The anatomy of story
by John Truby · first published 2008
75% recommend25% neutral
"John Truby is one of the most respected and sought-after story consultants in the film industry, and his students have gone on to pen some of Hollywood's most successful films, including Sleepless in Seattle, Scream, and Shrek. The Anatomy of Story is his long-awaited first book, and in it he shares all his secrets for writing a compelling script. Based on the lessons in his class, Great Screenwriting, The Anatomy of Story draws on a broad range of concepts and archetypes from philosophy and mythology, offering techniques and anecdotes alongside Truby's own unique approach to building an effe
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Some faves for story development: * Secrets of Story by Matt Bird * Anatomy of Story by John Truby * Breakout Novelist by Donald Maass * Self Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King Enjoy!
on “Researchers analysed 1700 novels to reveal six story types” ↗…https://www.lessonsfromthescreenplay.com/reading-list The list is geared towards film media, but is a great guide on writing in general. I've read and annotated my way through all of them with gusto. I can very much recommend Into the Woods and Anatomy of Story as superb guides that really dig in deep into why we humans fall for the same stories time and time again. They are brass-tacks books and pretty philosophical at the same time, a rare combo. Michael's…
on “NovelWriter 1.0 – A markdown-like editor for writing novels” ↗The old version of this question is Aristotle’s Poetics: what makes a story feel like a complete action rather than just a sequence of events? One related thread is John Truby’s Anatomy of Story. His system is a 'story structure grows out of the hero’s weakness, desire, opponent, moral choice, and self-revelation.' And he then catalogues variations and popular versions of each of those ingredients.…
on “Music has scales / raagas. What about storytelling in movies and prestige shows?” ↗…read and recently read, in no particular order: Modern C++ Design (Andrei Alexandrescu) The Screenwriter's Bible (David Trottier) Clean Code (Robert Cecil Martin) Il Codice da Vinci (Dan Brown) The Anatomy of Story (John Truby) A Random Walk Down Wall Street (Burton Malkiel) The Power of Habit (Charles Duhigg)
on “Ask HN: What is HN reading?” ↗