Unraveling (or raveling up) Dramatica

I've been meaning to write this post for a month, now, and finally, today, I have no trip to pack for, nothing to plan, nowhere to rush, so here it is at last.

I mentioned Dramatica in an earlier post, and I need to explain what the heck that is. Dramatica is both a theory and a software program that walks you through the theory using your own novel-in-progress. I'm just using a free version of the software, which I find frustrating, since I can't save anything, so I can't say whether the software is worth the money.

Here's my little sum-up of the theory, as I understand it.

Or, if you're interested in the details, check out the Dramatica website at www.dramatica.com, or click on one of the links in the website the Hickmans created for our conference workshop in June: www.storymind.net (sorry, my links refuse to work today for some odd reason. Maybe because I have no clue how to use them).

Dramatica uses the human mind and its problem-solving process as a model to talk about the structure of traditional story.

*Note: If I were more computer-savvy I would insert a picture of a brain right here for a visual aid. Oh well.

Plowing along.

Story is the author's attempt to present his argument that his way is the best way to tackle the story's main problem. If any of the parts and pieces that make up what Dramatica calls a "Grand Argument" story is missing, the story will feel incomplete. Some of those essential pieces: character, which examines the Story Mind's motivations; plot, which looks at Story Mind's methods for solving the problem; theme tells us why it all matters; and genre, the general attitude that colors everything else.

The perspective of the argument matters, too, because point of view creates meaning. Every Grand Argument story considers four different Throughlines, or perspectives, through which the story could be told: if, for example, we tell the story of a battle from the point of view of a soldier in a battle, we also need to think about the overall perspective of the battle as it would seem if you saw it from a hill overlooking the battlefield; we need to imagine it from the perspective of the impact character, or the character who most powerfully affects the main character's decisions and actions, and consider the arc and dynamics of how those two characters change and interact.

*Note: insert snore right here.

Don't worry--I don't get it either. And I'm pretty sure I don't use the program the way the authors meant it to be used. I just putter around here and there in the book and play with the free software. I don't like the idea of squeezing parts of my story into some prefab mold. I'm too rebellious, and I really hate boxes.

But Dramatica and the Story Mind model do get me thinking about what motivates my characters, and about finding balance and looking at opposing motivations; it gets me imagining how the story must seem from the antagonist's point of view, and wondering which guy in my list of characters impacts my main character the most. Maybe it will help me see some of the things missing from my story and help me fill in the gaps. Maybe.

Maybe it will help some of you other author-people out there. The Hickmans swear by it. If you figure out what it all means, please feel free to enlighten me, too.

Dramatica did get me thinking in a new way about a story I've been trying to fix for a couple of years now.

Fresh eyes for an old story? That can only be a good thing.

Now if only I can find time to write...