Question about Hauge's Mask and Essence

I've read blog posts on how Michael Hauge's concepts of characters having an Identity/Mask can be used in romance, but I'm not sure of some things. Basically, a character has a past wound that gave them a logical but false belief and a fear. To avoid that fear, the character builds up a mask (Identity) as protection. The character arc involves dropping that mask revealing the Essence. To make a couple seem compatible, I read that the characters should see beyond the mask to the Essence. I've also read that their Identities should clash, but the Essences work together.

I'm still wondering, what makes each character's Essence the right one for each other? Is it that both are similar, ex. one is a loner, the other sleeps around a lot, but it turns out they both have the same Essence of wanting intimacy? Or does the Essence of each fulfill what the other character Needs?

Do you think a person's Identity and Essence have to be opposites?

Do the couple's masks have to be opposites or is that too obvious?

Can one lover have a mask, while the other doesn't?

Is there any way to take those fears and masks and extrapolate an suitable external plot that doesn't take away from the relationship?

What if a character has a mask of pretending to be confident when he's actually insecure and afraid of abandonment? Is his Essence being insecure, or whatever he'd be if he wasn't insecure?

Does the mask have to look strong and be the way the character wants to be perceived (ex. I'm big and tough and don't need anyonehe so don't mess with me), or can it be a weakness, such as a character who really wants to go out and seize the day, but is so terrified of making mistakes that he hides himself and acts like a coward?

ElaineA said:

So it definitely worked to help me develop a better external plot, but I don't think I'd use it to develop characters from scratch.

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I'm not working on them from scratch either, but I'm not experienced with novels and I have lots of fuzzy ideas dancing around what it's about and what the characters are like that I can't seem to narrow down properly. Sometimes I've pictured my shy character going out there comically mouthing off and doing wacky things (which sounds fun to write) and other times I picture the character as equally passionately curious, but was so terrified of the world, maybe due to an anxiety disorder or some escapist wish, that he hid himself for a very long time and is now trying to come back and make up for what he missed out on by hiding-- that's good for drama, and meaningful for me, but I still want to add fun bits of comedy. I don't know how silly or serious to go, because I like both. I doubt that he'd want to be seen as a coward, but I'm not sure what other kind of mask would get in the way of progress. He's not the "I don't need anyone" type-- in fact he believes that he's nothing without support.

I'm not sure I can let the characters guide me yet. I can't pants a whole novel again, which I did once and realized I barely had any plot or structure and by that time I just couldn't touch the thing anymore.

The worst part is having the inner arcs, but unsure what to do with the outer one since it's not like there's any big fantasy adventure or crime solving going on. I wanted to use a relatable world and none of my characters are police detective types. The ending is about accepting the imperfect present or one's self and the story has to do with trying to find a place in the world, but I don't know how to make that exciting or fun to write about.

I've considered that they search for a century-old notebook with world changing secrets, but I have no idea how to make that interesting without involving, I don't know, gang kidnappings or something, which makes me image having to sit down and pour over research on how organized crime works, which sounds more stressful than interesting. If my main character has to learn to face fears, does my entire plot have to center around something like public speaking? That sounds dull. Overcoming an anxiety disorder? That sounds okay for maybe a few scenes, but dull to center a novel around.

I like the idea of a love triangle (either two of the characters are in a relationship negatively affected by a fear of intimacy, then the third inadvertently complicates things or one character meets the other two later and starts falling for both in different ways) in which two of the characters need to or should reconcile, but is that enough of an external arc? I'm not at the experience level where I can say "damn the 'rules,' I'll do what I want," and I desperately want to write this particular story.

Anyone else have luck extrapolating a proper external arc?

Making decisions seems to be the hardest part. I don't want to get rid of everything that inspired me, but I don't want to stop evolution. It's hard to let go, though it's easier when you improve and replace bits and pieces over time. Letting the changes sit in my head seems to be the best way I've been able to accept with them.

I've got one internal arc I really like which is the "standard" way I've seen the story for a long time, but can't come up with a substantial external plot to hang it on that I like. That's what's stopped me from writing it out too much. Maybe the backdrop is a failing business, but what sort exactly? Nothing I thought of seemed particularly exciting.

The other I really like has a very exciting external plot involving accidentally messing up the past and thus high stakes, but if I try to put that emotional arc of dealing with envy and jealousy into a story, it seems so petty to fuss over love and confidence when other peoples' fates hang in the balance. If I can pull it off, that'll be the way to go, even though it's very different from how I originally saw the story.