DGWG: Unity of Opposites

 UOT (Two Types)

Internal unity of opposites — the thing that is simultaneously killing you and protecting you. Clare's weight. Roy Cohn's closet. 

External unity of opposites — what Character A needs from Character B who is reluctant to give, and vice versa. The original Meisner framing.

Internal is the thing inside someone that protects them but holds them back. It’s the quirk that usually arises from past events (Previous circumstances). It's a defense mechanism or a shelter the character built around a wound. It protects them and traps them at the same time. They will either grow past these internal opposites, grow past and then backslide, or get scared and turn back. 

External unity of opposites is people needing things from other people who are reluctant to give them.

The most compelling stories aren't just about people needing things. They are about ppl needing things...from other people who are reluctant to give them. And vice versa. This unity of opposites keeps dynamic tension between characters. 

When the thing Character A most needs is precisely what it costs Character B most to give, you don't have to manufacture conflict. The structure produces it automatically

EXAMPLE: Clare lost a massive amount of weight and then her life went to hell in a variety of comedic ways. As it turns out, Clare's excess weight was a psychological shield. Now that the physical shield was removed, Clare was getting slammed on all sides from all the stuff she hadn't confronted. So the thing Clare hated most was protecting her soul...while it was also killing her physical heart. That is a unity of opposites within a character. 

When I sat down to fictionalize this person, something was missing. Exterior unity of opposites. So I added an older sister: Grace. Then I made the older sister an ONLYFAN content creator in the fat fetish community. So Clare lost weight and became a therapist, but her life was going to hell, while Grace had turned their family's genetic trait into an advantage for her: obese but happy, and had a husband, a kid, and a community. 

So now that they are at opposite ends...what do Clare and Grace need from each other that keeps them in continual conflict? Well, they're sisters, so they love and care for each other deeply and dysfunctionally. They have set up their lives in dynamically opposed ways so that what it takes to maintain their status is the opposite of what they can give. Grace expresses love through food. Clare expresses love through hunting men and lecturing people about health. As a newly skinny person she is trying to avoid all those all eating habits that the sisters grew up with. Since Clare can't lash out directly at Grace, she lashes out at her husband, who is feeding Grace. They engage in an increasingly hostile relationship because Clare thinks this guy is killing her sister, and Grace thinks her sister is jealous (which is true) and is trying to subconsciously destroy her marriage. But they're still sisters who love each other dysfunctionally. So they need each other...while also destroying the foundations they need in their personal lives. When Clare's disasters spill over into Grace's life there are legal consequences. Clare is about to be ruined, lose her therapy practice... and that is when Grace takes the fall. The big sister covers for the younger sister and takes the blame for a car accident. 

Clare feels ashamed but also knows she needs saving...in her mind, it's to 'help others' while being unable to help herself. Meanwhile, from the outside, the world sees the two sisters and assumes the skinny one is winning at life, so Clare wants to keep up those appearances.