Can anyone help me understand why the theme browser has Value/Worth Confidence/Worry “under” impulsive responses but my PSR says act 1 Impulsive responses is explored in Conditioning,Instinct,Senses, and Interpretation and not the same as those listed in the Theme Browser (value,worth, confidence, worry) ??
The beginning of the PSR report actually explains why, but it’s easy to miss especially when you’re new to Dramatica:
When you begin creating your Storyform, you are presented with a “perfect world” view of your story in which plot is completely aligned with theme. There is no discrepancy between the two, and therefore no dramatic tension. This balanced view is most easily seen in the Theme Browser, available through a tile on the Dramatica Desktop.
Once you arrive at a Storyform, however, you have input information about how that “perfect world” is twisted and warped by problems and conflicting perspectives. As a result, plot no longer matches theme, and the two are often quite out of step with one another.
So what it’s saying is that the various inequities at the heart of your story have twisted the model so that the Variation quads are explored within different “parent” signpost Types than they would normally belong under. Does that make sense?
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Thank you. This does help me understand the reason for things being changed around and does make better sense to me with your help. As for understanding exactly how my input information resulted in these particular changes I think I will just have to take by faith in Dramatica. Kind of like the analogy of I can drive a car, but have no clue as to why an engine works as it does. Thanks for considering the questions of a beginner like myself. Much appreciated.
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Great analogy about having faith in the car without knowing how the engine works. I watched the first episode of Netflix’s The OA last night (intriguing!) and there was one line that the main character said that reminded me of Dramatica:
You’ll have to just pretend to trust me until you trust me.
That is TOTALLY the approach you should take when new to Dramatica, because you have to use it for it to prove itself, and you can’t use it properly unless you believe it’s going to work.
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The crazy part is when you write something without even looking at the PSR, and then you go to refer to it and it tells you exactly what you wrote. Watch Witness and follow along with the PSR…you’ll see what I mean.
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