In the previous umpteen posts, I've gone into the ideas that Dramatica presents about Character, with all the variations of motivation and purpose, etc. I still have most of the character sketches to do, but these will be simply reading from the output of the work I've already done and codifying them into bio snippets. I think we're basically done with character for a while.
The next big part of Dramatica concerns the Structure of your story, starting with the idea of Theme. This is a word which is used to mean multiple things to writers, some people mean the message of a story, or the setting and genre of a story, or the premise of a story. As expected, Dramatica has its own definition of what Theme is, so let's get started.
The Theme
Dramatica says that Theme is a perspective, the perspective of a relationship between what is looked at and from where it is being seen. It doesn't stand apart from plot and character, it is a relationship between plot and character.
To work out what the Theme of a story is we must look at the problem from the viewpoints represented by the four Throughlines - Overall, Main, Impact and Subjective. The nature of the story problem will look different from each of these viewpoints, and they all need to be explored in order for the story to feel complete.
Return of the Quad
Like with character, the theme can be broken down into sections, and each of these sections further broken down to give a grid of possible thematic perspectives. Each level of this breakdown has a name. The first level is where we take the problem of the story and decide where it exists.
| Universe A Situation |
Physics An Activity |
| Psychology A Manner of Thinking |
Mind A State of Mind |
Dramatica calls this classification of the problem the set of Classes. It further says that each of these classes must be assigned to one of the four Throughlines, in order to make the story thematically complete.
The example it gives is of Star Wars - The Overall Throughline in Star Wars is an Activity (Physics) since the story is about a rebellion already taking place. The Main Throughline is a Situation (Universe), Luke is stuck on a planet, living a life which isn't his destiny. The Impact Throughline is a State of Mind (Mind), Ben Kenobi lives in the world of the Force, and sees everything through this lens. Finally, the Subjective Throughline is A Manner of Thinking (Psychology) since Ben uses persuasion and subterfuge to bring young Luke long in the ways of the Force even though that wasn't Luke's original intention.
So what about Fiend?
Before we go down a level to the next layer of classification, it might be instructive to do the same thing with the current story of Fiend. Since I hadn't really considered this depth of theme before, I'm going to have to get creative.
Overall Throughline
The story from the overall perspective (outside observer) is that the relatively static world of the small-time criminal underworld is shake by the arrival of a clever, charismatic leader who takes one faction to new heights of success and stirs up a hornets nest of violence. People get killed, but eventually he's taken out by one of the gangsters and things return to normality. Like most Western fiction, the overall throughline is concerned with activity, so is a Physics problem.
Main Throughline
For Jake, the story is about having a mental block about releasing his emotions which is damaging his success and relationships even before Fiend comes along. This is exacerbated by his brother's seeming seduction by Fiend and being sucked into the violence. Jake needs to change, to allow himself to unblock his emotions, in order to defeat Fiend. For the main character the problem is of class Psychology.
Impact Throughline
Fiend knows who he is and what he wants. Once he has been let out, he can enact all the plans he has been hatching whilst trapped. He does not stop to second guess himself, until right at the end. He enjoys the chaos and violence and has no qualms of apparent conscience to control him. Fiend doesn't think he has a problem, but that in itself is a problem for those around him. His problem is one of Mind.
Subjective Throughline
There is only one left, and that is Universe, so the thematic problem in the relationship between Jake and Fiend must be one of a Situation. So let's work out what that might be. Jake is stuck in a situation that is partly of his own making, he is unable to act properly because of a mental block. At the start, Fiend is stuck in a situation of being trapped. Once released his situation has changed to enable him to transform. This is the Universe of the story.
That'll do for this post
In the next post I'll further subdivide the four Classes into the next layer down, the Types.
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