The Plot Progression Window

The 4 Signposts are indicators of where the characters stand at certain key points along their journey through the story.  The 3 Journeys are dramatic Acts, detailing the events the characters must experience and deal with on their travels from one signpost to the next.

To view the Signposts & Journeys, use one of these methods:

For each throughline--Overall, Relationship, Main Character, and Influence Character-- the Signposts and Journeys are laid out in a linear fashion, from left to right, as they progress through the story from beginning to end. Each Storyform throughline displays in a different color.

Signpost Storyforming

Each field in a Signpost colored field--such as Overall Story Signpost 1--contains a dramatic element assigned by you and Dramatica when you reached a single Storyform.

If you haven't yet reached one Storyform, you can assign dramatic elements here in the Plot Progression window:

•Click on the storyforming pop-up control to the right of the name of the dramatic element (or “an unchosen item") in the colored Signpost field. A pop-up menu of available elements displays.

•Click on an item to select it, e.g. Doing.

The 4 Signposts of a particular throughline will always be one of the following groups:

•The Past, How Things Are Changing, The Future, The Present

•Understanding, Doing, Obtaining, Gathering Information

•Visualizing a Plan, Playing A Role, Changing One's Nature, Conceiving An Idea

•Memories, Impulsive Responses, Innermost Desires, Contemplation

The other 3 throughlines will take the remaining 3 groups of Signposts. The order in which these elements occur as Signposts is determined by the unique structure of your story.

Journey Storyforming

Each colored field in a Journey column--such as under Overall Story/Journey 1--displays the two signposts that the Journey is traveling between.  Colored Journey fields are not editable. Their contents are determined by the Signposts before and after them.

 

Plot Progression Controls

There are several controls in the upper left portion of the progression window:

Resizing Plot Progression columns

At top left of the Plot Progression window are two directional sliders:

•Slide the horizontal slider left and right to decrease and increase the width of all the columns.

•Slide the vertical slider up and down to decrease and increase the height of all the rows.

•You will also find a 'fit to window' icon to the right of the sliders: .  Click on the icon once to size the contents of the progression window to fill the window.  Click on the icon again to return the window contents to their original positioning.

 

Illustrations

Click on the Illustrations button at top left of the Plot Progression window to toggle the display of your story's Illustrations on and off.

Beneath each colored Throughline, another row displays. The writing you did in the Illustrating stage displays in the field below each Signpost and Journey. The fields in this row are blank if you haven't done any Illustrating yet.

To edit the Illustrations:

1.Double-click on the field containing the text you want to edit. The Edit Illustration window displays.

2.Add, change, or delete text as desired. Use the Cut, Copy, and Paste commands if needed.

3.Exit the Edit window by clicking on the OK button (to save your changes) or the Cancel button (to discard the changes).

Navigating the Plot Progression window

Move around in the Plot Progression window using the Vertical and Horizontal Scrollbars, at right and bottom of the window respectively.

•Use the Tab key to move between the Signposts and Journeys in a linear fashion, from left to right and top to bottom.

•Use the Up, Down, Left, and Right Arrow keys on the keyboard to move from field to field.