Action • [Plot Dynamic] • in terms of the objective plot, actions force decisions • All stories have both Action and Decision, however one will take precedence over the other. Traditionally, one might define an Action story as having more Action or more intense Action than a Decision story. 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, if Actions precipitate the progression of the plot, it is an Action story. The question to ask in regard to any particular story is which comes first to move the story along?–not which is there more of, for even if Action kicks things off, a small Action may be followed by great quantities of deliberation. In such a story, although Action is the Driver, one would hardly call it an Action story in the traditional sense. Action stories will begin with an Action, be marked at the beginning and end of every Act by an Action, and will end with a climactic Action. In an Action story, the story will eventually slow and dwindle until another Action occurred.

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Act • [Structural Term] • The largest sequential increments by which the progress of a story is measured • an Act is a noticeable shift or division in the dramatic flow of a story which is created by the convergence of dynamics pertaining to Character, Theme, and Plot. These dynamics are represented in Dramatica by a sequential progression through different categories of subject matter called Types. Each of the four throughlines has four different Types of subject matter. For example, one throughline’s Types might be Learning, Understanding, Doing, and Obtaining. If we look at each Type as a signpost along a road, then Learning would describe where that throughline’s story began and Obtaining where it ended. Between the four signposts are three journeys. In our example, a journey from Learning to Understanding, Understanding to Doing, and Doing to Obtaining. In a story, an author usually designs the structure by setting up the signposts. An audience experiences the story by taking the journey. So, in a sense, and author works with a four act (four signpost) structure, and an audience perceives a three act (three journey) structure. Since both co-exist, the meaning of the term “Act” changes depending upon how one is coming to a story.

Stories explore the kinds of problems we encounter every day and provide a message about how best to deal with them.

The Dramatica theory of narrative structure has created a chart that organizes these potential problems into different families.

Each kind of dramatic element can be thought of as a seed from which to grow a character, a plot, or a thematic message.

One of these dramatic elements is Accurate and is the core issue of problems that grow either from believing something to be “good enough” or believing things need to be more accurate before one is ready to act.

Here’s how the Dramatica dictionary defines it:

Accurate • [Element] • dynamic pair –  Non-accurate

Accurate • being within tolerances

How it works in narrative structure:

Not all concepts work everywhere or all the time. When an understanding has limitations, it can still provide a useful way of looking at the specific issues. The more accurate an understanding, the more one can apply it with certainty. When the Accurate element comes into play it will lead to accepting rough approximations that are “within tolerance” or “good enough” for the purpose at hand. The advantage is that little energy is wasted on “the law of diminishing returns.” The disadvantage is that appraising things as Accurate can lead to gross generalizations in which important or dangerous considerations slip though the cracks. • syn. within tolerance, sufficient, adequate, acceptable, passable

Excerpted from the Dramatica Dictionary