Reddit reviews The Anatomy of Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller
We found 22 Reddit comments about The Anatomy of Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
The Anatomy of Story 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller
To answer your first and most important question - it's the writing. Endings have been bad because of the writing. Video game writers are simply not doing a good job collectively. From what I understand, most video games often rely on non-writers to work on a lot of writing, which is bad enough as it is. But even if there is a proper writing staff dedicated to working on a given game and included early enough in the development cycle to create the narrative portion of that game, there's no telling to how it will have to be re-shaped to compensate for budget and/or time limitations. Combine this with the fact that game stories rarely start off great to begin with because most writers in the game industry aren't well trained in the craft, and the whole thing is a recipe for disappointment. (Even in Hollywood, the whole industry is filled with movies with only mediocre plots because great narrative isn't necessary for big commercial success.)
Early in the writing process, the writer needs to determine what kind of change(s) the main character will go through by the end of the story. The whole thing isn't just about accomplishing a task - the hero needs to become a better person or try to do and fail. Figuring out the moral argument behind this story and how the protagonists changes because of it makes the story's foundation. The writer is supposed to start from the ending because that's the important part. Then, find an appropriate starting point, then figure out the path in between. But games are rarely about anything anymore. Mass Effect and RDR have proper themes and moral arguments to make. They lead the protagonist (and therefore the audience) somewhere. Most games, however, have the main character start somewhere in the beginning, progress through the middle, and then everything is back to normal in the end. This is wrong.
A part of the problem could be that games don't want to take a strong enough of a stance on anything to create the kind of moral argument necessary for a good story. I really recommend this book by John Truby about storytelling.
This has been my biggest focus for the last few months.
1st realization was "Networking events" weren't a place where you join the hive-mind, exchange emails and share secrets on openings in the job market. You're basically are making friends. Get them to think: "This would be a good person to work with. I better answer his message so they'll answer mine"
John Sonmez (Author of Soft Skills: The software developer's life manual): https://simpleprogrammer.com/
Toastmasters: https://www.toastmasters.org/ This is like a public speaking club for anyone to join. My place is filled with 8 nice sweet, old people who want to speak better at church. I feel pretty comfortable speaking there.
This has been my 3 step plan:
My youtube story telling playlist
Books/Audiobooks:
Read the whole series. Then this. And this. I used to be the same way. I got a little better using Freytag's triangle, but it wasn't specific enough. These resources helped turn me around. I still love great prose and toil over every word. Words are all we have. But beneath them, the story has to be there.
[John Trulby's anatomy of Story] (https://www.amazon.com/Anatomy-Story-Becoming-Master-Storyteller/dp/0865479933) might give you a lot of ideas for scenes.
Top of the list for me would be: "The Anatomy of Story" by John Truby.
Here is what I recommend currently:
For beginners:
Free: https://www.coursera.org/courses?languages=en&query=digital+marketing
Paid: https://www.udacity.com/course/digital-marketing-nanodegree--nd018#
(You can get it free if you take the courses with out the degree)
Foundations To Advanced Topics:
Paid: http://neilpatel.com/advanced-marketing-program/
(Neil Patel is one of the few Internet Marketers I would trust. He has successful businesses and is fairly transparent)
Books that can help you with marketing:
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion - Once you read this book you will see the techniques used everywhere in marketing. Once you understand the techniques you can apply them yourself.
The Anatomy of Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller - Everyone talks about copywriting, but IMO most copy is written way to salsy and is obvious. I have had much better results using stories to sell and most of my sales pages use story telling techniques to bring the reader on a journey.
The Copywriters Handbook - That said, you should still understand the point of copy and this book does a good job. Once you know the fundamentals of copywriting you can sell almost anything.
