# Sketches: Main Character, Influence Character, Overall Story and Crucial Element **URL:** \ **Category:** Dramatica Theory\ **Created:** [July 7, 2018, 6:00pm UTC](https://discuss.dramatica.com/t/sketches-main-character-influence-character-overall-story-and-crucial-element/1926 "2018-07-07T18:00:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![GetSchwifty](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex010/user_avatar/discuss.dramatica.com/getschwifty/32/2581_2.png) [@GetSchwifty](https://discuss.dramatica.com/u/GetSchwifty)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2018, 6:00pm UTC](https://discuss.dramatica.com/t/sketches-main-character-influence-character-overall-story-and-crucial-element/1926/1 "2018-07-07T18:00:59Z")
S Some Illustrations based on Melanie’s articles on Storymind, the theory book, and Jim Hull’s articles. On the MC throughline: ![](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex010/uploads/dramatica/original/1X/456d7231cb9c9a31bc1a1bb12b7d8aadae977cdb.jpg) The MC draws closer to the IC… ![](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex010/uploads/dramatica/original/1X/6729abf19addb0deba32798ee9ddb48afc2c9419.jpg) There are four outcomes. He might get the goal and find personal fulfillment: ![](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex010/uploads/dramatica/original/1X/25ee1513815edf2d152b8da8f35f0fda12b6d4de.jpg) ![](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex010/uploads/dramatica/original/1X/bae31227aaf2a6c7b48f5fd0c72d043e65f6255c.jpg) Or failure to get goal, angst continues. Tsk. ![](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex010/uploads/dramatica/original/1X/2aa39f43d914c1acba336eddd29f401545b3e1ac.jpg) ![](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex010/uploads/dramatica/original/1X/31acb81290d9da89fe086f20e3431cf3dcdf1944.jpg) Next, a look at how this works with the Overall Story. There’s always the question: is the MC’s drive to for personal satisfaction in line with the Overall Story Characters or at odds with the Overall Story Characters. In Road Warrior, Max’s drive lines up with the community, who desire to escape with their black juice and drive to Paradise. In It’s a Wonderful Life, George’s drive for Adventure is at odds with the town’s people’s need for George to be a part of their world. They’re screwed if he leaves so they convince him that their love is worth more than his silly drive to see the larger world and be a part of it. That’s actually a pretty apt description of love’s bindings, no? ![](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex010/uploads/dramatica/original/1X/c0b420d8b6d2e2b18c4e6f2631deb36d34fc7b5d.jpg) MC has a function in Overall Story as well as in his personal story. The question is always does one interfere with the other, where is the inequity or noise? ![](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex010/uploads/dramatica/original/1X/89793500a741973c7d26691a659e5ea5dcad6ec5.jpg) In some stories, the drive of OS is the same element as the drive in the MC ![](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex010/uploads/dramatica/original/1X/16baed7fc69130f0989d24429556b02493dd8d5a.jpg) In other cases, it’s the opposite ![](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex010/uploads/dramatica/original/1X/5b3b5992b397b9c39be217501914e737601cd3eb.jpg) In a change story, the IC and MC both represent the same Problem or Solution element ![](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex010/uploads/dramatica/original/1X/a7663a9bd71957d8e0680836a65b37376c010859.jpg) In a steadfast story, the represent opposite sides of a Dynamic Pair. They are diametrically opposed. ![](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex010/uploads/dramatica/original/1X/38c834f9dbf29f52ffb243eb6f5812862d5d5316.jpg) In one kind of story, Audience attention is on MC drive, in another kind, on MC response to the problem. ![](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex010/uploads/dramatica/original/1X/36feba03910a186919bbcf413e092bfb87aecd50.jpg) The point of all this is that it’s important to establish all these firmly before you get too far into story development. Here’s a sketch for how the MC contains problem, solution, focus, direction, and also shows that there’s an actual difference between focus and symptom, and between direction and treatment. ![](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex010/uploads/dramatica/original/1X/9fee6b6a32d1290eeb5e565f3b1f9b814d6a7323.jpg) Here’s the Omnigraffle document. > **[Dropbox](https://www.dropbox.com/s/fvdh6wprry5yuz8/crucial%20element%20main%20character.graffle.zip?dl=0)** @jhull ---
