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I don't know anything about video games. Truly. I'm embarrassed to expose the underbelly of my ignorance about one of the largest revenue markets out there, but here goes...
Video games have a character doing stuff -- action driven. Character propels from one event to the next. Setting. Mood. Theme. Journey.
It's a story.
There's also a character doing stuff to reveal self -- character driven. Character propels from one event to the next. Setting. Mood. Theme. Journey.
It's another kind of story.
So many stories created today -- online, hardcover, softcover, movies, music videos, plays, radio, newspapers, video games...
What makes for a good one?
Likable characters. Exciting action. Meaningful issues???
Enough, I guess. Thousands of stories are published in one form or another everyday.
The good ones are so rare.
Seems to me, a good story makes real time, rather than pass unconsciously, bring us to consciousness...
Every story that becomes a classic has at least three universal plot threads:
(1) Character Emotional Development
(2) Dramatic Action
(3) Thematic Significance
Many writers develop one plot line at a time. The plot line you first choose to carry through the entire first draft is usually directly tied to your strength; strength determines preference (Take the Test).
Whether you begin with the Character Emotional Development plot line or the Dramatic Action plot line, most writers put off the Thematic Significance plot line to the end.
By your final draft, you have at least a vague idea of the deeper meaning of your story, what you are trying to say and the ways you have attempted to communicate that meaning through your story to your audience.
Crystallize the meaning you are attempting to convey into two specific universal themes and improve your chances of creating a classic blockbuster project.
Two Kinds of Thematic Significance
When a character is changed at depth over time, a story becomes thematically significant.
1) Character Emotional Development Thematic Significance
In Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Nick serves as the narrator. Of all the characters in the story, Nick is the only one who is changed by the Dramatic Action, thus making Nick also the protagonist. (The definition of a protagonist is the character most changed by the dramatic action in the story. Unlike The Great Gatsby, if other characters are changed by the dramatic action in your story, then the protagonist is determined as a matter of degree and significance of change.
Some might point to Gatsby as the protagonist, alive in the beginning and dead in the end. What counts with thematic significance is not the change from alive to dead, but how the dramatic action creates a long-term emotional change in the protagonist.
Nick sets his own thematic significance in Chapter 3 when he states that he is one of the few honest people he has known. Since he is the narrator, the reader is curious to know if he is reliable, or not. Does Nick have a clear sense of himself from his time in the war as he thinks? Or, does he have more to learn about himself before he can accurately judge himself? In the end, Nick understands he has only begun to live up to his initial assessment of himself as stated in the beginning.
A thematic significance statement for Nick’s character emotional plotline could be:
Only with maturity and assuming personal and moral responsibility are we able to accurately judge ourselves and others.
Hands on
1) Who is the protagonist of your story?
2) Write down a Thematic Significance statement that encompasses the emotional transformation your protagonist undergoes from the beginning and throughout to the end of the story.
3) Infuse your story with the theme through details and comparisons, metaphor and simile.
2) Dramatic Action Thematic Significance
The Great Gatsby, as with all classic stories, deals with universal themes. Along with Nick’s personal thematic significance, there is also an overall meaning or Thematic Significance for the entire story.
A thematic significance statement for The Great Gatsby as a whole could be:
Ambition for money and another man’s wife leads to destruction.
Hands on:
1) Write down a Thematic Significance statement that encompasses the meaning of the overall story. In other words, what do all of the scenes and dramatic action together add up to mean in the end.
2) Infuse your story with this theme through details and comparisons, metaphor and simile.
When a story embodies universal themes for the characters themselves and through all of the elements and details of the story itself, a story becomes lasting.
Refer to Blockbuster Plots Pure & Simple for more tips about each of the three universal plot lines and how to incorporate each one in your writing project and have fun doing it.
The only real antagonist is the protagonist herself.
1) Draw a bubble in the middle of a piece of paper. Write the protagonist's deepest held belief, the one that prevents her from having that which she wants more than anything else in the world. Or do this exercise on yourself to determine what's blocking you -- I'm not good enough, I'm not smart enough, I don't do enough -- pick one, create one, we've all got them.
2) Spiraling out from the bubble, create other bubbles each with an external antagonist that these deepest held beliefs attract -- accidents, bad men, addictions, drama, dead-end jobs, half-finished projects, arguments = conflict, conflict, conflict -- blockage, blockage, blockage... walls that keep the protagonist from achieving her goal(s).
