Successful stories are driven by authentic and interesting characters, so it’s important to craft them carefully. But characters don’t usually exist in a vacuum; throughout the course of your story, they’ll live, work, play, and fight with other cast members. Some of those relationships are positive and supportive, pushing the protagonist to positive growth and helping them achieve their goals. Other relationships do exactly the opposite, derailing your character’s confidence and self-worth or they cause friction and conflict that leads to fallout and disruption. Many relationships hover somewhere in the middle. A balanced story will require a mix of these dynamics.
The purpose of this thesaurus is to encourage you to explore the kinds of relationships that might be good for your story and figure out what each might look like. Think about what a character needs (good and bad), and build a network of connections for him or her that will challenge them, showcase their innermost qualities, and bind readers to their relationship trials and triumphs.
The following is just a sample of the content available for this relationship. To see it in its entirety (along with 45+ additional relationship entries), check out our Description Thesaurus Collection at One Stop For Writers.
Boss and Employee
Description:
Employees work in the goods or service sectors beneath the management of an employer. Whether you work part-time or full-time, fully-contracted or as a consultant, most of us have experience working for an employer. Consider how you might use your own experiences as an employee or an employer to give your characters realistic interactions.
Relationship Dynamics
Below are a wide range of dynamics that may accompany this relationship. Use the ideas that suit your story and work best for your characters to bring about and/or resolve the necessary conflict.
An employee and boss who are friends or even family members outside of the business
An employer recognizing the strengths of their employee and encouraging them to pursue their own goals
A boss who is constantly cleaning up the messes up their unprofessional or incompetent employee
A micro-managing employer who shows little trust in the employee
Challenges That Could Threaten The Status Quo
The employer needing to downsize their business
The employer giving the employee a bad performance review
The employee discovering the business’s involvement in illegal activity
The employer setting the employee up to fail
Negative Outcomes of Friction
Feeling anxious about going to work
Feelings helpless or isolated
Being embroiled in a lawsuit
Ways This Relationship May Lead to Positive Change
The boss learning to listen to their employees and value other people’s ideas
Either party learning the value of cooperation and compromise
The employer helping the employee take a leap of faith and achieve an important goal
Themes and Symbols That Can Be Explored through This Relationship
A fall from grace, Betrayal, Deception, Greed, Inflexibility, Journeys, Knowledge, Order, Perseverance, Pride, Recognition, Sacrifice, Stagnation, Teamwork, Transformation, Unity, Vulnerability, Wealth
Other Relationship Thesaurus entries can be found here.
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Becca Puglisi is an international speaker, writing coach, and bestselling author of The Emotion Thesaurus and its sequels. Her books are available in five languages, are sourced by US universities, and are used by novelists, screenwriters, editors, and psychologists around the world. She is passionate about learning and sharing her knowledge with others through her Writers Helping Writers blog and via One Stop For Writers—a powerhouse online library created to help writers elevate their storytelling.