What to avoid:
Avoid any courses that are selling Techniques or formulas (I.E: My Super Awesome Snapchat Method that brought in $5000") while most have useful information the issue is simple:
Formulas/Templates/Tactics will only get you so far and won't always work. Yes, some methods have been proven to work time and time again, but you are still better off learning the fundamentals of marketing and sales over reusing tactics and templates.
By learning the fundamentals you will be able to rapidly test and try new things to see what works and doesn't. This will give you more flexibility and success in the long wrong.
Most people sell courses around tactics because most customers want a lazy way to make money. Do they work? yes and no. There is no real answer - these tactics may work for you or not as there are a lot of things to factor in.
When buying a course check out the instructor. A lot of Internet Marketers only had 1 success before selling courses on the subject. If someone claims to be an awesome marketer and doesn't have more than 1 success as proof, something is wrong and most likely that success was a fluke.
Most trustworthy marketers normally will have a long track record of successes or at the very least have well known clients (Google/Facebook/Coke/etc).
TL;DR: Avoid tactics/templates/Formulas and learn the fundamentals of marketing.
Absolutely! Start out with TV Tropes:
https://tvtropes.org/
Tropes are kind of like the Legos of building a story...I'd suggest spending a few minutes every day reading on that website, like at breakfast or something. As far as books go, the first book I would suggestion is John Truby's the anatomy of story. Read it & memorize the steps:
https://www.amazon.com/Anatomy-Story-Becoming-Master-Storyteller/dp/0865479933
Also read "Save the Cat":
https://www.amazon.com/Save-Last-Book-Screenwriting-Youll/dp/1932907009/
Here are some sample beat sheets:
https://www.savethecat.com/beat-sheets-alpha
"Writing for Emotional Impact" is a hugely important book in my library as well:
https://www.amazon.com/Writing-emotional-impact-techniques-fascinate-ebook/dp/B004UC6E22
Just use Notepad or Word or Google Docs to write in for now. If you want to get serious about it, the only tool you really need to invest in is Final Draft, which is $250:
https://www.finaldraft.com/
Story is what drives all film & TV projects. A good story can literally make billions of dollars (Avengers: Endgame, Avatar, Titanic, Star Wars, Harry Potter, etc.). And best of all, writing is free!
There are a TON of resources available online, but I'll leave you with this article containing some writing tips from JK Rowlings:
https://www.bustle.com/articles/181377-13-writing-tips-from-jk-rowling-because-she-knows-a-thing-or-two-about-perseverance
D4Darious
An awesome and charismatic dude who focuses mainly on directing/screenwriting, but still has good videos on what makes a good story ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCzcoyDp2fY ) and story structure ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYUE2n91Cok ) in particular.
K.M. Wieland
Check out her books since they're some of the best on story structure (as well as this one: https://www.amazon.com/Anatomy-Story-Becoming-Master-Storyteller/dp/0865479933/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1522099181&sr=8-1 ) but she also has a youtube channel with 3-4 minute shorts revolving around the info in her books. She is a novelist (and focuses more on writing rather than visual storytelling, which is a little rarer on this list only because Youtube is a visual medium and is perfect for analyzing movies) but her videos aren't all that bad.
LFTS, LFTS, LFTS
I can't say how much I love this guy; I could watch his videos for hours (I do, actually). He breaks down movies, their scenes, etc. and how those movies/screenwriters/story elements effectively create a good story. This is my personal favorite of his: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvtOY0YrF-g and this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKSDctC2o-s and this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUgYoT_xEFY
The Closer Look
Awesome British dude with great videos on things ranging from theme, to genre, to endings. Some of my favorites of his are: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QM1tUwpy-yQ and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjCedbTGWzk
Now You See It
A guy who reminds me a lot of LFTS and analyzes what certain things mean in storytelling and common techniques/tropes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR8PDn6YvyQ
Charisma on Command
This one is a little out there (it's actually not about storytelling; it's a youtube channel focusing on relationships and being charismatic/confident) but if you look in between the lines of what he's saying, you can learn a lot for writing. His dissections of GOT characters gave me plenty of ideas and insights into people and how they work. Without this I wouldn't know how super intelligent characters manipulate people (and how more naive characters don't see it coming) This is the specific video I'm referencing: (oh, spoiler warnings in most of these videos btw) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccrQObMjg1U
Just Write
Love this guy too! He is known for his "What writers should learn from " series and analyzes popularly bad movies and explain why they're so bad in the first place (The Hobbit, Avatar the Last Airbender, etc). I'd recommend this one as well as any of his other videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cih9kj6ZPdg for learning about what to do/avoid when writing
This was a list of some of the people I've found and follow, and I hope they help you too.
