Modes of Expression

Next, we want to consider a new idea: Four modes of expression through which we present the story's structure to an audience. The four modes of expression are:

 

•Information--educational tone which focuses the audience on knowledge.

•Drama--serious tone which focuses the audience on thought.

•Comedy--humorous tone which focuses the audience on ability.

•Entertainment--diverting tone which focuses the audience on desire.

The Dramatica Classes describe what the audience sees. The modes describe the light in which they see them. When we match the two categories, we begin to control the feel our story produces within the audience.

This is analogous to the manner in which we create Throughlines by attaching a point of view to a Class. Throughlines are part of the Story Mind itself and represent how a mind shifts its perspective to consider all sides of an issue. Genres, while also creating perspectives, do so outside the Story Mind and represent the four different ways an audience can look at the Story Mind as a finished work they are receiving.

The following Grid of Dramatica Genres," shows the four Dramatica Classes along one axis, and the four modes of expression along the other.