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

Dependent Pair • [Structural Term] • A pair of items whose relationship is complementary • In any given quad, the two items directly above and below each other are referred to as a Dependent Pair. Since a quad consists of four items, it therefore contains two Dependent Pairs

Denial • [Variation] • dyn.pr. Closure<–>Denial • the refusal to admit to oneself or others that a previously held view is not or is no longer true • Denial is the refusal to accept that something is over, has become closed, is outdated or was originally misunderstood. How many people continue to make a point after they have won the argument? More than just not accepting a conclusion, Denial can also be not accepting that a process will just keep repeating. A repeating process has a cycle. In a story, a character comes into such a circle at one point and follows it around back to start. At that point, a theme of Denial would have that character refusing to believe that he has been just been chasing his own tail. At the leap of faith he will just push off again and keep on circling a no-win situation in the hopes it will change this time around. Inertia does not always travel in straight lines. • syn. not accepting, refusal to end, unwillingness to let go, refusal to back down, stubbornness

Delay • [Variation] • dyn.pr. Choice<–>Delay • putting off until later • Delay is the decision not to make a decision. Whenever the options are too closely balanced to see a clear path, whenever there is not enough information to be confident of an outcome, a character will Delay. The purpose is to wait until one gathers more information or until the situation changes to present a clear best course. But how long does one wait? And what if something distracts the character and he forgets to check and see if things have changed? Now the character has left a problem unresolved, and unless it intrudes upon his thinking, it will never be thought of again. Yet deep within him, he will be influenced to avoid what created that problem or to take steps to protect against its recurrence. Until the original problem is addressed and a choice of path is made, the character will not be free of the problem’s influence. • syn. put off, retard, postpone, defer, suspend, prolong, procrastinate

Deficiency • [Variation] • dyn.pr. Permission<–>Deficiency • appraisal of what is lacking • When a character lacks something in the sense of having Deficiency, he may not even comprehend what he lacks. But this lack drives him and fulfilling the lack would end the drive caused by the Deficiency. Deficiency is closely related to Need, but where Needs are always defined by their context and the purpose which makes them seem necessary, Deficiency does not require a purpose. When a character lacks, he is NOT content with what he has and REQUIRES something more in order to become content. Fulfilling a lack may appear to be the last thing a character Needs because it does not lead to his purpose, but once the lack has been taken care of, a character may find his purpose has changed and his Need has been eliminated. • syn. inadequacy, insufficiency, deficit, unfulfilled need

Deduction • [Element] • dyn.pr. Induction<–>Deduction • a method of thought that determines certainty • Deduction is the process of thought that arrives at a determination of what is by limiting out all that cannot be. It has been said, “When you have ruled out the impossible, whatever is left, no matter how improbable, must be true.” The characteristic representing Deduction will arrive at conclusions by eliminating all competing theories that have holes until only one remains. This is fine for cutting away the nonsense and discovering understanding, unless the competing theories were not all the available theories and the real answer was never even considered. Also, Deduction often fails to look for situations in which alternative truths exist. A famous story had a detective narrowing down murder suspects only to discover that they all did it! • syn. drawing a conclusion, process of elimination, demonstrative reasoning, narrowing to a single point

Decision • [Plot Dynamic] • in the plot, decisions force actions • All stories have both Action and Decision. Typically, one defines a Decision story as having more intense Deliberation than Action. This view is overly influenced by how the story is told rather than what it represents. Dramatica takes a different view of Action and Decision. Either Actions force the need for Decisions or Decisions force the need for Actions in order to advance the plot. Over the course of the story as a whole (independent of the nature of the Main Character) if Decisions precipitate the progression of the plot, it is a Decision story.