Need help determining appropriate Overall Story Throughline

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JSmiley530

Need help determining appropriate Overall Story Throughline

Postby JSmiley530 » Oct 01, 2009 6:25 pm

I'm new to using Dramatica but am quickly seeing the potential to improve my screenplay. I'm trying to determine the correct choice for the Overall Story Throughline. I'm confused by what is meant by defining "the nature of the problems ALL characters are dealing with".

I'm going to simplify my story a great deal here...my MC is a journalist whose main goal is to determine whether a couple have the magical powers that they (and others) claim they do. He starts out as a skeptic but gradually comes to believe that they are both legitimate. The truth (that he ultimately discovers) is that one of the "wizards" is a fake and one is the real deal. BOTH "wizards" are trying to prevent the journalist from learning the truth (one is trying to protect the other's reputation). They just want the public to go on thinking/believing that they BOTH are legitimate. I'm leaning towards choosing "Activity" as the Overall Story Throughline. Does that sound right based on what I have described so far?

NOTE: The other characters in the story fall into the categories of Sidekick, Skeptic, Guardian, believers, non-believers, undecided, and a Doctor who is trying to expose the couple as a fraud.

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Re: Need help determining appropriate Overall Story Throughline

Postby Chris Huntley » Oct 06, 2009 1:03 pm

Hmmmm. Not enough for me to make a sound suggestion. Here are some questions for you to think about.

-- Is the problem in the Overall Story external or internal? If it is external, then the OS is either Situation or Activity. If it is internal, then the OS is either Fixed Attitudes or Manipulation.

-- Is the problem in the Overall Story caused because something is rigid or stuck and needs to be loosened/freed up, or because there is a problematic process that needs to be ended? If it is rigid or stuck, the OS is either Situation or Fixed Attitude. If it is a problematic process, the OS is either Activity or Manipulation.

With those two approaches to picking the OS domain, you may be able to narrow it down yourself.

When we say...

"the nature of the problems ALL characters are dealing with"


...we mean that the Overall Story throughline conflicts affect all the characters in your story, one way or another. This is a contrast to the other throughlines, which only affect the specific characters in those throughlines.
Chris Huntley
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http://dramatica.com/
http://screenplay.com/


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