Hello
Does anyone know if the Dramatica Pro software is still being supported?
I wanted to try it out, but I’m having technical problems with installing it, and I haven’t had a response to my support request for a few weeks.
I doesn’t look like there’s been any discussion on the forum about the software for a while. Has Subtxt taken over as the new version? Or are people still using the Dramatica Pro software?
Daisy
I’m not sure if it’s still being supported, but I’m still using it. It installed fine on my Windows 10 PC.
What issue are you having?
I’m having issues installing the demo software on my laptop (windows 11). It downloads and unzips fine. But when I choose ‘run as administrator’ (as per the instructions), a loading bar flashes up, disappears, then nothing happens.
Hmm. Sorry, I’m on Windows 10, and not sure what could be causing that. You could check your antivirus / threat protection logs (Windows Defender, or another program if you have it) to see if it might have terminated the install for some reason. You could also try disabling real-time protection temporarily while you do the install, to see if that helps. (Make sure to put it back on after!)
Sometimes when I go to a place that sells computers/laptops/etc, I talk things over with them, chit chat style and get clues and/or substantial answers.
Hi Daisy - I had exactly the same problem last week, & spent AGES trying out possible solutions. None worked.
What finally worked in the end was I realised the file that you get from the official write brothers site is different to the one that you can download elsewhere: I can’t quite remember the site but I could have a look later. When I installed that it worked fine. I can’t say why or how - it just did!
The technical team let me know that there’s a problem with the dramatica pro demo download, which they’re going to look into. So a shame I can’t use the demo, but good to know.
Hey there, yes, it is still supported but we’ve been having a hard time bringing it to the 64bit platform. We WILL update Dramatica Story Expert and then Dramatic Pro after that, but it remains a long slog. On behalf of Write Brothers and Dramatica, I apologize for us dropping the ball on keeping it current – as well as improving it. Once we have ANY definitive information of forward movement I will post what I know here.
Thank you for your continued support.
Sincerely,
Chris Huntley
Have you considered doing a Kickstarter or some sort of Crowdfunding for this? There is a new movement of authors using KS for funding their indie work, so you could introduce your product to new customers. But also we who are fans can help bring this into reality sooner than later.
Hi Didomachiatto,
The problem isn’t so much financial as logistical. Since Dramatica Story Expert has to be rebuilt from scratch to run on a 64bit operating system, our plan is to use the work we’re doing on Movie Magic Screenwriter as the basis for the new DSE. We’re nearing completion on Screenwriter so we’ll be able to ‘cannibalize’ the guts of Screenwriter to begin making the new DSE. The timeline is still a long one but at least it appears there is light at the end of the very long tunnel.
Cheers,
Chris
Hi @chuntley . Thank you so much for all you’ve done in revolutionizing our understanding of story. I’m sure you’ve probably thought about this, but would the DSE team consider using some of the top AI solutions to help with transposing the code etc. Perhaps it may help speed things up.
Thanks again for everything.
But why? Why? How can this take so long? How are people coping with this? The friction is more than tolerable. I beg you: roll this out, for all that is holy.
How are we coping? I fondly remember and let my mind drift back to the Dramatica v 1.6. That wonderful program gave me the most fantastic MC/story idea ever; and years later when the analysis was done for Legally Blonde, I realized who would be my IC and how.
more later, I’m sure …
Personally, I’m running a copy of Dramatica 4.0 for Windows on my Mac, using Whisky (a variant of WINE, the Windows emulation layer for Linux), when I need it. It’s…remarkably obsolete-feeling, but, well, the Mac app felt that way for years anyway. To this day I am not sure how it managed to somehow not use retina fonts. I have tried to be gentle when posting here because I love the application, but “we are a small company and moving to 64-bit is hard” only buys you so much goodwill. They should have known that this was coming when Apple announced that the Carbon API wasn’t going to go 64-bit, which was at least five years before the official announcement of the end of 64-bit support…and that announcement was two years before it actually ended. From all appearances Write Brothers spent literal decades doing the least possible work to keep their applications running on the Mac—they also missed the transition to OS X, as well as the transition to Intel CPUs—rather than spending that time rewriting it piece by piece the way the equally-small team behind the equally-old BBEdit did.
Beyond that, I’m investigating what it’d take to write my own “brainstorming app”. A minimum of $240/yr for Subtxt is just too much of an ask for me—to be clear, I’m not saying that it’s inappropriately priced, simply that I, personally, use Dramatica Pro relatively casually. If this happens—which is doubtful, if I’m honest—it wouldn’t be some kind of drop-in replacement for Dramatica, though, for a variety of reasons (including my hope that Write Brothers will, finally, actually ship something).
