The Art of Storytelling -- Stage Two:  Storyencoding

Foundations

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. As we have learned, this means the Overall Story throughline revolves around an external situation. Now, when it comes to writing our story, we are not going to put down on paper, "The Overall Story throughline revolves around an external situation." Our audience would have trouble getting involved with that! Instead, we're going to connect that bare story point to something concrete so the audience can relate to what we're talking about.

To make this story point real, we ask ourselves, "What kind of a situation is it?" One author might choose to say, A group of travelers trapped in a sunken ship." That fulfills the dramatic function called for by placing the Overall Story Throughline in a Situation.

Another author might choose to encode an Overall Story Throughline of Situation by saying, "The death of the parents of five children in a car crash leaves the children to fend for themselves."

Clearly, each story point 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 story point influences much of the setting of your story in a Genre sense. Encoding also influences the events that happen in your plot, the thematic issues that rise to the surface, and the nature of the people populating your story.

Once you understand encoding, another issue often comes up: Storyforming and then Storyencoding doesn't seem like an organic way to go about creating a story. Well, we can't argue with that. Most authors are attracted to a story by both the underlying structure and 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 inspires them is some intriguing concept, and the rest of their effort in developing that concept is to try to build a story around it.

At first, things go 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. They 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 freeing. You can let your imagination run wild, then hold up each new inspiration to the storyform and see if there is a story point that idea will encode. You may have to tweak it a bit to make sure it will communicate the story point accurately. If your intuition is on the mark, then just about anything you come up with is likely to be a part of the puzzle. It simply needs to be nuanced a bit to slip it into the job it 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!) the Story Engine will select all the remaining story points. In other words, the model of story programmed into the software has calculated the dramatic influence of the selections you've made and determined the remaining story points necessary 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 Storyform 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-amusement 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 doesn't matter how you encode a story point, 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 or in your heart. We're back to intuition again here. And once again, you will need to examine those story points that 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 built on a sound storyform.

The rest 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, because of its importance, the first one we address.