He was balled up, resistant, bitter, deeply resentful and so tight he could barely speak, ready to take offense, full of self-pity = a mess.
Came around to see how the experience (our plot consultation) could work in his benefit. (He didn't stand a chance -- I know what I'm doing and I've worked with so many just like him...)
I give him huge credit for not falling deeper into victimhood. He arose out of the muck long enough to shine.
We'll see how it goes... Wish us luck...
I'm humbled by how many writers open up to me about that most vulnerable part of them -- their stories.
Immediately ascertainable is how closely a writer is identified by the story.
1) This is the story they have told themselves and lived by their entire lives.
2) This is a fun romp, thrilling mystery, or pure romance.
#1 is generally character-driven.
#2 is often action-driven.
I get to not only sit in the crow's nest and analyze the plot and structure of the story, from that vantage point I often also see a higher archetypal pattern emerge.
For instance, in a character-driven memoir about strong political and historical and religious themes, the protagonist (the writer) is betrayed as a kid by her father. Later she falls in love with four men. She is betrayed by all four of them.
A bigger picture unfolds... Or, is it only my imagination?
Are there other ways to tell this story? You bet ya.
How much of that which comes intuitively throughout the plot consultation do I divulge? Like a palm reader, say everything and let the writer decide?
How much would you want?
Fascinating journey this is, being a plot consultant to writers.
By: Martha Alderson, M.A.,
on 1/12/2009
Blog:
Plot Whisperer for Writers and Readers
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Today's consultation challenged conventional point of view and arrangement. Most stories revolve around a protagonist who is changed at depth over time by the dramatic action that happens to her. The story is arranged into chapters and told through either:
First person present -- I revel in the balmy ocean breeze
First person past -- I reveled in the balmy breeze
Third person present -- she revels in the balmy ocean breeze
Third person past -- she reveled in the balmy ocean breeze
Today's consultation revealed a story more about the transformation of a culture which is changed over time by the dramatic action that happens to the characters who live in the culture than to one particular character.
Some of the most difficult aspects of writing a story, be it a screenplay, novel, or short story, are deciding where the story begins, who's tells the story -- POV, and how best to arrange the overall flow the story.
We seem to gravitate toward a favorite way of telling a story. First person allows the writer and thus, reader closer access to the character. Third person allows the writer and thus, reader less intimate access to the protagonist from her point of view but more access to information beyond the character herself.
What's your favorite?
The final plot phone consultation of '08 illustrated to me how thirsty we writers are for support and someone to believe in us.
A writer with an incredible gift for dialog and in collaboration with an accomplished illustrator is creating a graphic surfer girl novel for middle grade. The plot rocks, the protagonist feisty, the setting unique, the father-daughter issues universal, the theme significant. The problem? Somehow along the way the writer lost energy for the story.
The longer we chatted and the more praise I expressed, the more enthusiastic he became about his project. By the end -- it took us two, two-hour sessions to work our way all the way through the story, he was pumped and ready to devote the time and attention needed for the next and, dare I say it, final draft before beginning the submission process.
As thrilled and honored as I was to work with him on this worthy project, when I hung up from our call, I was also a little sad. I wondered about all the writers out there who may not be able to afford a service like I provide and are without someone to encourage and support them. I despair over the gifts out there half-started and never to be finished. A dream that never has a chance to manifest because of self-doubt, little faith and thus, the inability to put forth the effort needed to finish.
It's all a journey. And, the writer's journey is as filled with conflict, tension, and suspense, crises, and obstacles as any compelling story. It's our path to take and up to us to find what we need to make it to our own climax.
Any tips and tricks to offer other writers about how to restore faith when doubt stills all your writing efforts?
(The phrase: Great doubt. Great Faith. Great Effort. -- comes from The Little Zen Companion and are the Three Qualities Necessary for Training.)
We're halfway through December -- International Plot Writing Month. I trust the time you've spent reading the posts and exploring the exercises has given you a new angle, passion, and energy for your writing, and has deepened the meaning of your story.
So much of writing is by feel. The suggestions here are simply ways to help support your groping...
The Climax decides the Beginning. Examine the Climax you've written for insights into what is being revealed about the protagonist. Think of the protagonist's flaw as the weakest link in her growth -- I'd like to write: spiritual growth but am afraid the word spiritual will be misunderstood. What I'm referring to has nothing at all to do with religion -- it's the part of you that is beyond the physical body. Oops... I was talking about your protagonist, not you...
What does the protagonist have to overcome in herself in order to do what she does at the Climax???
A story is a spiritual quest. Once the character has taken the challenge and entered the story world itself -- Middle, she is knocked around, shaken up, challenged, and tested. In order for the quest to have meaning, the protagonist must share the gifts she has learned with the "tribe".
This is why so many stories are circular -- the protagonist must return home with the elixir -- the End circles back the Beginning...
Any character/person brave enough to step outside her comfort zone is being invited on a quest. Sharing the gifts completes the circle.
What is your protagonist's flaw? What does she do to sabotage herself from achieving her goals? What does she do to get in her own way of attaining her dreams? What is she doing to herself unconsciously that the story forces her to become conscious of and, once she aware of herself, is able to do things differently and thus, reach that which she longs for in life AND helps make the world around her a better place??? The answers to these questions will help determine what belongs in the Beginning of your story.
Today is two-pronged:
1) Organize
If you haven't already, print out your manuscript. Do NOT read it. Be sure to include a header on every page with your title in caps/name on the upper left and the page # on the upper right.
Don't worry about spell checking or chapter breaks. just make sure the pages are numbered.
Insert in a binder.
[Warning: printing manuscript is a snap compared to hole-punching the pages. However, it's important to have the manuscript stable and in one place.]
Divide the total number of pages in the binder by 4. Stick a post-it note at the 1/4 mark and another one at the 3/4 mark.
Put the binder away, for now.
Gather all your extraneous notes. Divide them into file folders labeled Beginning (1/4), Middle (1/2), End (1/4). Straighten up your desk. Purge everything you can that you accumulated while writing the draft. Put things in order.
You're entering a new phase. Time to cleanse and prepare to step into the next draft.
2) Plot the End
Pull out your index cards or paper or whatever works for you. Keep the Beginning and Middle sections of the Plot Planner you drew earlier. Cut off the End. Using an entire index card turned horizontal for the End this time, draw a line that travels from nearly the bottom edge steeply to nearly the top edge of the index card and then down.
Write in the Climax and Resolution you came up with in your first draft. Plot any other scenes you can remember in the final 1/4 of your draft. Write in pencil.
Often in fulfilling either/both assignments, writers find disaster hits. Coffee spills on the manuscript or the index card rips. Perhaps, you stub your toe, break the pencil lead, or yell at the dog for tracking muddy paws across your Plot Planner. If this happens, note the resistance.
Accidents are a rebellion against authority.
Ask yourself: to whom have I given my authority?
Perhaps you've given your power over to the belief that this stuff is too hard or that you've always hated getting organized and plotting, that you aren't smart enough to get this, or that your story is no good and who is ever going to want read your work anyway? Or, your story is so great you don't need all this added work. Could be, you're racing to get the assignment completed because there are so many other things to get done.
You have the choice to buck up and do the work or grovel in the muck.
I vote that you get back into your body and reclaim your power. The work you are doing is important. You deserve the time it takes to get this right.
Hey, it's the holidays. This is suppose to be fun. You're shaking things up. Doing things differently. Or, like one of the few commenters commented earlier -- it can't hurt. Right?
Your story is amazing. You are amazing. Being an artist takes discipline. You are an artist. You can do this....
Okay, video games--not sure about that character-driven thing with them. Seems like the character gains strength & power, but I don't know that they ever change!
Good story--for me, it's layers, I think (at least today) that get revealed as you turn pages. I just finished an incredible YA called Me, The Missing, and The Dead that is just layer on layer of secrets that impact the main character as he (and we) find out about them.
There's a million dollar question. If only I knew, maybe I wouldn't be so stuck in the first draft of my story.
I recently spent time with an old friend under the guise of a "writers' weekend' as we discussed ideas for our novels--my one, her many. She amazed me with story line after story line--detailed plots, developed characters, believable dialogue. Ideas spring from her head almost effortlessly, or so it appears. I'm struggling with the one story--how to turn these ideas into a story that someone would care about.
I think I'll quiz my 12-year-old son about his video games and what he likes about them. Maybe the answer lies somewhere beyond Yoshi's Island as I meet up with Brothers in Arms.
I doubt video games hold the answer -- yes, probably for how to keep people unconscious and engaged for hours....
But, what does it take to keeps us engaged and conscious??? Or is that an oxymoron when it comes to the stories we love???
I mean how many stories do you really remember?? Were moved by and changed by having read / watched them???
What made them so??