**Author:** ![GetSchwifty](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex010/user_avatar/discuss.dramatica.com/getschwifty/32/2581_2.png) [@GetSchwifty](https://discuss.dramatica.com/u/GetSchwifty)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2018, 9:17pm UTC](https://discuss.dramatica.com/t/sketches-main-character-influence-character-overall-story-and-crucial-element/1926/2 "2018-07-07T21:17:03Z")
ADDENDUM working through this template above helped me find my story. Here’s another tack: the character gets what he wants, but finds it doesn’t bring personal fulfillment. You married the homecoming queen, but then you realize she doesn’t love you and married you because her true love was killed, and after that who she married didn’t matter. This kind of ending is probably my favorite, and I think it’s the most sophisticated understanding of human desire, so it’s nice to see it in my own story. ![](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex010/uploads/dramatica/original/1X/43b3070ed554a8b84d76648fe3ae68a4ee55ac79.jpg) It should actually be possible to map out all the possible interactions between the MC IC an OS around the crucial element. I’ll try to get around to it one of these days. ---
**Author:** ![GetSchwifty](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex010/user_avatar/discuss.dramatica.com/getschwifty/32/2581_2.png) [@GetSchwifty](https://discuss.dramatica.com/u/GetSchwifty)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2018, 9:40pm UTC](https://discuss.dramatica.com/t/sketches-main-character-influence-character-overall-story-and-crucial-element/1926/3 "2018-07-07T21:40:18Z")
Thinking other movies that have that kind of end. The hero pays to much to get what he wants: he pays with the respect of others. The Longest Yard (Burt Reynolds version PLEASE), The Love Bug, that episode of MASH where Hawkeye shows up drunk in the OR and Radar is crushed that his hero has let them all down. ---
**Author:** ![mlucas](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex010/user_avatar/discuss.dramatica.com/mlucas/32/275_2.png) [@mlucas](https://discuss.dramatica.com/u/mlucas)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2018, 10:09pm UTC](https://discuss.dramatica.com/t/sketches-main-character-influence-character-overall-story-and-crucial-element/1926/4 "2018-07-07T22:09:34Z")
> [@GetSchwifty](#): > > This kind of ending is probably my favorite, and I think it’s the most sophisticated understanding of human desire, so it’s nice to see it in my own story. No way! Steadfast/Stop/Failure/Good is by far the best ending!! Personal triumph via steadfastness of focus all the way! (Just kidding. 😃 We all have personal preferences! Keep up the great work.) ---
**Author:** ![GetSchwifty](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex010/user_avatar/discuss.dramatica.com/getschwifty/32/2581_2.png) [@GetSchwifty](https://discuss.dramatica.com/u/GetSchwifty)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2018, 11:21pm UTC](https://discuss.dramatica.com/t/sketches-main-character-influence-character-overall-story-and-crucial-element/1926/5 "2018-07-07T23:21:52Z")
The diagrams are more correct now. ---
**Author:** ![mlucas](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex010/user_avatar/discuss.dramatica.com/mlucas/32/275_2.png) [@mlucas](https://discuss.dramatica.com/u/mlucas)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2018, 11:28pm UTC](https://discuss.dramatica.com/t/sketches-main-character-influence-character-overall-story-and-crucial-element/1926/6 "2018-07-07T23:28:49Z")
Is it that you mislabelled the Crucial Element as a Drive in a Steadfast story? (when it should be Focus or Direction?) ---
**Author:** ![GetSchwifty](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex010/user_avatar/discuss.dramatica.com/getschwifty/32/2581_2.png) [@GetSchwifty](https://discuss.dramatica.com/u/GetSchwifty)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2018, 11:42pm UTC](https://discuss.dramatica.com/t/sketches-main-character-influence-character-overall-story-and-crucial-element/1926/7 "2018-07-07T23:42:28Z")
yep, that’s essentially it. The Crucial Element is specifically related either to the Change at the end, or the shifting of an element outside of the MC. This became extremely clear was I was laying out my story using this template and ‘debugging’ it. Also, realizing that self-awareness isn’t a change, because it’s a treatment of the symptom at the end: the element he moves is equity–the solution to the problem. …starting to see how all these little pieces work. ---
**Author:** ![GetSchwifty](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex010/user_avatar/discuss.dramatica.com/getschwifty/32/2581_2.png) [@GetSchwifty](https://discuss.dramatica.com/u/GetSchwifty)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2018, 11:46pm UTC](https://discuss.dramatica.com/t/sketches-main-character-influence-character-overall-story-and-crucial-element/1926/8 "2018-07-07T23:46:09Z")
> [@mlucas](#): > > Steadfast/Stop/Failure/Good Steadfast/Start/Failure/Good whomps on Steadfast/Stop/Failure/Good. ---
