The storyform is the skeletal backbone of a story. Within this structure the dynamic and static appreciations of a story coalesce into a greater singular meaning. And while there are several great reports available to the Dramatica user, wouldn’t it be great if there was a more visual way of looking at this most essential part of a story?
I’m proud to present to you fans of story a new feature here on this blog: The Visual Storyform! In short, I’ve extracted the key points discussed in a podcast and served them up in a mindmap form.
The dynamic and static appreciations in a storyform coalesce into the meaning of a story
For those unfamiliar with a mindmap, it is a visual representation of Radiant Thinking wherein you start with a central topic and then radiate out into separate subtopics. It’s a great tool for brainstorming and for visually collecting and connecting the ideas floating around in your head.
I also thought it would be the perfect tool for examining a storyform.
Using the latest version of a great mindmapping program, MindManager 7, I’ve constructed a mindmap outlining the storyform for the classic film, On the Waterfront. I’ve placed the title in the middle and then worked my way out into the four separate throughlines that exist in a complete story. Even greater detail can be found beyond those four main topics as the map breaks further down into more subtopics for each throughline.
Instead of a list of words and definitions that can seem somewhat overwhelming and disconnected, the visual storyform shows you how all the pieces connect together to help create the meaning of a story.
Audio Too!
But the coolest part (and the part I’m most excited about) is that for most every topic you’ll find a link to a corresponding audio snippet from the original podcast. Although it’s difficult to really see in this version, if a topic has two icons just to the right of it, you should have a link to a QuickTime file that you can listen to. That way, if you want to learn more about why Terry Malloy can be seen as a Change Main Character or how Edie impacts Terry with her Concern for Memories, you can jump right to it. No more searching through two hours of audio for the part you’re most interested in.
This is just one way of posting a mindmap online. All this week I’ll be posting different versions and asking for feedback on which one you think works better.
But for now enjoy the Visual Storyform for On the Waterfront:
4 responses so far ↓
1 Marc Herpoux // Aug 8, 2007 at 3:30 am
Ouha it’s very great!
I’m French, and only listening podcast was hard (too long to understand something well).
But now, it’s easy… because it’s visual (with images, illustrations… Good work!)
Just on thing… your handwriting is sometimes illegible. I know, sorry.
Thanks. Really. It’s a really pretty good idea!
2 Jim // Aug 8, 2007 at 6:11 am
Great, I’m glad it was helpful.
And yes, something about the Export process made my sometimes hard to read handwriting even more difficult to interpret. I liked it because it seemed more personal and I’ve worked on it so much that I know the storyform by heart.
On the next version I’ll convert the ink to text.
3 Jim // Aug 17, 2007 at 9:34 am
A new “easy-to-read” version of the Visual Storyform has replaced the previous inked version mentioned in the above post.
Hope this one is helpful.
4 Marc Herpoux // Aug 17, 2007 at 3:08 pm
Great. It’s better.
Thanks a lot!
Leave a Comment