There’s a Reason We Are Both Alike
April 5, 2007
There is a cheat that a lot of writers use when their Impact Character confronts the Main Character. The dialogue usually goes something like this: “You and I are both alike” or “You and I are not so different.” Ever wonder why those lines, as cliched as they are, work so well?
Basic bit of Dramatica theory you should know in order to understand the following: In this quad below, whichever “square” the Main Character occupies, the Impact Character occupies the one diagonally across from it. If the Main Character’s issue revolves around a problematic activity, the Impact Character’s issue will revolve around a problematic way of thinking. If the Main Character’s issue revolves around a problematic attitude, the Impact Character’s issue will center around a problematic situation. And so on.
And here is why the “You and I are both alike” line works: The part that makes them alike is that they are either both fixed or they are both processes. Situations and attitudes are fixed things. Activities and ways of thinking are processes - they discuss concepts in motion.
The Main Character could occupy any one of these squares. If he is in a fixed square, the Impact Character will be in a fixed square. If he’s in a process, the Impact Character will be in a process as well.
The part that splits them apart - the part that makes them not completely alike - is that one will be internal and the other will be external. Situations and activities are external things. Attitudes and ways of thinking are internal. So the Main Character and Impact Character are ultimately different.
This is precisely why the Impact Character has such an impact on the Main Character. It’s why lines like, “You are but a mere reflection of me” work so well. The Impact Character is similar enough that the Main Character can almost see himself in the Impact Character. Yet the Impact Character is different enough that he presents the force necessary to “move” the Main Character along in his own personal development.