One thing I've been wrestling with for a couple of weeks now - why?

True, but only one of the rooms in each of the upper floor’s four wings leads to the basement where the ‘monsters’ (i.e. problems) are hiding. :wink:

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Well, the MC and IC represent perspectives, and those perspectives are always like mirror images of each other. As soon as you can find the way that they are the same you can see how they differ on external vs. internal. (This is why those perspectives will always be based on Universe <-> Mind or Psychology <-> Physics.)

But for them to be proper mirror images of each other they need to be the same within their domains. Otherwise, the IC will not be able to suitably challenge the MC properly; his influence will glance off because it won’t be entirely relevant to the MC.

Let’s say you have an MC who is struggling to find a purpose in life. He feels he is supposed to do something important with his life, that he has an important future bigger than his corporate job, but he can’t quite find it. Something seems wrong with the world so he uses his computer skills to hack into systems around the world, searching…

Meanwhile, the IC has a deep belief, an obsession, that he will be the one to find a new messiah to lead people out of slavery. And he has come to believe the MC is that messiah. This belief is so deep-rooted (subconscious) that he is willing to sacrifice his life for the MC, and this challenges the MC to see that maybe everything he was looking for is already within him.

Well, I’m sure you can tell what movie that’s from. But can you see how those perspectives are really the same, except flipped on the axis of external vs. internal? One senses he is somehow special but is stuck searching for a purpose out in a world he can’t quite grasp; the other is utterly convinced of his own purpose.

If you had a different match-up, keeping MC Future but going with say IC Memories, the IC’s influence would be off target and the story would miss its mark. “You’re telling me I can dodge bullets?” “No, I’m telling you that when you can remember your sister, you won’t have to.” Yuck. :stuck_out_tongue:

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What a great illustration of those two throughlines - thanks!

That mirror image analogy is applicable to the RS and OS too. I was playing with that idea when I was illustrating the RS in my storyform (which I’m still working through). Because the RS is the trickiest of the throughlines (IMO), I find it helpful to bounce it against the OS to keep the RS perspective ‘on track’.

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Interesting… did a little brain storming … just sharing some of my examples

MC/IC both looking for (a new) purpose in life

(OS Ma) Everybody seeks to change themselves to another person
(MC Ui) I have no purpose anymore
(IC Mi) You are my father
(RS Ac) After a terrible accident a father and his daughter have to learn how to find a new purpose in life

MC/IC both want to survive

(OS Mi) Everybody has to make a life-changing decision
(MC Ac) I do what I can working in my little shop
(IC Ma) You should rather invest your money somewhere else
(RS Ui) A single parent with her son trying to survive an economic crisis

MC/IC both want to have a unforgettable party

(OS Ac) Everybody is trying to understand what an great party looks like
(MC Mi) I can’t see how to have fun in this place
(IC Ui) Lets do our best, we can’t change it
(RS Ma) Two friends join forces to organize their weddings together

MC/IC both want to get over the situation

(OS Ui) An empty train is stuck in a dessert
(MC Ma) I am tyring to be nice
(IC Ac) Just get over it
(RS Mi) Two rivals are forced to stay over a long weekend together