Objective Story Domain: The scenario or dramatic background against which a story takes place.

Every story is set against the issues which arise from a single central problem. The problem itself will fall into one of four broad categories. If you want the problem to grow out of a situation, then choose Universe; if you want the problem to emanate from an activity, then choose Physics. If you want the problem to evolve from fixed attitudes and states of mind, then choose Mind; and if you want the problem to result from the characters’ manipulations and ways of thinking, then choose Psychology.

Excerpted from
Dramatica Story Development Software

Success and Failure are measurements of how well specific requirements have been met and are by nature Objective. In contrast, Good and Bad are personal value judgments based on an evaluation of the Main Character’s peace and fulfillment.

The rational argument of a story deals with whether an approach taken will lead to Success or Failure in the endeavor. The passionate argument of a story deals with whether or not the Main Character will find peace at the end of its journey.

If you want a “happy ending” story, you will want Success in the logistical part of the story and a judgment of Good in the passionate part of the story.

If you want a tragedy, you will want the effort to achieve the Goal to Fail and the Main Character’s journey to end Badly. However, life is often made of trade-offs, compromises, sacrifices, and re-evaluations, and so should be stories.

Choosing Success/Bad stories or Failure/Good stories opens the door to all these alternatives. If we choose a Failure/Good story, we can imagine a Main Character who realizes it had been fooled into trying to achieve a goal or a Main Character who discovers something more important to it personally in the course of trying to achieve the goal.

A Success/Bad story might end with a Main Character achieving its dreams only to find they are meaningless, or a Main Character who makes a sacrifice for the success of others but ends up bitter and vindictive.

Excerpted from
Dramatica Story Development Software

For certain stories, it may be desired to have a very positive feel to the outcome by having success matched with a positive judgment of that success. Other times, it may be desired to have a very negative feel to the outcome by matching failure with a negative judgment of that failure. In the first case, we create a “feel good” story (as they say in the ads). In the second, we create a tragedy.

But all stories do not fall at one pole or the other. Frequently, authors choose to have bad characters succeed, and show the regrettable result of that success. Other time authors choose to have a good characters fail, but show how that failure was really positive for them or others.

When deciding if you want your characters to succeed, think of the stories where the winner takes all. Also think of those stories where a valiant effort fails, yet the characters learn an important lesson about life.

When deciding if you want your characters to fail, think of someone getting their just desserts. Also think of those stories where a misguided success leads to a result opposite to what was hoped to achieve by the success. In short, both Success or Failure stories can be seen as an upper or a downer by the audience. The approach you take depends on the message you want to send.

Keep in mind that sometimes all the characters may not share the same exact goal but the same kind of goal. For example, all the principal characters in a story might be trying to get married. Some may succeed and others may fail. Whether the story as a whole is a Success or Failure depends on how you stack the deck. In this kind of story, Success or Failure is not an absolute, but a degree. The real question here would simply be on which side of the fence you want your audience to see the Outcome falling when all is said and done.

Excerpted from
Dramatica Story Development Software

A Story Limit works to bring the story to a climax and a conclusion. This Limit can be accomplished in either of two ways. Either the characters run out of places to look for the solution or they run out of time to work one out. Running out of options is accomplished by an Optionlock; a deadline is accomplished by a Timelock.

Choosing a Timelock or an Optionlock has a tremendous impact on the nature of the tension the audience will feel as the story progresses toward its climax. A Timelock tends to take a single point of view and slowly fragment it until many things are going on at once. An Optionlock tends to take many pieces of the puzzle and bring them all together at the end.

A Timelock raises tension by dividing attention. An Optionlock raises tension by focusing it. A Timelock increases tension by bringing a single thing closer to being an immediate problem. An Optionlock increases tension by building a single thing that becomes a distinct problem.

Both of these means of limiting the story grow stronger as the story progresses. Optionlocks limit pieces with which to solve the problem and can create a feeling of growing claustrophobia. Timelocks limit the interval during which something can happen and can create a feeling of growing acceleration. Both types of Limits bring the story to a climax.

One cannot look just to the climax, however, to determine if a Timelock or Optionlock is working. A better way to determine which is at work is to look at the nature of the obstacles thrown in the path of the Protagonist and/or Main Character. If the obstacles are primarily delays, a Timelock is in effect; if the obstacles are caused by diversions, an Optionlock is in effect. An author may feel more comfortable building tension through delays or building tension through diversion. Choose the kind of limit most meaningful for you and most appropriate to your story.

Excerpted from
Dramatica Story Development Software

The choice of Driver does not have to reflect the nature of the Main Character. In fact, some very interesting dramatic potentials can be created when the Story Driver and the Main Character Approach do not match.

For example, a Main Character who is a Do-er forced to handle a decision-type problem would find itself at a loss for the experience and tools it needs to do the job. Similarly, a deliberating Main Character who is a Be-er would find itself whipped into a turmoil if forced to resolve a problem requiring action. These mixed stories appear everywhere from tragedy to comedy and can add an extra dimension to an otherwise one-sided argument.

