousness, is, like
lust and gluttony, a sin of excess. However, greed (as seen by the church) is applied
to a very excessive or rapacious desire and pursuit of material possessions. Thomas
Aquinas wrote, "Greed is a sin against God, just as all mortal sins, in as much as man
condemns things eternal for the sake of temporal things." In Dante's Purgatory, the
penitents were bound and laid face down on the ground for having concentrated too
much on earthly thoughts. Scavenging[citation needed] and hoarding of materials or
objects, theft and robbery, especially by means of violence, trickery, or manipulation
of authority are all actions that may be inspired by Greed. Such misdeeds can include
simony, where one attempts to purchase or sell sacraments, including Holy Orders
and, therefore, positions of authority in the Church hierarchy. 1909 painting The Worship
of Mammon by Evelyn De
As defined outside of Christian writings, greed is an inordinate desire to acquire or Morgan.
possess more than one needs, especially with respect to material wealth.[17]
Sloth [edit]
Main article: Sloth (deadly sin)
Sloth (Latin, acedia) can entail different vices. While sloth is sometimes
defined as physical laziness, spiritual laziness is emphasized. Failing to
develop spiritually is key to becoming guilty of sloth. In the Christian faith,
sloth rejects grace and God.
Sloth has also been defined as a failure to do things that one should do. By
this definition, evil exists when good men fail to act.
Edmund Burke (1729-1797) wrote in Present Discontents (II. 78) "No man,
who is not inflamed by vain-glory into enthusiasm, can flatter himself that his
Sloth
single, unsupported, desultory, unsystematic endeavours are of power to Parable of the Wheat and the Tares by
defeat the subtle designs and united Cabals of ambitious citizens. When bad Abraham Bloemaert, Walters Art
men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one, an Museum
unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle."
Over time, the "acedia" in Pope Gregory's order has come to be closer in meaning to sloth. The focus came to be on
the consequences of acedia rather than the cause, and so, by the 17th century, the exact deadly sin referred to was
believed to be the failure to utilize one's talents and gifts.[citation needed] Even in Dante's time there were signs of this
change; in his Purgatorio he had portrayed the penance for acedia as running continuously at top speed.
Wrath [edit]
Main article: Wrath
Wrath (Latin, ira), also known as "rage", may be described as inordinate and
uncontrolled feelings of hatred and anger. Wrath, in its purest form, presents with self-
destructiveness, violence, and hate that may provoke feuds that can go on for centuries.
Wrath may persist long after the person who did another a grievous wrong is dead.
Feelings of anger can manifest in different ways, including impatience, revenge, and self-
destructive behavior, such as drug abuse or suicide.
Wrath is the only sin not necessarily associated with selfishness or self-interest, although
one can of course be wrathful for selfish reasons, such as jealousy (closely related to the
sin of envy). Dante described vengeance as "love of justice perverted to revenge and
spite". In its original form, the sin of wrath also encompassed anger pointed internally as
well as externally. Thus suicide was deemed as the ultimate, albeit tragic, expression of
hatred directed inwardly, a final rejection of God's gifts.[citation needed]
Wrath,
by Jacob Matham
Envy [edit]
Main article: Envy
Like greed and lust, Envy (Latin, invidia) is characterized by an insatiable desire. Envy is
similar to jealousy in that they both feel discontent towards someone's traits, status,
abilities, or rewards. The difference is the envious also desire the entity and covet it.
Envy can be directly related to the Ten Commandments, specifically, "Neither shall you
desire... anything that belongs to your neighbour." Dante defined this as "a desire to
deprive other men of theirs". In Dante's Purgatory, the punishment for the envious is to
have their eyes sewn shut with wire because they have gained sinful pleasure from
seeing others brought low. Aquinas described envy as "sorrow for another's good".[18]
Envy
Arch in the nave with a
gothic fresco from 1511 of
a man with a dog-head,
which symbolizes envy
(Dalbyneder Church (da),
Denmark)
Pride [edit]
Main article: Pride
In almost every list, pride (Latin, superbia), or hubris (Greek), is considered
the original and most serious of the seven deadly sins, and the source of the
others. It is identified as believing that one is essentially better than others,
failing to acknowledge the accomplishments of others, and excessive
admiration of the personal self (especially holding self out of proper position
toward God). Dante's definition was "love of self perverted to hatred and
contempt for one's neighbour". In Jacob Bidermann's medieval miracle play,
Cenodoxus, pride is the deadliest of all the sins and leads directly to the
damnation of the titulary famed Parisian doctor. In perhaps the best-known Building the Tower of Babel was, for
example, the story of Lucifer, pride (his desire to compete with God) was what Dante, an example of pride. Painting by
Pieter Brueghel the Elder
caused his fall from Heaven, and his resultant transformation into Satan. In
Dante's Divine Comedy, the penitents are burdened with stone slabs on their
necks which force them to keep their heads bowed.
Historical sins [edit]
Acedia [edit]
Main article: Acedia
Acedia (Latin, acedia) (from Greek ἀκηδία) is the neglect to take care of
something that one should do. It is translated to apathetic listlessness;
depression without joy. It is related to melancholy: acedia describes the
behaviour and melancholy suggests the emotion producing it. In early
Christian thought, the lack of joy was regarded as a willful refusal to enjoy the
goodness of God and the world God created; by contrast, apathy was
considered a refusal to help others in time of need.
When Thomas Aquinas described acedia in his interpretation of the list, he
described it as an uneasiness of the mind , being a progenitor for lesser sins Acedia
mosaic, Basilica of Notre-Dame de
such as restlessness and instability. Dante refined this definition further, Fourvière
describing acedia as the failure to love God with all one's heart, all one's mind
and all one's soul; to him it was the middle sin, the only one characterised by
an absence or insufficiency of love. Some scholars[who?] have said that the ultimate form of acedia was despair which
leads to suicide.
Vainglory [edit]
Main article: Vanity
Vainglory (Latin, vanagloria) is unjustified boasting. Pope Gregory viewed it
as a form of pride, so he folded vainglory into pride for his listing of
sins.[citation needed]
The Latin term gloria roughly means boasting, although its English cognate -
glory - has come to have an exclusively positive meaning; historically, vain
roughly meant futile, but by the 14th century had come to have the strong
narcissistic undertones, of irrelevant accuracy, that it retains today.[19] As a
result of these semantic changes, vainglory has become a rarely used word in
itself, and is now commonly interpreted as referring to vanity (in its modern Conversion of the Magdalene' or
narcissistic sense). 'Allegory of Modesty and Vanity by
Bernardino Luini, c. 1520
Catholic seven virtues [edit]

The Catholic Church also recognizes seven virtues, which correspond inversely to each of the seven deadly sins.
Vice Latin Virtue Latin

Lust Luxuria Chastity Castitas
Gluttony Gula Temperance Temperantia
Greed Avaritia Liberality Liberalitas
Sloth Acedia Diligence Industria
Wrath Ira Patience Patientia
Envy Invidia Kindness Humanitas
Pride Superbia Humility Humilitas
Associations with demons [edit]

In 1409-1410 The Lanterne of Light (an anonymous English Lollard tract often erroneously attributed to Wycliffe)[20]
paired each of the deadly sins with a demon, who tempted people by means of the associated sin. According to this
classification system, the pairings are as follows:
Lucifer: pride
Beelzebub: envy (envious)
Aamon: wrath (wraþþe)
Abaddon: sloth (slowȝ)
Mammon: greed - avarice (avarouse) and covetousness (covetise)
Belphegor: gluttony (glotouns)
Asmodeus: lust (leccherouse)
In 1589, Peter Binsfeld again paired each of the deadly sins with a demon, in a slightly contrasting classification
system, whereby the pairings are as follows:[21]
Lucifer: pride (superbia)
Mammon: greed (avaritia)
Asmodeus: lust (luxuria)
Leviathan: envy (invidia)
Beelzebub: gluttony (gula or gullia)
Satan: wrath (ira)
Belphegor: sloth (acedia)
In Marlowe's Doctor Faustus, there is a "parade" of the seven deadly sins that is conducted by Mephistopheles,
Satan, and Beelzebub suggesting that the demons do not match with each deadly sin, but the demons are in
command of the seven deadly sins.
Patterns [edit]
According to a 2009 study by a Jesuit scholar, the most common deadly sin confessed by men is lust, and for women,
pride.[22] It was unclear whether these differences were due to different rates of commission, or different views on
what "counts" or should be confessed.[23]
Cultural references [edit]

The seven deadly sins have long been a source of inspiration for writers and artists, from medieval works such as
Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy, to modern works such as the film Se7en and the manga/anime series Fullmetal
Alchemist, Umineko: When They Cry , Beelzebub, The Seven Deadly Sins, and Reborn!.[citation needed] The seven
deadly sins are seen to take on actual physical form in the Peter Cook and Dudley Moore film Bedazzled (1967 film)
with Robert Russell (Anger), Bary Humphries (Envy), Alba (Vanity), Daniele Noel (Avarice), Parnell McGarry
(Gluttony), Howard Goorney (Sloth) and Raquel Welch (Lust).
See also [edit]

Arishadvargas in Hindu religion
Cardinal virtues
Enneagram of Personality
Five poisons in Buddhism
Five Thieves in Sikhism
Knightly Virtues
Nafs and Tazkiah in Islam
Seven Social Sins written by Mohandas Gandhi
Sufism in Islam
The Seven Sins of Memory
Theological virtues
Tree of virtues
References [edit]
Notes
1. ^ Catechism of the Catholic Church, nn.1856. See also nn.1854–1864.
2. ^ Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 1866.
3. ^ Boyle, Marjorie O'Rourke (1997) [1997-10-23]. "Three: The Flying Serpent". Loyola's Acts: The Rhetoric of the Self .
The New Historicism: Studies in Cultural Poetics, 36. Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 100–146. ISBN 978-0-
520-20937-4.
4. ^ [bible verse Proverbs 6:16–19]
5. ^ Galatians
6. ^ Evagrio Pontico,Gli Otto Spiriti Malvagi , trans., Felice Comello, Pratiche Editrice, Parma, 1990, p.11-12.
7. ^ In the translation of the Philokalia by Palmer, Ware, and Sherrard.
8. ^ Remedies for the Eight Principal Faults
9. ^ a b Refoule, 1967
10. ^ Introduction to Paulist Press edition of John Climacus: The Ladder of Divine Ascent by Kallistos Ware, p63.
11. ^ Godsall-Myers, Jean E. (2003). Speaking in the medieval world . Brill. p. 27. ISBN 90-04-12955-3.
12. ^ Katherine Ludwig, Jansen (2001). The making of the Magdalen: preaching and popular devotion in the later Middle
Ages . Princeton University Press. p. 168. ISBN 0-691-08987-6.
13. ^ Vossler, Karl; Spingarn, Joel Elias (1929). Mediæval Culture: The religious, philosophic, and ethico-political
background of the "Divine Comedy" . University of Michigan: Constable & company. p. 246.
14. ^ "Catechism of the Catholic Church" . Vatican.va. Archived from the original on 2008-03-27. Retrieved 2010-07-24.
15. ^ a b Okholm, Dennis. "Rx for Gluttony" . Christianity Today, Vol. 44, No. 10, September 11, 2000, p.62
16. ^ "Gluttony" . Catholic Encyclopedia.
17. ^ "The Free Dictionary" . The Free Dictionary. 1987-04-01. Retrieved 2010-07-24.
18. ^ "Summa Theologica: Treatise on The Theological Virtues (QQ[1] - 46): Question. 36 - Of Envy (four articles)" .
Sacred-texts.com. Retrieved 2010-01-02.
19. ^ Oxford English dictionary
20. ^ Milford, Humphrey. Introduction, The Lanterne of Liȝt . Oxford University Press, 1917
21. ^ Morton W. Bloomfield, The Seven Deadly Sins, Michigan State College Press, 1952, pp.214-215.
22. ^ "Two sexes 'sin in different ways'" . BBC News. 2009-02-18. Retrieved 2010-07-24.
23. ^ Morning Edition (2009-02-20). "True Confessions: Men And Women Sin Differently" . Npr.org. Retrieved 2010-07-24.
Bibliography
Refoule, F. (1967) Evagrius Ponticus. In Staff of Catholic University of America (Eds.) New Catholic Encyclopaedia.
Volume 5, pp644–645. New York: McGrawHill.
Schumacher, Meinolf (2005): "Catalogues of Demons as Catalogues of Vices in Medieval German Literature: 'Des
Teufels Netz' and the Alexander Romance by Ulrich von Etzenbach." In In the Garden of Evil: The Vices and
Culture in the Middle Ages. Edited by Richard Newhauser, pp. 277–290. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval
Studies.
Further reading [edit]

The Divine Comedy ("Inferno", "Purgatorio", and "Paradiso"), by Dante Alighieri
Summa Theologica, by Thomas Aquinas
The Concept of Sin, by Josef Pieper
The Traveller's Guide to Hell, by Michael Pauls & Dana Facaros
Sacred Origins of Profound Things , by Charles Panati
The Faerie Queene, by Edmund Spenser
The Seven Deadly Sins Series , Oxford University Press (7 vols.)
Rebecca Konyndyk DeYoung, Glittering Vices: A New Look at the Seven Deadly Sins and Their Remedies,
(Grand Rapids: BrazosPress, 2009)
Solomon Schimmel, The Seven Deadly Sins: Jewish, Christian, and Classical Reflections on Human Psychology,
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1997)
"Doctor Faustus" by Christopher Marlowe
External links [edit]

Catholic Catechism on Sin Wikimedia Commons has
Medieval mural depictions - in parish churches of England (online media related to The Seven
Deadly Sins.
catalog, Anne Marshall, Open University)
Stranger, An Allegorical Tale of the Seven Deadly Sins , ISBN 9781311073846
V· T · E· Seven Deadly Sins [hide]

Lust · Gluttony · Greed · Sloth · Wrath · Envy · Pride ·
Persons who categorized
Evagrius Ponticus · John Cassian · Pope Gregory I · Dante Alighieri · Peter Binsfeld ·
and described the Sins
Divine Comedy - Inferno, Purgatorio (Dante) · The Seven Deadly Sins and the Four Last Things
(Bosch) · The Seven Deadly Sins (Weill) · The Seven Deadly Sins (Autant-Lara, Allégret, Dréville,
Representations Rossellini, De Filippo, Rim, Lacombe) · The Seven Deadly Sins (de Broca, Chabrol, Demy, Dhomme,
in art and culture Douy, Godard, Ionesco, Molinaro, Vadim) · The Seven Deadly Sins (Suzuki) ·
The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence (Henson) · The Seven Deadly Sins of Modern Times (White) ·
Seven (Fincher) · House of Anubis: The Re-Awakening · Fullmetal Alchemist ·
Seven Heavenly Virtues · Sin (Christian views on sin) · Christian views on the Old Covenant ·
Related
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Categories: Catholic doctrines Christian hamartiology Christian terminology Cultural lists Sins
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Seven virtues
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In the Catholic catechism, the seven Christian virtues or heavenly virtues refers to the union of two sets of
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are faith, hope, and charity (or love). These were adopted by the Church Fathers as the seven virtues.
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The first virtues were identified by the Greek philosophers Aristotle and Plato, who regarded temperance, wisdom,
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Cite this page justice, and courage as the four most desirable character traits. After the New Testament was written, these four
virtues became known as the cardinal virtues, while faith, hope and charity were referred to as the theological virtues.
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Download as PDF character has a natural foundation... but certainly the latter are cardinal also--that is, hinge virtues; and it is
Printable version convenient to have a single adjective for designating the whole seven".[1]
Languages
Čeština Seven heavenly virtues [edit]
Dansk A list of seven heavenly virtues, to oppose the seven deadly sins, appeared later in an epic poem entitled
Eesti
Psychomachia, or Battle/Contest of the Soul . Written by Aurelius Clemens Prudentius, a Christian governor who died
Español
Français around 410 A.D., it entails the battle between good virtues and evil vices. The enormous popularity of this work in the
Frysk Middle Ages helped to spread the concept of holy virtue throughout Europe. The virtues are identified as chastity,
‫עברית‬ temperance, charity, diligence, patience, kindness, and humility. Practicing them is said to protect one against
Latina temptation from the seven deadly sins, each one having its counterpart. Due to this, they are sometimes referred to
Lietuvių as the "contrary virtues".
Nederlands
Norsk bokmål Virtue Latin Gloss (Sin) (Latin) Virtue's Meaning
Norsk nynorsk
Português Discretion of sexual conduct according to one's state in
Русский life; the practice of courtly love. Cleanliness through
Slovenčina cultivated good health and hygiene, and maintained by
Svenska Purity,
refraining from intoxicants. To be honest with oneself,
Žemaitėška knowledge,
Chastity Castitas Lust Luxuria one's family, one's friends, and to all of humanity.
中文 honesty,
Edit links Embracing of moral wholesomeness and achieving
wisdom
purity of thought-through education and betterment.
The ability to refrain from being distracted and
influenced by hostility, temptation or corruption.[2]
Restraint, temperance, justice. Constant mindfulness of
others and one's surroundings; practicing self-control,
Mensch,
abstention, moderation and deferred gratification.
justice,
Temperance Temperantia Gluttony Gula Prudence to judge between actions with regard to
honour,
appropriate actions at a given time. Proper moderation
abstention
between self-interest, versus public-interest, and
against the rights and needs of others.
Generosity, charity, self-sacrifice; the term should not
be confused with the more restricted modern use of the
word charity to mean benevolent giving. In Christian
theology, charity—or love (agäpé) -- is the greatest of
the three theological virtues.
Love, in the sense of an unlimited loving kindness
Will, towards all others, is held to be the ultimate perfection
benevolence, of the human spirit, because it is said to both glorify
Charity Caritas Avarice Avaritia
generosity, and reflect the nature of God. Such love is self-
sacrifice sacrificial. Confusion can arise from the multiple
meanings of the English word "love". The love that is
"caritas" is distinguished by its origin – being divinely
infused into the soul – and by its residing in the will
rather than emotions, regardless of what emotions it
stirs up. This love is necessary for salvation, and with it
no one can be lost.
A zealous and careful nature in one's actions and work;

decisive work ethic, steadfastness in belief, fortitude,
Persistence, and the capability of not giving up. Budgeting one's
Diligence Industria effort, ethics, Sloth Acedia time; monitoring one's own activities to guard against
rectitude laziness. Upholding one's convictions at all times,
especially when no one else is watching (integrity).
(The vice "acedia" is more commonly known as "sloth".)
Forbearance and endurance through moderation.

