StoryCAD
Resolution Tab
Resolution Tab
The Resolution tab describes the Problem’s outcome.
It’s useful to think about where this Problem fits in the overall story. The final conflict and its climax should not only be the highest tension (greatest conflict), but is (usually) where the protagonist solves his story problem, and is often a successful outcome. Problems which occur during the rising action (the story’s middle) will often have bad outcomes, but even if they appear to be successful, will lead to further complications.
Outcome
This is what happens (how the problem is concluded.)
Method
How the problem’s protagonist arrives at the outcome.
Theme
Theme answers the questions “What’s it about?” or “What’s the point?”. It’s the idea behind the action, what you as author are trying to convey. Every story, and every problem, has, by its nature, one or more themes.
There is, however, a risk with themes, best illustrated by the anecdote about a screenwriter working for Samuel Goldwyn who inserted a socially significant message in his screenplay. When he pitched his idea to the producer and studio head, Goldwyn’s supposed to have replied, “From Western Union you get messages. From me you get pictures.” The theme of this anecdote is ‘don’t let the theme get in the way of the story.’
Premise
A Problem’s premise is a a synopsis of the problem: of what happens to the characters as a result of the actions it entails.
If the problem is fully understood, the the premise can be constructed from its elements in the form of a template sentence or paragraph. There are many potential templates. Here’s an example:
When a fish-out-of-water, big-city cop (protagonist) moves to a small, coastal town dependent on tourism (situation), he must team with an oceanographer and a crusty sailor to convince the doubting, money-grubbing townsfolk to close their beaches because a giant, man-eating shark (opponent) is lurking just offshore, (objective) until the shark strikes (disaster), forcing the townsfolk to allow the cop and his buddies to take on the shark mano-a-mano (conflict).
A Problem’s Premise works best if it contains the elements of just that Problem form. The one exception is the main Problem Story Element (see Story Overview Premise Tab). That Problem’s Premise is also the story’s Premise, which summarizes the entire story and might (as in the above example) contain details of other subplots.