ACT PATTERNS AND THE DRAMATICA THROUGHLINES

Up until now we've referred to the act structures and patterns as if they described an entire story. On the whole, that's the way a story may seem. The reality is far more complex.

In a Dramatica grand argument story, there are four throughlines, each with its own act structure. Each throughline will have its own act pattern. Sometimes these patterns will align and create a predominant pattern. Other times the patterns will be wildly different, creating a relatively complex set of act patterns.

The four throughlines in Dramatica are the Overall Story (OS) Throughline, the Main Character (MC) Throughline, the Impact Character (IC) Throughline, and the MC vs IC Story (SS) Throughline. In the quad structure, the MC and IC throughlines are a dynamic pair, and the OS and MC/IC throughlines are a dynamic pair.

The complexity of patterns is best illustrated through the use of real story example. The following examples are a sample of the story analyses shipped with the Dramatica Pro software.

NOTE: The examples are shown in "black and white" because this illustrates the transitions better than color. Move your mouse over an example if you wish to see the example in color.

All About Eve
MC     OS		SS     IC