: Re: How to balance the agendas of co protagonists that periodically conflict? While not mutually exclusive, the goals of my co protagonists do conflict and I need to keep them balanced. MC1 works

@Ravi5107385

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Your characters are in a situation that reminds me of a programming problem. I'm referring to the Race Condition between two threads problem.
Briefly, a race condition happens if two parallel execution threads attempt to manipulate a common resource. A typical solution for this is to create what is called critical section surrounding the common resource. So, the first thread that obtains control over the critical section, will lock the resource for others until it frees it.
You could treat your MCs' plots as threads. Since you wrote in a comment that their common goal is survival; make the survival of MC1 depend on MC2, and have the latter absolutely control the survival of the former. This control is your critical section.
Rasdashan wrote in comments:

...if I have MC2 keep MC1 under her thumb, he remains a prisoner and his duty is to escape - which would logically occur when least convenient to her. She needs his loyalty - even short term - to render him an ally rather than a prisoner.
...
That conflict was always there, but how to preserve the balance between the two occasionally opposing goals of these two who have been set together yet in opposition.

You could preserve the balance by bouncing the "ball" between the two characters. In other words, give control of the critical section to the opposing side alternatively until you find the pace you are looking for.

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