NARRATIVE SCIENCE

• "A story is an analogy to a single human mind trying to solve a problem."
• Motivations, Methodologies, Evaluations, Purpose
  • Motivation > Character > Representation of Mind / Different Motivations
  • Methodologies > Plot > Pro-active, Reactive. People for, against.
  • Evaluations > Theme > Morality vs. Self-interest. Rational, irrational.
  • Purpose > Genre > Personality of Mind at Work. Situation comedy, drama, action, etc. Works together to create the storyline.
• Inequity
  • That's where stories come from; stories are justification.
  • Develop inequity = develop backstory.
    • Backstory: Accumulation of all imbalances, story should focus on main one.
  • No balance; find solution to it--find solution to solution
  • It's the imbalance between things, and if aware, deal with it.
  • Source of all motivation/desire, the greater the imbalance, the greater the drive.
• Difference between tale and story: one is an argument (story) and the other is linear progression (tale).
  • TALE
    • Straightforward
    • Not meaningful
    • Is a statement
    • Linear Progression: goes from one point to another and explores a single issue and its outcome.
    • Not very complex, no subplots or thematic issues.
    • Only applies to one case.
    • Not infinitely watchable.
  • STORY
    • is an argument.
    • course of reasoning aimed at demonstrating truth or falsehood
    • feeling of completeness
    • long-term emotional impact
    • can be applied to similiar situations
    • stands up to repeated viewings
    • something you can't get irl
  • PERSONAL OBSERVATION: "story needs to be an argument" and "art needs to be a thought"
    • Story is art, argument is thought. Not all art are stories, not all thoughts are arguments. There are poor arguments and there are shallow thoughts.
      • Essentially, similar idea, but from different starting points.
• Argument: A course of reasoning aimed at demonstrating truth or falsehood. Sixth Sense, Fight Club, Pinocchio had successful arguments.
• Experience vs. Process: Can't do both at the same time.
• Always ask, "What is it the story is trying to argue?"
• Ingredients
  • Actions - story drivers
  • Relationships: Characters and character relationships serve to argue and provide perspective on problem.
  • Linear - main character problem-solving style
• Argument vs. message
  • message = leaves out conclusion to the argument
  • message < argument - but basically the same thing
• It'd bad when a character's motivation changes..
  • MY QUESTION TO IT: what if it's well-executed character development? Say, a person realizes what he/she truly wants to do, probably after some introspecting? Their motivation is not what they thought it originally was. Can't that be possible?
• Author is GOD - no objective meaning
• THE FUNDAMENTALS
  • Context - that which surrounds + gives meaning
    • shifts in perspective
    • keep context consistent so you can fulfill your intention
    • the things that affect the MC + things that affect surroundings are two different things
  • Conflict - two opposing view points
    • the stronger you feel about the story, the better the story'll be
    • it is 2 things that can't exist at the same time
    • can have conflict only if there's an exception to what you're saying
  • Story - author creates conflict in order to share universal meaning
• MAIN CHARACTER - the character which an audience identifies with
  • personal pov - personal throughline; no main character throughline = no audience
    • However, a relationship throughline can be the heart of story.
    • Without a personal throughline, there can be no emotional attachment to the events that unfold. If you don't have anything, audience assumes reasons.
  • When MC can't see their own baggage, they don't change; instead they focus on something else.
  • purpose of story = remove blinders/make them see their baggage
  • character must come to a point where he/she asks him/herself "Was I on the right or wrong path?"
  • not every MC needs to change in order to grow
    • growth is not always transformative
    • growth does not happen in a vacuum
    • character is about growth, NOT change
  • influence character (previously known as obstacle character but mistaken for antagonist) - purpose is to shine line on MC
  • Resolve, growth, approach, mental sex
    • Resolve - change or steadfast
    • Growth - stop or start
    • Approach - Do-er (external) or Be-er (internal)
    • Mental sex - male (linear) or female (holistic)
  • Change & Start: Hole in their heart (Casablanca)
  • Change & Stop: (Woody in TS3)
  • Steadfast & Start: Holding out for something to start. (Field of Dreams)
  • Steadfast & Stop: Holding out for something to stop. (Braveheart)
• Linear vs. holistic
  • Show positive + negative by showing motivators as to avoid "on-the-nose" writing.
  • Would you rather be able to do something you need to do (linear) or would you rather want to do something that you should do (holistic)?
  • LINEAR (male)
    • focuses on purpose
    • seeks satisfaction
    • tries to gather evidence
    • set up requirements
    • "how" "when" "what"
    • argues issues
    • pulls all together
  • HOLISTIC (female)
    • focuses on motivation
    • seeks fulfillment
    • tries to see connections
    • set up connections
    • "why"
    • puts issues in context
    • holds all together
  • TRAINING (top left), MENTAL SEX (top right), EXPERIENCE (bottom left), THINKING (bottom right)
• ELEMENTS OF CHARACTER - TABLE OF STORY ELEMENTS
  • Archetypal Character - eight characters that exhibit familiar patterns of motivations
    • Protagonist (clashes with antagonist)
      • pursues goal
      • commonly combined with main character role, but truth of matter is protagonist and main character are two different roles (main character is just the point of view the audience looks through)
      • if main character isn't protagonist and vice versa, it can be more interesting
    • Antagonist (clashes with protagonist)
      • prevents goal
      • antagonist isn't big = not a complex character
      • if antagonist is also influence character, he/she is a villain
        • action: prevents/avoid - prevents goal
        • decision: reconsider - urges other to reconsider attempt to pursue goal
    • Reason (clashes with emotion)
      • logical
        • action: control - calm and controlled, can also control
        • decision: logic - makes decisions logically
    • Emotion (clashes with logical)
      • emotional
        • action: uncontrolled - frenzied and out of control
        • decision: feeling - makes decisions based on emotion
    • Sidekick (clashes with skeptic)
      • faithful character (commonly to protagonist, but can be to antagonist, too)
      • usually influence character
        • action: support - direct assistance
        • decision: faith - unwavering belief
    • Skeptic (clashes with sidekick)
      • cynical disbeliever
        • action: oppose - argues and objects
        • decision: disbelief - belief is untrue
    • Guardian (clashes with contagonist)
      • helpful teacher
      • can be an influence character
        • action: help - aids effort to the goal
        • decision: conscience - restraining oneself
    • Contagonist (clashes with guardian)
      • one who gets in the way
      • difference from antagonist is that contagonist doesn't necessarily actively prevents protagonist from reaching his/her goal
        • action: hinder - undermines effort to achieve goal
        • decision: temptation - indulging oneself, embracing his benefits
    • Complex characters - ARCHETYPAL SWAP
    • Resolve
      • how main characters find resolve determines how they problem solve:
        • stay steadfast + continue to do what they always have
        • change approach + adjust a new way of solving problems
  • The system of archetypal characters is convenient, but not always interesting
  • There is growth in subjective characters, but no growth ever in objective characters (they stay the same)

