the right ingredients for a story
March 28, 2006
Continuing the discussion about the differences between Dramatica and other theories…
Chris forgot to put this funny analogy in his article:
Those other theories - the ones from McKee and Fields, et. al., are blended. They’re mixed up and ready to eat. And they go down smoothly. Change Success Good Do-er stories work - no question about that.
But it’s like giving you a bunch of baked good and then asking you to make a cake from them! You could, of course, just serve up the same thing that’s been handed to you - it works, but it’s a bit familiar. And bland. And you can’t write anything else with it.
As opposed to giving you all the ingredients for a cake, and allowing you, the author, to create just the right taste for your audience.