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The original theory manual

Dramatica:
A New Theory of Story

Melanie Anne Phillips & Chris Huntley

Complete online edition · 38 chapters

Begin with Chapter One

A manual for the theory

Dramatica is a theory of how and why complete stories work. This book documents the model behind the Dramatica Narrative Platform: the Story Mind, the four Throughlines, Character, Theme, Plot, Genre, Storyforming, Storyencoding, Storyweaving, and the relationship between a work and its audience.

The original text is presented chapter by chapter, with its diagrams intact, a complete sidebar index, local search, and previous-and-next navigation for sustained reading.

NOTE

This edition preserves the terminology of the original book. Where it says Obstacle Character and Subjective Story, the current Dramatica platform uses Influence Character and Relationship Story.

About this edition

Dramatica: A New Theory of Story was developed and written by Melanie Anne Phillips and Chris Huntley. A free PDF of the original book is also available.

The print edition is available on Amazon.

The text itself remains unchanged apart from conversion into accessible web chapters and the repair of formatting lost in the original HTML.