Dramatica Weekend Workshop Syllabus

7 STORYWEAVING

Storyweaving: The creative process of revealing exposition and blending symbols to impact an audience; Since it is unlikely that an author can relate all of the story points in a story instantly to an audience, and equally unlikely that an audience could digest the story if received that way, Storyweaving describes the method of presenting the story elements to an audience over time. Choosing what part of the storyform to relate and when to relate it allows an author to fashion the many different dramatic story threads into a potentially unique and exciting tapestry.

  Spatial Techniques: Temporal Techniques:
Exposition • Changing scope

Bigger: Parallax View, conspiracy stories.

Smaller: "You were expecting maybe..." Wizard of Oz ("the great and powerful Oz" becomes "that man behind the curtain").

Both these techniques used extensively in STNG*

GRADUAL SHIFT

• Changing importance

Also used by STNG*, and Hitchcock. Mickey Rooney in a Twilight Zone as a jockey.

 

 

* Star Trek the Next Generation

GRADUAL SHIFT

Expectation • False Connections: Red herrings

The Fugitive (Police siren, raid on house with other fugitive, raid on house for landlord's son)

ABRUPT SHIFT

• False progressions: non-causality

The Music Box

 

ABRUPT SHIFT

Context • Reveals, or Out of context experiences (changing spatial relationships)

Mickey's Trailer and many commercials

SHIFTING PERSPECTIVE TO
CHANGE MEANING

• Continuity: Out of sequence experiences (changing temporal relationships)

Betrayal (with Ben Kingsley)

Pulp Fiction

SHIFTING PERSPECTIVE TO
CHANGE MEANING

Interpretation • Reversals: Shifting context to create surprise meaning

Zone: Invaders (Agnes Moorhead), Slaughterhouse Five (wife driving to hospital), Chinatown (sister/daughter), Homer Simpson and Sugar Daddy -O. Henry

CHANGING MEANING TO
SHIFT PERSPECTIVE

• Flashbacks and flashforwards (sneak previews and postviews)

Remains of the Day vs. Interview with the Vampire


CHANGING MEANING TO
SHIFT PERSPECTIVE

 

Storyweaving Examples

Various storyweaving techniques will be illustrated using clips from the film Delores Claiborne.

* Video Clips: Storyweaving examples from Delores Claiborne.

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Table of Contents

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 Saldaņa 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)

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