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Of Stories and Storyforms

When we think of a story, we often focus on the surface elements—characters, events, or settings. But there’s much more to a story than meets the eye. Beneath the plot and dialogue lies a carefully crafted structure, guiding how the story unfolds and what it ultimately communicates.

This deeper structure is what gives a story its shape, direction, and meaning. Whether you’re writing a novel, a screenplay, or even a video game, the real power of your story comes from how well its underlying framework supports the message you want to convey.

This is where the concept of Storyforms comes in.

Understanding Storyforms

A Storyform is a unique narrative structure that defines the thematic argument of a particular storyline. Every Storyform works as a cohesive blueprint for your narrative, organizing characters, plot points, and themes into a meaningful whole. Many well-known films have more than one Storyform, allowing them to explore different narrative threads within the same overarching story. For example:

  • Raiders of the Lost Ark: Explores a dynamic adventure through interconnected Storyforms, such as Indy’s pursuit of the Ark and his rivalry with Belloq.
  • The Empire Strikes Back: Balances intricate narrative layers, each driven by its own Storyform, including Luke’s training with Yoda and the evolving relationship between Han and Leia.
  • Jerry Maguire: Navigates themes of professional ambition and personal fulfillment via separate Storyforms, such as Jerry’s partnership with Rod Tidwell and Dorothy’s life and romance with Jerry.
  • Barbie: Uses contrasting Storyforms to delve into identity, empowerment, and societal roles, highlighted through Barbie’s interactions with Ken and her bond with Gloria.
  • As Good As It Gets: Intertwines multiple Storyforms to examine personal growth and relationships, such as Simon and Melvin’s unexpected friendship and Melvin’s romance with Carol.
  • RRR: Combines bold Storyforms to address sweeping themes like loyalty and liberation, with threads focusing on rescuing the girl and fueling a revolution.

While these examples are fantastic, it’s important to note that most stories—whether they’re films, novels, television series, graphic novels, games, or other mediums—typically have just one Storyform. We recommend that you start with a single Storyform when beginning your project, as it provides a strong, focused foundation for your narrative. Once you’re comfortable, you can explore layering multiple Storyforms if your story requires more complexity.

Why Use Multiple Storyforms?

Using multiple Storyforms allows for greater thematic depth and narrative flexibility within your story. Here are two key reasons why you might choose to work with more than one Storyform:

  1. Exploring Different Thematic Issues
    Each Storyform represents a unique perspective on a thematic argument. By incorporating multiple Storyforms, you can explore diverse thematic issues within the same story. For example:

    • In Barbie, one Storyform examines Barbie’s empowerment and identity through her interactions with Ken, while another focuses on societal expectations through her connection with Gloria.
    • In The Empire Strikes Back, separate Storyforms allow for Luke’s spiritual journey with Yoda to unfold alongside Han and Leia’s interpersonal dynamics.

    This approach enriches your narrative, giving it a multifaceted and layered quality that resonates with audiences on multiple levels.

  2. Experimenting with Different Storyforms
    Sometimes, it’s not just about the themes—you might want to test different narrative approaches for the same story idea. Subtxt allows you to work with multiple Storyforms simultaneously, making it an excellent tool for experimentation.

    • You can try out different Storyforms to see which one best fits your story’s needs or combine elements of several to achieve your creative vision.
    • Subtxt’s flexibility empowers you to experiment, iterate, and refine your story structure until it aligns with your goals.

By working with multiple Storyforms, you can create intricate, engaging narratives that explore multiple dimensions of human experience while maintaining clarity and purpose. Whether you’re pursuing thematic richness or simply testing different ideas, Subtxt provides the tools to help you succeed.

TIP

A common mistake for authors new to the concept of the Storyform is attempting to make connections between Storyforms within the same work. A Storyform is only meaningful in the relationship between the aspects within the Storyform, not outside of it. If there were a meaningful relationship between one Storyform and another, that would call for another Storyform!

Remember, the Storyform is for you, the authornot the characters in the story. Use the Storyform to communicate your intent and shape the meaning of your narrative.


Storyforming for Creativity

As Storyforms are independent of Storytelling, you can use a Storyform to develop a completely new story.

How does [a Storyform] help me write a story like Forrest Gump but with different people, different genre, different time, setting, etc?

You can think of it as analogous to "how would Romeo and Juliet" help me write "West Side Story". The Storyform is a blueprint of the underlying narrative thematics. Storytelling is what differentiates Romeo and Juliet from West Side Story, when at their core: they share the same Storyform.

One aspect of the Storyform for Forrest Gump is the idea that the main emotional challenge to the Main Character (personified through Jenny and Lt. Dan)--find themselves in a state of constant challenging at the beginning of the narrative. The growth of their emotional arc finds them both moving out of this challenging state into one of trust.

Therefore, one way you could use the Storyform of Forrest Gump to write a different story with different people, time, etc. is to develop the same kind of emotional arc with the challenging characters in your story.