Enduring the seemingly unbearable with patience and
Gaman,
dignity. Resolving conflicts and injustice peacefully, as
mercy,
Patience Patientia Wrath Ira opposed to resorting to violence. Accepting the grace
ahimsa,
to forgive;[3] to show mercy to sinners. Creating a
sufferance
sense of peaceful stability and community rather than
suffering, hostility, and antagonism.
Charity, compassion and friendship for its own sake.
Satisfaction,
Empathy and trust without prejudice or resentment.
loyalty,
Kindness Benevolentia Envy Invidia Unselfish love and voluntary kindness without bias or
compassion,
spite. Having positive outlooks and cheerful demeanor;
integrity
to inspire kindness in others.
Modest behavior, selflessness, and the giving of
respect. Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it is
thinking of yourself less. It is a spirit of self-examination;
a hermeneutic of suspicion toward yourself and charity
toward people you disagree with. The courage of the
Bravery,
heart necessary to undertake tasks which are difficult,
modesty,
Humility Humilitas Pride Superbia tedious or unglamorous, and to graciously accept the
reverence,
sacrifices involved. Reverence for those who have
altruism
wisdom and those who selflessly teach in love. Giving
credit where credit is due; not unfairly glorifying one's
own self. Being faithful to promises, no matter how big
or small they may be. Refraining from despair and the
ability to confront fear and uncertainty, or intimidation.[4]
See also [edit]

Bushido
Knightly Virtues
Paradiso
References [edit]
1. ^ The Seven Cardinal Virtues, by James Stalker (1902) - p. 10
2. ^ Hoopes, Tom. "Seven Passion Sins and Virtues" . National Catholic Register. Retrieved 17 May 2013.
3. ^ http://www.presentationministries.com/brochures/BookOnForgiveness.asp
4. ^ Robert Grosseteste II Dicta
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Howard Gardner’s Theory of
Multiple Intelligences
Many of us are familiar with three general categories in which people learn:
visual learners, auditory learners, and kinesthetic learners. Beyond these three
general categories, many theories of and approaches toward human potential
have been developed. Among them is the theory of multiple intelligences,
developed by Howard Gardner, Ph.D., Professor of Education at Harvard
University.
Gardner’s early work in psychology and later in human cognition and human
potential led to the development of the initial six intelligences. Today there are
nine intelligences and the possibility of others may eventually expand the list.
These intelligences (or competencies) relate to a person’s unique aptitude set of
capabilities and ways they might prefer to demonstrate intellectual abilities.
Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences

1. Verbal-linguistic intelligence (well-developed verbal skills and
sensitivity to the sounds, meanings and rhythms of words)
2. Logical-mathematical intelligence (ability to think conceptually and
abstractly, and capacity to discern logical and numerical patterns)
3. Spatial-visual intelligence (capacity to think in images and pictures, to
visualize accurately and abstractly)
4. Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence (ability to control one’s body movements
and to handle objects skillfully)
5. Musical intelligences (ability to produce and appreciate rhythm, pitch
and timber)
6. Interpersonal intelligence (capacity to detect and respond appropriately
to the moods, motivations and desires of others)
7. Intrapersonal (capacity to be self-aware and in tune with inner feelings,
values, beliefs and thinking processes)
8. Naturalist intelligence (ability to recognize and categorize plants,
animals and other objects in nature)
9. Existential intelligence (sensitivity and capacity to tackle deep questions
about human existence such as, What is the meaning of life? Why do we
Human potential can be die? How did we get here?
tied to one’s preferences (Source: Thirteen ed online, 2004)
to learning…
Human Potential
Human potential can be tied to one’s preferences to learning; thus, Gardner’s
focus on human potential lies in the fact that people have a unique blend of
capabilities and skills (intelligences). This model can be used to understand
“overall personality, preferences and strengths” (businessballs.com, n.d.).
Gardner asserts that people who have an affinity toward one of the intelligences
do so in concert with the other intelligences as “they develop skills and solve
problems” (businessballs.com, 2009).
Northern Illinois University, Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center

facdev@niu.edu, www.niu.edu/facdev, 815.753.0595
HOWARD GARDNER’S THEORY OF MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES Page | 2
People have different strengths and intelligences. For example, students who are
“interviewed” as a means to gain access to a course may be mis-labeled as being
less than desirable because of inappropriate assessment (poorly written interview
questions, bias toward a perceived “perfect student,” and other narrow criteria).
“In life, we need people who collectively are good at different things. A well-
balanced world, and well-balanced organizations and teams, are necessarily
comprised of people who possess different mixtures of intelligences. This gives
that group a fuller collective capacity than a group of identical able specialists”
(businessballs.com, 2009).
Gardner’s multiple intelligences theory can be used for curriculum development,

planning instruction, selection of course activities, and related assessment
Instruction which is strategies. Instruction which is designed to help students develop their strengths
designed to help students can also trigger their confidence to develop areas in which they are not as strong.
develop their strengths Students’ multiple learning preferences can be addressed when instruction
can also trigger their includes a range of meaningful and appropriate methods, activities, and
confidence to develop assessments.
areas in which they are
not as strong. Summary
In summary, integrate educational theories, teaching strategies, and other
pedagogic tools in meaningful and useful ways to better address the needs of
students. Gardner himself asserts that educators should not follow one specific
theory or educational innovation when designing instruction but instead employ
customized goals and values appropriate to their teaching and student needs.
Addressing the multiple intelligences and potential of students can help
instructors personalize their instruction and methods of assessment.
Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences

Table 1 below highlights the primary seven intelligences with further details on
their attributes. Refer to this chart as you prepare instruction, related activities,
and assessments.
Adapted from businessballs.com (2009)

Table 1
LINGUISTIC
Intelligence
Learning style Tasks, activities and

Description Roles
and preferences assessments
Words and — written and spoken words — copywriters — edit a peer’s paper
language
— interpretation and — editors — give an oral presentation
explanation of ideas and
— historians — list the strengths and
information via language
weaknesses of a product
— journalists
— understands relationship
— write a eulogy
between communication — lawyers
and meaning — write directions to
— linguists
accompany a map
— poets
— PR and media
consultants
— speakers
— teachers
professors
— trainers
— translators
— TV and radio
presenters
— voice-over artists
— writer

LOGICAL-MATHEMATICAL
Intelligence
Learning style Tasks, activities

Description Roles
and preferences and assessments
Logic and — analyze problems — analysts — analyze how a computer

numbers works
— detecting patterns — arbitrators
— assess the value of a business
— perform mathematical — bankers
or a proposition
calculations
— certified public
— create a process
— scientific reasoning and accountants
deduction — devise a strategy to achieve
— computer
an aim
— understands relationship programmers
between cause and effect accountants — perform a mental
toward a tangible outcome mathematical calculation,
— engineers
or result create a process to measure
— insurance something
brokers
negotiators
— researchers
— scientists
— statisticians
— traders

MUSICAL
Intelligence

Description Roles
Music, sound, — awareness, appreciation — acoustic — coach someone to play a

rhythm and use of sound engineers musical instrument
— recognition of tonal and — composers — compose media jingles
rhythmic patterns
— DJs — identify music for malls and
— understands relationship retail stores
— entertainers
between sound and feeling
— lead a choir
— environment and
noise analysts — perform a musical piece
— music producers — review a musical play
— musical — whistle a tune
instrument repair
specialists
— musical
performers
— singers
— voice coaches

BODILY KINESTHETIC
Intelligence

Description Roles
Body movement — eye and body — anthropologists — arrange workplace furniture

control coordination
— athletes — demonstrate a sports
— manual dexterity technique
— biologists
— physical agility and — design a window display
— dancers
balance
— interpret a speech using
— geologists
American sign language
— instrumentalists
— prepare samples for
— nurses magnification and testing
— physical education — put together a piece of
teachers modular furniture
— physical therapists — ride a horse
— physicians actors — stack books on a shelf
— sign-language
interpreters

SPACIAL-VISUAL
Intelligence

Description Roles
Spatial-visual — interpretation and creation — architects — compose a photograph

Images and of visual images, pictorial
— artists — create an organizational logo
space imagination and
expression — cartographers — design a building
— understands relationships — city-planners — design a historic costume
between images
— engineers — design a landscape
and meanings and
between space — graphic designers — interpret a painting
and effect — inventors — organize a storage room
— landscape — pack an automobile trunk
architects
— paint a landscape
— photographers
— sculptors

INTERPERSONAL
Intelligence
Learning style
Tasks, activities and
and Description Roles
assessments
preferences
Other people’s — ability to relate to others — advertising — affect the feelings of others
feelings professionals in a planned way
— interpretation of behavior
and communications — care givers — coach or council another
person
— understands the — coaches and
relationship between mentors — demonstrate feelings though
people and their situations, body language
— counselors
including other people
— interpret moods from facial
— educators
expressions
— health providers
— mentor a new faculty
— HR professional member
— mediators
— politicians
— psychologists
— sales-people
— teachers
— therapists
— trainers

INTRAPERSONAL
Intelligence
Learning style
Tasks, activities and
and Description Roles
assessments
preferences
Self-awareness — one’s own needs for and — one who is self- — consider and decide one’s
reaction to change, ability aware and own aims and personal
to deal with change in the involved in the changes required to achieve
workplace process of them (not necessarily reveal
changing this to others)
— one’s relationship to others
personal
and the world — consider and decide one’s
thoughts, beliefs,
own position in relation to
— personal cognizance and behavior in
the Emotional Intelligence
— personal objectivity relation to their
Model
situation
— the capability to
— other people,
understand oneself
their purpose and
aims
References
businessballs.com (2009). Howard Gardner’s multiple intelligences.
http://www.businessballs.com/howardgardnermultipleintelligences.htm.
Thirteen ed online (2004). Tapping into multiple intelligences.

http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/mi/index.html
Selected Resources
Armstrong, T. (2010). Multiple intelligences.
http://www.thomasarmstrong.com/multiple_intelligences.htm
Howard Gardner. (2010). Multiple intelligences.

http://www.howardgardner.com/MI/mi.html

Howard Gardner of Harvard has identified seven distinct intelligences. This theory has emerged from recent
cognitive research and "documents the extent to which students possess different kinds of minds and
therefore learn, remember, perform, and understand in different ways," according to Gardner (1991).
According to this theory, "we are all able to know the world through language, logical-mathematical analysis,
spatial representation, musical thinking, the use of the body to solve problems or to make things, an
understanding of other individuals, and an understanding of ourselves. Where individuals differ is in the
strength of these intelligences - the so-called profile of intelligences -and in the ways in which such
intelligences are invoked and combined to carry out different tasks, solve diverse problems, and progress
in various domains."
Gardner says that these differences "challenge an educational system that assumes that everyone can learn
the same materials in the same way and that a uniform, universal measure suffices to test student learning.
Indeed, as currently constituted, our educational system is heavily biased toward linguistic modes of
instruction and assessment and, to a somewhat lesser degree, toward logical-quantitative modes as well."
Gardner argues that "a contrasting set of assumptions is more likely to be educationally effective. Students
learn in ways that are identifiably distinctive. The broad spectrum of students - and perhaps the society as a
whole - would be better served if disciplines could be presented in a numbers of ways and learning could be
assessed through a variety of means." The learning styles are as follows:
Visual-Spatial - think in terms of physical space, as do architects and sailors. Very aware of their
environments. They like to draw, do jigsaw puzzles, read maps, daydream. They can be taught through
drawings, verbal and physical imagery. Tools include models, graphics, charts, photographs, drawings, 3-D
modeling, video, videoconferencing, television, multimedia, texts with pictures/charts/graphs.
Bodily-kinesthetic - use the body effectively, like a dancer or a surgeon. Keen sense of body awareness.
They like movement, making things, touching. They communicate well through body language and be taught
through physical activity, hands-on learning, acting out, role playing. Tools include equipment and real
objects.
Musical - show sensitivity to rhythm and sound. They love music, but they are also sensitive to sounds in
their environments. They may study better with music in the background. They can be taught by turning
lessons into lyrics, speaking rhythmically, tapping out time. Tools include musical instruments, music, radio,
stereo, CD-ROM, multimedia.
Interpersonal - understanding, interacting with others. These students learn through interaction. They have
many friends, empathy for others, street smarts. They can be taught through group activities, seminars,
dialogues. Tools include the telephone, audio conferencing, time and attention from the instructor, video
conferencing, writing, computer conferencing, E-mail.
Intrapersonal - understanding one's own interests, goals. These learners tend to shy away from others.
They're in tune with their inner feelings; they have wisdom, intuition and motivation, as well as a strong will,
confidence and opinions. They can be taught through independent study and introspection. Tools include
books, creative materials, diaries, privacy and time. They are the most independent of the learners.
Linguistic - using words effectively. These learners have highly developed auditory skills and often think in
words. They like reading, playing word games, making up poetry or stories. They can be taught by
encouraging them to say and see words, read books together. Tools include computers, games,
multimedia, books, tape recorders, and lecture.
Logical -Mathematical - reasoning, calculating. Think conceptually, abstractly and are able to see and
explore patterns and relationships. They like to experiment, solve puzzles, ask cosmic questions. They can
be taught through logic games, investigations, mysteries. They need to learn and form concepts before they
can deal with details.
At first, it may seem impossible to teach to all learning styles. However, as we move into using a mix of
media or multimedia, it becomes easier. As we understand learning styles, it becomes apparent why
multimedia appeals to learners and why a mix of media is more effective. It satisfies the many types of
learning preferences that one person may embody or that a class embodies. A review of the literature
shows that a variety of decisions must be made when choosing media that is appropriate to learning style.
Visuals: Visual media help students acquire concrete concepts, such as object identification, spatial
relationship, or motor skills where words alone are inefficient.
Printed words: There is disagreement about audio's superiority to print for affective objectives; several
models do not recommend verbal sound if it is not part of the task to be learned.
Sound: A distinction is drawn between verbal sound and non-verbal sound such as music. Sound media
are necessary to present a stimulus for recall or sound recognition. Audio narration is recommended for
poor readers.
Motion: Models force decisions among still, limited movement, and full movement visuals. Motion is used
to depict human performance so that learners can copy the movement. Several models assert that motion
may be unnecessary and provides decision aid questions based upon objectives. Visual media which
portray motion are best to show psychomotor or cognitive domain expectations by showing the skill as a
model against which students can measure their performance.
Color: Decisions on color display are required if an object's color is relevant to what is being learned.
Realia: Realia are tangible, real objects which are not models and are useful to teach motor and cognitive
skills involving unfamiliar objects. Realia are appropriate for use with individuals or groups and may be
situation based. Realia may be used to present information realistically but it may be equally important that
the presentation corresponds with the way learner's represent information internally.
Instructional Setting: Design should cover whether the materials are to be used in a home or instructional
setting and consider the size what is to be learned. Print instruction should be delivered in an individualized
mode which allows the learner to set the learning pace. The ability to provide corrective feedback for
individual learners is important but any medium can provide corrective feedback by stating the correct
answer to allow comparison of the two answers.
Learner Characteristics: Most models consider learner characteristics as media may be differentially
effective for different learners. Although research has had limited success in identifying the media most
suitable for types of learners several models are based on this method.
Reading ability : Pictures facilitate learning for poor readers who benefit more from speaking than from
writing because they understand spoken words; self-directed good readers can control the pace; and print
allows easier review.
Categories of Learning Outcomes : Categories ranged from three to eleven and most include some or all
of Gagne's (1977) learning categories; intellectual skills, verbal information, motor skills, attitudes, and
cognitive strategies. Several models suggest a procedure which categorizes learning outcomes, plans
instructional events to teach objectives, identifies the type of stimuli to present events, and media capable
of presenting the stimuli.
Events of Instruction : The external events which support internal learning processes are called events of
instruction. The events of instruction are planned before selecting the media to present it.
Performance: Many models discuss eliciting performance where the student practices the task which sets
the stage for reinforcement. Several models indicate that the elicited performance should be categorized by
type; overt, covert, motor, verbal, constructed, and select. Media should be selected which is best able to
elicit these responses and the response frequency. One model advocates a behavioral approach so that
media is chosen to elicit responses for practice. To provide feedback about the student's response, an
interactive medium might be chosen, but any medium can provide feedback. Learner characteristics such
as error proneness and anxiety should influence media selection.
Testing which traditionally is accomplished through print, may be handled by electronic media. Media are
better able to assess learners' visual skills than are print media and can be used to assess learner
performance in realistic situations.
from "The Distance Learning Technology Resource Guide," by Carla Lane

Home Bio Books & Videos Resources Keynotes & Workshops Press Kit Video Clips Contact Blog
order my books at
The theory of multiple intelligences was developed in 1983 by Dr. Howard Gardner, professor of education at Harvard University. It
suggests that the traditional notion of intelligence, based on I.Q. testing, is far too limited. Instead, Dr. Gardner proposes eight
different intelligences to account for a broader range of human potential in children and adults. These intelligences are:
Linguistic intelligence ("word smart")

