ARCs -> EGP

OK. So a couple of weeks ago when I embarked on that journey to break down potential character arcs based on Weiland’s GWL, MRK’s trauma anchors, which I found mapped to Maslow’s securityphysical/coins, connection/emotion/cups, and agency/intellect/swords, the original intent was to figure out how to plot with less risk and with more guardrails. This was due to May’s absurd foray into the jungle of plot PROGs and realizing MICE was better served as QINA (not as cute an acronym unfortunately), but also realizing there are 32 of these PROGs and that, in and of itself, was overwhelming. Or put another way, my attempt to taxonimize the different plot PROGs so I could “pick and choose” still created an unnatural “I can slot any PROG into any world” which would create clunky stories. And that’s when LK, in questioning me on prj: MINOS made me realize, in a forehead slapping moment, I had completely forgotten the most basic, most foundational element of story: character. I’m repeating myself a lot in these past few journals, but I find writing this progression out over and over again really helps me internalize stuff and since this “repository of notes” is for me to do this in a somewhat autodidatic method, I also don’t seem to care about format and anyone who may end up reading this. Point is – there was a progression leading me cyclically back to April of 2023 when John Pedersen told me to listen to Scriptnotes 403, which I did at least seven times. I thought I’d internalized it, but I didn’t. Or I did but in the wrong context and this roundabout journey was – oh fuck off – a hero’s journey where I had to go into the B-World, and now I’m back. Because ultimately, in going around in this circle I’ve come to a simple conclusion:

The stories I love are essentially emotional ones where the character is forced to confront their own demons and realize how wrong they’ve been living a lie

This is not a profound statement.

In fact, it sounds so fucking obvious. All good stories are that. But a lot of stories attempt it and fail at it. Or a lot of stories – or at least a lot of the modern fantasy I’ve been reading and consuming lately – are decidedly not that. They are adventure stories where one-thing-happens-after-another, there are wondrous characters, events, mechanisms, or worldbuilding… but the character itself is fairly cardboard. Often a boring unflappable action hero with no deep tissue, genuine trauma that is always at the risk of, and on the brink of, being set off.

So, I guess I can throw that into the evolution of me figuring out what my tastes are and what I love, what I want, and how I can recreate it. Ultimately, I want heavy, powerful EGPs where it is a reflection of the human condition against the backdrop of incredulous MECHs (that’s the SFF), but also has a woven layer of social commentary. Put another way, I am simply not satsified with a “good story” in the sense that it’s well-constructed, the plot and characters “work”, but don’t dig deeper beyond that. I can hear Craig Mazin’s voice from that episode now: _“I know what it’s saying, but what is it saying?”

So with that said – this water torture of thirty minutes a day, sometimes less is perhaps, in retrospect, or perhaps hindsight justification for good feels – a positive? That I’m persevering but ever so slowly to understand exactly what I want?

Let’s talk about this from a purely functional/usefulness angle though, because that’s the most important and highest priority for all this thought clarification. Analysis is a trap. Tools creation though, that’s good. And I’d like to think so far, I haven’t fallen into said aforementioned trap. I’m not breaking down stories for the sake of it to find meaning so much as dissecting it to see how it was made or constructed. I think the stases/aspect matrix I made last week is useful. But it’s not completely there. I think figuring out what kind of ARCs can be derived from it and how I can run through the rolodex of them to get at what makes a character tick, which in term helps me develop their plot is useful. What would really make it useful is if I have a clear LIE in which they live under (the STS), and the TRUTH (or the EGP) I would want them to achieve in the course of the story. More specifically, and more importantly… does that EGP actually work on me. If I don’t get frisson or tear up just a bit, it’s not really a strong EGP I can lean on reliably.

OK, that was a lot – yes, I know, a lot – of rambling to get to this juncture here. How do I organize these ARCs? Do I simply go through each of the 24 STS/ALPI intersections? (ALPI being my rewritten acronym for ARRP: Ability, Loyalty, Position, Identity… again changed to matched Maslow somewhat. Skills. Relationships, Power/Jobs, Your Purpose). I think that works.

Some other thoughts: