Are many people passionate about their day to day existence? It is familiarity that reduces drama. Moreso than things being inherently undramatic.

Things are familiar because they are around us, because they happen to us all the time. Or, at least, we see them happening to others. But within a dramatic context, a movie, or a play, it’s possible to make the “dramatic” seem boring simply through the lack of variation.

Too much repetition is anathema to true drama. Repetition also implies, if not demands, a lack of variety. I noticed on Rupaul’s Drag Race that people fail in dramatic challenges because they are “one note”. Or the critical feedback they receive is that they “start at a hundred” and have nowhere else to go.

I like to think I’m reasonably good at bringing drama when I create stories or encounters. At least, when I’m defining stories for roleplaying games. If anything, I probably veer too far toward the “quiet reflection” of scene setting. But in doing so, I hope that the more active, or high-pressure, situations will have more powerful dramatic input.