Logical-mathematical intelligence ("number/reasoning smart")
Spatial intelligence ("picture smart")
Bodily-Kinesthetic intelligence ("body smart")
Musical intelligence ("music smart")
Interpersonal intelligence ("people smart")
Intrapersonal intelligence ("self smart")
Naturalist intelligence ("nature smart")
Dr. Gardner says that our schools and culture focus most of their attention on linguistic and logical-mathematical intelligence. We
esteem the highly articulate or logical people of our culture. However, Dr. Gardner says that we should also place equal attention
on individuals who show gifts in the other intelligences: the artists, architects, musicians, naturalists, designers, dancers,
therapists, entrepreneurs, and others who enrich the world in which we live. Unfortunately, many children who have these gifts
don’t receive much reinforcement for them in school. Many of these kids, in fact, end up being labeled "learning disabled," "ADD
(attention deficit disorder," or simply underachievers, when their unique ways of thinking and learning aren’t addressed by a heavily
linguistic or logical-mathematical classroom. The theory of multiple intelligences proposes a major transformation in the way our
schools are run. It suggests that teachers be trained to present their lessons in a wide variety of ways using music, cooperative
learning, art activities, role play, multimedia, field trips, inner reflection, and much more (see Multiple Intelligences in the
Classroom). The good news is that the theory of multiple intelligences has grabbed the attention of many educators around the
country, and hundreds of schools are currently using its philosophy to redesign the way it educates children. The bad news is that
there are thousands of schools still out there that teach in the same old dull way, through dry lectures, and boring worksheets and
textbooks. The challenge is to get this information out to many more teachers, school administrators, and others who work with
children, so that each child has the opportunity to learn in ways harmonious with their unique minds (see In Their Own Way).
The theory of multiple intelligences also has strong implications for adult learning and development. Many adults find themselves
in jobs that do not make optimal use of their most highly developed intelligences (for example, the highly bodily-kinesthetic
individual who is stuck in a linguistic or logical desk-job when he or she would be much happier in a job where they could move
around, such as a recreational leader, a forest ranger, or physical therapist). The theory of multiple intelligences gives adults a
whole new way to look at their lives, examining potentials that they left behind in their childhood (such as a love for art or drama)
but now have the opportunity to develop through courses, hobbies, or other programs of self-development (see 7 Kinds of Smart).
How to Teach or Learn Anything 8 Different Ways
One of the most remarkable features of the theory of multiple intelligences is how it provides eight different potential pathways to
learning. If a teacher is having difficulty reaching a student in the more traditional linguistic or logical ways of instruction, the
theory of multiple intelligences suggests several other ways in which the material might be presented to facilitate effective
learning. Whether you are a kindergarten teacher, a graduate school instructor, or an adult learner seeking better ways of pursuing
self-study on any subject of interest, the same basic guidelines apply. Whatever you are teaching or learning, see how you might
connect it with
words (linguistic intelligence)

numbers or logic (logical-mathematical intelligence)
pictures (spatial intelligence)
music (musical intelligence)
self-reflection (intrapersonal intelligence)
a physical experience (bodily-kinesthetic intelligence)
a social experience (interpersonal intelligence), and/or
an experience in the natural world. (naturalist intelligence)
For example, if you’re teaching or learning about the law of supply and demand in economics, you might read about it (linguistic),
study mathematical formulas that express it (logical-mathematical), examine a graphic chart that illustrates the principle (spatial),
observe the law in the natural world (naturalist) or in the human world of commerce (interpersonal); examine the law in terms of
your own body [e.g. when you supply your body with lots of food, the hunger demand goes down; when there's very little supply,
your stomach's demand for food goes way up and you get hungry] (bodily-kinesthetic and intrapersonal); and/or write a song (or
find an existing song) that demonstrates the law (perhaps Dylan's "Too Much of Nothing?").
You don’t have to teach or learn something in all eight ways, just see what the possibilities are, and then decide which particular
pathways interest you the most, or seem to be the most effective teaching or learning tools. The theory of multiple intelligences is
so intriguing because it expands our horizon of available teaching/learning tools beyond the conventional linguistic and logical
methods used in most schools (e.g. lecture, textbooks, writing assignments, formulas, etc.). To get started, put the topic of
whatever you’re interested in teaching or learning about in the center of a blank sheet of paper, and draw eight straight lines or
"spokes" radiating out from this topic. Label each line with a different intelligence. Then start brainstorming ideas for teaching or
learning that topic and write down ideas next to each intelligence (this is a spatial-linguistic approach of brainstorming; you might
want to do this in other ways as well, using a tape-recorder, having a group brainstorming session, etc.). Have fun!
Resources
Armstrong, Thomas. Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom 3rd ed. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and
Curriculum Development, 2009.
Armstrong, Thomas. 7 Kinds of Smart: Identifying and Developing Your Many Intelligences. New York: Plume, 1999.
Armstrong, Thomas. In Their Own Way: Discovering and Encouraging Your Child's Personal Learning Style, New York:
Tarcher/Putnam, 1987.
Armstrong, Thomas. You’re Smarter Than You Think: A Kid’s Guide to Multiple Intelligences. Minneapolis, MN: Free
Spirit, 2002.
Armstrong, Thomas. The Multiple Intelligences of Reading and Writing: Making the Words Come Alive. Alexandria, VA:
Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development, 2003.
Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, Multiple Intelligences CD-ROM, and Multiple Intelligences Video
Series; 1250 N. Pitt St., Alexandria, VA 22314-1453 (800-933-2723).
Gardner, Howard. Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences. New York: Basic,1983
Gardner, Howard. Multiple Intelligences: The Theory in Practice. New York: Basic, 1993.
Gardner, Howard. Intelligence Reframed: Multiple Intelligences for the 21st Century. New York: Basic, 2000.
National Professional Resources, 25 South Regent St., Port Chester, NY 10573, 914-937-8879. Producer of several videos
on MI including, Howard Gardner, "How Are Kids Smart?" Jo Gusman, "MI and the Second Language Learner", and
Thomas Armstrong, Multiple Intelligences: Discovering the Giftedness in All".
New City School, Celebrating Multiple Intelligences ( 5209 Waterman Ave., St. Louis, MO 63108).
Skylight Publications, 200 E. Wood St., Suite 250, Palatine, IL 60067 (div. Simon and Schuster). Publisher of many MI
materials.
Zephyr Press, PO Box 66006, Tucson, AZ 85728 (602-322-5090). Publisher of many MI materials.
Click Here To Schedule a Speaking Engagement with Dr. Armstrong
Copyright © 2013 Dr. ThomasArmstrong Website Design: GraphicSmiths

Theory of multiple intelligences

Main page The theory of multiple intelligences is a theory of intelligence that differentiates it into specific (primarily sensory)
Contents "modalities", rather than seeing intelligence as dominated by a single general ability. This model was proposed by
Featured content Howard Gardner in his 1983 book Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences . Gardner articulated seven
Current events
criteria for a behavior to be considered an intelligence.[1] These were that the intelligences showed: potential for brain
Random article
Donate to Wikipedia isolation by brain damage, place in evolutionary history, presence of core operations, susceptibility to encoding
Wikimedia Shop (symbolic expression), a distinct developmental progression, the existence of savants, prodigies and other exceptional
people, and support from experimental psychology and psychometric findings.
Interaction
Help Gardner chose eight abilities that he held to meet these criteria:[2] musical–rhythmic, visual–spatial, verbal–linguistic,
About Wikipedia logical–mathematical, bodily–kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalistic. He later suggested that
Community portal existential and moral intelligence may also be worthy of inclusion.[3] Although the distinction between intelligences has
Recent changes
been set out in great detail, Gardner opposes the idea of labeling learners to a specific intelligence. Each individual
Contact page
possesses a unique blend of all the intelligences. Gardner firmly maintains that his theory of multiple intelligences
Tools should "empower learners", not restrict them to one modality of learning.[4]
What links here
Related changes Gardner argues intelligence is categorized into three primary or overarching categories, those of which are
Upload file formulated by the abilities. According to Gardner, intelligence is: 1) The ability to create an effective product or offer a
Special pages service that is valued in a culture, 2) a set of skills that make it possible for a person to solve problems in life, and 3)
Permanent link the potential for finding or creating solutions for problems, which involves gathering new knowledge.[5]
Page information
Wikidata item Gardner's ideas have been widely debated by psychologists, brain researchers, cultural analysts, and educational
Cite this page theorists. There are also ongoing debates about how Gardner's theory could (or should) be applied in schools and
Print/export other domains.
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Printable version Contents [hide]
Languages 1 Intelligence modalities
‫اﻟﻌرﺑﯾﺔ‬ 1.1 Musical–rhythmic and harmonic
Български 1.2 Visual–spatial
Català 1.3 Verbal–linguistic
Dansk
1.4 Logical–mathematical
Deutsch
Eesti
1.5 Bodily–kinesthetic
Español 1.6 Interpersonal
Esperanto 1.7 Intrapersonal
Euskara 1.8 Naturalistic
‫ﻓﺎرﺳﯽ‬ 1.9 Existential
Français 2 Critical reception
2.1 Definition of intelligence
िह दी
Íslenska 2.2 Neo-Piagetian criticism
‫עברית‬ 2.3 IQ tests
Latina 2.4 Lack of empirical evidence
Lietuvių 3 Use in education
Magyar 4 See also
മലയാളം 5 External Links
Nederlands
6 References
Norsk bokmål
ਪੰਜਾਬੀ 7 Further reading
Polski
Português
Русский Intelligence modalities [edit]
Slovenščina
Suomi Musical–rhythmic and harmonic [edit]
Tagalog Main article: Musicality
Türkçe
Tiếng Việt This area has to do with sensitivity to sounds, rhythms, tones, and music. People with a high musical intelligence
中文 normally have good pitch and may even have absolute pitch, and are able to sing, play musical instruments, and
Edit links compose music. They have sensitivity to rhythm, pitch, meter, tone, melody or timbre.[6][7]
Visual–spatial [edit]
Main article: Spatial intelligence (psychology)
This area deals with spatial judgment and the ability to visualize with the mind's eye. Spatial ability is one of the three
factors beneath g in the hierarchical model of intelligence.[7]
Verbal–linguistic [edit]
Main article: Linguistic intelligence
People with high verbal-linguistic intelligence display a facility with words and languages. They are typically good at
reading, writing, telling stories and memorizing words along with dates.[7] Verbal ability is one of the most g-loaded
abilities.[8] This type of intelligence is measured with the Verbal IQ in WAIS-III.
Logical–mathematical [edit]
Further information: Reason
This area has to do with logic, abstractions, reasoning, numbers and critical thinking.[7] This also has to do with
having the capacity to understand the underlying principles of some kind of causal system.[6] Logical reasoning is
closely linked to fluid intelligence and to general intelligence (g factor).[9]
Bodily–kinesthetic [edit]
Further information: Gross motor skill and Fine motor skill
The core elements of the bodily-kinesthetic intelligence are control of one's bodily motions and the capacity to handle
objects skillfully.[7] Gardner elaborates to say that this also includes a sense of timing, a clear sense of the goal of a
physical action, along with the ability to train responses.
People who have high bodily-kinesthetic intelligence should be generally good at physical activities such as sports,
dance, acting, and making things.
Gardner believes that careers that suit those with high bodily-kinesthetic intelligence include: athletes, dancers,
musicians, actors, builders, police officers, and soldiers. Although these careers can be duplicated through virtual
simulation, they will not produce the actual physical learning that is needed in this intelligence.[10]
Interpersonal [edit]
Main article: Social skills
This area has to do with interaction with others.[7] In theory, individuals who have high interpersonal intelligence are
characterized by their sensitivity to others' moods, feelings, temperaments and motivations, and their ability to
cooperate in order to work as part of a group. According to Gardner in How Are Kids Smart: Multiple Intelligences in
the Classroom, "Inter- and Intra- personal intelligence is often misunderstood with being extroverted or liking other
people..."[11] Those with high interpersonal intelligence communicate effectively and empathize easily with others, and
may be either leaders or followers. They often enjoy discussion and debate.
Gardner believes that careers that suit those with high interpersonal intelligence include sales persons, politicians,
managers, teachers, counselors and social workers.[12]
Intrapersonal [edit]
Further information: Introspection
This area has to do with introspective and self-reflective capacities. This refers to having a deep understanding of the
self; what one's strengths/ weaknesses are, what makes one unique, being able to predict one's own
reactions/emotions.
Naturalistic [edit]
This area has to do with nurturing and relating information to one’s natural surroundings.[7] Examples include
classifying natural forms such as animal and plant species and rocks and mountain types. This ability was clearly of
value in our evolutionary past as hunters, gatherers, and farmers; it continues to be central in such roles as botanist
or chef.[6] This sort of ecological receptiveness is deeply rooted in a "sensitive, ethical, and holistic understanding" of
the world and its complexities–including the role of humanity within the greater ecosphere.[13]
Existential [edit]
Main article: Spiritual intelligence
Some proponents of multiple intelligence theory proposed spiritual or religious intelligence as a possible additional
type. Gardner did not want to commit to a spiritual intelligence, but suggested that an "existential" intelligence may be
a useful construct.[14] The hypothesis of an existential intelligence has been further explored by educational
researchers.[15]
Critical reception [edit]
Gardner argues that there is a wide range of cognitive abilities, but that there are only very weak correlations among
them. For example, the theory postulates that a child who learns to multiply easily is not necessarily more intelligent
than a child who has more difficulty on this task. The child who takes more time to master multiplication may best learn
to multiply through a different approach, may excel in a field outside mathematics, or may be looking at and
understanding the multiplication process at a fundamentally deeper level.
Intelligence tests and psychometrics have generally found high correlations between different aspects of intelligence,
rather than the low correlations which Gardner's theory predicts, supporting the prevailing theory of general
intelligence rather than multiple intelligences (MI).[16] The theory has been widely criticized by mainstream psychology
for its lack of empirical evidence, and its dependence on subjective judgement.[17]
Definition of intelligence [edit]

One major criticism of the theory is that it is ad hoc: that Gardner is not expanding the definition of the word
"intelligence", but rather denies the existence of intelligence as traditionally understood, and instead uses the word
"intelligence" where other people have traditionally used words like "ability" and "aptitude". This practice has been
criticized by Robert J. Sternberg,[18][19] Eysenck,[20] and Scarr.[21] White (2006) points out that Gardner's selection
and application of criteria for his "intelligences" is subjective and arbitrary, and that a different researcher would likely
have come up with different criteria.[22]
Defenders of MI theory argue that the traditional definition of intelligence is too narrow, and thus a broader definition
more accurately reflects the differing ways in which humans think and learn.[23]
Some criticisms arise from the fact that Gardner has not provided a test of his multiple intelligences. He originally
defined it as the ability to solve problems that have value in at least one culture, or as something that a student is
interested in. He then added a disclaimer that he has no fixed definition, and his classification is more of an artistic
judgment than fact:
Ultimately, it would certainly be desirable to have an algorithm for the selection of an intelligence, such
that any trained researcher could determine whether a candidate's intelligence met the appropriate
criteria. At present, however, it must be admitted that the selection (or rejection) of a candidate's
intelligence is reminiscent more of an artistic judgment than of a scientific assessment.[24]
Generally, linguistic and logical-mathematical abilities are called intelligences, but artistic, musical, athletic, etc.
abilities are not. Gardner argues this causes the former to be needlessly aggrandized. Certain critics balk at this
widening of the definition, saying that it ignores "the connotation of intelligence ... [which] has always connoted the
kind of thinking skills that makes one successful in school."[25]
Gardner writes "I balk at the unwarranted assumption that certain human abilities can be arbitrarily singled out as
intelligence while others cannot."[26] Critics hold that given this statement, any interest or ability can be redefined as
"intelligence". Thus, studying intelligence becomes difficult, because it diffuses into the broader concept of ability or
talent. Gardner's addition of the naturalistic intelligence and conceptions of the existential and moral intelligences are
seen as fruits of this diffusion. Defenders of the MI theory would argue that this is simply a recognition of the broad
scope of inherent mental abilities, and that such an exhaustive scope by nature defies a one-dimensional
classification such as an IQ value.
The theory and definitions have been critiqued by Perry D. Klein as being so unclear as to be tautologous and thus
unfalsifiable. Having a high musical ability means being good at music while at the same time being good at music is
explained by having a high musical ability.[27]
Neo-Piagetian criticism [edit]

Andreas Demetriou suggests that theories which overemphasize the autonomy of the domains are as simplistic as the
theories that overemphasize the role of general intelligence and ignore the domains. He agrees with Gardner that
there are indeed domains of intelligence that are relevantly autonomous of each other.[28] Some of the domains, such
as verbal, spatial, mathematical, and social intelligence are identified by most lines of research in psychology. In
Demetriou's theory, one of the neo-Piagetian theories of cognitive development, Gardner is criticized for
underestimating the effects exerted on the various domains of intelligences by the various subprocesses that define
overall processing efficiency, such as speed of processing, executive functions, working memory, and meta-cognitive
processes underlying self-awareness and self-regulation. All of these processes are integral components of general
intelligence that regulate the functioning and development of different domains of intelligence.[29]
The domains are to a large extent expressions of the condition of the general processes, and may vary because of
their constitutional differences but also differences in individual preferences and inclinations. Their functioning both
channels and influences the operation of the general processes.[30][31] Thus, one cannot satisfactorily specify the
intelligence of an individual or design effective intervention programs unless both the general processes and the
domains of interest are evaluated.[32][33]
IQ tests [edit]
Gardner argues that IQ tests only measure linguistic and logical-mathematical abilities. He argues the importance of
assessing in an "intelligence-fair" manner. While traditional paper-and-pen examinations favour linguistic and logical
skills, there is a need for intelligence-fair measures that value the distinct modalities of thinking and learning that
uniquely define each intelligence.[7]
Psychologist Alan S. Kaufman points out that IQ tests have measured spatial abilities for 70 years.[34] Modern IQ tests
are greatly influenced by the Cattell-Horn-Carroll theory which incorporates a general intelligence but also many more
narrow abilities. While IQ tests do give an overall IQ score, they now also give scores for many more narrow
abilities.[34]
Lack of empirical evidence [edit]

According to a 2006 study many of Gardner's "intelligences" correlate with the g factor, supporting the idea of a single
dominant type of intelligence. According to the study, each of the domains proposed by Gardner involved a blend of
g, of cognitive abilities other than g, and, in some cases, of non-cognitive abilities or of personality characteristics.[35]
Linda Gottfredson (2006) has argued that thousands of studies support the importance of intelligence quotient (IQ) in
predicting school and job performance, and numerous other life outcomes. In contrast, empirical support for non-g
intelligences is lacking or very poor. She argued that despite this the ideas of multiple non-g intelligences are very
attractive to many due to the suggestion that everyone can be smart in some way.[36]
A critical review of MI theory argues that there is little empirical evidence to support it:
To date there have been no published studies that offer evidence of the validity of the multiple
intelligences. In 1994 Sternberg reported finding no empirical studies. In 2000 Allix reported finding no
empirical validating studies, and at that time Gardner and Connell conceded that there was "little hard
evidence for MI theory" (2000, p. 292). In 2004 Sternberg and Grigerenko stated that there were no
validating studies for multiple intelligences, and in 2004 Gardner asserted that he would be "delighted
were such evidence to accrue",[37] and admitted that "MI theory has few enthusiasts among
psychometricians or others of a traditional psychological background" because they require
"psychometric or experimental evidence that allows one to prove the existence of the several
intelligences."[37][38]
The same review presents evidence to demonstrate that cognitive neuroscience research does not support the
theory of multiple intelligences:
... the human brain is unlikely to function via Gardner’s multiple intelligences. Taken together the
evidence for the intercorrelations of subskills of IQ measures, the evidence for a shared set of genes
associated with mathematics, reading, and g, and the evidence for shared and overlapping "what is it?"
and "where is it?" neural processing pathways, and shared neural pathways for language, music, motor
skills, and emotions suggest that it is unlikely that each of Gardner’s intelligences could operate "via a
different set of neural mechanisms" (1999, p. 99). Equally important, the evidence for the "what is it?"
and "where is it?" processing pathways, for Kahneman’s two decision-making systems, and for adapted
cognition modules suggests that these cognitive brain specializations have evolved to address very
specific problems in our environment. Because Gardner claimed that the intelligences are innate
potentialities related to a general content area, MI theory lacks a rationale for the phylogenetic
emergence of the intelligences.[38]
The theory of multiple intelligences has often been conflated with learning styles. Gardner has denied that multiple
intelligences are learning styles and agrees that the idea of learning styles is incoherent and lacking in empirical
evidence.[39] The theory of multiple intelligences is often cited as an example of pseudoscience because it lacks
empirical evidence or falsifiability.[40][41]
Use in education [edit]

