Category Archives: Characters

“Hero” is a Four Letter Word (Free eBook)

Posted on April 19, 2013 by Melanie Anne Phillips

If you are only writing with Heroes and Villains, you are limiting your stories! Heroes and Villains are stereotypes, not archetypes.  As such, they are comprised of a number of different attributes which can be reassembled in different ways to … Continue reading →

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Protagonist and Antagonist

Posted on March 1, 2013 by Melanie Anne Phillips

Protagonist drives the plot forward. Antagonist tries to stop him. The Protagonist is the Prime Mover of the effort to achieve the Story’s Goal. The Antagonist is the Chief Obstacle to that effort. In a sense, Protagonist is the irresistible … Continue reading →

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External and Internal Dependencies

Posted on December 31, 2012 by Melanie Anne Phillips

As co-creator of the Dramatica theory, I often take some of the concepts so for granted that I forget to consider wider application of them. For example, in my classes I often speak of the three kinds of character relationships: … Continue reading →

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Conversational Inertia

Posted on December 28, 2012 by Melanie Anne Phillips

Sometimes, no matter how one tries, a conversation cannot be turned.  Illustrating this in  conversations among characters is a way to illuminate the degree of power that is driving the conversation in a particular direction, or perhaps the magnitude of … Continue reading →

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The Measure of a Hero

Posted on December 2, 2012 by Melanie Anne Phillips

It is said that the stature of a hero is determined by the magnitude of the villain he must overcome.  While this does help to define the scale of a hero’s achievement, it says nothing about how much he must … Continue reading →

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Defining and Identifying Personality Types

Posted on October 22, 2012 by Melanie Anne Phillips

Wouldn’t it be great if we could have a list or a chart of all the major personality types in the world and all of their sub-types and variations?  And wouldn’t it be even greater if we had a means … Continue reading →

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Contextual Retribution

Posted on October 9, 2012 by Melanie Anne Phillips

(Note to authors- use this description as a template for structuring arguments between two characters and how the conflict might escalate and eventually brought to a conclusion.) People think both in terms of time and of space.  Our time sense … Continue reading →

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