Dramatica is Not a Religion

Belief will get you nowhere.

The Dramatica theory of story is sometimes described by those who don't get it as a cult. They experience difficulty understanding the theory's claims or registering what they do appreciate with what they already know. Tossing their hands up in frustration, they label those who do get it a fanatic follower.

As if belief played some part in it.

Faith and Acceptance

There is a difference between faith and acceptance.

You need faith to get into Heaven. Or to convince yourself your marriage is growing, not disintegrating.

You need acceptance that there are patterns for every level of Pac-Man if you want to learn how to beat the game. And you need acceptance if you want to inspire someone with the idea that it's OK to be gay.

Dramatica is not a religion--it's a theory of story. Faith does not factor in, as you don't have to "believe" anything.

It's a theory with one major given: That every complete story is an analogy to a single human mind trying to solve a problem.

Everything you find beneficial about the theory: the Act order, the Plot Sequence Report, the concept of Changed and Steadfast Main Characters--all of it stems from that core given.

Accept that given and you can then learn how to write a story with it--and if you're interested, how all the above works. Reject that and you're wasting your time.

The Proof of Experience

Faith is defined as "acceptance without proof." Accepting Dramatica's givens--like the concept of a story serving as an analogy to the mind or the concept of Mental Sex--is not without proof.

That's Acceptance--"a decision to allow."

We have over 400 storyforms and twenty years of experience analyzing and creating stories with Dramatica.

We have first hand knowledge of feature films, animated films, television series and even novels that used some aspect of Dramatica to help create their story.

They used that given of story as an analogy for the mind's problem-solving process and they created great stories.

Faith is found under Obtaining. Acceptance is found--naturally--under Learning.

Asking someone to help you "believe" in Dramatica is a non-starter--it's a broken story.

Unless you want Dramatica to help you get into Heaven.