Pace - Character-ization, screenwriting

For each scene I want to figure out what each characters pace is.  Does he move around quick, slow, awkward, cool, etc.  are his arms moving around a lot, or tight to his body, is he sweating, is nervous, excited, happy, sad, depressed.  What's his pace?

Dramatica - Ok - Fine - Use It.

In the past, I've been emotionally disturbed by story writing programs such as Dramatica.

I've cooled down a bit.  So sure, go ahead and use Dramatica to create a story.  But with one caveat.

At some point you're going to have to read your story and develop it's humanity.  You're going to need to open yourself up and be sincere.

The fact is that characters are not pieces of construction material that you piece together to build a structure.  True, stories are about structure - behavioral and social structure - human desires and human relationships.  Using the word structure can be misleading - you may start to think of stories as Lego sets.  People draw diagrams of how the structure of a story can look.

Sure, it's fine to use the diagrams to outline a story but at some point you have to get rid of the cookie cutter and make sure you're being sincere.  Make sure your characters are being sincere.  Make sure you are simplifying and clarifying each scene to express a clear idea.

The Emotional 2nd Draft - Screenwriting

When you are ready to get into your second draft.  Print it out.
You're going to want read it and make notes.
What kind of notes?
Start out by trying to figure what it is each scene is trying to do and how you can make it as simple and clear as possible.  Chances are you will have the ingredients for a nice scene but it won't be simple and clear.

Replace economic theory with story theory:

"Indeed, economic theory has become largely impenetrable to the layman. It didn’t start that way. Adam Smith, whom we may justly call the first economist, saw himself as a moral philosopher, and wrote in clear, elegant prose. As the nineteenth century progressed, however, the idea got about that, in order to be taken seriously, economics should be treated as a scientific discipline, complete with equations and formulae. As Robert Heilbroner put it, “mathematics brought rigor to economics; but, alas, also mortis”."

Relationships - What your story is about!

So you could have a story about food, music, espionage, africa, etc.

But if you want to write one with emotional power, focus on a relationship.

One you love or one you hate.

Example:

You might hate it when a kid's life is controlled by his overly religious parents.
You might love it when a man is able to escape and overcome a powerful villan.
You might hate it when a person steals money from a charity for their own personal pleasure.
etc.

When you focus on a relationship, you get meaning and emotion.