Can a steadfast character also pursue the solution to her problem?

#1

The usual formula seems to be that characters are motivated by a problem which they don’t recognize. Unaware of the true problem, they focus on the wrong thing (the symptom) instead of the solution they need to resolve it. A change character, with the help of the IC, recognizes this and changes. A steadfast character never does.

After beating my head against Dramatica, I think I finally found the right form for one of my two MCs. (It’s a rather sprawling novel.) It works out to: Motivated by the problem of Control, the Female Main Character focuses on Avoidance and responds with Pursuit. It isn’t perfect (or doesn’t seem to be right now) but a lot of the story points seem to fall into place. (At least more than the many other storyforms I’ve tried.)

The FMC, dealing with feelings of non-acceptance in a rigid, formal, xenophobic and performance-based society, desperately seeks to Obtain Acceptance, first by earning it through an unrestrained pursuit of perfection. (which becomes physically harmful to her.) Then, when provoked by the IC, she turns her attention to first pursuing then guaranteeing the MMC’s acceptance through an intimate relationship.

Her uncontrolled behavior causes problems for everyone around her (First because, despite her high social status, she has a foreign boyfriend. Later because of her apparent disregard of public social standards.)

Lots of things happen and she eventually seems to find acceptance in a public career which requires her to adopt a false personality and act in an increasingly controlled manner. This causes her relationship with the MMC to disintegrate and makes her so miserable she contemplates suicide.

It is only when she returns to her uncontrolled behavior, abandoning her career, that she is able to repair her relationship with the MMC and find happiness. Ironically, through the help of her original IC, she even finds a greater public acceptance in the end.

I’m thinking Avoidance works as her problem because the reason she feels Non-Acceptance was initially due to the Avoidance of her awe-struck peers, and later, the hand-off IC’s insistence she avoid exposing her history and true identity–especially her relationship with the MMC.

Her response of Pursuit, with the goal of Obtaining Acceptance, seems right. But it is the Uncontrolled nature of her Pursuit that causes most of her problems while also providing the ultimate solution for her satisfaction.

But a Steadfast character isn’t supposed to adopt the solution, and yet Uncontrolled is an integral part of her response, the source of much of her problems as well as her ultimate solution. So can the solution also be part of the response for a Steadfast character? Or does adopting the solution make her a Change character–even though it is a part of her response from the very beginning?

It seems the majority of my stories have steadfast characters. I don’t know why I seem to like them so much. When it comes to finding the right storyform, they seem to be such problems. I wonder what quad that would be in. :slight_smile:

Assuming this storyform holds up, I still have to figure out the MMC’s form.

Being a foreigner in a xenophobic society, his domain would seem to be Situation–especially the situation of his relationship with a very high-profile girl. Being motivated by others non-acceptance, his response is mostly to Avoid attracting attention (which clearly becomes impossible.) But I don’t know if Pursuit is his focus or Support his solution. Certainly not his support, can the solution lay in the actions of other characters?

I feel another headache coming on.

#2

It seems to me that your FMC’s real problem is Uncontrolled. She’s an irrepressible sort whose antics keep getting her in trouble with the highly rigid society she lives in. She tries to do things differently, tries to keep it under control (in essence flirting with the solution), but in the end she remains steadfast.

I’m going to guess that the reason you chose Control for her problem is because the society she lives in imposes this on her. While this may be generally true, it is an objective assessment. The MC Problem is subjective – personal to her. In this case, she just can’t “get with it” and conform. Ultimately she decides she doesn’t want to embrace Control and keeps focusing on Avoidance and Pursuit.

Also keep in mind that “Change” characters deal with peeling away justifications, while “Steadfast” characters deal with building them up. So whether she’s always aware of it or not, your FMC’s arc gradually builds the case for remaining Uncontrolled.

Question: you’re using the terms “acceptance” and “non-acceptance” in the general sense, rather than invoking the Dramatica-specific terms, correct?

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#3

I agree with LunarDynasty 100%. You basically said it yourself:

it is the Uncontrolled nature of her Pursuit that causes most of her
problems while also providing the ultimate solution for her satisfaction … Uncontrolled is an integral part of her response, the source of much of her problems as well as her ultimate solution

Remember that the Solution may be “the one thing the character must avoid”, quoting from the Usage help in Dramatica Pro. I think that’s the situation you’re in – her drive to be uncontrolled causes her lots of problems throughout the story, but it’s really a problem of the environment being wrong (her job, public opinion), and when she fixes the environment, she’s good.

It might help to review some of the examples of the Fugitive, as that’s such a cut-and-dried steadfast MC. e.g. Dr. Kimble’s drive to Pursue finding the one-armed-man and why his wife was killed was definitely “right” (what he needed to gain satisfaction in the end) but it caused him all sorts of problems that could have been avoided by giving up and laying low.

One thing to think about is this means the IC Changes (at least within this storyform – I get the sense your novel has two storyforms?). Does this fit with your concept of your IC?

