Instant Dramatica
Musings from Armando Saldaņa Mora


Plot Holes

The term "Plot Hole" is a catchall word that includes several common writing mistakes. Those can be:

A character inexplicably looses her personal drive, desire or need (or gains a new one) A character starts acting and thinking in a new way suddenly and without explanation. An event that has nothing to do with the story suddenly happens conveniently solving the story or "thickening the plot". The author starts talking about a completely different theme without finishing answering (or even questioning) the previous one.

Either way, a plot hole is sensed as if someone took out several pages of the book or several feet of the film. 

Dramatica wise it becomes a breeze to detect and prevent plot holes, just look at the Table of Story Elements: if a character has an "Avoid" problem, and suddenly starts having a "Pursue" problem, that would be felt by the reader as plot hole. The same for a character who has a "consider" motivation and suddenly starts to "reconsider".

However, if a "considering" character has an interaction with a "reconsidering" character and you have a little scene where you show how the "reconsiderer" trumps the "considerer", the "considerer" can and will reconsider in the future (until someone or something sets her up straight again). This works. I've done it a few times and got away with it. However, don't try it with the OS problem, solution, focus or direction nor any of the Subjective appreciations.

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.

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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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