By common definition, the word 'gist' refers to the central idea, main substance, or essence of something.

In Dramatica usage, a gist is short textual instance that describes a Dramatica structural item.  For example, two gists for "Obtaining" might be "Winning the Lottery" and "Losing Weight."

The purpose of gists is to provide English language approximations of the Dramatica structural item terms.  Each one provides the 'gist' of the idea of the item.  They work in several ways:

1.The most obvious use of gist is to use the gist database to make structural choices by choosing an appropriate gist for your story point.  By doing so, it automatically chooses the associated structural item.  This makes the process of picking storyforms easier.  For example, two examples for Obtaining might be "Winning the Lottery" or "Losing Weight."

2.By using gists, the topic questions in the StoryGuide and other Query System topics reads more like a story-related question.  For example, the topic question for Story Goal would originally read, "Describe how 'Obtaining' is the goal of common concern to everyone in the Overall Story throughline."  With a gist selected, it would read, " Describe how 'Wining the Lottery' is the goal of common concern to everyone in the Overall Story throughline."

3.For those familiar with the Dramatica structural term definitions, they can create new gists specifically for the story in mind by typing it into the space allotted below the structural choice column.  So long as it is appropriate for the structural item, it can be as broad or as narrow as the writer wants.  Using the Story Goal of Obtaining in the above example, a user might create a gist such as, "Winning the California Super Lotto," or something completely new, such as, "Getting Rid of an Elected Politician."  Both relate to 'Obtaining', so both are valid gists for that structural item.

4.For those unfamiliar (or less familiar) with Dramatica terminology, they may choose the available gists, or create a customized gist based on one of the existing list of gists.  For example, the Obtaining gist 'Finding Something', could become, "Finding Someone to Adopt a Stray Cat," or "Finding a Lost Locket," or "Finding a Missing Person."