Benchmarks sound simple enough, but I’ve often had trouble interpreting them in my stories – they start to feel like a Concern. But I had a thought while rereading the Dramatica definition:
Could one see Concern and Benchmark as a plot-level Symptom and Response? Thinking about it in that way adds some clarity for me in encoding the Benchmark.
The problem is that the Concern and Benchmark aren’t always dynamically opposed, so in that respect I don’t know that you could always do that. I do think there’s some validity in seeing the Concern level as a larger Problem/Symptom/Response/Solution quad, though. Same goes for the Issue and Class levels.
I like the description of the benchmark as a measuring stick. If the Concern is Learning X, the character might use the measuring stick of how he was doing compared to how he is now doing with his additional experience, or he might measure his learning against his ability to obtain an A on a test or even measuring whether, with additional information, he actually understands an idea any better. But I don’t generally like my ability to include a good benchmark illustration, so take that how you will.