INTRO TO FICTION

• FOREMOST
  • know your character
  • pick a POV and stick with it
  • tell the truth
• POINT OF VIEW - central to dramatization; also central to the whole concept and structure of the novel
  • In third person the voice is less strong, but it still operates in that the character's thoughts are given, if not precisely in their own words, at least in a suggestion of his own personality.
    • More detachment is possible in third person. The price may be less intensity, but the rewards are much greater flexibility and variety.
  • First-person narration contains two time frames:
    • In the past, as we have seen, the action is complete by the time we hear of it from the narrator.
    • In the present, which usually frames the past, the narrator is looking back from his present situation and knowledge to that past action.
      • Moving back and forth between these two times, the time of event, and the time in which it is being related, can create a fine tension--and a suspense of knowing that something momentous has happened while awaiting the disclosure of the details. These withholdings and revelations can be enormously effect (ex. The Great Gatsby)
      • The interval between past and present can also possess great importance; during the time between, the narrator has had leisure to reflect upon the meaning of the past action from a more mature point of view.
        • All this, however, from much usage, has become formulaic. The narrator, in the present, faces some crisis in his life. He turns to the past, where the bulk of the story is remembered. The climax, and the lesson of the past, bear upon the present, and determine the narrator's present decision. As in all fiction, it is necessary to find a new slant amongst hoary situations and devices.
  • The greatest problem of first-person narrator is the manipulation required always to have him present to witness the necessary events.
    • First-person narration of a long novel can become monotonous, and novelists resort to many different devices to bring in varying points of view.
  • Maintaining a single point of view in a long novel may be limiting, but a too-casual switching from consciousness to consciousness will make the reader aware of the author as a manipulator and thus detract from the reality of the fiction.
    • In novels with shifting points of views it is more difficult for the author to conceal himself as the ultimate manipulator.