Apologies for the extremely enthusiastic post title, and length of post. Maybe I’ve been inflicted by my MC Problem of Uncontrolled? 
Seriously though, yesterday I completed my storyform for my novel that I’m outlining. The outline was around 50% done before discovering Dramatica – setting and characters were 80% but plot only around 30% or so (lots of gaps in the middle that need to be filled with scene ideas). As I’m sure you can guess for a newbie, it took several attempts to get the storyform right (started with demo but man it sure helps to have the real software and be able to save copies as versions to go back to). What really helped was finally understanding the flexibility of the Dramatica terms – thinking of them as categories rather than strictly defined terms. Threads on here and NarrativeFirst about using random gists really helped me see the light.
(I’ll post more later about that process, in case it can help others new to Dramatica. This is about Dramatica’s awesomeness.)
Anyway now that I reached a point where I was happy with the storyform – I can’t believe it. I’m utterly blown away by the stuff that Dramatica chose for some of the story points that I was “leaving alone” as I focused on the stuff that mattered most to me in my story concept. The Dramatica choices fit so perfectly with my other ideas, it’s as though the software was reading my mind. It was a truly eerie feeling …!
I apologize that I can’t really convey this awesomeness without getting into some of my process and story details … so please bear with me.
My Method: I was lucky in that I only have a partial outline so I knew enough to grasp my story, but not so much that I was afraid to let Dramatica take control. What I did was to think of the stuff that was the heart of my story, the ideas that really jazzed me, and use those as input. I was pretty sure my MC Problem was either Control or Uncontrolled. I didn’t know her Resolve, but I knew Steadfast was Good and Change was Bad. I focused on narrowing down MC & IC Problem/Solution and Symptom/Response, and then looked at Throughlines, Concerns & Issues once Dramatica had limited my options. (I did a lot of picking multiple options from the Query System, and going back to a previous saved version if I felt I’d gone down the wrong path.) I didn’t look at much else. After a lot of work I started to get the feeling that things were clicking and was down to handful of storyforms; I had two options of MC & IC Unique Ability / Critical Flaw, and one combination seemed a little better … and I did it! One storyform!
I hesitated to celebrate though because I knew from past experience there might be some stuff lurking on other screens that didn’t fit. So I looked through all the Story Points, but this time everything looked good, amazingly good. There were a few items I noted that I’d have to think about more, to see if they really fit, so I started trying some Illustrations…
And that’s when the strangeness really started. You have to understand I’ve had my Climax Scene nailed down really well for months – it was one of those ideas that woke me up at 2am and had me scrawling in bed by flashlight (so as not to wake my wife). It’s a scene where the IC (a loyal Duke who is also an old wizard) is mortally wounded, but the MC (a magic-born girl with tremendous potential) tries to heal him; all their plans are now falling apart and they discuss how to save them.
Being a Dramatica newbie, I didn’t use any of the Climax scene ideas as ‘input’ into Dramatica. I actually hadn’t even figured out my Story Goal* yet! But as I looked at what Dramatica had given me for MC & IC Unique Ability and Critical Flaw I got a chill up my spine – these were output from Dramatica but they fit so well with my Climax scene and MC’s moment of truth it was uncanny.
MC U.Ability of Delay: As part of the climax scene, I had decided that the MC would possess the rare power to access a “time slowed” pocket dimension which would help her keep the IC alive (he’s been stabbed in the heart). This delay allows the IC to talk to her and attempt to convince her to… well to skip over the story details, to do what must be done to achieve the story Goal, at great sacrifice to herself and her personal freedom.
MC Crit.Flaw of Approach: I’d noted that my MC would come up with a new “3rd option” which would allow her to retain her own freedom (Judgement:Good), but would lose the story goal. To me, that sort of “pick C on a choice of A or B” is a total Approach thing, a way of outmaneuvering the IC in this case (since this 3rd option was also associated with remaining Steadfast).
IC U.Ability of Hope: The IC believes hope for the kingdom is possible; as long as they follow his grand plan the kingdom can be saved… And this quality of patriotic hope is what motivates the MC to follow him more than anything else, it’s what gets through to her.
IC Crit.Flaw of Rationalization: Ages before finding dramatica, I decided that the IC’s most glaring flaw was his “ends justify the means” thinking, his willingness to use people to further his goals – even though he’s actually a good guy, and deep down he knows it’s wrong, but he does it anyway because “saving the kingdom” takes priority over everything else.
* still working on Story Goal actually – I think I mostly figured it out today – knowing it’s in the realm of Obtaining was a huge help for that (thanks again Dramatica).
As you can see, all of those illustrations fit really well (at least I think so) – yet I’d written the illustrations weeks before I’d even heard of Dramatica! And there are plenty more similar examples of this. What I really love is that Dramatica is whispering in my ear, telling me what fits well, what to emphasize about my ideas.
Anyway that’s probably enough gushing for now. Time to get back to actual writing. Especially now that I have my storyform to support me!