I’d say it’s more like story structure is white light, most theories out there are the colors of the rainbow, and Dramatica is the prism. What you’ll find eventually is that Dramatica reflects all the other theories, but it matters where you’re looking from.
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I read a smaller earlier version of Dramatica, I’m now reading the newer (424 page) version, so I’ll read, read, read.
I really was more interested in the linear/holistic box, but everyone was more focusing more on the others. I should just go study Dramatica’s terms like the bible. I’m sorry, for going on.
The Dramatica’s textbook doesn’t say a lot on the “mental problem solving techniques” though. I’ll watch more of the videos, but the boxes still feel rigid to me. But thank you
I’ll see if I can rewatch it Monday or Tuesday. I don’t remember his approach, other than dodging things he didn’t want to face.
Don’t be sorry. You felt strongly about your interpretation and presented in good faith and humor. Dramatica is a very deep pool and it’s easy to flounder. I’ve been at this nearly as long as Jim and I still get muddled all the time. I’ve been known to disagree here from time to time (Shhhh. y’all, quit laughing) but I pretty much always start from how the heck am I not seeing what everyone else is seeing.
What is it about the binary that bothers you?
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Yes, it’s called Dramatica Story Expert and of the two it’s the better version. More robust.
Definitely agree. And, I can’t wait until they finish the upgrade for Big Sur.
I want a Mac version, so, so bad.
A lot. Lol most of the stuff I mentioned already. Sorry I’ll watch some more videos.
Just my two cents – and this depends entirely on what your goal is – if the intent is to write something great, nothing beats writing. (In other words, don’t let study overwhelm the practice of writing).
Remember that Dramatica is tool that describes how the storymind already works. My own experience is that it’s eerily accurate. In the past where a particular storypoint hasn’t made sense to me, this is almost always because I wasn’t understanding some aspect of how the model worked (e.g. go back in earlier threads and see me trying to argue that Belle in Beauty and the Beast is a Be-er in Mind. I don’t think I would make that mistake if I were analyzing that story now).
But also remember that ninety-nine percent of the “complete” stories we analyze were obviously written by people with no knowledge of Dramatica. (The most “perfectly structured” ones are probably Shakespeare’s plays).
The value of Dramatica for writing is a) to help you better figure out your narrative upfront to speed up writing and b) to diagnose something where you’re sure something is off but you can’t figure out what, or how to fix it.
On the other hand, if you’re writing something and your understanding of Dramatica says “do X” and your intuition says “do Y” – you should go with Y. It’s more likely that your understanding of the Dramatica model is wrong or incomplete on a particular point than that your intuition is “wrong”.
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Thank you, Lakis.
Okay, so I did some reading from my Dramatica “special tenth anniversary Edition”, and it says do-ers adapt their environment through action, be-ers through strength of character, charisma, influence. It also says don’t confuse do-er or be-er with active and passive, and I was doing some of this, as well as a bunch of other things. But here’s another quote on pg.181: a do-er deals in competition, a be-er in collaboration, so I’m now asking, so I understand according to Dramatica theory, does this still make Mark in The Social Network a “be-er”? Or would this be a example of a film that bends/twists the rule?
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One of the reasons it’s so tricky is that there are at least three reasons why an MC Be-er can appear to be a Do-er, or vice versa:
- The MC player is acting in relation to something outside of their personal issues. For example, they’re acting in their OS role.
- Since Be-er/Do-er only indicates a preference for solving their personal problems, they may try the other approach when they don’t see another good option.
- The MC may be acting under the influence of the IC (at any point in the story).
Instead of thinking it as bending/twisting, it may help to consider things in light of the above.
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