Gardner defines an intelligence as "biopsychological potential to process information that can be activated in a
cultural setting to solve problems or create products that are of value in a culture."[42] According to Gardner, there are
more ways to do this than just through logical and linguistic intelligence. Gardner believes that the purpose of
schooling "should be to develop intelligences and to help people reach vocational and avocational goals that are
appropriate to their particular spectrum of intelligences. People who are helped to do so, [he] believe[s], feel more
engaged and competent and therefore more inclined to serve society in a constructive way."[a]
Gardner contends that IQ tests focus mostly on logical and linguistic intelligence. Upon doing well on these tests, the
chances of attending a prestigious college or university increase, which in turn creates contributing members of
society.[43] While many students function well in this environment, there are those who do not. Gardner's theory
argues that students will be better served by a broader vision of education, wherein teachers use different
methodologies, exercises and activities to reach all students, not just those who excel at linguistic and logical
intelligence. It challenges educators to find "ways that will work for this student learning this topic".[44]
James Traub's article in The New Republic notes that Gardner's system has not been accepted by most academics in
intelligence or teaching.[45] Gardner states that "while Multiple Intelligences theory is consistent with much empirical
evidence, it has not been subjected to strong experimental tests ... Within the area of education, the applications of
the theory are currently being examined in many projects. Our hunches will have to be revised many times in light of
actual classroom experience."[46]
George Miller, a prominent cognitive psychologist, wrote in The New York Times Book Review that Gardner's
argument consisted of "hunch and opinion". Jerome Bruner called Gardner’s "intelligences" "at best useful fictions,"
and Charles Murray and Richard J. Herrnstein in The Bell Curve (1994) called Gardner's theory "uniquely devoid of
psychometric or other quantitative evidence."[47]
Thomas Armstrong argues that Waldorf education engages all of Gardner's original seven intelligences.[b] In spite of
its lack of general acceptance in the psychological community, Gardner's theory has been adopted by many schools,
where it is often used to underpin discussion about learning styles,[48] and hundreds of books have been written
about its applications in education.[49] Gardner himself has said he is "uneasy" with the way his theory has been used
in education.[50]
See also [edit]

Living educational theory
Neuroscience
Neuroeducation
Learning styles
Life skills
Soft skills
Williams' Taxonomy
External Links [edit]

Multiple Intelligences Oasis , Howard Gardner's Official Site for MI Theory
References [edit]
Notes
a. ^ This information is based on an informal talk given on the 350th anniversary of Harvard University on 5 September 1986.
Harvard Education Review, Harvard Education Publishing Group, 1987, 57, 187–93.
b. ^ "Waldorf education embodies in a truly organic sense all of Howard Gardner's seven intelligences ... not simply an
amalgam of the seven intelligences. Many schools are currently attempting to construct curricula based on Gardner's
model simply through an additive process (what can we add to what we have already got?). Steiner's approach, however,
was to begin with an inner vision of the child and the child's needs and build a curriculum around that vision." Thomas
Armstrong, cited in Eric Oddleifson, Boston Public Schools As Arts-Integrated Learning Organizations: Developing a High
Standard of Culture for All
Citations
1. ^ Gilman, Lynn (2012) [2008], The Theory of Multiple Intelligences , Indiana University, retrieved 14 November 2012
2. ^ Slavin, Robert (2009) Educational Psychology, p. 117 ISBN 0-205-59200-7
3. ^ Smith, Mark K. (2002, 2008), "Howard Gardner, multiple intelligences and education", the encyclopedia of informal
education Gardner http://www.infed.org/thinkers/gardner.htm Gardner , retrieved 22 October 2011 Check date values in:
|date= (help); Missing or empty |title= (help)
4. ^ McKenzie, W. (2005). Multiple intelligences and instructional technology. ISTE (International Society for Technology
Education). ISBN 156484188X
5. ^ Gardner, Howard (2000). Intelligence Reframed: Multiple Intelligences for the 21st Century . Basic Books Inc.
ISBN 978-0-465-02611-1.
6. ^ a b c Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligence Theory , PBS, retrieved 9 December 2012
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Gardner, H., & Hatch, T.; Hatch (1989), "Multiple intelligences go to school: Educational implications of
the theory of multiple intelligences" , Educational Researcher 18 (8): 4, doi:10.3102/0013189X018008004
8. ^ Wechsler, D. (1997). Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale III.
9. ^ Carroll 1993
10. ^ Gardner, Howard (May 1984), "Heteroglossia: A Global Perspective", Interdisciplinary Journal of Theory of
Postpedagogical Studies
11. ^ Gardner, H. (1995). How Are Kids Smart: Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom—Administrators' Version . ISBN 1-
887943-03-X. National Professional Resources Dr. Howard Gardner, along with teachers and students from Fuller
Elementary School in Gloucester, MA, discuss the theory behind Multiple Intelligences and demonstrate how they have
integrated it into their classrooms and community. (41 minutes)
12. ^ Gardner, Howard (2002), "Interpersonal Communication amongst Multiple Subjects: A Study in Redundancy",
Experimental Psychology
13. ^ Morris, M. (2004), "Ch. 8. The Eight One: Naturalistic Intelligence", in Kincheloe, Joe L., Multiple Intelligences
Reconsidered , Peter Lang, pp. 159–, ISBN 978-0-8204-7098-6
14. ^ Gardner 2000
15. ^ Tupper, K. W. (2002), "Entheogens and Existential Intelligence: The Use of Plant Teachers as Cognitive Tools" ,
Canadian Journal of Education 27 (4): 499–516, doi:10.2307/1602247 , JSTOR 1602247
16. ^ Geake, John (2008). "Neuromythologies in education". Educational Research 50 (2): 123–133.
doi:10.1080/00131880802082518 .
17. ^ Waterhouse, Lynn (2006). "WATERHOUSE MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES Multiple Intelligences, the Mozart Effect, and
Emotional Intelligence: A Critical Review" . Educational Psychologist 41 (4): 207–225.
18. ^ Sternberg, R. J. (Winter 1983), "How much Gall is too much gall? Review of Frames of Mind: The theory of multiple
intelligences", Contemporary Education Review 2 (3): 215–224
19. ^ Sternberg, R. J. (1991), "Death, taxes, and bad intelligence tests", Intelligence 15 (3): 257–270, doi:10.1016/0160-
2896(91)90035-C
20. ^ Eysenck 1994
21. ^ Scarr, S. (1985), "An authors frame of mind [Review of Frames of mind: The theory of multiple intelligences]", New
Ideas in Psychology 3 (1): 95–100, doi:10.1016/0732-118X(85)90056-X
22. ^ Davis et al. 2011, p. 489
23. ^ Nikolova, K., & Taneva-Shopova, S. (2007), "Multiple intelligences theory and educational practice", Annual Assesn
Zlatarov University 26 (2): 105–109
24. ^ Gardner 1983
25. ^ Willingham, Daniel T. (2004), "Check the Facts: Reframing the Mind" , Education Next: 19–24 PDF copy
26. ^ Gardner, Howard (1998), "A Reply to Perry D. Klein's 'Multiplying the problems of intelligence by eight '", Canadian
Journal of Education 23 (1): 96–102, doi:10.2307/1585968 , JSTOR 1585790
27. ^ Klein, Perry D. (1998), "A Response to Howard Gardner: Falsifiability, Empirical Evidence, and Pedagogical Usefulness
in Educational Psychologies", Canadian Journal of Education 23 (1): 103–112, doi:10.2307/1585969
28. ^ Demetriou, A.; Spanoudis, G.; Mouyi, A. (2011), "Educating the Developing Mind: Towards an Overarching Paradigm",
Educational Psychology Review 23 (4): 601–663, doi:10.1007/s10648-011-9178-3 |chapter= ignored (help)
29. ^ Demetriou & Raftopoulos 2005, p. 68
30. ^ Demetriou, A.; Efklides, A.; Platsidou, M.; Campbell, Robert L. (1993), "The architecture and dynamics of developing
mind: Experiential structuralism as a frame for unifying cognitive developmental theories", Monographs of the Society for
Research in Child Development 58 (234): i, doi:10.2307/1166053
31. ^ Demetriou, A., Christou, C.; Spanoudis, G.; Platsidou, M. (2002), "The development of mental processing: Efficiency,
working memory, and thinking", Monographs of the Society of Research in Child Development 67 (268)
32. ^ Demetriou, A.; Kazi, S. (2006), "Self-awareness in g (with processing efficiency and reasoning", Intelligence 34 (3): 297
–317, doi:10.1016/j.intell.2005.10.002
33. ^ Demetriou, Mouyi & Spanoudis 2010
34. ^ a b Kaufman 2009
35. ^ Visser, Beth A.; Ashton, Michael C.; Vernon, Philip A. (2006), "g and the measurement of Multiple Intelligences: A
response to Gardner" , Intelligence 34 (5): 507–510, doi:10.1016/j.intell.2006.04.006
36. ^ Gottfredson, L. S. (2006), "Social Consequences of Group Differences in Cognitive Ability (Consequencias sociais das
diferencas de grupo em habilidade cognitiva)", in Flores-Mendoza, C. E.; Colom, R., Introducau a psicologia das
diferencas individuais, ArtMed Publishers, pp. 433–456, ISBN 8536314184
37. ^ a b Gardner 2004, p. 214
38. ^ a b Waterhouse, Lynn (Fall 2006a), "Multiple Intelligences, the Mozart Effect, and Emotional Intelligence: A critical
review", Educational Psychologist 41 (4): 207–225, doi:10.1207/s15326985ep4104_1
39. ^ "Howard Gardner: ‘Multiple intelligences’ are not ‘learning styles’" . Washington Post. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
40. ^ Jones 2010, p. 35.
41. ^ Gottfredson, Linda, "Intelligence" , New Scientist , retrieved 13 November 2012
42. ^ Gardner 2000, pp. 33–34
43. ^ Gardner 1993, p. 6
44. ^ Gardner 2000, p. 154
45. ^ Traub, James (1998), "Multiple intelligence disorder", The New Republic 219 (17): 20
46. ^ Gardner 1993, p. 33
47. ^ Eberstadt, Mary (October–November 1999), "The Schools They Deserve" (PDF), Policy Review
48. ^ Jones 2010, p. 23
49. ^ Davis et al. 2011, p. 486
50. ^ Revell, Phil (31 May 2005), "Each to their own" , Guardian, retrieved 15 November 2012
Bibliography
Carroll, J. B. (1993), Human Cognitive Abilities: A Survey of Factor-analytic Studies , Cambridge University Press,
ISBN 0521382750
Davis, Katie; Christodoulou, Joanna; Seider, Scott; Gardner, Howard (2011), "The Theory of Multiple Intelligences", in
Sternberg, Robert J.; Kaufman, Barry, The Cambridge Handbook of Intelligence, Cambridge University Press, pp. 485–503,
ISBN 0521518067
Demetriou, Andreas; Raftopoulos, Athanassios (2005), Cognitive Developmental Change: Theories, Models and
Measurement, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0521825792
Demetriou, A.; Mouyi, A.; Spanoudis, G. (2010), "The development of mental processing", in Overton, W. F., The Handbook
of Life-Span Development: Cognition, Biology and Methods, John Wiley & Sons, pp. 36–55, ISBN 978-0-470-39011-5
Eysenck, M. W., ed. (1994), The Blackwell Dictionary of Cognitive Psychology , Blackwell Publishers, pp. 192–193,
ISBN 0631192573
Gardner, Howard (1993), Multiple Intelligences: The Theory in Practice, Basic Books, ISBN 046501822X
Gardner, Howard (1983), Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences , Basic Books, ISBN 0133306143
Gardner, Howard (2000), Intelligence Reframed: Multiple Intelligences for the 21st Century , Basic Books, ISBN 978-0-465-
02611-1
Gardner, H. (2004), Changing Minds: The art and science of changing our own and other people's minds , Harvard Business
School Press, ISBN 1422103293
Jones, Paul Howard (2010), Introducing Neuroeducational Research, Taylor & Francis, ISBN 0415472008
Kaufman, Alan S. (2009), IQ Testing 101, Springer Publishing Company, ISBN 978-0-8261-0629-2

Kavale, Kenneth A.; Forness, Steven R. (1987), "Substance over style: Assessing the efficacy of modality testing
and teaching", Exceptional Children 54: 228–239
Klein, Perry, D. (1997), "Multiplying the problems of intelligence by eight: A critique of Gardner's theory", Canadian
Journal of Education 22 (4): 377–394, doi:10.2307/1585790 , JSTOR 1585790
Kornhaber, Mindy (2004), "Psychometric Superiority? Check the Facts", Missing or empty |title= (help)
Fierros, Mindy; Veenema, Shirley (2003), "Multiple Intelligences: Best Ideas from Research and Practice",
|first2= missing |last2= in Authors list (help); Missing or empty |title= (help)
Lohman, D. F. (2001), "Fluid intelligence, inductive reasoning, and working memory: Where the theory of Multiple
Intelligences falls short", in Colangelo, N.; Assouline, S., Talent Development IV: Proceedings from the 1998 Henry
B. & Jocelyn Wallace National Research Symposium on talent development (PDF), Great Potential Press,
pp. 219–228, ISBN 978-0-910707-39-8
Kincheloe, Joe L.; Nolan, Kathleen; Progler, Yusef; Appelbaum, Peter; Cary, Richard; Blumenthal-Jones, Donald
S.; Morris, Marla; Lemke, Jay L.; Cannella, Gaile S.; Weil, Danny; Berry, Kathleen S. (2004), Kincheloe, Joe L.,
ed., Multiple Intelligences Reconsidered, Counterpoints v. 278, Peter Lang, ISBN 978-0-8204-7098-6, ISSN 1058-
1634 , lay summary (4 September 2010)
Sempsey, James (1993), "The Pedagogical Implications Of Cognitive Science and Howard Gardner's M.I. Theory
(A Critique)", Missing or empty |title= (help)
Sternberg, R. J. (1988), The triarchic mind: A new theory of human intelligence , Penguin Books
Waterhouse, Lynn (Fall 2006), "Inadequate Evidence for Multiple Intelligences, Mozart Effect, and Emotional
Intelligence Theories", Educational Psychologist 41 (4): 247–255, doi:10.1207/s15326985ep4104_5
V· T · E· Human intelligence topics [hide]

Types Collective · Emotional · Intellectual · Linguistic · Multiple · Social · Spatial (visuospatial) ·
Cognition · Communication · Creativity · Fluid and crystallized intelligence · g factor ·
Abilities · Traits · Constructs · Intelligence quotient · Knowledge · Learning · Memory · Problem solving · Reasoning ·
Thought (abstraction) · Understanding · Visual processing ·
Cattell–Horn–Carroll theory · Fluid and crystallized intelligence · Multiple-intelligences theory ·
Models and theories
Three-stratum theory · Triarchic theory · PASS theory ·
Evolution of human intelligence · Heritability of IQ · Psychometrics · Intelligence and environment /
Areas of research
health / longevity / neuroscience / race ·
Outline of human intelligence / thought
Categories: Curricula Education reform Education theory Psychological theories Intelligence by type
Life skills

Search...  Random T r o p eM se d i Fa o r u m s 
Tropers Online
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Resources
 Troperville
Resources
Four-Temperament Ensemble
 Toys
 Tools  Watch  Main Laconic ImageLinks PlayingWith + Create New
Tropes By "Splinter taught them to be ninja teens.

