A Tool For Your Belt

While it's definitely true that much of writing is a very creative endeavor, there are also times when you need to sit down and consider carefully how the structure of any story works. Plot pacing, character development, goal-setting, and lots of other things can enter into it. Sometimes, when taken as a whole, the job can look daunting. This is especially true when you consider the fact that your readers will demand a realistically constructed story (even if your story is a fantasy work).

But there's good news (at least it was for me)! Click on the title of this blog entry to go to a site for a software package called Dramatica Pro. This application was a godsend to me, and I'll tell you why.

At its core, Dramatica is a tool that literally interviews you. Through a wizard-like interface, it asks you a series of questions (how many depends on how deep you want to take it). It starts out with fairly simple things like the name of your story, names of characters, and a basic plot summary. But then it starts asking questions that force you to think hard about your characters, their role, their interactions with one another, their goals and overall personality as it relates to the plot...

In fact, it's fair to say that Dramatica is very character-driven. And this is what makes it so nice. By the time you're done, you will know not only how any given character will react in a given situation, but you'll see that the plot drives off of their personalities and goals. This to me makes sense as the conscious decisions of people are the true drivers of drama. You'll find that the story has already begun a life of its own even before you've written the first page.

In the end, Dramatica gives you a long "story treatment," a scene-by-scene account of how your story comes about. This story treatment can be reviewed in Dramatica or printed out. Then you can use some of Dramatica's advanced tools and reporting engines to dig deeper. These tools are optional and I rarely use them myself, but I'm glad that the product can grow with your own creative and professional ability.

Well, enough gushing for now. I just had to promote this product at least once. It's a bit on the expensive side (around $250), but I've found it's worth it to have assistance in crafting a story that makes sense and can grip the readers.

Next time we'll talk about some more writing tools, in this case some books, which I'm truly excited about. See you then!