The last bit of advice I can give to you is to choose one of your favorite movies, books, tv shows, stories and search something along the lines of "Why do people love __?" or "What makes good?" or "Why is [enter director/author here] so good/popular/successful?". You'll find a lot of analysis on youtube you can turn your brain off with (or take pages of notes, whatever your style) to begin understanding why people enjoy what they do. You can use this to your advantage when writing your own stories and avoid walking in blind on a project. Research genre and story structure and characters and plenty of other things until you understand all the arguments, perspectives, and techniques. Good luck!!!
You might want to check out the book Anatomy of a Story. One of John Truby’s premise is the need for the protagonist to have a character flaw that has to be addressed to overcome the antagonist.
https://www.amazon.com/Anatomy-Story-Becoming-Master-Storyteller/dp/0865479933
É só a minha opinião,posso perfeitamente estar errado.
De qualquer das formas:
John Truby - The Anatomy of Story
I've really enjoyed Truby's The Anatomy of Story. I think why it's more valuable is it's part Campbell's "hero's journey", and part dissecting not just other scripts, but how they're condensed into a synopsis, what a spec treatment should look like, all while not being too prescriptive.
I highly recommend this book:
http://www.amazon.com/Anatomy-Story-Becoming-Master-Storyteller/dp/0865479933/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1331027378&sr=8-1
But don't stop there. There are many good books out there to help you get started writing.
I want to point out that one book i have read says that reading about writing is part of becoming a good writer.
I liked reading the first half of Anatomy of Story by Truby. It's more about story-making intuitive guide from the ground up, than top-down "fill this in" style.
It's not 22-steps at all, I think the publishers forced that subtitle on the book ... Also, it's marketed for screenwriting but reads way more like story building notes from literature and drama seminar. Was refreshing for me after all the classics you listed gave me bones, but failed to give me a sense of the connective tissue between the steps.
It's more about how to concretely get ideas flowing and build your thinking up into a story, while respecting that it's YOU who must do the coming-up-with. It's not in denial that most writers suck, forcing components together won't bake, and you better do your best thinking to make something work organically.
The chapters are short and build on each other, the second half is going through other films, good to read once but less useful in building as you go. I use the first half of the book all the time to get my story foundation down.
I'd find a copy online or at the library to skim. There's youtube interviews with the guy but I don't like his voice/tone, so would not recommend messing with the reading-voice in your head.
Raechel Stephen's Plot Embryo method might be helpful for this, to get a sense of why everything is in the plot and what each element is supposed to be doing. It might help you focus on the core of the story and pare down some of the more complexities that may not be advancing anything, but merely adding complication.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pZ3ZZd1mms
Also, I recommend John Truby's Anatomy of a Story. I was stuck in a total mess with my current WIP and working through this book really helped. Again, it forces you to figure out what the core elements of your story are and how the pieces of the story (subplots, romance, symbols, characters etc) serve that aim.
https://www.amazon.com/Anatomy-Story-Becoming-Master-Storyteller/dp/0865479933
I'm a big fan of The Anatomy of Story. It's got applications outside of screenwriting as well.
