MC/IC resolve relationship

June 30, 2005

Alright - back to the good stuff!

Let’s see, where did we leave off…Ah!

A Main Character has gone through all the different contexts for which the problem can be solved and arrives at the end. The only question left for him is - am I right or am I wrong?

On the other side of that is the Impact Character which is essentially mirroring the Main Character. But because the Impact Character is always the dynamic opposite of the MC (Change if the MC is Steadfast, Steadfast if the MC is Change) you have this dynamic between them - one may be building up while the other is tearing down. When I asked Chris if it could be any kind of combination, he answered, “My guess is yes, but my feeling is no.” He went on to say that there probably are some dynamics that control this relationship, but that they haven’t defined them yet.

Building up/Tearing Down seems like the obvious pair - kind of like Do-er/Be-er. But there probably could be other kinds of combinations based on different storyforms. The Dramatica model as it is now is based on Dynamic Pair relationships. It emphasizes certain kinds of relationships (Dynamic) and deemphasizes others. As mentioned elsewhere, there are also Companion Pair relationships and Dependent Pair relationships. Again, these aren’t clearly defined yet, and perhaps don’t need to be at this time.