Category Archives: Dramatica

Dramatica Definition: Objective Story Line

Objective Story Line • the plot as it concerns the story goal • The Objective Story Line is a distinct act by act sequence of events that involves all of the Objective Story appreciations and none of the Subjective Story appreciations. It represents the dispassionate argument of the story, emphasizing events and relationships in a purely cause and effect way. This is not to say that it has nothing to do with the meaning of a story, only that it is not the WHOLE story. Meaning in stories comes from comparing the Objective view of a story with the Subjective view that comes from within the story.

From the Dramatica Dictionary

Main Character Throughline

For a story to be complete, the audience will need a personal view of the dramatic battle as well: that of the soldier in the trenches. Instead of looking at the Story Mind from the outside, the Main Character Throughline is a view from the inside. What if that Story Mind were our own? That is what the audience experiences when it becomes a soldier on the field: audience members identify with the Main Character of the story.

Through the Main Character we experience the battle as if we were directly participating in it. From this perspective we are much more concerned with what is happening immediately around us than we are with the larger strategies that are really too big to see. This most personally involved argument of the story is the Main Character Throughline.

From the Dramatica Theory Book

Dramatica Definition: Objective Story Issue

Objective Story Issue • [Variation] • The central thematic topic of the Objective Story • Each of the four Domains (Objective Story, Main Character, Obstacle Character, and Subjective Story) has its own theme. This occurs because each Domain is really just a different point of view examining the same central inequity at the heart of the story as a whole. Each Domain, then, sees the troubles in a different light and is therefore drawn to a different standard of values by which to measure it. The thematic Issue in each Domain is that standard. The Objective Story Issue is the most wide-ranging of the four. This is because the Objective Story itself is the most all-inclusive of the Domains, representing a distanced view of the story that takes in the bigger picture. So, the thematic Issue of the Objective Story pertains to everyone and everything that happens. An author will use the Objective Story Issue to draw broad value judgments about the overall subject matter of the story as a whole. The audience will get a sense of what the grand scheme of the story is all about, effectively, what the underlying message is.

From the Dramatica Dictionary

The Objective Story Throughline

There are four essential points of view which must be explored for a story to be complete.

The first perspective is the Objective Story Throughline, so called because it is the most dispassionate look at a story.

Imagine the argument of a story as a battle between two armies. The Objective Story view is like that of a general on a hill overlooking the battle. The general focuses on unfolding strategies and, from this perspective, sees soldiers not by name but by their function on the field: foot soldier, grenadier, cavalryman, scout. Though the general may care very much for the soldiers, he must concentrate on the events as they unfold. Because it emphasizes events, the Objective Story Throughline is often thought of as plot, but as we shall see later, plot is so much more.

From the Dramatica Theory Book

Dramatica Definition: Objective Story Inhibitor

Objective Story Inhibitor • [Variation] • The kind of item which serves to impede the Objective Story’s progress • The Objective Story Inhibitor is what prevents a story from just rushing full speed to the solution. It is like a brake mechanism which can be applied as the author pleases. The introduction of this item will always slow the progress of the story and it works as the antidote to the Objective Story Catalyst.

From the Dramatica Dictionary

The Four Throughlines

It is not enough to develop a complete Story Mind. That only creates the argument the audience will be considering. Equally important is how the audience is positioned relative to that argument.

Does an author want the audience to examine a problem dispassionately or to experience what it is like to have that problem? Is it more important to explore a possible solution or to weigh the benefits and drawbacks of alternative solutions? In fact, all of these points of view must be developed for a story to be complete.

An author’s argument must go beyond telling audience members what to look at. I must also show them how to see it. It is the relationship between object and observer that creates perspective, and in stories, perspective creates meaning.

There are four different perspectives which must be explored as a story unfolds in order to present all sides of the issue at the heart of a story. They are the Objective Story Throughline, theMain Character Throughline, theObstacle Character Throughline, and theSubjective Story Throughline.

From the Dramatica Theory Book

Dramatica Definition: Objective Story Focus

Objective Story Focus • [Element] • The principal symptom of the Objective Story’s Problem • If the Objective Story’s Problem is seen as a disease, the Solution would be the cure. The Focus, however, would be the principal symptom. Since the symptoms of a disease are more apparent than the disease itself, the symptom is called the Focus, because the attention of the Objective Characters is focused there. Even if the Objective Characters are aware of the true nature of the Problem itself (which they may or may not be), they will be more riveted to the immediate effects created by the Focus.

From the Dramatica Dictionary