PLOT TECHNIQUE LEVELS OF DESIRE

22 reduces the hero to the level of an animal. The plot in escape stories simply repeats the same beat of running away. Here are the levels of some classic desire lines, from lowest to highest
6. Ally or Allies
Once the hero has a desire line, he will usually gain one or more allies to help him overcome the opponent and reach the goal. Anally is not simply a sounding board for the hero's views (although that is valuable, especially in theater, film, and television. Anally is a key figure in the character web and one of the main ways by which you define your hero.
KEY POINT Consider giving the ally a desire line of his own. You have
relatively little time to define this character. The quickest way to make the
audience think they are seeing a complete person is to give that character a goal.
For example, the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz wants a brain.
KEY POINT Never make the ally a more interesting character than the hero.
Remember the rule from our discussion of premise always write a story about your
most interesting character. If your ally is more interesting than your hero, redesign
the story so that the ally is the hero.
Casablanca
Rick's allies are the various role players in the bar Carl, the professor turned waiter Sacha, the Russian bartender Emil, the croupier Abdul, the bouncer and Rick's sidekick, Sam, the piano player.
7. Opponent and/or Mystery
The opponent is the character who wants to prevent the hero from reaching his goal. The relationship between this character and your hero is the most important in your story. If you setup the opposition properly, your plot will unwind just as it should. If you don't, no amount of rewriting will make any difference. The best opponent is the necessary one the character best able to attack the great weakness of your hero. Your hero will be forced either to (welcome that weakness and grow or else be destroyed. Look again at (Chapter 4 on character for all the elements needed fora great opponent. There are two main reasons opponent and mystery are closely related
1. A mysterious opponent is more difficult to defeat. In average stories, the hero's only task is to defeat the opponent. In good stories, the hero has a two- part task uncover the opponent and then defeat him. This makes the hero's job doubly difficult and his success afar greater accomplishment.

23 For example, Hamlet doesn't know that the king really killed his father, because he heard it from a ghost. Othello doesn't know that Iago wants to bring him down. Lear doesn't know which daughter really loves him.
2. In certain kinds of stories, like detective and thriller, there must be a mystery to compensate fora missing opponent. Since detective stories purposely hide the opponent until the end, the audience needs something to replace an ongoing conflict between hero and opponent. In this kind of story, you introduce a mystery at about the time you would normally introduce the main opponent. Before introducing your main opponent, ask yourself these key questions
* Who wants to stop the hero from getting what he wants and why
* What does the opponent want He should be competing for the same goal as the hero.
* What are the opponent's values, and how do they differ from the hero's? Most writers never ask this question, and it's a big mistake. A story without a conflict of values, as well as characters, cannot build.

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