Do you want to create a story collaboratively with other Mastodon readers?
We're done with the theory in #BetterStories. Let's move to the practice!
The first thing we will do is to define time and space.
When I played this game with friends this summer I made them throw the dice to know in which time they HAD to write their story. You can throw the dice too, or just vote here...
When is the story going to to take place?
Do you prefer a trip to medieval times, maybe by when America and Europe were about to discover each other?
Or just to the last century to follow some event in the early XX century?
Maybe you want a contemporaneous story.
Or maybe we can foresee how the future will be some time from now.
Where is the story going to take place?
It could be a city story, like the thousands that take place in NYC.
Maybe it's something that happens in a small village in the countryside, maybe like Asterix' village.
Waterworld was a movie that took place mostly in the sea.
And The Jungle Book, in the forest.
What's the size of the community affected?
"The metamorphosis" affected mostly Gregor Samsa and its closer entourage.
Other stories just go as far as the closer, small community (or folktale "kingdom").
Maybe the whole city or country is under attack, as in Mulan.
Or maybe the whole planet is at risk, like in the War of the Worlds.
We need two votes to decide this as there's a limit of 4 options per poll.
This is day 23 of #BetterStories and we're deciding together the plot of the story we're going to write.
You can vote as many options as you like in both polls
Our collaborative story is going to be a quest! (in a small village in the mountains in a dystopian 2225).
Day 24 #BetterStories- We now decide to whom we tell our story
This is advice from Tom Vaughan, Story and Plot https://storyandplot.com/
"You are not trying to please everyone. You are writing to one single individual, and your relationship is with them"
To whom are we writing?
Suggestions:
So this is how our collaborative story starts
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It's around 23:00. We must be crossing the German border now. I'm on the European Sleeper night train service from Brussels to Berlin, going there to spend a long weekend with some friends.
Keep on reading here:
https://notepadr.com/p/BetterStories_by_Mastodon_users
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Let's keep on defining our story. #BetterStories
How should the main character be? Day 25 of #BetterStories, we're writing a story all together.
Let's apply the toots from Day11 and Day12.
https://mastodon.online/@rafa_font/113984116952844149
https://mastodon.online/@rafa_font/113989855381452868
Let's vote on the hero-ine characteristics, one by one. The point is to find 2 aspects in which the protagonist is in need of growth.
If we were to grow the protagonist only in 1 axis, it would be too simple. If we were to grow them in all 4, it would take 3 volumes to do so.
How do we define the hero-ine in our story? Welcome to Day 11 of #BetterStories. In this crash-course on #Storytelling we spend the whole month discussing story and plot. Only on Mastodon! The universal plot is "growing up". If your hero-ine doesn't grow, the story is not resolved. Every story is about the maturing process of the protagonists. Adventures, tests, the dark forces... all these force our hero-ine to grow. At the beginning, they're weak. At resolution time, they're strong. 1/7
So, how's (physically and mentally) our hero-ine?
And, what about their mindset? Do they have their ideas in order?
The story will make the hero-ine grow their weaknesses. #BetterStories
Can they identify what they're felling? Say "I'm happy" when they are, or "I'm sad"?
Finally, what is their stance towards the others? Can they understand what the others are going through?
Remember, their weaknesses are what will drive the story
See you tomorrow!
#BetterStories
So according to (my interpretation of) the results, we don't care about strength nor lack of it, but the hero-ine is very disorganised. They are aware of the others' feelings but they fail to label their own.
We're writing a collaborative story in #BetterStories
This means that, throughout this Quest, the hero-ine will find a way to know better how they feel and also a way to get their life in order. While going on a trip that will solve some issue that the mountain village where they live has
This is day 26 of #BetterStories and we have just decided how the protagonist of our collaborative story is like.
Now, let's look into the light secondaries. See Day 12 for the theory about light secondaries.
https://mastodon.online/@rafa_font/113989855381452868
We'll take the two top results. Vote here!
Attached: 1 image Day 12 of #BetterStories is about secondary characters We'll divide them in two: those that help the hero-ine (the light ones), and those that go against them (the dark ones) If you want to introduce light secondaries in your story, what are the archetypal rules? They can appear at critical moments, when things go wrong, to bring the hero-ine back on track They may offer guidance, but they can't control the story. It has to be the hero-ine that ultimately acts #Storytelling #SamVaLentin 1/7
And similarly, if we look back into Day 13 we'll find the theory about dark secondaries.
https://mastodon.online/@rafa_font/113995401988211753
Which ones do we choose? We'll continue tomorrow
Attached: 1 image Day 13 (out of 28) of #BetterStories takes us through the dark secondary characters. The dark figures are there to confront the hero-ine, to clash with them, to force them to improve, so that the hero-ine eventually defeats the dark forces. The archetypes are parallel to the light forces: dark father/tyrant, dark queen, dark rival, dark other half. But dark characters are more than just a reflection of the good... 1/8
So, these are the secondaries in our collaborative story:
- A light companion, maybe a friend or a sibling
- A light queen, maybe the major of the village
- A dark rival
- A dark other half, a temptress or tempter
Last question coming in! And then, it's off to writing
In our collaborative story in #BetterStories we have the type of plot, the time when the story takes place, the size of the community affected, the geographical setup, how we want the hero-ine to grow, which light and dark secondaries we want in.
Now, day 27, let's look at the ending.
Across the action, our protagonist will:
- Confront the dark forces, growing in the process, evolving in their weaknesses
- Get help from the light forces, learning from their mistakes
- Save the day
(cont.)
At the end of the story, the protagonist must have learned and grown. They are transformed.
Or are they? Because we can twist the story and make the hero-ine fail, letting the dark forces have their day.
What shall we do?
LAST POLL!
Light will prevail in the collaborative story #BetterStories
We have arrived at the end of the Mastodon-exclusive #storytelling course. Today it's day 28. During the whole month of February you have seen tips on plot, structure, character definition and many more.
NOW LET'S WRITE
Let's aim for 2-3 pages, untangling the web we just created poll after poll.
Who is the first to give it a go? Enter this page and look for the "WRITE HERE" cues, and... write there!
Rafa Font 🌻 🇪🇺 🏀