When you come to the end of a story and you look back on everything that happened, what event could you call the most important? Was it the one at the end that brought everything to a satisfying close? Was it that tragic downturn that brought the Main Character to their lowest point? Or was it in fact, that event that started everything off; that event that, if removed, would erase the need for anything that came after it?

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Although the software is not properly set up for it, you can create the structure of your story based on how you want your audience to receive your story, i.e. how you want your story to feel to them. In order to do this, you need to understand the connections that some appreciations have with one another.

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By far, this was the funniest Google search term someone used to find this site. In an effort to provide more of what people are looking for when they come here, I installed a statistics program called Mint a couple of weeks ago. Alongside the countless searches for “children of men analysis” (people seem to really like that film!), this quote - “the cult of Dramatica” really stood out. How can a theory of story be so easily equated with the kind of fervor that sometimes accompanies religion?

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In a story, the major plot points are either driven by decisions or actions. While a story may naturally ebb and flow between both, when all is said and done, one of these will be seen as the primary driving plot force in a story. This is because meaningful stories are really just an argument and effective arguments have a pattern they must adhere to.

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In Dramatica, the major drivers of plot are said to be either decisions or actions. Although you will have both in a story, one will be seen as the catalyst that causes the other to happen. If you’re having trouble deciding which one is the driver of your story, you might want to start at the end.

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In Children of Men, rich thematic elements of hope play out against despair in a dystopian vision of the future. Many have commented that while they found the film highly entertaining, they felt cheated at the end. They often go on to complain that the movie was half-finished. I disagree. I would say it was 3/4 finished…

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It’s been said before, but bears repeating:
…if “x” had not happened, it is likely that “y” would have happened anyway. If the answer is “yes,” then “x” is not driving the story forward. If the answer is “no,” then “y” MAY be the driving force moving the story forward.
“x” and “y” refer to

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Authors can sometimes get sidetracked as they get sucked into the process of writing their story. A great idea often supercedes the story’s requirement of being consistent. In my review of Taladega Nights I point out some inconsistencies in the story that could’ve been averted with Dramatica.

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A simplistic way of looking at stories is either “plot-driven” or “character driven.” At first glance, Dramatica’s Story Driver may refer to these two concepts - an Action story seems to fit the “plot-driven” mode while a Decision story seems to fit the “character-driven” mode. But perhaps we can delve even further…

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Well, here’s something I haven’t done in a year or two…I’m up at dawn with my laptop before me. This is a great feeling - to be able to write and to think before the responsibilities of the day impose their will on me.
Some Dramatica snippets:
When writing Story Drivers based on Decisions, it does not always [...]

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