Hello, I am still very new to the theory and software, even though I was following its development and success for years. Now that I have my own Dramatica (used demo some years ago and loved it), I am running into some problems. Now that I started a novel and created some characters, background story, outline, and scenes, I find that I need to go back and change beers into doers, some situations/actions into decisions, and the software doesn’t allow me to do it. Do you have any suggestions? Thank you!
I wrote a good part of a book and had a Dramatica consultant go over it to see if I had a story form, as a way to learn how it all worked (in addition to reading the theory book tons of times). I found that very helpful. The writing has to happen more than the dram prep and analysis, at least that was my take on it. I remember there was a four sentence paragraph that had four points of a storyform. I didn’t plan it that way, and the brain might need space and flexibility.
I guess the first question to ask is whether or not you understand why the software is not letting you make the changes you want to do.
Thank you! My life is learning mode right now.
I am not sure I do. I started to work with Dramatica (which was already helpful, providing with a lot of progress). I just made some choices, which I didn’t understand at the time. Now, trying to go back, I am wandering if I just should create another draft…
Just to pick a basic example, if you want your Main Character to be in Situation or in Activity then you must also have them be a Do-er in MC Approach. So if you’ve selected one, you cannot change the other.
The whole system works this way, though some of it is less obvious than that example. (There are reasons for this, but I found the reasons to be frustrating rather than helpful when I was just getting started, so I’m going to skip over them here.)
What is an example of something you have and something you wish to change, and cannot?
Jenya,
After a ten-year conversation about things, they came up with a solid system how the human brain arranges things. Through all this they saw the character Contagonist, which was never spotted before, not even Aristotle or Shakespeare noted it by itself. After reading (scanning haha) the theory book tons of times, I noticed that books and old movies had that character, if the story was a good one (or even a passable one). I developed confidence in the line of thinkings they used for the software program. Just realize you don’t have to make all points and/or characters equal in strength. I find I get hung up on that, feeling I have to work everything out at equal depth and complication. Think Goodbye Mister Chips written overnight.
Just sharing, here,
Prish
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Jenya, I started trying to help answer your question but realized I wasn’t addressing your actual issue.
I think – please correct me if I’m wrong – that your problem is you thought you had the right storyform, and went ahead and wrote a lot of stuff based on that storyform. Did you write a lot of it in the Dramatica software itself? If so, it sounds like you have two problems – how to find to the right storyform, and how to keep all your stuff that you wrote while entering a new storyform (which might require a new file or at the least, clearing out a lot of your current selections).
Does that describe your concerns, or am I way off base?
EDIT: for encouragement I should add, that it’s supposed to be quite common to have to adjust your storyform after you write a bunch. I think often your “muse” has a better idea of your story’s structure than the analytical part of your mind does. (I am fairly new to Dramatica though, so haven’t experienced that yet.)
Thank you so much for taking time to answer. What I did is I went blindly into the program, trying it out. It already proved amazing, suggesting the IC. Now I am trying to go back to change things and the program doesn’t let me change it. I don’t know Dramatica well enough to know where to go back to change things. The M/I Throughline tells me that it should be Activity, for example, and I am not sure what to do about it. The IC is a ghost narrating the story. The MC is his daughter (and I am not even sure she should be the main character, since the story is about two older people, and she is just fighting to help them). How is it Activity? She is a Do-er. The ghost should be a Be-er, I think, even though he is trying to communicate with her and impact her decisions and thinking…
Prish,
Thank you! I am a bit scattered, doing MFA in Creative Writing and having a huge reading list. After years and years of just thinking about Dramatica, I decided that I deserve to buy it, finally :)) I guess, I thought that if I have a full version, everything will be solved. LOL. Now I am running back and forth between my Word documents, Screvener and Dramatica and feel scattered and fragmented. Learning. It is very kind that people responded to my reaching out so promptly and thoroughly. Thank you!
Mlucas,
I nailed my problem right there. I don’t know if I have my storyform. I did the outline and bunch of others staff, then this new narrating voice came out my writing, and I am trying to get a feel for the novel. It is fragmented, and I feel that I need to adjust something, but I am not sure that I know where to start…
Thank you!
I mean, Mlucas, you nailed my problem :))
Since you admitted you’re scattered, I think the most important thing to do is take a step back and focus on just one thing and get that right before moving forward. If you don’t know that you’ve put the right person as the MC, then worrying about why the M/I is in Activity is trying to solve something that might not be right either.
Why did you select the girl and the ghost as MC and IC?
I don’t think I have an answer to this question. I think, it was an obvious choice at the moment. Then the program asked if I have an IC, and I said, well, it’s brilliant. I am writing a story about an elderly couple and the girl, this social worker, she is trying to help keeping them together. Who can impact her? And I came up with this ghostly image that comes to her at night, and he became my narrator. It changed everything. Now I need to ask myself who should my MC as you pointed out correctly, MWollaeger. Thank you!
You’re in a tricky spot, because you don’t want to sacrifice creativity and inspiration just to learn Dramatica. If you really like the story you are working on, then don’t use it as a stepping stool to learning the theory or the program.
Go to the podcast, find a movie you like from what’s been analyzed (or find a new one), and then put your effort into learning from that, which will include completely ripping off that story to create a new one.
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Thank you! Great suggestion.