MC Crucial Element goes into MC or IC?

In a Change story, is it advised to put the MC Crucial Element in the MC or IC?

In my particular story, the MC Crucial Element in the Build Characters screen is Control, and the IC is on Uncontrolled.

But Uncontrolled is my MC’s (and the OS’s) Problem.

Shouldn’t the MC Crucial be placed in my IC, and vice versa, so that my MC can “jump” to Control at the end?

Hi Rod,
I believe the answer is no, if you’re worrying about Crucial Elements, you should make sure the MC Crucial Element is an element of the MC, and IC Crucial Element for the IC. (I say “if” because Narrative First has some articles mentioning that you can probably not worry about the Crucial Elements, especially in first draft, and they’ll still turn out okay.)

I can see why it may seem strange for your story. What it’s saying is that in the OS Throughline, the MC (or more accurately, the player who is the MC in the MC Throughline) is motivated by Control. This might be an inner need, something that makes him tick or could give him peace; something he may not be aware of. This is in addition to, and separate from, the fact that in the MC Throughline “something to do with Uncontrolled” is what drives him and causes him problems, while “something to do with Control” would resolve his personal problems.

The reason your Crucial Elements are set up that way is because your story has an Outcome of Failure. If your MC could “jump” to Control and that solved both the OS and the MC Throughlines, you’d have a Success/Good, not a Failure/Good.

So I think all it’s telling you is that the way he adopts a solution of Control for his personal problems, means he kind of uses up that Control so he can’t use it to solve the OS problem for everyone.

(I think if you can really visualize your throughlines as separate stories of their own, it will help to understand how this works. If the MC’s personal problems are too much the same as the OS problems, then it’s hard to see how it can work properly.)

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Ha! Instead of spending 20 minutes crafting an answer, I should have just googled. Darn @jhull always beating people to the punch … by years!

It’s the same question you asked and there’s even a Change/Failure/Good example for you!

Oh well, at least I learned by trying my best to answer. :slight_smile:

Always a good thing!

Ok, I need to summarize this to make sure I understand.

The MC/IC Crucial Elements in the Build Characters screen are specific elements that they exhibit as part of their roles in the OS, and not in their personal Throughlines… Is this a correct understanding?

Therefore, an MC can have a problem of Uncontrolled in the MC Throughline, while employing Control in the OS Throughline, all without making him seem schizophrenic?

And in the case of my story (Change/Failure/Good) at the climax, he’s run out of (or chooses to stop exercising) (MC Growth of Stop) Control in the OS, and can now use Control to solve his personal Problem of Uncontrolled… ?

I hope I’m at least close…

Yes.

Since the MC has ALL of the elements in its throughline, the crucial element only makes sense in the context of the Overall Story throughline.

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Close.

Generally, the growth in a CHANGE MC appears as getting past the MC Symptom/MC Response IN ORDER TO be able to recognize the MC PROBLEM/MC Solution as an alternative approach to resolving the MC’s personal issues. The growth is not just an aspect of the element level, but also preparation for a domain paradigm shift to that of the IC.

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