How do you tell a story?

After looking at the gametrailer contest entries, it's clear that we all have different ways to tell a story. So, this is mine:

1) Define character(s).
2) Place character(s) in setting.
3) Introduce conflict.
4) Attempt to resolve conflict
5a) Fail, go to 4.
5b) Succeed, but introduce new conflict, go to 4.
5c) Conflict solved, go to 6.
6) Epilogue.

I think it's a pretty standard way to tell a story, and you can recognize this structure in most stories. Applying it to an expanded version of Donuts:

1) Character: Fusionette.
2) Setting: donut shop.
3) Conflict: no more donuts.
4) Attempt to buy donuts elsewhere.
5a) Fail, only shop in Paragon City.
4) Attempt to bake own donuts.
5a) Fail, sets kitchen on fire.
4) Rob a bank to buy a donut shop.
5b) Succeed, but now she's a villain.
4) No attempt to solve the conflict, but...
5c) It was all a daydream.
6) Banter with Penelope on the way to get donuts.

As you can see this structure makes it very easy to expand any story by just adding more 5a/b loops. It's also easy to introduce secondary plots: I already introduced another character (Penelope) who could have her own loop with her own setting (her house) and her own conflict (Fusionette won't leave) and her own attempts to solve the conflict (do boring stuff, invite someone she can't stand over, pretend she got kidnapped, etc).

So, how do you tell a story?

It depends on the story I'm trying to tell.

Sometimes I leap straight into things, and fill in the backstory via flashback later. Othertimes I start at the beginning and let things unfold.

Since my videos are all over the map, I'll use my books as an example.

"And the Greatest of These" starts off with a prologue set a thousand years in the past, then flash forwards to present day, with the heroine/protagonist filling the the gaps via her memories (as she regains them), tales and stories, and so on.

"The Sword of the Soul" begins a short way into a larger story, with the background details fleshed out as the book goes along.

"Unexpected Results I: A Slight Glitch" starts in media res, bang we're right into the action, whereas its sequel, "Unexpected Results II: In All the Empty Places" begins shortly after Book I ended.

All of my stories have the classic "rise, fall, rise, fall" where the good guys win a few, then lose, then win, then lose BIG, to set up some uber-dramatic scene at the end.

I could go on and on about this, but I'd bore everyone stupid (moreso than I already have).

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

For me, when I am telling a story, I work on the theme I attempting to examine, then from that build backwards to build the plot, filling in the characters as needed.

I don't want to get on a rant about theme vs. plot, as I'm not an English major and actual English majors would school me.

Those of you looking for the cliffnotes version, example - the plot of Lord of the Rings is trying to destroy the ring; the action that happens between the characters, background, setting, etc of the story. The theme of Lord of the Rings (or one of them) is temptation, how each character pits their desire to surcome to their wants versus their desire to do what they know is right.

Another example, my movie for the contest, Do No Harm. I took the prompt given to us, "Your darker side" as the theme of my video. One of the plot points I like to revisit again and again in the CoH world is the common, everyday person, how they must act and feel in this crazy, topsy turny world of Paragon/RI, so I didn't want to have a hero per say to examine "Your darker side". I needed someone more common, more everyday.

The constraints of the contest, 2-4 minutes and me not ever having demoedited or movie make before meant I had to use an instantly recognizable character. I was able to save time by using something that had an existing set piece, like a military bunker, hospital, or police station.

Well, military bunkers and police were already actively fighting, acting heroic on the front lines. I wanted something else, so I focused in on the doctor or nurse. I was going to use a nurse, as the dynamic of a female fighting back against a male is a more effective tool/key than a male fighting back against a male (at least in western society), but the restrictions of one voice actor led me to use a male as my main character, so I could record.

So what would make a doctor in Paragon City examine his dark side? Well, I imagine a world of superpowered beings fighting would involve a lot of collateral damage; a lot of injuries to innocents, and that over time a doctor will reach a breaking point.

From this point, everything sort of fell into place, how such a broken doctor would lash out, how he could skirt his own convictions, etc etc.

Once all this is mentally scaped out, I tend to use a layering effect. Add something, add something else, revisit the first, add something new, revisit the previous add, add something new, revisit the previous add, etc, etc. Due to time constraints (ie I was running out of time to submit my entry) I didn't get a chance to do that with the Do No Harm (Check out my story 'Wild Growth' at the old City of Stories podcast for layering. It starts with redefining the checkpoints into the guard's way of thinking for the listener, then slowly breaks into the desperate and confused thinking of the guard, every so often using the Greek letters to ground the story)

So yeah, that's my usual story telling frame work.