Dramatica Tip
of the Month
August 2004
Picking Dramatica
Concerns
Question: Just when I get a grasp on the 4 Classes and Throughlines, I have
reached a point where I can't make the decisions I really want in the
Storyform. For example, since I chose an MC Throughline of Situation,
I can't choose a concern of How Things Are Changing or The Present because
of something else I chose in another Throughline.
I understand the Dynamic Pairs of Throughlines (for which ever Throughline
you choose in one persepective, chooses the other), but the way the program
automatically picks Concerns, Issues, and Problems doesn't make sense
to me.
Answer: When
you pick a single Concern, you limit the other throughline Concerns
to the same position in the quad. When you pick a Concern,
you also limit the Domain / Throughline above it.
Dramatica is
organized like four different pairs of glasses (perspectives) looking
at the same inequity. Each pair of glasses distorts the view
differently because they're looking from different places--kind of
like the blind men describing an elephant. Each one describes
what he sees and comes to different conclusions because of the limitation
of their view (one feels the trunk and thinks it's like a snake,
another feels the leg and thinks it's like a tree, another feels
the ears and thinks it's like a fan, etc.). All of the are
partially correct, but also incorrect in their conclusions.
The four domains
work in a similar fashion. When we look at the Concerns, for
example, the Past is similar in its relationship to a Situation as
Memories' relationship is to Fixed Attitude. They aren't the
same thing, but are similar in nature within its own context.
Every time
you choose an item in one throughline, you limit (and sometimes pick)
other choices in the remaining throughlines. This is what keeps
the "argument" you are making consistent. Comparing apples
to apples, so to speak.
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