Creative Writing - Dramatica - A New Theory Of Story Telling.pdf - CREATIVE WRITING - askaa192

DRAMATICA:

A NEW THEORY OF STORY

Developed and Written by

Melanie Anne Phillips & Chris Huntley

SPECIAL ON-LINE EDITION.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

In support of the on-line writing community, Screenplay Systems

Incorporated is providing this special on-line edition of the 450 page book,

DRAMATICA: A NEW THEORY OF STORY .

How This Book Is Arranged

Part of what makes a story great is its underlying dramatic

structure and part is the manner in which that structure is

related to an audience, often called "storytelling".

Therefore, this book is divided into two principal

sections: The Elements of Structure and The Art of Storytelling .

In The Elements of Structure you will explore the essential

components that occur in all complete stories as they

appear in Character, Theme, Plot, and Genre. In the Art of

Storytelling you will examine the Four Stages of

Communication that occur between an author and an audience:

Storyforming, Storyencoding, Storyweaving, and Reception.

By the time you have finished, you will have gained a whole

new understanding of what stories are and a whole new set

of tools for creating them. For a glimpse of how some of

Dramatica's basic concepts can be employed to improve a

story, you might want to take a look at a constructive

criticism of the motion picture Jurassic Park appearing in

the Epilogue section.

You will note that the majority of examples provided in

this book are drawn from motion pictures. This stems from

the authors' personal backgrounds in the motion picture

industry. Dramatica, however, is a theory of story -- not a

theory of screenplay. All of the dramatic concepts

presented here are equally applicable to any medium of

story expression.

Note about Pronoun Usage : Some characters are best looked at

by their dramatic functions. To help keep this perspective,

we use the impersonal pronoun "it" when referring to such

characters. Other characters are best explored in terms of

their growth. To help draw the reader into a closer

relationship with such a character, we use the personal

pronoun, "he". Earlier editions of this book used "she" as

the personal pronoun. Because of this uncommon usage,

readers were jarred out of a relationship with personal

characters, rather than being drawn in, defeating our

purpose. As a result, this edition employs masculine

pronouns.

Chapter 1

Dramatica and the Creative Writer

A Place to Start

Mastering the craft of writing requires a skill in

communication and a flair for style. Through communication,

an audience receives meaning. Through style, an author

achieves impact. The Dramatica theory of story explores

both aspects of the writing process providing structural

guidelines for clarifying communication and artistic

techniques for enhancing style.

Accordingly, this book is divided into two principal

sections: The Elements of Structure and The Art of Storytelling .

Separating these two aspects of the writing craft allows us

to see more deeply into each. This arrangement also splits

the experience of writing into two parts, when in practice,

they are usually blended in a simultaneous effort.

Many other books have been written which explore the

blended creative process. In contrast, this is a book of

theory, and is designed more to educate, than to inspire.

Still, the motivation to write is one of inspiration. So,

before we rush headlong into a detailed, accurate, and

revolutionary explanation of story, let us put everything

in context by describing the relationship of Dramatica with

the Creative Writer.

Communication

The process of communication requires at least two parties:

the originator and the recipient. In addition, for

communication to take place, the originator must be aware

of the information or feelings he wishes to transmit, and

the recipient must be able to determine that meaning.

Similarly, storytelling requires an author and an audience.

And, to tell a story, one must have a story to tell. Only

when an author is aware of the message he wishes to impart

can he determine how to couch that message so it will be

accurately received.

It should be noted that an audience is more than a passive

participant in the storytelling process. When we write the

phrase, "It was a dark and stormy night," we have

communicated a message, albeit a nebulous one. In addition

to the words, another force is at work creating meaning in

the reader's mind. The readers themselves may have conjured

up memories of the fragrance of fresh rain on dry straw,

the trembling fear of blinding explosions of lightning, or

a feeling of contentment that recalls a soft fur rug in

front of a raging fire. But all we wrote was, "It was a

dark and stormy night." We mentioned nothing in that phrase

of straw or lightning or fireside memories. In fact, once

the mood is set, the less said, the more the audience can

imagine. Did the audience imagine what we, the authors, had

in mind? Not likely. Did we communicate? Some. We

communicated the idea of a dark and stormy night. The

audience, however, did a lot of creating on its own. Did we

tell a story? Definitely not!

Grand Argument Stories

The question arises: Is telling a story better than telling

a non-story? No. Stories are not "better" than any other

form of communication -- just different. To see this

difference we need to define "story" so we can tell what a

story is and what it is not. Herein lies a political

problem. No matter how one defines "story," there will be

an author someplace who finds his favorite work has been

defined out, and feels it is somehow diminished by not

being classified as a story. Rather than risk the ire of

countless creative authors, we have limited our definition

to a very special kind of story: the Grand Argument Story .

As its name indicates, a Grand Argument Story presents an

argument. To be Grand, the argument must be a complete one,

covering all the ways the human mind might consider a

problem and showing that only one approach is appropriate

to solving it. Obviously, this limits out a lot of

creative, artistic, important works -- but not out of being

stories, just out of being Grand Argument

Stories. So, is a Grand Argument Story better than any

other kind? No. It is just a specific kind.

The Free-form Author

While some authors write specifically to make an argument

to an audience, many others write because they want to

follow their personal muse. Sometimes writing is a

catharsis, or an exploration of self. Sometimes authoring

is a sharing of experiences, fragmented images, or just of

a point of view. Sometimes authoring is marking a path for

an audience to follow, or perhaps just presenting emotional

resources the audience can construct into its own vision.

Interactive communications question the validity of a

linear story itself, and justifiably so. There are many

ways to communicate, and each has just as much value as the

next depending upon how one wishes to affect one's audience.

The Scope of Dramatica

With all these forms of communication, isn't Dramatica

severely limited in addressing only the Grand Argument

Story? No. The Grand Argument model described by Dramatica

functions to present all the ways a mind can look at an

issue. As a result, all other forms of communication will

be using the same pieces, just in different combinations,

sequences, or portions. In our example, we indicated that

the less we said, the more the audience could use its

imagination. A Grand Argument Story says it all. Every

point is made, even if hidden obscurely in the heart of an

entertainment. Other forms of communication use "slices" of

the model, chunks, or levels. Even if an author is unaware

of this, the fact that human minds share common essential

concepts means that the author will be using concepts and

patterns found in the Dramatica model.

Symbolizing Concepts

It has been argued that perhaps the symbols we use are what

create concepts, and therefore no common understanding

between cultures, races, or times is possible. Dramatica

works because indeed there ARE common concepts: morality,

for example. Morality, a common concept? Yes. Not everyone

shares the same definition of morality, but every culture

and individual understands some concept that means

"morality" to them. In other words, the concept of

"morality" may have many different meanings -- depending on

culture or experience -- but they all qualify as different

meanings of "morality." Thus there can be universally

shared essential concepts even though they drift apart

through various interpretations. It is through this

framework of essential concepts that communication is

possible.

Communicating Concepts Through Symbols

How can essential concepts be communicated? Certainly not

in their pure, intuitive form directly from mind to mind.

(Not yet, anyway!) To communicate a concept, an author must

symbolize it, either in words, actions, juxtapositions,

interactions -- in some form or another. As soon as the

concept is symbolized, however, it becomes culturally

specific and therefore inaccessible to much of the rest of

Creative Writing - Dramatica - A New Theory Of Story Telling.pdf

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