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How do YOU write?

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Tog Class 100 Hero Joined: 03 Oct 2007 Posts: 102 Location: Northern Utah	Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 3:33 am    Post subject: How do YOU write?   I've asked this on a couple of other boards, one fan-fic and one full of astrophysicists and engineers, and I was surprised by both the differences, and similarities in the answers. How do you, the reader, actually write? Do you know all the details before you start? Do you have an outline? Do you write as it comes to you, often surprised by where things lead? Do you keep personal records of your character's lives before you knew them? Do you make drawings or props to get a better idea of your story settings? How do you know it's good? How do you edit/revise? In my case, I know generally where things are headed and I have an outline of what needs to be in there, but nothing is specific. In To the Victor... chapter 3 (at the Ren Faire) I had no idea Tog and Dawn would be so flirty. It really surprised me that it came out that way. I have a spreadsheet that goes from 1969 to 2008 by year, then from 2004 to 2008 by month with what each character was doing at the time. All of my characters and a lot of my NPC's are listed on it, along with family members, history, personality, and so on. I do draw out floor plans if they matter, and any fight scene I write, is done by standing up and acting it out as I write it. I've also written out letters that don't actually make it into the stories because I need to see where certain words fall. For me, there will be something in my head that clicks when I've got one right. it might be just a cool idea, or it might be a line that makes it happen, but once it does the rest of the story falls into place. It doesn't mean anyone else will like it, but that click means that there is probably nothing else I can add to it to make it better. I'll write the whole story, then put it away for a week or two. If I still like it on the re-read, It's good. Minor changes are okay as well. If anything major gets changed, it goes back in the bottle for another week or two. I don't usually take stuff out of a story. I tend to write it as the bare minimum then add stuff in to fill it out. Anyone else? _________________ Guide for new players is now (mostly) updated for Issue 12. Link is the website in my profile.
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TealSwann Bystander Joined: 19 Mar 2007 Posts: 23 Location: Michigan	Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 9:33 am    Post subject:   For me, the story evolves as I write it. Occasionally I know how I want to start and since most of my stories are origin stories, it's easy to know where it ends. Everything in between....just sort of happens. I'm often surprised when I get into the flow and write quite a few pages and then go back and read them a few days later. I'm usually like 'Huh, I don't remember writing that, but it works.' I guess I just look at myself as a vessel for the muses. The stories don't come from me, they come through me. _________________ If you don't come back dirty....you didn't do it right.
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Ockham Freedom Phalanx Founding Member Joined: 25 Apr 2006 Posts: 892 Location: I give a crap!	Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 1:21 pm    Post subject:   Wow! What a complicated question. I apologize in advance for the length. I love the Dramitica Theory from here. At least as far as where the characters fall. I typical use this as a guideline: Quote: 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. IMPACT CHARACTER: 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 Overall 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. Dramatica, A New Theory of Story 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 Protagonist 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 Protagonists. This is because the Main Character is so often combined with the Protagonist 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 archetypes. 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 establishing 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 Character. 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 personal 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 naturally 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 Emotion, 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 represent 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, however, 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 between 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 archetype is unique to Dramatica. The first of these characters is the Guardian. The Guardian 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 Protagonist, we coined the name "Contagonist". Contagonist: "Whose side are you on?" Because the Contagonist and Antagonist both have a negative effect on the Protagonist, they can easily be confused with one another. They are, however, two completely 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-incommand. 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. I am amazed with how just the character strucutre of this theory works. I wish I could finish reading the book to learn the whole theory. Characters can be assigned to different roles and the story chages. I love the characters described and I have use this for everything I have written in the last three years. I have backgrounds from across the board. I go back as far as I deem necessary. I love writing flat out to becuase sometimes characters decide they want to go there own way. Since the are spawns of our mind's eye the fact they show this type of free thinking is astounding. Sometimes I let them run other times I reel them and and give them what for. If your still with me I again apologize for the length. But I truly love what little I know of Dramitica and how powerful it is. Then again you did ask. _________________ Need a break from COH Fan Fiction? Try www.AnthonyHarte.com A Sci-Fi Fantasy Source.
