Story Limit

Who are Optionlocks Tied To?

I started off thinking the Optionlock applied to the Protagonist in the OS, then just the OS itself, but a comment by Chris about the antagonist in Ghostbusters having options made me go through podcasts and realize actions of both should be realized in terms of the optionlock, not just reactions to each other. Thirteenth Floor has an MC seemingly with options of tracking down whodunnit, but he's not the protagonist. The optionlocks seem tied in with the driver turning points. I wondered if the driver characters (protagonist, antagonist, contagonist, guide) each tend to have optionlocks. The Passenger usually wouldn't, otherwise they wouldn't be passengers in the story.

Since the Story Limit brings the story to the climax, it seems easiest to tie the limit, optionlock or timelock, to the Story Goal in the Overall Story throughline. Once the limit has been reached...CRISIS, CLIMAX, CONCLUSION.

Why does the Story Limit sometimes have no effect on the storyform?

Out of 32,767 unique storyforms that Dramatica can identify, there are some that appear to be duplicates. For example, if you make the following storyform choices:  Steadfast, Stop, Be-er, Holistic, Decision, Failure, Good, Psychology, Becoming, Commitment, Avoidance you are left with two possible storyforms -- the Story Limit being the deciding factor. Neither selection seems to have any appreciable effect on the final storyform, i.e. the Limit doesn't seem to make a difference. Why is this, and are there other appreciations that share this same quality?

The Story Limit does effect the storyform, just not in ways that are obvious (or visible) within the Dramatica Pro software. The biggest place this choice affects is the audience appreciation (story point) of AUDIENCE REACH. Audience Reach identifies which parts of your audience are likely to empathize with your Main Character. Audience Reach is determined by combining the choices for Story Limit and Main Character Problem Solving Style. Here are the combinations:

CHOICES

  • STORY LIMIT: TIMELOCK or OPTIONLOCK
  • MC PROBLEM SOLVING STYLE:* LINEAR (Logical) or HOLISTIC (Intuitive)

EMPATHY RESULTS

  • MALE AUDIENCES
  • FEMALE AUDIENCES
  • BOTH AUDIENCES
  • NEITHER AUDIENCE

COMBINATIONS

  • OPTIONLOCK + LINEAR = BOTH AUDIENCES
  • OPTIONLOCK + HOLISTIC = FEMALE AUDIENCES
  • TIMELOCK + LINEAR = MALE AUDIENCES
  • TIMELOCK + HOLISTIC = NEITHER AUDIENCE

NOTE: The results of these story dynamic combinations are generally true, though results may differ for particular audience members.

*Previously known as Mental Sex: Male or Female

Can you explain the Story Limit further?

The Story Limit describes the “size” or “scope” of a story and brings about the story’s climax. It clues the audience in to when the story will be over. Without a Story Limit, there is no structural reason for a story to come to a close. Therefore, the Story Limit plot dynamic plays an important part in defining the story’s limitations. Those limitations come in two forms: Timelocks and Optionlocks.

Timelocks are unchangeable limits on time that draw the story to a climax. There are two forms of Timelocks:

  • A Deadline — A deadline is a specific time, such as 8:00 AM next Monday or 12:00 noon (e.g. High Noon).
  • A Fixed Amount of Time — A fixed amount of time is a quantity of time allotted for the story to take place, such as one day or forty-eight hours (e.g. the TV show, “24,” and the film, “48 Hrs.”).

Optionlocks are unchangeable limits on options that draw the story to a climax. There are two forms of Optionlocks:

  • A Destination — A destination is a specific location that brings about the story climax when reached, such as the Rebel Base in the original “Star Wars,” or Los Angeles in “Midnight Run.” This type of Optionlock is often used in road pictures.
  • A Limited Number of Options — A limited number of options consists of a finite set of variables to be explored before the story is drawn to a climax, such as three wishes in the short story “The Monkey’s Paw,” and seven deadly sins in the film, “Se7en.”

Though all stories may contain both Timelocks and Optionlocks, only one may be the Story Limit within a given story. For an example of what happens when a story has more than one Story Limit read, A.I. Wars: The dueling visions of Stanley Kubrick and Stephen Spielberg in A.I. Artificial Intelligence.

NOTE: As a gross generalization and general rule, female audiences tend to find Optionlock stories more involving than Timelock stories, while male audiences tend to find both Story Limits equally involving.