 Genre Leonardo leads, Donatello does machines.
Tropes By Raphael is cool but rude, Michelangelo is a party dude!"
 Media
 Narrative
—Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1987 Expository Theme Tune Roll Call
 Other Categories
There are many ways to make a group of people diverse without giving them overly specialized roles
 Topical Tropes
within an ensemble. One way is through matching personality types according to a wacky ancient
pseudoscience. The Four Temperaments (also called the "four humors") was a theory that behavior was
caused by concentrations of body fluids — the "humors" of classical medicine: blood, yellow bile, black
bile, and phlegm.
A temporary imbalance would create an illness: too much blood caused a fever, too much yellow bile
caused a cough, too much black bile caused depression, and too much phlegm caused a cold. A
permanent imbalance led to a person having a certain type of intentions, behavior, and personality.
Page Options Though this theory has long since been discredited from a scientific standpoint, the general idea still
remains and the theory is still used for personality profiling. An ensemble based on these four humors
Spoilers:
Page Options can make the cast diverse without actually changing the roles of the characters in the story.
The four temperament system was an interesting one, but flawed. Several tests noticed people that did
not conform to any of the behavior types, so a neutral temperament was created. Along with a sampling
of related tropes, the five temperaments (humors) are:
Sanguine (blood): Extroverted, Emotional, and People-oriented

Key Strengths: Friendly, Cheerful, Energetic, Compassionate, Loves people, Forgiving,
Confident, Charming, Talkative, an excellent Comedian or Sailor, and lastly, just plain fun. :)
Key Weaknessses: Weak-willed, Egotistical, Emotionally unstable, Gullible, Too people-
pleasing, Shallow, Scatterbrained, Disorganized, Self-absorbed, Too talkative, Hyperactive and
Frivolous at times.
Expressive high, responsive high; response's delay short, duration short.
The Inspired Influencer of DISC.
Corresponds to the season of spring and the (hot and moist) air element, (plus an exclusive
manipulation over Lightning).
Temperaments corresponding to the four divisions of the day: Morning
In a person's life, it corresponds to young childhood (roughly ages 0-13).
Will often correspond with the Optimist when in a Four Philosophy Ensemble.
Amongst the four main "Dere Types" can qualify as the Yandere.
Archetypal color: Gold, all shades of Pink or Aqua (the colors of the Sky).
Choleric (yellow bile): Extroverted, Unemotional, and Task-oriented

Key Strengths: Takes the lead, Independent, Hard worker, Goal-oriented, Strong-willed,
Practical, Confident, Loves a challenge, Passionate, Thrives under criticism, Determined, an
excellent Strongman/woman of the team or Drill Sergeant at the most extreme.
Key Weaknesses: Hot-tempered, Can be cruel, Rebellious, Stubborn, Harsh, Insensitive,
Arrogant, Rude, Workaholic, Often Dramatic, Bossy, can become psychotic in overbearing
situations, Vindictive.
Expressive high, responsive low; response's delay short, duration long.
The Dominant of DISC.
Corresponds to the season of summer and the (hot and dry) fire element, (plus an exclusive
manipulation over Solar power).
Temperaments corresponding to the four divisions of the day: Afternoon
In a person's life, it corresponds with adolescence and young adulthood (roughly ages 13-
35).
Will often correspond with the Realist when in a Four Philosophy Ensemble.
Amongst the four main "Dere Types" can qualify as the Tsundere.
Archetypal color: Yellow, all shades of Red or Orange (the colors of a Volcano).
Melancholic (black bile): Introverted, Emotional, and Task-oriented

Key Strengths: Deep, Thoughtful, Sensitive, Artistic, Perfectionist, Faithful to a fault, Self-
sacrificing, an excellent Leader or Medic, Analytical, Organized, Practical, Detailed, Elegant (in
the more dignified ways), An effective manipulator of people.
Key Weaknesses: Pessimistic, Moody, Revengeful, Critical, Depressed, Impractical (yes, both
practical and impractical), Insecure, Bashful, Resentful, and Has overly high expectations,
Snobbish, Very paranoid, likes to be regarded formally such as Mr/Mrs.
Expressive low, responsive low; response's delay long, duration long.
The Cautious and Conscientious of DISC.
Corresponds to the season of autumn and the (cool and dry) earth element, (plus an exclusive
manipulation over Metal).
Temperaments corresponding to the four divisions of the day: Evening
In a person's life, it corresponds to middle-aged adulthood (roughly ages 35-65).
Will often correspond with The Cynic when in a Four Philosophy Ensemble.
Amongst the four main "Dere Types" can qualify as a pure Kuudere.
Archetypal color: Navy Blue, Dark Purple, Olive Green, all shades of Brown or Black (the colors
of the Underground).
Phlegmatic (phlegm): Introverted, Unemotional, and People-oriented

Key Strengths: A real sweetheart, Dependable, Easygoing, Patient, Accommodating, Pleasant,
Witty, Gentle, Calm, and Forgiving, Quiet and Stealthy, an excellent Assistant or Spy, A deep
Poker-face, Elegant (in the more simpler ways), a Good Listener, Sympathetic.
Key Weaknesses: Compromising, Shy and Docile, Indecisive, Slacker, Lazy, Slow, Stubborn,
Too indifferent, Too yielding,Teasing.
Expressive low, responsive high; response's delay long, duration short.
The Support and Steadiness of DISC.
Corresponds to the season of winter and the (cool and moist) water element. (However, water
also corresponds to melancholic characters that have control over ice.) (plus an exclusive
manipulation over Blood)
Temperaments corresponding to the four divisions of the day: Night
In a person's life, it corresponds to older adulthood (roughly ages 65 and up).
Will often correspond with the Apathetic or the Conflicted when in a Four Philosophy Ensemble.
Amongst the four main "Dere Types" can qualify as a pure Dandere.
Archetypal color: Teal, Green, White, all shades of Blue or Black (the colors of the Ocean).
Leukine (white blood cells) note : Ambiverted and dually-oriented. The "central" temperament
that was created for those who didn't have one of the four clearly-established temperaments. This
type of character can generally be described as middle-of-the-road and neutral. Generally calm,
rational, quiet, and reliable. Usually confused with the phlegmatic, but this temperament tends
toward either true apathy or rotating among nearly all the world's emotions (nothing too explosive
or extreme) at a smooth, gradual rate. In a positive light, having more than one temperament or
balanced among temperaments; but in a negative light, a non-temperament, The Generic Guy, and
a Standardized Leader. Usually reserved for protagonists, The Hero or other leaders when they
are neither Hot-Blooded nor emotionless characters, and somewhat more independent but not as
introverted.
Expressive moderate, responsive moderate; response's delay variable, duration variable.
Will often correspond with the Conflicted or the Apathetic when in a Four Philosophy Ensemble.
Archetypal color: White or Gray.
Some sets of four form a "Combo Ensemble", blending two adjacent temperaments each based on a
common aspect. These temperament combos also form the basis for the Myers-Briggs Temperament
Indicator.
Sanguine and Choleric (the Artisan): Extroverted and dually-oriented. On the positive side, the
most brave, passionate, energetic, and often, though not always, tactical (as "Artisan" suggests) of
the temperament combos. But on the negative side, the most impulsive and emotional, and can
cause the most drama to happen. Can range from Real Man (especially as The Munchkin), to
genki Blood Knight if viewed in a negative light, and almost always highly selfish. Characters on the
side of good with this combo tend to be Hotblooded, with some Idiot Hero tendencies. Also seems
to be popular for Shonen Anime heroes.
Expressive high, responsive moderate; response's delay short, duration variable.
Corresponds to the double-element lightning (air + fire).
Often the Realist and/or the Optimist in a Four Philosophy Ensemble.
Archetypical color: Red, Gold, or Crimson (colors of wealth/royalty)
Choleric and Melancholic (the Rational): Ambiverted and task-oriented. The temperament
combo most calculative (as "Rational" suggests), very decisive, and insistent on things being in
line with the Lawful Good. Especially good in instructing with authority and preventing bad
influences over or hindrances against the project at hand, as well as having things calculated so
that a decision can be made at a decent speed. On the flip side, quite prone to greed, gluttony,
hypocrisy, manipulation, and a judgmental, Holier Than Thou demeanor. Less polite and more
devious than s/he may appear to be. Can be a Mood-Swinger and suspect and/or resent sympathy
from anyone else. Tendency less to forgive and more to be harsh in blaming others. Often can be
The Smart Guy in terms of common sense and craftiness; also can be Insufferable Genius. The
temperament combo most susceptible to being a Grumpy Bear, Tsundere, Rules Lawyer, Knight in
Sour Armor, relentless leader-like version of Neat Freak, or a Knight Templar. A villainous extreme
would be such things as Straw Hypocrite and The Caligula. For heroes, the I Work Alone factor is
common, coupled with a hidden Good Is Not Nice that eventually slips out.
Expressive moderate, responsive low; response's delay variable, duration long.
Corresponds to the double-element lava/magma (fire + earth).
Often the Apathetic, but usually The Cynic in a Four Philosophy Ensemble.
Archetypical color: Orange, Brown, all shades of Olive or Black (colors of seriousness)
Melancholic and Phlegmatic (the Idealist): Introverted and dually-oriented. The most sensitive,
deep-feeling, mannerly temperament combo and, as "Idealist" suggests, the most focused on the
abstract and character ideals. Also very intuitive and focuses on following the rules and seeing
justice and goodness done, being the community's moral compass. On the negative side, it is the
most shy, timid, neurotic, and prone to harbor hurt feelings, being extremely prone to be Innocently
Insensitive. Has some particular expectations of others, but in most common cases too timid to
express them. May brood at times; tends to be harsh in blaming the self and others. Often The
Smart Guy or the Adorkable. Can range from bookish Nice Guy to Kuudere/Sugar and Ice
Personality. On The Hero's side, Beware the Nice Ones (if not a Death Glare) is almost always a
factor.
Expressive low, responsive moderate; response's delay long, duration variable.
Corresponds to the double-element plant (earth + water).
Usually the Conflicted in a Four Philosophy Ensemble.
Archetypical color: Black, all shades of Green or Turquoise (down-to-earth colors)
Phlegmatic and Sanguine (the Guardian): Ambiverted and people-oriented. The temperament
combo that thrives most on relationships with other people and is the most emotionally strong for
other people. Usually the most easygoing and least judgmental; and, as "Guardian" suggests,
supportive and helpful at guarding a team or family from falling apart. On the flip side, often overly
tolerant and/or permissive; also the most prone to laziness (either The Slacker or Brilliant but
Lazy), being often sluggish about any task that requires spending a bunch of mental energy. Often
evaluates other people in a very optimistic light, an overlap of The Pollyanna and the Wide-Eyed
Idealist (distinct from the above "Idealist"). Usually the diametric opposite of an Insufferable Genius
or Neat Freak. Taken to an extreme, can be a Cloud Cuckoolander.
Expressive moderate, responsive high; response's delay variable, duration short.
Corresponds to the double-element ice/snow (water + air).
Often the Conflicted, but usually the Realist in a Four Philosophy Ensemble.
Archetypical Color: Lavender, White, all shades of Aqua or Pink (colors of youthfulness)
Historically in plays, there was a whole genre: Comedy of Humors, where the impetus of the story is the
sudden banding of these opposing types. This is in contrast to the Comedy of Errors, where the story is
driven by the events and situations.
Sometimes a Five-Man Band will also be a Four (or often Five) Temperament Ensemble, but in many
cases, they're mutually exclusive. There is also some overlap with Power Trio scenarios: usually The Kirk
is choleric, The McCoy is sanguine, and The Spock is melancholic. In these cases, the phlegmatic role
will be filled by a prominent supporting character, who is still clearly outside of the triad. They are also
similar to the four Personality Blood Types, and are sometimes also a Four Element Ensemble.
If this type of personality dynamic is used for a Five-Man Band, then there are — aside from The Hero as
leukine and The Chick as phlegmatic — two very common sets: either The Lancer (choleric), The Smart
Guy (melancholic), and The Big Guy (sanguine); or The Lancer (sanguine), The Smart Guy (choleric), and
The Big Guy (melancholic). RPGs in particular like to use a simplification of the second type.
See also Cast Calculus for the overarching archetypes in this and differently numbered ensembles. Here
is an Image Archive for this trope. Additionally, Pseudolonewolf (of MARDEK fame) has a page that
goes into great detail on the four temperaments, here , and The Other Wiki offers its information here .
For another way to split up a group of four, see Four Philosophy Ensemble.
Examples:
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Alternative Title(s): Four Humour Ensemble , Five Temperament Ensemble , Four Humor Ensemble
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Four temperaments
Main page This article is about the "four humors" in Greco-Roman medicine, a specific form of the more universal proto-
Contents medical concept of humorism. For George Balanchine's 1946 ballet, see The Four Temperaments (ballet). For
Featured content the symphony by Carl Nielsen, see Symphony No. 2 (Nielsen).
Current events
Random article Four temperaments is a proto-psychological theory
Donate to Wikipedia that suggests that there are four fundamental personality
Wikimedia Shop types, sanguine (optimistic leader-like), choleric (bad-
Interaction tempered or irritable), melancholic (analytical and
Help quiet), and phlegmatic (relaxed and peaceful). Most
About Wikipedia formulations include the possibility of mixtures of the
Community portal types.
Recent changes Choleric, melancholic, sanguine, and phlegmatic
Contact page The Greek physician Hippocrates (c. 460 – c. 370 BC) temperaments
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incorporated the four temperaments into his medical
What links here theories as part of the ancient medical concept of
Related changes humorism, that four bodily fluids affect human personality traits and behaviors. Later discoveries in biochemistry
Upload file have led modern medicine science to reject the theory of the four temperaments, although some personality type
Special pages systems of varying scientific acceptance continue to use four or more categories of a similar nature.
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Contents [hide] History and development [edit]
Cite this page 1 History and development
Temperament theory has its roots in the ancient four humors theory. It may have
2 The four temperament types
Print/export origins in ancient Egypt[1] or Mesopotamia,[2] but it was the Greek physician
2.1 Sanguine
Create a book Hippocrates (460–370 BC) who developed it into a medical theory. He believed
Download as PDF 2.2 Choleric
certain human moods, emotions and behaviors were caused by an excess or lack of
Printable version 2.3 Melancholic
body fluids (called "humors"): blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm. Next, Galen
2.4 Phlegmatic
Languages (AD 129 – c. 200) developed the first typology of temperament in his dissertation De
Авар
3 Decline in popularity
temperamentis, and searched for physiological reasons for different behaviors in
Български 4 Contemporary writings
humans. He classified them as hot/cold and dry/wet taken from the Four
Deutsch 5 Cultural references
Elements.[3] There could also be "balance" between the qualities, yielding a total of
Ελληνικά 6 See also
Español
nine temperaments. The word "temperament" itself comes from Latin "temperare",
7 References
‫ﻓﺎرﺳﯽ‬ "to mix". In the ideal personality, the complementary characteristics or warm-cool and
8 Further reading
dry-moist were exquisitely balanced. In four less ideal types, one of the four qualities
9 External links
Italiano was dominant over all the others. In the remaining four types, one pair of qualities
ქართული dominated the complementary pair; for example, warm and moist dominated cool and
Kiswahili dry. These latter four were the temperamental categories Galen named "sanguine", "choleric", "melancholic" and
Latina
"phlegmatic" after the bodily humors, respectively. Each was the result of an excess of one of the humors that
Nederlands
Português produced, in turn, the imbalance in paired qualities.[4][5][6]
Română In his Canon of Medicine (a standard medical text
Simple English at many medieval universities), Persian polymath
Srpskohrvatski /
српскохрватски Avicenna (980–1037 AD) extended the theory of
‫اردو‬ temperaments to encompass "emotional aspects,
中文 mental capacity, moral attitudes, self-awareness,
Edit links
movements and dreams."[7]
Nicholas Culpeper (1616–1654), described the
humours as acting as governing principles in
bodily health, with astrological
correspondences,[8] and explained their influence
upon physiognomy and personality.[9] Culpeper
proposed that, while some people had a single
temperament, others had an admixture of two, a
Choleric, sanguine, melancholic, and phlegmatic temperaments:
primary and secondary temperament.[10] 17c., part of the Grande Commande.
Immanuel Kant (1724–1804), Rudolf Steiner
(1861–1925), Alfred Adler (1879–1937), Erich
Adickes (1866–1925), Eduard Spranger (1914), Ernst Kretschmer (1920), and Erich Fromm (1947) all theorized on
the four temperaments (with different names) and greatly shaped our modern theories of temperament. Hans Eysenck
(1916–1997) was one of the first psychologists to analyze personality differences using a psycho-statistical method
(factor analysis), and his research led him to believe that temperament is biologically based. The factors he proposed
in his book Dimensions of Personality were Neuroticism (N) which was the tendency to experience negative emotions,
and the second was Extraversion (E) which was the tendency to enjoy positive events, especially social ones. By
pairing the two dimensions, Eysenck noted how the results were similar to the four ancient temperaments.
Other researchers developed similar systems, many of which did not use the ancient temperament names, and
several paired extroversion with a different factor, which would determine relationship/task-orientation. Examples are
DiSC assessment, social styles, and a theory that adds a fifth temperament. One of the most popular today is the
Keirsey Temperament Sorter, whose four temperaments were based largely on the Greek gods Apollo, Dionysus,
Epimetheus and Prometheus, and were mapped to the 16 types of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). They were
renamed as Artisan (SP), Guardian (SJ), Idealist (NF), and Rational (NT). Rather than using extroversion and
introversion (E/I) and task/people focus, like other theories, KTS mapped the temperaments to "Sensing" and
"Intuition" (S/N, renamed "concrete" and "abstract") with a new pair category, "cooperative" and "pragmatic" . When
"Role-Informative" and "Role-Directive" (corresponding to orientation to people or to task), and finally E/I are factored
in, you attain the 16 types. Finally, the Interaction Styles of Linda V. Berens combines Directing and Informing with E/I
to form another group of "styles" which greatly resemble the ancient temperaments, and these are mapped together
with the Keirsey Temperaments onto the 16 types.
Modern medical science has rejected the theories of the four temperaments, though their use persists as a metaphor
within certain psychological fields.[11]
Relation of various four

temperament theories
Classical Element Adler[12]
Melancholic Earth Avoiding
Phlegmatic Water Getting
Sanguine Air Socially useful
Choleric Fire Ruling
The four temperament types [edit]

Each of the four types of humors corresponded in ancient times to a different personality type. These were
associated with a domination of various biological functions. Lievegoed suggested that the temperaments come to
clearest manifestation in childhood, between approximately 6 and 14 years of age, after which they become
subordinate (though still influential) factors in personality.[13]
Sanguine [edit]
The sanguine temperament is traditionally associated with air. People with this temperament tend to be lively,
sociable, carefree, talkative, and pleasure-seeking. They may be warm-hearted and optimistic. They can make new
friends easily, be imaginative and artistic, and often have many ideas.[14][15] They can be flighty and changeable; thus
sanguine personalities may struggle with following tasks all the way through and be chronically late or forgetful.[16]
Pedagogically, they can be best reached through awakening their love for a subject and admiration of people.[16]
Choleric [edit]
The choleric temperament is traditionally associated with fire. People with this temperament tend to be egocentric and
extroverted. They may be excitable, impulsive, and restless, with reserves of aggression, energy, and/or passion, and
try to instill that in others. [14][15]
They tend to be task-oriented people and are focused on getting a job done efficiently; their motto is usually "do it
now." They can be ambitious, strong-willed and like to be in charge. They can show leadership, are good at planning,
and are often practical and solution-oriented.[14] They appreciate receiving respect and esteem for their work.[16]:20
Pedagogically, they can be best reached through mutual respect and appropriate challenges that recognize their
capacities.[16]
Melancholic [edit]
Main article: Melancholia
The melancholic temperament is traditionally associated with the element of earth. People with this temperament may
appear serious, introverted, cautious or even suspicious. They can become preoccupied with the tragedy and cruelty
in the world and are susceptible to depression and moodiness. They may be focused and conscientious. They often
prefer to do things themselves, both to meet their own standards and because they are not inherently sociable.[15][14]
Pedagogically, they can be best met by awakening their sympathy for others and the suffering of the world.[16]
Phlegmatic [edit]
The phlegmatic temperament is traditionally associated with water. People with this
temperament may be inward and private, thoughtful, reasonable, calm, patient, caring, and
tolerant. They tend to have a rich inner life, seek a quiet, peaceful atmosphere, and be
content with themselves. They tend to be steadfast, consistent in their habits, and thus steady
and faithful friends.[14][15]
Pedagogically, their interest is often awakened by experiencing others' interest in a subject.[16]
People of this temperament may appear somewhat ponderous or clumsy. Their speech tends
to be slow or appear hesitant.[14]
Decline in popularity [edit]