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Myths n' Wraiths Freedom Phalanx Founding Member Joined: 26 Apr 2006 Posts: 848 Location: I give a crap too ;) .	Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 6:42 pm    Post subject:   Wow that post needs its own thread all together. I found myself trying to apply the different archetypes to the characters in Power Given and got cornfreakingfused. I have a character that plays the antaganist with protaganist atributes, a person that plays the protaganist in some regards but antaganist in others and then a pure protaganist who doesnt even enter the scene till half way through the story... Perhaps I should revisit this after the entire story is posted. To the OP, I generaly start a story knowing where I want to go. Sometimes its even less than that, sometimes the only thing I know is the message I want to send to my readers and nothing else. I of course know all of my characters very well. I don't have it written down really, its more like I know bits and peices about them. I know what makes them tick but I'm never sure what will come out about their past or their desires in any given moment. So pretty much when I write my Fan-Fics i take my characters in their current state and know where I want to end up... from their everything else just kind of comes out in the mix. Last edited by Myths n' Wraiths on Fri Jun 06, 2008 5:59 am; edited 1 time in total _________________ Murphey's Laws of Combat "A sucking chest wound is natures way of telling you to slow down."
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Tropic Site Admin Joined: 25 Apr 2006 Posts: 308 Location: Florida	Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 8:07 pm    Post subject:   I was talking to a woman who wrote/writes Xena - Warrior Princess fanfic. Her style is write a scene, write another, etc..then put them where they'll go in the story. I 've found I can't do that. I have to write from beginning to end. I know the beginning of the story. I know the end of the story. I know certain scenes that will be in the story but I can't write them until I get to them..no matter if its near the front or at the end! And I am plagued with "wouldn't it be cool" moments while I'm writting. Whcih means that in Point A to Point B, B becomes C, then ooo what if...C becomes D and oooo what if...then D becomes E etc. I have a general idea of the points I want to hit but what leads up to those points is a revalation even to me. The only story of mine I ever mapped out from beginning to end was "The Beast", Everything but incidental dialogue was planned. Trop
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VuDu DawL Sidekick Joined: 17 Dec 2007 Posts: 64 Location: State of Confusion	Posted: Fri Jun 06, 2008 1:47 am    Post subject:   I write mostly for my own relaxation. It is letting my imagination loose. A lot of my stories started out in actual RP within the context of the game. Dawl's backstory was the first piece of fan-fic I'd ever done. All my writing before that was erotic fiction, and where I get the inspiration for that... well, we aren't going to go there.. hehe. In the beginning, I knew where I wanted to go with Dawl's origin, and family history. I knew I wanted her to be enigmatic - a creature created from evil but overcome with goodness. Az, on the other hand, was originally created to be the 'fallen' one, who was to become my villainess once CoV was released. Her salvation was due to a former friend and partner who loved her concept and story and begged me not to turn her into a villain. So the plot for Conversion was born. (Hey, I had to throw some true evil in there somewhere...) The ill-fated conception by an act of brutality and evil brought forth the villainess who was Az's first-born daughter. The final outcome of that entire saga was largely influence by our RP group, and the epic year end event, which pitted the demonic against the heroic in a battle for a rather unusual family heirloom. In turn, THAT led to Az's melancholy state of mind (she'd always been rather reserved and brooding), and her mixed feelings about her offspring, magnified by the fact that she'd 'moved out' of her cave (an old out-leveled mission I had saved to park her in when I had to go AFK to tend to Grandma, before SG bases came out.) and in with her sister who had several children and a loving mate. Once again, actual game play caused the story lines to turn, and RP with both the SG, and Az's long-term partner and eventual mate had a LOT to do with where the story line went from there. (Her union with the mate produced a younger purely good sibling - epic good vs. evil sibling rivalry... ) But then I can't say any more because the rest of that story is still in the works. I really can't say I know the end to any of the stories, because many of the them have, through role-play and input from others, taken turns I could not have originally foreseen. Now, that's the fan-fic. My dark horror stories? I knew exactly where they would start, and where I wanted them to go. I had specific scenes in mind, and simply laid the bare bones frame work, then I work details in to 'flesh out' the basics and make the story come alive. But the ending was, shall we say, predestined? I guess the difference between fan-fic and my other works is that no one else ever gets involved with my personal writing, but there are MANY others who are involved in the fan fic due to the game's role-play aspect. How does everyone else deal with game play and role-play in regards to where there character stories go? If someone you regularly RP with 'god-modes', do you 'backspace' and leave their 'events' in your character's life out? Or do you fill them in as if they'd actually happened and then use your own plot devices to get the story back to where you want it to be? I am really curious about how other's handle this. OH! BY THE WAY... I have a clone of Az in her teens on Freedom. Where do you guys hang out, and when? _________________ My City of Heroes Fan Ficiton pages: http://coh.iswiz.com The Action Zone - a City of Heroes/Villains screenshot gallery: http://coh.iswiz.com/gallery/index.php Send your favorite screenshot as an E-card!
