Just as Theme has story points that are more character oriented, Progressive Story Points also touch on all four aspects of The Elements of Structure. Some story points are more aligned to plot, others that pertain most strongly to genre, and some are closest to the heart of Theme itself.

Acts are the most plot-like of the Progressive Story Points, and therefore fall in the Type level of the structure. Sequences, on the other hand, occur at the Variation level and therefore, like the Issue, are the most Theme-like of the Progressive Story Points.

What Is A Sequence?

Sequences deal with a quad of Variations much as Acts deal with a quad of Types. The quad of interest is the one containing the Issue, as that is the item at the heart of a throughline's Theme. Returning to our example story about an Overall Story Throughline in the Activity Class with a Concern of Obtaining, we shall say the Issue is Morality, as illustrated in the quad below.

If Morality is the Issue, then Self-Interest is the counterpoint. Theme draws from the balance between items. When examining the quad of Variations containing the Issue, we can see the Issue and counterpoint make up only one pair out of those created in that quad. We have also seen this kind of balance explored in the chapter on Character where we talked about three different kinds of pairs: Dynamic, Companion, and Dependent.

Just as with character quads, we can make two diagonal pairs, two horizontal pairs, and two vertical pairs from the Variations in the Issue quad. For the Morality quad, these six pairs are Morality/Self-Interest, Morality/Attitude, Morality/Approach, Self-Interest/Attitude, Self-Interest/Approach, and Attitude/Approach. Each of these pairs adds commentary on the relative value of Morality to Self-Interest. Only after we explore all six pairs will the thematic argument be fully made. It could go in a manner as follows:

Morality/Self-Interest

On face value, which is the better of the two?

Morality/Attitude

When Morality is the issue, how do we rate the Attitude of those espousing it?

Morality/Approach

When Morality is the issue, how do we rate the Approach of those espousing it?

Self-Interest/Attitude

When Self-Interest is the issue, how do we rate the Attitude of those espousing it?

Self-interest/Approach

When Self-Interest is the issue, how do we rate the Approach of those espousing it?

Attitude/Approach

Overall, which should carry more weight about this issue?

By answering each of these questions in a different thematic sequence, the absolute value of Morality compared with Self-Interest is argued through the six different relative values.