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The School Storybook Syndrome



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Tue Jun 24, 2014 7:42 am
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Omni says...



There comes a time in every Storybook where you have a decision on what your Storybook's plotline should be. There's some Storybooks that omits this part altogether.

So, what exactly is School Storybook Syndrome?

Well, the School Storybook Syndrome, or SSS for short, is a situation that involves a Storybook about a high school, where the only thing happening is high schoolers interacting with each other and no plot involvement was included.

What does this have to do with plot?

SSS is what I like to call a perfect example of character interaction Storybooks, but lacking any plot development. Now, while character interaction is good, don't get me wrong, plot development is needed just as much.

How do I know if my Storybook is an example of SSS?

Again, this is just an example, and if yours is like this, than I mean no disrespect. However, to make sure that yours is not following the format of SSS, than have some plot development in your Storybook.

What if I have too much of plot development and not enough character interaction, or vice versa?

This is a delicate balance, and should be treated as such. Being a Storybook, there is naturally (or should be) a lot of collaboration between characters, and character interaction. However, a driven plot should be as important as character interaction. If you feel there is not as much of either variable happening, make sure to talk to the other Storybookers. Communication is important for both character involvement and plot driving.
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Tue Jun 24, 2014 8:25 am
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Caesar says...



I think Omnibus hit the nail on the head but didn't quite drive it home. The problems are highlighted, but 'how do I actually do that?' is not answered.

The below talks about high-schools, but it is applicable to any character-driven writing experience.

You're running a high school storybook, that's fine and dandy. There's lots of character interaction, and that's already a big plus. However, if done properly, character interaction can lead or be a plot. Let's assume this isn't a magical or superhero setting, it's just a high-school. People tend to prefer the former, but a regular highschool is better for this example. You don't have a grand plot here, that's kind of silly -- real life tends not to have grand plots. However, that doesn't mean you can't have interesting story progression. Class dynamics can bring about story progression. Each character has something they want to accomplish, probably multiple somethings, and you can write those out.

A generic example is the character who's in a band. This has been done a lot of times, especially in anime, and hey it works. It's a basic type of plot: main character wants x, has to overcome obstacles, finally gets it (or not). This can be done with anything, easily. Conflict is far too easy to create in a high-school setting. Maybe your character has been having issues with their literature professor because they've been distracted by their crush. Or they're in a drama club, and they have a big recital coming up, but they need to resolve the differences within the group in order to act properly. Our lives are made up by these small events which, if you think about it, are mini-stories. There's no reason why your storybook shouldn't include these, on the contrary, the more the merrier.

Now, I'm going to address the gm side of a highschool setting, and a player side. As the gm, your job is not to be lazy. This is valid in a high-school setting maybe more than any other, and a lot of people underestimate this. Storybooks with vast amounts of character interaction need a properly built setting in order to be truly vivid and as dynamic as possible. Therefore, you need to provide that setting. Really think about their hours, their classes, and the professor and staff. Make them a living part of the setting, with their own personality traits. That way, conflict or sympathy can be established with npcs as well, which allows players yet another way to bring relationship dynamics to life. If there are clubs or extracurricular activities of any sort, those should be listed, and players should take some. These are guidelines applicable to any sort of highschool setting, but if magic, superior technology or anything paranormal is involved, this goes triple. There are lots of events you can introduce at practically any point to liven the storybook. Maybe a big inter-highschool fight tournament/sporting event/POETRY SHOWDOWN/whatever, or an intra-highschool fight tournament/sporting event/POETRY SHOWDOWN/whatever. Basically, if it allows the players to have more opportunities for relationships, it's a good idea.

Instead, as the player, your job is even more important. You're the lifeblood of the storybook. The gm could craft any amount of intricacy for the setting, but if you don't take advantage of it, it's going to flop. This can more or less be determined in the character creation phase. Personally I'm in a class of twenty six people, and there is a lot of diversity. There are three or four people I get along with very well, a couple I can't stand at all, and then the others, with whom I'm generally on good terms with. Now evidently your storybook won't have a cast of twenty six people, but this is applicable in six just as much. The players should brainstorm before actually creating their character, to get a feel for what it's going to be like. This is what I do when I run my DnD/Pathfinder/whatever campaigns. I will sit with the players and talk to them about the feel of the storybook, then encourage them to discuss what kind of character they want to build. "Oh, I'm going to make a hot-headed brash guy who doesn't think before he speaks" "then I'll make a shy, timid girl which gets offended easily", a third person will say "I feel like creating a guy who, despite being cunning and practical, hates studying -- he'll survive by copying", and another will jump on that: "I'll create a smart, honest guy who can't stand the notion of someone copying"

This kind of reactive character building is what will make the storybook experience 500% greater, and will pretty much take care of all your problems for you. By doing what I mentioned above, you'll have dynamics. You'll have little stories, unfolding before your very eyes. You'll have characters with their aspirations interacting with the aspirations of others, and this, gentlepersons, is how I believe a high-school storybook will last years.
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Tue Jun 24, 2014 7:15 pm
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Carina says...



The point of any storybook is to interact and collaborate with other characters and writers. If there is little interaction, it can hardly be called a storybook; it would be a simple one-writer story that is spread out and mixed in other one-writer stories. Although I agree that plot is essential, having an 'SSS' is not doomed just because there is no giant backstory.

Judas hit the home-run on this one. I'll even give an example based on my own experience to confirm.

I've been SBing for so many years (with most of it being off the site), and I've been in countless of SBs/RPs. One RP (which is the same exact thing as an SB, just out of the site) in particular lasted for three years. In most cases, it would be considered lucky if your SB lasted for three months. You know what the plot was? It would be considered an SSS, but rather than being in a high-school setting, it was a group of high schoolers who was invited to vacation on a private island. It sounds so totally cheesy and lame, and if I stop describing it from there, I'd agree. But no, it was actually the best RP I've ever been in, and the only reason it died was because people had to quit since life overtook them (including me, but I didn't tell them that I had to choose YWS over them, and I chose YWS >_>). The characters were very unique, and they all fit together like a puzzle. There was the shy one, the one with secrets, the one who hates everybody, the one who is oblivious to everything—there were even the disturbed and the sociopaths. It seems like a random group of people, but with enough drive and motivation, we built a "plot" stemming from the characters that tied the entire RP up until it ended up in a mind-twisting story.

Not only that, but everyone communicated with each other constantly. It wasn't uncommon to plot. "Do you want to plot?" "Okay, how about x or y?" "Oh, I like that, but what about z?" "Hmm, let's bring another person in..." Everyone gets involved, and the best part is that you'd eventually enjoy to write with everyone in the SB. I've realized that if you appreciate the people you're writing with, you'll appreciate the SB more.

I know this isn't a perfect world and we can't always hold hands and become friends as we create characters and their interactions that would best suit the SB, but there is more than plot to a mind-blowing, awesome SB that will last for months and even years on end. Plot is the easy layer of coating that can give you the right push in the right direction at the beginning, but there will come a point when the push will lose its momentum, and people will lose interest. This is when character (and perhaps writer) interaction comes into play. For a long-lasting, great SB, it is very inevitable, so you might as well try to piece it together at the beginning before the first symptoms of SSS—whether it be School Storybook Syndrome or Storyline Storybook Syndrome—victimizes the SB.

Basically, an SSS is not always doomed. It is up to the writers to direct it whichever way they want, and like Aq said, there must be a balance between plot and character interaction/development, but as Judas also said, the plot can very much be stemmed from the characters. :)
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