Dramatica Software - Brainstorming (Part 2)

When you have finished brainstorming, hit the "OK" button and the structure you have selected will be loaded throughout the Dramatica software. For example, in the Story Points window you will see all the dramatic elements you slected have been automatically copied there so you can describe how each will come into play as your story unfolds.

Perhaps the best place to go after brainstorming is the Story Engine window. Though the features of the Story Engine are fully explored in other posts, at this time we're concerned with how to use the Story Engine in conjunction with the Brainstorming window.

The Story Engine doesn't show all the story points Dramatica tracks. Rather, it presents those story points most often focused on by authors so that the core dramatics of the story's structure can be adjusted directly.

As described in Brainstorming Part 1, the structure you chose was not intented to be perfect but simply one which has several to many of the dramatic elements you'd like in your story. When you then move to the Story Engine, you can make choices as to which of the elements you'd like to "lock in" and which you'd like to explore for other options.

Next to every story point, the Story Engine lists the dramatic value that was chosen for that story point. For example, in one structure the story point called Goal might have a value of Obtaining, meaning that the Protagonist in this story is trying to Obtain something. In another structure the Goal might have a value of Becoming, meaning that the Protagonist is trying to become something.

Next to Goal is a lock box symbol. If you click it you are explicitly choosing that you want to keep that value and don't want to change it no matter what. You might also choose to have your Main Character's Resolve to have a vlaue of Steadfast, meaning it will stick by its guns and not change its attitude, morals or purpose.

Once you have locked all the story points you want to keep as is, you click the "Clear" button. When you do, all the other choices in the random story structure are removed, opening up as many options as possible that are dramatically consistent with the choices you locked.

Now you can make additional choices from the options that have opened. And as you do, Dramatica's Story Engine will cross reference the dramatic impact of all the choices you make, gradually limiting the remaining options to only those which are dramatically consistent with what you've already chosen.

But if you are still having trouble making specific choices, just lock down the ones you are sure about and then return to the Brainstorming window where you can Spin The Model again to randomly select dramatic values for all your unlocked story points.

Eventually, you'll have selected all the elements necessary for Dramatica to calculate the rest of the dramatic values for your entire structure.