This is K.M. Wyland. I hope you enjoy this week's episode, three character arcs in the Karpman Drama Triangle.

Drama presents something of an interesting conundrum. On the one hand, drama is the essence of story. Without it and its

inherent dissonance, conflict, and stakes, there really isn't much to a story.

And as readers and writers, we love drama.

The irony is that in real life, we recognize drama is often inherently destructive. Drama Queen, spare me the drama, addicted to drama, these

are all decidedly derogatory references. Indeed part of the reason we love drama in fiction is because of its

catharsis. Clearing drama in real life is an often tremendous task, so it's a

relief to watch characters tackle much bigger problems than ours

and work through them, often in ways we would never dare attempt ourselves.

Plus, sometimes we just love to watch a train wreck.

The Karpman Drama Triangle is a social model created by Dr. Stephen Karpman, who not so coincidentally happened to be a member of the Screen Actors Guild, and

this shows the destructive cycle in which people unconsciously cast themselves as one of three players, victim, rescuer, or persecutor. And then decades

later, leadership coach David Emerald proposed the Empowerment Triangle as a quote positive alternative to the drama

triangle and in this he offered the more proactive roles of Creator, Coach, and Challenger.

Now, for a while, I have been pondering

the drama triangle and its inherent link to fiction.

In real life, drama triangle dynamics lend themselves to destructive cycles of disempowered passive

aggression.

When we consciously or unconsciously identify with any of the three players, victim rescuer or

persecutor, we often adopt patterns of behavior that allow us to ultimately fob off responsibility for our own motives and actions.

Those who identify or allow themselves to be identified as persecutors or villains by others are often consumed and

controlled by ineffective and crippling guilt. Those who identify as victims

...