Dramatica®

Weekend Workshop

Syllabus

Developed by

Melanie Anne Phillips

Chris Huntley

Copyright © 1996 - 1998 Melanie Anne Phillips & Chris Huntley • All Rights Reserved

Welcome to our class in  the Dramatica Theory of Story
and the software that bears its name!

(Click on the links below for a complete outline
of each section of the syllabus!)

Our purpose in this class is to provide you with a wealth of new tools, techniques, and a new understanding of what stories are and how they work.  Software-wise we will show you how to use Dramatica to go from concept to completion of a fully developed sequential treatment.

Dramatica Theory easily divides into two topics: the structure of story Vs. the telling of story. We refer to the structure of story as “The Elements of Structure.” We refer to the telling of story as “The Art of Storytelling.” The class is organized so that we will move back and forth between the structural and story telling approaches to story.

1 Introduction and Overview

An introduction to the four elements of structure, the four stages of communication, and some of Dramatica’s fundamental concepts.

2 The Elements of Structure: Character

A structural understanding of Characters .

3 The Art of Storytelling: Storyforming

A look at the 8 essential questions which describe a story’s dynamics.

4 The Elements of Structure: Theme

The Thematic Appreciations of a Storyform.

5 The Art of Storytelling: Storyencoding

A look at the process of selecting the symbols for your story.

6 The Elements of Structure: Plot

The static and progressive appreciations of Plot.

7 The Art of Storytelling: Storyweaving

A look at the considerations involved in how to present your story to an audience.

8 The Elements of Structure: Genre

The structure and modes of expressing Genre.

9 The Art of Storytelling: Reception

A look at how the audience is author of their own Reception.

 

Recommended Viewing List

We recommend viewing as many of these films as possible before the class. Consider reviewing the films you have already seen before. Though we will be showing brief clips from many of the films, we have found that the fresher your memories are of the films, the more you will get from the examples we use.

Highly Recommended:

Star Wars

The Fugitive

The Wizard of Oz

To Kill A Mockingbird

Moderately Recommended:

Casablanca

The Godfather

The Verdict

If you haven’t anything better to do on a Saturday night:

Pulp Fiction

Rain Man

Remains of the Day

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf*

 

Index of Dramatica Theory Materials

Storymind.com is pleased to present this collection of materials about the Dramatica Theory of Story. We hope you find it both useful and through-provoking.

This information is divided into three sections:

The Dramatica Theory
A complete exploration of the theory in every detail

Historic Documents
The development of Dramatica from the beginning

Speculations
Dramatica applied to psychology, physics, religion and more

The Dramatica Theory

Dramatica Theory Book Online
Free online edition of the 400+ page book, Dramatica: A New theory of Story, in which Melanie Anne Phillips & Chris Huntley originally documented their work.

Dramatica Dictionary
Official definitions of all terms in the Dramatica theory and software.

Dramatica Writing Tips
Useful and informative articles on how to approach and employ both the Dramatica Theory and Software.

Constructive Criticisms
Practical illustrations of how applying the Dramatica theory could have made some well-known successful story's even better!

Dramatica Q & A
Answers to questions from users of the Dramatica Theory and Software.

Instant Dramatica
Even more directly practical essays on using Dramatica for real-world writing situations and problems provided by noted screenwriter Armando Saldaña Mora.

Historic Documents

Dramatica - The Lost Theory Book
Early attempts to document the theory, including many unfinished conjectures and false starts.

Dramatica Development Archives
Early documents created during the development of the foundations of Dramatica.  Often later discarded, they show the roots of the thinking that ultimately evolved into the theory as it stands today.

Speculations

Deep Theory
Transcript of a class on the outer fringes of Dramatica Theory I taught as part of a now-defunct Dramatica Certification course.

Dramatica Math
A mathematician takes a stab at describing the Dramatica model in terms of dimensional distortions.

Mental Relativity
An exploration of the theory of psychology modeling which grew out of the development of Dramatica.

Dramatica I Ching
Several of our users have noticed a similarity between the character grid in Dramatica and the elements of the traditional I Ching.  Though unintentional, perhaps all models that look deeply into the mind will resemble each other.

Our Most Popular Products

StoryWeaver Story Development Software

By far, our most popular product, outselling all of our other products combined!  StoryWeaver takes you step by step through the entire process--from initial inspiration to completed novel or screenplay.  At just $29.95, StoryWeaver is affordable for any writer.  (Details)


Movie Magic Screenwriter

is one of two industry standard word processing screenplay formatters, the other being Final Draft.  Each of these programs offers a complete suite of screenwriting tools to make your next script a breeze to write.  (Details


Dramatica Pro

Unlike any other story development product, Dramatica Pro uses a patented Story Engine to interactively help you build a structure, find and fix dramatica holes and inconsistencies.  (Details)


20 Hour Writing Course on CD ROM

This intense program features 20 hours of video documenting the entire college-level course in creative writing given by Melanie Anne Phillips, creator of StoryWeaver and co-creator of Dramatica.  Just $19.95  (Details)

More

 

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