When creating any type of performance, you need to keep in mind how you want your audience to feel. Deciding what emotions are your goal, and structuring your performance accordingly, can be a major challenge.

This time last year, I discussed Dramatica, a tool for creating logically and emotionally comprehensive stories. James Hull, a regular Dramatica user, discusses various aspects of storytelling as it relates to the software in his Daily Dramatica blog.

Before reading the following article, you may want to read the Dramatica comic book (PDF opens in a new window), in order to better follow the terminology used in the article.

Earlier this week, James posted an excellent entry entitled, Thinking of Your Audience First. This post discusses the four major ways in which audiences appreciate a performance: nature (Does your story involve a dilemma or work? Is it actual or apparent?), essence (Does the main character have a heavy or light feel?), reach (Will men and/or women empathize with the characters?) and tendency (Does the story drive the character or vice versa?).

The best thing about the article is that you can either start with the audience's point of view in mind, or work through your story and evaluate how the audience will appreciate it as a result.