Rigorous improvisation

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RIGOROUS IMPROVISATION

KARL SCHROEDER, OCAD UNIVERSITY

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SCENARIO FICTION

May appear as a vignette, short story, dramatic film, computer game, or even novel-length literary work

Augments a scenario with characters, a setting, a situation and (though not always) a resolution

A reporting technique

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RELATED TECHNIQUES

Comparative analysis (eg. literature review)

• A survey of existing literature (often contemporary science fiction) to uncover trending ideas

Science fiction prototypes/design fictions

• “A short story, movie or comic based specifically on a science fact for the purpose of exploring the implications, effects and ramifications of that science or technology” (Johnson, 2011, Bleecker, 2009)

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THE DIFFERENCE & THE PROBLEM

The difference

• Scenario fiction is a reporting technique. Scenario fictions are neither synoptic (like a literature review) nor generative (like SF prototyping)

The problem

• How do we write a scenario fiction that accurately represents a scenario without adding to, subtracting from, or distorting the meaning of the scenario?

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APPROPRIATE MODELA theory useful for constructing new stories is needed, rather than a theory for analyzing existing stories. Two approaches were chosen:

• Our analytical approach to storytelling uses Ian Bogost’s Unit Operations as the theoretical framework (Bogost, 2008)

• Our constructive approach is based upon the classical Art of Memory

We will use stories to fix critical foresight findings in people’s minds by configuring those findings as units in a mnemonic narrative.

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THE TECHNIQUE

Constructing a scenario fiction involves two key steps:

1. Decompose the scenario into salient units. What are the key findings and themes of the scenario? These will be the units upon which we perform a mnemonic operation

2. A story works as a mnemonic when we construct a narrative that would fall apart without the presence of each of our units

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PARTS OF A MNEMONIC

The locus is the frame that contains images that stand for ideas we wish to remember

Striking, bizarre, or dramatic images summarize the ideas themselves

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WHERE HAVE WE SEEN THIS TECHNIQUE USED BEFORE? …

The locus is the frame that contains images that stand for ideas we wish to remember

Striking, bizarre, or dramatic images summarize the ideas themselves

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LITERARY MNEMONICSLiterary structures can function as mnemonics. Example:

“The door dilated.”

Locus Image

In fact, any literary structure that places extraordinary imagery in an ordinary setting is mnemonic

Source: Robert A. Heinlein, Beyond this Horizon (1942)

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EXERCISE

Using a written scenario as source material, construct a narrative containing loci (settings, plotlines, etc.) and mnemonics (striking characters, situations, crises, actions etc.) that represent the ideas in the scenario.

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THANK YOU!

World Future Society

OCAD University