**Author:** ![mlucas](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex010/user_avatar/discuss.dramatica.com/mlucas/32/275_2.png) [@mlucas](https://discuss.dramatica.com/u/mlucas)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2018, 12:31am UTC](https://discuss.dramatica.com/t/sketches-main-character-influence-character-overall-story-and-crucial-element/1926/9 "2018-07-08T00:31:08Z")
I don’t actually think any structure is better than another, but putting that aside… Steadfast/Stop/Good is awesome because there is this thing that “I” (MC perspective) focus on as the source of the problem, and it turns out that I am right in the end, at least in terms of personal emotional satisfaction. Yet despite focusing on it as a problem, I also stick with that thing because it’s the crucial element. Example using Logic: - “This is crazy! Illogical! It doesn’t make sense! We have to find a rational explanation!” I keep saying throughout the story. “Your logic sucks!” - Yet in the end, I triumph\* because I keep being irrational about something. Example using Hinder: - “How am I supposed to live my life, chained the way I am? How can any of us? And how can you, with all those burdens you bear? They weigh you down terribly,” I say throughout the story. “All this crap keeps getting in our way!” - Yet in the end, I triumph\* because I keep getting in the way of things. \* Failure/Good, I triumph personally despite all of us failing objectively. Success/Good, we all triumph objectively and emotionally. ---
**Author:** ![GetSchwifty](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex010/user_avatar/discuss.dramatica.com/getschwifty/32/2581_2.png) [@GetSchwifty](https://discuss.dramatica.com/u/GetSchwifty)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2018, 12:37am UTC](https://discuss.dramatica.com/t/sketches-main-character-influence-character-overall-story-and-crucial-element/1926/10 "2018-07-08T00:37:27Z")
How would you say Direction works for my case? Problem inequity Solution equity Focus aware Direction self aware ---
**Author:** ![GetSchwifty](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex010/user_avatar/discuss.dramatica.com/getschwifty/32/2581_2.png) [@GetSchwifty](https://discuss.dramatica.com/u/GetSchwifty)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2018, 12:43am UTC](https://discuss.dramatica.com/t/sketches-main-character-influence-character-overall-story-and-crucial-element/1926/11 "2018-07-08T00:43:59Z")
Crucial Element • [Element] • The single element in the story that needs to be exchanged for its dynamic pair to correct the imbalance that began the story I’m going to get a T shirt made Also note from theory book: “Equilibrium is established on the island, Grant suddenly loves kids, he gets the girl, and they escape with their lives, and all because the crucial element of Order connected both the Overall Story and Subjective Story throughlines.” So RS comes into play here too. ---
**Author:** ![mlucas](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex010/user_avatar/discuss.dramatica.com/mlucas/32/275_2.png) [@mlucas](https://discuss.dramatica.com/u/mlucas)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2018, 2:08am UTC](https://discuss.dramatica.com/t/sketches-main-character-influence-character-overall-story-and-crucial-element/1926/14 "2018-07-08T02:08:05Z")
> [@GetSchwifty](#): > > How would you say Direction works for my case? I would use Jim’s narrative argument to figure it out more, so something like: Vindication awaits those who keep _being self-absorbed_, even if it means _consequence_. Of course, substitute another gist for Self-Aware that better fits your story, and sub in the Consequence as you see it. That said, even knowing the Crucial Element’s element, I can never figure out what it means or how to phrase the narrative argument until I’ve written (or outlined in detail) at least half the story. So if you’re scratching your head, that’s fine – just wait until you grasp your whole story better. ---
**Author:** ![GetSchwifty](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex010/user_avatar/discuss.dramatica.com/getschwifty/32/2581_2.png) [@GetSchwifty](https://discuss.dramatica.com/u/GetSchwifty)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2018, 5:21pm UTC](https://discuss.dramatica.com/t/sketches-main-character-influence-character-overall-story-and-crucial-element/1926/15 "2018-07-08T17:21:37Z")
added this ![](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex010/uploads/dramatica/original/1X/9fee6b6a32d1290eeb5e565f3b1f9b814d6a7323.jpg) taken from the Focus definition on [Dramatica.com](http://Dramatica.com): ![](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex010/uploads/dramatica/original/1X/975ecc660a939cf7bdf0f4d966162915ea34fb73.jpg) @jhull