When the concept of the temperaments was on the wane, many critics dropped the
phlegmatic, or defined it purely negatively, such as the German philosopher Immanuel Kant,
Phlegmatic by
as the absence of temperament. In the Five Temperaments theory, the classical Phlegmatic Lespagnandelle,
temperament is in fact deemed to be a neutral temperament, whereas the "relationship- part of the Grande
oriented introvert" position traditionally held by the Phlegmatic is declared to be a new "fifth Commande, Palace
of Versailles.
temperament." Gary Smalley has renamed these classifications into a more modern and
relatable format based on commonly known animals. These he lists as the "otters"
(sanguines), "lions" (cholerics), "golden retrievers" (phlegmatics), and "beavers" (melancholics).[17]
Contemporary writings [edit]

In Waldorf education and anthroposophy, the temperaments are used to help understand personality. They are seen
as avenues into teaching; as each child is considered to possess a unique blend of the four, they can be utilized to
individualize the methods used with individual children and establishing a class balance, as well as to help with
discipline.
Christian writer Tim LaHaye has attempted to repopularize the ancient temperaments through his books.[18][19][20]
Psychologist and writer Florence Littauer describes the four personality types in her book Personality Plus.
See also Two-factor models of personality.
Cultural references [edit]

In 1946 George Balanchine choreographed a ballet he titled The Four Temperaments, set to music he commissioned
from Paul Hindemith. The music, and thus the ballet, is in five parts: a theme and four variations titled Melancholic,
Sanguine, Phlegmatic, and Choleric.
Émile Zola consciously employed the four temperaments in Thérèse Raquin.[21]
The Danish composer Carl Nielsen's Symphony #2 (1901-02), Op.16 entitled "The Four Temperaments" is structured
upon the Four Temperaments.
See also [edit]

Fundamental Interpersonal Relations Orientation
Table of similar systems of comparison of temperaments
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
Keirsey Temperament Sorter
Personality Plus
Five Temperaments
DISC assessment
References [edit]
1. ^ van Sertima, Ivan (1992). The Golden Age of the Moor . Transaction Publishers. p. 17. ISBN 1560005815.
2. ^ Sudhoff, Karl (1926). "Essays in the History of Medicine". Medical Life Press, New York. pp. 67, 87, 104.
3. ^ Boeree, C. George. "Early Medicine and Physiology" . Retrieved 21 February 2013.
4. ^ Kagan, Jerome (1998). Galen's Prophecy: Temperament In Human Nature. New York: Basic Books. ISBN 0465084052.
5. ^ Osborn L. Ac., David K. "INHERENT TEMPERAMENT" . Retrieved 21 February 2013.
6. ^ http://sun2.science.wayne.edu/~tpartrid/Manuscripts/HEETemperament1.25.02.doc
7. ^ Lutz, Peter L. (2002). The Rise of Experimental Biology: An Illustrated History . Humana Press. p. 60.
ISBN 0896038351.
8. ^ Nicholas Culpeper (1653) ‘An Astrologo-Physical Discourse of the Human Virtues in the Body of Man ’, transcribed
and annotated by Deborah Houlding. Skyscript, 2009 (retrieved 16 November 2011). Originally published in Culpeper's
Complete Herbal (English Physician). London: Peter Cole, 1652.
9. ^ Nicholas Culpeper, Semeiotica Urania, or Astrological Judgement of Diseases . London: 1655. Reprint, Nottingham:
Ascella, 1994.
10. ^ Greenbaum, Dorian Gieseler (2005). Temperament: Astrology's Forgotten Key. Wessex Astrologer. pp. 42, 91.
ISBN 190240517X.
11. ^ Martindale, Anne E.; Martindale, Colin (1988). "Metaphorical equivalence of elements and temperaments: Empirical
studies of Bachelard's theory of imagination". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 55 (5): 836.
doi:10.1037/0022-3514.55.5.836 .
12. ^ Lundin, Robert W. (1989). Alfred-Adler's Basic Concepts and Implications. Taylor and Francis. p. 54. ISBN 0-915202-
83-2.
13. ^ Lievegoed, Bernard. Man on the Threshold. Hawthorn Press. pp. 80–81. ISBN 0950706264.
14. ^ a b c d e f Childs, Gilbert (2009). Understand Your Temperament . Rudolf Steiner Press. ISBN 9781855840256.
15. ^ a b c d Eysenck, Hans Jürgen (1967). The biological basis of personality . Thomas. pp. 35,39.
16. ^ a b c d e f Steiner, Rudolf (2008). The Four Temperaments . Rudolf Steiner Press. ISBN 9781855842052.
17. ^ http://www3.dbu.edu/jeanhumphreys/SocialPsych/smalleytrentpersonality.htm
18. ^ LaHaye, Tim (1966). The Spirit Controlled Temperament. Tyndale Publishing.
19. ^ LaHaye, Tim (1984). Your Temperament: Discover Its Potential . Tyndale Publishing. ISBN 0842362207.
20. ^ LaHaye, Tim. Why You Act the Way You Do. Tyndale Publishing. ISBN 0842382127.
21. ^ Zola, Preface to Thérèse Raquin.

Arikha, Noga (2007). Passions and Tempers: A History of the Humours
Helminen, Päivi (1999). Discovering Our Potential: An Introduction to Character Types
Rudolf Steiner (1909). The Four Temperaments

Four Temperaments Test , personality test.
In Our Time (BBC Radio 4) episode on the four humours in MP3 format, 45 minutes
John T. Cocoris, Psy.D. Description of the 4 Primary Temperaments at fourtemperament.com
Descriptions of The Temperament Blends
Categories: Personality typologies

Humorism
Main page This article is about humors in ancient and medieval medicine. For the modern theory of temperament, see Four
Contents Temperaments. For humors in Ayurvedic medicine, see Ayurveda.
Featured content
Current events Humorism, or humoralism, is a system of medicine detailing the
Random article makeup and workings of the human body, adopted by Ancient Greek and
Donate to Wikipedia Roman physicians and philosophers, positing that an excess or
Wikimedia Shop deficiency of any of four distinct bodily fluids in a person — known as
Interaction humors or humours — directly influences their temperament and
Help health. The humoralist system of medicine is highly individualistic, for
About Wikipedia each individual patient was said to have their own unique humoral
Community portal composition.[1] Moreover, it resembled a holistic approach to medicine as
Recent changes
the link between mental and physical processes were emphasized by this
Contact page
framework.[2] From Hippocrates onward, the humoral theory was adopted
Tools by Greek, Roman and Persian physicians, and became the most
What links here
commonly held view of the human body among European physicians until
Related changes
the advent of modern medical research in the nineteenth century. The four humors
Upload file
Special pages The four humors of Hippocratic medicine are black bile (Greek: µέλαινα
Permanent link χολή, melaina chole), yellow bile (Greek: χολή, chole), phlegm (Greek: φλέγμα, phlegma), and blood (Greek: αἷμα,
Page information
haima), and each corresponds to one of the traditional four temperaments. A humor is also referred to as a
Wikidata item
Cite this page
cambium (pl. cambia or cambiums).[3]
Print/export Contents [hide]

Create a book 1 Four humors
Download as PDF
1.1 Blood
Printable version
1.2 Yellow Bile
Languages 1.3 Black Bile
Afrikaans 1.4 Phlegm
‫اﻟﻌرﺑﯾﺔ‬
2 History
Català
Čeština 2.1 Origins
Dansk 2.2 Greek medicine
Deutsch 2.3 Islamic medicine
‫ﻓﺎرﺳﯽ‬ 3 Influence and legacy
Français 3.1 Medicine
‫עברית‬ 3.2 Culture
日本語
4 See also
Norsk bokmål
Polski 5 References
Português 6 External links
Slovenščina
Suomi
Svenska Four humors [edit]
Türkçe
Essentially, this theory holds that the human body is filled with four basic substances, called humors, which are in
Українська
中文
balance when a person is healthy. All diseases and disabilities supposedly resulted from an excess or deficit of one of
Edit links these four humors. These deficits were thought to be caused by vapors inhaled or absorbed by the body. The four
humors are black bile, yellow bile, phlegm, and blood. Greeks and Romans, and the later Muslim and Western
European medical establishments that adopted and adapted classical medical philosophy, believed that each of these
humors would wax and wane in the body, depending on diet and activity. When a patient was suffering from a surplus
or imbalance of one of these four fluids, then said patient's personality and or physical health could be negatively
affected. This theory was closely related to the theory of the four elements: earth, fire, water and air; earth
predominantly present in the black bile, fire in the yellow bile, water in the phlegm, and all four elements present in the
blood.[4]
Paired qualities were associated with each humor and its season. The word humor is a translation of Greek χυμός,[5]
chymos (literally juice or sap, metaphorically flavor). At around the same time, ancient Indian Ayurveda medicine had
developed a theory of three humors, which they linked with the five Hindu elements.[6]
The following table shows the four humors with their corresponding elements, seasons, sites of formation, and
resulting temperaments alongside their modern equivalents:[7]
Ancient
Humour Season Element Organ Qualities Temperament Temperament characteristics
name
warm and courageous, hopeful, playful,

Blood spring air heart sanguis sanguine
moist carefree
Yellow warm and ambitious, leader-like, restless,

summer fire liver kholé choleric
bile dry easily angered
Black melas kholé despondent, quiet, analytical,

autumn earth spleen cold and dry melancholic
bile (?) serious
cold and
Phlegm winter water brain phlégma phlegmatic calm, thoughtful, patient, peaceful
moist
Blood [edit]
The blood was believed to be produced exclusively by the liver.
Yellow Bile [edit]

Excess of yellow bile were thought to produce aggression, and excess anger reciprocally gave rise to liver
derangement and imbalances in the humors. The English word "bilious" (peevish; irritable; cranky) derives from this
conception, as does the meaning of "gall" as "exasperation" or "impudence", and the Latin word cholera, derived from
the Greek kholé, which was passed upon several Romance languages in words meaning "anger" such as colère
(French) and cólera (Spanish).
Black Bile [edit]

The word "melancholy" derives from Greek "melas kholé" meaning 'black bile', from the belief that an excess of black
bile caused depression.
Phlegm [edit]
Phlegm was thought to be associated with apathetic behavior, as preserved in the word "phlegmatic" /flɛgˈmatɪk/.[8]
The phlegm of humourism is far from the same thing as phlegm as it is defined today. Nobel laureate Charles Richet
MD, when describing humorism's "phlegm or pituitary secretion" in 1910 asked rhetorically, "this strange liquid, which
is the cause of tumours, of chlorosis, of rheumatism, and cacochymia - where is it? Who will ever see it? Who has
ever seen it? What can we say of this fanciful classification of humours into four groups, of which two are absolutely
imaginary?"[9]
History [edit]
Although advances in cellular pathology and chemistry discredited humoralism as a scientifically acceptable theory by
the nineteenth century, the theory had dominated Western medical thinking for more than 2,000 years.[10] Only in
some instances did the theory of humoralism wane into obscurity. One such instance occurred in the sixth and
seventh centuries in the Byzantine Empire when traditional secular Greek culture gave way to Christian influences.
The use of Humoralist medicine continued during this time, however, its influence was diminished in favor of
religion.[11] The revival of Greek humoralism, owing in part to changing social and economic factors, did not begin until
the early ninth century.[12]
Origins [edit]
The concept of four humors may have origins in Ancient Egyptian medicine[13] or Mesopotamia,[14] though it was not
systemized until ancient Greek thinkers[15] around 400 BC directly linked it with the popular theory of the four
elements: earth, fire, water and air (Empedocles).
Fåhræus (1921), a Swedish physician who devised the erythrocyte sedimentation rate, suggested that the four
humours were based upon the observation of blood clotting in a transparent container. When blood is drawn in a
glass container and left undisturbed for about an hour, four different layers can be seen. A dark clot forms at the
bottom (the "black bile"). Above the clot is a layer of red blood cells (the "blood"). Above this is a whitish layer of white
blood cells (the "phlegm"). The top layer is clear yellow serum (the "yellow bile").[16][not in citation given]
Greek medicine [edit]

See also: Ancient Greek medicine
See also: Ancient Greek medicine
Hippocrates is the one usually credited with applying this idea to medicine.
One of the treatises attributed to Hippocrates, On the Nature of Man
describes the theory as follows:
"The Human body contains blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile.
These are the things that make up its constitution and cause its pains and
health. Health is primarily that state in which these constituent substances
are in the correct proportion to each other, both in strength and quantity,
and are well mixed. Pain occurs when one of the substances presents
either a deficiency or an excess, or is separated in the body and not mixed
with others."[17]
Although the theory of the four humors does appear in some Hippocratic texts,
The four temperaments
some Hippocratic writers only accepted the existence of two humors, while (phlegmatic; choleric; sanguine;
some even refrained from discussing the humoral theory at all.[18] Humoralism, melancholic).
or the doctrine of the four temperaments, as a medical theory retained its
popularity for centuries largely through the influence of the writings of Galen
(129–201 AD) and was decisively displaced only in 1858 by Rudolf Virchow's newly published theories of cellular
pathology. While Galen thought that humors were formed in the body, rather than ingested, he believed that different
foods had varying potential to be acted upon by the body to produce different humors. Warm foods, for example,
tended to produce yellow bile, while cold foods tended to produce phlegm. Seasons of the year, periods of life,
geographic regions and occupations also influenced the nature of the humors formed.
The imbalance of humors, or dyscrasia, was thought to be the direct cause of all diseases. Health was associated with
a balance of humors, or eucrasia. The qualities of the humors, in turn, influenced the nature of the diseases they
caused. Yellow bile caused warm diseases and phlegm caused cold diseases.
In On the Temperaments, Galen further emphasized the importance of the qualities. An ideal temperament involved a
balanced mixture of the four qualities. Galen identified four temperaments in which one of the qualities, warm, cold,
moist or dry, predominated and four more in which a combination of two, warm and moist, warm and dry, cold and dry
or cold and moist, dominated. These last four, named for the humors with which they were associated—that is,
sanguine, choleric, melancholic and phlegmatic, eventually became better known than the others. While the term
temperament came to refer just to psychological dispositions, Galen used it to refer to bodily dispositions, which
determined a person's susceptibility to particular diseases as well as behavioral and emotional inclinations.
Islamic medicine [edit]

See also: Medicine in medieval Islam and Unani
In Islamic medicine, Avicenna (980–1037) repeated the ancient theory of four humours in The Canon of Medicine
(1025):
From mixture of the four [humors] in different weights, [God the most high] created different organs; one
with more blood like muscle, one with more black bile like bone, one with more phlegm like brain, and one
with more yellow bile like lung.
[God the most high] created the souls from the softness of humors; each soul has it own weight and
amalgamation. The generation and nourishment of proper soul takes place in the heart; it resides in the
heart and arteries, and is transmitted from the heart to the organs through the arteries. At first, it [proper
soul] enters the master organs such as the brain, liver or reproductive organs; from there it goes to other
organs while the nature of the soul is being modified in each [of them]. As long as [the soul] is in the
heart, it is quite warm, with the nature of fire, and the softness of bile is dominant. Then, that part which
goes to the brain to keep it vital and functioning, becomes colder and wetter, and in its composition the
serous softness and phlegm vapor dominate. That part, which enters the liver to keep its vitality and
functions, becomes softer, warmer and sensibly wet, and in its composition the softness of air and vapor
of blood dominate.
In general, there are four types of proper spirit: One is brutal spirit residing in the heart and it is the origin
of all spirits. Another – as physicians refer to it – is sensual spirit residing in the brain. The third – as
physicians refer to it – is natural spirit residing in the liver. The fourth is generative – i.e. procreative –
spirits residing in the gonads. These four spirits go-between the soul of absolute purity and the body of
absolute impurity.
He summarized the four humors and temperaments in a table as follows:[19]

Avicenna's four humors and temperaments
Evidence Hot Cold Moist Dry
Morbid inflammations become fevers related to serious
lassitude loss of vigour
states febrile humor, rheumatism
Functional deficient digestive
deficient energy difficult digestion
power power
Subjective bitter taste, excessive mucoid salivation,
Lack of desire for fluids insomnia, wakefulness
sensations thirst, burning at cardia sleepiness
Physical high pulse rate, diarrhea, swollen eyelids, rough skin, acquired
flaccid joints
signs lassitude rough skin, acquired habit habit
Foods & calefacients harmful, infrigidants harmful, dry regimen harmful,
[20] moist articles harmful
medicines infrigidants beneficial calefacients beneficial humectants beneficial
Relation to
worse in summer worse in winter bad in autumn
weather
Influence and legacy [edit]
Medicine [edit]
Typically "eighteenth-century" practices such as bleeding a sick person or applying hot cups to a person were, in fact,
based on the humor theory of surpluses of fluids (blood and bile in those cases). Ben Jonson wrote humor plays,
where types were based on their humoral complexion. Methods of treatment like bloodletting, emetics and purges
were aimed at expelling a harmful surplus of a humor. Other methods used herbs and foods associated with a
particular humor to counter symptoms of disease, for instance: people who had a fever and were sweating were
considered hot and wet and therefore given substances associated with cold and dry. Paracelsus further developed
the idea that beneficial medical substances could be found in herbs, minerals and various alchemical combinations
thereof. These beliefs were the foundation of mainstream Western medicine well into the 1800s.
Central to the treatment of unbalanced humors was the use of herbs. Specific herbs were used to treat all ailments
simple, common and complex etc., from an uncomplicated upper respiratory infection to the plague. For example,
chamomile was used to decrease heat, and lower excessive bile humor. Also, arsenic was used in a poultice bag to
'draw out' the excess humor(s) that led to symptoms of the plague. Philip Moore, who wrote on the hope of health,
and Edwards, who wrote Treatise concerning the Plague discuss how these herbs are helpful in curing physical
disease. They also discuss the importance of maintaining an herb garden.
The Unani school of medicine, practiced in Perso-Arabic countries, and in India and Pakistan, is based on Galenic
and Avicennian medicine in its emphasis on the four humors as a fundamental part of the methodologic paradigm.
There are still remnants of the theory of the four humors in the current medical language. For example, modern
medicine refers to humoral immunity or humoral regulation when describing substances such as hormones and
antibodies that circulate throughout the body. It also uses the term blood dyscrasia to refer to any blood disease or
abnormality. The associated food classification survives in adjectives that are still used for food, as when some spices
are described as "hot", and some wines as "dry". When the chili pepper was first introduced to Europe in the sixteenth
century, dieticians disputed whether it was hot or cold.
Culture [edit]
Theophrastus and others developed a set of characters based on the humors. Those with too much blood were
sanguine. Those with too much phlegm were phlegmatic. Those with too much yellow bile were choleric, and those
with too much black bile were melancholic. The idea of human personality based on humors contributed to the
character comedies of Menander and, later, Plautus. Through the neo-classical revival in Europe, the humor theory
dominated medical practice, and the theory of humoral types made periodic appearances in drama.
Because people believed that the quantity of humors in the body could not be replenished, there were folk-medical
beliefs that the loss of fluids was a form of death.
The humors can be found in Elizabethan works, such as in Taming of the Shrew , in which the character Petruchio
pretends to be irritable and angry to show Katherina what it is like being around a disagreeable person. He yells at
the servants for serving mutton, a "choleric" food, to two people who are already choleric.
Foods in Elizabethan times were all believed to have an affinity with one of these four humors. A person showing signs
of phlegmatism might have been served wine (a choleric drink and the direct opposite humor to phlegmatic) to
balance this.
The concept of balance in health, a key feature in the humoralist theory, is still prevalent in modern Western culture.
The dietary guidelines put forth by the United States Department of Agriculture recommend finding a "balance
between food and physical activity".[21] The contemporary view of a healthy lifestyle in Western culture emphasizes
the historically influential concept of balance.
See also [edit]