Do Actions precipitate Decisions, or do Decisions precipitate Actions? Since a story has both, it is really an issue of which comes first: chicken or egg? In the context of a single story, there is a real answer to this question. As an author, you can decide which it will be.

Excerpted from
Dramatica Story Development Software

Do-er and Be-er should not be confused with active and passive. If a Do-er is seen as active physically, a Be-er should be seen as active mentally. While the Do-er jumps in and tackles the problem by physical maneuverings, the Be-er jumps in and tackles the problem with mental deliberations.

The point is not which one is more motivated to hold its ground but how it tries to hold it.

A Do-er would build a business by the sweat of its brow.

A Be-er would build a business by attention to the needs of its clients.

Obviously both Approaches are important, but Main Characters, just like the real people they represent, will have a preference. Having a preference does not mean being less able in the other area.

A martial artist might choose to avoid conflict first as a Be-er character, yet be quite capable of beating the tar out of an opponent if avoiding conflict proved impossible.

Similarly, a school teacher might stress exercises and homework as a Do-er character, yet open its heart to a student who needs moral support.

When creating your Main Character, you may want someone who acts first and asks questions later, or you may prefer someone who avoids conflict if possible, then lays waste the opponent if they won’t compromise.

A Do-er deals in competition, a Be-er in collaboration.

The Main Character’s affect on the story is both one of rearranging the dramatic potentials of the story, and also one of reordering the sequence of dramatic events.

By choosing Do-er or Be-er you instruct Dramatica to establish one method as the Main Character’s approach and the other as the result of its efforts.

Excerpted from
Dramatica Pro Story Development Software

A good way to get a feel for the Stop/Start dynamic in Change Main Characters is to picture the Stop character as having a chip on its shoulder and the Start character as having a hole in its heart. .

If the actions or decisions taken by the character are what make the problem worse, then it needs to Stop

If the problem worsens because the character fails to take certain obvious actions or decisions, then it needs to Start.

A way to get a feel for the Stop/Start dynamic in Steadfast Main Characters is to picture the Stop character as being pressured to give in, and the Start character as being pressured to give up..

If you want to tell a story about a Main Character concerned with ending something bad, use a Stop Main Character

If you want to tell a story about a Main Character concerned with beginning something good, use a Start Main Character.

Excerpted from
Dramatica Pro Story Development Software

Just because a Main Character ultimately remains steadfast does not mean it never considers changing. Similarly, a Change Main Character does not have to be changing all the time. In fact, that is the conflict with which it is constantly faced: to stick it out or to alter its approach in the face of ever-increasing opposition.

Illustrating your Main Character as wavering can make it much more human. Still, if its motivation is strong enough, your Main Character may hold the course or move toward change from the opening scene to the denouement. It all depends on the kind of experience you wish to create for your audience.

There is no right or wrong degree of certainty or stability in a Main Character. Just make it clear to your audience by the end of the story if it has been changed or not by the experience. Sometimes this happens by forcing your Main Character to make a choice between its old way of doing things or a new way. Another way of illustrating your Main Character’s resolve is to establish its reaction in a particular kind of situation at the beginning of the story that tells us something about its nature. After the story’s climax, you can bring back a similar kind of situation and see if it reacts the same way or not. From this, your audience will determine if it has Changed or remained Steadfast.

What if a Main Character Changes when it should Remain Steadfast, or Remains Steadfast when it should Change? Choosing your Main Character’s Resolve describes what your Main Character does without placing a value judgment on it. The appropriateness of its Resolve is determined by other dynamics in your story which will be addressed later. For now, simply choose if your Main Character’s nature has Changed or Remained Steadfast.

Excerpted from
Dramatica Pro Story Development Software

The following  excerpt is taken from

The Dramatica Class Transcripts

William S1 : What impact does Dramatica have on the intuitive creative process?

Dramatica : That depends on the particular author, Willam, first of all, some writers like to use it right off the bat, to figure out their dramatics so they know where they are going. But others like to write a draft first, then go to Dramatica to look for leaks and inconsistencies. And for the “chain of consciousness” writer, since they are not consciously trying to convey any overall meaning,but are just exploring a path and leaving a trail, then Dramatica has no value to them at all.

Pdmedia : Can Existing scripts be imported into Dramatica ?

Dramatica : PD, you can not import a whole script, as Dramatica is not a tool for the actual writing.

DKahane : Gotta go. When will tonite be on your BBS?

Dramatica : Bye DKahane!

PGThomas : Pd – I’m teaching myself Dramatica by inputting the details of a script I already wrote That way, I’m already familiar with the story and am happy with, just curious to see what Dramatica has to say about it.

Dramatica : But you can import text as you illustrate the dramatic points that Dramatica has shown based on your choices. That’s a good way to go, PD. Just go into storytelling BEFORE you even create a storyform, put in what those dramatica points are in your story, then use that information to make dramatic choices to double check!

Pdmedia : Thanks for the ideas.