Dramatica Pro for Windows

User Reviews

• A great product that makes you KNOW your story.

  lizmarie-mSeptember 25, 2011

  Pros

  -Makes you learn everything about your story -Forces you to do everything you don't want to do that has to be done -Helps you learn what needs to be in a story -You answer questions about your story before you write, so you have all the essentials

  Cons

  -The questions (Storyforming) are long and tedious -You have to learn many terms that aren't always very general -The set-up of the program is hard to understand and difficult to work through

  Summary

  It helps you tremendously in planning your story and helps you to understand what needs to be in your story. It puts it in a better perspective so that you can see what you need in your story. While the Storyforming is annoying and tedious and takes very long time, it is much worth the time because it makes you understand your story better than any other. And besides, it won't take too long if you already know everything in the story, and is rather just organizing it for you in a way easier to understand as you answer the questions. It will be well worth the money after you have completed the Storyforming. It is essential that you be willing to complete it, though, and it is indeed necessary for you to learn a few things about the program. Over all, though, it will be worth it in the end, and will help you to write a spectacular story. It does everything but write the story for you.

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• It's a good Program

  twundersAugust 11, 2008

  Pros

  It's best for the use of an out line to a short story maybe a novel.

  Cons

  needs an editor that allows you work on the novel your self. This organizer is too "this is how to write you book", and doesn't give a greate idea to inspire you to be your own writer. This program is too expensive for what it is!

  Summary

  I recomend using ywriter. That's a good program! You can find that program on here, and it is completly free, no limitation to it being so, and is the best writer's organizer out there that I have seen!

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• GREAT

  lokat.fNovember 14, 2007

  Pros

  GREAT

  Cons

  Summary

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• Good For Outline

  vera5dFebruary 5, 2006

  Pros

  If you're stuck on ideas, or very disorganized in writing your story - this is worthwhile.

  Cons

  Not being able to view your "reports" after filling out your info is a little frustrating with demo - But I'm definately not impressed enough to pay $244.

  Summary

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• So Involving You Forget The Time You've Wasted.

  Narcissus095April 12, 2005

  Pros

  While Dramatica Pro 4.0 does force you to endlessly type blurb after blurb into blank white boxes, answering the same questions again and again, if you actually have the patience to get a final result and the intuition necessary to find the Reports section, you're in for a treat! A worthless summary of a novel that isn't yours.

  Cons

  Let's be honest. This program, like over 90% of "writing software" is an archaic text generating machine that has the interface and graphics era Windows 3.0. Not only is it boring to look at, it's simply redundant and utterly worthless for a serious novelist. For some reason, your main character and your impact character cannot coincide, you cannot have more than one main character, and the endless minutes you waste plugging descriptions and text in have literally *NO* effect on what the program tells -you- your story is about.

  Summary

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• Excellent for beginner writers

  May 18, 2004

  Pros

  Cons

  Summary

  I found this software extremely useful. I had been working on a story for over 10 years, and in the space of half a day, I was able to understand this program and begin to develope my characters in ways I've never been able to. For someone who has never been to a writing class, this was indespensable. I've learned more about writing in one day then I have in years. I feel much more confident that I will be able to compose a story worth publishing :)

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• Who needs this kind of help?

  July 7, 2003

  Pros

  Cons

  Summary

  I wasn't sure if this was the "product rating" area or a literary dissertation after reading IGB's long winded, self-congratulatory and utterly useless commentary as it related to the actual product. If my calculations are correct (4 hours a day for 3 months learning the program), I'd say that's 360 hours on the learning curve. Is that acceptable in any writer's routine? I would hope after that period it would come second nature. The whole point of software of this type is to make the formatting process easier...not to "touch the warm place inside and communicate with it." Aristotle? A model for the human mind? Are you serious? I highly doubt that is the objective of the designers of the software. And I think the time it took for you to learn the program wouldn't exactly be a stellar endorsement to many people. Unless of course they have months to pontificate the origins of self rather than write. The software is cumbersome at best and if you need help with developing characters then you need more than a software program. Leave Dramatica Pro to the wanna-be philosopher and spend your hard-earned dollar on Final Draft or the less expensive Sophocles. You'll be 359 1/2 hours ahead of IGB a.k.a Testicles: The Literary Liberator.

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• Fantastic!

  May 30, 2003

  Pros

  Cons

  Summary

  This is one of the best programs around for writers. It's not difficult to use and it really makes you think about your story.You'd be surprised at how few details you usually have when starting a story but this software helps you fill in those gaps and it's as simple as just answering questions.I think anyone who is serious about their writing should not hesitate to get this.

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• Best of the Best; Ingenious

  February 3, 2003

  Pros

  Cons

  Summary

  If you are the type that wants to be spoonfed every element of your story, then do as the first negative critic did: run. Inherent in Dramatica's theory is the challenge necessary to weed out those who are closed to new ideas and possibilities, too lazy to teach themselves, too bitter to touch the warm place inside and communicate with it. I'd like to ask this person how much time he spent studying the Dramatica theory, before realizing he'd have to work a bit...hmm. Let me just say this to that person and to all other writers: I've used Dramatica Pro since 1997, have become so familiar with its "STORY concept" and how, in my opinion, a story really IS a model for the human mind ...an idea Aristotle didn't even think of. I'm so thankful that I took the 3 months, studying 4 hours a day, to the point that, now -- since using the method for so long -- it's like breathing. Dramatica is not what this nay-sayer hopes it is. He hopes it is "lame," for that would remove from him the labels of undisciplined, dull-minded, and superstitious. No, Dramatica is a brilliant theory of STORY, a new thing under the sun, and it has helped me publish countless short stories, a play, and six novels, since 1997. Before that, I had published a half a dozen stories in literary magazines. Why are people suspect of a theory in the art of fiction? A theory and a "way" to proceed? It beats me. The theory of Dramatica, and the insights it provides those who work toward them is amazingly liberating.

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• complex to use and silly in conception

  November 26, 2002

  Pros

  Cons

  Summary

  Don't bother unless you have a mystical belief in the number 4. Difficult to figure out, and just spits out pre-printed forms.

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