Navigating the Relationship Story Throughline of a Complete Story

Discover the core of relational growth

When developing a complete story, one of the first things to establish is the importance of the Four Throughlines and classifying the conflict found in each perspective. For many, this is a strange, yet ultimately freeing experience, as it requires clarifying the sources of conflict in several different narrative threads at once.

With Subtxt (based in large part on Dramatica theory), a complete narrative breaks down into four separate and distinct perspectives:

I have a problem (the Main Character Throughline)
You have a problem (the Obstacle Character Throughline)
We have a problem (the Relationship Story Throughline)
They have a problem (the Objective Story Throughline)

For most writers, the first and last are the least problematic to appreciate as they are the closest to what many understand as a protagonist and a plot (respectively).

What becomes is challenging is the next step, where the writer classifies the general area of conflict for each Throughline by assigning one of the four Domains to one of the perspectives:

Universe (fixed external conflict)
Physics (external conflict processes)
Psychology (internal conflict processes)
Mind (fixed internal conflict)

In the class, we go into much greater detail as to the rules involved in assigning these areas of conflict to Throughlines, but suffice it to say for this brief introduction that one of the hardest aspects is deciding which source of conflict belongs in which Throughline (you can only use one per Throughline).

Examining narratives with similar personalities

The Devil Wears Prada and The One I Love are two fantastic narratives that share the same narrative personality, i.e. their respective Throughlines explore the same areas of conflict:

Main Character in Universe
Relationship Story in Physics
Objective Story in Psychology
Obstacle Character in Mind

In Prada, Andy is a literal "fish out of water", judged primarily on the way she looks. Miranda puts everyone on edge because of her fixed attitude. The relationship between them (a mentorship) grows through the actions they take as they work together.

A student from a previous cohort once asked:

I think I see what you mean about the Relationship Story Throughline in The Devil Wears Prada being in Physics. Though part of me wants to say that that's the Main Character Throughline.

You can always find a single source of conflict for a single Throughline. The trick lies in assigning all four at once, and finding the balance between all of them that competently accounts for all the conflict and growth in the story.

Finding the true source of conflict

With a Main Character Domain of Physics you want to double-check and ask, "If Andy suddenly stopped doing what she was doing, would her conflict be resolved?" These Domains are meant to signify sources of conflict. If the answer to the above question is no, then you haven't properly found the source of conflict.

Contrast that with a Main Character Domain of Universe, where you would ask, "If Andy suddenly were the head journalist at a prestige paper would her conflict be resolved?"

And the answer would be yes--which means you've successfully identified the primary source of conflict for the Main Character.

Physics is conflict born from how difficult it is to do a thing, Universe is conflict bred from a fixed external state (the difference between fighting battles and individual skirmishes vs. being in a state of war).

The balance of conflict across all Four Throughlines is key to establishing a complete narrative.

That makes a lot of sense. My one question (at least for now) is, Anne Hathaway has a really hard time doing things for Meryl Streep, but Meryl Streep doesn't do a whole lot for Anne Hathaway, as far as I can tell, and what she does do is pretty easy, as far as I can tell. Can the Relationship Story Throughline have that kind of one-way imbalance? Or am I missing something? (I'm sure it's the latter.)

With the Relationship Story Throughline, the key is to focus on the growth of the relationship, and how the state of it develops over the course of the narrative.

Separating the relationship from the plot

Relationship Story Throughlines are about relationships, not the individuals in the relationship. This can be difficult for some authors unfamiliar with such growth to qualify. To help, you want to ask yourself several questions:

what is the relationship?
how is it growing?
how does the relationship at the end of the story compare to the one at the beginning?
and most importantly: how is it separate from the Objective Story?

Switching gears to The One I Love, answering that last question helps drive one to the true source of conflict in the relationship of that narrative.

With The One I Love—at first I thought that the Objective Throughline is Universe, since they're kind of stuck there. But then I thought, well, if they left halfway through the movie and went back, the plot conflict wouldn't be resolved, so I don't think it's that. I think the Obstacle Character Throughline (Elizabeth Moss) is Mind—she's fixated on Mark Duplass's cheating on her and can't move on. That puts the Main Character Throughline in Universe, which I don't quite get. The Objective Throughline is Psychology—they keep trying to manipulate each other (and their doubles) through the whole thing. That makes the Relationship Throughline Physics, which I also don't quite get.

For The One I Love the Objective Story Throughline is about the "twisted" therapy session between two "couples". Their dysfunctional psychologies are why they come into conflict. The Relationship Story Throughline is about the marriage--which grows stronger by the end of the film.

At first glance, it may seem as if we're talking about the same thing, and practically speaking we are: we're writing about two people. But the Objective Story Throughline is looking at the dysfunctional psychologies of these two couples (or couple), while the Relationship Story Throughline is looking at the growth of their marriage, of the bond between them.

These are two different contexts.

Zero in on the growth of the relationship

With the Relationship Story you want to think less of the "problems" and conflict in the relationship and more about how the bond grows through these things. This is why, in Subtxt, Problem and Focus have been replaced by Condition and Resistance. What is the Condition upon which growth in the relationship manifests, and what is the Resistance put up to hinder that growth?

In The One I Love, the marriage grows by virtue of what they "do" with one another, and what they do with others (cheating, hooking up, etc.). They grow apart, and then closer, as they work through these problematic activities.

As for the Relationship Story Throughline in The Devil Wears Prada, remember that its an exploration of how the relationship grows, not how the individuals grow within the relationship. The mentorship grows into trusted confidantes (on the verge of familial/friendship) through the actions taken (what we can do for each other). Andy may physically "do" more, but we're more interested in how this couple grows either closer together or farther apart through actions--regardless of who takes them.

Unlocking the essence of relationships in complete stories

So there you have it—identifying and developing the Relationship Story Throughline isn't just about piling on conflict and seeing what sticks. It's about understanding the nuances of how relationships grow, change, or perhaps even deteriorate through specific conditions and resistances. Whether it's through the complexities of a troubled marriage as in The One I Love or the evolving mentorship in The Devil Wears Prada, what's crucial is to get to the heart of how the relationship itself transforms—regardless of the individual journeys involved.