Positive Impact

The Dramatica theory of story is the only paradigm of story where the order of events carries with it as much meaning as the events themselves.

Occasionally, we get letters:

I can't thank you enough for this site. I truly, from the bottom of my heart cannot. I've been struggling against a number of instructors recently. They kept pushing and pushing, indicating that I was failing to grasp how to create a compelling protagonist because my main character 'does not change', while the rest of the characters around her do.

Every Main Character grows, not every Main Character changes. From our article What Character Arc Really Means:

Sometimes a person can grow by maintaining their position, shoring up their resolve against whatever is thrown at them.

Dramatica refers to this as the Steadfast Main Character.

The letter continues:

I had at once the sense of: am I truly not grasping a concept which all screenwriters must master... or are they applying concepts that are not necessary to my story?

No and yes. In that order.

Really grateful to experience this kind of impact tonight.