Throughline, Concern, Issue, and Problem are not the only story points in Dramatica. In fact, there are six other story points for each of the four throughlines, plus others that affect the whole story. Whether an author consciously considers them while writing, these story points will clearly appear in every complete story.

Additional Element Level Story Points:

At the Element level where we already found each throughline's Problem, each of the four throughlines also has three more story points. Since each throughline has a Problem, it is not surprising that each also has a Solution. We find the Solution directly opposite the Problem in the thematic structure. For example, the Solution for too much or too little logic is more or less feeling.

If a Problem were a disease, its Solution would be a cure. A disease will also have symptoms, and treatments for those symptoms. This is reflected in the same quad as the Problem and Solution in each throughline, where one of the remaining Elements will be the Symptom and the other the Response (treatment). The reason we call them Symptom and Response is that characters, like real people, find their attention drawn to the difficulties caused by a problem more than to the problem itself. Whether the Symptom and Response we are considering falls in the Overall Story, Main Character, Impact Character, or Subjective Story Throughline, they represent the symptoms of the Problem that draw attention (Symptom) and what the characters try to do about it (Response).

In the Overall Story Throughline, the Symptom is where all the characters concentrate, as that is where their troubles are most clear. The Response is how they respond to try to reduce those troubles. If the story were a body with a disease (Problem), sometimes a cure must be found and one must ignore the symptoms, not worry about a treatment, and concentrate on a cure. Other times, one cannot find the cure, but if one simply treats the symptoms, the body will recover enough to heal itself.

In the Main Character Throughline, the decision whether to change is intimately tied to whether the Main Character is driven by the Symptom toward a Response effort, or whether he seeks the cure. The Main Character cannot tell which is the correct approach. A final decision at a leap of faith (or the more gradual shift from one approach to the other) will finally settle whether the conclusion of the thematic argument ends in Success or Failure and Good or Bad.

In the Impact Character Throughline, the Symptom is where this character hopes to have the greatest impact, and Response is how he wants things to change because of that impact.

Symptom in the Subjective Story Throughline is the topic over which Main and Impact Characters argue because it gets their attention. The audience sees the real Problem between them, but the Main Character and Impact Character only see the Symptom. Subjective Story Response describes the direction in which the argument leans.

In practice, the Symptom is seen by the characters as the source of the problem before they grow enough to recognize it only as a symptom. If you walked up to a Main Character and asked him, "What's causing your troubles?" he would say something like, "All my problems come from _____," where the Main Character Symptom fills in the blank. The same is true of the other throughlines and their characters.

Likewise, the Response is seen by the characters as the best way to respond to the Symptom to fix things. It is an apparent "solution" for what they see is the problem.

Additional Variation Level Story Points

At the Variation level each of the four throughlines has two more story points. They function roughly the same way in each throughline, but are most similar between the Main and Impact Character Throughlines and between Overall Story and Subjective Story Throughlines.

Both Main and Impact have a Unique Ability and a Critical Flaw. In the Main Character, the Unique Ability represents some trait or quality that has the potential to allow that character to resolve the story's Problem. The Critical Flaw, however, undermines that Unique Ability. If the Main Character is ever to solve his troubles, he must overcome his Critical Flaw to employ his Unique Ability fully.

Because we see the Impact Character in terms of his impact, his Unique Ability describes the quality that enables him to have a special impact on the Main Character's point of view. The Impact Character's Critical Flaw is a quality that undermines that impact.

In the Overall Story and Subjective Story Throughlines, these same two items take form as the Catalyst and Inhibitor. Catalyst and Inhibitor act as the accelerator and brake pedal on the forward progress of each throughline. In the Overall Story Throughline, bringing in the Catalyst moves the plot forward more quickly; applying the Inhibitor slows things down. This is a structural aid in pacing a story.

In the Subjective Story Throughline, Catalyst and Inhibitor control the rate at which the relationship between Main and Impact Characters develops. More Catalyst brings a confrontation to a head; more Inhibitor delays it. Because Catalyst, Inhibitor, Issue, and counterpoint are all Variations, the proper choice of these items insures the story's pacing to come from inside the structure, rather than imposed arbitrarily by the author.

Additional Type Level Story Points

At the Type level, each of the four throughlines has one more story point, a Benchmark. It gets its name because it is a measure of the growth of each throughline. The Benchmark provides a category in which the progress of each throughline can be charted. For example, an Overall Story Benchmark of Obtaining might be characters gathering cash receipts in their efforts to afford tuition. In the Main Character Throughline, a Benchmark of Obtaining might be the unused concert tickets on a shy man's bed stand from all the times he bought them but then was too afraid to ask someone out to the show.

What about the Class level?

The Class level has no added story points, since it only has four items: The four Throughlines.

Is That About It?

Please keep in mind that this section of the Dramatica Theory Book deals with The Elements Of Structure. It describes what the pieces are, not how to put them together. That comes later in The Art Of Storytelling.

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