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Tog Class 100 Hero Joined: 03 Oct 2007 Posts: 102 Location: Northern Utah	Posted: Fri Jun 06, 2008 3:39 am    Post subject:   Great replies. Thanks. I'll need some time to go over and absorb Ockham's post. I've got a Hotel full of bikers tonight and It doesn't really look like anything needing focus will be getting done. As for Dawl's question about dealing with RP. I don't. No one in out SG really RP's much, so it hasn't come up. Now, that's not to say it doesn't happen, but it's not the norm. So far, every character in To the Victor has been a creation of my own, except for Jyn and Tonix. They were the friend that got me into the game and his wife. Both left the game early on. Later, there will be some other characters that are played by others in the group, but they don't really get roleplayed in the normal way. Our SG founder, Bert the Viking, was tied up with home remodeling in real life a lot of the time. That is reflected in his sections of the story. Another one I did was the founding of Safe Harbor. I wasn't around for it, but I talked with the other officers about what really happened then converted it to a metaphor type of thing. The person that made the graphics for our Guildportal page in real life was the character that took it upon himself to clean up ad decorate the cave that the refugees were using for shelter at the time. Our base architect had an elaborate history for his older Earth Controller and his young Energy Blaster, so they teamed up to cut the new base out of the rock cave. People that were around will see a lot of parallels, but to everyone else it was just a fictional story. For my own, I do RP, but not in a way most people will ever detect. I don't act the part in the chat channel, but in the play itself. A later character is a mutant lizard. In game, I constantly jump from place to place. Lista is a Blaster, but plays as a ranged scrapper. I've actually had scrappers comment on the fact that she doesn't run in situations where they would have. I don't play other blasters that way at all. I do have some CoC gray area binds set up for her though. "You're going down like me on a second date", for example. Some of them will appear in Victor. Another character that will appear later is Cursed Phoenix. This is a scrapper that was played by another person in out group. I know the history and fate of the character, and was given permission to put it in. CP was blindly aggressive for RP reasons, but only those that read the bio would have understood it because it was never discussed in game. And all my "people" are on Champion on Liberty now. (Yay new slots!) And in the time it took to write this, I had 8 phone calls, 5 from the same kid, one check in, and one vending machine repair. _________________ Guide for new players is now (mostly) updated for Issue 12. Link is the website in my profile.
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Ockham Freedom Phalanx Founding Member Joined: 25 Apr 2006 Posts: 892 Location: I give a crap!	Posted: Fri Jun 06, 2008 1:12 pm    Post subject:   I will admit Dramitica Theory is a lot to absorb. If there is enough interest I can start a new topic and we can discuss. You can download their book for free from their website. It's a bit outdated with some terms, but for all I got into it I haven't noticed much. I also bought the paper back with is more revised. I recommend the first 4 chapters on Character explanations I listed above. Anything after that your on your own. Once I get characters in rules I usually need an idea to start. I can change out characters transfering slots and literally the story changes and actually flows from the them. I think like many of us here we all use different methods at different times. MW, if you read the first 4 chapters, IMO you'll see there is less jumping then you think. The archetypes though are by know means permanent and stagnant. They are very flexible and I think it would be possible for a charcter in the story to step out of his role and temporarily into another. I think his role may be temporarily filled while he is "away." The books lists some good examples. Maybe I'll start a list over in your topic we can analyze it now. _________________ Need a break from COH Fan Fiction? Try www.AnthonyHarte.com A Sci-Fi Fantasy Source.
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