Author Alicia Butcher Ehrhardt offers a fantastic look at how Dramatica's approach to structuring a story can help 'seat of their pants' writers figure out what goes where:

If you find it freeing to have a basic structure set up so that when you come to write/revise a scene you don’t have to worry that you will forget to connect X to Y, because that’s already decided, and now you just have to deal with the scene that brings up X – you can at least consider Dramatica.

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Melanie Anne Phillips reveals new developments in the search for a comprehensive understanding of the dynamics involved in story:

Which brings me (at last) to the subject of this article: my new discovery that finally allows me to bridge the gap from the dynamic questions (the fourth aspect of the current structural model, the current super class, to the next super class: the structural view of dynamics.

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Jim Hull explores the recent trend in deficient Main Characters and what it means for story:

Writers must keep the point-of-views solid throughout their stories lest they wish to severely disorient those engaging with their work. Centering the Audience with the conflicting perspectives of both Main Character and Influence Character helps clarify what the Author wishes to say with their work.

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Rare look at Dramatica co-creator Melanie Anne Phillips notebook:

What are Super Classes? Think of the entire Dramatica model as it currently exists and then imagine that whole model is just one element in a quad of four such similar models. The current version and each of its family members in that overarching quad are all considered “Super Classes” because each contains four Classes.

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Jim gives thought to the reason for Dramatica's story point Main Character Approach:

In each of these cases, the Main Character approaches their personal problem by first taking that path of least resistance. External takes external, internal takes internal. Realizing this, one can easily see how the Main Character’s Approach can be used to identify the source of that central character’s personal problem as well as their response to it.

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Concerning the psychology and personality of a story:

By taking time to examine whether your story has a sound psychology that makes it feel like a functional person and that the personality of the story itself is both human and interesting as well, you’ll create a consistency that can’t be achieved simply by looking at the structural elements through a microscope.

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Dramatica super-fan Jim Hull suggests new terminology to help clear up any confusion surrounding the Main Character Resolve.

But perhaps this use of the word “Change” and applying it to only one of the principal characters becomes too much. It may be the most accurate way to describe the process of a fully-functioning story, but it might also be creating confusion where there shouldn’t be. Like many of the terms found in earlier versions of Dramatica such as Preconscious and Obstacle Character (now Impulsive Responses and Influence Character respectively), a slight modification might be in order.

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Dramatica co-creator Melanie Anne Phillips explains why it is important to retain a story's structure when reconceiving a remake.

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