| 
| Authors: Melanie Phillips, Chris Huntley
Publisher: Write Brothers, Inc.
Buy New: $19.95
New (1) Used (3) from $9.95
Rating:  8 reviews
Sales Rank: 253352
Media: Paperback
Pages: 448
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.6
Dimensions (in): 9.9 x 7.1 x 1
ISBN: 091897304X
EAN: 9780918973047
ASIN: 091897304X
Publication Date: December 10, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
|
| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 6-8 of 8
Dramatica February 14, 2007
Adrian M. Davies (California, USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I like this book, in combination with the software it does give a solid foundation to build a book from. It is not a replacement for talent or flair, but it will help you orgainze ideas, keep timelines and PoVs in order
The Up, The Down, and the Good In-Between January 21, 2008
Architect of Skin (Philippines)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
THE UP: It's comprehensive. It actually encouraged me to look at a story as a framework, a skeleton, and see how the different parts hinge on one another. For storycrafting, the Dramatica theory can literally help one see holes in plot or characterization, allowing a writer to make more sound creative decisions, if not induce more headaches, towards the creation of a full, robust story. The book even touches on how the theory applies to different genre.
THE DOWN. It's comprehensive. The theory puts a label on practically everything--and there are a lot of labels. Though the theory is cleanly presented as a chart, it is still a deep chart. If you don't have the software, appreciating the Dramatica theory can be tedious, if not frustrating. I wonder when the Idiot's Guide will come out?
THE GOOD IN-BETWEEN. If you want to look at storycrafting from a different perspective and don't mind a little rattling in your brain, this is a good book. It can enrich what you already know about constructing a full story. However, trying to go through the entire book AND putting it into practice can potentially threaten your writing time. It's not really a practical guide. The Dramatica website has a downloadable PDF version, so you might want to give this a go then decide if you want the hard copy.
I would like to see this book have a "What This Means In The Real World" section after every chapter, wherein a summary of the key points are presented along with practical tips. Again, the Dramatica theory is eye-opening, but I guess it's meant to be absorbed by a chosen few.
 Talent is not enough--unless you're using Dramatica March 31, 2006
Joy Higgins (Denair, CA United States)
Dramatica: A New Theory of Story is not a book you can skim through, it is a tough, no-nonsense, disciplined approach to creative writing; one that not only requires intense study, but also demands that you lay aside everything else you have ever read about story technique. The payoff is, Dramatica will force you to be the best you can be. Talent isn't enough in today's marketplace. No matter how great the writing, publishers want stories with no plot holes (if they find 'em, you gotta fix 'em and they don't tell you where to look). They want brief yet succint answers to questions like "who's the audience, what's the premise, the theme, the genre, the plot, etc." Dramatica will give you that information. Sometimes you'll hear, "it doesn't quite come together" which means the structure of your story is weak. That's where Dramatica shines like a lighthouse beacon in a storm. If you use Dramatica properly, underdeveloped structure will never be a problem. Once you have a firm grasp of all the story points you must cover in order to produce a complete and satisfying story, unchain the talent and watch it produce. Does Dramatica stifle creative imagination? Absolutely not! If anything, it throws you into overdrive as you work through the story encoding and story weaving sections. Try it. You'll love it! If you are serious about, and committed to, the stories you want to tell, Dramatica needs to be at your elbow. A word of advice though-once you get the book and/or software, study the Dramatica dictionary of word meanings before you get into the theory; make them automatic thought processes and you'll do just fine. Happy reading. Happy writing.
|
|
|