Having grown up and still actively engaged in video games (I'm 31, and female. Woot) and their stories, I can only speak for myself, but this is how I feel and sort of break it down in my own head.
Video game stories in terms of depth and complexity are highly dependent on the genre of the game. There are games with extremely involved stories, and then there are those without hardly a premise beyond, "Hey, we're two fighters, let's fight!". Depending on what type of game it is will really dictate what the market expects in terms of a story.
I think writing for a video game is a little more akin to story boarding a movie or writing a comic than say writing a novel, with a sort of 'choose-your-own-adventure" melded into the story flow. The player must be able to interact with the story via the world. Which means that worlds of some of the more complex story video games are obscenely detailed.
Generally, the best stories I've encountered have been from the roleplaying type games. For me, I've particularly enjoyed the Final Fantasy line from square Enix, although not EVERY game was a winner for me since they all have different stories, characters, flow, interface, etc. Although many share same or similar elements which render them familiar. Some of the most successful story wise I'd say was Final Fantasy 7, although it required a CG movie to finish the story to a satisfactory end. (FF7: Advent Children if you want to look it up.) I also thought Final Fantasy X was very engaging.
For most videogames, the story gets broken up into sections. I'd say three major sections, Narrative, Events, and Action.
Narrative is when information is being presented to the player in a way they can't interact. FMVs (full motion videos ; mini movies inside the game) is the prime way of doing this. Events are key points in the game that set action in motion, although how the player deals with an event (which can be as simple as choosing the right dialogue in a box, complex such as having to master a mini-game), it will lead to a period of action. The action is the portion of the story where the player is left to explore the world and fight and struggle against the environment in such a way that they can either choose to go right to the next event or futz around in the environment discovering, gaining experience, and exploring until they are tired of it and want to progress the story.
Most videogames also include a LOT of antagonists aside from the main one that must be defeated in a certain order in order to get to the final one, who is of course the toughest to beat and should signify the climax of the entire game.
Most videogamers are interested in improving the character they control. Progression equates power, so the character getting personally stronger, better equipment, better powers, etc, is how an average player views progression. The world the character is in for the story has to allow this. Although, through the action, the best stories (obviously) provide twists and turns and insights into the character the person is playing and his or her relationship to the world and the current events. This is normally addressed during events or narrative portions of the game. Sometimes what is revealed depends on actions the player has taken during the action portion prior to the event/narrative.
These are very much 'action' stories, in the sense that for the most part MOST of the characters don't actually grow as much story characters might in terms of personality. I think often designers leave the main character sort of purposefully vacant to allow the player to impose their own personality into them, but I feel the best characters in videogames come with a personality. Dante from Devil May Cry (the first one and fouth one) is a good example of a protagonist with a personality in a videogame. I'd say the best games have that element, IMO. Although most games are painfully short on epilogue.
The worlds of a video game require special consideration, as much a character might, as exploring it is such a vital part of the game. Look at World of Warcraft, the Massive Multiplayer online game. The lore of the world requires entire WIKI's dedicated to sorting out the zillions of plotlines going on between the various non-player characters, and how those events are shaking the world down. You spend literally hundreds of hours WALKING through vast sweeping landscapes and exploring towns and hidden corners of the world of Aseroth. Although World of Warcraft deals with creating a character that not a pre-defined protagonist and using a modular 'quest' system to plug a 'story' together from a sting of little episodes which essentially send a player into the world (which results in much walking, btw.) to fetch or kill something. When the player returns to the event giving NPC, the player is rewarded with stuff to make the character better/cooler and the next portion of the story behind the quest is revealed. Rinse, repeat, ad nausium. But designing video games for a multiplayer base, and for a single play through I think is a totally different kettle of wax storywise because of the nature of MMO gameplay.
Some of the videogames that have had an impact on me personally:
Final Fantasy 7
Final Fantasy X
Silent Hill 1, 2, 3, Homecoming
Fatal Frame 1, 2, 3
Devil May Cry 1
Lost Odyssey (for being the saddest game I've ever played, seriously, I couldn't stop crying.)
BioShock
Legend of Dragoon
Chrono Trigger
Massive Multiplayer games that I've played avidly:
City of Heroes
World of Warcraft
Anyway, that's my two cents. Hope it was at least interesting to read. XD
Welcome, ShadowsMyst! Thank you so much for such a thorough explanation about video games. What a wealth of information. Truly!! Deepest gratitude for sharing your expertise with us. Much appreciated. A fascinating read...