Dramatica Theory

The meaning
beneath your story.

A way to understand how character, plot, and theme
become one complete argument.

Watch the introduction

Four Throughlines

One story.
Four ways to see it.

A complete story explores an inequity from four distinct Perspectives.
Choose one to see what it brings into focus.

Objective Story

What is everyone caught up in?

Look at the conflict from the outside: the roles people play and the problem they face together. This is the big picture, whether the conflict involves activity, a situation, attitudes, or ways of thinking.

Imagine a story

The crew must decide how to bring a stranded expedition home.

Four views of the conflict. Each contributes something the others cannot.

Storyform & Storytelling

The structure holds.
The possibilities open.

A Storyform describes how the sources of conflict relate. Storytelling gives those relationships a world, a cast, and a voice.

The underlying relationships

Storyform

The conflict, the Perspectives, and the choices that give the story its meaning. A connected structure that develops over time.

A shared crisis. A personal conviction.
A challenge to it. A bond under pressure.

The world you create

Storytelling

The people, places, dialogue, and events your audience experiences. Your particular expression of that underlying structure.

A stranded expedition. A captain.
A doubtful navigator. A fragile partnership.

The same structural relationships can support very different stories.
Your imagination gives them their particular life.

Main Character Resolve

Change isn’t
the only way forward.

Some Main Characters abandon their central approach.
Others hold to it as the pressure grows. Both can carry a complete story.

Change

The Main Character gives up their central approach and adopts a different one. The story explores what it takes to make that shift.

Steadfast

The Main Character maintains their central approach through the story’s test. They can grow and learn while remaining Steadfast.

Resolve describes the Main Character’s approach.
It is distinct from whether the Objective Story Goal succeeds or fails.

A good place to begin

A few minutes.
A new Perspective.

Start with these short, official introductions.

01Introduction to DramaticaHow plot, character, and theme work together.5 min02The Four ThroughlinesFour Perspectives. One complete argument.4 min03Change vs. SteadfastTwo ways to meet the pressure of a story.7 min
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Go a little deeper

Room to explore.

Read the theory in full, compare approaches to story, or see the ideas applied to a familiar film.

The Dramatica Theory BookThe foundations, in full. Read online.Seven ways to look at storyA comparison of seven story paradigms.Building a Better DinosaurMelanie Anne Phillips explores Jurassic Park.Explore the theory archives

Put understanding into practice

Make it your story.

Explore the workspaces that bring Dramatica Theory
into your writing process.

Explore the features