by The Anatomy of Story- 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller (mobi)
The central problem I faced in this book was how to lay out a practical poetics—the craft of storytelling that exists in all story forms. It involves showing you how to create a complex living story that grows in the mind of the audience and never dies. It also means overcoming what appears to be an impossible contradiction: telling a universally appealing story that is also totally original.
My solution has been to show you the secret workings of the story world. I wanted you to discover the dramatic code—the ways human beings grow and change in a lifetime—in all its splendor and complexity. Many of the techniques for expressing the dramatic code in a powerful and original story are in this book. If you are wise, you will never stop studying and practicing them.
But mastering technique is not enough. Let me end with one final reveal: you are the never-ending story. If you want to tell the great story, the never-ending story, you must, like your hero, face your own seven steps. And you must do it every time you write a new story. I have tried to provide you with the plan: the strategies, tactics, and techniques that will help you reach your goal, fulfill your needs, and gain an endless supply of self-revelations. Becoming a master storyteller is a tall order. But if yon can learn the craft and make your own life a great story, you will be amazed at the fabulous tales you will tell.
If you are a good reader—and I have no question that you are—you are not the same person you were when you began this book. Now that you've read it once, let me suggest. . . well, you know what to do.