(Ebook) Dramatica: A New Theory of Story by Melanie Phillips, Chris Huntley, Chris Huntley ISBN 9780918973047, 091897304X

(Ebook) Dramatica: A New Theory of Story by Melanie Phillips, Chris Huntley, Chris Huntley ISBN 9780918973047, 091897304X

I have both the book and the software. The terminology in this theory is sometimes difficult, because it redefines certain words we use commonly to serve its own purposes. For example, Dramatica refers to "dynamic pairs" of story elements. Some of them are easy enough to grasp: Order/Chaos, Help/Hinder, etc. But many of the dymanic pairs are more difficult to get, e.g. Possibility/Certainty (one might have expected Possibility/Impossibility). But if you put the time into this, the payoff is enormous. I think the most useful part of the software is the HUGE number of questions it poses to you about your characters, situations, relationships. As I went through the questions regarding my main characters, I realized many times "Hm, I never thought about that..." So neither the theory nor the software are providing answers, just lots and lots of questions that you, as the author, are responsible for being able to answer. Even if those answers don't make it directly into your final draft, having those answers will definitely color your take on the way your characters interact with each other and their environment. The software itself is an obsessive-compulsive's dream, I have to say, and especially your first time using it you may find yourself playing with it endlessly (like me). But the characters in my story have nonetheless blossomed into "real people" for me in a way I have never experienced before.