Difference between Unique ability e Crucial element

Hello there.

Hope you guys can help me.

If the Unique ability is what that makes the Main Character uniquely able to determine the Overall Story’s outcome, what’s the difference with the crucial element? (i.e. the point at which the Overall Story Throughline intersects with the Main Character Throughline)?

Can you guys give me some examples to appreciate the difference?
Thanks.

1 Like

Good question! The Unique Ability is a thematic variation, whereas the Crucial Element is a character trait. As you said, the Unique Ability is what gives the Main Character the capacity to solve the Overall Throughline, but think of it as a thematic connection. Whereas the Crucial Element is a behavior that character exhibits which makes them relevant to the story. It’s either the OS Problem, Solution, Symptom, or Response, depending on the Main Character Resolve and either Growth or the OS Outcome.

Here are three examples I picked from the website:

The Babadook–Change, Success. Amelia’s Crucial Element is her Desire. Because she wants her family situation to return to normal, her personal struggles against her memories of her husband manifest into the Babadook. Her Unique Ability, though, is Circumstances: despite her failing Senses grating on her and driving her insane, her love of her son helps her to recognize when her evaluation of her life has gone awry. By coming to grips with her understanding of her circumstances, she can finally banish the Babadook for good.

Othello–Change, Failure. Othello’s Crucial Element is his Conscience. Othello wants to be a good husband and an upstanding citizen, but Iago twists that desire into “righteous” fury, precipitating the events of the play. Othello’s Unique Ability is Approach. We see this really strongly at the start of the story: Othello’s soft Approach at the trial is what convinces the court that he hasn’t enthralled Desdemona with African witchcraft. But time and again we see that if Othello could just reclaim that Approach instead of playing right into Iago’s hands, none of the events of the story would happen.

Back to the Future–Steadfast, Stop. Marty McFly’s Crucial Element is Dyscontrol. Marty’s Drive is Hinder–he must hold off his mother’s advances long enough to see his parents brought together–but he’s brought into the story because of his freedom from the laws of time. Marty doesn’t act using the same social customs as the people of 1955, which leads to all sorts of mischief. Marty’s Unique Ability, meanwhile, is Openness. Because of Marty’s more modern attitude, he can use methods and ideas from 1985 to give his father a “happy ever after.” (These two came out pretty similar, so let me break it down. Marty’s interaction with the story is Crucial because he’s free from the confines of 1955 society, but he’s able to bring success to the OS because of his adaptability to this new world–his Openness.)

The Incredibles–Steadfast, Start. Bob Parr’s Crucial Element is Ending. Bob’s desire to end his purgatorial existence and return to a place where his heroism is welcomed leads him to recklessly Trust Mirage and Syndrome. His island utopia allows him to pretend that the superhero stigma is gone. His Unique Ability is Threat. The only way for Bob to bring back the love of superheroism is to reveal the threat Syndrome poses to humanity, effectively expanding the island to all the world. (Again, Trust is what makes him effective in the story: Trust in Mirage, Trust in his family, Trust in his own desire to see the world made right. But his perception of and focus on Threats is what helps him reach Success.)

2 Likes

In Star Wars, Luke’s unique ability stems from the fact that he’s a natural descendant of a Jedi.

The Crucial Element is the solution to the problems in the respective throughlines. Being a descendant of a Jedi and having some inherent ability is not enough for Luke as he’s continually demonstrated throughout the course of the story that his personal problems stem from testing and always seeing how he personally measures up to everyone else. In order for him to overcome the problem AND save the rebellion/fighting a rebellion, which is really the OS goal, he needs to adopt the solution of trust. Once he does this and trusts the force, he’s able to blow the Death Star up and keep the rebellion going.

From an example of my own personal work, the main character’s unique ability is that he’s truly committed to his wife and the cause. The problem is, he doesn’t believe in the course of action which causes suffering. The only way the story’s goal is to be accomplished is for him to change and find faith (and subsequently meaning) in suffering.

That’s a good explanation, but can you do it again with a Steadfast MC? Or you could do it with a Change/Failure story. I’m not terribly happy with my explanations; they’re probably too opaque.

Haven’t read your response yet as I think you posted right before I did, but I’ll refer you to @jhull’s article here:

@JBarker - funny when I read “own personal work” I was thinking you meant you real life at first, and I was really feeling for you! LOL

To add the above explanations, my understanding of the Crucial Element is it helps point out the true source of problems, the true inequity at the heart of the ENTIRE story (all throughlines) by demonstrating a “sameness” in the problematic nature of things. So in Star Wars Luke personally needed to stop testing himself like a whiner/wannabe hero, and just trust in something outside himself. Meanwhile in the Overall Story, they needed to stop the Empire’s testing of their super-weapon, the rebels needed to trust in an untested attack strategy (Gold Leader: “what good are snub fighters going to be against that?”) , as well as an untested pilot (Luke). Oh, and don’t forget the Millenium Falcon, which sort of looks like it’s been tested too many times.

@actingpower In my own story I’m working on, which is Steadfast/Stop, it took me quite a while to understand how the Crucial Elements work, even re-reading several times Armando’s advice in the article JBarker linked above. But then @jhull came out with this recent article:

Which blew my mind because I finally got how my main character is pointing out the Crucial Element (Hinder) that exists everywhere in the story. With the MC Symptom of Hinder, she is like the epitome of being Hindered, she is the perfect example of how the current system that everyone lives under hinders everyone. What’s cool is she even sees others attempts to Help (OS & MC Response) as Hindrances. It’s a beautiful thing to see how that works, because I was worried I was missing something, but it was there all along. (And now that I know about it, I can recognize it when it comes up, and focus on it that little bit more if needed.)

1 Like

Truth be told that particular story was inspired by some of the things I was dealing with at the time. Lately, however, like just the other day, it’s been a lot more like the film “Nebraska” taking care of an elderly uncle who has dementia. I couldn’t help but laugh a little when I felt like I was living in the film after finding out this money order he just had to get for $5 and mail was one of those contests (he’s been fleeced tens of thousands of dollars before we found out about how bad off he was having been a life-long bachelor). I’m just thankful I didn’t have to drive him to Nebraska and the events have planted a seed in my head for a for a story.

1 Like