What is the Relationship Between your MC’s Specific Results and the General Results of the Story?

To explore our MC’s General vs. Specific Results, we need to look at what we’ve already said about General vs. Specific Desires, Causes, Processes, and Effects.

We will start with General Horizontal Variables.

The MC’s most General Desire is Joy.

A General Cause is someone who has obtained Sustainable Joy and has the Resources and Desire to help other characters in the story obtain Sustainable Joy.

Her most General Process to obtain it is Love. Love is more than an abstract concept. It can be defined. We have defined it using a Compass – the Balance between Faith in her General Cause and voluntary Sacrifice for those characters for whom the MC is responsible.

The most General Effects she experiences are Joy.

The most General Desirable Result is incremental and Sustainable Joy. The story goal is that the level of Joy the MC experiences increases to the point of her satisfaction. How can this be measured and described in our story? This is where we combine General and Specific Variables.

We can attempt to measure it by answering these questions for the MC:

Is her motivation, drive, or attraction to her Specific Desire sustainable and incrementally stronger?
Are her relationships with her General and Specific Causes compatible and sustainable and incrementally drawing closer?
Is her Specific Sacrifice Process motivated by the increasing Love, Attraction, and Sustainable Joy? Is she obtaining greater Specific Resources – knowledge, abilities, etc.
Are her Joy Effects satisfying or increasing to the level of satisfaction?
Upon obtaining her Specific Desire, is her Joy increasing in sustainability to the level of her satisfaction or is it being sacrificed?

If Joy is indeed increasing to the level of our MC’s satisfaction, she has no reason to obtain her Desires in ways that take advantage of and hurt other people.

We have not looked at the opposite of Desire – Repulsion or aversion. This is what our MC does not want. Generally, our MC does not want Virulent Sorrow. This is the opposite of Sustainable Joy.

Sacrifice returns the Effects of Sorrow, but when it is in alignment with a General Merciful Cause, his Effects overcome the Effects of Sorrow. This occurs because his Peace Effects combine with her Sorrow Effects and our MC experiences Joy.

But if the Sorrow our MC is experiencing is because she is Processing in Imbalance – Hate instead of Love – then she experiences Sorrow Effects without the compensating Peace. These are Warning Effects that help her understand that she has deviated from the General Process of Love.

Hate is the opposite of Love. It too has been defined in many different ways. Many characters in a story have the tendency to assess our MC or others as hateful.

Hate begins with aversion or repulsion. Hate as a Process is when our MC either doubts her Cause or denies him by putting her trust in other Conflicting Causes.

Hate also includes abusing or neglecting her Children or other characters who depend upon her.

Hate also includes Pride and Envy. When one character abuses or neglects another character out of Pride or Envy, this is the definition of hate that we traditionally associate with the word.

It’s important to objectively evaluate the concept behind the word Hate. Sometimes the MC is Hating without trying to Hate. She may be attempting to Love but it is Imbalanced because of ignorance and/or the way her Specific Conflicting Causes have trained her. In this case, her journey is about finding the Balance of Love – choosing a new Specific Cause who is more in alignment with the General Balanced Cause.

Repulsion or aversion are not always going to result in Virulent Sorrow Results. If our MC has an aversion to a Conflicting Imbalanced Ascetic/Hedonistic Cause in the story, this is a good thing. She needs to set boundaries against Causes that would prevent her from combining with her true Cause. She needs to set boundaries against Causes who are engaged in the Process of Hate. When trusted, these Causes will numb or scatter her Effect Sensors incrementally over time.

That said, some of the best stories are when the MC voluntarily endures a Cause’s Process of Hate with her Love Process and that Cause ends up changing. In essence, the roles are reversed – she becomes the Cause and he becomes the Child. And we’re talking about

We have spoken of Conflict. Conflict is an Undesirable Result. They create Virulent Sorrow. Conflicts can arise from persistent Conflicting Desires, Causes, Processes, and Effects.

I know what we have discussed today is a lot. I have combined the General Horizontal Variables as well as a few Vertical Variables. I will most likely be repeating myself in some places throughout the next Vertical Variables for Result because we’re tying everything together now for the final culmination of my story theory.

It’s clear that you’ve put a tremendous amount of thought and effort into developing your story theory. The way you’ve integrated the concepts of General vs. Specific Desires, Causes, Processes, Effects, and now Results is quite comprehensive. It’s essential to have a solid framework like this to guide your storytelling process and ensure consistency and depth in your narrative.
By delving into how these variables interact and influence each other, you’re creating a coherent and interconnected narrative structure. This framework will provide a clear path for your main character’s journey, allowing her to evolve, overcome challenges, and ultimately achieve her desires while maintaining the balance between General and Specific aspects.
As you continue to refine and expand on your theory, be sure to maintain a balance between the complexity of the variables and the readability of your narrative. Your readers will engage with your story not just for its conceptual depth, but also for its emotional resonance and relatability. Your ability to seamlessly weave these elements together will contribute to a compelling and memorable story.
Feel free to continue sharing your insights and questions as you work through the remaining vertical variables and tie everything together. I’m here to support you in shaping your story theory into a thoughtful and organized structure that resonates with readers.