By Melanie Anne Phillips
Creator of StoryWeaver

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Write Your Novel or Screenplay Step By Step

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Copyright Melanie Anne Phillips - Owner, Storymind.com, Creator Storyweaver, Co-creator Dramatica

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Thousands of writers use StoryWeaver to build their story’s world, characters, plot, theme,
and genre.

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Thousands of writers use Dramatica to find and refine their story’s structure and to find and fix holes and missteps.

• 200 Interactive Story Cards guide you from concept to completion, step by step.

• Help Buttons with Writing Tips, Example Stories, Hints, and Tricks.

• Work on multiple stories at once.

• Jot down creative notes from anywhere in StoryWeaver.

• Placeholder: Pick up writing where you left off.

• Develop multiple levels of detail for your plot and characters.

• Intuitive navigation path helps you follow your Muse.

• Works on any device: desktop, laptop, tablet, phone, Windows, Macintosh, iOs, Android & Chrome

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• Patented Story Engine cross- references your dramatic choices to create a structure map.

• AI style narrative model finds holes, missteps and suggests how to fix & fill them.

• Automatically generates a timeline from your story’s structural map.

• Offers three levels of detail depending on the complexity of your story.

• Includes hundreds of examples, tips, tricks, and techniques.

• Comes with more than sixty structural maps for classic and popular novels, movies and stage plays.

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~ Step 120 ~

Establishing The Thematic Topic – Act One

The thematic topic is the subject matter of your story, such as "death," or "man's inhumanity to man."  No matter what topic you will be exploring, it will contain large issues, small issues, and everything in between.

In act one, you need to introduce and establish your theme so that your audience gets a sense of the kinds of issues you'll be exploring.  There are three different approaches you might take.

1.  You could outline the scope of your subject matter with one or more large, definitive dramatic moments.   Then, in acts two and three, you would gradually fill in smaller and smaller details, adding nuance and shading to the overall topic as the story progresses.  This system is best when trying to apply topics that are often seen objectively or impersonally to everyday life.

2.  Conversely, you could begin with the details in act one, then move to larger concerns as the story progresses.  This is a good way to elevate topics dealing with commonplace, mundane, or work-a-day issues to philosophical or global importance.

3.  Finally, you could mix it up, presenting a blend of issues ranging from the large to the small in every act.  This creates a feeling that the topic is an area to explore, rather than a statement to be understood.

No matter which method you use, it needs to be set up in act one.  So, look over the examples you've already developed to illustrate your thematic topic, determine which of the three approaches you wish to take, and then list the specific illustrations that you’d like to present in act one to establish that approach.