Key Concepts

Setting the Narrative Personality

Classifying Conflict

At its most basic and general level, conflict is identified by the mind through four general Classifications:

• Universe (a fixed external situation)
• Physics (an external process)
• Psychology (an internal process)
• Mind (a fixed internal situation)

Using all four of these classifications in a story ensures completeness. Leaving one out makes the story feel incomplete.

In Subtxt, these classifications are applied to four Throughlines, representing different perspectives:

• Objective Story (They, the plot),
• Main Character (I)
• Obstacle Character (You)
• Relationship Story (We, usually the relationship between the Main and Obstacle Character)

The Objective and Relationship Stories must contrast in conflict type (Universe vs. Mind, Physics vs. Psychology), as should the Main and Obstacle Characters. This opposition maximizes conflict in the narrative.

Classifying Throughlines to Domains

In the beginning, assigning these Throughlines to Classifications can be a daunting task. There are two keys to help make this process easier for you:

Understand there is no "right" answer, except the one you decide upon. You, the Author, is the God of this story and what you deem to be the source of conflict for a narrative is the source of conflict for that narrative. Identify what stands out to you as being the most important, or key defining factor, in each Throughline.

The first key is perhaps the hardest for most Authors to come to terms with, the second provides an opportunity for them to further define what kind of story they want to tell.

Of Pirates and Princesses

Take for instance two films: Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (the first one), and The Princess Bride. Both offer up a Fantasy Adventure narrative full of fantastic characters and thrilling plot elements.

But how would one classify the Objective Story Throughline for these films? Are they the same? If so, which of the four Domains do you see their respective Authors focusing conflict? Is it a fixed external situation in Universe, or is it something more along the lines of extreme prejudice, and the OS Throughline is in Mind?

If you find yourself struggling with the same sort of questions for your own story, do what we're going to do below: list out all the characters and identify, or illustrate, the most important aspects of them as characters in the plot.

We'll start first by identifying what is problematic for the characters in Pirates:

Pretty basic stuff, right? Pirates of the Caribbean emphasizes the actions and tasks of these characters above all else. It's what gives the film its personality.

Now, let's do the same for The Princess Bride. What's problematic about the characters in that film? What makes them "interesting"? (Interesting being a factor in determining what the Author deems to be the source of conflict, i.e. what they focus the story on):

What a contrast!

The Princess Bride is all about the dysfunctional craziness of the characters moreso than the actual sword-fights or "storming" of any castle. In fact, the comedy within the sword-fights and the storming of the castle is in the dysfunctional psychologies of the characters.

The Objective Story Throughline of Princess Bride rests in the Psychology Domain.

The Objective Story Throughline of Pirates: The Curse of the Black Pearl rests in the Physics Domain.

Pirates is about the physical conflict, The Princess Bride is about the dysfunctional ways of thinking ("Inconceivable!").

The Removal Test

In addition to listing out the characters, you can always easily identify a source of conflict for a Throughline by asking yourself, "If this source of conflict no longer existed, would there still be a story?"

In Pirates, if the pirates no longer attacked each other or chased after the treasure would there be a story? No. Therefore, Physics is the proper Domain classification. If you thought for a second that Objective Story of Pirates was in the Psychology Domain because Jack Sparrow is a dysfunctional manipulative character you would ask, "If the pirates were suddenly not dysfunctional towards one another, would there still be a story?"

That question doesn't even make sense for that film!

The answer is a resounding "Yes!" and therefore, the Objective Story Domain of the film cannot be in Psychology.

Doing the same for The Princess Bride, if you thought for a second, "Well, the film is about sword-fights and storming the castle, and saving princesses" then you might think the Objective Story Throughline to be in the Physics Domain. So then, you would ask: "If the characters no longer engaged in sword-fights or stormed the castle or saved the princess" would there still be a story?"

The answer is definitely "Yes" because the film is all about the charismatic manipulations during the sword-fights--not the sword-fights themselves. The Objective Story Throughline of The Princess Bride is therefore not in the Physics Domain.

If instead, you were to ask, "Well, if the characters in The Princess Bride were no longer dysfunctional and manipulative towards one another, would there still be a story?" Maybe...but it would be a tragically boring a soul-less experience!

The Objective Story Throughline of The Princess Bride rests comfortably in the Psychology Domain.