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STORY IS ABOUT
RULES
Principles
A rule says, “You must do it this way.” A principle says, “This works… and has through all remembered time.” The difference is crucial. Your work needn’t be modeled after the “well-made” play; rather, it must be well made within the principles that shape our art. Anxious, inexperienced writers obey rules. Rebellious, unschooled writers break rules. Artists master the form.
STORY IS ABOUT
FORMULAS
Eternal, Universal Forms
All notions of paradigms and foolproof story models for commercial success are nonsense. No one needs yet another recipe book on how to reheat Hollywood leftovers. Besides, there’s no recipe that guarantees your cake will rise. We need a rediscovery of the underlying tenets of our art, the guiding principles that liberate talent.
STORY IS ABOUT
STEREOTYPES
Archetypes
A stereotypical story suffers a poverty of both content and form. It confines itself to a narrow, culture-specific experience and dresses in stale, nonspecific generalities. The archetypal story reverses this pattern: it unearths a universally human experience, then wraps itself inside a unique, culture-specific expression. Stereotypical stories stay at home, archetypal stories travel.
STORY IS ABOUT
THE MYSTERIES OF WRITING
Realities
There’s been no conspiracy to keep secret the truths of our art. In the twenty-three centuries since Aristotle wrote The Poetics, the “secrets” of story have been as public as the library down the street. Nothing in the craft of storytelling is abstruse. Given determination and study, the puzzle yields. Writing is full of wonders but no unsolvable mysteries. Invest the time. Do the work. The results will follow.
STORY IS ABOUT
CHASING TRENDS
Mastering the Art
No one can teach what will sell, what won’t, what will be a smash or a fiasco, because no one knows. Hollywood’s bombs are made with the same commercial calculation as its hits. If you knock out a knockoff of last summer’s hit, you’ll join the ranks of lesser talents who each year flood editors and producers with thousands of cliche-ridden stories. Rather than agonizing over the odds, put your energies into achieving excellence.
Wrile lhe lrulh
Wrile lhe lrulh
Wrile lhe lrulh