Write Your Novel
Step By StepTry it Risk-Free for 90 Days! Follow StoryWeaver's path of 200 interactive Story Cards from concept to completion of your novel or screenplay. Every step of the way you'll know what you need to do and get examples of how to do it, continually evovling, expanding and improving your story.You'll develop your story's world, who's in it, what happens to them, and what it all means.
Try StoryWeaver Risk-Free Click here for details... Browse Categories
- Announcements
- Author & Audience
- Characters
- Creative Writing
- Dramatica
- Featured Articles
- Featured Videos
- Genre
- How Dramatica Works
- Just for fun…
- Melanie's Corner
- Narrative Science
- Novel Writing
- Objective and Subjective Characters
- Plot
- Practical Tips
- Screenwriting
- Story Development
- Story Physics
- Story Points
- Story Psychology
- Story Structure
- Storytelling
- StoryWeaver Software
- The Master Storyteller
- The Story Mind
- The Writing Life
- Theme
- Throughline Software
- Under Development
- Video
- Weekend Writing Workshop
- Welcome
- Writing Tip of the Day
- Zen of Story Structure
- zzzzzzzz….. (snore)
Category Archives: Story Psychology
What Is Truth? (The Character’s Dilemma)
Characters reflect real people in a purified or idealized state. And so, we can see in them qualities and traits that are hard to see within ourselves. One of the most difficult challenges we face every day are exemplified by … Continue reading
Posted in Characters, Narrative Psychology, Story Psychology
Comments Off on What Is Truth? (The Character’s Dilemma)
How Characters Avoid Truth
It is well known that the observer changes the observation, but it is equally true that the observation also changes the observer. Consider that the order in which you observe a series of perspectives changes you as you go. But because … Continue reading
Posted in Story Psychology
Comments Off on How Characters Avoid Truth
We Think in Narratives
By Melanie Anne Phillips We think in narratives. Narrative is not an artificial construct imposed on fiction nor on the real world, but it is a description of the ways of the mind beneath the level of subject matter. In … Continue reading
Posted in Story Psychology
Comments Off on We Think in Narratives
Character Justification
By Melanie Anne Phillips Problem solving tries to resolve an issue. But if there is an obstacle to a solution, the process of justification tries to find a way around. Sometimes characters get so wrapped up in the attempt to … Continue reading
Posted in Story Psychology
Comments Off on Character Justification
The Four Faces of Narrative
The word “narrative” is bandied about today as a catch all for stories, both fictional and in the real world. But what does it really mean? In fact, “narrative” means four distinctly different things that share the same root. The … Continue reading
Posted in Creative Writing, Narrative Science, Story Development, Story Psychology, Story Structure
Comments Off on The Four Faces of Narrative
Characters – Introduction to “Blind Spot”
Posted in Character Psychology, Story Psychology, Video
Comments Off on Characters – Introduction to “Blind Spot”
The “Influence Character” in a Nut Shell
Stories have a mind of their own, as if they were a person in their own right in which the structure is the story’s psychology and the storytelling is its personality. Characters, in addition to acting as real people,, also … Continue reading
Posted in Dramatica Basic Concepts, Dramatica Concepts, Featured Articles, Narrative Psychology, Obstacle Character, Story Psychology, The Story Mind
Comments Off on The “Influence Character” in a Nut Shell
Intellectualism
Intellectualism is the nobility of a free society. (Something I just thunk of that might be a good thematic topic for a story).
Posted in Narrative Psychology, Social Narrative, Story Psychology, Thematic Topic, Zen of Story Structure
Comments Off on Intellectualism
When Narratives Collide
What happens when narratives collide? Fictional stories are generally about a single primary narrative perhaps surrounded by a number of satellite narratives that function as sub-plots. But in the real world, every person is the main character in his or … Continue reading
Posted in Narrative Science, Story Psychology
Comments Off on When Narratives Collide
Flight Recorder of the Subconscious
A real life example that just occurred: In the kitchen, I began singing the theme song from the 1965 old west comedy “Cat Ballou” starring Jane Fonda and Lee Marvin. Upstairs, Teresa (upon hearing this) inquired why I was singing … Continue reading
Posted in Story Psychology
Comments Off on Flight Recorder of the Subconscious