Dynamics

Dynamics are the forces that drive and shape your narrative, influencing the story’s direction and character development. By understanding and applying these pressures, you can strengthen your story’s core argument and add depth to its emotional and thematic impact.

Key Dynamics

The Dynamics of a story can be divided into several key categories: Resolve Dynamics, Character Dynamics, Narrative Dynamics, and Plot Dynamics. Each category highlights different aspects of how a story evolves and communicates its core meaning.

Resolve Dynamics

Resolve Dynamics focus on the core philosophical stances of the Main and Influence Characters, forming an inverse relationship that underscores the story's thematic argument:

1. Main Character Resolve: This Dynamic determines whether the Main Character ultimately abandons their approach to resolving conflict or holds firm. A Relinquished resolve signals a letting go of an old process, while a Maintained resolve highlights holding on to a process of conflict resolution.
2. Influence Character Resolve: The Influence Character’s Resolve is always the inverse of the Main Character’s Resolve. If the Main Character Resolve is Relinquished, the Influence Character's Resolve would be Maintained, and vice versa. This relationship reinforces the thematic dichotomy at the heart of the story and serves to prove the Author's intent.

Character Dynamics

Character Dynamics explore the internal and external methods by which the Main Character interacts with challenges, illuminating their personal growth and approach:

1. Main Character Growth: This Dynamic describes the direction of the Main Character's internal change, focusing on whether they are moving toward Stop or Start:

• Stop: The Main Character ceases an existing behavior, perspective, or approach, whether constructive or detrimental.
• Start: The Main Character initiates a new behavior, perspective, or approach, whether constructive or detrimental.

Growth establishes the trajectory of the protagonist’s transformation, shaping the directional arc of the narrative.

2. Main Character Approach: This Dynamic refers to how the Main Character confronts problems:
   • Do-er: Addresses conflicts through external actions.
   • Be-er: Adapts internally to manage challenges.

Narrative Dynamics

Narrative Dynamics define the broader, universal forces that establish the structural and thematic integrity of the narrative:

1. Narrative Alignment: This Dynamic explores the narrative’s underlying alignment, distinguishing between Dopamine-aligned (focused on rewards, goals, and achievement) and Serotonin-aligned (centered on relationships, intentions, and emotional harmony). These alignments shape the story's thematic core and the audience's emotional connection.
2. Narrative Fabric: This Dynamic examines the interplay between Spacetime and Timespace, representing the objective and subjective relationships regarding Space and Time within the narrative. In Spacetime, space is objective while time is subjective, and in Timespace, time is objective while space is subjective. This framework captures the dynamic, emergent nature of storytelling, enriching its complexity and depth.

Plot Dynamics

Plot Dynamics guide the progression of events and outcomes in the story, shaping the audience's experience and emotional journey:

1. Story Driver: The type of events that propel the story forward:
   • Action: External events lead to decisions.
   • Decision: Choices lead to subsequent actions.
2. Story Outcome: The result of the story’s central conflict (plot):
   • Success: The overarching problem is resolved.
   • Failure: Efforts to resolve the problem fall short.
3. Story Judgment: The emotional evaluation of the story’s outcome from the author's perspective, often reflected in the Main Character:
   • Good: The Main Character feels content and fulfilled.
   • Bad: The Main Character is left dissatisfied or defeated.

Here's a clearer, more engaging version for your Endings and Attunement section:

Endings and Attunement

Ending: By combining Dynamics, you can uncover additional narrative appreciations—like the overall sense of how your story concludes. The appreciation known as Ending reflects this, aligning with traditional narrative outcomes:

• Triumph – equivalent to Success/Good
• Virtuous – equivalent to Failure/Good
• Bleak – equivalent to Success/Bad
• Tragedy – equivalent to Failure/Bad

Attunement: Serotonin narratives aren't structured around problems and solutions, making traditional notions like Success or Failure, Good or Bad less relevant. Instead, they rely on a distinct appreciation called Attunement, which merges these concepts into a single perspective. Attunement shifts based on the MC Resolve:

Released:

• Centered – equivalent to Success/Good
• Being Present – equivalent to Failure/Good
• Stagnant – equivalent to Success/Bad
• Disconnected – equivalent to Failure/Bad

Sustained:

• Composed – equivalent to Good
• Inert – equivalent to Bad

How to Use Dynamics

You can find Dynamics under the Storyform section of Forming in the Develop Workspace, as well as listed above Storyforms in the Muse Workspace. Whether chosen by you when shaping your narrative into a Storyform or set automatically behind the scenes, these elements can be accessed individually. You can also add or adjust them within an existing Storyform to delve deeper into your story’s thematic and structural nuances.

Using Dynamics effectively clarifies the central argument of your story, ensuring that the narrative unfolds in a meaningful and coherent way.