Dramatica Theory Book

Chapter 13: Domain Descriptions (Continued)

Main Character Domain

Because an audience identifies most strongly with the Main Character, choosing a Main Character Domain is like asking your potential audience, "Where's your mind at?" This Domain describes the realm in which the Main Characters operates. Each Class, therefore, provides a completely different mind set for the Main Character.

Universe as Main Character Domain

Universe is a Class of situations. A Universe Main Character finds himself in a situation. The situation in question can be a social status issue, such as being a certain race or gender or being queen or king. It could be a predicament such as being a rock star, or it could be a physical condition such as having an extremely large nose or exceptional beauty. Each of these illustrations shows a Main Character as being defined by the situation in which he is found.

Mind as Main Character Domain

A Mind Main Character will be defined as holding onto a fixed attitude. Such a character might be suffering from a prejudice, haunted by a suppressed memory, or unable to shake a crush on the kid down the street. In each case, it is a fixed state of mind that causes the Main Character's difficulties.

Physics as Main Character Domain

A Physics Main Character is a person of action. For example, he might be doing something just to do it, or he might be trying to obtain or achieve something. Other activities of a Physics Main Character might be learning or seeking to understand something. At first learning and understanding might seem too internal to be Physics, but consider that these activities are applied externally. Learning is gathering information about something and understanding is seeking the meaning of something. This is quite different than coming up with original thought which would be internal.

Psychology as Main Character Domain

A Main Character Domain of Psychology indicates an individual who is best described by how he thinks. This could be a flighty person, someone who jumps to conclusions, or even a calculating, manipulative person. In each of these scenarios, the opinions the Main Character holds are not what sets him apart, but rather the kinds of mental processes he goes through. Though there may be many Objective Characters who represent manners of thinking, only the Main Character will provide the audience with the experience of thinking that way.

The Main Character has Class

Clearly, the nature and concerns of a Main Character change radically from Class to Class. If you are most interested in exploring your Main Character in a story, then choosing the Main Character Class before any others is the way to approach developing a story. Keep in mind, though, that once a Class has been assigned to one of the four Domains in a story, it cannot be assigned to any of the others. So whatever you might pick for your Main Character's Class will not be available for the Objective Story, Subjective Story or Obstacle Character.