I apologize for beating a dead horse [DISCLAIMER: No horses, alive or dead, were harmed in the writing of this post], but I’ve been looking at the Analysis section (with Filters!) of Dramatica.com reviewing the Overall Story Concern. In those examples, the concern does seem to be directed at the core characters rather than the wider populace. Is that because of the stage at which this particular exercise is at? Is it the best course to not tie down the story characters any more than you need to?
Regarding the OS Concern, the software’s Usage guidance says:
“The Concern of a story tends to revolve around a definable area of activity or exploration. This central hub may be internal, such as Memories or Conceiving an Idea… Or, it may be external, such as Obtaining or How Things are Changing.”
So, “when choosing a Concern it is often useful to ask, ‘Which of these items do I want the characters in my story to examine?’”
I quote all that to affirm first that, yes, it does say “the characters” (plural) “in the story.”
However, since the referred-to characters are going to “examine” something, it clearly doesn’t mean you have to explore every single extra’s or passerby’s concerns. Not all are going to be examining that thing. Rather, as you suggest, it means “the core characters” — those we get to know enough to sense that they are part of the Overall Story’s collective examination of the internal or external thing chosen as the OS Concern.
Note, though, that since the Antagonist, Contagonist and Skeptic archetypes (or at least their character traits) will be arrayed among those “core characters,” you’ll clearly be giving us both pro and con views on that shared Concern — a wide range of perspectives about how to look at that shared Concern, whether positively, negatively, or somewhere in between.
Remember, an OS Character’s hatred or dislike of a particular value (like Obtaining or Memories or whatever) can make it as much a Concern to him or her as it is to an OS Character who is in avid pursuit of that value.
Hope that helps…
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