Newbie -- have a plot and character arc, struggling with throughlines

questions
#1

Hi, I have a plot, character arc, and general theme worked out for my story already. I purchased Dramatica Story Expert yesterday and got started with the Story Guide. Everything was going really well until I hit the section on throughlines. I’ve read all the help bubbles in the program and read the section on theme in the book (both the kindle version and the version on the website), but I’m still really stuck.

I just don’t know how to pick the appropriate throughlines. Can someone please look at my plot outline and help me do it?

Plot: A group of fighters are trying to defeat an enemy. Their leader (antagonist) breeds mistrust among the ranks, encouraging secrecy and sharing information on a strictly need-to-know basis. One of the fighters, a double agent (the protagonist and main character) is fighting on the same side as the antagonist), but is frustrated with being kept in the dark. He seduces a subordinate (impact character) in order to get information out of her without the leader’s knowledge.

General Theme: Trust vs. Deception. The characters are all working for the same goal, but are too afraid of betrayal to trust each other with the truth. The protagonist feels the only way that he can atone for his past is to make sure that they win the war, and uses this to justify his deception.

Character Arc: The impact character eventually realizes that the protagonist set out to deceive her. When she finds out the truth, however, she does not betray him. Instead, she continues to help him, passing him information, because she knows that the only way they can win the war is to work together. Through her loyalty, the protagonist finally understands that his deception was not only unnecessary, but also destructive. He learns to trust others, and realizes that you can’t redeem yourself through immoral means.

So. I think the problem that affects all the characters is secrecy/deception. Which domain would that be? And I think the main character’s throughline is a problem of Fixed Attitude (Mistrust). But Situation and Activity don’t seem to fit anywhere.

…help?

#2

If your story is about “A group of fighters trying to defeat an enemy”, that is an Activity overall story. All of the characters are actively doing things to achieve or oppose that goal, and have an interest in the fight. This places your Subjective Story in Manipulation or Psychology, which works for your purposes of “seducing to get information”. This leaves your Main Character in Fixed Attitude and Impact in Situation.

As to your theme; while it won’t be under ‘Falsehood’, necessarily, you can still explore the theme of secrecy and deception (like Rationalization or Approach). Dramatica has enough abstract concepts to allow freedom for that.

#3

So, I put Activity as the Overall Story Domain. But then the program doesn’t allow me to put “Fixed Attitude” as the Main Character Domain. It only allows me to put “Situation” as the Main Character Domain. What am I doing wrong? I’ve tried playing around with the do-re/be-er and the linear/holistic options and it makes no difference. As soon as I set OS to ‘Activity,’ Main Character becomes ‘Situation’.

Also, I am having trouble figuring out the Impact Character’s situation. The way I see it, she impacts the protagonist by standing by him despite his rejection. Isn’t she making an impact through an Activity rather than a Situation?

Thanks.

#4

Try making the Growth “Start” instead of “Stop.”

As to your other question, the reason she impacts him is not because of what she does, but because of who she is (another member of the resistance). There’s no point in having the impact character explore activities because you’re already doing that in the overall throughline.

EDIT: Actually, I suppose you could make a pretty strong case for the Main Character Throughline being Situation and the Impact Character’s being Fixed Attitude. The MC is defined by the fact that he is caught between two sides, while the IC is defined by her sense of trust and faith in a good cause. But that’s the tricky part of the theory: sorting this stuff out. Believe me, we all started as beginners!

#5

Try starting a new project. If you click on StoryGuide, then the All Topics button on the right side, then go to Overall Story and select Activity… then click on MC and Domain, you should have two selections present: Situation and Fixed Attitude. Select one and try it out.

#6

This actually sounds like a Manipulation Overall Story Domain – you have all these “fighters” deceiving and manipulating each other, breeding mistrust and encouraging secrecy. Everyone is engaged in this, not just the MC and IC. You have double agents and deception and keeping people in the dark. This sounds like an Overall Story Concern of Being (Playing a Role) - characters pretending to be something they are not.

In addition you have a male Main Character seducing a female Influence Character for information – presumably this involves some physical seduction in order to Learn or Gather Information. One would assume there would be a fair amount of “Doing” and “Obtaining” in this seduction - which would place the Relationship Story in Activity.

The Issue is clearly Ability – who has the goods over the other, who is able to get one over on the team or on the enemies. The problem is Non-Accurate - intolerable actions, or deceptions, or just plain not accurate information about oneself or about the mission or about each other – that is what is driving the problems between all the characters.

