Story Goal, Plot progression, and a Throughline concern/issue/problem

#1

Hi,

I’m having trouble understanding the Concern level, as the same selection pops up in three different “areas”.
As it appears as Story Goal, it’s a certain Signpost in a Throughline in the plot, and it’s a quad selection in determining the problem of a Throughline

a) In StarWars the OS Throughline is Activity, and the Concern is Doing, the Issue is Skill and the Problem is Test.
What does the Concern mean in selecting the Problem? Is it just a “branch in a tree” to get to that point, and nothing else?

b) In the OS plot progression shows that Concern “Doing” is the 3rd Signpost.
What does Concern Doing mean for Signpost 1(Understanding), 2(Gathering Information), and 4(Obtaining) in the plot progression?

c) And the Story goal is also Doing.
How to treat the Story Goal?
Should it answer questions like:
What does “Doing” mean for the OS in Signpost 1 “Understanding”?
What does “Doing” mean for the OS in Signpost 2 “Gathering Information”?
What does “Doing” mean for the OS in Signpost 3 “Doing”?
What does “Doing” mean for the OS in Signpost 4 “Obtaining”?

What does “Doing” mean for the MC (Luke) in Signpost 1 “The past”?
What does “Doing” mean for the MC (Luke) in Signpost 2 “How things are changing”?
What does “Doing” mean for the MC (Luke) in Signpost 3 “The Future”?
What does “Doing” mean for the MC (Luke) in Signpost 4 “The Present”?

What does “Doing” mean for the IC (Obi-wan) in Signpost 1 “Contemplation”?
What does “Doing” mean for the IC (Obi-wan) in Signpost 2 “Impulsive Responses”?
What does “Doing” mean for the IC (Obi-wan) in Signpost 3 “Memories”?
What does “Doing” mean for the IC (Obi-wan) in Signpost 4 “Innermost desires”?

What does “Doing” mean for the RS in Signpost 1 “Changing One’s Nature”?
What does “Doing” mean for the RS in Signpost 2 “Conceiving an Idea”?
What does “Doing” mean for the RS in Signpost 3 “Developing a Plan”?
What does “Doing” mean for the RS in Signpost 4 “Playing a Role”?

Are these three things related to each other or are they three different axis on a story? Like an x, y, z diagram in Math, showing a 3D image or vector?

Rgds,
Jeri

#2

The Goal is a specific illustration of the OS Concern that the Protagonist pursues. So in Star Wars the Goal of Doing might be something like “Fighting back against the Empire.” More broadly however, there is conflict from the Concern of Doing throughout the story in various ways.

For the signposts, my understanding is that it’s best to illustrate this as if it’s a separate thing, a step in the progression of plot, specifically in the context of the other signposts. (Understanding leads to Learning leads to Doing leads to Obtaining).

Doing is in the OS – so I wouldn’t apply it to the other throughlines at all.

Problem/Solution depends on where the Concern and Issue quads are. For example, all of the lower left Concerns (Future/Obtaining/Becoming/Subconscious) give you the same 16 Elements (Avoid, Conscience, Consider etc.). If you choose upper left (Past/Understanding/Memory/Conceptualizing) you’ll have a different 16 (Ability, Actually, Aware etc.) Same with Issue (play with this a bit in the Theme Browser and you’ll see what I mean).

Put this all together and you can start to see the “personality” of different kinds of stories. A good thread to read on the personality of different Concern quads is this one:

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