In the last post, I introduced the Dramatica concepts of the Crucial Element and whether the main or impact characters change during the dance of the story, and if that change is rapid or gradual. Let's apply these to Fiend and see where we're at.
So, what about our Main Character, Jake?
In our case, we prove the Story Mind in the Main Character Throughline - so our main character is also the one most deeply involved in what we are trying to prove in the story - that you should not let traumas of the past inhibit your future success. This means the reader sees the larger thematic argument through the eyes of our main character Jake. His change represents the Story Mind argument.
And the Dance?
Jake comes into the start of the story with a tried-and-trusted way of dealing with the tribulations of life. He bottles everything up. When faced with anything that makes him angry, he backs off, retreats into himself. He is terrified of unleashing his violent side which he believes he cannot control. This works for him, in a fashion, because he hasn't done anything like that again. He knows, deep down, it also doesn't work for him in fundamental ways. It makes him subordinate to his weaker brother, it lowers his standing in the gang, it was the apparent cause of Katie leaving him, because in suppressing his anger, he's suppressing all of his emotions.
Then he meets Fiend, who tries to convince him to let it all happen. Fiend personifies the unleashing of inhibitions, and is successful at doing so. He presents Jake with an alternative point of view, one which becomes stronger and more attractive as the story goes on. But Jake resists. His inhibitions are too ingrained, he is too controlled.
Fiend gets more desperate, his schemes wilder and more dangerous ,and he sucks brother William into them. Jake has now withdrawn, and tries to convince William to do the same, but he is completely sold on the new way of living, and doesn't listen. As Fiend becomes more desperate to convince, his schemes become more dangerous, and eventually William is killed. If only Jake has been able to act in time with enough force, he might have been saved. It is a turning point in the story.
Fiend must be stopped, but the only way to do it is to unleash the beast within, and that is something Jake was not able to do before. But he has to do it in a way which can be recovered.
Not bad eh?
The speed of change
So it's very clear that it's Jake who changes, and Fiend stays steadfast. Also, this is no creep story, the middle part of the book will be Jake wanting to change but being unable to break the impasse. It's a definite leap after William's death, and that is the catalyst for him changing.
The Crucial Element
So what is the crucial element? There are only two recommendations given by Dramatica. It should be an element in the main character, and it should be an element where the impact character is opposite in the grid. Luckily*, we have several options from the grid:
* it wasn't luck, as you may remember, when I was choosing these quads, I deliberately opposed Jake and Fiend on as many of them as I could without making it too archetypal.
Motivation Dimension
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So looking at the grid, we have:
Jake Consider : Fiend Reconsider
Jake Pursuit : Fiend Avoid
Jake Reaction : Fiend Proaction
Jake Non-accurate : Fiend accurate
So which one is the Crucial Element for Jake and by extension, the whole Story Mind? Let's go back and look at what the story is actually about and how these oppositions sit within the story.
Jake Consider : Fiend Reconsider
Jake won't act, because he holds himself back all the time, out of fear for his capabilities. So Jake considers his actions, Fiend makes him reconsider them.
Jake Pursuit : Fiend Avoid
Jake is seeking a resolution to his problems long before Fiend comes along, he knows he has a problem, so he is pursuing something, and Fiend avoids looking at himself and his actions.
Jake Reaction : Fiend Proaction
Because he has to continually control his emotions, Jake is very reactive and Fiend has no fear and is proactive.
Jake Non-accurate : Fiend accurate
Jake is mistaken about his mental block, he is working on an inaccurate assumption. Fiend understand human nature and is working on an accurate worldview.
Crucially...
So all of them are true to a certain extent. I'd be worried if they weren't, considering all the work that went into them! Are all of them Crucial? Obviously not. So which one? The answer lies in the one sentence summary of the Story Mind that we stated earlier: you should not let traumas of the past inhibit your future success.
Jake is fundamentally wrong in his assumptions. He thinks because he once did a bad thing, that he is a monster. He is wrong. The Story will prove him wrong - I haven't worked out the details yet, but it's something to do with that mysterious crime of the past which I've avoided going into so far. Jake is working with a non-accurate picture of himself. This is the Crucial Element.
As a bit of side info, since the Crucial Element is "Non-accurate", this lies in the Evaluation Dimension, which deals with how a character measures success or failure. This ties in nicely with the idea that Jake is labouring under a misapprehension about his strengths, and throughout the early part of the story, he completely underestimates himself.
Also, bear in mind that Fiend is opposed to Jacob with an Accurate world-view. Jake may not understand himself, but Fiend certainly understands Jake. His is under no illusions about his potential, which is why he wants him badly on his side. This makes him a formidable foe, but the one chink in his armour is that Fiend avoids introspection, and this is his downfall.
A good start
This all seems to fit together, and cements my original ideas about the characters. It also introduces some good counterpoints to explore later.
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