Four Temperaments
Five Temperaments
Three Doshas of Ayurveda
Wu Xing (Five Elements of Chinese philosophy)
References [edit]
Notes
1. ^ Bynum, edited by W.F.; Porter, Roy (1997). Companion Encyclopedia of the History of Medicine (1st pbk. ed. ed.).
London: Routledge. p. 281. ISBN 978-0415164184.
2. ^ Bynum, edited by W.F.; Porter, Roy (1997). Companion Encyclopedia of the History of Medicine (1st pbk. ed. ed.).
London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0415164184.
3. ^ Burton, Bk. I, p. 147
4. ^ Wittendorff, Alex (1994). Tyge Brahe. G.E.C. Gad. p45
5. ^ http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3D%23115103
6. ^ Magner, A History of the Life Sciences , p. 6, at Google Books
7. ^ Keirsey, David (1998). Please Understand Me II: Temperament, Character, Intelligence. Del Mar, CA: Prometheus
Nemesis Book Company. p. 26. ISBN 1-885705-02-6.
8. ^ <http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/142540 >; accessed 27 May 2012.
9. ^ Charles Richet, MD, Professor of Physiology, University of Paris. Ancient Humorism and Modern Humorism. Delivered
at the International Congress of Physiology held in Vienna, September 27th to 30th 1910, as reported on page 921 of the
British Medical Journal of October 1, 1910 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2336103/pdf/brmedj07876-
0001.pdf
10. ^ NY Times Book Review Bad Medicine
11. ^ al.], Lawrence I. Conrad ... [et (1998). The Western medical tradition, 800 BC to AD 1800 (Reprinted. ed.). Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press. p. 100. ISBN 978-0521475648.
12. ^ al.], Lawrence I. Conrad ... [et (1998). The Western medical tradition, 800 BC to AD 1800 (Reprinted. ed.). Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press. p. 101. ISBN 978-0521475648.
13. ^ van Sertima, Ivan (1992). The Golden Age of the Moor . Transaction Publishers. p. 17. ISBN 1-56000-581-5.
14. ^ Sudhoff, Karl (1926). Essays in the History of Medicine. Medical Life Press, New York. pp. 67, 87, 104.
15. ^ Hippocrates (c. 460 – c. 370 BC): in Hippocratic Corpus, On The Sacred Disease.
16. ^ Hart GD (December 2001). "Descriptions of blood and blood disorders before the advent of laboratory studies" . Br. J.
Haematol. 115 (4): 719–28. doi:10.1046/j.1365-2141.2001.03130.x . PMID 11843802 .
17. ^ Chadwick, edited with an introduction by G.E.R. Lloyd ; translated [from the Greek] by J.; al.], W.N. Mann ... [et (1983).
Hippocratic writings ([New] ed., with additional material, Repr. in Penguin classics. ed.). Harmondsworth: Penguin. p. 262.
ISBN 978-0140444513.
18. ^ Lindberg, David C. (2007). The Beginnings of Western Science : the European Scientific Tradition in philosophical,
religious, and institutional context, prehistory to A.D. 1450 (2nd ed. ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
ISBN 978-0226482057.
19. ^ Lutz, Peter L. (2002). The Rise of Experimental Biology: An Illustrated History . Humana Press. p. 60. ISBN 0-89603-
835-1.
20. ^ "Infrigidate - ''The Free Dictionary''" . Thefreedictionary.com. Retrieved 2012-01-11.
21. ^ "Dietary Guidelines" . Retrieved 10 May 2014.
Bibliography
Edwards. “A treatise concerning the plague and the pox discovering as well the meanes how to preserve from the
danger of these infectious contagions, as also how to cure those which are infected with either of them.” 1652.
Moore, Philip. “The hope of health wherin is conteined a goodlie regimente of life: as medicine, good diet and the
goodlie vertues of sonderie herbes, doen by Philip Moore..” 1564.
Burton, Robert. 1621. The Anatomy of Melancholy , Book I, New York 2001, p. 147: "The radical or innate is daily
supplied by nourishment, which some call cambium, and make those secondary humours of ros and gluten to
maintain it [...]."

BBC Radio4's In Our Time. Episode on the four humors in MP3 format, 45 minutes.
Article from 'Phisick'. Humoral Theory
Categories: Humorism Obsolete medical theories Ancient Greek medicine Classical elements
Mythological substances

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2. http://futureisfiction.com/plotpoints/index.cgi
3. http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/storygen.php#
4. http://www.springhole.net/writing_roleplaying_randomators/plotgens.htm
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A few generators, great for settings
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MANY generators in this one, very useful/helpful
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NaNoWriMo’s old plot machines generators
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Fandom - This can be used as a synonym for "canon," but it's also the collection of
fanfiction stories written about that canon, the authors who write them, the fanlistings, etc.
Fanfiction — Stories written by fans of a particular piece, not by the original creators.
Fanon - A non-canon, widely accpted idea in fanfiction.
Fansite — A non-official website dedicated to a particular piece, made by one or more

fans.
Flame — An insulting comment. This is not a critique. This is just rude.
Footnote — Though largely replaced by parenthetical notation, a footnote is a brief

explanation or reference credit placed at the bottom of the page and denoted in the text by an
asterisk or superscript number.
Fourth Wall — If you picture a stage as a room, it has three walls shown. The fourth wall
is the one that the audience can see through. A fourth wall violation occurs when a character
directly addresses the audience in an aside or directly addresses that he/she is fictional.
Gary Stu - A male Mary Sue. Interchangeable with “Lary Stu” and “Marty Stu.”
In Character — A story in which the characters behave as they do in the canon, often
shortened to “IC.”
Larry Stu - A male Mary Sue. Interchangeable with “Gary Stu” and “Marty Stu.”
Litmus Test — In chemistry, this is something that tells you the pH of a liquid. In writing,
this is a general sheet of questions to tell if your character is a Mary Sue or not.
Marty Stu — A male Mary Sue. Interchangeable with “Gary Stu” and “Larry Stu.”
Mary Sue - A female character who is unbelievably perfect. Mary Sues often take the role
of a hero and usually lack a believable ratio of good traits and flaws.
Name Smooshing — A portmanteau of two characters' names or parts of two characters'

names to note a romantic pairing. (John + Emily = Jemily)
Novel — A multi-chapter story.
Novella — A short novel.
Original Character — A character created by a fan author, as opposed to a character that

appeared in the canon work. These are sometimes main characters and sometimes characters
filling necessary, minor roles like waitresses, pizza delivery boys, and cashiers. This is often
shortened to “OC.” “OMC” and “OFC” stand for “Original Male Character” and “Original
Female Character,” respectively. (Not to be confused with OOC.)
Original Fan Fiction — This is a type of fanfiction that borrows only the world (including
settings, norms, magical properties, etc.) from a fandom but uses all original characters.
Original Fiction — Story for which the author came up with all of the characters and
either built the world of the story or based it in the real world, not an existing fan canon.
Out of Character — In text-based role-playing, these are notes made by a player to other
players as an aside to the in-character role-playing chat, such as that someone needs a bathroom
break, has to make dinner, etc. In fanfiction, this refers to a character who behaves differently in
the story than they do in the established canon. This is often abbreviated “OOC.” (Not to be
confused with OC.)
Out of Continuation — This can also be abbreviated “OOC.” It refers to a story that fills
in the gaps of an existing fandom.
Pairing — This refers to a particular couple and is usually writen

“CharacterAxCharacterB” or “CharacterA/CharacterB”
Plagiarism — A piece that's been created by Author A and copied by Plagiarist B, who
claims it as his/her own. This can be a whole work, a work with the names changed, a specific
plot (not a general plot, as there are only a certain number of plot archetypes), significant
element, a research paper, or any specific or significant section of a work.
Point of View — This is the perspective in which a story is written. Third-person is most
common in published fiction, followed by first person. Second person is seldom used outside of
reader insert fanfiction. This is often abbreviated “PoV” or “POV.”
chronologically before it.
Prologue — An introduction to a written or performed work.
R&R — This stands for “Read and Review” or “Rate and Review.” These can also be
abbreviated “R'n'R.” Rarely, “C&C,” which stands for “Critique and Comment” is also used.
Many authors put this in an author's note or summary, but many other authors and readers find
this to be a rude behavior.
Reader-Insert — A story where the reader is a character, written in the second person with
blanks for name, eye color, etc. This term cannot be used interchangeably with CYOA, but a
story can be both CYOA and RI.
Rec — Also known as “Recpage” or “Reclist,” these are pages of links to fanfics that an
author recommends to his/her readers.
Review — An opinion about a particular piece, typically left as a comment for public
viewing. One who reviews is a “reviewer.” These may be positive or negative.
Round Robin — A story written by multiple authors in rounds. This is a type of

collaboration in which Author A writes Chapter 1, Author B writes Chapter 2, etc.
RPG — Abbreviation of “Role Playing Game.” These can be text-based, multi-player

videogames, single-player videogames, or a type of board game.
Script — A format of story with the format of a character's name and dialogue with very
little description other than general directions for movement and emotion.
Self-Insert — A story where the author is a character. The term is associated with, but not
synonymous with, “Mary Sue,” as Mary Sue characters are sometimes idealized self-inserts,
though a character can be a Mary Sue without being a self-insert or a self-insert without being a
Mary Sue.
Sequel — A story written after the first story in a series that takes place chronologically
after that story.
Ship — This is a short form of “relationship,” and references a specific pairing. The
authors who write for a specific pairing are known as “shippers.”
Spoiler — This is when you give away part of the canon plot, whether in a discussion,
summary, or fanfiction. It's generally frowned-upon to give away the canon plot in a summary.
Warnings should be used if the discussion or body of a fanfiction will give away spoilers for
current or recently-released canons.
Summary — A paragraph explaining the basic plot of a piece.
Teaser — A small sentence given to lure readers or viewers into reading or watching
something, not a full summary.
Vignette — A very short piece, such as a ficlet or drabble, usually describing a single
event or scene. This can also be used within a larger story.
WIP — Stands for “Work in Progress,” a piece that is being posted in sections and is
currently incomplete.
Action-Adventure — A genre that centers around a mission and an exotic location.
Alcohol Abuse - What it says on the tin. Heavy use of alcohol and use of alcohol in
otherwise irresponsible or inappropriate situations, such as drunk driving.
All Human — A story in which characters that are supernatural beings in the canon are
portrayed as human.
Alternate Reality — A story where the canon world is preserved but major facts are
changed, such as characters who are dead in canon being alive or characters who are alive in
canon dying. Can be used interchangeably with “alternate universe.”
Alternate Timeline — A story that takes the characters from the fandom and puts them at
another point in history, including time travel.
Alternate Universe — A story written in a different world, such as characters from a world
in which magic exists being put in the real world or characters from a relatively normal world
being given magical powers out of canon. Can be used interchangeably with “alternate reality.”
Angst — Stories about emotional pain.
Anthro — Short for “Anthropomorphic,” this genre typically involves animals given
human characteristics, as seen in many children's movies. Partial-human, partial-animal
characters are also considered anthropomorphic, as are inanimate objects given life and abstract
ideas made into people, such as the grim reaper or a talking clock.
BDSM — This is short for “Bondage and Sadomasochism” or “Bondage, Dominance,

Sadism, Masochism.” It's a type of fetish involving restraint and pain.
Bondage — A sexual fetish involving restraints.
Comedy — A genre focusing on humorous dialogue, events, and situations. Comedies

generally have happy endings.
Crackfic — A story with a very illogical, nonsensical, or random plot, often humorous.
The name comes from the drug crack cocaine. Also written as “Crack!fic” or simply “crack.”
Crime — A story that depicts crime from the perspective of the criminal, opposite of the
detective story.
Crossover — This is when characters from two or more canons interact.
Cyberpunk — A type of Science Fiction involving cyborgs, robots, and computers.
CYOA — Abbreviation for “Choose Your Own Adventure.” These are stories where a
reader chooses one of two or more endings at the end of each chapter and is directed to a
with RI, but a story can be both CYOA and RI.
Dark Fantasy — A genre between Fantasy and Horror that typically deals with dark
themes and supernatural things.
Deathfic — A story where a major character, sometimes a canon character and sometimes
a major original character, dies.
Detective — A story about a crime shown from the perspective of the detective, whether a
police detective or a private investigator.
Divergence — A story that starts in but then turns away from the canon plot. This is also
used for stories that are meant to be side-stories to the canon or to a larger series.
Drabble — A very short piece, typically 100 words. These are often collected in drabble
books.
Drama — A type of story that focuses on emotional or tense situations, generally isn't
humorous, and generally has a mixed or sad ending.
Dub-con — Short for “dubiously consensual,” dub-con stories do not include oughtright
rape but the issue of consent is left ambiguous.
Emotional Abuse - Verbal abuse, coersion, shaming, or manipulation of someone close to

the abuser, such as a child, sibling, partner, student, etc.
Erotica — Deals with sexual love, may or may not be extremely explicit.
F/F — Indicates a female/female (homosexual) pairing.
Fable — A short tail told to children to teach a moral lesson, often with anthropomorphic
characters. Also, a story about an extraordinary hero.
Fairy Tail — A story, usually short and written for children, about magical creatures.
Family — A story focusing on family relationships, often appropriate for younger readers.
Fantasy — A genre in which uses invented worlds, mythological or magical creatures, and
often magic.
Femslash — Slash with a female/female pairing, also spelled “femmeslash.”
Fetish and Parahilia - A fetish is a sexual attraction toward a nonliving object, such as
shoes. A paraphilia is an abnormal sexual desire toward something specific, such as amputees or
the dead.

Fix Fic — This is a genre where the fan author brings characters back to life or otherwise
undoes events that happened in the canon that he or she doesn't like. This can also be an
elaborate explanation of the latest installment in order to make everything better.
Fluff — Also known as “schmoop” and “WAFF” (“warm and fuffy feeling” or “warm and
fuzzy feeling”), these are stories and chapters written to give readers a heartwarming feeling.
Friendship — A story about friends and friendship.
Furry — An often derogatory term for art and fiction based on anthropomorphic animal
characters and the fans of the genre. This is also a subculture where people identify themselves
with a particular animal.
Gay Romance — A romance story focusing on a homosexual pairing.
General — A story without a romantic focus set in the real world.
Gore — Blood, entrails, etc., typically seen in a violent or surgical situation,
Gothic — A literary style related to horror and romance that focuses on morbid situations,
supernatural beings, and the darkness of human nature.
Hermaphrodite — A character who is both male and female at the same time.
Het — A story with a heterosexual romantic pairing.
Historical Fantasy — A story set in real historical times with fantasy elements such as
magic and dragons.
Historical Fiction — A fictional story based around a real historical event or people or
simply set at some point in history.
Horror — A genre meant to scare people.
Humor — A story focusing on comedic situations and dialogue.
Hurt/Comfort — A type of story where the focus of the plot is on a character or set of
characters in pain, often emotional, sometimes physical, and the other characters try to comfort
him/her/them.
Incest — A romantic and/or sexual relationship between close family members.
Lemon - An explicitly sexual story.
Lime — A story with sexual themes that aren't necessarily explicit.
M/F — Indicates a male/female (heterosexual) pairing.

