Negative Hinder

If one were to find an IC problem of Hinder, but didn’t want that character directly detracting from another’s effort, how might that be handled? How does a character Non-Hinder? Would this be a drive to not get in another characters way? Are there other ways this can be thought of?

@jhull, separate question, would it be helpful to have a ‘vocab’ category for questions?

1 Like

Cool question! I’m super sensitive to Hinder in real life. Do you know when my wife goes grocery shopping she often just leaves the cart in the middle of the aisle or any which way while she looks at produce or stuff on the shelf? I can’t stand that! It might be in people’s way! If I park the cart I always do my best to put it out of the way.

On escalators I don’t hesitate to ask people to move out of the way so I can go by. You don’t stop on regular stairs, why would you stop on an escalator?

Of course, I HATE red lights (but don’t most people)?

Okay, getting more serious now, you might have a character who is driven to not be burdened by anything (this can get close to Free/Uncontrolled, but that might work well if it’s a Universe character in that quad).

Also I was just looking at the storyform for the Matrix and wondering about Morpheus’s IC Problem (Drive) of Hinder. Here are a bunch of examples:

  • He gives people the burden of the red pill, of knowing the truth
  • Whenever he seems to help Neo, he always leads Neo to some big hindrance that he wants Neo to get past on his own. Guiding him through the cubicles away from Agents … to a scary window ledge that he has to leap across. In the jump simulator, asking him to jump across a huge chasm between bulidings. etc.
  • He points out how Neo hinders himself: “You think that’s air you’re breathing now?”

Anyway, I hope you can see there are a lot of cool ways Hinder can be used. It doesn’t have to be the character getting in someone else’s way; it can be a sensitivity to burdens or other hindrances; pointing out hindrances; accepting burdens, etc.

7 Likes

Since it is the IC Problem, it is going to be the source of the IC’s drive. It could be that the IC expects to be hindered (or others expect him to hinder), and when it doesn’t work out that way it creates trouble (motivation) for him. For example, what if the IC is a bodyguard (or physically menacing) and others expect him to be a deterrence when a thug threatens them, but the IC doesn’t step in and then gets flack for it.

3 Likes

To add onto this, I’d like to propose an answer that, while not necessarily what you’re asking, may connect to what you’re really after.

“Hinder” is a fascinating element to me. At first glance, it seems like it’s an “evil” trait, the kind that only villain-aligned characters exhibit. After all, isn’t getting in the way all the time… bad? Well, not necessarily. My example of a positive hindrance is a defibrillator–if you don’t know, a defibrillator’s job is to stop your heartbeat when it’s performing an unhealthy rhythm, in the hopes that it will restart on a more healthy route. So a hindering character can be someone who sees when someone is going on a bad route and manipulating them to make sure they correct course. Or another example, a dog with a psychic premonition that its owner is about to die in a plane crash (all dogs are psychic, didn’t you know that? :dog2: ) pulls on its owner’s sleeve or pretends to be hungry in order to delay them long enough to miss their flight.

Hinder is also closely related to Temptation. Maybe a character is trying to pass a college math class they’re struggling with; the Contagonist might be the one to say, “You know, if you’re struggling with this, maybe what you should really do is drop out and do what you really want. Haven’t you said you wanted to be a chef? You should apply to culinary school instead!” Strictly speaking, this is Hindrance, because they’re getting in the way of the student’s ability to pass the math class, but just like a Failure-Good story, maybe the student really needs that Hindrance. Hinder is also that cool kid who tells the bookish nerd up in their bedroom, “Hey, come down and hang out with us!” In a Hinder-negative story, this dalliance leads to the nerd failing their class and having a crisis of identity, but in a Hinder-positive story, they have a good experience, make new friends, and still get an 87 on the test. :stuck_out_tongue:

So yeah. Hindrance is a lot of things. It can be a stumbling block or a bother, but it can also be a hydroelectric dam–stopping the natural flow to create greater usefulness. It can be the bumbling sidekick who gets into more trouble than they’re worth, but it’s also your fashion-conscious friend who won’t let you leave the house until you’ve fixed up your clothes. Hinder is just as much about redirection and re-evaluation as it is frustration and imposition.

Does that make sense at all? :blush:

1 Like

Hindrance is also a parent getting in their child’s way. I remember being a teen and wanting to go for a walk at night and my mom literally stood in front of the door and wouldn’t let me leave. So I went to my bedroom window to go out that way and mom was on the other side when I opened it and hosed me down. She was definitely hindering me.

Couldn’t you have the IC leave the scene and then have the character you want for that hindering interaction do it?

Does this mean that the character must be conscious of his/her hindering? I am imagining, for example, a bumbling character who keeps doing dumb things that hinder others in ways that the character isn’t aware of.

1 Like

@Lakis From what I understand it might vary. If the IC is a change character then I guess they might not be aware of the source of what could be driving them. They might think they do but that is just their Focus.
However if the IC is steadfast then that is the source of their conviction/motivation. They usually have no justifications(emotional baggage) at the outset of the story and so they are aware of that element since they don’t change. It is what drives them. They’ll only grow in that conviction till the end of the story.

1 Like

@jhull another possible useful chart for Subtext - the negative representations for each element. For example, here I might have thought, well, the opposite of hinder is enable…but that’s not quite true. Getting in someone’s way vs getting out of someone’s way seems to be Truer to the idea.

PINK: Man, could you believe Mr. Blonde?

WHITE: That was the most insane fucking thing I have ever seen. Why the fuck would Joe hire a guy like that?

PINK: I don’t wanna kill anybody. But if I gotta get out that door, and you’re standing in my way, one way or another, you’re getting out of my way.

WHITE: That’s the way I look at it. The choice between doing ten years and taking out some stupid motherfucker ain’t no choice at all. But I ain’t no madman either.

Such a great idea. Added to the list!

Just thinking out loud here. If the IC is the you perspective as seen from the I perspective, then the important part would be how the MC sees the ICs drive, wouldn’t it? I don’t know what that means for writing practically.

2 Likes

No, the IC need not need to be aware of his problem, nor even the fact that he has an influence on MC.

4 Likes