Why Dramatica Is Different From Other Story Paradigms
by Chris Huntley

PART 4—April 24, 2006

Character change is a major element of most story paradigms.

Syd Field says there are four major qualities that make a good character:

1. Dramatica Need—What does the Main Character want to gain, get or achieve?
2. Strong Point of View—The way the Main Character views the world
3. Attitude—The Main Character’s manner or opinion
4. CHANGE—Does your Main Character change during the course of the story?

Robert McKee sees change as an essential part of a protagonist [Main Character]: “Character Arc—The finest writing not only reveals true character, but arcs or changes that inner nature, for better or worse, over the course of the telling.” [Story, p 104]

Christopher Vogler sees change as an essential part of the hero’s journey: “CHANGE—Heroes don’t just visit death and come home. They return changed, transformed. No one can go through an experience at the edge of death without being changed in some way.” [The Writer’s Journey, p 160]

Michael Hauge describes the hero [Main Character] change as an inner journey of fulfillment, a character arc from fear to courage. This is a journey from the hero’s identity—the character’s protective mask; his sense of self—to the hero’s essence; the truth of the character after all of a character’s identity is removed.

Dramatica treats character change a bit differently. For one thing, Dramatica makes a distinction between a Main Character’s personal growth and his resolve. Here’s the distinction between growth and resolve:

Character Growth: In order for a character to change or remain steadfast, a character needs to be able to distinguish between the source of conflict and its symptomatic effects. The character is “blinded” from seeing both by either being too close or too far from the problem. The character growth brings the character to the point where all options are visible to the character. Character growth is akin to a “character arc.”

Character Resolve: Once a character has grown, it can stay the course (remain steadfast) or radically alter its perspective (change). Character Resolve is not a value judgment, nor is it a description of what could or should have happened. Identifying a character’s resolve is simply determining whether the character’s perspective is fundamentally the same or different.

Syd Field’s paradigm only allows for Change Main Characters and does not do much to describe different types of growth necessary to change the character, only that growth must occur for the character to change. He suggests there is an event in the main character’s life that emotionally parallels and impacts the story. He calls this, “The Circle of Being.” This traumatic event happens to the main character when he is twelve to eighteen years old. Change, then, is the emotional resolution of the emotional scar. His paradigm does not leave much room for steadfast main characters.

Robert McKee’s paradigm equally emphasizes main character growth (i.e. Character Arc) and a main character resolve. Though McKee’s descriptions of the forces that drive a character’s growth seem more sophisticated than Field’s, he ends up in the same place: a Change Main Character. There is either no room for steadfast main characters in his paradigm or they exist outside its boundaries. Either way, I could not find references to steadfast main characters in Robert McKee’s “Story.”

Both Christopher Vogler and Michael Hauge describe the main character’s growth as the Hero’s Inner Journey. Like the others, they inexorably tie the main character’s resolve (Change) to the journey (growth). In their DVD, “The Hero’s 2 Journeys,” Vogler acknowledges that some heroes remain steadfast but does not describe how this might fit or alter the hero’s journey.

Many great stories involve characters that remain steadfast against all efforts to change them. Moreover, the fact that they “stay the course” is an essential component of each story’s message. Imagine Job in the Old Testament of the Bible telling God he’s had too much and is throwing in the towel, or Dr. Richard Kimble in "The Fugitive" giving up his search for the one-armed man and heading off to Bermuda. Both might work as stories but their meaning would be changed considerably. To tell the stories successfully, each would be constructed differently from the originals so that the character growth naturally led to the new character resolve.

How is a main character’s growth affected by the character’s resolve? The answer is simple and significant:

Change Main Character Growth: A change main character comes to the story with pre-existing “baggage” in the form of justifications (inner walls) that blind the character to his personal problem. Whether you call the baggage the character’s wound (Hauge), inner problem (Vogler), unconscious desire (McKee), or Circle of Being (Field), the main character comes to the story “fully loaded” and ripe for change. Each act describes the tearing down of the justifications that hide the main character’s personal problem from his direct awareness. Once the character has grown enough to see beyond the justifications and recognize the true nature of his personal problems can he then fundamentally alter his worldview (change).

Steadfast Main Character Growth: A steadfast main character generally starts off at the beginning of the story with everything in balance. An external force disrupts this balance and the main character responds by committing to a method of restoring balance. Each act describes the main character’s efforts to reinforce his commitment as external forces grow and change. Once the character has reached the edge of his breaking point—when the limit of his efforts to reinforce his motivations match that of the maximum external pressure to alter course—he makes one last commitment and forms a justification that blinds him from his initial choice of action. In this way he remains steadfast in his resolve.

By allowing for Main Characters who change and Main Characters who remain steadfast, Dramatica opens up the story world to the other half not adequately explained by other paradigms. These include steadfast main characters such as Romeo in “Romeo and Juliet,” Jim Stark in “Rebel Without A Cause,” Jake Barnes in “The Sun Also Rises,” Clarice Starling in “Silence of the Lambs,” and Jake Gittes in “Chinatown.”

By separating character growth from character resolve, Dramatica lets you determine both where your character goes and how he gets there. This gives an author flexibility in forming his story. It also better represents the choices we have in real life and therefore brings greater verisimilitude to an audience’s story experience.

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