‘The business of making moving pictures is the art of
moving audiences’
L. Kurnarsky
WHY YOU SHOULD READ THE STORY OF THE STORY
Even minor Book Publishers and Hollywood players
receive thousands of unsolicited books or screenplays a year. Why
would they take yours seriously? You need a way to get past the readers
and gatekeepers
so that someone with juice
will
take an hour out of his or her busy schedule to read your heartfelt
effort. Your book or screenplay has to look professional and read
professional. It needs to be tailored to the expectations and genre
expertise of specific publisher, producers or studios. This is why you
should read
The Story of The Story
The Story of The
Story is a book about storytelling that has little new to offer. It has
something old to offer, something that had been venerable, something
that had been in the blood of bards through the ages, something that
most writers of Hollywood’s “golden age” understood innately, something
that remains critical, and something precious that, I can’t help
feeling, is being lost.
This book attempts to liberate storytellers from the tyranny of mechanical, snakes-and-ladders, plot-driven rejiggering of what has been successfully told before, and to get at what’s important. My intention is to infect writers with that bug. The rest of the book is about the easy stuff, the methodology.
The Story Of The Story is neither a primer nor a manual. The book is not meant for people who approach the task of fiction writing with the mindset of engineers, programmers, or salespeople. It is meant for storytellers with the audacity to try to get at the essential questions about life. It is meant for artists.
This book attempts to liberate storytellers from the tyranny of mechanical, snakes-and-ladders, plot-driven rejiggering of what has been successfully told before, and to get at what’s important. My intention is to infect writers with that bug. The rest of the book is about the easy stuff, the methodology.
The Story Of The Story is neither a primer nor a manual. The book is not meant for people who approach the task of fiction writing with the mindset of engineers, programmers, or salespeople. It is meant for storytellers with the audacity to try to get at the essential questions about life. It is meant for artists.
READ A SAMPLE:
WHY YOU SHOULD READ THIS BOOK
Why do you need to read this book? Because this book provides insight most
others do not. They mostly function as how-to manuals, which is not enough. You
have as much chance of telling a great story just by reading a manual, as you do
of flying a jumbo jet, just by reading its manual.
This book homes in on the ‘why’ of storytelling. It does function as a how-to
manual, but this one is more concerned with ‘purpose’. Another term for the
purpose of a tale is its theme. Theme is where a story gains a soul. Theme is
why a tale needs telling. It’s the only justification. You need to understand
that, or you will write yourself into a dead end. Quite simply, if a tale needs
telling, there is reason, there is a purpose, there is a theme, or a number of related themes.
There will be an internal logic that emerges out of that understanding. Once you
comprehend the internal logic, the storytelling mechanics seem intuitive. The
story reveals itself organically, almost as if you are channeling it. Characters
seem to speak on their own. Writing a story feels like taking dictation.
That only happens at what I would call the “quantum atomic level of storytelling”,
where the force that binds all the story elements together co-exists with the force
that propels a tale in a direction that moves audiences – not only emotionally, but
toward actually understanding life. We call that wisdom. This book helps you access that level.
This gets us back to the thorny and contentious issue concerning the purpose of
storytelling. You may be one of those hardnosed writers who view themselves as
pragmatists just looking to trade a tale for money, but it doesn’t matter. The
purpose of storytelling is not to entertain and to sell tickets. That is just a
desirable byproduct of a tale well told. It explains nothing about why someone
would pay ten bucks to watch a movie or buy a novel.
What is compelling about stories? They do this: Stories help audiences and
readers make sense out of their lives. It matters not what the genre is:
romance, thriller, science-fiction, fantasy, mystery, all serve to mine human
experience for meaning and value. The truth is that humans hunger for that kind
of fundamental understanding of “purpose”. You can add that to the dwindling list
of the basic differences between homo sapiens and all other critters.
Manuals delineate the storytelling mechanics, which are important, but
storytellers are more magicians than mechanics. Theirs is the art of controlled
revelation of nothing less than the meaning of life, not all of it but some of
it. These magi cast the spells that seduce the audience into suspending its
disbelief in fictional characters and plots. They are aided by the audience’s
eagerness to suspend disbelief. There is much to learn about casting these
spells, even if some of it is reducible to formulaic plug-in modules. Yet even the
Hollywood hack who buys storytelling modules off the shelf needs to learn the
logic behind it all to be any good. For it does all make sense. It all works
together. Once you know the internal logic of storytelling, the formulas are
just not very important. If it is expedient to follow the conventions of editors and
producers, do it. You can still deliver meaning to your readership or audience. In
fact, you must. Because that is the sacred trust of the storytelling magi.
