Narrative First: where story is always king

In this episode we show how you can come up with a compelling and meaningful story in less than two hours using Dramatica's powerful brainstorming tools. We also dive into a deep analysis of the fant…

In this episode we take you step-by-step through a deep thematic analysis of The Dark Horse--a tremendous independent film out of New Zealand.

Remember, you can always Ask Us a Question we answer eve…

In this episode not only do we cover how to successfully analyze a story with Dramatica, but we also look into four different kinds of scenes found in the psycho-technological thriller Ex Machina. An…

Our original analysis of Ex Machina relied on subjective interpretation and proved faulty. This updated analysis clears up those issues by taking an objective point-of-view of the film's narrative. I…

In this episode we begin our discussion of deep thematic scene structure through the lens of the Dramatica theory of story. Typically we don't get this deep into the theory--at the Scene level the si…

This week we shorten things up a bit and take a look at one story point: the Main Character Approach. Does your Main Character prefer to solve problems externally or internally? The answer creates a …

In order to wind up the dramatic potential for a story, an Author must answer eight essential questions. In this episode, we cover the first two ingredients of an effective narrative.

Stories are not…

In this episode, we wrap up our exploration of the Audience Appreciations found in Dramatica by discovering the true nature of the purpose of narrative. This is a big one you won't want to miss.

Also…

In this episode we cover the tendency of the Main Character's personal problems to either build-up dramatic resistance or facilitate a greater flow throughout the story. In addition, we analyze Nice …

In this episode we take a look at the Audience Appreciation known as Essence and search for a new way to define it that is easy to understand for writers new to Dramatica. In addition, we have follow…

After follow-up, we dive into an analysis of Hell or High Water, the new Western from Sicario writer Taylor Sheridan. Following that we take a look at the Dramatica story point known as Audience Reac…

We're very excited to announce that we hired our first two employees here at Narrative First! The explosion in requests for our services over the summer kicked our plans into high gear. We look forwa…

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Following up last week's conversation regarding what it takes to transform real life into an actual story, we now take time out to cover the first s…

After a brief interlude for follow-up, we cover an effective technique for turning events in the real world into a full functional complete story. Understanding the deep thematic elements of your nar…

In this episode we explore the Dramatica theory of story and how its ability to predict the intuition of a writer could possibly be the sole remaining piece of magic left on the planet. We then turn …

In this episode we look at the differences between Star Trek and Star Wars from a Dramatica point-of-view; looking at the structural differences in their narratives. We also explain why the Overall S…

In this episode, we offer some insight into how to really use Dramatica to increase the level on conflict in every story. Also, an analysis of the Angry Birds movie, and follow-up!

• Dramatica analysi…

In this episode we take a look at two blockbuster comic book movies...without actual stories. Why then did one do better than the other? Also, a recap on last week's Zootopia analysis and a brief loo…

New format here for the Narrative First Podcast: a sort of rough-draft of ideas and thoughts on story and story structure. This week's analysis will cover Zooptopia--which had a bit of a story struct…

Main Characters don't grow on their own--they need someone to come along who sees the world in a completely different light. They need an Influence Character. In this episode we take a look back at a…