Identifying the Holes in your Story
January 15, 2007
Something I wrote about a looong time ago, was what some of the biggest things were that typical authors leave out of their stories. To me, that’s one of the coolest aspects of Dramatica - it helps to point out the missing pieces or holes in your story. Previously I had listed the big two - a missing Impact Character and a missing Relationship Throughline. The following is a list of other potential missing pieces.
- Story Limit - This is one the audience will pick up on really quickly. These are the kinds of stories that have no end in sight. Either time is running our or choices are running out for your characters. Pick one and illustrate it once an act.
- Confusing Character Growth with Character Resolve - This has been touched on elsewhere, but is still a consistent problem. If you confuse a character’s growth with their resolve, you tend to think that there are only Change characters. Do this and you’re missing out on 50% of the stories out there.
- Nothing to Say - This is a problem where the author really has no idea what he is trying to say. He simply throws out a series of events and hopes the audience can somehow make heads or tails of it. Again, Dramatica can help here because it forces you to have a point, to have a purpose to your storytelling. By the very nature of it’s definition, you can’t have a Grand Argument Story unless your argument has a point.
The first time an audience watches a story they are looking for meaning. Our minds are pattern-matchers, and as we work our way through a story as an audience we try to figure out what pattern the author has created for us.
The more you leave out, the more the audience can choose not to buy it - there’s more room for them to question your argument.