Separating the Main Character from Overall Story Throughline

questions
#1

Hello everyone. I’m a new member, I’ve decided to join to help me gain a better understanding of Dramatica (and to possibly get involved in the Captain America battles ;’) )

Anyways I have a very interesting question that I feel I am right about, but am not sure. From what I read from Jim Hull’s Narrative First articles, the Main Character’s personal issues need to be something separate from the Overall Story, something they can take with them into any story.

Well what if there is a story where the Main Character is living their life blissfully, and then there are these people that come along and tell him that his life is not what he thought it was? That he is actually a different person, and he was tricked his whole life into believing the lie. And the more they explain, he gets brief flashes of memories of his past, but he does not believe these memories are true and keeps believing the lie. But then his whole struggle is also a part of the Overall Story because these people are trying to get him to remember who he is, and they need to because something bad is happening, and they need his help to stop it. And he’s not the only one that deals with those struggles… but through his throughline you get to experience personally what its like for someone to deal with the truth about their life, even when its confronting and scary.

When you have an MC dealing with an issue like that, is that also a good personal throughline, even though getting him to remember is also the OS goal, or should he have completely different issues that are tied to it? Thank you in advance :slight_smile:

#2

Those are different issues.

Overall the Concerns revolve around Undersranding. Personally they revolve around Memories. Two completely different things.

Character is a perspective, not a character.

The memories, or conflict with the memories, are personal to the Main Character.

The Main Character is not a real person—it’s a point-of-view. So yes, on the surface this works.

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#3

Thank you so much for giving me this answer. I understand better now. :slight_smile:

Truth is, this crazy rambling is a non-specific version of this story me and my best friend are doing. We’re not going to be releasing it to the public. Its a brainstorming exercise that he came up with (With Pokemon characters mixed with original characters coz he loves that shit xD) to help me be more creative coz he knows how much I want to be a writer.

The people trying to get my Main Character to remember are a humanoid species called Arcbits, and a few of these Arcbits are trying to get him to remember partly because he is a part of their family, and they want him back. I will admit upfront that the story itself is a little outlandish and crazy (not crazy as in psycho, but it is pretty wacky xD ), but my best friend reckons its a good way to get my creative juices flowing so I trust him xD And plus it’s also inspired by when I was in a fundamentalist Christian religion, and it is a rebuke of the ideas that send fear to its adherents for stuff that doesn’t matter, and prevents them from being who they truly are.

Is it okay if I get more specific with this story, and ask for your help, because I have some cool ideas I want to put in, and I am trying to find a way to do it that fits in with Dramatica. I’m not seeking for it to be perfect, and I may not be creating a storyform for it (Or if I do, it will come after its over), but I want it to be the best possible representation of Dramatica’s core concept of how the mind solves problems.

I know you’re a busy man, and you have a lot of people to help so I don’t want to get in your way. I will try to figure it out on my own because it is not a perfect story and it’s not meant to be. It’s something to get my creative juices flowing. I just decided to grow some balls and ask because I want to see if I can get some fast tracked support with this wacky story of ours xD

Thank you for your time :slight_smile:

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#4

You can always ask for help here in this forum. There are many qualified Dramatica Story Experts, and even those not yet certified, who can help you out. I try to help out as much as I can, but if I can’t, you can count on a lot of what you read here as expert opinion.

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#5

Whew! For a while there I thought my silly ideas were gonna get me booted :joy:

But in all seriousness Mr Hull, thank you. :slight_smile:

I’ll be sure to read and ask as much as I can :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

I do have a few questions I want to ask. But I will ask them later because it’s late where I am and I gotta sleep :joy: And I want to have a clear mind when I ask because I have a bit of a tendency to ramble and post my sentences in a non-concise manner

Thank you for welcoming me, and I will talk to you all soon. Good morning/afternoon/evening/night :smile:

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#6

Hello everybody. I’m sorry for not responding for a while. I’ve been busy this week because my cousin is getting married in a couple of days, and my family and I are making sure we’re prepared for the wedding. Its pretty hectic, but when the day happens, it will be worth it :slight_smile:

I’ve also been working a bit on that story/non-story with my friend, and trying for me to find a good storyform for it. And to figure out what questions to ask because I was scared of revealing too much. Don’t want anyone stealing our ideas. xD

But I realised that I need to stop. What I am doing with my friend is a creative exercise. I shouldn’t worry too much about trying to make a perfect, or good structure. Its just something that we are doing for fun.

And I also gotta confess something else. I’ve been studying the theory for a few years, but from a more surface level way by reading articles from the Narrative First, Dramatica, and Dramaticapedia websites, and watching the User Group meetings for films… most of them I either haven’t watched or haven’t watched in a while. I am not entirely convinced that every story needs an Influence Character or Relationship Story. I still don’t even understand the RS that much, and the whole thing about the MC and IC being perspectives, and not characters has thrown me off a little. The reason why I don’t understand fully is because I have never gone deep. I’ve never given myself the chance coz I was in a fundamentalist Christian religion when I was in Year 11 and 12, and nowadays I’ve… gotten caught up in things that didn’t matter.

I am fascinated by the theory though, and I am willing to study it more closely.

However after hearing Jim’s latest podcast, and further internalising what I have read over the years, I have realised that yes, stories do reflect the mind’s problem solving process. Its not something I fully consciously believe, but instinctively I am getting the feeling that its true. Jim also mentioned how the great writers have always known this instinctively. Part of me wants to delve deeper into the theory, but another part of me wants to see if I can figure it out purely by instinct.

If I do choose to figure it out by instinct, what are the ways in which I can go about doing it?

And if I choose to keep further studying the theory, what can I do to help me understand it better, and see if every story needs the 4 throughlines?

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