So, you might as well get at it.
Why do you need to read this book? Because this book provides insight most
others do not. They mostly function as how-to manuals, which is not enough. You
have as much chance of telling a great story just by reading a manual, as you do
of flying a jumbo jet, just by reading its manual.
This book homes in on the ‘why’ of storytelling. It does function as a how-to
manual, but this one is more concerned with ‘purpose’. Another term for the
purpose of a tale is its theme. Theme is where a story gains a soul. Theme is
why a tale needs telling. It’s the only justification. You need to understand
that, or you will write yourself into a dead end. Quite simply, if a tale needs
telling, there is reason, there is a purpose, there is a theme, or a number of related themes.
There will be an internal logic that emerges out of that understanding. Once you
comprehend the internal logic, the storytelling mechanics seem intuitive. The
story reveals itself organically, almost as if you are channeling it. Characters
seem to speak on their own. Writing a story feels like taking dictation.
That only happens at what I would call the “quantum atomic level of storytelling”,
where the force that binds all the story elements together co-exists with the force
that propels a tale in a direction that moves audiences – not only emotionally, but
toward actually understanding life. We call that wisdom. This book helps you access that level.
This gets us back to the thorny and contentious issue concerning the purpose of
storytelling. You may be one of those hardnosed writers who view themselves as
pragmatists just looking to trade a tale for money, but it doesn’t matter. The
purpose of storytelling is not to entertain and to sell tickets. That is just a
desirable byproduct of a tale well told. It explains nothing about why someone
would pay ten bucks to watch a movie or buy a novel.
What is compelling about stories? They do this: Stories help audiences and
readers make sense out of their lives. It matters not what the genre is:
romance, thriller, science-fiction, fantasy, mystery, all serve to mine human
experience for meaning and value. The truth is that humans hunger for that kind
of fundamental understanding of “purpose”. You can add that to the dwindling list
of the basic differences between homo sapiens and all other critters.
Manuals delineate the storytelling mechanics, which are important, but
storytellers are more magicians than mechanics. Theirs is the art of controlled
revelation of nothing less than the meaning of life, not all of it but some of
it. These magi cast the spells that seduce the audience into suspending its
disbelief in fictional characters and plots. They are aided by the audience’s
eagerness to suspend disbelief. There is much to learn about casting these
spells, even if some of it is reducible to formulaic plug-in modules. Yet even the
Hollywood hack who buys storytelling modules off the shelf needs to learn the
logic behind it all to be any good. For it does all make sense. It all works
together. Once you know the internal logic of storytelling, the formulas are
just not very important. If it is expedient to follow the conventions of editors and
producers, do it. You can still deliver meaning to your readership or audience. In
fact, you must. Because that is the sacred trust of the storytelling magi.
So, you might as well get at it.
FOR INSIGHT AND SCRIPT SOLUTIONS
He can help you:
- Translate ideas into words, words into story, story into script.
- Identify story themes and make your story much stronger.
- Write ‘muscular’ believable dialogue.
- Flesh out characters and structure plot.
- Make a script funnier, more exciting, and more entertaining.
- Meet and exceed the expectations of producers.
- Get your script sold or made into a movie.
Mr. K's FREE PRESCRIPTIONS
-
Throw away the formulas. Learn and apply the
principles.
-
The
success of a movie usually comes from the tension between what
we see
happening in a scene and what the characters are saying. Never
say with
dialogue that which can be said with the camera.
-
The
engine that drives a story is its underlying theme or themes.
For
example, the theme of ‘Little Red Riding hood’ is, if you are
too naïve
for this world you will be eaten by wolves. Know and define your
themes.
Eliminate that which is not ‘on theme’. What is left is the
‘story
spine’.
-
The
purpose of plot is to test the mettle of character. The first
act
introduces characters and circumstances. In second act the
protagonists
are tested by the antagonists. The third act is the results of
the
tests. This is your ‘story arc’. Cut out all that is not on
‘arc’ as it
weakens your story.