Your MC sounds like a Situation character, particularly if he is dealing with a giant issue from his Past that he somehow has to work through. His Issue of Facts - what really happened will be nice, especially if he (as a Changed Resolve character) is driven by a Problem Of Non-Accurate as well. The Accuracy will probably come in the form of him “confessing” his true nature of who he really is.

This has the result of everyone focusing on the Effects of betrayal and looking to see who is behind it all (Cause) - basically, spy-catching.

It gives the Influence Character a Drive of Un-Proven, the kind of person that gives everyone the benefit of the doubt, regardless of what information comes their way (which sounds like her not “betraying” him when she finds out the truth).

The best part of all this is that it gives their Relationship a Problem of Test and a Solution of Trust - exactly the kind of thing you’re looking for when you want the Main Character to learn how to “trust” others. He can actually put that Trust into action with another character (rather than simply being something he does in his own personal throughline).

The only thing that is left open still is how the Overall Story plays out - I assume its Failure because the Protagonist gives up the means by which everyone was deceiving each other (Non-Accurate), but I’m not sure based on the information you’ve given us.

Therefore, the storyform for the story you describe above would be:

  • Changed
  • Start
  • Do-er
  • Linear
  • Action (guessing again, based on the majority of “spy” genre films/stories)
  • Optionlock (ten little indians sort of thing … counting down suspects, again a guess based on probability)
  • Failure
  • Good
  • Manipulation
  • Playing a Role
  • Ability
  • Non-Accurate

Let me know if you have any other questions!

#7

Thank you so much for your response. You totally get what I am trying to say – it’s like you’re inside my head!

I definitely agree that the OS is Manipulation (Playing a Role). I put in what you said, and my only problem is that it forces me to make the MC Growth ‘start.’ I want the MC Growth to be ‘stop,’ because the problem is that he needs to stop making bad decisions and justifying/rationalizing those bad decisions, right? Or is that he needs to START trusting people and showing his true self?

I’m also certain that the driver is ‘decision,’ since all the story’s problems are caused by the protagonist’s decision to seduce the Influence Character for information, and then he keeps making further bad decisions and getting himself in more tight spots he can’t out of, and then making bad decisions based on that, etc.

As for the outcome. I had originally thought it was success, but now I’m wondering if it is sort of failure. They finally win because they start trusting each other, but he fails in his own mission. However, it doesn’t matter that he fails his own mission, because the people that he trusts end up bailing him out. So…is that success or failure? Also, he falls in love with the girl he seduced for information. She finds out that he was using her and forgives him. In the end, she thinks he died, and he has the option of reuniting with her, but realizes that a relationship founded on deceit will never be healthy for her, and that the right thing to do is to let her go. So, is that success or failure?

I wanted to post screenshots of the story engine…but I can’t as a new user. Any suggestions?

Thanks!!

#8

Glad to be of help.That feeling of someone inside your head? That’s a good sign that you’re on the right track with the storyform since it is–after all–a model of what goes on inside a head!

I wouldn’t worry to much about the MC Growth - remember, this isn’t what the MC should or shouldn’t do, it describes the arc he goes through to get to the point where he could Change his Resolve. I always let the theory choose this Appreciation as you can easily argue yourself either way (as you did above).You’ll see that yes, it will more natural to write this character as someone who lacks trust in others, and needs to develop that kind of openness BEFORE he can fully expose his true self (Accurate).

In regards to the Driver that sounds good, though there still isn’t enough info to know for sure. Your best best is to figure out what starts the problems for everyone and what wraps it up and resolves it for all of them (or doesn’t, if in fact you have a Failure story). If those two events or plot points are Decisions, then you’re right to make that the Story Driver. It does sound like your MC is a very Willing participant in the Overall Story. A Do-er in an Action story will feel that way. A Do-er in a Decision story will be somewhat Unwilling to participate, at least in the big set pieces (Act turns). Note that you do have an Overall Story in Manipulation, so a lot of the conflict will come from an internal process … which can be misinterpreted as Decision Story Drivers … just food for thought.

In regards to Outcome, completely divorce yourself from the Main Character’s point-of-view. What was that Inciting Incident/First Driver? That created a Problem that likewise creates a Goal (resolution or Solution) and a Consequence (no resolution, Problem still in play). Then just look at that Concluding Event/Final Story Driver. Was the Goal achieved? In this case it would have something to do with Playing a Role? Did they keep up the deception long enough, or were they forced to Do something they never wanted to do (Consequence)? Try and be as cold and calculating as possible with it. This is the Overall Story Outcome – it’s the dispassionate side of things.