This is Story Fanatic, a collection of articles covering story structure and analysis for
creative writers. Published weekly.
The Main Character of a story represents the audience’s personal perspective into the story. Through this perspective, we the audience get to experience what it would be like personally to experience the story’s problems. The Main Character may or may not be the Protagonist. Protagonist describes a function, whereas the Main Character describes a perspective or point-of-view.
For the longest time, the world’s population believed the Earth was flat. They also believed that we sat at the center of the Universe. What was fundamental to their ignorance? A lack of proper context. This same deficiency permeates the world of story structure. However instead of the Flat-Earth Society, fans of meaningful stories find themselves facing off against the Protagonist-Centrist Society.
Characters need to have goals, right? If they don’t the Audience won’t know what the character is all about. At least, that is the common perception. Unfortunately, giving a character a goal without fully integrating it into the structure of a story leads a work of narrative fiction open to all sorts of tragic issues.
When does a story begin? If one assumes the given that complete stories are more than simply the exploration of one character’s journey, then it becomes necessary to identify the moment when the global inequity affecting all the characters transpires. This driver separates Backstory from Story and drives the Audience towards the narrative’s ultimate resolution.
Are all tragedies created equal? From the perspective of one who watches or reads stories, perhaps. But from the seat of the one who creates and brings to life these stories, a tragedy can take many forms…even that of a resounding triumph.
From the tragic to the very noble, the concept of the hero has grown to such epic proportions that it now borders on the precipice of the meaningless. When it becomes necessary to qualify an aspect of story structure, there should be questions asked as to the veracity of such an understanding. The way forward consists of concrete definitions that require no modification, no mental twisting in order to make right. Clearly defining what makes up a Hero becomes the first step.
What made this film so compelling? Was it simply the question of whether or not the top was going to stop, or could it be that there was something more meaningful going on within the bones of this story? A closer look at the Main Character and his place within the larger story offers fans of great storytelling a better understanding of what makes great stories such an engaging experience.
The idea that the Protagonist is always the centerpiece of a well-told story is a fallacy. While this is most often the case in popular American cinema, there are literally thousands of complete and meaningful stories that can be created wherein the audience has no personal attachment to the one character driving things forward. Limiting oneself to an understanding that is easier to get leaves a writer open to creative suppression.
Not every Hero is created the same. While on the surface they may appear to be interchangeable passengers on the same transformational “journey”, the truth is that deep down, they carry their own unique set of circumstances and issues that differentiate themselves from each other. Stories are complicated yet sophisticated beasts, they deserve as much then in our understanding of them.
When a story feels like it is slowing down or somehow gets lost in the middle of the 2nd act, chances are there is an issue with a weak or undefined Protagonist. Understanding what the Goal of the story is can go a long way towards establishing this essential character and therefore insure that an audience remains riveted to their seats.
Many hold true to the notion that the Protagonist is always the Main Character. This is an old idea that does not accurately describe what is really going on within the structure of complete stories. Understanding the nature of problem solving and the mechanisms through which stories depict this process is key for those wishing to write something off the norm.
Effective story structure requires a screenwriter to establish the mental processes a Main Character employs in the pursuit of his or her own personal problems. Why? Because the order of events that unfold are determined by what “kind” of a mind the central character has.
Every book on screenwriting eventually issues the command that Main Characters must always take action. But is this always the case? Main Characters face their own personal struggles, but it is how they approach those problems that helps to define them. Action is not always the way.
Complete stories, the ones we love and cherish, are those that are trying to say something beyond the spectacle. Where the Main Character ends up at the end of a screenplay or novel plays an essential part in providing that meaning.
Screenwriters everywhere often fall into the trap of writing lines like “You and I, we’re both the same” or “I saw myself in his eyes.” This occurs because of the relationship that exists at the heart of every great story. While complete stories requires this dynamic, you don’t have to resort to clichéd dialogue.
Films can have the same story structure, yet be so different in their storytelling that most normal people would rarely identify them as being the same. Story fanatics are not normal people. The Sixth Sense and Into The Wild – two films that couldn’t be more different in subject matter and genre – have almost the same exact structure, sharing many of the same thematic issues.
Trust me, there is a difference between the two.
The keys to serving up that dish best served cold.
And the problem with leaving one of them out.
The latest trailer for Pixar’s 2008 summer release has all the parts that make up a great story.
Approaching the analysis of a story using the Dramatica software.
It is not essential for the Main Character to drive the plot forward. What is essential is that we the audience share their emotional experiences. Their surprises become our surprises.
An argument as to why the film was not as successful as it probably could have been.
Sharing the personal throughline across different characters.
David Milch explains the relationship at the heart of this majestic series.
Main Character is a point-of-view and not necessarily always the protagonist.
A different way of looking at what is at the heart of the Main Character’s central problem.
The Main Character is the most important viewpoint into a story’s problems because it is the most personal.
Can you have a Main Character who is not really involved in the Overall Story?