Some of the Overall characters respond to Obtaining with Approach while others respond with Attitude."
I’ve heard the reports are more suggestions than anything else, so you don’t need to worry about it. But I guess that’s how they approach the problem or where they see conflict? Since Issues represent Theme, maybe it has something to do with how they evaluate their Concern?
You are really jumping around!
I’m sure you’re familiar with the joke about the deli in the Poconos:
Two old friends order food there for the hundredth time.
When it arrives, the first says, “The food here is terrible.”
The other says, “Yeah, and such small portions.”
They are evaluating what has happened along two different scales. Same thing going on here.
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These are the thematic point (OS Issue) and its counterpoint.
It is important to explore all facets of the OS domain, even though some are more directly connected to the OS Problem than others. One way is to illustrate the thematic conflict using different OS characters. You need not do that, but both positions should be explored to identify which is ‘better’ (i.e. more appropriate) than the other.
I guess what I’m having trouble with is grokking approach vs. attitude. For me in my daily life, attitude determines approach and approach reflects attitude. They aren’t separate. So, I’m struggling to wiggle into the mindset where they are antagonists.
I had a similar blind spot.
Approach is how you do something (do you plan? Improvise?)
Attitude is your state (optimistic? Resigned?)
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Personally, I find the best way to handle the Issue and Counterpoint is this:
- Make sure the Issue is a source of conflict.
- Include the counterpoint in some way. Actually, you don’t usually even have to try – it seems almost impossible to not include the counterpoint when the Issue is a source of conflict. Just be aware of it when it pops up so you a) recognize it’s important, and b) can pat yourself on the back for having such a great Muse.
I don’t worry about trying to identify which is better (more appropriate), as Chris says. I don’t disagree with him. But I feel that if you just tell the story, the exploration he’s talking about will happen naturally.
This is only my method - YMMV.
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That’s exactly the point. They inform each other.
So, if attitude is causing a problem…like…a person hates going to work because his boss is always blaming everything that goes wrong.
Then he could have a couple of different approaches to this problem…like does he triple check his work and everyone else’s? Does he do the bare minimum to just not get fired? Does he daydream about murdering his boss? And hopefully you can see that each of these approaches to the attitude problem could create MORE problems for him.
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