Story Analysis Archives

DRAMATICA NEWS:

Dear Dramatica Users,

Just a brief note to tell you what's going on here at Dramatica central!

WINDOWS VERSION RELEASED!

On December 1, we released the 1.1 version of Dramatica for Windows. If you have the 1.0 version (about 250 users do) then we are preparing to send you an updater that will bring you up to 1.1 shortly.

MAC VERSION 1.1 BETA

We are preparing to put a beta version of Mac 1.1 on our FirstClass BBS. The beta version has six months worth of bug fixes, enhancements, and feature changes (including the Spin-the-Model Brainstorming tool). Once we finish beta (perhaps early January) we will make the no-charge Mac update available via our BBS, User groups and mail. More on this shortly.

DRAMATICA STORYFORMING JOURNAL Vol. 1, No. 4

The latest issue of the journal was shipped out this week. If you haven't been getting copies, and are interested, you can contact Mark Haslett at (818) 843-6557 x532, or send E-mail to either Mark@Screenplay.com or Dramatica@Screenplay.com to request your free subscription.

This month in Storyforming: Analysis of Speed, Stargate, Interview With The Vampire, & Star Trek: Generations.

FIRSTCLASS BBS

Screenplay Systems' FirstClass BBS provides 14.4K dial-up lines into our graphical BBS. If you don't have the graphical client software, dial in via any communications software and download the software (FC.EXE for Windows, FC-MAC.SIT for Mac). The phone number is: (818) 843-7313.

The BBS also lets you download new story files, as well as read technical notes and send E-mail to other Dramatica users and staff here at SSI.

NEW STORY FILES AVAILABLE

The following story files are available to supplement your Story Examples:

Reservoir Dogs

Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf

Four Weddings & a Funeral

The Client

The Great Gatsby

The Glass Menagerie

Barefoot in the Park

These stories supplement the files sent out with the Macintosh 1.0 version. Windows users should already have all these stories.

DRAMATICA AUDIO CASSETTE AVAILABLE

"Dramatica, A New Theory of Story. Volume I: Theory Basics" is now available. This is a 90 minute condensation of three of the best four-hour Dramatica Basics workshops. Presented in conversational language, supplemented with real story examples, this tape is great for introducing you to the theory. It's the perfect stocking stuffer for writer friends who suspect there's something special about Dramatica, but to whom you just haven't been able to explain it clearly... Price: $19.95, plus shipping. Call (800) 847-8679.

FREE DRAMATICA WORKSHOPS TO CONTINUE IN '95

The developers of the Dramatica theory, Chris Huntley and Melanie Anne Phillips, have been giving free weekly workshops to interested writers since July '94. We are pleased to announce that the Dramatica Workshops will continue to be FREE through the end of April '95.

In addition to the four-hour basics class, there are eight different two-hour Focus workshops. These Focus workshops are held on eight consecutive Tuesday nights, at the offices of SSI.

Reservations are recommended. Space is extremely limited. You don't have to be a client but owners of the software have preferential seating. CALL (818) 843-6557 x532 to make workshop reservations.

WRITER'S DIGEST REVIEW

There is an article in this month's Writer's Digest, comparing 24 writing tools. Dramatica is the only Story Development tool ranked "Excellent", above Collaborator, Plots Unlimited, and Truby's Story Structure.

WIRED ARTICLE (FINALLY)

The WIRED article about Dramatica has finally hit! You can see it on page 140 of the January WIRED.

WRITER'S GUILD JOURNAL

Although we haven't seen it yet, there should be an article in this month's WGA Journal, comparing the different creative writing tools. If you're a WGA member, your Journal should arrive in the next week.

DRAMATICA BUGS AND WORKAROUNDS

Although there have been few technical problems with Dramatica, we are aware of two. Here they are briefly, along with their solutions. (Full problem descriptions and solutions available on our BBS, or from our Tech Support Department)

1) MULTIPLE MAIN & OBSTACLE CHARACTERS CAUSE BOMBS (mac) OR GPs (windows): It is possible to accidentally create a story where you have two Main Characters or two Obstacle Characters. You can tell if you've done this by looking at your Cast List and you see that your Main & Obstacle character have the same symbol after their name. If this is the case, you should be experiencing Bombing (on the Mac) and GPs under Windows. Although this has only been reported to us twice, we have fixed the program and will make the fix available in your next update. In the meantime, if you run into this, SSI Tech Support can correct any file that has this problem. IF YOU AREN'T CRASHING, YOU PROBABLY HAVEN'T RUN INTO THIS PROBLEM.

2) SAVE PROBLEMS UNDER WINDOWS. In version 1.0 & 1.1, there was an internal limit to the number of files that could be opened at once. The limit was set very low. Some users ran into a save problem if they had multiple stories open at once. SOLUTION: Always use the NEW STORY and OPEN STORY tiles to create and open stories, rather than the NEW & OPEN in the FILE menu. Pressing the tiles always closes any story files you have open BEFORE opening or creating another story. IF YOU'RE NOT GETTING ANY ERROR MESSAGES, YOU PROBABLY HAVEN'T RUN INTO THIS PROBLEM.

THAT'S ALL FOR NOW!

Sincerely,

Screenplay Systems Dramatica Group

Dramatica@Screenplay.co