Seconding this question @jhull. I always thought what @Khodu says above was the way to express it, but every time I think about it again, I get confused.
Maybe it would be helpful to look at actual Change/Failure/Good stories as examples? Taking The Graduate as an example:
The OS of the story is Future – everyone has a plan for Ben’s future.
The OS/MC Problem is Avoid – plenty of examples of that being problematic.
However, the MC Crucial Element is Pursue (Ben).
The IC (Mrs. Robinson) has an Crucial Element of Avoid (Prevent).
So in this context, It doesn’t seem like choosing to Pursue Elaine leads to the story failure – after all, Ben could have pursued getting in to plastics and that would have made everyone happy.
It feels more accurate to say:
… so Ben is “using up” Pursue in his own throughline – by pursuing Elaine – while at the same time refusing to Pursue the Future that everyone wants him to.
Am I understanding this correctly? And is this always the way to look at it, or is it story context dependent?
(In case it doesn’t link, here’s the thread I pulled that quote from Chris from):