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My Story Inherently has Protagonist Who's Not MC

Posted: Oct 26, 2012 1:26 pm
by Geoff1975
One of the last things to pin down about my screwball story is which one to make the protagonist: MC or IC. My IC has an earth shattering quest and he recruits the MC to help. I could easily tie the MC's problem as stemming from that earth shattering threat. Virtually all the screwball comedies I've seen have the same route: the MC also has the goal. In Bringing Up Baby, I'd say Susan with her leopard has just as much of a goal as David.
I haven't wanted to force my MC to be the protagonist if the IC's problems and drives are so connected to the OS. I think I found my model in "Who's That Girl?". The MC is asked by his boss to simply deliver a paroled IC to the bus stop. The IC detours him to follow her on a quest to clear her name. Even though the MC has a fiancee and a scene where he must look good for the home association, all the characters seem to revolve around her crime. So, in the final moments, when she discovers it was his boss who framed her, she turns around, breaks up the MC's wedding and declares the boss did it. That clears her name. Then comes a fencing fight between the MC and boss. I call her speech the Closing Event, brought on by the option lock of the boss being the one who framed her. There's more than one optionlock going on. The boss has one or two, including putting her out of the way on the bus. She goes through several.
In both Bringing Up Baby and Who's That Girl? there's a character tying the two characters' plots together. In "Baby" it was Mrs. Carlton Random. In "Girl" it was the boss.
I know I'm correct in writing my story with a Doer character in a Manipulation story (aka internal conflict portrayed in external threat ways), because her character arc indeed helps or does the thing internally which closes the story. She finally gets into her zone, so to speak. A clue in "Baby" is that the Be-er MC goes after an external goal: obtaining.
Comments anyone?