M/M — Indicates a male/male (homosexual) pairing.
Magical Girl - A genre in which the female character gains magical powers.
Martial Arts — A story focusing on fighting in one or more of the martial arts schools.
Mecha — A type of Science Fiction involving gigantic robots and weapons.
Mpreg — Short for “Male Pregnancy,” this is a genre where men have babies, through
some means or another, sometimes explained, sometimes not. Common methods involve alien
probing, medical implantation, and unexplained homosexual male pregnancy. This is very, very
uncommon outside of the fanfiction community, though there are a couple of examples.
MST — A form of story mocking another story with comedy written in between lines of
the work that is being mocked, done in the style of the show Mystery Science Theater 3000.
Many fans consider these rude, so it's generally a good idea to refrain from writing these without
an author's consent. Often called “MST3K” or “MST3000.”
Multiple Partners - This warning is for stories that involve a character who has more than
one sexual partner, either as a polygamist or in a threesome, foursome, etc. This is not for stories
involving more than one couple or stories that simply involve an affair.
Mystery — A story about a crime or other event in which the ending is ambiguous until
the climax.
Mysticism — A story focused on the occult, prophesy, etc.
Mythology — A story about supernatural creatures and pantheons of gods.
NG — Short for “Next Generation.” These are stories based in the world of a fandom,
usually about the children of the original cast. It can also refer to a story in the fandom that uses
completely new characters. (Not to be confused with Star Trek: The Next Generation.)
Ninja — A story based in the tradition and fighting style of ninjas.
Non-Con — Short for “non-consensual,” non-con stories depict rape or sexual assault.
Occult — A story focusing on magic, ghosts, etc.
One True Pairing — This is a term used by authors who believe two specific characters
belong in a relationship and is used to find other authors and readers with the same taste, though
people can have more than one “one true pairing” involving a specific character, as well as
many sets of pairings within the same fandom or from different fandoms that they consider to be
a “one true pairing.” This is often abbreviated as “OTP.”
One True Threesome — This is basically the same thing as OTP, but it involves three
One True Threesome — This is basically the same thing as OTP, but it involves three
characters instead of two. One True Foursome, One True Fivesome, etc. exist as well, but they
are typically parodies. “One True Threesome” is often abbreviated as “OTT” or “OT3.”
Original Fan Fiction — This is a type of fanfiction that borrows only the world (including
settings, norms, magical properties, etc.) from a fandom but uses all original characters.
Original Fiction — Story for which the author came up with all of the characters and
either built the world of the story or based it in the real world, not an existing fan canon.
Paranormal — A story involving supernatural creatures.
Paranormal Romance — A romantic story where at least one partner is a supernatural

creature of some sort.
Physical Abuse - Violent actions done to someone close to the abuser, such as a child,
sibling, partner, student, etc.
Police — A story about law enforcement officials.
Post-Apocalyptic — A type of Science Fiction and/or Horror where the plot occurs after
some sort of disaster that ends normal society, such as a zombie attack, pandemic, nuclear
holocaust, etc.
Psychological — A story focusing on thoughts and interior monologues.
PWP — This stands for “Porn Without Plot,” “Poorly Written Porn,” or “Plot? What
Plot?” It is basicaly a story with very little plot that exists mostly to host a large number of
pornographic scenes.
Pyro — A character who is a fire element, has fire-based powers, or is a pyromaniac,

which is someone who likes to burn things.
Reader-Insert — A story where the reader is a character, written in the second person with
blanks for name, eye color, etc. This term cannot be used interchangeably with CYOA, but a
story can be both CYOA and RI.
Real Person Fiction — Fanfiction written about real-life celebrities. Historical figures
generally do not count as Real Person Fiction and are placed in the Historical Fiction genre
instead. “Real Person Fiction” is often abbreviated “RPF.”
Religious — A story based on an established religion which may or may not contain
allusions or direct references to religious texts, strong personal religious beliefs, etc.
Romance — A genre based on love, attraction, and sometimes, though not always,
sexuality.
S&M — Short for “sadomasochism,” a sexual fetish involving inflicting and/or incurring
abuse.
Saffic — A portmanteau of “sapphic” and “fiction,” saffic is a synonym for “femslash.”
Samurai — A story based in the tradition and combat style of the samurai.
Satire — An often sarcastic humorous story that mocks something in a lighthearted

manner.
Schmoop — The same as fluff. Some fandoms tend to use one over the other.
Science Fantasy — A genre combining Science Fiction and Fantasy.
Science Fiction — A genre that focuses on scientific, often futuristic
Self-Harm - Intentional injury to oneself, either through deliberate actions (cutting,

starvation, insertion, mutilation, etc.) or through deliberately risky behaviors (drug use,
promiscuous sexual behavior, dangerous thrill-seeking or attention-seeking behaviors, etc.) with
the purpose of punishing oneself, releasing anxiety, etc. This is not the same as suicide, but the
two warnings can be used together if both apply.
Self-Insert — A story where the author is a character. The term is associated with, but not
synonymous with, “Mary Sue,” as Mary Sue characters are sometimes idealized self-inserts,
though a character can be a Mary Sue without being a self-insert or a self-insert without being a
Mary Sue.
Sexual Abuse - Unwanted sexual advances, often systematic, often to someone close to
the abuser, such as a child, sibling, partner, student, etc. Can be used with rape warning.
Slash — Typically, a story with a male/male romantic pairing.
Songfic — A story, often a one-shot, that uses lyrics in the text or uses lyrics to generate
the theme and/or plot of the text.
Space Opera — A type of science fiction that focuses on adventure, characters, alien
races, and worlds.
Speculative Fiction — This is a catch-all term for the genres of fiction that aren't plausible
in the real world, such as Fantasy, Science Fiction, Steampunk, etc.
Spiritual — A story of a religious nature that may or may not actually reference a specific
religion or religious text.
Squick — Situations which might cause a reaction of disgust in the reader, usually a story
dealing with taboo themes.
Steampunk — A story where steam is used as a source of power including technology like
computers re-imagined, vaguely based in the Victorian era.
Strong Political Views - extreme, unorthodox, or strongly-defended views, often forced

upon others, including modern supremacist (KKK) and fascist (neo-nazi) groups.
Strong Religious Views - extreme, unorthodox, or strongly-defended views, sometimes

forced upon others, including churches practicing hate speech (Westboro Baptist), religious or
political terrorist organizations (Al Qaeda), cults (Manson family, Jonestown), historical
religious mania (witch burnings, Spanish Inquisition), etc.
Suicide — This warning should be used for any story that includes a depiction or allusion
to someone killing himself or herself or attempting to do so.
Supernatural — A story dealing with paranormal beings, powers, etc.
Suspense — A story with stressful situations for the characters and an ending that is kept
unsure and revealed very late in the plot, often dramatically.
Thriller — A story with suspenseful or terrifying action sequences and sometimes a

mystery.
Time Travel — A type of Alternative Timeline where the characters have an explained or
established method of time travel and go to a specific era for the purpose of plot.
Torture — This warning should be used for any story that includes a character being the
victim of extreme violence, particularly sexual violence or violence in an interrogation.
Tragedy — A story focusing on drama, typically with a sad ending.
Twincest — A romantic and/or sexual relationship between twins.
TWT — Short for “Time? What Time?” This is a story where the author doesn't specify
the time line.
Violence — This warning should be used for any story including significantly violent
content, including war stories, sexually violent stories, superhero stories, and fistfighting.
War — A story involving the military or civilians during a war.
Western — Stories set in the American West between the Civil War and World War One.
Whumpage — A story with the plot focuses on doing damage, usually physical,
sometimes emotional, to the main character or characters. Also spelled “whump.”
Yaoi — Acronym for “yama-nashi, ochi-nashi, “imi-nashi,” meaning “without climax,

without a conclusion, and without content.” This refers to romantic stories dealing with male
homosexual love and sex.
Young Adult — Refers to stories that are meant for preteen and teenaged readers, as
opposed to stories written specifically for adults or young children.
Yuri — Believed to drive from the name “Yuri,” this refers to romantic stories dealing
with female homosexual love and sex.
Mary Sue - A female character who is unbelievably perfect. Mary Sues often take the role
of a hero and usually lack a believable ratio of good traits and flaws.
THE SUB-TYPES
Angry Sue — This type has a score to settle and something to prove, but she's guaranteed
to succeed and look good doing it.
Angst Sue — She has problems. Lots and lots of problems. She storms about and mopes
and is adorable doing it.
Anti Sue — This is the opposite of a Mary Sue, so much so that she's a Mary Sue herself.
Avenger Sue — This type has a tragic past that she must avenge.
Babies R' Us Sue — This type marries a canon character and has a ton of babies, but she
still has free time to party, despite having no obvious source of income, and keeps a perfect
figure between pregnancies.
Baby Sue — This type is younger than most Mary Sues. She's typically a pre-teen or very
young teenager. This can also be an older Mary Sue that acts very, very immaturely.
Black Hole Sue — This is the type who makes everything about her and will do anything
for attention.
Canon Sue — This is a Mary Sue that appears in the actual, official canon and is not a fan
creation.
Clone Sue — This is a character whose attributes are entirely or almost entirely ripped
from a canon character.
Combo Sue — This is a character who is a combination of two canon characters from the
fandom.
Copycat Sue — This can be the same thing as a Clone Sue, or it can be a regular Mary
Sue who copies a canon character. (Kind of like when the little sister puts on her big sister's high
heels and makeup and stomps around the house mimicking her.)
Depressed Sue — This is a Mary Sue with emotional issues, sometimes unfounded.
Einstein Sue — This is the smart Mary Sue.
Evil Sue — This is a Mary Sue who may or may not be a villain. She is sometimes an
anti-hero aligned with the protagonists. The difference between her and a regular Mary Sue is
that she's not nice.
Fiery Sue — This is another type of Mary Sue who isn't as sweet as pie. This one can be a
feminist type or an Avenger Sue, an Angry Sue, or an Evil Sue. She's got attitude and/or attitude
feminist type or an Avenger Sue, an Angry Sue, or an Evil Sue. She's got attitude and/or attitude
problems.
Fixer Sue — She's a deus ex machina that shows up and saves the day, no matter what.
Furry Sue — Take a regular Mary Sue, just add fur. These are often cat-girls or wolf-girls
but can also sometimes be some other type of human-animal combination, such as a centaur.
Gary Stu - A male Mary Sue. Interchangeable with “Lary Stu” and “Marty Stu.”
Gimp Sue — She has some form of physical deformity or significant impairment, often
blindness, but she's pretty, and nobody wants to see a pretty girl cry, so everybody loves her.
God Mode Sue — This type is a strong, self-sufficient heroine who gets magical powers
as needed and saves everybody.
Goth Sue — Take a regular Mary Sue, dress her all in black, dye her hair black, and paint
her nails black.
Helpful Sue — She's helpful...too helpful. She always wants to help because she's
perfect...too perfect.
Jerk Sue — She's awful to everyone around her, but she's pretty and talented, so
everybody loves her.
Larry Stu - A male Mary Sue. Interchangeable with “Gary Stu” and “Marty Stu.”
Lemon Stu — This is a male variant that has a lot of sexual encounters.
Mage Sue — She has magical powers.
Marty Stu — A male Mary Sue. Interchangeable with “Gary Stu” and “Larry Stu.”
Misfit Sue — Take Mary Sue, just add instant angst and whatever clothes the author
thinks are cool, and you get the Anti Sue type known as a Misfit Sue.
Nonconformist Sue — Very similar to a Misfit Sue, this is a type who does whatever she
pleases, regardless of what others think, only they end up liking her anyway.
Parody Sue — This is a Mary Sue written entirely as a joke about Mary Sues. Surreal.
Possession Sue — This is typically the author's favorite character with a personality and
possibly cosmetic makeover, just to make them more perfect.
Princess Sue — She's a magical fairy princess, and everybody has to do exactly what she
wants because she's a princess, but she needs a prince to inherit the kingdom because she was
orphaned when a dragon killed her parents, and she's perfect in absolutely every way and
gorgeous too, and- and- and- Gag me.
Punk Sue — Add plaid, chains, fishnets, hair dye, and attitude, do not wash frequently,
and you have the punk sue.
Purity Sue — She's obsessed with being pure and noble and keeping her virginity.
Rapist Sue — She's the opposite of the Purity Sue. She will have every character she
wants exactly when she wants them, and if she has to tie them down and take it by force, she
will with no qualms, but they'll love her for it anyway because they secretly wanted her the
whole time.
Relationship Sue — Exists purely for the purpose of being the perfect girlfriend of a
canon character.
Self Sue — A self-insert Mary Sue.
Spokes Sue — A spokesperson who should be entertaining people but instead makes them
want to gag because of the ultra-perfectness of his/her stage persona.
Sympathetic Sue — She wants your sympathy. She may or may not have a tragic
backstory or a malady, but it's more than likely she has one or the other or both. The thing is, if
she cuts herself, she gets sympathy. If she cries, she gets sympathy. If she takes drugs, it's OK
because everybody understands it's because of her tragic past. There are no more negative
consequences for her. She's excused from everything, and she looks good being pathetic because
she's pretty, and, again, nobody wants to see a pretty girl cry. (Also called Sympathy Sue.)
Teen Sue — This is typically a Mary Sue on the slightly younger side. Not as young as
the Baby Sue but still younger and less mature than a regular Mary Sue, she falls somewhere in
the middle. Teen Sues are often Purity Sues or Angst Sues.
Tsundere Sue — She's shy and cold, but everybody really thinks she's pretty, and she
secretly likes them too.
Ugly Sue — This is an Anti Sue type. She's overweight, has no fashion sense, and often
little to no talent. (Sometimes there is an Ugly Sue whose talents make up for her lack of looks,
but usually, she's talentless.) Nobody likes her because she's not one of the beautiful people. She
wants sympathy and doesn't get it because nobody cares if an ugly girl cries.
Victim Sue — She has a tragic past. She's basically a Sympathetic or Gimp Sue. She
always has to be the victim and therefore the center of attention.
Villain Sue — She's an Evil Sue who is not an anti-hero. She's most definitely aligned
with the side of evil. Oh, and she's often invincible.
Warrior Sue — This is a Mary Sue who can fight. She's typically a heroine but could also
be a villain. She's pretty and perfect, and she doesn't break a sweat, even when she's been in
combat for hours. So everybody loves her, naturally.
Much thanks to DG for all her help with this chapter. Please, if you're going to use
Japanese in a story beyond very basic phrases and don't speak the language with any fluency
yourself, refer to the forum thread on translation help.
As stated in the author's note: Please, if you're going to use Japanese in a story beyond
very basic phrases and don't speak the language with any fluency yourself, refer to the forum
thread on translation help.
GENERAL TERMS
Biseinen — Beautiful young adult (male).
Bishoujo — Beautiful girl.
Bishounen — Handsome youth (male).
Ecchi — “Pervert” or “lewd” but in a milder sense than “hentai.”
Geisha — Literally translates as “artisan.” These are traditional entertainers, not

prostitutes, which were a different class entirely.
Hentai — Pornographic anime. (Lit. “pervert.”)
Kabuki — Traditional dance-drama theater, characterized by very elaborate makeup. Very

early kabuki was all-female, but modern kabuki, which developed in the mid-1600s, is all-male.
Loli-con — A sexual fascination with underage girls.
Mahou Shoujo — “Magical Girl,” a genre in which the female character gains magical
powers.
Noh — One of the traditional theater styles. Traditionally, actors only rehears together
once before the performance, and the performance lasts all day with five plays being performed.
Noh features masks, typically only for one or two lead actors and those playing certain character
types, such as elderly men, as opposed to the makeup tradition of kabuki. All Noh performers
carry fans.
Sakura — Cherry blossoms.
Seme — The dominant partner in a pairing.
Sensei — A teacher or mentor.
Sentai — Literally, “squadron” or “fleet,” but for those of you writing non-naval stories,
this is a term for the genre of anime based around fighting or the hero team.
Shonen — “Boys” or “juveniles,” refers to a genre of anime and manga intended for
young boys.
Shota-con — A sexual fascination with underage boys.
Shoujo - “Maiden” or “young girl,” refers to a genre of anime and manga intended for
young girls.
Tsundere — Someone who is cold on the outside and warm on the inside.
Uke — The passive partner in a pairing.
Yandere — Someone who is seemingly normal but has a propensity to violently snap with
a certain trigger or in a certain situation.
Yaoi — Acronym for “yama-nashi, ochi-nashi, “imi-nashi,” meaning “without climax,

homosexual love and sex.
Yuri — Believed to drive from the name “Yuri,” this refers to romantic stories dealing
with female homosexual love and sex.
WEAPONS
chijiriki — A spear with a weighted chain on one end.
Dachi — Stance in karate. Also a general word for “sword.”
Daikyu — A longbow.
Hankyuu — A small compound bow
Jutte — a pointed metal pole with a bent bar attached to it used to show law enforcement
office as well as to strike large muscle groups or trap and break hands. Also spelled “jitte.”
Kama — A small sickle or scythe.
Katana — A longsword, also used as a general word for “sword.”
Kunai — Throwing knives.
Kusari-gama — A kama with a chain attached.
Kyudo — The Japanese archery style.
Manriki gusari — a chain with weights on either end.

Naginata — A single-edged, bladed staff similar to a halberd.
Neko-te — Iron claws or spikes, often dipped in poison, put on metal bands or crafted
with ring holes to fit around the fingers and scratch the opponent.
Nekode — Clawed brass knuckles also used for scaling walls.
No-Dachi — A very large longsword.
Nunchucks — A short chain with two pieces of wood or metal.
O-No — An axe or battle axe.
Sai — A trident-shaped weapon used to trap weapons (sword or staff) and to trap and
break fingers.
Shuriken — A small throwing knife, dagger, or throwing star.
Tachi — A mid-sized longsword.
Tanto — A dagger often carried along with a katana.
Tessen — Fighting fan.
Wakizashi — A short sword.
Yari — A spear.
Yumi — A bow.
HONORIFICS
-chan — You use this with members of your immediate family, girls you're familiar with
(female classmates and friends), and young children
-kun — You use this with boys you're familiar (male classmates and friends) with and
people who rank below you, for example, employees and children several grades below you in
school. This is typically only used for men and boys, though it can, occasionally, be used for
women and girls.
-sama — You use this in very, very formal situations only, for example, for a religious
leader, noble, president, prime minister, etc. Regular people don't really use this one very often.
-san — You use this with more or less every adult you're not extremely familiar with, as
it's the equivalent of Mr./Mrs./Ms./Miss.
-sensei — You use this with teachers, doctors, and other well-regarded professionals.

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How to Use this Outliner

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How to Use This Outliner

The Outliner’s presumes you are working on a novel. It could be easily

A couple of years ago I decided that my go-to method of simply sitting

So I made a big shift to outlining my stories before I wrote. At first, my

So my new objective was to learn how to write a better outline. No outline

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Acknowledgments (World Building)

The World-Building Leviathan questionnaire

Coming, at some point…

The one sentence summary.

That’s not working for you?

Or just start writing.

One Sentence Summary

The one sentence summary is your novel’s dramatic question in a

- Your main character(s)

• As revolution unfolds in a Dickensian city, a young woman with

***This webpage has more detail on creating a logline / one sentence

Main Setting Problem/Challe

The 3-Act structure is standard in screenwriting and common in novels.

Useful Overviews of the 3-Act Structure:

Three Act Structure: A Pair of Spanx for Your Novel by Sheryl

Critiques and Alternatives to the 3-Act Structure:

What’s Wrong With The Three Act Structure by James Bonnet

ACT TWO (First Half)

ACT TWO (Second Half)

Initial vs Final Situation

• At the start of Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth Bennett is single (her

Initial Situation Final Situation

Example - Pride and Prejudice:

• Initial vs Final: Initial situation: Elizabeth Bennett is single. Final

Question: What would make the main character(s) / world shift to

• Writes her fantastic poetry

Question: How does this climactic event fix the character’s

man she does not love.

Question: How is the climactic event surprising?

Example - Lord of the Rings

What is the initial vs final situation?

What is your one sentence summary (or alternatively, give the

How is the climactic event surprising?

Note that in a tragedy, there is still a climax which achieves the

What is the initial vs final situation?

You want to draw a picture of a light? You create an impression of

Example - Pride and Prejudice:

Example - Lord of the Rings:

What is the surprise that saves your character / world?