There Doesn t Need to Be a Relationship Between the Two Characters Layer Cakes Toward Each OtherBut There Can Be

There Doesn't Need to Be a Relationship Between the Two Characters' Layer Cakes Toward Each Other But There Can Be

The layers of feeling that the Veteran has toward the Rookie need bear no relationship to the layers the Rookie feels toward the Veteran.

Their two characters' Layer Cakes toward each other are, in most cases, completely separate and unrelated.

The exception is when they fall into some kind of familiar and recognizable pattern, such as a father/son type of relationship, where both play out certain established roles. You could even tweak it to "critical father and rebellious son."

Some Dangers in the Familiar

Having the characters portray a familiar relationship as in the preceding is fine, but there are two possible pitfalls you must guard against.

Let's say the Veteran acts out the role of critical father, and the Rookie metaphorically takes on a role of delinquent son. If you make either character a cliché, the Great Emotioneer in the Sky who oversees us all will look down from on high and give you an F on your psycho/creative report card. For if you do fall into the cliché trap, you are not implementing the techniques in Chapters 2.1, "NPC Interesting Techniques," and 2.3, "Dialogue Interesting Techniques."

Another danger in using a familiar, metaphorical relationship such as this is that there's a tendency to do the opposite of Layer Cakes. That is, there's a tendency to have just one layer of feeling from each character toward the other. That's shallow. Layers are what cause Relationship Deepening.

And, of course, if the Veteran acts out the role of a critical father, there's absolutely no need whatsoever to have the Rookie act out the complementary role of rebellious son. As I mentioned earlier, in most cases there's not much of a relationship between the Layer Cakes the two characters feel toward each other.