Dramaticapedia

Failure as the Outcome — The Goal of the Objective Story is not reached. For example, a family who struggles to get their dying father’s money fails when they find he burned it all before he died; a woman who holds a 2nd job to be able to afford to move her family into a new house fails when her husband leaves; a detective who wants to catch a killer fails when the criminal escapes to another country; a business woman who wants to be president of the company fails when she gets passed over for promotions once again; etc.

Excerpted from
Dramatica Story Development Software

Success as the Outcome — The Goal of the Objective Story is reached. For example, a detective who wants to catch a killer finally traps him and arrests him; a business woman who wants to be president of the company finally gets the job; a courageous group of space rebels are successful at destroying an evil galactic empire; two people who want to be married finally find each other, fall in love, and get married; a people struggling under the heel of oppression become free; etc.

Excerpted from
Dramatica Story Development Software

Optionlock as the Limit — The story is forced to a conclusion because options run out. For example, a lawyer has a limited number of witnesses she can try to persuade to testify in order to clear her client; there are only a certain number of soldiers who posses the combination of skills necessary to infiltrate the enemy base and destroy their secret weapon; etc.

Excerpted from
Dramatica Story Development Software

Timelock as the Limit — The story is forced to a conclusion because time runs out. For example, experts trying to defuse a time-bomb; students trying to decide whether or not to attend college before their plane takes off the next day; a prisoner who is released for two days to help solve a crime and perhaps clear his name; etc.

Excerpted from
Dramatica Story Development Software

When Decision is the Driver — Decisions lead to actions in this story. For example, a woman’s decision to find her father, whom she has never met, leads to a series of attempts on her life by those who don’t want him to be found; a grand jury’s series of decisions regarding an investment scheme force an innocent man to take steps to protect his reputation; etc.

Excerpted from
Dramatica Story Development Software

When Action is the Driver — Actions lead to decisions in this story. For example, every murder by a serial killer forces the community to reconsider how they will prevent another tragedy; a series of earthquakes forces a family to continually reevaluate their survival plans; etc.

Excerpted from
Dramatica Story Development Software

Female as the Mental Sex — The Main Character favors a holistic approach to problem-solving. For example, female mental sex characters try to hold it all together while male mental sex tries to pull it all together; a mother whose family is breaking up does everything she can to make family life look more attractive to her kids; female mental sex looks for motivations while male mental sex looks for purposes; a detective sees that the kinds of stores being hit in a seemingly random string of robberies betray the motives of the criminal behind them and allows the police to narrow down the list of suspects; etc.

Excerpted from
Dramatica Story Development Software

Male as the Mental Sex — The Main Character favors an analytical approach to problem-solving. For example, male mental sex looks at purposes while female mental sex sex looks at motivations; a detective sees that the pattern of stolen tools adds up to the culprit attempting next to rob the downtown bank; male mental sex tries to pull it all together while female mental sex tries to hold it all together; a father whose family is breaking up grounds his kids and gives them curfews until they come to their senses; etc.

Excerpted from
Dramatica Story Development Software

Stop as the Growth — The direction of the Main Character’s growth is toward stopping something. The issue of Resolve (Change/Steadfast) has an impact on how to evaluate Growth (Start/Stop), so we’ve included examples which reflect these different contexts.

For example:

Stop/Steadfast

A doctor who always pushes her patients too hard for their own good stops when she becomes ill and is treated the same way; etc.

Stop/Change

A  radical activist believes she must remain tied to the gates of a nuclear plant so that her example will cause the employees to shut down the plant; etc.

Excerpted from
Dramatica Pro Story Development Software

Start as the Growth — The direction of the Main Character’s growth is toward starting something. The issue of Resolve (Change/Steadfast) has an impact on how to evaluate Growth (Start/Stop), so we’ve included examples which reflect these different contexts.

For example:

Start/Steadfast

A business man refuses a generous offer to buy his business, holding out in the belief that his son will eventually start taking an interest in running it; etc.

Start/Change

Believing that her lack of confidence is keeping her stuck in a lousy job, a woman starts demanding more of her employees; etc.

Excerpted from
Dramatica Pro Story Development Software