Dramatica Term

the dramatic progression which builds the Influence Character's pressure on the Main Character to change

The Influence Character is defined by its relationship to the Main Character. The Main Character represents the audience's position in the story which, in a sense, represents our sense of self within our own minds. When we consider changing our outlook in regard to a particular issue, we entertain an alternative viewpoint which we examine thoroughly before either adopting or rejecting. The Influence Character represents that alternative point of view. In stories, as in our own minds, this alternative view is seen from where we are positioned currently. After all, when it comes to changing something about who we are, we don't just make that change without first trying to understand what kind of person we would become and trying to anticipate how it might affect our situation. Over the course of the story, as the Main Character grows, the Influence Character must keep pace to provide alternative perspectives on all the key experiences the Main Character encounters. In this way, the best possible argument for adopting the new viewpoint is made, and the current and alternative paradigms can be judged fully against each other. This is how we arrive within ourselves to a point of change, and how the Influence Character drives the Main Character to the same point. For the author, the Influence Character Throughline is the progression through all of the issues which come up while providing alternative perspectives to the Main Character's currently held views. For an audience, the Influence Character Throughline simply describes the kinds of activities and concerns addressed by the Influence Character as he moves through the plot. The broadest description of the Influence Character's Influence in a specific story -- Everything that emanates from what the Influence Character does and represents which primarily relates to his Influence alone, as opposed to specific relationships he has with other characters, can be said to be part of the Influence Character Domain. There are four different Domains in the structure of any story, represented by the combination of each of the four Classes with each of the four throughlines the Overall Story Throughline, the Relationship Story Throughline, the Main Character Throughline, and the Influence Character Throughline. The Influence Character Throughline describes, in the broadest single term, what the Influence Character represents and the area in which the Influence Character operates within the story.