Handoffs
Contents
Often we may find that a particular point of view needs to be expressed in a given scene but the character that represents that view has gone off to Alaska. Why did we send him to Alaska? Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time. But now... Do we go back and rewrite the entire plot, have him take the next flight home or blow it off and let the lackluster scene languish in his absence?
None of the above. We could do those things, but there are two other choices that often prove much more satisfying as well as less destructive to what has already been written. One method refers to absent characters; the other is the handoff.
Characters in Absentia
The function of characters in a scene is not to show their physical presence, but to represent their points of view on the topic. As long as they fulfill that mandate and throw their two-cents into the mix, their actual presence is not required.
As authors, how can we represent a character's point of view in a scene without having to haul him in and place him there? Perhaps the easiest way is to have other characters talk about the missing character and relay the opinion that character would have expressed if he had been present. For example, one character might say, "You know, if Charlie were here he'd be pissed as hell about this!" The conversation might continue with another character taking a contrary position on what old Charlie's reaction might be until the two have argued the point to some conclusion much as if Charlie had been there in spirit.
Other techniques might use an answering machine message, a letter, diary or video interview from the character in question that is examined during a scene. Many current stories use a murder victim's videotaped will to include him in scenes involving his money-grubbing heirs. More subtle but potentially even more effective is for one character to examine the apartment, studio, or other habitat of a missing character and draw conclusions based on the personality expressed in the furnishings and artifacts there. Even the lingering effect of processes a character started before he left, or other characters' memories of the missing character can position him amid intense dramatic discussions without his actual attendance.
Still, for some storytelling purposes, you need a live body to uphold and represent a point of view. If there is just no way to bring the character that contains those characteristics into the scene personally, an author can assign a proxy instead. Do this by temporarily transferring the dramatic function from one character to another. We call this a handoff.
What is a Handoff?
A handoff occurs when one player temporarily takes on the story function of a missing player. This new player carries the dramatic flag for the scene in question, and then hands it back to the original player on his return.
Doesn't this violate the Dramatica guideline that every Objective Character is the sole representative of his unique characteristics? Not really. Having one character be the sole representative of a characteristic is a guideline, not a law. The essential part of that guideline is that a character does not change his internal inventory of characteristics during the story. A player, however, is not bound by that restriction.
In a handoff the player is not actually giving up a characteristic because he isn't around when another character is using it, so technically the first player is never seen without it. But because of this, he cannot share characteristics with other players at the same time. If he did, two characters might be trying to represent the same point of view in the same scene, making dramatic tension just go limp.
How to Do Handoffs
When we employ the handoff, we create two players to represent the same trait at different times. It is reminiscent of time-sharing a condo. In any given scene, a single point of view might be represented by character "A" or by character "B," but never by both in the same scene.
Most often, one of the players will be a major player and the other just a plot device player of convenience who appears for one scene and is never heard from again. Such players just fill in the gaps. Sometimes, both players prove intriguing to the author and each becomes a major player. The difficulty then arises that at the climax of the story, both players might still be alive and kicking and therefore suddenly converge in an awkward moment. No matter what you do, it's going to be clunky. Still, if you must have both present, it's best to either make a statement in the story that they have the same characteristics, binding them in the mind of the audience, or deal with them one after another.
A special case exists when (for whatever reason) an author decides to remove a player from the story. This can be a result of sending the player to its death, to the Moon or just having it leave at some point and not return. Often, this technique is used to shock an audience or throw them a red herring. Unless the functions represented by the eliminated player reappear in another player, however, part of the story's argument will disappear at the point the original drops out. In the attempt to surprise an audience by killing off a major player, many an author has doomed an otherwise functional storyform.
There are two primary ways in which an eliminated player's functions can continue without him. The easiest is to bring in a new player who is dramatically identical with the first, although its personal qualities are usually different. Often the storytelling requirements of a plot judge one player more suited to part of a story and another player to be more in line with the rest. Killing off the first player but continuing its dramatic function through a new player can serve both purposes and provide the best storytelling effect without a loss of dramatic continuity. The major condition is the audience must be made aware that this dead man handoff has occurred so it does not suddenly sense a vacuum in the story's argument. This may require a fair amount of introduction to place the new player solidly in the old role.
The second technique for replacing a player yet continuing the character's functions is to divide the functions among several new players, each representing only a portion of what had previously been contained in one. Naturally, these new players would be less complex than their predecessor, which may decrease nuance at certain levels of the story. On the plus side, this method scatters the functions into new bodies, allowing for external conflicts between functions previously blended into a single individual. Once again, telling the audience who got what is essential to the smooth progression of this type of handoff.