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• Deep Theory
• Getting Started
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• Storytelling
• Storyweaving
• Writing Format

Dramatica Frequently Asked Questions

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Getting Started FAQs

Q: Should I continue to plow through the book, or is there a better path for trying to understand your theory? (click here)

Q: Should one just forge ahead even though he/she might not understand or agree with the choices made by Dramatica? (click here)

Q: What words of wisdom would you have for writers who want to use Dramatica Pro, but do not have a lot of self-discipline to master the learning curve? (click here)

QUESTION:

I have just started using Dramatica and am finding it very challenging. The new vocabulary you have created is pretty difficult to learn because it uses words differently than I am used to. What do you suggest? Should I continue to plow through the book, or is there a better path for trying to understand your theory? I have refrained from even using the software because I figured I needed to understand the theory before I started on the computer.

ANSWER:

The way you feel is understandable because Dramatica is definitely a new way of looking at story which takes a while to get accustomed to. But that has come with the territory. Bringing in the new language was necessary because in the development of the theory, Chris and Melanie (the theory creators) found many concepts that were inherent to stories, yet didn't even have names in the English language. The dictionary, theory book, and on-line support are all there to tie these things together and everything you need to understand Dramatica is in them. Dramatica theory just is not the easiest thing to communicate.

Some suggestions: Use the software! The process of answering the questions and seeing the impact which your choices make will help you understand what the questions are all about. There is also a lot of material in there which is aimed at helping you get an understanding of the theory as you use the program. Call up some of the story example files for stories which you are familiar with. This way you can see how Dramatica would be used to work on them and, thus, how you would use Dramatica with your own stories. Definitely continue to read the books, perhaps more than once. The material tends to have more and more to offer depending on how much you already understand, so reading a second time may fill in a lot of blanks in places you didn't catch the first time through. The material is dense because Dramatica is such a complete new perspective, but it is consistent so that every little breakthrough will lead to more breakthroughs.

QUESTION:

Should one just forge ahead even though he/she might not understand or agree with the choices made by Dramatica?

ANSWER:

One should just forge ahead when he/she does not understand, but not when he/she disagrees. Because using Dramatica for the first few times is a major learning process, chugging along without complete understanding keeps the learning process from bogging down. But if one disagrees with a choice from a perspective of understanding, then clearly the Storyform being created is not reflective of the story the author wants to tell.

This can occur because of two reasons: one, earlier choices which were made arbitrarily have now limited the remaining choices in such a way that something truly important is ruled out dramatically. Two, the author is not being consistent in his/her view of the story and is trying to cram in something that doesn't fit with what is already chosen.

In the first scenario, simply start with different questions - the ones that are most important to YOU. In the second, make a choice as to which of two incompatible concepts is most important to you. In the end, your story will be more consistent and your message therefore more coherent.

QUESTION:

What words of wisdom would you have for writers who want to use Dramatica Pro, but do not have a lot of self-discipline to master the learning curve?

ANSWER:

I'm VERY glad you asked this question! It seems a lot of writers, caught up in this electronic age of miracle tools for the computer, forget that writing is a craft in which one is always learning.

I'm going to give you a fairly extensive answer to this, but I'll follow it with a short "sound bite" that summarizes the whole thing in a single paragraph. That way you can pull out what you need. First, the LONG version...

Dramatica is really two things: a theory of story and a software tool that incorporates the theory. The theory can be used immediately, but the software has more of a learning curve.

As a theory, Dramatica covers a lot of ground and also digs quite deeply into each patch it covers. One does not have to learn the whole theory to benefit from it. In fact, each concept in the theory can be taken on it's own as another useful insight or writing technique which can be added to a writer's bag of tricks and employed immediately.

For example, just knowing that that a traditional "hero" is really made up of two parts: the character driving the story AND the character with whom the audience identifies is a step forward in understanding stories. Then, to realize that these two functions can be put into two separate characters opens up a whole new realm of possibilities, as in "To Kill a Mockingbird" in which the Protagonist (Atticus -the Gregory Peck part in the movie) is driving the story forward, yet the audience most closely identifies with his young daughter, Scout, through whom it experiences the story through a child's eyes.

So, when one is approaching the Dramatica theory, look at is as a wealth of useful concepts for writing which one can mine for years without exhausting the supply of new insights, techniques, and ideas.

When considering the software, however, a completely different approach is needed that requires a more complete understanding of the theory. Rather than simply picking up interesting concepts, the intent here is to fashion the underlying dramatic structure for a complete story.

The Dramatica software is built around a "Story Engine" which a "model" of the dramatic relationships described in Dramatica. In order to use the Story Engine as a tool, one must learn how to run it.

Writing requires both inspiration and skill. Inspiration can't be taught, and skill must be learned. As with any skilful endeavor, it takes time to master. Think of the first time you rode a bike, drove a care, learned to type: each of these skills took time to develop. Why commit the self-discipline necessary to master these skills? Because of the the belief that once the work is done, one will be able to do things that were simply not possible before.

Imagine if you could be sure that your dramatic structure was sound before you ever wrote a word. Imagine if you could write a first draft based on inspiration, then use a Story Engine to "check" your dramatic relationships, tell you what isn't working, what's missing, and what needs to be done to make it right. That's what the Dramatic software promises.

But why should you believe? After all, that is a bold claim. The reason lies in the Dramatica theory. Read the book. (It is available FREE on the world wide web through my Dramatica Pages, and also comes free with Dramatica Pro.) Try out some of the concepts you can use right away. And, if you find some useful new tools, perhaps it is worth your while to invest some time in developing the skills necessary to run Dramatica's Story Engine. It is my belief that authors willing to apply that effort will find that the Dramatica software can take them to whole new creative levels.

Well, I'm sure that is MUCH more than you can use, so here is the sound bite version...

The Dramatica theory is useful right out of the box. It offers a wealth of new concepts that can be applied to your writing style immediate. The software, however, takes a little more time to master. This is because it is designed to help you create a blueprint for your entire story - a fairly complex endeavor! Like any tool, the more time one invests in developing the skills to use it, the more precision one can apply to the task at hand. Still, armed with just a few essential concepts, an author can create a basic Storyform in very little time at all.