MC Problem/Solution/Symptom/Response

Discuss the practical use of Dramatica. Have questions about how throughlines should be used, how to create Complex Characters or even the various combinations of the 12 Essential Questions and how they will affect your story go here.
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yellowsub
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MC Problem/Solution/Symptom/Response

Postby yellowsub » Jun 22, 2008 12:56 am

I'm looking, just before I launch into full-bolt writing, to see that I've got my thinking as straight as I can. Any help would be appreciated.

In my StoryForm, the MC Throughline is Activity and the OS Throughline is Situation

The MC Problem is Actuality, the Solution is Perception, the symptom is Aware and the response is Self-Aware. She is a Steadfast MC with a style of Intuitive. Her issue is Senses and her Unique Ability is Senses. Critical Flaw of Fate.

I've described the MC Problem as so: She is driven by her inability to share her special world with anyone else (except the Antagonist).

In a fashion, she supports the Antagonist.

For a solution I have: Refusing to perceive herself as separate would resolve her inability to share her life with others.

Does it seem like I am on the right track???

This is what I wrote under 'Symptom'
Since there is a history of mental instability in the family, She endures the fear that she might lose touch with an awareness of what is real, ie., shared reality. She avoids any situation where she might reveal her innermost thoughts and leads a hermit-like existence.It upsets her to find that her home does not actually belong to her mother and therefore cannot be hers (MC)

Also, the Aware/Self-Aware thing is a difficult thing for me to visualize.

If it is helpful here is my Overall Story:

The Enlightened life of a Group of Seekers is threatened by a lack of financial resources.

People want the superb recreational drugs that only the Drug Overlord can produce. Plus all the courses, the promises, the New Age fads at his palace. Others want to make money off the drugs. The Drug Overlord has a weakness for fixing people. His wife resents him for it. She disappears and takes financial resources with her. The locals say she has turned into a Kali (goddess of Destruction).

I mightn't have given enough information... but even if you were to create an example using the Problem/Solution/Symptom/Response, it might head me in a creative direction. Thanks!

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yellowsub
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Re: MC Problem/Solution/Symptom/Response

Postby yellowsub » Jun 22, 2008 7:37 pm

More Musing:

This is the Definition of Perception:
Perception is a point of view on reality. In truth, we cannot truly get beyond perception in our understanding of our world. A character that represents Perception is more concerned with the way things seem than what they are. Therefore he can be caught off-guard by anything that is not what it seems.

My authorial pov is weighted against 'the way things seem' so it makes sense to me that my MC is Steadfast. I guess the pressure against her could be to move her to act on 'the way things seem'?

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Re: MC Problem/Solution/Symptom/Response

Postby Chris Huntley » Jun 25, 2008 4:52 pm

If I understand you correctly, you see this Steadfast MC's Problem of Actuality something like this:

[Alice] is driven by a desire to live in the real world and is frustrated when others do not value reality as much as she does. (MC PROBLEM of Actuality)

If you asked her what she thinks is the source of her personal woes, she'd say it's her awareness of her family's well-known mental problems and it's genetic roots. (MC Symptom of Aware)

In reaction to that, she spends a lot of time on introspection, finding peace in a hermit-like existence.


That's not your storytelling, but that's the direction I see you are going -- which is great.

It works for me. (If I've missed your intent entirely, let me know and I'll try again. :? )
Chris Huntley
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http://dramatica.com/
http://screenplay.com/

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yellowsub
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Re: MC Problem/Solution/Symptom/Response

Postby yellowsub » Jun 25, 2008 11:12 pm

Thanks... that's awesome.

I'll possibly have a couple more questions but at some point in a week or so that will be it. I'll be offline with the novel.


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