Excerpted from the book, Dramatica: A New Theory of Story A Grand Argument Story is a conceptually complete story with both an emotional and logical comprehensiveness. There are a number of qualities which determine whether a story is a Grand Argument or not. These are seen in the story’s Structure, Dynamics, Character, Theme, Plot, and Genre. […]
Excerpted from the book, Dramatica: A New Theory of Story The question arises: Is telling a story better than telling a non-story? No. Stories are not “better” than any other form of communication — just different. To see this difference we need to define “story” so we can tell what a story is and what […]
Excerpted from Dramatica: A New Theory of Story The process of communication requires at least two parties: the originator and the recipient. In addition, for communication to take place, the originator must be aware of the information or feelings he wishes to transmit, and the recipient must be able to determine that meaning. Similarly, storytelling […]
Excerpted from Dramatica: A New Theory of Story (Annotated) Mastering the craft of writing requires a skill in communication and a flair for style. Through communication, an audience receives meaning. Through style, an author achieves impact. The Dramatica theory of story explores both aspects of the writing process providing structural guidelines for clarifying communication and artistic […]
First part of our class on the story structure of characters
Introduction Everything you are about to read is wrong. Why is it wrong? Partly due to my own preconceptions, and partly due to pure ignorance. Of course, I can’t see my own preconceptions and I know nothing about my ignorance, so to me all you are about to read is right. Right or wrong, the […]
Dramatica Unplugged Home
Here is a link to the definitive explanation of the Dramatica theory (in PDF) from 1993, that explains all of the key concepts in text and graphics, including descriptions of non-story uses of the psychological model and the functioning of the model in terms of the dramatic circuit created by Potential, Resistance, Current, and Power […]
The Dramatica Theory By Melanie Anne Phillips Part One The Story Mind Prologue When I wrote the first edition of “Dramatica: A New Theory of Story” in 1991, it was the intent of Chris Huntley and myself to introduce our model of story structure in text book format, so as to most accurately document our […]
Concepts, Uses and Examples of the Dramatica Theory: The Dramatica Theory of Story Structure What is Dramatica? Dramatica: Theory of Story or Software Product? Dramatica – Where’d the Idea Come From? The “Main Character Resolve” Concept Using “Main Character Resolve” in Your Story The Concept of Main Character Growth Using Do-er and Be-er Characters Creativity vs. Dramatica […]