Subtxt helps automate this process: you plug in the different scenarios, people, etc., choose the Forrest Gump Storyform, and then ask the Narrative Tasks to do the heavy lifting.

You still need to go over their work, and then, of course, write the final story, but they can save you a ton of time developing your story.


Appreciations of Narrative

At the heart of a Storyform are Appreciations of Narrative—the essential narrative components that define how conflict is viewed and processed throughout the story. These appreciations are like a vast set of datapoints that shape the various perspectives and dimensions of the narrative. They help you decide what the story is really about and how characters and audiences alike will experience conflict.

For example, consider the Story Goal:

  • If the Story Goal is Obtaining, the conflict centers around achieving or gaining something concrete, such as recovering a treasure or winning a race.
  • On the other hand, if the Story Goal is Understanding, the conflict revolves around gaining knowledge or insight, such as solving a mystery or coming to terms with a personal revelation.

Appreciations provide a framework for interpreting the different angles of conflict in your story. They help determine the thematic and dramatic elements that guide the audience’s understanding of why conflict exists and how it is being addressed. Appreciations also account for different perspectives, such as the Objective Story Throughline (the objective view of conflict), the Main Character Throughline (the personal experience of conflict), and the Relationship Story Throughline (the interpersonal conflict between two key characters).

Methods of Conflict

While Appreciations define the what of conflict, Methods of Conflict are the underlying engines that process how conflict is dealt with at a granular level. These are the tiny, often unseen forces at work throughout the story, continuously driving characters to act and react to the obstacles they face. Methods of Conflict reveal the particular strategies or approaches characters use to engage with and resolve conflict.

Think of Methods of Conflict as the dynamic tools or mechanisms that fuel narrative progression. For example:

  • A character might employ a method of Psychology, trying to convince others to change their minds in order to achieve the story goal.
  • Another might rely on Self Interest, focusing on personal gain, even at the expense of others.

These methods allow for nuanced storytelling by showing how conflicts aren’t just about big goals but also about the day-to-day decisions and approaches characters take in the pursuit of those goals. When layered into a Storyform, these methods become the gears that keep the narrative machine running smoothly.

Together, Appreciations and Methods of Conflict form a vast network of interconnected elements that drive the story forward, giving it depth, complexity, and cohesion. While Appreciations help frame the story’s overall thematic argument, Methods of Conflict shape the moment-to-moment tensions and choices that bring that argument to life.


Modes

The Subtxt/Dramatica platform now offers two complementary modes for developing your stories: Narrova and Subtxt. Use Narrova when you want a conversational, exploratory flow with our multi-agentic narrative intelligence. Use Subtxt when you’re ready to get specific and shape the fine-grained details in a more programmatic interface.

Narrova — The Universe of Story

One place for the entire journey—from a spark of an idea to a validated Storyform to vivid, illustrative storytelling, and even deep theory. With direct access to our multi-agent narrative intelligence, Narrova lets you explore, analyze, encode, and learn without forcing you into a box.

Start simple.

  • StoryGuide pulls on a single idea until a bigger story emerges—perfect for beginners who want clarity before structure.

Go concrete.

  • Storyforming delivers objective, Dramatica-grounded analysis and validation so your choices hold together.

Make it vivid.

  • Story Encoding turns structure into scenes, beats, imagery, and examples that communicate intent on the page.

Master the why.

  • Dramatica Demystified answers the hard questions on demand—clear explanations, comparisons, and exemplars.

Use Narrova to:

  • Explore premise, surface pressures, and pressure-test stakes
  • Map OS/MC/OC/RS perspectives and check Drivers, Signposts, and Progressions
  • Generate illustrative moments that embody your thematic choices
  • Compare against a growing library of storyforms and ask “why does this work?”

When you want less chat and more knobs-and-dials, hand your thesis or validated storyform off to Subtxt for box-and-button precision.

Subtxt (structure-first, precision)

Dive into the specificness of your story with a focused, programmatic interface—ideal for Storyforming and ongoing development:

  • Define and manage Storyforms, Signposts, Drivers, and Progressions
  • Track Storypoints/Storybeats, characters/elements, and revisions
  • Keep everything aligned as you draft and iterate

Until everything is unified, open Subtxt here: subtxt.app


Choosing the right mode

  • Start with Narrova (chat-first, end-to-end) when you’re pulling on an idea with StoryGuide, sharpening the spine, pressure-testing stakes, surfacing patterns, learning Dramatica, validating a storyform, or illustrating structure via Story Encoding—all without committing to rigid UI.

  • Switch to Subtxt (panel-first, precision) when you want box-and-button control: lock the Storyform, set Signposts/Drivers/Progressions, manage elements and versions, and work with explicit fields and artifacts.

Smooth handoff

From Narrova, export your directional map / working thesis (or validated storyform) and continue in Subtxt for detailed Storyforming and development.