Writer's Dream Kit 4.0

List Price: $34.99

Features:

• New language features like Term Swaps and Impulsive Responses, plus many more
• Create your own unique scenes and illustrate your story points with character arc, theme, conflict, tension and plot points
• In-depth breakdowns of over 60 films, novels, plays, and short stories offer guidance and inspiration
• StoryGuide Paths take writers step-by-step through the writing process, from initial idea to finished treatment
• New structure templates enhance the writing experience by giving practical suggestions

Accessories:
Word Menu 2.2	Write Brothers Movie Magic Screenwriter (PC & Mac)

Customer Reviews:

Extremely useful if plotting a long fiction is your problem. [Posted on 2005-10-30]
First for Mac users: I installed this on a Mac running OS X 10.3. It asked me which version of OS X I was running and offered 10.2, 10.3, and 10.4 as options. I selected 10.3 and it went through a preliminary install. Then it asked for the serial number on the card which came with the software. (If you are as compulsive about throwing away clutter as I am, try to restrain yourself and save that card! Otherwise, I don't think the program will turn on.) After I did this and provided the usual registration stuff, it got online (I should mention I was installing in an administrator mode)and had a chat with the company. Everything went very well. This program is native for the Mac OS X and doesn't require Mac Classic or anything like that. Thanks, guys, for making such a neat piece of software that also runs on Macs!

OK, now about using the program. I am the sort of person who gets a great idea and sits down at her computer and just starts going. Things go wonderfully for about five chapters, and then I run out of steam because I just haven't thought enough about where things are going, and it's getting hard to keep everything straight.

This program is like sitting down with a no-nonsense writing teacher who asks detailed questions about characters, motivations, goals, and so on and gives you feedback on whether or not you have enough information for a workable plot stucture and what's missing. (You are free, of course, to ignore its advice.)

The most difficult part about using this program is that the designers have invented a lot of terminology that you have to understand to use the program properly. (There is a PDF file on the disk containing a 300-plus page book that explains the theory and vocabulary in detail. I strongly recommend you read it first! Once you have that, the software is quite user-friendly.)

What I found especially helpful in the software were the dozens of examples of well-known stories that the authors had analyzed in terms of their model of plot design. That model(this is oversimplified) is the idea that a story is like a mind trying to solve a problem and that different characters are like aspects of that mind at work.

If you put in the work -- and it is a LOT of work -- at the end you will have a detailed plot outline which can be printed out.

If you can write novel-length fiction on pure inspiration, you will probably hate this. If you have good ideas, but find yourself lost in the woods and hoping for a rescue party after about fifty pages, this can be a lifesaver. You get out of it as much as you put into it.

Author input [Posted on 2006-08-24]
This program is full of ideas for the novice writer. Continuity weakened as the story progressed. Any aspiring author can learn from this approach to the development of a story. TAA

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