Story CD: Style, Structure, Substance, and the Principles of Screenwriting

A great book.

This book is a confidence builder. It's about as complete a text as possible on what it means to be a writer, and what demands that makes of the individual. There's no doubting the author's credentials, he is one of the heavyweights of Hollywood. He pulls no punches in pointing out the many (in his eyes) flaws in modern screenwriting. Some of the concepts are a bit hard to follow, but hey it's a book you can always re-read when it comes to preparing your masterworks. My only niggle with the book is he does cite the French New Wave - Brunuel, Godard as well as Ingmar Bergman an awful lot. The only American writer who gets a look in is Robert Towne. Perhaps McKee doesn't rate any of the Scorseses or Spielbergs but it would have been good to at least get his take on their (immensley successful) approaches to story. Despite all the self-analysis, smashing of preconceptions, and an awful lot of honest (are you sure you can do this?) talk, McKee has crafted a text that spurs the budding writer on. It builds confidence by presenting the tools, saying 'Look, this works' and then setting you free. His parting message is to be courageous. Something that I have learned and will be putting into practice today, and everyday from now on.

I’ve read other books like Story before. Books that tell writers how to structure that winning screenplay or write the thriller that will sell millions. So how does this particular book differ from the others? It’s harsher than most. He holds mediocre scripts in high distain and says that a screenwriter should take more than a few years to learn his/her craft. In the opening chapters he describes why stories, good stories are so important for any society and how they reflect human nature as a whole. Those looking for a book that will tell them how to make a quick buck from screenwriting should look elsewhere. It is a wonderful piece of work. Full of useful bits of information and persuasive arguments, it’s certainly a insightful book. But what really cuts through is the writers passion for his subject. His inability to accept anything less than the the best from writers and stories rubs off on the reader. I can imagine a struggling novelist or screenwriter re-reading a few of these pages and feeling elated, inspired and ready to take on the world. I just can't help wondering if really takes a long as he says to become a scriptwriter.

This is a difficult read, especially the first few chapters, but I gained a lot from this book. Keyes knows his stuff and the two abiding lessons I have learned from this book is (a) the conflict of character's values and how they change over the course of the story and (b) the happiness/sadness roller coaster ride you should give your audience. For me, it's one of those books you have to have if you're serious about story-telling whether it be novels or scripts. The film Adaptation is one big endorsement of this book.

Fantastic

I've read a good few books on writing long-form stories, like Daemon Voices, Save the Cat, Into the Woods, On Writing, this is the best. I will be revisiting this book many times.

Well written and structured, this is deservedly very well respected. First section is about story structures, content, characters, characterisations, etc. Much of this you may feel you knew, but here it is rendered clear, citing many examples from popular films. It then examines the detail, again with examples. I read it steadily rather than quickly, to give each section due attention. It is an excellent choice if you are interested in the subject and want to achieve a better understanding.

Have only read the first hundred pages or so but is well structured with plenty of good advice. Also impressed with the packaging the book arrived in. The box offered good protection to its contents and I really like that the tear off strip to open the box also removed the part of the address label with my address, meaning I did not have to struggle peeling a sticky label off before putting it in for recycling. Only a small thing but it shows someone has given it some thought.

Si vous êtes intéressé par le storytelling, alors vous n'avez aucune excuse pour ne pas avoir Story dans votre bibliothèque! Le style est fluide et agréable, de nombreux films sont cités. Mais il y a quelque chose dans Story que je n'ai pas trouvé dans la majorité des livres prétendant vous apprendre quelque chose, que ce soit dans l'univers de la narration ou non : un contenu apparemment inépuisable, pas abstrait du tout, et orienté sur la pratique. Arrivé à la page 119, j'avais déjà pris une dizaine de pages de notes en parallèle, tant le contenu est dense. Story fait 419 pages, en dehors des diverses annexes. Et l'ensemble délivre des techniques de narration pour valider ou non la qualité de vos scènes et de la construction de votre histoire. Lire Story une seule fois ne sera pas suffisant, c'est une bible sur laquelle vous aurez souvent envie de revenir. Notez que ce qu'enseigne Robert McKee ne s'applique pas qu'au screenwriting pour le cinéma (Je pense particulièrement aux romanciers) !

Good Book for anyone who wants to get into screenplay writing

Esattamente quello che cercavo. Anzi, di più.

This book is by no means perfect - but its still one of the best (maybe THE best) about the topic of "story". WHY IT ISN'T PERFECT: 1) The book starts with pages and pages of facts and theory that are quite obvious. You read page after page and say "Yes, he's right, that's true", and it is, but its meaningless. Even if this is the first time in your life you think about "story". But if you continue reading, the pages start bearing more significance. Would have been better with just 200 pages instead of 400. 2) Although the book has the word "structure" in its title, the books own structure is horrible, if not completely absent. If you really want to "work" with the book, its probably a good idea to write down the essence of the book in short notes and give them your own structure afterwards. 3) McKee is very dogmatic. Obviously he has an incredible (philosophical) knowledge about the topic. Enough to make him a story guru in my opinion. But dogmatic statements are never a good idea. And with some statements I think, he's wrong. But honestly that doesn't really matter, because ... WHY IT'S STILL THE BEST BOOK ABOUT STORY: 1) ... Even if McKee might be wrong with some of his claims (in my opinion), the great achievement is, that without McKee pointing out some aspects, I had never given them a single thought. So no matter if you share all of his opinions or not - while reading his book, you start to think about "story" in a new and different way. That's brilliant. And even if you contradict - you almost certainly learned something new and valuable. But the point is: don't just shovel the pages into your brain like a bowl of Kellogg's Frosties. Think, criticize and question everything. Make your own mind! This book teaches you how to walk and stand on your own two feet. But like any good father who teaches you to follow into his footsteps, in order to become a real successor, first the father has to die. 2) McKee covers every aspect of "story" there is. If you re-structure the book a bit, it will you provide you with an in-depth "how-to" instruction. And its a great tool to analyze your or other stories. 3) The book is mainly about blockbusters. Big Hollywood movies. Its not about "how stories work" but about "how Hollywood movies work". At first this might look like a flaw. Especially if you're bored of the Hollywood story telling style. But actually its not a flaw but a very good thing: You learn how and why these blockbusters work and you learn why and when they bore you. I you want to write an intelligent, individual avantgarde story there is no "how to" instruction anyway (or it would be pointless). You have to do this by yourself. But you have to know and understand the conventions of your craft first. Its like painting. You have to learn to paint photo-realistic before you can successfully do abstract art (have a look at Picasso and van Gogh and their early work). Which means: If you do not want to write a Hollywood blockbuster - read this book and learn what you have to avoid (or to include).

A classic for screenwriting. If you're interested in writing this book should be one of your starting points. It doesn't matter if you want to write a novel, script, comics, this book will help to you.