Writer's Dreamkit 4.0

The Writer's DreamKit is a complete step-by-step fiction-writing system designed for the aspiring writer. The Writer's DreamKit StoryGuide shepherds you from your initial idea all the way to a complete narrative treatment, inspiring and supporting you along the way.

Amazon.com: If you're looking for a writing package that provides guidance but isn't overbearing, the Writer's DreamKit package from Dramatica is a great solution. This package is targeted at beginning to intermediate writers, and attempts to get you involved in working out the mechanics of your story before you even begin writing it.

You'll get started with the StoryGuide: the central location for establishing your "storyform" and structure. You can work with the StoryGuide either directly or by creating scenes, but either way, the creative work done in this portion will be tracked and available in all other parts of the application. For the fastest route, you can start with one of three structure templates: novel, screenplay, or short story. In these templates, the essential characters are already created. Using these in conjunction with the StoryGuide gives a writer both efficiency and flexibility.

One of the strongest features of the StoryGuide, however, is the Dramatica Query System. This system offers a question and answer approach to storyforming, and allows you to focus on one element, relationship, or idea at a time. In the DQS, the questions may be very straightforward or somewhat indirect; regardless, newer writers will appreciate the help buttons that appear for each question, offering an explanation, the theory behind the question, usage, illustrations, definitions, context, and story examples.

If a question and answer bombardment or too much structure is not your thing, you can find relief in the Story Engine, which offers a more holistic and freeform approach to identifying your storyform. The Story Engine does lack help, which makes it more suitable for experienced users, and also looks somewhat daunting on the first few uses. However, it also is the quickest way to get to your underlying structure.

While the Writer's DreamKit is somewhat linear in progression, there are many opportunities to diverge from the standard path. You can create characters, one of the most enjoyable parts of the creative process, at any time. You'll do more than just assign a name and a few stock attributes: you'll build your people from scratch (or from a template) and instill in them the complex characteristics that will guide them through your story.

If you've never taken a creative writing class or are looking to refresh your skills, the Writer's DreamKit definitely offers a great foundation for structuring your story. However, it's still up to you to write your great American novel or the next box office hit. --Emilie Dirks

Product Description: The Writer's DreamKit is a complete step-by-step fiction-writing system designed for the aspiring writer. The Writer's DreamKit StoryGuide shepherds you from your initial idea all the way to a complete narrative treatment, inspiring and supporting you along the way. You begin by answering questions designed to stimulate critical thought about your characters and plot. This narrows down the possible ways of telling your story to the one that best expresses your personal vision, and prompts the Writer's DreamKit to supply some answers of its own.

After you make decisions about how character arc, theme, conflict, tension, story goal, and plot points will play out in your story's scenes, you can see how the great writers illustrated the same story points in their classic stories. There are in-depth breakdowns of more than 60 popular films, novels, plays, and short stories to give you insight into the story creation process. Now you are ready to weave together all the parts of the story you've developed so far into a first draft. As you work toward the finished product, there are many graphical tools to manage every part of your story, from plot development to character interaction.

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