Funny thing, I had a very similar challenge when storyforming for my novel that I’m outlining. It took me a long time to choose Steadfast vs. Change and MC Problem of Uncontrolled vs. Control. I ended up with Steadfast and MC Problem: Uncontrolled, which I’m very happy with. She has a volatile temper, a disregard for rules, and a deep drive to be free, but society and everyone (even the ‘goodguys’) are trying to control her one way or another. She will flirt with allowing this control, giving into the IC’s influence more and more, but in the end she will choose personal freedom over the story goal, resulting in an Outcome of Failure and a Judgement of Good.

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#4

Hi @JAPartridge, I just realized that I never dealt with the question in your subject line. The way I understand it, a Steadfast MC can definitely waver from their Problem (drive) toward their Solution, especially under the influence of the IC. I think that’s part of the reason it’s called MC Resolve – their Resolve can be tested throughout the story.

In fact, this is from the Dramatica Pro Usage text for MC Resolve, I’ve trimmed out the parts applying to Change characters to make it very clear:

Just because a Main Character ultimately remains steadfast does not mean she never considers changing… In fact, that is the conflict with which she is constantly faced: to stick it out or to alter her approach in the face of ever-increasing opposition.

Illustrating your Main Character as wavering can make her much more human. Still, if her motivation is strong enough, your Main Character may hold the course … from the opening scene to the denouement. It all depends on the kind of experience you wish to create for your audience.

The Fugitive is an example of a Steadfast MC that doesn’t really waver. I think that worked pretty well for a “wrongly-accused” action movie. But it doesn’t mean your MC can’t waver!

#5

This is sort of a general answer, that isn’t really going to deal with your plot since you’ve already got some long answers.

If a character is motivated by control then the thing with uncontrolled is that it saps their motivation. I could imagine that an opportunity to go live on an island without responsibilities could be pretty tempting. They could even go to said island and live in peace for a while until something brings that to an end, which puts them back into the place where they are motivated by control again.

#6

I’m sorry I am so late in responding. I thought I used to get email notifications when someone replied to a message. Life has been crazy enough lately, that I haven’t check back in a while

@LunarDynasty @mlucas @MWollaeger Ah! I think I get it now. I didn’t think Control could be her solution since it wouldn’t eliminate her drive. If anything it increases her unhappiness, pushing her away from her personal goals, and increases her drive to respond with uncontrolled pursuit. But I guess in the case of steadfast characters, it is the OS that has to change and adopt the MC’s solution if the result is success. I’m definitely going to have to flip those and see what the results look like.

@mlucas I’ve glanced at The Fugitive’s storyform in the past, but I’m definitely going to have to go back and give it a closer look. Is there a full analysis for it or is there just the storyform?

@LunarDynasty in regards to the overall story, I think non-acceptance is the correct term because they directly oppose the MMC and FMC’s relationship, but in the case of the FMC and her search for acceptance, that is the more colloquial meaning and not the stricter Dramatica meaning. Separating the various throughlines has been quite a challenge, especially since the OS has to basically perform double duty.

@mlucas Yeah, the novel seems to blend two related story forms. The FMC’s IC is trying to get her to control her behavior and conform to expected norms. The MMC’s IC is trying to get him to realize that the relationship is either impossible (especially at the start) or will never last. The OS characters directly oppose the relationship. They all end up changing in the end.

Of the two, the Male MC is probably closest to the OS. Right now I have him in THROUGHLINE: Situation, CONCERN: The Future, ISSUE: Delay vs. Choice, PROBLEM: Oppose, SOLUTION: Support, SYMPTOM: Pursuit, RESPONSE: Avoidance but I’m not fully confident that this is exactly correct. His response, being a foreigner, is largely to try to avoid conflict, though he is repeatedly forced stand up for the relationship and resist increasing threats. I kind of like the fact that the two MCs’ system/response elements were inverts of each other, but that may now change.

#7

The Fugitive has a comprehensive analysis: http://dramatica.com/analysis/the-fugitive

Just a suggestion, I don’t know if it will help or not … you could try picking one of your two Stories and making that the one that you fully storyform, while doing the other one only at the Domain & Concern level. Kind of like Finding Nemo’s sub-story. Then when your first draft is done you can go over what you came up with in the secondary story and create a full storyform from that. (Unless your first draft is already done??)

Anyway, just an idea. That’s what I’m planning to do with my novel which is Book 1 of a series. I think there is a sub-plot story within Book 1 but the idea of doing a complete storyform for that seems too overwhelming. For me I think it will be better just to define Domains & Concerns and then start writing. The same goes with the “series storyform” – I just don’t know enough details about the series yet to create a full storyform for it, but I should be able to do Domain/Concern for all four throughlines, and maybe Issue for the OS. That way I can go ahead and write feeling supported by some structure, but not feel tied down to it if my muse goes in another direction.