Dramatica Theory Book

Chapter 25: Storytelling and Plot Appreciations (Continued)

Dividends

Dividends are benefits accrued on the way to the Goal. Goal, Requirements, Consequences, and Forewarnings are all Driver Appreciations in Plot. Dividends are the first of the Passenger Appreciations. As such, we see it used in storytelling more as a modifier than a subject unto itself. Still, since authors may choose to emphasize whatever they wish, Dividends may be lifted up to the forefront in a particular story and take on a significance far beyond their structural weight.

No matter what emphasis Dividends are given in your story, they are still modifiers of the Goal. As such, when selecting the Type of Dividends for your story, consider how well your choice will dovetail with your Goal. Sometimes Dividends are very close in nature to the Goal, almost as natural results of getting closer to the Goal. Other times Dividends may be quite different in nature than the Goal, and are simply positive items or experiences that cross the characters' paths during the quest.

As with the Driver Appreciations, this choice is not arbitrary. The dynamics that determine it, however, are so many and varied that only a software system can calculate it. Still, when one has answered the essential questions, it is likely one's writing instincts have become so fine-tuned for a story as to sense which kinds of Dividends will seem appropriate to the Goal under those particular dynamic conditions.

Costs

Costs function much like negative Dividends. They are the detrimental effects of the effort to reach the Goal. Look at the Requirements for your story and see what Type of Costs might make that effort more taxing. Look at the Consequences for your story and see what Type of Costs might seem like an indicator of what might happen if the Goal is not achieved. Look at the Forewarnings and determine the Type of Costs that enhances, or possibly obscures the Forewarnings from your characters. Finally, look at the Dividends and try to find a Type for Costs that balances the positive perks. To balance Dividends, Costs need not be an exact opposite, but simply have the opposite (negative) effect on the characters.

Prerequisites

Prerequisites determine what is needed to begin meeting the Requirements. When selecting Prerequisites, keep in mind they are to be used in your story as essential steps or items that must be met or gathered in order to attempt a Requirement. As such, the appropriate Type of Prerequisites is much more heavily influenced by the Type of Requirements than the Type of Goal.
Prerequisites may open the opportunity for easy ways to bring in Dividends, Costs, or even Preconditions (which we shall discuss shortly.) Certain Types of considerations may be more familiar to you than others as a result of your personal life experience. As such, they will likely be a better source of material from which to draw inspiration. Choosing a familiar Type will help you later on when it becomes time to illustrate your appreciations in Storyencoding.

Preconditions

Preconditions are non-essential steps or items that become attached to the effort to achieve the Goal through someone's insistence. A keen distinction here is that while Pre-requisites are almost always used in relation to the Requirements in a story, Preconditions are likely to apply to either Requirements or the Goal itself. As such, both Goal and Requirements should be taken into account when selecting Preconditions.

Think about the sorts of petty annoyances, frustrations, and sources of friction with which your characters might become saddled with, in exchange for assistance with some essential Prerequisite. If you were one of your characters, what kind of Preconditions would most irritate you?

Appreciations of this level are usually presented as a background item in storytelling. Draw on your own experiences while making this selection so that the level of nuance required can grow from your familiarity.