When you think about creating a story, first be sure of the kind you want to tell and the fact that you can–and probably should–mix them.

Drama vs Genre

Drama

Drama tells a story about the development of a character, the protagonist, as he or she faces a conflict within, exhibits a flaw, and gradually learns to see the flaw and correct it, allowing him or her to resolve the conflict. The antagonist in conflict with the protagonist is his or her own bad habits or else just circumstances (lovers kept apart by duty or class differences). They can be family drama, romance, a sports story (win the big game), etc. The stakes are fairly low, because they’re personal.

• Will they find love?
• Will they reconcile with an estranged parent?
• Will he or she grow to be a better person?
• Will they get their act together? (common in sports stories)
• etc.

These stories can be dramatic or funny. Comedy is not the opposite of drama but rather its sibling, and they can get along very well together, often called “dramedy”.

Genre

Genre tells a story about how a character confronts a conflict and resolves it. They can be fantasy, science fiction, mystery, thriller, horror, etc. The stakes are high, usually life and death, sometimes the world or even the galaxy is at stake.

• Will they rescue a loved one?
• Will they find–and keep–the treasure?
• Will they stop the monster killing people?
• Will they solve the mystery of the stolen treasure?
• etc.

These stories too can be dramatic or funny, depending on whether or not the stakes are taken seriously and how silly the events are.

Combining the Two

Most good adventure stories consist of two separate plots hitting their own beats at about the same time, one being a genre story and the other usually being a romance or family drama. These can be intertwined (get your act together so you can stop the monster) or not (save the world and also fall in love when you get a chance to catch your breath).

The reason this works so well is that the two types of story focus on two different things. Drama focuses on character development. Genre focuses on plot development. Your scenes can therefore often be doing two things at once, such as showing the hero’s flaw and establishing the call to adventure.

Examples

In Jaws (a film I’ve broken down), Chief Brody has a dislike–a fear even–of the open ocean, having taken a job on an island just to get away from the city. But a monster shark has begun killing swimmers, and the mayor won’t let him shut the beaches down. With help from Hooper and Quint, an oceanographer and a shark hunter, Brody agrees to try to hunt down the killer shark. They each have their flaws, which get in the way of working together, but they gradually get their act together and find the shark, altho it gets the better of them more than once. There’s drama in the way they overcome their flaws and assumptions as a subplot to the high adventure of the chase and battle with the shark.

In The Terminator, Sarah Connor meets a mystery man who says he’s from the future and wants to save her from being murdered by a killer robot. She’s a normal, fun-loving girl who has no capabilities when it comes to fighting, but gradually learns how to battle the machines even while learning about the mystery man’s past and pain… and falling in love with him. In the end, she loses him but gains the nerve and fortitude she needs to keep from being killed and to stop the terminator robot. Note that altho there’s romance in the B plot, Sarah mostly is growing into a more capable person.

In Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade, Indy has to rescue his father, who’s gone missing while searching for the Holy Grail. But the two have never seen eye-to-eye, and the grail is a particular issue, since Indy always felt his father’s obsession with it made him neglectful. But his father felt he was a good parent, because he didn’t make many demands on his son, and Indy grew into a fine scholar and adventurer. Both have something to learn about themselves and each other… and also about escaping from Nazis who want to force them to locate the Holy Grail to help them take over the world. In the end, they both find and lose the grail, accept each other, and renew their relationship as father and son… and also stop the Nazis. It’s high adventure with a family drama B plot.

Of course, sometimes the drama is the A plot, and the adventure is the B plot. In Romancing the Stone, romance writer Joan Wilder receives a treasure map and an ultimatum to bring it to Cartagena to ransom her sister. Along the way, Joan meets sketchy adventurer Jack Colton, who suggests he and Joan find the treasure before handing over the map. They get it, but get captured, but both show personal growth in their escape. When a crocodile swallows the treasure–an enormous emerald–Jack goes after it. Joan returns to New York, but Jack eventually arrives with a sailboat to sail around the world with Joan… and some very fine crocodile boots. Joan has grown and become adventurous; Jack has proven that he has become trustworthy.

Keeping them Separate

While combined genre and drama stories are many of the most beloved stories, don’t count out pure drama and pure genre stories. Romance stories can often mix humor and pathos to be all the reader/viewer needs, with stakes as low as losing out on love. And the popularity of detective fiction proves that a protagonist doesn’t really need to learn and grow to be entertaining; being clever is reward enough to keep readers/viewers coming back again and again.

Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot never learned much about themselves or grew as human beings over their many appearances. Indeed, growth and learning are death to episodic heroes. NYPD Blue managed it by making Andy Sipowicz the junior partner to John Kelly then Bobby Simone, then had him sober up and get married, go thru a couple more partners, lose his wife, get married again, and increasingly let other detectives take the spotlight. But that only worked because they had Sipowicz start out being one of the worst human beings on television: misogynistic, homophobic, racially prejudiced, alcoholic, and violent. So he had a lot of room to grow; only the talent of actor Dennis Franz kept the character from being hated by the audience.