Story Judgment

The End of a Main Character’s Arc

Dennis Lehane's novel Mystic River offers a rare insight into the complex dynamics that make up a Main Character's "arc." The less straight-forward that growth is, the closer to real life the portrayal will be and the more meaningful it will be for an audience.

Writing the Personal Triumph

Part 3 of a series of articles exploring the different kinds of meaningful endings a story can have. In this article, the "sweet" part of bittersweet is examined.

How to Write a Tragedy

Having looked at the triumphant ending, the focus now shifts to the ultimate downer of all endings: the Tragedy. This article examines the structural elements that help to classify a story as a tragedy.

How to End a Movie

Stories that strive to be about something must come to a conclusion with one of four meaningful endings. No matter how subtle or obvious the storytelling may be every single complete story told will fall into one of these four categories.

The Stifling Nature of Dramatica?

Techniques to free up what might seem like a rigid tool for writing stories.

Dramatica Simplified

Dramatica can seem a bit overwhelming when you first start out. I remember flipping through the dictionary at the back of the theory book and thinking, "This is insane!" But after eight years of working with it, I've got the model pretty much memorized (at least down to the Variation level) and have a pretty good understanding of each of the terms.

judgment and resolve

A neat way of clarifying the judgment on your Main Character.

plot dynamics explained

A closer look at the Plot Dynamics in a story.