Congratulations! By opening up your mind to other ways of looking at the story creation process, you've taken the first step on the way to becoming a better writer. For that's all Dramatica is--a software tool for writers of dramatic fiction. Whether you're writing novels or short stories, screenplays or stage plays, the story development process Dramatica leads you through has the single aim of improving your craft of storytelling.

This approach to story determines how a story is structured, which dramatic elements constitute a “perfect" story, and how those elements are best arranged in order to have the writer's desired effect on an audience.

Due to Dramatica's 32,768 possible storyforms--or combinations of these dramatic elements--there is no danger of a formula being imposed upon the writer. What makes your story so unique is that you are telling it, your way, as only you can. Looking at story from Dramatica's point of view can actually free your mind from any formulaic approaches to storytelling you may have unwittingly absorbed from other sources.

As Dramatica deals with the pre-writing phase of story creation--where the left brain organizes and outlines the pieces that make up a story--it primarily affects the framework of your story. Your individual line writing--where the right brain roams free and unleashes the art of storytelling--can be as creative as ever. We hope that with the input of Dramatica, your creative writing partner, it will be more so.

Be prepared for a little frustration. Writing, and especially rewriting, is not easy.

Be prepared for insight. Much of what Dramatica has to say about story will be new to you, or may challenge your previous knowledge or assumptions about storytelling. But much of it will have a familiar ring, putting a fresh spin on some aspect of storytelling you already use in your writing. Be prepared to have fun. True, writing is work. But work should be fun. Do what you love, and success will follow.