John Truby wrote a book detailing the 22 steps. I'll link an Amazon page I hope it isn't breaking any rules of this reddit :)
https://www.amazon.de/Anatomy-Story-Becoming-Master-Storyteller/dp/0865479933?ie=UTF8&tag=googdemozdesk-21&hvadid=323770885163&hvpos=1t2&hvnetw=g&hvrand=1423483905817777389&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=b&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1012321&hvtargid=dsa-19959388920&ref=pd_sl_8630db3uvv_e&language=en_GB
There's such a thing as being too loose, and there's such a thing as being too tight. Some people just start writing with page one and have to do 50 drafts because their story keeps shifting under their feet. You're having the opposite problem. You want to plot out a story mechanically and there's no organic growth.
I'm confident if you just started writing your ideas would evolve and grow. Adding detail and action will that do that on it's own. But maybe you should learn a bit about organic story development first. I recommend The Anatomy of Story by John Truby. It will help you work through all of your ideas in a process so that they can grow and develop.
I don't know if this will help you, but have the hero's(A) weakness be attacked by the Antagonist(B) while another opponent(C) attacks the antagonist, and another opponent(D) attacks the opponent attacking the antagonist. Lol. I hope you get what I mean. Basically you have a set of characters that are always in conflict like clashing waves. They're all attacking each other. Anyways, it's called the four-corner opposition. Very useful stuff from John Truby's The Anatomy of Story.
https://www.amazon.com/Anatomy-Story-Becoming-Master-Storyteller/dp/0865479933/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1541458878&sr=1-1&keywords=The+Anatomy+of+Story
Note: It's a huge dump of information and IS NOT for beginners. I already knew The Three Act Structure before I read this.
i highly recommend the book the anatomy of story. it is tailored towards writing a screenplay, but the advice inside transcends the medium of story.
in my opinion, you can learn both the mechanics of grammar and writing and the mechanics of writing a story, but the latter is where it's really at. everyone writes because they have a story to tell. this story can be fiction, non-fiction, something in between, biographical, etc., but there's a story in there, and as a writer, it's your job, and likely your inner calling, to bring that story out and present it to your audience. learn to tell a good story and the mechanics of writing will follow.
From a theory/craft/story building perspective, I'd start with either John Truby's Anatomy of Story (The Anatomy of Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller https://www.amazon.com/dp/0865479933/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_l1iMBb6PRTA0G), or Robert McKee's Story (Story: Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles of Screenwriting https://www.amazon.com/dp/0060391685/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_e2iMBb0CKZ42M). They have some similarities but either is a good starting point for the background theories in story telling and story development.
For formatting/templates there are lots of guides. A general Google search for screenplay formatting should get you a good starting point for the standards needed.
Teaching yourself to have a critical eye to discern between good and bad film (and then further between good and great film) takes time as well as remembering that each person's opinion on what makes any one film good/great is subjective. That said, getting a basis in critical film analysis can help because that will get you watching films that have the best stories/characters/dialogues/settings/etc. This will prime your subconscious and get you thinking in those ways so that when you write your own work, you're starting from a place of strength rather than from cliche.
Research what kind of screenplays you could do - original, adaptations, big budget, studio specific, independent, genre, art house, etc. Maybe you'd be happier in a writer's room at a small studio as opposed to a large one. Maybe you really like adaptations. Try to figure out what powers your desire to write (Truby has a great exercise early in his book for this).
Find a local writer's group if possible. Hopefully one that has other screenwriters, but any good group you mesh with well helps, as they can be external mentors and feedback for your efforts.
Look at participating in National Novel Writing Month in November as a rebel (i.e. someone writing something other than a novel) as motivation/structure/deadline to forcing yourself to write.
And most of all - write. Just start. Get going and keep going. You'll want to freeze up or get it right, but so much good comes during the many iterations your story will take, so start earlier rather than later.
Hope that helps.
ETA: links
Anatomy of a story on amazon.
On that page is an interesting promo for a free trial of something called Amazon Storybuilder that might be relevant to OP's query.