Author Archives: Melanie Anne Phillips

Characters: Lost In Their Own Spotlight

Posted on July 7, 2017 by Melanie Anne Phillips

True of people; true of characters: When hit with great personal grief, how many of us stop to think about how all those around us are coping – especially those whose approach to life is to keep it all inside? … Continue reading →

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Story Structure with the Muse in Mind

Posted on June 26, 2017 by Melanie Anne Phillips

Story Structure can be a straight-jacket for your Muse. On the one hand, structure is necessary for a story to have a point or even just to make sense!  But on the other hand, structure tends to channel ideas down … Continue reading →

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Narrative Analysis – American Student Released by DPRK (North Korea)

Posted on June 13, 2017 by Melanie Anne Phillips

American student released from DPRK (North Korea) – What’s the narrative? Salient narrative facts: 1. The student is in a coma since March due to botulism, according to DPRK sources. 2. The DPRK has launched 16 missiles in the last … Continue reading →

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Group Identity – A Society’s Sense of Self

Posted on June 6, 2017 by Melanie Anne Phillips

Here’s a little essay on how narrative can determine whether a group, culture, or society will hang together or fall apart… When you see a society as a group mind, you can see that it must have an identity, just as … Continue reading →

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Know Your Story Points: Overall Story Concern

Posted on June 6, 2017 by Melanie Anne Phillips

Excerpted from our Dramatica Story Structuring Software: Overall Story Concern:  the purposes or interests sought after by the characters overall. Within the scenario in which your story takes place, there is an area of shared importance to all the characters in … Continue reading →

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What Good Is Dramatica?

Posted on June 6, 2017 by Melanie Anne Phillips

Chris Huntley and I developed a theory of story structure back in the early 1990’s.  Our theory was all about the relationships among structural story points – like a Rubik’s cube of story structure.  We programmed those relationships – that … Continue reading →

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Know Your Story Points: Overall Story Domain

Posted on June 5, 2017 by Melanie Anne Phillips

Excerpted from our Dramatica Story Structuring Software: Overall Story Domain:  The scenario against which a story takes place. Every story is set against the issues which arise from a single problem.  The problem itself will fall into one of four … Continue reading →

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