Thanks for the follow up! I just wanted to share my thoughts as well.
I still keep my old laptop just to run Dramatica and create storyforms, even though I’ve had to adjust my workflow since it no longer works on my current Mac. Despite that, I still love the Dramatica and the Community. Out of both nostalgia and hope to see an update, I check the forum from time to time, always happy to see familiar names and faces.
I remember when I first started using Dramatica over ten years ago and how much I enjoyed the daily discussions. There were so many Eureka! moments, so many insightful and fruitful conversations. It was an incredible experience, and I’m grateful to everyone who was part of it. I still remember the excitement of going back to my writing, eager to apply my newfound understanding and see my story evolve in ways I hadn’t imagined before.
While I’ve finished my first novel—thanks to Dramatica—and have already embarked on a new one, I know that, technically, I could continue writing without it.
But here’s the thing, the thought of working without Dramatica still feels like something essential is missing. It has been such a valuable part of my creative process that I can’t help but hope for its return.
If Dramatica ever made a return, even in a simplified form that allowed me to create a storyform, adjust the elements, and determine the Signpost Order, it would feel like reclaiming a missing piece of my writing process. I wouldn’t need any fancy features—just a straightforward way to generate a storyform, organize the signposts, and experiment with how different elements influence the Story form.
I truly appreciate what Jim is doing with Subtext, and I’ve found it to be a valuable tool in my own writing. But if there’s ever a way to bring Dramatica back, I would be absolutely thrilled.
Very timely discussion. 
@Chipotle I appreciate your thoughts on the casual user. That’s in part why I dropped the monthly price of Subtxt down to $20, though to be fair a lot of users just wait until the yearly November sale where it’s only $190 for the year.
I could remove all of the AI features and just offer the basic storyforming abilities, but frankly in this world–and the one we’re accelerating into–I’m not sure if it makes any sense.
I’ve also flirted with the idea of usage-based pricing where you would only pay for the times you would use the feature, but there’s a lot of trust that goes into that kind of relationship (on the user fulfilling their obligations) that I can’t make work at this time.
To be super clear, I fully support your idea about building your own app. I just opened up a bunch of APIs for Subtxt, and am in the process of supporting MCP in the next version. Not sure if your app will incorporate any AI (though I can’t imagine any going forward without it) but you’ll be able to do some pretty incredible things with it if you do…
… though then you’ll want to cover your costs. 
If you’re not familiar with the Universal Narrative Model initiative Chris and I and others have undertaken at USC I would read the latest here: Announcing the Universal Narrative Model
The open sourced GitHub repo is linked in the article. As I’m running it, I’d love any feedback or suggestions for improving this model. A lot more people are going to know about Dramatica very soon.
Lastly, if you have very specific ideas about what you would want out of a one-time purchase for a Subtxt/Dramatica app, I’d love to hear them. I’m always looking to make Dramatica more accessible to everyone.
I can think of contexts where it makes sense. For example, as an off-line standalone app to explore the story without AI (I often use Dramatica just for that purpose before diving into Subtxt). The offline version could be a webapp—in fact, Subtxt can be used as a webapp with Chrome.
And it could be enhanced with a subscription when the user wants to have the AI capabilities, either by connecting to the API or with a regular subscription.
For example, the casual user could build some storyforms and even use a subscription for a period. If they are not subscribed, they’ll always be able to continue working on their stories.
I like to be able to work offline, for example, when traveling—I usually work while I travel by train where internet access is poor, to put it mildly. I’m also in favor of not losing access if I don’t feel like using a subscription. BTW, Subtxt is the only app I’m subscribed to.
I completely agree, explore the story form with the advantages of an established terminology. Since I write in German, I use Dramatica as a kind of programming language to give “technical” names to the story elements before I even think about writing the story.
I’d agree that this wouldn’t make much sense, since Subtext is designed for creating stories with AI based on the Dramatica framework. And apologies for my last message—it might have been a bit dramatic. I guess we’re just a small group waiting for an old thing to make a comeback. 
I agree that just having the ability to make storyforms would be pretty bare-bones. But what I liked about Subtxt was the continuously-growing list of analyzed stories & their storyforms, the interactive Dramatica Chart with the updated terms & definitions, the more comprehensive amount of Gists, and the more accurate Transits/PSR. I’d be interested in having a subscription that’s all those features minus the AI, though I get that would likely be a pain to code.