What is Dramatica Pro 2.0 + Writers Dream Kit 1.7?

Dramatica Pro 2,0 is innovative, feature-packed, and expensive. In brief, this program aids the pro storyteller in developing the smallest germ of an idea into a coherent, grabbing narrative. While it won’t write your screenplay (or novel or teleplay) for you, it is possibly the most useful tax write-off a writer can take this year.

Unlike the typical film-writing instructor, Dramatica won’t discourage you from drafting an action film with a female lead. And unlike your creative writing instructor in college, it won’t tell you that you’re a weak stylist because you don’t write like Raymond Carver. Dramatica exists only to serve you and whatever story you’re attempting to write.

Dramatica facilltates the writing process through its “story engine” and its extensive documentation. The entire four-pound package includes two substantial paperbacks: the User’s Manual which leads you step-by-step through the program and the 400 page Dramatica: A New Theory of Story, which describes Dramatica’s philosophy. The latter book, in particular, is a worthwhile read. It familiarizes you with the terms used throughout the software’s development process and refers to multiple examples of films, plays, and books, which also are analyzed in Dramatica’s story-engine format.

Dramatica’s story engine takes all the book theory and puts it to use. The story-engine asks you a series of questions about your project, ranging from its proposed title to the “physics” of its plot. The process has a fun puzzle quality to it, allowing you to tune out your barking dog or your inner critic. When you are finished answering the questions, Dramatica narrows down your story to one of its over 30,000 “storyforms” allowing you to print reports on your progress and see what previously you could perhaps only intuit.

While answering these questions, Dramatica always makes sure you have plenty of documentation to follow. The User’s Manual acts as an able tutor, and each dialog box includes eight quick-reference buttons which offer help, concept definition, and story examples, among other things, so that you don’t fall off track.

Once you get the hang of the program, there are several more areas to explore. The “Characters” tile helps you to define the characters in your story and lets you visualize &em with over 500 icons. A Theory Help tile gives a nice brush-up to the New Theory of Story.

But the Brainstorming tile is the program’s best auxiliary feature. If you’re in a situation in which you can’t answer one or several of the story engine’s queries (i.e. you have writer’s block), Dramatica takes whatever information you’ve input so far and generates a random storyform that incorporates these elements along with others you’ve yet to answer. You might have to give it several tries before you land on the right version for the story you’re trying to tell, but it sure beats playing endless games of Solitaire.

Dramatica Pro does has one glaring omission. Though it provides a book of program worksheets, particularly necessary for the storyweaving stage, it does not provide the set as templates in the software. Good computer software shouldn’t force you out to Kinko’s each time you want to develop a new story. We all bought printers for a reason.

Dramatica Pro’s other drawback is that it is expensive. As a novice writer or just as someone with minimal cash flow, spending $300 on one program is daunting — even if Screenplay Systems offers a 30-day money-back-guarantee. For those who fit the above profile. Screenplay Systems offers The Writer’s Dreamkit ($100, street). While it doesn’t offer the Dramatica theory book or several of Dramatica Pro’s extras (such as the brainstorming), it has the same basic story-engine and helps you to reach the same basic goal. And if you fall in love with the program, the upgrade to Dramatica Pro is the difference in cost between the two. That’s a fair a deal as you’ll find on the Boulevard of Broken Dreams.

Weisman, Robyn. (July 1997). Dramatica Pro 2.0. MacAddict. (pg. 70).

---

Screenplay Systems’ Dramatica Writer’s Dream Kit gives writers feedback and direction while they flesh out a story idea. If you provide the tale, Dream Kit will help you bulletproof it, through an amazing software-driven short course in narrative theory.

Dramatical well-written documentation breaks creative writing into three phases: Story forming, defining theme and eonfict; Storyencoding, explaining character motivation and plot points; and Story weaving, sketching out actual scenes. The software guides you through the first two phases but strangely leaves you to fill out paper forms — by hand — in the final phase.

Seven buttons on Dream Kit's main screen access its helpful tools, including the Query System, a database of story structures; the Theory Guide, an online help system about story concepts; the Story Engine, a single-page form ro track your story’s main elements; the Characters tool; and the Reports, text files based on your input. Dream Kit's powerful Query System uses the Socratic method, asking you multipie-choice and short-essay questions to push you down the creative mad. You start with 32,768 possible story structures. Answering somewhat abstract questions, such as, “In your story do: actions force decisions or decisions force actions?” helps you narrow your story down to a single Structure. I was both annoyed and enlightened by the unusual approach. Dream Kit forces you to consider your story from a fundamental narrative level amt makes you think more, not less, about what you write.

Clicking through the questions is easy, and Dream Kit supplies helpful definitions, theory explanations, and specific examples from ten famous works, including Hamlet and Star Wars. After 12 initial questions, Dream Kit generates a series of reports on characters, plot, and themes, which you can print or export to text files. Dream Kit modifies the reports on the fly when you make changes. As you continue with 50 follow-up short-essay questions, Dream Kit adds vour input to the repons.

Dream Kit has some drawbacks. Handwriting the forms for the final story-weaving phase is annoying. The database of story structures is versatile but generic, and can leave you staring at puzzling feedback.

The Last Word Nonetheless, Dream Kit blows away the competition in price and power. Most writer-assistance software is $300 or more, but Dream Kit delivers for an affordable $140. And it takes much less time to use than getting a masters degree in creative writing.

Andrews, Dean. (August 1996). Dramatica Writer's Dreak Kit 1.7. Macworld. (pg. 83).

Download Dramatica Pro 2.0 + Writers Dream Kit 1.7 for Mac

Architecture

68K + PPC (FAT)

System Requirements

From Mac OS 7.1 up to Mac OS 9.2

Compatibility notes

Architecture: 68K + PPC (FAT)

Mac OS 7.1 - Mac OS 9.2.2

 

Emulating this? It could probably run under: Basilisk II