Fatal Flaw?

[Steven Jenkins]

Thanks for the help guys I'm getting a bit closer to a good solution now, I think...?

The flash-drive is 'self-destructive', but my Main Character is only told that by the Protagonist who gives him the mission to deliver it somewhere, and there's extreme reasons at the end of the story to doubt Protag's honesty and motives.

Basically I pit the MC against the Protagonist (who's now revealed to actually be the Protagonist of an evil plot) at the end of the film, if that makes any sense? Most of the movie is a smoke-screen, and MC spots the truth and foils the plan in the last few minutes of the film. How - I don't know yet

There has to be a rookie-type flaw in this idea somewhere, I just know it.

[JeffLowell]

There has to be a rookie-type flaw in this idea somewhere, I just know it.

Having your main character and protagonist be different people might qualify.

[joe9alt]

Call off your minions, Lowell.

That was outta line (or as my three year old would say...) you big fat meany!

[asjah8]

Originally Posted by Steven Jenkins

My plot is about getting a mem-stick with vitally important data on it to a particular person & place.

My flaw is that this data could feasibly be uploaded to the person via the internet, or the mem-stick posted in the mail, which kinda undermines my hero's hazardous trek across the country.

why can't you just wrap up the 'vitally important data' with a trojan virus (like dna)? the recipient has the code to unwrap it, and now the cross-country trekker has a reason to hand it over in person.

[Steven Jenkins]

Originally Posted by JeffLowell

Having your main character and protagonist be different people might qualify.

Not according to the experts.
I can think of quite a few movies with seperate protags and MCs.

To Kill a mockingbird is the text-book example.
Lord of the Rings (Gandalf the Antag vs Sauron the Protag "Sauron desperately wants the ring, but he must not get it", Frodo is the MC).
Star wars (Emperor=protag, Rebellion=Antag "The more you tighten your grip, there more planets will slip through your fingers", luke is the MC)

There's loads of examples

[JeffLowell]

Originally Posted by Steven Jenkins

Not according to the experts.
I can think of quite a few movies with seperate protags and MCs.

To Kill a mockingbird is the text-book example.

Not sure who you think is who, but I don't see a split.

Lord of the Rings (Gandalf the Antag vs Sauron the Protag "Sauron desperately wants the ring, but he must not get it", Frodo is the MC).

Gandalf is neither the antagonist, the protoganist, or the main character. He's an advisor to the protagonist, Frodo. Sauron is the antagonist. Sauron is looking for the ring through his minions, and directly through his eye. Frodo defeats him by destroying the ring and he's won.

Star wars (Emperor=protag, Rebellion=Antag "The more you tighten your grip, there more planets will slip through your fingers", luke is the MC)

Luke Skywalker is the protagonist. Darth Vader is the antagonist.

The protagonist and the main character are the same person in every film or novel I can think of. You're supposed to sympathize with the protagonist. Just because the antagonist has a goal doesn't make him the protagonist.

[joe9alt]

Oh wow...this is serious?

And here I thought Steven was just confusing the terms antagonist and protagonist.


pro·tag·o·nist [proh-tag-uh-nist]
–noun
1.
the leading character, hero, or heroine of a drama or other literary work.

[LIMAMA]

Originally Posted by joe9alt

Oh wow...this is serious?

And here I thought Steven was just confusing the terms antagonist and protagonist.

Please stop using these big words, my tiny little head is about to explode.

[joe9alt]

Please don't let this become the dumbest thread ever....a thread that I will undoubtedly devote countless hours to when I should really be writing.

Please...

Luke Skywalker?

Frodo?

Anybody?

[Steven Jenkins]

Well, I don't want to be a know-it-all here. I'm just a rookie learning the ropes. There's all kinds of theorists out there publishing stuff on story-crafting, and one of them just caught my imagination.

I guess it's just a mix-up of terms, probably from my having recently read the theory behind the "Dramatica" program, which they agree is a little different to established thinking.