Is there a Quad relation between the Character Quads and the Througline Quads?

#1

The “Character Quads” are very well explained in the Dramatica.
And the Archetype characteristics or functions are assigned in the Dramatica.
The four quads Purpose, Evaluation, Motivation, and Methodology are all assigned if you would use all eight in your story.
But my question now is, are these “Character Quads” related to the Dramatica quads?
Or is the “just” a framework for creating believable characters?

To give an Example: To Kill A Mocking Bird
Atticus is the Protagonist and has all the qualities of such an Arch Type and even more.

  • Knowledge and Actuality as Purpose
  • Proven and Effect as Evaluation
  • Consider and Pursuit as Motivation, and even Logic which is a Reason Archetype characteristic/
  • Certainty and Proaction as Methodology

If I now use Dramatica, and I see in my throughline, concern, or issue, the characteristic Consider, for example, should then the protagonist be illustrated?
Or are these two separate things?

Rgds,
Jeri

#2

Have you listened to The Little Miss Sunshine DUG?

One of the things I loved about that night was when we discovered each character was using Developing a Plan to form their concerns in parallel to the OS goal. One of the characters takes a vow of silence as part of a plan to become a fighter pilot. So, that is one way in which drilling down from the top for OS Characters can work while also constructing characters from the bottom up by tagging them with the elements as you described. There are quite a few ways you can approach it.

Armando’s book is also a good resource for that sort of thing.

Beyond that, things get more technical, but @jhull and @MWollaeger both are good at playing “OS character chess”, IMHO.

#3

These are two separate things.

In The Terminator the OS Problem is an excess of Pursuit. If anything, it is the Antagonist who pursues the most—he won’t stop until he kills Sarah Connor.

The OS Solution is Avoid and the Protagonist (Reese) is pursuing that. They are pursuing Avoid (illustrated as the total destruction of the Terminator).

I know this may be tough to wrap your head around, and maybe I shouldn’t have chosen these opposing words, but I hope this is a good example for you.

1 Like
#4

Oh, that is one of the toughest because Reese is Protagonist and yet he doesn’t have the Pursuit element due to the Crucial Elements. Just goes to show that an Archetype is more than any single element on the board.

#5

Hmmm…. True!

@Jeri should ignore this for now!