# Living, breathing people: a workshop **URL:** \ **Category:** Writing\ **Created:** [January 14, 2015, 6:45pm UTC](https://discuss.dramatica.com/t/living-breathing-people-a-workshop/248 "2015-01-14T18:45:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MWollaeger](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex010/user_avatar/discuss.dramatica.com/mwollaeger/32/82_2.png) [@MWollaeger](https://discuss.dramatica.com/u/MWollaeger)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2015, 6:45pm UTC](https://discuss.dramatica.com/t/living-breathing-people-a-workshop/248/1 "2015-01-14T18:45:42Z")
Dramatica is very mathematical – at least the down-and-dirty practical part that most of us use on the computer. It’s 4x4x4 (etc.) and tends to attract people who like that kind of structure. And it’s great, because it reduces story to something we can break apart and move around. This is wonderful because the insight that stories are about the forces at work and not the characters is one of the things that makes Dramatica so powerful. It allows us to think differently and better about story. But as I pointed out in the _Eating Worms_ thread, this approach can also send us down the wrong path sometimes – it encourages us to think about characters as chess pieces and not as people. We may not even recognize that we are doing this, but when you go through and fill out a the StoryGuide and diligently think and decide upon your characters’ _Symptom_ and _Response_, this is what you are doing. You have successfully _designed_ a character, but you do not _know_ them. Three fourths of the Thematic Chart are _Subjective_. They are for characters, not for chess pieces. Since I’ve started working with Dramatica, I have never heard a Dramatica user say “the character spoke to me” or “the character would not behave.” But I hear this all the time from writers who are not users of Dramatica. Generally, when I read their work, the characters stand out. They feel rounder. Their dialogue is much more interesting. Their plots suffer, but here’s the thing – we’ve got a lock on that. And we can knock them for having terrible plots – I used to – but that misses the relevant take-away: we need better characters! For the past year, I’ve been delving into writing much more intuitively. And the result is that people react to my work much differently. They can tell when I have written something from a deeper place, and they say things like, “This character feels real.” I’ve come around to believing that it is imperative for writers to be able to think about their stories from four different perspectives: they have to write what they want to write, the have to make it compelling, they have to make it a Grand Argument Story, and they have to know their characters like they are real people. Dramatica does not typically attract people who instinctively know their characters as well as they know their friends. It’s a tactic we ignore, because we play to our strengths. But if we ignore this weakness and build up our strengths we’re going to end up with really good stories that mean a lot, but somehow don’t sing. **Bottom line** : I’m going to be leading a workshop designed to awaken this part of us and get us discovering characters inside of us – not designing them. If you are interested, send me a PM. Because we are spread all around the globe, I also need to know your time zones and when you are available. I’ve already got people signed up, and I’m going to limit the class size, so if you are interested, don’t be shy. The course will run 8 weeks for $200, it’ll start in mid-February. And, of course, if you have questions – ask away. Mike ---
**Author:** ![FancyRW](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex010/user_avatar/discuss.dramatica.com/fancyrw/32/43_2.png) [@FancyRW](https://discuss.dramatica.com/u/FancyRW)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2015, 7:15pm UTC](https://discuss.dramatica.com/t/living-breathing-people-a-workshop/248/2 "2015-01-14T19:15:43Z")
Sounds fascinating. I came to Dramatica after trying to write my novel for a number of years. I’m a massive plotter/sructuralist, but had been unsatisfied with all the other story structure models I’d tried - my story is not a hero’s journey and did not conform to beats or anything else linearly structured. When I found Dramatica it was a big AHA!. However, I’m a character writer, despite being a structuralist. I need what I call fencepoles between which to develop my character. So the struggle for me with Dramatica has been taking what I already know about my characters and reconciling it with what Dramatica tells me about my story. Sometimes I have a hard time with that, and I’m still working on the learning curve as well. Looking forward to hearing more about this workshop! I did send a PM. ---
**Author:** ![keypayton](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex010/user_avatar/discuss.dramatica.com/keypayton/32/18_2.png) [@keypayton](https://discuss.dramatica.com/u/keypayton)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2015, 12:43am UTC](https://discuss.dramatica.com/t/living-breathing-people-a-workshop/248/3 "2015-01-16T00:43:23Z")
I’m VERY interested in your workshop, Mike – I’m sure you’ll make it lively and fun! – but I don’t see how to send you a private message from here… So put me down as a “definitely want to,” and let me know what steps to take next, okay? ---
**Author:** ![jhull](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex010/user_avatar/discuss.dramatica.com/jhull/32/3_2.png) [@jhull](https://discuss.dramatica.com/u/jhull)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2015, 12:44am UTC](https://discuss.dramatica.com/t/living-breathing-people-a-workshop/248/4 "2015-01-16T00:44:33Z")
Click on his avatar and click the giant blue button that says “Private Message” ---
**Author:** ![keypayton](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex010/user_avatar/discuss.dramatica.com/keypayton/32/18_2.png) [@keypayton](https://discuss.dramatica.com/u/keypayton)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2015, 4:59am UTC](https://discuss.dramatica.com/t/living-breathing-people-a-workshop/248/5 "2015-01-16T04:59:22Z")
Thanks, Jim! Amazing how truly simple that was…