Question About the Dramatica Spreadsheet

questions
#1

The spreadsheet I’m referring to is here.

Referring to the spreadsheet, the Overall Story has the Class (Domain in the spreadsheet) as Physics. The signposts for OS are the four Types in the Class Physics.

Assuming a journey in the spreadsheet is represented by the SRCA sequence.

Each journey in the OS thoughline (i.e. Column B Row 13 to Column B Row 16) is compose of opposing elements from the thematic matrix that appear to be grouping titles in bold (i.e. “Fate” in Column B Row 13) and opposing elements from the character matrix (i.e. “Knowledge, Thought, Order, Chaos” in Column B Row 13).

Question: What determines the element order (from both thematic and character matrices) in a given journey?

What’ confusing is that I have the software and I’m mapping it’s output to the spreadsheet. The output for the signposts and journeys from the software does not correspond to entries in the spreadsheet. The software outputs phrases like, “Conceiving an Idea” or “Playing a Role”.

Any help would be appreciated…

#2

You’ll want to learn more about the Plot Sequence Report and What Has Changed about Dramatica.

Also, you can listen to How to Outline Your Story with the Plot Sequence Report (and I’ll be writing that podcast up within the next week.

#3

404 for https://narrativefirst.com/archives/concepts/plot-sequence-report. I tried various url combinations, couldn’t load this page.

#4

Thanks - had an error in the original post, fixed it and it should work now.

#5

Mr. Hull,
Thanks for your earlier response. I’m still struggling with that spreadsheet. I think I can ask a better question now that I can put my finger on the confusion…

The journeys for the OS through line are from another class. The OS journeys for journey 1 on the spreadsheet are:

Fate
Prediction
Interdiction
Destiney

These elements come from the Situation Class. The OS class is Activity. It appears that the Main Character journey elements have been exchanged with those of the Overall Story. Is this right?

The IC has journey elements (Self Interest, Mortality, Attitude, Approach) belonging to the Activity Class. The IC throughline has a Class of Fix Attitude. Can you explain this?

Thanks for your help. BTW, the links you provided are still broken.

Regards,
Joseph

#6

The Dramatica website has an explanation: “An ‘inside’ view of the storyform—what the world would look like from INSIDE the story—would look much more like the Plot Sequence Report describes, where there’s a whole lot of mixing up going on. That is a completely valid point of view, but seems to hold little bearing to the ‘outside’ point of view represented by the Dramatica story engine settings and story points. The Plot Sequence report is the one report in the Dramatica Pro software that gives you an idea of what that world looks like from inside the story.”

Source: http://dramatica.com/questions/how-do-i-make-sense-of-the-plot-sequence-report

#7

so many posts of your’s showing 404. please correct

#8

This must be from the Plot Sequence Report. It’s not easily explained (at least by me), but there are many good resources dedicated to explaining what it is and how best to use it.

Basically, your characters don’t know they’re in an OS of Activity. From their subjective perspective within your story, they see the problems as though they’re from another Class. If that first SP is Learning, for example, then objectively their problems are with Learning, but the characters feel like they’re dealing with Fate, Destiny, etc.

It’s well worth your time to read up on the PSR. It’s kind of hidden in the software, but it’s invaluable.