Grasping conflict within the RS throughline

writing
#1

I’m looking to get a better grasp of an RS throughline and how to use conflict within it. Do any of these look like they belong anywhere in an RS throughline?

Relationship: A couple
A. The couple are looking for alone time. Finding alone time helps the couple feel closer together. Not finding it causes the two to drift apart.
B. The couple are looking for alone time. Every time they are alone in a room, one of the kids bursts in spoiling the moment. They have to go clean up a mess or take care of something. Not being able to find alone time creates a tension that causes the couple to get snippy with each other.
C. The couple are looking for alone time. Everytime they are alone in a room, one of the kids bursts in spoiling the moment. They have to go clean up a mess or take care of something. Not being able to find alone time creates a tension that causes the couple to desire one another even more.
D. The couple are looking for alone time. Character 1 gets called in to work for an emergency. Character 2 gets upset that Character 1 is leaving when Character 1 should just tell the boss to find someone else this time. When Character 1 gets home, there’s an uncomfortable tension between the two of them. They have an opportunity to be alone, but one or both are still upset and they do not take it.
E. Same as D, but one of the characters starts thinking maybe the two of them shouldn’t be together any more.
F. Same as D, but one of the characters tells the other how grateful they are that the other is willing to stick with them, and despite not having found alone time, they feel like they are a little closer together than they were before.

#2

I think these articles could add to the overall understanding of the RS:

http://www.storymind.com/dramatica/character/1.htm

http://storymind.com/content/79.htm

Here’s an excerpt below that I find illuminating:

If you limit yourself to exploring only the conflicting relationships, ¾ of the ways in which people actually relate will not appear in your characters. What’s worse, if you also limit yourself to using only negative conflict, 7/8 of real relationships will be missing in your story.

By exploring all four kinds of relationships in both positive and negative modes, your characters will interact in a full, rich, and realistic manner.

Keep in mind: believable characters are not only built by developing each independently, but also by how they relate one to another!

Conflict is important, but I think that the RS adds dimensions beyond just creating conflict. That’s part of it, but not necessarily all of it.

Interestingly, the PRCO of the RS will most likely be objective PRCO defined by the author. This is where the relationship is… this is where I need to take it to make the commentary that I want to make. This is the C that is needed to explore these concepts. This is the R that will illustrate it best. Here’s the beginning state of the relationship. Here is where it ends up.

A subjective MC PRCO and a subjective IC PRCO should create the conflict because they aren’t on the same page. The RS seems almost like a commentary that enriches the MC and IC but is independent.

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#3

Here’s a bit of a first draft that I have sitting in my virtual drawer.

A look of disapproval started at her scarlet red lips, tiptoed up to her nose, and took refuge in her green eyes.

The smell of Christina’s perfume assaulted his inhibition and sent his ache into overdrive. He leaned in closer with an unsure grin that came off more like a grimace. “Never?”

She sat on top of the place where various incarnations of burgers and fries came to life daily. Pouting just the right amount. “You know I’m with Sebastian.”

Longing crashed over him, but his indecision held. Don’t be a pussy.

She didn’t wait. She devoured him. Lips came together in a simultaneous celebration of yearning and having.

The universe became a helluva lot less shitty. Mal believed. In everything. For a few short moments.

A muffled scream howled. Like bloody murder happening or coming.

Mal’s eyes jerked open and shifted towards the drive-through window. A face contorted in disgust and rage peered through the glass. Sebastion! Had she known he was there the whole time?

I wanted the RS commentary here to be: the spider and the fly. I sometimes wonder if RS is often subtextual or implied rather than stated. It will be happening just because the MC and IC are together. Automatically.

Yes, other characters could comment on an RS or those in the RS could have moments of realization that define its state in a particular moment… but much of the time it might just be implied or subtextual depending on POV.

Don’t beat this example up too much. I just work on setting and action when I first write it. But it can’t help be there a bit as a relationship is being portrayed by proximity and interaction.

#4

Greg, I believe all of your examples could fit in an RS throughline!

#5

If you don’t show them enjoying their relationship at some point, then the reader isn’t going to know what the characters are missing. The reader isn’t going to be able to empathize or sympathize with the characters. You need to give hints throughout the story of what the characters’ could be enjoying, but aren’t.

#6

I can see how these could all be RS.

But what about this:

G: One of the pairs in the couple is looking for more alone time. The other wishes they would spend more time with their friends. The discrepancy between the two points of view causes conflict until the relationship starts to deteriorate.

?

#7

I would say the individuals “looking for more alone time” and “spending more time with friends” are not really in the RS, but there is something going on where the relationship is being put aside or seen as less important or not as fulfilling as it used to be, and that would be relevant to the Relationship Story.

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#8

This seems like it might be how we know some Dramatica term is problematic within the Relationship. Like maybe too much familiarity is pushin the couple apart or something.

#9

@mlucas
So this one shows the relationship growing stronger or weaker. But I don’t see any conflict or tension or drama necessarily implied.

  1. Do you think this one works because it shows the relationship growing stronger or weaker?
  2. If you remove the growing stronger or weaker, does it stop working? I’m thinking at that point it probably just becomes storytelling.
#10

Well, all you asked was “does it look like these belong anywhere in an RS throughline”. So I think that stuff could be “in” (part of) the Relationship Story Throughline, especially because as you said it has them growing closer together and drifting further apart.

Does it stop being part of the RS if you remove that link to growing closer/drifting apart? At that point, it would depend on what the rest of the RS is, and whether alone time is related to the actual conflict. (for example, maybe them looking for alone time is a symptom of a lack of Desire in the relationship – they don’t desire to spend time together)

Also, I’d like to correct my response to @Lakis here:

Actually, the above would matter to the RS inasmuch as it affects the relationship. So the discrepancy between the two points of view (alone vs. friends) isn’t relevant to the RS, it’s the prioritizing of other things over the relationship that’s relevant.

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#11

You’re right. So would any of these be the basis of an RS throughline. As in, if “finding alone time” were to be replaced with Doing or Obtaining, which of these still works.