The Anatomy of Story

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Mixing genres is how the game is played in every medium, no matter how smart you are, how hard you work, who you know, or how you market your work. The storytelling strategy of mixing genres has been responsible for the success of hit movies and bestselling books since George Lucas used it in Star Wars. KEY POINT: If human life is poetics, the knowledge we get from story is the greatest knowledge of all. Each major genre has fifteen to twenty specialized “beats,” or key plot events, that determine that form. These plot beats have more to do with the success of a story than any other element by far. I'm simplifying this theory of story, but not by much. It should be obvious that such an elementary approach has even less practical value than Aristotle. But what's worse is that it promotes a view of story that is mechanical. The idea of an act break comes from the conventions of traditional theater, where we close the curtain to signal the end of an act. We don't need to do that in movies, novels, and short stories or even, for that matter, in many contemporary plays.

According to Truby, for a choice to be true, the hero must either select one of two positive outcomes or, on rare occasions, avoid one of two negative outcomes. PDF / EPUB File Name: The_Anatomy_of_Story_-_John_Truby.pdf, The_Anatomy_of_Story_-_John_Truby.epub I absolutely despise the fact that the only thing the author has to say about the subject of genre, is that it is very important to the story, but that he has written about it in previous books and that you'll just have to buy that book if you want to find out what is essential about genre. That doesn't make me want to buy your other book, it just left me with a bad taste in my mouth. You can't write a book claiming to explain how to become a master storyteller and then leave out genre! Faber & Faber launches John Truby’s The Anatomy of Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller—a new Bible not just for screenwriters, but for any writer crafting the perfect story. An explosion has multiple paths that extend simultaneously; in nature, the explosive pattern is found in volcanoes and dandelions.

Conclusion

I’ve learned that I write better, and have more fun doing it, if I have a roadmap. And using a roadmap like Truby’s, which offers up the reassurance that I can make my story stronger by thinking about all of its elements in a calculated way in advance of writing it, is particularly useful to me. I find that because Truby is written for screenwriters, the book’s tone is very direct in a way that many books for fiction writers aren’t. Truby believes that there is a method to writing a good story, and that the method can be taught. Television drama shows a number of characters in a minisociety struggling to change simultaneously. The Anatomy of Story is not difficult to read. It is a book that offers a detailed look at the different elements that go into creating a successful story. Another obstacle to mastering storytelling has to do with the writingprocess. Just as many writers have a mechanical view of what a story is, they use a mechanical process for creating one. This is especially true of screenwriters whose mistaken notions of what makes a script salable lead them to write a script that is neither popular nor good. Screenwriters typically come up with a story idea that is a slight variation on a movie they saw six months previously. Then they apply a genre, like "detective," "love," or "action," and fill in the characters and plot beats (story events) that go with that form. The result: a hopelessly generic, formulaic story devoid of originality. Genres are types of stories: Detective, Love, Action, Fantasy, or Science Fiction, for example. When we understand how genres work, and what they tell us, we can apply their lessons in writing as well as in life. For example, did you know:

So far I would say this has some interesting ideas in it. On the other hand, it's funny how many of these books could really use a re-write. And I think re-writing is not a skippable part of the process to becoming a "master". He mentions you should make your main character endlessly fascinating. In theory, I could see why that would be a good idea. But Truby gives one example on how to do this and then moves on. I guess it's that easy? I'll update more later. I liked it at first and it gave me some ideas on how to develop the theme through characters, but that is pretty much it. One of my friends who is into creative writing as well recommended this book to me as the best there is on the the topic of writing a novel. Now that I have read this (through somewhat painful steps) I can see why - this is is a book that dissects a story into it parts and claims that if you know all the individual nuts and bolts you can assemble something magnificent. In other words, this is a book written to the story telling engineers.

Most writers don't use the best process for creating a story. They use the easiest one. We could describe it in four words: external, mechanical, piecemeal, generic. Of course, there are lots of variations on this process, but they all work something like this.

KEY POINT: Star Wars was exciting because the writer was weaving beats from multiple genres in a single movie. The hero's journey also serves as a metaphor for the challenges we all face in life, making it a powerful tool for exploring universal themes and human experiences. "Premise is the most important decision you make during the writing process." He comes up with a plot and a scene sequence based on one question: What happens next? Often he sends his hero on a physical journey. He organizes his plot using the three-act structure, an external imprint that divides the story into three pieces but doesn't link the events under the surface. As a result, the plot is episodic, with each event or scene standing alone. He complains that he has "second-act problems" and can't understand why the story doesn't build to a climactic punch that moves the audience deeply. Finally, he writes dialogue that simply pushes the plot along, with all conflict focused on what is happening. If he is ambitious, he has his hero state the theme directly in dialogue near the end of the story.

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This article goes through seven important lessons from John Truby's masterclass resource. Whether you’re looking to write your debut novel or hone your existing writing skills, The Anatomy of Story promises to guide you every step of the way. "Good storytelling doesn’t just tell audiences what happened in a life." All the things we thought were bigger than story, like morality, culture, society, religion, sports, and war, are simply different kinds of stories. We humans are essentially storytelling animals. This book was phenomenal. Please go out immediately and torch your copy of SAVE THE CAT and get this book instead.