Acceptance • [Element] • dyn.pr. Non-acceptance<–>Acceptance • a decision to allow, tolerate, or adapt; a decision not to oppose • Acceptance is simply allowing something without opposition. Of course, this can eliminate many potential conflicts by refusing to stand against inequity. On the other hand, that might build an internal inequity if one cannot truly adapt and merely tolerates. In addition, if the source of the inequity keeps churning out trouble Acceptance will allow that negative process to continue unencumbered • syn. acquiescence, tolerance, allowance for, consent, submission

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Dividend (Objective Storyline) • [Type] • the benefits gathered while meeting the requirements of the goal • Although meeting the requirements of a goal can incur costs, it can also provide dividends along the way. Sometimes solving one of the pre-requisites or attaining one of the pre-conditions of the requirement has its own reward. Though these rewards are not individually as significant as the promised reward of the goal, sometimes cumulatively they are enough to cause a Main Character to quit while he’s ahead and avoid a particularly large cost that would be unavoidable if the goal were to be achieved. Other times, a particularly large dividend may loom just ahead in the story, providing the Main Character with a boost in motivation to continue on an otherwise costly path

Disbelief • [Element] • dyn.pr. Faith<–>Disbelief • the belief that something is untrue • Disbelief is not the same thing as a lack of faith. Lack of faith is the absence of absolute confidence that something is or will be true. Disbelief is absolute confidence that something is not true. Disbelief may make one a skeptic but sometimes it makes a character the only one with the confidence to tell the Emperor “You have no clothes!” • syn. refusal to accept, distrust, find unconvincing, find false, unpersuadability

Direction Element (aka Perspective Element) • A Subjective Character can never be sure if what he believes to be the source of the problem really is the source of the problem. Regardless, based on his belief he will determine a potential solution or Direction in which he hopes to find the solution. The dramatic unit that describes what a Subjective Character holds as the path to a solution is his Direction Element.

Direction (Objective Storyline) • [Element] • the apparent remedy for the principal symptom of the story problem • Characters do the best they can to deal with the Objective Story Problem, but because the Objective Characters of a story are all looking at the problem from their subjective point of view, they can’t get enough distance to actually see the problem right away. Instead they focus on the effects of the problem, which is called the Objective Story Focus, and choose to follow what they feel will be a remedy, which is called the Objective Story Direction.

Dilemma • A problem for which no acceptable solution is apparent • When faced with a Dilemma a Main Character can see no way out. The only options are to change his very nature by accepting one of the solutions he previously would not, or by holding out in hopes that, in time, an acceptable solution will present itself. Circumstanceswill force the Main Character to either Change or Remain Steadfast before the problem is resolved. The question then becomes, is the dilemma actual, meaning that the Main Character must Change or Fail, or is the dilemma merely apparent, and by Remaining Steadfast a previously unknown and acceptable solution will pave the way to Success?

Dilemma Story or Work Story • A comparrison of dramatic approaches in which Success either requires a Main Character to Change or to Remain Steadfast • Work describes the activities of a Main Character who remains steadfast and resolute throughout the story. This kind of character believes in the correctness of his approach to the problem and sticks by his guns come what may. Dilemma describes the situation of a Main Character who ultimately changes at the end of the story. This kind of character becomes convinced that he cannot solve the problem with his original approach and adopts a new approach. So a Work Story is concerned with a Steadfast Main Character and a Dilemma Story concerns itself with a Change Main Character. However, just because the Main Character has decided to remain Steadfast or to Change does not mean he made the right choice. Only in the end will he find out if he succeeded or failed. If in a Work Story the Steadfast Main Character really should have Changed and fails because he did not, then it was really an Apparent Work Story since work alone could not solve it. If in a Dilemma Story the Change Main Character really should have remained Steadfast and fails because he did not, then it was really an Apparent Dilemma Story since there wasn’t actually a dilemma after all. Steadfast means Work, Change means Dilemma. These are modified by their pairing with Success, which means Actual, and Failure which means Apparent

Determination • [Element] • dyn.pr. Expectation<–>Determination • a conclusion based on circumstantial evidence • Determination is an evaluation of the forces driving a process. This allows one to anticipate future effects or to take action to stop or enhance a current effect. However, it may just be that a completely different set of forces is really behind the process, causing one to put his efforts in the wrong place. When a person swims directly toward the shore, the current can carry his far down shore. As long as the character possessing Determination sticks with a particular concept of the powers that be, there is the potential it may not get what it expects. • syn. ascertaining causes, discovering causes, finding the reasons why, figuring out factors, discerning antecedents

Destiny • [Variation] • dyn.pr. Fate<–>Destiny • the future path an individual must take • Destiny is the path to a particular fate or through a series of fates. Fates are experiences or conditions one must encounter along the way as one’s Destiny directs one’s course. The nature of Destiny is such that no matter how much a character is aware of the nature and location of an undesirable fate, nothing he can do is enough to pull him off the path. Characters often try to deny Destiny by jumping to an entirely different path only to discover that all roads lead to Rome. • syn. inescapable path, predetermined trajectory, set direction of the future, inevitable path, unavoidable trajectory

Desire • Most terms in Dramatica are used to mean only one thing. Thought, Knowledge, Ability, and Desire, however, have two uses each, serving both as Variations and Elements. This is a result of their role as central considerations in both Theme and Character

[Variation]

• dyn.pr. Ability<–>Desire • the motivation toward something better • Desire describes an awareness that something better exists than what currently is. This doesn’t mean things have to be bad now, just that one perceives something better. The key word here is “perceives.” Desires are based not on what is truly better but on what one imagines will be better. Often there is a large gap between the two. (Recall the story of the dog with the bone which jumped into the pond to get the bone from his reflection and ended up with no bone at all.) Little tension is produced if a character can try out his desires at no cost. But great tension is produced when he must give up something good forever in the belief that something else is better. (“Do you want [desire] what’s in the box or what’s behind door number 3?”) • syn. want, favor, like, covet, prefer, wish, aspire