By Melanie Anne Phillips Many people have asked how we came up with the Dramatica Theory. Well, it didn’t happen all at once. In fact, it was a three year full-time effort, 8 hours a day. In going through my archives, I just discovered four hours of recordings we made in 1991 to document […]
This is a video clip from the “classic” 1999 12 hour video program on narrative structure entitled, Dramatica Unplugged. In this segment, the key concepts and breadth and depth of the Dramatica Theory of Story are presented in concise form. See all 112 story structure videos for free…
My response to a Dramatica user who had questions about using Dramatica Theory for creating narratives for interactive fiction: Here’s the gist of using Dramatica for IF (we have made a number of presentations on this to various companies over the years, but never resulting in a contract for consulting, as of yet). At the […]
My response to a Dramatica consultant who lamented the gap between the theoretical concepts of our narrative model and its practical application: Yeah, its tough to get a handle on this stuff, mainly because there’s a big difference between the model and the results it produces. The model is as far away from narrative or […]
Excerpted from the book, Dramatica: A New Theory of Story For some authors, applying Dramatica at the beginning of a creative project might be inhibiting. Many writers prefer to explore their subject, moving in whatever direction their muse leads them until they eventually establish an intent. In this case, the storytelling comes before the structure. […]
Excerpted from the book, Dramatica: A New Theory of Story Simply having a feeling or a point of view does not an author make. One becomes an author the moment one establishes an intent to communicate. Usually some intrigu- ing setting, dialog, or bit of action will spring to mind and along with it the […]
Excerpted from the book, Dramatica: A New Theory of Story How can essential concepts be communicated? Certainly not in their pure, intuitive form directly from mind to mind. (Not yet, anyway!) To communicate a concept, an author must symbolize it, either in words, actions, juxtapositions, interactions — in some form or another. As soon as […]
Excerpted from the book, Dramatica: A New Theory of Story It has been argued that perhaps the symbols we use are what create concepts, and therefore no common understanding between cultures, races, or times is possible. Dramatica works because indeed there ARE common concepts: morality, for example. Morality, a common concept? Yes. Not everyone shares […]
Excerpted from the book, Dramatica: A New Theory of Story With all these forms of communication, isn’t Dramatica severely limited in addressing only the Grand Argument Story? No. The Grand Argument model described by Dra- matica functions to present all the ways a mind can look at an issue. As a result, all other forms […]
Excerpted from the book, Dramatica: A New Theory of Story While some authors write specifically to make an argument to an audience, many others write because they want to follow their personal muse. Sometimes writing is a catharsis, or an exploration of self. Sometimes authoring is a sharing of experiences, fragmented images, or just of […]