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Friday, August 3, 2012

Start and Stop Characters in the Real World

In Dramatica theory, characters can grow by starting a new behavior/attitude or stopping an old one. But how does that translate to the real world? Here are some examples:

Start as the Growth — The direction of the Main Character’s growth is toward starting something. The issue of Resolve (Change/Steadfast) has an impact on how to evaluate Growth (Start/Stop), so we’ve included examples which reflect these different contexts. For example:

Start/Steadfast: a business man refuses a generous offer to buy his business, holding out in the belief that his son will eventually start taking an interest in running it; etc.

Start/Change: believing that her lack of confidence is keeping her stuck in a lousy job, a woman starts demanding more of her employees; etc.

Stop as the Growth — The direction of the Main Character’s growth is toward stopping something. The issue of Resolve (Change/Steadfast) has an impact on how to evaluate Growth (Start/Stop), so we’ve included examples which reflect these different contexts. For example:

Stop/Steadfast: a radical activist believes she must remain tied to the gates of a nuclear plant so that her example will cause the employees to shut down the plant; etc.

Stop/Change: For example, a doctor who always pushes her patients too hard for their own good stops when she becomes ill and is treated the same way; etc.